Stacey Wiedower's "new" year...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to have Stacey Wiedower here to kick off our "Something New" theme at CLC! Given that her debut, 30 First Dates (reviewed here), was about a bucket list, this is a perfect topic for her! Her follow-up novel, This is 35, published last week and features her charming main character Erin, who is back with another bucket list! (We're not sharing a synopsis as to avoid spoilers for the first book. All you need to know is that "everything that can go wrong definitely does.") Stacey has TWO e-book sets of both novels for some lucky readers.

Stacey Wiedower started her career as a reporter at a daily newspaper before following her passion to interior design school. She spent three years at a firm with bizarre similarities to Designing Women, and now she funnels all of those experiences into her work as a full-time writer. Along with magazine articles, website copy and a weekly feature called "My New Home," she writes romantic comedies, and the zany characters she's met poke their heads into her stories from time to time. Stacey lives in Tennessee with her husband, also a writer, and a son who's inherited their overactive imaginations. (Bio courtesy of Amazon.)

Visit Stacey at her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Something new I did in 2016:
I hiked in Arches National Park and Zion National Park in southern Utah. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life, and both places were beautiful and breathtaking in very different ways. Arches is an alien planet – like hiking on the surface of Mars, but with oxygen. Zion feels a like a place time forgot, with incredible, colorful cliffs and peaks … and a waterfall in the middle of the desert. My favorite part of the experience was hiking The Narrows, a trail in Zion that’s actually a shallow river, with a pebbled riverbed and canyon walls rising on both sides of the water. It was absolutely unforgettable.

Something new I want to try in 2017:
I really, really want to go to the Greek Isles and I’m hoping this is the year we make it happen. Otherwise, I’d like to try being on time for once. I’m always late because I’m always trying to cram in “one more thing” before I get out the door. I want to work on that this year!

A new food I tried recently:
We started using Blue Apron on occasion last year, and so not only did I try several new foods, but I learned to cook several new foods and new cuisines. Some memorable dishes that I never would have attempted on my own were Green Shakshuka with Eight Ball Squash (a Middle Eastern dish), Empanadas de Picadillo with Lime Crema, and a Chilled Chicken Ramen that was fantastic. I liked not having to plan the meals or do the grocery shopping, but most of all I liked how using a meal service caused me to branch out and try new things.

A new TV series I started watching:
I didn’t start any new series, believe it or not, but my husband and I did return to Mad Men after a long hiatus. I love/hate me some Don Draper.

The newest thing I bought:
I bought two paintings in 2016, a gorgeous pastel abstract by Memphis artist Hillary Butler that hangs in my foyer, and an intriguing portrait of a woman with no facial features (I know that sounds strange, but trust me when I say it’s a cool painting) that I bought at a gallery in Oklahoma City’s Paseo Arts District. It’s titled “Who Is She Now?” It makes me think of a blank page or blank screen at the start of a new writing project. One day I want to write her story.

I made a new friend recently and her name is Kelly. I met her through my son’s basketball team and it turns out we have tons in common. We’re both career journalists, we love to read and we like home design and fashion. (Don’t get me wrong – we’re suburban moms, not exactly Instagram-worthy fashionistas. But we both like turning up at our book club meetings in a cute pair of shoes. :) ) We also took a fun turn through IKEA together recently.

Thanks to Stacey for chatting with us and sharing her books with our readers!

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Giveaway ends January 16th at midnight EST.