Olympic Tennis & My Team USA GIVEAWAY

The Olympics are in full swing and I want YOU, my readers, to WIN. No, I am not giving out medals. Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals are only for our wonderful athletes.

Have no fear...you can still win!

My 1st book, SECRET LOVE MATCH, has a heroine who is struggling to claim a berth on the USA Olympics tennis team, I am giving away an official Team USA Backpack to one lucky person who leaves a comment*.

No Purchase necessary, but I would love you to check out this Book Blurb. Red Rose Publishing is in the process of replacing my REAL name on the ebooks, but know that whether you buy a copy by Nancy Lee Badger or Nancy Lennea, it is the same fun romantic romp, inside!

Book Blurb

Rebecca Delacourt has played and taught tennis for the last three years. At twenty-one, she knows what she wants. Without help from her wealthy parents, she buys a condo in Glen Cove, NY and plans to be on the Olympic Tennis team. She has no time for men, marriage, or children. Her mother gave up her acting career when she became pregnant with older sister, Laney, whose illegitimate son is mute due to recent emotional trauma. Rebecca still manages to squeak out some time for her charity work for breast cancer research in Baltimore every year.

Taylor, a former TV actor, notices Becka. She knows him—she’s dreamed of his TV persona for years. They meet at her parent’s country club. He thinks he’s found gold in the athletic blond. After beating him at tennis he meets her parents. Too bad he knows them—a former co-star, and the man helping get him auditions. Her sister moves in—thwarting any privacy. She’s hiding out and is attacked. Taylor finds himself falling for Becka. Will he change his arrogant ways, save her nephew from kidnappers, and realize she’s the one? Becka wonders if dreams can still be reached with someone beside her. Will they reach their dreams together?


*since I can only ship to addresses in the USA, if a commenter is from outside this country, they will win a choice of one of my 8 ebooks, and I will choose a second winner for the backpack. Good Luck!

Red Rose Publishing Buy Link

Amazon

NOOK

Nancy Lee Badger

ESPRESSO (Book Machine), ANYONE?

A while back, I read an article in my local newspaper that talked about a printing press for the digital age. There, in black and white, was a photo of an independent bookstore in our nation’s capital where a store employee was using a new-fangled, self-contained printer called the Espresso Book Machine.

It really isn’t a simple copier. The Espresso Book Machine will print paperback books of various sizes, thickness, in color or black and white. The best part? It does it while you watch.

To say I was intrigued is an understatement. I immediately wondered how this would help me sell more books. I just proofed the first print copy of my Scottish Time Travel, My Honorable Highlander, so I soaked up every word in the article. I was more than eager to locate the machine and watch it in action.

Guess what? N.C.State has one! Nestled beneath the library on Hillsborough Street is the copy center called Wolf Xpress Print and Copy Service. Better yet, they planned to host a group of local writers with a demonstration. I snuck in and was welcomed by Teri Hellmann, the manager of Wolf Xpress, and her associate, Anthony. (I was actually invited by a member of the group)

The machine is no bigger than a good-sized office copier, but the sides are clear! You can watch the pages as they are printed. You can smell the glue as the cover is attached. Terri printed a approximately 9 by 7” book, of about 300 pages, in less than 5 minutes. When all was said and done, and they answered all the questions I could think of, they printed several copies of the Wolf Xpress Espresso Book Machine Manual and passed them out. Free!

The booklet states that N.C. State (my sister Kim Beegle’s Alma Mater) plans to produce:

·         Custom Textbooks

·         Course packs, lab manuals, & study guides

·         Student thesis & research projects

·         Novels and poetry collections

·         University or corporate reports

·         Comic Books & Graphic Novels

·         And more

Wow! Here is an opportunity for me to print my own books. It looks similar to the on-line publishing I am currently trying at Amazon’s Createspace. You choose the size you want the book, then download the template. Terri and her staff will even sell you an ISBN. They also have designers on staff who can create a book cover for you.

The demonstration was awesome, and I can see why colleges and independent bookstores might want these Espresso Book Machines. I paid a fee to Createspace to make my book available for sale to libraries and colleges, so I should be able to see more sales as these machines pop up. The newspaper article mentioned that this machine turns independent bookstores into places to get books published. It can potentially allow them to have as many books as Amazon, available within minutes to their in-store customer.

For the voracious reader (like me) NOT having to wait for the book to get shipped, is great. Also, for self-published authors whose books are not available at bookstores, hurray!

Nancy Lee Badger

I'm From ANOTHER WORLD (the soap opera)

Nancy & Joe Rothenberger with an EMMY

I have been traveling back and forth from my home in North Carolina to help out with family in Florida, and I recently made a side trip to visit an old friend. Not that he is any older than me, of course, but he did live two doors down from me back in Huntington, NY and we graduated elementary, junior high, and high school together.

Joseph Rothenberger had a special man for a dad...Joe Senior...and the older Mr. Rothenberger took pity on an eighteen-year-old neighbor. I hadn't yet found a summer job, that summer after my freshman year of college. He said he could get me a day's work at NBC, where he was a producer.

Now I had not, until that point, been much of a soap opera watcher (if you don't count Dark Shadows) but even I had heard of Another World. So, off we went in his chauffer-driven car toward New York City. Don't ask me where the studio was, but I enjoyed the lovely neighborhood since I walked around it with other actors during our lunch break.

Other actors? Yes, I was hired to work as an on-air actor in a non-speaking role! I played a hospital Candystriper, and pushed open the double doors in a fake hospital corridor. Two 'real' actors followed right behind me.

It took all day to record the one-hour show. I received a check for $50, which was a fortune (later that summer I earned $25/week as a camp counselor) I could work no more than one day since I did not have an actor's card, but that was okay.

I still have the script for the show with various hash-marks and I amazed other dorm mates when I sat and read along with the script when the show aired in early 1972. (Yeah, I'm an oldie but goodie)

What has any of this to do with my life? I never wanted to act, but found that a one day stint on a popular television show helped me when I worked in retail, served in a restaurant, or fielded emergency calls as a 9-1-1 operator. Each job, over the years, went smoother because I became what they wanted of me. Today, I am who I want to be, which is why I write books.

Kathleen & Nancy

Getting back to Joe... I drove the 80 or so miles across Florida to his home in Ocala and finally met his lovely wife, Kathleen. She has helped edit several of my books, and it was great to put a face to the voice. When she and Joe gave me a tour of their studio (they create advertising videos and the like) I spotted from the corner of my eye something large and gold.

A close up of the EMMY

"Is that...an Emmy?" I asked.

When he brought it closer, my eyes widened. I held an Emmy his dad had been awarded for...GET THIS...

Another World!

Eerie considering all the shows the man produced. I got Kathleen and Joe to let me take photos to remember a small, ancient part of my life that made me the bullsh*tter I am today...no offense.

Cats, Dogs, & Veterans...Oh MY!

Dad is out of the hospital and back among his veteran buddies at the Daytona Beach VA Home, and we enjoyed several opportunities to visit him. Among the delights of the place, beside the areas available to the residents to play cars, watch TV, or stroll around the grounds are the special guardians of the group home.

Cats, dogs, birds, and fish.

The birds live in a huge birdcage near the main entrance and chirp and sing when you walk by (or, in the case of the majority of the residents, wheel by). The gigantic fishtank is also there in the main drag.

The cats and dogs are another issue. They run free! Well, run is not the term I would normally use. The few dogs we see when we visit are small and have minds of their own. The cats are more friendly. One, in fact, fell in love with my sister's purse! He was happy to sit on it or lie beside it while we played cards with my dad.

Dad is a Navy veteran and the home is a Godsend for Mom. He is cared for and fed VERY well. Love you, Dad!

Nancy

Goodbye Nora Ephron

Today's newspaper sidebar (something I scan quickly...would rather get back to my writing) stopped me, cold. It simply said "Ephron, writer of 'When Harry Met Sally' dies."

I recognized the name. I recalled the 1989 movie. I read the entire article by Adam Berstein.

I had to read more about Nora, who shared a first name with one of my favorite romance writers. Seems she passed away at 71 after three Oscar nominations and a life spent 'in the movies'.

I did not realize she wrote screenplays for some of my favorite movies. Besides WHMS, there was 'Silkwood', You've Got Mail' (though I always hated the title), and 'Julie & Julia'.

She is called a rare combination of writer, director, and producer and her work will be missed.

Cut! That's a wrap, Nora Ephron

Nancy

Brainstorming with author Leanne Banks

One of the best things I learned from Leanne Banks about writing, whether its the first book, or your latest, is that it is "okay to write crap."

Leanne spoke at a recent Heart Of Carolina Romance Writers chapter meeting, here in Raleigh, NC, and I was impressed with her openness, ideas, and bubbly personality.

She forced us into small groups to think up conflicts. She said something like, "Think of what a person would rationally do in a situation, and have the character do it differently."

I think she has the right idea. Every story, especially my 'happy ever after' romances, need conflict...something that keeps my hero and shero apart (yeah, she said shero).

Thanks Leanne!

Nancy Lee Badger

Release Day for MY HONORABLE HIGHLANDER

It's here!
Blurb:

Bumbling present day herbalist, Haven MacKay, gets more than she bargains for when her love spell goes awry, is cast back in time, and meets her true love -- Laird Kirkwall Gunn.

                  

Kirk’s plans go slightly off course when he falls in love with a woman wandering through the Scottish Highlands. After all, he has pledged to marry another, from an enemy clan, in order to end a century-old feud.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/Knot6H

NOOK: http://bit.ly/K4TqzH

All Romance EBooks:   http://bit.ly/JmqjXJ

Smashwords: http://bit.ly/KxBBbT

ISBN 9781476417400

Nancy