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.

Miss me????  I know it’s been a month and a half since my last post but I’ve been on such a whirlwind ride that I’m just now getting time to catch my breath.  Between my new job at Blog Engage, trying to keep up with my other writing clients, trying to read an e-book or two in there somewhere, and still stay on top of my real world duties, I’m seriously thinking that I’ve lost at least about 87 hours.  LOL

So what else has been happening?  Well, I am in the process of getting ready for NaNoWriMo 2011.  That’s right boys and girls, it’s almost time once again to speed write our way into the record books and pound out 50,000 words in 30 days.  It’s a good thing we don’t have to have a working ready novel in that length of time, just a good first draft that could possibly be turned into a serious work of literary art.  Well, into a half way descent e-book anyway.  LOL  I have the basis for my book ready to go and a basic outline of my characters.  I can’t write any part of the story until 12:01 am on November 1st, but I can get all my ducks…er, characters in a row beforehand.  I’m hoping that by being somewhat prepared that I’ll have a shot at hitting the finish line again this year.  I’ve done it only once before, but I really want it this year.  I’m hoping to make this one into a real book before it’s all said and done with.

Also, as of this coming Monday (October 17th), I’m on vacation.  Okay, my real world bosses (husband and wife team) are taking their vacation, which means those of us who work under them will be on a forced vacation.  Oh darn.  It might sound like I’m throwing a pity-party (yeah I know, oh poor baby.  Have to sit home and do nothing but play on the puter for 2 whole weeks), but the truth is it will kind of suck.  I have to sit at home while my bosses go on their annual jaunt to Bermuda.  Oh well, I hope they have a good time and enjoy their vacation.  I know I will as my son who’s in the Navy is getting to come home during that exact same 2 weeks.  Now that was a gift from God himself.

As I said above, I’ve been trying to squeeze in a few e-books here and there, but I do have say one thing.  On one of my last posts (in August), I’d mentioned that I’d been given the chance to read and review a book by Heather Cashman called Perception.  I have to admit that I have been unable to finish this book.  Not because it sucks, because I cried 3 different times in the first part of this book.  My problem is that once into the middle of the book, it just drags on.  I’m not good with dragging on.  I’m like the little kid who goes for a walk in the woods and sees a bunny half way through.  I gotta follow that bunny and I’m probably going to get lost.  I will say this though, if you enjoy stories that have to do with a person having the ability to see the world through the eyes and thoughts of their animal companion, then I highly recommend Heather’s book.  It’s a very long book, but the characters are very realistic and there’s some killer scenes in the first half of the book.

Well, that’s all for now.  Hopefully I’ll get around to getting more posts done now that I’m getting into a regular swing of things.  I’ve got a few more e-books downloaded in the Kindle, so as time goes on, I’ll try and get a couple reviews posted for your amusement.  Until then, happy writing and remember, when the going gets tough…get a bigger hammer!!!!!  CIAO!!

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.

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.

I know they say that a person should never judge a book by its cover, but it’s quite alright to judge it based on the reviews of hundreds of other people.  One of the things I love the most about this site is that I can read several reviews about one book.  Not everyone is going to absolutely love or hate the same book.  There are going to be a varied array of feelings for each story and that gives me a good basis to go on before making a choice.

The other thing I love about the site is the fact that it’s a great place of writers and readers to intermingle.  I love the idea of being able to visit with the people who actually wrote the stories.  Unlike the major authors of the 20th century, it’s possible to see our modern authors as real people who can sit in your kitchen and have coffee (or tea) with you.  That’s very cool.

If you happen to be a member on GoodReads, please feel free to add me as a friend.  If not, go check it out and find out just how cool this site really is.  I guarantee you’ll find at least one thing you’ll love and that will keep you going back for more. 

I think it’s because that’s when I finally had time to sit down and do something for myself.  When I was a kid, that’s when the chores were done–homework was done–and the folks were off to bed.  I’d sit in my room in the quiet and write my stories.  After having kids of my own, night time was the only time I had to myself and didn’t have babies under foot.

Now that my kids are all grown, you’d think I’d be able to write anytime I wanted.  The truth is I still do my best work after everyone has gone off to bed.  It’s quiet and the ideas rolling around in my brain start to get a bit louder than normal.  I find it relaxing and it even helps me sleep better to get all that stuff out of my head because it can get quite noisy in there and it’s hard to sleep with all those people in there yakking and trying to get their voices heard.

When is your best time to write?  Are you a day writer or do the words flow more easily at night?

Here’s the thing.  I was trying to come up with something to write about for tonight, and just typed in the term “writing fiction” into the search engine.  I got a huge list full of places that claim to teach you how to write fiction.  And I asked myself, “can this be done?”.  I’m sure if there’s a story teller somewhere down deep inside you, it can be.  But, if you suck at telling stories, can you be taught?

In my opinion, there’s more to writing than just putting words to page.  There’s passion and meaning, and for me at least, there are little voices in my head that need to have their stories told.  Even if I just get in written out onto the page so they can have their say in the world.  Yes, I know how strange that sounds, but you know what I mean. (I hope)

Since the days when our ancestors sat around the campfires, story telling has been an art form all its own.  The characters become real entities.  The locations become real landscapes.  And if it’s done right, the emotions come off the pages and right into our hearts.  This is the mark of a true story teller.  Is this something that can be taught, or is this something that has to come from a special place that only a few people have within?

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.

I will tell you about these gifts though, as I”m thinking about making more and selling them.  May even be opening my own online store to do so.  I’ve been doing a lot of research into online stores and alternatives to both Ebay and Etsy.  I know Etsy is almost everyone’s favorite, but I”m broke and need something that isn’t going to cost me any start up fees at all.  As soon as I get it together, I’ll pass along the information I’ve collected so everyone can have a shot.

Anyway, I love to sew and make quilt blocks.  Problem is I’m not so great at making quilts.  I’m still working on my daughter’s, but it’s almost done….just need to put the back on and it’s ready to use.  So I decided to take some of my quilt blocks and turn them into purses.  I call them Rag Bags as they’re basically a big tote bag.  I had a ball making them and the cool thing is that no 2 are exactly alike.  I say that because I do the whole thing by hand and sometimes my seams are a bit off, or like one that I made for Christmas, the bags decide to design themselves and I’m only there to run the sewing machine.  LOL

In February, I’ll be holding my first giveaway thanks to Simply Stacie and her Handmade With Love Giveaway.  I’ll be holding my part on my other site, Redhead Rants.  I’m very excited and am already working on a couple of items to give away.  I’m hoping to have a store opened up and ready to go by then, with real things ready for sale.  LOL.  As soon as I get more information on this giveaway, I’ll let you know.

Well, I’d better get back to work.  I missed you all very much and I hope you all had a great Christmas.  I pray that you all have a great New Year and that we can all say at the end that it was the best one ever.

I was lucky enough to win a total of 5 books during the Spooktacular Book Blog Giveaway Event. 2 e-books and 3 physical books. So far, I’ve received 4 of the 5, with the last one sent being sent out tomorrow. Rather than just send out thank-you’s (which I’ve already done), I thought I’d do something nice for those 5 bloggers/writers to show my appreciation.

The very first book I won was a hard cover copy of Stephen King’s The Dark Half. This win came from Grab A Book From My Shelf, with a total of 3 winners. I loved the fact that the winners were chosen by the site-owner’s pets. Very cool video posted showing the drawing. LOL. Thanks to Spunky Doodle for sitting on my name.

The next book I won was an e-book copy of The Noble Pirates from the book’s author, R.L. Jean. Though there were originally going to be 5 winners, this kind person gave everyone a copy so everybody was a winner in this contest. And I’m thrilled to be one of them.

Number 3 came from a very sweet girl who’s created more than just a neat book, she’s created a visual trip through modern day Egypt that inspires children and adults alike. An ABC Escapade through Egypt is an e-book bursting with vivid pictures that take the reader/viewer through an alphabetical journey through modern-day Egypt. I highly recommend this e-book to anyone who has children. It’s very cool!!!

My forth win came from the lady who put this entire event together, Inspired Kathy. I love this site, and there’s a contest going on all the time. I won a copy of Dreadnought by Cherie Priest. It takes place during the Civil War on a train called the Dreadnought. That’s my mom’s favorite period in history so I,m thinking about giving it to her for Christmas.

And finally, I won a copy of Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews from Urban Girl Reader. I received a message from site owner, Sherri Wright that she will be sending my copy out tomorrow. She was a bit worried as the copy has been a little loved, but that’s totally cool with me. I like books that have known love.

I want to thank all of these people, and everyone who contributed to this event. I had a ball, and I can’t wait until the next one so we can do it again.