Wild West Giveaway Party!

Welcome! I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do. :) I just adore Cowboys and the Wild West, and could think of no better time to feature them and their writers than during the week leading up to my 19th birthday(March 31)!

So, here you go, guys... Enjoy! :) (And be sure to read to the bottom to learn how to enter and get extra entries to increase your chances of winning!)


What is your favorite birthday memory?

Denise: Birthday’s weren’t a huge deal in my family, so I never had a birthday party . . . until husband surprised me on my 30th birthday. I thought I was going to a family Thanksgiving dinner, and all my closest friends and family were there for my party instead. :)


Linda: From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, I had been sick for a number of years with undiagnosed Crohn's Disease and was about fifteen pounds underweight. One February, my mother had come to visit for my birthday. She just stayed overnight, but on “the day,” she kept asking me what my husband had planned for me. I really didn't know. Over the years, our birthdays began going by relatively unnoticed for some reason. I wasn't sure whether he'd do anything for me or not.

He was late coming home, so I had hopes he was engaged in some last-minute shopping, although I couldn't imagine what he could get without spending quite a bit of time. But he came home, only twenty minutes later than usual, with several grocery bags bundled in his hands.

That day, my husband illustrated how well he knew me by buying every single snack I love—salty, savory, and sweet; cashews, snack crackers, Whoppers, Cheetohs, and more. Everything. Then he made the ultimate sacrifice: he promised to stay out of them!

I managed to gain a bit of weight over the next week or so.

Mary: I’ve never been real fond of my birthday. I was born in March, on the 20th and I was raised to always claim I was born on the first day of spring. The trouble with that is, March 20th is apt to be a disgusting day. I had so many birthdays ruined by cold and rain and snow and mud. Throw in it was supposed to be the first day of Spring and it was a big disappointment all around.

If you could invite one person you have never met to your birthday party who would it be?

Denise: I think I’d invite Jesus. It would be so cool just to sit and listen to him and to bask in his love.

Linda: My husband's mother. She passed away long before I met him, and I'd love to have known her. Stories about her abound in his family—stories of crafty childraising, fishing prowess, culinary delights. She just seems like someone I'd love to know and learn from.


Mary: I can’t believe how hard I’m thinking to answer this question. It’s really hard. The trouble with famous people I admire is, I’m afraid I’d hate them. I imagine most famous people are kind of strange in real life, like movie stars, don’t you? I’m going to go for Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman. She’s got the best blog ever and it’s hugely successful. If she met me she’d mention me on her blog wouldn’t she? And then I’d sell a zillion books.


What is your favorite thing to eat on your birthday?
Denise: I’m not a big fan of cake, so we usually head to the best chocolate shop in the world, which happens to be in our area. They have fabulous chocolates and a dark chocolate and raspberry sundae that’s too die for. (They ship too! http://www.debrand.com/)


Linda: That differs from year to year. My birthday is February 11, and this year I craved Chinese food. Nobody seemed to pick up on my hint until weeks later. Meanwhile, I had terrific Mexican food at a place my husband chose, and a great traditional pot roast at a restaurant my mother favors.

Mary: I don’t like frosting on angel food cake. Right now I’m really hungry so instead of cake, I’m going with a really great steak. Perfectly grilled. A filet. Yum.


If, for your birthday wish, you could be a character in any movie, who would you be?
Denise: I’d choose one of the Jane Austen movies, if for no other reason than to talk in a beautiful English accent and wear those gorgeous gowns.


Linda: This may be cheating, but long ago, there was a series based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, Little House on the Prairie. They also made a couple of movie-length episodes, or made-for-TV movies. I want to be Laura. I've always wanted to be Laura. I've considered myself an anachronism since I was a teenager. Really, give me my indoor plumbing and electricity, and send me back to the prairie. (I admit, I'm spoiled to modern conveniences!)


Mary: Carmen, these questions!!!!! Do you make them up after fifty cups of coffee or what??????? A character in a movie….I don’t want to be a heroic character because they inevitably have to fight for their lives. That would be unpleasant. I want to be a happy character, and who makes movies about them, huh? No one, that’s who. I’ll be Doris Day in The Thrill of it All, with James Garner as her obstetrician husband. Very sweet and funny.


What is your favorite thing about cowboys?
Denise: I think the biggest appeal is their ruggedness. They’re men’s men, tough, and masculine. Such a beautiful contrast to the feminine heroine.


Linda: Cowboys have a code I truly respect. I've heard it summed up in two words: “no excuses.” Get the job done. Don't shirk. Don't whine. Don't procrastinate.


Granted, this may be idealized. Many of the cowboys I know are one way on the job, and another way off. Cowboy wives may have more of an insight!


But this image impresses me. I wonder what would happen if everyone held to that creed.


Mary: I'm just never having more fun than when I have the cowboy lift the brim of his Stetson with his thumb and say, "This here, looks like shootin' trouble, little missy. You best get back and let me handle it."


I love their take charge ways. The life that makes them battle nature everyday…and win. The way they never say a paragraph when a sentence will do, and never say a sentence when a word will do and never say a word when a grunt will do. It's just a fun type to create.




RULES:
**USA addresses only, please**

The winner will receive autographed copies of each of these books:

Sharpshooter in Petticoats and the 3-in-1 "Lassoed in Texas Trilogy" by Mary Connealy

A Cowboy's Touch by Denise Hunter

and Give the Lady a Ride by Linda Yezak.

Don't those look great?!? :)

TO ENTER:

*Leave a comment with your name and email address (so I can contact you if you win). The comment is mandatory. You will not be entered unless you leave a comment AND your email address.

*If you leave a comment you will be entered unless you specify that you do not want to be entered.

*Here are the ways to get entries:


(First entry) The mandatory comment saying you would like to be entered with your email address.


+1 Become one of my followers OR subscribe to my blog by email.


+2 Read and leave a comment on my review of Love Amid the Ashes


+2 Post about this giveaway, or put up one of by special banners which can be found HERE. (More directions w/the banners)


+2 Ask one of the authors a unique question (or something you just REALLY want to know!)


+1 For each person you get to come and enter this giveaway who metions you by name (up to four). (Be sure they use your specific name so I know who to give the point to.)


**You can earn a total of 12 entries if you do all of the above entry options. Make sure to tell me in your entry comment on this post which of the things you did to get extra entries. (You can put them on one comment if you want to, you don’t have to separate each entry into its own comment or anything like that.)**


*The contest will run from today (March 25) until 6:00 CST on Thursday (March 31). I will announce the winner that night. The winner is always randomly drawn. I will contact the winner either directly after choosing him/her or on Friday the 1st, and then that person will have one week to reply. If the winner doesn't reply within that time period, I will pick a new winner.


Good luck! Thanks for visiting.