Maddy Barone

13 Things To Do on my Birthday

Published September 21, 2011 | By Maddy Barone

Yes, as of 5:11pm CST on Thursday, September 22, 2011 I will have lived 50 years on this Planet Earth. I’d like to flatter myself and say I don’t look it. The picture above was taken on Tuesday at my birthday party. This is my niece with me. I don’t especially feel like I’m a half century old, at least not until I see the kids I taught in Sunday School bringing their own kids to Sunday School. That’s just plain weird. I tided Wednesday night and I’m taking Thursday off from work, so I have the whole day to do whatever I like.

Here are 13 things I’m doing tomorrow:

1. Sleeping late. Hear that, cats? No crying before 7am. No running around or jumping on me or anything else that will make me wake up early.

2. Drinking tea. A friend came down from Winnipeg and she brought me two delicious organic teas from Nepal.

3. Eating maple biscuits. Another friend came down from Winnipeg and brought me some yummy tea biscuits. (cookies we call them here in the States, but biscuits sounds a little more posh)

4. Listening to a CD. A gal in my critique group put together a cd of her reading some of her poetry and playing some of her music and gave it to me. It will be very nice to listen to while I sip my tea and nibble my biscuits and…

5. Casting on a new pair of socks. My friend Jess Pease (who is rabidly allergic to wool) went into a yarn store and bought me a gorgeous sock yarn in varying shades of purple and blue. I am going to make me another pair of warm handknit socks!

6. Have a 90 minute full body massage. I made an appointment with Knead a Break massage therapy. I’m pretty sure it is going to be sheer heaven.

7. Have lunch with a friend. I don’t know where we’re going. She says she’s going to surprise me. Should be fun!

8. Go to Barnes & Noble. I may not buy any thing, but I will peruse the romance, sci-fi, fantasy and craft stacks with leisurely diligence.

9. Drink coffee. This is part of the whole B&N experience. I take a few books and magazines to the cafe to browse through them to help me decide which I should buy.

10. Go to mom’s house. My sister and two of my brothers will be there for supper. My 8-year-old niece has already told me that SHE is making the cake. 🙂

11. Open the ginger-lemon mead brewed by Nick LePage of Liverpool. He generously gifted me with a bottle of it when we met at Gimli Manitoba.

12. Take a bath. A nice relaxing bath, with bubbles, candles, a book and a glass of mead.

13. Go to bed. Early. Sleep like a baby. No, not like a baby. They wake up and cry too much. Like a log. Yeah, like a log.

Posted in Thursday Thirteen | 10 Comments

My Friends Rock!!

Published September 20, 2011 | By Maddy Barone

My birthday is right around the corner. Some of my good friends at work surprised me yesterday with FIFTY roses to mark my fiftieth birthday. That vase is so heavy it made the shelf above my desk sink a little. Fifty roses have a good bit of weight to them! Can you imagine my surprise at seeing this huge vase full of roses? I still get teary-eyed when I lean over to enjoy them. 🙂

AND my friend Tina Holland (author tina holland www.tinaholland.com) made me a book trailer as a present!

I’ll have a complete post about my birthday party on Thursday.

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Congrats to the Winners!

Published September 5, 2011 | By Maddy Barone

Thank you to everyone who joined in on the Hard at Work Blog Hop! The winner of a download of my backlist is Christine Hirth and the winner of the paperback copy of Sleeping With the Wolf is Cheryl Lynne.

Congrats to the winners!

I will have some news to share about Tracking Tami in the next few days, and the first chapter will be sent out in the Newsletter next weekend.

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Labor Day BlogHop

Published September 2, 2011 | By Maddy Barone

Welcome to Maddy Barone’s stop on the Labor Day Blog Hop. If you fall off the bus, you canget back on here.
I’m pretty sure everyone else has treated you to some delicious eyecandy in the form of men hard at work. You might not be doing any physical work but if you’re like me you’re feeling a bit sweaty by this point! Grab a cold drink and enjoy! My eyecandy is a trio of guys that look sorta like three heroes in upcoming books in my post-apocalyptic series, After the Crash.

The first is the hero of Tracking Tami. Tracker is a loner in the post-apocalyptic world I’ve created, famous for his tracking skill. When a woman runs away from her husbands they hire the Tracker to find her and bring her back. Half Lakota and half Norwegian, Tracker is one of the men of his Clan that doesn’t have a wolf. He is tall and slender, with white blond hair in two braids past his waist and a cool expressionless face that shows no emotion. But behind his stone cold face is a man who yearns for a wife of his own to love and cherish. When he catches up with Tami and finds out that her husbands abused her, he knows he can’t take her back. Like most of his kin he reveres women, and Tami captures his heart. Instead he brings her to his cousin’s werewolf pack for safekeeping, where he hopes her fear will lessen enough for him to be able to court her. This fellow’s hair isn’t hip length, like Tracker’s is, but it’s the right color and texture and the face is right.

The second is Blue Sky at Midday, the hero of Wolf’s Princess. When Sky was just barely seventeen, his wolf chose sixteen year old Rose Turner to be his mate. He courted her with all the fierce ardor of a teenaged Alpha werewolf. His cousin Taye and Taye’s mate Carla insisted he give Rose time to get settled in her new life. When his clumsy wooing failed to charm his reluctant new mate, Sky left the den to take a job in distant Omaha. After several years with no word from Sky, Rose decides she won’t wait for him. She wants a husband and children, so she goes husband shopping. But Sky hasn’t forgotten her and when he learns his neglected mate wants a husband he returns and carries her back to Omaha with him in triumph. But Sky isn’t the innocent naive teenager he was when he first came to Omaha, and Rose isn’t the unsettled and grieving plane crash survivor he left behind. Their story begins in Wolf’s Glory. This fellow’s hair is about right, but Sky has startlingly blue eyes and a dimple beside his mouth.

The third is the hero of Eddie’s Prize. Eddie Madison is, in the words of the heroine, a golden god. With his model-handsome face and physique, and as the son of the mayor and probable heir to his powerful position, Eddie is widely considered the biggest marital catch in the area. The few females in his town fall all over themselves to catch his attention. But his attention is focussed only on the new wife he won in a Bride Fight. Lisa is already half in love with him and his gentle eagerness to please her on their wedding night makes her believe they will have a happy marriage. But that changes when Eddie learns of her promiscuous past. His naive love turns to bitter rage. Lisa tries to convince him that her previous life is behind her now and she loves only him. Eddie draws away from his bride emotionally while struggling to believe her, but he can’t hide the accusation in his eyes or the mistrust he feels. Lisa puts up with his attitude for only so long.

For the blog hop, the prize I’m offering is a free download of either the first book in the series, Sleeping With the Wolf, or the second book, Wolf’s Glory. But I’m also offering a prize to one person who leaves a comment on this blog post. One commenter will win a paperback copy of Sleeping With the Wolf. Remember that anyone who has signed up for my newsletter will automatically be entered twice in the paperback giveaway. Good luck!

Posted in After the Crash, Promos | 30 Comments

13 Items that COULD Show Up in a Swag Bag

Published August 31, 2011 | By Maddy Barone

I am preparing the Swag Bags for my street team. Sadly, I somehow deleted all their mailing addies so I had to send a quick email to them requesting that they re-send their mailing info. If you haven’t updated your newsletter profile, you can do so now. I plan to mail tomorrow night and perhaps send a few stragglers on Tuesday, after the American Labor Day weekend holiday.

And, hey, I’m participating in a Blog Hop this weekend. It goes from Saturday through Monday. A free download of either Sleeping With the Wolf or Wolf’s Glory will be the prize offered for the hop, plus I will be offering a paperback copy of Sleeping With the Wolf to one commenter here on my blog. So feel free to stop back this weekend!

Now for the 13 things that may be included in a Swag Bag.

1 & 2. A 5.5 x 8.25 inch postcard of the cover art for Sleeping With the Wolf and Wolf’s Glory.

3 & 4. A compact mirror and small tub of lip glass. These represent Lisa Anton, heroine of Eddie’s Prize. She readily admits she’s vain.

5 & 6. A magnet of the cover art for Sleeping With the Wolf and Wolf’s Glory.

7. A set of thin bangle bracelets. These represent Ellie, the heroine of Saving Ellie. Quill buys them for her, saying they are almost as delicate and beautiful as she is.

8 & 9. A set of Romance Trading Cards for each Sleeping With the Wolf and Wolf’s Glory.

10. A ring with a butterfly on it. Stag gives Sherry a ring like this. To him she’s as elusive as a butterfly he tries to catch, flitting away from him every time he gets close.

11. A charm bracelet. When Sky goes to Omaha, he sends Rose a charm for her bracelet every year on her birthday. At least he does for the first several years. Then the presents stop with no word from Sky.

12 & 13. One lucky person will receive a paperback copy of Sleeping With the Wolf and Wolf’s’ Glory! This person will be notified by email on Thursday night, so if you are not the winner, you can certainly leave a comment on the Blog Hop blog post to have a chance to win.

Which of these things do you like best? Do you have suggestions for what should go into the April 2012 Swag Bags?

Posted in After the Crash, Promos, Thursday Thirteen | 7 Comments

13 Nuts and Seeds

Published August 24, 2011 | By Maddy Barone

I’m trying to eat healthier, here. Nuts can be a nutritious snack. Although many nuts are high in fat and calories, they also have protein, fiber and other important nutrients. Here are thirteen nuts to enjoy from this helpful website:

1. Almonds. 1 ounce (23 whole nuts) of raw almonds contains 6.02 grams protein, 163 calories and 3.5 grams of dietary fiber.

2. Brazil Nuts. 1 ounce (6 whole nuts) contains 4.06 grams of protein, 186 calories and 2.1 grams of fiber.

3. Cashews. One ounce of raw, unsalted cashew nuts contains 5.17 grams of protein, 157 calories and 0.94 grams of fiber.

4. Chestnuts. Never had these, only sung about them at Christmas. Ten (10) roasted kernels with no salt added contain 2.66 grams protein, 206 calories and 4.3 grams fiber. (Note: chestnuts must be boiled or roasted before eating due to the high levels of tannic acid.)

5. Coconut. Is this a nut? I guess it is, just really, really large. One cup of raw, shredded coconut contains 2.66 grams of protein, 283 calories and 7.2 grams of dietary fiber.

6. Hazelnuts. One ounce (21 whole kernels) of hazelnuts contains 4.24 grams of protein, 178 calories and 2.7 grams of dietary fiber.

7. Macadamia nuts. One once (10-12 kernels) of raw macadamia nuts contains 2.24 grams protein, 204 calories and 2.4 grams fiber.

8. Peanuts. One ounce of dry roasted peanuts contains 6.71 grams of protein, 166 calories and 2.3 grams of dietary fiber.

9. Pecans. One ounce (19 halves) of raw pecans contains 2.6 grams protein, 196 calories and 2.7 grams fiber.

10. Pine nuts. One ounce of pine nuts (167 kernels) contains 3.88 grams of protein, 191 calories and 1.0 grams of dietary fiber.

11. Pistachios. One ounce of dry roasted pistachio nuts (no salt) (49 kernels) contains 6.05 grams of protein, 162 calories and 2.9 grams of dietary fiber.

12. Sunflower Seeds. One ounce of sunflower seed kernels, dry-roasted without salt contains 5.48 grams of protein, 165 calories and 3.1 grams of dietary fiber.

13. Walnuts. 1 ounce (14 halves) English walnuts contains 4.32 mg protein, 185 calories and 1.9 mg fiber.

Which of these do you like to munch on?

Posted in Thursday Thirteen | 8 Comments

T13 / 13 Facts About the After the Crash World

Published August 17, 2011 | By Maddy Barone

My attention has been pretty well fixed on the world I’ve created for my After the Crash series for about 2 years now.I told myself that after I submitted Book 3, Tracking Tami, that I would take a two week break from writing. I submitted the manuscript on Saturday, August 13, and I haven’t actually written anything since then. But I can’t seem to let go entirely. I’ve been thinking about the man that Sky has become since he left the Pack to go work in Omaha. I’ve been considering Sherry’s fear of Stag, the wolf who has claimed her as his mate. I’ve wondered how Quill has coped with knowing that his mate is married to another man. Here are some facts about the world I’ve created.

1. The Clan is made up of descendants of Native Americans who left the reservation in South Dakota to live as their ancestors did before the reservation days. They left to isolate and protect themselves from the plagues decimating the population.

2. The Woman Killer Plague flares up again in the late spring of 2065.

3. Jelly’s full name is He Eats Jelly.

4. By the time Quill returns to the Pack after working in Omaha for a few years, Taye and Carla are the parents of two sons.

5. Glory gives birth to the Clan’s first girl baby in 30 years in January, 2066.

6. Shadow is delighted and terrified to be the father of a daughter. He wishes they would have had a few sons first so he’d have some help protecting the precious girl. But she’ll have plenty of male cousins to watch out for her.

7. Sherry Rowe is the illegitimate daughter of an African American soldier who was stationed Korea, and a Korean woman. Sherry lived with her mother in Korea until her mother died when Sherry was six. She was sent to live with her father in America, with the children he’d had by his legal American wife. Sherry never fit in with either family.

8. Unlike most of the unmarried or mated men in the Clan and Pack, Tracker is not a virgin.

9. Glory’s high school enemy Heather has become the high priestess of a cult that worships sex. I wonder if she regrets it?

10. Sky has been a naughty boy while living in Omaha, the new Sin City. It all started out innocently enough, but if Taye knew what his cousin has been up to he might not let Sky claim Rose as his mate.

11. By 2073, Omaha has some electricity as well as a municipal waterworks.

12. Shadow’s brother Jimmy White Elk dies in a bar room brawl and his widow leaves her three teenaged sons with the Clan when she remarries. She is much happier with her townie husband, but visits her sons several times a year, and they often stay for months in the winter.

13. Co-pilot Connie Mondale breaks her vow to never marry.

Posted in After the Crash, Thursday Thirteen, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Paperback Copy of Sleeping With the Wolf

Published August 16, 2011 | By Maddy Barone

I have had my first book, Sleeping With the Wolf, put into print through CreateSpace. It is available through Amazon, or I believe you could ask your local bookstore to order it for you. Book 2, Wolf’s Glory, should be available by August 29. You know, I really love the ease of digital books. But as an author I have to admit that it is fun to hold my book in my hands. Here is a picture of me, Tina Holland and Laura Ficek (two lovely ladies from my critique group) and I’m the short dark haired one holding the book 🙂

I’m also offering two copies in a giveaway on GoodReads, so if you’re a member there, go enter the giveaway. If you’re not a member you might like to look into it. It’s a fun placefor book lovers.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Sleeping With the Wolf

by Maddy Barone

Giveaway ends August 31, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Posted in After the Crash, Promos, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

3rd Draft of Tracking Tami Done!

Published August 10, 2011 | By Maddy Barone

Tracking Tami, third book in the After the Crash series, is just about ready to submit. After I received the manuscript back from the beta readers I knew I had some fixes in the timeline to make. That’s the hairy thing about writing a series where so many stories overlap. If Glory is at the Plane Women’s House in Book 2 on a particular day, she’d better be there in Book 3. And if she’s supposed to be in bed with Shadow at the den at the end of Book 2 she better not be in Kearney at the same time in Book 3. And if the hero in Book 3 is supposed to be off killing the bad guys at a distant location during a certain week, he better not show up at the Plane Womens’ House during that same week. Oy! I ended up adding a whole chapter and expending the story by about 5,000 words. But I think I have it all figured out now, and I can honestly say I think it’s a good book. I suppose authors always say that. But I have soft spot for Tracker. Of course, it’s possible that readers won’t like it. Then I worry that the publisher will reject it or ask for major changes. Maybe the book will bomb! Do all authors fret like this when they turn in a story? I hope so! I’d hate to be the only one. 🙂

I will be strong and confident. I will re-read the story one last time to verify things, then submit it by Saturday. And there will be great rejoicing.

yay for finishing!!!

Posted in After the Crash, Writing | 1 Comment

And the Winner of Wolf’s Glory is …

Published August 7, 2011 | By Maddy Barone

Etal!! Congrats! I’ll be emailing you in a minute. 🙂

Thanks for entering, everyone!