This week the Pink Fuzzy Slippers are participating in a fun blog hop and we hope you participate: Small Blog, Big Giveaways.

Today I will be giving away two Kindle releases, ALL OF ME, and CHAMPAGNE FOR TWO.

I would like to open up a discussion on a New York Times article dated Oct.16th, about Amazon signing up authors. The article goes on to say that they are encouraging writers to cast aside their publishers, and is aggressively wooing some of their top authors.

They haven’t contacted me yet, but I’m still hoping! LOL

Amazon will publish 122 books this fall in an array of genres which will put them in competition with the New York houses that are their prominent suppliers.

So, my question is, do you approve of this move, or think they are overstepping their grounds and an area of conflict?

Please feel free to comment and at the end of the day I will choose a winner for my two free downloads.
http://smallblogsbiggiveaways.blogspot.com/2011/10/small-blogs-big-giveaways-4th-edition.html

I had a love/hate relationship with my Christmas presents this year. Sure, Santa was good to me, but he was also probably chuckling as I unwrapped some of my gifts. Tucked in among the sweaters, scarves, and other useful items was my first digital reader and what my cellular provider calls a smart phone. I soon learned that being a smart phone didn’t mean it would be any less challenging for me to master. Hey, I belong to the old school generation, so give me a break!


Even with all my concerns, upon seeing the Kindle I jumped to my feet and stomped out an Irish jig. Then fear set in again, for my track record wasn’t too good when it came to anything technological.

But being a writer I decided to put my experience into words. Below is my adaption of Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Christmas Morning

By Pamela Varnado

Twas Christmas morning and all through my house,

Nothing was clicking, not even my computer mouse.

The presents were wrapped and sat under the tree,

Ribboned and bowed with much love and much glee.

My family was up and out of their beds,

While visions of Christmas dinner swirled in their heads.

My husband in his plush robe, and I in my Tee,

Had just settled down for a hot cup of coffee.

When out in the family room there arose such a shout,

I sprang to my feet to see what it was about.

Across the tile and the carpet I flew in a flash

And raced in to see what was happening at the speed of a dash

When, what to my amazement did I see,

But presents wrapped up under the Christmas tree just for me.

My son Joel did a little dance, so lively and quick,

And shouted, “Look Mama, there’s gifts from St. Nick”.

Some of the packages were large and very hard to lift,

But he laughed and he danced as he passed out each gift.

Here Mama! Here Papa! Here Christina and Lily!

For Triston! For Ivan! For Andrew and Billy!

From my lap to my head my stack of presents did rise,

Until I thought they would surely end in the sky.

So I ripped off the wrappings in lickety-split.

As I basked in the warmth from the fireplace pit.

And then, my heart skipped more than a couple of beats,

As I beheld my first digital reader, what a magnificent feat.

I drew in a breath, my joy so wondrous and complete,

That I thought I would float right off of my feet.

My Kindle was sleek and fit right in my hand,

With a 6 inch Display and New E Ink Pearl Technology it could only be called grand.

I stood to my feet and I raced to my office,

I needed to hurry up and plug it in to charge it.

My eyes, how they twinkled as I stared down with pleasure!

And oohed and aahed over my WI-FI ready treasure!

After a while it was charged and ready to go,

So I flipped on the switch and smiled at the screen’s glow.

I spoke not a word, as I studied the User’s Guide,

For this Christmas I was determined to make such great strides.

I played with my new toy like a ten year old girl,

Pushed buttons and selected menus all the time doing a swirl.

I downloaded Blessings in Disguise and Daughter of the Wind,

Notorious Eliza, Hot Spanish Nights, and one of my favorite’s Blood Sin,

A press of my finger and out flowed Evil’s Witness, Tripping through Time, and Rx for Trust,

And, of course, my own story After Glow was a must.

Nestled in my favorite recliner I browsed and I read.

Until finally I realized this technology was nothing to dread.

I was soon ready to tackle things even more challenging, it’s true.

Like smart phones and IPads and future technology, too.

They allow me to reach out in ways I thought never to do,

To add a humanizing factor to gigabytes and electronic paper, to name a few

Now with pictures and stories and online greeting cards I can say,

Happy holidays to all, and to all a have a great day!

Below is a recipe for a wassail drink to warm your insides on a cold winter's night. I made it, took the pictures, and blogged about it last year, so I’m being lazy and posting again. Well, not entirely lazy. Practical, too. I’m the only person in the house who’ll drink this wassail – my husband’s allergic to pineapple and my daughter doesn’t like fruit drinks. I don’t think the cat or dog want it either. Consequently, if I make it, I’ll drink it all. Every last drop. Frankly, although I could probably use the anti-oxidants, I sure don’t need the calories. So I’m cyber-partaking today, and also talking about the giveaway I'm participating in along with a bunch of other Harlequin/Mills and Boon Historical authors.

Since I'm so cyber-challenged, I couldn't put links under all these covers, but suffice it to say that each of 22 authors has chosen a day to give away a prize, and that there's a grand prize of a Kindle at the end. You can enter once at each author's site, and the more often you enter, the better your chance of winning the Kindle. My special day is December 7th! I'll be asking visitors to go to my website and read an excerpt and answer a question for a chance to win a gift certificate. Other authors might make you hunt for a hidden ornament or post a blog comment. It's fun!

Today's featured author is Jeannie Lin. Her debut novel, Butterfly Swords, is fabulous! To visit her site and enter her contest, go here.


Now for the wassail. The word wassail comes from an old English toast meaning "be in good health." There are two kinds of wassailing. One is going door to door singing wassail songs (some of which are well-known carols) and getting rewarded with a cup of wassail and maybe a few tasty treats. This is where the leaves of green come in -- boughs of greenery over the doors and as decorations within the house. In traditional wassailing, the wassailers make a procession from room to room, banging pots and pans to cleanse the house of any evil left over from the past year.

The other kind of wassailing is singing to apple trees on Twelfth Night to ensure a good harvest. Wassailers go from orchard to orchard to wish the trees well with songs and a toast. Even the trees get to sample the cider made from their apples, to encourage them to produce plenty of fruit in the coming year. Again, there's lots of noise, with pots, pans, and (because we're outdoors) guns, to drive evil spirits away from the trees.

Here's a very simple wassail recipe. Quantities are approximate. 


1 gallon apple juice or cider
1/2 gallon pineapple juice
Juice of four oranges
2-4 cinnamon sticks
Honey to sweeten the brew if you have a very sweet tooth
2 more oranges, prepared according to the directions below
More cinnamon sticks, to use as straws (kids love this)


Mix the first five ingredients in a large saucepan and warm slowly over low heat until good and hot (but not boiling). Cut the top, bottom, and most of the rind off the remaining oranges, ending up with a roughly hexagonal shape. (In my case, a catastrophe.) Squeeze the oranges very gently over the pot to extract some of the juice, then slice them. Just before serving, float the slices in the wassail as decoration. My sloppy slices didn't qualify as decorative in any sense of the word, but the wassail tasted lovely. If you don't mind a little bitterness from the rind, you might try using thin slices of orange with the rind on. It's much tidier and prettier that way. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS and WASSAIL!

Our new Christmas Anthology, An American Rose Christmas, is officially out at The Wild Rose Press on Dec. 11th, but already out as an Early Bird special.  And An American Rose Christmas is offered as part of a kewl print bundle the Wild Rose Press has put together for the holidays attractively packaged in a Wild Rose tote bag.  Also offered are gift bundles with a collection of digital download stories in a holiday folder ready to unzip to your E-reader or other electronic device.

Speaking of which, Sony has come out with a new E-reader, as has Barnes&Noble, (sold out but they say get in line) both in competition with Amazon’s amazing Kindle.  The electronic E-reading market is rapidly expanding.  Very exciting.  You can store hundreds of books on one reader.  The ultimate in Green! I just can’t decide which one I want.  The Wild Rose Press also has a lovely gift shop I would invite you to visit.

I chose this company because I love the wonderful sense of community and caring, rare in a publisher, and I knew the Wild Rose was going places.  I’ve been delighted with their appreciation of my work and am very happy to grow with them.  If you haven’t visited their site, you’re in for an eye-catching treat.  Some of the best and most diversified romance writers are with The Wild Rose Press whose titles span the romance genre.  I see only more good things springing forth from ‘The Garden’ as we authors fondly refer to our family at the Wild Rose.  The happening place in romance.  Word is The Wild Rose Press will be adding audio books as an option in 2010 for those of you who would rather listen than read.

Happy reading!