A Holiday Feast

We spent Christmas at home, but not without friends to share the day. We planned a fish-fest. When in Maine…

The menu consisted of champagne, and appetizers of scallops, pesto and Gruyère cheese in phyllo cups served hot out of the oven. After that, we sat down to a cup of homemade lobster bisque with puff pastry croutons. So good!

The main meal was baked stuffed haddock with crab and scallop stuffing, rosemary-roasted Yukon gold potatoes, and a corn, sundried tomato and onion sauté, along with more champagne.

And for desert, a Grand Marnier dark chocolate mouse with homemade whipped cream, orange zest and dark chocolate drops on top.

My husband also found a new pleasure; coffee-nog. I'm sure you can guess the recipe.

I hope you all had a happy day and wish you all the best for the New Year.

ps - as you can see from the photo above, the crows ate well also!

Time Travel

I often get ideas for my writing from my dreams and last night was no exception. However, this one I'm going to need some feedback on.

In my dream Gregor Macgregor time travelled to this century and became a rock star! He looked a bit like Slash from Guns and Roses.



I woke up laughing, but then thought, huh, I wonder…

Let me know what you think about sending Gregor on a trip!

Bah, Humbug!

I'm writing this as I wait patiently for the tech person to pick up the line to hopefully guide me to the reason this wonderfully technological devise isn't working. It's a digital photo frame and, of course, it won't repeat the slideshow when it reaches the end. I'm the first to tell you how much I enjoy technology, but when it doesn't work correctly… well let's just say the idea of tossing it out the window is very appealing!

Oops, here's the tech.

Great! After being put on hold several times to try and figure out the problem, she told me it's defective and it should be returned! It's a Christmas gift and there's no way this will all get done in the 10 days we have left. Crap!

So I hang up the phone and try it one more time before giving up. When I turned it on again, I noticed there was a couple photos still showing up that I had removed a little while ago. How can that happen?

It was like a hand slapping to my head. I have to empty the trash or the memory card still thinks the photos are in there. When I did that, it worked perfectly. Yay!

Moral of the story: keeping trying until every possible outlet has been used.

That, and in my case, always allow for operator error!

Just in time for holiday shopping!

I received the proof copy of Despite Them last Friday as promised. It looks amazing! I've approved it and it's ready to be bought and read by all my dear friends who've pestered me for the last 2 years asking when the next book will be out. Just teasing! I love the fact that I'm lucky enough to have such a wonderful following.

Right now it's only available on Amazon.com. It will filter it's way through to Barnes and Noble and the like a little later. Here's the direct link.

https://www.createspace.com/3502290

Thanks in advance for your support and, shamelessly I ask that you please write a review.

Black Friday and My New Book

Okay everyone, I was finally able to get all of my books up onto Kindle. Yes, even Despite Them! Now it's time for some shameless self-promotion. I thought, with your help, of course, that those who want to order the Kindle versions of my books can do so on Black Friday (Nov. 26th) and the rest of the weekend, and my books might actually get a good ranking. Maybe (dare to dream!) get close to the number one slot!

For those of you who'd prefer an actual book, I'm getting Despite Them printed in paperback, and with any luck, it'll be ready for purchase in December. I'm also working on getting the paperback versions of the Eyes of Garnet trilogy on CreateSpace, the Amazon print-on-demand company. They should also be ready in December. I'll keep you posted on Despite Them. My proof copy is due at the end of this coming week. It's a bit like birthing a baby! Exciting!

Here are the links to the Kindle books.

Eyes of Garnet: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004BLJ89S

Sightless: An Eyes of Garnet Novel: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004BLJ8C0

Double Vision: An Eyes of Garnet Novel: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004BLJ86Q

Despite Them: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004BDP30O

For those who don't have a Kindle and still want to read my books on your PC or Mac, iPhone, or other device, you can download the App right to your device and start reading in minutes. Here are the links.

Kindle for iPhone Available for FREE Download:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_01/?docId=1000301301

Kindle for Android Available for FREE Download:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_02/?docId=165849822

Kindle for PC Available for FREE Download:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_03/?docId=1000426311

Kindle for iPad Available for FREE Download:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_04/?docId=1000490441

What Dreams May Come

A few weeks ago I had a dream about how to solve my formatting problem on Kindle. Then I hurt my leg and couldn't get back to my computer to test the theory.

Until yesterday.

What do you know? Dreams really do come true! When I removed all the formatting in my Word document, POOF! it came up perfectly in the Kindle previewer. Now I've got to go through each book and do the same thing so it'll still be a little while before all four books are up, but at least the problem is solved. Whooohoooo!



On another note, Monday I was pleased to be well enough to get out and talk with the book club at the Brewer Public Library. It was my first book-related outing of 2010 and it was a blast. There were about a dozen people there and they brought Scottish and Welsh goodies to eat while we chatted about Eyes of Garnet. A couple had read all three books but most had just read the first. My husband and I had a bet as to what subjects would be brought up and we hit them on the head. The two that always make me smile are, "What happened to the nephew?", and "Why did you have to kill off all the brothers?"

Like I've told many folks, I'm only the typist; the story writes itself and I have little say in the matter. It never really appeases them but I told them to read the rest of the books to find out what happened to Teàrlach.

Frustrated

Uploading my book onto Kindle is proving to be a headache. I've finally given up and sent the file to a webmaster I used to work with for a fresh look at my html file. It's beginning to stress me out and I don't need that in my life right now.

So, I thought I'd share a little bit of Maine with you all.

October in Maine begins hunting season. And with hunting season, Mainers of all ages and status don their blaze orange. They wear it to the mailbox, to the grocery store, collecting seaweed, or just for a ride about town to enjoy the fall colors.

It's curious to me that 99% of these people never go into the woods where all the wild beasts hiding from hunters live. Perhaps I have it all wrong. Perhaps it's just an excuse to wear the color of Autumn and not feel foolish in clothes that rival the color of pumpkins.

Do I wear the official color of fall in Maine? Nope. Not even when I used to go into the woods. Why do I take my life in my hands when it's so easy to throw on an orange sweatshirt, you might ask? Because there is only 1% of the population who venture into the woods for a turkey in the center of my little town. It might save me from getting hit by a car crossing the street, but other than that, I believe it's just a fashion statement. And I've never been a slave to fashion.