Wednesday Super Sleuth Challenge – Less Than Brilliant

Photo by Martin Sach

Don’t you just love how brilliant some criminals can be? Today we are going to hear of one such criminal who should definitely lay off of the sauce that he claims cause him to steal more than $4,000 worth of loot.

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First, let me introduce the prize for the month of September. The winner will receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card and a new book. I’m excited to read this new release by Robin Caroll.

As a white water rafting guide, Katie Gallagher must battle the forces of nature on a daily basis. When sabotage becomes apparent on a weekend rafting trip, Katie must determine who she can trust—and who has their own agenda.

Hunter Malone has a mission on a business adventure trip on the Gauley River, a mission that didn’t include a spunky guide who could handle the class-five rapids better than he’d ever imagined. But can she handle the truth?

Now Back to our Wednesday Super Sleuth Challenge- Less Than Brilliant Criminals. They lifted $4,000 worth of stuff. Here is how things went horribly wrong.

The man’s first mistake was inviting a buddy over and getting drunk. Apparently his friend had no more sense than he did while inebriated.

After a few two many, the stellar pair decided to try their hand at burglary. It didn’t take long for them to be caught red handed.

Their sad excuse? They had too much to drink and didn’t mean it.

Wednesday’s Super Sleuth Challenge- Less Than Brilliant has a challenge for you.

How were the burglars caught by the Police?

A. The burglars dropped their wallet at the scene.

B. The burglars robbed a deep fryer and left a trail of grease to their back door.

C. The burglars posted pictures with their new stash on Facebook.

D. The burglars used the grill they stole at the neighborhood block party where the neighbor recognized their grill.

 To be entered in the challenge, write the answer to the one you think is correct in the comments below.

Wednesday Super Sleuth Challenge – Legal Or Not, Election Crimes

Photo by ProLife

Hi Super Sleuths! We are starting a new month for the super sleuth challenge. Our Prizes for this month are a $10 Amazon Gift Card and a copy of …

Start reading A Promise to Protect (Logan Point Book #2)

“Acting Sheriff Ben Logan hasn’t heard from Leigh Somerall in a very long time, but it doesn’t mean he can get her–or their whirlwind romance of ten years ago–out of his head. When she calls out of the blue, it is with a strange request to protect her brother, Tony. When Tony dies just days later, Ben is charged with a different task–protecting Leigh and her nine-year-old son, TJ, from the killers. But how can Ben keep an eye on Leigh if she’s doing everything in her power to avoid him? And could the secret that Leigh is keeping change Ben’s life forever?”

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Hopefully many of you got out to vote yesterday! The elections got me thinking about election crimes. Of course we have heard of hanging chads and voter suppression in past years, but what about the individual voter? What constitutes a voter crime?

How well do we really know the election process? For today’s challenge you will be identifying what you think is an election crime punishable by ballot invalidation and possibly fines or jail time.

Which of the following is an election crime in the United States:

1. In some states it is illegal to post who you voted for on Facebook.

2. In some states it is illegal to share a photo of your ballot on social media.

3. In some states it is illegal to vote without showing a valid photo I.D.

4. In some states it is illegal to text out who you voted for on Twitter.

5. In some states it is illegal to ask poll workers who they voted for.

How is your election savvy? Which of the above actions is a crime?

 

Wednesday Super Sleuth Challenge – Can You Solve A Cold Case

Photo by ornicar69

Good morning, Super Sleuths! Are you up for another challenge? Today we will be looking at a cold case that was solved many years later. It is your job to detect which of the tales is true.

Remember, those with the correct answer will be adding their totals to the Super Sleuth Challenge of the Month Winnings: A $10 Amazon Gift Card and Dani Pettrey’s new book Silenced.

The year is 1985. A couple were spending the evening together at home. They had been married for two years. In the middle of the night a man that had previously raped the wife tracked them down, broke into their house, and in the process of a robbery gone bad, shot and killed the husband.

Police believed they had a suspect, but were unable to bring charges because there wasn’t enough evidence to convict them of murder.

The wife’s description of the man who robbed them was a barefoot homeless man that did the dead and then disappeared into the night.

Which of the following do you think is true:

*The man had been stalking the wife for some time. After raping her, he let her go to continue with his fantasies knowing she couldn’t identify him. He grew jealous of her husband and wanted her all to himself. He broke in and shot her husband.

*The husband’s mistress had a brother that was angry about her indiscretions because it was in opposition to the family’s religious beliefs. He broke in and killed only the husband because he wanted to break the chain of wickedness.

*The wife was having an affair and that man broke into the house and shot her husband. To cover for him, the wife made up the story of the barefoot homeless man to get the police looking in other directions.

*The wife faked the whole thing and shot her husband herself. She had been married multiple times and didn’t love her husband. Instead of divorcing, she decided a bullet was the way to get out of her troubles.

So Super Sleuths, which resolution to the case do you think is true?

Wednesday Super Sleuth Challenge – Weirdly True OR False

Photo by ornicar69

Hello, Super Sleuths! We are back on Who Done It Wednesday with more Super Sleuth Challenges in March. For those of you who are new, your goal is to guess the right answer the most times on Wednesday’s Super Sleuth Challenge throughout the month.

The person with the most correct answers this month will be awarded a copy of Colleen Coble’s Butterfly Palace and a $10 Amazon Gift Card.  If there is a tie for the most correct answers, I will draw a winner from those names.

Are you feeling sleuthy?

Criminals sometimes commit the zaniest crimes. As they say, the truth is stranger than fiction. Probably because if we wrote something that strange our editors would say, “AH, No way. No way it could happen.”

Which of the following crimes is Weirdly False? (Yes, the rest are weirdly true!)

1. A man in Chicago is charged with various misdemeanors after bringing his pet tiger into a bar with him. (It was on a leash.) This was his second time doing this after the first time resulted in a woman being bit, but not pressing charges.

2. A woman in Dallas is caught stealing rolls of toilet paper from local gas stations. She is charged with misdemeanor theft and will have to serve prison time. All over a few rolls of Charmin.

3. A woman spent a night jail for a movie rental that was five years overdue, even though the business she rented it from was no longer in existence.

4. Lunch lady is arrested over a dispute about burnt cookies. When told she would need to make new ones she told the school nurse she had a hit list and would bring an AK-47 to school and take people out who asked her to bake them again.

Who said people aren’t crazy?!

So what do you think?

Which of the crimes above is weird, but false?

Author Patricia Bradley’s Debut Novel Book Celebration – “Shadows of the Past”

Today I’m so excited to celebrate with my friend Patricia Bradley during the week of her debut novel’s release!

During the next two days each person who comments will be be entered in a drawing for a free copy of her new novel and a $10 Amazon Gift Card.

Just read the sample first pages on Amazon of her new novel Shadows of the Past and share one thing you liked or thought was the most intriguing to be entered in the contest.

Share the buzz with your friends and if they comment that you told them of the contest in their comments, you will be entered another time in the contest drawing for each new friend who comments. Monday the winner will be announced.

Patricia Bradley‘s manuscript for Shadows of the Past was a finalist for the 2012 Genesis Award, winner of a 2012 Daphne du Maurier award (1st place, Inspirational), and winner of a 2012 Touched by Love award (1st place, Contemporary). She is a published short story writer and is cofounder of Aiming for Healthy Families, Inc. When she’s not writing or speaking, she can be found making beautiful clay pots and jewelry. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America and makes her home in Mississippi. Learn more at www.ptbradley.com.

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A sneak peak at the heroine:

Psychology professor and criminal profiler Taylor Martin prides herself on being able to solve any crime, except the one she wants most desperately to solve–the disappearance of her father twenty years ago. When she finally has a lead on his whereabouts, Taylor returns home to Logan Point, Mississippi, to investigate. But as she is stalking the truth about the past, someone is stalking her.

(I loved her spunk and the spark she shares with the hero. She’s intelligent and intuitive, but struggles to balance that with what she feels in her heart.)

A sneak peak at the hero:

Nick Sinclair pens mystery novels for a living, but the biggest mystery to him is how he can ever get over the death of his wife–a tragedy he believes he could have prevented. With his estranged brother the only family he has left, Nick sets out to find him. But when he crosses paths with Taylor, all he seems to find is trouble.

(Nick endeared me to him with his strong loyalty for family and tugged at my heart with his wife’s loss. Early in the story I felt the chemistry between him and the heroine and cheered for them to get together.)

What do you love about the first pages of Shadows of the Past?  (Click the title link to go to Amazon and read the first few sample pages.)

(Leave a comment below to enter in the drawing. See more info in the beginning of this post.)

Find Patricia Bradley At:

www.patriciabradleyauthor.com
http://mbtponderers.blogspot.com/
@PTBradley1
www.facebook.com/patriciabradleyauthor

3 Tips While Celebrating Writing Contest Submissions – Whistle While You Work?

Photo by hortongrou

Leave a comment stating the contest you entered and the category/or genre at the end of this post to be entered in a drawing for the following prizes:

A copy of Idea Sparking: How to Brainstorm Conflict in Your Novel

 

*A Copy of The Truth About Conferences: The My Book Therapy Guide to how to have a successful Writer’s Conference

*A $10 Amazon Gift Card

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Last night I hit an epic high in my writing year. You know that moment. The one where you hit SEND! It only happens a few times a year, for contests and submitting to editors or agents.

That high moment lasts for just a short time and then the WAITING WILLIES kick in. Yep, just when we feel we’ve arrived we have to wait to see if we will be rejected.

If you are new to the writing road, realize that WAITING is a huge part of your new career! Now that you’ve hit SEND there are some things you should keep in mind.

3 Tips While Celebrating Writing Contest Submissions:

*Celebrate your achievement. Allow yourself to take a few minutes and celebrate your hard work. Do your happy feet dance.

*Realize the purpose for the contests. Yes, we all want to win. BUT don’t start writing your acceptance speech just yet. The truth is that even if your submission is perfection, you still might not final. Judging is subjective.

The focus of your contest entry should be receiving solid feedback. If you focus on this area, you will be much more satisfied with the outcome. Finaling or winning is just the bonus round.

*”Whistle While You Work” and just keep writing. If you stop and wait for the results of a contest, you will lose valuable writing time. Especially since the announcements of finalists can be discouraging if you don’t final, utilize the steam you have right now.

Have you entered a contest this past year? Let’s celebrate together!

Tell us the name of the contest and the genre/category you submitted to enter the drawing.

 

National Grammar Day Contest

Photo by Fastfood

Today just for the fun of it, I am hosting a contest on the worst grammatical 50 words you can write about growing up in your home town. Here is mine:

As a girl I growed up in minnisota. we was fishing and swimming every years bye the first week of jun but that didn’ot mean it were warm it were often see your breathe in the evening in the boundary water still wes all love it any way

Write the worst grammatical “where I grew up” 50 words to enter a drawing for a free $10 Amazon gift card. Ready, Set, Write….

Fan Friday – Announcing Winners – Favorite New Resource

Last Friday’s winners are: 

$10 Amazon.com gift cards:

 Ruth Dell and Alena Tauriainen

Book- The Truth About Conferences: 

Carla Kilpatrick

Book- Idea Sparking: How to Brainstorm Conflict in Your Novel

Lori Ness

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Favorite New Resource- Kiss & Tell By Susan May Warren

Yes, I know…all of you die hard writers out there have read the latest craft book by the time it hits the shelf, but I’m a bit behind. I purchase the book the moment it is available and then it sits in the cue.

Before this week, I’ve skimmed different sections of Kiss and Tell, but now I’m actually starting at the beginning and working my way through. Can you believe it? I found great ideas to apply by page 2.

What inspired my deeper reading besides really wanting to finally get the chance? I didn’t love my hero. That’s right, my book hero was flat.

Probably doesn’t happen to you, but I didn’t even like my hero he was so flat. Then I stumbled on this thought in Susan May Warren’s book that gave me an idea, I needed a “Boy Scout Moment”

What is a Boy Scout Moment?

This is what Susan May Warren says, “A Boy Scout moment is taking a small, yet memorable act, and building it into one of the early chapters of a book allowing us to like the hero until his Noble Cause is apparent.”

I had a boy scout moment alright, but not in the right place. I needed to move it much earlier in the story. And it isn’t just something kind for someone else, it shows tenderness and not always when the heroine is on the page.

I used to think this moment was for the heroine to fall in love with the hero, but it is also for the reader to fall in love with the hero.

Placement of the Boy Scout Moment is monumental to creating a reader who loves the hero.

What is your favorite Boy Scout Moment in a book or movie?

5 Tips To Focus Your Time When Distractions Are “Cheaper By The Dozen”

Holidays are over. Kids are back in school. Everything is back to normal.

WHY CAN’T I CONCENTRATE FOR MORE THAN 5 SECONDS?

We have those amazing goals, our word for the year, shoot we even have deadlines. Still, we sit in the chair and look out the window, distract ourselves with tweets, and guzzle coffee until Starbucks has a brick with our name on it.

Is it any wonder when we spent the last month eating way to much junk food, spending time with dysfunctional relatives (Not mine of course…LOL), constantly aware of our guests to be the perfect host/hostess? Can any one say fun and a dash of crazy?

Time to get our focus back. Move into the new year with purpose and confidence. I know just the crew to help us out.

5 Tips To Focus Your Time:

1. Narrow Your Focus – You can only do so many things at one time.

You may have many things you want to accomplish, but let each day have it’s own focus. Mainstream blogging to one day and plan ahead. Spend one day more focused on networking.

2. Gather Your Tribe – They Support and Promote You.

As Seth Godin states in his book Tribes, it is important to know our tribe and work together to accomplish a goal. They are our supporters and we need their help and personal investment in what we are doing.

3. Make A List Of Priorities – Review this often to see if you are on track.

Chasing after our dreams is important, but if we leave our tribe behind, we miss the point. Opportune involvement must be agreed upon.

4. Designate What Is Sacred.

Every day you should write something, anything to keep the writing flowing. Get in the zone and don’t let anything stir you. Have a signal prepared to others that this time is to be respected at all costs.

5. Shut Yourself Off From Distractions.

When you are writing, Wear headphones, work in a place where you have limited distractions. If you have a propensity for tweeting your day away, post a note on your computer that says, “No tweeting until ____ words.

What do you do to help you focus?

Don’t forget our contest. . . everyone who signs up for my newsletter by clicking the image to the right by Friday enters a drawing for 4 amazing prizes, including 2 $10 gift cards to amazon.com.