About Once Upon a Word: We're a large group of multi-talented authors working together, to bring you the best romances.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

HaPpY New Year!

Welcome to the party... 

           

2014 was a year of ups and downs, success and failure, and changes for all. 
Yet, we struggled, slid, or waltzed through and it's time to look forward.

Help us bid GOODBYE to 2014 and HELLO-o-o! to 2015.

 





Enjoy a virtual glass of champagne or sparkling grape juice without fear of a hangover.



Have as many savory snacks as you want from our virtual buffet - guaranteed to be calorie-free.

Please leave a comment (or 2, or as many as you like) and tell us your resolutions for the New Year, ask the authors questions, or share a greeting. 

If you leave a comment you will be entered in our drawing for ebooks which include:

This Time Forever by Linda Swift
Kathleen by Celia Yeary
Stopped Cold by Gail Pallotta
 The King's Daughter by Miriam Newman
Familiar Shadows by Bert Goolsby
Fishing for Love by Hilda Lassalette
Texas Dreamer by Celia Yeary
His Leading Lady by Paula Martin
Soul Taker by Karen Michelle Nutt
Soul Taker (Audible Version) 
Loving Luc by Vicki Crum
Amy, Jen, and the Demon by Hilda Lassalette 

The more comments you leave, 
the more chances to win!

(If you win ebooks which you already have, we will allow substitutions) 


Free Gifts for You in appreciation of your support


Thank you for your wonderful support in 2014 and we are looking forward to bringing you many new titles and some new authors in 2015!

Now, let's PARTY!

Entries for prizes ends at 11:59 pm EST on Jan 1. 
Prize winners will be announced here on Jan 2 
and contacted by email where possible.

43 comments:

  1. I am so thankful to see the ushering in of another year. We wish health, happiness, and prosperity for everyone.

    I don't make New Year resolutions anymore as I seem to never keep them and that's like a broken promise to myself. But I do plan to spend quality time with family, eat healthier and exercise more (and hopefully lose a few pounds), accomplish more for our authors, finish at least one work in progress of my own, and get myself to the beach for a greatly needed respite.

    What about you and the coming year?

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  2. Happy New Year! Let's hope for a wonderful 2015!

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  3. Hi Rebecca and Karen. I just sneaked into my study to check email while I'm preparing for the annual New Years' Eve chili dinner and dominoes party my husband and I have for two couples here in FL who are special friends. Bob makes a mean crockpot of chili and I'm in charge of dessert, as always. I've just baked a Calico Cake which we will serve with ice cream and coffee. I can't stay now but I'll try to stop in again if I can. Meanwhile, I wish all of our publishing family and readers who join the party a healthy, happy and successful 2015. I know you are thankful, as I am, for all of our blessings this past year. And if things didn't go as well as you would have liked, I wish for you a better year ahead. Have fun tonight, Wish I could stay and say hello to all....

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  4. Hi Karen and Linda. Happy New Year to both of you!
    Linda, I would love some of your chili and especially the Calico Cake. We'll be here tomorrow too, so if you aren't exhausted from the entertaining swing back by and let us know how it went.

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  5. Happy New Year to everyone! Hope 2015 will be a happy, healthy, and successful year for us all!

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  6. Happy New Year everyone! I'm not actually commenting to win, I just want to support the authors, many of whom I know. So enjoy whatever 2015 brings and keep on writing. I know I will!

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  7. Some years you're sorry to see go, and others you look back and see a battlefield that you're glad to walk away from. Either way, we're still standing. I finished writing my latest story on the last day of the year, and maybe that means something. Fresh page, fresh story, fresh year.

    Happy New Year to all the gang here.

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    1. Gerald, I love the way you spoke of the old year. Sometimes it really is a battlefield I feel lucky to walk away from.
      I wish you a very successful and happy New Year!

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  8. HAPPY 2015, EVERYONE. I had a very good year book wise! But my husband and I had a few bumps in the road health wise. So, I do hope the happiness on the book front continues. Thank you Rebecca, and Karen, and Laura, for putting my books together and creating fantastic covers.
    Tonight, we'll stay in as we have for years, now. We gave up our loud and rowdy ways (well, at least we tried) in exchange for watching the big crystal ball fall in NYC.
    Tonight, we'll have bean/cheese/jalapeno quesadillas, guacamole, and a kind of salsa made with tomatoes, black olives onions, jalapenos, salt and pepper, and olive oil, along with a glass of wine...or two if we can stay awake...and then leftover Christmas Candy. I always make enough to last through the New Year. The amount I made actually should last through January!
    Have a wonderful evening and New Year's Day, and keep reading.

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  9. Hi everyone, and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! I am staying in tonight. It's supposed to be really bone-chilling cold and there's a chance of freezing rain/drizzle. I can only hope my kids have good sense and manage to find something to occupy them inside at their homes, too.

    I'll be happy to see 2015 ushered in--Like you, Becca, I don't make New Year's resolutions anymore. I think too much accountability isn't good for anyone! LOLLOL I once thought I might give up Coke and Dr Pepper, but now, I realize that if I did that would make me too close to perfection (and would turn me into a really gripey person) so I have embraced my vices in that direction. LOL

    I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve and here's to a great 2015 for all of us!
    Cheryl

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    1. LOL I had to chuckle about that perfection if you gave up Coke and Dr. Pepper, Cheryl. Personally, I have no intention of giving up gum drops or jelly beans either.

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    2. CHERYL! I do not think at this point you should give up Coke and Dr.Pepper It would be like asking me to give up morning coffee...which I cannot not will not do. I love it too much. So...my dear friend whom I admire so much..hang on to those soft drinks.

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    3. No one should have to completely give up Dr. Pepper or Hershey's chocolate. I've explained that to all my doctors for years and they just look at me funny! LOL Then when they try to explain why I should, I just hold up my hand and say "Talk to the hand cause the ears ain't listening!"

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  10. Hello to all who have stopped in since I was here earlier. I hate to miss all the fun, and Rebecca, I will definitely check in again tomorrow. I don't think this quiet "party" will be exhausting and I surely won't get a hangover from one small glass of champagne at midnight. Celia, I'm hoping our guests will eat most of the Christmas candy for snacks later in the evening, and I'm planning on sending the leftover cake home with them! They need the calories worse than I do. Have a fun evening everyone. I'll think about New Year's resolutions tomorrow. Tonight, it's eat, drink, and be merry. (For tomorrow we diet.)

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  11. I want a copy of Genevieve. Of tombstone

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    1. Hi Cody Carver! You have just won a copy of Genevieve of Tombstone by John Duncklee.
      Email me at booksbyrebecca@yahoo.com and I will send it to you.

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    2. Wow Cody! Congratulations on your win!

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  12. (My first comment disappeared into cyberspace, so if this shows up twice, my apologies.)

    Greetings from southeastern Colorado where it's going to dip below zero tonight, just as it did last night. *brrr* Hubby and I are stay-at-homers on New Year's Eve, so we'll have a quiet evening, and I'll be working on edits. We'll have spaghetti, baked potatoes, hot rolls, and a glass or two of bubbly for supper. :-)


    Like Celia, I made so many holiday goodies (mostly cookies), that I'll be able to bring out frozen Christmas cookies and serve them for dessert at Eastertime. lol

    I'm excited for the coming year in a writing sort of way. I've recently received the rights back on all of my western romances, and I'm chomping at the bit to get them all spiffed-up as 2nd editions and republish them.

    So, here's my traditional New Year's Eve toast: (raise a glass of your beverage of choice) "May the best of your past be the worst of your future." Cheers!!!

    Kaye

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    1. Do the Brits have any special dishes they eat on New Year's day, Paula?

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    2. Kaye, I wish you great success with your revised stories and spiffy new covers.

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    3. No traditional dishes here in England, as far as I know, Sarah - unless it's finishing off the turkey leftovers from Christmas!

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    4. Paula, in the USA, eating any type of fowl is considered unlucky. Pork is said to be lucky because it roots forward. From my Yankee parents we had to have sour kraut (money) with that pork. I picked up southern tradition since I was raised here in North Carolina, so we have to have black eyed peas (coins) as well. I wonder why we have all these special foods for New Year's day, but the Brits don't?

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  13. I'm now into 2015, as it is 15 minutes past midnight here in the UK - so again Happy New Year to all. Just watched (on TV) fabulous firework display in London - and there's a few going off around here too. Here's wishing 2015 brings you everything you wish for yourselves.

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    1. Paula--right now it's 7:23 CST in Texas..so you're a few hours earlier. But Happy New Year to you, my friend, and I hope we have another good year.
      Thanks so much, REBECCA--we love you....you know that, I hope.

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  14. What a talented group of authors here. I've read most of the books on the prize list and so I know what I'm talking about when I say there is extraordinary talent in this group.
    I don't do New Year's Resolutions. For me, that's the quick road to failure. I don't think I've ever kept a single one for more than 3 months. But I do like to make a list of intentions--things about myself I'd like to improve such as talk less; listen more. I used to stay up with my parents when I was a kid and we would have snacks and ginger ale (because it looks like champagne) to celebrate the New Year. Like most young adults, I went to my share of parties, but now, I just go to bed if I feel tired and wake up in the New Year.
    I like that the New Year starts with a clean slate and I hope I fill it with good deeds, the best writing I can produce, a positive attitude and love.
    I hope each and every one of you has a healthy, prosperous and amazing New Year!

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  15. I totally agree, Sarah. Our group of authors are so talented and imaginative. I can't believe some of the plots and settings all of you dream up.

    As to food my Mom naturally wants a real Southern New Year dinner - turnip greens, blackeye peas, sweet potatoes, pork roast, and cornbread. Personally I only like turnip greens raw in my garden salad so I usually eat a salad. LOL But Mom insists if we want to have a prosperous new year we have to eat greens for dollars and blackeye peas for the change. The more you eat, the richer you'll be. Love these old 'saws' handed down through families.

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    1. Rebecca, my family combined food from my parents (Pennsylvania) and food from the south for New Year's day. I like all of it because it's good old regular, simple food after all that super rich fare from Christmas.

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  16. hi everyone. I'm just popping in to wish all of you a very Happy New Year. Thanks for inviting me to the party, Celia! My resolution is to write faster!

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  17. Just a short note to wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

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  18. In 15 more minutes it will be 2015 here in South Carolina. I'm getting ready to cover my ears against all the fireworks and shotgun blasts we will hear!
    Happy New Year everyone!!!

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  19. Happy New Year Celia and all of you. Wishing you success and many sales for 2015. We already watched the fireworks in Florida.

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  20. Well, it's 2015 and we are looking forward to a wonderful year! Wonder how long it will take for us to remember to put 2015 instead of 2014 on checks and documents? Does anyone else have this problem?

    To start the year off right we have an immediate download of Soul Taker for the first person to comment and ask for it!
    It's a paranormal romance novel from Karen Michelle Nutt and is action-filled.

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  21. Trying to comment! :) I would love to receive Soul Taker. Happy New Year to Everyone!!

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  22. The free copy of Soul Taker goes to Charlotte. Please email me at booksbyrebecca@yahoo.com and provide your email address.
    Thanks for dropping by!

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  23. Next immediate free book offered to the first commenter to ask for it is Fishing For Love by Hilda Lassalette. This lady is amazing. At 98 years young, she is still writing! I can't keep up with her. LOL

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  24. Happy New Year! =) I don´t give resolutions, so I´ll just join in the cheer instead!
    //Linda

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  25. A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who came by during our Happy New Year party!
    We are putting names in a hat and my granddaughter Taylor will be drawing soon.
    We will post the winners from our commenters later this afternoon with instructions on how to claim your prize.

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  26. A Happy New Year to all you authors and a big thank you from a grateful reader. I wish you all you wish yourselves !

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  27. I apologize for disappearing on everyone just as I was about to announce the winners of the free ebooks. We had a large rain storm with wind come through and it took out our phone lines and internet until just a few minutes ago.

    And due to the delay, Taylor - my name-drawing granddaughter - said EVERY COMMENTER should receive a free book.
    So everyone who commented who would like a FREE download from the 12 books listed, please contact me at booksbyrebecca@yahoo.com and tell me which ebook you would like.

    Thanks so much for your patience and your continued support!

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  28. What a great idea from Taylor, Rebecca. All these books are excellent.

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  29. What a delightful granddaughter you have ! Thank you !

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