I love my slow cooker.  It sits in a place of prominence on my kitchen counter.  I don’t use it every day, sometimes only a few times a month, but I can safely say it’s one of the few kitchen appliances I wouldn’t want to be without.

Kind of funny, really, because up until 10 years ago, I’d never used a slow cooker before and wasn’t familiar with coordinating meals first thing in the morning that cooked all day.  Then, one of my busy friends with four kids showed me her crock pot.  She’d bought it on a recommendation of a friend.  “It’s so easy,” she said, “and the recipes taste great.”  It was ideal for her, because she could set it up before she went to work and when she got home, dinner would be ready.  She could save money by using cheaper cuts of meat, too, that would become tender through the cooking process.

So, 10 years ago, during a trip to Costco, I bought my Rival Crock Pot (I still have the same one).  I was busy writing passionate, adventurous medieval romances, hoping to sell my first novel, eager to find ways to squeeze a few more minutes out of my day that I could spend with my roguish heroes and willful heroines, or with my young daughter and husband.

The crock pot filled my needs perfectly.  I’ve made stews, pot roasts, chili, spaghetti sauce (heavenly!), even a Sticky Toffee Pudding (My British husband was thrilled).  I’ve only dipped my finger, really, into all the yummy prospects this nifty appliance can provide.  One of my goals this year is to try recipes I’ve never made before and add to my collection of favorite slow cooker recipes.  There are some great ones at Food Network (http://www.foodnetwork.com/topics/slow-cooker/index.html) and Epicurious (http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?search=slow+cooker&x=0&y=0).

My crock pot is still my go-to gadget if I have a busy week along with late-afternoon appointments.  There’s nothing more rewarding than stepping into the house after a long day to the delicious aroma of a healthy, ready-made meal.  To my trusted slow cooker, I say “thanks.”

What’s your favorite slow cooker recipe?  Please share it in the comments section.  Everyone who shares a recipe will be eligible to win a copy of A Knight’s Vengeance, Book One of my Knight’s Series—either a paperback (now out of print) or a Kindle version.  Winner’s choice!

Connie!  Congratulations!!!!!  Connie, I emailed you privately so we can finalize how to get your eBook copy of Dance of Desire to you, so please check your inbox.  Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my post on Saturday.  Stay tuned to the blog for more chances to win books!

Hands.  I’ve been thinking about mine a lot lately.

I dream of smooth, unblemished hands with pretty, long, painted nails—like the hands on the models in the O.P.I. magazine ads.  Hands like those look great holding fancy pens, like the special ones I reserve for autographing copies of my books at signings.  Hands like that show off sparkly rings and bracelets with enviable elegance.  Hands like that… Well, they’re a far cry from my hands right now.  I look at my dry, parched fingers and short, split nails and sigh with despair.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at the state of my hands.  This wintery time of year—and yes, it does get cold in Florida!—wreaks havoc on everyone’s skin.  I also demand a lot from my hands as I wash dishes, do laundry, houseclean, garden, drive, grocery shop, prepare food for my family, care for my kitty, exercise, and write on my computer.

To pamper my hands, I avoid liquid and bar soaps with Sodium Laureth Sulfate; this seems especially hard on my skin.  I also slather on hand cream whenever possible.  I read about special gloves to wear at night after your hands have been slathered with lotion, but that doesn’t appeal to me.  In fact, it sounds slightly icky.  :(

What do you use on your hands in the winter months?  Do you have a special remedy or favorite beauty product that you use when your hands are lizard-scaly-dry?

I’m eager to hear what you have to say—and my poor hands will thank you.  I’ll gift a Kindle or Nook eBook copy of my award-winning medieval romance Dance of Desire to one person who leaves a comment.  To learn more about this book as well as my other medieval romances, please visit my website.

As I look back on 2011 and think of all that I accomplished and all that I just didn’t get to, I see that the year held a number of “firsts” for me.  I consider that to be a good thing.  Acknowledging that an achievement is a “first” means that it’s something brand spankin’ new; a fresh challenge; a pushing at my personal boundaries and looking beyond, even if it’s not the easiest option, which is exactly how I’d classify my approach to my writing in 2011.

So here are my “firsts:”

I went Indie.  I released my first self-published eBook in August

My sensual medieval romance Dance of Desire was the first full-length manuscript I sold to a publishing house, back in the fall of 2004.  It was the first mass market paperback to hit bookstore shelves with my name on the cover (wow!) .  I held Dance of Desire in my hands and marveled that, finally, I’d done it: I’d become a published author, as I’d always dreamed.

At the end of 2010, after my former publisher decided to stop printing paperbacks, I got the rights back to this novel and all of my other previously published historical romances.  I thought then about reissuing Dance of Desire myself, but this meant learning about formatting and all of the other details.  Ugh!  My brain just wasn’t ready for that.

It wasn’t until August that I tackled the daunting learning curve and, with the help of my technical genius husband, figured out how to “make it so.”  I’m so glad I did.  I’m thrilled that Fane and Rexana’s fast-paced, romantic story, which is one of my personal favorites of all the books I’ve written, is available to readers via Kindle and Nook.

I tried a new genre.  My first contemporary romantic comedy written as Cate Lord was published.

Earlier this year, I heard about a new, ambitious company called Entangled Publishing.  I asked my literary agent to submit the full manuscript of my funny, quirky, Bridget-Jones-esque romantic comedy Lucky Girl, to see if they might be interested.  They were.

Putting up the Christmas tree is a job that usually falls to me.  I don’t mind, really.  I pop in a CD of Christmas music, turn up the volume, and get busy building the tree—a fake one, unfortunately, because of my family’s allergies.  Once the branches are in place (not always easy, with a rambunctious cat “helping”), I string on the lights (again, more rambunctious kitty antics) and hang on the ornaments (minus a few, by the end, thanks to… you guessed it… my mischief-maker kitty).

I always get a bit teary-eyed when I decorate the tree.  Among the ornaments are the chunky, tissue-paper ones my daughter made in pre-kindergarten, and the painted wood and sparkly jewel snowflakes we made together at the kitchen table when she was about five or six (I swear some of that glue is still on the kitchen table).  There’s an ornament of an orange cat, bought after my best buddy orange cat died of kidney failure a few Christmases ago.  I also have a cork and wool rocking horse, made by my sister years ago when we were kids and spent hours making decorations with our grandma.

There are also decorations that commemorate events or trips—including lovely glass ornaments I bought in England on a vacation some years ago, and a seahorse my Canadian parents bought for me during their visit last month, when we went to the Ringling Museum in Sarasota.

It’s always fun to see those ornaments and remember why they came into our collection.  Do you have special ornaments on your tree?  I’d love to hear what decorations are special to you.

Most readers have heard the industry buzz: that self publishing via ebook is a popular option not only for unpublished writers, but even New York Times best-selling authors.  Earlier this year, popular thriller author Barry Eisler turned down a two-book, $500,000 deal with St. Martin’s Press to pursue independent-publishing options.  Connie Brockway, multi-award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author, also decided to self-publish rather than continue with a traditional, New York based publishing house.

There are many reasons for authors to make this decision: unfavorable contract offers; the chance to make a lot more money, especially if they have an established fan base; the creative freedom to write what they want to write, rather than what fits neatly into a publisher’s sometimes limiting guidelines.  For authors with backlist books that are out of print, it’s a chance to reissue those novels to a fresh audience and hopefully gain new fans for current books in the process.

I’m not a bestselling author by any stretch of the imagination.  However, I, too, have chosen to walk the path of self-publishing.  Six of my medieval historical romances had been released in paperback by 2010, and I was under contract to write a seventh book for my former publisher when they decided to quit printing mass market paperbacks.  Thanks to my agent, I got the rights back to all of my books.  She’s currently marketing new writing projects for me, because I would love to sell to another traditional publishing house, but in the meantime, I’m reissuing my previous novels in ebook format.

Dance of Desire and My Lady’s Treasure, both award-winners, are available now on Kindle and Nook for $2.99.  I also released a short, sexy medieval novella Bound by His Kiss, never published before, for 99 cents.  In the coming months, I plan to release my four-book Knight’s Series.  With luck, the first novel, A Knight’s Vengeance, will be available in December.

I’ve learned a lot through getting my first books up on Kindle and Nook.  Formatting the manuscript is very time consuming.  While some people have had success taking a Word Document and uploading it, I haven’t been that lucky.  So, for me, it means copying my whole manuscript, pasting it into Notepad (which erases all special formatting like italics) and then copying and pasting the text into a fresh document.  Then, I go through it page by page to add the italics back in, delete any odd spacing, and insert page breaks.

Then, there’s uploading the finished file to Kindle and Nook.  Thank goodness my tech-savvy husband has known how to fix the odd glitches that have popped up and has successfully uploaded my books for me.  What would I do without him?

It has been exciting, though, to see my books have a “new life. “  My novels now have gorgeous new covers that are more to my taste and more suited (I think) to my stories.  My books are available again for readers, perhaps even a new audience of people who would never have picked up my books in paperback.  I’ve joined a wonderful group called Backlist eBooks, where I’ve met other published novelists, many of them award-winning bestsellers, who have self-published and are very gracious about sharing tips on marketing and promotional opportunities.  And I’m earning income from my books again—not a fortune, but enough to make the endeavor worthwhile.  I’m very glad I decided to join the self-publishing trend.  Still, I doubt it’s enough to convince my teenage daughter daughter I’m “trendy.”  

***

For blurbs and more details about my ebooks, please visit my website.

My books on Amazon |  My books on Nook

***

Do you buy ebooks?  Have you bought a backlist/previously released title that’s now available as an ebook?  What do you think of the rise in popularity of self-published books?  I’m eager to hear what you, dear readers, think of this development in the publishing industry.

It’s that time of year–right before the holidays, when the volume of mail arriving in our household increases threefold.  Every day, from now until just before Christmas, we’ll receive at least three fat, glossy catalogs offering deals on everything from clothes to garden furniture.

I have friends who throw up their hands at the increase in mail, but I don’t mind it.  I’ve always started my Christmas lists by November 1, so the catalogs arrive at the perfect time.  I actually find it quite fun to curl up in a comfy chair, sip a mug of Earl Grey Tea, and flip through the catalogs to see if I stumble upon great gifts for that hard-to-buy-for person on my list (usually my dad or my husband).  Sometimes, I discover wonderful things for me too.  I mark the pages and keep the catalogs for future reference.  The ones that aren’t any use to me?  I recycle them, to do my part to save the environment.

A few years ago, I preferred driving to the mall or specialty stores to buy gifts.  Now, if possible, I order online with my catalogs handy.  The selection is better than what I often find in my local stores.  Many companies offer free shipping specials and free gift-wrapping (and sometimes, free samples!  Yay!).  And, I don’t have to stand in line or spend time sitting in traffic.  Better yet, I can shop in my nightgown!

How about you?  Do you receive lots of catalogs at this time of year?  Do you like to shop from catalogs, or do you prefer going to a store or mall to buy gifts?

I’m not a fan of Halloween.  I’ve never liked the creepiness factor.  Those ghastly, contorted plastic masks that look like they’re straight out of Edvard Munch’s The Scream?  Shudder.  The skeletons that appear to be crawling out of the ground in peoples’ yards?  Cringe.

Yeah, you guessed it, I’m a wimp when it comes to anything scary.  I can’t watch horror movies because I get so terrified, even though I know what I’ve watched is fiction, I can’t sleep at night.

If you ask my parents, my fear of skeletons and corpses originated in my childhood, when they took me to the British Museum in London, England.  I’m sure the experience was meant to be educational.  However, when touring the rooms on Ancient Egypt, I came upon the glass case containing the shriveled, desiccated, five-thousand-year-old mummy formerly named ‘Ginger‘—one of the most famous mummies of all time–and freaked out.

I’ve been back to the British Museum since then; it’s one of my favorite places to visit in London.  My husband and I have also taken our daughter there.  Unlike her scaredy-cat mom, she thought the mummies and skeletons were “neat.”

The last time I stood in front of the glass display where Ginger lies–where he’s been since 1901–I no longer had that overwhelming terror.  But I can understand why as a child I was upset.  It’s a real body in that case.  He was once a living, breathing person with hopes and dreams and people who cared about him.  Did that poor man have even the slightest inkling that thousands of years after his death, someone would discover his remains in the desert sands and eventually, enclose them in glass and put them on display for millions of people to see?  If he’d known, would he have wanted such immortality?  It’s a lot to think about.

Back to Halloween.  For years, I disliked it, despite the fun aspects of dressing up and trick or treating.  And then, sixteen years ago this Halloween, my life changed.  I was seven-and-a-half months pregnant and having strong contractions as well as other complications.  As I lay in the hospital bed, hooked up to beeping machines with my worried husband and nurses hovering at my bed, I silently swore I would not have a baby on Halloween.  A little pumpkin?  Ha!  So not happening.

One of the questions I’ve been asked since the September release of my quirky romantic comedy Lucky Girl, written under my contemporary pseudonym Cate Lord, is why I decided to switch from writing medieval romances to contemporary romantic comedies.

This is a good question.  I didn’t exactly switch.  I do plan to write more medievals, since I love crafting emotionally-charged stories featuring roguish, alpha-male knights and stubborn damsels.  I’m currently reissuing my medievals in ebook format for Kindle and Nook, to keep my historical novels available for my readers.  But the inspiration for Lucky Girl?  I wrote it as a challenge.

My muse is willing to indulge most of my story ideas.  While writing my medieval romances, though, she whispered that there were more genres to be tapped in my “creative well.”  Why not try a story that was set in the twenty-first century and had more of a light-hearted, Chick Lit tone?  Instead of concentrating on developing the love story between a medieval hero and heroine, why not focus on the character growth of a modern day heroine?

I decided to give it a try.

The challenge wasn’t just in writing a contemporary setting complete with modern conveniences like cell phones, laptops, and shiny lip gloss.  It was also in tightening my focus.  It was strange, at first, to limit the point of view to that of twenty-nine-year-old Jessica Devlin who works as the beauty editor of Orlando’s O Tart magazine and who takes an overdue vacation to fly to England to take part in her British cousin’s wedding.  In my historical romances, I gave equal attention to the points of view of the hero and heroine; we see, feel, and live the plot through their thoughts, emotional reactions, and decisions.  Could I tell a complete story from just one character’s perspective?

I started chewing my nails—not an easy feat while trying to type.  I made a list of issues that concern most women of today, such as job security, weight, dating, office politics, computer woes, mother-daughter relationships, and the longing to find Mr. Right.

Secretly, I wondered if my muse had set this challenge to drive me crazy.

The more I got to know the insecure, heartbroken, loyal, eccentric, sarcastic, and lovable Jess, though, the more determined I became to write her book.  Because we only see the world through Jess’s eyes, I leave more for the reader to interpret than I do in my historicals.  For example, Jess stresses over the pounds she’s gained in the four months since her ex-fiancé betrayed her, and is appalled at the way she looks in the maid-of-honor gown she’s to wear to the wedding.  Is Jess as overweight as she thinks?  Or, due to the painful, crushing blow her ex delivered to her self-esteem, is she imagining how awful she looks?  Personally, I see Jess as a pretty normal-weight woman whose insecurities make her blow things out of proportion, but I’m also happy to let readers imagine her as they prefer.

Barbara Elness!  Congratulations, Barbara!  I sent you a note privately, and as soon as I hear back from you, your copy of LUCKY GIRL will be on the way to you.   Thanks to everyone who left a comment, and keep checking back at the Jaunty Quills site for more chances to win books.