Gentle Readers:

It’s the last newsletter of the year. Usually, this is where I tell you how hard I’m working on my current WIP (which I am) and wish you the most wonderful of holidays (which I do). But this year, I have NEWS! Hold on to your hats, chickens...

I will be contributing a (Very Big, Very Brand New — to you) story to SWEET DREAMS, Brenda Novak’s thriller box set. The box set will be available for $9.99 for a limited time, starting May 1, 2015. And here’s what I will be contributing to the box set:

From New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison comes the long awaited prequel to her Taylor Jackson series. CROSSED, the story of a madman trying to create his own end-of-days apocalypse, introduces Lieutenant Taylor Jackson to the young, troubled FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin.

A brand new TAYLOR NOVEL, y’all! Just like you’ve been begging for! And they say I don’t listen...

A little background on CROSSED. This is the very first book I ever wrote. It’s the book that landed me my agent back in 2005. I will rewrite a bit (she says, hopeful it’s not utter crapola), to improve the craft aspects and some story updating, but it’s high time y’all get to see how Taylor and Baldwin met and fell in love.

I can’t wait to share CROSSED with you. Now, this book is not going to be in bookstores in this iteration. It will be available in the digital box set only from May 1‐July 1, and then I have plans for it, which we’ll discuss in 2015. And don’t worry, if you don’t have an ereader, all the platforms have a version that allows you to read on your computer.

So... surprise! I will give you pre-order links when we’re closer to release. I’m honored to be included with all these incredible writers, and really excited to share Taylor’s first adventure with you at last.

And if you’re interested to see the places behind the books, check out Placing Literature, where all month long I’ll be geolocating scenes from my books!

More News

Signed books for Christmas! If you want a signed copy of one of my books, for you or a friend, hurry! Send them with a self addressed stamped envelope to PO Box 218453, Nashville TN 37221 to arrive no later than December 13. I will do a mailing on the 15th and then I’m closed for the holidays.

Tours

Get Thee to a Bookstore

You know that moment you realize you haven’t read nearly enough this month? Yeah, just hit it. I’ve been working very hard, rereading and rereading WHAT LIES BEHIND (does three times count toward my annual goal?) so I haven’t been reading a ton for pleasure. But here’s what I did read:

HAUNTED HOLIDAYS: Three Tales of Terror ‐ Laura Benedict, Carolyn Haines, and Lisa Morton
POWERPLAY ‐ Catherine Coulter
THE LAST MAN ‐ Vince Flynn
THE BOOK OF LIFE ‐ Deborah Harkness

And in the queue:

WILDFLOWER ‐ Alecia Whitaker
STATION ELEVEN ‐ Emily St. John Mandel
THE DARK UNWINDING ‐ Sharon Cameron

I’ve made a commitment to track all my reading this year, so if you’re on Goodreads, friend me, and follow along. I’m always interested in what you’re reading, too!

December Contest

The December contest is live now. Enter to win a 2015 Moleskine day planner, and a $10 online book store gift card to Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million OR iBooks (winner’s choice).

Enter here to win.

December Recipe —Christmas Cookies
(Click here for printable PDF)

I have a rather interesting project ahead of me — creating a recipe book. Right now, I have decades of recipes loose in file folders. I’ve already bought two binders, some cool file folders for décor, and a ton of clear plastic sheets for the recipes to slide into. The cats are especially excited about this. I will post pictures if it works.

The main reason I want to do this is to preserve some of the hand-me-down recipes I have from my grandmother and mother, both wonderful cooks, and amazing bakers.

To honor them, and our longstanding Christmas cookie tradition, I thought I’d share two of my favorites with you this month. And since I’m now gluten-free, I will be trying these recipes with my special gluten-free flour. I hope it works!

Gigi’s Almond Brittle Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 6 oz package Nestle’s chocolate chips
• ½ cup finely chopped almonds (best in food processor)

• Preheat oven to 375° degrees
• Beat together butter, coffee, salt and almond extract
• Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy
• Stir in flour and chocolate chips
• Press batter into and ungreased jellyroll pan (15 ½ x 10 ½)
• Sprinkle almonds on top and press into dough
• Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown. DO NOT OVERCOOK!
• Set pan on cooling rack
• Cut in 1 ½ x 1 ½ bars while warm
• When cool, remove from pan
• Store in an airtight container. Makes 40

Gigi’s Butter Pecan Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter
• ½ cup confectioner’s sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1 ¾ cup flour
• ½ cup pecans, chopped finely in food processor

• Preheat oven to 350° degrees
• Beat together butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy
• Add flour and pecans, stir into dough
• Roll into 1 inch balls, set 1 inch apart
• Bake 20 minutes (don’t allow them to brown)
• Cool, then shake in a bag of confectioner’s sugar.
• Store in airtight container

From my kitchen to yours, may your holidays be blessed, filled with love and happiness and the joy of the season. Merry Everything!!!!!!!!

xoxo,

*You can see all of my previous recipes and download them here.