Blog « Chantel Simmons

Jun

Writer’s block and other distractions

I’m busy working on a new novel, and you know what that means: I’ve been spending some quality time with my BFF, Procrastination. I don’t believe in writer’s block (I think it’s just an excuse). I do believe in excuses though. I just call them like they are. Oh, and I love me some distractions. Take this morning for example. I accomplished the following:

- did laundry
- dropped off the drycleaning
- watered the plants (they’re never as well-tended to as when I have a deadline)
- met with a contractor who’s going to make new planter boxes for my patio. When you’re trying to procrastinate, you should always take on a home-renovation project

I’ve never been so domestic. I’ve also never been so sporty. I’m playing volleyball, doing Booty Camp Fitness, golfing, and playing tennis with my girlfriends. Last night we stopped for a water break and practically got booted off the court by a gang of hungry tennis players. Apparently, you can’t take water breaks and leave a court empty. We got our court back, but only by allowing Nicola, a very good tennis player guy who didn’t speak much English, to play with us, so he could warm up for his match. I told him we weren’t very good. He said that was okay. He decided to serve the ball. We mostly missed the returns. So then, every time he served it, he would yell “Sorry!” But we looked super cute in our outfits.

Now I’m staring at Paul Wesley….

While I go back to writing, I thought I’d leave you with some things to read and contests to enter.

Want to get some sweet kitchen tools that will make you look like Nigella Lawson (even if you can’t cook like her)? Read 10 Gourmet Kitchen Tools over at Food Network.

Looking for an easy DIY rustic centrepiece? Stick em up with this twig candle holder.

Or, put your herbs in a little white picket fence home.

Over at The Eaton Centre (another great place to spend procrastination hours!), @saragigi posted this list of excellent summer reads, including Love Struck!

Don’t want to buy a copy? Here are some contests where you can win an autographed copy of Love Struck instead!

Win a whole bunch of stuff with Sweetspot’s Dr. Oetker contest

Tag yourself on the profile pic of Key Porter’s Facebook page.

Don’t forget, I’m also running the summer-long referral contest. Tell a friend about Love Struck and you’ll both get an autographed copy of Stuck in Downward Dog — free! (Scroll down for more info).

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming…

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May

Summer Love (Struck)’n Contest!

I’m excited to announce a new Love Struck contest that I’m calling the Summer Love (Struck)’n Contest!

Here’s how the contest works:

Recommend Love Struck to a friend, neighbour, stranger on the subway — anyone you like. Be sure to say things like “It’s so funny!” or “I couldn’t put it down!” or my personal favourite: “I missed my subway stop because I was so engrossed in the story!”. I think these are good ones that would woo anyone to buy a book but feel free to make up your own enticing reasons why your friend should do so. Just don’t say things like “You’ll have 18 years of bad luck if you don’t buy this book.” That would make me feel guilty. And it’s just wrong.

Once your friend has bought Love Struck, tell her to scan her receipt and email me at chantel (at) chantelsimmons (dot) com (or put a copy of the receipt in the mail to me). In the email she should include both her name and full mailing address and your name and full mailing address.

I will send both of you a signed copy of the first edition of my first novel, Stuck in Downward Dog – for free!

PS If you recommend Love Struck to a stranger and don’t want to give him/her your mailing address (because that would be weird), just tell him/her to do the steps above, and then you can send me your own email with your mailing address. Be sure to tell me the name of the person you referred Love Struck to, so when they send their receipt, you’ll get your signed copy!

The contest will run for the summer until we run out of copies of Stuck in Downward Dog!

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May

Make your own fabric fortune cookies

If you love the idea of leaving love notes in your boyfriend/husband’s bag, this is the cutest craft. It’s also great as place-card holder if you’re having sushi night with your friends. All the instructions are over on my blog at SweetHome but here are a few extra pictures that I think help with the how-to.

Step 1: Cut out circles from fabric and fusible interfacing. Iron together.

Step 2: Glue-gun thin wire to interfacing, then cover with pretty ribbon.

Step 3: Write love notes or fortunes on slips of papers, fold your circles into fortunes, and give to someone you like a lot!

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Apr

Review winner & other bookish things…

A few months ago I told you that if you wrote a review of Love Struck then you would automatically be entered in a contest to win this prize! A lot of you wanted this prize! And why not? Who wouldn’t want this prize? Even if I didn’t have wrinkles (which i do) or have dry skin (which i do) or not like shiny new products (which i do) I’d still want this prize. So much so, that the person who wins it may find that every bottle has already been opened, or is missing. (I kid. I didn’t touch it. Promise).

The contest ended last Saturday on the random day that I made up for the contest to close…and then you waited. An entire week because I was running around and forgot to post the winner! Want to know what I was doing? Probably not but I’ll tell you one thing: I went to my first bookclub meeting for a group that had chosen to read Love Struck!

The host of The St. Catharines Ladies Book Club asked me if I’d come to the meeting, but we decided to keep it a secret from the rest of the book club members until I got there – and since I was late (whoops! I forgot that in a small town you really have no excuse of traffic for being late for anything!) they tried to guess who was coming. They all thought Melissa was coming, whoever that is. (Sorry to disappoint!). Anyway, I loved meeting all these women who’d read my book – and even made notes to discuss!

I wanted everyone to be honest about their feelings about the book, just like a regular book club meeting, and it was so interesting to hear everyone’s take on certain aspects of the book such as infidelity, self-discovery and character traits. The host used the bookclub questions that my awesome assistant created and they were really good! (I was stumped on several questions. Hmmm…).

Also, I loved that everyone in the club chooses a quote from the book and reads it aloud. It can be a favourite quote, or a quote that you thought summed up the book or the theme. Great tip for book clubs!

Thanks again to the St. Catharines Ladies Book Club for inviting me! If you want to invite me to call in or come to your book club meeting – just let me know. Each member will receive a little present from me, too.

Okay, okay! I know you just want to know who the winner of the review contest is! Here you go….

The randomly selected winner is….

Genevieve Anderson!

Congratulations, Genevieve. Send me your mailing address and we’ll send you your prize. Thanks for everyone who left such thoughtful reviews of Love Struck on Amazon, Indigo, their blogs, Facebook, and Twitter!

Stay tuned for another contest coming soon. Just as soon as I think of the rules. If you have any ideas, leave a comment, because I have lots of prizes to give away!

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Apr