2012 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge

I found myself another reading challenge! You know how much I love reading challenges. This particular challenge has some added bonuses. I absolutely love reading about witches and witchcraft. I have always enjoyed reading the different ways authors go when they approach the subject. There is, of course the scary witch, and then there is the Glinda the good witch style witch, and many more in between. But, the best part of this challenge is the fact that it is a year long challenge. If I find the time to read only one witchy story all year, that is perfectly okay. If I manage to read a dozen, that is great too. I have posted the rules below. Feel free to join us for this challenge. It's sure to be a lot of fun. Click the button below to find yourself on Melissa's blog to join: (Or click on the title of this blog post).

Challenge Rules:

1. This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2012 - Dec 31, 2012.  I will be posting a place to link up a sign-up post (below), reviews and a wrap-up post. (Note: You do not have to review the books to participate, but only those who link up reviews will be entered for the prize)
2. Grab the reading challenge button (code & button below) and post this reading challenge on your blog to track your progress. Please include a link back to this sign-up post so others can join the reading challenge too. You do not have to be a book blogger to participate- you could track your progress and post reviews on  Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, etc.
3. Any full length book that includes a witch as a main character or major witchcraft elements counts.  They may be fiction or non-fiction.  However, they should not be reference books which are not read cover to cover-I will leave this to your discretion.  
4. Books can be any format (bound, eBook, audio).
5. Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
6. You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.
7. When you sign up in the linky put the direct link to your post about joining the 2012 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge.
8. You can move up levels, but no moving down.
9. Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2012, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.
10. Have some Witchy Good Fun !!!

A special thanks to Michelle over at The True Book Addict for posting this challenge, and to Melissa over at Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf for hosting.

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable new year's celebration. We spent ours here at home with the kids. We had punch and appetizers and watched the selection of performances on the local news channels. It was a quiet but enjoyable new year's celebration.

We also created a new Facebook fan page to ring in the new year. This new one gives my husband the credit for being co-owner of the books. I was never happy with the fact that my publisher didn't want to acknowledge that it was a family project. Check out the new fan page, Books by Tiffany A. & Clark L. Higgins. We love to hear feedback, and appreciate your support.

So, what do we have planned in the new year? 2012 is going to bring a couple of new books. We will be publishing I Love the Changing Seasons within the next couple of months. Closer to summertime, we will be publishing The Monster Beneath my Bed. From there, who knows what we will have in store for you. Check back often (here, Facebook, and www.weveseensanta.com) for the latest news and information!

The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! It's hard to believe that the new year is right around the corner. I do apologize for my lack of posts these last couple of months. With November's NaNoWriMo and December's business of both Christmas preparations and lots of We've Seen Santa events I hardly had a moment to breathe. I hadn't gotten much reading done either. The day after Christmas was spent cleaning up from the celebrations. With my house mostly back in order, I finally had a chance to just sit down and refuse to do anything besides reading yesterday. So, here is what I have accomplished thus far for The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge.

I started the reading challenge way back in November with Debbie Macomber's Christmas in Cedar Cove.








This book is actually a compilation of two Cedar Cove stories. The first is 5-B Poppy Lane. It is a wonderful story that will take your breath away. At times, it nearly brought me to tears. The second is A Cedar Cove Christmas. This one actually did move me to tears. Such a beautiful story of friendship and love. The familiar characters of Cedar Cove prove themselves to yet again be a wonderful collection of varying personalities. They show us how we should behave towards each other, not just at Christmas, but throughout the year.

The next story I read was a novella I read on my new Kindle Fire (thanks Dad). It was Merry Christmas, Baby by Monica Jackson.






This is a story of unexpected love. After catching her fiance in bed with her maid of honor, Sharyn is gun shy to start another relationship. When a sexy physical therapist shows up at her door to help care for her mother, she blocks his every advance. But, they say "love will find a way," and this saying holds true in this novella about finding love and learning to trust again. Merry Christmas, Baby is a great story for the on the go Christmas season. Although, I found myself wishing it had been a full length novel with much more story to tell.

I followed that novella with what can only be referred to as a short story. Although novellas and novels are the only things that count during the course of The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge, I felt that this short story deserved recognition. The Twelve Days of Christmas Mystery by Daphne Coleridge was a cute little story. I'm not quite sure where I picked up this short, but I am glad that I did. I will be looking into reading some of her mysteries in the near future.

After reading Coleridge's short story, I read another novella by Monica Jackson. This one was What Goes Around. In this novella, there is a family curse. I do love family curses. The main character, Evelyn, is the only one who can break this curse. The way to break the curse is to choose love. It was a cute story, and I enjoyed meeting the characters. However, I felt that it would have benefited from another edit. I do not usually mention editing snafoos, as I know that  they do happen. Even such greats as Stephen King have typos and misedits in their books at times. However, this one was bad enough that I feel it is only fair to mention it before sending you off to read it.

I have read a few Children's books this season. Of course there were many readings of We've Seen Santa throughout the season.





Though, I am not entirely sure that this counts as a read book since I knew the story before it ever became a book. LOL.

I did however read Jingle All the Way to my daughter and Jingle, the Husky Pup.





This is an adorable story. However, I am disappointed with the interaction of Jingle. My daughter is five years old, and a fairly skilled reader. When she reads the book to Jingle, he does not respond to her voice when she reads the magic words. I believe that the interactive plush toys should respond well to a child's voice as reading to their own toy and getting a response would encourage reading in young children. We also watched the movie on the Hallmark channel.

We watched many Christmas movies thus far this season, and I still have many more to watch that I recorded on the DVR. My favorite movie I watched this year was It's a Wonderful Life. I watched it on my birthday this year, which made it somehow all the more special.

That is about all I have read/watched this year so far. I am currently working my way through Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke.




She is one of my favorite authors, and it is a definite bonus that she includes such wonderful recipes in her books. This was a present from my daughter for Christmas. I am excited to be able to read it so immediately because I am currently reading only Christmas books for The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge. On that note, I am going to go curl up wiht Plum Pudding Murder and enjoy a mostly relaxed day, broken only by the fact that I am washing all the bedding in the house so we can ring in the new year on clean bedding.

Hope everyone has a Wonderful New Year!

December is busy busy

December has arrived. It kind of snuck up on me. I really wasn't prepared to turn around and discover we had reached the holidays. I spent the month of November working on my new novel. You can find out more information here about how NaNoWriMo went for me.

Meanwhile, we also have events for We've Seen Santa planned throughout the first weeks of December. We kicked off with a Santa Parade this past Friday.

Followed by a visit with Santa.

This upcoming Tuesday, we will be reading We've Seen Santa to little ones at our local library. There is a reading for the under 3 age group and then another reading for the preschoolers.

We then have two events scheduled for Friday. We will be visiting an elementary school to share our experience of writing, illustrating and publishing with them. We will be encouraging them to follow their dreams. This event will be repeated on a small scale the following Monday at our local library. Friday night, we will be having Cookies with Santa.

We are excited about all of these events. To tell the truth, I am also rather nervous. But, I know that we will have a great time at all of these events. Unfortunately, I am not finding very much time to read even my first book for The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge. I am glad that it runs into January, or there is no way I would be able to participate at all. I only wish I could find more time to curl up and read a good book.

I hope everyone else is finding themselves enjoying the holiday season.

The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

I must confess that I haven't gotten ANY reading done as of yet. I have been watching a whole bunch of Christmas movies. We started off with Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas. My daughter absolutely loved it so much that she has added it to her Christmas Wish List. We then watched Jingle All the Way on the Hallmark channel. My daughter has now added Jingle and his book to her Christmas wish list. Then, I moved on to "Mommy movies." Hallmark supplied a great line up last night. First it was Debbie Macomber's Mrs. Miracle, followed by Debbie Macomber's Call Me Mrs. Miracle. I absolutely love both of these movies. Mrs. Miracle is my favorite of the two. I would love to read both of the books. So, after these came this years new Macomber movie, Debbie Macomber's Trading Christmas. I recall reading this book, but the movie did not line up with what I recalled. It was still an excellent movie, don't get me wrong. I am currently sitting here watching Hallmark channel. The current movie is called The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. It seems familiar, so I may have watched this last year. 

So, as for the reading. The trend in movies yesterday sort of fits with what I am thinking for my book. The first book I will begin reading is Christmas in Cedar Cove. I love Debbie Macomber, so it is a great place to start. 

Now that I have finished my NaNoWriMo novel, I have time to actually read again. Don't get me wrong, there is still much editing and rewriting to do.on the novel. If you are curious, there is a couple of [unedited] chapters available to read for free over on my other blog. I'd love to hear some feedback, but please remember these chapters are first draft.

I am not entirely sure how much reading I will get done before Christmas, but fortunately for me the reading challenge goes until January 6th. The first couple of weeks of December are going to be busy. We've Seen Santa has been booked for many events. We have a parade on the 2nd, two readings on the 6th, an elementary school visit on the 9th, Cookies with Santa on the night of the 9th, and then we have a "seminar about writing and publishing" for 1st through 5th graders on the 12th. We are nervous, but excited for all of these events. I even made sweatshirts for the entire family to wear for these events and just to wear. I've also designed posters to put on the truck for the parade.

Sweatshirt

Poster

Somewhere in there, we have to manage Christmas shopping. Oh, and I have a dentist appointment on my birthday. My kids also have various appointments coming up during the course of the reading challenge. But, I will get some reading done. I need to curl up with a good book and take a break from my own novel anyways.