Nancy Naigle's Blog, page 35

A HEA kind of day ~ Eighteen years of my own love story.

Eighteen years ago, on September 24th, I was getting married. It wasn’t my first walk down the aisle so I wasn’t about to do the big white dress thing…again.

So, sweep away those visions of a rose bouquet, white gown, men in tuxes and gals in gaudy dresses. That’s not the kind of wedding I had at all. Nope. Mike and I had just bought our small farm and the closing kept getting sc0oched out. We’d moved the wedding date once, but thank goodness, the nice folks that owned the property let us have the wedding there anyway so we wouldn’t have to move the date.

Picture this. It’s a beautiful sunny fall day in Chesapeake, Virginia. A bright red barn sits in the backdrop with the symbol HF on he big hay doors (HF for Holland Farm!), straw bale squares are set up around the concrete apron in front of the 40×50 red metal industrial building. The huge sliding doors have been opened so you can see straight through.

The wedding cake was a gift from my soon-to-be (like in any minute!) sister-in-law who had created three luscious layers of the best darn cake that met your lips. Hand decorated with board fence, little pumpkins, and piggies climbing up the side, and an arch with a John Deere tractor under it. It was perfect!!

No white gown? Oh, so you’re wondering what I did wear. Overalls, and Mike and his guys wore jeans and tuxedo t-shirts. It was a hoot. Now, I have to tell you that I wore a pair of blingy LA Gear tennis shoes (they were all the rage back then) and my girlfriend, Patty, well she didn’t even own a pair of tenny-pumps…she had to go out and get some just for the wedding hahah. It was a wonderful day and Mike’s children, Michael and Michelle, stood up with us as we took our vows and started our life together.

It was a great day of celebration and a pig-pickin that kicked butt Virginia style. We rode off on our John Deere Model B tractor…and I was glad for those overalls as I climbed up and hopped my fanny on that metal fender!

It’s been a pretty amazing 18 years with this man who somehow seems to understand me, and love me, in spite of all the crazy notions I get. He’s a tiny bit of every hero I write, and he keeps me laughing which is quite a treat.

Wishing you all your own little happy-ever-after!

Hugs~

Countdown continues – 12 Days and a Keeper Kase™

Congratulations to Virginia Rush who won the prettiest tea cup and assorted teas for joining in yesterdays fun!

I’ve got a cute Keeper Kase™ with autographed cards for SWEET TEA AND SECRETS, OUT OF FOCUS and Dianna Love’s new title, LAST CHANCE TO RUN, to get you started up for grabs today. All you have to do today is pop on over to my author page and leave your thoughts on what format you like to read in. Paper, Digital, Audio….AND you’re favorite place or time of day to read.  EASY as 1-2-3.  Click on over there now if you like! https://www.facebook.com/NancyNaigleAuthor?ref=hl

WHAT?? You don’t know what a Keeper Kase™  is? Lordy goodness, let me fill you in!  A Keeper Kase™ is the fun brainchild of author Dianna Love, and it’s a a way to collect signed covers of your favorite books (we’re calling them Keeper Kase cards)–by using a Keeper Kase™  to complement your library (ebook or print!) where you collect signed swag from your favorite authors. You can use any photo album or “brag book” that holds 4×6 inch photos–and you can have them signed and personalized to keep alongside your e-reader, or your fav collection of books.

I’ve joined a great group of authors who have cover cards ready to send so you can start your collection today.

If you don’t win today’s prize — you can always join in the Keeper Kase card fun on your own. (You won’t get the Kase…just the cards) TO RECEIVE TWO OF THESE BOOK COVERS AT A TIME Send a SASE (Self-addressed stamped #10 envelope ~ that’s the long kind! ~ and one stamp will cover it) to:  NANCY NAIGLE ~ PO Box 723 ~ Emporia, VA 23847

Each of my cards includes the cover image, and a special little something about that book, along with a place for me to personalize it for you (or that someone special as a gift or keepsake).

Now you can collect signed covers of your favorite books. Perfect for fans of digital reading, and a fun gift for that hard to buy for book lover on your list.

These cards solve for some of the feedback we’ve heard recently, like:

Bookstores who won’t let you get an autograph without buying a physical copy of the book
E-Reader covers filled with signatures that don’t transfer when you upgrade your equipment
Authors who don’t make it to your town for a signing

To see the latest list of authors with cards ready for your own Keeper Kase™ , visit Dianna Love’swebsite.

Can’t wait to see your posts on facebook….and here too if you like…Hugs and happy reading~

Nancy

Countdown to release…on 9/25…13 days to go!

I always get worried when I do math in public . . . haha . . . but we’re going to say 13 days and just count on down from here.  On Tuesday, September 25th, SWEET TEA AND SECRETS will be released by Montlake Romance. You don’t have to wait to order it, you can pre-order today. I’m hoping you, my friends!, will help me spread the word so we give this book a happy launch day on the 25th!  To get in celebration mode, each day until then I’m going to give a little something away. You in? It’s easy! I promise.

Yesterday, Dina Stornello, was the winning commenter. I just shipped out her advanced reader’s copy of Sweet Tea and Secrets, a Killer Nashville Read. Relax. Repeat. Tote Bag and a couple other goodies. Fun!

Ready for your chance to win??  

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TODAY??

If you haven’t already – go to Amazon and click the like button on your favorite version (print, digital or audio) of Sweet Tea and Secrets.
Share the link to the recipe for Pearl’s Perfect Sweet Tea with your friends on facebook or twitter -> http://www.NancyNaigle.com/sweettea.htm
Leave a message on my facebook author page www.facebook.com/nancynaigleauthor on the question of the day — how do you like your tea??
Cross your fingers!

WHAT’S UP FOR GRABS?

An adorable tea mug and assorted Harney & Sons tea, along with a Killer Nashville READ. RELAX. REPEAT. tote bag because they are so handy!  I’ll draw today’s winner at midnight PST so all our friends coast to coast get a chance.

GOOD LUCK!

Hugs and happy reading!   Nancy

Together ~ we can make a difference!

Sometimes a task seems so big ~ and when it’s helping someone who is battling a disease ~ finding a way to help can feel impossible.

Take heart in knowing that together, even tiny contributions, when combined with others do make a difference. I ran across this saying on facebook this morning, and it aligned perfectly with what I wanted to share with you today.

My cousin, Jenn, is married to her childhood sweetheart, Greg, and is the mother of two pre-teen boys.  In 2009, she was diagnosed with a type of colorectal cancer and she’s been through several treatment plans since. You can read about her journey and the latest updates at http://jenniferpmcmanus.wordpress.com/my-story/. I’m mentioning her today, because she’s  just started a new treatment, and as if the treatments alone are not hard enough, she’s having to travel from Carolina down to Florida for them.

Finances are a roadblock in being able to get her boys and family members to  her during this journey and I’m hopeful we can join together to make a difference. Even $1 adds to the bounty and will help. There’s a fund already setup and you can contribute online through paypal, or if you’re like me and prefer a paper trail — Crossroads Publishing House, LLC will be routing funds to her.

CROSSROADS PUBLISHING HOUSE ~ PO BOX 723 ~ EMPORIA, VA 23847  (Make your check to Crossroads Publishing House – Friends of Jenn)

or directly through paypal to: gmjm0906@me.com  (Gregory and Jenn McManus)

…and seriously, every dollar counts.

I’m a true believer in teaming up with others to make a difference. You might recall my posts on facebook about the Cancer Relay For Life in Norfolk earlier this year, and that I was a category captain for Brenda Novak’s Online Auction to Find a Cure for Diabetes. We raised a final total of $2600 contribution for the diabetes auction and I’m working hard to come up with good ideas to raise the bar for my category next year. If you have any suggestions, please share them!

What will you do to make a difference in someone else’s life this week?

It’s National Scrabble Week 8/11-8/15 – GAME ON!

I grew up in a family that liked to play games. We were always competitive and I still to this day love to play games. Mom and I get together or Yahtzee and Scrabble nights whenever I can make the time and there is no mercy.

So, let’s have some letter-ific fun on National Scrabble Week.

With the tiles shown below — make your best word. And since this should be fun I’m giving you more than 7 tiles. Post your word and add up the points. Let’s see who wins.

Can’t wait to see how creative y’all get!!

Hugs and happy spelling~

Nancy

Virginia is for Lovers (& Romance Writers, Too!)

Hey friends,

Thought I’d share with you that there’s a group of authors from here in Virginia that have started blogging. Words, Women, Wisdom (W3) just kicked off this month. Each month there’s a new theme. For example, July is Summer Vacation month. They even created cute little avatars for each of us. Here’s mine.

Each author brings her attitude and style to the topic of the month on her blog day. My slant is “Southern State of Mind”, but some of the others are spicy, paranormal, historical, food related, book related … and it’s alot of fun. I hope you’ll stop by and visit – heck subscribe to get the updates from this diverse set of Virginians and join in the fun.

The blog is located at: http://wordswomenwisdomw3.blogspot.com/p/author-page.html

I blog the last Monday of each month. See ya there.

Nancy

National Penuche Fudge Day

I’ll admit it. I’d never heard of Penuche Fudge or Penuche Frosting until I met my husband’s family. It’s a mexican candy and in his family they use it as a cake frosting over spice cake. Once you’ve had a slice, you’ll know why it’s a favorite.

It used to be a real labor of love to make because your arm practically goes numb and feels like it’ll drop off by the time it’s complete, but I’ve gotten smart and use the bread beaters on my fancy mixer and now I don’t mind whipping up this family favorite for my husband or my step-daughter (It’s both their favs!)

So on National Penuche Day, I thought I’d share our family recipe for this treat so you can try it out on your family. If you care to share a favorite recipe of yours — that would be fun, too!

Hugs and happy sweet treats~

PENUCHE FUDGE/ICING RECIPE

In saucepan melt ……………….. 1 cup butter

Stir in………………………… 2 cups light brown sugar packed

Continue cooking over low heat for 2 minutes stirring constantly – in one direction.

Stir in………………………… 1/2 cup milk

Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring contantly. Keep that full rolling boil for about a minute as it turns to a syrup, then set the pan in cold water. When you can hold your hand on the bottom of the pan the syrup is cool enough.

**You can continue in your cooking pot if you’re making the penuche by hand start to finish — but if you’re going to leverage your fancy mixer with the bread beaters — transfer the syrup to the mixing bowl now.

Now, stir in …………………… 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups of SIFTED confectioners sugar.

Add the confectioners sugar and beat, continuing until thick enough to spread. That’s going to be very thick. Like stand your spoon up in it thick.

If too thin – keep adding confectioners sugar.

If too thick – add a litle hot water – that’s easy to fix.

ENJOY!!

Goodreads Winners ~ July 2012

Hi Friends,

I just got back from having lots of fun at ThrillerFest in New York City. While I was out of town, I ran a GoodReads contest so you’d know I was thinking about you while I was away.

Big congratulations to:

Kee-Lee Stocks of Iowa

Ilana Weiss of Ohio

I mailed out their signed copies of OUT OF FOCUS yesterday.

Hugs and Happy Reading~

If you’re curious about ThrillerFest … stop by my facebook page and check out the photo album I posted.

https://www.facebook.com/NancyNaigleAuthor?ref=hl#!/media/set/?set=a.4326675286771.2182348.1283832730&type=3

Suspense…Any Way You Like It

For those of you that helped me raise over $1400 to find a cure for diabetes in the Brenda Novak Annual Online Auction — you’ve heard the phrase, Suspense…Any Way You Like It. I named my category after it this year.

If you take a click over to www.RomanceANDSuspense.com you find our landing page. This saying came about when four writer made friends at an RWA conference. We all write very different stories, the one common denomintor — suspense.

Adrienne Giordano writes fantastic contemporary romantic suspense with hot heroes that’ll stick with you (and invade your dreams!) Her Private Protector series has done really well and I dare say that if you read the first one, you’ll order the rest.

Tracey Devlyn's debut novel came out this spring. A Lady's Revenge is categorized as an historical thriller, but let me tell you – don't let historical keep you from picking up this book. This ain't your momma's historical. A Lady's Revenge just happens to be set back then, but this story is dark, adventurous and has romance that'll sizzle you silly. Her next book, Check Mate, My Lord will be out in early 2013 and I can't wait!

Tracy March writes big city thrillers. Her debut novel, Girl Three, snapped up quite a few awards on the path to publication and you'll get to read it for yourself early 2013. Keep her on your watch list. She’s got two other books on the horizon, too.

Then there's me with my small town love stories. Of course, you know that.

So there you have it — Suspense…any way you like it.

You can get to all of our websites from the RomanceandSuspense.com site.

Hugs and happy reading~

Nancy

I think I’m feelin’ flush

Okay, it’s a bad joke. But here’s the story to back it up. (Oh lord, that was not an intentional pun at all!)

So, one of the cool things about my author website is that I get all these neat statistics and I can even see where people came to www.NancyNaigle.com from if they followed a link.

This morning I was feeling quite international as I noticed that someone had visited my site from Belgium. How cool is that? Well, it was very cool, I agree. Until I noticed that they came from another link in Belgium and I took a peek at that link and it’s a “TOILET” site. Yep. A variety of belgian and french toilets and down below in a big long list of links is my name Nancy Naigle and the link to my website.

So should I be flattered, flush, or wipe this from my mind?

Hahaha – at least it was a good way to keep me humble.

Love and hugs~

Nancy