New Audio Book Graphic - Feedback Appreciated!
I've been playing around with my simply graphics program. I'd love some feedback on this audio book promo graphic I made. Thanks!
September Sale! His Wife For a While - 99¢ / 75p - Until the 23rd @DonnaFaz
If you've never read
His Wife for a While
now is the time to buy!
I've never offered the book at a reduced rate before, so please take advantage. Let all your romance-reading friends know about the price reduction.
Thank you for your help!
Find this book:
The book will go back to its
regular price ($3.99) on Sept 23rd.
How To Fix a Flat Tire in 10 Easy Steps
I received a call from a
friend one day. She was stranded with a flat tire and she wanted me to pick her
up. When I arrived, she told me she'd called her husband and he had agreed to
change the flat later that day once his work day was finished. This plan meant
that her husband would have to drive home, pick her up, and drive her back to
the car so she could drive it home. When I suggested that we change the flat
ourselves, she looked at me as if I had two heads.
Why is it that many women
think this kind of thing is "man's work"?
Having grown up in a
household of males (I was the only girl of five kids), I could toss a football,
swing a baseball bat, and climb trees with the best of them. I guess that's why
I'm not afraid of tackling jobs that other women might shy away from. (On the
other hand, it could be that I'm just strange.)
Every woman should know how
to change a flat tire. So here are some simple instructions. You will need: a
spare tire, a jack, a lug wrench—all of these items should be in your trunk.
1.
Park on a flat
surface and engage the emergency brake. Think about it. You don't want the car
to roll while you're changing the flat. If it's at all possible, brace the
opposite tire with something heavy (a block of wood, a large rock, a brick,
etc). For example, if your front passenger-side tire is flat, brace the front
driver-side tire.
2.
Remove the
hubcap. Most newer-model cars don't have hubcaps, but if your car is older,
you'll need to remove the hubcap so you can access the lug nuts. If your car
doesn't have hubcaps, skip to #3. If you do have hubcaps, use the flat side of
the lug wrench to pry off the hubcap, prying in several locations rather than
all in one spot. Think of the hubcap as a clock face; pry at 9 o'clock and then 3 o'clock , then 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock , then noon .
Prying the hubcap off all in one spot might bend the cap.
3.
Loosen the
lug nuts. (Remember! Turn in a counter-clockwise direction. Leftie loosie,
rightie tightie.) This is going to be the most difficult part of the job.
Lug nuts are always TIGHT and it will take all of your strength to loosen them.
Use the lug wrench and physics. Apply
pressure to the furthest end of the wrench (as you would a lever). Loosen but
DO NOT REMOVE the lug nuts (yet).
4.
Time to jack it
up! Check your owner's manual for proper placement of the jack. Make sure the
jack is firmly connecting with a solid part of your car's frame, the metal
undercarriage, close to the flat tire. Once you've got the jack in place, crank
the handle until the flat tire is lifted off the ground several inches.
5.
Remove the
lug nuts and slide off the flat tire. Lay the tire flat on the ground; you don't
want it rolling into traffic (just imagine the screeching brakes, swerving cars, mayhem!).
6.
Line up the holes
of the spare with the bolts on the axle. Don't be surprised if you have to jack
up the car a bit more—the air in the spare will make it taller than the flat
tire. Slide on the spare as far as it will go and then hand-tighten the lug nuts
onto the bolts.
7.
Use the lug
wrench to tighten the bolts, and when I say tight, I mean TIGHT! You don't want
the vibration of the car to loosen the bolts.
8.
Lower the car and
remove the jack from underneath the car frame. Put everything into the truck: the jack, the lug wrench, the flat tire, the hubcap.
9.
Drive to the
nearest car repair shop or your favorite mechanic. Have the flat tire fixed OR
buy a new tire. You don't want to drive around on the spare as it might cause
road-wear on the other 3 tires. When installing the new/repaired tire, the
mechanic will probably use a compression gun to tighten the lug nuts.
10. Feel proud that you've changed a flat all by yourself!
I used my flat-tire-fixing experience in a book. In the opening scenes of Mountain Laurel, two sisters are driving in the mountains when they run into trouble--yeah, they have a flat, but the "trouble" is a sexy forest ranger named Michael Walker who shows up and starts being a bit bossy. lol
Is this a job you think you
can now try to tackle? I sure hope so! If you've already changed a flat (good
for you!!!), do you have any wild and crazy war stories to share?
Introducing Carmen DeSousa - New Release - Creatus
I'd like to introduce Carmen
DeSousa. She's a friend and a wonderful writer. Her new release is entitled
Creatus.
About the book:
As the sun's rays peeked
above the horizon, lighting the abyss below her, she inhaled a deep breath,
closed her eyes, and jumped. She didn't scream; she didn't look down. As much
as she hated her life, she hoped it wouldn't end this way. She'd really like to
see him one more time.
Her life didn't flash before her eyes as she'd always heard. Just an image of her mother covered in blood and her Dark Angel telling her he was sorry.
Her life didn't flash before her eyes as she'd always heard. Just an image of her mother covered in blood and her Dark Angel telling her he was sorry.
CREATUS is a new
romantic-suspense novel with a supernatural edge that answers the myths and
fairy tales you've heard about preternatural sentient beings.
Prepare yourself to believe.
Find Creatus:
About the author:
Though all of Carmen's
stories have a common thread—romance, mystery, and suspense—not all of her
novels are supernatural. Her first five books, the Southern Suspense Series,
are romantic-suspense whodunits. They are all stand-alone novels; however, she
does link each of her stories with a little surprise.
She Belongs to Me
Split Decisions
Land
Entangled Dreams
When Noonday Ends
Carmen also has two mini-mysteries with a ghostly paranormal edge that she offers free on all book websites. However, sometimes the websites pull the free offer, so always check prices before downloading.
The Pit Stop
The Depot
The Library (Coming Soon)
She Belongs to Me
Entangled Dreams
When Noonday Ends
Carmen also has two mini-mysteries with a ghostly paranormal edge that she offers free on all book websites. However, sometimes the websites pull the free offer, so always check prices before downloading.
The Pit Stop
The Depot
The Library (Coming Soon)
Fried Green Tomatoes... And I'm Not Talking Fannie Flagg #recipes
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I went to our local farmer's market yesterday… one
of my favorite places to visit on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Before I knew it, my
cart was filled with local peaches, apples, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, and other
beautiful fruits and vegetables. Then I saw it! A huge basket heaped with the largest,
plumpest green tomatoes I'd ever seen. That's when I realized that I'd never
eaten green tomatoes.
How could I call myself a
southerner, I wondered, without ever having tasted the very popular southern
dish called Fried Green Tomatoes? I decided, then and there, to rectify the
problem. I chose a couple of those luscious, green babies and put them in my
cart.
I decided to try a
dry/wet/dry method to coat the slices. Don't worry, it's easy. I'll explain in
the directions.
Fried Green Tomatoes
2 large green tomatoes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup all purpose flour
½ tablespoon granulated onion
powder
½ tablespoon granulated
garlic powder
Large pinch of cayenne pepper
2 eggs
1 cup panko bread crumbs
Slice tomatoes into ¼ inch
slices.
Sprinkle slices with salt and pepper.
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Heat oil in a skillet.
Dry/wet/dry method:
In one bowl, stir together
the flour, onion and garlic powders, and the cayenne pepper.
In another bowl, whisk the
eggs until well scrambled.
Put the panko bread crumbs
into a third bowl.
Dip the slices into the flour
mixture, then into the egg mixture, then into the bread crumbs (get it… dry/wet/dry).
Fry the slices until golden
brown, approximately 4 minutes on each side.
Drain on paper towels.
Enjoy!
Fried green tomatoes taste
like nothing else I've ever eaten. The coating is crunchy and spicy, and the
inside is firm but moist and has a slightly sour taste. Very delicious! Have
you ever eaten green tomatoes? Where you eating out, or did you cook them
yourself? How were they prepared?
Cover Reveal: Mountain Laurel (Need a graphic designer? Here's a recommendation!)
Mountain Laurel has a brand
new cover. I'd like to thank Naj from Najla Qamber Designs. I think she
did a spectacular job. I encourage authors who are in need of a graphic
designer to contact her. Tell her Donna sent you!
You can find Mountain Laurel
in these stores:
So…tell me what you think!
Authors! How To Change The Cover Of A Published iBook Using iTunes Producer
I just used iTunes Producer
to swap out the cover of my book, Mountain Laurel. The process is simple, easy,
and quick. Within 2 hours, the new cover of my book showed up in the iTunes
iBook Store. These instructions can also be used to change the metadata (description,
categories, etc) of your book.
Before you begin, you'll need
to find your book's Apple ID number. To do this, log into
iTunesConnect.Apple.com and click 'manage my books' on the dashboard. Each book
has an Apple ID. You should also have your new cover close at hand.
1. Open iTunes Producer and
click the Look Up Metadata.
2. Enter your book's Apple ID
number.
The book's metadata will
automatically open in iTunes Producer and you can now make the necessary changes. To upload a new
cover, simply go to the Assets portion and click Cover. Insert the new cover
image. Then click Next until you get to the "Deliver Content" at the
end. Click to validate and deliver. Done!
See? Very easy.
Not Your Grandma's Oatmeal Cookies
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September has arrived, and there is one delectable treat I always make to help usher in autumn. You got it. Oatmeal cookies. Sweet, chewy rounds of goodness. Mmmm! However, these cookies aren't like any your grandmother made—not unless she was privy to my secret ingredient, that is.
What's the secret ingredient? Shredded coconut. That's what makes these mouth-watering morsels of oaty goodness so moist and delicious.
This is one of my tried and true recipes. I come back to it again and again. So fire up the oven, pull out your best mixing bowl, and let's bake up a batch of cookies.
Raisin Oat Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
2 cups raisins
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
Preheat oven to 350º. Cream the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Stir in raisins, oats, and coconut. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a light greased baking sheet. Bake for approximately 15 minutes (or until golden around the edges). Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
So...what's YOUR favorite cookie for fall?
So...what's YOUR favorite cookie for fall?
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