One of my duties at Blog Engage is to do a weekly column called What’s Your Niche.  It a little thing where I come up with various ideas on blog topics that have the possibility to make a profit, but I try to avoid the Make Money Online venue all together.  In last week’s column, I came up with the idea of doing the Paranormal niche.  And it really seemed to go over quite well.  So well that I even got excited about it and that’s how Para-Mythic came to be.

So, my goal is to see where I can take this site from Halloween to Halloween.  Even though I’ve already gotten the site set up and a couple posts up and running, I’m not going to call it official until Halloween.  Then I want to see how it goes within the next year.  I know it’s all going to be on me to make it or break it, but I’d really like to see this one take on a life of it’s own.  I’m kind of proud of this one, and very excited too.

So please feel free to stop by and let me know what you think of the place, if you have any requests for future posts, or if you have any suggestions or advice.  I’m really hoping that even though I’m starting this endeavor around Halloween, I’ll prove that this is a subject that works all year round.  Time will tell.

But, with this being a pretty big deal, I’ll be spending a lot of time one the site.  This isn’t just some site needing someone to keep up with things, this is an actual paying gig that requires me to do some actual work.  I can dig it.  That means no more playing around with the giveaway girls, or at least not as much.  I’ll still be checking out some of my more favoritest places and of course, keeping up with the book stuff and talking about fiction.  I still have a book to finish for Heather Cashman, which by the was has made me cry 3 different times and I just over half way done.

For those wh0 have never heard of Blog Engage, it’s an amazing place where bloggers come together and check out each others posts.  Blog posts are submitted to the site and other members vote on them.  If a post gets 11 or more votes, it becomes a published piece and that’s where everyone wants to be.  It’s fun and it can bring a lot of traffic to your blog.  The site also has their own blog, which is where I’ll be doing my thing.  There’s a lot of valuable information on this site, all geared toward helping our fellow bloggers.

And don’t worry, I won’t be giving up on giveaways altogether.  I would have a meltdown if I could enter a book giveaway or 2.  I’ll keep you all up to date and I still have my own sites to run.  Won’t be giving up on those either.  So stick around and see what we can cook up.  This is going to be a fun and bumpy ride, but that’s what makes it so interesting.

As you sit and try to come up with various story ideas, think about your real life.  Not the good parts where everything comes together as it should, but the parts that just totally suck.  Use them as fodder for your story lines.  So you didn’t get the promotion at work you wanted and it went to the guy who never seems to know what’s going on.  Use that as a base for a story.  Why does he always come out smelling like a rose?  Why did he get the promotion?  What are the forces behind his odd behavior?  Don’t stop to think about plot, just write and go for it.

This can be applied to just about any aspect of our lives.  We all know that sometimes, life just sucks.  But rather than hold it in or take it out on those around us, use it to your advantage.  Write out a story where you win and the rest of the world loses.  For a change you could be the one who gets the promotion, the guy/girl, and an award winning story in the end.

The first one I found is Red Hot Books.  I love a good book, but add a little paranormal twist to it and I’m hooked.  But add a little naughtiness and paranormal twists to it and I’m totally there.  And this site brings it all .  If there’s a book out there that brings any or all of these elements to the table, then that book can probably be found at Red Hot Books.

Another site having a giveaway is Fiction Vixen.  I love this site.  I’ve been a member for a LONG time here and found some of the coolest books through this site.  It started out as a place for the webmistress to talk about her love for romance novels.  But in the past 2 years it’s gone beyond that and there are now several ladies doing reviews on the site and all have their own favorite genres.  It’s the place to go for all your book need to know.  And right now they’re having a birthday giveaway for an Amazon Kindle loaded with a ton of books.

And the last place I want to talk about is Parajunkie.  I’ve been to this site a few times and she’s got a thing for the paranormal.  The thing about the site’s owner, Rachel, is that it’s not just paranormal books that make her who she is.  She’s a junkie for all things paranormal and has been since a very early age.  Right now she’s having a blogoversary and she’s giving 2 lucky winners their choice of books from her personal book shelf.

One of my favorite places to find giveaways is through a Ning site called Book Blogs.  This is a huge community and the Giveaway Group has well over a thousand members.  Whenever one of the members is hosting a book giveaway on their own sites, they post a notice in the group.  And with that many people, there’s never a shortage of blogs to visit.

The other place I go to find book giveaways is through GoodReads.  I’ve mentioned them on this site before, but the giveaway section deserves a little love all on its own.  Again, because there are so many people on the site, there are always book giveaways going on.  The difference is that you don’t have to visit the hosts blogs.  These giveaways are done right on site.  And there are hundreds of them.

If you know of a great place to find book giveaways or are having one yourself, let me know.  I’ll be more than happy to pass along the information and jump in myself.

This is a cool way for some of the smaller book blogs to get their names out there and get noticed.  Think you’d like to be involved in something like this?  You can.  The 3rd edition will be held from September 23rd-30th.  There’s a sign up form right on the SBBG site so get in there and get your name in the hat.

Good luck and go win some awesome books!!!

Another thing I wanted to tell you about is a giveaway happening right now at Paranormal Haven.  They are holding a Fright Night giveaway and 2 winners will be chosen.  Winner will get a Fright Night baseball cap, a full-length movie poster, and some Fright Night removable tattoos.  And though I’m not a huge movie buff, I’d kinda like to see this movie.  Why?  Well, I do like some vampire movies—–though I prefer vampire books.  But, the idea of having Colin Farrel nibbling on my neck would turn me into a movie buff right now.  Then to find out that David Tennant (The previous and most awesome Dr. Who) is also in the movie made me want to run out and see it asap.  Hubby would never go, but wouldn’t matter anyway.  I’d never remember he was in the room.  LOL—Go get in on the giveaway while you can, it ends on August 24th.

And finally, as of Monday (August 22nd), Amanda from On A Book Bender will be hosting her very first Bout of Books Read-A-Thon.  This sounded like a lot of fun so I jumped in with both feet and have put my name it the hat to officially be part of this event.  Of course, all I’ll be doing is reading, but I have to set goals for this and I will.  I just hope I can attain them.  LOL

The Read-A-Thon will run from the 22nd through Sunday, August 28th, while the sign up form will be open until Saturday the 27th.  There will be 10 different giveaways held during this time, but you’ve got to be signed up in order to enter.  So, here are my goals for this event.  Because I don’t get a chance to read as often as I’d like, I’m kinda setting myself up for a fall here but what the heck.
Goal #1–To finish reading Perception by Heather Cashman and get my review posted.
Goal #2–To read at least 2 more full books before the end of the event.

I know those don’t sound like big goals, but I really don’t get a lot of time to read.  When I do, it’s usually late at night and I’m doing all I can to stay awake to finish at least the next chapter.  LOL

So, go check out some of the things happening around the web.  If you’ve got an upcoming book related event and would like me to do a post about it, just ask.  I’ll be more than happy to pass it along.

Haw!!!  Got your attention, didn’t I.  Well now that you’re here, why not hang around and find out more about this naughty little subject?  There is an aspect of the fiction world that not a lot of people feel comfortable talking about and that is erotic fiction.  The truth is that Erotica is becoming one of the leading genres of fiction.  Most really good books have some sort of erotic notations to them, but they come with a different label.  It’s all in how you look at it.

The Naked Reader Book Club is part of the EdenFantasys.com franchise and a great place to find a little something more titillating than you’re used to reading.  Readers can check out the schedules for upcoming meetings so everyone can enjoy the book of choice.  There is also a Naked Reader Book Store where anyone can buy the newest book on the club’s list, or one that’s already been read before.

The club is part of the SexIs magazine, which is produced by the people at EdenFantasys.  At the bottom of the page, they have their community calendar where readers can find out the dates and times of upcoming events, including the bi-monthy Naked Reader meetings.  This is an interesting way to expand your own horizons and maybe even bring a spark back into your own boudoir.

If you’ve ever considered expanding your reading horizons into the Erotica zone, this would be a great place to start.  There’s no pressure to go beyond your own limits, and you are in full control of your reading materials.  It’s the world at the edge of fiction, but the basic ideas of what most fiction has in store.  Dare to take yourself into a whole new world by entering The Naked Reader Book Club.  And remember, here it’s okay to leave the lights on.

Now mind you, in order to participate, bloggers don’t have to go with the theme completely.  They just have to make sure to add a post (or more) every day.  But this was almost like a calling from the literary gods for me.  I’ve been trying to get back into writing fiction once again, and this was almost like someone from a higher plane of existence reached down and screamed “What more do we need to do to get your attention???  Go For It!!!”  So, I am.

Throughout the month, I’ll be adding different things about fiction.  Because I do love fictional books so much, I’ll be talking about the ones I’m reading—or trying to read.  I’ll add different giveaways going on to win books, and I’ll even do what I can to talk about those who are reviewing the books.  If it’s about fiction, I’ll try and post about it here.  Whatever I can do to make sure to add something everyday.

I really want to make this work and to be able to say at the end of the month that I achieved my goals.  So sit back and come along on a ride to where fiction and reality may end up being the same thing.

My name is Christine Senter and I’ve been a freelance writer for the past 20+ years.  I began writing as a hobby in grade school and began trying to write professionally at about age 18.
I wasn’t able to go to college as children and life got in the way, so I read everything I could find about the writing field on my own time.  I wrote articles, short stories, and poetry on an old
1950s manual typewriter.  And after several rejection letters, I did manage to get a couple poems published in small chapbooks.

In 1994, I finally joined the online revolution.  My husband got us our first computer and I spent 3 days in my room teaching myself how to work the Internet and how to build a site using HTML.  In 1995, I found a free online site that would help me with my online writing career.  The class was called “Beginning Writing” and the teacher was Shery Ma Belle Arrieta.  She taught me a lot about being a writer online, and soon gave me my own column on her personal website.  Her site was called The E-Writer’s Place and I wrote a column called The Write Sites.  I researched the Internet looking for sites that had anything to do with writing, from free classes to research sites to literary agents.

Within a couple of years, I was producing my own sites through a company called WebSeed Publishing.  It was one of the very first writing communities and I ran 2 different sites.  One was called Finding the Father.com—a site about finding God in today’s society—and the other was called PlantLore.com—a site that looked into the histories, mysteries, and mythologies of the plant kingdom.  When Webseed went under, so did my sites.

It was then I decided to take the plunge and buy my first domain.  It was a site called The Prompt Writer and was filled with writing prompts for my fellow writers.  I also put together a weekly newsletter for my readers and posted each week’s prompts onto the site.  Though I no longer maintain the newsletter, the site has been updated several times and is still filled with free writing prompts.

From 2004-2007, I worked at writing poetry and short stories.  I had a few published on various websites and made a little money along the way.  When I started writing for Associated Content, my writing career took on a life of its own.  I found out that I could make money as a writer, though I didn’t see me making enough to pay off any bills.  I had also started writing for Hubpages and a couple other sites that are no longer in existence.

In 2008, everything changed.  I was contacted by a pro-blogger by the name of Garry Conn.  Garry and I became great friends and he began paying me to write SEO styled articles for his many web blogs.  Up to that time, I had had a blog, but it was more of a play place than a way of making money.  Garry taught me how to monetize my sites and how to run a WordPress blog.  With a year’s time, I owned 3 more blogs—Special Offers Blog, Sapheyerblu Review, and Christine Senter.com.

Today, I still work to maintain my many blogs, though I don’t get it done as often as I’d like.  I do, however, make enough to keep me going by writing for several different content sites such as TextWriter.com and WordGigs.  I also work as a ghostwriter for a couple other bloggers who prefer to remain anonymous.

Outside of being a writer, I also run a couple different online shops.  I run a webstore called Classic Curios Boutique and I’m working on putting together my own Zazzle store.  However these are only as a hobby for the time being.  My real triumph is winning my own EZshoppe called Prairied Treasures, which I’m working on getting put together as I write this.  I want to have enough items made (all handmade items) to make it worth sending people over to see.  My problem is that I’m a perfectionist and I can’t see anyone wanting to buy my jumbles.

So that’s me.  I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff I’ve forgotten about.  Several sites I’ve written stuff on that I can’t remember the address of or even the name of.  I’m sure there’s a lot more out there about me, but some of it’s probably not worth seeing.  If I think of more stuff, I’ll update this page.  Until that time, this is the bio that is me.