I settle down at my desk. It’s been over two weeks since I laid my pen to paper, so I’m eager to dive in but careful in my approach. The day is crisp, literally there is frost coating all the houses that spread between the ocean and my home office window. The sea is flat today, but ready, posed to roll. The craggy mountains that carve through the light blue sky are snowcapped. Wisps of clouds colour but don’t dampen the horizon.
I open my notebook to see where I’ve left my work in progress. Parker, the golden Persian, snuggles next to me on the reclaimed 100-year-old fir desk. He curls his paw around my left arm. I read through the first two handwritten paragraphs in the notebook and try to strikeout a sentence only to realize there is no ink in my pen. Of course, I need ink. A fountain pen doesn’t fare well from two weeks of neglect.
I’m slightly delayed in sharing, but Gertie made these gorgeous classic chocolate cupcakes with coffee buttercream frosting to help celebrate the release of Trinkets (Etc).
It is foggy in Vancouver this morning, and the olive trees just outside my kitchen window are covered in spider webs that look like crystal lace. There is some metaphor in this that I probably should be exploring, but I simply found it beautiful to behold.
FYI, you can see the web more clearly if you click the picture.
So guess who is turning forty tomorrow? Me! Yes, I’m celebrating with a liberal amount of chocolate and a visit to the spa, but I also thought it might be fun to have a giveaway and $0.99 book sale!
MASSIVE BOOK SALE
I will be reducing all my ebooks to $0.99 for October 11, 2013 only. (Though chances are you might be able to grab one or two on the 10th or the 12th because it often takes up to 24 hours for changes to go into effect.)
Excepting Spirit Binder, none of these books have ever been offered at this sale price before!!
Head on over to goodreads, if you wish to enter for Cupcakes, then comment below to win one of the other eight.
Tell me:
Which paperback you want to win? After The Virus (3 avail), Spirit Binder (1 avail), Time Walker (1 avail), or Cupcakes (Etc) (3 avail). Get more info on the books by clicking on the book covers in the side bar.
Make sure you fill your email address into the blog comment form.
Yup, it’s that easy. Contest open INTERNATIONALLY. I’ll select winners by random number generator after 12noon PST on Monday, October 14, 2013.
Bonus entries?? Do the above and add any or all of the following:
Follow me on twitter and tweet giveaway/book sale info … such as: Happy Birthday @mcdoidge – #win a #paperback & grab an ebook at the massive $0.99 #booksale extravaganza
Like me on Facebook. I cannot ask you to post a link on your Facebook page because that is against FB’s code of conduct, but if you felt so inclined that would be lovely.
WordPress user? Like this post.
Blogger? Post a link to this post via your blog.
Subscribe to this blog (link on side bar).
Are you already following me on any or all of the above platforms or mailing lists? Thank you!! Just remind me in your comment so I remember to give you the extra entries!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!
Hmm, now how many different treats do you think can I fit into one day?
Okay, drive by update. I’m over halfway through the second draft of Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic, so if I keep up this pace – and the edit isn’t too atrocious – I’ll hopefully be hitting publish on this sequel in October.
Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic brought to you by See’s Candies dark chocolate chews!
I’d like to say that it has taken me over a week to accumulate those paper wrappers, but that would be a bald faced lie. And I’m about to add two more to the pile … then recycle the evidence.
As of Friday I’m six chapters into the 2nd draft of Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic – aka Dowser #2 – which means the novel is approximately a third done. I wanted to treat you to a bit of Jade by sharing my favourite bits so far. Warning, while these might be deemed as gems by myself, they have not been vetted by the editor, or betas, or proofed at all.
Chapter One:
“I’d known him for three months now and it still freaked me out when he looked at me too closely. Usually I pretended he was wearing some human expression when he did this stare, no talk thing. This time I imagined him frowning — I doodled it in my mind with a black marker over his —”
Chapter Two:
“Great, now with the running. The running always led places I really didn’t want to go. Like into blood and mayhem. Well, I guess I had just walked into the last batch of those …”
“Then I got hit by a bear.”
Chapter Three:
“Still, no trace of Kandy or Kett. No other magical glimmers, either. I was utterly useless. And utterly lost. Thank God my chocolate bar hadn’t completely washed away. Yes, I checked. I’m aware that reflects badly on me.”
“Desmond was absolutely gorgeous and dangerous in cat form. But, as a man, he was hard – almost overly muscled – and exceedingly difficult.
And completely naked.
Okay, Jesus. Of course, he was naked.
And now I was staring.”
Chapter Four:
“I put the SUV in park and loosened my seat belt thinking Desmond would want to drive, but after scowling at me for a beat, he simply crossed around to the door behind me. I checked out his backside in my side view mirror. What? I hadn’t seen him naked from behind.”
Chapter Five:
“I was haunted from within — from everything my sister did, and everything I didn’t stop her from doing.”
“You have remained silent for three minutes, Dowser,” Kett said. “I believe that may be a record of some sort.” Great, the vampire was attempting a joke. I was fairly certain that was one of the signs of the apocalypse.
“I was so going to run out of chocolate before Britannia Beach. No wonder Kandy stayed in wolf form. This way she had a major excuse for not participating in what masqueraded as a conversation, but was really just a sausage swing and measure.”
Chapter Six:
“A necromancer was sitting on my front stoop. Okay, I didn’t have a front stoop. A necromancer was sitting on the front steps of my apartment. A fledgling necromancer to be more exact.”
“Mort sided up to me, placing me between her and Kandy. The werewolf noticed and offered another spine-tingling grin. “Don’t let the blondness fool you, fledgling. The witch stabbed a 900-pound grizzly in the ass today. She just keeps her claws better hidden and painted pink.”
“My cat Lester loved marshmallows, even untoasted,” I said to Mort as I reached out to the magic surrounding the door, walls, and windows of my home. “If you accidentally left the bag out he’d totally molest it.”
“What?”
“Your magic tastes like toasted marshmallows.”
“And, so? Your cat is going to molest me?”
The accidentally snipped chocolate cosmos I’ve been sniffing all morning. Yes, it actually smells like chocolate!!
I’m not too sure that I want to share Gertie’s cupcake photo, because her version of Charm in a Cup looks so much better than mine ever do. Nice frosting job, Gertie!
Gertie’s Charm in Cup = lemon cupcakes with strawberry frosting
Gertie just emailed this photo and note a few minutes ago and I couldn’t wait to share it. She wrote, “I made sure to eat two, the second one was yours. Let’s just say I was your cupcake-eating proxy, shall we?”
Hmmm, they look rather yummy, not sure I’m all over the proxy idea!
I’m beginning to really, really need to bake more cupcakes all for myself … I’m thinking about some Rapture in a Cup. I’m also getting a feeling there might be some reader payback going on around here … not sure I need the encouragement to bake more than I already do.
On Saturday, after Michelle H had grabbed a copy of Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic, she emailed to let me know she had baked to help me celebrate my new release. I baked Love in the Cup (see post below). I was so stoked, not only that Michelle had bought my book and let me know about it, but also that she’d taken the time to share her baking with me. Actually, I was blown away. And – on top of all of that – she, and her assistant bakers, Noah and Jesse, designated this plate just for ME!!
Cupcakes and Bars by Michelle, Noah, and Jesse
Those, Michelle informs me, are Pink Lemonade Cupcakes and Orange Dreamsicle Cookie bars. And I’m totally all over that one in the middle with the PILE of chocolate icing!!
Thanks so much to Michelle, Noah, and Jesse for sharing your creations with me. You made my evening.
Rumour has it that a bunch of readers have felt compelled to bake (or, at minimum, indulge) while reading, and Michelle suggested that I put together a blog scrapbook of the results. I think this is a great idea.
So, if you bake, or buy, or get someone else to bake for you, while reading Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic I would love to see and post your pictures!! You can email me at info [at] madebymeghan.ca
I find myself all out of cupcakes … and I only ate two of the Love in a Cups!! I shall have to whip up another batch myself.
Heather from Doubleshot Reviews requested the recipe for the “dark chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate cream cheese icing” AKA Lust in a Cup from my new novel, Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic. These cupcakes are also known as Jade’s – the lead character – favourite cupcake.
Since Heather demanded my immediate compliance asked so nicely, I decided to share the recipe with you, my lovely blogger readers, as well. Now it is true that Heather just gave Cupcakes, Trinkets & Other Deadly Magic a five star review, but she requested the recipe AFTER she posted her rating on Goodreads, so I swear there was no bribery going on!! Ahem. Diverting attention to the recipe >>>>>>
Dark chocolate cream cheese icing slathered on dark chocolate cake = Lust in a Cup!!
Official release day tomorrow! I’m baking some Love in a Cup to celebrate. I’ll promise to post pictures!!
Amazon flexed its algorithms last night and this was in my inbox this morning … here’s hoping Amazon decides it likes pimping After The Virus for me, and this appears in many other inboxes!!
