Nicci Carrera

January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 Nicci Writing

#Giveaway Monday

Good morning, and happy Monday! I have some free things for you. First off, a copy of my book or one of John Holland’s if you sign up for my newsletter. (Just leave a comment today.) I’ll give away 5 e-books today! My newsletter will be once a month and will give updates on my writing, an original recipe, and announcements of appearances. There will also be giveaways in the newsletter. If you don’t like romance, no worries, I always offer a copy of one of the books I edited for John Holland as an alternative.

Here is some more stuff that came across my screen last week:

1. A great article on how to use Twitter well: How to be a peep not a pain on Twitter by the brilliant marketing expert Kristen Lamb

2. Leanne Cole shared how to replace a sky in a photograph. Here is a link to her video: http://leannecole.com.au/replacing-the-sky/

And here is a sky of mine that you can use, if you want to try out the technique. (Yes, I’m using it as a background on my blog now.)

Happy Giveaway Monday!

January 18, 2015January 18, 2015 Nicci Photography

Glory

My husband said pilots call this rainbow in the middle of the sky when there’s no rain “glory” and said it is rare to see it from the ground.

This was a treat on our walk tonight.

Have a good Sunday or Monday evening!

Nicci

January 17, 2015 Nicci Photography

Winter trees

Happy Saturday (or Sunday)! I hope you are enjoying yourself.

Here are some visual treats.

January 16, 2015 Nicci Photography

Spider web

The thing about spider webs is you can only see them when the light on them is just right.

Joan Osborne wrote an amazing song called Spider Web. Click on that and it will take you to the lyrics, though the words are of course much better when Joan Osborne is singing them! Here idea is quite thought provoking, about how something about us that can seem unfortunate, may be the key to our talent and uniqueness.

Have a nice weekend, folks!

January 15, 2015January 12, 2015 Nicci Signs of Abundance Thursday

Signs of abundance Thursday

2015 is the year of abundance! To set the tone for the year, and because appreciating abundance already in my life will attract more abundance to me, and hopefully to you, I’m going to post a “Signs of Abundance Thursday” series for six weeks.

1. This car was parked in front of me at the stop light.

I don’t think I need to say anything about why this is abundant, but I do happen to know to which house this car belongs. There aren’t a lot of them, in fact, I’ve never seen a Maserati before that I know of, at least not in person. At this house, there are two new ones, a white one and a black one. I think it’s great that these people bought his and her Maseratis! Or maybe his and his, or hers and hers, who knows? I don’t want a Maserati, but it’s quite fun to imagine, and it is a sign of abundance that may mean my own kind of abundance might be coming my way soon.

2. This car was parked on a street I was walking along…another kind of abundance. I love the Zero emissions temporary plate that Tesla put on the new car. To me it is abundant that a car can be a beautiful machine and also not produce any emissions.

3. An old family friend in Facebook bought my book and told me she was proud of me.

Your turn. What signs of abundance have shown up in your world?

January 14, 2015January 13, 2015 Nicci Uncategorized

The roses are back!

Another year has passed, and the roses are starting to come back. I took most of my macros last year during the spring, April, I think. Laurie Smith helped me learn a lot about photography last year, and my husband showed me how to use the camera a bit more. I’m glad to be back to using my DSLR and trying all these things. The Panasonic point and shoot is awesome but was stifling my love of photography for some reason. Now I often pack both cameras with me. I have a sense of which camera is better for which situation.

The main thing I’m always trying to do is blur the background because I think that looks really nice. I took several shots and the above one is my favorite.

January 13, 2015January 13, 2015 Nicci Travel

The Claremont Hotel in Berkeley

Thank you everyone who commented yesterday! It is heartwarming to know that you would love a free book! The winner of the giveaway was Violet, of the totally inspiring Violet’s Veg*n Comics.

After lunch with a friend in Berkeley, I was able to snap a shot of the Claremont out the car window while stopped at a light.

The Clairemont Hotel — The Claremont Hotel

I love this hotel. Check out this fact:

The Claremont faced destruction in the 1991 Oakland firestorm, but the flames were stopped just short of the hotel.

The light you see in the foreground is for the tennis club that is on the site, I think. We stayed here once and watched tennis whenever we weren’t staring out the little dormer window at San Francisco.

January 12, 2015January 7, 2015 Nicci Uncategorized

Giveaway Monday

Here’s something new I’m going to do, not every Monday, but from time-to-time. To cheer you all up about it being Monday, I’m going to reward you for reading my blog. All you have to do is leave a comment, so I can add your name to a randomizer to win a signed copy of my book, Love Caters All, or of Left of the Rising Sun, if you are in the United States or Australia. If not, I’ll gift you an e-copy in the format of your choice.

Thanks for visiting, and enjoy your day.

January 11, 2015January 11, 2015 Nicci Food

Michael Chiarello is back and news(letter) announcement

Or, I should say, I’m back to Michael Chiarello. I am what I call “phasic,” meaning I go through enthusiasms in phases. My cooking enthusiasm phases are few and far between, and my husband has been waiting for another one to strike. (He does most of the cooking.) His absolute favorite phase of mine was my Michael Chiarello phase. The food is great, and best of all the recipes are simple. (I tend to choose recipes that are really involved and then I’m burned out (no pun intended) on cooking for another three months.) And I tend to make dessert which is really only useful when we’re going to someone’s house or having people over. No, I don’t eat dessert every day, and maybe that’s my problem.

I love this cookbook, though!

I was thumbing through it because I needed the recipe for Ceci a la Siciliana, about which I love everything, especially the name. I say the name a lot. I think it is pronounced Seechee a la Siciliana. I say it as often as possible. The dish also tastes great and is vegetarian.

Changing topic, I’m starting a newsletter this year. I plan to do one once a month and will be providing original recipes, updates on my writing, book give-aways, photos, and writing tips. To sign up for the newsletter, please let me know in the comments!

Thanks for visiting, and enjoy your day.

January 10, 2015January 9, 2015 Nicci Saturday thoughts, Writing

A prediction for publishing, and The Temple of Heaven, Beijing

I don’t make many predictions, I really don’t have any idea, I just kind of go along, but I have this one thought to share. And that is that once print on demand (POD) books come down in price to match mass market, things will change. I don’t know how exactly, but mass market prices for POD books would seem to have many repercussions. Independently published authors like myself for now (meaning independent of the big publishing houses) get their books into print by using POD.

My 2015 prediction is that prices of POD will start to come down in 2015.

What do you think? How do you think it would impact traditional publishing if you could make any book equivalent in price to a paperback on a rack in the grocery-store line?

The panorama picture below shows people enjoying the very long covered walkway in The Temple of Heaven park in Beijing. People were out in droves playing games with their friends. I loved the idea of getting together with friends and playing games like this. What a wonderful lifestyle. Very healthy for the mind, body and spirit. And such a peaceful scene.