Posts Tagged ‘Christmas on Mimosa Lane’
Saturday, November 8th, 2014
Christmas on Mimosa Lane is today’s Kindle Daily Deal!
Grab your copy of this #1 Amazon Family Saga and Series Romance Best-seller for just $1.99.
New York Times and USA Today Best-seller Lori Wilde calls Christmas on Mimosa Lane a
“…charming, tender delight that furls around you heart like a Christmas ribbon.”
Grab your copy while the price is right!
And don’t miss my new Christmas novella, with returning characters from Christmas on Mimosa Lane and the other Echoes of the Heart books…
Here in My Heart, also ONLY $1.99, and currently the #1 Women’s Short Story on Amazon!
Fresh Fiction calls Here in My Heart,
“One of the most powerful novellas I’ve had the fortune to read and review.”
Tags: Amazon, Anna DeStefano, best-selling author, best-selling romance, Christmas, Christmas on Mimosa Lane, holiday, Kindle, romance
Posted in Anna's Novels, Anna's Soul of the Matter | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 17th, 2013
Kindle Love Stories is spotlighting a wonderful interview Robyn Carr and I gave in Seattle, talking about our Christmas novels, the real-life struggles our characters face and why we spotlight healing in our stories. To celebrate, Amazon’s also giving a way a Kindle PaperWhite!
So, watch the interview.
Enter to win the Kindle PaperWhite on my Facebook Author Page
between now and Thursday.
And if you haven’t yet, check out Christmas on Mimosa Lane.
“Christmas on Mimosa Lane is a charming, tender delight… Anna DeStefano is a treasure!”
~~Teresa Medeiros, NYT and USA Today Best-selling Author
Tags: Anna DeStefano, Christmas on Mimosa Lane, Hearts for Hearts, Kindle Love Stories, Kindle PaperWhite, Montlake Romance, Robyn Carr
Posted in Anna's Novels, What About Everything Else? | No Comments »
Monday, December 9th, 2013
I’m a blessed girl, a lucky artist, and writer who’s been given an amazing opportunity to give back. Hearts for Hearts is my newest passion–a chance for each of us to make a difference in our communities, to give back and lighten someone else’s life, one story at a time–and I’m thrilled to have Joyce Lamb at USA Today and her Happily Every After blog exclusively kicking things off today!
There’s so much to share. Too much for a single day, and some of the mechanics of the program are still being ironed out. A lot of authors and industry professionals are already on board, signing up to participate. Lots to do and people to talk with and exciting things to see unfold.
So stay tuned. Lots of fun and details and cool ways to get involved (and win some fun things) to come. But for now, I hope Joyce’s Q&A inspires you to look for opportunities to donate and get involved in your are. That’s my challenge for all my readers and fans–even if you don’t have much money or time this holiday season, find a way to reach out (with Hearts for Hearts, through story) to those around you who have less, and make a difference in their lives!
So, for now…
Let me know in the comments what you think, how you might be able to join us on this amazing journey, and any questions you might have…
I truly can’t believe this day is finally here. Thanks to the entire Nancy Berland Team for all the hard work, helping me bring Hearts for Hearts to life!
Tags: Anna DeStefano, Anna’s Hearts for Hearts, anna’s world, balance, Charities, Christmas, Christmas on Mimosa Lane, creativity & inspiration, Holiday Donations, Mimosa Lane, Montlake Romance, Seasons of the Heart Series
Posted in Hearts for Hearts | No Comments »
Friday, December 6th, 2013
Now that the holidays are behind us, love is in the air!
I couldn’t be more excited about my Valentines release,
the third book my my Mimosa Lane trilogy, coming January 21st: Love on Mimosa Lane.
Library Journal is already raving about, “this affecting, sweet story.” You’re going to fall in love with Law Beaumont and Kristen Hemming’s romance, as well as how determined they are to help two amazing kids.
You’ve met Kristen in Three Days on Mimosa Lane, and prepare to meet the foster family that will become the backdrop for future Chandlerville novels–including this November’s Where the Heart Is!
To celebrate, check out this month’s Writerspace prize:
It’s a much sought-after, vintange Crown Trifari heart pin.
The first letters of its pave stones spell out “dearest”–stones the color of Diamond, Emerald, Amethyst,
Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire and Topaz.
How amazing is that?
So link over and sign up for your chance to win it or a signed copy of the novel!
And don’t forget to pre-order your Valentine’s copy of Love on Mimosa Lane…
Here’s a bit more to tease you ;o)
Law Beaumont and Kristen Hemmings have watched each other from a distance for years. But Law, a bartender with a bad-boy past, and Kristen, an assistant principal devoted to helping her community, couldn’t seem more different. When they unite to mentor a young foster child and to help Law’s troubled daughter through the aftermath of her parents’ ugly divorce, their attraction deepens. They face the undeniable connection between them, and a whirlwind of challenges they can only conquer together.
A stirring love story and a candid look at the complexities of divorce, substance abuse, and our country’s foster care system, Love on Mimosa Lane is a love song to an entire community, and a novel about the power of family—the family you’ve been given, the one you’ve chosen, and the one that can lift you up, even when the world is tearing you down.
Tags: Christmas on Mimosa Lane, inspiration, Mimosa Lane, Trifari
Posted in Anna's Novels, Blog Contest | 14 Comments »
Wednesday, December 4th, 2013
Holiday cheer? Holiday giving? Holiday spirit? I want those things mean to me the same as they would any other time of the year. I listed my “heart happy” goals yesterday, for the holiday and beyond, and rereading them now makes me smile. I’m actually thinking I should be reading them every morning. Every new day I don’t feel up for or ready to face or willing to tackle. Because it’s not about me, not entirely. Each day is about living and giving and sharing and belonging.
Opening your heart to the world around you…what better goal to have? There’s an entire philosophy behind our need to belong and how it drives the majority of conscience and subconscious behavior. Why do we do the things we do, why do we give up on the things we do, and why do we avoid those very things we know we need to face most? Fear and doubt, I say. We worry, and feel insignificant or powerless, and are too often on a self-fulfilling path of “I can’t make that work so why bother.”
“Don’t do that,” my daily list says. The list at the bottom of yesterday’s post that I’ll shake myself awake with each new morning now, because I want this holiday and this life and this chance I have to write and live well to mean something more than what I want (and am maybe a little afraid I can’t have) for myself.
What about other people? How can I be useful and meaningful to them?
That’s what I hope my writing’s about– (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, Anna’s Hearts for Hearts, anna’s world, balance, Christmas, Christmas on Mimosa Lane, creativity & inspiration, equilibrium, Families, family, family drama, fighters, heroes, holiday, hope, inspiration, Love on Mimosa Lane, Mimosa Lane, Montlake Romance, poetry, promise, relationships, Seasons of the Heart Series, Three Days on Mimosa Lane, Women’s Fiction, writer, writer resource
Posted in Hearts for Hearts | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013
Holidays are for hearts. Whatever we celebrate this time of year, images of families and loved ones and friends and memories surround us. The season lifts us up, makes us homesick, sometimes brings unwanted sadness. Our hearts are in play. Done deal. We’re feeling something more, something deeper, something real.
I often wonder why–you know, besides the obvious manipulation by the media and advertisers, wanting us to spend, Spend, SPEND so we can feel even better (or worse) as we long for more of whatever we want (or have lost) most. What’s behind those heart strings tugging at our thoughts and memories and imaginations?
We’re more open around the holidays, even the jaded among us. We engage with the world and people around us, because it’s all closer, it’s all bigger. How can we not be affected?
Our minds are on the every day of work and kids and obligations and worries. We plod onward with all we think we are. But we’re also conditioned to feel certain ways in November and December and early January. Whether we want to or not, we’re trained from infancy to fit into the holiday mold our families before us have spent generations crafting. But what do we truly want our hearts to feel and believe and desire this time of year?
In matters of the heart, what’s habit and what’s intention? What makes us happy, and what are we doing because we’re told it should make us happy? If only we could tune in and find the magic of our own individual experience (as the world and the holidays experience and evolve and march onward around us), the hustle and bustle that distracts from more than this season would fade a bit…and we’d discover the holiday of oyr dreams.
That’s my plan this year, anyway. To be, in this moment, what my heart’s always wanted this time of year to be. To understand my hearts desire and see it come to life around me. To inspire, through my stories and my blogs and the other fun things coming soon that my publicist would smack me for talking about before its time (waving at Nancy Berland and her fabulous team while keeping mum’s the word for just a little longer), everyone I reach to long for the same.
Let’s say them out loud… (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, anna’s world, balance, Christmas, Christmas on Mimosa Lane, creativity & inspiration, equilibrium, Families, family, family drama, fighters, Hearts for Hearts, heroes, holiday, hope, inspiration, Love on Mimosa Lane, Mimosa Lane, Montlake Romance, poetry, promise, relationships, Seasons of the Heart Series, Three Days on Mimosa Lane, Women’s Fiction, writer, writer resource
Posted in Hearts for Hearts | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, November 19th, 2013
“For unloved daughters and sons, the stress of the holidays sweeps in much more than the nuisance of crowded stores, piped-in joys, worries about money or pleasing everyone with the right gift…”
Currently writing about (and studying) grown foster kids who’ve aged out of the system. You know, in the midst of my charming, warm family novels. It might not come as a shock to you that holidays can be difficult for many in our country. But would it surprise you to know that they’re difficult for me? Maybe even for you sometimes, just a little more than you’ve let yourself think about?
If so
“For unloved daughters and sons, the stress of the holidays sweeps in much more than the nuisance of crowded stores, piped-in joys, worries about money or pleasing everyone with the right gift…”
I’m writing into a new story about (and studying) grown foster kids who’ve aged out of the system. You know, in the midst of my charming, warm family novels. I stumbled across this article from Psychology Today, among many others, in my research.
It might not come as a shock to you that holidays can be difficult for many in our country. But would it surprise you to know that they’re difficult for me? And maybe even for you sometimes, just a little more than you’ve let yourself deal with?
Yeah, it’s a cute baby. And we fight so hard to keep the holidays full of cheer, despite disappointments or unhappiness from our pasts. And that’s a good thing. We move forward, we heal, we become who’re we’re meant to be. There’s no one I know who thinks it’s a good idea to stagnate in the hurt of the past and let it define all that will ever come. But as cute as all the holiday hype is, and as much as we might want to dive into the celebration along with everyone else, sometimes there’s just too much bubbling up from deep inside to laugh or hug or work or jingle away.
“For many, it [holidays] will conjure up–almost as if fresh and hew–the pain, exclusion, and loss they felt in their families of origin,” the article says.
Yeah. That’s real stuff. Holiday stuff we don’t want to see but too often can’t dismiss. I’m determined to write an inspirational, hopeful, loving and celebratory Christmas novella for next November/December’s readers. But in it (because I’m me and I’m made up of all my experiences of family origin, and because I’m writing about characters with disconnection and abandonment and insecurity and fear as their own earliest memories), I’m also going to be tackling the reality that many of us face each year– that, “the holidays sometimes evoke a renewed sense of self-doubt about the decision made, along with a feeling of isolation. The weight of cultural disapproval may feel heavier at this time of year…” (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, anna’s world, balance, Christmas, Christmas on Mimosa Lane, creativity & inspiration, equilibrium, Families, family, family drama, fighters, heroes, holiday, hope, inspiration, Love on Mimosa Lane, Mimosa Lane, Montlake Romance, poetry, promise, relationships, Seasons of the Heart Series, Three Days on Mimosa Lane, Women’s Fiction, writer, writer resource
Posted in Anna's Novels, Anna's Soul of the Matter | 4 Comments »
Friday, November 15th, 2013
“Passion is energy.
Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”
~ Oprah Winfrey
The holiday season every year, I’m reminded how lucky I am, how blessed I am, and how many inspirational things wait for me around every corner. That might sound corny. But the leaves are changing, my wind chimes are singing, families and friends are making reconnecting… There’s passion in the air. Passion for loving and living and being more aware of how inspired we can be by the amazing world around us.
“Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.”
~Martha Graham
Our lives are challenging, to say the least. Many of us (myself included) can struggle through the holidays with difficult memories or difficult twists and turns in our lives and families. But this time of the year, EVERY year, I’m determined not to let myself forget that how I react to my life defines my life. And I’m determined to be passionate. I’m determined to love and live and be excited about today and tomorrow–and to hopefully inspire people around me to want the same.
That’s why butterflies are my totem, and a major part of my brand…and my challenge to you ;o) If you feel down or stressed or overwhelmed this year, think of butterflies hovering freely on every breeze, around every flower, in every garden of your imagination. And even when it’s cold outside, they’re waiting, growing inside their cocoons, biding their time until they’ve transformed into something even more beautiful.
Like this!
My November contest prize!
It’s a vintage Alfred Philippi Trifari pin, like the special treasures little Polly cherishes in Christmas on Mimosa Lane.
Enter to WIN here.
Be inspired.
Pay it forward.
Share your passion this season.
Share your excitement with those you love!
Tags: Christmas on Mimosa Lane, inspiration, Mimosa Lane, Trifari
Posted in Anna's Novels, What About Everything Else? | 3 Comments »
Friday, February 22nd, 2013
Ever panic, thinking you might never be able to do what you love again?
Me? I love writing. It’s my job, but also my passion; how I enter the world. And after a season of not feeling well enough to do much of it, I was on a roll in 2012. That is, until the great crash of early 2013.
Hello, my name is Anna. And I haven’t been able to write for over two weeks. Not even a blog post. Me–and I LOVE to blog. Three, sometimes four times a week, blogging is my morning writing exercise.
It’s how I prime the creative pump. It’s the blood that flows first, engaging my creativity, helping me smile or think or dig a little deeper until I’m ready to tackle my daily pages. But ever since I turned in the final developmental rewrites for Three Days on Mimosa Lane the first week in February…nada. The well wasn’t just dry–picture a bunch of two-by-fours nailed across the opening, daring me to rip through them and face the big, bad ugly lurking beyond.
But why? Have the two and a half weeks been about being lazy? Giving up? What about the month before that, when I barely had the energy to complete the TDOML developmental edits and didn’t blog in January, either?
You’ve heard of bone tired. I think I’ve stumbled across the state of being I’m going to call Soul Tired.
Overwhelmed. That’s where we sometimes find ourselves, whether its about writing or family or friends or other commitments that we love but realize we can’t face. Not right now. Not with a smile on our faces and a I’m so glad to be here hug.
When you’re soul tired, you’re disconnected. Sometimes, you’re overwhelmed. But always, always, you’re looking at the world around you and realizing you no longer know or feel your place in it. (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, anna's world, Christmas on Mimosa Lane, creativity & inspiration, Mimosa Lane, Three Days on Mimosa Lane, writing, writing articles, writing coach, writing craft, writing resources
Posted in Anna's Novels, Anna's Soul of the Matter, How You Write | 23 Comments »
Wednesday, December 26th, 2012
My family and I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday week.
And I wanted to say a special thank you to all who’ve supported Christmas on Mimosa Lane’s release. My first women’s fiction/contemporary romance hybrid was quite a risk to take. My emotional, angsty voice is something you dig, or you really REALLY don’t. Going with Montlake and their primarily digital plans for the book was a scary shift in publishing paths, too. But to all my readers and fans I wanted to say, OMG, your response to the book has been overwhelming. I couldn’t be more blown away.
At the time of this blog post, COML has 69 Five Star reviews, is still the #1 Family Saga on Amazon, and has sold more than 40,000 copies in just two months!
What can I say, except that you guys ROCK!
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for embracing this special book and the series I’ve been lucky enough to begin at Montlake. Now, I’m off to finish Book Two, aiming for a late Summer/early Fall release ;o)
Here’s to an exciting 2013!
Tags: Amazon, Anna DeStefano, anna’s world, brainstorming, Christmas on Mimosa Lane, Contemporary Romance, creativity & inspiration, ebook, Emily Dickinson, Excerpts, inspiration, Kindle, Montlake Romance, reader guide, romance writer, Sandy Hook, Trifari, Women’s Fiction, writer
Posted in Anna's Novels | 2 Comments »
