Two Tips

Tips offered by authors to help others.

  • Contemporary,  Historical,  Two Tips

    Pick up cool tips from J Arlene Culiner author of A Room in Blake’s Folly by @JArleneCuliner #RLFblog #Historical #Contemporary #Romance

    Back in 1889, when Blake’s Folly boasted three silver mines, many saloons and brothels, the adventurer, Westley Cranston, fell in love with Sookie Lacey a former prostitute. Their powerful romance was doomed but never forgotten, and the repercussions could be felt 130 years later. The six stories in A Room in Blake’s Folly tell the tale.

    J Arlene Culiner, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Thanks for sharing two tips with us today, but first, please tell us about A Room in Blake’s Folly.

    A Room in Blake’s Folly by J Arlene Culiner

    Genre This book begins in 1889 and ends in 2022. Therefore, it’s a Western and a Historical to Contemporary Romance

    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): sensual

    In one hundred and fifty years, Blake’s Folly, a silver boomtown notorious for its brothels, scarlet ladies, silver barons, speakeasies, and divorce ranches, has become a semi-ghost town. Although the old Mizpah Saloon is still in business, its upper floor is sheathed in dust. But in a room at a long corridor’s end, an adventurer, a beautiful dance girl, and a rejected wife were once caught in a love triangle, and their secret has touched three generations.

    Two Tips for Organizing

    1) Delegate. Why waste your own time on trivia? You can always find someone who is willing to do something boring in your place.

    2) Always put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Given enough time, any obligation will disappear. Who will care about your unpaid bills, your ironing, or your housework in 2076?

    Two Tips for Household Chores

    1) Use your foot to push dust bunnies and those unsightly clumps of animal hair behind sofas, tables, counters or armoires. Who’s going to look and discover how lazy you are? And even if someone does catch you out, do you care? Really? Why?

    2) Change your mind about dust. See it as a beautiful patina that adds atmosphere to any room and any piece of furniture.

    Where to buy A Room in Blake’s Folly

    Publisher The Wild Rose Press
    Universal Buy Link https://books2read.com/BlakesFollyRomance

    J Arlene Culiner Social Media

    Writer, photographer, social critical artist, musician, and occasional actress, J Arlene Culiner, was born in New York and raised in Toronto. She has crossed much of Europe on foot, has lived in a Hungarian mud house, a Bavarian castle, a Turkish cave-dwelling, on a Dutch canal, and in a haunted house on the English moors. She now resides in a 400-year-old former inn in a French village of no interest and, much to local dismay, protects all creatures, especially spiders and snakes. She particularly enjoys incorporating into short stories, mysteries, narrative non-fiction, and romances, her experiences in out-of-the-way communities, and her conversations with strange characters.
    Teaser https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFEUrxqdVs8
    https://www.j-arleneculiner.com
    Website https://www.j-arleneculiner.com
    Blog https://j-arleneculiner.over-blog.com
    Storytelling Podcast https://soundcloud.com/j-arlene-culiner
    Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7158064.J_Arlene_Culiner
    Twitter https://twitter.com/JArleneCuliner
    Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/jarlene.culiner
    Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/jarleneculiner
    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jarleneculiner/

     

  • Science Fiction Romance,  Two Tips

    Eileen Troemel author of Celtan Dilemma shares a #TechTip for Rocketbook and beacons @EileenTroemel #RLFblog #Rocketbook

    Eileen Troemel author of Celtan Dilemma shares a #TechTip for Rocketbook and beacons @EileenTroemel #RLFblog #RocketbookAn order from the captain of the ship creates a moral dilemma for Lieutenant Lillian Buckner in Celtan Dilemma a new Scifi Romance by Eileen Troemel. Does she become a traitor or a criminal? If she follows orders, she and her squad are war criminals. If she disobeys orders, they are traitors.

    Eileen, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! We want to hear your tech tip, but first, please tell us about Celtan Dilemma.

    Celtan Dilemma is about a group of women who must choose to kill innocents including children or become traitors to their own species. Once they make their choice, they learn things are not as they’ve been told and the Celtan race offers options they’ve never had.

    Celtan Dilemma by Eileen Troemel

    Genre Scifi romance

    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): R

    Traitor or criminal?

    Lieutenant Lillian Buckner receives orders to take her squad of women pilots out to specific coordinates and destroy an unarmed transport. Lilly must decide whether to be a war criminal by firing on an unarmed vessel or to be a traitor and disobey her orders. Her life and those of her six pilots depends on her decision. No matter her decision, the punishment may kill her if she returns to the human forces.

    Trust or Punish?

    Lord Hugh Korol fights against the humans. They invaded the Celtan’s territory and took sectors of space from them. The humans attacked their home world. When human women aid one of their unarmed transports, he must decide what to do to them. Can he trust the one he desires or will she break more than the fragile trust growing between them?

    Tech Tip

    With working a day job and writing, my eyes get tired of staring at a screen. I tried writing on a tablet but the transcription was problematic and it took more time to correct the words so I’d lose the flow of my writing.

    I love to write. Give me a spiral notebook and pen and I’ll write a complete novel that way. Except then of course, I have to type it up. I learned about Rocketbook and beacons at my day job but for my day job, I didn’t really need it. However, as an author, I saw a lot of potential. When I initially looked into it, it did not transcribe writing to words in a document it only took a picture. So I set it aside and did not use it. Fast forward a couple years, my middle daughter says mom do you want a Rocketbook. I asked if it could transcribe. She said no. I thought well I could try it and see if I could make it work. We got them and I set it aside to work on later. Then in my email, the company emailed to say here’s this new feature. You guessed it – Transcription. I had to try it immediately.

    You can get the Rocketbooks in a variety of sizes. I have three – flip pad (think police officer’s notebook), journal size 6 x 9, and then spiral size. My favorite is the spiral size. It has lines and I can fit a lot on one page.

    First time I did, I learned a lot. So I’ve written in a journal forever and in my journal, I write from top to bottom and side to side. So Rocketbook spiral, this is what I did. No. Leave plenty of space at the top and at the bottom there’s a QT code which the software uses to do it’s magic. Also don’t crowd your words or write edge to edge. It didn’t take me long to adjust my style for this.

    So at the end of the day when my eyes are blurry from looking at a screen but I still want to write, I pull out this spiral size notebook and write. It’s soothing, relaxing, and allows me to continue to write when I struggle with screen work.

    The software – app on your smart phone – takes a little to get used to but it is fairly simple. But you must have patience.

    Two things I’ve figured out. My scans go to my One Note. You can also send them only to your email and there are all sorts of options. So in One Note you have to have a page available. But I’ve found it comes in to One Note faster if I have my email open as well.

    At the top I write ## Title of Book ## This creates a tag in their software. So I add a number for pages – ## Celtan Dilemma 1 ## and ## Celtan Dilemma 2 ## and so on. This allows me to know if I’ve received each page I scanned.

    Now the transcription. I am right handed and have relatively neat handwriting. Things that mess up – when letters go below the line it will interfere with the letters on the next line. If I write sloppy, it will put odd things in. But for the most part, it does a good job and as they technology moves forward, I believe it will improve.

    This has all been about the books – what are the beacons and how can they be used? Oh I was excited to learn about the beacons. So these are little triangles you buy and can put on whiteboards – according to their ads and product information. The thing is when I read about them I thought of other uses for them.

    How many of you have spirals of your writing that you’ll do something with some day? Transcribing handwritten stuff is a pain. It’s time consuming and tedious. But here’s where the beacons come in. Open your spiral of handwritten materials, take your four triangles and the software and start scanning. It takes a little to get used to how to do it, but I scanned three handwritten poems in a short period of time. Now I have them electronically. Even if it’s not in a spiral (if you’re like me) and it’s on the back of an envelope or post it or something else, put your triangles around the text and scan.

    I have a handwritten cook book from my mom which I plan to use both the picture of the scan (so we can keep her handwriting) and the transcription of the text. When I’m done, I hope to have a family cookbook which includes family stories about food. Ultimately with this technology, I’ll be able to write wherever and however I want and transcribe it fairly easily. This will give my eyes a break and allow me more flexibility with my writing.

    Eileen Troemel author of Celtan Dilemma shares a #TechTip for Rocketbook and beacons @EileenTroemel #RLFblog #Rocketbook

    Where to buy Celtan Dilemma

    Universal Buy Link https://books2read.com/CeltanDilemma

    Eileen Troemel Social Media

    USA Today Bestseller Author Eileen Troemel writes action packed and emotionally powerful fantasy, scifi, romance. She’s versatile and writes in many genres. She’ll try almost any genre if it means she can tell a good story. In addition to her writing, she loves to read, crochet, and research genealogy. Her best days are spent with her family of three adult daughters and her husband or writing.
    Website https://eileentroemel.com/
    Twitter https://twitter.com/EileenTroemel
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/EileenTroemelAuthor/
    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/eileentroemel/
    LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/eileen-troemel-6667825b/
    MeWe https://mewe.com/i/eileentroemel
    Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7868345.Eileen_Troemel

  • Two Tips

    Pick up cool tips from Jenna Stewart author of Regan by @DeeSKnight #RLFblog #Romance #Western #Historical

    Pick up cool tips from Jenna Stewart author of Regan by @DeeSKnight #RLFblog #Romance #Western #Historical

    In Jenna Stewart's menage romance, two men show widow Regan O'Ryan Stone the promise of the wild West. Emphasis on wild.

    Jenna, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I'm Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Thanks for sharing two tips with us today, but first, please tell us about Regan.

    Regan by Jenna Stewart

    Genre Historical menage romance

    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): X

    Joining in the westward migration, Davey and Regan O'Ryan Stone bought an Oregon farm sight unseen, hungering for adventure. Davey regretted the impulse far past the point of no return, and then he died. Now, unskilled and alone on her farm, Regan fears going home a failure—as a daughter, a wife, and a farmer. With money quickly running out, she gladly accepts the offer of help from Seth Pratt, an acquaintance from the wagon train, and his friend Haywood Lawrence.

    One-armed Seth seeks work at the remote farm at the end of an Oregon trail with low expectations. When he finds Regan, alone and widowed, he tamps down desire. She deserves better than a man handicapped in war, searching for his soul. She's worthy of someone like his Shakespeare-spouting, best friend, Hay. Nothing could have prepared Seth for Regan's simple solution—that both men stay. On the farm and in her bed.

    Two Tips for Cooking

    For the longest time, whenever someone said to my husband that something "isn't like your mama used to make," Jack would say, "Thank God!" I'll admit, we did have some meals at his mother's table that even she couldn't handle. Fortunately, she could laugh at her culinary not-quite-successes. But for the most part, she was a darn good cook. That she raised two strapping, healthy sons was evidence. I'll admit I'm not the greatest cook. I once told someone that if it couldn't be done on a George Foreman or in the microwave, it wasn't being cooked in my house. However, growing up I was taught to make most anything by both mom and dad. When Jack and I lived in Virginia, we often had company for dinner—family and colleagues—and I put together some very good meals. So, these tips come from those days, not these days.

    Plan ahead. Make sure you have what you need for a recipe before you start to prepare it. Ideally, I like to have everything measured out and at hand, but at least available before starting. Especially when it comes to baking. There's nothing worse than being at a critical point in a recipe and realizing that you need vanilla (or something) and it's buried somewhere in your cabinet. If I don't have things measured ahead of time, I like to keep measuring cups and spoons out and ready.

    If you're using a recipe, read through it several times to make sure you know what's coming up. Can't tell you how many times I didn't do this and screwed up. "Oh, shoot! I should have added the flour ahead of the fruit." Or, "Darn, it said buttermilk instead of milk." And yeah, I know you can make buttermilk, but do you really want to stop in the middle of the recipe to do that? Sigh...

    Have fun. Be adventurous. I've made recipes from all over the world, experimented with breads, and perfected comfort foods. Cooking is a blast. Not now, of course. Now I stick to microwaves and reservations.

    Isn't this like writing? Plan your story. Have major plot points in mind and organized. Don't forget the conflict, the romance arc, giving your characters life, etc.—it's no fun to have to go back and correct things in the middle of trying to meet a deadline. Have fun creating your worlds and characters that populate them.

    Dee S Knight Social Media

    A few years ago, Dee S Knight began writing, making getting up in the morning fun. During the day, her characters killed people, fell in love, became drunk with power, or sober with responsibility. And they had sex, lots of sex.
    After a while, Dee split her personality into thirds. She writes as Anne Krist for sweeter romances, and Jenna Stewart for ménage and shifter stories. All three of her personas are found on the Nomad Authors website (www.nomadauthors.com). Fortunately, Dee's high school sweetheart is the love of her life and husband to all three ladies! Once a month, look for Dee's Charity Sunday blog posts, where your comment can support a selected charity.
    Website https://nomadauthors.com
    Blog http://nomadauthors.com/blog
    Twitter http://twitter.com/DeeSKnight
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DeeSKnight2018
    Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/265222.Dee_S_Knight
    Amazon Author Page http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B079BGZNDN
    Newsletter https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/h8t2y6
    LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/in/dee-s-knight-0500749
    Sweet 'n Sassy Divas http://bit.ly/1ChWN3K

  • Two Tips

    Lisabet Sarai, author of The Gazillionaire and the Virgin shares a #TechTip for using graphics in your blog @LisabetSarai #RLFblog

    Lisabet Sarai, author of The Gazillionaire and the Virgin shares a #TechTip for using graphics in your blog @LisabetSarai #RLFblogCEO Rachel Zelinsky just wants a business deal with geeky Theo Moore in Lisabet Sarai’s new erotic romance The Gazillionaire and the Virgin. Instead she finds herself aching to protect the sensitive, awkward genius – and to surrender to his kinky desires.

    Lisabet Sarai, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! We want to hear your tech tip, but first, please tell us about The Gazillionaire and the Virgin.

    The Gazillionaire and the Virgin by Lisabet Sarai

    Genre Contemporary BDSM Erotic Romance

    Book heat level: X

    She’s the billionaire. He’s the virgin. Still, he knows how to make her melt.

    When Silicon Valley entrepreneur Rachel Zelinsky meets reclusive genius Theo Moore, she has a single objective — a deal to incorporate his AI software into her company’s popular virtual world. She finds Theo to be arrogant, sensitive and socially awkward, but his aura of power speaks to her carefully-hidden submissive side. Confused and aroused, she falls under his geeky spell.

    Theo Moore can’t be bought. His past battles with poverty make him deeply suspicious of the billionaire CEO, though Rachel’s voluptuous curves and brilliant mind embody his ultimate fantasy. Too bad his knowledge about sex derives from extensive research and a stash of kinky porn rather than real-world experience.

    Rachel may be Theo’s first lover, but Theo is her first true Master. One word from him, one touch, and she surrenders to bliss. It seems that love and complementary desire may harmonize their differing values, until Rachel’s unwitting violation of Theo’s trust tears them apart.

    Tech Tip

    Most blog platforms and website builders give you options for specifying the size of the images you use in your posts or on your pages. On Blogger, for instance, you can specify that an image should be small, medium, large, extra large, or original size, So even if your cover is 2000 pixels wide, too big to fit in your blog frame, you can make it display as only 400 pixels.

    Given how busy we authors are, it’s tempting to be lazy and let the platform control the visual size of your images. However, this is a bad idea for several reasons. First of all, it slows down the loading of your posts, because the full-sized image will be transmitted over the network to the browser, even if the display has reduced resolution. (A typical 2000×3000 cover is close to one MB in size.) Second, it uses up your disk quota (if you’re using Blogger, at least), since Google stores all blog images as part of your “Photos”. Finally, and most importantly, the dynamic visual resizing of your images is not guaranteed to work with all browsers or display platforms. For instance, big images in posts sent to Triberr will sometimes show up in the feed at full resolution, which makes your post look terrible.

    The solution is to resize your images before you add them to your blog or website. And my recommendation for doing this, at least if you use Windows, is a fantastic little program called IrfanView.

    https://www.irfanview.com/

    This is a brilliantly designed graphics utility package, with lots of functionality but a very easy and intuitive user interface. I couldn’t self-publish or blog without it. (Oh, and it’s free for non-commercial use.)

    And here’s a bonus tip: when you are resizing an image (with any program), be sure you select “Preserve aspect ratio”. If you don’t, your image can end up looking stretched or squashed. “Aspect ratio” means the ratio of the width divided by the height (or vice versa). So common cover sizes of 2000×3000 and 1600×2400 both have the same aspect ratio (2:3), as do the common reduced sizes of 400×600 or 200×300. When you resize preserving the ratio, you only specify one dimension; the other will be adjusted automatically.

    Occasionally you may want to alter the width and height independently but be careful as the results may be ugly. For instance, I use thumbnails that are 200×320 rather than 200×300 on my website, because that matches the aspect ratio used by one of my publishers. My self-published books, though, have a 2:3 aspect ratio. So I need to make the thumbnails for those books a bit taller than they’d be with a proportional resizing.

    For more tech tips, you can download my free ebook Naughty Bits: The Erotogeek’s Guide for Technologically-Challenged Authors. It dates from 2013, and quite a bit has changed since then, but I think the content is still quite useful.Lisabet Sarai, author of The Gazillionaire and the Virgin shares a #TechTip for using graphics in your blog @LisabetSarai #RLFblog

     

    Where to buy The Gazillionaire and the Virgin

    NOTE: The ebook is on sale during February for only 99 cents!

    Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SDY5XJ5/
    Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1132432
    Kinky Literature https://www.kinkyliterature.com/book/811-the-gazillionaire-and-the-virgin-/
    Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60397753-the-gazillionaire-and-the-virgin
    Amazon (Audiobook)
    https://www.amazon.com/The-Gazillionaire-and-the-Virgin/dp/B075WZS3TN/
    Audible (Audiobook) https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gazillionaire-and-the-Virgin-Audiobook/B075X1XN87

    Lisabet Sarai Social Media

    Lisabet Sarai became addicted to words at an early age. She began reading when she was four. She wrote her first story at five years old and her first poem at seven. Since then, she has penned plays, tutorials, scholarly articles, marketing brochures, software specifications, self-help books, press releases, a five-hundred page dissertation, and lots of erotica and erotic romance – over one hundred titles, and counting, in nearly every sub-genre—paranormal, scifi, ménage, BDSM, GLBT, and more. Regardless of the genre, every one of her stories illustrates her motto: Imagination is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
    Website https://www.lisabetsarai.com
    Blog https://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com
    Twitter https://www.twitter.com/LisabetSarai
    Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/lisabetsarai/beyond-romance-blog-posts/
    Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/83387.Lisabet_Sarai
    BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lisabet-sarai
    Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/author/lisabetsarai
    Get to know Lisabet Sarai better by signing up for her email list: https://btn.ymlp.com/xgjjhmhugmghbsp;

  • Author Interviews,  Christmas or Holiday,  Historical,  Two Tips

    Pick up cool tips from Jan Selbourne and Anne Krist authors of Finding a Christmas Miracle by @DeeSKnight @JanSelbourne #RLFblog #HolidayRomance #PNR

    Pick up cool tips from Jan Selbourne and Anne Krist authors of Finding a Christmas Miracle by @DeeSKnight @JanSelbourne #RLFblog #HolidayRomance #PNRJan Selbourne and Anne Krist write of two men in Hell, wishing for a Christmas miracle with little hope of getting it.

    Anne, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Thanks for sharing two tips with us today, but first, please tell us about Finding a Christmas Miracle.

    Finding a Christmas Miracle by Jan Selbourne and Anne Krist

    Genre Historical romance

    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): R

    Two exceptional novellas featuring two men engulfed in a war no one understands or wants—Vietnam. They’re both hoping for a miracle with little expectation of finding it.

    Jan Selbourne lends her award-winning writing talent to A Miracle in the Outback. Nick Saunders is in a hurry to escape a family argument and also to return to his Army base in Wagga Wagga. He doesn’t need another complication. Rachel Garth is a woman with a broken down car, a small girl, a deadly snake, and a baby on the way. She needs Nick’s help. He doesn’t know it, but he needs hers, too.

    In award-winning author Anne Krist’s The Miracle of Coming Home, Army PFC Tom Stabler wins a trip to his parents’ Nebraska farm for Christmas. He needs the time away from the war. Lately, he’s been feeling lost and too alone. Trouble is, being home is almost as bad. Then Susan Swensen arrives, just as sweet and pretty as he remembers. Can Susan help him find himself again, or will it take a miracle?

    Two Tips for Writing

    Since Jan and I wrote this book as a team, I’d like to address writing with a partner.

    Taking a partner in writing is not an easy thing. So my first tip is to work with someone you respect as a writer and with whom you know a little something of their personality. Writing is not only (sometimes) an isolated endeavor, it’s also a possessive kind of task. For a team to work, you need to be able to take editing and critiquing from your partner. This is why you need someone you respect—you have to trust them with your work and their comments. The goal is to make a really good book readers will love. The partnership won’t work if you don’t respect both your partner’s writing skill and their judgment in helping you make your work better.

    Be sure you’re both on the same page. As individual writers, we can change a story line mid-way if we want to. Turn that heroine on the train from New York to Chicago to an astronaut riding the trail of a comet to the outer galaxies. But with a partner you need to agree ahead of time to a genre, time period, length, and deadline, at a minimum. Any later changes must be discussed and agreed to or else you could have a disjointed book on your hands. Jan and I came to a decision on our book from an off-the-cuff email discussion. She said she had in mind a novella story line that involved the Vietnam War. I asked if she would be interested in a duet book if I also wrote a Vietnam War novella. And here was another consideration: Jan doesn’t write erotic romance as Dee S Knight does. So I agreed to write my portion as Anne Krist, Dee’s sweet little sister. It wouldn’t do for Jan’s fans to turn the page and suddenly find a hot sex scene in a Dee novella. Agreement and joint decision making, that’s my second tip for writing with a partner.

    Jan and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a New Year looked forward to with anticipation!

    Pick up cool tips from Jan Selbourne and Anne Krist authors of Finding a Christmas Miracle by @DeeSKnight @JanSelbourne #RLFblog #HolidayRomance #PNR

    Where to buy Finding a Christmas Miracle

    Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Christmas-Miracle-historical-novellas-ebook/dp/B09MR8PKYT
    Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/finding-a-christmas-miracle-jan-selbourne/1140676059?ean=2940166404329

    Jan Selbourne Social Media

    Jan Selbourne was born and educated in Melbourne, Australia and her love of literature and history began as soon as she learned to read and hold a pen. After graduating from a Melbourne Business College her career began in the dusty world of ledgers and accounting, working in Victoria, Queensland and the United Kingdom. On the point of retiring, she changed course to work as secretary of a large NSW historical society. Now retired Jan is enjoying her love of travelling and literature. She has two children, a stray live-in cat and lives near Maitland, New South Wales.
    Website https://nomadauthors.com/JanSelbourne/index.html
    Twitter https://twitter.com/JanSelbourne
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jan.selbourne
    LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-selbourne-2817b6140/
    Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/h8t2y6

    Anne Krist Social Media

    A few years ago, Dee S Knight began writing, making getting up in the morning fun. During the day, her characters killed people, fell in love, became drunk with power, or sober with responsibility. And they had sex, lots of sex.
    After a while, Dee split her personality into thirds. She writes as Anne Krist for sweeter romances, and Jenna Stewart for ménage and shifter stories. All three of her personas are found on the Nomad Authors website (www.nomadauthors.com). Fortunately, Dee’s high school sweetheart is the love of her life and husband to all three ladies! Once a month, look for Dee’s Charity Sunday blog posts, where your comment can support a selected charity.
    Website https://nomadauthors.com/annekrist/index.html
    Blog https://www.nomadauthors.com/blog/
    Twitter https://twitter.com/DeeSKnight
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Anne-Krist-Author-102654687933379
    Get to know Anne Krist better by signing up for an email newsletter https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/h8t2y6

     

  • Christmas or Holiday,  Two Tips

    Pick up cool tips from Linda O’Connor author of Don’t Mess with Christmas by @LindaOConnor98 #RLFblog #HolidayRomance

    Pick up cool tips from Linda O'Connor author of Don't Mess with Christmas by @LindaOConnor98 #RLFblog #HolidayRomanceWhen he refuses to see her as a patient, she’s righteously indignant. Not a great intro! It’ll take a little Christmas magic and not-so-subtle powers of persuasion for her to add falling in love to her Christmas to-do list. It’s matchmaking at its funniest in Don’t Mess with Christmas by Linda O’Connor.

    Linda, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Thanks for sharing two tips with us today, but first, please tell us about Don’t Mess with Christmas.

    Don’t Mess with Christmas by Linda O’Connor

    Genre Holiday Romantic Comedy

    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): PG

    Dr. Brogan Corkie is happily semi-retired from medicine and now has time for other hobbies. Her passion for food is second only to her skill at matchmaking!

    Parker Roy grew up in the middle of four brothers and has lived with enough testosterone to last her a lifetime. She’s finally moved out and made a life of her own. Between putting the finishing touches on the set for Mapleton’s Christmas play, plowing snow, and transforming her hydroponic greenhouse into a Christmas wonderland, it’s ramping up to be a hectic season.

    Dr. Julian Murphy, the only allergist in town, has his eye on the woman behind the set design of the holiday play. He’s volunteering backstage in the hope of getting to know her. There’s a bit of a snag when she’s referred to his clinic for a rash – doctors aren’t allowed to date their patients – but Dr. Brogan Corkie doesn’t see it as an insurmountable problem and steps in to give their romance a nudge. She’d better be right because, if not, it could seriously mess with Christmas.

    The allergist or the rash– which itch will Parker scratch?

    Pick up cool tips from Linda O'Connor author of Don't Mess with Christmas by @LindaOConnor98 #RLFblog #HolidayRomance

    Two Tips for Household Chores

    I thought I’d share 4 tips for being the best dinner party guest ever!

    When you’re invited to a dinner party, it’s always a lovely gesture to bring a gift for the hosts. Cut flowers are a traditional favorite, but do the host a favor and shop for an inexpensive vase at the Dollar Store and arrange the bouquet before you go. Nothing is more awkward than searching for a vase and scrambling to welcome guests while trying to save the flowers. They’ll thank you.

    Practical edible gifts are a delicious alternative. Try flavored olive oils, infused balsamic vinegars, or a unique honey. Napkins and candles are always useful. One of the best gifts I’ve received was homemade jam.

    And there’s this – if you bring a bottle of wine that doesn’t get opened, leave it for the hosts. Don’t take it back – that’s just, no. Even if they’re relative teetotalers, they can always use it for cooking or serve it to other guests in the future. Same goes if you bring a dish to share. Offer the leftovers to the hosts. They’ll thank you the next day when they can relax without cooking!

    As a guest it’s always easier to lean on the hosts for introductions to people you don’t know, but you can help make the party a success by breaking the ice yourself. Here are a few suggestions to start a conversation (beyond talking about the weather!):

    Does your family have any secret or famous recipes?

    What’s your favorite restaurant that other people don’t tend to know about?

    If you weren’t working at your current job, what would you probably be doing right now?

    What was your first job? Did you like it?

    What surprised you most about your current job?

    If you could fly anywhere for free, where would you go?

    Do you prefer action-packed vacations or relaxing on the beach?

    Do you have any hidden talents or surprising hobbies?

    There you have it – as you get back to socializing with friends, be the best dinner party guest!

    Where to buy Don’t Mess with Christmas

    Linda O’Connor Social Media

    Award-winning author Linda O’Connor started writing romantic comedies when she needed a creative outlet other than subtly rearranging the displays at a local home décor store. Her books have enjoyed bestseller status. When not writing, she’s a physician at an Urgent Care Clinic. She shares her medical knowledge in fast-paced, well-written, sexy romances – with an unexpected twist. Her favourite prescription to write? Laugh every day. Love every minute.
    Website https://www.lindaoconnor.net
    Blog https://www.lindaoconnor.net/news-muse-and-interviews/
    Twitter https://twitter.com/LindaOConnor98
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/LindaOConnorAuthor
    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/LindaOConnorAuthor/
    Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/795688.Linda_O_Connor
    BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/linda-o-connor
    Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Linda-OConnor/e/B00S7CNLEA
    Get to know Linda O’Connor better by signing up for an email newsletter https://lindaoconnor.net/contact/