C.D. Hersh's Blog, page 141
September 5, 2016
Tell Again Tuesday Cadillac, Pontiac, Ford, and My Hometown
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
Cadillac, Pontiac, Ford, and My Hometown
July 1, 2016 by Caroline Warfield
The story of Detroit, the city where I was born, is, at heart, the story of trade routes, roads, automobiles, and eventually the Saint Lawrence seaway and shipping. It has always been about transportation and commerce, and Americans to this day drive automobiles named after great figures in its history.
On July 24, 1701 Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac went ashore along a stretch of water connecting two of the great lakes with approximately 50 French soldiers and 50 trappers, two French priests, and 100 native companions.
The French . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:
https://historyimagined.wordpress.com/2016/07/01/cadillac-pontiac-ford/
September 1, 2016
Carrot Cake or Carrot Sticks? No Contest! Susan Lodge
Guests talk about
Carrot Cake or Carrot Sticks?
No Contest!
by
Susan Lodge
The habit of afternoon tea and cake has come back into fashion with a vengeance.
Thanks to the explosion of bake-offs and celebrity chef programmes, baking cakes is big business. Never has the cup cake, Victoria sponge or biscuit been given so many media makeovers — despite the gym gurus and the calorie police. I love cake, but it’s a struggle balancing; bake-offs v gym workout, carrot sticks v carrot cake, bathroom scales v kitchen scales… and so on.
So, here is my favourite cake recipe. It’s full of off happy healthy carrots. And, if you want to implement further calorie control, the cake is equally delicious without the frosting. Great for afternoon tea, morning coffee, or just when you need some T.L.C.
Carrot Comfort Cake
200g or 7oz. just over ¾ cup plain flour
200g or 7oz. just over ¾ cup brown sugar
200g or 7oz. just over ¾ cup grated carrots
2-3 mashed, ripe bananas, depending on size
120 ml of sunflower oil
100g or just under ½ cup sultanas
100g or just under ½ cup chopped nuts, walnuts, pecans, Brazils, almonds – or a mixture of your preference
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
3 eggs
20 cm wide, or 8”, spring based/loose based, round cake tin
Pre-heat oven to 170°C or 340° F
Grease cake tin. If you use a tin without a loose base, cut out a round of greaseproof paper and line the base to prevent sticking.
Whisk the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy. Sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, and then stir into egg mixture.
Add the nuts, oil, sultanas and carrots and stir well. Finally add the mashed banana and make sure everything is evenly combined.
Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for about 1 hr – 1hr 15 mins.
Test the cake is done by inserting a skewer or thin bladed knife into the middle. It should come out clean.
When the cake has cooled, either dust the top with sifted icing sugar, Confectioner’s sugar, or top with an easy cream cheese frosting (as pictured).
Cream Cheese Frosting
100g or 4oz. cream cheese
50g or 2tbsp. soft butter
200-250g or ¾ – 1 cup icing sugar or Confectioner’s sugar
Beat together cream cheese and butter.
Add enough icing sugar until you reach a soft spreading consistency.
Carefully swirl on top of cooled cake with palette knife.
Enjoy!
Meet the author:
Susan Lodge’s first publishing success was a story purchased by a major UK magazine. After a drawer full of rejections she described the arrival of the acceptance letter as, ‘A moment of ecstasy’. This breakthrough gave her the confidence to seek and secure a publisher for her historical romance novels. Only a Hero Will Do and Rebellious Cargo.
After working in several cities including London and Bristol, she and her husband moved down to the Hampshire coast to raise their family.
You can find more about Susan and her books on her website and blog. Stay connected on her Amazon page, Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.
August 30, 2016
Wednesday Special Spotlight A Woman so Bold
New Release TODAY!
A Woman so Bold
By
L.S. Young
Twenty-year-old Landra Andrews is as brazen and unique as her first name. Although educated and well-connected, she is trapped by a dark secret from her past. She fears the rest of her life will be decidedly prosaic, until a dashing young man inherits a neighboring farm and sweeps her off her feet.
William Cavendish is a second son from an old Southern family. A gentleman in conduct and an artist at heart, he has sown his wild oats in the years he spent abroad and is ready to settle down. He is taken with well-spoken, headstrong Landra from their first meeting, and his heart for her only grows.
William seems to be everything Landra has dreamed of but never dared to believe she could have—handsome, kind, and well-bred—but when they are wed, she soon finds herself in all-too-familiar surroundings, toiling once more against land that won’t yield. Her restless spirit and iron will rebel against her discontent, and when a lover from her youth returns, she finds herself torn between two very different men. Will the mistakes of her past destroy her hope for the future?
Buy Link: https://amzn.com/B01KMI7QMO
Author Links:
Web site: http://lsauthor.wixsite.com/lsyoung
Follow on Twitter: @LSYoungAuthor
August 29, 2016
Tell Again Tuesday Let’s talk formatting with Emilia Mancini
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
So you are ready to submit your book to an editor. Have you thought about these points?
Let’s talk formatting with Emilia Mancini
July 1, 2016 / emilia_mancini
As an editor/designer, I see manuscripts come at me with all kinds of crazy, wonky, how-the-hell-did-you-do-that formatting. Be kind to your editor/designer, peeps. Clean up your mess a little before submitting it.
Some houses provide a style guide, others don’t. Double check for any submission rules before sending in your book and risking a default rejection. If the house is relaxed on their formatting, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother cleaning up the formatting any less than you’d bother cleaning up the content.
If they . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:
https://lovelustandlaptops.wordpress.com/2016/07/01/lets-talk-formatting-with-emilia-mancini/
August 25, 2016
Picnic Power by Eris Field
Guest talk about
PICNIC POWER
by
Eris Field
Picnics have long been known to have the power to move wooing to marriage. Wooing or courting is different from dating. It is the process by which one person, having decided that he/she has found an acceptable life partner, convinces the other person that they should forsake all others and move forward toward marriage.
In the past, a certain hierarchy of enticements was used by a gentleman wooing a lady. Love letters written in perfect penmanship on personal stationery was often the opening salvo. Unlike email or text messages, letters could be stroked, sniffed, hidden in bodices, tucked under pillows, and read repeatedly by candlelight.
Photo by John Kasawa
Candy and flowers followed. Boxes of candy—carefully selected candies nestled in elaborately decorated boxes were delivered to the lady with a brief message written on a card. The language of flowers was carefully studied so that the right message would be conveyed by the bouquet.
While letters, candy, and flowers were effective, they took time. A gentleman determined to marry, and soon, pulled out the heavy artillery—the picnic. Picnics have two elements—seeming innocence and surprise. The gentleman would not disclose the destination or the contents of the picnic basket. Please note it was a basket not a cooler, Styrofoam chest, backpack, or plastic bag from the deli. The gentleman carried a blanket over one arm that had the purpose of keeping grass stains off the lady’s dress and the picnic basket over the other arm.
Contents of the basket included the essentials: a bottle or two of wine, two glasses, napkins, and delicious food that was usually not encountered at regular meals and so had a slightly forbidden quality. Tempting items included: crisp bread or rolls, cheeses (Brie, Gruyere, Provolone or Jarlsberg), thinly sliced smoked turkey, cold fried chicken, prosciutto, Lebanon salami, hard boiled eggs, olives, nuts, and fruits. The basket always held the lady’s favorite dessert.
Picnic settings, with careful planning, were private and, with the blanket, fairly comfortable. The wine was crisp and the food delicious. In fact, over time it was found that a properly planned picnic had a fairly strong correlation with marriage.
In my contemporary novel, The Gift of Love, psychiatrist Andrew, in a hurry to convince Laurel to marry him, finds himself using his elderly Aunt’s courting instructions, including the picnic.
Laurel, a slightly impulsive pediatric nurse who spent her early years in foster care, dreams of having a family of her own—six children, no men in the dream. Laurel doesn’t just dream, she has a plan—stop her stepsister’s compulsive hoarding, clear out the mountains of paper engulfing every room, and sell the old house that is pushing her toward bankruptcy. As a last resort, she raids her retirement fund to go to a conference on the newest treatments for compulsive hoarding.
Andrew, a psychiatrist, is never impulsive. A reticent, somewhat austere man, he limits his interactions with people to his work. About to leave for the conference where he has agreed to fill in for a colleague, he suddenly finds himself the reluctant caretaker of a two and a half year old boy.
When they first meet, a series of unfortunate events cause Laure to view Andrew as arrogant, rude, but disturbingly attractive, while Andrew to view Laurel as a dangerous distraction to be avoided. Faced with a crisis, they are forced work together, but will they be able to put aside their protective armor and trust each other enough to let love in?
Eris Field was born in the Green Mountains of Vermont—Jericho, Vermont to be precise—close by the home of Wilson Bentley (aka Snowflake Bentley), the first person in the world to photograph snowflakes. She learned from her Vermont neighbors that pursuit of one’s dream is a worthwhile life goal.
As a seventeen year old student nurse at Albany Hospital, Eris met a Turkish surgical intern who told her fascinating stories about the history of Turkey, the loss of the Ottoman Empire, and forced population exchanges. After they married and moved to Buffalo, Eris worked as a nurse at Children’s Hospital and at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
After taking time off to raise five children and amassing rejection letters for her short stories, Eris earned her master’s degree in Psychiatric Nursing at the University at Buffalo. Later, she taught psychiatric nursing at the University and wrote a textbook for psychiatric nurse practitioners—a wonderful rewarding but never to be repeated experience.
Eris now writes novels, usually international, contemporary romances. Her interest in history and her experience in psychiatry often play a part in her stories. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America and the Western New York Romance Writers. In addition to writing, Eris’s interests include: Prevention of Psychiatric Disorders; Eradicating Honor Killings, supporting the Crossroads Springs Orphanage in Kenya for children orphaned by AIDS, and learning more about Turkey, Cyprus, and Kurdistan.
Learn more about Eris Field on her website. Stay connected on Facebook.
August 23, 2016
Wednesday Special Spotlight Annie Stiles A Match Made in Heritage View
Shines on
A Match Made in Heritage View, Heritage View Series, Book 1
By
Annie Stiles
BLURB:
Despite having been raised by a man-eating, social-climbing mother, Genevieve Garnier is a hopeless romantic. She has successfully parlayed her sentimental nature into a prestigious Manhattan wedding planning business, but cannot make it down the aisle herself.
As another hectic wedding season winds down, Gen finds herself burned out and at a crossroads in life. She retreats to the charming Hudson Valley town of Heritage View to reinvent herself as girl-next-door “Jane”, complete with a charming cottage and apple pies baking in the oven. Gen is determined to simplify her life in Heritage View and keep her wedding business humming, without letting the two worlds collide. Michael Carlisle waltzes in and turns her plans upside down.
Michael is smart and successful, with enough guarded-heart intensity and magnetism to curl any woman’s toes. He stays out of the social fray in Manhattan, so he doesn’t recognize Jane as socialite wedding planner Genevieve. It’s a good thing, because he hates pampered socialites and avoids them nearly as much as he avoids girl-next-door types. That leaves our heroine 0-for-2. To make matters worse, it turns out that Michael is dear friends with the Hunter family, “Jane’s” new best friends. He has relationship baggage of his own to battle, but Michael can’t seem to stay away from Jane.
Will they repeat the mistakes of the past?
EXCERPT:
“The way you’re wielding that wooden spoon, I can see that I’ve startled you.” He held his hands up in mock surrender, the twinkle in his eyes making way for a smile that completely spoiled his attempt at appearing contrite. “I mean no harm. You have no cause to spoon me to death.” He was teasing her openly now, and Jane stifled the unwelcome romantic image that he’d just unwittingly conjured.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” With a nervous chuckle, she lowered the spoon she was still unconsciously grasping. “Force of habit, I’m afraid. I’m from the city.” Why had she told him that? Wasn’t incognito her goal? Clearly, the FBI wouldn’t be soliciting her for undercover work anytime soon. She smoothed her disheveled apron moaning internally at the cheesy move in light of his obvious sophistication. Buck up, camper, you are acting like a freshman in high school.
“Ah, yes. I should have recognized the paranoia and aggression. Comes with the territory, huh? Whereabouts?”
At her blank expression, he prompted, “Where are you from?”
“Where? Err, New York.” So much for witty repartee. Good grief. Really, Gen?
His smile was openly curious and more than a hint amused, the effect so potent as to be more than a bit butterfly inducing. Her brain sounded an alarm of recognition. Her heart began to sink. Not particularly original, but clichéd or not, butterflies in her stomach were her own early-warning system. Butterflies in the stomach were not technologically advanced and rather akin to plucking petals from a daisy in sophistication but nevertheless, flawlessly accurate at predicting trouble of the masculine variety. Did women still swoon nowadays? Swooning was like fainting, right? She’d have to remember to look it up. Gen had read about swooning women a million times, but this was the first time in her life she had understood the impulse.
“Yeah, the city.” He winked at her. “I think we’ve established that.”
“I—”
“Let’s start over.” He moved forward a step and held out his hand to her. “Hi, Jane. I’m Michael.”
LINKS:
Twitter: @AnnieStiles_
Amazon buy link: US: http://amzn.to/29sllki
Web site: http://www.anniestiles.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/AnnieStiles
August 22, 2016
Tell Again Tuesday Agent 355–A Patriot In Petticoats
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
Sometimes fact is better than fiction.
Agent 355–A Patriot In Petticoats
June 24, 2016 by Becky Lower
Long before Agent 007 was a germ of an idea in Ian Fleming’s mind, there was Agent 355, one of the first female spies in America, active during the Revolutionary War. But unlike James Bond, Agent 355’s identity is . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:
https://historyimagined.wordpress.com/2016/06/24/agent-355-a-patriot-in-petticoats/
August 18, 2016
Friday Features Playing Favorites Sara Daniel
Guest talks about
Playing Favorites – Author Confessions
by
Sara Daniel
With the reminder that every child is different, parents are often admonished not to play favorites. The same advice can often be applied to an author’s books. Each book is different and develops in a slightly different way. Sure, because they’re part of the same family (i.e. written by the same author), they share certain characteristics. But no matter how equally the author approaches them, they each turn out a little bit differently.
There’s the book that’s so fun and interesting that you’re sucked into the world and the characters. Before you know it, you’re writing a series.
There’s the book where you think you’re doing everything right, but nothing’s working out until you chuck the original premise (and the hero!) and start over.
Then comes the book where you feel like you finally got it right and you know what you’re doing, but you had to work hard to get there.
Oh, and surprise! You’re having twins…er, I mean, another book!
Then comes the book that starts out solid, then has a major teenage rebellion, then settles down and becomes a good, upstanding adult.
If you haven’t already guessed, I just described the first five books in the One Night with the Bridal Party series: One Night with the Bride, One Night with the Bridesmaid, One Night with the Groom, One Night with the Best Man, and One Night with her Husband, respectively.
The sixth and final book, One Night with his Wife, is my pride and joy. No matter how much I’m not supposed to have a favorite, I’m having a hard time being impartial. This is my “miracle baby,” the story that came out exactly right the first time with characters who took on a life of their own and lodged themselves—and their emotional journey—in my heart.
I hope you enjoy Luke and Rosalind’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you’ve been with me from the beginning, I’d love to hear which book is your favorite. If this is your first book in the series, welcome! The books can be read in any order, and you’ll find special appearances by familiar characters along the way.
After a grenade took Marine Luke Cox’s leg and ends his career, he cuts ties with his wife to free her from the burden he’d become. On the day his divorce is to be finalized, he travels to meet a woman for a 1 Night Stand date—a woman who doesn’t care about his missing leg or his sudden wealth from a business venture. However, things don’t go as planned, and when he arrives for his date, he’s still legally married.
Rosalind Cox tends to the horses on her cousin’s ranch resort, her love for the animals the only thing keeping her going since her husband turned his back on her. When he appears at her stables, all the longing and rising hope is crushed by the realization he’s only sought her out to gain his freedom.
She’ll give him what he wants, but she can’t resist taking one last kiss for herself. The kiss reopens emotions and attraction that neither can deny. To give in will only complicate the tangle as they try to unwind their lives. But even though Rosalind doesn’t care about Luke’s missing leg or his money, as long as he refuses to accept himself as whole, one night with his wife will be his last.
Buy Links
Amazon – All Romance eBooks – Barnes & Noble – Google Play – iBooks
Sara Daniel writes what she loves to read—irresistible romance, from sweet to erotic and everything in between. She battles a serious NASCAR addiction, was once a landlord of two uninvited squirrels, and loses her car keys several times a day.
Learn more about Sara on her website and blog. Subscribe to Sara’s newsletter.
Stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
August 16, 2016
Wednesday Special Spotlight New Cover, New Release, New Series
Re-blog highlights
The Renegade Wife
Today we have something special for you if you’re interested in new books and contests straight from Author Caroline Warfield’s blog. Yes, we’ve barrowed some of her words but you can follow the link below to see the entire post, get a free book, and enter for a chance to win prizes.
It’s here at last! I’m delighted to reveal the cover and release date for my next book.
The Renegade Wife will launch on October 12.
It is the first book in a new series, Children of Empire, in which the younger generation of the families in my Dangerous Series seek their own happiness in the far corners of the British Empire.
In The Renegade Wife, reclusive Rand Wheatly finds contentment in his remote cabin in Upper Canada, intent on making his fortune in timber, until his precious solitude is disrupted by a woman running from an ugly past. He quickly realizes she wasn’t what she claims, but now she’s on the run again and time is running out for him to save her.
For the rest of the blog, a chance to get a free book, and enter the contest click the following link:
http://www.carolinewarfield.com/2016/08/new-cover-new-release-new-series/
August 15, 2016
Tell Again Tuesday Tackle Big Events While Writing
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
Does anyone else include this while writing?
Tackle Big Events While Writing
Posted on June 22, 2016 by Beth Carter
It’s easy to write about boy meets girl or girl meets boy. Insert a villain, some scenery, conflict, the use of senses, a bit of backstory and foreshadowing, and you’re done, right? Wrong. It’s much more interesting when you throw in big (or even small, intimate) events. Whether they are a fact of life (like a birth or death), a crazy family reunion or a tragic occurrence, your writing will be enriched and become much more realistic by adding these details.
Here are examples of . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:
https://smpauthors.wordpress.com/2016/06/22/tackle-big-events-while-writing-by-beth-carter/
