Breaking News!

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Ann Roth

For the first time in my writing career, I am self-publishing my latest series!

It’s fun and exciting. I can put out books as often as I like, rather than waiting for a publisher to set a schedule, and write what I want, instead of what the publisher expects. A very freeing experience, but also a ton of work. I would never self-publish a novel without first hiring a cover designer and a veteran editor to critique and help me craft each book into my best work yet. I also hire someone to correct spelling and punctuation errors.

The series is set in the fictitious town of Guff’s Lake, Oregon, in the heart of the Rogue Valley. Twelve month and 12 of the hottest firefighters ever, each appearing on a different month on a firefighter calendar. This is why I call the series,Heroes of Rogue Valley: Calendar Guys.

All books will be stand-alone books, which means you can read them in any order.

Now for the breaking news:

The first two books of the series are out now!!

Meet Mr. January, the first hero featured in my Heroes of Rogue Valley: Calendar Guys series. Now available in print and ebook format I loved writing this book and am having so much fun with the series.

Senior Firefighter Adam Healey is a man with a mission: get promoted to lieutenant at the Guff’s Lake Fire Department. It’s time, but more important, the promotion will finally earn him the respect of his dying father. Single mom Samantha Everett’s deadbeat ex has left her to fend for herself, and she’s working hard to support her young son with her baking business. Neither Adam nor Samantha is looking for a relationship. But love has a way of surprising people…

Meet Mr. February, starring in book two of Heroes of Rogue Valley: Calendar Guys. Available in print and e-book format.

Rafe Donato is a senior firefighter well aware that loving a woman can destroy a man. He will never trust any female with his heart. Jillian Metzger is a talented potter whose biological clock is ticking. Ready to fall in love, get married and start a family, Jillian wants what Rafe cannot give.

Available from Kindle in print and ebook formats, and from Nook, iBooks and Kobo . For links to buy, visit https://annroth.net/ebooks.html. To stay in the know on future breaking news, sign up for my newsletter:

Currently, I am hard at work on Mr. March. I’m not the fastest writer on the block, but I’m making good progress.

Happy reading, and thanks for letting me share this exciting news.

Until next time,
Ann
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Spring Has Arrived!

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Ann Roth

It’s spring! I know I’m not the only one who’s happy to see this season. This is my wish for you:

Until next time,
Ann
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Jumbo Island Cookies, aka Don’t Let Those Bananas Go Bad!

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Ann Roth

I used to hate when the bananas at my house got a little too ripe. Then I discovered this mouth-watering cookie recipe. With bananas, chocolate chips, coconut and macadamia nuts, how can you go wrong?

Jumbo Island Cookies

Ingredients
1 2/3 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
6 Tbsp butter at room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup mashed banana
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Directions
Sift together flour, baking power, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; set aside. Using a mixer at high speed, beat butter for 2 minutes. Add sugar and mashed banana. Beat for 3 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. Turn speed to low and add flour mixture. When incorporated, turn off mixer. Stir in chocolate chips, coconut, and macadamia nuts.

Using an ice cream scoop (coat with oil so this gooey batter doesn’t stick), drop onto a greased cookie sheet (I use Silpat instead). Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees, until lightly golden. Let cool 1-2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

These won’t last long enough to store, but if you must, use an airtight container.

Until next time,
Ann

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Springing Ahead… Way Ahead….

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Ann Roth

Here in the Pacific Northwest, winter has been unusually mild. Flowers are pushing up through the earth and trees are blooming– a full month early!

forsythia in our front yard

flowering magnolia across the street

I hope we don’t have a frost that will kill these flowers–or hurt our orchard mason bees.What are orchard mason bees, you ask? These amazing critters are used throughout the U.S., to pollinate fruit trees in orchards, as well as flowers and vegetables. They are gentle creatures (they avoid humans and don’t sting!), and are active for only a short time each spring. We buy them at our local hardware store. They come in a glass vial and can be stored in the refrigerator until the weather is warm enough to release them. (I wanted to show you the vial, but it got thrown away…)

orchard mason bee

Once a female works her magic, she lays eggs in a partitioned house, adds the pollen she has gathered, and seals each partition with mud. These bees aren’t able to bore into wood and make their homes, so we bought this little house at the same hardware store where we purchased the bees.

our orchard mason bee house

The female leaves the eggs to gestate and grow until the following spring, when as full-fledged bees, they break free and work their magic. This year, despite placing the bee house in a sheltered and relatively safe place, a predator of some kind ate all the eggs! We had to buy more.

With the sunny, warm weather we’ve been having, our orchard mason bees are already hard at work. I can hardly wait until the fruits of their labors bring us an abundant crop of veggies and fruits.

If only writing worked this way, with a big burst of work and creativity, and then a long period of seemingly nothing, while ideas hatched and grew into full-fledged, mature ideas. Instead, I’m hatching ideas all year-round, so many that I’ll never be able to turn them all into stories! Ah well, we writers to what we can…

Until next time,
Ann

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Time Flies…

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Ann Roth

Where does the time go? I have no answer to that! All I know is that February will soon be behind us. Which got me to thinking about this apt reminder:

I fritter away so much time on social media or plunked in front of the tube, time I will never be able to get back. Sure, after a day spent writing, I am brain dead, but there are better things to do than sit some more. Things such as: take a walk and see what Mother Nature is showing off. Work in the garden. Clean out the closet. Buy a new plant or some seeds and plant them. Volunteer someplace. Cook. Open a book and read. Okay, I already do the last two. But you get the gist, right?

What can you do with your time?

Something to think about…

Until next time,
Ann

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Interesting Firefighter Info: factoid #3

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Ann Roth

I am working on a series featuring firefighters. For the next few weeks, I’ll be posting some of the interesting facts I’ve learned about these heroic men and women.

Often, fire departments require firefighters to be certified as EMTs or paramedics. Both require advanced training, with a college degree for paramedic certification.

One of the many EMS badges firefighters may wear

Until next time,
Ann

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Happy Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Ann Roth

Whatever you do on Valentine’s Day, enjoy!

Until next time,
Ann
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It’s the Small Stuff…

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Ann Roth

I don’t know if Mother Teresa actually said this, but I sure do like it.

May it inspire you as it does me.

Until next time,

Ann
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Let them Eat… Chocolate Icebox Cake

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Ann Roth

I got this recipe from my mother and although I always loved it, I haven’t made it in years. Recently, I pulled out the recipe. I’m glad I did!

Enjoy!

Until next time,

Ann

Tra Lala, Tra Lala

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Ann Roth

Tonight I’m headed for the Seattle Opera, to see Tosca, one of my all-time favorite operas.

I wasn’t always an opera lover, although my mother was. She studied voice in college, but didn’t have a strong enough voice to make it as a singer. Saturdays, she listened to the Metropolitan Opera on the radio. Sometimes she cajoled me into listening, too. But I never appreciated it.

As an adult, I attended a few operas with my husband, who was equally non-wowed. Then, a good 15 years ago, I found out that one of my writing friends was crazy for opera. At her urging, my husband and I joined her and a few other friends for monthly “opera night.” An evening we now look eagerly forward to. We take turns hosting these nights, which include a DVD of an opera and the synopsis which is read before each act, plus a main course provided by the host, with the appetizers, drinks, salad and dessert contributed by the other members of the group.

During the performance, we often pause the action in order to get seconds on food and drink, laugh, answer questions, discuss the intricacies of the story and plot, learn about the composer or the conductor, and so on.

I have become a true opera fan. The beautiful music, exquisite voices! Between the melodrama, hatred, true love, passion, loyalty, betrayal, murder, heroism, tears and laughter, what’s not to love? It’s all the stuff of drama, fiction and reality. The stuff of life.

Until next time,

Ann