Hey there, Friends!
I can't believe it's already March, the herald of SPRING! We have a saying in Kentucky that March "comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb." And, boy, that was the truest statement ever this year! March started off with straight-line tornado-force winds that ripped up all sorts of trees, tore up roofs, blew out windows, toppled barns, and knocked out power for millions of people for weeks. It wasn't tornadoes though. It was what I'll call a "dry hurricane" because the winds were hurricane-like winds that lasted much longer than tornadoes, but minus the water. Since then it's been wintery weather, cold, high winds, rain, and even snow. Yet each day, the trees and flowers bloom a little more and we get closer and closer to consistent sunny, spring weather. Whoo-hoo! Whatever happens, the months are flying by and now that spring is on the way I'm already booking up with book fairs and book releases. I just finished the wonderful Southern Kentucky Book Festival (SOKY) this past weekend. It was my first time attending and it was a blast. I have more about it on my website but, needless to say, I'm already looking forward to next year! This quarter's newsletter will offer a recipe for a delicious holiday cake, a look at what I'm reading, what I'm working on, and more! |
|
|
I LOVE Pea Salad and always go back for seconds whenever it lands on a holiday dinner table. Loaded with peas, onions, and bacon, this recipe is sure to be a hit for an Easter holiday dinner, a company potluck, or a weekend barbeque. I will say this particular recipe uses chunks of cheese where I've always made it with shredded cheese. Get the full recipe from The Pioneer Woman here. |
|
|
I had the great pleasure of working with Carmen on the early drafts of this book and, in the meantime, won an amazing friend and critique partner! I can't even express how thrilled I am for her. She worked so hard to bring this project to fruition. I'm her biggest fan and cheerleader and am tickled pink to be able to tell everyone about her new book!
I'll be the first to admit that I don't read much fantasy and have never even heard of a "fractured fairytale." However, I am a big fan of the TV series ONCE and really enjoy classic fairytales. So when this book popped up as an opportunity to critique, I was all in.
This has been such a fun book. It's part modern world and part fairy tale, with dashes of history and time travel. Rumpelstiltskin (Rump) vows to get his revenge on The Fates for their callous refusal to give him a different story-ending, so he kidnaps Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel and drops them off in different timelines. Cinderella faces off against Jack the Ripper, Red Riding Hood gets trapped in the Amityville House, and Rapunzel ends up on The Titanic. Book Two, An Atonement Tale (which I also had the great fortune of reading pre-publication), should be out this spring. In this sequel, Rump is back on his trail of vengeance. He casts Snow White into the Wild West and dumps Cinderella's husband in the American Revolution. However, Rump himself gets a dose of his own medicine when Godmother throws him into the medieval Bubonic Plague. The cleverly crafted Vengeful Tale is currently available on Amazon. And even better, there's a FREE prequel to the series, called Before Fairy Taled, available on her website if you sign up for her newsletter. Summary of the book Rumpelstiltskin has seen Godmother grant wishes ad nauseam, and the Fate sisters manipulate lives like puppet masters on a daily basis. But when Rump asks them to save his beloved wife from cancer, the crones maliciously refuse—claiming endings can’t be changed. Using three unwitting fairy tale characters, Rump will prove them wrong. He starts with Cinderella. The pampered podiatrist doesn’t want a new story, but Rump’s not asking for permission. He whisks her to Victorian London, where Cindy must share the streets with Jack the Ripper. Next up is Rapunzel. He drops the fiery heroine onto the frosty deck of the RMS Titanic, warning her of icebergs and trusting the wrong person. With a brutal Yukon winter approaching, Red Riding Hood happily accepts his offer for a getaway in Amityville, New York. Rumor has it the abandoned Dutch Colonial has a dark history. As the women’s lives hang by a gossamer thread, Rump finds that manipulating endings isn’t all it’s cracked up to be—especially when destiny and death have the final word. |
|
|
Carmen Erickson has always loved fairy tales, has a soft spot for villains, and believes Disney World really is the happiest place on Earth. When she isn’t writing her own books, she’s editing the beautiful words of her clients and critique partners. She lives in Minnesota, where she’s not entirely certain those ten thousand lakes outweigh the number of days below zero. Carmen is all about family and is happy as long as she's with her beloved husband, kids, grandkids, and cats. She enjoys reading, going for walks, watching football, and doting on animals. Find out more about Carmen and her books here. |
|
|
To be honest, this year has gotten off to a bit of a slow start. I've struggled with motivation and energy. I just don't want to do the things. I want them done, but find myself wishing I could snap my fingers like Samantha on Bewitched and have all the things magically resolved! But, like my Small Batch series protagonist, Rook Campbell, I'm a big fan of the Suck It Up Buttercup mentality and find that if I put my head down and power through, I'm better off. I don't know if this is true, but supposedly the Japanese have a practice called the Kaizen method. The gist of it is to do something you don't want to do for just one minute. In theory, you'll get into it and continue until the project is done because starting really is half the battle. Of course, the meaning of Kaizen and its practices are deeper and more complex than this, but this little nugget is gold and I've used it many times to get my motivation revved up. When I don't feel like writing, I do only a sentence or a paragraph and it gets me a little further ahead than I would've otherwise been and, most of the time, I often overcome my initial lack of motivation and end up writing more and longer than I thought I would. This works for cleaning the house and exercise too, by the way. What I'm working on right now... I'm currently working on the first draft of Small Batch #3, Unbridled Spirits. I'm about sixty pages in, so it's going slow, but I hope to have it done soon so I can start working on Book #2 in my Widows & Shadows historical mystery series. As for the Hazardous Hoarding series, I'm not sure when another will come out, though I do have ideas for two more. More than anything, I'm itching to get these series done so I can start working on some other books. It seems there's always a ton of ideas and never enough time or energy to bring them all to fruition! And as for what's coming up...I won't go through the tedium of listing all the things coming up this year, but I am keeping a running schedule on my website. However, I would like to hit a few of the highlights. |
|
|
Here are some cool things happening this year... I just signed a contract with Recorded Books for the Widows & Shadows series! I'll keep you posted on the release date for that. Book Birthday! May 31, 2023: Mermaid Cove, Book #2 in the Small Batch mystery series releases. Book Birthday! June 20, 2023: A Sampling of Sleuths, a mystery short story anthology releases. It includes my short story "Killer Thanksgiving," featuring Birdie Harper from Dumpster Dying (Book #1 of the Hazardous Hoarding Series). Book Birthday! October 10, 2023: Widow's Blush, Book #1 in the Widows & Shadows historical mystery series releases. |
|
|
Y'all come on over to GoodReads, too! |
|
|
|
|
