Creativity

by

I Promised Italian Food! Here’s the First Course!

Cherry Almond Biscotti

The Art of Enchantment book coverI promised you food  as part of my All-Italian blog week to celebrate the launch of The Art of Enchantment. And I woke up this morning with a serious craving for biscotti.

When I want biscotti, my go-to recipe is always by Christine Cushing. No need to re-invent the wheel here. If you are a biscotti fan, this is the BEST!

Lately I’ve seen a trend in coffee shops to monster-sized biscotti of strangely ubiquitous consistency and no discernible flavor. Be careful not to break your teeth.

This is not that.

The recipe is quick and easy. I laid out my ingredients first, since I just moved this week and I wanted to know that I could find everything. There are other versions, with hazelnuts, chocolate or whatever you like best, but today I wanted dried cherries and almonds. In my opinion, the secret ingredient that makes these cookies so good is the grape seed oil. Don’t substitute anything else for that. And don’t leave out the lemon zest or anise because the flavor is so Italy.

ingredients for cherry almond biscotti recipe

Basically I mix up the dry ingredients in one bowl, blend up the wet ingredients in the mixer, stir them together and presto!

Then I pour/drop/shape the sticky dough into two long, rather narrow logs on buttered parchment. Bake for about 20 minutes. It gets quite golden brown, but it’s still a bit soft inside.

cherry almond biscotti after first baking

 

After the first-baked slabs cool for fifteen minutes, slice on the diagonal into 3/4″ slices, lay them on their sides and bake again until crispy and dry. Yum. You can dip them in your caffe latte if you like them soft, but they are just as delicious eaten straight off the pan all by themselves. Buon appetito!

 

 

Recipe

1 1/2 cups and 2 tbsp. all purpose flour (405ml)

2 tsp baking powder (10 ml)

1 tsp ground anise seed (5 ml)

pinch salt

grated zest of 2 lemons

1 cup sugar (250 ml)

1/3 cup grape seed oil (75 ml)

3 eggs

1 cup toasted whole almonds, skin on (250 ml)

1/2 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped (125 ml)

butter, for brushing baking tray

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
  2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Brush with butter.
  3. Sift flour, baking powder, ground anise and salt into a medium bowl. Add almonds and cherries.
  4. In another bowl, add lemon zest, sugar, oil and eggs. Whisk or mix until smooth. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon and blend well.
  5. Divide dough in half and shape each into a cylinder (roughly 12 x 2 inches). Dough will be sticky so use a little oil on hands or spatula to shape dough. Arrange the cylinders on baking sheet, leaving at least 3 inches – they will spread out as they bake.
  6. Bake for 30 to 35 mutes or until golden and firm. Remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes before cutting to keep shape. With a large spatula carefully scrape cylinders off tray and transfer to a cutting board. Carefully slice crosswise on the diagonal with a serrated edge knife (in one full cut) into 1/2-inch slices. Put slices back onto the baking sheet, laying flat and not overlapping. Bake a second time (again at 325 degrees F.) for 20 more minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Makes about 40 cookies.

Note: I used my new convection oven for the first time, so I adjusted the times down about 5 minutes per stage.

Let me know if you try the recipe and if you agree they are the best biscotti ever.

I hope you make yourself a nice coffee, sit down with a biscotti or two turn on your soundtrack and settle in to a good read, once you pick up your copy of my new release, The Art of Enchantment, on special this week for only .99. Ciao!

Romantic Italian Soundtrack for The Art of Enchantment
by

Romantic Italian Soundtrack for The Art of Enchantment

The Art of Enchantment book cover

Soundtrack for

The Art of Enchantment

Special bonus for release week!

I’ve created a romantic soundtrack of various artists that I listened to while writing the book.

There’s a little bit if everything, including the Andrea Bocelli songs that Guillermo sings to Clio.

If you want to check out the lyrics in English, you can go here for translations of most songs.

Click the cover image if you haven’t picked up your copy of the book yet. Monday is release day, and the special $0.99 price applies this week only.

 

Enjoy!

 

by

Romance Novels Set in Italy

Ciao Bella!

While we’re in the mood to immerse ourselves in La Bella Vita, and all good things Italian, I did some research on romance novels set in Italy and personally hand-picked a few I think look amazing.

I haven’t actually read most of these, but judging by the descriptions and ratings, I’m going to! I’ve added all eleven to my to-be-read file in Goodreads. You can follow me there by clicking on the link in the sidebar. I feel a binge coming on.

So, just for fun, here’s the list. They’re all romances, but I’ve included classics, contemporary, historical, paranormal, time travel, young adult, romantic suspense and even redacted Shakespeare. I hope you find something to interest you and this list will inspire your reading.

Arrivaderci!

Breathing Room book coverBreathing Room by Susan Elizabeth Phillips 4.2 star rating

“She’s Dr. Isabel Favor, America’s diva of self-help.
He’s Ren Gage, Hollywood’s favorite villain.
Sometimes you just know that God has a sense of humor.”

Classic SEP absurdity, with fun and games to spare, I’ll bet.

 

Rosamanti book coverRosamanti by Noelle Clark 4.6 star rating

Mystery author Sarah Halliman answers a newspaper advertisement—For lease: Isolated villa on Capri, Italy. Must love cats and heads to Italy, where she gets know the locals and solves a mystery.

 

The Italian Wedding book coverThe Italian Wedding by Nicky Pellegrino 4.3 star rating

“Pieta Martinelli’s sister is getting married…As Pieta stitches and beads her sister’s wedding gown she uncovers the secrets that have made her family what it is and that stand between her and happiness.” A family drama and coming of age story.

 

A Room with a View book coverA Room with a View by E M Forster 4.1 star rating

A social comedy set in Florence, Italy, and Surrey, England. Its heroine, Lucy Honeychurch, struggling against straitlaced Victorian attitudes of arrogance, narrow-mindedness and snobbery, falls in love-while on holiday in Italy-with the socially unsuitable George Emerson. A classic.

The VisitantThe Vistant book cover by Megan Chance 3.8 star rating

Elena Spira is sent to Venice to escape disgrace and to atone by caring for the ailing Samuel Farber. At the crumbling and decaying Ca’ Basilio palazzo Elena finds herself entangled in a world where the past seeps into the present and nothing is as it seems. A Venetian historical ghost story. Sounds Gothic!

From Italy with LoveFrom Italy with Love book cover by Jules Wake 4.5 star rating

‘This epic road-trip is full of glamour, romance and sizzling sexual tension, but at its heart is a truly heart-warming tale of self discovery.”

 

JulietJuliet book cover Renaissance woman top over title over modern woman bottom by Ann Fortier 4.1 star rating

“When Julie Jacobs inherits a key to a safety deposit box in Siena, Italy, she is told it will lead her to an old family treasure. Soon she is launched on a winding and perilous journey into the history of her ancestor Giulietta, whose legendary love for a young man named Romeo rocked the foundations of medieval Siena.”

The Lost Art of Second Chances book coverThe Lost Art of Second Chances by Courtney Hunt 4.5 stars

“When Lucy Parker’s eccentric grandmother, Belladonna, dies, she leaves one last request. Lucy must return a beloved painting to a mysterious man in Italy, leading her on a journey into the past to discover long-buried family secrets that could change everything.”

 

Homeport book coverHomeport by Nora Roberts 4.4 star rating

“An art expert and a thief get caught in a dangerous game in this novel of daring deception and desire from #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts.”

 

The Juliet Club book coverThe Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper 3.8 star rating

Kate Sanderson spends the summer abroad studying Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in Verona, Italy where she is thrown together with five other teens in the Juliet Club. Can Kate’s cool logic withstand the most romantic summer ever? YA

 

In My Lady's Shadow book coverIn My Lady’s Shadow (Lady of Asolo) by Siobhan Daiko 4.5 star rating

Fern’s vacation in Italy turns into a nightmare when she’s snatched back in time and lives the life of Cecilia, lady in waiting to Queen Caterina Corner. Time travel!

 

Let me know if you’ve picked up any of these books, or even if you’ve already read them. Tell me what you thought of it in the comment section below. And if you connect with me on Goodreads, give me a shout out to let me know where you found me.

by

Short Listed for the Chatelaine Book Award

Chatelaine Book Awards for Romantic Fiction 2016 Finalist

CAC 17 logo Chanticleer Authors Conference Bellingham WA

I’m excited to announce that two (2!) of my manuscripts are finalist for the 2016 Chatelaine Book Award for Romantic Fiction. Check the full list of finalists here. Congratulations to all the finalists, for both the Chatelaine, and the other writing prizes sponsored by Chanticleer Book Reviews.

This is the same prize that my unpublished manuscript, A Dissimulation of Doves won First in Category in 2014. That book, and its Chanticleer review, have not yet been released, as I’m mulling over some important revisions before I let it go out into the world. 🙂

I skipped a year, and then sent in two books last fall. The first is my published novel, Reconcilable Differences, which I later entered in a separate contest, the Somerset Award for Literary/Contemporary, since that’s where the subcategory for Women’ Fiction now lives. Since the book rides the line between Romance and WF, we’ll see how that goes.

New Book Release Scheduled for Spring

In the Chatelaine Book Award contest, Reconcilable Differences competes against thirty-four other manuscripts or books, including my own unpublished manuscript, The Art of Enchantment. The Art of Enchantment is scheduled for release in March of this year, just in time for the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Award Banquet. Hopefully I’ll have reason to celebrate, but given my experience in 2015, it’s an amazing, rich conference and I’ll be enjoying myself mingling with hundreds of other fascinating authors.

 

Friends toasting with champagne glasses

 

Books on the Bay Book Festival and Author Signing

If you’re attending the conference or live in the Bellingham, WA area, you’ll be one of the first able to pick up a print copy of the book at the Books by the Bay book festival.

It’s also my plan to release Book 2 in the Having it All series, Coming About, released in time for the Chanticleer conference. Very soon I’ll have cover reveals for both new books so stay tuned, or sign up for my email list so you’ll be the first to be notified of this and other news and events, including the contest results.

Conference Workshop

Also at the conference at the end of March, I’ll be presenting a workshop or two. The one I know about for sure is called The Belly of the Whale: Understanding the Heroine’s Journey.

Here’s how the conference is described: “Come and enjoy 3 days of instruction on how to improve your marketing skills and sell more books, located at the beautiful Hotel Bellwether, at Squalicum Harbor on beautiful Bellingham Bay, in Bellingham, Washington conveniently located between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.”

To register for the conference, click here.  I look forward to seeing you there!

Leave a comment below to tell me if you’ll be attending the conference so we can connect in Bellingham.

 

 

by

RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES AVAILABLE NOW

Reconcilable Differences book cover

Published!

I can’t believe it but it’s finally true. You can finally buy my first novel, Reconcilable Differences as an ebook on Amazon HERE. The beautiful trade paperback edition will be released within the next couple of weeks as the interior layout details are finalized.

Despite all my frantic worry about how it would happen, it just happened in its own sweet chaotic way and of course all out of order and in defiance of any plans I might have made.

The Business of Selling Books

So. Phew. You’d think the pressure would be off. But you’d be wrong. Now I’ve got most of the technical publishing stuff out of the way, I’ve got my author-preneur hat shoved tightly onto my head, and that’s a whole other arena of activity and worries. I’m finally in the position to make sense of, choose and implement a raft of book marketing strategies that I’ve been studying for quite some time.

There are too many to mention, not all of them appropriate for me. And no one could do them all. Giveaway and contests, special promotions, discounts and bonus incentives, book reviews and bloggers. All to build an email list, create brand recognition, improve rankings and of course, I hope, sell books.

Sometimes I wonder if the big business opportunity of the day is educating, coaching and selling products and services TO the gazillion new independent authors in the world. And of course any fiction author will tell you that this business stuff isn’t the reason we all buried our heads in the figurative sands of our imagination. Well it is, but in an inverse sort of way. How ironic that the publishing industry asks this of us more than ever before.

 By the way you can find Reconcilable Differences online HERE.

via GIPHY

The Philosophy of Vulnerability

Aside from the stresses of publishing and marketing, I’ve been losing sleep and contending with rats in my brain this last few days for an entirely different reason. The moment I hit “publish” I’ve been riddled with anxiety, torn between the urge to run for the hills, delete the book, unplug from all social media, and spend the rest of my days contentedly growing organic heirloom tomatoes. And alternatively, giddily tell everyone I know about my first very kind five star review on Amazon and ask them to tell their friends to buy my book and give me more hugs. Or stars. Or Olympic medals, whatever. I’m easy to please.

My fear, of course, is that someone will find fault. That someone will loath my book and point out it’s flaws for all the world to see. Or tell me that it’s well-enough written but it’s a stupid or boring book in the first place. Isn’t this what I’ve been avoiding all these years? But this is a foolish fear. Of course this is guaranteed to happen. Someone will hate it. Suddenly I’m deeply sympathetic with everyone who throughout history has published their words, shared their art or music, or for that matter, represented their country in a big race for an Olympic gold medal. But hopefully someone will love it too. Many someones.

It Takes A Thick Skin to Share Your Gifts 

via GIPHY

That’s part of the territory. It’s time to thicken up my skin and step forward. Feel the fear and do it anyway. If you’re a creative person, the day will come where you have to share what you’ve done with the world. This is where I have to remind myself of the benefits of following my dream, pushing outside of my comfort zone, taking risks and living in the moment. All of which I’ve been trying to do these days. I don’t want, on my deathbed, to regret that I’d been given gifts and failed to use or share them.

Next Steps

Now, I think, is a good time to revert to my best practices. Taking care of myself, spending time with mindfulness, which for me means hiking in the rainforest, and getting centered. Tapping into the part of me that connects with the source of story ideas and the urge to write and share them in the first place. A reminder of why I do this, and hopefully the motivation and drive to carry on. Maybe one of my characters will speak to me, and help me decide whether to work on Book Two of the Having It All series or continue with revisions on Book One of the Growing Into My Skin series.

Please Comment!

If you can relate to this, either to doing, the risking or the fearing, now is the time to share. I know I’ll feel a lot better knowing I’m not alone in these feelings. And I’ll bet you will too. So leave a comment below, telling me what you’ve done, or still dream of doing, that makes you feel vulnerable. Or share what you do to cope with this. Everyone who comments will be entered into a draw for a free copy of my ebook, Reconcilable Differences.

by

RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES BOOK LAUNCH

2978305256_6041f65aa6IT’S PARTY TIME!

Reconcilable Differences Book Launch

The timing couldn’t be better for Tuesday’s Women’s Fiction online FaceBook Book Launch Party hosted by the Women’s Fiction Writer’s Association.

 

I’m thrilled to be one of eight authors with new releases scheduled to participate on the WFWA Facebook page on Tuesday, August 16th **Noon – 4pm EDT** (That’s 9am – 1pm PDT for us West Coasters!)

Here’s the line up:

12:00 Kerry Lonsdale – Everything We Keep

12:30 Ella Joy Olsen – Root, Petal, Thorn

1:00 Tracy Stopler – The Ropes That Bind

1:30 Crystal Klimavicz – This Side of Perfect

2:00 Susan Schild – Sweet Carolina Morning

2:30 Kathy Nickerson – Rose Hill Cottage

3:00 Louise Miller – The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living

And at 3:30 Yours truly, answering questions and talking about my debut release – Reconcilable Differences. I hope you’ll come and join in the conversation.

 

via GIPHY

ANOTHER HALF A YEAR OF PREPARATION

 

After a roller coaster ride of preparation, setbacks and leaps forward during the first half of 2016, I’m excited to have this book ready for release this week.

 

My last post focused on my experimental Kindle Scout campaign. To sum up that experience, I learned a lot, worked like mad to get the word out, using a few platforms I hadn’t before, such as Headtalker and networking through Kindleboards, but sadly it wasn’t nearly enough to garner a publishing deal with Amazon.

 

A lot of speculation goes on behind the scenes trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Only Amazon knows. But clearly having a pre-existing following, or a book with a hook, will help to generate popularity, which in the end does matter. Nevertheless it was a valuable experience that will help with the marketing of Reconcilable Differences now and in the future.

 

PUBLISHING IS MORE THAN WRITING

 

via GIPHY

So much more has happened this year. I received critique and beta reader feedback, which let to a penultimate round of revisions. More than I was planning to do, but I think it’s a better book for having taken the extra time and effort.

 

I also embarked on the process of having a professionally designed cover. After a couple of false starts, and a few wasted month faffing around, I connected with the talented Gabrielle Prendergast, author of Audacious and other YA novels, and also brilliant book cover designer. I’m so happy with my new cover for Reconcilable Differences and the style and theme of the entire Having It All series of WF novels. It makes me want to get cracking and finish the second in the series, Coming About.

 

I’m also so lucky to have in my circle of supportive writers the multi-talented Crystal Stranaghan and her team at Crystal Clear Solutions designing the book interior. The print book will be ready to go in just a couple more weeks and it’s going to be gorgeous!

 

AUTHORPRENEURSHIP 101

 

This business of being a published author is complicated. These days, no matter how you publish, you have to embrace the role of entrepreneur as well. Even big house published authors are expected to create and maintain an online author profile, and stay active on various social media sites to connect with their audience. Then there is the multitude of book marketing strategies that experts recommend. And without these efforts, your book languishes out there in the ether with millions of other undiscovered titles, making all those years of learning your craft and sweating over the creation of your babies pointless as you’ll never sell any books or have any readers.

 

So in addition to getting my book ready, I’ve been trying to get organized with all these other things. I had an online author profile evaluation, and read some books and a lot of articles. To keep all this straight I created a Mindmap, that I thought would help me visualize and keep track of all the elements. All it did was help me see that I can’t possibly learn and do all these things: website clean up and redesign, email list sign up, Facebook author page, Amazon author page, Goodreads author page, incentives and bonuses, contests and giveaways, reader discussion questions, bios and blurbs, book trailers and author interviews, etcetera, and linking all these things and my social media addresses together so they all work in tandem.

 

Are we having fun yet?EPIPHANY

 

Finally I realized that I don’t have to! I mean if you can do it yourself, go ahead. But for me, it was getting so onerous and stressful that my brain was seizing up. There are so many smart and talented people out there who already know how to do these things that I struggle with. So my big epiphany this last while is that I need help! And in just a couple of weeks I’ve managed to move so much farther and faster with assistance from the right people, including the savvy Amanda Hagarty at Mandy’s Media who’s already been a huge help. And I’m getting there. I really feel that I’m getting there.

 

BECOME A PART OF MY TEAM

 

So let’s not let all this author platform work go to waste! Join my street team by doing one or more of these things right now:

  • Follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram, or all of them? Why not? (Click on the buttons in the sidebar)
  • Sign up for my email list to stay informed about my activities and never miss hearing about giveaways, contests, appearances, promotions and new releases. (Hint: the form is in the sidebar to the right)
  • Follow my blog so you receive notice on Friday to pick up the Amazon link and buy a copy of my book. Then leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads.
  • Share this link with three of your bookish friends!