Derek and Lindsey Part Deux. This puts me in mind of my Russian Mafia Wolves. Inspiration! Y’all stay in and cool this weekend! Gonna be a scorcher here.
This has been a tough year. For everyone. Every time I turn around, there’s an article about how writers are having a hard time writing and how they can overcome the adversity. It’s hard to create happy-ever-afters when the world is such a hateful place. Bad things are happening. Stupid things are happening.
At the same time, I also see some good things happpening. I saw protesters marching in Tulsa denouncing the police one weekend and the next week, two officers go down in the line of duty. One will never go home to his family again. The other may finally get out of ICU. And people who never marched, never spoke out, never really got involved suddenly came out in support of police. It gave me hope. And in this day and age, hope is a miracle.
Detours, challenges, and crisis, Silver, are simply covers for miracles that had no other way of reaching you.
It’s all good,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®Cupcakes, Ding Dongs, and Ho-Hos, Silver, are just plain old miracles.
Okay. So are peanut clusters, chocolate chip cookies, and M&M Blasts. As a writer, and as a human being, I have to remember two things: the need to hope and the necessity of keeping one’s sense of humor. I need to harness the energy swirling around me and translate it into words. I need to use the anger for the black moment and the compassion for the HEA. And the humor for my own sanity. That’s my goal for the rest of this week–sanity. With a side of smiles and a whole lot of hope for more miracles. Let’s forget the bad for a little bit. Share something good in your life. Small miracles. And snack foods, people. Don’t forget the snack foods! ❤
Skyrockets and firecrackers and sparklers, oh my! A fitting theme for #1lineWed and gollygeewilligers, I actually had two snippets to choose from. One, from Jen and Wiz’s story is way to close to being a spoiler so I pulled this one from the Moonstruck Mafia stories. It started out as a writing exercise at one of my RWA meetings. The assignment was to write about a second date and this is what I came up with. Hope you enjoy.
****
Callum exercised his iron-clad control to keep a smile curving his lips as he faced the woman sitting across the table from him. Delilah. Even her name grated on his nerves. They were only an hour into their second date and it was already an exercise in futility.
The woman didn’t know when to shut up. Clothes. Hair. Make-up. Kim and Kanye. Who freaking cared? She didn’t work, lived in an uptown apartment financed by Daddy, who, according to Delilah, was the second coming of Rockefeller.
If he’d been the least bit attracted to her, Cal might put up with her gossip-gabbing mouth. His gaze dropped to glistening red lips. Nope. Negative. The idea of them touching him anywhere—anywhere—triggered cold dread along his spine.
A frisson of awareness skittered across the edges of his perception—something shy, illusive. And totally intriguing. He searched the restaurant looking for the cause. He quit breathing when his gaze collided with that of the woman six tables away.
She was…he didn’t know, couldn’t think for all the fireworks going off in his brain. Mine. She was. And he would claim her. Just as soon as he poured Delilah into a cab and sent her on her way.
Too bad Delilah noticed the direction he was looking.
“What is she doing here?” His lamentable date focused on the woman and sounded like a feral cat as she hissed the question.
“You’d be knowin’ her then?” He asked casually, and very, very carefully, aware that his Irish was coming out. Interesting, that, and something to contemplate later. First he had to deal with the woman sitting across from him He eyed the inch-long crimson nails Delilah displayed. Those could be lethal.
“My sister.” The amount of venom in those words was enough to poison every customer in the place. “The one my parents disowned.”
Even more curious, he studied the other woman. Her dark hair glistened with red and gold highlights and her eyes were a blue that shaded toward gray. Delilah was a brassy blonde with hard blue eyes that reminded him of that weird water in amusement park rides. He could see a few similarities in the shapes of their faces, but the sister’s mouth? Yeah, he could imagine those lips on every part of his body.
“Callum!” Delilah’s voice was whip-sharp. “Go tell her she has to leave.”
“Do what, ya say?” His gaze skimmed over her, his expression tensing.
“I was here first and I won’t be able to eat a bite with that bitch in the room.”
He choked back a laugh. The only bitch in the room was the one sitting across from him. He leaned back in his chair. “You don’t want to share space with her, you know where the door is.”
Delilah’s face drained of color and then suffused with red as her anger surged. She rocketed out of her chair and leaned over the table as her hand snapped out, fingernails leading the way.
*
The man’s movements were almost lazy as he blocked her sister’s blow. The approaching waiter halted, frozen stiff by the expression on his face. Sophie had never seen any man look more ruthless and she’d grown up in a viper pit of alpha males. A part of her brain wondered what her father would do if confronted by that look.
When she’d realized her sister was here, she’d almost turned around to leave but the stubborn streak that kept her chin up in the face of the bullshit that was her family, forced her to stay. Then she’d caught a glimpse of Delilah’s date. By every ounce of femininity she possessed, she was aware of him. In a visceral way that touched all of her. ALL of her. Her skin crackled like someone was tracing sparklers over it and she would swear the skyrockets were bursting across the ceiling above her head.
She didn’t move, hypnotized by the snake-like reaction of her sister’s date. The man brushed away Delilah’s attack and then the maitre ‘d and two burly busboys descended. Sophie slipped out of her seat and all but ran to the ladies room. When she returned, the man occupied her table, looking as cool and controlled as a king cobra.
He rose and held her chair. Hesitating, she felt those sparklers again. She sat before her legs betrayed her. He sat and offered her his hand.
“Callum Fitzpatrick.”
****
Writers, any fireworks in your WIPs that you want to share? Readers, are you a fan of fireworks?
Part burrito. Part pizza. Part Calzone. All filling, yummy and easy as pie. Need something quick to satisfy your hungry horde? Whip up a couple of these. They are big enough to share…unless there’s a Wolf in the family. 😉
45 Min(s)
20 Min(s) Prep
25 Min(s) Cook
6 servings
All-purpose baking mix makes a quick and easy crust for this cheesy ground beef mixture.
What You Need
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup HEINZ Tomato Ketchup
2 Tbsp. A.1. Original Sauce
1/2 cup hot water
2 cups all-purpose baking mix
1 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese
1/2 tsp. parsley flakes
ADD TO CART ADD TO SHOPPING LIST
TACO BELL® and Logo are trademarks owned and licensed by Taco Bell Corp.
Let’s Make It
1 – Heat oven to 375ºF.
2 – Brown meat with onions in large skillet; drain. Return to skillet. Stir in corn, ketchup and steak sauce; set aside.
3 – Add water to baking mix; stir until mixture forms dough. Shape into ball. Place on lightly floured surface; knead 5 times or until smooth and no longer sticky. Roll into 12-inch circle; transfer to baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
4 – Spoon meat mixture onto center of dough; spread to within 2 inches of edge. Fold edge of dough over meat, leaving center uncovered.
5 – Bake 20 min. Top filling with cheese; bake 5 min. or until melted. Sprinkle with parsley.
Kitchen Tips
Tip 1 – Healthy Living: You’ll save 60 calories, 7 grams of total fat and 3 grams of saturated fat per serving by preparing with extra-lean ground beef and KRAFT Mexican Style 2% Milk Finely Shredded Four Cheese.
Tip 2 – Substitute: Substitute TACO BELL® Thick & Chunky Medium Salsa for the ketchup.
My Tips – serve with a side salad to be all healthy and stuff. Also, you can use taco sauce, enchilida sauce, or even pizza sauce to adjust to your particular tastes.
CLICK ON OVER to My Food and Family for complete details. Y’all will never guess who suggested the recipe! Partly because he likes eating it but mostly because he makes it himself. Okay, who am I kidding? Tait “Shooter” McCord is self-sufficient and quite capable of taking care of himself. Having his city mouse under his roof doesn’t change much. Their story, MONTANA MOON, just came off a Kindle Deal so I hope you grabbed a copy while it was cheap. If not, you can still read for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. As hot as it is here, Montana sounds like a great place to visit to get out of the heat. Or into it, since things are hot and heavy up there in this story. Just click on the title or the cover to grab your copy!
Some people had a 3-day weekend. Due to the 4th of July landing on a Saturday, they got Friday off. Mostly government workers. Who are all still mostly working from home anyway. Don’t get me started on the bureaucracy. 🤬 Moving on…
Or not. Because stupid people. As mentioned, the 4th was Saturday. That’s the USA’s “birthday.” Most municipalities have, in the past, done massive fireworks displays. This year, due to Covid, not so much. Also, around here, fireworks are illegal within the city limits–selling, buying, in possession of, and setting them off. The cops won’t do much and the fire department has to respond when some idiot sets his yard (or his neighbor’s house) on fire. The news here has been full of warnings: Drought conditions, high fire danger, don’t forget pets freak and oh, so do many veterans with PTSD. Well, there’s a neighborhood forum and a “Karen” got on there ranting that by god, her grandkids had been put upon this year with no fun and she was going to let them shoot off fireworks–because that’s fun–come hell or highwater and veterans with PTSD, pets, and peak fire danger be damned. It would be uncivilized of me to hope for a worst case scenario but damn… The stupid people around were were still shooting them off after midnight. And they were close enough I could hear the sizzle of the sparks on the skyrockets. I’m tempted to buy an air horn and stand outside their bedroom window blowing it every night for the next week. See how they like the noise! 🤬 (I ❤ this emoticon. Just sayin'…)
In other news, our landline didn't work for over two weeks. We tried numerous times to contact our carrier's customer service but due to the stupid Covid stuff, no luck. LG finally got through and they did some "long-distance" line testing and decided to send a service dude. He was very nice. Checked the lines with his little pocket line-checker thing. Looked at all the phones (we have 4, only two of them actually a "set" but all wireless and worked fine up until recently). Lo and behold, he got a dial tone. His best guesstimate? The phones are old and when one drops off the connection, they all do. So, we bought a new system and plan to plug it directly into our gateway thingy. Good news is, the four handset version was on sale.
I listened to several books. I was still on a JD Robb relisten and then discovered that Shelly Laurenston had a novella set in her "Pride/Pack" series that I hadn't read. Horrors! How did I miss that one?!?! It was part of an anthology that had somehow slipped through the cracks. Ah well. That's been rectified and I enjoyed it so much, I'm now doing a reread of that series. Her shifters–and the few humans who are aware of their existence–are funny and snarky and I laugh as I listen to the books. I need a lot more of that right now.
Writing. Some happened. Not much. But some.
See those sentences up there? Yeah, that pretty much sums up how I was writing last week. New week starts today. I have hopes. They aren't high, but they are hopes.
TV and sports are total non-starters. I did watch a "Home Town" marathon on HGTV on Saturday. Kinda makes me want to move to Laurel, Mississippi. Kinda. But not really.
Speaking of sports, T-ball tonight! We didn't get to see Stormy last week after having him a couple of times the week before. We missed the little dickens. He has the early game and it will be hot so we'll probably leave Jake at home. That makes him sad and I'll have to remember to put everything that's edible up out of his reach–which means the top of the refrigerator. Yes, he CAN reach everything on the counters. Big dog, people. BIG dog!
I'm pretty sure other stuff happened but I don't remember at the moment. Maybe I need more coffee. Ha! Who am I kidding? I ALWAYS need more coffee. Hope y'all's week and weekend passed in good time. Share if something happened. Here's to a better week for us all! 🥰
So…yesterday’s message from the Universe was about the magic. I went looking for it and discovered this. Go “Between Twilight” with Lindsay Stirling (a huge favorite of mine!) and dancer extraordinaire, Derek Hough (also a big fan of his!) for this magical moment. Enjoy. Happy Friday and have a good weekend! ❤ Psst There’s a reason I love fantasy!
Wow. Today’s message from the Big U could be taken so many ways, given the world right now. I’m seriously looking for a personal avatar icon depicting my head exploding because that’s sort of my natural state at the moment. Anyway…
Thoughts. And doing something. Writing. I’m all about the writing around here. Well, and reading too. But today, writing. Sadly, I haven’t been following the following suggestion. I’d blame it on my exploding head but that’s the easy way out.
Silver, there are those who absolutely think all the right thoughts. Yet if they’re not doing all they can, with what they’ve got, from where they are, then you can just guess what else they’re probably thinking.
And those other thoughts are busy at work, too.
You are my sunshine,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®Silver, start, stretch, reach, climb, go. Because just waiting for the magic… takes forever.
Waiting for the magic… Yeah, that’s something authors do a lot. We sit and stare, or surf the net, or tap out a sentence on our keyboard and then stare at the words and…yeah. Nuttin’, honey. I know better than to depend on inspiration though I’ll admit, when it hits, I’m doin’ the Happy Dance all over my office. Okay. Not really. I’m leaning back in my office chair all smug and stuff. But inspiration is few and far between. I do have ideas, thoughts, etc. It’s finding the gumption to follow through. And without that? Dude, no books get written. I feel like a broken record, but I’ve got to start listening to the Big U. Time to start, stretch, reach, climp, and go. Jeez, I need to do that to get off my fat arse, too. *ahem* But yeah, I need to do that stuff to make the magic happen. Because those books don’t write themselves and I’m the chief word wizard and magic maker. What magic are you going to make today?
And speaking of books, MONTANA MOON is still 99 cents unil the 4th and then the price starts going up. Grab your keeper copy now!
Happy 1st of July. Today’s prompt can be gleaned from the title and since MONTANA MOON is on a special Kindle Countdown deal for the next couple of day, I had to look hard to find a snippet to fit the theme. My other choices were something about “captain’s seats” in an SUV and sea salt on fries. 🙄 Anyway, mine is NOT the only book on sale. If you want to grab a bunch of the Brotherhood Protectors books, now is the time to snap them up. Check the graphics and links at the bottom! In the meantime, this snippet is mostly self-explanatory. Our heroine is running for her life and our hero has been tagged to rescue her. Hope you enjoy!
****
Lauren didn’t care much for people. She was far more comfortable in her stacks of historic material and her computer. That didn’t mean she didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time observing them. People fascinated her, even if she didn’t want to interact with them. She was geeky. Gawky. And a total klutz. Unless she was immersed in her job. She was aces at her job. She was not aces at running for her life. How had she not remembered she could be tracked by her cell phone? Her skin pebbled as a spurt of adrenaline shot through her at the memory of bullets shattering the window of her car. She’d been lucky the next exit held a giant truck stop.
Closing her eyes, she shoved those thoughts out of her mind. She’d found her way to Iowa, where Shooter had stepped in. She almost laughed, despite the dark memories. He hadn’t stepped in. He’d stomped in wearing a pair of worn cowboy boots, faded jeans, plaid shirt, and an implacable demeanor. When she opened her eyes, her gaze drifted back to him.
Shooter had a strong profile. The fine lines at the corner of his eyes and the deeper ones on his forehead and above the bridge of his nose spoke of age and experience, so yeah, he was likely in his forties. Still, he was hard-bodied and fit. He had to be to scoop her off the floor, toss her over his shoulder and make off with her like she was some pirate’s booty. No, she decided, her fingers itching to touch the scruff covering the lower half of his face. He would have been a Viking, or a Highlander maybe. She could definitely see him ravaging and pillaging, and why did her heart rate kick up a notch with that thought?
Heat flooded her cheeks and she turned to watch out the window again. “I’m not going to hurt you. People call me Shooter,” he’d said after cornering her in that roadhouse. She had not been reassured. What sort of nickname was Shooter anyway?
She blurted out, “So…do you shoot people? Or just bore them to death with your stoic refusal to speak?” Yes, that was definitely a growl. She revised her animal comparison. Not a bear. Something more feral, and to her, far more dangerous. Wolf. And her heart stopped. He knew about Black Root. Which implied he knew what Black Root had been doing. Which meant he might be working for them. Which meant she needed to get out of this truck right this instant.
“Yeah, I’ve shot people.”
She froze in her seat, eyes widening as the cold words washed over her, leaving her terrified.
“Breathe, Lauren.” His green eyes glinted briefly in the dash light as he flicked them her way. “I was a Navy SEAL.”
Well. That certainly explained a lot of things. She managed to inhale and when she exhaled, her chest loosened enough she relaxed against the leather seat, but she was still wary. “Were you like a sniper or something? Is that why people call you Shooter?”
A smile threatened the corner of his mouth but the lines between his brows deepened. “I’m called Shooter because the guys in my BUD/S class challenged me to a drinking contest after graduation. The challenge involved shots of tequila. I won.” He glanced at her. “Aren’t you going to ask how many?” She shook her head and he turned his head to watch her. “I’m not one of the bad guys, Lauren. I will keep you safe.”
Lauren attempted to believe him. Her life depended on it.
****
There it is. Writers, use your words. Readers, go forth and grab some books on the cheap! Happy Reading
Montana Moon by Silver James Grayson’s Angel by Linzi Baxter
Soldier’s Heart: Part One by Ilsa J. Bick Big Sky SEAL by Delilah Devlin
Hidden Danger by Desiree Holt Catching Lana by Kat Mizera
Hot Colorado Nights by Paige Yancey Fractured Lives by Sue Coletta
Texas Ranger Rescue by Cynthia D’Alba Midnight Ranger by Kris Norris
Montana Marine by Debra Parmley Ranger in Charge by Layla Chase
Rescuing Reya by Tiffani Lynn Dylan by Regan Black
Falling for Her Bodyguard by Christine Glover Rescuing Emery by Barb Han
Rescuing Montana by Kate Kinsley Daniel’s Choice by Pam Mantovani
Mistaken iDOMnity by Lainey Reese Winter’s Last Chance by Stacey Wilk
The Marshal’s Protection by Kendra Mei Chailyn Toxic Truth by Tina Donahue
Wish Upon a SEAL by J.M. Madden Elite Protector by Donna Michaels
Saving Evie by L.K. Shaw The Mechanic by Reina Torres
Wild Horse Rescue by Mary Winter Broken SEAL by Margaret Madigan
Chasing Katie by Heather Long Conrad by Anne L. Parks
Brand by Leanne Tyler Montana Gypsy by KD Michaels
Sometimes, you just gotta have ice cream. And there’s none in the house. And you haven’t had an ice cream churn since the Eighties. Welpers, here’s a treat that soothes the cravings of those who love ice cream, coffee AND chocolate. Y’all! It’s a triple threat treat.
Total Time: 6 Hr. 15 Min.
Prep Time: 15 Min.
Cook Time: 6 Hr.
6 cups
Make this the night before ! Treat your family and friends (and yourself!) to this amazing Coffee Ice Cream with Chocolate Chunks recipe. Requiring just four ingredients, Coffee Ice Cream with Chocolate Chunks is both simple and scrumptious!
What You Need
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup GEVALIA House Blend Cold Brew Iced Coffee Concentrate
2 cups whipping cream
1 pkg. (4 oz.) BAKER’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, chopped
Let’s Make It
1 – Mix condensed milk and coffee concentrate in large bowl until blended.
2 – Beat whipping cream in medium bowl with mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form; fold into milk mixture.
3 – Spoon half the milk mixture into 9×5-inch loaf pan; top evenly with half the chocolate. Repeat layers.
4 – Freeze 6 hours or until firm.
5 – Scoop into dessert dishes to serve.
Kitchen Tips
Tip 1 – Mindful Eating: Set aside family time to connect and enjoy good food and good company while being mindful of portions.
My Tip – Any “concentrated” coffee will do. Just make sure you brew it strong and that it’s cold when you use it in the recipe.
Pretty sure y’all might want all the nutritional details on this one so CLICK ON OVER to My Food and Family. I’m still celebrating the release of MOONSTRUCK: BETRAYAL and I’ve featured recipes suggested by two of the heroines who figure strongly in the book. Today’s yummy treat is brought to you by Isabelle “Izzy” Fontaine, mate of Rudek “Rudy” Tornjak. The Cajun beauty and the rogue Wolf. What a pair, yeah? Growing up in the Louisiana bayous, where it stays hot and humid pretty much year round, Izzy is all about the cold and sweet. She’s also a big fan of cafe au lait and she says this tastes like a frozen version, only with chocolate. “What’s not to love, boo?” Izzy grins. “I’m lookin’ at you, B.E.”
MOONSTRUCK: BETRAYAL is available wide so just click on the cover or any of the places where I mentioned the title to head over to the page where you can find the on-line book store of your choice. 😉 The pressing question of the say is: What’s your favorite summertime treat? Psst. Mine’s a Sonic M&M Blast. Though this might be a close second!
Forget just Monday. Are we done with this year yet? I’m ready for a do-over. Too bad we can’t do a Mulligan like in golf. Ah well. Welpers, there was a weekend. Stuff happened. There was also a last week. Other stuff happened. Can I go back to bed now? This is one of those mornings when there isn’t enough coffee in the world to make it all better.
So, we got lots of Stormy time last week. It was fun. T-ball, spending the night, and morning play. He’s growing so tall! And he misses school. The little bugger is way too smart. He loves spending time with his Big Daddy. I sorta get the feeling Lawyer Guy feels the same. Yeah, I’m smiling. No T-ball this week because his school is doing their yearbook signing at the same time as his game. There are lots of kids so it’s not like the team wouldn’t be able to play and since school closed early and he’s really been missing his friends, this is a great opportunity to touch base with them.
I did some organizational work on NIGHT WISH. Gah! Thank the writing gods that Scrivener has a bulletin board feature. I can make note cards with the action in a scene and then got to bulletin board mode. I can see at a glance what is going on and move the cards around to get them in the right order. Sometimes–like now!–I really wish I was linear writer. Ah well. The good news is, the stuff already written is better than I remembered. That’s a big yay. After today, I’m hoping real life will stop throwing curve balls and I can settle in to maybe actually getting some writing done. I have revisions on the Feb. ’21 Red Dirt book coming sometime in July and I have another Tarpley VFD book to write so I need to get WISH done and set free into the world. There are a couple of Cajun Wolves who are getting downright pushy about getting their stories done. 😆
TV is still a bust. I don’t really remember a thing I watched last week. It’s all just a blur of the same ol’ same ol’. Reading/listening is also slow. I did mention real life right? I’m back to my relisten of the In Death series. Can’t go wrong there but since I’ve done multiple rereads, I don’t feel any pressing need to zip through the story because I basically remember who did it. 🤷♀️ That’s okay. It’s my chicken soup series and I’m good with that.
Friday, we had a family funeral. We were glad to get home. Saturday, LG and I went to the Post to help another member clean up for a rental. I thought I’d be mopping a floor. Nope. I made the mistake of tossing in my rubber gloves and therefore drew bathroom duty. Hey, those suckers are shiny clean and disinfected–even the light switches, door handles, the the handicap bar. I’m probably there this morning as you’re reading this, waiting on the plumbers to come. Long story. LG has a zoom meeting, the gal vet taking the lead on all the restoration and reconstruction has a sick puppers. No one else could be arsed to come down and wait. I shouldn’t say that. There are a couple of them who would but their health precludes it. The healthy ones all have their thumps up their…anyway. I’m there until relieved. Then I hope to get some work done. I’m taking Jake with me and we’ll work on his basic commands because he’s ignoring them. Not to be a bad dog but because I haven’t worked on his training since the quarantine.
Sunday, I didn’t do a blasted thing but set up today’s blog, make a Starbucks run with Jake (I have stars expiring and darn if I’ll not spend them!), and debated on whether to take a nap. As of this writing, I haven’t answered the debate yet.
Life is definitely not exciting. We’re safe and healthy and that’s not too shabby, given the crazy times. I do wish I could figure out how to “save” my “personal” avatar sticker on FB. I want to use the head-exploding one as my profile pic. What’s going on–good, bad, or indifferent–in your life? Hang in there. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay the wonderful crazy friends that you are!
!!NEW RELEASE!!
!!NOW AVAILABLE!!
