Whether we are ready for them or not. I am always amazed when I get to this time of the season and I wonder what happened to the passing year. We are two short months away from arriving in 2013! Doesn’t seem possible. And with election (finally) over, we are ready to hit Thanksgiving , and skid into Christmas.

I’ve noted over the years how Thanksgiving always seems to get robbed. Not that I don’t love Christmas as much as the next person, but I do like to take time and reflect what I am thankful for. I didn’t participate in Facebook’s daily what I am thankful for posts, because basically…I am thankful for every day I wake up. I don’t think I need to post that on Facebook to be understood.

I look forward to gathering around a big dining room table, a turkey, ham and a good bottle of wine the center pieces…but not the focus. Seeing my family and conversing….as well as listening, should always be the focus. There is nothing like the holidays for the family to gather and be thankful we are still able to get together for another year. Once the table is cleared, though, watch out! Beginning with Black Friday…we are off to the races for Christmas…followed by ringing in the New Year.

What do you look forward to in the holidays? Do you love the Christmas music? The family gathering time? Baking cookies and pies?

I’ll send you off with a great favorite recipe from Taste of Homes http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Deluxe-Pumpkin-Cheesecake:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup crushed gingersnap cookies (about 20 cookies)
• 1/3 cup finely chopped Diamond of California® Pecans
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened, divided
• 1-1/2 cups sugar, divided
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

GARNISH: Chocolate syrup, caramel ice cream topping, whipped topping and additional crushed gingersnap cookies, optional

Directions:

Place a greased 9-in. springform pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 18 in. square). Securely wrap foil around pan.

In a small bowl, combine the cookie crumbs, pecans and butter. Press onto the bottom of prepared pan. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack.

This is one of those to-die-for pies! Happy Thanksgiving and may those gathering around your table this year be blessed.

Hi again! Thank you for joining me for my monthly post here at Authors By Moonlight.

I have tried to think of something “Autumn” to talk about and ran into a coupla problems. I know, what else is new, right? Be nice! It’s not my favorite season, but I like Fall well enough; relief from scorching heat as Patricia mentioned Wednesday, excitement of fall holidays leading to winter holidays. But Fall… Most people look forward to the food of the season. Not me, unless orange and brown candy corn and hot cider counts. I don’t like pumpkin food/drink of any kind and don’t understand the obsession food in general. I eat what is necessary to keep from starving to death and that’s about it. Lol Fall holidays? Not big on Halloween anymore, except for the candy. I don’t care for Thanksgiving at all. I do, however, look forward to Christmas!

But let’s go back a bit. When my three daughters were young Mitch and I embraced all holidays to the fullest extent. He got wood one year and we made painted yard decorations that lasted for years for Halloween and Christmas. Ghosts, RIP headstones, carolers with howling (singing) dog, who all stood around middle daughter’s pine tree in the front yard with lights and music, Santa climbing in the chimney as his sleigh and reindeer waited on the roof peak and a nativity our church borrowed for Christmas programs. All made with plywood, paint and love.

The second year, after making the decorations, they (hubs and girls) made a few additional items. One of those was a big black, hunched-back cat with shocking green eyes. For some reason youngest daughter’s dog hated that cat! When we pulled out decorations each year Dottie (I posted here in May of her passing) would growl and bark at the cat and run from it if we held it toward her. We never understood what it was about that cat she didn’t like. But if we turned it so she couldn’t see the black body or green eyes- it made no difference to her. She hated that cat. Funny since we had two live cats she liked, and though neither were black, my oldest daughter’s calico was mostly black. Still, it didn’t bother Dottie.

We don’t have any of those decorations any more, but they served our children, our family, church and neighbors, well for ten or more years. I loved those days, cherish the memories.

I miss those days. The girls are grown with their own families now and if it weren’t for fil and oldest granddaughter, of whom we have temporary legal guardianship of, living with Mitch and I, we would be empty nesters today- we’re both in the autumn of life now.

One daughter and her hubby took their two girls to Colorado this past June and writing this post  made me realize this is the first year, out of 28, that we’ll spend without all three of our girls with us. Without all four of the current grandbabies (number 5 is due to arrive in late January) laughing and playing in my house.

It will be different, but I have tried (as Peter Pan does) to look at life as the biggest adventure of all! That includes major family group alterations. I don’t have to like it- but I will accept it.

Call us pathetic, but oldest daughter called and we kept our phones on speaker for two hours as we watched the Presidential debates “together” from 900 miles apart last night.

What? I said I’ll accept, at no time did I say it would be with grace!

My question for those empty nesters out there is: How do you do it? I miss my kids so much when they aren’t within throwing distance. How do you survive when one or more of your babies moves so far away you only see them once or twice a year, if you’re fortunate?

It’s official, the summer is over. And I never thought I’d say it…but thank goodness. I don’t know about you, but that heat was enough to keep you indoors where the air conditioners had trouble keeping up and causing record-breaking electric bills. Our camping season seemed slim this year, because even by the river, there wasn’t a pleasant spot to be found. But now that the air has cooled, and the leaves have begun to change color…we can finally get outside.

‘Tis the season for football, corn mazes, haunts, pumpkin pies, hot apple cider, hot cocoa, and hay rides. We have a local Corn Maize where we live with a combination Haunted Maze. Nothing is more fun than getting the adrenaline rush of being scared!  You can check out both places by clicking the above links.  This year my granddaughter is over a year–and she’ll be able to enjoy the corn maze and hay ride. Should be good fun!

I’m not much of a football watcher myself. But living in a household with mostly men, our television is usually tuned to a game, which is fine by me. I am thrilled when they become preoccupied as it gives me a chance to steal away and kick my writing back into gear!

My book LOVE YOU TO PIECES will soon be out in paperback, which I am thrilled about. And my book DEADLY OBSESSION has made Amazon’s top #100 list. A big thank you to my readers! Now to get the next book out, my current work in progress! So bring on the football, hot cocoa and pumpkin pies and let the writing commence. What autumn traditions do you share? What are some of your favorite things to do when the air cools and it comes time to huddle in blankets? Whatever it is, take time to enjoy it with family! I can’t wait to take my little pumpkin (granddaughter Quinn) to the maze for a hay ride! I’ll save the haunts for my hubby and I…I LOVE getting scared!

Patricia

http://www.PatriciaRasey.com

I’ve been seriously writing twenty years now. I remember discovering my love for historical romance novels and thinking that I could do this…after all, my daydreams were vivid, so why not put them to use? I sat down in my chair, started to write a novel about a pirate crossing the seas, falling in love with an Earl’s daughter…screeching of tires can be heard. What did I know about Pirates and Earls? I started spending my afternoons at the library and discovered something about myself. I hated history. So what on earth was I writing them for? So after a good 4 attempts at writing these books–the first never seeing the light of day–I realized…I needed to switch gears.

It’s not that I didn’t love to read these books. They were romantic and fun. I loved being swept away to another time, allowing someone else to tell me about history or time period. But my love of reading the genre didn’t mean I should be writing them. A published friend suggested I write something darker after reading some of my dark, quirky short stories. Deadly Obsession was born out of that darkness. Suddenly, I loved the research I was doing. I understood doing 110% research and only putting 10% in your books. I couldn’t get enough of police work (it helps when your brother is one), forensics and about everything thrown my way. So why had I ever tried my hand at historical romances? Because I loved to read them and I love romance. It took me about 5 of those 20 years to discover, my love of reading wasn’t the same as my love of writing. My reading tastes pull me out of the darkness of my writing. Sometimes I need a light-hearted read to pull me out of that darkness in my mind.

Research and writing go hand-in-hand. Investing in a 100,000 word project is hard work. Making sure your facts are as correct as can be is even harder if you don’t like what you are doing. Want to write a book? Try your hand at research first. Look up the facts…see if you’re enjoying yourself, digging through books, looking for treasures you can add to your stories. Your reader depends on you to have the facts correct. If you aren’t enjoying the hunt, then maybe the genre you thought you should right, isn’t the right one after all. Seven books later…I know dark romantic suspense is the right move for me. And delving into the paranormal? I’m finding that I love that research as well…stay tuned for my newest project.

Good luck on all your writing projects, whatever they may be. But most of all–have fun with them! Life is short…enjoy what you do.

Welcome to September…and cooler weather. Bring on the bright fall colors. What a great season for writing….

Patricia

We’ve made it to August…I never thought I’d say that I am anxious for fall…but there it is. I said it. We’ve had a heat wave of a summer here in Ohio. Rain has been hard to come by, my flowers are either dead or dying…and my fruit tress, I ‘ve been watering every day. Even my dog doesn’t want to do sit outside–yes, that’s Todd, my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, at the campgrounds. Looks like he might be saying: “Can we go inside yet?”

Which sort of puts a damper on the summer when you don’t even want to go outside. But with the worst of it behind us–I now look to the fall. Cool air, bright colors, wind whispering through the trees…oh, and I need to get that book done it seems I have been working forever on! Summer seems to get in the way of writing as well. Busy times for all. So how, as a writer, do we manage our time? If anyone has an answer for that…comment below please. All suggestions welcome.

And speaking of warm weather…it brings to mind a favorite hobby of old: riding motorcycles! It’s no secret of the love I have for them, though I no longer ride. Check out one my fav books Eyes of Betrayal (sequel to Kiss of Deceit) where my hero is a former outlaw biker…Egan ‘Villain’ Tate wants the Doc in the wurst way. But Whitney Montgomery can’t seem to get beyond his past with the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.

….what they can do for you. As authors, we have a lot of free promotional tools at our fingertips, thanks to the Internet. You have the ability to reach millions via Social Media from Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs, LinkedIn, MySpace, Google+, Yahoo groups, and the list goes on. But as authors…who has that kind of time? Authors need time to write and if they spend their precious writing time on all of the latest social media websites, then the amount of books written drops back. It’s certainly a vicious circle…you don’t advertise, then you sell no books. You advertise too much, you don’t write books to sell. Somewhere in there, writers need to find their own happy medium.

Welcome to May! A world awaits us. Spring (as we saw in last month’s blogs) is abloom. We all want to go outside, plant, sit on the patio and sip tea….<screeching of tires can be heard>….wait! Who has time to sip tea? There are books to be written, books to be promoted! Some of us have day jobs…I am in that category…so I need to do a balancing act between promoting my work, spending time with the family (and my precious new granddaughter), going on date night with my hubby (can’t neglect him or I won’t have a hubby), and just spending some stress-relief time enjoying the spring of the year on my front porch, glass of tea in one hand, and a great read in the other. There is never a shortage of books to read in my house. As a matter of fact–I have more unread books on my shelf than I’ll likely ever read.

So what, you ask, is the solution for the writer who has too little time on their hands? Readers and word-of-mouth. You, as readers, have more power to promote a book than the author does. How’s that? Because your friends listen to you. “Check out this great author I found!” Anytime I see, or hear, a reader promote my work…I want to hug them personally because that phrase goes a lot farther than, “Look at this great book I wrote!” The author can have all the social media sites they can possibly handle on the Internet, spend hours promoting themselves, trying to engage with readers…but that one reader who loves their work so much that she/he sings it to the world, will probably sell more books for the author than he/she can on their own. So thank you…to all the readers who mention us authors names to the world…from the bottom of my heart. You have great power in your words. Remember that the next time you read a book and love that author’s words…so much so that you can’t wait for the next book. Don’t keep that a secret…sing it to all of your friends so that author has more time to write. There is no better Social Media in the world like good ol’ fashioned Word-of-Mouth! Write a review on Amazon or BN.com, tell your Facebook friends, Twitter it to the world…that author will be elated you were so thoughtful!

Readers are the heart of every book written. It’s with you in mind that we authors write our words and create our worlds. So thank you, God bless, and know that you, too, have a power in words!

May the sun always shine…

Patricia

December brings to mind the holidays, Santa Claus, Christmas trees, spending time with the family and friends…and keeping up traditions.

My fondest memory growing up was my grandmother’s cookie recipe. I never had the pleasure of making them with her, but my mother and I would make the cutouts every year. They aren’t good on the waistline because they have a tendency to disappear a lot faster than the time it takes to make them. I haven’t made them in years, but now that I am a grandmother myself…I plan to make some memories with my grandchildren. My granddaughter is only a little over four months old, and a little too young for traditions, but I do believe I’ll start making those cookies this year. My family will love me for it. The holidays aren’t the time to start thinking about watching what we eat…we’ll save that for New Year’s resolutions.

What fun are the holidays without good food?

So while I’m getting back to baking cookies, and maybe making some candies as well…I have a peanut brittle recipe to die for…what traditions are you fond of? Have you kept them over the years? I’ll post my grandmother’s cookie recipe…and you in turn can post your holiday traditions. I’d love to hear them, and maybe come up with some great ideas to start with this year! After all, I plan to leave my grandchildren years of memories to cherish.

Grandma’s Christmas Cookies

5 cups of flour

3 cups powdered sugar

2 cups of oleo

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 teaspoons of baking soda

2 teaspoons of cream of tarter
Cream sugar and oleo, then add the eggs and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, then slowly blend into the creamed sugar mixture. Refrigerate overnight. Roll the next day and use Christmas cutouts. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 7-8 minutes. Do not over bake.

Frosting

½ cup of butter

3 cups of powdered sugar

4 tablespoons on canned milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Cream butter, add remaining ingredients and continue creaming until well blended, white and fluffy. Add food coloring if desired. After frosting cooled cookies, decorate with colored sugars, candies, and sprinkles.

Enjoy the recipe. I hope maybe my grandmother’s recipe can be enjoyed by many. I’ve rarely come across a cookie recipe I enjoy more!

And while we are on the subject of Christmas, I have a new short story release entitled Catching a Christmas Break.  Jerry VanWiggle can’t catch a break if his life depends on it…and his life does depend on it. A gambling debt gone bad, Jerry is now on the run to stay alive. Borrowing a dead Santa’s suit, he hopes to elude the goons after him. But just his luck…he runs straight into the arms of the law.

Excerpt from “Catching a Christmas Break”

“JESUS H. CHRIST!” He skidded to a halt, the steel door slamming shut behind him. Think. Damn it, he didn’t have time to think. With two big guys in hot pursuit of him, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out those two buffoons would soon be coming through that door like two pit bulls chasing a pound of fresh meat…and he was the fresh meat.

There, lying at his feet, was a three-hundred-pound Santa with a bullet hole in his chest. Well, what looked like a bullet hole. The thing was round and blood oozed all over the red of the suit. Poor guy still held the damn ringer in his right hand.

Without another thought, he yanked off the white fur-trimmed hat. Thank the good Lord the beard hadn’t been real, as it would definitely help him in his own getaway. In record breaking time, he sauntered off down the empty, litter-scattered alley in the red blood-smeared Santa suit, ringing the bell, leaving the poor schmuck in the pile of garbage he had likely died in, gaping whole in his chest aiming toward the heavens. Sorry, but he didn’t have time to contemplate what had happened to Santa, he had to get the hell out of dodge or wind up sharing the mattress of rubbish.

And none too soon.

Just as he rounded the corner, he heard the back door clamor open and two sets of foot falls hit the asphalt. Jerry quickened his pace and melded into the holiday crowd, not daring to look back. The slightest wrong move on his part could mean his demise. These guys didn’t play fair.

“Damn that horse anyway,” he mumbled, giving the bell an extra firm shake. It had been a sure bet. The money was as good as in his hand. He could have paid off the fat bastard who had sent those two goons after him and more. But, no, the thoroughbred had to get entangled with the horse running in second. Who hired those jockeys anyway? They both went down in a pile of horseflesh and men, thus losing the race and his damn winnings. Money that hadn’t been his in the first place. Jesus! He was as dead as Santa.
Fitting how he now wore the suit.

Catching a Christmas Break is available from Amazon.com and BN.com today…starting the 1st, for only .99. However, email me at patricia@patriciarasey.com and I’ll send you a FREE PDF copy of the story! Amazon and BN might not allow me to release it FREE—but I can give it away. What a deal!

Also out this month, brand new release LOVE YOU TO PIECES! My new romantic suspense goes on sale December 27th, just in time for all those Kindle and NOOK Christmas gifts. To read more about my new release, check out my website: http://www.patriciarasey.com/romsus.html

Here’s to new holiday traditions to pass along for generations to come! Leave me a holiday tradition in the comment section and I will draw a name out to win a Kindle or PDF copy of both DEADLY OBSESSION and THE HOUR BEFORE DAWN! One lucky winner will get both!

Patricia

Website: www.PatriciaRasey.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PatriciaARasey

Twitter: www.twitter.com/patriciarasey