Susan Hanniford Crowley's Blog: From Nights of Passion Blog, page 217

Flowers in Romance: What Are Your Favorite Flowers?

Qian Xuan [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I love flowers. Certain ones are very close to me. We see them all the time in romance novels, but do you know why an author chooses a particular bloom or bouquet?  Flowers are still quite the secret language. Many people know the meanings behind the different shades of roses. What about the other flowers?

I did create a sensation in a flower shop once by asking for the rose whose color indicates desire.  It’s coral by the way.  I bought a bouquet and so did the six people who were behind me in line that changed their minds from what they had in hand.  Giggles.

But seriously, let’s look at some other flowers and what they mean.

Red chrysanthemum means “I love you!” I didn’t know that.

The Daisy means innocence and hope.

Red Salvia means “You are mine forever.” Vampires should be sending those perhaps.

Willow means sadness.

A red Tulip is a declaration of love.

A Morning Glory denotes affection.

At this link you will find more: http://www.almanac.com/content/meaning-flowers

My favorite flowers are peonies, wisteria and lilacs. I could not find them all on that list so I found another list.

The Peony means healing.

The Wisteria means steadfast.

Lilacs mean first love.

These meanings come from the site: http://www.aboutflowers.com/flower-a-plant-information-and-photos/meanings-of-flowers.html

What are your favorite flowers?  Do you know what they mean?

-Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley, Amazon Kindle Bestselling Author of Vampire Romance

www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Where love burns eternal and whispers in the dark!

Vampire King of New York available at Amazon Kindle and print, Barnes and Noble Nook and print and in Kobo

A Vampire for Christmas in Kindle

Filed under: A Lesson in Love, A Vampire for Christmas, Flowers, Norse, paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, romance novels, Susan Hanniford Crowley, the romance of life, The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais, vampire books, Vampire David Hilliard, Vampire King of New York, Vampire King of New York In Print, Vampire Maximillion Vander Meer, vampires, Viking, Writer's Life, Yule

Sweet Inspiration for the Writer by Stacy Hoff

Today being National Doughnut Day, I thought I’d wrote about sweet inspiration. When I’m desperate to find a Muse, I look towards the things closest to my heart. And one of those things is food. Specifically, decadent deserts!

When I was asked to write a short story for the romance box set, SEASON OF LOVE, my first thought was to panic. With a short deadline looming, I needed to find inspiration quick.

What’s better than a box of chocolate bonbons to get me inspired? Nothing! So fired up by this motivation, I started writing my story, “Love Delights.” The backdrop for the story is an ad agency that’s trying to woo a chocolate maker.

I was so inspired by my chocolate Muse that I actually came up with a recipe for “chocolate marbles.” A picture of one of my “chocolate marbles” is above. This recipe for this is on author Vicki Batman’s blog (today, June 5th): Handbags, Books… Whatever. Here’s the link: http://vickibatman.blogspot.com/2015/05/yummy-chocolate-stacy-hoff-shares.html/

Hope to see you over at Vicki’s blog!

And then tonight, you are ALL invited to the BEACH READS & MORE Facebook Party. Friday, June 5 at 7:00pm – 9:30pm!!!!!

Facebook Party Event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1107617552600689/1107870829242028/                USA Bestselling Author Stephanie Queen, Merry Holly (Marian Lanouette), Stacy Hoff, Gerri Brousseau and Bobbi Lerman invite you to join us in our celebration of love.

 

Picture of “chocolate marble” by Stacy Hoff © 2015

LINKS FOR STACY HOFF

Find Stacy on Social Media: http://www.facebook.com/authorStacyHoff Twitter: twitter.com/authorStacyHoff Web: http://www.stacyhoff.com https://www.pinterest.com/authorstacyhoff/

AMAZON BUY LINK FOR SEASON OF LOVE: http://www.amazon.com/Season-Love-Box-Merry-Holly-ebook/dp/B00X3ZAR3E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431122019&sr=8-1&keywords=Season+of+love+-+stacy+hoff

AMAZON BUY LINK FOR LAWFULLY YOURS: http://www.amazon.com/Lawfully-Yours-Stacy-Hoff-ebook/dp/B00U7U2WCC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1425508177&sr=8-2&keywords=book+-+lawfully+yours

AMAZON BUY LINK FOR DESIRE IN THE EVERGLADES: http://www.amazon.com/Desire-Everglades-Stacy-Hoff-ebook/dp/B00NFSMCYG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410289138&sr=8-1&keywords=desire+in+the+everglades.

Filed under: A writer's life, Chocolate Temptation, Decadant Dessert, inspiration, recipe, romance, Stacy Hoff, Writer's life

What I’ve Learned: Secret #21: How to Recover Your Blog Entry in WordPress

By Georgy90 (Georgy Papantoniou’s Work in Nicosia, Cyprus) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

This might seem funny but not so much. Many of us blog today and sometimes we have little time or are overtired. When we rush we make mistakes, and one mistake could make your blog go poof.

1.  In WordPress, there is an autosave that automatically saves every two minutes. In addition to this, I hit the “Save Draft” button every time I get the urge.

2. I also save if I am called away from the computer. Otherwise, in my house, with my lovely little sister cats, the post could end up looking like this: qwrafnadszzz   sadlsajoooweh. Aren’t they just eloquent?  Smiles.

In WordPress, you end up with Revisions listed on the bottom of the page whenever it saves.  They also appear in the Publish box to the right. At the bottom, they look like this.

What happened last week is that I accidentally overwrote a previously published blog post, which I was using for its layout. What did I do?

1. I saved it.

2. I used Ctrl A to highlight everything on the post and then Ctrl C to copy. Then I left the post.

3. I made a new post and used a different title. Pasted there, saved, and then came back to the post that was messed up.

4. Going down to the bottom of the WordPress page, I found 4 Revisions. Two were made that day so I knew I didn’t want those.  Of the other two, I chose the most recent. I clicked on it and there was my blog post. The one that was published.

5. I saved it again and published it to the date it was originally published, which means I backdated it.  Everything was back!

What could I have done to avoid doing all that?  I could have clicked on Posts and scrolled down to Copy a Post from the very beginning of writing.  That’s so funny!  Now if any part of that has helped someone or showed you something you didn’t know, I’d like to hear from you.



And remember it’s “Thursday Love Yourself and Those Close to You Day!”

-Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley, Amazon Kindle Bestselling Author of Vampire Romance

www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Where love burns eternal and whispers in the dark!

Vampire King of New York published by Soul Mate Publishing and available at Amazon Kindle and print, Barnes and Noble Nook and print and in Kobo

A Vampire for Christmas in Kindle

Filed under: Blogging Tips, Norse, paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, romance novels, Social Media, vampire books, Vampire King of New York In Print, Vampire Maximillion Vander Meer, vampires, Viking, Writer's Life, Writing Topics, Yule

What Does Your Gut Say?

One of the best pieces of advice I got was from a peer I used to work with who told me that my “gut” wasn’t merely a feeling of intuition or a hint of my senses, but it was built off an accumulation of my life’s experiences. “Trust it,” he said. “It doesn’t just come out of nowhere, it is essentially you.”

The older I get, the more I value this. Don’t get me wrong, I think there is plenty I’ve seen and experienced that could certainly steer me the wrong way. But I’d also say as we grow and see more in this world, most of us can stand up and say what we’ve seen or experienced that is either wrong or right–basically, what we hope to emulate and what we hope to banish from this world to some degree.

I bring this up as many times when we sit down to write, especially early on in the writing process, we usually have a purpose or a drive to write something, get some sort of character or plot on paper. While many times, this first experience can be a bit rough as we haven’t fully gotten the entire concept of a story down, it’s important to embrace this “rough draft” because it is representative of what is in us to write. It is our gut driving what is essentially ours. That being said, our gut can also tell us when we’ve written something that is complete rubbish, but we aren’t quite ready to admit it because that would mean we wasted time. Or does it? It could just mean we’ve spent a bit of a round about way learning something that won’t work (that is my optimist speaking). Either way, moral of this week is to trust your gut… whatever it is saying AND that also requires you stop and listen.

Happy writing this week!

Filed under: A writer's life, Toni Kelly

Discovered Something Cool by Mandy Rosko

So, I’d heard about the Bookworm Box while in Dallas. Colleen Hoover was speaking on stage to a huge room of people about her new project that would bring money in to charity, while delivering a cool box of books to my front door.

Sounds pretty awesome, right?

I’d mostly forgotten about this until a couple of days ago when I started watching my regular booktubers, and one of them was doing an unboxing of Owlcrate, which is a cool idea, similarly done, though I’m not sure if any of the proceeds go to charity, or if this is strictly a business. It’s a bit cheaper than Bookworm Box, so I’m guessing small business.

That being said, Owlcrate deals with YA books, only new releases, and only in hardcover, and apparently these things are so popular that they sell out the day they get announced. I tried to get June’s box but it was gone. My best hope is to check every day and hope to get the July box. Hopefully these are slightly easier to get than the elusive Nintendo Amiibo figures I keep missing on Amazon.

Seeing Owlcrate, and getting excited for it, watching the videos, made me want to look for more, and another booktuber pointed out Bookworm Box, which I was able to get :D I purchased it and I will be getting June’s box. I’ll have to post some pics of that when it comes in, but I’m really excited for this now. Could I buy these books cheaper? Yeah, but it’s for charity, and there’s supposed to be cool swag in the box, so why not?

These look like a lot of fun, and with a lot of options to choose from, I’d even recommend people try them if they’re looking for something different to read, but don’t know what to sink their teeth into since every month you don’t know what you’re going to get.

I’m not sure how the books at Bookworm Box are chosen, but I know there are a lot of authors who donate and their publishers send books to make it work. Owlcrate’s policy is to send one hardcover YA book that has been published no more than 45 days prior to shipping that month’s book.

There are a few others that I’ve heard of with a similar business model. There’s also Uppercase, but I don’t know anything about that yet, though I want to get it :3 and probably some more I’m unaware of. I’ll post some links if anyone wants to check out these sites and get some cool stuff.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say on that since I’m pretty excited to get my Bookworm Box. I needed to share this. Maybe when I get my box I’ll finally stop being a chicken and post an unboxing of it on Youtube :D

Also, be sure to check out my Wattpad account for more of The Arrangement, A Bad Boy Billionaire Brother’s Novel. I’m posting that one chapter by chapter, almost every night, just to see what people think :) I’d love it if you could help me out by checking it out and sharing,

Cheers!

http://www.owlcrate.com/

http://www.thebookwormbox.com/

https://www.uppercasebox.com/

WATTPAD:  http://www.wattpad.com/user/Mandyrosko

~Mandy Rosko

Filed under: romance

Fireflies Paranormal-Scope

Fireflies reveal the secrets of the night in small glimpses. Brilliant little creatures really.

While I am not qualified in any way to read neither stars nor planets, I am intimately linked to the paranormal in the world in many ways. So are you.

The paranormal-scope is for entertainment purposes only and is not meant to guide your life by.

The week for:

Aries:

Faeries often follow fireflies into the deep wood and discover wonders by chance. You will have the opportunity to make a discovery.

Taurus:

Shapeshifters bat at fireflies and find them annoying. Be careful what you swat at.

Gemini:

Mermaids rise to the surface to see fireflies. They can’t figure out if they are stars or not. You will be confronted by a puzzle this week.

Cancer:

Fireflies love to alight on resting dragons. They have so much in common.  Cherish the friends you can trust. Share a special time with them.

Leo:

Vampires stay away from fireflies, because the tiny insects shed light into shadows. Light will be shed on an event in your past. Don’t be afraid. It’s the past.

Virgo:

Werewolves love dancing in the light of fireflies before they begin their howl.

Libra:

Hobbits like to sit in their gardens and watch the fireflies. Build in some relaxing down time for yourself. You deserve to enjoy life.

Scorpio:

Fireflies love baby goblins. They often play together, proving you don’t have to be the same to be friends.

Sagittarius:

Unicorns come out to greet fireflies.  Each are symbols of beauty and mystery. View the mystery in your life as a treasure to be revealed. Maintain a positive viewpoint to get ahead.

Capricorn:

Fireflies can be seen twinkling on at sunset near the winged horses. A gift from the heart is coming your way. You will have a choice to make.

Aquarius:

Zombies do not understand fireflies and sometimes follow them blindly.  Do not follow anything blindly. Read all contracts carefully. Do not be afraid to take that contract to a trust professional to make sure you’re not making a mistake.

Pisces:

Gnomes and fireflies go way back. An old friend is coming your way. Enjoy your memories.

-Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley, Amazon Kindle Bestselling Author of Vampire Romance

www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Where love burns eternal and whispers in the dark!

Vampire King of New York available at Amazon Kindle and print, Barnes and Noble Nook and print and in Kobo

A Vampire for Christmas in Kindle

Filed under: A Vampire for Christmas, Max Vander Meer, Norse, paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, romance novels, Susan Hanniford Crowley, The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais, vampire books, Vampire David Hilliard, Vampire King of New York, Vampire King of New York In Print, Vampire Maximillion Vander Meer, vampires, Viking, Weekly Paranormal-Scope, Yule

My Annual Writer’s Retreat

Well, I have been enjoying the unrestrained pleasure of my writer’s retreat this past weekend. Every year my local RWA chapter hosts a retreat for members and friends to get together somewhere out in the woods, usually, in a huge house and simply write. This is my fourth retreat and as usual it’s been too short a time.

We switched venues this year, for price considerations, and boy, did we find a gem. It’s right on the water, with all kinds of activities—kayaking, bike riding—which some availed themselves of. There is a fire pit where we made s’mores. Two porches and a lovely breeze and various nooks for writing.

One of our members always does a workshop (in the past we had more than one but most people just wanted to write). This year she did it Wednesday night, the first night, on goal setting—a great way to begin four days of writing. She gave us all a bag of goodies, some items for inspiration (quotes and character profiles), some for fun (tiaras and necklaces), and some for practicality (tissues and chocolate).

My goals were simple, but challenging. I’d just gotten edits for two novellas and I wanted to finish both sets, plus another couple of chapters on new works. The last were secondary goals, in case I got through with the first goal early enough. As of midnight last night, I had accomplished my goal, sent my editor both manuscripts back, including two new sections in one of the works totaling over 3,000 additional words.

I am psyched!

I managed to stay focused, although I took two major breaks: one to see my husband’s band concert on Thursday night and one hour last night to watch the finale of Outlander. (Yes, this marvelous house has Starz!) It was my reward for reaching my goal, although I ended up writing for an hour or so after Outlander to finish up.

All in all, this has been one of the most productive retreats for me personally. I managed to have some fun times with our group members as well as eat some fantastic food, and write like hell for four wonderful days. The worst thing about the retreat is always that it’s too short (even though we added an additional day and came on Wednesday). Perhaps one year we will break bad and stay for a whole week.

And I guarantee, it still wouldn’t be enough. :)

Filed under: Jenna Jaxon

Summer Beach Interview with the Vampire King of New York by Susan Hanniford Crowley

I’ve been so busy writing the next book in the series, that I forgot about Max. I joke when I say that. Vampire King Maximillion Vander Meer is quite unforgettable. I asked for an interview and he said, “I haven’t forgotten about you, Lily.”  He calls me, “Lily.”  Nothing ever prepares me for seeing Max. Tall, blond, and whoa. His choice of clothes is always impeccable, and since he’s the king, he is usually wearing couture, an Armani suit in dark blue is his preference. But this time, since we are between books, we find him at his summer house in Long Island looking out over the ocean. He’s wearing dark blue swim briefs with stars on them.  Oh, my.

Lily: So King Max, now that the book is out, do you have plans this summer? Why do you have a summer house with a beach?

Max: Because I can. (smiles showing fangs) With the right sunblock, I can spend most of the day out here. But I do have to fully prepare for the sun, otherwise I can get hurt by it, and I do have an umbrella over me. I’m only here for the weekend, so it’s lucky you caught me.

Lily: Max, I understand that people have some misconceptions about vampires.

Max: Like what?

Lily: Do vampires sparkle?

Max (laughs a lot): If there are some, I don’t know them.

Lily: Okay. Getting serious now. Are all vampires murderers?

Max: Not in New York, Lily. I can’t speak for the other states, though more and more have adapted civilized ways.  We drink animal blood or donated human blood. Hunting is not allowed in New York. It is the law of the Arnhem Society.

Lily: Max, how can you possibly enforce that?

Max: The Arnhem Knights enforce that. Vampires coming to live in New York must agree to our ways or leave.

Lily: On a lighter note, I heard you make all the vampires take dancing lessons. Is that true?

Max: (laughs so hard he practically falls out of his chair) Who told you that?

Lily: Well, is it true?

Max: (grinning from ear to ear) Absolutely. (Then he laughs again.)

Lily: (He is laughing too much for that to be true.)

Max: I heard that Lily.

Lily: Moving on. Is it true that vampires are the best lovers, and if so why?

Max: (chuckles) Yes, and think about it. We really don’t need to sleep. If we’re not injured, we’re enormously healthy. We have a sense of humor and are wonderfully inventive.

Lily: And modest.

Max: Oh, Lily, you’re funny.  Everyone, if they haven’t already, please, go out and get this amazing fun and sexy beach read called Vampire King of New York.  That way you’ll be prepared for when the next one comes out.

Lily: And they’re learn all your secrets.

Max: That’s very true.

Lily: Here’s a little bit about Vampire King of New York.

Max Vander Meer, is a modern day Viking, CEO of VMeer Industries, and a Vampire. He makes a plea to the Goddess Freya to find the only woman who can heal his heart, the woman haunting his dreams. But, the Goddess strikes a bargain with him. To find this special woman, Max must return to the city he helped build–New York, which is threatened by an ancient terror. When he meets Evelyn, he is astounded. Could she be the one who inhabits his dreams? But Evelyn is haunted by loss and betrayal. How can Max win her love when she doesn’t trust him as a man, and she doesn’t want to be a vampire? If Max returns to Iceland without her, he will be encased in ice . . . forever!



Vampire King of New York isavailable at Amazon Kindle and print, Barnes and Noble Nook and print and in Kobo

Lily: Is there anything else you’d like me to share with our readers at Nights of Passion?

Max: Hmm, let me think. Besides a champagne bath?  They tickle all over you know and are so relaxing and fun.

Now it’s my turn to laugh.  Thank you, King Max.

-Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley, Amazon Kindle Bestselling Author of Vampire Romance

www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Where love burns eternal and whispers in the dark!

A Vampire for Christmas in Kindle

Filed under: Adventures of Lily A. Snow, Interview, Max Vander Meer, Norse, paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, romance novels, Summer Beach Read, Susan Hanniford Crowley, the romance of life, The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais, vampire books, Vampire David Hilliard, Vampire King of New York, Vampire King of New York In Print, Vampire Maximillion Vander Meer, vampires, Viking, Yule

My First Facebook Party by Stacy Hoff

You are ALL invited to the BEACH READS & MORE Facebook Party  

Friday, June 5 at 7:00pm – 9:30pm!!!!!

 

When I was asked by Merry Holly and Gerri Brousseau to contribute a romantic short story for their romance box set Season of Love, I was excited but overwhelmed. I had never self-published before (unlike these ladies).  In fact, my only other experience publishing is with the publisher of my full length contemporary romances, Soul Mate Publishing, Inc., (who I love, by the way).

Self-publishing seemed so daunting. Since I am not a brave person, I never would have taken the plunge had Merry and Gerry not held my hand while we walked into the pool. There is so much I had (and still have) to learn to keep up with them. And one of these things is doing a Facebook party. Thank goodness they’ll be doing this event with me to throw me the life preserver I’ll need!

The idea behind the party is that us ladies will each take a turn talking to all of you, with some free giveaways along the way. We’ve got fun things coming up. And I’ve got a bunch of questions I’d like to throw out at you.

I’d love to know what you like us to do for my very first Facebook party! Please comment if you can!

Facebook Party Event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1107617552600689/1107870829242028/               USA Bestselling Author Stephanie Queen, Merry Holly (Marian Lanouette), Stacy Hoff, Gerri Brousseau and Bobbi Lerman invite you to join us in our celebration of love.

AMAZON LINK FOR SEASON OF LOVE ROMANCE BOX SET: http://www.amazon.com/Season-Love-Box-Merry-Holly-ebook/dp/B00X3ZAR3E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431122019&sr=8-1&keywords=Season+of+love+-+stacy+hoff

Find Stacy on Social Media: http://www.facebook.com/authorStacyHoff Twitter: twitter.com/authorStacyHoff Web: http://www.stacyhoff.com https://www.pinterest.com/authorstacyhoff/

AMAZON LINK FOR LAWFULLY YOURS by Stacy Hoff: http://www.amazon.com/Lawfully-Yours-Stacy-Hoff-ebook/dp/B00U7U2WCC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1425508177&sr=8-2&keywords=book+-+lawfully+yours

 AMAZON LINK FOR DESIRE IN THE EVERGLADES by Stacy Hoff: http://www.amazon.com/Desire-Everglades-Stacy-Hoff-ebook/dp/B00NFSMCYG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410289138&sr=8-1&keywords=desire+in+the+everglades.

Filed under: Gerri Brousseau, Marian Lanouette, Marketing, romance novels, Stacy Hoff, Writer's Life

What I’ve Learned: Secret #20: Love Yourself and Those Close to You Day!

Writers are a possessed lot. A story gets hold of us, and we can’t let it go until it’s down on paper or electronically off to be published. I dream the characters and am constantly writing. If I’m stuck I change the mode–if I was typing into the laptop, I switch into the journal. Sometimes I switch into editing for a while.

The main thing is through all this when I’m distracted, I have people who love me and carry on life matters on my behalf. My husband cooks. Bless him for being adorable too. I have learned that when you have an occupation you love as I do writing, it is wonderful to have people around you that love you no matter what.

It’s important not to become so obsessed with your job or passion, that you forget those people that hold your world together in your absence. We see it in movies about the lives of stars all the time when they do that and their personal life falls apart. Don’t be so obsessed with anything that you don’t see those special people who love you. Make time for them. Be there for them when they need you, and even times when you just want to hang out together just because. Don’t be possessed. Live life. Love others. Tell them you love them. Take care of yourself. Then you will have a life of wonderful deep experiences. It will even pour into your work.

Let’s make Thursdays Love Yourself and Those Close to You Day! every week.  What are you going to do today?

-Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley, Amazon Kindle Bestselling Author of Vampire Romance

www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Where love burns eternal and whispers in the dark!

Vampire King of New York published by Soul Mate Publishing and available at Amazon Kindle and print, Barnes and Noble Nook and print and in Kobo

A Vampire for Christmas in Kindle

Filed under: A Vampire for Christmas, Max Vander Meer, Norse, paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, romance novels, Susan Hanniford Crowley, the romance of life, The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais, vampire books, Vampire David Hilliard, Vampire King of New York, Vampire King of New York In Print, Vampire Maximillion Vander Meer, vampires, Viking, What I've Learned: Secret #20: Love Yourself and Those Close to You Day!, What inspires you?, When Love Survives, Writer's Life, Yule