Angela Breidenbach's Creative Cooking for Colitis

Creative Cooking for Colitis

by Angela Breidenbach

We're happpy to have Angela Breidenbach with us today talking about her new book, Creative Cooking for Colitis. Angela has been kind enough to give one lucky blog reader a copy. Since this is an ebook, it'll be in electronic format. To register, place your e-mail address in the feedburner box to the top right if you've not yet done so. After reading Angela's interview, leave a comment at the bottom. To learn more about Angela, read on!


Your title: Creative Cooking for Colitis: How to start living and eating confidently again

1) How did the idea for this cookbook come to you?
I was diagnosed with severe colitis (microscopic colitis in two forms) last year. Malnutrition and dehydration were my constant companions. As I learned how to nourish myself, I noticed I began altering/cooking foods my family and friends could eat with me instead of always making two meals or avoiding food altogether.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
I'd lost both hope and joy in eating. Everything hurt. I'd become so depressed when I couldn't get the condition under control for six months. One friend, Tod Trimble, suggested some ideas I put in the book. They worked! I decided Creative Cooking for Colitis might put joy and hope back into other people's lives too. It started with just tips, but then I thought, “why not add the recipes and the photos so others could happily sit down to a social meal too?”

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
Hmm, I'm so open it's hard to think what would surprise anyone...
1. My HP printer is my arch nemesis (I can't get it to work and it's brand new!)
2. I want to live a month in both Scotland and Sweden for heritage, cooking, and writing.
3. I hate fish & coconut with a passion. You won't find those in any of my recipes but you will find important substitute nutrient options.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
Building my speaking ministry for women based in biblical wisdom and how to apply that in real life, planning the next cookbook my husband has teasingly titled, Creative Cooking: Another Blooming Cookbook, because it's going to be different fillings from appetizers to desserts like the Blooming Chicken Savories in this Creative Cooking for Colitis book. I don't know of the title will stick, lol, but it is cute! Then my second non-fiction, Courageous Beauty, needs to get finished so I can start on an historical fiction novel inspired by an 1850's amethyst glass Swedish pitcher set I inherited.

5) Parting comments?
Cooking, writing, and photographing Creative Cooking for Colitis was hard work, but also heart work. The recipes are for anyone, any family, any fun social event. The title was important so people with colitis, IBD, and even celiac sprue would know some recipes would be helpful and hopeful because it's so hard to learn what you can eat with these conditions. I love public speaking, so I welcome invitations :-) Come visit me as I tour with the http://www.lifeandfaithtour.com this summer too!

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
http://www.mygemofwisdom.com/
http://colitiscooking.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/AngelaBreidenbach
http://www.twitter.com/AngBreidenbach

Ann Shorey's "The Promise of Morning"

Ann Shorey's "The Promise of Morning"

We're happy to have Ann Shorey with us today talking about her new book, The Promise of Morning.To learn more about Ann and her book, read on!

Your title: The Promise of Morning
1) How did this story come to you? The story was inspired by the lives of my great-great grandparents. My gr.gr. grandfather had been a circuit-rider in his youth, and when he was thirty he married a girl of fourteen. They were my models for Ellie and Matthew Craig in The Promise of Morning. A few of the events in the story are true, but most are fictitious. Guess which ones are which?

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
The Promise of Morning is the second book in the At Home in Beldon Grove series from Revell. When I submitted the proposal to Revell for Book One, The Edge of Light, I included the next two novels in the proposal, knowing Revell likes series. I met my editor at the Mt. Hermon Christian Writers conference in 2007 and she asked for the manuscript after reading the proposal.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
The At Home in Beldon Grove series is set in Illinois, and I’ve never lived there. I must add that I have many helpful people “on the ground” in that state to ask when I don’t know about something. I have been there and researched the area I use in the books.
I like liver and onions. Lots of people say “yuck,” but I think it’s yummy. I was going to say, “I love chocolate,” but that’s not too surprising.
A third thing? I often carry a hand-held tape recorder when I take my daily three-mile walks. I use the time to work out scene problems and figure out where I’m going next in my wip. I’m sure people who see me talking to my hand must think I’m a little strange.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I’m working on Book 3 of the At Home in Beldon Grove series, tentatively titled The Dawn of a Dream. The story features Luellen McGarvie, Molly McGarvie’s oldest daughter, now all grown up. It’s been fun to write—Luellen’s a spunky young woman.

5) Parting comments? If you’re one of those readers who don’t enjoy series because you have to buy the next book to find out what happened after the end of the previous one, the At Home in Beldon Grove stories are for you. Each book has a different protagonist, so they stand alone. But since all the characters live in Beldon Grove, their lives intersect so you’ll know how things are going with characters from the previous books.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet? Please visit my website at http://www.annshorey.com/

In Plain Sight
by Michelle Sutton
We're happy to have Michelle Sutton with us today talking about her new release from Desert Breeze Publishing, In Plain Sight. If you're an ebook fan, Desert Breeze is a publisher that you should become familiar with because they're turning out some great stories.
I don't read many books due to time constraints, but I have read this one and loved it. Michelle's Danger at the Door is also a personal favorite of mine.

1) How did this story come to you?
In Plain Sight is the sequel to Danger at the Door. I loved Bojan's sister when I first created her so I wanted a story of her new life following the tragedy that happened to her.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
I told the editor (who loved Danger at the Door) that I'd like to write a sequel about the hero's sister and she said great and sent me a contract. She loved Danger at the Door and figured my readers would want another story following Danger, too.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I never liked writing until I was in my thirties.
I'm a step grandma and have been for fifteen years even though I'm only 43.
I put a little bit of my heart in every book I write so if you want to know my heart you can read my books and get to know me better. Weird, but true.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
What am I NOT working on? I have a bunch of projects going on right now. I am writing the sequel to First Impressions and also preparing for my next paperback release in July of this year called Never Without Hope.

5) Parting comments?
I have to mention that the blogger interviewing me is one of the coolest people I know, partly because she loves to talk about fiction as much as I do. And, Michelle is one of the coolest people I know and I love her books. Can't get enough of them!

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
Um, everywhere? Google my name and you'll see what I mean…

Easing into Ebooks (Part 3)

Easing into Ebooks
Part Three

Welcome back for the last part of my series, Easing into Ebooks. As a reader, I hope you are better informed about the new and exciting technologies now available, which combine comfort and convenience for a pleasant reading experience. I also hope that I've been able to ease a few concerns that weigh heavy on the minds of booklovers as they witness the publishing industry incorporate electronic formatting, and promote reading devices in this digital age.
I'd like to devote the last segment in this series to passing on information about where to find ebooks. Obviously, there are the storefronts of individual publishers and online retailers that specialize in the sale of ebooks. But there are also the major retailers, such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders – all of these now have an ebook division, and have either developed a device exclusively sold at their store, or teamed up with a tech company to sell that company's product. Such is the case with Borders and Sony.
Barnes and Noble has done both of these things. The Nook, which was developed exclusively for B&N, is sold at brick and mortar stores and on their online storefront -- there you can also find an extensive ebook catalog. Along with this, they have purchased the popular ebook retailer, Fictionwise, which sells the eSlick Reader, a product of Foxit Corporation.
Amazon strictly promotes its Kindle and Amazon Kindle books, but they have developed a wide array of free apps that allow their books to be read on other devices, such as Apple products like the iPhone, iPod Touch, and soon, the iPad. Kindle books can be purchased and read on Blackberry, PC, and Mac. Kindle is in the process of developing apps for the much anticipated tablet computers, once again, including the iPad. And, as I've already mentioned, these apps are absolutely FREE.
B&N is keeping pace by also developing similar apps, and the Sony Reader Store is with the program too. Competition is an excellent motivator.
Now all of this is well and good, but perhaps you're just getting your feet wet in this rapidly changing world of reading, and want to sample ebooks before you commit to buying any. Many retailers allow you to download a sample of one to five chapters, depending on length, so you can see if the book captures your interest before you hit the "buy" button.
Most retailers also offer some ebooks for free. Sometimes this is done as a promotion effort. An author may have a new book in a series coming out, so for a specified time period another book in that series may be offered for free. Either check up top, or scroll down the length of any ebook retailer and I bet you'll see these words, "Free Ebooks." And there ya have it – except in the case of Amazon, but here's a hint. Amazon calculates their bestsellers list through the number of downloads. Nothing motivates a reader to download a book better than offering it for free. Click Amazon's bestseller's list and see how many of them have $0 listed as their price. If a book interests you though, grab it, because some of them are only offered this way for a few days.
Aside from books given away through retailers, there are also public domain sites where many works of literature have been converted through the effort of volunteers and are available at no cost. Project Gutenburg is a prime example, offering over 75,000 titles completely free of charge. http://gutenberg.us/Collections.htm.
Even libraries are adopting technology that allows readers to access their ebook collection online, and check out books with the aid of a specialized library card. Here's a library doing just that. http://www.greenwichlibrary.org/. Click on "Downloadable Library" to see. This is a great service for the homebound.
Retailers have also heard the demands of customers who wish to loan their ebooks to friends. Barnes & Noble has developed the LendMe service for their ebooks, and other retailers are sure to follow suit. Competition's an excellent motivator! Did I already say that?

How to Get and Read EBooks for Free

How to Get and Read Ebooks for Free
****No expensive software to buy****

After I learned to download ebooks to my Blackberry, there was no turning back. The picture to the left is Apple's new ipad set to launch tomorrow. I must have one! It'll be free when I finish because I'll save money by downloading and reading the free books that will be at my disposal. Don't have an ebook reader? Read on to learn how to download and read ebooks without one.

Amazon's Kindle store has hundreds, maybe thousands of free book just waiting for you to download. No Kindle? No problem. You can go to their website and download the Kindle app for PC for free. Once downloaded to your compute or netbook, you can search for all the free books (and there are some great ones!) and read to your heart's content. I downloaded the Kindle app to my netbook and read a lot of ebooks on it.

Want to read ebooks on your Smart phone, but don't know how? The easiest way to do this is to to go http://www.fictionwise.com/ and click on their help link at the top right corner. This will take you to a page that lists all the smart phones and what software you'll need to read ebooks on them. The best thing is...the software is free! I downloaded Mobipocket to my Blackberry and that's how I read ebooks from there.

Once you've downloaded the free software, I'd recommend that you choose a free book to make sure everything's working properly before spending your money. My publisher, Desert Breeze Publishing. has several free items. Go to http://www.desertbreezepublishing.com/ and then click on the "Free!" link to the left and if you'd like to take a look at my new book priced at $5.99, here's the link for it http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-70/Queen-of-Hearts/Detail.bok .

I've enjoyed reading ebooks so much that I'm writing them. My first book, Queen of Hearts, released from Desert Breeze on April 1. Here's some info and links

Daphne Dean is proud to be serving her country stateside during WWII as a reporter and an Office of Strategic Services operative. When the photograph she takes of the crowd at a murder scene places her on the mob's hit list, she's forced into hiding in a vacant mental asylum in the middle of nowhere with terrifying secrets of its own.

Daphne believed herself to still be in love with her ex-fiancée, Kenneth, until she spends several days locked away in the asylum with Vito, the mob boss' son. Can she put the terrifying events that occurred there behind her and allow herself to pursue a relationship with Vito? Or, will she return to Kenneth who has turned his back on his country by becoming a draft dodger and a black market racketeer? One thing's for sure, it won't matter if she can't escape the mental institution alive.

Click on one of these links for more info or read the excerpt below.
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-70/Queen-of-Hearts/Detail.bok

http://www.amazon.com/Queen-of-Hearts-ebook/dp/B003EV5T3K/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1270208277&sr=8-8

http://www.kdawnbyrd.blogspot.com/

EXCERPT

Daphne opened her eyes and then closed them quickly as her head pounded and a wave of nausea threatened to consume her. She breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. Once she felt stronger, she attempted to pull herself up to a seating position, but was unable to move her arms.

Stay calm, she told herself. Daphne peered through the slits in her eyes and then squeezed them shut when the dim overhead light increased the blurred vision and the pounding in her head. She tried again, keeping her eyes open long enough to realize that she was in an unfamiliar place. She shivered in the frigid air.

Daphne tugged on the restraints, exhausted. The band on her left arm gave slightly. She worked her arm back and forth, her heart pounding wildly as she took deep, even breaths in an attempt to decrease the terror racing through her. What kind of sick person would strap her down to a table? And, where was Vito? He knew how much she hated the place, how terrified she was of being alone. Why would he leave her?

The thought that maybe he had done this to her sickened her. Vito had said he loved her. Was this how he treated someone he loved? Maybe Vito was a sick man. Maybe he needed psychiatric help. Her left hand broke free with a snap that rocked the stillness like a shotgun blast. She tugged on the other restraint with her free hand and once she was free, Daphne rose to a sitting position, raising her hands to cover her eyes as a wave of dizziness overcame her.

The realization that she was alone brought a mixture of relief and fear. After several minutes her legs were free, but she didn't dare move because movement brought on a fresh wave of sickness. Nausea washed over her once again and she leaned over and vomited. It was coming back to her. She'd been drugged.

Daphne glanced over her shoulder. The eight steel drawers behind her mocked her, enticing her to enter the black depths that had undoubtedly held numerous corpses in the past. An icy shiver traced its way up her spine as realization exploded in her brain. The basement was terrifying enough, but the morgue almost sent her over the edge into the slim line that seemed to separate her from sanity and madness.

She stood on rubbery legs and then collapsed, crawling to an old chair in the corner. It was an antique wheelchair, dusty and abandoned long ago. She slumped onto it, removing her feet from the frigid floor, wondering how long it would support her weight.

To her horror, Daphne realized that she had been strapped to the embalming table. Rust stains splashed across the basin gave the appearance of dried blood. She gritted her teeth to hold back the scream that hung in her throat.