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Ice Cream Truck Nostalgia

16 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by Holly Collingwood - Collingwood Writing Services in Authors, Historical Fiction, Writing

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books, Historical Fiction, Ice Cream Truck, reading

Yesterday an ice cream truck toured our cul-de-sac. It was the standard white van with neon popsicles and ice cream sandwiches decorating the sides. My kids heard the music and quickly looked for shoes and money.

In the six years we’ve lived here, this is only the second time an ice cream truck has driven by our house. Are they rare now? Or have they all been bought-up and refurbished as food trucks? Whatever the reason, ice cream trucks don’t seem to be as popular as they were when I was a kid. It seemed they were at the park every day.

Maybe my memory has distorted reality or maybe I just long for a different time period when life was simpler. Many historical fiction books, like ice cream trucks, have the ability to transport me to another era. As they describe food, clothing, activities, transportation and family life in their respective times, I get completely sucked into historical fiction every single time.

If you also love historical fiction, here are a few that are worthy of checking out:

Buss

A Buss From Lafayette by Dorothea Jensen:

Fourteen-year-old Clara Hargraves lives on a farm in Hopkinton, a small New Hampshire town, during the 19th century. She has a couple of big problems. First of all, she has a stepmother, Priscilla, who used to be her spinster schoolteacher aunt. Clara, still grieving her mother, resents that her late mother’s older sister has not only married her father but is about to have a baby. To make matters worse, “Prissy Priscilla” keeps trying to make the rambunctious, clever, and witty Clara act like a proper young lady. Secondly, Clara has red hair, making her a target for teasing by a handsome older boy, Dickon Weeks, and by her pretty seventeen-year-old Dread Cousin Hetty. Clara, however, has a secret plan she hopes will change this.

During the last week of June, 1825, Clara’s town is abuzz because the famous General Lafayette is about to visit their state during his farewell tour of America. In those eventful seven days, Clara learns a lot about her family, Hetty, Dickon, and herself. In addition, she hears many stories from her family, neighbors, veterans, and from Lafayette himself. Through these tales, she comes to understand the huge and vital role the French aristocrat played in America’s Revolutionary War. She also comes to see that her problems might not be quite so terrible after all.


watching-406x600Watching the Water by Donna Gentry Morton:

In “Watching the Water,” book 1 of the Heart Tide series, Julianna Sheffield is a rogue wave, one that doesn’t want to land on the shore it seems destined for.

It’s 1934 and the currents pushing her include an unscrupulous father determined to keep the family solvent during the Great Depression, a mother suffocated by the bubble of high society, and a greedy fiance’ named Leyton, who is proving why his name rhymes with Satan. Julianna longs to chart a different course. She wants to help the widows, farmers, and polio victims her family forced into the bread lines. She wants to exchange teacups for drinking milk from the jug. And she dreams of a man named Jace McAllister, another rogue wave who wants to love her but fights the seas bringing them together.

Jace also has a heart for those who are Depression-weary, but his method of helping includes retribution. His reasons are his own, but connected to Julianna’s family. For this seemingly doomed couple, moving forward brings on storms of rage, moral dilemmas, and difficult personal growth. Their love could be the kind that is impossible to live out. . .or the kind from which legends are born. The outcome of their journey depends on how carefully they navigate the waters.

“Seeking the Shore,” is the second and final book in this series.


9781939371850The Children’s Train – Escape on the Kindertransport by Jana Zinser:

The Jewish children of Germany are frightened, and their parents are too. Hitler’s men have just broken their store windows, stolen and destroyed their belongings, and arrested many Jewish fathers and brothers. When England arranges to take the children out of Germany by train, the Kindertransport is organized. The train filled with Jewish children escaping the Nazis chugs over the border into Holland, where they are ferried across the English Channel to England and to freedom.

But for Peter, the shy violin player, his sister Becca, and his friends Stephen and Hans, life in England holds challenges as well. Peter’s friend Eva, who did not get a seat on the Kindertransport, is left to the evil plans of Hitler. Peter, working his musician’s hands raw at a farm in Coventry, wonders if they should have stayed and fought back instead of escaping.

That night the Coventry farm is bombed. The Nazis have reached England. Peter has nothing left. He decides it’s time to stand and fight Hitler. Peter returns to Germany to join the Jewish underground resistance, search for the mother and sister he left behind in Berlin, and rescue his childhood friend Eva.


All books by BQB and WriteLife Publishing are available on Amazon, B&N, or can be ordered from your favorite local bookstore.

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Preparing for #Pitchwars – Books for Writers

20 Thursday Jul 2017

Posted by Holly Collingwood - Collingwood Writing Services in Authors, Books, Writing

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#Pitchwars, books, reading, Writing

#Pitchwars has turned into one of the greatest mentored writing contests ever. It includes chats, blogs, interviews, mentors, friendships, professional advice and more.

Congratulations to contest creator, Brenda Drake, and her team of mentors and assistants. This is truly a case of writers helping writers and it is fabulous for the writing community.

If you’re considering entering #Pitchwars, (you’ll need a completed novel by the August 2nd submission date) here are a few writing books to help you polish those pages, conquer tricky plot twists and add creativity to your characters and story.

WritinginCommunityWriting in Community by Lucy Adkins and Becky Breed

Writing in Community is a book of inspiration and encouragement for writers who want to reach deep within themselves and write to their fullest potential. There is magic in a successful writing group. This book helps writers tap into that magic, and with gentle wisdom and humor, experience unprecedented breakthroughs in creativity.

 

 


CompactCompWriter’s Handbook: A Compact Comp Book by Carl Adkins

Carl Adkins calls upon his broad teaching background that includes students from high school, community college, university undergraduate and graduate writing courses to address familiar writing problems in common sense language. In other words, this sensible writer’s handbook is truly user friendly.

 

 


All books by BQB and WriteLife Publishing are available on Amazon, B&N, or can be ordered from your favorite local bookstore.

 

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Summer is the Deviled Egg Season

31 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by Holly Collingwood - Collingwood Writing Services in Authors, Books, Bookstores, Writing

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books, cookbooks, Deviled Eggs, reading, Recipes, summer

eggsSummer is finally here. The kids had their last day of school, the freezer is full of popsicles and we live between layers of sunscreen and bug spray.

Summer is also the season of picnics and potlucks. For these, I almost always make deviled eggs. Several reasons: my kids love them, they are relatively easy to make, I usually have the ingredients on-hand, and on a table of options, when my kids grab them, at least they will have some protein on their plate next to their pile of cookies and fruit salad.

But perhaps I need to vary from my old standby. My friends know me so well that a group invite recently read, RSVP with your dish (Holly has the deviled eggs covered). For Christmas another friend gave me a special deviled egg tray that has a frozen layer to keep the eggs chilled. Perfect. But, still, maybe it is time to try something new.

If you’re stuck in a food rut, here are several cookbooks that will tempt your taste buds to experiment.


cookbook-390x600This is Book 4 in The Family Caregiver’s Series. The books in this series are designed to support you, the family caregiver, which in turn will help you be supportive to your loved one.

You’re in the caregiving trenches and barely make it through the day, let alone have the energy to prepare fancy meals. But meals don’t have to be fancy or hard to make in order to be delicious, nutritious, and healthy. Harriet Hodgson, a dedicated home cook, former food writer, and family caregiver, wanted to fix delicious meals for her disabled husband. A creative cook, Harriet adapted favorite family recipes and created new ones for this book, reducing salt, fat, and sugar.Personal stories add to the recipes and each one ends with “Caregiver Tips.” You’ll get tips on how to stock your pantry, speed shop for groceries, understand the effects of sodium, and practice food safety.

The book is set in larger print that makes it easy to read. Treat your loved one—and yourself—to these easy-fix, delicious, and satisfying recipes. Make every meal a celebration of life!


PrintYes, that’s my family on the cover—all ten of us! We had to get creative to include two of our sons who were out of the state and country. I thought it was rather a genius idea, from my eldest daughter, to blow up their photos so they wouldn’t be left out of my home cooking cookbook. That’s how our family rolls: creative, spontaneous, and make-it-happen. In fact, that’s how my recipes in this cookbook came about!

As I was preparing meals at home, I might find that I was missing an ingredient to a recipe, wanted to improve one I’d tried, or was inspired by something I found on sale at the market. I think it was the artistic side of me that I’d not expressed since art school that found another outlet through my cooking. As our family continued to grow through adoption, it was up to me to stretch the dollars and fill the stomachs. That meant fresh food made at home. No drive-thrus for this family! So come along with me and cruise through these recipes, memories, and more. I think you’ll discover what my family and friends have enjoyed for years: delicious food, happy palates, and the wish that you had enough for leftovers!


wellnessJust thinking about dieting or eating right can feel overwhelming and heavy for most of us, but Dr. Amber French and chef Kari Morris show us that it doesn’t have to be. Wellness 100 presents a realistic and optimistic option with simple guidelines and healthy, easy, and delicious recipes that are respectful of busy lifestyles. Plus, the program naturally works to combat diseases of aging such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. Can you imagine wanting to eat healthy and enjoying a diet program? With Wellness 100, you can because it is an attainable lifestyle, not a fad diet.

Based on hundreds of studies, research articles, and books by respected authors, the program will teach you how to eat a variety of readily available fresh and colorful foods with the proper amount of carbohydrates and protein for lifelong weight management and better health. Wellness 100 gets us back to basics, teaching us to make better choices when it comes to our eating habits instead of being lost in a world of confusing food labels and savvy marketing of convenience (processed) foods and fad diets. Shopping, cooking, and eating according to Wellness 100 guidelines is achievable and rewarding.


All books by BQB and WriteLife Publishing are available on Amazon, B&N or can be ordered from your favorite local bookstore.

 

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