All I Want for Christmas is...a cure for Diabetes! by Melinda Curtis

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS...is a cure for Diabetes!

The holiday season is almost upon us. It’s a time for giving – to our family, to our friends, and maybe the time to think about those charities and good causes we’re too busy for during the year. Maybe this is the year you’ll think about supporting Diabetes research.

There are millions of children and adults who suffer from Type 1 Diabetes. The damage diabetes can do to the human body is devastating, including early damage to vision and organs. Thankfully, progress is being made. Miraculously, the FDA recently approved the first artificial pancreas for human use. This. Is. Huge. But...

The fight is nowhere near over. And there’s a painless way you can help to make a difference. Read. That’s right. Read.

All I Want For Christmas is a set of 15 Christmas-themed novellas by some of today’s leading voices in romance. And all the proceeds – yes, all the proceeds – go to Diabetes research. So why not get in the holiday spirit, spoil yourself with some good reads and a good deed?

NYTimes Bestselling authors Debbie Macomber, Bella Andre, Melody Anne, Violet Duke, Marie Force, Brenda Novak, Laurelin Paige & Kayti McGee, Jane Porter, Melanie Shawn and RaeAnne Thayne. Also included, USA Today bestselling authors Melinda Curtis (that’s me!), Anna J. Stewart, and Scarlett York.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2dAY66F

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BN: http://bit.ly/2dKwRI6

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Google Play: http://bit.ly/2cZGZZ1

A Heartwarming Holiday by Melinda Curtis

This is the second year the Harlequin Heartwarming authors have put out a collection of connected stories in a holiday collection. After a couple of years writing holiday romances for box sets - Christmas holiday romances - I was happy to be part of a project where the "holiday" encompassed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's.

This is the third year I've written connected holiday romances with Anna Adams and Anna J. Stewart. Since all the novellas are set in Christmas Town, Maine, and the first two sets we worked on were connected stories about siblings already living in town, we decided to reunite college roommates who come to start a new business. What starts out as a remodel and redesign business turns into a holiday decoration business for the season.

My story occurs between Christmas and New Year's Day. Gavin is in charge of creating a light display and ice castle with a slide for the kids for a local ski resort. At the same time, he's agreed to dog-sit his friend's St. Bernard. Snowflake is used to warmer weather than Maine. He doesn't like working outside with Gavin. Through a series of dog-driven events, Snowflake ends up with a second dog-sitter - veterinarian Amelia (or Dr. Scrooge as she's known locally). While Gavin makes his living on emphasizing the holiday spirit, Amelia has been doing everything to avoid the holiday (and thinks she's safe for another 51 weeks). Little does this couple know that Snowflake is a master matchmaker!

Do you have a favorite holiday among Halloween, Thanksgiving, and New Year's?

Melinda Curtis is an award-winning USA Today Bestseller. Her latest release is A Heartwarming Holiday, which is priced at 99 cents and includes a $1 off coupon for your next Harlequin Heartwarming purchase! Pre-order your copy today!

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B&N: http://bit.ly/2cJZocb 

Comfort Food by Melinda Curtis

I'm of a certain age. There. I said it. Women of a certain age live differently. They love differently. They laugh differently. Because they know that no one lives forever.

I don't just politely hug, I hug people tight. I try not to hold back laughter, because laughter seems to rare lately. I don't just exercise. I exercise and stretch. And I try to eat better. This last is probably hardest for me to do. There are more salads and vegetables in my life now than ever before. Heck, I have salad for breakfast most days just to make sure I don't get tired at the end of the day and skip it.

But this year, as I count the losses of friends and colleagues on more than one hand, I find that I'm traveling more to funerals or to help someone sweep out the vestiges of a loved one's life. And I find I'm eating more comfort food. One food in particular. Pancakes.

My husband has a fondness for breakfast on days when he faces an emotional challenge - like a funeral or cleaning out his deceased mother's closet. And on those days, I find I order pancakes. Not bran cereal. Not one egg with wheat toast. Pancakes. With butter and maple syrup. It reminds me of those days when my mother or grandmother made them when I was young. It reminds me that life wasn't meant to be counted by calories or steps. Pancakes remind me that life is meant to be enjoyed.

Here is a really hearty pancake recipe, in case you can't justify the empty calories of a Hungry Jack pancake.

Do you have a comfort food?

Melinda Curtis is an award-winning, USA Today bestseller. Her latest release, A Man of Influence, is
set in a bakery where comfort food is an every day thing.

Honoring the Past by Letting Go by Melinda Curtis

Recently, my dad passed away. He left behind 32 heirs, and owned two houses, plus had filled two garages, a large shed and a storage unit with his possessions. The task of going through his possessions is daunting and has been making me think a lot about my things.

Here's what my kids will find in the attic:

1. A collection of children's books that I loved reading them when they were young.
2. My daughter's Polly Pocket collection.
3. My high school yearbooks.
4. The tupperware I paid a lot for but was too large for leftovers in an empty nest.
5. My grandmother's dessert plates.

Here's what my kids will deal with in the spare bedroom:

1. A Victrola (my paternal grandmother's)
2. My grandfather's wingback chair
3. My maternal grandmother's collection of china lambs
4. A watercolor painting my maternal grandfather brought back from France.
5. My antique tea cup collection

Why do I have so many pairs of shoes?

Do I really need 5 different jackets?

Do I really need to keep the art projects from when my kids were in elementary school?

After having to pack up three different incomplete sets of dinnerware from just one of my Dad's homes, I think I need to make a change. It's important to hold onto the past, but it's also important to let go. I'm going to try to only keep the things that I love or that bring me joy and that I use regularly.

Do you have something you hold onto because you felt obligated?

Melinda Curtis is an award-winning, USA Today bestseller. Her most recent release is A Man of Influence, a book in her Harmony Valley series.

4 Puppy Training Tips by Melinda Curtis

My family got me a puppy for my birthday. My husband named him Duke, because he's so very small (3 pounds) and so very cute that he needs a manly name!

I love baby beasties, but I always seem to forget how exhausting they are, especially puppies. Really. It's like having kids again. I get up at midnight and four a.m. for potty breaks (I've never been good with crate training, and sleep interruption is exhausting, so I have no trouble falling back asleep).

Duke is good for a puppy. He's too small to do any major chewing damage (knock wood that he never develops a fascination with electric cords). He will go on his potty pads and his "indoor grass" (which I highly recommend), but he has a tendency to miss or forget to look for an indoor safe zone if he's playing. And then there's the joy he has tearing up the potty pads...

Up until a week ago, if Duke was awake he was on a 20 minute potty schedule. That's right. I had to take him out every 20 minutes. And that's where puppy training is like toddler potty training. It's not about your schedule. It's about their biology and ability to hold it. The more you make your schedule temporarily fall in line with their natural inclinations, the more success you'll have.

Recently, Duke received the last of his shots and we were cleared to take him outside. Silly me. I forgot to get him used to the leash. He kept backing up or planting his feet and not going anywhere. Since we had to shop for a new washer this weekend, we took him to Lowes and Home Depot (along with paper towels and poop bags). That did the trick. He was eager to take the lead through both stores. He wasn't spooked by the shopping carts and played nice with the other shoppers. We went on a walk today and he only balked once!

Although he's small, I began training him with sit, stay and come very early. I use regular puppy food

kibbles as incentive. One of the best tricks I've learned over the years is to train in the bathroom. If I call Duke and he follows me into the bathroom, he gets a kibble. We're now in an enclosed space with fewer distractions. So far, he's mastered sit and (if he's eager to please and hungry) he'll occasionally stay as I back out of the bathroom. We're working on down.

I hope these brief tips help you train your puppy or other fur baby. Here's Tally training Duke to inspect every box of books. This just arrived last week. Make Me a Match contains three stories about three best friends in Alaska. These guys have played sports together, dreamed together, and failed together. Now they're planning to turn things around by being...matchmakers?

Melinda Curtis is an award-winning, USA Today bestseller. Her latest release is Make Me a Match, a sweet set of three romances from Harlequin Heartwarming. You can order Make Me a Match at all etailers now, but you'll only find print copies on Harlequin.com OR you can find print copies in March in larger Walmart stores.

If you enjoy sweet romances, sign up for the Sweet Romance Reads newsletter in the sidebar to the right.

Romance Author DIY by Melinda Curtis

I'm rather embarrassed to admit that in July 2014 Mr. Curtis and I began to remodel our hall bathroom, an effort which took until December 2015 to finish. It's more embarrassing because Mr. Curtis grew up in construction. His father still has his own business and his brother remodeled a 100 year old 10 bedroom home into a bed and breakfast in less than a year. If we'd tried that at our pace, it would take us 15-20 years! In our defense, Mr. Curtis started a new job in August 2014 and I wrote a lot of books while he was occupied learning the ropes.

So what did we do with our 25 year old bathroom? We removed the vinyl flooring (with the help of our nap-needing Shorkie), repurposed the bathroom cabinets (paint, new hardware), put in a new sink and granite counter (our only professional help), installed a new light fixture and a new - taller! - toilet (twice!), plus a tile floor, beadboard/ chair railing/ base board! Would you like to learn from our mistakes? Read on...

Here's what the bathroom looked like originally and how I looked when Mr. Curtis insisted I scrape the glue from the floor (since he had to remove the toilet). Tally decided it was naptime and hopped into my lap. Note the lack of protective gear - no shoes, no gloves, no glasses. No romance authors or puppies were injured during this renovation. Sometimes it pays to be lucky!

Little did we know that the bathroom floor was no longer level. Trouble ensued with the "self leveler", which didn't level anything - it just made the high mound higher. A second round of leveling made things much better. We've since learned we could have rented a concrete grinder (not really sure that's what it's called). Might have been easier, less messy and less stressful.

Next we tiled, using our brand new tile saw. We had an argument over which spacers to use. I prefer thin spacing. Mr. Curtis likes wide spacing. We went wide (this time). Does anyone see a problem with the way we started? Yep, we made tiling difficult. Should have started with the row to the right and moved to the vanity/toilet area (Mr. Curtis was putting off making fancy cuts as long as he could). Why do it that way? Because you can't tile by kneeling on freshly laid tile. We ended up tiling from the toilet and coming back to the project the next morning.

In the meantime, the doors to the vanity and old hardware were removed, sanded and painted by me. Luckily, Mr. Curtis insisted on saving the old hardware and screws. Apparently, they don't make the hinges for this vanity anymore. We went on a scavenger hunt to find something that would work. And when it came time to install new handles, the screws were too short - but those screws Mr. Curtis wisely saved worked just fine!

When we moved into this house 23 years ago, the bathroom had a wallpaper strip that came off when the kids took showers. I put up this one about 22 years ago and proudly told Mr. Curtis it would never come off (thinking we'd move before it came to that). Well, it took more than soaking with wallpaper remover, then fabric softener, then just plain water. It took scraping off with the utility knife (note the gouges - which had to be filled and then re-textured; luckily, there is now a great can of spray texture on the market).

Finally, I was able to paint the walls. I'm not afraid of color and I wanted to paint the lower wall a bright robin's egg blue. I tried this behind the toilet before Thanksgiving 2014. My family was horrified. I then tried to paint half the wall the dark chocolate color of the vanity. That didn't work for me. As a compromise, I brought home a 12" square of glass tiles in lovely blue and chocolate colors, which my father-in-law loved, but which cost $20 a square foot - too expensive for my tastes for just half a wall. So we ended up putting in beadboard, which in deference to Mr. Curtis - who is afraid of color - I painted white. (Are you sensing that I'm letting him win a few battles here?)


Unfortunately, putting in the beadboard meant we had to remove the toilet tank on the new toilet, which then sat in our bathtub for a month until Mr. Curtis worked up the courage to tackle the angle cuts on the baseboard. After the beadboard was finished along with chair railing and baseboard, Mr. Curtis tried to re-install the toilet tank using the rubber seal that had been sitting out for a month. He tightened the screws so forcefully, the tank cracked. So we had to order a new toilet tank. And I had to scrub the bathtub because those blue tabs you use to keep the toilet bowl clean? It all comes out when you turn the tank upside down. Fun times!

But in the end (nearly a year and a half later), the bathroom looks really nice. All I need now is a new door...

Have you ever attempted a DIY project that took longer than you planned? I'd love to hear about it!

Melinda Curtis is an award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of romantic comedy. Given her life seems to be a comedy of errors, this is fitting. Her latest release - A Memory Away - is a fun story about a pregnant woman who wakes up from a car accident and can't remember how she got pregnant. You can find A Memory Away at all etailers and in print at Super Walmarts!

Remember to sign up for Sweet Romance Reads newsletter in the bar to the right. It comes out a few times a year with free short reads and great features!

 

 

A Kiss for the Cook by Melinda Curtis

I have to admit, there was a point in my life where cooking was no longer a grand series of experiments, but more like a boring, predictable chore - have we had a hamburger ingredient meal this week? have we barbecued? have we made something with chicken? Mr. Curtis, bless him, always used to thank me for the meal. Now that I'm in this phase of kitchen boredom, he seems to have stopped - lol!

So it was a surprise to me when I was asked to write a "daily online read" for Harlequin that the idea I came up with was about a fallen Italian chef helping in her grandmother's pizzeria and the cook from across the street at the Mexican restaurant (of course, I set it in my Harmony Valley series for Harlequin). As they and their families compete, as they and their styles of cooking begins to blend, I found myself searching for something online I hadn't known existed - Mexican-Italian cuisine.


Here's a recipe for Italian Nachos - YUM!

Italian Pasta Chips

12 wonton wrappers

1 egg white, frothed

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon oregano or ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning mix

Toppings

½ pounds Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled

1 (10 ounce) container Alfredo sauce

½ cup chopped tomato

¼ cup sliced green onion

1 (2 ¼) can sliced ripe olives

2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno peppers or chopped banana peppers

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Instructions:

1.     Cut wontons into 4 triangles each and toss lightly in olive oil.

2.     Cover a cookie sheet with a single layer of wontons.

3.     Brush with egg white and sprinkle with oregano or Italian seasoning.

4.     Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes or until lightly browned.

5.     While cooking the nachos in the oven, heat the sauce, brown the Italian sausage and drain fat.

6.     On a platter layer the pasta chips, sausage, and sauce. Top with the tomato, onions, olives and peppers. Finish with shredded cheese and red pepper flakes. 

7.     Place in warm oven for 5 minutes to melt cheese and serve. 

If you'd like to read A Kiss for the Cook, it's a FREE READ during the month of November at Harlequin. This sweet romantic comedy will go up in chapter installments every day all month long. If you'd like to receive a set of companion Mexican-Italian cuisine recipes, sign up for my book release mailing list.

In addition to A Kiss for the Cook, Harlequin is offering 13 other free sweet reads during the month of November, plus great fun & games (like the chance to win prizes for writing an epilogue). Check it out here. I have a FREE READ in this program as well - Married by Thanksgiving! I hope you all won't be doing all the cooking on Thanksgiving!

Who's In Your Support Group by Melinda Curtis

I don't want to sound sexist, but the women I know have better support groups than men. My husband is constantly amazed at "my network".

Neighborhood: I walk our dogs. There are several people who regularly walk and jog along my path, plus there are people who I encounter getting in of/out of their cars. Recently, we were looking for a tree-trimmer, and I stopped along my walk to ask a neighbor I'd never met who they used.

Gym: I attend the gym at regular days/times. I learned one of our favorite local restaurants is owned by a man I chat with while lifting weights. He gave us free wine recently when he saw us at a table.

Car Repair: I bought my car at a dealership 30 miles away. It included free service on regular issues. Free? Yep, I'm taking advantage. When a new dealership opened up near us recently. One of the service managers recognized me and gave me a nice discount to service my son's car.

I have other people in my support group: former babysitters for my kids, former students of my husband's, former workers at my local grocery store/bank/accountant, etc. Recently, I had a nasty computer virus and went to a small business that was recommended to me by someone in my network. One of the techs said he knew me. How? I'd helped my dad buy a computer at Staples and he was working the tech department. When the virus returned the next morning, he made a house call - totally awesome!

How did I form my support group? By doing something my mom taught me. Looking those who I interact with at any level in the eye and offering a smile, a greeting, a question about their day.

Do you have a personal support group? How did you build your network?

Melinda Curtis is an award-winning USA Today bestselling author of sweet romance, sweet romantic comedy, and more traditional romances. Her latest releases are sweet romantic comedies that can be found in three different holiday collections - all sweet romances, all never-before-published novellas, all 99 cents.

The Best of Summer by Melinda Curtis

I know it's barely September, but it feels as if summer ended on August 1st for me. The year always seems to fly by so fast, so I try to reflect every few months on what happened, what went right, what I loved!

I traveled with my brother and my husband (and a stuffed representative of my dog) to the Mediterranean. Mr. Curtis used to teach history and he loved all the ruins. Here he is at a ruin in Ephesus, Turkey. Although I enjoyed the ruins, about 8 cities in, I was thinking, "Yep, there's another set of ruins." Meanwhile, Mr. Curtis was sneaking off to take a picture of Every. Single. One.

I was really into the art - I loved Florence (Michelangelo's David, left) and I loved Athens (the Parthenon museum). To the right is a picture of some beautiful statues of women. Although they were defaced, their appearance on the back is beautiful. You can still see how finely their hair was braided (just not from this pic).

But I find many places are defined by its people. We met so many on our travels - tour guides, hotel workers, waitresses, baristas, shopkeepers. This was a kitten a woodcarver on the Amalfi coast had rescued. She was adorable and I wanted to take her home.

Once we got back home, we spent time visiting our children (3 in college in another state). We consider ourselves blessed that they've settled out of the awkward, rebellious years, and are moving toward financial independence (we can only hope that's soon since we didn't save enough for their tuition funds based on inflation!).

What did you do over the summer that you'll remember? I hope it was something that gave you joy, whether you took time out to crochet or you visited a far off land.

Melinda Curtis is an award winning, USA Today bestselling author. Her latest release - Time for Love - is book 5 in her Harlequin Heartwarming Harmony Valley series. It features a single mom and a horse whisperer.

A Tale of Two Covers by Melinda Curtis

As a romance author, I've been fortunate to write for Harlequin (15 books this month!). It's a different experience from being an independent author, especially when it comes to cover design. Both require you to express your vision to a cover artist, but at Harlequin I'm not involved in primary photo selection, and don't see the cover until three months before a book comes out, which is the same time they post the cover online for readers to see. They do send a link to me on cover reveal day (auto-notification), which is a nice reminder to go see their work and what I've been blessed with by the cover gods.

Three months ago I received a link for my August Harlequin release - Time for Love, Book 5 in my Harmony Valley series. This book features a heroine first introduced in Summer Kisses, Book 2. In Summer Kisses, Kathy Harris was as fiery as her hair color. In Time for Love, Kathy Harris was still as fiery as her hair color. Imagine my surprise when I clicked the link that day and discovered Kathy was blond!

Through a flurry of emails where I apologized in advance if I'd forgotten to select redhead on the Art Fact Sheet (I hadn't), and where editors scrambled to determine if there was time for a cover edit (they weren't sure), I grew to like blond Kathy, although it was too late to change her hair color in the text of the book. Through some miracle (and probably the offer of a free lunch by editors), the cover artists at Harlequin changed Kathy's hair color in time for the printed cover. I was sent a new link and thought no more about it.

And then last week at a Harlequin book signing, the company sent a small poster of the book as a promotional piece. What color was Kathy's hair? You guessed it. Blond. I wasn't mad. I laughed. We don't always catch our mistakes, do we? And doesn't it make for a better story than me saying how much I love the cover? (I do love it. I love both versions.)

Now it's your turn to weigh in. Would you have feinted if a cover artist made this mistake? Which hair color do you prefer?

Melinda Curtis is an award-winning, USA Today bestselling author. Her latest release - Time For Love - features a colt recovering from a mountain lion attack, a single mom, and a horse whisperer. No one thinks it's the right time for love.

What Not to Pack by Melinda Curtis

A few days ago, Denise posted a lovely blog on how to pack. It inspired me to confess...

Last week I came home from a 3 week trip to Europe. It was a once in a lifetime, fabulous trip. It was also one of my worst pack jobs ever. You see, I'm usually a good packer. Give me a 21.5" suitcase with 4 spinning wheels and I can pack for a week-long trip. Or at least, I used to think so.

During our vacation, we planned to do many walking tours - through museums, through Venice, through hot, sunny ruins. We also planned to take a cruise which included two formal evenings. And then there were the casual sea days and the day at the Vatican. Have I mentioned I have thing for shoes? Should I mention laundry on board the ship was $7 a garment?

I ended up with one 24" tall suitcase, one 21.5" tall suitcase, and a briefcase (also wheeled). Yes, just for me. No, I chose not to do laundry on board the ship. And yes, Mr. Curtis had bags of his own (one 24" tall suitcase, one backpack). Try loading all that on a train when it pulls into the station.

Here are the things that we shouldn't have brought:
-A pair of jeans (although they do say if the weather was bad I might have needed them)
-Mr. Curtis' long-sleeved dress shirts (too hot!)
-A pair of socks for every day I was gone (flip flops on sea days!)
-Half my work-in-progress files (like I was going to work a lot)
-A bag for dirty clothes (they were almost all dirty clothes)
-More than 3 pairs of shoes (I only wore 3 pairs of shoes)
-3 dresses for formal night (there were 2 formal nights - who needs a spare?)

Should I mention that we had no room for the souvenirs we bought? If you're thinking we had to buy another suitcase for this, we did.

Have you ever over-packed for vacation? Or underpacked?

Melinda Curtis is an award-winning USA Today bestseller. Her latest sweet romantic comedy is Rescued by a Bridesmaid.