This site has been running since 2006, when I foresaw a downturn in the newspaper industry that had been my bread and butter since 1988. As of today, you'll notice a new feature to the right (or, if this column has been archived, on the right side of the home page). That new feature is a donate button.

It's there because today I'm doing something I never wanted to do: I'm going to ask you to help me continue running this site, writing my books and speaking out about serious topics like child sexual abuse and domestic violence.

If you've read my book, you know the newspaper industry helped save my four children and I from going on the public dole. But even more important, it provided us with a decent standard of living and gave me the chance to stand where I do today: as a survivor who has come very, very far from the battered, frightened and woefully insecure victim she once was.

In 2008, as the print journalism world took a steep nosedive, I left my last newspaper job at the Cumberland Times-News in Cumberland, Md. I carried away two awards for the newspaper columns that readers have known me for from the first one I wrote just before Linda Benson first gave me a weekly column in 1988, which we together titled "Vintage Berry Wine."

I've tried to make this website a continuation of that very first column, as a way of reaching out to all of you—"old" readers who have followed my newspaper work—and new readers who have found out about me in other ways. I'd like to think I've succeeded, even though my writing hasn't occurred at a weekly basis here. Sometimes it's been more, but often times, it's been much less.

That's because last year I finally jumped into the shark-infested waters of the self-publishing world. I did this so I could give you what you've been asking for since you first heard of it: Sister of Silence, the memoir that covers 14 years of my life—beginning when I was sexually abused at 13, and continuing until I finally faced the demons I'd been living with for so long, by checking myself into a mental hospital in 1991.

To do this, I formed my own small, independent publishing company, Nellie Bly Books. (It's no mistake that I named my company after one of the best journalists in the country, Elizabeth Jane Cochran, a Pittsburgh, Pa., journalist who went by the pen name "Nellie Bly." She was credited with many things, including the invention of investigative journalism and in 1887 she went undercover at a "lunatic asylum" in New York City. Her subsequent exposè is said to have been responsible for bringing about some much-needed reforms in mental hospitals. Bly courageously exposed corruption and wrote about, among other things, social reform and unwed mothers.)

If I believed in reincarnation, I would say I was Nellie Bly in a past life. But I don't and besides, I've only accomplished a tiny sliver of what she did, and my writing might be worthy of being called a poor imitation of hers, at best. But getting back to the business of writing . . .

Since I have a business degree, I knew exactly what I was doing when I formed this LLC—and why it was such a big gamble. Business classes taught me that the majority of small start-ups fail within the first year. They also taught me the best way to minimize that risk was to have enough working capital on hand to keep NBB afloat until it started to turn a profit—or for at least two years.

Using just such capital—with proceeds I'd squirreled away from my unemployment—I paid $6,000 for a small print run of 2,000 paperback copies of SOS. (This figure does not include shipping or the other hefty fees involved, such as filing for and receiving approval for the NBB logo from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.) In the meantime, I hired consultants to do some necessary work I couldn't do (such as designing the book cover and logo, or formatting the new SOS e-book), and paid for a part-time office worker.

I also gave away hundreds of books—and ate the cost of shipping and handling myself. If you divide only the print cost above, and tack on $3.62 (the average cost to mail just one book at media rate), you will see that each paperback book has cost me more than $6 apiece. But that figure is still quite low, given all of the other work that goes into making sure you—my readers—receive the quality products you deserve.

So the measly $6K does not begin to cover the expenses I incur, when I fly to conferences and speak about about abuse, or talk to high school or college students—for which I have not been reimbursed by anyone. Nor does it cover the upcoming SOS book trailer—which will be filmed next week, and which will require two days worth of food, some lodging, a few props, and other costs for our small group.

The long and short of it is this: I had hoped to begin making a profit sooner rather than later. And while my ebook is selling quite well, even on the best days those sales nets me only a few dollars, at most. That isn't enough to do all I need to do, to continue doing what I've been doing for the last 13 years. Especially when I'm not getting a salary every two weeks, like I did at my last job.

In addition, I am woefully overworked—and I've never been a workaholic. I'm passionate about researching, writing, and reporting, but I have other things I enjoy as well, that have nothing to do with my work. The entire reason for this particular column came about earlier this week, when I met a friend at 7:30 a.m., after just 3.5 hours of sleep, to do some volunteer work.

She and other people have been coming out of the woodwork this week, urging me to seek financial assistance in the form of donations from individuals and other companies. That's why I'm taking their advice today. When donations have reached a level where I can continue my work without killing myself, the "Donate" button will come down. Until then, it's there for anyone who wants to help support a "starving writer" determined to continue doing just that: writing and providing something meaningful for you to read.

Thank you for reading, for helping, and for just being here!

Editor's note: For the time being, the donate button has been disabled.

Posted by Daleen at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

When Jerry Sandusky waived his right to a preliminary hearing last Tuesday, I could only think of one good reason: plea deal. Which is one of the worst things that can happen to a case like this.

It's also one of the best. Before I tell you what that is, let's go back to Tuesday for a minute.

There are a few reasons to waive a prelim, but having more evidence released to the public is one of the biggest ones defendants take this step. Some people have speculated that was indeed the reason Sandusky waived his rights. Within seconds after that major announcement, came whispers of a plea deal. I've read so much about this case that I can't remember where I read it, but I did see something about that myself.

It's quite common for prosecutors to spare victims of sex crimes by offering up the defendant a plea bargain on a platter, since it saves victims from reliving their abuse all over again. But what follows is my take on why a plea deal might be struck in this particular case.

For the last six weeks, as the world has weighed in on the biggest U.S. sporting scandal ever—one that was about anything but sports—I’ve had a nagging thought in the back of my mind as I’ve listened and read about the Penn State sex abuse tragedy: What are people going to do when they learn the victims willingly took part in their own abuse?

That’s because I did the same thing, when I was their age. I was no different than the youngsters targeted by The Second Mile, who was started to help children who “need additional support and who would benefit from positive human contact.” Being reared in a single-parent, low-income household automatically qualifies one as “vulnerable,” or “disadvantaged”—the two other adjectives used to describe the alleged victims of Penn State coach and Second Mile founder Jerry Sandusky.

News of the scandal broke when the public learned of the former defensive coordinator’s arrest and molestation charges in early November. About the same time, the school’s vice president and its athletic director were charged with failing to report the suspected abuse, and for lying to the grand jury. The biggest news to come from this scandal, though, is the firing of Penn State’s legendary head coach Joe Paterno. In fact, other than details revealed in the grand jury transcript, news about the eight (and now nine) alleged victims has been predictably scant.

Paterno has captured the headlines more than anyone, save perhaps Mike McQueary, who told the grand jury he walked into a locker room and saw Sandusky raping a boy of 10. McQueary, now an assistant Penn State coach—but then a 28-year-old grad assistant—has since been placed on administrative leave and is believed to be in protective custody.

When it comes to disadvantaged homes, society probably understands that coming from one means the financial or familial perspective: resources are stretched thin, leaving the children on their own, or money isn’t plentiful, meaning basics like new tennis shoes are out of the question.

But I doubt it understands what being one of these youth means from an emotional aspect: having one parent in the home—as is true in 34-percent of households in this country—means the children don’t get as much attention, affection and love from that parent.

A man who knows more about this topic than most law enforcement officers put together is Ken Lanning. He wrote the foreword for my first book, Sister of Silence. Those seven pages are the analytical equivalent of my story, and provide an equally alarming eye-opener for parents who want to know how child molesters think, speak and act. They also provide insight into the mind of a child, explaining why children will return to their molester again and again, essentially becoming a willing participant in their own abuse.

This type of “acquaintance molestation” is what Lanning calls “the often forgotten piece in the puzzle of the sexual victimization of children.” He says it’s hard “for society and even professionals to face,” because people want to believe child molesters are ugly, evil strangers. They would rather believe that than the truth: It can be anyone “who has access to children.”

Lanning knows the biggest problem people have is believing the child’s role in all of this. “The idea that child victims could simply behave like human beings and respond to the attention and affection of offenders, by voluntarily and repeatedly returning to an offender, is a troubling one,” he said in the foreword.

Because this type of molester can spend a long time seducing first, the potential victim’s parents or caretakers, to gain their trust and confidence, and then, the intended victim, there’s no need for any force. That’s why Lanning says “an acquaintance molester who seduces his victims without violence can sometimes go unreported for thirty years or more.”

This is exactly what happened to Sandusky’s alleged victims, as shown in the grand jury testimony, and how my seduction occurred, as well. And when someone—a nice neighbor, a family friend, or a football coach—comes along and shows an interest in you, you immediately “get a life.” At 13, I was escorted to the Dairy Queen and the movies in a nice, shiny new vehicle; by the time I turned 16, he was buying me clothing and making my decisions for me.

And I loved it—every second of it. Well, except for the times when he convinced me that my repayment for his kindness should come in some form of sex. But those coerced occasions were quickly forgotten with a gift, a trip to the DQ or yet another truckload of wood he brought to help heat our home. He also knew he shouldn’t touch me, and kept promising me again and again, that he wouldn’t do it again. So I kept returning. To him, to what he could give me or do for me, and to the sex—which my body responded to and enjoyed—but which I could not get my mind to wrap around, try as I might.

Just as the targeted child or adolescent life in some ways changes for the better, so does the parent’s life: they finally have someone showing an interest in their offspring, and helping with the parenting workload. At least, that’s how it seems on the surface. I wrote about this in Lethal Silence, a book that looks at four families whose children died or were at risk of death, due to being victims of violence. (Due to be published as an e-book later this month.)

“When (Eddie) began helping our family, my mother was struggling with a shortage of several resources: time to properly instruct or even interact with her children, money for auto and home repairs, as well as a mate to help carry the load.

While Dad was overseas he sent little money home, forcing Mom to struggle just to get by. If she wasn’t trying to provide for her children on an almost nonexistent income, all while living in a dilapidated house that required constant work to ensure it was safe and warm, she was filling out paperwork so we could receive food stamps or heating oil. At first a single parent working two part-time jobs, after Dad returned home for a short visit a few times, Mom later became an overwhelmed pregnant mother who simply couldn’t be both parents to her growing family. She was a perfect mark for a twenty-year-old man who found girls of thirteen more sexually stimulating than young women his own age. It must have seemed like a blessing when the man who would eventually rape me offered to perform house repairs or provide free fuel and transportation.”

Lanning, who spent 30 years with the FBI and who has trained thousands of law enforcement officers and criminal justice professionals about child sexual abuse, said my story is both like all the others he’s investigated and yet equally unique. He also said it feels like he’s got a crystal ball, because he’s investigated so many of these cases that he already knows much of their outcome.

For example, one of the alleged victims has testified he voluntarily went to Sandusky’s home and had dinner after the abuse took place. Lanning said people automatically think, “if you were really victimized, you wouldn’t do it.” They also ask, “Why do these kids keep going back?” Lanning said.

This “absolutely happens all the time in these cases. Is it something that people understand? No, hardly anybody understands it,” Lanning said. That even includes the investigators charged with trying to bring such crimes to trial, he added.

These cases become even murkier when “the bad guys don’t cooperate and they don’t stay inside the lines” and do what society thinks he should, Lanning said. As an example, child molesters are usually divided into three groups: stranger, family member or acquaintance. Within those divisions, come others: age or gender, for instance. Mine liked girls of 13, while Sandusky allegedly favored boys of the same age, or slightly younger.

Now, though, comes the troubling news of allegations of abuse from one of Sandusky’s own grandsons: this boy is only five. “This case involves an acquaintance molester who befriends kids, grooms them and seduces them, showers them with attention and affection, gives status, privileges . . . and the primary reason to do that is to get children to cooperate in this activity so you don’t have to use knives, guns, weapons and threats,” Lanning said.

This leads to what’s called “compliant child victims,” like me, or like the Second Mile victims who are slowly coming forward in State College. But instead of asking why kids like us would become complicit in our own crimes, let’s instead start educating ourselves about child sexual abuse. That involves not passing on the same fairytales about what molesters, or victims, look like.

It also means realizing that stereotypes don’t fit when it comes to this type of crime: just as each and every fingerprint is different—so is each and every case of child sexual abuse.

Posted by Daleen at 03:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ever since the Penn State scandal came to light, people have been of two camps: either former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky is a homosexual or he’s a child molester. The debates have been hot and heavy, with heated commenters protesting any connection between the two terms.

Before I tell you why they’re wrong, let’s review yesterday’s preempted preliminary hearing in the sleepy little town of Bellefonte, Pa. Because the biggest news to come out of the place wasn’t that Joe Amendola waived his client’s rights to have the prelim—it was that Amendola, the Pennsylvania defense attorney who represents Sandusky, offered up late night TV hosts like David Letterman pure cake and their best material to date, when he referenced a gay phone sex line, while making light of the child sexual abuse allegations his client is facing.

If you didn’t know who Amendola was before one of the most anticipated preliminary hearings in recent years, you sure do now: That’s because Amendola had some really sage advice for anyone who believes Mike McQueary's account that Sandusky sexually abused boys coming through the doors of his Second Mile charity—or that Penn State officials wouldn’t have stopped him, if Sandusky had done so.

Here’s what Amendola suggested the folks who gathered in Bellefonte do: “I suggest you dial 1-800-REALITY.”

It was either a brilliant tactical move on Amendola’s part, or the worst attorney error in history. (And given that, almost overnight, another attorney has joined Sandusky’s defense team, I’d say it was a huge gaffe.)

But it could also be quite brilliant because—guess what—during a three-hour telephone interview with Ken Lanning recently, he shed some very important light on this particular case. “There’s no victims easier to seduce than an adolescent boy. Why? Because what gives an adolescent boy an erection? Anything!” Lanning said. “Men who molest boys understand that . . . They take this characteristic of adolescent boys and use it to their advantage.”

Now before you dismiss Lanning as crass, or talking off the top of his head, you should probably know he’s considered one of the top experts in the area of child sexual abuse: he worked in a supervisory capacity as an FBI special agent and instructed thousands of law enforcement officials at Quantico and elsewhere, about this very crime. (He also wrote the foreword for my book, Sister of Silence, which is essentially like this case—only with a role reversal for the victims.)

Essentially, he’s maybe one of three people in the country who has as much specialized knowledge about the topic of child sex abuse. So when he talks, I listen. I hope you will, too.

Because there’s something else that Lanning knows that shows how Amendola’s reference to a gay (and bi) sex line could have been quite a good move for his client.

Here it is: even today, many people remain homophobic—and boys who have been molested know this, too. Which is why the majority of them never come forward. Why most of them remain silent.

“They’re the least likely to tell anybody, because of shame, guilt and embarrassment, and the number one reason they don’t tell is because of the stigma of homosexuality,” Lanning said. “It’s more acceptable now, but adolescent boys know it’s not good, because once you have had sex with an adult male, people label you ‘gay.’”

And that might just be the truth—or it might not be.

“They are gay, they might be gay, or they might not know, because they’re adolescents. So they don’t tell anyone when this happens—because the minute they admit to having sex with a man, the one thing they do know is that being labeled ‘gay’ equals a miserable life,” Lanning said.

Let's make this crystal clear: Lanning is not saying boys who are molested are gay, or that their abusers are. What he is saying is that because of people's homophobic fear about gays, for a male teen to be labeled as such is the social equivalent to a death sentence. And that is why these particular victims of sexual assault often go to great lengths to pretend nothing sexual happened.

All of this is crucial to other cases of male-on-male acquaintance molestation where child sexual abuse occurs after much grooming and seduction on the part of the molester, because of the long-term effects on society and its children.

“The most prolific of all child molesters are men who have an interest in young, adolescent boys. They have a large number of victims. They’re the most persistent and prolific of all child molesters, and they get away with it more often than any other type of molester,” Lanning said, adding that the Penn State case shows just that.

“These cases are good and bad. That’s because we’re lucky if we can get one in 10 (adolescent male victims) to disclose (what happened of a sexual nature). But they’re good because one of these guys can have hundreds of victims. (With that large number), it means you can end up with 50 victims who will testify,” Lanning said.

So, as sad as it is to say, the Penn State victim count is likely to go up. Let's just hope the first eight or 10 victims that have spoken out so far are not intimidated by Amendola's blunder (or his strategy). Let us also hope that the courage of these bold survivors will empower the other boys and men who are also out there, silently waiting to come forward. And let's all give them our blessing to do just that—without fear of being judged as anything other than sexual abuse victims.

Posted by Daleen at 07:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you happen to be in Bellefonte, Pa., today to show support for the Penn State victims--or for Gerald Sandusky's preliminary hearing--and you see a blonde woman carting a satchel of books, it's me.

I'm not lukewarm, but am either hot or cold: sometimes I take days or weeks to make a decision; other times I make them so quickly and impetuously it's gotten me into trouble. Hopefully the decision I just made will turn out to be just the opposite, because I'm hoping to get copies of Sister of Silence into the hands of the victims. I want to do my part, to help in some small way, and that's the best I can think of.

If you want to keep tabs on my trip today, you can follow me on Facebook or Twitter as I make my way to Bellefonte.

Please do your part to help sexual abuse victims everywhere, as this case--which is being called "a watershed moment in the understanding of child sexual abuse"--helps the world understand a crime that has long been misunderstood, and its associated fallout for the victims.

Posted by Daleen at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I don’t think Dorothy “Dottie” Sandusky is a cold and heartless woman who would deliberately turn away from a child’s cries for help. Her own pattern of charity and assistance to others indicates otherwise.

But I do have to wonder if she’s deluding herself. That’s what I did for years, from the age of 13 on.

At first I was in denial, as I learned of my (ex) husband’s behavior with other 13-year-old girls, one after another. I was conflicted, about what it meant and how to handle it. I was also ashamed and terrified: both that other people would come to know our family’s dirty little secret, and that he would do the same thing to our (then) three young daughters. Or even our son.

From the time I realized what “Eddie” was doing, that he had a perversion and preferred girls of 13, it took me 10 years to leave him. If you add another three years to that, you’ll know exactly how long he was abusing me, too. For you see, I was groomed for a period of time, and was just 13 when Eddie first molested me.

Did you know there is one legal way to rape a child? Ken Lanning (who wrote the foreword for my book Sister of Silence) and I have had this discussion many times. “You get married,” Lanning said.

That’s how sex with a child (be it molestation or rape) is legally sanctioned in this country. So at 16 I went from being an abused teen to an abused wife. (Dottie was reportedly about the age of 22 by the time she and Sandusky became a couple in the mid-1960's; but I'd like more details about her prior involvement with him.)

And many men who molest children also abuse their wives. There have been famous cases of just such stories: men who have kidnapped a child, men who murder a child, men who molest children. Behind many, many of these men is a cowering woman, confused about what is happening and unsure of what to do. These wives become complicit partners to the abuse, because they themselves are being battered.

Could that be what happened to Dottie Sandusky? Very possibly, yes. It is—in my opinion—the only way she can publicly state that he is innocent of all the charges against him. Any person who is repeatedly traumatized or abused for a period of several years, or decades, can become numb to reality. What is real and what isn’t? Who knows? The victim certainly doesn’t—or if she does, the last thing she wants is for other people to know, too.

It might be classic cognitive dissonance —where a person’s beliefs and actions don’t line up, and the only thing left to do is to justify the conflict in your mind by making excuses or flatly denying it.

Case in point: from all corners, Jerry Sandusky is hailed as a great guy who loves kids. So Dottie tells herself that what she’s seeing and hearing cannot possibly be what she thinks it is. Her husband continues to abuse young boys, and Dottie continues to deny it’s happening—just as she might be denying her own abuse at Sandusky’s hands.

The one thing I know for sure is that many abused women go through their entire lives in denial about the true state of their own married lives. I was one, and I’ve met many, many others.

For Dottie to ever admit that she’s married to someone who has not only been accused of rape by numerous victims—but that such victims rarely lie about serious crimes like sexual abuse—she first would have to admit she herself is abused. Or, that she’s made a very grave mistake in her assessment of her husband. Or both.

Not an easy thing for anyone—who wants to admit they’ve made a mistake? It would be incredibly difficult to do so when you’re under a national spotlight. So let’s give Dottie time to do that—and get her posthaste to a skilled mental health specialist, who can help her come to terms with the truth.

Posted by Daleen at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Entries come from as far away as Australia

Well, the blogosphere contests are over and whew, do I have some work to do: Goodreads announced via an email I received at 3:03 a.m. that 1,099 people—some of them from Scotland, New South Wales, and elsewhere—entered to win a free copy of Sister of Silence!

Now I just have to decide how to choose the winners. Unlike the 156 entries from the DearReader and Shelf-Awareness contests, it's a lot more work when you've got almost ten times as many people who entered the Goodreads contest. There's the collating and printing of each name, and then they must be cut apart, if I'm going to put them all into a (much bigger) hat. Or I could just go through the list of entrants and look at their photos, and choose the ones with the best smiles. Or the best hairdo, or choose only those folks who like the same kind of books I do. I could even base my decision upon where they live, for instance, by saying I'm going to award a free book to everyone in Texas. Or Tallahassee, Fl.

I'm really not sure what to do—so why don't you help me? Send your suggestions to the email below or post it on my Facebook or Twitter page. I'll read them all during the weekend and make my decision Sunday night. The winners will be selected and announced Monday morning.

Maybe you can also give me some feedback on the following: in the first contest, people saw my photo, and 156 of them were "hooked" by this:

Dear Reader,

I'm giving away 10 books plus Starbucks gift cards. Write to me - daleen(dot)berry(at)gmail.com - to win.

But in the Goodreads contest, readers there saw a photo of the SOS cover, and 1,099 entered after reading this:

A victim of child sex abuse at thirteen, she was forced into a shotgun wedding after her high school was featured on national television for having the highest number of pregnant teens in the U.S. But then Daleen found herself married to a coal miner who kept her barefoot and pregnant. By age twenty-one she had four children. Sister of Silence is the amazing story of her personal journey: how she went from being a teen mom to an award-winning journalist determined to break the silence that shatters women and children's lives.

I'm new to all the sites where people could win copies of my book, including Goodreads, so I have no idea what their numbers are for members, subscribers, unique visitors or anything else. The only thing I can guess, from the much larger number of entries at Goodreads is that people like the cover of my book better than my photo! (And that's fine by me.) Just a hypothesis, here. What do you think? Send me your thoughts, for I'd love to hear them.

And now if you'll excuse me, I've got some work to do. Have a great weekend!

Editor's note: Buy your copy of Sister of Silence for $9.99 here. If you hate the way a real book feels and smells, then skip it and go for the e-book. It's only $2.99, and it's also available at the above link for the Nook and the Kindle and at Smashwords, for most other formats out there.

Posted by Daleen at 06:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

. . . and Some Starbucks Coffee!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Sister of Silence

by Daleen Berry

Giveaway ends December 10, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

*********
For the last few days, two contests have been underway for readers in the blogosphere. And I've been bogged down with responses—so many I have had little time to attend to anything else—to the point where I totally forgot to post it here. Please don't be offended! It has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with me.

What I have found time to do is post info about the contests at Facebook and Twitter. The first contest can be found at DearReader.com and Shelf-Awareness.com. You can sign up for the free newsletter at Shelf-Awareness (located on the home page on the right side, in a yellow circle) or "join" the library book club of your choice at DearReader, which will allow the blog to come to your inbox.

If you're like me, though, and entry-form challenged, then just take a shortcut and go here, where you will find Sister of Silence and the contest. But hurry, it ends Sunday night (Dec. 4) at midnight (EST)!

On Monday, Dec. 5, there will be a drawing (by an independent and impartial person, who is under the age of 10) for Sister of Silence. Ten names will be pulled from the hat, and I will mail each person a copy of my paperback book AND (drum roll, please) a Starbucks gift card!

If you miss the deadline for that contest, don't despair—there is a second one! It's a free giveaway at Goodreads, a cool reading site for literary minds. All you do is register there, for free, and toss your name into the hat. This contest ends sometime Friday, Dec. 10. I'm not sure what time. (But when you enter, you'll see the clock ticking down. And, if you're better at math than I am, you should be able to figure it out for yourself.)

On Saturday, Dec. 11, there will be another drawing (by yet another independent and impartial person, who is under the age of 10) for Sister of Silence. Ten names will be pulled from the hat, and I will mail each person a copy of my paperback book. And something else free that you will like, and that may even be . . . a Gloria Jean's gift card.

I'm going to post pictures—most likely on Facebook—of the names being drawn from the hat. If you're one of the winners, and want me to post your picture, send me one (jpeg file) as soon as you receive word, and I'll gladly post your picture, too.

Finally, if you simply must read my book as soon as possible (or if you have a problem with patience, like me), or if you're loaded and just like paying for your guilty pleasures, there is still time to take advantage of my Cyber Monday special! It runs through this Saturday night.

Here's how it works: Buy a paperback copy of Sister of Silence and receive a free 30-minute phone call or Skype (or Facebook) chat with the author. (That's me!!!) If you hate the way a real book feels and smells, then skip the book and go for the e-book. It's only $2.99, and it's available for the Nook, for the Kindle and at Smashwords, for most other formats out there.

Sorry, no author chat included. Well, if you twist my arm I might . . . okay, what the hey, you win: I will throw in a free 10-minute phone call or chat. (Take the phone call—there's just something about hearing someone's voice that's a bonus.) Besides, then you'll know what I sound like and be able to hear me reading in your head as you dig into my book.

Hopefully, I'll be the only other voice in your head you hear, besides your own!

Posted by Daleen at 03:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)