Welcome to New Year's Blog Hop

Welcome to the New Year’s Blog Hop! I’ll be here from January 1-6. From here you can link to the over 200 other authors participating, all talking about New Year’s traditions, customs, and fun. You as a reader can go to each blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win THREE grand prizes. Yep, you can enter over 200 times! Winners will be announced January 7.

One wonderful commenter here on my site will receive a beautiful pen or key chain (your choice) (be sure to leave your email with your comment).

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet
2nd Grand Prize: A $300 Amazon or B&N Gift Card
3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more!




MEMORIES OF LOOOOONNG NEW YEARS’ EVES

I’d never had much truck with New Year’s Eve even as a twenty-something. Not being a night owl, it usually meant a tortured wait just longing for bed. That hasn’t changed much.

It’s supposed to be so romantic, right? Not so. My first New Years with my husband-to-be) was another long drawn out agony. I remember sitting outside on his back steps hoping the cold air would keep me awake and listening to the tick-tick of my watch. Finally, the moment came. I went back in and found Gary snoring on the couch. I shook him awake (none too gently), drank a glass of champagne by myself (he didn’t care for it), and we went to bed with grateful hearts that it was over.

The situation didn’t improve once the kids came, but at least by then we had support from our playgroup. Playgroup consists of a core of 4 to 5 mothers who have met once a week for coffee from the time our children were babies, more than twenty years ago. That’s right: we still meet. And yes, we still call it playgroup. Anyway, our families liked to celebrate New Year’s together. We had a huge spread with lots of cheer, and by mutual consent, the hats and confetti and champagne came out precisely at 10:30.

I think to this day our children believe that the year changes in Virginia one and a half hours earlier than in the rest of the country.

My characters Milo Everhart and Tristram Brodie in Artful Dodging: the Torpedo Factory Murders, have an even worse New Year’s, since they’ve decided to take a break from each other to deal with murder investigations, arrests and runaways. Milo’s friend Morgana asks her what her plans are:

Milo waved a thick volume before stuffing it in her bag. “Jane Austen, Isis, and I will spend a cozy evening by the fire.”
“No champagne?”
“Of course, but only for me. Isis gets Fancy Feast, and Jane gets my undivided attention.”

If you want to find out why it didn’t turn out that way—click on the cover in the left sidebar. You can read an excerpt under the tab Excerpts here.

If you click on the link below, it will take you to the list of participating authors. Have fun, and Happy New Year!



Or go to the main site: http://carrieannbloghops.blogspot.com/