Mince Pies and Movies by Kiltie Jackson, author of A Rock ‘n’ Roll Lovestyle

Mince Pies and Movies by Kiltie Jackson, author of A Rock ‘n’ Roll Lovestyle

by Carol2 Comments
Today, I've got a wonderful guest post by Kiltie Jackson, author of A Rock ‘n’ Roll Lovestyle. There's also a giveaway; the rafflecopter's at the bottom of the post. Mince Pies and Movies by Kiltie Jackson Sukie McClaren, the leading lady in my novel A Rock ‘n’ Roll Lovestyle, is over the moon when she is sent to Salzburg on a business trip. The reason for this being, that she has a very deep love for the film ‘The Sound of Music’. She has fond memories of her childhood Christmas’s being spent sitting on the sofa with her mum, eating either mince pies or working their way through a tin of sweets, while the movie played out in front of them. This got me to thinking about my own Christmas movies and mince pie traditions. We’ll start with the mince pies. Mr Mogs and I are still working on finding the perfect mince pie. We believe the best thus far can be found in a...
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A Visit to Bar Harbor, Maine – Guest Post by Heather McCoubrey, author of Back to December

by Carol6 Comments
Today, Heather is taking us to visit one of the setting locations from Back to December. When Cooper invites Anna to go away for a weekend, he takes her to a little town called Bar Harbor, Maine. Bar Harbor holds a special place in my heart: two days after my wedding, my husband and I packed a moving truck and moved from Virginia to Maine. Between my husband, my sister-in-law and myself, we drove three vehicles north--the moving truck broke down twice and we had to constantly pull over to fill it with oil. We arrived in Maine in the early hours of the morning and spent the night in a hotel. The next morning, we woke to do the final walk-through, and on approximately four hours of sleep, we closed on our house. We spent the next two days unloading the moving truck and then we decided to it was time to finally take our honeymoon. So we left our brand...
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Guest Post by Lauren Carr, author of A Fine Year for Murder (with giveaway)

by Carol3 Comments
An Author By Any Other Name …. By Lauren Carr (aka Jack’s wife, Tristan’s Mom, Marilyn Mayhem, and Beast Master) Occasionally, I receive an email from an author terrified of using Facebook, the Internet, or any social media for fear of friends and relatives identifying them. Once, I received an email from an author afraid to promote his upcoming book. “I have relatives out there who I don’t want to find me,” he said. I’m certain there’s a great story behind this, but he refused to tell me. I was surprised when I first started conducting workshops in using social media to discover that many writers are terrified of promoting their books online for fear of their friends and family finding out that they’re published authors. So, I offer this solution: Use a Pen Name! Read on to learn about my not-so-secret identity. My husband has been the financial director at our church for over twenty years. Yep, this mystery writer, who spends her days researching...
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The Missing Link in the Diet Industry: Guest post by Dede Barbanti, author of Transform: The Secret to Unlocking the Perfect You

by CarolNo Comments
The Missing Link in the Diet Industry It’s unfortunate, but the diet industry has tricked people into believing that they have to continuously consume their breakthrough product, pill, shake, boxed meals or follow their program if they want to lose weight. Most popular diet programs or products give you that glimmer of hope that maybe this time this one thing will be different and you’ll finally get the results you so desperately seek; but most of those programs will completely destroy your metabolism. They severely limit your calories by replacing nutritious meals with shakes or by changing your appetite with some type of diet pill. Or they provide you with sodium-and preservative-filled prepackaged meals to make it easier for you to stay on track, but they cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars in the long run. And they never show you how to tackle the real problems that cause the merry-go-round. The diet industry is a multibillion-dollar industry for a reason,...
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3 Keys to Turn the Dream of Writing Into Reality: Guest post by Michael Allan Scott, author of Grey Daze

by Carol2 Comments
3 Keys to Turn the Dream of Writing Into Reality by Michael Allan Scott Dreams To Reality – I saw a statistic in a blog, recently – “85% of readers dream of publishing their own book.” This may or may not be accurate, but I wouldn’t be surprised. The trick on this planet is turning a dream into reality. Most of us are here to do just that—turn dreams into reality. And when you look this over, in one form or another, that’s ALL we do, whether they be nightmares or pleasant dreams. The striving toward such goals is the stuff from which we are made. A Half Truth Is Still a Lie – Not to put too fine a point on it, that blog I browsed was pitching a course on writing, hence the message was slanted—in short, marketing. The blogger wanted the prospective customer to know “publishing your own book isn’t anywhere near as difficult as it used to be.” This, of course,...
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Everything Old is New Again: Guest Post by Andra Watkins, author of Not Without My Father

by Carol1 Comment
Today, I'm happy to welcome Andra Watkins, author of Not Without My Father, to my notebooks. She's talking a bit about her walk on the Natchez Trace. Everything Old Is New Again by Andra Watkins For 10,000 years, souls both animal and human have walked the Natchez Trace. It’s older than Egypt’s pyramids, more ancient than the hanging gardens of Babylon. Animals first trekked its natural ridge line thousands of years ago, migrating from the Ohio River Valley to Mississippi’s salt licks. When the Native Americans arrived, it was natural for them to settle along the Trace. Who wouldn’t covet a ready food supply and ample space to build ceremonial mounds visitors can still experience today? I’m no athlete, but I was curious. Walkers ruled the Natchez Trace for millennia, but in the 1930’s, they were displaced by a ribbon of pavement from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. A historic footpath overrun by cars and camper vans. With no facilities for through hikers, almost...
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