Special Countdown Deal for LADY WICKED

Click here or on cover to buy!

I'm pleased to announce LADY WICKED is a Countdown Deal on Amazon Kindle's new promotional program for their Kindle Direct Publishing authors. For one week only-Nov. 3-10, it is 99 cents! At midnight PST Nov. 10, the deal is gone!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E6GN68M

Meeting the Real Heroes

A few fun things about being an author. You get to meet real heroes.

From the Emerald City Writers Conference in October. Montlake generously arranged a morning breakfast with these marvelous firefighters serving doughnuts and pastries and posing with authors.

The rest of the conference was fun too.

PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH ME

I'm tinkering with my web-blog again-please be patient with me. I'll have it the way I want it pretty soon, but the header is not yet right. I don't necessarily like this beveled oval in the design-probably too much conflicting detail-yet,I do like it. In any case, it's a very complex effect and I wonder if I could ever even duplicate it again. So I want to look at it for awhile. You know how I am about learning things. Must learn. Must experiment. Must keep on going down that road!

And of course every time I change one part, I have to change the rest. The width I have here is probably too wide for a lot of viewers, and I would like the best viewing experience for all of my viewers.

I'm setting up a separate website. Yes, I know I said I wouldn't do that, but I think it will be a good idea now. And I have help now, which is a very good thing. More on all that, too, later!

Thanks!

FREE Copies of IN THE LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD!

Buy Lady Wicked Here

It's taken awhile-I had a number of things I wanted to do to make this story even better. This is the LADY WICKED I want the story to be, and with the cover I want it to have.

Buy In the Land of the Long
White Cloud here

To celebrate, I'm giving away another author's book, IN THE LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD by Sarah Lark, one that is very special to me, for it was the book that sustained me and gave me solace and strength during my husband's final illness.

If you'd like to have this book, no strings attached and no re-use of your email address without your permission, I will be giving away 10 ebooks and one print or audio book.

DEADLINE: midnight PST, Monday, July 29, 2013.

 You do not have to buy LADY WICKED or anything else. I'm doing this because I want to, and because I find it hard now to imagine how I would have gone through that so difficult time in my life without the place to get away and recuperate, regain my strength, if I had not had this book at that particular time. I can't say why-there are many truly excellent and wonderful books available that can really touch the heart. This one is all of those things, but in particular, it was the only book that could reach me then.

Getting into the drawing is easy. Just send me an email at delle@dellejacobs.com. Let me know if you only want to be ing the drawing for one of the 10 ebooks or would like to be in the drawing for a print or audio version. And IF you would like to be added to my newsletter list to receive EXTREMELY RARE news of releases, major news events and contests, just say so. Otherwise your email address will not be used in any way except to send your book if you win.

One BEST SELLER Leads to Another!

#12 Amazon Top Seller!

FAERIE has hit the top lists again! Yesterday Amazon featured FAERIE as a Kindle Daily Deal, with a one day reduced price of $.99. By midnight my lovely gal had reached her highest point ever on the Amazon rankings- #12. And here I had merely hoped she'd reach the Top 100! Currently she's the #1 Historical Romance, #1 Fantasy Romance and #1 Paranormal Romance. And not only that, I've been propelled into the Top 100 Authors list, currently at #38.

Don't blink. It could all go away just that fast.

Yet, Amazon is not through with me for this cycle of promo. Today FIRE DANCE began a feature in a different promo: for one month, FD will be featured among the 100 books under $3.99, now called the Kindle Monthly Deal. Already it has climbed significantly in ranking.

But how well will this promotion work in comparison with the one-day-only, shooting-star approach? And how much will this month's promo capitalize on past promo?

Last month, and back into May, both FIRE DANCE and LOKI'S DAUGHTERS were featured in other promotions. I think this is part of the current success of FAERIE. And this might explain why it's important for authors to find visibility not just for their books but for themselves.

Well, folks, I have to say that Amazon and Montlake really keep me hopping and my head spinning, and there's no doubt their promo is very effective. While as an indie author I do love the independence and control over my books and career, there are just some things I can't do, people I can't reach on my own. Some indie authors have done promo extremely well, while I've merely done it well. It's Amazon and Montlake that have capitalized on my endeavors and got my books in front of readers I could never have reached. And I love sales. So I also love offering my books to readers at a sale price.

Now back to the cave. LADY WICKED is in its last editing, and due for release, ASAP!

I Saw vs. She Saw

What a difference the Point of View makes! (Wait for it...)

What I saw:                                                     What Pam saw:

A few minutes later--

What I saw:                                                       What Pam saw:

Walking Into Doors-With Flowers

Red Heliconia

So how many ways can a person Walk into Doors? Several, it seems. And like Wearing the Water, they're all closely related. Answer coming up.

Pam, Delle, and the God Ku

On Thursday, we took a long trip all the way around the island. And looking over my photos, I realize I have well over a hundred of them, so I'm dividing the trip into two parts: The Hawai'i Tropical Botanical Garden and The Volcano-Kilauea. I hope I can get some pics from Pam on the Kilauea crater, then find my older ones from 1991 and 2009, to show you how much it's changed. But today I'll take you into the Garden.

Monstera Deliciosa

I first went to the Garden in 1991 when Hubbubs and I went to Hawai'i with another couple for their wedding on Oahu. Like most of the Big Island, everything resurrects memories.

The Hawai'i Tropical Botanical Garden, located in the Onomea Valley just north of Hilo, is a place of wonders, in its natural state a place of beauty, but in the hands of people who love growing things, something never to forget. The plants, the design, even the paths have changed in 22 years, yet everywhere I went, I remembered. That was a good thing. You see, Thursday was the 32nd anniversary of our marriage. And this was the first trip since Hubbubs passed away in January. So this was a day for celebrating the joy of the past.

Banana

The path into the valley is steep and I'm no longer good at walking uphill so I made arrangements to be hauled back out in the golf cart for that purpose. I noticed a lot of people made that choice. So I didn't feel so bad. There's a planked path into the valley, an improvement because it's hard to keep one's footing in wet gravel, and this is a very rainy part of the world.

Going down, we passed through a very cultured but natural-appearing jungle. The giant vine on the tree is a plant commonly called Split-leafed Philodendron. My dad would have a cow whenever he heard that because it's not a philodendron at all, but in fact is Monstera Deliciosa. He grew a giant one in our garden dining room in Illinois, and achieved a small miracle of producing one very incredible fruit that looked like corn and tasted like banana and pineapple combined.  It lives up to its delicious name.

Pink Ginger

And speaking of fruit, there are lots of bananas in the valley. I didn't realize they have such beautiful blossoms.

Ginger is common, but wasn't as visible as I remembered before. I loved this pink one, but never did see a good red torch ginger.

Spots of color were everywhere among the thousand shades of green. I've heard-and even though an anthropologist told me, I've been a bit skeptical-that some tropical peoples have no equivalent word for green. Instead they have many words for different kinds of green, not so much the shades of green as the plant or part of the plant the shade of green represents.

Window to a Spot of Color

Close-up on the Spot of Color

Here you can see a spot of red I caught through the dense forest. I couldn't tell what it was, although I suspect it's ginger. I enlarged it, and still can't be quite sure so I won't name it. If I could see its leaves, maybe I could tell.

Phalaenopsis Orchid

There's an entire garden devoted to orchids, although nothing here grows alone. Orchids are often found growing on trees, as this Phalaenopsis does. My dad grew orchids too, and I've always loved them. I remember how Jeff was so amazed at all the orchids in the garden, growing in their natural settings.

Kelsy and the Peace Lily

But it was the flashy heliconia he loved most. There's a photo of him somewhere grinning widely as he drapes a bright yellow and red one over his shoulder.

Orange Heliconia

Somewhat like this flashy smile Kelsy is wearing. There are Peace Lilies everywhere. They're a common houseplant here on the Mainland-I have two. But I've never seen a blossom stalk as huge as this one, so Kelsy graciously bent down to let me compare the bloom's size with her face.

Don't know what this is

There's a beautiful koi pond, and a waterfall. My pics aren't so good of those, but they're worth seeing.

Onomea Bay

 At the very bottom of the valley I found my biggest memory. As I walked the path along the edge of the little bay, I remembered the way the tide had rushed in back in 1991.

Onomea Bay and Rushing Tide

I remember how in awe we were at the magnificent color of the sea, of the way the driftwood juxtaposed with the coarse rock, and how the sea gathered into the triangular bay and met the spot where the stream had cut its way downhill, fresh water meeting saltwater.

Where Sea Meets Stream

Jeff's Daughter Pam at Onomea Bay

I remember wishing I could see it in full flow after a heavy downpour. There would be a small waterfall, and the wild surf would throw it back upon itself. There's still an overhang where the tide is slamming the rock beneath the falls' steep descent.



 Pam, Betty and Kelsy were wonderful traveling companions. And they understood how much this trip meant to me on so many levels.

Yes. Many happy memories. And now, many more.


But wait, I forgot my punchline again. So-- how many ways are there to walk into doors? Guess I was wrong-there's apparently just one: Having taken a gentle, cooling shower after yesterday's nasty sunburn, and stepping out of the shower, catching your shoulder against the plastic mounting trim of the door. Ouch, Kelsy!