Merry Christmas Is Over Why Are We Still Talking About It by Vanessa C. Hawkins

 Vanessa Hawkins Author Page

So by now Christmas has passed, and the winter doldrums are all ready to set in as you wait for that first dandelion to pop its head up through the soil. Winter blues, ready to come a-knocking post holiday, are all dressed up waiting for an invitation and doesn't give a darn about provincial lockdowns or one house-hold bubbles. 

It's a comin'! But as a writer who always has too much on their mind, my depression left the station well before Christmas. While waiting for Santa, it was set carefully on the back porch waiting for me to take down my Christmas lights, or throw out my dusty old Christmas tree that was up well past January. It was there... waiting to pounce...

Depression cat: Imma gonna make you sad then knock
over all yo' glass dinnerware... 

 But that cat can eat $h!+ because I'm not ready for it yet!

Take that all seasonal depression!

I'm gonna live in the past and review my recipe for a Merry Christmas! I haven't forgot about the holly and the jolly! It's not over, because my blog shall be about all the joy and fun I did last month! IF it looks familliar it's because I originally posted this a few weeks ago on Long and Short Reviews, but due to my this sure-fire Christmas plan--that can't be beat!-- I decided to post it here as well. Mostly because I did a George and didn't write a post in time, and also because I've been busy with a bunch of other projects that I'll tell you about NEXT month. 

Probably...

Unless I do another George...

Merry Christmas, George!

So, here it is! A tried and tested way to have a Merry Christmas! At least if you're me, or someone in the general area AROUND me. 

You’ll need lots of chocolate peppermint and gingerbread. Why? Because it's amazing frankly, and what's a Christmas without it? If you don’t have any on hand, you can always substitute for eggnog, but it’s gotta be homemade. Sorry... but store bought stuff is *blech!*

blech.

Christmastime in my family--

My family....................... *Okay not really*

--is always a series of events that culminate in a merry holiday adventure. I’m lucky, my husband and I have been together since high school, so I grew up, and like, including my in-laws. Now that we have a little one to come on the December adventure with us, we can all delight as she prances in the few traditional ingredients that make up our secret family recipe.

peas... not really an ingredient

First in the bowl are gingerbread houses. We buy ‘em premade, struggle to glue them together with the cheap icing sugar included with the box, and laugh at our failed attempt at creating something whimsical. Combine that with our annual cookie baking that leaves us stuffed with sugar and you’re on your way to a Merry Christmas!… or at least diabetes.

Who needs both their feet anyway?

Add a pinch of snow, probably too little before the actual holiday though. We live in Eastern Canada so sometimes the wind bites us before our snowmen get the chance to.  After that, a dash to the store on Christmas Eve because you forgot that one thing on your Christmas list you just HAVE to have! Santa typically does the rest, but we open a gift the night before just so it’s that much harder to get to sleep from the excitement.

Especially true if you're 5

Bake for twenty-five days at negative ten degrees or so–we have always had advent calendars to help us keep the timing just right, though my daughter is like me and can’t wait to eat the chocolate—and you have a happy holiday! I suggest serving it with all your loved ones, of course. That’s what we do. Honestly, the ingredients are simple and easily replaced with other things, it’s the joy of the company that gives it taste. But I still maintain you’ll need lots of chocolate and peppermint.

And eggnog… but only if it’s homemade... and only if you like your inlaws.

But not mine!............Usually.

Merry January 9th everybody! 

Seasoned Hearts by J. S. Marlo

 

 

Seasoned Hearts

"Love & Sacrifice #1"

is now available  

click here

 

 

 

The Red Quilt

"a sweet & uplifting holiday story"

click here

J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

As I mentioned last month in my blog, I was busy rewriting a novel from a decade ago, but as the weeks & months went by, it turned into more than a rewrite.

The motivation of my protagonists and antagonists changed, and so did their backgrounds.

I eliminated characters and introduced new ones. 

I eliminated events and plots, and created new storylines. 

 

And while the premise of the story remained the same, the new novel shared limited resemblance with the old one.

 

So this month, it is my pleasure to present you this new, wonderful, and inspiring novel: Seasoned Hearts

Explosion, arson, and murder play an integral and entertaining role in Actor Blythe Huxley’s life, but when his wife is shot, the tragedy becomes real and the decisions heartbreaking.

Love, sacrifice, and duty aren’t empty words that Riley Kendrick writes in her television scripts. They are the threads weaving her life together—a life marked by the loss of her husband in the line of duty, the hardship of raising two children alone, and the strength to move on.

As Riley offers a friendly ear to the actor’s difficulties, an arsonist strikes close to home, casting a shadow on her husband’s death and forcing her to revisit her past. Meanwhile, another bullet flies in proximity of the television studio, entangling her life with Blythe’s tragedy.

Can she and Blythe stop the arsonist threatening her family and the killer set on destroying his life before they each lose another loved one and have their hearts shattered beyond hope of repair?

 

A friend asked me why I chose 'Seasoned' Hearts as my title.

Seasoned means experienced, but it also means flavoured or spiced. My protagonists, Blythe and Riley, are in their forties. They have
been around the block a few times. They experienced great joy, great sorrow, and most things in between. They also tasted life to the fullest, bitter and sweet. It seemed like a fitting title.

  Seasoned Hearts is the first instalment of my new series: Love & Sacrifice

 

 

It will be followed by Wounded Hearts (Fall 2022), Rebelled Hearts (Spring 2023), and Dedicated Hearts (Fall 2023).

Each book is a stand-alone, but some characters will appear in more than one book.

 

Seasoned Hearts is available in print and ebooks. For a list of retailers, click here

Stay warm & stay safe!

JS

 

 

J. S. Marlo's Website

 

For the Love of Reading by Eileen O'Finlan

 

Click here for purchase information

Click here to visit Eileen O'Finlan's website

Every loyal member of Goodreads knows they are encouraged to set a reading challenge for themselves at the beginning of each year. The challenge is to set a goal for the number of books to be read by the end of the year. Members can keep track by adding each new book they begin to their homepage and marking it completed when finished. The website keeps count of the total as well as tracking how many books the reader is ahead of or behind schedule.

I am a voracious reader, but before I started using Goodreads regularly I had no idea how many books I read in a year other than "a lot." January 1, 2021 was the first time I set a goal. Having no clue about the amount of books I could complete by December 31st I chose a random number - 60. I figured it was possible for me to read that many books in a year and I was curious to see how many I actually do read.

I noticed that many GR members had set goals of 100 or more, but though I'm an avid reader, I am not a fast reader and figured I wouldn't be able to finish that many. I enjoy reading far too much to speed through a book. I prefer to savor them. I was pleasantly surprised then, when I surpassed my goal of 60 books long before the end of the year. My final total was 83.

This year I've set my sights higher. My goal is 90. As of right now, I've completed four books and am two books behind schedule. No worries, though. I was many more books behind schedule at the start of last year and look where I wound up! Reaching 90 books just means I read a few more this year than last year. I refuse to speed up my reading just to reach this goal, though. Reading is one of the greatest pleasures in my life. It is not meant to be rushed. At least not for me.

I do tend to be competitive with myself, however so I know I'm going to want to hit that 90 book goal. Fortunately, there are no restrictions on what I read so if I fall too far behind by the end of the year - hello children's picture books! But I'm hoping I won't need to do that.

A Tasty Treat to Chase Away the Winter Blues

 

No-Bake Chocolate Haystacks

Beat the winter blues with these scrumptious no-bake chocolate coconut cookies. They are super easy and fast to make; not to mention, they’re easy on the pocketbook. The most challenging part of making these is trying not to devour them all before they’re made!

Cook Time: 10 minutes. Makes 18-24 cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 cups quick oats

1 cup unsweetened coconut

1/2 tsp vanilla

Method:

1)Place a medium-sized pot over medium heat.

2) Add the first five ingredients to the pot and wait until they come to a simmer. Cook a few minutes more. (Don’t taste test or you’ll burn your lips off!)

3) Next, add the oats, the coconut, and then the vanilla.

4) Mix quickly and then use a tablespoon to drop cookies onto a wax paper-covered cookie sheet.

5) Now, the hard part: you’ll have to wait about two hours for them to cool at room temperature until they are firm and ready to eat.

6) Store the cookies in a sealed container or cover with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out.

Enjoy!!

Jay Lang  

For more information on me or to buy my books, please click on the link:

 http://bookswelove.net/lang-jay/

 

Baroness Orczy by Rosemary Morris

 

To enjoy more of Rosemary's work please click on the image above.

Baroness Emma Orczy

    

I am a fan of well written historical fiction which recreates past times.  Baroness Orczy’s books are among my favourite novels, and I became curious about the author’s life and times.

 

 

Baroness Orczy

 

Best remembered for her hero, Percy Blakeney, the elusive scarlet pimpernel, Baroness Orczy was born in Tarna Ors, Hungary, on September 23, 1865, to Baron and Baroness Orczy.  Her parents frequented the magnificent court of the Austrian Hungarian Empire where the baron was well known as a composer, conductor and friend of Liszt, Wagner, and other composers.

Until the age of five, when a mob of peasants fired the barn, stables and fields destroying the crops, Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála “Emmuska” Orczy, enjoyed every luxury in her father’s magnificent, ancestral chateaux, which she later described as a rambling farmhouse on the banks of the River Tarna.  The baron and his family lived there in magnificent ‘medieval style’.  Throughout her life, the exuberant parties, the dancing, and the haunting gypsy music lived on in Emmuska’s memory.

After leaving Tarna Ors forever, the Orczys went to Budapest.   Subsequently, in fear of a national uprising, the baron moved his family from Hungary to Belgium.  Emmuska attended convent schools in Brussels and Paris until, in 1880, the baron settled his family in Wimpole Street, London.

 Fifteen-year-old Emmuska, learned English within six months, and won a special prize for doing so.  Later, she first attended the West London School of Art and then Heatherby’s School of Art, where she met her future husband, Montague Barstow, an illustrator.

Emmuska fell in love with England and regarded it as her spiritual birthplace, her true home.  When people referred to her as a foreigner, she replied there was nothing foreign about her, she her love was all English, for she loved the country.

Baron Orczy tried to develop his daughter’s musical talent. Emmuska chose art and had the satisfaction of her work being exhibited at The Royal Academy. Later, she turned to writing. 

In 1894 Emmuska married Montague, and, in her own words, the marriage was ‘happy and joyful’. 

The newlyweds enjoyed opera, art exhibitions, concerts, and the theatre.  Emmuska’s bridegroom was supportive of her and encouraged her to write.  In 1895 her translations of Old Hungarian Fairy Tales: The Enchanted Cat, Fairyland’s Beauty and Uletka and The White Lizard, edited with Montague’s help, were published. 

Inspired by thrillers she watched on stage, Emmuska wrote mystery and detective stories. The first featured The Old Man in the Corner.  For the generous payment of sixty pounds the Royal Magazine published it in 1901.  Her stories were an instant hit.  Yet, although the public could not get enough of them, she remained dissatisfied.

In her autobiography Emmuska wrote: ‘I felt inside my heart a kind of stirring that the writing of sensational stuff for magazines would not and should not, be the end and aim of my ambition.  I wanted to do something more than that.  Something big.’

Montague and Emmuska spent 1900 in Paris that, in her ears, echoed with the violence of the French Revolution.  Surely, she had found the setting for a magnificent hero to champion the victims of “The Terror”.           Unexpectedly, after she and her husband returned to England, it was while waiting for the train that Emmuska saw her most famous hero, Sir Percival Blakeney, dressed in exquisite clothes.  She noted the monocle held up in his slender hand, heard both his lazy drawl and his quaint laugh.  Emmuska told her husband about the incident and within five weeks had written The Scarlet Pimpernel.

     Very often, although the first did not apply to Emmuska and Montague, it is as difficult to find true love as it is to get published. A dozen publishers or more rejected The Scarlet Pimpernel.  The publishing houses wanted modern, true-life novels. Undeterred Emmuska and Montague turned the novel into a play.

The critics did not care for the play, which opened at the New Theatre, London in 1904, but the audiences loved it and it ran for 2,000 performances. As a result, The Scarlet Pimpernel was published and became the blockbuster of its era making it possible for Emmuska and Montague to live in an estate in Kent, have a bustling London home and buy a luxurious villa in Monte Carlo.

During the next 35 years, Emmuska wrote sequels to The Scarlet Pimpernel such as, Lord Tonys Wife, 1917, The League of The Scarlet Pimpernel 1919, but other historical and crime novels.  Her loyal fans repaid her by flocking to the first of several films about her gallant hero.  Released in 1935, it was produced by her compatriot, Alexander Korda, starred Lesley Howard as Percy, and Merle Oberon as Marguerite.

 Emmuska and Montague moved to Monte Carlo in the late 1910’s where they remained during Nazi occupation in the Second World War.

Montague died in 1943 leaving Emmuska bereft.  She lived with her only son and divided her time between London and Monte Carlo.  Her last novel Will-O’theWisp and her autobiography, Links in the Chain of Life were published in 1947 shortly before her death at the age of 82 on November 12, in the same year. Raise your glass and drink a toast to them.

 

http://bwlpublishing.ca/morris-rosemary

 

www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

 

The Year of the Water Tiger by Diane Bator

To buy The Bookstore Lady

The Year of the Water Tiger

Gong hei fat choy! 

What a great name for a book, isn't it? The Year of the Water Tiger. I'm sure it'll be on the shelves soon. But what does it really mean for the year ahead?

Just as we celebrate the calendar New Year on January 1st, the Lunar New Year brings a transition from the old to the new. Currently, the rigid ways of the Metal Ox are beginning to soften as the world eases into a more familiar rhythm.

As my good friend and mentor Debra Jones says in her blog:

The New Chinese Lunar Year (Feb 1st) has shifted us into the energies of the Water Tiger.

WATER is a feminine element. It is also the element of emotion and subconscious, of intuition and mysteries of the Self.

Water is a cleansing, healing, purifying, and loving element. It is the feeling of compassion, friendship, and love that can pour over us.

Water sustains us.

When we swim, it is water that supports us.

When we are thirsty, it is water that quenches our thirst.

(borrowed from Debra Jones https://www.debrajones.ca/blog/post/1662735/the-eye-of-the-tiger)

This is a year to be gentler to ourselves and to others as we all come out of the confusion and fear. To gather our good intentions and go to work on them. 2022 is a year of big changes and doing the work to create them while being fearles as a tiger but yielding enough to go with the flow.

What are your dreams? Perhaps this is the year to put those plans into motion.

To be as tenatious as a tiger.

To create that artwork.

To build that life you've only dreamed of until now.

To write that book.

To move forward in ways you've only dreamed of.

To transition to that job you've always wanted.

If you do plan to write a book, find a community of other writers who will support and mentor you. Reach out to authors you admire and take that first step of asking questions. Making a plan. Learning your craft. Letting your thoughts flow like water.

What are your dreams?

For more information and to buy my books: CLICK HERE

Diane Bator, Author & Book Coach My website

The Joys of Winter

 Or should I say the dreads of winter? It seems like every year we complain more and more about snow and winter. Why? I guess we just need something to complain about. We've actually been blessed the last few years, our winters have been pretty mild and not a terrible amount of snow. At least not at one time. 

This year hasn't been much different. Until last week that is. We got pounded with a big snowstorm, at least 12 inches in most places, more in others. Anyone that knows me also knows I don't drive in the snow. I seldom drive in the rain, in fact, I really don't like to drive. Needless to say, I wasn't thrilled when I had to drive to church. 

Now I know I could have stayed home, but I committed to ushering that day and I also had some food for the food bank that I promised to bring so the lady that handles it didn't have to take it from church and I wouldn't have to carry it in. 

Okay, I know, I could have called and done it a different day, but two of the ushers already called off due to their son's wedding in Florida. So, I felt compelled to go. I'm sure they could have replaced me easily enough, I know I'm not indispensable. But a commitment is a commitment. Besides, I hate missing church. 

So, I went. Fortunately, my nephew plowed our driveway and I had no trouble getting out. Not so the streets, not even the main streets, although with the traffic they were a little better than the side streets. 

Believe me when I say I prayed all the way there, especially when I turned into the church driveway and it wasn't plowed. To make matters worse, the drive is a slight incline and on the left side is a dropoff. My car slid all the way up. Needless to say my prayer became more intense, asking God to take the wheel because I wasn't controlling the car very well. 

But, praise God, I made it all the way to the parking lot and even managed to get through the deep snow without falling.  Not many people were in church and I didn't expect there would be, but I was there and that's all that counted. 

It snowed the whole time I was in church and by the time we came out my car was covered. I cleaned it off, transferred the food to my friend's car, and slowly made my way home. The streets weren't in any better shape. I guess with it being Sunday, the city didn't feel the need to get the plow drivers out early. Although about the time I was ready to turn down my street, I did see one. 

Hmm, after writing all of this, I just had a thought. It would make a good scene for Aunt Beatrice Lulu. She hasn't been talking to me much lately. Maybe this would get her going. 

In the meantime, I can't wait for Spring. 

February new releases and new contest from BWL Publishing

 

 NEW RELEASES FOR FEBRUARY 2022

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