It's Snowing at the Classic and Cozy Corner!

Welcome to the world of Classic and Cozy writers...

Come on. Walk with me down Main Street! (We'll cut through the park.)

It's not far now. (Crunch, crunch, crunch.) This is it... Can you hear the music coming from inside?

As we step inside, we are greeted by the smell of cookies...

...the sound of a crackling fire...

...the sight and smell of a tree...

...and coming from the corner of the room, someone is reading from a Classic and Cozy Book.

My gift to one of you...

So sign up to follow my blog at https://sofiecouch.com/blog/ and I'll choose a couple of names and post the winner on my blog,

In celebration of the holiday, to launch an overhaul of SofieCouch.com, I’m giving away the Christmas Trifecta – one of each, IN THE ST. NICK OF TIME, IN THE ST. NICK OF TIME…AGAIN, and DRAGON RUN, a not so Christmassy collection of short stories. I’ll draw a name from our current followers here at ClassicAndCozyBooks.blogspot.com, and a name from new and old followers at SofieCouch.com and those folks will receive a copy of each of those short-shorts! Well, I think it’s exclamation worthy!!! Woot, woot!

And if you haven’t already, you can still order books in time for Christmas from the many amazing writers here at Classic and Cozy. They are books with heart that anyone would appreciate finding under their tree.

Changing Seasons

 by Fran McNabb

It’s that time of year, the time when warm breezes switch to cooler, or in some cases, much colder winds. I don’t live in the north where brilliant colors on hillsides tell everyone that autumn is here, but even in the South we have little indicators that winter is on its way.

As I walked up our stairs with the morning newspaper, I caught a motion in the bayou. (Yes, I still like to read the news in paper form. Hubby reads online.) I stopped and watched as a small duck bobbed on the water, ducked under momentarily, then popped up close-by. I don’t know the real name of these little ducks, but they appear every year about this time and spend the cold months on our bayou. I called them “Mama’s ducks” because my mother used to sit in the sun room keeping track of what they were doing. They gave her hours of pleasure. Mom is no longer with us, but when I see her ducks, I can smile and remember how she loved them and the joy she had watching them.

This morning there was only one little fellow on the water, but as the week goes on, there will be a few more. I don’t know where they spend the summer, but I’m thrilled they choose my little corner of the world to get through the winter.

In the last Classic and Cozy Blog, Deborah Nolan wrote about Bucket Lists. My bucket list includes a trip up north to see the changing leaves, but whether or not I actually get to see the brilliant changes on the northern hillsides, I can at least know my year is changing with the appearance of my little ducks. The ducks may not be as spectacular as the changing of the leaves, but for me they give me a warm feeling throughout the cold winter.

What tells you that your year is moving on? Do you wake up one morning and suddenly feel the frigid air around you or even a sprinkling of snowflakes? Do you step outside and see the hint of a color change in the trees. Mother Nature can give us tragedies in the form of tornadoes and hurricanes, but she can also provide us with little things that make our days brighter.

Winter is coming so step outside and see what you can find that puts a smile on your face.

FRAN MCNABB lives on the Gulf Coast and uses this setting in many of her novels and blogs. She writes sweet romances and presently has nine available. A SOLDIER'S HONOR is her latest. Visit her at www.FranMcNabb.com or at mcnabbf@bellsouth.net

Hitting the Wall

I missed last month's posting. I can't write and lose weight at the same time apparently.

Defatification is hard work, I keep it under 1600 calories and I work off 600 on the torture machine of choice - the treadmill  - and I still can only manage to lose 1/2 to 1 lb a week for a total of less than 50 in a year and a half, while my sister, Ms. Fatty Fatterstein has dropped 85 since January. Maybe I left my metabolism in heaven and she picked it up on the way here when she was born.  Being related, you would think she would give it back once she hit her goal.  But noooooooo. She looks great, I still have a tire around my middle, albeit I'm down from a truck tire to a mid-size car now. I'm aiming for one of those smart car tires by the end of summer.

Did you know that sugar free jello has 10 calories and only equals 100 calories when you eat ten of them? Those great Skinny Cow Ice Cream bars have 100 calories each.  The whole box equals 600 calories and that's equal to about how much I should eat at dinner, which with the utmost shame, but with a satisfied sweet tooth, I have done on more than one occasion.

I think I see where I'm going wrong.

My youngest son is getting engaged at the end of the year to a women whose mama is about a size 2.  I have no intention of wearing one of those mother of the groom dresses when they get married in 2016.  You know the ones - heavily beaded, brocade, jacket with matronly matching dress, the kind one buys when nothing else fits. I want a slinky one-shoulder jobbie that shows off my ink on top and my booty  -which needs to be about two sizes smaller by then -  on the bottom.

So if I kinda go away for a while again, it could mean I'm in the middle of booty-pops to a hot Adam Lambert song. I know he's gay, but once you look in those amazing eyes God blessed him with, you want to get a spatula and turn him.  Oh, sorry, that's not very PC, is it?  Apologies if I offended.

For a while anyway, at least until I get down to a size somewhere between Miss Piggy and one of those airburshed models in magazines, if I am not at the computer frantically trying to get Book 2 in my 3-book series ready for the editor, I'll be either on my Instrument of Torture walking 5 miles uphill to some exotic location that only exists in my head or in the basement rocking out to Lambert.  Feel free to join me.  Misery loves company and I have ice cream.

They Get Me! Why my Writer Friends are Important

Dorothy Parker had the Algonquin Roundtable. The fictional character Richard Castle has his famous poker buddies. Just like those two iconic literary figures I have a close circle of writer friends that I consider my pals and confidants. Occasionally if our schedules allow we even get to hang out together in person. A few of them have been with me since the infancy of my career. They’ve known me since long before I became a published author. They’ve been with me through my thin and thick waistline, have weathered countless rejections and celebrated my first and subsequent sales. They know my family and I consider them my extended family. We are roommates at conferences and co-presenters at workshops. These same women also give me the kick in the pants I need when a writing slump hits or when I received that one particularly painful rejection and dramatically sob how I can’t go on. They are my cheerleaders.

And don’t we all need a cheerleader every now and again?

Writing is one of the most solitary careers out there. Days can go by when I swear I don’t speak to anyone other than my characters. It’s wonderful to know that when I turn on my laptop and head out to the internet that through any social media outlet I can connect with another writer. But nothing beats seeing them in person. Some of my friends I only get to see once or twice a year while attending conferences and writing retreats.  A handful of others I’m lucky enough to enjoy a cup of tea or a three hour lunch with.

Though I don’t have a name as auspicious as the Algonquin Roundtable for my circle of writing friends, I still depend on them to keep me sane. But more importantly I appreciate and love them for sticking with me all these years and I look forward to many more years of friendship and support. I want each and every one of them to know how much I cherish them. Oh and maybe I’ll start calling them Tracey’s Team! Just kidding…

An Amazon Top Ten bestselling historical romance author, Tracey sold her first book on 9/9/99! Tracey’s books have been translated into several languages. She has appeared on the award winning Cox Cable Television show, Page One and at the famous Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC. She holds membership in Romance Writers of America, American Christian Fiction Writers, and Novelists Inc. Tracey also writes women’s fiction contemporary romance.  You can learn more about Tracey and her books by visiting her websites at www.traceylyons.com or www.traceysorel.com.

 

Travel Makes the Heart Grow Broader

Aberglasney Gardens, © Leigh Verrill-Rhys

Some of us are born with wanderlust firmly lodged in our DNA. While we might be rooted in a village or a crowded city, our instincts are hungry for other places: faraway places or simply places we have never been.

For those of us who don’t have the opportunity to travel, there are books: history, travel guides, coffee table photography collections.

And for those of us who want more from our "armchair" wanderlust, there are novels. Charles Dickens will take us to Victorian England. Gabriel Garcia Marquez brings us to the countries of South America, as does Isabel Allende and, with Miguel Asturias, we explore Central America. If we chose, we can visit Japan in the company of Kobo Abe or Africa with Chinua Achebe. Frank Waters takes his readers to the American Southwest of Native Americans and we learn about the experiences of settlers and frontiers men in the early west from Zane Grey.

Jane Austen is our authentic source of what life was like for young women of the early 19^th Century and George Eliot gave us the women of the English country and town in the middle of the same century. Edith Wharton took us to the fashionable, constricted society of New York at the end of this century.

Novels in all genres provide the same pleasurable excursions to the exotic, the sublime and the strange. A sense of place is one of the essential elements of fiction. Without that, we flounder in the ether. Despite our desire for adventure, we want to be sure of our place in this fictional world.

For those of we wanderers who write, this allows us the exceptional opportunity to satisfy our inborn curiosity about our world under the guise of research.

Where do you like to spend your time exploring the fictional world?

We can start right here with the authors contributing to Classic & Cozy. For instance, Loretta C. Rogers writes historical fiction about the American West, including some places and events we wouldn’t consider ‘western’ at all. Sandy Cody writes mysteries, one of which takes place along the Mississippi River. Sierra Donovan writes sweet, contemporary romances set in the atmosphere of ‘small town’ America. For those who like sweet historical romances, set in the Adirondack Mountain region of New York State, Tracey Lyons is your lady.

I have selected these colleagues solely at random and if you click on any of the names to the right of this post, you’ll find some of the best in the genres of classic and cozy romance, western, fantasy and mystery novels.

Pentre Ifan Cromlech, Penfro, Cymru

If you are keen on the mysterious beaches of paradise, have a peak at Marty Ambrose’s list of books. We also have Kathye Quick’s multi-genre efforts for historical romance, urban fantasy and contemporary romance. Speaking of contemporary romance, I’ve been known to contribute a few novels to this sub-genre, as well as historical romances set in medieval Wales under my pen name, Lily Dewaruile.

Happy traveling!

The Coziest Things--A Sing Long

     In preparing for this blog post I went out and conducted a Man on the street interview, asking people to define “Cozy.” Not surprisingly, I found it’s defined differently by different people. Anything from a cup of tea on a rainy day to a favorite moth-eaten sweater passed down from a grandma to granddaughter.  All shared one common thread...cozy is anything that makes one feel warm and fuzzy inside.

     But the best answer of all was sung to me, in a high, clear voice…”Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.  Bright paper packages tied up with string…”

     Good enough in and of itself, but I got to thinking how it might apply to this blog post, and more importantly, to the books this blog is promoting.  Then it hit me, a bit of revamp, a little remix, and voila a cozy little song.  Feel free to sing along…

<<Sung to the tune of My Favorite Things from the Sound of Music>>

A pair of thick socks or a day at the health spa,

Warm cookies and p-js and a day with no bra on

A book filled with romance and not just one fling…

These are a few of the coziest things…

A song that stirs memories of a night with a loved one

A day on the sofa with Murder, She Wrote on

Mysteries with bodies but no gore does it bring

These are a few of the coziest things….

Horses and saddles and boots that go scritch-scratch

Hoe downs and trail rides and dinners of “fresh catch”

A simpler life style and a cowboy who sings

These are a few of the coziest things…

When the world’s mean,

Life gets crazy,

When my date’s a cad…

I simply curl up with the coziest things

And then I don’t feel soooooo bad!

So from those of us who write these classic and cozy things, we invite you, dear readers, to cozy up and Read On!  Books by our “classic and cozy” writers can be found by clicking on the Sweet Romance, Cozy Mystery or Classic Western tabs in the top menu.  

  

ABOUT JAYNE:  Jayne Ormerod writes what she knows—small towns (influenced by her childhood growing up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio) and beach settings (a result of 30 years as a navy spouse, always living within a flip-flop’s throw of the ocean.)  Thanks to a youth spent reading Nancy Drew and an adulthood devouring the words of Janet Evanovich, Mary Daheim and Lillian Jackson Braun, she can now write about amateur sleuths, exploding cars and dead bodies with a modicum of authority.  You can read more about Jayne and her cozy mysteries at www.jayneormerod.com