Posts Tagged ‘Amazon’

Past and Present and Future Christmas…

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

What’s most important for me this time of year is feeling that rush of memories and smiles and hopes for another holiday season like my favorite ones from before. For my reader groups, and for all of us, our Week 2 book club discussion is about this past and present phenomenon. Are we ever really feeling only now this time of year, or are we enjoying so much of the idealistic holidays we’ve had before and wishing for even better memories to come?

christmas vintage

I write about it in a slightly different way in Christmas on Mimosa Lane–where our characters deal with their memories (both good and bad) so they can focus on the beautiful holiday they’re making now. This is the only way for them to have their chance to be happy. Some of us struggle with being happy, too, this time of the year, while the rest of the world seems to be celebrating non-stop.

But the gist of the sentiment behind Pete and Polly and Mallory’s story is realizing that you can make your holiday now whatever you want it to be–make it look however you want it to look–no matter what you or anyone else has been saying should make you happy. First, though, you have to decide–for yourself–exactly what that happy will look like, instead of assuming it will look like everyone else’s holiday.

christmas charming

What we want is usually a combination of before and now, with a sprinkle of what we hope could be. (more…)

Winners, winners, winners…

Monday, December 3rd, 2012

October and November contest winners below! Thanks to everyone for being so patient. Amazon gift certificates and spooky cereal and even a vintage Trifari Rudolf pin, so check out the list and see of you’ve won. Oh, and my December contest is up–more Amazon free stuff AND I’m giving away a vintage Trifari Christmas Tree Pin just like the one Polly and Mallory love in Christmas on Mimosa Lane. It’s a shorter contest this month, so you can have your tree to wear during the holiday and your gift certificate to buy something special to read during your time off ;o). So be sure to enter before the 15th!

November Contest: Rudolph Vintage Trifari Pin and Amazon Gift Certificate

trifari rudolph

  • The winner of this Rudolph Trifari treasure: Mary Preston, who commented on October 27th.
  • The winner of the $5 Amazon Gift Certificate: Felicia Plastini, who commented on November 20th.

October Contest:  Spooky Cereal and Amazon Gift Certificate

Franekberry (more…)

December Contest: Oh, Vintage Trifari Christmas Tree!

Monday, December 3rd, 2012

Look for a October and November contest winner announcement next. But before we go there (so I can link THIS announcement into that one ;o), we continue to celebrate the season and Christmas on Mimosa Lane’s release (currently the #1 Family Saga on Kindle!) with a short December contest for my fans and supporters and blog faithful. This beautiful Vintage Christmas Tree from Trifari, just like the one little Polly loves so much from her mommy’s collection in COML could be express mailing its way to you on December 15th!

trifari christmas tree

To enter, share your favorite Christmas Morning Memory in the comments before December 15th.

Christmas on Mimosa Lane, as a title, is all about the ending of the story: How do Pete and Polly and Mallory make their “perfect” Christmas morning dreams come true? Later today, I’ll blog the second of my Reader’s Guide/Book Club posts about that very thing–what makes Christmas perfect for you, what does your ideal morning or holiday look like, and do the commercials and promotions and more materialistic flood of media messages this time of year make your holiday happier or maybe a little harder to deal with?

To get you started, check out last week’s reader’s guide/book club post: Happy Ever After Holidays.

So, overall, how do your holidays find their way to your hearts and how do you share what’s most special to you… And what does perfect mean in your life, on that magical morning we wake and rush to our trees to celebrate our blessings?

Chat away in the comments for your chance to win a priceless Trifari Christmas Tree of your very own!

Oh, and a second winner will receive a $5 Amazon Gift Certificate ;o)

Contest closes midnight December 15th!

Hope for the Holidays: What we think we know…

Thursday, November 1st, 2012

We think we know people. We think we understand what places and seasons and even holidays mean to us. Then in an instant something shifts that changes our lives forever. We see so much of that these days, on TV news and the Internet and social media. Lives changing with so little warning the new directions they take are riviting and heartbreaking AND inspiring to watch. What do I see when I look at scenes like this? Hope. I see people learning how to come together and become stronger for the community and families they’re making stronger…and learning how to hope in the midst of what should be breaking them.

hope hand candle jar

Holidays can be hard, especially for people who need that “perfect” holiday experience more than others. These are times when we’re looking for a shining light to lead us. We’re wanting a reason to believe. We’re hoping…and praying we won’t be disappointed.

Those are the holiday stories I see and try to tell. The ones where heroes rise out of difficulty and find a way to keep fighting and wanting and believing. As much as pure escape would be nice, it wouldn’t be my ideal. Reality is always there, and I’m looking as a reader and a writer for a reflection of what life is really like when it’s hardest, and THEN what it becomes when we push our way through a difficult time to that rewarding, hopeful moment when we’ve proven to ourselves and the ones we love that everything actually is going to be okay.

hope rhinestones

Christmas on Mimosal Lane is built that way. It’s not a straight ride from a page one to a happy ending. (more…)

GoodReads Giveaway: Christmas on Mimosa Lane ARCs

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

Exciting news… To celebrate Christmas on Mimosa Lane’s October 23rd launch,  we’re giving away 5 ARCs on GoodReads.

Just link over and enter!

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Franken Berry ROCKS! Sharing the wealth ;o)

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

Yes. THAT Franken Berry. I grew up in a magical world where sugary cereal wasn’t unhealthy and letting your kids eat an artificially colored cold breakfast wasn’t a call for DEFAX and strawberry goodness was a princess surprise every morning that my General Mills employed father could produce a box of this delicacy on our kitchen table…

Franekberry

So when writing my first mainstream women’s fiction/contemporary romance, when I needed a way for a wounded woman to reach out to and connect with a hurting little girl who doesn’t think anyone understands what it’s like to be her, Fraken Berry became the first  pink, magical link between them. Sometimes it can be such a simple thing, a different kind of listening and understanding, that makes all the difference in the world. Christmas on Mimosa Lane is full of tiny windows like this. Connections where lives meet and deepen and share and maybe come undone just a bit more, so they can expand together and become more than they’ll ever be alone…

“Franken Berry?” Mallory blurted out, not above bribery. “When I was your age, it felt like Christmas morning every time I ate it. Strawberry flavoring and refined sugar and bleached corn flour…Crunch and sweetness that will make your back teeth smile.” And it could only be special-ordered from the manufacturer’s website a few months out of the year, since most stores no longer carried it. But for Polly, Mallory would break into her secret stash. “Ever had any?”

Polly shook her head. “My dad says healthy food only. I need to eat healthy to stay healthy.”

She stepped closer, and Mallory considered grabbing her. Except grabbing at kids who were hell-bent on running only made them more certain that they’d never be safe.

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