Cupid’s Choice Bloghop!
Welcome to Maddy Barone’s stop of the bloghop! If you’ve fallen off and want to hop back on, click here.
Wolf Tracker, the third book in my After the Crash series, was released by Liquid Silver Books on Monday February 6, and to celebrate that I am offering a free download to one winner. To enter, simply leave a comment on my blog saying you’d like to read Wolf Tracker.
Strong, independent Tami was a survivalist and mountain guide in 2014 when she was flung forward fifty years into a post-apocalyptic future where women are worth their weight in gold. She is taken by four men to be their wife, but when she escapes from them they hire the Tracker, a deadly loner from the Clan with a reputation for being able to track anything, to bring her back. But Tami knows how to ride and how to hide, and she leads him on a chase that rouses his admiration. Behind Tracker’s stone cold face is a man who yearns for a wife of his own. When he catches up with Tami and learns that she is not a willing wife, he knows he can’t give her up.
I didn’t write a short story for the hop, but Valentine’s Day usually means candy, so I have a little eye candy for my visitors. My next story is Sherry’s Wolf, about plane crash survivor Sherry Rowe and the wolf that claims her as his mate. It will be a free read and I hope to have it ready by the end of March. As my series features Lakota heroes, here are a few hotties that could easily pass as characters in the After the Crash series.
This is Jumping Stag, the patient wolf who claimed Sherry way back in Sleeping With the Wolf. Sherry is terrified of the werewolf and stubbornly denies his claim. 
Sherry thinks werewolves are scary, however playful and harmless they may try to appear. Stag has done everything he can to convince her he only wants to treasure her, but she just won’t be convinced. What’s a wolf to do?
Here are Stag, and his cousin Snake. In Wolf Tracker, Snake is assigned to be Tami’s personal guard while she’s living at the Plane Women’s House in Kearney.
Go through the blogs and at the end fill out the entry form to be entered to win! There are tons of prizes to be won on this hop, like free downloads of books and a Nook Touch. Light weight, easy to use, and small enough to be tucked into even a smallish purse, the nook touch would be my pick for a new e-reader. Good luck on the hop!
Thursday 13 – 2/9/12
What are the most popular search terms that showed up on my website’s admin panel on Wednesday Feb 8?
Maddy Barone
Wolf Tracker by Maddy Barone
italy 16th century formal wear
author maddie barone
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order of the pelican kingdom of northshield
romantic endearments
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cloche
how to make a fabric knitting bag
hip length hair
what happens if my novel is sold
tudor dress styles
Weird, huh? What sorts of things show up on your website’s admin panel?
Wolf Tracker is here!
You can purchase it at:
Liquid Silver Books Amazon All Romance EBooks
And I’m sure it will be available at Fictionwise and other vendors soon too. Happy Reading!
Strong, independent Tami was a survivalist and mountain guide in 2014 when she was flung forward fifty years into a post-apocalyptic future where women are worth their weight in gold. She is taken by four men to be their wife, but when she escapes from them they hire the Tracker, a deadly loner from the Clan with a reputation for being able to track anything, to bring her back. But Tami knows how to ride and how to hide, and she leads him on a chase that rouses his admiration. Behind Tracker’s stone-cold face is a man who yearns for a wife of his own. When he catches up with Tami and learns that she is not a willing wife, he knows he can’t give her up.
Writing Update
Hello! It’s been a while since I gave an update about my writing, so I think it’s time.
First of all, Wolf Tracker is coming out this Monday. Yay for February 6! I’m excited about that. Every book is special to its author, because so much work goes into each one. But Wolf Tracker is a little extra special to me. The heroine, Tami, was raped just before the story starts. She has to deal with the aftermath of that for the entire book. In real life, rape has a huge impact on the victim and on the victim’s family and friends. There is nothing romantic about rape. But how Tracker treats Tami is romantic. He’s not a soft-hearted kind of guy. He’s not well educated. He’s killed a few men here and there. Nobody would call him sweet. But he always puts Tami first. And that is the most romantic thing a guy can do. You’ll see what I mean when you read about their wedding night. Okay, I can admit it, I’m a little in love with Tracker. I adore Taye, but Tracker is my favorite hero. At least for
now. 😉
I’m also working hard on Sherry’s Wolf, the free read I intended to have posted by Valentine’s Day. For some stupid reason I thought I’d be able to dash off a short story and have it ready to go live in a few weeks time. After all, it was only going to be about 12,000-14,000 words.
Ack! I’m only half done and I’m already at 15,300 words. I guess Stag doesn’t want to be hurried. It’s harder than I thought it would be to write a free story. I want it to be a good story, not just a hurried, lame attempt. But how much should I say that would be spoilers? Am I putting in enough so that someone who never read the series would be able to follow along? Am I putting in so much detail that someone who has read the other books would be bored? The plan was to have this finished and handed over to the critiquer by February 1. Now I’ll be lucky to have the first draft done by March 1. Either I’ll have to ruthlessly chop it down or just go with what Stag wants. And I gotta tell you, Stag always gets what he wants!
One more thing is the Cupid’s Choice Bloghop. It starts this Friday, Feb 10 and goes through Sunday Feb 12th. Follow the hop to win prizes like a Nook Touch, free books, free downloads of ebooks, giftcards and more. To receive an emailed reminder about the hop, Sign Up Here.
My Winnipeg Weekend
This past weekend I went up to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for the Barony of Castel Rouge’s 12th Night event. 12th Night is a common event celebrated in the SCA. I always have a good time up there in Castel Rouge. I’ll be up there again in May for the Crown Tourney. I drove up with Tiff and Chris and stayed at Dave and Robyn’s. One of the 12th Night traditions is to give small gifts to friends. Robyn gave me this terrific bowler hat. She said I could use it for my steampunk costuming. She’s right. I thought it looked pretty nice on me
The theme at this event was Indian, so many of the attendees wore saris and salwar kameez. Others wore the dress of their chosen persona.
A marvellous (really, truly, awesome) henna artist was there to create art on hands, arms and feet. If you ever get to see Kim atwww.winnipeghenna.com, go for it! Her work is stunning. I chose a fairly simple design that went from the tip of my left forefinger to a band around my wrist. Kim sprinkled glitter over the wet henna. As the henna dried some of the glitter flaked off, but mostly it stayed until I showered on sunday night. Here is what it looks like now.
I had a wonderful time with old friends and made some new ones too. Here is my friend Lyndi (actually the person I based Rose Turner on) her dad Ron and me.
During court, seeing three knights swear fealty was stirring. Someday I really do have to write some medieval historical romance!
All in all, it was a great weekend!
Coming February 6: Wolf Tracker!
Yes, I have the release date for Wolf Tracker! It will be available at Liquid Silver Books on Monday, February 6!
Click here to read a sneak peek at Wolf Tracker!!
13 Comfort Foods
The winter here in North Dakota has been amazingly mild until today. We’ve had only a few inches of snow, temperatures have been consistently 20-30 degrees above average, it’s been sunny and it’s gotten below zero only once. I wonder if this is like to live in the south?
However, that came to a screeching halt today, when the high was -2 F and the wind was blowing strongly. It will be the same or colder tomorrow, with the windchill expected to be -45 to -50. When it gets cold like this I think of comfort food. Something warm and filling and nummy.
1. Mashed potatoes.
2. Home made beef stew.
3. Dad’s Favorite. Eggs, sliced potatoes, green peppers, bacon all mixed together in the pan.
4. Super Soup. My family’s recipe for minestrone soup.
5. Hot chocolate with whipped cream.
6. French toast made into a ham and swiss sandwich.
7. Mostaccioli. With lots of chicken in the sauce.
8. Bread hot from the over slathered with butter and honey.
9. Chicken and Stars soup.
10. Chicken potpie.
11. Chili.
12. Roast in the crockpot with potatoes and carrots.
13. Beef and Barley soup.
When it’s cold what do you like to eat?
Books I Want To Read
Do you ever get so excited about a upcoming book that no other story can really satisfy you? I get like that. Here are a few books that I am on pins and needles for:
Only two more days until Lothaire by Kresley Cole is out!!! I just finished re-reading A Hunger Like No Other, the first in the series, and my fave so far. Not sure about Lothaire, to be honest. He’s a bad guy. I wonder how the author will redeem him?
Angel’s Flight by Nalini Singh is on my radar. It comes out Feb 28. At first I didn’t think the Guild Hunter books were as good as the Psy/Changeling books, but they are definitely growing on. Talking about an author taking a bad guy and redeeming him, have you read Archangel’s Blade?
The Alpha and Omega series is one of my favorites. Fair Game by Patricia Briggs comes out March 6.
Also out on March 6 is Oracle’s Moon by Thea Harrison. I really liked Dragon Bound, the first book in the series. The second was a bit meh, and I didn’t think I’d like Serpent’s Kiss, the third one, but I ended up loving it. The novella, True Colors, was pretty darned good too. Now I need to wait until March for the next. March!
The next Black Dagger Brotherhood book, Lover Reborn by JR Ward is out in late March. I kinda gave up on this series, but I might get this one. Tohrment was one of the original brothers and I’d like to see him happy again.
Another Psy/Changling book is coming out in late May. Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh. I think I’d read anything by Nalini Singh. Not only is she a fantastic writer, but I got to meet her at Lori Foster’s thing last summer. She was gracious and sweet.
What books are you looking forward to?
How To Sew A Knitting Project Bag
Or a jewelry pouch, or an evening bag, or a cute little bag for just about anything.
Supplies:
1/3 yard outer fabric
1/3 yard lining fabric
1.75 yards cording
small piece of plastic canvas
Directions:
1. Out of the outer fabric and lining fabric cut two rectangles 11″x15″ of each fabric. 4 pieces. If your fabrics are ravell-y (fray easily) you may want to serge or pink the edges.
2. Out of each lower corner cut out a 2.5 inch square.
3. 
Cut a piece of the lining fabric 8″x11″. This will be a pocket, and if you don’t want a pocket for your tape measure, scissors, knitting needles, cellphone, lipstick etc, just skip the next steps.
4. Fold the long raw edges inside and press. Place on one lining piece about 1.5 inchesw above the notches and stitch around three edges, leaving the top open. Stitch a few verticle lines to create compartments. I’ve laid a few items on top just to show you what could go in the pocket.
5. On outer fabric measure two inches down from top and mark a 1″ channel from side to side. This will be where the drawstring will go. Put outer fabric right sides together and sew sides from top to bottom, skipping the 1 inch where the cording will go. Hm. I’ve just realized I didn’t get a pic of that and it is darned confusing. Here is a pic of another bag in progress. You can barely see the pencil lines, but I marked the gap with pins and laid the pencil along the top line. 
6. Press seams open. At the bottom corner, line up the side seam with the bottom seam. Sew 
accross. 
Do the same with the other side. Now your bag looks little like a luch sack, right?
7. Put the lining pieces right sides together (the pocket will be inside) Sew the sides and bottom, but leave a 3 inch gap above the pocket. This gap will be used to turn the bag out.
8. Put the rectangle of plastic canvas over the wrong side of the lining at the bottom. Sew it down. I used the wide zigzag stitch to sew it just on the sides at the seams. You could also hand sew it.
9. Put the bag inside the lining, right sides together. Sew along the top edge.
10. Turn right sides out by pulling bag through the 3 inch gap in the lining. This is kind of fiddly, but it can be done. Put the lining inside the bag and make it look all pretty.
11. Stitch close to the top edge. Now make the channel for the cording by stitching two more lines around the top, one above and one below the 1 inch gap at the sides.
12. Cut the cord into two equal length pieces. Start at one channel opening and thread the cord completely around the bag. Tie cord ends together. Thread the other piece of cord completely around the bag at the other opening.
13. Done! It was kind of a pain to figure out, but I think this little pattern can be used for just about anything. You could change the size to make it wider and shorter, or really tall and narrow like for a wine bottle. You could add more pockets or no pockets, or use some fluffy fabric to make a little bag for your ereader. What am I using mine for? It’s holding a crochet project. This is the beginning of a lace weight afghan that I am putting in a raffle basket for Lori Foster’s Annual Reader & Author Get Together along with some books, chocolate and other goodies. It’s not very big yet, but it has 6 months to grow.
If you have any questions on how to make a bag feel free to post. I think I’m a pretty decent romance writer, but I’m not sure how clear my crafting writing is
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