Category: Tne Fortune Bay Series

Best Christmas Fruitcake Ever

First, I want to thank everyone who came to the facebook launch of Home for Christmas, the last of this first batch of Fortune Bay books. (Don’t worry, there should be another one coming out next summer, 2017. Join my mailing list for news of new books.)

It was great to hang out with some readers who are quickly becoming friends, and to meet so many new potential readers from as far away as South Africa, Holland, New Zealand and Australia!

I promised to put up my recipe for fruit cake – guaranteed to turn skeptics into fans. So here it is.

The secret is the strawberry jam, kirsch brandy, pineapple step.

It still tastes like fruit cake, just moist and fruity and good.

I got this recipe from my mother-in-law, who originally found it in the Toronto Star many years ago. Apparently it was sent in by a reader from Winchester Ontario which, coincidentally is where my sister lives. I love when synchronicity happens!

There are quite a few steps, but worth the trouble. It doesn’t really take that long and you end up with fruitcake to eat and give away.

My recipe says “make in late October”, so I better get at it!

Judy

Santa’s Dark Secret

It’s never too early for chocolate!

It’s not Christmas yet – and I certainly don’t have my decorations up or my shopping done – but Santa’s Dark Secret cookies (the ones Louise makes for Blue in Home for Christmas) are good anytime, despite their name.

Home for Christmas is available on

Amazon,

Judy Hudson

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Gearing up for the Home for Christmas Facebook Launch party

Posted on October 25, 2016November 14, 2016 by judyhudson@shaw.ca

You could win a signed set of the Fortune Bay books at the online launch of Home for Christmas, the third book in the Fortune Bay Series. The Facebook Launch is November 1 – just a week away! I’m celebrating getting the last of these four books out in eBook and trade paperback formats to online booksellers.

But I’m also celebrating my new readers and hope the facebook party will be a chance to get to know you and have you get to know me a bit better.

It’s just one hour, 1 – 2 pm Pacific time (10 – 11 am Eastern) Tuesday November 1, but I realize not everyone is free for an hour mid-day, mid-week. That’s why I’m planning three ways you can get in on the giveaways:

Come for the whole party! Grab a coffee or tea – or a glass of wine, I won’t judge. I’m planning a quiz for people who have read the prequel, Lake of Dreams, (still e-free on online platforms for a limited time longer! See links in the sidebar), a “who would you pick to play [insert your favourite character’s name] in the movie” game (I can dream!) and more.
Or just drop in for a few minutes. I’ll be giving away a free eBook every five minutes!
I’m also running an all day contest of a signed set of all 4 beautiful trade paperback books.Just check in at the launch party page any time on November 1, or at my website, to find the entry to win a signed set of books. Perfect to share with your friends.

Let me know if you think you can make it, by clicking HERE.

One Year – Four Books. Don’t try this at home.

Posted on October 17, 2016November 14, 2016 by judyhudson@shaw.ca

I did it!

I am thrilled to announce that I have finished the third full length book in my Fortune Bay Series,

Home for Christmas, coming out November 1st (on Amazon, kobo, nook and iTunes.)

I told a good friend today that I was finished the fourth book – and my one year plan to publish four novels would be on track and

she said,”I think four books in one year is very prolific.”

I said, “I did not write the four books in one year!”

That took eight years, that’s from 0 to 300,000 printed words. (Now I write much faster than one book in two years, it was the first one that took much, much longer as I learned the craft.)

But I have to wonder, what did people think I was doing for those 8 years if my good friends don’t realize I was writing (and learning to write) these books? LOL

I was always quite bold about telling people that I was writing a novel because that’s what I was doing and I thought that telling people was a good way to keep myself accountable.

It worked for me, but it obviously did not sink in for some of them, because that is not the first person who totally didn’t understand.

Looking back in my notes today as I finish the editing on book four, I see it was October 19, 2015 that I announced on my (now defunct) old blog my plan to publish the 4 books, so I’m pleased to be on target for my one year plan. (I originally planned to publish Home for Christmas Mid-October but a few months ago decided to change it to November 1, but close enough.)

Anyway I’m just here to say – I did it!

In another post I might ruminate on what I learned in the process, but tonight, just join me in celebrating with a glass of wine.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,

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Maddie’s black and white photographs.

Posted on September 28, 2016November 14, 2016 by judyhudson@shaw.ca

I don’t even have the Christmas book out and I’m already writing two more in my head. Cripes!

My blog has been quiet lately as I work non-stop on polishing HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. [Launch date November 1 – Yeah!]

This will complete the first series trilogy, how I originally conceived the Fortune Bay series, a book for each of the three friends, Maddie, Frankie and Louise.

Of course I’ve written another one for Colleen already (Lake of Dreams, the prequel novella), and I can see this is not the end! But don’t expect the next book to hit the stores in another two months – the time between the launches of the first four – because they were a backlog, already written when I started this journey a year ago, and I’m slowing down to real-writing- time now for the next one. (To give readers a chance to catch up – Ha Ha!)

I’d love to hear from you! Before I put my metaphorical pen to paper and start the next cycle.

Meanwhile, here are some of my old black and white photographs that inspired the series. I used to live in a town called Honeymoon Bay, and that’s the real geographical location on which I’ve based the story. I have a hard-won fine art degree, slogged out one course at a time when my kids were small, and at one point I spent a lot of time taking and developing black and white photographs in my basement darkroom.

Augusta's car — Maddie’s photo of Augusta that she framed and hung in the cabin.

I still have all my darkroom equipment and someday might set it all up again, but the experience of developing my own fueled an appreciation of the art form that I still have today, that magic Maddie feels in the darkroom as the images emerge under the red light. (It’s something she shares with Jake in a steamy darkroom scene, one of my favorites in the book!)

There’s something graphic about Black and white that grabs me. The key is in the contrast of tones that establish the composition of the picture, something that applies to all the graphic arts. And in the old ones, it’s the nostalgic tone.

A sunlit trail through the forest at Fortune Bay.

I dug these photographs out for my garden party launch of Summer of Fortune, and I wanted to share them with everyone who couldn’t be there. 🙂

These are the houses I imagine my characters live in in Fortune Bay. I think you’ll recognize them: the cabin and Jake’s log farmhouse. I’ll add them to my