Pre-Order Announcement – Austen-Teaparty

April 1, 2023March 19, 2023 ~ aurorajeanalexander ~ Leave a comment

Title: Austen Tea Party

Series: The New Romance Café Collection (#23)

Blurb:

Take care not to spill the tea (literally) while we share the latest on-dit (aka dish the dirt) about the Ton, who is courting, and who has been compromised in this collection of Austen-inspired romance stories.

Join us for a turn around the room in stories from USA Today best-selling and award-winning romance authors curated by the New Romance Café featuring cameos from some of Jane’s most memorable characters (and some we’d like to forget). ALL proceeds go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Pre-Order Link: https://books2read.com/tnrc2023AustenTeaParty

TBR List: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63135499-austen-tea-party

Author Featured: Kenna Campbell

Social Media Links: https://linktr.ee/kennacampbell

About the Author:

Jenna D Morrison is an up-and-coming author of fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction with a side of romance. She has been an avid reader since she was four and started writing for her own enjoyment in middle school.

She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma with her mother and their very spoiled fur babies. When she is not reading or writing, Jenna is a Zen Buddhist priest, an amateur genealogist, a daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, and aunt.

Kimberly A Campbell is a mother of four beautiful adult souls, grandmother to one amazing eight year old and has been a teacher to many young students that she loves as her own. She has always had a love for reading, writing and storytelling, advocating that same love in the children she’s crossed paths with along the way. She’s always dreamed of becoming an author, and is excited to finally have the opportunity to do so, with a focus on fantasy, paranormal and science fiction, which are her favorite genres. Kimberly makes her home in with her doting, supportive husband, children and many rescue cats in Houston, Texas. When she isn’t reading she enjoys spending time with her family, playing video games with her friends and baking delicious things she never eats.

Together, Jenna D. Morrison and Kimberly, best friends for nearly 20 years, write contemporary romance and young adult fantasy as Kenna Campbell.

Soul Taker Secrets: After A Hard Archangel’s Work Day

March 23, 2023March 19, 2023 ~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 9 Comments

At times Katie invites her entire family, namely, the ‘Council of Twelve,’ a dozen of the most powerful individuals in existence with their respective consorts, for dinner in hers and Raphael’s house.

Despite Katie’s progress in the kitchen, it’s become a ‘running gag’ that she had no clue about cooking at the time of her and Raphael’s wedding. And even though she liked to cook, the results could be disastrous. Some of the other Archangel consorts gave her a hand at times, and with their help, and the support of a few excellent angelic chefs, Katie’s cooking improved visibly.

This is one of the recipes she cooked, this time with Koyu’s and Simin’s help.

*Picture and recipe courtesy of https://www.healthyseasonalrecipes.com/fish-casserole/*

Ingredients

SCALE1x2x3x

1 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1.75 pound white fish fillet, Best Choices in your area
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
½ teaspoon dry thyme, or 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
pinch nutmeg
¾ cup dry white wine* See sub note below
2 slices bread, crusts removed preferably sourdough or multi-grain
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup shredded Emmentaler, Gruyere or Swiss cheese

Instructions

Grease 9 by 13-inch casserole dish with softened butter. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Arrange fish fillet in the prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a medium heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often (adding 1 to 2 tablespoons water if necessary to prevent the onion from darkening too much) until the onion softens and starts to brown, 6 to 9 minutes. Stir in thyme and nutmeg. Spread the onion mixture over the fish. Pour wine into the casserole dish.
Pulse bread in food processor until coarse crumbs. Drizzle on the remaining 2 teaspoons oil and add paprika and garlic powder. Process to combine until the bread is evenly red and moist. Sprinkle crumbs over the onion.
Top the casserole with the cheese and place in the oven. Bake until the fish is cooked through and the crumbs are browned, 18 to 22 minutes. Serve warm.

Notes

Instead of wine you can use broth (or clam juice) plus one tablespoon lemon juice for a non-alcoholic option.

Nutrition

SERVING SIZE: 1/6th casserole
CALORIES: 270 calories
SUGAR: 2 g
SODIUM: 443 mg
FAT: 11 g
SATURATED FAT: 5 g
CARBOHYDRATES: 10 g
FIBER: 1 g
PROTEIN: 28 g

(Find it online: https://www.healthyseasonalrecipes.com/fish-casserole/)

Angel For A Day (A Post About Depression)

December 12, 2022December 12, 2022 ~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 6 Comments

Definition

Depression

Feeling sad is a healthy, normal part of life. For some people sadness comes out of nowhere, triggered by something as simple as a song that comes on the radio. It ebbs and flows. But for others, feelings of sadness won’t go away and the origin of the sadness is hard to discern. It is not something they can “snap out of” or control. It causes feelings and thoughts that won’t go away. Many lose interest in normal daily activities, lack energy, and have trouble concentrating. These are all signs of depression, a mood disorder also referred to as clinical depression or major depressive disorder.

If you or someone you know suffers from depression you are not alone. Over sixteen million people in the United States experienced depression last year. While serious, depression is a treatable condition and help isn’t too far. (Source: Depression – Mayo Clinic)

There are times life doesn’t work the way we planned it… sometimes, we are sad beyond measure and we don’t know where it comes from. We forget times, and all of a sudden, the hours, the days have passed without us even noticing. We are ‘shoved’ through room and the endless light years of instability and insecurity of the future… which causes anxiety.

Other times we are expected to ‘perform’… no matter where we are at work… in retail, at the office, in meetings, on stage, in concerts, or even at court…? And we need to show what we’re capable of. We’re expected to give our best – and we know, there are people there, people who judge us, who are prepared and ready to tell us off, to give us a bad review, ruin our reputation and trample onto our emotions, feelings, and pride. It’s a huge, hungry monster of a crowd, waiting to swallow us whole and then spit us out, a crumbled mess of self-pity…

Sometimes you hear a song on the radio and sing along… and you feel sad, listening to the words and feeling that highly depressed lyrics is just describing you and your life; and you burst out into tears.

And then, at a stop light, you don’t realize the guy next to you at the traffic light sees you crying and comes over, knocking on your side window and asking, if you’re okay – and without even realizing, you yell at him to mind his own f$%&ing business… deeply ashamed someone saw you acting up like a baby… – But when you see the hurt expression on his face you feel bad, and you ask him to please wait, and you apologize… Finally, you end up in a café, talking to this stranger you have never seen before… only to find out, he’s got it far worse than you… having lost his wife to illness and his daughter to suicide…

On the way home, you know, maybe you weren’t the one who needed to talk that day, maybe you were the one who needed to listen, maybe this day, you were the one who helped, and didn’t need help…

Sometimes, you just need to become someone’s angel for one day…

Picture courtesy of https://afremov.com/angel-of-love-palette-knife-oil-painting-on-canvas-by-leonid-afremov-size-24-x30.html

National Suicide Lifeline

STOP! THERE IS HOPE!

No matter what problems you are dealing with, we want to help you find a reason to keep living.

By calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255) you’ll be connected to a skilled, trained counselor at a crisis center in your area, anytime 24/7.

For more information or to chat live with a crisis counselor, please visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

I recently lost one friend who thought there was no help for her. Other friends of mine lost their son. There is help! This blog post is dedicated to Sheridan and Tim. R.I.P.

Dream Walker Blog Tour

November 20, 2022 ~ aurorajeanalexander ~ Leave a comment

Next to the release party, which will take place on November 26, 2022,

there’s something else exciting going on!

Organized by Amanda Johnson-Lindsey, is a Dream Walker blog tour, which I’m very excited about!

I’d be delighted if you agree to participate in your blog!

Please sign up here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe83sWJ9ofmW2i2K0xWcS33BKqvYX9Cyuv2rC1AjzwzLnkDvQ/viewform?fbclid=IwAR3gvan9pa3NXM9BbVOp_bC8bJghCY7nOWQE2C1wuaolELCuNoisPSKQbks

Thank you so very much for all your help and support! And special thanks to the endless efforts of Amanda Johnson-Lindsey! You’re a gem!

Wisdom About Creativity

October 24, 2022October 6, 2022 ~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 4 Comments

This quote is as much true as it is funny. Of course, when we’re on a deadline, most of us will ‘suddenly’ get more and more creative, the closer we get to the deadline. Of course, there are some of us whose nature is similar to the one of Douglas Adams who famously said: “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

But I would say, most of us work hard to keep deadlines, and the shorter the time, the more the pressure grows. Some writers need that pressure, and some others won’t be able to write a word under it.

It started in school already, when we had to study for a test, didn’t it? Some students were the ones who studied every day, to internalize all the knowledge, while others, me included, allegedly studied ‘better’ the higher the pressure and tension. (You could also say, we just really didn’t want to waste any more time studying, as we had to and rather enjoyed doing whatever we found more enjoyable and interesting than working for the school.

Later on, in my professional life, there was no ‘flying by deadline’… If that would have happened more than once in my career, the very same would have been over faster than I could have apologized.

Now, setting my own deadlines when it comes to writing, I am very determined to keep them. It’s absolutely impossible to be successful in writing without keeping deadlines, be they set up by us or by the publisher, or literary agent, or, who else has the right to pressure us to move our pen for work.

Bill Watterson has it right… creativity cannot be turned on and off like a faucet. I cannot ‘decide’ to be creative on a Thursday, and not so creative on Saturday. Bill Watterson had his own deadlines, and being a phenomenal creative writer and famous comic illustrator, he knew what ‘last minute panic’ meant.

My creativity nudges me gently when it’s time to write books. But it’s not always there when I’m supposed to write blog posts. That means, I’m taking notes, wherever I am and have an idea for a new blog post. This one, actually, showed up while I was working on my newsletter!

I’m always anxious to keep my readers interested and therefore want to make sure that I’m publishing my posts on time and keeping them diversified and on time. Blogs are not followed if the posts are not showing up, and I have invested a lot to keep ‘Writer’s Treasure Chest’ up and running. Now I would like to build a stable fan base for my books and blog. So, no lack of deadlines for me.

How do you keep creative? What do you do if you have the feeling your creativity isn’t flowing? And what do you do to tickle your muse? Let us know in the comments, we’re curious!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

About Bill Watterson

William Boyd Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is a retired American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, which was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes at the end of 1995, with a short statement to newspaper editors and his readers that he felt he had achieved all he could in the medium. Watterson is known for his negative views on comic syndication and licensing, his efforts to expand and elevate the newspaper comic as an art form, and his move back into private life after he stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes. Watterson was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The suburban Midwestern United States setting of Ohio was part of the inspiration for Calvin and Hobbes.

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Watterson)

On a Side Note:

Needless to say that I absolutely ADORE Calvin and Hobbes and am a fan of Bill Watterson’s work.

An Empty Shell

July 14, 2022July 13, 2022 ~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 8 Comments

There are times when I feel hollow

When times drags out the shallow days

The sun, it shines, provides the warmth

That shows the normal summer ways.

Surrounded am I, by furry companions

And people in whose house I live.

I do, what I can, not to be a burden

But I don’t know how much I still can give.

I’m feeling blue, and worse by the hour

I feel forgotten, like I don’t matter at all.

No work, nobody who gives me a chance

To prove my worth – I feel useless and small.

There’s one person in this world who fills my life

With warmth, with smiles, and with some joy

But even he, goes forward and back, undecided

I feel hurt and humiliated, like a toy.

All I need is some success, a chance, some energy

Make me smile, talk to me, and make me feel alive

Currently, I feel alone, in a huge building, my thoughts an echo

Don’t leave me here with only myself – I need to thrive!

Maybe I just wither, unloved, undesired, forgotten and alone

If I just disappear, nobody would care if I slowly fade.

Leave the sunlight, go into darkness, enjoy the moon.

go into the night, accompanied by only shade.

Maybe it’s not the non-chances, or sadness that are killing

Maybe it’s not neglect, or sadness that trigger fears

Maybe it’s more, maybe it’s pain, hurt and loneliness

That make me drown in an ocean of tears….

*****

The Benefits Of Smiling

April 4, 2022April 4, 2022 ~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 13 Comments

The benefits of smiling

Smiling does not only improve the quality of our face, it also benefits us in different other ways. We are more likable. Also, smiling allows us to share our humanity, in sociable settings as well as the work environment, and it also, surprisingly, improves our health. As we age, we smile less often. According to studies, a child smiles up to 400 times a day, as compared to the average adult who smiles only about 20 times within 24 hours. Considering we are truly improving our family and work-life by smiling, we need to learn how to smile and laugh again.

Smiling releases cortisol and endorphins, which improve our well-being by:

Reducing blood pressure
Increasing endurance
Reducing pain
Reducing stress
Strengthening immune system

If we take all the advantages into account that smiling gives us, and the only con would be a few laughing lines around the lips, I would like to highly recommend: ‘Live your life and smile away’.

What is it that makes you smile? Tell us about it in the comments.

(Sources: Smiling: Why It’s Important in Your Personal Life and Workplace | Psychology Today & Surprising Health Benefits Of Smiling | Henry Ford LiveWell)

Jake, The Best Tomcat Ever, Is Gone

March 30, 2022March 30, 2022 ~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 26 Comments

When Jake got so very sick, I had to take him into emergency care on a Sunday. That day I got so much help from friends, family, and readers, followers and many more! I’m so very grateful! When we left that vet-urgent care, there were good news, and not-so-good news. I had opened a Go-FundMe fundraiser for Jake. I am a very loving and caring cat-mommy, but unfortunately not a rich one. The pandemic hit me hard, and I didn’t know how to take care of my boy.

Jake’s tail wound was severe, but it had been taken care of and got better. He slowly started carrying his tail high again, full of pride, as he always did.

Unfortunately, his respiratory infection did not improve at all, but worsened. At the follow up appointment I was told that it’s essential, Jake starts to eat again, or organ failure and suffering to death would be the immediate results. By that time, Jake weighed less than a Yorkshire Terrier, but was double the size.

Three days later, I had to clearly see, that Jake decided to leave me. He did not start eating and stopped drinking too. I did, whatever I could to convince him to stay longer with me and Tjara, but Jake decided, it was time for him.

Jake crossed the Rainbow Bridge and left me here…

I tried to keep you all updated on the GoFundMe page, and I can assure you, that all funds are going towards Jake’s final vet bills. I cannot express how much all your help means to me! Thank you very much for your generosity and your compassion!

Join The Paranormal Romance Guild

March 21, 2022March 18, 2022 ~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 1 Comment

The ‘Paranormal Romance Guild’ is a writer’s guild, offering promotional services and author services for its members.

As a premium member, you can get interviews, reviews, beta-readers, Featured Author posts, giveaways, Blog Tours, critiques and much more!

We care for our members!

MISSION STATEMENT

The sole purpose of the Paranormal Romance Guild (PRG) is to support and promote all authors of the paranormal romance genre and their works through its website and events.

WHO WE ARE

The Paranormal Romance Guild, AKA (“PRG”), was formed by the banding together of paranormal romance genre readers and writers, through the internet, with the sole purpose of supporting and promoting authors of the paranormal romance genre through the organization’s website and special events. The Paranormal Romance Guild (PRG) was officially organized and recognized on October 31,2009. PRG is a non-profit organization. All fees and dues collected are to sustain operations of the PRG. No assets of the corporation are to benefit the officers or members.

The ‘Readers’ membership is an unlimited free membership that allows you to read what is going on within the guild. It is easy to sign up – and you can later still upgrade your membership.

The Paranormal Romance Guild accepts a limited amount of writers from other genres as well.