This, That and a bowl of soup

Wow, the last ten days have been crazy here in the north east. In my little corner of Long Island we were without power for 8 days. Gas is ridiculously hard to come by, lines stretch for blocks with people looking to either fill up their cars to get to work or to fill gas cans to run the generators keeping their families warm in the cold temps.

And in the midst of people clearing away trees, searching out hot meals and equally hot showers - the country voted.

I've witnessed extension cords tethering generators from house to house, neighbor to neighbor. I've witnessed screaming at the pumps as people filled huge SUVs full of gas while people waited for a precious 5 gallons for their generator to keep their family warm. And through it all, the hate of the campaign flowed alive and well on facebook and twitter to push political agendas. Yup, people are interesting.

What did I do during my time without electricity?

I enjoyed some down time with my family. Yes, there was lots of grumbling and complaining, but we are lucky to have a generator and an engineer husband who can hotwire anything!

I had my logo updated to coordinate with my website! Since I could get online every now and then on my smartphone, I enlisted the designing talents of Amy from BrandLand. She took my logo and gave it a fresh feel with colors to match my website and added my tagline. I love it and hope you do too!

The morning the storm started I made soup! Because soup is a comfort food for me and I have this dream that one day my family will embrace the magic elixir like I do. Yes, I know...I'm a dreamer.

Squash & Carrot Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 large onion - chopped

2 large carrots - chopped

1 1/2 lbs. squash (I've used butternut and acorn, both with good results) - cut into chunks

6 cups water or low-sodium broth (I've used chicken and vegetable broths, both with good results)

Salt & pepper

Rosemary

Thinly sliced scallions - optional as a garnish

Heat the oil in a large pot, add onion, salt & pepper. Stir frequently and cook about 6 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add carrots and squash. Cover and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water or broth and a few sprigs of rosemary and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the veggies are tender (about 15 minutes.)

Either blend the soup in small batches or just mash the squash and carrots inside the pot. Add a little cornstarch to thicken if desired. Continue to cook and serve hot with scallions on top if desired.

Great with toasted rye bread for dipping too!

What is your go to comfort food in a storm?

Business cards, yes or no?

As happens from time to time (more frequently for me, since I freely admit to being ADD over my promo) I completely overhaul my online presence. In case you haven't noticed the new blog template...it matches my new website, which matches my Facebook timeline cover, etc.

I couldn't resist new business cards to match as well!

Rae Monet, who designed my website, created the business card and I simply loaded it up into VistaPrint and that was it - no fiddling around on my part!

What I love is that it carries over my brand - when you get the business card and visit my website, you will instantly KNOW you're in the right place. That's exactly what I'm going for here.

Honestly, I don't need the card to give to agents/editors or publishing professionals - because they don't want author cards. We take their cards, they don't take ours. So, the business card for me is to promote to a possible fan base, to make contacts, to give people an easy (and hopefully eye-catching) way to find me online and CONNECT.

Now...the back of the card.
I've been reading blog posts and taking a look at other author cards I've picked up at various conferences over the years and I knew this is where I really needed to make some choices. Leave the back blank? Add my email and other links?

You can see to the right, I opted for links and a QR code.

Since the business card is a tool mostly for me to promote, by leaving it places I frequent, handing it to people that ask about my writing or tossing into a swag mailing - it's all about bringing people to where I am online.

The great thing about the QR code is that I can control where it points at any given time. Have a new release I'm promoting? I can point the QR code right to the buy page! Right now I'm looking to build my newsletter base, so the QR code takes the clicker to my newsletter signup form! (September first starts a new give-away, so if you aren't a subscriber to my newsletter list, go ahead and scan it and sign up right from your phone!)

Do you "do" the business card thing? What's on the back of your card?

Surprise Sale! A Fistful of Fate

Love a bargain?

I just discovered my novel, A Fistful of Fate, is on sale for .99 for Kindle!

With summer around the corner, now is a great time to start lining up those beach reads.

Would you die for the one you love...twice?


William Montgomery, a blacksmith wrongly sentenced to death in 1806 for the murder of the woman he loved, cannot rest. His ghost is bound to Clayton Creek. For over two hundred years he’s been waiting for the soul of his true love to find him and set his soul free.

Rebecca Prescott is tormented by the recurring nightmare of her ancestor’s murder. Drawn to a two-week colonial reenactment at the scene of the ancient crime, she doesn’t count on one charming blacksmith or past life memories of an undying love to shatter her reality.

As Rebecca searches for answers from the past, William needs to win her love and earn her forgiveness to undo the witch’s curse that bound him to Clayton Creek. Can Rebecca’s soul finally reunite with her destined love or will she repeat the past and die once again for the man she loves?

Excerpt 

William Montgomery stood in the shadowed doorway and watched the woman he’d waited two hundred years for kiss another man. But Reginald Merriweather wasn’t just any man. He was the man William blamed for Rebecca Beauregard’s death all those years ago, a crime Will had been accused of and paid for. With his own life.

It didn’t matter that Will had been executed. He couldn’t have lived another minute without Rebecca by his side. In truth, his heart had stopped beating the second the bullets had pierced her body. Had he known she would jump between their dueling pistols, he never would have fired.

Now Will’s heart pumped a frantic rhythm he barely remembered in his chest. Two centuries spent in his ghostly form had dulled that particular memory. His blood began to tingle in his veins. Looking down, he saw his legs, his boots, and then his limbs had vanished once again. The change so abrupt he wondered if he’d imagined it.

Rebecca was alive, not a figment of his imagination. She stood on the street between his home and his blacksmith shop, dressed in twenty-first century clothing that showed so much more of her skin than he ever remembered seeing. Her dark hair bounced off her bared shoulders beneath a wide-brimmed hat. So full of life, her smile intoxicated him even from this distance. He wondered if her eyes were the same shade of hazel with green specks and full of mischief, if her skin would still smell like freshly picked lavender.

He stepped out into the summer sunshine to venture closer, expecting her to notice him, to recognize him and call out in the voice that had haunted him these long, lonely years. But she didn’t. She didn’t notice him at all. Neither did Reginald. Will was nothing more than a breeze, still a ghost.

Buy for your Kindle for only .99!