Lowvee Cole's Blog: Lowvee Cole's Blog

 

INGREDIENTS:

2 Bone-in Chicken Breasts, halved
2-3 tbsp Flour (depending on desired thickness)
2-3 tbsp Butter
1 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt
1/2 tsp Dried Thyme
1/2 tsp Dried Basil
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 cup Chicken Broth

 

DIRECTIONS:

Combine seasonings and flour and liberally coat the chicken.
Melt the butter in a skillet and brown the seasoned chicken.
Remove the chicken from the skillet and place it in the crockpot.
Combine the Worcestershire sauce and chicken broth and stir in any remaining seasoning. Add the butter remnants from the skillet into the mixture. Stir the mixture well, until smooth, and then pour it over the chicken.
Cook on low for 4-5 hours.*

 

*If desired, you can add vegetables in with the chicken, but keep in mind that this will change the flavor and increase the cooking time. The chicken on its own is divine, so I recommend cooking the vegetables separately. (A skillet summer squash and Vidalia onion mixture sprinkled with pepper and very lightly tossed with a combination of melted butter and olive oil is a lovely pairing for this recipe.) If adding additional ingredients or if pairing the chicken with rice, pasta, or potatoes, you may want to double the sauce, adding 2-3 more tbsps of flour to thicken it to desired consistency.

 

*****************ALERT*****************

A major data breach has occurred within the credit bureau Equifax, the result of a intricate hack. Multiple reports from various news outlets indicate that at least 40% of Americans may have been affected by this breach, with hackers potentially having stolen 143,000,000 social security numbers, phone numbers, birth dates, addresses, driver’s licenses, and credit card numbers. Consumers in UK and Canada are also said to have had their data stolen, including the theft of credit card numbers for 209,000 consumers, as well as documents with personal information used in disputes for 182,000 consumers. The hack is said to have occurred between May 2017 and July 2017. Equifax discovered the hack on July 29th, but did not go public with this information until FIVE WEEKS later, on 9/7/2017. Therefore it is important that consumers act on this alert ASAP.

HOW TO FIND OUT IF YOU WERE AFFECTED: Do NOT follow any third party link to Equifax’s website you may come across online. Go directly to Equifax’s website by typing the URL into your browser.  Ideally, you should use a secure, personal computer network, not your cellular phone. Click on the top banner on the lead page of Equifax’s website and follow the prompts. Before entering in any personal information into the website, be sure to close out all browser tabs and clear your history and cache completely.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU WERE AFFECTED: After entering some light personal information into Equifax’s website, a pop up message will appear. If the message states that you were potentially affected, call all 3 credit bureaus immediately and freeze your credit until Equifax can provide consumers with more information on the breach. You can also freeze your credit online by visiting all 3 credit bureaus’ websites and utilizing their online tools. The fee is $10 to freeze your credit on each reporting agency (a total of $30). The freeze takes effect immediately, lasts up to 7 years, and can be lifted whenever you choose. While there is an additional $10 fee (a total of $30) to unfreeze your credit, it’s worth it for your peace of mind. You can also find a credit monitoring agency and sign up for at least one year’s worth of monitoring. Do not click on links sent to you via email that claim to be from Equifax, as these could be phishing links. Equifax will send you paper mail if you have been affected by the breach. Change your passwords and enable two-factor authentication whenever possible to prevent your accounts from being hijacked by hackers. Check your credit card and bank accounts, as well as other financial accounts to verify all transactions. (These suggestions came from a friend of mine who is head of security at a major corporation.)

WHAT **NOT** TO DO: Do NOT enroll in Equifax’s TrustedID, even though they offer this option free for one year. This will waive your rights to sue Equifax in a court of law or participate in any class action lawsuits that may arise in addressing any personal damage you may incur or may have already incurred as a result of this breach. (Your forfeiture of your rights is made clear in the fine print should you accept Equifax’s offer for free credit monitoring through TrustedID.) Find another credit monitoring agency separate from Equifax if you feel so inclined to double up on your credit protection.

At present, Equifax is dodging all questions posed by consumers and news outlets, likely in an attempt to minimize the brutal legal ramifications that are sure to come as a result of their incompetence. (I smell at least one class-action lawsuit in the works!) Not only due to Equifax’s negligence and failure to report this breach to consumers in a timely fashion, but also in response to news reports suggesting that 3 top executives from Equifax sold stock they held in the company mere days after Equifax discovered the breach! Don’t wait for your livelihood to be compromised or destroyed before acting on this alert! Be proactive and protect yourself as best as you can.

Good luck and God bless!

This book is currently in progress. A title will be added once the book is complete. Look for a teaser chapter soon!

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In her first brush with the social season, Lady Catherine Fairchild strives to secure the three most sought after desires of a single Victorian woman: a husband with a grand title, infinite riches, and a steady stream of invitations to London society’s elite gatherings. But when her loving father appoints Miss Emelia Charpentier, a bastard French woman of little standing, as her chaperone, Catherine’s hopes for her future falter. Emelia may present herself as an upstanding young woman both in speech and appearance, but the whole of London is awash with rumors of her late night dalliances with strange men in dark alleys. What respectable man will associate with, let alone marry, Catherine while she keeps such unsavory company?

As she struggles to unearth her father’s motivation behind Emelia’s privileged position, Catherine inches ever closer to discovering her own family’s transgressions. Soon, she finds herself at the heart of a decades’ old vendetta, immersed in a startling game of deception that will shatter everything she believes about her family, herself, and her own ambitions, transforming the Fairchild legacy forever.

Order your copy today at Amazon.com!

Product details


File Size: 1009 KB
Print Length: 255 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Lowvee Cole (September 23, 2015)
Publication Date: September 23, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B015RL1SW0
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Not Enabled


Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

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Strange visions plague Abigail Stone when she joins her best friend on the Hopi reservation so that he can reconnect with his Native American roots. Though she considers the content of her visions trivial, she finds their triggers downright alarming: mysterious voices call her spirit into action, over which she has no control. To complicate matters, Abigail returns to Adehya to discover that Nikolas has renounced his duties as her tutor and protector in favor of his obligations to the Council. He leaves Abigail in the care of the philandering Duke Sebastian, who, to Abigail’s dismay, shows more interest in bedding her than ensuring her safety and training her to be an expert witch. As Abigail’s personal life spirals out of control–to the extent she faces shocking accusations of infidelity and threats of exile to Block Island–rumors abound that Nikolas has been secretly courting a stunning Egyptian princess. Harrowing as Abigail’s trials may be, she’s not at all prepared for how they add up and where they will lead her…

Order your copy today at Amazon.com!

Product details


Series: Boundless Magick
Paperback: 266 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (January 23, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1523472235
ISBN-13: 978-1523472239
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I was three when my mother first taught me how to write. With a gentle twist and pull of her hand, she made the pencil point glide across the paper like a figure skater. Mind you, I’d seen thousands of words strung together in publications and on little Honey Do lists Mom left for Dad, but to actually see a word being formed by the human hand entranced me. Especially because Nicole (my true name) was the first word Mom taught me how to write. Those six letters strung together defined me. There was spunk and life in them. They told the story of a hazel-eyed girl with a love for Juice Newton, peanut butter cups, and a knack for finding trouble where one didn’t think trouble existed. I’m still like that today, only now should someone sit me down in front of a chalkboard and I write the word Poop, I won’t get my mouth washed out with soap!

After learning all kinds of fun words, my passion for writing exploded. I began composing mini stories a la See Spot Run, which soon progressed into poetry and lyric writing. At the time, I was most passionate about lyrics because of the fearless way in which the singers crooned out their heartbreak. Something I didn’t permit myself to do. Rather, I stowed my thoughts behind cryptic lines only Sherlock Holmes could decipher. Regardless, the words I penned became my lifeline for expressing myself without having to reveal my true thoughts. I soon set my words to music and recorded them, with dreams of making it big in the entertainment industry. While producers and fellow musicians alike found my work inspiring, ordinary listeners had trouble connecting with my songs because they didn’t understand what I was trying to say. Still, I kept writing and recording in the same style, because I found solace in it.

Not until 2004, when I fell in love with J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, did I consider the possibility of novel writing. Cliché, I know, but it’s the truth, so there you have it. I was never a fan of books. Every time I picked one up, I would get the itch to write, and inevitably set the text down, where it would collect dust on a shelf while I put my own thoughts to paper.

One day, while laid up in bed with tonsillitis, I found Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on TV. This was the height of the Harry Potter craze, when everyone who was anyone was obsessing about the series. Potter trivia was in the news, in the lunchroom at work, and on the radio. Truthfully, it annoyed me. So I figured, Why not watch this thing and see what all the fuss is about, prove that Harry Potter lovers are all a bunch of sheep, because no such fun can be found in a book? Well, at the end of the movie, I joined the rest of the flock. J.K. Rowling had bewitched me body and soul. No other writer, aside from Tori Amos, had ever charmed me in such a way. I immediately called my husband at work and asked him to bring home all the Harry Potter books available. (At the time, only five of the seven were published.) That night, I delved into the magical world of Harry Potter and didn’t leave it until I’d ingested every. single. word. Then I read the books over again. And again. And again. . .

A year later, I gave birth to my second child and left my job to care for my family. Shortly thereafter, Rowling released Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, in which Snape, my favorite character, killed Dumbledore, making him out to be as evil as Harry and everyone else at Hogwarts believed him to be. Knowing I would have to wait two years for Rowling to release the last book and prove them wrong, I chose to pen my own ending, Harry Potter and the Battle of the Scourge. My fan fic took me eight months to write, and miraculously, was legible to all who read it. For me, this was quite an accomplishment, putting my thoughts out there, clearly. I dismissed the idea I was only able to do so because the characters came from Rowling’s head, not mine. This was her story. I merely fashioned an appropriate happy ending.

Then in 2006, I created Fantasy Fic World, a Harry Potter fan fiction site, where I posted my story and hosted the works of other talented fan fiction authors. At its peak, Fantasy Fic World was Yahoo’s top five pick of the best Harry Potter Fan Fiction sites in the world. That accomplishment, combined with the wonderful feedback I received from hundreds of visitors about the site and my book, inspired me to set music to my lyrics “Till I Reason all My Love of You,” which appear in Harry Potter and the Battle of the Scourge.

Soon thereafter, JK Rowling released The Deathly Hallows, delivering me the happy ending I hoped for: Harry defeated Voldemort and lived to tell the tale, and Snape was indeed a hero. Though, I was upset that she killed him off. Nevertheless, her work moved me to continue Harry’s story with The Shroud of Lethifold, making Draco the Wizarding World’s new bad guy. I was several chapters in when my mother pulled me aside and told me to stop wasting time on fan fiction and focus on my own creations. Heeding her advice, I shelved The Shroud of Lethifold, hung up Fantasy Fic World, and began penning my first album in eight years, 20 Till 2, as well as my first novel, Boundless Magick, which at the time I’d titled Abigail Stone and the Rise of the Dragon King. I’d completed two chapters of Boundless Magick, when my music career took off. While my lyrics were still obscure, the music to which I set them was strong enough to make my listeners forgive me for it. Thrilled with the response, I tucked my book in my hope chest, knowing one that day I would find the time to complete it.

Sure enough, two years later, after my music success died down, I fished the manuscript out of its resting place, hunkered down at my computer, and began to type out what I planned to be the first book in a four-part series. (I’ve recently added a fifth.). It took me five years, dozens of rewrites, and a few outspoken test readers to tell me they needed a decoder pen to figure out what in hell I was trying to say until I got it right. In the end, I gave into my critics, kicked my fear out the window, and revised my work until my soul was literally oozing from every word.

Literally feeling naked in every sense of the word, I queried hundreds of agents, received a ton of positive feedback, a few brutal snubs, and several manuscript requests. In the end, the bulk response I got from agents who’d voiced an interest in my book were all the same: While they found my writing engaging and thoroughly enjoyed the story, it didn’t stir within them the love-spark they needed to take on a five-part Wiccan series for years to come.

Determined to see Boundless Magick to print, I researched dozens of publishing agencies, eventually choosing to publish with Amazon’s Createspace. Their service was free, they included advertising in their bundle, and they let me keep 70% of my profits. Not included in their free package was formatting and book design, both of which were costly. Since I was well versed in Photoshop and had all the necessary software at my disposal, I decided to do my own cover design and formatting. I read up on the How To’s of publishing and even viewed a few Youtube tutorials. By November 2013, after many a trial and error, I’d designed, formatted, and published my own book, without shelling out a cent.

Boundless Magick went on to become an international Kindle bestseller. It only recently fell off the top 100 charts. I’m hoping to find the same, if not greater, success with book two, The Hopi Mask, which I’m currently penning. I’m also working on four books outside of my Wiccan series that range from Sci-Fi to YA romance. Further, I’ve just completed a Victorian period piece titled The Masked Heir (Yes, I know, there’s that mask word again!), with which I am currently querying. As with Boundless Magick, I will query until I exhaust all my resources, and if I fail to land an agent again, I know I can self-publish and find success.

It takes determination to make the transition from writer to author, as well as a passion for writing, a never-give-up attitude, and a willingness to heed your readers’ advice and put yourself out there, no matter how silly your thoughts. It’s something that took me decades to learn, and I’m still learning, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ingredients:

4 Boneless Chicken Breasts, trimmed split from end to end, and quartered

1 Cup Flour

1 Tablespoon of Seasoned Salt

3/4 Teaspoon Pepper

2 Teaspoons Paprika

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup of Milk

2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice

5 Tablespoons of Butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Slice up butter on large cookie sheet and put in oven to melt. Meanwhile, mix milk and lemon juice together and soak sliced chicken in it.

2. Mix together flour, salt, seasoned salt, pepper, and paprika in a large bowl.

3. Pull cookie sheet with melted butter on it out of the oven and set on stovetop or someplace heat safe.

4. Pull chicken out of milk, piece by piece, and coat evenly with seasoning mixture and place it on the cookie sheet.

5. Return buttered cookie sheet to oven and bake chicken for a few minutes on each side until cooked through. The thinner your chicken slices the quicker they will cook!

6. Enjoy

Check out my new guest blog post on The Chronicles of ChrisLandia’s blog about going from writer to author!

 

http://blog.chrislandia.tk/the-looking-glass/on-writing/from-writer-to-author/

Congratulations to the following winners of the Boundless Magick Rafflecopter Contest hosted by Caroline from The Attic Reviews: Holly, Julia, Sherry, Mercedes, Jennifer, Shelly, Nichole, Alisha. Your books are on their way!

For all others who entered whose names weren’t drawn, I will be hosting my own giveaway later this year. Keep checking back for details.

If you don’t want to wait, I sell paperback copies for $7.00 (plus shipping, which is by weight). Message me for details. Or if you have an EReader you can buy the Kindle Version from Amazon for just $1.99 USD

Congratulations to the following winners of the Boundless Magick Rafflecopter Contest hosted by Caroline from The Attic Reviews: Holly, Julia, Sherry, Mercedes, Jennifer, Shelly, Nichole, Alisha. Your books are on their way.

For all others who entered whose names weren't drawn, I will be hosting my own giveaway later this year! Keep checking back for details.

If you don't want to wait, I sell paperback copies for $7.00 (plus shipping, which is by weight). Or you can buy the Kindle Version from Amazon for just $1.99 USD