Anna Sugg's Blog, page 6

Valentine's Day Gift

I’ll share a few fun facts that I found on the internet about St. Valentine's Day.
About 3% send Valentine gifts to their petEach year, over 50 million roses are given for Valentine's Day.On Valentine’s Day twist the stem of an apple while reciting five or six names, then at the moment the stem breaks, the one whose name was recited will be your spouse.On Valentine’s Day counting the number of seeds found inside an apple indicates the number of children you will have.You will marry a cheapskate if you see a squirrel on Valentine’s Day.On St. Valentine’s Day, you will marry a millionaire if you see a goldfinch, if you see a robin, you will marry a crime fighter, if you see a flock of doves, your marriage will be happy and peaceful.There’s much more, but I’ll stop here, with the brighter side of Valentine’s Day and look at the February month of love magic and ancient Pagan celebrations.                                                  


Roman’s most ancient festival was a mid-February holiday called Lupercalia (Latin for wolf) when many of the noble youths and officials ran through the city naked. They physically abused infertile women believing it would help make babies. At the end of the celebration, they covered their bodies with blood from sacrificial goats and a dog which were thought to have the strongest sexual instinct for sacrifice to the god of fertility.
St. Valentine’s Day was named after Saint Valentine, the saint exalted as a patron of love and happy marriages. Then history gets a somewhat muddy. During the Roman Empire in the 3rd century, Emperor Claudius II (known as Claudius the Cruel) on February 14, executed two Valentines in the name of Christianity. The first was Valentine of Rome who was said to have married people illegally. The second execution was Valentine of Terni who was a spiritual leader and faith healer. Sometimes within the next two hundred years, Pope Gelasius I purified the month of February, abolishing the Lupercalia celebration (the one mentioned above), leading to St. Valentine’s Day. 
Now, fast forward to Chicago, 1929, February 14, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. This day of compassion and love was filled with murder, abuse and failed romances.
While doing some research for my first Yellow Creek novel, Secret Past, I found a St. Valentine’s Day Massacre that took place during the days of lawlessness and violence. The crime lord Al Capone gunned down his rivals on Valentine’s Day. Lining seven of Bugs Moran’s men up against the wall, firing into them seventy rounds of ammo.  Though no one was caught or brought to trial for murder, Capone was labelled the most notorious gangster, making him the “Public Enemy No 1.” Ironically, the man that instigated the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was sent to jail for evasion of federal income tax.
Here’s a few quotes to bright up or thoughts for St. Valentine's Day.  I found on this site: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/to...

Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey.  Lord Byron

If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you. A.A. Milne

If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love. Maya Angelou

They invented hugs to let people know you love them without saying anything. Bill Keane

Valentine Gift for you, 
To wish all  my friends a Happy Valentine's Day, I have the first Silver Sage Creek Book,
Better She Die on for FREE, download today at AMAZON.  

Regardless of the Valentine’s Day history, it is a day we now celebrate those we love with gifts of flowers and chocolates.

 Happy Valentine's Day Judy

Winter Solstice

The First Day of Winter for 2016, December 21. Winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, as well as the longest night of the year! Oh, I should clarify…in the Northern Hemisphere. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, then you have to wait until June!

If you don’t think about the actual astronomical phenomenon, or the Northern Hemisphere tilting the farthest from the sun, or the fact that the Southern Hemisphere is now having 12 hours of daylight while we here in the Northern part of the earth are having just the opposite, and pleeese, let’s not even think about Nasa’s research on how the tilt of our planet resulted from collisions with proto-planets and other formation in the solar system billions of years ago! As I said, don't think about those things, just be excited that now the first day of Winter means our daylight starts to get longer again – yeah, well, I know it’s slow, but as the days spread their daylight longer that means, spring is around the corner. (I'm thinking positive!) For now, I’m going to enjoy the beauty of the white fluffy flakes drifting down turning my backyard into a winter wonderland.   
[image error] Attribution: Jecowa at the English language Wikipedia 
You still have time to enter the drawing for my Christmas Box giveaway:  

A Christmas mug, a Christmas bear, and the three author's signed Christmas Books: Santa's Pretty Lady, Santa's Secret Gift, Mainland SantaHow to put your name in the drawing, Go to HERE
I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and may you and your family be blessed with happiness, love and good health.   Judy

Merry Christmas

   
Can you believe December is here? Where has the year gone? They said we had six inches of snow on Monday! I thought it was more like three inches! But, still the ground was white and my dogs love running through the white powdery stuff. You can imagine the snowballs sticking to their fur. Anyway, moving on - I spent the weekend after Thanksgiving putting up my Christmas trees. I love this time of year. And, yes, I’ve been playing Christmas music for the last two months. 

To celebrate the Christmas Season, I’ve updated my Christmas book covers to the Santa Series and wanted to share with you (the first covers are the original):



Link
What do you think? I loved the old ones, but I’m also thrilled with the new covers, created by Sheri McGathy, http://sherimcgathy.com/
I’m also thrilled to announce the book cover, Santa’s Pretty Lady’s won first place in the Still Moments Magazine Winter Holiday Cover Contest. Thank you to all of you that voted for my cover.






I’m having a Christmas Giveaway Drawing during the month of December, here’s what in the Christmas box:
A Christmas mug, a Christmas bear, and the three author's signed Christmas Books: Santa's Pretty Lady, Santa's Secret Gift, Mainland Santa.  How to put your name in the drawing...Go to http://anna_sugg.coffeecup.com/Contests.html
I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and may you and your family be blessed with happiness, love, and good health.   Judy

Nano Month

November is the month of Thanksgiving. There’s much that I have to be thankful for and I’m sure all those of you participating in the Nanowrimo are thankful too. Many of you already know, but for those of you that aren’t sure, I thought I’d share a little about Nanowrimo?
The word stands for National Novel Writing Month (Nano), a nonprofit organization that offers a fun approach to creative writing starting on November 1, with thousands of writers participating.


Their Mission Statement "National Novel Writing Month believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds--on and off the page." http://nanowrimo.org

During this Nano month, many people of all ages around the world are writing at this moment advancing toward a goal of completing a 50,000 word novel by the deadline, 11:59 PM November 30.  Anyone can participate, all it takes is lots of determination and enthusiasm to write your story by the deadline, even if this is the first story you’ve ever written.If you’re thinking you might like to participate next year, go to their website for all the help you need to prepare for the month. If this is all new to you, Sign up – it’s free. Read about it, ask others about it, and get ready, you have next year to look forward to as one of those participants. Who knows, you’re first novel could be written in one month. 

Now, you may be asking if I’m participating in Nano.  No. I tried once, but discovered November is too busy of a month for me to commit. When I commit to doing a project, I work until it’s done, but when I tried Nano, it took more time than I was willing to give because the holidays were approaching. My family is number one in my life and my writing takes second place, so to get ready for the holidays and my family, especially those coming from out of town, I didn’t make the deadline. So, with that said, I do wish all those participating in Nano the very best of luck in your completion of your novel during November. 

I love Thanksgiving. We always have our family sitting around a large dining room table with our best china plates and Brett’s yummy turkey with all the trimmings, and all the pies, goodies, and my traditional homemade carrot cake to help put on the extra ten pound even before Christmas. I’ve been blessed.

 Blessings to all of you and yours this Thanksgiving Day.  Judy


       

Hacked?

Has your computer been hacked? Or, crashed because you opened an attachment? I think we’ve all been there.

I ran across an article from the Department of Homeland Security the other day discussing how to protect myself from a cyber-attack. The department talked about how important their role was in the threats to our cyber network. Their purpose is to secure the infrastructure of our cyberspace network which has become essential to our lives. The Official website of the Department of Homeland Security Click Here  listed several steps we as private and public individuals should take.

Here a few:

Never click on links in emails or open an attachment unless you know it’s legitimate. If you’re not sure, go to the site and log on directly. Turn off the option to automatically download attachments in your email.

Do not give out personal information over the phone or in email unless you’re sure. Remember social malicious actors will seem trustworthy, even if they have some of your information. Good ideal to ask them for their name so you can have a call back number.

Set secure passwords. Don’t Share.

Keep your software up to date – security updates are free from major software companies.

Contact companies or individuals directly to verify their authenticity of requests.

Stop. Think. Connect. Is a national public awareness campaign to increase the understanding of cyber threats to help the American public to be safer and more secure online. Click

Don’t use passwords based on personal information, this makes it easier for attackers. Examples: intentionally misspell words (for date, use daytt), or mnemonics, for example, “hoops” use “IlTpbb” for "[I] [l]ike [T]o [p]lay [b]asket[b]all." (I think this is a great idea)


Let me throw out another question. 
What would happen if an EMP struck our nation? Is our government ready? 
Or, would we be thrown back into the dark ages? Hmmm 

Autumn!

I hope you enjoyed the last month of summer, August. It seems, once September makes its way into our valley, the lazy days of summer ends. Now, the leaves are turning, and fall is arriving too quickly. I love Fall, but around here, Winter 
bounces upon us before we have a chance to really enjoy the fall temperatures. 

Here’s what’s happening this month…
The League of Utah Writers Fall ConferenceSeptember 23-24, 2016Provo Marriott 101 West 100 NorthProvo, Utah


Register here...  
On Saturday September 24, 4:30pm Mary Martinez and I will be presenting a class on "You can Write a Series too." Hope to see you there.



Also, mark your calendar on October 4, 2016, 7 to 9:00 pm for the following:  





October 4, 20167:00 to 9:00 PMBrigham City Library 26 E Forest StreetBrigham City, UT
You’ll have a chance to interact with the following authors and ask questions, so please stop by if you’re in the area.
JudyBaker                      Joy Spraycar                 PatriciaG. Stevenson     Johnny Worthen     Jodee Steffenson              Doree Anderson
Update on my Christmas novel, Karibou Magic...weeeeell, I'm still writing and nearly ready to send it off to my editor. So, stay tune for a soon to be release date.   
Have a great Autumn and enjoy the beautiful leaves turning...

Happy July

Loads of things happening during this summer month of July. For one thing, it’s my Birthday Month and to celebrate, I’ve decide to put my Silver Sage Creek Novels and Yellow Creeksbooks on sale to celebrate my entire birthday month. Just click on the title and it will take you to Amazon.  I appreciate all of you that have supported me throughout the writings of my books.                             Better She Die       Better She Live   Better She Love     Secret Past      Ghost Thunder      Spirit Catcher

Please mark your calendar on July 10 to visit Mary Martinez’s blog: 
She asked me to make a cooking video for her blog. It wasn’t easy, but it was fun...once I finished!  Please stop by and watch it and let me know if you tried my recipe.
I’m still working on my Christmas story and aiming at an August release. Stay tune.
 Karibou Magic
Christmas is magic. At least that's what Eva Mars Bowman thought until that tragic night. Running from her past, she accepts a job with an old veterinarian in a small town in Wyoming. Now with Doc's help, and his magical reindeer, she has a reason to believe in Christmas magic once again. Nothing stays the same. Her newly found Christmas magic shatters. Doc becomes ill. His estranged son, Trebek Nickolas, returns with plans to change all that his father has built, including getting rid of the reindeer.
Compared to Doc, Trebek is coldhearted and wants nothing to do with Christmas? Can she convince him that forgiving and loving will bring back the Christmas magic he knew as a child? Or, will she have to move? Will Christmas magic be stripped away from her life again, forever?
An old veterinarian and his special reindeer brings Christmas magic back into her life, but will his handsome son shatter that belief?Thank you Sheri McGathy for such a lovely book cover.
I’m giving away a free ebook, Secret Past to celebrate with Romance Books 4 Us. Head over to RB4U and check out all the prizes to celebrate Christmas in July.  http://www.romancebooks4us.com/Lots of authors giving away lots of free stuff. 


Authors in the Round: Salt Lake County Libraries—July 26, 2016 7:00-9:00 p.m. Kearns Library 5350 South 4220 West
Kearns, Utah 84118
Young Adult and Paranormal

A Planet and A Character

Did you know on May 30, the planet Mars will be closest to the Earth than it has been in over a decade? According to NASA it’s the best time to look at Mars through a telescope. Look southeast after twilight, you can’t miss it. If your skies are clear, you can easily see the planet without a telescope or binoculars. It’s visible for much of the night.
As the red planet neared the Earth, the Hubble Space Telescope took photos of Mars. This one was released by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) last week.
  
On May 30, Mars will be 46.8 million miles (75.3 million km) away. Don’t forget to look up in the night sky that evening, if you don’t, it’ll be almost 300 years before the planet come that close again!

A little history about the fourth planet from the Sun:

Our imagination about life on Mars was sparked by tales of life on the Red Planet back in the 17th and 18thcenturies when astronomers got a glimpse of the planet’s polar cap, and learned its similarities to our Earth. For example there's Martian seasons and a day on Mars is about the same length as ours.

In 1800, astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli announced his claim to thin lines on Mars, calling them canals made by water. Later an American astronomer Percival Lowell loudly announced that they weren’t canals, but irrigation structures built by a Martian civilization. Inspired by all the hype about Mars, H.G. Wells wrote “War of the Worlds” and now, for a century, writers have been writing about visitors from Mars. Of course, I have to mention the comedy, Mars Attacks with Jack Nicholson (anyone remember?).

In 1965, Mariner 4 space probe snapped a picture of the planet showing craters much like our moon instead of our Earth. Then in 1971, NASA sent Mariner 9 revealed a surface of volcanoes, canyons, and river beds suggesting at one time there had been liquid water.
Is this a life on Mars…or a rock formation?
To this date, the search for evidence of life on Mars is ongoing. Upcoming future missions could possibly lead to startling conclusions that life exists somewhere other than Earth.



Now that I’ve told you about the planet Mars, let me tell you about a character named Mars in my upcoming new Christmas story, Karibou Magic.

I’m excited about the story, but I have to admit, I’ve only written a little over half so far. So please, stay tune for its completion and release date.

Here’s a sneak preview of the blurb:

Christmas is magic. At least that’s what Mars Bowman thought until that tragic night. Running from her past, she accepts a job with an old veterinarian in a small town in Wyoming. With Doc’s help and his magical reindeer, she has a reason to believe in Christmas magic once again.
But, nothing stays the same. Her newly found Christmas magic shatters. Doc becomes ill. His estranged son, Trebek Nickolas, returns with plans to change all that his father has built, including getting rid of the reindeer.
Compared to his father, Trebek is coldhearted and wants nothing to do with Christmas? Can she convince him that forgiving and loving will bring back the Christmas magic he knew as a child? Or, will she have to move? Will Christmas magic be stripped away from her life again, forever? 
An old veterinarian brings Christmas magic back into her life with his special reindeer. Will his handsome son shatter that belief?
My thanks to Sheri McGathy for the beautiful book cover for Karibou Magic: http://sherimcgathy.com/

Kim's New Release

Welcome Kim McMahill and thank you for stopping by to meet Kim.  
Hi Kim, Welcome. I understand you have a new release, A Taste of Tragedy is now available for our readers. I'm looking forward to reading your new release. Loved your last book, A Dose of Danger, so please tell us a little about yourself and your new novel.Kim:  I started out writing non-fiction, but my passion for exotic world travel, outrageous adventures, stories of survival, and happily-ever-after endings soon drew me into a world of romantic suspense. Along with writing adventure novels I have also published over eighty travel and geographic articles, and contributed to a travel anthology and cookbook. When not writing, I enjoy gardening, traveling, and spending time with family.Judy:  We’d like to know a little about your main character in your new release, A Taste of Tragedy. What drives and motivates Morgan Hunter?  Kim: She comes from a long line of successful business men and women, and she is driven to carry on the family tradition at the expense of everything else, including pushing away the only man she has ever loved. Judy: What does Morgan do for a living?  Kim: She’s the vice president of the Healthy and Delicious Foods Division at Giant Cactus Foods. Her division manufactures frozen entrees and desserts sold under the Healthy and Delicious Foods label as well as for a few other companies that specialize in complete diet programs.Judy: Why the location, and was it a real-life connection? Kim: The book is set mostly in Arizona. Morgan works in Phoenix, but spends her weekends at the family vacation home in Sedona. I love the red rocks of Sedona, though I haven’t spent as much time there as I would like. Because Giant Cactus Foods is a large business some of the story needed to take place in Phoenix.  Judy: Is A Taste of Tragedy part of a series? Kim: Yes, A Taste of Tragedy is the second novel in the Risky Research series. The first was A Dose of Danger, the third is in the early stages of being written, and the fourth is still in my head. I’m not sure at this point how far the series will go. I’m assuming the characters will let me know when it’s time to wrap it up.Judy: Do you have a favorite scene that you can share?  Kim: Even though Morgan is the main character in this book, Devyn and Nick, the FBI agents from A Dose of Danger, also play a prominent role. Devyn can be a little too gung-ho about catching the bad guy at times.  Here’s an excerpt: The night was surprisingly cool. Devyn wore only light-weight shorts and a t-shirt, but sweat still trickled down her back as she ran. It was awkward running with her gun in hand, but she really didn’t have any place to stow it with her current attire. As she rounded a bend in the creek, she saw a flash of something dark. She stopped and took in her surroundings. Had he heard her gaining on him? If so, and she darted around the blind corner, he’d likely be waiting and be able to get a bead on her.Devyn scrambled out of the gully and cut across the raised ground above the bend in the creek. Inching out toward the edge, she peered over and spotted her target. His back was to her. She had a clean shot, but this time she was determined to get answers. Dead men couldn’t talk. She quietly set her gun on a rock, where she knew she could find it quickly. Stepping closer, she leapt. Blurb:Morgan Hunter sacrificed everything for her career. She had yet to encounter anything she wasn’t willing to do to succeed . . . until now. When she uncovers evidence that the healthy foods she’s been hired to promote may be dangerous, she must reevaluate her priorities. As questions mount and the body count rises, she finds herself caught in the crosshairs of an organization that will stop at nothing to hide its secrets and protect its profits. With no one else to trust, Morgan is forced to seek help from the man she drove away, but whom she never stopped loving. Special words for your fans: Both novels were a lot of fun to write. I hope everyone enjoys the Risky Research series as much as I enjoyed writing it.Where can my reader find you?http://KimMcMahill.comhttp://KimMcMahil.blogspot.comhttps://Twitter.com/kimmcmahill
                             Amazon Buy Link     
Thank you Kim for sharing with us your new release, A Taste of Tragedy.
I've already purchased your book and looking forward to read it.

If you haven't read A Dose of Danger, here's my review on Goodread: This is a romance thriller that keeps you turning the pages. Great characters that you won’t forget. I enjoyed the cold winter of Wyoming while reading this story in the heat of the summer. This is Kim McMahill’s best yet.   

Winner: Authors in Bloom Blog Hop

WINNER, WINNER, WINNER



TAYLOR ZANOTTI

Taylor, you didn't leave me your email address, please email me by this Friday at bakerjbrett@aol.com for your copy of Better She Die.


I want to thank everyone that entered the contest and please don't forget to click on BloominThyme to see if you won any of the prizes given away by the Authors in Bloom.



You will have 10 days to enter each individual author contest and then submit your entry for the grand prize!!  To win the grand prize, you must visit each and every author on the hop.  CLICK HERE for the list of authors to visit and enter to win lots of prizes.


Grand prize entrants will be entered via a Rafflecopter giveaway widget, available on the initial and final landing page of this hop, located on BloominThyme.  All entries (and actions) will be verified to deem winners.

Winners will be announced on the landing page, BloominThyme
To celebrate Spring during the Authors in Bloom blog hop, I’ll be giving away a signed book of the first Silver Sage Creek Novels, Better She Die. All you have to do is leave a comment and I’ll put your name in a hat to be drawn and announce on April 18. And, in addition I’ll add your name to the hat a second time if you sign up to receive my blog.


Do you have a garden? What kind? There was a time in my life that I was too busy to even think about planting flowers much less harvesting vegetables. Twenty years ago, when I had a kid in college and 2 in high school, we moved into a new house that needed a yard. Out of the blue, I decided that one corner of the backyard would be my wildflower garden. I figured if I didn’t enjoy a garden, I’d just plow over it and plant grass. Well, that was twenty years ago. I love my garden and enjoy gardening. Here’s a few pictures.


  Morning coffee in 
Judy's garden






















Several years ago I started growing herbs. I’m now hooked on peppers. The long hot red chili peppers are so pretty in the garden along with sweet red peppers, and yellow peppers. I also grow my favorite, dill and many other herbs that I use in cooking. I can’t believe how fun it is to cook with fresh herbs right from my garden. I’m going to try growing some cucumbers and radishes for salads. Can’t wait for our planting season.



Here’s my favorite summer salad that’s quick and easy. It’s up to you the amount you need and how many people you’re serving.

Diced Cucumbers
Vine Ripe Tomatoes Diced Red Onions
Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
Toss cucumber, tomato, olive oil, Italian dressing, and red onion together in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until slightly chilled, 10 to 15 minutes.

Garden Tip:  Plant Lavender around your patio and garden to keep mosquitoes away. During hot summer days, did you know that placing pots of Basil around your deck and patio will keep flies away? Try it. It works.
Now hurry and enter for a chance to win several prizes from all the authors listed above during the Authors in Bloom blog hop.

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