Do you know what this is? 
Guess correctly, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a copy of my upcoming July Samhain release, Bending Over Backwards and a few extra goodies from me sent in the mail (US only for these, due to contents) to one lucky winner – guess away! I’ll choose a winner Monday night (and that’s no April Fool’s joke!).
Sam
So, the time is upon us — the release of the Strangers on a Train series! And to make sure that everyone know’s we’re blogging our butts off and doing a whole string of giveaways to boot!
Please visit me and the other authors of the Strangers on a Train stories on our blog tour, March 25-April 22. Find out how we came up with the concept that became Strangers on a Train, read about our own train experiences, and enter to win copies of Ticket Home, Back on Track, Tight Quarters, Big Boy, and Thank You for Riding and other prizes.
Below I’ve listed our stops and which book/author is posting—which also tells you which story you can enter to win by commenting on that post. “All the authors” means you can enter to win a complete set!
March 25, Bookaholic Anon, all the authors
March 26, The Raunch Dilettante, Thank You for Riding by Meg Maguire
March 27, Blogging by Liza, Big Boy by Ruthie Knox
March 28, Love to Read for Fun, Ticket Home by Serena Bell
March 29, Intrepid Reader, Back on Track by Donna Cummings
April 1, Kindles and Wine, Big Boy
April 2, RELEASE DAY! We’ll be at four different locations, giving away full sets of the book. Serena Bell will be at Romance@Random, Ruthie Knox will be at FictionVixen and Meg Maguire will be at Smexybooks. All five authors will visit HEA USA Today.
April 3, Brunette Librarian, Tight Quarters by Samantha Hunter
April 4, Delighted Reader, Ticket Home
April 5, Ex Libris, all the authors
April 8, Confessions of an Opinionated Book Geek, Big Boy
April 9, Feeling Fictional, Ticket Home
April 10, Romance Around the Corner, Thank You for Riding
April 11, Book Crack, all the authors
April 12, Romantic Book Affairs, all the authors
April 15, Harlequin Junkie, Tight Quarters
April 16, Shh Mom’s Reading, Back on Track
April 17, Dee’s Book Blog, Ticket Home
April 18, Totally Booked, Tight Quarters
April 19, Romance Reader at Heart, Back on Track
April 22, Talk Supe, Back on Track
Just so everyone knows, if you have signed up for my quarterly newsletter, I am changing that to a general mailing list. I promise not to abuse your inbox, but all this means for me is that rather than being held to a schedule of publishing a newsletter 4 times a year, I can send out news and updates or contests to the mailing list when I have time versus on a specific date. So you would expect to hear from me when there is a new book out, a giveaway of some sort, or any relevant news.
If you haven’t signed up yet, you can do so here: http://www.samanthahunter.com/mailinglist
And there will be several books out, appearances and contests this year, so I hope you will!
Sam
This blog probably isn’t what you thought it was going to be, because your mind went right to the gutter didn’t it? Ha — that’s why we all get along so well. 
I couldn’t resist the sexy pun either.
Basically, thinking today about schedules again — what gets put on the back burner or thrown in the backseat, as it were. The last week or so has been rife with To Do lists — personal and professional. This year I’m more determined to avoid the crazy. That takes some planning. Last year, for whatever reason, I found myself writing too much. Yes, there is such a thing. It doesn’t make me happy — I was exhausted and had ignored a lot of other things, or was trying to squeeze them into slivers of time. I think my writing suffered for it, and so did I.
For me, the one big thing that can take a backseat when I’m busy with writing or life are promotion — promo to me is the least necessary thing to spend my time on. That might surprise some folks who think writers must promote all the time. (I have thoughts of Dr. McCoy growling “I’m a writer, not a salesman, dammit, Jim!”). I do some promotion (I’ll be part of a relatively massive blog tour thingy set up for the Strangers on a Train series coming out in April, for instance), and I just ordered 200 personalized pens. I’ll have to give them away to someone, or I’ll just have a lot of pens around the house for a while, I guess. I’m usually on Twitter or Facebook as part of my normal day (though a lot less these days, purposefully). But promo is definitely in the backseat — not tossed out the window altogether, but not a priority.
I was supposed to have a newsletter coming out in March…well, I have two May deadlines, so no newsletter. Hopefully in June. But I’m not going to stress myself out over it. So you know, we make choices. My sense is that my readers (and certainly my editors ) would prefer I prioritize my writing over promo, so that’s what I do. Besides, as we all know, books on the shelf are the best promotion out there.
Another thing that takes a backseat or gets put on the back burner, like many of us, is housework — I do the basics, but if I go a week or so without vacuuming, so be it. It’s not a tragedy — the dust will be there later. And you know, there’s another person in the house who can pick that up, and he often does.
Unfortunately, diet and exercise sometimes end up in the back seat, and that’s NOT a good thing. However, these things tend to suffer more when I am overscheduled, and part of my plan for this year is to NOT let these things go. If I have to stop writing short of my word goal for the day in order to get yoga done, then that’s what I’ll do.
Everything is about setting priorities, and priorities are not only about what you want to get done, but also how you want to feel about it. I like to be happy, relaxed as possible, and enjoy life — life is too short to be manic all the time. So I reshuffle my priorities and activities to make that happen. This year, I may have a much smaller, manageable garden, so that that doesn’t become too much work. I can get things I don’t grow at the farmer’s market. We have some home reno that needs to be done, but we’ll hire out where we can. Some evenings, I won’t do anything but sit around and watch Property Brothers. Some days, I may skip writing so I can make progress on a quilt. And doing this, I still expect 3 more books out this year, and at least five new book releases in 2014.
I think this is, in the end, what makes not only a happier person, but a better writer, and both of those things are my aim. How about you? What are you putting in the backseat, and how are you setting up your priorities for the year?
I recently got an unexplainable urge to do a jigsaw puzzle — something I’ve never done as an adult and I have no specific memory of doing them as a child. So, I received one for my birthday from my niece, and this past weekend, I set it out so that it’s centrally located in the house. Anyone can play. I found it quickly addictive — we made slow progress at first, though we did pretty well for two days work, on and
off, whenever one of us would pass the credenza and feel the pull of the puzzle.
It’s probably not news to anyone that this kind of thing is good for your brain, but I don’t think I realized how beneficial it can be. According to this blog:
Research is now showing the quantifiable benefits of carrying this activity into adulthood. Studies, like the notable MacArthur study, have shown that keeping the mind active with jigsaw puzzles and other mind-flexing activities can actually lead to a longer life expectancy, a better quality of life, and reduce our chances of developing certain types of mental illness, including memory loss, dementia, and even Alzheimer’s Disease (by an amazing third).
But how does this simple toy accomplish such amazing things? Most likely it is due to the simultaneous use of both sides of the brain. The left brain hemisphere, our analytical side, sees all of the separate pieces and attempts to sort them out logically. The right brain hemisphere, our creative side, sees the “big picture” and works intuitively. Both types of thinking are required in order to successfully piece the puzzle together. In exercising both sides of the brain at the same time, we create actual “connections” between the left and right sides, as well as connections 
between individual brain cells. These connections increase our ability to learn, to comprehend, and to remember. In addition, completing a puzzle, or even just the successful placement one piece, encourages the production of dopamine, a brain chemical that increases learning and memory.
The connections made while working on jigsaw puzzles aren’t limited to our brain cells. Exercising both sides of the brain simultaneously also allows the brain to move from a Beta state, the wakeful mind, into an “Alpha” state, the same mental state experienced while dreaming. The Alpha state is where we tap into our subconscious mind. Jigsaw puzzles naturally induce this state of creative, focused meditation where connections can be made on deeper levels.
I’ve never been a puzzle person (although quilting is a lot like a puzzle, in some ways), but I like jigsaws in particular because they are tactile and you end up with something you could frame, reuse, pass on, etc. But all puzzles have some benefits. My father, who lived to the age of 91 — did Word Search puzzles for years, into his late 80s before his eyesight made it harder. I think the jigsaw is nice because it’s also a social activity — we can work on it together, or anyone who visits can try to find a piece.
And maybe it’s a coincidence, but after two days working the puzzle (and a day of quilting and baking, also good for the brain, I think), I worked out several writing problems at once, all in the few moments before bed on Sunday night. All the pieces started to fall together.
Do you do puzzles? what kind? Do you like some more than others?
Ta da! I just got the final cover for my July Samhain release, BENDING OVER BACKWARDS. I love, love, love it!
It’s so pretty and romantic (and I love the way the hero is looking at her). It’s also a splash of summer on these dreary winter days, with the lovely colors and the beach. I can’t wait until July, for oh so many reasons.
I don’t have an official blurb yet, but here’s my summary of the book:
Jasmine Stanford grew up among the upper-crust without a care in the world until her world crashed down around her and left her with nothing – no money, no home, and no parents. Years later, Jasmine’s made her own life running a successful yoga studio on Cape Cod, and she does everything she can to maintain her success and stability.
Leo Fischer is–or was—a hotshot investment banker who found himself in the middle of a workplace tragedy. The trauma wipes out every memory he ever had of his work. He can’t remember anything about the shooting or his job; he can’t even walk into the office. On the Cape to recover and hopefully return to New York, he feels lost and disoriented, without purpose or direction. Until he finds Jasmine, and then Leo starts to rebuild his life, too, but in a very different way.
Jasmine is developing more feelings for Leo than she likes – she only intended to have a fling with him, only sex, knowing he would be going back to New York and his job at some point – but she falls much harder than she counted on, and both will have to confront their pasts to find their happily ever after.
Bending over Backwards isn’t listed for sale yet, but you can be sure I’ll let you know when it is.
It’s no secret that I’m a huge TV fan — I have been since I was a kid. I watch more shows than I can name here, and our TiVo is packed. We also routinely watch entire TV seasons, like those of Alias, Buffy, NCIS, Veronica Mars, Monk, Human Target, and others. I get a lot of things from watching TV — information, entertainment, and not least of all, relaxation. I love sitting down and losing myself in a good TV show the way we do in books, though after writing all day, it’s easier for me to glom onto a TV show (I still love to read, obviously, but TV is just easier…).
However, I also get inspiration from TV shows; they have definitely influenced my writing, and even my writing style. My favorites are detective/mystery shows and shows like American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Property Brothers, Top Gear and Market Warriors, etc. Every now and
then, one of these shows will grab me for some reason, more than the others, and books ideas or hero ideas start perking — like race car driver Reese Winston from I’ll be Yours for Christmas (Top Gear) or my self-pub mystery, the Sophie Turner series, inspired by shows like Veronica Mars, Monk, Numb3rs, and the old show The Ghost Whisperer. But I think almost every book I write has some conscious or unconscious root in TV. Sometimes it’s just a name — a surly hero named Don (from Numb3rs) or an adventurous guy named Chance (His Kind of Trouble, my homage to Human Target). Maybe it’s just something in the character dynamic or simply the looks of a character that I want to draw forward into a book, or some plot point that I grab and then take in my own direction, but no doubt, TV is a constant source of material for my imagination. Current favorites are Person of Interest, Property Brothers and American Pickers... can’t get enough.
It even affects how I write — I’ve had more than one editor tell me that my books sometimes read like TV shows, with lots of action and dialogue, and I write in a short space — I like pushing a lot of story into a short format, rather than long, sprawling books — give me novellas or category length books any day of the week (and has it happens, I’m not as much of a movie buff and I whine if a movie is longer than 90 min, unless it’s really good!).
I know there are other TV addicts out there, and we all talk about celebrities and characters who inspire our books — what are some of yours? If you’re not a writer, feel free to join in with discussion of your favorite TV show, something I’m always willing to talk about.
So the votes are in and Tin’s SAM’S QUARTERLY CATCH-UP is the breakaway winner! Tin, congrats, and thanks for your help Thank you everyone, for all the fun suggestions, as well.
Tin, just email me at samhunter@samanthahunter.com, and let me know if you’d like an Amazon or B&N gift card for your efforts
Also, a reminder that the Newsletter will be released on March 15 and there will be giveaways, author articles for readers and writers, and other goodies — including a much bigger giveaway to celebrate the first issue, so make sure that you sign up here.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Sam
If you live anywhere north–east, west, or central–then you know one thing: IT’S FREAKIN’ COLD OUT RIGHT NOW.
The natural response to this is to huddle inside with hot comfort food and for some, a glass of wine or hot cocoa. Those are great, but I like a beer. As it turns out, I was thinking about making a beef stew for dinner on Wednesday and came across this recipe Tues night: Beef Stew with Beer and Paprika (photo from The Pioneer Woman Cooks Website).
I decided I had to try it. I have some fresh Hungarian Sweet Paprika I just ordered from the The Spice House (I highly recommend — spices aren’t much more pricey than the grocery store, and MUCH better), and we always have beer on hand.
Of course, no comfort food for a frigid winter night would be complete without bread, and I knew exactly what to make — Tues night I pulled out my Cook’s Illustrated Almost No-Knead Bread recipe which includes about a 1/3 cup of — you know it — beer! A perfect complement. This bread takes five minutes to make (though you need to start it the night before, or at least early in the morning) and it comes out perfect every time — the only catch is that you must bake it in a cast iron Dutch oven lined with parchment paper, or, as we do, in a terra cotta baker that makes a french-shaped loaf.
I used a very nice Harp Lager for my bread (and warmed myself up with the remainder) and will use the same beer for the stew.
So, in honor of this, I am renaming Wednesday, at least for this week, BeerDay.
What are you cooking for dinner? What is your favorite meal on a cold winter night? Do you have any beer-based recipes you enjoy? A favorite beer? Share your thoughts, recipes or ideas or just what you’re having for dinner tonight, and Happy BeerDay to you.
So, here are the four possibilities for my quarterly newsletter title — I’ll leave the poll open until Friday, and whichever title gets the most votes will win — and the creator will be awarded a $25 gift card from Amazon (or B&N). If you haven’t signed up for the newsletter, which will release in March on a quarterly basis, you can do that here.
