Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Guest Post w/ Claudia Welch!


 Well, did yall survive Christmas?! Hope you found lots (and LOTS) of yummy books under your tree and in those stockings! If not you've come to the right place because you can win some here this month!! Love that! Joining us today is Ms Claudia Welch! She's also Claudia Dain for yall historical lovers and is one of my local authors in NC. She's an awesome lady so give her a nice big welcome and check out her guest post!

~~*~~*~~

In 1975, trying to find a place to belong, four young women found each other in the same sorority pledge class. Through parties and pranks; finals and skipped classes; boyfriends and break-ups, they forge a bond that takes them by surprise. No one expected it to last beyond college graduation. But some bonds are too strong to break. Now they’re sisters. And with sisters, it’s not about what happens. It’s about no matter what happens.  

Get Your Copy



Have you ever noticed how fun things turn into chores? No? Just me, then? 

Christmas is supposed to be fun. It's a holiday, holy day in the old parlance, and when you're a child it's pure fun, pure joy, pure excitement. As we get older, the work of Christmas seems to take over. The shopping. The decorating. The cooking. The cleaning. The organizing. The planning. So many tasks! So little time! The date is fixed; there's no getting around that. It looms, like a monster on the December horizon. 

Lights! I've got to get the lights up!

Tree! I've got to decorate the tree!

Gifts! I forgot to buy a gift for my neighbor!

There's no point in putting up lights on December 27, no point in hanging an ornament on December 26. 

They say the first step in any battle is to recognize the enemy. Well, I have. The enemy is perfection. Perfection, the battle to achieve it, takes the joy out of joyful things. Nothing has to be perfect to be lovely. It need not be perfect to be fantastic. The point of Christmas is to ENJOY it, so go ahead: enjoy!

And because I am a writer I must add: the same is true of writing. The point is not perfection. The point is JOY. The point of a book is to be enjoyed, both the writing of it and the reading of it. Joy in the writing, not the pointless and fruitless drive for perfection, results in a great read. Or that's my theory. 

Here's to finding joy in the season and joy in the book. Merry Christmas to all!

                                                                                         ~Claudia Welch


Claudia was born in Los Angeles and adopted at five weeks of age. She does not wonder who her birth parents were; her own parents were wonderful enough.

Her parents moved to a small town in Connecticut when she was ten.


She did not become a Yankee; she was already a California girl. The minute she graduated from high school, she hightailed it back to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California. She graduated with a degree in English and a minor in secondary education. She taught, she got married, she got pregnant, she stayed home and did laundry and got pregnant twice more.

She moved to North Carolina because the traffic in Los Angeles was starting to get to even her, everlasting California girl. When she got to North Carolina she was deemed a Yankee after all. The folks in Connecticut were shocked and disbelieving. Claudia has decided to let Connecticut and North Carolina fight it out amongst themselves; California knows where she belongs.

While the fight goes on, Claudia keeps her head down and writes novels. She writes historical romance as Claudia Dain and women's fiction as Claudia Welch.

Website (Claudia Welch)  Website (Claudia Dain)  Facebook    Twitter


For extra entries in our Grand Prize Drawing check out Claudia's guest post and leave her some love. 
She may not be able to drop by but I'm sure it would tickle her when she does to have a bunch of lovely little comments :) 

Don't forget to enter your points in the Rafflecopter over on the right! ---->

32 comments:

  1. ^^ I don't know you yet but Anna Recommendation means a lot to me so i'm really glad to discover you here during this event

    Happy Holidays ( and yes perfection is teh ennemy of good and we should remember it)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is funny how certain things end up turning into chores and don't seem so fun anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh and I do have a blog.. Here's my link.. http://scarymarythehamsterlady.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  4. I miss when Christmas seemed so simple! lol My kids helped out a lot though. They decorated the tree and hosue with me, helped wrap family presents, and my oldest even helped me cook :-)

    You are a new author to me! Definitely going to have to check out some books :-D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh... sounds like a great book!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's the day after Christmas and as much as I enjoyed the last 2 days I am so glad they are over. It's exhausting running here & there to try to spend time with everyone you want to spend time with. Then there's all the cooking/baking, shopping, wrapping. Christmas is definitely a chore for me but since it's once a year I don't mind it too much.

    You're a new author to me and I look forward to reading your books!

    ReplyDelete
  7. So glad to meet you Claudia! I grew up in Ct. And now live in North Carolina! Winters are so much better here. Although today is pretty dreary.....
    I love " bonding " books...will have to check your's out. I have to agree, I'm glad Christmas is over...much less stress.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh we are having a dreary day here in NC! Claudia's a real sweetheart. She's one of the ladies who runs our Lady Jane's Salon here in Cary that hosts author readings/visits once a month up at an Irish Pub.

      Delete
  8. I'm loving the looks of the medieval series. I'll definitely be looking into these.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't that neat? You don't see that too often. I've got book 4 here I think. I'm working on her Courtesan series this year :)

      Delete
  9. so true, Claudia! I think we all get caught up in the stress of Christmas that we forget the JOY! I hope you had a joyful Christmas! If your books are anything like your biography, I'm in! Checking them out now!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Claudia! I have several of your books and I love them! I can't wait to read your next one. Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I try to just enjoy the holidays and not stress out about the decorations and the presents, etc. myself. It's a lot nicer that way for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I can't help but stress during the holidays (I got 4 daughters ...)
    Thanks for sharing the new to me author

    ReplyDelete
  13. The most perfect Christmas is when you've done what you've done and just don't sweat what you could have, should have, and forgot. After all, it's the moment and memories that you make with family and/or friends that are priceless.
    You're a new author to me Claudia and I'll definitely go check out this and your other books!
    ivegotmail8889 (at) yahoo (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yes, Christmas can be stressful, it can also be a let down. All that build up, and then, poof. It's over. And then you start to wonder how if you had done something different it might have been better. Christmas wasn't too bad this year, I wasn't working. So I had time to shop, to decorate, to bake. I just procrastinated too long. I hate shopping, but that might be contributed to I've worked in retail for over 20 years. I worked at the mall. I don't want to spend my time off there! I get your newsletter, but I haven't read any of your books yet.
    luvfuzzzeeefaces at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi! I have heard of this author however I've never read anything by her. I will have to add her to my TBR pile. I will eventually get to it ;)
    lorih824@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. I read Sorority Sisters last year - I would recommend it!
    sallans d at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  17. I wanna read this book ^_^ Adding it to my TBR thanks :)

    I gotta agree, the enemy is Perfection. *sigh* I'll admit, I live in a duplex, so we don't get much say on the outside decorations and our neighbor puts up the lights and I just want to take it all down and redo it. I thought it was just me, but my sister is the same way lol. But, we tamp that down and just decorate our tree with gusto. But, this year, my lil bro decided to half-ass the tree and totally just shoved the lights into it, because he was frustrated they wouldn't untangle. Impatient? I think so. Lol. so I found myself, on Dec. 24, digging through the china cabinet looking for our bag of ornaments, and low and behold, I found them! and ended up making our tree look a little more presentable.

    Great post :)

    Ana♥

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Claudia! I'm definitely going to check out your historical romances, they're one of my favorites!

    Adria
    Breath of Life Reviews

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yes, Claudia! I totally agree about the joy!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Claudia,
    I haven't read any of your books, but I like historical romance so I am going to now.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Perfection is overrated. I decided I was going to enjoy my holiday and not stress over it. And I had a blast and a wonderful Christmas :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. I´d love to read any one of your books, =) all i need is a HEA at the end, and i´m there.

    Happy New Year!
    //Linda

    ReplyDelete
  23. I've never stressed over the Holidays. I get done what gets done, and if some stuff doesn't....? Life's just too short!

    Happy New Year & thanks for the amazing giveaway!
    elizabeth @ bookattict . com

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi Claudia! I do know your Claudia Dain books, looking forward to reading this one as well.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Oh, I love your post. Your take on Joy vs Perfection is now going to become one of my new mantras....Hope you don't mind a little syphoning:)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hi Claudia. I still haven't read any your books, but your books look fun and interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Another new author for me to check out.Book looks good.

    ReplyDelete
  28. New author! Yay! Book sounds good.
    Chores,grrr! Although I look forward to Christmas, I never expect perfection and I do my best to sit back and let my kids decorate as much as possible. They have so much more fun with it! And I have fun watching and listening to them!

    ReplyDelete
  29. A new author for me to look into. I have heard of Claudia Dain but have never read any of your books.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Perfection is always the enemy. BUt I gave up on achieving it a long time ago

    ReplyDelete

I always enjoy hearing what YOU think so come on and leave a comment. Everyone's welcome :) And feel free to leave comments on old posts. I'll check in on you there too :)

Bloggers don't forget to leave your links!
~Anna

The Herd Archives