Merry Christmas, from me to you

It’s the Christmas season, and I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas  with a great ebook deal.

The Last War, Books 1-3 boxed set is live and it’s on sale! The first three books are a fabulous way to start the Last War series— Khandarken Rising, Book One *** Son of the Emperor, Book Two *** Truth and Treachery, Book Three

All three for $4.99! Get them now, because this price won’t last!

What the reviews say— This is the first book that I have read from Ms. Grayson and it was a humdinger! I could not put it down and continued to read it from beginning to the end in one sitting; last night! …..     Really a powerful portrayal of how a society deals with massive upheaval—and at the same time a great adventure filled with action, thrills and even romance…….   Ok, this series is just getting better and better. 

Click here to buy today –

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Have a happy Christmas and best wishes to you and your family from Sylvie Grayson.

Best Lies contest – winners and their answers :)

Dear Readers, I had a lot of fun with this contest. Thank you so much for your funny and often touching stories about lies. I know we all lie a bit when it’s awkward or hurtful to tell the truth, but some of these are hilarious. Have a look!

The most embarrassing lie was telling friends we were staying home and then meeting them unexpectedly at a restaurant with other friends.

Can’t really remember one, I’m so truthful. Maybe that is a lie… ?

I still hang my head over this particular lie—There I was, a 5th grader in gym class, not wanting to touch any of the boys. It was mandatory to participate in square dancing and that involved holding hands. The only person excused was one of my best friends who had a note from her mom excusing her because she had scabies on her hands. So, I got the brilliant idea to write a note that would excuse me from participation. Well, it was also forged *hangs head in shame* with my mother’s name and my excuse *covers face with hands* was that it was against my religion. I still wonder to this day why I thought it was a brilliant idea!

While I was a teenager I lied to a boy I liked because I was embarrassed to tell him I liked him. Instead I told him I liked him but not like that. To prove it, I started dating another loser. I really did like the first boy. I regret that now

I was very young and happily told my parents I’d brushed my teeth. Considering the meal we’d eaten, it was probably very obvious I hadn’t. Without a word, my father went to the bathroom, brought out my toothbrush and simply said, “It’s dry.”

One day we came home from the store to find several eggs splattered on the roof. We asked our boys, who had stayed home, what had happened. My oldest, who never got into trouble, stated with all seriousness that a bird must have laid them while in flight. So, you are saying we have chickens flying around here? we said. Must be, he said. He finally owned up and admitted that it was a pretty ridiculous stretch.

The funniest lie I ever told was when I was in high school many years ago. I was in math class with a friend when the teacher was writing/teaching on the whiteboard with his back to us. My friend and I were advanced in the class and often bored… One day I smacked myself in the face as hard as I could take it to leave a mark and make a loud sound, and exclaimed, “Ouch, damn it, Jacob.”

The teacher immediately turned around, pointed at Jacob, scolded him and told him to stop horsing around.

I’m sure my best lies would be telling mom – No, I didn’t eat it!!!

I don’t know that this is funny but it was my most tactful stretching of the truth!

For our wedding, my aunt from rural East Texas gave us a ceramic plate with raised fruit on it. The plate was intended to be a wall hanging. My aunt hand-painted it in bright colors, too! She was my favorite aunt but her talent was cooking, not art. It was soooo obviously an unskilled undertaking! So we hung the plate in our laundry area in the garage. Ouch! But when I wrote her my thank you card, I told her we hung it in a room that needed color! I miss her cooking!

I am a grandmother who enjoys traumatizing her grandchildren. My most recent was the story of where they came from. I told the eldest, a girl, she was left with her mother while she was waiting for the bus— an old guy came up to her and asked her to hold a bag for him but he never came back. When her bus came she decided to take it with her. Once she was on the bus and the bag started making noises, she realized it was a baby. I told the middle one, a boy, that she found him at the store when she asked the produce guy to pick her out a watermelon. She didn’t realize it was a baby till she got home and he started crying because he was hungry. The baby girl, well, it was storming outside and there was a huge boom and the sky lit up with lightening and a tree in the yard exploded. Their mother looked out the window to see the damage and there was a baby laying in a roasting pan on the front porch so she went outside to grab her. Yes the story changes. This is just the latest version and it depends on if they are harassing me or if I am being a brat. ?

Well it’s not so funny but the biggest whopper, was when I was in grade school, I have vitiligo and instead of letting the other students make fun of me, I said I was pushed into a bonfire and they were scars from the fire.

When my sister and I were was kids we were climbing a pine tree. The bark was skinned in a little spot and sap was running out. I told her it was where syrup was from so she tried it. Needless to say, she had that nasty taste in her mouth for awhile.

I’m not a good liar so I don’t tell them. However when I was a little girl I loved little Debbie oatmeal cream pies and I would sneak them out of the cabinet. My mom noticed they were disappearing rather rapidly and asked me about it. I told her I knew nothing about it and didn’t even know their whereabouts. I don’t know if she believed me or knew the truth. I just figure she blamed it on my Dad or sister

Thank you to everyone who participated. Leave a comment with your best lie!

 

 

The Lies He Told Me, win a book contest

CONTEST!! I have a contest for you today— ?

Send me an email at sylviegraysonauthor@gmail.com by December 1st with the subject line “My Funniest Lie” and tell me the most embarrassing lie you ever told! I will pick 4 names to win my book—The Lies He Told Me.

When a police detective falls for his main suspect, life gets complicated.

When Chloe Bowman’s husband disappears, never did she imagine that in the midst of the search to find him, she’d discover she didn’t really know this man at all. She’s left alone with her young son and a time bomb on her hands. Lurking in the shadows is the mysterious Rainman.

Police Detective Ross Cullen was already investigating Chloe’s husband when he disappeared. But the deeper Ross digs the less he knows, and the more he’s attracted to the young wife as she struggles to put her life back together. Can Ross break through the Rainman’s disguises to solve the case so he can be with Chloe?

Remember— I need your email to sylviegraysonauthor@gmail.com by Dec 1st for your chance to win!

*** ~ ~ ~ ***

Click here to buy today!

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Writing, the process

We found a garden slug travelling up the garage door the other day. It was a beautiful shiny black, moving so slowly I could have gone for lunch and come back by the time he moved about twelve inches. We have them here in various colours—tan, brown, spotted, as well as black. I’ve seen them crossing our gravel driveway, and wonder what benefit there can possibly be to travel at that pace across what must seem a desert of sharp stones on a smooth slimy stomach.

On the other hand, and in contrast to the slugs, we also have the Pacific chorus frog. They are so tiny, they often back into the petals of my dahlia blooms and wait there to catch flies or mosquitoes as they fly past. They are fast, I’ve only been able to catch one in all the time we’ve lived here on the west coast—or the wet coast, as we like to say. And unlike the slugs, they are loud. In February and March when the frogs emerge from the wetlands and begin to mate, it’s hard to sleep for the noise they produce.

Writing is a lot like these two little animals. Sometimes the process is so slow, it’s like watching paint dry, and about as exciting. Other times it leaps ahead so I can hardly keep up with the flow. One book will take six long months to write. Another will pop out in six weeks, and just need another two for editing. There is no predicting it.

Life happens. So when I am working on The Last War: Book Six and halfway through I have to start reading at the beginning yet again, to get a grasp of what has happened so far and what has yet to take place, I think of the slug moving slowly across the sharp gravel. And if I ever get to a point on this book where I can leap ahead to the finish, I’ll celebrate loudly like the little chorus frog.

What little animals inhabit your world?

Hallowe’en and trumpeter swans

Halloween is almost here and I’ve just come down with a terrific cold. I can’t stop coughing and sneezing. After I blow my nose, I just have to do lean forward and it starts dripping all over again, just like a tap. Oh, well. Lots of rest, camphor and eucalyptus oil, cold pills, lemon and honey for the sore throat. Hopefully it’s gone soon, because I do love Halloween candy and you can’t eat candy when you have a cold, right?

We have had an extremely dry summer. There is an area called the flats below our house that fills with water in the fall and hosts a ton of ducks, geese, seagulls and trumpeter swans each winter—not to mention the predators like red-tail hawks, bald eagles, owls, turkey vultures that prey on them. The swans arrive between November 1st and 4th, almost as if they have calendars tied around their necks. These swans are listed in the bird books as having a low-pitched bugle with a single note. But having heard them on the flats for the last many years, I know they have a two-toned call.

This year, there’s no water down there. The creek that feeds the flats dried up in July and only last week started to show a bit of wet at the bottom of the channel. What will the birds do with no water?

Well, today it started to rain, a torrent that continued to come down all afternoon, turning to sleet tonight. I guess the birds will be fine. What does fall look like where you are?