Thursday, August 18, 2011

CONTEST BLOG

Okay, so technically, today is not Friday. In my defense, I am so vamped for this contest that I just couldn't wait any longer.  The blog has been in my head for two days, twirling around with all the other mad little ideas and it needed to be let out of the cage.  Here we go..... da da dahhhhhh~

First off, this is an easy contest. There are only 2 requirements and both of those are easy.
 1.  Follow my BLOG.
 2.  Leave a comment answering the question in this blog.

Leaving me a comment saying "hi" doesn't count (although I love those and love when people talk to me... I am a very social creature). I am nosy... I wanna know what you think...
On Sunday evening at 6pm (central time) I will randomly pick 2 people to win a free copy of my debut book, A Fire Within.  I will be using www.random.org for this so, trust me, it's more random than I am! lol  At 7pm ~ I will announce the winner and send you a msg with the link to www.smashwords.com with a code that gives you a free book.  That's it~ so are you ready? Let's get to it then....
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Today's blog is on ghosts. Whether you believe in them or not, all of us have had a "spooky" moment at some point in our lives.  Something has been moved from where you laid it down or maybe, out of the corner of your eye, you saw something cross the room.  Have your dogs/cats been staring at the corner lately, growling softly or whining at the no-see-ums that have taken up residence there? Or was it the monster under your bed that would keep you awake for hours before it was time to go to school?

For some background info, I live in the same house I grew up in. My grandmother (who raised me) left it & all the property to me when she passed away and now, my family & I live in it.  We are planning on building an underground house within the next 3 years so this works out great for us while we clean off  the land.  (Yes, I did say underground.. we have lots of hills here and more tornados than I care to admit to. They are beautiful, do have windows and are damn near tornado proof.. and I would love to live like the fairies in Ireland.. nuff' said) :)  I know we have ghosts in our house. You can hear them walking through the house at odd times and have even seen a few of them walking around, both day & night.  I am used to this because I was raised in this house for 18 years before moving out on my own.  My husband? He believed in them... he was just a little surprised at the amount of activity in this house. lol 
This brings me to my question you have to answer.

 What is your favorite ghost "moment"?

 Now, I have to poke a little bit of fun at my wonderful sister-in-law here.  My absolute FAVORITE ghost moment happened while she lived with us for a short period of time.  She was in hair salon school (she is AWESOME by the way) & had moved in with us. I will not go into the details of why the "ghost" or "entity" (whatever word fits here, you can fill in the blank) got mad at her but ,WOW,  it was not happy!  Almost every morning, her room would be destroyed. I don't mean the usual "single person" mess.  I'm talking drawers would be pulled out of her dresser with clothes partially hanging out. I'm talking shoes pulled out from under her bed.  The light being turned on after it was off... after she had gotten in bed. And the lights? It was actually moved from "OFF" to the "ON" postion.
She now refuses to spend the night in our house.  Ever....  When she comes over, footsteps can be heard in our hallway, walking up and down the corrider.  Of course, it doesn't do anything to her, or to us... it just lets her know it still isn't happy with her. lol... It's very funny to watch her face before she leaves the house.
 He/She/They don't bother us at all and we have no interest in getting rid on anyone. They are a GREAT conversation starter at times (especially when the lights flicker) so what about YOU?  Please, don't make something up~ be honest.  Even if you don't believe in little wee ghosties, tell about an "odd" experience that has happened to you.   And, don't forget, I announce the winner on Sunday @ 7pm here and I will msg the winners~  Good LUCK~~





23 comments:

  1. Hi Christi! I found your new blog on the CoffeeTimeRomance Forum - congrats on the new release!

    I write paranormals myself and have several ghost stories in the edit stage right now!

    I wish I had a true "ghost" experience to post, but other than the odd feelings or the things I think I've seen over my shoulder when nothing is there (you know those odd feelings, right?) I've got nothing else.

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  2. Thanks so much Debra!

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  3. Hi Christi,

    Great blog and way to start your promotions :)

    Hmmm Ghost story we have a ghost in the theatre I word in, but then all theatres have them so thats not so special. (Live theatres not movies)

    Dom

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  4. Christi,

    Congrats on the debut!

    My parents owned (for about 7 years) a B&B in TX that was said to be haunted. The previous owner had hanged himself on the top floor after his wife died. I've had a few creepy experiences in the house while visiting, but my parents always welcomed them.

    My step-mother explained it to visitors using Einstein's theory of relativity/multiple planes of existence--over breakfast. But the whole fact it was haunted was part of the reason people went to stay there.

    ANYway...

    Good luck with the contest and congrats again!
    ~2

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  5. Dom~ thanks so much and I love that you work in live theatre~ that has always been my favorite! (Phantom of the Opera is STILL my favorite of all time). :)
    Tomara~ thanks so much for the congrats and I love the b&b~ I bet your mom is a hoot! lol Don't forget, if you would like win a copy you have to answer the question and follow the blog.
    You guys have a great weekend!

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  6. I don't have a lot of ghost moments, but after my mom passed, I had several times when I was sure I could feel her hand cupping my cheek (something she used to do). Does that count?

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  7. Aww~ yes it does LD. And sorry to hear about your mom. My grandmother (who raised me) passed last year & it's always difficult to lose the ones closest to us.

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  8. Seeing a little girl coming out of the childrens choir class one Sunday night and she smiles up at me as she passes. My daughter and two other little girls, I knew, walked past me. Then the teacher and behind the teacher was this little girl. I asked the teacher when I walked into the santuary who the little girl was and she didn't have the girl in her class. I looked around the room and there were only 12 people in the room and the little girl was gone. That is but one story of the ghost in that church.

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  9. Christi! Hi! Met you on Twitter last night. Soooo glad I did! Congrats on your new book! That's news we ALLLL want to hear!

    The closest thing to a ghost I've seen was in my SIL's house. She said she heard footsteps at night after she went to bed and always kept her bedroom door locked. We laughed it off and thought she was imagining things until one night we housesat for her while she was away. We were a little nervous after the many stories we'd heard, but was determined to sleep with the bedroom door open. Didn't want to seem silly or anything. In the morning when we woke, we discovered our bedroom door closed AND LOCKED!! *creepy fingers* Bwaaahahahaha!

    I'm a new follower on your blog. Follow mine? http://thewriteoneval.blogspot.com Can't wait to see who the lucky winner is! Much success to you and your sequel!!!

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  10. I've had several ghost moments, but my most recent was in June of this year. I was on Star Island, off the coast of New Hampshire, which is said to have a lot of ghost. One thing that people have reported seeing is what appears to be a ship on fire in the distance which of course they further to say is one of the many pirate ships that once visited the island. I saw them lights in the middle of the night out my window, and went and woke up a friend so I would have a witness.

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  11. Hi Christi. Hope you get a lot of followers out of this. Here is my experience. When I was a kid I had a dream about my great grandfather who was a full blooded Cherokee Indian. I never met him but had seen pictures of him. In this dream he was playing the drums and burning some sage. When I woke up I could still smell the sage burning.

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  12. Donnie, Valerie, Kelly & Kristin~ those are GREAT!

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  13. Hi Christi. One of my stories goes like this:
    While living on military housing in VA with my mom and dad i had many paranormal things happen to me. I was maybe 6 or 7 i was laying in my bed going to sleep. All of the sudden i felt something sit on me and hold my arms. i freaked and flipped over seeing nothing there.i looked at my bedroom door the hall light was on. I tried yelling but nothing came out at all so i tried kicking when suddenly i couldnt move my legs. I didnt know what to think i knew no one was in my room.my aunt walked by but never looked in. I couldnt move so i tried yelling and i felt something cover my mouth and suddenly it was gone as fast as it came. I knew something was wrong with our house. When i would go to the bathroom at night i would hear a dog run the hall howling i would sit and wait with the door locked for it to stop. One night my mom left me on the couch after falling asleep. i was about the same age 6 or 7. I woke up in the middle of the night to see a head fling in circles at the end of the couch. maybe i was woken up i think. I covered my head so fast. I was cring and thinking how could i get to my parents room. I made a peek hole with one eye and saw nothing then an eye came right up to mine i freaked jumped the couch aand dashed in my parents bed. thats only one of our houses. i swear my dad was haunted lol i love the paranarmal 101% i watch all the shows ive gone a couple places ghost hunting. I would ghost hunt if i knew how to even get involved. hope you like my ghost storie:)

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  14. Mommy~ now THAT was an awesome story. If you are interested in ghost hunting, you can google ghost hunting for your state and it should pull up someone near you. Just be careful of the crazy ones~

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  15. Hi Christi!
    I've had so many experiences with the paranormal/spine tingling sensations in my life it's hard to choose any particular one. But I think the one that has made the biggest impression is when I went with my daughter on an Open Doors class school trip to Washington, D.C. (she was 5th grade at the time but is now 23). While there our group visited several sites, one of which was the Ford Theatre where Abraham Lincoln was shot. Everyone shuffled inside with my daughter and I trailing at the very end of the line. As I entered the theatre, this feeling of emotion went through me. It wasn't strong at first but as we continued into the theatre this immense feeling of sadness hit me and the hairs on my body stood straight up as I experienced what felt like a hands being laid on my shoulders. This emotion waved through me like a strong pulsing sensation. It continued for a good two minutes or so. It was only when I felt the 'hands' lift from my shoulders that the emotion ebbed to a mild sad feeling. It stuck with me throughout the entire tour of where they took Lincoln after he was shot and so on. This is not the scariest experience I've had but definitely the most touching. It was like I could feel the sadness running throughout the theatre the night Lincoln was shot. Thanks, Christi! I enjoyed reading about your house.

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  16. Im glad you enjoyed it. Its a little longer then i was going for lol. I love the topic and im always looking for a good paranormal book everywhere i go.

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  17. When I was seven or eight years old, my brother and two friends and I were exploring an old confederate cemetery. Close to it, was a long tunnel of vines, and we decided to walk through to see what was on the other side. As we reached the 2/3 mark of the tunnel, I saw a shimmering outline of what looked to be a solider from the civil war. I screamed and ran the other way, completely ditching my little brother and friends. Maybe it was my overactive imagination and nothing was there, but who's really to say? Scared the shit out of me, though.

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  18. Vanessa~ that was a very touching comment~ thank you for sharing it with us.

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  19. lmao~ I would have ran too Amber! lol We stayed at Dolphin Island in AL years ago (before it flooded from the hurricane) and you not only can feel the ghosts walking through there... you can see them...It was GREAT!

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  20. Hi Christi! I would have to say that the most interesting encounter I have witnessed was in my late teens (I know...MANY eons ago LOL).

    I was in the back room smoking and visiting with a friend who was in St. Louis during Christmas break in college. We were talking about things that go bump in the night at her place when next thing I know I am watching the bottle of bleach I had on the dryer floating across the room! Now...instead of freaking out (which I have a tendency to do) I just watched it and for some reason I asked out loud if this was my friend's grandmother. The bottle literally nodded "yes." All three of us (my friend, myself, and her grandmother) had a wonderful conversation that lasted about an hour.

    From that point on I seem to be able to "see" them but more just feel them around me and their feelings.

    Tari

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  21. Ok~ The contest is over and I will be back here @ 7pm to post the winners. I will also msg you to let you know that you won!

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  22. Ok Here we GO! The winners of the 2 digital copies of A Fire Within are:

    Mommybtof4 AND Amber Meadows!!

    Congrats ladies~ I hope you enjoy my debut novella and please, send me a msg to let me know what you think.

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  23. Mommybtof4~ I need you to email me at ChristiMcMillenBooks@gmail.com. Since you follow my blog privately, I have no way of msging you for the winning code. Since this is my first contest... I'm gonna slip in one more winner also:
    VANESSA! congrats to all 3 of you and enjoy it~

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