The JLB Creatives Regular Blog Posts will return January 9, 2012

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 A toast to our fans and followers!

~   ~   ~

Hello all of my wonderful fans and followers!

I certainly hope this finds you celebrating the holidays

in your own special way.

As the season approaches, I'm going to be taking some time off.

The JLB Creatives regular weekly blog posts will return January 9, 2012

when we start off the New Year with an Author Splash

featuring Lorhainne Eckhart.

I'd like to extend my gratitude to those who have made the JLB Creatives Blog 

what it is today: that includes my fans, my followers, and those who

have Splashed and interviewed all year long.

So while I'm on holiday, please take the time to surf around by

visiting the different pages you'll find in the red title bar above.

Be sure to check out HIDDEN EARTH, as publication is drawing 

closer by the minute. We're very excited, and hope you'll find

Maycly - Volume 1 to be an enjoyable read when it 

hits the bookshelves - hot off the press in the near future.

You'll also find a recipe for Peppermint Cupcakes 

at the bottom of this post.

Please be sure and post a seasonal wish 

to not just me, but to all the JLB Creatives 

fans and followers.

A Florida style Christmas Tree

May you prosper 

and be blessed with good health

now and the whole year through!

From your  rockin' blog host 

and her rockin' knight in shining armor:

 ~ Don and Janet Beasley ~

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Peppermint Cupcakes

1 Red Velvet Cake Mix 

Add: 

1 TBS peppermint extract

4 small crushed candy canes

Bake according to directions

Icing:

3 cans of whipped/fluffy white icing

Add:

Red food coloring to one

Green food coloring to one

Leave the third one white

Place a dollop of each color atop each cupcake

Decorate with peppermint candies

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Blog Tour Stop - Stephanie Keyes

Hello and welcome to the JLB Creatives Blog!

Thanks so much for taking the time to check us out,

and hopefully become a follower if you're not already.

If you're brand new here, or even if you'd just like to see it again...

I invite you to check out the book trailer for my upcoming epic fantasy series

HIDDEN EARTH - Volume 1 Maycly, over on the right>>>>

Maycly is slated for an early 2012 release. 

For even more details, check out the HIDDEN EARTH page of the blog

using the tabs at the top of the page.

But enough about me...

JLB Creatives Blog was asked to participate as a "stop" on a blog tour

for the wonderful author Stephanie Keyes.

I'm sure you'll find her as amazing as I have, and will check out

all she has to say and offer as a talented author.

Be sure to read all the way through - she's even offering a contest for those who leave a comment!

~   ~   ~

The Author Behind the Star Child

I was born in 1973 in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was interested in music and storytelling from an early age. I have one brother, Adam, who was born when I was ten and a half years old.  Despite the fact that he vomited on my Magnum PI shirt as an infant, I’ve forgiven him and we’re very close.

 

When it cam time to decide on a career, it was a toss up between journalism and music. I studied classical clarinet and was accepted at the prestigious Duquesne University School of Music. Since the university was expensive, I cross-registered to take some general credits through the local community college. It was there that I met my husband, Aaron.

We helped subsidize our college education by playing in a number of jazz bands. Aaron played the trumpet and I played the saxophone and sang. I still enjoy writing pieces now and then and performing; I wrote all of the melodies that appear at the end of The Star Child. One those pieces, Come Walk With Me, will be featured on the soundtrack to The Star Child book trailer, which will be released by Avalon Graphics (Cathy Helms) and scored by Bronwen Harrison.

We stayed focused on the music for two years until we both realized that we would be unemployed. So we changed our majors to Information Technology. We both graduated in May 2000 from Robert Morris University.

Aaron took a job in banking and I started working as a software trainer in the telecommunications industry. In October 2001, we were married and honeymooned in New England.

I started writing and journaling after we were married, but my job as a trainer took me on the road a lot. Throughout the next five years I would visit cities throughout the country and in the United Kingdom for my work. 

My first son was born in 2007 and that was also when I found out about my father’s cancer. The emotional upheaval of having a parent undergoing chemo and radiation, forced me to look for an outlet for the emotions that this experience triggered. The Star Child was born out of this turmoil.

In 2009, I started writing my first novel, although I had no idea that it would actually make it to full novel form. I loved reading anything from the Fantasy genre, but enjoyed it better when fantasy could blend with reality. So that’s the direction that my first novel went in.

I completed the novel in nine months and took nearly two years after that to edit the work. The final review continued and included twelve edits by myself and my husband and two edits from editor, Kit Domino. The last round was completed just after my second son was born.

This February 2012 will be the three-year anniversary of the start of the Star Child project. I am thrilled to know that when that mark is reached the story of a love-starved prodigy and a goddess will be available for everyone to enjoy.

Use the Comments section to name three Young Adult, Fantasy books and you could win a Starbucks gift card! The use it to buy your coffee to accompany your read of The Star Child! Only comments posted on December 19th are eligible.

Click here to read an excerpt of Stephanie's Debut Novel:

http://loveahappyending.com/stephanie-keyes/

The Star Child is available on;

Amazon Kindle US http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006GADZ1Y

UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Star-Child-ebook/dp/B006GADZ1Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322888380&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble

Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/stephanie-keyes

Paperback http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-star-child-stephanie-keyes/1037031019?ean=9780615566290&itm=2&usri=stephanie+keyes

About the author:

When Stephanie isn’t writing, she works full time as a Corporate Educator and Curriculum Designer. She holds a M.Ed. from Duquesne University and an undergraduate degree in Management information Systems from Robert Morris University. Stephanie is a clarinetist, saxophonist, and vocalist, and is always making music somewhere at sometime. She credits her loving husband of ten years and her two sons for the completion and publication of the Star Child.

Find out more about Stephanie at http://www.stephaniekeyes.com.

Friend her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephanie-Keyes/150860604966160

Follow Her On Twitter: http://bit.ly/jjneXg

Stephanie is a featured author on Love a Happy Ending.com http://loveahappyending.com/stephanie-keyes/