Nancy Naigle's Blog, page 37
March 4, 2012
Make New Friends…
All Girl Scout and Brownie troopers can begin humming or singing along…
Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold!
I do believe friends are one of our biggest treasures, and I love-love-love making new friends – both in person and online.
I'm attending several conferences this year, and although it's great fun to have someone stop by to purchase a signed copy of my book, I always hope to create an environment for anyone to come and just say hello. No purchase required.
What suggestions do you have to help create an approachable atmosphere?
I'll share my plans later this week.
Thanks in advance for the help! Hugs and happy reading~
Nancy
February 19, 2012
Timing is everything
Just another instance of perfect timing. My husband went out to check his goats Friday evening and found a newborn kid in the field. She'd been cleaned up but none of the momma goats were claiming her. If Mike hadn't found her when he did, she'd have surely ended up bait to a predator or frozen to death in the cold, drizzly weather. Nearly lifeless, Mike brought the young doe inside and put her on a heating pad and since she was too weak to even eat he tube-fed her. She slept through the night and was doing a little better yesterday. At least she was taking the bottle.
Well, lookee here. What a difference a day makes. After a day of bottles and a little cuddling (not to mention many kisses from the dogs!) this little gal is up and ready to go. We had her in a box, but this morning when I woke up she was cruising around the kitchen. She seemed to particularly enjoy stepping up on the brick hearth and leaping into the air for a snazzy dismount!
I couldn't resist giving her a chance to explore before putting her in a kennel. She's definitely curious. Dakota, our 5 month old Chocolate lab (47 lbs), was pretty delighted to have a new buddy to visit with, until that kid started trying to nurse on him!
Guess we'll have to name her now. Any suggestions?
Thank goodness for good shepherds like my husband – timing really is everything.
Hugs and happy Sunday~
February 15, 2012
Autographs ~ 2012 Style
With the growth in popularity of e-books we're seeing lots of new e-Readers and tools make their way for our use. Not all of them are applicable only to e-books either.
(ENTER stage-left) KINDLEGraph.com (Horns blaring: toot-do-do-dooooo!)
www.KindleGraph.com is free. It's original purpose was to enable Kindle users to request and store autographs on their kindle. BUT, did you know that you can set up your KindleGraph.com account to send those autographs to any email address? It's true. So, it turns out that it's also a pretty cool way to get autographs for your favorite books from authors you might not get the chance to meet and get an autograph from in person.
Today KindleGraph boasts personalized digital inscriptions for over twelve thousand books from 2800 authors. Now, I'll admit as I perused the listing of authors I quickly noticed that many of my old favs are not yet using the tool, but it seems to be very popular with the 2010-forward Debut Authors.
Here's what you get…
a pdf that includes the book cover image ~ the personalized inscription ~ signature.
A sample of one of mine (LOVED this book and the other two in the series!)
Isn't it cool!
I've got mine on my kindle via my kindle email address, but I have friends that have started a collection of autographs to their regular email addresses. They've started a scrapbook type page on their computer…then printed the autographs and tucked them in the front of the books. I love it!
Here's a short list (including me!) of some of the other authors also on KindleGraph – if you haven't read them…you should!
Nancy Cohen
Marie Force
Melissa Foster
MJ Fredrick
Adrienne Giordano
Grace Greene
Shanon Grey
CJ Lyons
Nancy Naigle
Kristen Painter
Leah St. James
Leslie Tentler
Kari Lee Townsend
If you have a fav KindleGraph author … leave them here in the comments so that we can enjoy them, too!
Hugs and happy reading~
Nancy
Congratulations, Ashley
Congratulations to GoodReads member, Ashley from Washington Court House, OH.
Ashley won an autographed copy of OUT OF FOCUS.
It's on its way to you, Ashley!
Hugs and happy reading~
February 9, 2012
February Fun on Goodreads.com : Winner Announced
Just a quick note to announce the winner of the February GoodReads.com Giveaway.
With 541 entries -
LeAnn Campbell of Mequite, NV came out the winner of an autographed copy of Sweet Tea and Secrets.
LeAnn, your book is on its way.
Thanks so much to everyone for their interest in this story. Sweet Tea and Secrets is the first of my Adams Grove Novels. Out of Focus is the second in the series and both are getting lots of love. (Very exciting!!)
Hugs, high 5~ and happy reading,
Nancy
February 2, 2012
Goodreads.com Giveaway
Happy February~
The month sure is starting out mild here in Virginia and it's been a blessing. I've tried to embrace the sunshine by getting outside for a little while each day and it was pretty exciting when on February 1st we had a set of triplets here on Holland Farm. I posted pictures of the momma goat with her three little girls on my facebook page in the "Kidding Around on Holland Farm" photo album.
So, I'm feeling especially happy and to celebrate that I'm doing a giveaway on GOODREADS of a copy of Sweet Tea and Secrets. The contest will be open on February 4th through the 8th.
If you don't have my debut novel in paperback ~ this is your chance to enter and win. If you've read it and loved it ~ tell your friends so they can enter for a chance to win! It's free to join Goodreads.com and so much fun to meet other booklovers who enjoy the same kinds of books as you.
See you there!
January 31, 2012
Blooming Tea
Not much is blooming in my yard this time of year, but that doesn't stop me from finding a way to fulfill the awesome display by sipping on BLOOMING TEA. My favorite is Jasmine Bloom.
It's the neatest thing. If you're not familiar with blooming tea, they are hand woven tea leaves that are assembled and dried so that when you drop them in your steaming cup of water – they begin to open into a beautiful blossom. There are several varieties and flavors to choose from.
I've linked two YouTube videos here.
The first is a video of how the blooming tea is actually assembled.
The second … a lovely display of several blooming teas in fast frame set to lovely zen music.
Take a break and enjoy — then find some and enjoy a cup.
Hugs and relaxation~
January 27, 2012
Snow Globe Fun
I found this really fun website today called http://widdlytinks.com and it has all kinds of fun countdown counters and cute stuff like a romantic snow globe you can customize.
Romantic Snow Globes by WiddlyTinks.com
Sweet Tea and Secrets is still in the top TEN on that AMAZON Top Rated Romantic Suspense List.
It's also in the top 20 Bestsellers (Romantic Suspense and Suspense categories) and available on the Amazon Prime Kindle Owner Lending Library.
Have you purchased your copy? Available in trade paperback or for your kindle in the US/UK/DE.
January 25, 2012
Find beauty in every day …
STOP! Take a second and find the beauty around you. It's there. You just have to look.
One thing I do every morning is take a pause to look out the window. I'm lucky living here on a goat farm in the country. I have livestock meandering the pastures outside of my office window. A nice view.
This time of year we're getting ready to kid so the momma goats are especially heavy and moving a little slower. Hopefully, they are saving up their energy for the bouncing offspring that'll be coming starting next month. I have forsythia and other brambly kinds of bushes that line the pasture fence. The Cardinals adore them. That's good with me because Cardinals happen to be one of my favorite birds. You see, I consider them lucky. Okay, so it's the Virginia state bird and there are a lot of them…I get a lot of luck 
and yes it's possible that 99% of luck is believing…and I BELIEVE!
It's true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What I see and embrace may be different than what appears to be the beauty of today to you. That's what makes it special.
A bird in flight, the breeze through a tree, a bright something amidst the flat colors of winterscape, maybe your beauty is the hustle-bustle of people rushing down a city street. That's okay, too. Maybe a mother walking hand in hand with her child, or an old man shuffling into the bank with his collar up against the cold. Choose your moments – make them yours.
This is my gift to you — reminding you to find the beauty in every day.
Care to share the beauty you saw today with us?
Hugs and happiness~
January 2, 2012
Sharing – A Friendly Connection
Readers are naturally good at sharing. If you're like me then when read a book you really enjoy…you can't wait to share that title with anyone who will listen. If you've read either of my Adams Grove novels (Sweet Tea and Secrets (Jul 2011) or Out of Focus (Nov 2011)) then you know my books have a little southern in them and that means there is going to be good food around. I even share a few of the Adams Grove recipes in the back of those books.
I think recipes are much like our favorite books. We love to share the good ones.
I mentioned on facebook that my sweet step-son gave me one of those swanky Hamilton Beach Crock Pots that you can take anywhere. I'm absolutely LOVING it!! I've already received several awesome recipes to try out.
I thought it might be fun to start a recipe swap here on my blog page. Feel free to share the post and lets get ourselves a nice assortment of yummy-good stuff to try out in 2012. You in?? Who will be the first to post a recipe or kitchen tip?
