Official Maria V. Snyder Blog

Yay!  I found out on Sunday, that my book, SCENT OF MAGIC is a finalist in the Golden Leaf award given by the New Jersey Romance Writers.  If the name sounds familiar, that is because I've won this award before for STORM GLASS and TOUCH OF POWER. When I told my husband about this honor, he made a crack about not seeing the nomination on the news that night.  I didn't think it was funny.  I thought that was being rather jaded - "oh, just another nomination, no big deal"  type thing.  Well, I don't take anything for granted and to, me, being nominated or winning an award is still as exciting as it was when I first started publishing. After 21 years of marriage, he picked up on my...disappointment in his reaction. (Yes, it took over 20 years to train him ;)  He brought me flowers and made me a card.  Except he couldn't remember the exact name of the award, just that it had something to do with nature. Here's a picture of the flow...

At times, I think of myself as a photographer.  My travel pictures have appeared in magazines along with my articles, but I'm still at the point and shoot stage.  I'd love to learn more and buy a nice DSLR camera, but that would require more time and passion that I'm willing to give at this point.  I've learned that I'm a dabbler in everything but writing.  Plus what I managed to do with my Nikon Coolpix has been fine for me. Every year our small town hosts a fair and every year I've entered photos into the contests.  Some years I do great and win a few ribbons, other years nothing.  This year, I entered in these six photos.  One of them won first place and one of them earned third place.  If you're the first to pick/guess the right ones, I'll send you a set of the new editions of the GLASS books!  Please leave info so I can contact you.  Yes, it's open international and I'll leave it open until next Monday, September 2nd. Centra...

Yep, I'm a dirty girl ;)  On Saturday, I participated in the Dirty Girl 5K Mud Run - a 3.1 mile course with 12 obstacles and yes, I completed every obstacle no matter how gross.  Why?  Good question.  My friend Kathy invited me, my daughter, and her friend to go. They immediately said yes (see - I didn't raise a girly girly!) and I said, "hell no."  Well...three against one - I was out numbered.  Actually, I changed my mind once I learned that it really isn't a race to the finish and I could walk the course if I so desired.  Plus this was more a fun run and a portion of the proceeds go to cancer research.  Win - Win (except for my sneakers).  The worst part - the time!  Our wave left at 9:00 am (the am stands for I AM usually asleep until noon). Here's a before picture of our team the Madames of Mayhem.  Can you recognize me? Our team, like most teams that participated, dressed alike - black tank top, black s...

Thanks for all the comments/entries about all my new covers!  I picked the four winners using a random number generator and the following people won: Jessica from Connecticut Stephanie from Canada Brianna from South Carolina Helene from France Congrats to all!! And for those who missed out this time, check my Facebook page. I'm doing another giveaway of 6 prize packs - the prize packs include one copy of the new cover of STORM GLASS, one copy of the new SEA GLASS, and one copy of STORM WATCHER.  Yup 3 books for 6 people.  https://www.facebook.com/mvsfans/posts/10151748790114322?comment_id=240475327&offset=0&total_comments=370&notif_t=feed_comment Just FYI - I'm keeping an eye on the number of subscribers I have to my blog and it's getting close to 1000 - which would be another reason to celebrate :)