Showing posts with label 2015 at 03:01AM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2015 at 03:01AM. Show all posts

Author Interview: LynDee Walker, Cover Shot (part of an Agatha-nominated series)

It’s been a slow news month in Richmond, and crime reporter Nichelle Clarke is enjoying the downtime when ominous messages and a dead body kick things into high gear. And that’s before the guy with the rifle takes a hospital full of people hostage.

Up to the top of her knee-high Prada boots in leads, Nichelle finds her favorite detectives under pressure to make an arrest, but it doesn’t add up—and ignoring the “why” of this story could cost Nichelle the most important person in her life.

With too much to lose, a shot at the story of a lifetime, and a missing bullet that might be the key, landing this headline could save the day, but can Nichelle dig up the truth before the killer buries her with it?

Books in the Headlines in High Heels Mystery Series:

 



Q: Aloha LynnDee, and thanks for stopping by! Cover Shot is #5 in the Agatha Award-nominated Headlines in High Heels Mystery series. Can you tell us what the series, and the newest book, is about?

A: The series follows crime reporter Nichelle Clarke as she moves into more investigative reporting. The books are humorous mysteries with a little romance, and the main storylines take on some big issues: police and political corruption, religion as a business, the healthcare system…Nichelle chases important stories, and we all get to have some laughs along the way.

For this book, I wanted to show how pivotal photos can be to a story, and I also wanted to take a big issue from current headlines and flip it on its head to see what would happen. It was probably the most complicated book in the series so far, but it’s also the one that gives me the biggest sense of accomplishment when I look at the finished product.

Q: You started out as a journalist. Was there anything about news reporting that you brought with you to fiction writing? What did you learn about drawing in readers and keeping them engaged?

A: The most helpful skills I brought from the newsroom are the ability to write in any noisy environment (great whether the noise is coming from my littles or a crowd at Starbucks) and the ability to write on deadline. When you’re a journalist, you don’t have the luxury of “waiting for the muse:” the editor expects his copy on time, and you’d better have it ready.

I think the ability to hook a reader and keep them turning pages has less to do with journalism and more to do with just being a good storyteller, though it’s a skill that serves authors and reporters both well. News writing did teach me that the first sentence is everything. That line is the one that gets picked apart and tinkered with the most in every one of my books.

Q: What are some similarities and differences between writing articles for a deadline and writing a novel?

A: With a first novel, you have the luxury of taking your time. You can study every single word and rewrite to your heart’s content. When you’re working under deadline, like with journalism, there comes a point when you have to be finished. That said, I do think it’s true that practice makes every author better, so what would’ve taken months of revising on a first book take s a couple days by the fifth. That part is nice.

In both cases, you want to write the best story you can in the fewest words you can. When I first started writing fiction, I made the mistake of using way too many big flowery words, and they weakened the story. Use strong words. Make every scene count. The same lessons I learned in journalism school, just reworked slightly for the longer form of novels.

Q: Your website is gorgeous, and fits very nicely with the feel of your books. What went into its design?

A: Weeks of work and a whole lot of swearwords. (I’m kidding. Sort of.)

Thank you for the sweet comment—I’m really proud of the fact that I did it myself. I am not a technical girl at all, but I had an idea of what I wanted and I taught myself web design via Google (“why are there gray boxes around my photos? Oh. This says to use this code to make them go away. Copy. Paste. Fixed.”) My editor sent me the artwork and color codes from the cover of Front Page Fatality, and I used those to make the site go with the books.

Q: Over the five books in the High Heels series, how have you allowed the characters to change, and what has stayed the same? How do you address characters’ aging over the course of a series?

A: I think everyone has changed in some way—it’s one of my favorite things about writing the series. The characters are like friends to me, and I love watching them learn and grow. Nichelle has realized a lot of things about herself, good and bad, that have given her more confidence or are helping her be a better person. Bob has learned he’s not Superman and has some limits, and he’s gotten more protective of Nichelle. Parker has gone from Captain Notch on the Bedpost to a one-woman guy. Joey has tried to fight his attraction to Nichelle pretty unsuccessfully, while Kyle has tried just as hard to win her back. I love opening a new file and getting to catch up with them all. The constant in my stories is that the main characters are good people at heart—flawed, sure, but all trying to make some kind of positive difference in their corner of the world.

Nichelle is aging, and since I have so many stories of hers I’d like to tell, I started her out pretty young (28) and I’m moving the timeline by only a few weeks or months at a time.

Q: Do you have any cast iron skillet recipes for a beginner? I have a cast iron skillet and no idea what to make in it.

A: My mother made the world’s best cornbread, and the skillet was the secret. Here’s how you do it:

1 cup white cornmeal
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (softened)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 375.

Before you start mixing the batter, put the oil into your cast iron skillet, and put it in the oven to heat while you’re making the batter.

In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter, eggs, milk, honey, and water (I have a kitchenaid stand mixer that does this beautifully: use the flat paddle beater and speed 3).

In a separate bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt.

While mixing, slowly add dry mixture to batter. It will be slightly lumpy when fully mixed.

Take the skillet out of the oven (careful, it’s hot!), and tilt it so the inside gets coated with the oil. Quickly pour your batter into the skillet (the outside of the bread gets flash-fried in the hot oil, which is how you get the crispy crust), and then pop it into the oven.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Q: So now that you’ve given us something delicious and fattening, what one or two things would you recommend to writers and other computer-bound people to maintain health and sanity?

A: Sunshine and exercise. It’s sometimes hard for me to follow my own advice, because between children and deadlines, my days stay full—but getting outside for a walk or a bike ride recharges me like nothing else.

Links to where readers can follow you (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)

Twitter:
Facebook:
Pinterest:

Thanks so much for having me today! What a fun interview!


LynDee Walker’s award-winning journalistic work has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the nation.

Her debut novel, FRONT PAGE FATALITY, is an amazon and Barnes & Noble #1 bestseller, and was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. DEVIL IN THE DEADLINE is the fourth in LynDee’s Headlines in High Heels mystery series. The fifth COVER SHOT is out November 2015.

LynDee adores her family, her readers, and enchiladas. She often works out tricky plot points while walking off the enchiladas. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, where she is either playing with her children, working on her next novel, or admiring beautiful shoes she can’t wear.

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from Author Interview: LynDee Walker, Cover Shot (part of an Agatha-nominated series)

Author Interview and Giveaway: Mark Reutlinger, A Pain in the Tuchis

“Is there kosher food in jail? These two heroines have gotten themselves in quite a pickle! Well, it’s a matzoh ball mess, really. Too deliciously funny!”

—Rita Mae Brown, bestselling author of Nine Lives to Die

Yom Kippur is a day of reflection and soul searching. But at the Julius and Rebecca Cohen Home for Jewish Seniors, Vera Gold misses this opportunity to atone for her many sins when she up and dies. Indeed, Vera was such a pain in the tuchis to all those around her that when her sister claims Vera was deliberately poisoned, the tough question isn’t who would want to kill her—but who wouldn’t?

Having already solved one murder with her dear friend Ida, Rose Kaplan has a sleuthing reputation that precedes her. It’s only natural that Vera’s sister turns to Mrs. K for help. So do the police, but when her conclusions conflict with theirs, they tell her to butt out! This case has more twists than a loaf of challah. And with a homicidal scoundrel on the loose, Mrs. K has to act fast—or she might be the guest of honor at the Home’s next memorial service.




Mark  stopped by to chat about A Pain in the Tuchis, his second Rose Kaplan mystery. 

Q: Mark, please tell us a little bit more about Rose Kaplan. Is she modeled on a real person? And how do you write a convincing female character?

A: Mrs. K is really a composite of many older Jewish women I’ve known, including my own and my wife’s grandmothers. In my mind I can actually hear them speaking as I’m writing their dialogue, so maybe it’s Mrs. K who slips into my head. But I do try to put myself in her shoes, if not her head, and ask myself how she would react in a given situation. As for female characters, now that you mention it, I do seem to have more female than male characters—especially protagonists—in my novels, and not just the Mrs. Kaplan stories. Made in China, for example, has a very strong female protagonist. Perhaps it’s because I tend to observe women more than I observe men. But I have to admit I’ve had to ask my wife and some of my female friends how a woman would likely react to certain situations into which I’ve written my female characters.

Q: A Pain in the Tuchis has been compared to M.C. Beaton’s delightful Agatha Raisin series. Is the title “Matzoh Ball of Death” an homage to Beaton’s Quiche of Death?

A: Not really. To be honest, I’d only read one Agatha Raisin story before writing “Matzoh Ball,” although I’ve read several more since then. The title actually began as a subtitle; the original title was “Mrs. Kaplan in the Soup, or the Matzoh Ball of Death.” I shortened it to make it more catchy before submitting it to Random House.

Q: Do you expect to continue the series? If so, do you plan to keep Rose and the other characters unchanged, or will they grow and change as time passes?

A: I haven’t decided yet whether to continue the series and may wait to see how this second book is received. I do, however, have several ideas for story lines if I continue. I most likely would keep Rose and Ida largely unchanged. If they became much older or their circumstances changed significantly, the nature of the stories would have to change as well. That’s not to say we won’t learn more about them with each story, and therefore they’ll become more well-rounded characters. So even if they don’t change much, a reader’s perception of them probably will.

Q: As a law professor and a nonfiction author, you’ve written a lot of serious stuff. Does any of what you’ve learned–the discipline of writing, plotting things out, doing research– transfer to your humorous fiction writing?

A: Absolutely. Writing legal articles and treatises, even writing examinations, requires one to write clearly and efficiently and to structure a book, a chapter, a paragraph, or a sentence so as to make it easy for the reader to understand. Writing novels requires the same discipline. To a large extent writing is writing, and issues of grammar, syntax, usage, and all the other elements that go into a clear, readable paragraph are basically the same no matter what the subject. Research is also very much the same whether I am looking for the origin of the Rule Against Perpetuities (don’t ask) or the meaning of a Yiddish curse. It just requires a different set of source materials. But in some respects writing fiction and nonfiction are quite different. A law treatise must be unfailingly accurate—with footnotes for every proposition—and it leaves little room for creativity. Writing fiction, I can exercise my imagination and create whatever worlds I wish, according to my own rules. It’s quite a liberating feeling. As for the humor, there isn’t much opportunity for it in legal writing, although I always included it wherever I could, even in my exams (although my students may not have noticed). When I’m writing fiction, of course, I can inject humor whenever and wherever I wish, even in an otherwise serious story.

Q: Is there a real life model for the Julius and Rebecca Cohen Home for Jewish Seniors?

A: Like the characters in my stories, the Home is a composite of several with which I’ve had experience. My parents and my wife’s parents spent many years in retirement homes, some excellent and some far from it, some Jewish and some not. I’ve met many residents and employees of such facilities, and I’ve heard numerous stories (from funny to tragic) about the residents. So both the Home and its residents, and many of the story lines, have origins in real life.

Q: If your series were adapted for television or movies, whom do you see in the different roles?

A: That’s a difficult question. The two best candidates for Mrs. Kaplan’s role are no longer with us: Gertrude Berg, who played Molly Goldberg on radio and television in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s, and Molly Picon. Ditto Bea Arthur.

Current possibilities would include Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, and Helen Mirren.

Q: What’s next for you and Mrs. Kaplan?

A: I’m presently updating a treatise on the law of wills. When that’s done, I want to switch back to fiction and finish a thriller manuscript I’ve been working on and find a home for it. As for Mrs. K, should I continue the series, I’m playing with several ideas for future stories. For example, I think I’d like Mrs. K and Ida to spend a little more time outside the Home, adding more variety to the settings and characters. But I’m sure most of the characters I’ve already developed, like Mr. Pupik and Mrs. Bissela, would be back.


ENTER TO WIN!

 

 

 


Mark Reutlinger is the author of the novels Mrs. Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death and Made in China. A professor of law emeritus at Seattle University, Reutlinger was born in San Francisco, graduated from UC Berkeley, and now lives with his wife, Analee, in University Place, Washington.

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Halloween Special Guest Post: Dangerously Dark (as in chocolate)

Chocolate-whisperer Hayden Mundy Moore has just arrived in Portland, Oregon, where she’s about to scarf soufflés and sip cacao-based cocktails at her friend’s engagement party. Fresh from nabbing her first candy-covered killer, the last thing Hayden wants to do is mix her love of chocolate with criminal mischief again. But then the groom-to-be turns up dead before beginning his renowned Chocolate-After-Dark tour. . .

Hayden’s friends insist that Declan’s death was a freak accident, but she knows there’s no mistaking the bitter aftertaste of homicide. In the midst of habañero hot chocolate and mocha-chunk gelato, a choco-crazed killer waits to strike again. Hayden will need to use more than her extraordinarily gifted taste buds to bring this murderer to justice, but she just might have bitten off more than she can chew in the process. . .



Dangerously Dark


 

Colette writes:

Why reading this book is like living inside a chocolate shop

When the first book in my “chocolate whisperer” cozy mystery series came out earlier this year, I was thrilled. I couldn’t wait for readers to meet Hayden Mundy Moore, my chocolate expert turned amateur sleuth—for them to discover firsthand Hayden’s world of traveling, perfecting chocolates, and hanging out with her sidekicks, Danny and Travis. To my (endless) delight, readers liked Criminal Confections…and they continue liking it even now, months after it was released. Hooray! To say I’m happy about that would be like saying caramel praline truffles are “okay.” It would be an understatement, is what I mean. So, thanks, everyone!

Some of the most frequent feedback about Criminal Confections surprised me, though. I heard variations of, “This story had TOO MUCH CHOCOLATE.” (Is that really a thing?) Or, “I had to stop reading and go bake brownies.” (Hey, I’ve got a great recipe for that coming soon on my website!) Or, “I was craving chocolate like crazy by the time I finished this book.” (Me, too!)

I can only conclude that these folks need more chocolate in their lives, not less. Right? They need to be helped along with samples of the best small-batch chocolate chip cookies, the most delicious chocolate butter, and the tastiest chocolate “un-cinnamon” rolls (one of the recipes featured in Dangerously Dark, the second book in the series). They need to whip up a batch of almost-instant (but no less scrumptious) “You Won’t Believe It” chocolate mousse (a three-ingredient recipe featured in Criminal Confections), or try a drizzle of hot-fudge sauce on their oatmeal one rainy morning. Why not? Chocolate makes almost everything better.

I like to think that chocolate makes my books better, too. While I couldn’t give an expert like Hayden too much competition (I don’t have any couverture spoons, for one thing), I’ve learned a lot of interesting things about chocolate—and I love to share them! I understand the difference between conching and tempering, and I’ve visited enough artisanal chocolateries, both in the US and abroad, to know that for me, Belgian chocolates trump Parisian delicacies (surprise!), British confections are a dream come true, and US artisans make some of the most intriguingly creative bars. But I still can’t say I’ve had too much chocolate. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

Chocolate is much too versatile for me to ever have “too much” of it. In a cake, it’s a happy birthday shared with loved ones. In a cookie, it’s a welcome-home-from-school treat. In a cocktail, it’s sophisticated, and in an over-the-top chocolate stout affogato, it’s (really) eye opening. Then too, the chocolate industry belongs between the pages of a book. Like so many other “luxury” industries, chocolatiering is full of drama and intrigue, back-stabbing and secrets-stealing, personal conflicts and egoists run wild…and so much more!

Given all that, how could I not pack as much chocolate as possible into every book? I went all out in Criminal Confections (set across the bay from San Francisco), and I didn’t take my foot off the gas for Dangerously Dark (set in the up-and-coming foodie city of Portland, Oregon), either. But now I want to know—can there be too much chocolate in a chocolate-themed mystery? Is it a bad thing to read about something and immediately want to make it? (If so, I’m guilty.)

Please tell me what you think! In the meantime, I’ll be making some delicious chocolate mug cake (courtesy of Cooking Classy!) and working on sending Hayden to London for book number three!

 

– – – – – – –

Colette London sometimes eats salad. She always eats chocolate. And she’d love for you to join her chocolate-loving community! If email isn’t your style, but you want to get new recipes and occasional book news, drop by her Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Google+ pages right now. Let her know you came from this site, and she’ll send you a bonus recipe!

p.s. – Colette London is a pseudonym for a best-selling novelist who’s published more than three dozen books worldwide. Want to use your Google Fu to find out her secret identity? Nah. Don’t spoil the surprise. Use your powers for good and order Dangerously Dark instead!


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Spotlight and Giveaway: A Stitch to Die For

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A Stitch to Die For
by Lois Winston

BOOK BLAST

A Stitch to Die For-ebookA Stitch to Die For (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery) (Volume 5)
5th in Series
Cozy Mystery
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Lois Winston (July 7, 2015)
• ISBN-13: 978-1940795300
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 Synopsis:

Ever since her husband died and left her in debt equal to the gross national product of Uzbekistan, magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack has stumbled across one dead body after another—but always in work-related settings. When a killer targets the elderly nasty neighbor who lives across the street from her, murder strikes too close to home. Couple that with a series of unsettling events days before Halloween, and Anastasia begins to wonder if someone is sending her a deadly message.

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About The Author –

USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Visit Lois/Emma at www.loiswinston.com and Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog, http://bit.ly/1NaDApv. Follow everyone on Tsu at http://bit.ly/1NCVkbq, on Pinterest at http://bit.ly/1NaDxu1, and onTwitter at https://twitter.com/Anasleuth. Sign up for her newsletter at http://bit.ly/1NCVkbs


Author Links

Website: http://bit.ly/1NCVhMJ

Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: http://bit.ly/1NaDApv

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anasleuth

Pinterest: http://bit.ly/1NaDxu1

Tsu: http://bit.ly/1NCVkbq

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1NaDApw

Purchase Links

Amazon | Nook | Kobo | iTunes | Google Play

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from Spotlight and Giveaway: A Stitch to Die For

Author Interview: Amy Metz, Short and Tall Tales at Goose Pimple Junction

This is not your average Southern town. With a hint of mystery and a lot of laughs, you’ll catch a glimpse of everyday life in Goose Pimple Junction in this short story compilation. Tales is a fun escape that will answer readers’ burning questions about the residents of this quirky, small town.

How did Johnny Butterfield become police chief?
How did Tess and Jack get engaged?
How did Ima Jean come to live with Louetta?
How do you celebrate an Apple Day?




Q: Aloha Amy, and thanks for stopping by!  Can you tell us what the Goose Pimple Junction series is about?

A: My Goose Pimple Junction series is a humorous cozy mystery series about folks in a fictional small town in the South. The residents are wacky, close-knit, loving, trusting, and genuinely good people. Readers have said the characters are the kind of people they’d like to know. Every once in a while, a bad guy comes to town, but the residents handle it with wit, wisdom, and grace. And a lot of laughs.

Q: Who is your typical reader?

A: I think my typical reader is a woman, but I’ve heard from men who like the series also.

Q: Is Goose Pimple Junction modeled after a real place?

A: No. It’s purely fictional. They say truth is stranger than fiction, but that’s not the case with Goose Pimple Junction. I have reviewers who say “That wouldn’t really happen in a Southern town,” or “They don’t talk that way in the South,” and they are correct. My town is fictional. There are bits and pieces of real life, but my characters say and do things that are unique to my fictional town of Goose Pimple Junction.

Q: How does Short & Tall Tales fit into the series?

A: Short & Tall Tales occurs chronologically between books one and two. Since Heroes & Hooligans begins a few months after Murder & Mayhem ended, there are a few things that happened in between them that readers weren’t privy to. Short & Tall Tales tells how Johnny became chief of police and how Ima Jean came to live with Louetta, among other things. None of it is vital information to the series, it’s just a fun, short look at life in Goose Pimple Junction.

Q: What are some useful Southern phrases that everyone should know?

A: Oh my goodness, don’t get me started. Okay, here are some of my favorites:
Get your straw out of my Kool-Aid. (That means mind your own business.)
He’s crazier than a sprayed roach.
Well shave my legs and call me smoothy.
I’m as busy as a moth in a mitten.
If it has tires or testicles, it’s gonna give you trouble.
What is your major malfunction?
He’s handier than a pocket on a shirt.
You can put a porcupine in a wood chipper, but you will not make maple syrup.
That went over like a pregnant pole vaulter.
You can just get glad in the same pants you got mad in.

Q: Writing can be very solitary. How do you balance the need for solitude with the need to get out and be with people?

A: I don’t – I’m very imbalanced! I’m a pretty solitary person and probably spend 70% of my time by myself. I like to spend time with my friends and family, but I don’t mind being alone at all.

Q: What’s next for the good citizens of Goose Pimple Junction?

A: Would you believe there will be another murder? It’s true, but that’s not all. Pickle’s mother, Caledonia, will have marriage problems, a hit woman will come to town, a teenage rascal will wreak havoc on the town, Hank Beanblossom will fall in love . . . and more.

Q: How do you celebrate an Apple Day?

A: You’ll have to read Short & Tall Tales to find out! Basically, Apple Day is an all-day festival with a lot of food, a parade, some contests (baking contests; Apple Dumpling Pageant . . . ), workshops (Praise the Lard and Pass the Apple Pie), and more food. Main Street is busy with vendors and shoppers. Barbecue, fried chicken, and fish sandwich booths sit alongside fried apple pie and arts & crafts booths. Big iron vats full of simmering apple butter dot the street, and men in overalls use six-foot-long wooden paddles to stir the thick deliciousness over an open fire. I guess it’s a cross between a Fourth of July festival and an Oktoberfest, only it’s all about apples. And town camaraderie.

Q: Your blog A Blue Million Books has lots of great resources for authors. How did you evolve from writing fiction to helping other authors?

A: As an indie author, I know how hard it is to get your name and your book out there. So I started a blog in the hopes of helping other authors promote their work. I live in Louisville, Kentucky, where we have a campaign called, “Keep Louisville Weird.” That’s simply a catchy way of saying support local business. McDonald’s and Applebee’s are everywhere, but it’s the local businesses that give a city uniqueness and flavor. Local businesses are usually small businesses, with limited capital and resources. Not unlike indie authors.

So I have my own campaign called “Authors Are Weird Too.” Everybody has heard of John Sandford, Michael Connelly, and Patricia Cornwall. They’re doing just fine on their own, thank you very much. But it’s the new authors, especially the new indie authors who need support. I hope to do that on my blog. As I promoted my book, I compiled a ton of marketing ideas and decided it might be something others could benefit from, so I added it as a page (Marketing for Indies) on my blog. I hope it’s a good resource for other authors.


Amy Metz is the author of the Goose Pimple Junction mystery series. She is a former first grade teacher and the mother of two sons. When not writing, enjoying her family, or surfing Pinterest, Amy can usually be found with a mixing spoon, camera, or book in one hand and a glass of sweet tea in the other. Amy lives in Louisville, Kentucky and loves a good Southern phrase. She can be reached at her website http://amymetz.com or her blog http://bit.ly/1MOZNJA.

 

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