Kate Collins's Blog, page 75
November 27, 2017
EARLY GLIMPSE OF COVER
by Maggie SeftonThese past two weeks I've been adding new scenes to Kelly Flynn #16 which will be published next June in 2018 . Here's an early look at the cover for DYEING UP LOOSE ENDS.
November 26, 2017
THE PERFECT HOSTESS GIFT--FROM YOUR KITCHEN!
By Mary Kennedy
It's that time of year! Cocktail parties, dinners, family events. And you know you'd like to bring something home-made, but what? It has to be fast, easy and delicious. How about making something yourself--a touch of love from your very own kitchen? Here are a couple of possibilities.
Swedish pecans.
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
2 egg whites, unbeaten
1 cup sugar
pinch of sale
one pound of unsalted pecan halves
Directions:
Cut the butter in chunks and melt in jelly roll pan in 325 degree oven. Mix egg whites, sugar and salt. Stir in pecans. Spread evenly in the melted butter. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool before storing in a glass jar or tin. You can use Mason Jars...
Or use cute little festive jars that you decorate youself.
Another delicious possibility is chocolate marshmallow bark. Super easy and everyone loves it
Ingredients:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate2 tsp butter3 cups mini marshmallows
Directions:
Line a 9 x 9 inch pan with heavy duty tinfoil (or just two sheets of regular tinfoil. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat and stir in marshmallows. Spread in pan and chill for one hour. Cut into 12 pieces.
Hope you try these!! Happy holidays, Mary Kennedy
It's that time of year! Cocktail parties, dinners, family events. And you know you'd like to bring something home-made, but what? It has to be fast, easy and delicious. How about making something yourself--a touch of love from your very own kitchen? Here are a couple of possibilities.
Swedish pecans.
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
2 egg whites, unbeaten
1 cup sugar
pinch of sale
one pound of unsalted pecan halves
Directions:Cut the butter in chunks and melt in jelly roll pan in 325 degree oven. Mix egg whites, sugar and salt. Stir in pecans. Spread evenly in the melted butter. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool before storing in a glass jar or tin. You can use Mason Jars...
Or use cute little festive jars that you decorate youself.
Another delicious possibility is chocolate marshmallow bark. Super easy and everyone loves it
Ingredients:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate2 tsp butter3 cups mini marshmallows
Directions:
Line a 9 x 9 inch pan with heavy duty tinfoil (or just two sheets of regular tinfoil. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat and stir in marshmallows. Spread in pan and chill for one hour. Cut into 12 pieces.
Hope you try these!! Happy holidays, Mary Kennedy
Happy National Cake Day!
Hey, it's NATIONAL CAKE DAY! And you can bake one (or more) of ours from The Cozy Chicks Kitchen.Pull up a stool and let us pour you a cup of coffee. We’ll have a chat as a pot of tomato basil soup bubbles on the stove. While the soup is simmering, feel free to sit back, relax, and listen to the sizzle of lemon chicken cutlets crisping to a golden brown in the frying pan. By the time we catch up on work and family and start discussing the last book we’ve read, the buttery, cinnamon scents of the apple ginger pie baking in the oven will curl around our shoulders like a warm shawl and coax a sigh of contentment from our lips.
Just click one of the links below for more information.
Trade Paperback
Kindle US
Kindle Worldwide
iBooks
Kobo
Nook
November 24, 2017
SPOTLIGHT ON VERA MAE FROM THE TALK RADIO MYSTERIES
When I told Vera Mae that I wanted to feature her in a Cozy Chicks "Spotlight" feature, she said, "Well, that's fine and dandy, girl. I'll do the talkin' and you do the typin.'"
Vera Mae, as fans of the Talk Radio Mysteries know, is the wisecracking producer at WYME-Radio in sunny south Florida. She produces Maggie's "On the Couch with Dr. Maggie" talk show and serves as a confidante and fellow sleuth. Together, they've solved murders in 4 books and more are on the way!
Come to think of it, Vera Mae is probably the best friend Maggie Walsh has in Cypress Grove. When she moved here from Manhattan she was a little taken aback by some of Vera Mae's eccentricities.
For one thing, Vera Mae refuses to change her Marge Simpson hair-do.
As Vera Mae says, "the higher the hair-do. the closer to God." Vera Mae is also known for her colorful array of T-shirts.
When Maggie first met her, she was wearing one that said, "If this is tourist season, why can't we shoot them?" She's lived in Cypress Grove all her life, has a heart of gold, and a lot of eccentricities.As she always tells Maggie, "You don't have to be crazy to work at WYME-Radio, but it helps."
Recently, she and Maggie attended a classy fundraiser at a south Florida mansion. It was a perfect south Florida night; a lovely estate, live music, champagne-and of course, a dead body!
Vera Mae suggests that you watch a really fun video about A Deadly Fundraiser right here!
Vera Mae's keen insights into people have come in handy when Maggie finds herself in the midst of a murder investigation (which happens quite frequently!). As Vera Mae says, murders find they way to Dr. Maggie like "white on rice."
If you'd like to read some of Dr. Maggie's exploits with Vera Mae, be sure to check out the first book in the series, DEAD AIR, and the latest book in the series, A DEADLY FUNDRAISER,
Happy reading, ya'll and stay tuned!!
Mary Kennedy
It's Black Friday!
by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett
Today is Black Friday -- the (well, possibly formerly) biggest shopping day of the year and I'm staying home.
I only shopped once on Black Friday. I went to K-Mart with my sister-in-law and I think we shopped for about half an hour and then spent TWO HOURS in line. That was enough for me.
I did enjoy Black Friday when I was a vendor at an antiques arcade. That was also our biggest shopping day of the year and it was exciting. I worked the register and it was fun to see the wonderful (unique) items go out the door, and see my "tickets" at the end of the day. I almost always made my weekly rent, but I never made any money and it only took me twelve years to realize that before I gave it up for the writing gig.
Now I do most of my holiday shopping online. I've already bought four presents. I will probably hit my local B&N before Christmas, but not on a weekend, but other than that ... it's online shopping for me. This kind of attitude is the death to brick and mortar stores, but it's a lot easier and more pleasant. When you go to a store looking for something, chances are they aren't going to have it. With online stores, you know right away if they have it in stock. Of course, you might have to wait a week for it to come, but it's not as frustrating as going from store to store to store.
So, do you shop on Black Friday? Do you wait for Cyber Monday or do you just buy what you like when you like it?
Today is Black Friday -- the (well, possibly formerly) biggest shopping day of the year and I'm staying home.
I only shopped once on Black Friday. I went to K-Mart with my sister-in-law and I think we shopped for about half an hour and then spent TWO HOURS in line. That was enough for me.
I did enjoy Black Friday when I was a vendor at an antiques arcade. That was also our biggest shopping day of the year and it was exciting. I worked the register and it was fun to see the wonderful (unique) items go out the door, and see my "tickets" at the end of the day. I almost always made my weekly rent, but I never made any money and it only took me twelve years to realize that before I gave it up for the writing gig.
Now I do most of my holiday shopping online. I've already bought four presents. I will probably hit my local B&N before Christmas, but not on a weekend, but other than that ... it's online shopping for me. This kind of attitude is the death to brick and mortar stores, but it's a lot easier and more pleasant. When you go to a store looking for something, chances are they aren't going to have it. With online stores, you know right away if they have it in stock. Of course, you might have to wait a week for it to come, but it's not as frustrating as going from store to store to store.
So, do you shop on Black Friday? Do you wait for Cyber Monday or do you just buy what you like when you like it?
November 22, 2017
Thanksgiving Day Turkey or Something Else?
by Karen Rose Smith
Thanksgiving has come to mean something different than it used to as I grow older. When I was a child, my mom’s side of the family would gather at my grandparents’s house. It was a row house in York, Pennsylvania, and my grandfather, who was a barber had his shop in the front. There was a door into the shop with a tall barber pole beside it and a separate door into the house. Through that door my aunts and uncles and cousins would pour in from Yonkers, NY, Levittown, NJ, and Reading, PA. My grandmother’s table took up most of the kitchen. This was the gathering place in the house rather than the living room on the second floor.
Everyone came early to help prepare the meal, though my mom and grandma did most of the cooking. We’d have turkey with all the trimmings, wine, cannoli my grandma made herself, and pumpkin pie. Sometimes there would be a rum cream cake, another traditional Italian dessert. Other Italian families lived around the area, mere blocks away, and had witnessed my aunts and uncles growing up.
My mom took over preparing Thanksgiving dinner in my grandma’s later years. Even though my husband and I only lived an hour away, we’d often stay overnight or spend a weekend there to give my mom a hand. In time, I took over Thanksgiving dinner and my mom would join us at our house along with some of my husband’s relatives.
Since our son moved across the country, our celebration of Thanksgiving has changed. Last year my husband and I had dinner with a grade school friend and her husband at our favorite diner in York and then we went Christmas shopping. This year, we’re flying across country on Thanksgiving day. After we arrive, we’ll put a ham in the oven and enjoy a late dinner. I won’t miss the turkey at all because we’ll be with our son...and our grand kitties.
Do you eat turkey on Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving has come to mean something different than it used to as I grow older. When I was a child, my mom’s side of the family would gather at my grandparents’s house. It was a row house in York, Pennsylvania, and my grandfather, who was a barber had his shop in the front. There was a door into the shop with a tall barber pole beside it and a separate door into the house. Through that door my aunts and uncles and cousins would pour in from Yonkers, NY, Levittown, NJ, and Reading, PA. My grandmother’s table took up most of the kitchen. This was the gathering place in the house rather than the living room on the second floor.
Everyone came early to help prepare the meal, though my mom and grandma did most of the cooking. We’d have turkey with all the trimmings, wine, cannoli my grandma made herself, and pumpkin pie. Sometimes there would be a rum cream cake, another traditional Italian dessert. Other Italian families lived around the area, mere blocks away, and had witnessed my aunts and uncles growing up. 
My mom took over preparing Thanksgiving dinner in my grandma’s later years. Even though my husband and I only lived an hour away, we’d often stay overnight or spend a weekend there to give my mom a hand. In time, I took over Thanksgiving dinner and my mom would join us at our house along with some of my husband’s relatives.
Since our son moved across the country, our celebration of Thanksgiving has changed. Last year my husband and I had dinner with a grade school friend and her husband at our favorite diner in York and then we went Christmas shopping. This year, we’re flying across country on Thanksgiving day. After we arrive, we’ll put a ham in the oven and enjoy a late dinner. I won’t miss the turkey at all because we’ll be with our son...and our grand kitties.
Do you eat turkey on Thanksgiving?
The Center of it All
Hi, Everyone, Duffy Brown here. Thanksgiving is the best holiday ever. We all get together and the only drama is who makes the best dressing and don’t burn the house down if you deep-frythe turkey.
All week and more I’ve been talking Thanksgiving dinner over on FB. How to fix the turkey, what kind of dressing, who makes the best veggies or do you just carb it up and forget the veggies for one day. And of course the pie.
But what about the table itself? Do you have special holiday dishes? A special centerpiece. Maybe something handed down through generations or that used to belong to your mom that you set on the table?
Here are a few really simple centerpieces if you have time. Go out in the yard and find some pinecones and greenery and that works good too plus it’s from your own house making it more special.Have an amazing Thanksgiving.
Hugs and hugs, Duffy
November 20, 2017
Back to Hometown Northern Virginia
by Maggie SeftonWell, I'm traveling again, as you Cozy Chicks Blog readers and fans may have already guessed. This week is Thanksgiving week, and I'm back in Northern Virginia to spend the week with my childhood friends Diane and her husband Les who live in Vienna, Virginia. I actually arrived over a week ago for daughter Maria's wedding gown fitting and a Bachelorette party which was great fun in a great restaurant at the new National Harbor area of Washington, D.C.
I've already posted about Maria's beautiful gown and the gathering family, so today I'm going to post some entirely different things----dogs. Photos of the two doggies who rule the roost at daughter Christine and her family's home in Vienna. Wrigley, a large Rottweiler, and Grayson, a beautiful light grey Pit Bull/Rottweiler mix. Both these large dogs are sweeties. Loving and affectionate, but since they're both large-----they play is more rough house than not.
Meanwhile, my two doggies, Blue Tick Hound/Black Lab mix Max and Border Collie/Black Lab mix Katy, are back at the "doggie ranch" outside Fort Collins, Colorado, and both are having their usual great time. Tammie, the doggie ranch owner only takes doggies who know each other and play really well outside of cages and romp around the large enclosed areas she keeps for them with balls and lots of play and running room.
Today, I'll post one of my favorite photos of Wrigley and Grayson. Both are quietly asleep on a small sofa.
November 19, 2017
FIVE THINGS YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ME
By Mary Kennedy
1. I'm a real-life psychologist in private practice in the northeast. (No, not a cat psychologist, but the picture was so cute, I had to post it.)
2. I once worked as a copywriter at a wild and wacky radio station in Nashville. The station had been a country music station for years but turned to rock the year I joined. The stories I could tell (if only!) I met all sorts of celebs from "Colonel" Tom Parker (he was Elvis's manager, remember?) to Roy Clark (hysterically funny and kind) to Dolly Parton (also a sweetheart, warm and generous) to some big-name DJ's who did outrageous things on and off the air. Sadly, my lips are probably sealed on their exploits. I had my own weather report (Wendy the Weather Girl) for about a week, and then management decided I needed to get my fingers back on the keys, churning out ads for 90 (!) accounts. I learned to write fast (no excuses, no waiting for inspiration) which was probably good training for being a novelist.
3. I wrote over 35 middle grade and young adult novels for Scholastic before turning to mysteries. I won a $6,000 grant and award from the National Endowment of the Arts for one of my Penguin YA's (MOVIE STAR) and you can find some of my middle grade novels and YA's on my website. At the moment, they're available as e-books.
4. I love all things Florida and go to Ft. Lauderdale every February. Oceanfront condo, a quiet section of beach. It's the perfect time to clear my head and plot new mysteries. Here's a photo I took from the balcony.
I set my Talk Radio Mysteries in a fictional town in south Florida called Cypress Grove. The first title is DEAD AIR. It combines talk radio, mystery and psychology. "Dr. Maggie" is a psychologist turned radio talk show host who solves a murder in every book. And she works with a zany crew at a station called WYME-Radio. (Yes, I borrowed heavily from my Nashville experiences!)
5. Here's a wild card, something that I am 100% sure you don't know about me. Next to Florida, I love Paris (or maybe I love Paris first, it's a toss-up). What was my greatest faux-pas in the City of Light? I ordered something that sounded exotic and interesting on the menu of a cute little French restaurant. Pied De Veau.
Hmm. It has a ring to it, doesn't it. But this is what it was. VEAL FOOT! It was hardly disguised and it had--I kid you not--toenails!! Very high on the ewww factor. Luckily there was a deserving dog under the table and I quickly placed the plate in front of him. I could hear him "crunching" all through dinner.
So now you know some of my secrets. I think next week I'll do a blog on funny and outrageous things people have said to me. Stay tuned! And have a happy T-Day.
Mary Kennedy
1. I'm a real-life psychologist in private practice in the northeast. (No, not a cat psychologist, but the picture was so cute, I had to post it.)
2. I once worked as a copywriter at a wild and wacky radio station in Nashville. The station had been a country music station for years but turned to rock the year I joined. The stories I could tell (if only!) I met all sorts of celebs from "Colonel" Tom Parker (he was Elvis's manager, remember?) to Roy Clark (hysterically funny and kind) to Dolly Parton (also a sweetheart, warm and generous) to some big-name DJ's who did outrageous things on and off the air. Sadly, my lips are probably sealed on their exploits. I had my own weather report (Wendy the Weather Girl) for about a week, and then management decided I needed to get my fingers back on the keys, churning out ads for 90 (!) accounts. I learned to write fast (no excuses, no waiting for inspiration) which was probably good training for being a novelist.
3. I wrote over 35 middle grade and young adult novels for Scholastic before turning to mysteries. I won a $6,000 grant and award from the National Endowment of the Arts for one of my Penguin YA's (MOVIE STAR) and you can find some of my middle grade novels and YA's on my website. At the moment, they're available as e-books.
4. I love all things Florida and go to Ft. Lauderdale every February. Oceanfront condo, a quiet section of beach. It's the perfect time to clear my head and plot new mysteries. Here's a photo I took from the balcony.
I set my Talk Radio Mysteries in a fictional town in south Florida called Cypress Grove. The first title is DEAD AIR. It combines talk radio, mystery and psychology. "Dr. Maggie" is a psychologist turned radio talk show host who solves a murder in every book. And she works with a zany crew at a station called WYME-Radio. (Yes, I borrowed heavily from my Nashville experiences!)
5. Here's a wild card, something that I am 100% sure you don't know about me. Next to Florida, I love Paris (or maybe I love Paris first, it's a toss-up). What was my greatest faux-pas in the City of Light? I ordered something that sounded exotic and interesting on the menu of a cute little French restaurant. Pied De Veau.
Hmm. It has a ring to it, doesn't it. But this is what it was. VEAL FOOT! It was hardly disguised and it had--I kid you not--toenails!! Very high on the ewww factor. Luckily there was a deserving dog under the table and I quickly placed the plate in front of him. I could hear him "crunching" all through dinner.
So now you know some of my secrets. I think next week I'll do a blog on funny and outrageous things people have said to me. Stay tuned! And have a happy T-Day.
Mary Kennedy
November 16, 2017
Uh-oh. The holiday music starts seeping in
by Lorna Barrett / Lorraine Bartlett / L.L. Bartlett
I admit it, I'm a sucker for the holidays. This year, I wasn't going to start listening to holiday music until the 18th (Hey, that's tomorrow!) That's the day of my first of two holiday craft shows where I sign books. This one is my favorite. I like the location, I always see a flood of people who zero in on my area just to find me!!! (That doesn't happen ever in "real life.") They're looking for the latest book, and this year it's the paperback edition of Title Wave. (For some reason, nobody wants to buy the hardcover of the current book. They say, "I'll get it next year when it's in paperback.")
But (as usual) I digress. By the time I get home tomorrow, I'll be pooped, but ready to play Christmas music. Except ... it won't be for the first time this season. I kind of snuck it in last weekend during happy hour. Mr. L asked, "Will we get to hear 'regular' music before New Year's?" Um. Sure. Except ... once Thanksgiving comes, the gloves come off and it's holiday music all day long . (Maybe I should just buy him a pair of earplugs.)
On a Facebook post, I mentioned a CD I'd gotten at a yard sale back in August, and my friend Liz suggested another album by the artist. I Googled it and it's uploaded on YouTube. The entire album. Wow. It turns out, I didn't care for it much, and was glad I hadn't spent $12 on it unheard. But I just left it on and more music played for the rest of the day. Wow. Good to know. So the other day, I was on Youtube and I typed "instrumental Christmas music" in the search box. Holy smoke! There's a huge cache of seasonal music there just asking to be clicked on. And since it's on autoplay, it plays all day long in the background. (I do have it on quietly so it won't "bother" Mr. L.)
They usually have something interesting to look at, too. Like a Christmas tree, a roaring (crackling) fire in the background with a cozy room and a big mug of cocoa in a pretty seasonal mug, or snow falling. I love it!
Tomorrow I will take my MP3 player and speaker and listen to holiday music while at the craft show, which helps the day go faster and puts people in a holiday mood. (The other vendors around me like it, too!)
So, when do you break out the holiday music?
I admit it, I'm a sucker for the holidays. This year, I wasn't going to start listening to holiday music until the 18th (Hey, that's tomorrow!) That's the day of my first of two holiday craft shows where I sign books. This one is my favorite. I like the location, I always see a flood of people who zero in on my area just to find me!!! (That doesn't happen ever in "real life.") They're looking for the latest book, and this year it's the paperback edition of Title Wave. (For some reason, nobody wants to buy the hardcover of the current book. They say, "I'll get it next year when it's in paperback.")
But (as usual) I digress. By the time I get home tomorrow, I'll be pooped, but ready to play Christmas music. Except ... it won't be for the first time this season. I kind of snuck it in last weekend during happy hour. Mr. L asked, "Will we get to hear 'regular' music before New Year's?" Um. Sure. Except ... once Thanksgiving comes, the gloves come off and it's holiday music all day long . (Maybe I should just buy him a pair of earplugs.)
On a Facebook post, I mentioned a CD I'd gotten at a yard sale back in August, and my friend Liz suggested another album by the artist. I Googled it and it's uploaded on YouTube. The entire album. Wow. It turns out, I didn't care for it much, and was glad I hadn't spent $12 on it unheard. But I just left it on and more music played for the rest of the day. Wow. Good to know. So the other day, I was on Youtube and I typed "instrumental Christmas music" in the search box. Holy smoke! There's a huge cache of seasonal music there just asking to be clicked on. And since it's on autoplay, it plays all day long in the background. (I do have it on quietly so it won't "bother" Mr. L.)
They usually have something interesting to look at, too. Like a Christmas tree, a roaring (crackling) fire in the background with a cozy room and a big mug of cocoa in a pretty seasonal mug, or snow falling. I love it!Tomorrow I will take my MP3 player and speaker and listen to holiday music while at the craft show, which helps the day go faster and puts people in a holiday mood. (The other vendors around me like it, too!)
So, when do you break out the holiday music?
