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VARIOUS CONTACTS OF INTEREST: Contact Rex or Barbara at barbara@bentleycellars.com <barbara@bentleycellars.com>
Winemaker Magazine targets the homewinemaker and is full of helpful hints. http://www.winemakermag.com/ Orange County Wine Society involves activities surrounding both commercial and home wines. They host the prestigious Orange County Fair Wine Competitions. http://www.ocws.org/ Napa Valley Home Winemakers is another source of information for the home winemaker and the web site contains photos from previous Classics that we have entered. http://www.homewine.com/index.html Sacramento Home Winemakers Club is another source of information for the home winemaker. http://www.sachomewine.org/ We are members of the Contra Costa Wine Group. http://www.ccwinegroup.com/ Jack Keller maintains a website that offers a phenominal amount of information for the home winemaker. http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/
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Find out more about Barbara's book at www.adancewiththedevil.com
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I have finished my Fairy Tales from the Heart Series about the Blacksmith's Daughter. She lives in a dry dusty prairie town that changes along with her through her adventures. Illustrations for the first two are complete and I need to get the watercolors out to illustrate The Great Winter Storm. The fairy tales have been queried to an agent and I'm projecting positive thoughts that she will ask for the complete manuscripts for further consideration. My vision is for these to be my next publication. An excerpt follows.
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While traveling in China last October, Barbara was in constant contact with her publishing editor. She scribbled titles while in a traditional Chongqing tea house, then presented four potential names. The publisher chose A DANCE WITH THE DEVIL.
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Excerpt from THE GREAT WINTER STORM She had barely settled in when the North wind crashed against her bedroom window. The glass rattled then cascaded into a thousand pieces onto the braided bedroom rug. The Blacksmith's Daughter screamed. She abruptly sat up, grabbed the little white kitten and held it tight to her chest. "Don't be afraid," she whimpered. "I'll protect you." The North Wind blustered into the room, swirled the bedcovers around the huddled pair and whisked the swaddled package through the open window into the jowls of the Great Winter Storm. Bound in her cocoon, the Blacksmith's Daughter felt protected. Her fear subsided and her imagination took over. She was a magic flying carpet swooshing around the great oak tree. She was a kite flitting about in a soft cool breeze above the dusty prairie. She was an eagle soaring above the frozen earth. Then she felt a thud. The little white kitten let out a sorrowful howl.
Copywrite 2007 by Barbara Bentley
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In my right hand I'm holding my contract from Penguin USA. The signature of the company's president and vice-president are right above mine. In my left hand I'm holding my first check on my negotiated advance. I can now claim to be a paid author. Cool! This is a dream come true...a journey that started with a decision in 1991 to write a book. I acutally started writing it in 1994 while attending the Write It Sell It workshop in Bristol, Connecticut. http://www.writersretreatworkshop.com/
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Barbara won a weekend holiday in the California gold country from the Black Diamond Living Magazine that included a patio boat excursion on New Melones Lake. Instead we had a fully equipped house boat. The weather was perfect for the late March cruise and we felt pampered with our driver and a catered hot lunch that included two bottles of wine. http://www.houseboating.org/MELONES/overview.cfm
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About five miles from our B&B Querencia, across the mountain top, is a little gold mining town called Sheep Ranch. We passed through it on our way to visit the California Cavern, one of the two cave trips included in our weekend prize. When we came to the Y in the road, we saw why it's called Sheep Ranch. It's located in Calaveras County. http://www.co.calaveras.ca.us/
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Our prize included two nights at Querencia Bed and Breakfast in Murphys. We wanted to take full advantage of all of our other prizes so we paid for a third night. Mike and Mary Jo spoiled us with a full dinner in their wine cellar (also part of our winnings). http://www.querencia.ws/
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Part of our winning package included tours of two caverns in the area. The first one, California Caverns, was not all that spectacular but the Black Chasm Caverns were awesome. The weather had turned warm so it was refreshing to go inside the cool caves. http://www.caverntours.com/
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On Friday afternoon we started off our prize weekend with a three hour limousine tour of several wineries in the area. Ironstone has a Disneyland feel to it and their display of thousands of tulips in all types of containers took our breath away. http://www.ironstonevineyards.com/
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Our second winery stop was at Twisted Oak where we had a private tour of the cellars. We got to do some barrel tasting and every wine was excellent....so excellent we joined their wine club. Their twisted sense of humor creates things like this frog with chicken feet. http://www.twistedoak.com/twisted/index.jsp
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