Anna DeStefano's Blog, page 9

So much to share…

What to do when you’ve been working hard with a publicist since the holidays on big plans elsewhere, and you want to blast back into the blog in a big way???

Why you share excerpts from Love on Mimosa Lane that you’re dying for your friends to love as much as you do ;o)

Below are a few of the excerpts I’m posting daily on my Anna DeStefano Author Facebook page.

There’s a lot going on on social media (did I mention the new publicist, not to mention a fabulous new virtual assistant AND a social media assistant). “LIKE” me over there to stay in the loop with all the fun and FB only prizes/contests and so forth. I’ll be posting a new excerpt at the top of my author page each day.

But I’ll be here again several times a week (don’t forget to tip your waitress), now that I’m mostly situated with the other and TUESDAY’S LOVE ON MIMOSA LANE RELEASE (eh-hem, did I scream that?).

So enjoy this sneak peak and strap yourself in. I’m prepared to chat your ear off about all kinds of interesting nonsense about life, love, community and the way I and my characters see the world ;o)

Oh, and don’t forget my February Writerspace Contest

and the January Hearts for Hearts Brighton goodies up for grabs

on my Anna DeStefano Author Page Sweepstakes over on FB.

Love on Mimosa Lane Excerpts

“…If you want me” —Law crossed his arms over his chest,

his energy shifting from reserved to hostile,

challenging her when she never backed down from a

challenge—“this is how you get me.”

It was on the tip of Kristen’s tongue to tell him she’d take him

however she could get him. She swallowed the unwise comeback…

***

“I see.” Kristen WAS seeing Law—and liking far too much.

She preferred her men clean-cut, tailored, and conservative,
and so incapable of surprising her that she could practically choreograph their dates before a guy picked her up. How could
someone in wrinkled jeans and a ratty metal-band T-shirt,
who’d clearly just rolled out of bed, be getting to her this way?

“You see what?” He shot her an unfathomable glance,
full of intelligence and wit that she found perversely charming…

***

Law had beaten a hasty retreat from Kristen’s impassioned plea

on Fin’s behalf. He’d intended to head for his truck and forget
everything that spending five minutes with her had made him
think and feel and doubt. But Fin had been there. And then Law
had been standing next to the kid, damn it. And he was still
standing there, still wanting to take the easy way out, but pinned
by the boy’s angry, detached gaze.

There was something in the air around Fin. He had the edge

of a hoodlum who was taking in everything that was said and

done without letting on that he cared about any of it. The

way the other boys had moved around and away from Fin made

it clear they thought he was a punk. Except he wasn’t. Law

couldn’t have said exactly how he knew that, but he did.

***

Kristen rambled when she was overstressed or intimidated.
She hadn’t rambled since she was a teenager.

But she liked the feel of Law holding her feet to the fire. She liked him, period, a whole lot more than she could afford to. She’d be happy to stand there all day, verbally sparring with the man, searching for a way beneath his control, the way he’d effortlessly rattled hers. And instead, she needed to do what she’d asked him to school to do, and then get Law the hell away from her again.

She cleared her throat and looked him in the eye—at least,
she would have been looking him in the eye, if he weren’t ignoring
her again…

***

“So you think Fin is a lost cause?” Kristen asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Law replied.

“Then what did you say?”

He shook his head, looking down at her—actually looking
down at her, because he was so tall. She couldn’t remember the
last time that had happened. She couldn’t remember the last time
she’d cared enough to notice whether or not a man she was talking

with was her height or taller.

“This is a really bad idea,” he said, “both of us being here,

hoping the other one would be here, too.”

She nodded. She didn’t bother to pretend he wasn’t the main

reason she’d come. She could have called the Dixons to ask about

Fin. She could have waited until the morning for their update.

But despite Mallory’s warning, maybe because of it, Kristen

hadn’t been able to stay away from Pockets.

She and Law were standing a respectable distance apart. But

having the entire bowling center between them hadn’t been far

enough. They were getting closer. Neither one of them was going

to back off this time, good idea or not. She could feel it, thinking

about everything she thought she understood about this man’s

past and everything she didn’t. But there was so much goodness

in him, it pulled her in every time.

Kindle Daily Deal! $1.99 Christmas on Mimosa Lane

A quick shout out! Christmas on Mimosa Lane is the Kindle Daily Romance Deal until midnight tonight!

Get your digital copy for only $1.99!

And share the great news with friends you think would like to visit Chandlerville ;o)

“A deeply emotional story that furls around your heart like a Christmas ribbon.”

—Lori Wilde, New York Times best-selling author

How You Write: ‘Splain please, the fear of early writing…

I couldn’t begin to explain how planning and prepping and early drafting for a new novel feels. It’s like finding out you’re pregnant, I guess, and wondering what your new baby will be like. Or graduating from college, hoping and dreaming about that first/new job. Or meeting the man/woman you think will be your soul mate, and wondering if your life together could really be that amazing.

Or, if you’re an angsty writer not liking not knowing if what you’re doing is going to suck EGGS, like this.

Or this.

Or this.

I’m writing Book 4 in an ongoing series. How can I still be so nervous? Worried? Troubled to my very core, so much so that I can’t really write deeply yet, because all the reflections on the surface keep shimmering in and out and away from me, too quickly for me to see clearly.

You know you want to do what you’re doing. You’re dying to get see what the beautiful thing your creating will be, once it’s done. And you’re petrified. You’re feeling less than. You’re stumped as to how anyone could possibly think you could do this. Or is it just me?

We sense the danger of being wrong, of failing, of not living up, I think. We focus on what others will think or say or NOT feel. We focus on our on inner toxic voices, perhaps fed by those who raised or taunted or bullied us in the past, listening to You Can’t, So Why Bother Trying.

And yet, fear shows us what we want most. It gives us our greatest chance to succeed, if we rise instead of ducking or crumbling.

When we’re beginning something so terrifying, we’re immobilized with fear, it’s a call to action. That panic and temporary paralysis a battle cry. It’s our gift to ourselves–because NOW we know where to focus all that pent up energy.

At least that’s how I get through weeks/months/new novel drafts like the one I’m floundering in now. Yes, it’s slow going. Yes, too often these early days I feel like I’m wasting my time and my talent and my career and the trust and faith everyone’s placing in me to pull this off again. But I’ve learned that’s just me. That’s what it’s like, this early writing that I always have to do before I get to the chewy, lovely, deep and happy place that always comes back somewhere between Chapter 1 and The End.

And for those of you who say, “I’m not a writer,” this is about you, too.

You and every early, new beginning you have.

Challenges await us. And the more we want something, the harder we often must fight to battle back from the fear of even trying.

We must seek, not hide. We must fight, not surrender. We must want, not give up.

And if we do, that amazing thing we were meant to be will be found.

“Nothing is lost… Everything is transformed.” ~Michael Ende, The Neverending Story

Transform with me today, won’t you?

Robyn Carr Interview and Kindle PaperWhite Giveaway!

Kindle Love Stories is spotlighting a wonderful interview Robyn Carr and I gave in Seattle, talking about our Christmas novels, the real-life struggles our characters face and why we spotlight healing in our stories. To celebrate, Amazon’s also giving a way a Kindle PaperWhite!

So, watch the interview.

Enter to win the Kindle PaperWhite on my Facebook Author Page

between now and Thursday.

And if you haven’t yet, check out Christmas on Mimosa Lane.

“Christmas on Mimosa Lane is a charming, tender delight… Anna DeStefano is a treasure!”

~~Teresa Medeiros, NYT and USA Today Best-selling Author

How do hearts work in real life? Like this…

Hearts for Hearts is gifting so many with the most amazing holiday EVER–me most of all. My house isn’t fully decorated. I gave out last night before the last of the ornaments went onto the tree. I’m behind in baking and writing and seeing friends. But as of this last week, I’ve personally donated hundreds of books to amazing opportunities for stories to reach out and touch people who need the boost the most this time of year!

Oh, and the kitties would like me to say that they helped. Lots. Actually, they’ve done all the work and I’m just taking credit.

So much has happened already for the program, and we’re only into the first official launch week. Joyce Lamb at USA Today has spotlighted us, Sheila Clover English at Readers Entertainment, too, and the amazing Barbara Vey at Publisher’s Weekly. They’ve all generously boosted our visibility to their followers readers. Donations are beginning to happen all over the country as a result. More stories about that to come. The excitement I’m hearing from donors and recipients is EXACTLY what we’d hoped for when we dreamed of what HfH could be.

Starting Monday, I’ll be asking readers and friends and fans like you to help get the word out. All the information you need is in the Hearts for Hearts category on the blog or my website Hearts for Hearts page. You can also follow my Author page on Facebook to keep up. Won’t you consider helping?

Why am I taking the time to do this?

Why am I asking you to get involved?

Hearts for Hearts is such an easy concept for people to grasp, it costs you nothing but a little time and the effort it takes to reach out into your community and see where a need might be. Building community, one story at a time, is what I’ve been doing with my novels from the very start. The chance to see that come to life outside the pages is just too tempting to pass up.

I’ve asked three people in my personal circle of friends and contacts, and the doors have opened to no less than 5 donation opportunities. My husband and son and I are depleting our personal libraries for books to give. I asked a handful of author friends, and books from their homes and backlists instantly began pouring in. No one says no. No group so far has said, “Books? Meh. Who wants those???”

The end of last week alone, I dropped off 60 children and young adult books for an upcoming foster care event. I had my third meeting with the director of my local YMCA, where my family and friends’ donations will be seeding senior and children’s libraries for our branch that just might be turned into mobile reading programs and could eventually be the prototype Y’s all over our county (where a lot of members rely on some sort of scholarship to join or lived on fixed incomes). So far I and the friends who’ve helped me have donated 200+ books to that opportunity, and we’re talking about staging a book drive for their members to build on what Hearts for Hearts has begun.

There’s so much need in our world. Books are such a blessing. I do write about community and some of the very real challenges we face in our families and towns . I don’t pull my punches in what I write, and the same can be said for Hearts for Hearts. We need to reach out. We need to see where we can help. And even if we have very little money or time ourselves, we need to believe we CAN make a difference this holiday season and beyond.

And the result? My heart is lighter than it has been in many holidays. This can be a touch time of year for me. But as I look outward and reach outward and contemplate how lucky I am and how I can bright a bit of joy and inspiration into someone else’s life, the sadness of holidays past don’t settle on me at all today. I truly am receiving so much more than I’m giving!

I can’t wait to deliver the next batch Hearts for Hearts donations!

I can’t wait to hear from you, once you find a way to pay story forward in your area!

Let me know when you do.

Post a status update on my Facebook Author Page or email me at HeartsforHearts@annawrites.com. Or comment here on the blog, in the Hearts for Hearts Category.  At some point, we’ll have a picture drive, so we can see all the great moments Hearts for Hearts has helped create, and we’ll pick a winner who’ll receive a cool prize–so snap some selfies or whatever as you go.

Give from your heart my friends.

I HIGHLY recommend it!

WIN Love on Mimosa Lane

Sign up for your chance to nap one of the 20 copies of Love on Mimosa Lane my publisher’s giving away on GoodReads!

Click HERE.

Do what the page say.

Tap your fingers until the end of the month.

Oh, and pre-order the book while you’re at it.

You can always give the free copy away as a gift ;o)

Things My Teenager Says: Mom, Remember when…

Mom, remember when I could barely carry these? my teens says as he picks up his bin of Christmas ornaments?

Yep, is all I can squeak out as my six foot plus guy practically twirls the medium-sized tub of treasures on his finger like a Harlem Globetrotter palms and plays with a basketball.

I like the ones you got me this year, even if the Rudolf is kinda deranged looking.

Yep. He is.

I mean… Pull yourself together, Anna! I’m glad you like them.

He gets a new ornament every Dec. 1st.

This year, it was a set of Santa and Mrs. Klaus and a freaky looking Rudolf designed by Steinbach.

It’s one of our (and by “our,” I mean Mom’s) favorite traditions. While I wrap up each year’s first present in shiny paper, I think about the decades to come when he’ll be decorating his own tree (for himself or his own kids) and unwrapping ornaments he’ll remember fondly, thinking back about how much thought and care had been put into helping him know how much he’ll always be loved.

Yeah, the last four or five years have chuckled at my mother musing. Like that’s EVER going to happen.

Trying to get a teen to find anything that reeks of “Parents being weird” thoughtful and heartfelt has become a losing battle. Until this year, when he’s started telling us things we couldn’t possible know ourselves.

Remember how Dad always puts up the trains?

Remember how you always bake cookies and we give them away to the teachers for the holidays? Could I have more this year? There are some other people I want to give them to.

What’s in the bag ? Oh… I thought you’d bought one of the nutcrackers you always get me for Christmas. Never mind.

I KNOW you want me to help decorate, Mom. You always do. *Sigh.* I’ll get my ornaments. Hey! Remember when I could barely carry these?

And off he goes now with his stockpile of memories, bounding down the stairs, almost, dare I say, excited about hanging them this year.

You know…, I follow more slowly, seeing the past and the future and him moving away and coming back to us at the same time and trying not to do something embarrassing like bursting into tears. These are like–

My nutcrackers you always get me, he finishes. Yeah, I know. Because he knows everything. Did I mention he’s a teen. That’s cool.

He told us once, when he was six, that he liked nutcrackers (after being dragged to watch The Nutcracker). He wanted one for Christmas and he added it to his Santa list. Ever since, he’s collected them. It’s one of the few things he’s never cared whether or not his friends make fun of him about. Either a grandparent or his dad and I gift him one every year.

Others may go for the inexpensive models (and the first one he bought for himself was something he’d found at a gift shop at the nursing home where we were visiting his great grandmother, and it was spring, so the Christmas things were discounted to almost nothing and he could afford to buy one with his allowance).

But his dad and I, we’ve seen him marvel at the construction and detail of the Steinbachs, and we wanted him to have his collection for the rest of his life (even if it got packed away in a bin and only brought out when he has kids). So that’s what we’ve bought him. Because years from now when he still has whichever of them he decides to keep, they’ll still be sturdy and beautiful and wondrous and still there for him to marvel over.

These ornaments, my teen says as he opens the box to pull out the new Santa and Mrs. Klaus and wacked out Rudolf. He studies the writing on the box, probably for the first time. Did you know they’re actually made by the same company that makes my nutcrackers.

Are they?

Yep. He sets the box aside once the ornaments are out, instead of throwing it away. Presumably to carefully store the ornaments once the tree comes down.

That’s cool. I make sure I sound as if it’s no big deal. I don’t let on how much it means that he’s there and he’s noticed in some small way how important he is to me.

Is he more careful this year, pulling things out of his collection?

Is he smiling as he looks at the crumpled wreath he made in first grade out of his hand prints, or the REALLY wacky Rudolf crafted from his second grade shoe print?

The Brady Bunch Christmas marathon is on TVLand, I say as I start working on a box of my ornaments he and his dad have helped me collect. Each year I get a new-to-me vintage one that’s more special than the last. We could put it on while we decorate.

Yep. He shrugs instead of rolling his eyes, my teen’s version of a high-five.

So off  I go, smiling not crying as I find the TV remote and marvel at this moment.

It is, indeed, really, REALLY cool!

Hearts for Hearts…

I’m a blessed girl, a lucky artist, and writer who’s been given an amazing opportunity to give back. Hearts for Hearts is my newest passion–a chance for each of us to make a difference in our communities, to give back and lighten someone else’s life, one story at a time–and I’m thrilled to have Joyce Lamb at USA Today and her Happily Every  After blog exclusively kicking things off today!

There’s so much to share. Too much for a single day, and some of the mechanics of the program are still being ironed out. A lot of authors and industry professionals are already on board, signing up to participate. Lots to do and people to talk with and exciting things to see unfold.

So stay tuned. Lots of fun and details and cool ways to get involved (and win some fun things) to come. But for now, I hope Joyce’s Q&A inspires you to look for opportunities to donate and get involved in your are. That’s my challenge for all my readers and fans–even if you don’t have much money or time this holiday season, find a way to reach out (with Hearts for Hearts, through story) to those around you who have less, and make a difference in their lives!

So, for now…

Check out today’s USA Today Q&A, and let us know what you think in the comments.
Head to the program page on my website to learn a bit more.
LIKE and Stay tuned on my author FB page for details on the sweepstakes and other fun Hearts for Hearts opportunities coming there soon!

Let me know in the comments what you think, how you might be able to join us on this amazing journey, and any questions you might have…

I truly can’t believe this day is finally here. Thanks to the entire Nancy Berland Team for all the hard work, helping me bring Hearts for Hearts to life!

Christmas Treasures… WIN one of my favorites!

Memories open my heart, the good kind of memories that leave me feeling as if someone I’ve loved very much and lost is still close by, still with me, and still wanting me to have a fabulous holiday. Holidays bring back so many good memories, and I cherish each one.

When I was barely old enough to walk, I fell in love with my grandmother’s sense of style and fascination with beautiful things. When I visited her each summer, she’s the one who took me school shopping and helped me become as fashion-obsessed as she was. And since I’ve inherited her vintage Trifari pins and jewelry, I’ve felt her close each and every time I look through her collection. So much so, I made Trifari jewelry an endearing part in my Christmas on Mimosa Lane, which means I get to share some of that magic with my readers.

And this month, in honor of the beautiful lady who inspired one of my favorite stories, I’m giving away a vintage Trifari Christmas tree pin, just like the one my grandmother left me (and the one little Polly in Christmas on Mimosa Lane inherits from her mother).

So link over and sign up for your chance to win it or a signed copy of the novel!

And in the comments, share a memory with us that makes Christmas special for you ;o)

What opens your heart?

Holiday cheer? Holiday giving? Holiday spirit? I want those things mean to me the same as they would any other time of the year.  I listed my “heart happy” goals yesterday, for the holiday and beyond, and rereading them now makes me smile. I’m actually thinking I should be reading them every morning. Every new day I don’t feel up for or ready to face or willing to tackle. Because it’s not about me, not entirely. Each day is about living and giving and sharing and belonging.

Opening your heart to the world around you…what better goal to have? There’s an entire philosophy behind our need to belong and how it drives the majority of conscience and subconscious behavior. Why do we do the things we do, why do we give up on the things we do, and why do we avoid those very things we know we need to face most? Fear and doubt, I say. We worry, and feel insignificant or powerless, and are too often on a self-fulfilling path of “I can’t make that work so why bother.”

“Don’t do that,” my daily list says. The list at the bottom of yesterday’s post that I’ll shake myself awake with each new morning now, because I want this holiday and this life and this chance I have to write and live well to mean something  more than what I want (and am maybe a little afraid I can’t have) for  myself.

What about other people? How can I be useful and meaningful to them?

That’s what I hope my writing’s about–the characters and families and friends I write about always coming around to opening up their realities to let others in, and they’re flooded with the rewards of belonging and community that come as a result. That’s what I want my day to be about, too.

A short look at my heart-opening list:

Discover and create the family I want, making each moment real.
Dig deep for the truth that must be dealt with, so the good stuff my family needs can become our reality.
Reach out and do the same for my community and inspire others to make the same difference in someone else’s life.
See the good that comes into my world and the worlds of others as a result. See the blessings all around us, because people care and anyone can belong to that caring. Believe in that more than in everything we’re still missing.
Stop worrying about the rest. Go back to the start of the list and spend that restless, distracting energy on more of the good stuff that reaching out a hand and doing makes happen so much better than worrying ever will.

What’s on your short list?

How are you looking outward today, opening your heart to doing instead of worrying, and making a difference in your family and community?