USA Today bestselling author Jennifer L. Hart

***Maggie loves a deal and is super excited to tell you that this black Friday, you can purchace a copy of The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag: Skeletons in the Closet from Wild Child publishing for 25% off!!! Found on Twitter: "Black Friday sale at Wild Child Publishing. Get 25% any ebook purchase over $5 with the coupon code "black friday". Good all day 11/27" To buy, click here . Make my holiday and escape with the laundry hag! Now, on with the sneek peek! *** Kenny jumped off the stool and scrambled for the front door. I followed as dread unfurled in my stomach. The sweat-covered missing link on the other side handed me a clipboard, and I cradled the phone on my shoulder as I signed. “What is it, Laura?” “Your father-in-law and I thought we would send your Christmas present early. No need to thank us, dear.” “Thank you?” I said absently as I watched Cro-Magnon man and his equally imposing partner unload the couch. The blindingly white couch, which had stain ma...

I left the cart and searched along the brick wall and around the other corner too. Someone had swiped my freaking wheelbarrow! I pulled out my cell phone and called the house. Kenny picked up on the second ring. “Mom, where are you? Grandma’s been calling and she sounds real angry.” “Kenny, is your Uncle Marty there? Or Dad by any chance?” “Dad’s not, but Uncle Marty’s around someplace. Hang on.” There was some scuffling and a bit of silence before Marty came on the line. “’Lo?” “Hey, Sprout, I need you to come pick me up.” “You back in the slammer?” “No,” I ground out between clenched teeth. I swore I’d never tell him anything again. “My van was dead, and I don’t want to steal a shopping cart, so could you come get me?” Marty agreed to pick me up, and I ran through a list of things I had to do once I got home. The pies had to be made as well as the dressing and dip. Laura had sent me a recipe for a cheese filled puff pastry and stuffed mushrooms which I would try as appetizers along w...

My hands were chafed and raw from the mid-grade wooden handles by the time I reached the market. I parked the barrow around the back of the store and sauntered inside the way a normal person would. I barely suppressed a wince as my hands gripped the shopping cart. A shopping cart would be much easier to push home, I mused, but I had no idea what the penalty for shopping cart theft was, so I released a sigh and dug in my purse. It took me a moment to comprehend what had happened. My shopping list was tucked neatly into my cook book, at home, right where it could be the least functional. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to keep myself from imploding on the spot. I was the recipient of more curious glances, but if these people only knew my mother-in-law…. Standing sentinel in the supermarket wouldn’t get Thanksgiving dinner under way, so I began in produce. A dozen Macintosh apples for homemade apple sauce, fresh thyme and rosemary for the turkey, white and sweet potatoes, ...

Thanksgiving is less than a week away! Stressed? You've got nothing on the laundry hag! Click on the bookcover on the right to buy directly from Wild Child publishing.com Happy reading! “Neil!” How could he have let this happen? He knew how important today was for Thanksgiving preparations! He’d probably thought he was doing me a kindness, letting me sleep off my fatigue. Neil doesn’t buy my ‘I’ll rest when I’m dead’ speech. I was too afraid to glance at the clock so I flew to the closet and yanked on the first pair of clean jeans I found. I pulled on one of Neil’s T-shirts, figuring if I ruined it in my frantic haste he’d brought it on himself. I scrunched my hair into a messy pony tail while dashing to the kitchen, but tripped on a wrinkle in the carpet and ended up spread eagled on the floor. Damn it all to the black depths of Hades! I’d never been able to master two things at once. I pushed myself up from the carpet and continued my mad dash for the kitchen. There was a note o...

What is it about certain books that make us want to come back to them time and time again? The easiest answer is characters you, as a reader, care about. You weren't the first to give a rat's hind-end either. Chances are, if the reader cares about the characters, then the author did too. Why? What makes some characters so special that we think about them long after the final chapter? Somehow along the journey, they became real to us. Real people(or other creatures as the case may be) who are flawed, but still lovable. So how, as writers, do we create characters this fricking great? Climb into your character's head. Think like she does. Make her believe in things the same way you do, and get those beliefs in order. And when I say the same way, I'm referring to in a similar manner. Don't funnel all of your beliefs into your fictional character. The reasons for this are numerous and I might tackle them later. Eye on the prize here, champs. I can not claim full credit ...

Just found out yesterday afternoon that my son's Soccer coach has written a great children's book about soccer. Since I'm a big advocate of any and all children's books--since those are my future coustomers and gosh darnit they better like reading!-- I just had to give him a shout-out. The Day My Soccer Ball Talked... Trapping By Mike Raymond. It's the story of a little boy, Freddy and his first day of Soccer practice. He just can't seem to get the hang of trapping until an old worn out soccer ball gives him a few pointers. I was beyond impressed with this story and the underlying theme of practice makes perfect and just because something is old, doesn't make it worthless. Way to go, coach Mike!

Parmesan-Onion toast. This is a great appitizer for any gettogether, like Thanksgiving or football games. Quick and easy for a different kind of snack. This is a great appetizer for any get-together, like Thanksgiving or football games. Quick and easy for a different kind of snack. INGREDIENTS: • 1 loaf mini rye bread-- Usually found in bakery section of supermarkets • 1/3 Cups Parmesan Grated Cheese • 3/4 Cups Mayo • 1 Medium Onion -- Diced and sautéed in olive oil • Dash Worcestershire • Salt and pepper to taste. DIRECTIONS: Spread mixture on mini rye bread. Bake at 350 degrees in oven or toaster oven on conventional bake for five to ten minutes or until mixture is puffy and bread is brown. *** You can make the onion mixture ahead and refrigerate so it's even easier to make on the spot!

This years National Novel Writing Month(NanoWriMo) work in progress(WIP), Stellar Timing is going to be the death of me. Or at the very least, the death of my creativity for the foreseeable future. As a brief overview, NaNoWriMo occurs ever year in the month of November. Those who enter are attempting to churn out 50 K words, a hefty portion on a novel before midnight local time on November 30th. Last year was a breeze and I arrogantly assumed the same gale of wind would carry me through NaNoWrMo 2009. So in all my conceit, I decided to post Stellar Timing in pretty close to real time to my fave writer's site, textnovel.com. Am I an idiot, or what? First of all, due to my fretting over the Next Best Celler contest, I didn't plot the way I should have, especially because this is the first time I've ever built my own world before. Stellar Timing takes place fifty years from now when a poor-- and I do mean that in a financial sense-- young woman is forced to wake up to the r...

You can also find this article on textnovel.com. Our troops and their families deserve a shout out everyday, not just today. Navy Wife: The Toughest Job in the Navy I have a window decal with the above slogan and I believe it with every cynical fiber of my being. I’ve lived in New York, Florida, California, Virginia and North Carolina. Both of my children were born in Navy medical centers. My oldest son traveled through seventeen states and endured a six month cruise with me, all before his fourth birthday. While all the men and woman of the U.S. armed forces are doing what is necessary to keep this country secure, their families are struggling to survive from day to day. Military divorce statistics are hard to come by, they’re probably locked up in a vault at Fort Knox. With the national average hovering at one out of two marriages ending in divorce court, it is my belief that the Navy divorce rate is higher than all the other branches of the military, mostly due to cruise depl...

I'm feeling overwhelmed this week and it's slowing my progress in almost every area. I've got my Nanowrimo story Stellar Timing ,which I'm also posting in real time to textnovel.com, polishing of Redeeming Characters , helping a friends edit which benefit me as a writer as much as it does their stories, plus the worry over the finalist round in the textnovel competition. Then there are the other stories I want to finish, like Maggie and Neil, H.U.B.B.A, For a Reason, Santa's Helper for Hire...ect. Plus, I'd like to breathe some life back into the Beaver blogs; Eva Amelia Pelt just has tons to say. And this all has to get accomplished around family, projects,appointments and personal commitments. I keep wondering, have I taken on too much? Where's the line in the sand when you go, okay, I would like to do this but... Think about all the things we are supposed to do as human beings on any given day. Bathing in some form, eating, brushing teeth, exercising, ei...

http://www.textnovelblog.com/ Redeeming Characters has made it to the semi finals of the Dorchester Next Best Celler Contest! The contest was advertised in RWA magazine back in September, advertising that the New York based publishing house was seeking the next new voice in the romance genre. Voice is one of those obscure things we writers hear about all the time, with no real definition as to what it is.The best we typically get is, hey you know Sue Grafton/ Stephanie Meyers/ Janet Evanovich? They have voice. Basically, it's like the wind; you know it when you experience it, even if it's difficult to describe. I'd never heard of textnovel before but decided to check it out. After setting up an account and figuring out how to post, I was astonished at how quickly my stories, first River Rats then Redeeming Characters , accumulated votes. Within two weeks, Drue and Dakota's story picked up an Editor's Choice award from the site. For the most part, the feedback I re...