Holiday Gifts of Love

Karen McCullough Posted on by

This post is part of the Holiday Gifts of Love blog hop. Scroll down to the end of information about prizes available and other participants.

Regular readers of my blog know that my mother passed away recently. One of the hardest things we had to do after her death was to clean out her apartment.

She’d already started her Christmas preparations, including some shopping. We found several things she’d bought that were obviously gifts and had to try to decide who she’d intended to give them to. Some were obvious, some less so, but we did manage to get those distributed as best we could.

What almost broke our hearts, though, was finding the box of embroidered felt Christmas ornaments she’d made. We knew exactly what they were. Every Christmas, each major gift she gave would have one of those little ornaments attached to the bow or ribbon. My tree has a collection of them saved from over the years.  We divided them up so each family member would get one, the last ornament each of us would have from her.

They were small things, but each one was crafted by her and given with love. Those ornaments are treasures that will remind me of her each year when I bring them out and hang them on the tree.

What is your most treasured Christmas decoration and why?

Now for the promo part…

Can Christmas Eve get any more fun? On her way to her family’s home, Carol Prescott’s car slides into a ditch in a deserted area with no cell phone signal. The only available shelter is already occupied…by a vampire. To Michael Carpenter, Carol is the bait of a trap.

In an effort to hold onto his soul, Michael has resisted the urge to drink human blood for almost a century. Now he hovers between human and vampire. If he doesn’t drink from a human before the night ends, he’ll die. He’s desperately thirsty, but Michael has seen the soulless monsters vampires are and he prefers death. Carol is pure temptation to him, the Christmas present from hell…or is it from heaven?

Just $.99 for this Christmas vampire novella!  Buy:  Amazon Kindle Nook Smashwords

Finally – about the prizes:

One commenter here will win their choice of ebook from all of my books available in ebook form.

There ae also a number of prizes available as part of the hop:

More info on the blog hop available at: http://carrieannbloghops.blogspot.com/

It’s a Holiday Cookie Blog Hop!

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Today is National Cookie Day. Who knew? The person who organized this terrific blog hop, that’s who.

So you get a double treat, one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes and a different sort of promo blurb for my Christmas vampire story, A VAMPIRE’S CHRISTMAS CAROL.

First the cookie recipe:

Cinnamon Cookies

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup soft butter
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg

Directions:
1. Sift flour with salt and cinnamon.
2. In large bowl, beat butter, sugars and egg until light and fluffy
3. Gradually add flour mixture, stirring until smooth and well combined
4. Form dough into a ball. Wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate one hour (no more).
5. Divide dough into 4 parts. Refrigerate until ready to roll out
6. Preheat oven to 375F. Make topping.
7. On lightly floured surface, roll dough, one part at a time, into a 9×7-inch rectangle. With floured knife or pastry wheel, cut into 16 rectangles.
8. Using greased spatula, place 1 ½ inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Brush top of cookies with egg mixture; then sprinkle with sugar mixture.
9. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set and golden brown. Remove to wire rack. Cool.

Topping:
2 tablespoons milk
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

1. In small bowl, combine milk and egg.
2. In another small bowl combine sugar and cinnamon

Scroll down below to the links to other participating authors for more scrumptious recipes.

And now for the Story Promo – I wrote this for Tina Donahue’s blog, but I like it so much I’m reposting it here:

A Meeting with the Vampire on Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas and all through hall
The vampire was ready for his last night of all.
A hundred years gone and the urge to drink blood
He’d struggled against and so far withstood.
When out on the porch there arose such a clatter
He trudged to the door to see what was the matter
When what to his wondering eyes should appear
But a young woman shivering with cold and fear.
Her face it was lovely and her blood warm and sweet
To him, she was temptation, from her head to her feet.
Ignoring the warning that his presence meant danger
She opted for shelter and passed time with the stranger.
Memories of Christmases long gone they traded
Gifts and feasts and treasures now faded,
The terrible night, a century ago,
When a vampire stole his life and his hope.
As he suffered the death throes of blood-hunger pollution,
She struggled to help him and find a solution.
When an enemy terrible showed up to gloat
He tries to make Carol a sacrificial goat.
She’s no willing victim and fights for her life
And to help Michael get through a night of strife.

Here’s the official blurb:

Can Christmas Eve get any more fun? On her way to her family’s home, Carol Prescott’s car slides into a ditch in a deserted area with no cell phone signal. The only available shelter is already occupied…by a vampire. To Michael Carpenter, Carol is the bait of a trap.

In an effort to hold onto his soul, Michael has resisted the urge to drink human blood for almost a century. Now he hovers between human and vampire. If he doesn’t drink from a human before the night ends, he’ll die. He’s desperately thirsty, but Michael has seen the soulless monsters vampires are and he prefers death. Carol is pure temptation to him, the Christmas present from hell…or is it from heaven?

Buy:
Amazon Kindle     Nook      Smashwords

For more cookie recipes, visit these sites of other participating authors:

Autumn Jordon
Heather Hiestand
Jane Wakely
Jessa Slade
Laurie London
Lily Rede
Mona Karel
Paty Jager
Shelley Munro
Tawny Weber
Vanessa Kelly

Announcing Winners

Karen McCullough Posted on by

First, I hvae to apologize for the delay in announcing winners from my fall blog hops.  Those who follow this blog will understand why there’s been a delay.  But I’m trying to get caught up now.

Second, I have to thank all of you who’ve commented in both posts, and especially all of you who gave helpful comments on my quandary in the Autumn Harvest blog hop.  I’m moving forward with the changes on the book based on those comments.

Now for the winners. BTW: I use the random number generator at random.org to choose winners for contests.

The winner of the Autumn Harvest blog hop is JanD at bituin76 at hotmail dot com

The winner of the Black Friday blog hop is Mel Bourn at bournmelissa at hotmail dot com

You should both be receiving an email from me about claiming your prizes.

Celebrating Thanksgiving with a Heavy Heart

Karen McCullough Posted on by

I miss my mom. Even though I have children and grandchildren of my own, my mother was still an important part of my life. I used to call her often, and we always talked on major holidays. She would have called, or I would have called her on Thanksgiving day.

There was no call since she passed away on November 2. The funeral is done, many tears shed, people notified, her apartment cleared out, legal stuff taken care of, and I’m back home and back to my (mostly) normal schedule.

But there’s a hole in my life where she used to be. It’s a wound that will eventually scab over, I know, but it will never heal entirely.  I’m not sure I’d want it to.

Black Friday Blog Hop

Karen McCullough Posted on by

This post is part of the Black Friday Blog Hop.  Click on the image to the left for details.

There are lots of prizes up for grabs, including a Kindle and a huge swag pack.

Comment here for your chance to win one of many great prizes.

My post:

My daughters and I did it one year—got up well before the crack of dawn, gulped some quick cups of coffee so we could see straight, got in the car, and headed out to a local shopping center, still in the dark.

We had a list of stops and items we wanted to get, culled from the flyers in the paper the previous day. There were some great deals on the list and we were on a mission.

It fizzled quickly.

The stores opened at the crack of dawn, but we weren’t the first ones there. And in the case of many of the good deals available, quantities were limited. They were gone by the time we got there.

And then there were the “deals” that didn’t stand up to closer examination. Items that looked like a great buy until you realized they were flimsy, poorly made, or an off-brand so off you couldn’t find it on any map.

We managed to get a few of the items on our list, but they weren’t the top ones. In fact they were the most marginal ones, the ones that could’ve waited for the next trip to the bargain mart, but were worth picking up while we were there.

We went home, dumped our stuff and headed for bed for naps. And later, when we could think rationally, we swore never again.

A promise to myself I’ve kept ever since.

 

Remember to comment here for your chance to win one of many great prizes.

http://carrieannbloghops.blogspot.com/

Autumn Harvest Blog Hop: Need Help With Some Fall Cleaning

Karen McCullough Posted on by

I’m taking part in the Autumn Harvest Blog Hop!

For more information on the hop, including the other authors participating, click here.

Autumn is a time of change, transition for me. The house generally gets a little extra cleaning, I change the decor to my autumn theme (lots of yellow and orange), and I begin to think about winter and the holidays.

I have to admit that I’m not really a compulsive housekeeper.  In fact, it’s only the fact that I like things organized and I don’t like clutter that keeps my home from being a total disaster.  But there is something about fall — whether it’s the coming holidays, the change in temperature, or just the fact that I’m indoors more–that inspires me to a bit of extra effort.

My self-published, contemporary paranormal romance needs some fall cleaning and change as well. It isn’t selling.  I’d attribute that to my just being a bad or unknown writer, but my other books sell decently well.  Not hugely, but reasonably well.  MAGIC, MURDER AND MICROCIRCUITS isn’t selling at all.  It was a finalist in the Oklahoma RWA’s International Digital Awards recently, so it’s not like it’s a bad book.

I suspect it’s that the combination of title and cover just aren’t telling the right story about the book.  Michael Morgan is a kind of grown-up, American Harry Potter, with a Ph.D. in Physics, a chip on his shoulder, and a former lover, also a wizard herself, who’s been sent to convince him to destroy his latest invention.

Here’s the current cover and blurb for the story.

A powerful wizard with a physics degree and a checkered past invents a shield to ensure he’ll never again be tortured almost to death.

The wizarding powers-that-be fear the repercussions of such a device and send his former girlfriend, an accomplished wizard herself, to retrieve the device or destroy it.

When the shield is stolen by the magical mafia, Ilene McConnell and Michael Morgan have to set aside their differences and work together to recover it. Michael claims he needs the device as insurance against the kind of injury and injustice he suffered once before. Ilene maintains its potential to upset the delicate balance of power makes it too dangerous and that it needs to be destroyed. But none of that will matter if they can’t prevent a powerful rogue wizard from using the shield for his own purposes.

Here are a couple of ideas for new covers and titles.  Please help me by letting me know which cover/title you think best conveys the story.  Or if you have a better idea, I’m open to that, too.

The Wizard’s Shield:

The Colors of Magic:

I’ll hold a drawing for those commenting with their votes and ideas. The winner gets paperback copies of A Gift for Murder and Shadow of a Doubt, along with some bonus extras.

 

Remember to comment here for a chance to win lots of great prizes. For more information on the blog hop, click here.