An Open Book

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

A whole new year of writing to look forward to. And I so am looking forward to writing new and fun projects in 2009. Believe it or not I do have a plan for two new books. The first is a family story a Murder mystery, called Truth Slithers and the sequel to The Mark of a Druid called When Ethers Descend.

Marketing is top priority in 2009 as well expect to hear all about the kickoff of the contest of the Mark of a Druid to be announced this week and the first of many book signings to be announced after the first as well. The blog you have come to read this year will continue and I plan on maintaining the same schedule of 3 blogs cranked out for Monday morning reading. There is also going to be some fun things coming up to bring authors and readers closer together. And maybe a monthly blog talk radio show about what is new in pod booking. Interested? Let me know I would be interesting in your thoughts on what you would like to know about pod-booking in 2009. And lets not forget the wind up of The Mark of a Druid on Podiobooks which should be done by March and completely out there in audio form.

Personally we will be putting our house on the market in January. The kids are moving out and healing up… so time to downsize. I want to spend more time writing and less time cleaning. LOL ! We are even considering moving out of California. Nothing set in stone yet. It will depend on the market and how fast this huge house sells. If we do move out of state we are looking in Arkansas, but I sure will miss this mountain and all the great people we have met here. But we shall see what the universe holds in store for the family. Lets face it last year was cool for me but there were more injuries and healing done in my house than anywhere I know of.

I am looking forward to a prolific year and please keep the comments coming and the reviews on Amazon and podiobooks they really help!

oh for all of you who follow me on twitter you may have seen that I rescued two kittens from a wet cardboard box last week. We are keeping one and the other has gone to his new home as of a few hours ago. Ladies and Gentleman meet the latest writing Kitty C II. Who looks just like Cosmo the cat that pasted away about 2 years ago fighting a raccoon at 16 years old. This one seems to have the same personality. Welcome C II to our home!

C II

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

On this Christmas week I would like to wish you all a fabulous time with your family and friends.

Is there a time to be scary? Can I be scary? My kids certainly think I can be scary! I am not usually someone who writes horror and for the challenge for Horror Addicts I had to call in a dear friend, Arlene Radasky. My writing leans toward the very emotional intense side as apposed to blood, guts and gore or Vampires and Werewolves or Zombies. So for this story we went psychological. This is not a gory story but there is blood hehehehe.

Walk-in By Arlene Radasky and Rhonda R Carpenter has been slatted for the 16th Episode of Horroraddicts.net. And if you listened to HA this week you heard Emz give me 13 things I could do to be more scary! It was a crack up and I really appreciate Emz using me to get the word out about all the scary things happening on her site and many others! Thanks Emz!

There is a preview here of the story and at www.radasky.com but please be sure you listen to the episode too. Click on Short Stories Page and listen there to Walk-in! And subscribe to www.horroraddicts.net and hear it there January 29, 2009!

Christmas is family time for me and everyone comes to my house, which in this weather and be super scary, so I will be off line for the holidays for the most part. The next episode of The Mark of a Druid should go live tomorrow on podiobooks.com and this was a very difficult episode to do. See the http://www.themarkofadruid.com for more on the ins and outs of the issues and results.

This weeks Got Insight blog proves to be inspirational, Holiday Joy…  

Merry Christmas folks and here is to having a safe and joyous holiday and to all a good night.

Rhonda Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

As cookie madness descends on the house I find the need for Christmas music in is order. The tree will be on early and the oven running for 3 days, almost straight. The gals will bake and talk. We’ll share coffee with Baileys and test run each batch, while the guys will watch football and sit on their a$$es. Snow will fall and the house will smell great. So I say to you all, gather them close, enjoy your differences and hug them when ever they allow it. We are here for such a finite time in this incarnation, cherish the day!

Now cookie sheets and muffin tins, Now loaf pans and cooling rakes. On flour! On sugar! On icing and sprinkles! With a dash of this an a little of that, sweets will be made and assembled in packs, for delivery next week by hand and by mail. Now Bake away Bake away, Bake away, All!

As a gift here is our favorite Chocolate chip cookie recipe~

Chocolate Chippers
½ cup shorting
½ cup granulated Sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 6-oz package semi sweet chocolate pieces
½ broken nut (optional I don’t put in nuts)

Cream shorting, sugars, egg and vanilla till light and fluffy. Sift together dry ingredients; stir into creamed mixture; blend well/ Add chips and nuts .
Drop from teaspoon 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake in a moderate oven 375 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet after about 2 minutes cook on racks if they last that long! LOL. Makes 3 dozen.
And for Arlene congrats on your books release on Amazon!
Scottish Shortbread! YUM!
• 2 cups butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Cream butter and brown sugar. Add 3 to 3 3/4 cups flour. Mix well. Sprinkle board with the remaining flour. Knead for 5 minutes, adding enough flour to make a soft dough. Roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into 3×1 inch strips. Prick with fork and place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.
Merry Christmas folks and have a great next week!
Back next week with all three blogs and another new episode of The Mark of a Druid. And watch Twitter for cookie updates this weekend!
Rhonda Carpenter

Beautiful cobalt blue hand made glass ware. This is a great idea Laurie! Your work is lovely and eye catching. You ask folks to blog about it and I decided to pick one piece that I really liked. I found that really hard to do. This is the piece I really like although I could own your whole collection this one called to me as different in an extraordinary kind of way.

Lovely!

Good luck on the contest. This is a great idea! Join the contest here http://cobalt-world.com/

Rhonda

Where to you social network? 9 places I am checking out.

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

So what do you think of when you think Horror? Usually not my thing, but I have of late. been enjoying a pod cast called Horror Addicts produced by Emerian Rich. I thought this week I would ask the readers what scares you? Emerian has challenged me to write a horror short for her new season of www.horroraddicts.net. Which I believe kicked off this weekend! This show is not for children! If you like horror, vampires, zombies, listening to horror addicts can keep you up to date on new and old films and information of what is happening in the Horror community.

Social networking is becoming great fun and I am enjoying meeting all of these new people from all over the world. Were do I go? Well I am checking out many sites to see if they call to me. Here is what I have found.

Tagged… Sucks! I swear I did not get one follower of my over 200 followers that was more than interested in poking me with a silly or provocative message. I closed the tagged account. Yuck. I am married and happily and have been for 20 years so I am not online or networking to get a date.

Twitter… Digging Twitter.com I don’t profess to know how or why it works, but I am having fun and meeting people and not once has anyone hit on me. YES!!!! I am seeing things on the web I would never have seen if not for whom I am following and who is following me. I have actually sold books and built listeners for the podcast which totally rocks and it has been a great way to meet others who are doing interesting and fun things on the web to promote their books or music or art and even there creations and work. I do want to say that is not just about your work but Twitter is about “What are you doing right now in 140 characters.” If you are interested in social networking Twitter is one of my favorites. http://twitter.com/rhondacarpenter

Myspace… Well I have a myspace page but I find the format hard to use and a tad frustrating. Granted, because of that I have not spent a ton of time developing contacts there. http://www.myspace.com/rhondarcarpenter

Facebook… Well I started out apprehensive about face book. I have since changed my mind. I don’t use any of the give a person a flower or grow your garden widgets basically because I just don’t have time. I field about 3 to 400 emails a days and these emails and actions seem a waste of my time. But I did just recently build a The Mark of a Druid book group to see if it would be an easy way to contact my fans and readers about what is going on. I like the ease of facebook and we will see how far it goes! http://www.facebook.com/rhondarcarpenter#/profile.php?id=748048511&ref=name Sign up for the group to get updates.

Yahoo360… I have been on yahoo of years and find that it is a constant and reliable place to post a blog or update what is happening but they seem to be falling behind the times in what is happening in social networking.

Linkedin… I built a professional deatailed profile from linkedin but I find it hard to use. This week I plan on learn the ins and outs of linked in. I still have not figured out how to tell people how to find me on facebook. But my username is Rhondarcarpenter. And I come up under hypnosis and www.lifefirst.com.

Plurk… is also on the list to learn in the next few weeks.

Tailcast.com Which I totally love! It is a great young community that focuses on your creations. Check it out! http://www.tailcast.com/member-rhonda-r-carpenter-409.html My son is showing his artwork there too.

Dig… Hmmm singed up and did nothing with it yet. So add that to the list of things to learn too.

Selfgrowth.com… this is really a professional site and while I think it is a great and informative site. I plan on writing some technical information for the site as soon as The Mark of a Druid is complete as an audio book.

I have received several requests to join many scocial networking sites. So this week I will have a look at some of them again but I have to say it is hard to follow and keep up with too many sites at once.

How do you use the net? What do you find helpful and where are you hanging out? Let me know I am always interested in new and fun social networking sites and fun things to do on the web.

Thanks again for all the support and keep the comments coming I am grateful to have them.

Seasons Greetings!

Keep Writing! I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

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