Read ebooks? Wanna save some $?

I just found out that Diesel Ebooks is offering 20% off on some of my books (pictured here). To get the discount, just go here and key in the following code: MOOR06478

That has to be activated, but it should be done soon, if not already.

What's really cool is that this offer includes KISS ME QUICK and KISS ME AGAIN, the prequels to my August, 2008 release, A LOVER'S KISS.

On another topic: Today, a travel agent was talking about companies "incentivizing" folks to go on trips. That made me cringe and I assumed he'd just made it up instead of saying the slightly more cumbersome "providing incentives". However, I checked the dictionary and yes, that word actually exists. But it still doesn't sound right to me.

This sort of thing can be a problem when you write historical novels. Sometimes, you use a word that actually existed much earlier than most folks assume. You may be right, but readers assume you're wrong and think you haven't done your research.

I'm guilty of jumping to that conclusion myself. I was once pulled right out of a Regency by the word "ego." Turns out, according to Merriam-Webster's, it was first used in 1789. So the author wasn't wrong; it just sounded like it. Nevertheless, I wondered if she couldn't have substituted "pride," which would have meant the same thing to me in that context and wouldn't have taken me out of the story.

That's something I try to avoid in my own writing, because jarring the reader in that manner is not a good thing to do. I don't think you can completely avoid it, but I try.