Author Empi Baryeh's Blog

For those of you who don't know what NaNoWriMo is, here's what you need to know. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and the idea is to write a novel in one month - specifically the month of November - and 'novel' is defined as 50,ooo words or more. That translates to 1667 daily for an entire month. Now if you think that's easy, think about the last time you had to write a speech or even an email that was more than two paragraphs long. Now that we have the basics down, you must be asking yourselves, if she was supposed to write 50,000 words, why is she boasting about her measly 18,802. I will tell you why. I'm a pantser - that means: (1) I do not write on a schedule, (2) I have to edit as I go along, because new things crop up as the story unravels that need an adjustment to be made in a previous chapter/page. I'm an emotional write - meaning I usually write when the mood hits, so I can spend days/weeks having written nothing and I can spen...

First of all I want to say a huge thank you to all the authors and bloggers who made donations and signed up for the Color of Love blog hop, and then to all lovers or IR/MC romance who stopped by to take part in the hop by leaving comments and taking part in the rafflecopter promotion. This hop wouldn’t have been a success without all of you. A special shout out to everyone who stopped by my blog and left a comment or followed me on Facebook or Twitter. I don’t want to brag or anything, but I'm thrilled about the results, so THANK YOU. Please remember to check out my updates, especially since I am more than half way done on my current WIP. And  now, it’s time to announce winners of my blog prize! Okay, so I said my blog prize was a $10 gift card , right? Well, I have changed my mind (in a good way, so keep reading). In honour of US Thanksgiving Day, I've decided to give one additional prize! Since random(dot)org picked a winner from the rafflecopter, I decided to add an additi...

I am at M now in my AtoZ of my all time favourite music and today I'm  heading to the 90s. The pick is MMMBop by Hansons. For a song that says absolutely nothing, it's awesome. It is their most successful song, and it's simply fun to listen to. Or maybe it's just the fact that it was sung by kids. It appears on Hanson's 1997 album Middle of Nowhere . In case you've never heard it, here it is - and if you've heard it, I hope you get good memories: There was a close second, and just because it's from Ghana, I've decided to put that here too. The track is titled, " Me Dɔfo Pa" by Ghanaian artiste, Kojo Antwi.  In the 90s, he was easily the biggest name in Ghanaian music. Now, you have to believe me when I say being romantic in my language isn't easy, but Kojo Antwi just knows how to string together words to make them oh so sexy. I am sure the Ghanaians among my fans and friends would appreciate this one :-). The re...

AND it's a go! The COLOR OF LOVE Blog Hop is being hosted by Empi Baryeh (me), Kiru Taye , and Nana Prah , from today until Monday ( 25th November ). That's five whole days of discovering new books and new authors and winning prizes. So here's the deal. You've got 5 days to hit 38 blogs, each featuring an interracial and multicultural romance book that you may not have read yet! As with all hops, you will have the chance to win various prizes on each site you visit as well as our grand prizes: Color of Love Blog Hop Prizes 1st prize: $50 Amazon gift card + 8 ebooks 2nd prize: $30 Amazon gift card+ 8 ebooks 3rd prize: $20 Amazon gift card + 8 ebooks 4th prize: $10 Amazon gift card + 8 ebooks ....unveiling the prizes... Don't forget to enter the rafflecopter (below) because that's how we will choose the winners for our grand prizes. FEATURED NOVEL If you love romance (of course, you do) then you probably love Valentine Themed stories. I know we're in ...

Ah, the letter of LOVE. I should have known this would be a difficult one. There were two top contenders for this slot, but eventually, I decided to go with Letters by South African band, Watershed (I know, I keep going to SA). It's on their Album Mosaic. I was hooked from the first moment I heard this song and it was enough motivation to buy the album without listening to the other songs. I hope you enjoy, Letters: As I said, there were a lot of 'L' songs, so here are my honourable mentions : Life is Going on (Without You) - Coleske Living Years  - Mike and and Mechanics Love is Life - Hot Chocolate Le Téléphone Pleure by Claude François Landslide - Dixie Chicks The Last Goodbye - Atomic Kitten Any of the above on your list?

Hi people. Remember when I said I'll blog my all time fave songs and left off halfway? I had very good reason, but I hope you'll forgive me for leaving you high and dry. I have decided to continue the list, and hope you'll join me each week as I release a new one: R&B and Hip-hop aren't my favourite genres (I know *gasp*), but for every generalisation, there are exceptions. Knock You Down by Keri Hilson is one such exception. It comes from her album, In a Perfect World... and features Ne-Yo and Kanye West. At one point, I had burnt  this song back to back to fill an entire CD and played it in my car for my commute to work. Yes, I do that when I love a song. You've probably heard it countless times, but in case you haven't, here you go... Honourable mentions : Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer Happy Monday!

Spaniard's Seduction (The Saxon Brides, #2) by Tessa Radley My rating: 3 of 5 stars I enjoyed Tessa Radley's writing style in this book. This is the first and only one in the "Saxon Brides" series I've read and I think the series would be worth reading. Spaniard's Seduction is about Rafaelo Carreras, Marques de Las Carreras, who's on the path of revenge against his (real) father. Usually, I don't find revenge plots too appealing, but by staying away from the usual cliche, I think Tessa Radley was able make her hero's need for revenge believable. Her descriptives are effective and her characters are relatable. I was so engrossed in the story that I found myself reading the hero's lines in a Spanish accent. There were a couple of pleasant surprises in the book (for me), the most important being the way the author handles the black moment (any more and I'll be giving away too much). One aspect of the heroine's conflict, I felt should hav...

It's November! For many in writing world that means NaNoWriMo, but for me it also means the Color of Love Blog Hop is at hand. Bloggers/Writers, have you signed up yet? The Color of Love Blog Hop which runs from 21 – 25 November, is co-hosted by Empi Baryeh (moi), Kiru Taye and Nana Prah . As African romance authors, we've decided to celebrate romance books featuring characters of color either in multicultural or interracial settings/relationships. We hope you’ll join us and sign up using the linky link below. We’re offering overall hop Grand prizes of a Kindle Fire , gift cards and multi-ebook packs. Donation to the grand prizes is not required for the sign up. However, you are welcome to donate just $5 (or more) to the grand prizes and contribute an eBook to the multi-eBook pack. In return the cover to your eBook will be displayed on the blog hop sign up page from now to the end of November 2013. Also your ‘Follow-me’ details will be added to the overall Grand Prize raffl...

Bloggers/Writers, you may have already heard, but if not ... you're invited to participate in the Color of Love Blog Hop which runs from 21 - 25 November. This event is co-hosted by Empi Baryeh (me), Kiru Taye and Nana Prah . For this hop we are celebrating romance books featuring characters of color either in multicultural or interracial settings/relationships. We hope you'll join us and sign up using the linky list below. We're offering overall hop Grand prizes of a Kindle Fire, gift cards and multi-ebook packs. Details to be confirmed closer to the hop dates. Donation to the grand prizes is not required for the sign up. However, you can donate up to $5 to the grand prizes and contribute an eBook to the multi-eBook pack. In return the cover to your eBook will be displayed on the blog hop sign up page from now to the end of November 2013. Also your 'Follow-me' details will be added to the overall Grand Prize rafflecopter which will be posted in each blog. Please ...