A Thank You to My Readers for Our 2014 Unicef Donation

This is the third year for my A Tale of Two Djinns UNICEF donation. After my father died, I wanted to honor him and so pledged half of all proceeds from the story to go towards education. Thanks to all my wonderful readers, we contributed $423.40 in 2014, bringing our total project contribution to $1,159.

Even better, Paypal matched 1 percent to the 2014 contribution and UNICEF has an anonymous group of donors tripling donations til midnight of Dec. 31 (for a total of $1 million). The $1 you contribute becomes $3. So, wow.

Dear readers, we made a difference and I couldn't have done it without you. So....

What does our contribution mean?

According to the UNICEF website, $250 provides “School-in-a-Box” kit containing basic education supplies for 80 children. So our donation is helping quite a few more. Woohoo!

For anyone new coming across this page, who wants to know why and how it all started, please check out the Make A Difference button or section. 

You, my readers, ROCK!!!

5 Reasons to Gift Books #GiveABook

I love all things bookish and what recently wowed me is Penguin Random House's #GiveABook program. Here's the latest update they shared:

Dec 22 2014

Penguin Random House has expanded its GiveaBook program after exceeding its original goal of donating 25,000 to Save the Children in just three weeks. The publisher has now pledged to donate another 10,000 books for additional posts and tweets containing the #GiveaBook hashtag through December 24.

That's a lot of books! So in support of the #GiveABook program and to do my part to help spread the good work, I put together this post built around some of my favorite bookish pictures from this year. Also, I happen to believe books make excellent gifts and here's 5 reasons why...

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(Thank you to everyone who made and shared these awesome book visuals! If you'd rather not be a part of this post, please let me know and I'll respect your wishes.)

Any book you give is a good book. However, if you need a suggestion...

Spring Fling Giveaway, Rebirth and Renewal

Spring has special meaning to me because it's all about hope, a theme that is a constant part of my stories. So I'm thrilled to be part of the Spring Fling Blog Hop with a wonderful group of bloggers and authors.

Spring is my favorite season because you can see Mother Nature at work. Living in West Texas, I find the transformation amazing – naked, leaf-less trees preen in bright new foliage, the ground covered in stubbles of brown grass now sports a soft, green carpet, and the dusty landscape now boasts wildflowers of many colors.  The season is an important bridge between the chilly emptiness of winter and the punishing heat of summer...a chance for the soul to breathe a sigh of relief and replenish itself.

The cycle of life and death, the themes of renewal and hope play an important part in my paranormal romance novella A Tale of Two Djinns. 

The hero, Akshay (Shay for short), warrior prince of the earth djinns, earns the title of Crown Prince at a high cost when he loses his best friend in a battle against ancient enemies, the water djinns. He is heartsick and vows never to return to the cursed battlefield, the place of death.

Yet, the story forces him to:

Wide-eyed, he goggled at the plain at the outer edge of water djinn territory. A soft carpet of new grass covered the rolling expanse, dotted with wildflowers of every color imaginable. Was this truly the bone dry land he’d led Patthar and his army across a mere two weeks ago?

He breathed in the sweet air and tried to tamp down the bitterness welling inside him. Had the water djinns washed away all signs of the war with cleansing rain, or was this new life flourishing thanks to all the blood and death that had soaked into the earth?
Midnight took the opportunity to lower his head and taste the verdant grass. Akshay closed his eyes and pulled in another deep breath, exhaled. Life ended in death, followed by new life. That was the natural cycle. 

Maya’s face, her golden eyes glazed with liquid languor and lips parted in a sexy smile, filled his mind. Maya. She’d given him the greatest gift—life. She’d taken a man drowning in sorrow and guilt and made him come alive. She was carrying his child, the new life they’d made together. The realization shook through him like an earthquake, crumbled the remaining walls to dust. He needed to find his heartmate and his son.

A Tale of Two Djinns is my special story with 50% of the proceeds donated to UNICEF’s Schools for Asia initiative. The gift of education is all about hope and a better future. If you’d like to know more about why this cause is close to my heart, please check out my Karma blog post.

Here’s a blurb:

A TALE OF TWO DJINNS is a sexy paranormal Romeo & Juliet story with genies, feminists, kickass action & adult fun.

Available at Amazon, B&N, Smashwords & Kobo.

Leave a comment here -- about why Spring is important to you (and a way to contact you)...and you may win a $5 gift card and a swag pack from me with CHOCOLATE!

And don't forget to hop along the participating blogs and to enter in the sponsors' rafflecopter giveaway!



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Spring Fling hop Participants

1. Bitten by Romance 2. Lisa Jung 3. A.L. Kessler 4. Lusty Penguin Reviews 5. Mia Bishop 6. Lisa Chalmers 7. I Smell Sheep 8. Karen Cino 9. Liana Brooks 10. Booked & Loaded 11. Dianne Hartsock 12. Fangs, Wands & Fairy Dust (US) 13. Madison Sevier 14. Donna Augustine 15. CJ Burright 16. Harper A. Brooks 17. Just Jeannie's Books & Bling

18. Dani Harper, Paranormal Author 19. Sherri @ Urban Girl Reader 20. Mina Khan 21. Catharina Shields 22. Joleene Naylor 23. Matthew Alan Thyer 24. Krystal Shannan 25. Carolyn Gibbs 26. Rage, Sex and Teddy Bears 27. Catherine Stine 28. Susan Arden~Bad Boys 29. Reading Between the Wines 30. RhiReading 31. Christina Irelan 32. Lacey Leigh 33. E.S.P. 34. Sedona Venez

35. Gretchen Roberts 36. Elise Hepner 37. Rayna Noire 38. Morgan K Wyatt 39. Dawn Marie Hamilton Writes 40. Taking Time for Mommy 41. Jeanine McAdam 42. Tawdra Kandle 43. Mama Knows Books 44. Holley Trent 45. Renee Luke 46. Ambrielle Kirk 47. MYTHICAL BOOKS(INT) 48. Tista Ray 49. Natasha Blackthorne 50. Between The Pages 51. Natalie-Nicole Bates

Learn more about Spring Fling hop here.

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Rise Above Discouragement And Believe in Your Stories

First the good news: A Tale of Two Djinns won 2nd place in the novella category of the 2013 National Excellence in Romance Fiction Awards. WooHoo! I'm happy dancing over the moon in W. Texas :)

Every story I write comes from deep inside and is important to me, but this one is special because I dedicated this to my parents and donate 50% from every sale to UNICEF in my dad's memory. So it does my heart good to see Two Djinns doing well in the Universe.

This is also a personal validation. I have been writing fiction seriously and pursuing publication for about five years now. It's a hard business and my biggest challenge has been: Discouragement. 

We are taught to respect experts and often we auto-buy into their opinions. In the writing business, you’re constantly facing rejection from editors and agents. In fact, someone told me my first genie story would never sell. I still sent it out into the world and fortunately an editor at Harlequin loved the story enough to buy and publish it.

I had to learn to trust myself. I did this by honing my craft and evaluating my work for myself, and then pushing past my fears and putting myself and my work out in the world. 

There are no guarantees. I'm married to a West Texas cotton farmer and every year he works hard to plant his crops. Yes, he weeds and waters and cares for them. But at some point he has to let go and hope for the best. He can't control the weather. Some years he makes a bumper crop, other times he's grateful to have enough, and sometimes it's zilch. But he does it again next season. Why? Because he loves being a farmer.

Well, I love being a writer and telling my stories. I continue to learn, evaluate and create every day, with every story. 

You don’t need anyone’s permission to dream your dreams. So, dream big, figure out what you can do to make them real, and achieve with confidence. Believe in yourself and give your best to every story. And don’t forget to say thank you to the universe by giving back and paying it forward.

Thanks for visiting!

Cover Girl for Miss Millennia Magazine

Miss Millenia Magazine

April 2013

So, wow. I'm April's Lady Lennia and theme is Giving Back. I was chosen because of my UNICEF project with A Tale of Two Djinns. Totally humbled and honored. And grateful.

You do what you can and sometimes the Universe answers back in wonderful ways. If I had to be on the cover of a magazine (Lol, what a hardship...not!), I couldn't imagine a better one than Miss Millennia. It seeks to inspire, encourage and empower young women. Again, wow.

They asked me to blog with them for all of April. I'm going to use this opportunity to share about things that concern me: violence against women, human rights, poverty, equality, courage and community. I'm also going  to share about projects close to my heart: UNICEF, the Peace Ambassadors of West Texas, Valentines at the Soup Kitchen. And, of course, I'm going to share about people who inspire me.

Thank you, Universe!

If you are interested, here's my Miss Millennia interview. I'll keep you updated about the blogs.

April 8, 2013 Blog Post: Why I Write

March Celebrations: Reader Slideshow for Education

Wow, it's March and that means my second novella, A TALE OF TWO DJINNS is celebrating it's one year birthday! Woot!

 

 This is the book of my heart, the one I dedicated to my parents and the one I pledged half of all proceeds to UNICEF's Schools for Asia program. With the help of my readers, I have donated $468.80 year-to-date. According to the UNICEF website, $250 provides “School-in-a-Box” kit containing basic education supplies for 80 children. Woohoo!

I have been fortunate that my parents valued education and always made that a priority. I’m thankful for my ability to read and to write. Words are an integral part of my identity.

However, I grew up in a part of the world where poverty and chauvinism often keeps education away from many, especially women. According to the UNICEF, 67 million children are currently not enrolled in school worldwide. Education makes a big difference not only in the life of the person educated, but also the family.
And sometimes the world.

 Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani teen, was shot by the Taliban because she promoted education for the girls. Malala has now become the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Education made a difference in her life, and she's making a difference in the world.

 As a thank you to all my readers who helped me do my part and make a positive difference through education, I'd like to create a slideshow of readers with the book.

SLIDESHOW INFO:

So pose with A Tale of Two Djinns and email it to minakhan@wcc.net 

 Two lucky participants will be randomly picked to receive my next story, THE DJINN IN THE MIRROR, free!

 "This definitely felt like a Romeo and Juliet concept with a twist, then add a paranormal and fantasy feel to it and you’re left with excitement." ~ Romance Novel Junkies, 4.5 stars

 In other news, I now have a quarterly newsletter. 

Sign up to receive updates of my new releases and exclusive background information on stories that won't be posted online for at least six months. Only my assistant Carla and I have access to your email and we promise not to spam you! Subscribe to our newsletter

 Thanks for visiting!

Remembering Dad & UNICEF Project Update

This is my father as a young sailor. He loved adventure so much that he lied about his age to go off sailing around the world. Yet, when it came to my school and studies, he gave up the sea and settled down. He wanted the best for me.

He had family and friends in Bangladesh, his favorite sweet shop, and all the shopkeepers in the marketplace knew him. But then both my sister and I settled in Texas. Me, having fallen in love with a cowboy....So they picked up and moved halfway around the world to be with us and the grandkids.

This is my first Father's Day without him. And I miss him. Terribly. Not just today, but every day. When I lost him early this year, it made me stop in my tracks and reflect on life. I knew I wanted to make a difference in his name through my writing. So I wrote a story, A Tale of Two Djinns, and I pledged half of all proceeds to UNICEF.

Thanks to my readers, I'm glad to report that I wrote my first check to UNICEF for $266. 80 cents this last week. What does that mean? Well, according to the UNICEF website, $250 provides “School-in-a-Box” kit containing basic education supplies for 80 children. Wow.

So a big thank you to those who took a chance on my story and contributed to this important project. You made this gift possible. If you have enjoyed A Tale of Two Djinns, please consider writing a review somewhere so others may learn about it or just tell your friends.

But more than anything else, go celebrate the dads in your life. I know I will be spending this Father's Day toasting  my 86-year-old father-in-law, my darling husband & the memory of my dad. Happy Father's Day to all the father figures out there!

I love my father as the stars - he's a bright shining example and a happy twinkling in my heart. ~Terri Guillemets

Cover Reveal & Karma -- A Tale of Two Djinns

I believe in karma. I believe in paying it forward. And I believe in thank yous. Because of all these, I have pledged fifty percent of the proceeds from the sale of A Tale of Two Djinns to UNICEF’s new Schools for Asia initiative.

One of the best gifts my parents have given me is my education. Thanks to it, I discovered my love of reading and writing, pursued an adventurous journalism career, and became a published author.

Growing up in Bangladesh, I have seen the poorest of poor. I have seen children forced to work instead of attending school. I have also seen education make a difference —lead to job opportunities, raise the quality of life for entire families, and allow individual new possibilities.

Unfortunately, many don’t get this precious education. According to unicef, 67 million children are currently not enrolled in school worldwide, and 26 million of them live in the Asia-Pacific Region. How much potential is the world losing out on? How many Einsteins, Joyce Carol Oateses, and more remain undiscovered because they were born in bad circumstances?

My mother never finished high school. Back in the early 1950s, in traditional Bangladesh where arranged marriages were the norm and good proposals a blessing, my mother was married to a handsome young sailor. She was seventeen and he was nineteen. Her father, who had great hopes for his clever eldest child, agreed to the marriage only after the groom’s father promised to let her continue her studies. This promise was not kept.

Many years later, older and wiser, my mother insisted on her daughters being educated, finishing college. Her favorite saying is “No one can take knowledge away from you.” My late father, who knew a thing or two about raising daughters, made our education a family priority.



(They were married 53 years: 1958 to 2011)

To honor my parents, to give thanks for my blessings, I’m passing forward the gift of education through UNICEF’s Schools for Asia, which will work in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.

I need your help. I hope you will consider picking up A Tale of Two Djinns, and if you enjoy the read, I hope you will tell others about it. Meanwhile, every RT and share helps & is greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance! I hope together we will make a difference.

Thanksgiving & Literacy from One Writers Point of View

May your Thanksgiving tomorrow be happy, stress-free and full of wonderful moments shared with loved ones!

This year I’m thankful for my family, my friends and my readers. Writing is a bit like farming, in that you do your part without any guarantees. Just as a farmer ploughs, plants and weeds his fields but depends on the weather to reward him with a crop, a writer pours out her soul onto paper in the hopes her words will be read and enjoyed by other people. Sometimes it feels like I’m sending my words out into a vacuum.

When my debut novella, The Djinn's Dilemma, came out earlier this month I was decidedly nervous. Would anyone read my story? Did anyone even know I exist? The best part of being a published author has been receiving notes from my readers. Readers who not only took the time to read my story, but also to let me know what they thought. Thank you for letting me know my words are finding homes.

I'm also thankful for all the writers who wrote stories that comforted me when the chips were down or just helped me escape the daily grind. I remember laughing out loud as I read Three Singles to Adventure by Gerald Durell and how it helped me get over a highschool-heartbreak. And when my baby son --born 7 weeks early--spent 62 days in the hospital, I coped by reading The Time It Never Rained out loud to him. I didn't know if he'd make it or not, and I wanted to make sure I shared a damn good story with him.

So it saddens me to know there are many people in our world who will never know the comfort of a good book.

According to UNICEF, "Nearly a billion people will enter the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names and two thirds of them are women."

I'm thankful for my ability to read and my ability to do something about illiteracy. What are you thankful for? For each comment left between today and Nov. 27, 2011 I will donate $1 to UNICEF. All I ask in return is help spread the word. Thanks!