Kate Collins's Blog, page 240

Happy 2000th blog post to us!

This week the Cozy Chicks (yup, all 8 of us) are celebrating our 2000th blog post.

Over the years the line-up has changed, but during that time we've been sharing our personal and writing lives.  The ups, the downs, recipes, and everything in between.

To celebrate, we're giving away 10 goody bags full of Cozy Chicks author swag (bookmarks, postcards, and buttons).  If you'd like to win, just send us an email -- don't forget to include your mailing address (darn that Post Office, they actually we require your full name AND address)!  Here's our email address (remember to close up the spaces):  cozychicks @ gmail.com

If you've got the time, we'd love to know how long you've been reading the blog, and what you like best about it.

(BTW, if you're not already on our mailing list, we'll add your address so you can get postcards when we have new books out.)

Hurry!  We'll be picking the winners on Friday.  

TV Time

by Maggie Sefton


I thought I'd do  a Mid-Winter Check on what TV programs are helping to distract people from the Winter Boredom or Blahs or whatever.  For some of us, the 3rd season of DOWNTON ABBEY arrived not a minute too soon.  I don't know about you folks, but I needed to disappear into an engrossing storyline with excellent British actors handling all sorts of problems, life-threatening and minor.  Titled folk and the fascinating and diverse staff that serve them.  Drama and more.  A week ago we watched a heart-wrenching episode that brought tears.  Totally unexpected and totally believable.   I won't divulge it in case some of you  readers haven't yet watched it.

Another favorite that I started watching two years ago and is back for its third season is REVENGE.  Talk about fascinating dramatic mystery plots.  There are villains of all kinds, men and women.  And the psychological makeup of these characters is compelling.  Once again, Excellent actors.  And plot twists which are always a surprise.  And that's saying something for TV.  Complex inter-relationships.

Another favorite show of mine is PERSON OF INTEREST.  It's outward storyline is these fascinating two men --- one a computer genius who's invented a genius machine who can tell who is in danger of being killed or killing and his partner, a former Black Ops soldier who left that life and has gone to ground to escape his former secretive Govt agency bosses.  Each week, another person is in danger.  And the two NYC detectives that secretly help them in their work have another high stakes game of cat and mouse---with various killers.  Again, excellent actors in all the roles.  And I have to say, the writer has developed one of the most fascinating and malevolent female villans I've ever seen on the screen.  She keeps slipping thru their grasp and is intent on capturing the quiet computer genius, Harold.  This season, former Black Ops agent John has accidentally acquired a Belgian Malinois watch dog who only understands commands in French.  Name is Bear.  Watching Harold and Bear develop a relationship has been lots of fun.

Those are three of my faves.  Now, what are some of your favorites this season?

Is Facebook On Its Way Out?

by Kate Collins

Here's some surprising news. Two separate studies have emerged pointing to the conclusion that for all its popularity, Facebook is actually making people unhappy.

The first study, conducted by researchers from New Zealand's University of Canterbury, 
found that spending time on Facebook ranked among the 10 worst activities in terms of unpleasantness and lack of engagement. It was ranked as the least meaningful activity and the one that made people the second-most unhappy, surpassed only by recovering from illness.

In another study conducted by researchers from the University of Edinburgh Business School,  the more social circles people have represented among their Facebook friends, the more stressful they find Facebook to use. Apparently, seeing all the happy comments about other people's lives made them feel disappointed in their own lives.

I find these findings surprising because I enjoy getting on Facebook and reading all the news about people I know and even people I only know because  I see their names all the time. And I REALLY enjoy the jokes and cartoons. I've never felt bad about my own life because of Facebook or stressed out because of it.

Trying to meet a deadline is much more stressful than reading Facebook postings. In fact, I use Facebook as a diversion when I need a break. Yes, I'll admit, it's not the most meaningful activity I could do, but it's still fun.

What do you think? Do you find Facebook, or any of the other social media sites, like Google Plus, stressful? Does it make you feel bad about your own life? Let's conduct our own little study. 

Have a great week, and in the meantime, I'll see you on Facebook!

Amish and Inspirational Cozy (plus giveaway) from Guest Author Amanda Flower

Posted by Leann
What is an Inspirational Cozy?By Amanda Flower
When I wrote the original proposal for my Appleseed Creek Mystery Series, I had two versions: one tailored for the general market and one tailored to the Christian fiction market. My agent sent it out to both, and I was offered contracts from publishers from both markets. Appleseed Creek finally ended up with the Christian publishing house, B&H Publishing, and I accepted a second contract to write Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries for NAL/Penguin, which I write as Isabella Alan. Both are Amish cozy series set in Ohio.
So how are the Amish cozies I write for the inspirational market different than those I write for the general market? The differences are subtle, and this is how I distinguish between my two cozy series. Other authors may distinguish them in another way.
How are they different?
Faith is a central element. In my Appleseed Creek Series, two of my central characters, Becky Troyer and her brother Timothy Troyer, leave the Amish because of disagreements with some of the Amish beliefs. This leads to conflict with their Amish families and districts. I don’t go that deep into Amish doctrine in the books I write as Isabella Alan.
In Appleseed Creek, my non-Amish main character, Chloe Humphrey has a darker past than Angie Braddock from my Amish Quilt Shop Series does.
The romance is more in the forefront of the story in Appleseed Creek. This is because computer geek Chloe Humphrey is romantically involved with Timothy Troyer. His Amish family and district do not approve because they want him to return to the Amish faith.
In Appleseed Creek, I tone down the sarcasm a tad… not all the way because Christians can be very sarcastic too. I’m proof of that.
How are they alike?
The mystery drives the plot.
Quirky characters abound. The zanier the better. Amish can be quirky too!
Animals are among the supporting cast. I have the most adorable French bulldog named Oliver in my Amish Quilt Shop Series.You can still recognize my voice as an author. I can’t change who I am as a writer. My voice retains a quirky, humorous sound.
No matter the likes or differences, writing for both markets is a dream come true for me. It’s what I always wanted to do. However, the best part is the feedback from readers. So many Amish Fiction readers have told me they’ve never read mysteries before and now are reading them because of my Appleseed Creek Series. In my opinion, anything that brings readers to cozies is a good thing.
Amanda Flower started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. Her debut mystery, Maid of Murder, was an Agatha Award Nominee for Best First Novel. Amanda is an academic librarian for a small college near Cleveland. She also writes mysteries as Isabella Alan. The first Isabella Alan novel, Murder, Plain and Simple releases September 2013. In 2014, she will debut a middle grade mysteries series published by Zondervan/HarperCollins. www.amandaflower.com Find Amanda online: Facebook Twitter Goodreads Pinterest

The Cozy Chicks want to thank Amanda for blogging with us today. To be included in a random drawing for a signed bookplate as well as a copy of A Plain Scandal, leave a comment below and make sure we can contact you should your name be drawn! 

Warm Your Valentine With These Two-Bite Pies

Ellery Adams

In less than a month, my second Charmed Pie Shoppe mystery, Peach Pies and Alibis, hits the shelves and I've spent the first part of the winter baking pies  for the third book. 

It's funny, because even though there are only half a dozen pie recipes in each book, they take forever to create. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and if the pie doesn't score a perfect 10 with my official taste testers, then the recipe doesn't make the book.

These sweet, little heart-shaped pies wowed even my toughest critics (my husband and son) who really aren't dessert people. The heart-shaped treats taste rather like a cookie with a delightful surprise inside. The crust is buttery and crackles with granules of finishing sugar. And the combination of fresh raspberries, white chocolate, and cream cheese in the filling? Heaven! 

Do you show people you love them through food? I definitely do and so does my protagonist, Ella Mae LeFaye. Of course, I don't have her magical abilities when it comes to baking, but with this recipe, you don't need to be magical to make people believe you're truly enchanted!  

Charmed Heart-Shaped White Chocolate Raspberry Cream Two-Bite Pies


Ingredients
Pillsbury pre-made piecrust
Charmed Egg Wash (one egg beaten with 2 tablespoons half and half)
Finishing sugar

Filling
▪   8 oz cream cheese, softened
▪   1 cup fresh raspberries
▪   1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
▪   2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
▪   ½ cup white chocolate chips
Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.Preheat oven to 400. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll out dough and cut with heart cookie cutter. Line cookie sheet with piecrust hearts. Add a dollop of filling (amount will depend on size of cookie cutter). Wet edges of bottom heart and press another heart gently on top. Seal edges with tines of a fork. Brush hearts with Charmed egg wash and add a sprinkle of finishing sugar. For fun, use different colored sugars like pink, white, and red. Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until crust turns golden brown. 

 Peach Pies and Alibis:ISBN - 0425251993
Price - $7.99
Available at your local bookstore or Amazon.com, Indiebound.com, Barnes & NobleEllery Adams serves up a mystery that’s a real peach...Ella Mae LeFaye’s Charmed Pie Shoppe is wildly popular in Havenwood, Georgia—which is not surprising since Ella Mae can lace her baked goods with enchantments. The shop’s extraordinary success seems destined to continue when Ella Mae meets an engaged couple who hire her to handle the dessert buffet at their wedding.

But Ella Mae has a lot on her plate. She is also searching for the origin of her magical powers—and hoping to determine if the spark of attraction she feels for the handsome Hugh Dylan is authentic or just her new abilities gone awry.

Then Ella Mae discovers a high-standing member of the community dead, and a wedding guest becomes seriously ill at the event she’s catering. Now she’ll have to use all her sleuthing skills and culinary talents to prove her pies don’t contain a killer ingredient . . .

It's raining--it's snowing! Maybe--maybe not!

by Lorna Barrett / Lorraine Bartlett / L.L. Bartlett

 As I write this, the news media is once again threatening me (and the rest of the northeast) with a GIGANTIC winter storm.

And to that I say:  Pooh!  (Uh, not the bear.)

The US Weather Service (and especially our 4 local TV stations) love to make drama out of weather.  Usually the prediction is EXTREMELY dire, and then nothing much happens.  I hate that crawl along the bottom of the screen that seems to grow more and more dramatic until a certain hour and then completely disappears with not a cloud in the sky.

The worst is the "isolated" storm.  Our TV stations cover a pretty big area and those isolated storms might be 40-50 miles away, or in the next town, but the sky will be blue (or at night clear) right over my house. But still they will threaten us for hours on end.

BTW, for all their credentials, our local meteorologists have a very poor record of accuracy.  I swear, instead of checking charts and computer models they use the (un)tried and (un)true Weatherman Dart Board.

So is it any wonder I (and I suspect a majority of people) simply pay no attention to the weather reports?

Will we get 6+ inches of snow? I have no idea.  I don't have any plans to leave the house this weekend, so it's moot.  But still...I don't don't like winter and I don't like snow.  But, neither do I like the threat of mudslides, tornadoes, hurricanes, et al.  So, I guess I'll stay put ... and try not to pay attention when that crawl comes on my TV.

How about you?  Do you trust these threats of storms?

Basement, part 2

by Julie

Last week, I started talking about the basement transformation project. At this point, in real-time, it's done. That is, the finishing part is actually finished. The thing is, we haven't moved everything back into the basement that belongs there. And at this point, I'm not certain I want to move some of this stuff back in.

More on that in a moment.

In the meantime, you remember the pics from last week? Little by little (over months, I kid you not) we managed to clear out a few shelves, and even a few corners. That wasn't enough, by a long shot, but it was a start. After this week, I won't share more of the "before" pictures - I think you get the idea.

But I will pose a new question... we've donated a LOT this year. We've taken more van trips to Goodwill than I would have ever imagined. Feeling good about that.

We do have a few special items left, however. Things that could fetch a good price on eBay, but then again, might not. With manuscripts due every six months, and quite a few commitments beyond that, I don't really have the time to post items to sell (I have a lot of them), follow up, manage paperwork, and prepare the items for shipping. I'm considering using one of those places that does the work for you.

The companies who do this take a big chunk of the profits, I know. I think a few of us here on Cozy Chicks may have used a service like that in the past. I'm considering it. To clear out the last bunch of stuff in my house, and to maybe make a few collectors in the world very happy.

Have you ever used one of these services? How did it go?
Are there options for selling these things that I'm missing?

Join Me On A Cross Country Road Trip

by Deb Baker/Hannah Reed

February brings with it some seriously debilitating cabin fever. The weather is cold and gray and fills many of us with despair. Instead of whining, let’s take an imaginary road trip across the country from one end to the other. Pretend it’s any month you really love and fasten your seat belt cuz' we're hitting the road.

Let’s begin in Colonial Boston by exploring the Freedom Trail, walking in the footsteps of our ancestors who fought for our independence. Then on to New York to the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and shopping in Soho.

After that, we really start to rack up miles, heading for Mill Run, Pa and Fallingwaters, Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous masterpiece. Next the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Hasn't this been a blast so far?
Except now we are all out of the car, consulting maps, debating.

Should we follow the Romantic Road, route 66 through Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas, Oklahoma, Amarillo, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Santa Monica, and end up in L.A?

Or take the less traveled path?

We go with that and set our GPS for Alliance, Nebraska and Carhedge, where we don’t stay long. This is really more of a guy thing and we left them home:)

In the next few days we view Mt. Rushmore, hike Yellowstone, gush over Old Faithful, visit Jackson Hole, white water raft in the Cascade Mountains, hang out in Portland, before finishing our road trip in the Emerald City. Yes, Seattle is the end of the line.

But wait, we have to get the car back to the other coast.

So the big question is…..where next?

On the Sea, On the Sea, On the Beautiful Sea

by Maggie Sefton


I loved, Loved, LOVED cruising!!   So much so, I can't wait to go again.  That means I'd better start saving up for next year.  :).  As I said last week, I usually travel to far away places and explore, so I'd always assumed I wouldn't have enough time to visit new places on a cruise.  Not true.  Also, what I didn't know is how much I LOVE being at sea.  Way out to sea, with no land in sight.  I should have gotten a clue, considering how much I've always loved being on boats of every description.  And I don't care if it's rough or smooth.  Doesn't bother me at all.  No seasickness ever.  So now, I'm going to see how I can afford to go on a longer cruise with MORE days at sea next time, maybe a TransAtlantic cruise.  I was on Holland America's Eurodam with 5 Star service, which really spoils you rotten.

Several of you shared your similar cruise enjoyment, and I found the comments fascinating, so I thought I'd repeat several here:

Cassie----Your Seven Seas Voyager cruise from Rome back to Florida, aft wandering around the Atlantic sounds wonderful.  I'd love that.

Bernie----I've always enjoyed European river cruises, too.  And I may have a chance to do one of those this Fall.

Norma----A cruise to Antarctica, now that sounds daunting.

Debra---Cruising in South America, that's definitely enticing.  There are so many countries to see.  I visited Venezuela years ago and also went to Angel Falls.  Beautiful.

Laura W---All those days at sea on your TransAtlantic cruise is exactly what I'd love.

Linda Mc---Oh, boy, cruising from Honolulu to Sydney sounds fantastic.  I've always wanted to visit Australia.  I really enjoyed visiting the Big Island of Hawaii a few years ago when a mysterym inference was held there.

Linda in MA---Yes, we had wonderful weather for exploring Old San Juan that Tuesday.  What sort of training shop were you on---US Navy?

Anyone else like to share their cruising experiences?

Returning Text Messages: A Power Play

by Kate Collins

Text conversation:

R U busy?
I'm writing.
Can I ask you a quick question?
OK.
Do you still have that recipe for beef stew with wine that you made last spring? That was so good I want to make it again but I can't find my copy, so I'm hoping you have one.
I'll check later.
Can you do it like now? I need to go to the store.
Um, I'm writing right now.
Oh . . . okay . . . Well . . .

Thank kind of conversation annoys the heck out of me. In the first place, I'd just said I was writing, so why did this tester think her quick question wouldn't bother me?

In the second place, it wasn't quick at all because it involved me having to go to the kitchen to hunt down an elusive recipe.

In the third place, that last line was designed to make me feel guilty for not dropping everything to help her. And notice how she doesn't end it. She just drifts off, ostensibly to pout.

In the fourth place, what's up with all those periods? Have you ever tried reading one of those lines out loud? What do you do in all that free space? Take breaths? Drop your voice an octave? I know someone who writes entire text messages using three periods between each thought. Talk . . . about . . . irritating . . .

In the fifth place, why on earth did I answer that text message in the first place? I was writing!

Why? Because I feel rude when I don't answer right away. Because I've sent text messages that have gone unanswered for almost a day and I wonder if it even got through. I don't want somebody I know to suffer the same fate.

Then I read an article that said the timing of an answer is basically a power struggle. If you do answer it right away, you're letting the other person take control of you. Depending on who that other person is, this could be a good thing or a bad thing. Most of my friends respect me enough to stop texting when I say I'm busy doing something, but there are those annoying few who refuse to take a hint.

So by replying to Miss Annoying's text, my subconscious message to her was that I was free enough to answer her text, and yet I wasn't kind enough to help her right then. It was a lose/lose situation.

How do you handle pesky texters?