Hello Pink Fuzzies and all!

It's October first and autumn and getting cooler here in sunny Southern Florida. Well... Make that a tad cooler, LOL Isn't this a breathtaking time of year? I was born and raised in the north--Southern New Jersey to be specific and I am the first to tell you, you just can't take the seasons out of a northerner.

I love this time of year. The beautiful imagery. The bursts of gold, yellow, maroon, reds of the oaks and maples mixed with the hunter greens and the grey blues of the pines. The crisp bite in the air and most of all Halloween.


Yes! Halloween:)

I began pulling out my autumn and Halloween decorations three weeks ago. And I am gearing up for the celebrations on my website and blog as well. You know how most people celebrate the winter holidays--Christmas, Hannuka(sp), New Year's? Well, this is what I do for Halloween. I am a bit overzealous, but hey! I am a paranormal enthusiast and writer.

I dropped in today to tell you all about the Paranormal celebrations going on around the cyber neighborhood. I, of course, will be celebrating the ghostly hauntings and things that go bump in the night all month at my blog as well as with TWRP Black Rose imprint at their new blog. Please hop on over and meet the editors and us authors. We've been putting up introductions the entire month of September. And do we have some great things planned for the month of October in the darkest side of the garden.

TWRP is also having a bash for Paranormal month. And all paranormal books are on sale! You can't beat that, can you?

I know I will be party crashing all month. Keep an eye on my blog as well my website throughout the month. Also the Black Rose Blog will be offering all kinds of uncoming events, articles, holiday stories, legends, and traditions. I heard through the pumpkin patch that many of the authors are offering free copies of books and lots of other prizes.

I wanted to remind you that my newest blog feature, The Author Spotlight, which by the way has been very successful, is in full swing. We will have all paranormal romance authors this month to share the eerie mood of the month. Drop by on Thursdays and check out who's up.

If anyone is interested in participating in some free promo and would like to sign up for an Author Spotlight segment please email me at: gothscribegirl@aol.com. I am currently booking for January 2010 and further out.

Well, thank you ladies for having me today. I hope to see you venturing around this month in or out of costume:)

For more about me, visit any of the below links.

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

Dayana Knight
Paranormal/Erotic Romance Author
www.dayanaknight.blogspot.com
www.romawolftales.com

I'd like to discuss something we all can't do enough of and that is PROMO. Once you get the promo bug--Thank you, Catherine!--you constantly strive to find different ways to keep your name and books in the proverbial limelight.

Loops, blogging, visiting all the blogs you can manage, belonging to any loop, group, network you can helps but there are downfalls to this. One problem I find is there is not enough hours in a day, days in a week for me to be everywhere I need to be! Escpecially when you work a full time job as well. So how do I manage all this? I can't really. No honestly, it is very hard to be everywhere at once, so what I try to do is cycle around to everyone's blogs and pick and choose the networks I join.

If you have been following my blog I am constantly striving to find new ideas to gain followers. I have joined networks like Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook, which have been advantageous. And I have to say easily maintained. I have pages at WDRF, Coffee Time Romance and am guilty of not keeping them up as diligently as I should. Lord knows, I would love to be on top of it all.

I belong to PFSW, TWRP Author's loop, LASR loop and many others but again it is sooooo very hard to keep up with them all. How many of you find you also have difficulty keeping up? I'd like to hear what you do to keep visible.

Some things I have done:

~Keep blog and website current. This is a major priority for me.

~Let the public at Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook know what I am up to at least once a day.

~Visit blogs at least every week and leave comments.

~Keep up with friend's invites for new releases and blog events.

~Read and review new releases.

~Grab attention to your blog by coming up with new ideas to draw visitors, IE, recipes, craft articles and issues such as my "Pirating" article which drew a lot of interest and commentary.

~Newsletter and a loop "Dayana's Happenings" which clues members in monthly at what I'm up to.

~Be active in local Chapter groups and join local activities such as booksignings, writing groups, etc. Socializing with peers is a wonderful thing to do as well and build lasting friendships.

~Create a Fan Page at Facebook. I really haven't figured out how much exposure this will be but I do try to update it at least weekly and push people over to view it when I think of it.

~Give peers the opportunity at promotion on your blog which draws them attention and you more attention as their following will discover you! Guest bloggers are fun and my newest venture is offering "Author Spotlights" weekly. I already have a list of authors to schedule:)

The key to keeping attention on you is to keep it fresh. Keep venues updated and interesting. Investigate new avenues. Perfect example is Catherine Bybee's video blogging. I'm not that techno but hey! maybe sometime in the near future:)

Anyway, I hope this article has been advantageous and helpful. Thanks for dropping by and reading. As always, comments welcome.

Dayana~

Hi all,

I'll be signing my 2008 EPPIE Award winning mystery UNDERDEAD this Saturday, April 26, from 2-4 at the LA Times Festival of Books. Look for me in the Sisters In Crime booth. (Booth 355, next to Royce Hall.) If you're one of the tens of thousands going to the festival this weekend, please stop by and say hi! I'd love to see you.

In UNDERDEAD, Science teacher Jo Gartner thinks teaching geology to hormonal pre-teens is deadly... until she is bitten by an inept vampire and becomes UNDERDEAD--all the problems of being a vampire, none of the perks.

When she finds a body on her classroom floor with teeth marks in his neck, she must figure out "whodunit" before her Underdead secret gets out. But she's running out of time. The detective in charge of the case is dogging her every move, her vampire traits are evolving in new and embarrassing ways, and someone wants Jo dead...the traditional way!

“UNDERDEAD is certainly not your typical vampire story, it’s better…. I guarantee UNDERDEAD will have you laughing out loud, while keeping you in suspense right up until the end.”~~ Two Lips Reviews

Hope to see some of you there!

Liz, ready to get a sunburn and heatstroke for her art. (Forecast for LA tomorrow is sunny and HOT!)

http://www.lizjasper.com/