Low Carb: Chicken with Pepperoni Marinara Sauce

This past week, my hubby tweaked one of my favorite Cooking Light recipes for me - Chicken with Pepperoni Marinara Sauce. For most of you, the official recipe will fit in to your carb allowance. But I'm only allowed 25 carbs per meal, so it was just a tad out of my range. Here's how we tweaked it:

Rather than broiling, my hubby decided to bake the chicken. So into a ceramic casserole dish they went. He used his handy dandy baking thermometer to let him know when the chicken breasts were halfway-done. Then he added light scoops of the pepperoni sauce mixture (his version was Chunky Mushroom Ragu sauce with chopped pepperoni added) and just a little bit of cheese. Both of these helped cut down the carbs. Back into the oven the meal went, until the thermometer said they were done.

He had extra sauce and cheese on the table for the rest of the family. A side of pasta for the munchkins and steamed veggies for the entire family. It was super delicious and I didn't miss my chicken being drowned in sauce. My youngest son, who really doesn't like spaghetti sauce, preferred this recipe version. He scraped off the sauce, ate the cheese with it and said the chicken breast just had a hint of extra flavor.

However you choose to make Chicken with Pepperoni Sauce, it will be a winner! Enjoy!

Low Carb Bell Pepper "Sandwich" and a Giveaway Winner

I recently had to change my diet - per orders of the doc. Low carb. Gasp! All my fave foods will now be a very rare indulgence. Thankfully, with the help of many fabulous friends, I am discovering new yummy foods. Today, I'm sharing a sandwich option I never even considered!

The Bell Pepper "Sandwich"

1 bell pepper, halved and deseeded
Meat salad of your choice (tuna, chicken, etc)
Toppings (onions, celery, pickles, shredded cheese, nuts, etc)

Simply fill each half of the bell pepper with your meat salad. Add your toppings and enjoy!

I made mine with tuna and celery salad, then topped it with onions and pickles. It was super delicious and surprisingly very filling. My kids even tried it and most them really liked it.

Sweet Confections Cover Reveal Giveaway Winner

A huge sincere thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway. Thank you for all your comments, tweets and Facebook messages. I'm super excited to share the rest of the journey of my book release with you. And now, the winner of the $10 Redbox gift card and advance ebook copy of Sweet Confections is . . .

Destiny Shackleford! Congrats!!!

Interview with Debut Author Lisa Swinton and another Giveaway!

Today, I'm excited to share an interview with Lisa Swinton, one of my fabulous writers group friends. Her first novel, Fallen Angel, just came out last week. If you love Italy, drama and romance, then you should definitely check it out!

Book Blurb

Antonio does not believe in love at first sight until he sees her fall into a street in Milan and get hit by a motorcycle. Compelled to know if she can return his affection, he becomes Renatta’s hospital volunteer only to learn that the accident erased her memory. Together they must discover her past, present and future. In the way of happily ever after stand her opera career, tyrannical mother, and fiancé.

Antonio must win Renatta’s heart before she bends to the will of her mother and marries Marcello.Failure means a lifetime of loneliness, for love at first sight never happens twice.

About the Author

Lisa Swinton caught the romance bug early by way of fairy tales and hasn’t been able to cure it since. Instead, she feeds her addiction with romance novels and films. In between being a doctor’s wife and mother of two, she occasionally puts her B.A. in Musical Theater to good use via community theater, church choir and teaching the art of singing. In her elusive spare time she enjoys researching her family tree and baking (especially with chocolate). She loves to travel, Jane Austen, and all things Italian. In her next life, she plans to be a professional organizer.

The Interview

What is your favorite type of romance story?
Clean romance is my favorite but I'm happy to read romance in any genre or age, time place. Minus erotica of course.

If you had to summarize the book for readers, it would be . . .
Antonio falls in love at first sight with rising opera star, Renatta, but most overcome her memory loss, family and fiancée in order to gain her heart and happily ever after.

Tell us about the hero and the lucky lady.
Antonio is a down to earth level headed car designer on vacation who doesn't believe in love at first sight until it happens to him and turns his world upside down. He is a gentleman and when he loves, he loves fiercely.

Renatta sees the good in everyone and never makes waves. The accident reveals her true strength and she tackles her family issues and determines to make her own future.

If your characters could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?
Antonio would save Renatta from the motorcycle.
Renatta would never let Elisabetta go.

What scene did you have the most fun writing? Why? (include short blurb)
One of the scenes I had fun writing is when Chiara (Renatta's sister) and Stefano, (Antonio's BFF) meet. Chiara idolizes Stefano's work as a fashion photographer and so she completely freaks out in an embarrassing way when she meets him. It was fun writing their introduction and having a Beatles like moment to lighten things up.

Chiara’s eyelids fluttered open; she looked disoriented for a moment, then her eyes focused on Stefano’s face. “What happened?”

Stefano broke into a wide grin of amusement. “You fainted.”

“I did?” Her voice was soft and slightly breathless.

“Si.”

“Antonio caught you and I carried you in.”

“You did?” Chiara’s disorientation faded away as a deep red blush raced up her neck and cheeks. “You are Stefano?”

“The one and only.”

She closed her eyes and groaned. “This is officially the most embarrassing moment of my life.”

Stefano chuckled. “Well, I am happy I got to be a part of it. Do you feel well enough to sit up?”

“I think so.”

Stefano eased her up on the bench beside him and kept one arm around her for support.

Chiara covered her face with her manicured hands and asked, “Could we start over? You know, pretend I never fainted, but presented myself as a calm collected and mature young woman instead of a fanatical teenager meeting an idol?”

Who would you cast in the role of your characters if your book was optioned for a movie?
No one in Hollywood. I'd need some undiscovered actors from Italy for this. Guess we'll have to travel to Italy and have a casting call. Who wants to go?

What are you currently working on? Do you have any other releases planned for 2014?
I'm not. I've been busy getting this book ready to publish. But I have several characters clamoring to have their stories told. Ivy and Sam (a high school romance I'll probably title Ivy Climbs) and Maren and Zane (professionals in their early twenties in NY titled The Guy on the Corner).

I plan to release Ring on Her Finger in fall of 2014. You can check out the first chapter at the end of Fallen Angel.

The Giveaway!

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Sweet Confections Cover Reveal and Giveaway!

I can't believe everything is coming together so quickly for the Sweet Confections release in April. I'm totally in love with my book cover - and hope you'll love it too!

According to Rachel Marconi chocolate heals all wounds. That and throwing darts at pictures of her ex-boyfriend. Burned by yet another bad relationship, Rachel decides to reprioritize her life, putting her dream to compete on a Food Network Challenge on the top of her list and dating at the bottom crossed out in red sharpie.

But what's a girl to do when a certain sexy guy keeps asking her out?

Cue in Graydon Green, a former pro hockey player turned restaurant owner. After a lot of persistent and humorous teasing, he finally convinces Rachel to commit to a date. Just when things begin to warm up, threatening notes directed at Rachel arrive. When her bakery is vandalized, Graydon's protective streak goes on red alert. Is it her obsessive ex-boyfriend stalking her? Or maybe a challenger trying to sabotage the competition?

Either way, Rachel is definitely going to need more chocolate - perhaps drizzled over ice cream and devil's food cake.

What do you think?

What I love: The cover so totally matches my characters! I love Rachel's red hair - it's perfect! The other thing I love is the banner across the bottom with the little houses and light post and the "An Indulgence Row Novel". What a fun tie in for the series! I wish I could show you the complete print cover with the back and everything, but it's not complete yet. When I get the final copy, I'll be sure to share it on my blog.

While you're here . . .

Share the love about the Sweet Confections book cover and enter to win a Redbox gift card and an advance copy of Sweet Confections when the final pdf is ready (sometime in March).

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Snow Days and Book Delights

It's a tad bit snowy outside. Well, more like a Kansas-sized blizzard (which means we got more than 8 inches of snow). Believe me, after growing up in Pennsylvania where a blizzard meant you couldn't open the front door, Kansas snow dumps are pathetic. Nevertheless, it is unusual to get this much snow here. My kids are loving it.

No school.

Snow up over their knees = snowmen, snow forts, and snowball fights.

It also means hot cocoa, board games and books, books, books. My middle school daughter is devouring Fablehaven #5 by Brandon Mull, my high schooler is reading a variety of comic books and graphic novels, my munchkin who is down with the flu is making his way through Spirit Animals by Brandon Mull, and my youngest chicky girl is obsessed with a reading website her 1st grade teacher introduced her to - Tumble Books. She loves reading along with the books and animations.

And me? Yes, I'm reading - the final proof of Sweet Confections before it goes to print. Booyah! And hey, the cover reveal is NEXT WEEK! I can't believe it's all coming together. It's absolutely thrilling. But I keep trying to rein in the excitement, look ahead to what's on my to-do list, and enjoying the awesomeness of extra snow days with my munchkins. I hope you're all snuggled up with a book (or some other wonderful delight) on this beautiful winter day.

Name Our Town Poll Results!

First, let me start by saying, you all are amazing! I was hoping for fifty responses. Nope - we got one hundred and fifty responses. Thank you so much for sharing your opinion about what to name our fictional town. And may I say, y'all surprised us. Heather thought for sure Rusty Creek would come out on top. Me, I liked all three, but couldn't choose. But after the votes were tallied, the winner had a good 54% of the votes. And the winning town name is . . .

Crystal Creek!

And our town founders are . . . (Thanks to Random.org!)

#37 - Rebecca Belliston

#82 - Tamera Westhoff

#114 - Stephanie Taylor

Now that I know about the Belliston's, the Taylor's and the Westhoff's, I wonder, were they best friends or feuding neighbors??? Hmm, story development time.

Before you hurry off, be sure to check back for the Sweet Confections cover reveal on February 10th. In fact, if you'd like to share in the fun by blogging, Facebooking or Tweeting the cover reveal (and by doing so see the cover before anyone else!), please sign up below. I'll email you the cover, blurbs and links so you don't have to search for details.

Thank you again, everyone, for all your amazing support!

Book Cover Reveal for Elevated by Elana Johnson and a Cash Giveaway!

I absolutely LOVE Elana Johnson's YA books. So when she emailed and asked me to participate in her cover reveal, I was like--YES!!! I love her edgy cover, which really hits the YA crowd. =)

PS - Don't forget that today is the last day to cast your vote on my new series' town name. Now, on to Elana's awesome book!

The last person seventeen-year-old Eleanor Livingston wants to see on the elevator—let alone get stuck with—is her ex-boyfriend Travis, the guy she's been avoiding for five months.

Plagued with the belief that when she speaks the truth, bad things happen, Elly hasn’t told Trav anything. Not why she broke up with him and cut off all contact. Not what happened the day her father returned from his deployment to Afghanistan. And certainly not that she misses him and still thinks about him everyday.

But with nowhere to hide and Travis so close it hurts, Elly’s worried she won’t be able to contain her secrets for long. She’s terrified of finally revealing the truth, because she can’t bear to watch a tragedy befall the boy she still loves.

Praise for ELEVATED:

"ELEVATED will take you on an emotionally gripping journey through the highs and lows of first love."
~Carolee Dean, author of Take Me There and Forget Me Not

"Poignant, raw, and intense, ELEVATED is a novel that will grip your heart and linger in your mind long after you turn the last page."
~Stasia Ward Kehoe, author of Audition and The Sound of Letting Go

Find ELEVATED on the web!

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/elevated

On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18947183-elevated

About the AMAZING Elana Johnson: Elana Johnson’s work, including Possession, Surrender, Abandon, and Regret, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster), is available now everywhere books are sold. Her popular ebook, From the Query to the Call, is also available for download, as well as a Possession short story, Resist. School teacher by day, Query Ninja by night, you can find her online at her personal blog or Twitter. She also co-founded the Query Tracker blog, and contributes to the League of Extraordinary Writers.

ELEVATED Giveaway!

Enter below for a chance to win $15 PayPal cash!

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Book Announcement and Help Needed!

*** Drum roll please! ***

My novel, Sweet Confections, is coming out in April!!!

I am so absolutely, completely, fabulously thrilled/excited/on-top-of-the-world! And cooler than that, Sweet Confections is the first book in the Indulgence Row series - which means MORE books will follow! Next month, I should to have a cover to show y'all, too. Eep!

Sweet Confections blurb:

According to Rachel Marconi, chocolate heals all wounds. That and throwing darts at a picture of her ex-boyfriend. Burned by yet another bad relationship, Rachel decides to reprioritize her life, putting her dream to compete on a Food Network Challenge at the top of her to-do list and dating at the bottom crossed out with red Sharpie.

But what’s a girl to do when a certain sexy guy keeps asking her out? Cue in Graydon Green, a former pro-hockey player turned restaurant owner. After a lot of persistence and humorous teasing, he finally convinces Rachel to commit to a date. Just when things begin to warm up, threatening notes directed at Rachel arrive. When her bakery is vandalized, Graydon’s protective streak goes on red alert. Is it her obsessive ex-boyfriend stalking her? Or maybe a challenger trying to sabotage the competition? Either way, Rachel is definitely going to need some more chocolate—perhaps drizzled over ice cream and devil’s food cake.

Hmm . . . I need to fit in a few more exclamation points somewhere. Oh, yes - I need help before my book can be finalized. And that means YOUR help! There's something totally fun about the Indulgence Row series. My writing buddy Heather Tullis and I are setting our new book series in the same fictional town. The idea is that our main characters will show up as friends and other cross-characters in each others' books. It's going to be awesome!

Now, this is where I need your opinion. We can't decide on a name for our fictional town. I can tell you that it's a small town near Kansas City and both series is centered around revitalizing the community through different projects. Here's a short blurb about each series.

In The Garden series by Heather Tullis

“All of the world’s problems can be solved in a garden.” --Geoff Lawton
Piper hopes this is true when she organizes a community garden. With the help of some friends, an elementary school class, and community members (enthusiasm optional), they find that digging in the dirt nurtures life, peace—and most importantly—love.

Indulgence Row series by Danyelle Ferguson
Come visit ? Creek's newest shopping district: Indulgence Row. This charming shopping area is spearheaded by the Women's Chamber of Commerce. Come sample tasty treats, great books, and discover delightful shops built in ? Creek's historic downtown community. We're sure you'll find something —and possibly someone —to fall in love with.

Please check out the poll below and vote for your favorite town name. And, as always, there are some fun prizes to say thank you! Hurry though. The poll only lasts until Friday night. Thanks!

How to Create Tabs for Facebook Fan Pages

Since creating my author Facebook Fan page, a lot of people ask how I added tabs and then put design covers on them, too. So I wanted to share Isaac A. Wardell's awesome tutorial videos that walked me through the process. I highly recommend checking out his other YouTube videos. They're easy to understand and proceed at a nice pace. I also love that he doesn't babble for minutes at a time about unrelated stuff while you wait for the next step. =)

Here's the video to initially create the tab and content.

Once your tab is created, you'll want to customize it by making a Tab Cover. I love this fabulous Facebook page dimensions worksheet, put together by Jon Loomer. It takes all the guesswork out of getting your images to fit. Then I use Paint.net (a free software download) to create custom tab images that are the correct size. I use Paint.net a lot to make my cover banners, website images and other promotional materials. It's a great tool to learn how to use. If you own PhotoShop, that works great, too.

When your custom image is ready, watch this video tutorial by Isaac A. Wardell to upload it onto the correct tab.

It's a fairly simple process. The most time consuming part is making the tab cover, but overall, it comes together quickly. Enjoy making your Facebook Fan Page fun and interesting!

True Friends Are Always Together in Spirit

My all time favorite book and movie series is Anne of Green Gables. I have fallen in love with Anne, Gilbert and the inhabitants of PEI over and over and over throughout the years.

Recently, I saw a post on FB where someone talked about bosom buddies and what that means to her. And it made me think . . . what does it mean to me? Who are my bosom buddies?

Growing up, I had a few best friends. I wasn't the popular kid at school. I was the poor girl from a single parent home who knew she was different from the other kids. The one who was either really liked or was the bullies target for teasing. But still, there were a few really best friends. In early elementary school, it was Nicole. I was devastated when her family moved away in 3rd grade. Then there was Myranda and Ashley in the older elementary years through high school. In high school, Amy and Apryl joined our group. One by one, we all graduated and moved on. Some of us kept in touch, others have not. One ended in a heart-aching friendship break up.

In college, there were more friends, but one truly amazing friend. During the Mommy Years, I've made more friends - great friends who I adore. But I learned that a best friend isn't necessarily a bosom buddy.

True friends are always together in spirit.

- Anne of Green Gables

So what makes a bosom buddy?

There is no one formula. Thinking of my bestest girlfriends, each is uniquely different and amazing in her own way. But for some reason, when we met and got to know each other, we just clicked. Like we had known each other forever. Even though our lives have taken different directions and we may not talk for months or years at a time, when we do, it's like we just saw each other yesterday. I know if one of these ladies called me and she was in need, I would drop everything, hop a flight if needed and be there to help. And I know she would do the same for me.

It's a very rare, special gift that, once found, you cherish forever. And if you lose it, you mourn the loss for a long, long time.

My bosom buddies are MY family. The family I chose, rather than the one I was born into. Don't get me wrong, I love my siblings (some more than others :P ), but my chickie chicks, they are the sisters who I trust with my secrets, who get the real me (and love me anyway), and we provide much needed sanity for each other.

I'm curious. We all live such different lives, with different personalities. What does being a bosom buddy mean to you? How do you know if you've met one? Please share your stories and experiences!

A Christmas Letter from The Ferguson Family!

It has been a very crazy fall and winter at our house. So we opted to do electronic Christmas cards this year. Here are a few highlights from 2013!

Isaac graduated from Middle School with honors. He worked hard his last year and also won the Olathe National History Day award for his project about how 9-11 effected the United States and the world. He created a model of the attack on the towers out of Legos as part of the project. Isaac has enjoyed his first year of high school so far. He ran with the Cross Country team and is excelling in his drama class. Isaac is on the Varsity team in Boy Scouts. He's advanced to a Star rank and is continuing to work towards an Eagle rank. He went to his second year of Scout camp – 1 whole week away from the family! Isaac also started early morning seminary this year. For our family and friends who are not LDS, early morning seminary starts at 5:30 am every school day. The class lasts for an hour and the students study a different set of scriptures each year – the Old Testament, New Testament, or Book of Mormon. Isaac surprised both his parents and has absolutely loved his teacher and learning more about the Savior and scripture stories. He gets up on his own, gets ready for class, and has had 100% attendance so far.

MJ's big exciting moment this past year was auditioning for Jazz band. They only take one piano player and out of all the kids who auditioned (including the former piano player and all the older kids), she was chosen! It was a happy, happy celebration! Still on the topic of band, MJ was in her first marching band parade – although she had to be pushed in a wheelchair because the silly girl broke her foot. She learned a good lesson about not chasing her baby sister through the house! =) MJ turned the ripe old age of 12 and has moved up to the Young Women's program at church. She's singing with the church choir, has performed in flute ensembles, and also in the church's community Nativity play. On the school front, 6th grade was very challenging – but MJ persevered and really loves her 7th grade team. She's doing great, finishing each quarter with honors. Over the summer, MJ took cooking classes from the Olathe 21st Century Culinary Arts Club. And she didn't burn down the school building! Yeah! The best part (aside from eating all the yummilicious treats she brought home) is that she now cooks for the family every Sunday. MJ took on the NaNoWriMo challenge for the first time this year! She exceeded her goal and wrote over 10,000 words on a YA novel!

Rob is obsessed with polar bears, polar bears, and more polar bears. He has quite the collection going and loves to go to the zoo to visit the polar bears and talk to their zoo keeper. Aside from all things polar beary, Rob has been very active at school. He's in 4th grade this year and is in the running club, Presidential Service, Math Wings, learning about computer programming (he designed his first video game!), in the school choir and earned his black belt in Recorder Karate. Whew! At church, he's loving cub scouts and singing in the children's choir. Outside of church and school, Rob is making progress in his piano lessons, making lots of Lego creations, and loves to ride his bike. As always, Rob is still a big goofball. He makes us all smile regularly.

Anna Banana (she doesn't like to be called Banana any more) wants to be just like her big sister – to the point of driving MJ and everyone else in the house insane. Anna is in 1st grade this year and she loves her teacher, Mrs. Boswell. She's made huge improvements with her reading! Anna also sings in the children's choir at church – and sings everywhere she goes! She loves to make up songs to sing and play on the piano. Anna's big accomplishment this year was learning to ride a big girl bike with no training wheels! Her favorite part of the summer was riding horses and fly fishing at Uncle Dan and Aunt Erica's house. She caught more fish than everyone else put together and is now a horse fanatic. Almost every book she brings home from the library is about horses – no matter if they are fictional stories or guide books for taking care of your own horse. She says she wants to be a veternarian and own her own ranch with horses when she grows up.

John is now one of the website architects for Sprint.com. He works with a 24 hour team of people here in the U.S. and also abroad in India. He received his 5 year employee certificate and also got a raise. John is still enjoying his work as the church Cub Master. He says hanging out with the 8-11 year old boys is just about his maturity level. =) He and Danyelle are also the Nursery Leaders for their congregation. They have the best calling – to play with toys, sing songs, and eat snacks with the 18 month old to 3 year old munchkins. It's awesome! John won NaNoWriMo this year. 50K words in 30 days on his 2nd middle grade novel. John spent most of the summer either taking care of the munchkins or taking care of Danyelle when she broke her foot two days before their family vacation. He replanned their vacation so it was crutches and wheelchair friendly, even finding a way to still go camping for the first time as a family! With all that stress, John took up knitting to decompress. He's created lots of fabulous stuff so far!

Danyelle traveled A LOT this year. She went to Pennsylvania three times, Texas twice, and Maryland once. She spent about 2 months on the road. She was the keynote speaker and presenter at two Inter-faith conventions. She had her first fiction short story come out in an anthology – Carol of the Tales and Other Nightly Noels. It was a very exciting year! And yes, she broke her foot. But that didn't stop her from enjoying her anniversary vacation. She and John celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary and went to Branson for a week – just the two of them!!! Thankfully, Branson was very wheelchair friendly. Danyelle teased John that all the wheelchair pushing was training for their golden years. Other things that took up her time (other than fun family stuff) were months of physical therapy, organizing the Storymakers Midwest Writers Conference, learning how to crochet, and refreshing her flute playing skills. She sings with her church choir, performed in the church Nativity play, serves on her school district Special Education council, and is also on a committee for the Inter-faith Hospitality Network (which benefits local homeless families). For Christmas, Danyelle decided to give back in a personal way by having her hair cut off and donated to Locks of Love. With all the craziness of the year, her favorite thing to do was to just be at home with John and the kids.

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your families and friends

and a fabulous New Year!

One last note . . . here's a little something to make you laugh.

Our favorite Muppets Christmas Video!

The Piano Guys: Carol of the Bells (for 12 Cellos)

Wit our own cello player in the family, this is easily one of our favorite cello songs. Well, really, anything by the Cello God from The Piano Guys is our fave! =) Happy Holidays!

Win Autographed Books for Winter Break!

At my house, Winter Break is filled with fun activities - trips to the movie theater, playing board games, and devouring books. Today, I have three awesome books for you to enter to win. I met each of these authors at writers conferences and asked them to sign the books for my readers. They're fabulous reads that I know you'll enjoy!

Rocky Road: A Culinary Mystery by Josi S. Kilpack

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Just One Day by Gayle Forman

To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below. The contest ends on Sunday, December 22nd at midnight. Winners will be announced Monday and books shipped that same day. Be sure to use the entry option "Leave a Blog Post Comment" to tell me which book or books you'd like. I'll do my best to accommodate the winners. I can only ship to U.S.A addresses.

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The Piano Guys - Where Are You Christmas?

I love this song! Especially the added sweetness of a child singing a small portion of it. Beautiful! I hope your holidays are filled with love, laughter, friends, and family.

The Muppets Chickens: Joy to the World

My boys burst into giggles every time they listen to the chickens sing! =)

The Piano Guys - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

My kids think this video is both amazing (He's playing the piano upside down mom!!!) and hilarious (the dog!!!). I'm sure that about fifty of the video views on You Tube are from my munchkins alone. Enjoy!

The Muppets: Merry Christmas!

It's just not Christmas without the Muppets!

The Piano Guys: Angels We Have Heard on High

This compilation is so peaceful and beautiful. I love the feeling it brings to my day. Enjoy!

Purchase Your Next Plot Here!

Need some interesting characters? A twisty plot? But your brain is fried from NaNoWriMo? No problem! Go visit Teddy's Story Joint via Studio C and they'll hook you right up!

My New Holiday Book Is Out!

Carol of the Tales and Other Nightly Noels: An Advent Anthology, Volume 2

Christmas carols capture the spirit of Christmas, and Carol of the Tales and Other Nightly Noels brings beloved carols to life like never before. Throw your cares away with the tales from sweet silver bells. Find out how Santa Claus dabbles in time travel, and feel the redemption of a dying wife's parting Christmas gift. Experience all this and more in these heartfelt, entertaining tales donated by a team of authors from across the country, working together for a good cause. The proceeds from this book will be donated toward Autism research and advocacy.

Anthology authors include: Shirley Bahlmann, C. David Belt, Rebecca Carlson, Loretta Carter, Madonna D. Christensen, Danyelle Ferguson, C. Michelle Jefferies, Theric Jepson, Ryan Larsen, Angie Lofthouse, Betsy Love, J. Lloyd Morgan, Janet Olsen, Teresa G. Osgood, Brian Ricks, Jennifer Ricks, Peg Russell, and Michael Young.

Carol of the Tales is the 2nd book in the Advent Anthology series. Both anthologies are available in paperback and Amazon Kindle formats from Amazon.com.

My Anthology Story:

The Gifts of Friendship and Hope by Danyelle Ferguson

The Gifts of Friendship and Hope, (based on the song "Mary, Did You Know?") is about Holly, a mother of two children--one of whom has autism--struggling through her first Christmas as a single mother.

At the end of yet another difficult day, Holly can't decide if she should use the little energy she has left to clean the kitchen or wrap holiday gifts. Especially when all she really wants is to go upstairs, sink into her bed and embrace the oblivion of sleep. When her best friends from the local Autism Society group arrive armed with treats, ribbon and bows, Holly is reminded that laughter and friendship not only ease away the stress of a crazy day, but add a big dose of hope for the future as well.

How to Order:

Notes from Danyelle: I have a limited number of copies of Carol of the Tales available if you'd like an autographed copy. Please visit my website to order. Otherwise, check out these Amazon links below.

Kindle Version of Carol of the Tales and Other Nightly Noels (Advent Anthologies)

Sing We Now of Christmas: An Advent Anthology, Volume 1

Utah Christmas Charity Concert

To kick off the release of the second anthology, a Christmas concert will be held at American Fork Junior High, in American Fork, Utah on December 7^th, 2013. The concert will feature the Saltaires Barbershop Chorus. All proceeds from this concert will be donated to charity as well. Purchase: Tickets for the Concert: https://tickettool.net/en/index/eventpopup/b54dab4bd0a13fa6975068f4784dfaa5

Blog Tour Giveaway

Use the rafflecopter below to enter to win wonderful prizes, such as tickets to the concert and copies of the anthology.

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Other Blogs on the Tour:

Www.notesfromthewritingchair.blogspot.com

Www.causeisaidso.me

www.queenoftheclan.com

www.JohnWaverly.com

http://iamareader.com

http//:lisaswinton.blogspot.com

moniquebucheger.blogspot.com

http://mariahoagland.blogspot.com/

http://www.annadelc.com/blog

http://jlloydmorgan.blogspot.com/