Almost Autumn + Book Trailer!

August 2023 Author Newsletter from Charlotte Rains Dixon

Stay up-to-date on book releases, giveaways, and more from Women’s Fiction and Romance author Charlotte Rains Dixon

Photo by Max Bender on Unsplash

It’s the last day of August and the above pic is what it looks like outside my window today (minus the glowy pink and turquoise lights, but you can’t have everything). I’m not upset about the rain, I’m happy. We’ve had a long stretch of hot, dry weather, along with days of wildfire smoke-filled skies and I’m sick of it. Autumn is my favorite season and I’m excited it is almost here. Plus, as a native Oregonian, I adore the rain.

Rainy days are perfect to stay inside and write, for one thing. The change in the weather has made me excited about cooking again, too, and today I made this bread from Sally’s Baking Addiction. (I’m not much of a baker because you have to be precise and that’s not how I roll, but my daughter and niece tell me that Sally is the only baker you need to follow.) And to accompany it, the chili I’ve been making for more years than I care to admit. (Recipe below.) I’ve been waiting to start cooking soups and stews and chili, and that day is finally here.

CRD Book News

I’m still working on The Matchmaker’s Temptation—I think I mentioned last newsletter that I did a much bigger rewrite on it than expected and love the novel even more now. The extra time was worth it. Also, I’m looking for beta readers. If you’re interested, scroll to the end to read more.

I’ve had to push back my pub date to January because….wait for it….I’m having knee replacement surgery on November 14. But, and this is a big but, I’ll have a cover reveal for you next month and this month I am sharing my book trailer, created by the talented Gini Chin. (She’s way cooler than me but I still get to count her as a friend.)

Here it is:

Pretty freaking awesome, right? I love it. Wait until you see the cover.

Obsessions

The Oregon Coast

We spent a week here in August and it was heaven. The above picture was taken on a foggy morning but nearly every day was sunny and warm while we were there. The beach we visit every year is all residential so the sand is uncrowded. Early mornings it’s not unusual to have the beach all to yourself. We set up a command post with logs, windbreaks, and chairs and basically hang out there most of the day, between dips in the ocean and walks. (Except for me—because of the afore-mentioned knee surgery there has not been a lot of walking happening at the moment.) This year we had four households of friends and family there at the same time so there were some wild dinners. Somebody who shall remain nameless might have drank a little too much gin. Who knew you could still get terrible hangovers when you’re a woman of a certain age?

Recipe

Okay, here’s my chili recipe. It came from an old American Heart Association cookbook published umpteen years ago and by now I don’t refer to the recipe because I know it by heart. I also tend to change it up every time, too. I used to make it on the stovetop but now I put it in the crockpot mid-afternoon and let it burble away.

The Best Chili

The basic recipe:

1 pound ground beef

1 onion

A couple cloves of garlic

1 green pepper

I can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 — 28 ounce can tomatoes

1-2 Tablespoons chili powder

1 bay leaf

1 can tomato soup (the secret ingredient)

—Saute onion, green pepper, and garlic and then add ground beef. Throw it in the slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients, or alternatively, do the whole shebang in a dutch oven on the stove. If you do it on the stove, let it cook an hour or so. In the slow cooker, put it on low and cook for 3-4 hours or so or 2-3 on high. Depends on your equipment.

Variations:

—Lately I’ve been adding a container of salsa, fresh or from a jar, instead of the soup, but the soup does add a certain something.

—Today I had poblano peppers so I added one of those. I’m a spice wimp, but poblanos are not too hot and they add a nice smokey-ish flavor.

—I always mess around with the spices, often using paprika (which I put in everything), cumin, whatever. Sometimes I skip the bay leaf because does anybody really understand what they add? But my neighbor has a bay bush so when I have some from him I am sure to add them.

—You can substitute black beans if you prefer them. Today I used a can of kidney beans and a can of black beans to get some more healthy fiber in.

—I’ve been known to clean out the veggie drawer and throw in bits and bobs, carrots, zucchini, whatever. I know that’s probably sacrilegious to true chili aficionados, but oh well.

—The amounts are forgiving. Double, triple, make half, whatever.

Beta Readers

I’m taking a marketing class and it has come to my attention that I need more eyes on my manuscript so that I can better position it. This is where you might come in.

In case you’re not familiar with beta readers, they are basically, well, readers. You read to give the author feedback on character, plot, what interested you, what didn’t. It’s an unpaid gig (sorry) but when the book is published I’ll provide you with a copy and my eternal thanks. Here’s a link that tells more. It’s oriented towards the author and is probably TMI, but it will give you an idea what to expect.

If you agree to be a reader, I’ll send you the manuscript mid-September in a Word document. You can either use the Word comment feature to make comments. Or you can collect them on a separate page. Because of the cost of mailing back and forth, I’d prefer not to send a hard copy, but if you need one, let me know and we’ll figure it out. Do not worry—the comments do not need to be extensive. This is not professional editing. It’s just to get your impressions of the book. In truth, the best beta readers are often not writers, but simply avid readers.

About this book: If you’ve read my other books, The Matchmaker’s Temptation is more in the romance category, so that might not appeal to you as much. I would say it straddles the border between romance and women’s fiction.

If you’re interested, please reply to this newsletter if it came into your inbox, or leave a comment with an email I can reach you at.

Writers, I also write a Substack on writing, which you can subscribe to here, and a Sunday weekly newsletter that has been described as a non-religious homily about creativity. Yeah, a bit confusing I know. But I’m aiming to unite the two in wedded bliss later this fall.

Meanwhile, I wrote my subscribers a story. If you haven’t downloaded your free story yet, you can do so here. It’s called Dreams Do Come True and it will take only a few minutes of your precious time to read. And if you have friends who would be interested in this newsletter, please do share it with them. If they subscribe, they’ll get a free story, too.

And remember you can buy all three of my novels online. Here’s my Amazon author page where you can find them all. The Bonne Chance Bakery, Emma Jean’s Bad Behavior and Let There Be Snow. I’d love it if you read and shared a review.

Thank you for reading and see you next month!