And how did we celebrate? Well, there was Shannon’s sock hop birthday party where the girls dressed in 50’s poodle skirts and the guys wore jeans and white t-shirts and we jived the night away to songs like “Around The Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets.

Then there was the “month-of-Simon” which was celebrated with a house party, a ski day in Lake Louise, a dinner at the Post Hotel….it just goes on-and-on!

In the summer, Fred celebrated his birthday with a beach barbecue at his and Sue’s cabin, then for Sue we went to one of our favorite Calgary restaurants–The River Cafe.

Girls' Weekend In Wakefield

Lucky Dennis was serenaded by his wife for his birthday, and as for the rest–Myrna, Rhonda, Cheryl, Myrna-Joy, Lynda, Lorna, Debbie, Kate and Wendy–well, we had a fabulous girls’ weekend in Wakefield Quebec this fall. Delicious food, beautiful autumn scenery, long walks, shopping, and great conversation…

You know, turning ** isn’t so bad when you do it with friends!

©2010 CJ's Desk Diary. All Rights Reserved.

1. We both have trilogies out this winter, trilogies that we’re very excited about! Check out my contest page, and you’ll see we are giving away a pile of books, gift certificates and goodies to celebrate.

2. Barb and I go way back.  We met at a writers’ conference in Victoria more than ten years ago. We were both unpublished then, but full of hope.  Together we have celebrated the whirlwind of first sales, the joy of getting that first multi-book contract, the confusion of dealing with new editors and a changing marketplace. 

When you work as a writer, you spend your days physically alone, but thanks to the Internet, I know that getting a shot of Barb’s common sense and wise cracking humor is only an e-mail away.

3. I want my readers to discover a new favorite romance author. If you enjoy sparkling dialogue, a good laugh and a great story, I know you will love Barb’s books as much as I do.

So, that’s the story behind the joint contest. I hope you take a few minutes out of your day to read our excerpts, answer the contest questions, and enter for your chance to win!

©2010 CJ's Desk Diary. All Rights Reserved.

So here’s the recipe…

Chocolate Vanilla Rolled Fudge

Step 1: Lay out a sheet of foil about the size of a cookie sheet. Chop 1 1/2 cups of nuts (I like pecans, my friend prefers walnuts) into quite small pieces. Spread them on a the foil in a long rectangle about seven by twelve inches.

Step 2: Combine 3 cups white sugar, 1 cup whipping cream and 1/2 cup corn syrup in a large pot. Stir, then cook to the soft ball stage (about 240 degrees on a candy thermometer). Remove from heat and add about 3 tablespoons of butter and 2 teaspoons of vanilla.

Step 3: Melt 2 squares of unsweetened chocolate in a large glass bowl. Add 1/2 of the heated sugar mixture to the chocolate and beat with a large spoon until it loses gloss and begins to thicken (about 5 minutes). Pour evenly over the prepared nuts, and spread until the nuts are covered.

Step 4: Return your attention to the pot of white fudge. Beat this by hand until it also loses its gloss and begins to thicken. (about five minutes). Pour down the center of the chocolate rectangle. This will be the vanilla center of your log.

Step 5: Sliding your hands under the foil, roll the fudge into a long log, so that the chocolate lines up and the vanilla is in the middle. Try to match the chocolate ends together, without letting any of the vanilla seep through. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect…it will still taste great!

Step 6: chill for several hours before slicing. This stays well for several weeks, if you keep it wrapped in the foil in the fridge. For serving, slice it thinly…this looks as beautiful a it tastes and would make a wonderful gift!

Yummy!

My fudge turned out less than perfect this year. Too much talking, perhaps? The center should be all creamy vanilla, without that line of chocolate. Also, the log is a little flat. But, hey, it still tastes great!

©2010 CJ's Desk Diary. All Rights Reserved.

Luckily, I have loved almost all my book covers and most of them have suited my stories very well. This is not too surprising, as there is a thorough process that is followed for every single book.

Shortly after completing the revisions on a story, I am asked to fill in a questionairre called the “Art Fact Sheet.” This is my opportunity to communicate with the Marketing Department and the Artists who will be designing the cover for my book.

I start by providing a description of my main characters (which is sometimes a challenge as I often don’t know certain details about them myself. Since I focus mainly on my character’s personality and interior thoughts, I may not even have selected an eye color! So at this stage, I may need to retroactively give them one!)

Next I write a synopses of the story (which is always harder than it sounds)  and finally I suggest 3 “possible” scenes for the cover. More often than not, my scene suggestions have made it to the final product, and this is the case with the cover for my upcoming release, book one of the Fox & Fisher Detective Agency trilogy–Perfect Partners.

Since the Detective Agency is so central to all the books in this trilogy, when I completed the art sheets, I envisioned showcasing each couple in front of the brownstone where the business is located. Since the stories take place at three different seasons of the year, I suggested we use fall colors for Perfect Partners, spring colors for The P.I. Contest and winter colors for Receptionist Under Cover.

So far it looks as if the artists have agreed with my suggestions and I love the covers they created for book 1 and book 2. Now I’m anxiously awaiting the cover for book 3 which should be available shortly. Will it also showcase the Fox and Fisher Detective Agency? Will they use the winter colors I suggested? More importantly, what will Nadine and Patrick look like?

Check back in a few weeks and we’ll all know the answer then!

©2010 CJ's Desk Diary. All Rights Reserved.

Is there a specific C.J. Carmichael book that you’d like to own? Watch for the next Surprise Contest for your chance to win. The beauty of my surprise contests is that I let the winner select the title that she wants. This is an excellent opportunity to get your hands on an elusive book from my backlist.

©2010 CJ's Desk Diary. All Rights Reserved.

There is a three step process to enter:

First Step: see if you can match the heroes and heroines in my upcoming trilogy, The Fox and Fisher Detective Agency, from this list: Kate, Nadine, Lindsay, Nathan, Jay, Patrick. (Hint: check my “Coming Soon” page.) 

Second Step: Send me an e-mail with your answer. (Go to Contact page for this.)

Third Step: Make sure you tell me the name of the book you’d like to receive if you are the lucky winner. (Include a back-up title, in case I am out of stock of your first choice.)

One winner will be chosen by random from all entries received by November 2nd. Good luck!

©2010 CJ's Desk Diary. All Rights Reserved.

I was surprised that I liked this book so much. It took an accummulation of courage for me to buy this book, after all, I’m a romance novelist, and postapocalyptic novels do not promise the cozy, fireside read that I often crave.

But since I believe it’s important to stretch my creative and intellectual mind, I did buy the book and I did read it, and I’m so glad, because sandwiched between scenes of a destroyed, burning, horrific earth are conversations between a father and son–on the road, searching for some warmer, more hospitable portion of the planet– of such tender humanity, love and courage that you can’t help but feel hope for the future despite the apparent futility of their quest.

I loved the way this book was written…the tight, meaningful, beautiful, masterful wielding of words. In their voyage, father and son carry knapsacks containing their essential possessions. The same holds for the words, and even the punctuation, in this novel, each carefully selected for precise meaning and powerful impact. It begins… “When he woke in the woods in the dark andthe cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him. Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before.”

Interestingly, the apocalyptic event which destroyed planet earth remains in the background leaving the focus on the boy and his father and their elemental relationship based on a melding of survival and love, both instincts that appear to be bred in the bone. The book offers little hope for long-term survival, though, for there are things that can “not be made right again.”

Still, there is something here to warm the heart afterall. “We are the good guys, right?” the boys asks his father, and we, deep in our hearts, believe that they are, that we are.

©2010 CJ's Desk Diary. All Rights Reserved.

©2010 CJ's Desk Diary. All Rights Reserved.

Cheers from CJ

©2010 CJ's Desk Diary. All Rights Reserved.

Here I am, enjoying lunch break by Caldron Lake. Little did I realize that thunderstorms would have us racing back down the trail fifteen minutes later!

After seven hours of hiking, including about 1000 meters of elevations gain/loss, I was truly exhausted by the time we reached the trailhead again.

Not many hikes begin with a view that is almost as magnificent as the one you get at the end. But this one does. Isn’t Peyto Lake stunning? I think it rivals Lake Louise and Moraine Lake.

©2010 CJ's Desk Diary. All Rights Reserved.