Meh Monday

Posted on June 18, 2018 by

As I stare morosely into my cup of coffee, I contemplate last week and the week to come. There were some words written. Not enough, but new words. There was much procrastination which is evil given the amount of stuff on my to-do list. My brain just didn’t want to engage. There was insomnia. There was baseball. There was a weekend. There was hot waeather.

The weekend was a smidge better. There was T-ball. There was Father’s Day and brunch out with the kids. There was much napping to make up for the little-sleeping nights. And there were audio books. Also Lucier was picked up by Netflix!

As for last week’s to-do list? Yeah…all that crap is still on this week’s to-do list. I think the dog days of summer have come early.

So, today, I ignore the innertubes of procrastination. At least until I get many new words written. The time for Meh is gone. If I keep telling myself this, maybe it’ll take hold. Right? Right! Okay. I’m going now. Just as soon as I post to my FB author page.

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Friday Sinema: “Perfect” Cranes

Posted on June 15, 2018 by

A woman was driving down a street in her Florida neighborhood and saw these sandhill cranes. She rolled down the car window, grabbed a video with her smart phone and Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” just happened to be on the radio. Kismet because after her husband posted the video on Facebook, it went viral with over 9 million views. I think it’s an awesome way to finish up the week and get a head start on the weekend! Have a good one and remember to smile.

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Pantser

Posted on June 14, 2018 by

Once upon a time, there were Plotters and Pantsers. The two peoples maintained a civil discourse but neither side truly understood the other. Then one day, in true Romeo and Juliet tradition, a Pantser and a Plotter sat down over coffee and discussed in complete honesty how their writing processes worked. An outsider occupied the next table and pretended not to listen but while eavesdropping, she discerned that she was a species altogether different–a melding of the Plotters, with their arcs and outlines and scene-by-scene linear writing, and the Pantsers, with their make-stuff-up as it happens free spirit. Lo and behold, she was a Puzzler, with a framework of story, of scenes that seemed to appear from the vast cosmic void of her Muse’s imagination, that followed no rhyme or reason but told a story in the end.

And then the Universe said…

Think not of “how,” Silver, whether in terms of logistics, people, or inspiration, but of the end results you dream of. The end, in thought, combined with action in its general direction, will always create the necessary circumstances, serendipities, epiphanies, ideas, and discoveries necessary to bring about the desired manifestation. The hard part is done for you. Your part is the easy part: Think and let go. Knock on every door and turn over every stone. Do not insist upon the path, but upon the overall change you wish to experience, and never take no for an answer.

You’ve been doing it your whole life.

You take after me,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®

Silver, the end result forces the “hows” that yield the manifestation, just as long as you keep physically moving.

And that’s how stories get told. If you are a writer, what label do you use–if any? And as a reader, do you think you can tell what process the author uses to tell the story you’re reading?

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Wednesday Words: Jump and shout

Posted on June 13, 2018 by

It’s Wednesday so time for another snippet from the ol’ WIP. Today’s #1lineWed theme could make a writer JUMP for joy, JUMP off a cliff, or JUMP and shout.

To set the scene a little, Shy has shown up at the Nightriders’ clubhouse to confront Gravedigger. Except she doesn’t know who Gravedigger is, exactly. He’s switched cuts with one of the brothers until they figure out what she’s doing. There’s some NSFW stuff at the beginning that I left out. And there’s language. But who’re we kidding? It’s me. There’s ALWAYS language! 😆
****
Shy
… I searched for his name patch. Domino.

He was tall enough I had to tip my head back to look at his face since we were standing so close. A brick wall. That’s what he reminded me off. A brick wall that I could shelter behind. His brown eyes were framed by the most incredibly long black lashes. And they were intense as they stared at me. Sharp. Assessing. Assassin’s eyes. Scary as hell.

I was terrified and turned on and that was so messed up I couldn’t wrap my head around it. This guy—Domino—was one of the bad guys. The enemy. Who’d walked up behind me in the dark, shoved his hands down the front of my jeans and sent me straight to heaven. Christ but I was so screwed. And I needed to get out of there before I did something stupid like jump on him, wrap my legs around his waist and hump that hard-on pressing against the buttons of his fly.

Backing up, I bumped something solid. Strong hands gripped me. I jerked away, pivoted and swung. I knew how to make a fist. Hell, I’d participated in a few bar brawls. I barely glimpsed the guy as his hand flashed and wrapped around my fist. It stopped my momentum cold and jarred my arm all the way to my shoulder. Ow. That was gonna hurt like a sonavabitch tomorrow. The guy who’d snuck up behind me wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were glued to tall, dark and scary sexy. I glanced over my shoulder and stopped breathing.

Domino’s eyes promised death. And not mine. The guy whose fingers still wrapped around my fist was staring at him, not me. Movement flickered in the corner of my eye. Gravedigger was shrugging out of his cut and moving toward our little frozen tableau. He held out the black leather vest to Domino, who stripped off his vest. The two of them put the exchanged cuts back on, but Domino’s eyes never lost mine. My eyes didn’t lose him either.

I was confused and then the other shoe dropped. This was Gravedigger. Not the other guy—Domino, or whoever. They’d traded vests to confuse me. Why? Did they know who I was? Who I really was?

The hand immobilizing my fist dropped away and the guy said, “Get your shit together. You need to deal with this, Digger.”

I didn’t move for almost a minute, my arm frozen in mid-swing. Then my hand dropped to my side, fingers twitching with the need to reach for the knife in my boot.

The man whose voice haunted my nightmares spoke. “We need to talk.”
****
And I really hope I haven’t shared this snippet before because…my brain looks suspiciously like Swiss cheese. If I have, tough. Enjoy the reread. If I haven’t, I hope you still enjoy it. If you have some JUMPY words to share, awesome. If not, no biggy. It’s not like I’ll make you JUMP through hoops or anything. 😉

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Tuesday Treats: Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

Posted on June 12, 2018 by

Are you celebrating Father’s Day with a family dinner? This recipe is a bit more convoluted and difficult than I usually share but TRIPLE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE!!!! And with that much chocolate, it makes for good eating any time you want to put in the effort. And did I mention TRIPLE CHOCOLATE?!?!

Prep Time: 25 min.
Total Time: 4 hr. 55 min.
Servings: 24 servings

Live the dream with this showstopping Triple-Chocolate Mousse Cake. Watch our step-by-step video to learn how to make this Triple-Chocolate Mousse cake. [To see the video, click the link below.]

What You Need
1/2 cup chocolate syrup
1 pkg. (2-layer size) chocolate cake mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
7 eggs, divided
1/2 cup BREAKSTONE’S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1 pkg. (4 oz.) BAKER’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted
1 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

Make It

Heat oven to 375ºF.

Pour chocolate syrup into 12-cup fluted tube pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Beat cake mix, water, oil and 3 eggs in large bowl with mixer 2 min. or until blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Pour over syrup in pan.

Beat cream cheese and sugar in separate bowl with mixer until blended. Add remaining eggs; mix well. Blend in evaporated milk and melted chocolate; gently spoon over cake batter in pan. Cover with Reynolds Wrap® Aluminum Foil sprayed with cooking spray, sprayed side down.

Place tube pan in large shallow pan. Add enough water to larger pan to come at least 2 inches up side of tube pan. Bake 1 hour 30 min. or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool cake completely in pan. Refrigerate 2 hours. Invert cake onto plate; remove pan. Serve cake topped with COOL WHIP. [This means dropping a dollop on the cut slices as your serve, rather than “icing” the cake with Cool Whip.]

Worth it to go to website and watch the video by CLICKING HERE. As you know, most of my characters are chocoholics but given that this is a cool dessert, I think Isabelle “Izzy” Fontaine Tornjak takes the time to fix this dessert for her Wolf, Rudy Tornjak, of ROGUE MOON noteriety. There’s enough cake-y goodness in this dessert that the guys are all over it when Izzy serves it up. If you’re familiar with the series, Rudy first appears in BLOOD MOON but he gets his mate and his story in ROGUE MOON. You can start with MOONSTRUCK: SECRETS to get a couple of stories. FYI, ROGUE is book #6 in the Moonstruck series. 🙂 Just click on the cover for the buy link. You can read it free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.

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A Monday in June

Posted on June 11, 2018 by

T-Ball. Everyone should locate someplace where littles are playing T-ball. It’s “swarm ball” at it’s finest, though the coaches and parents are herding cats. When I coached competive travel fastpitch softball, I’d periodically insist my players sit down between tournament games and watch the littles play T-ball. It invariably made them smile, relax, and remember why they started playing ball in the first place. I am happy to related that Stormegeddon hit two of the longest balls in the two games his team played. He also got to play first in the second game. It made a fun day Saturday.

I’m also doing a massive re-listen to Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series in anticipation of her new release, OCEAN LIGHT, which comes out Tuesday. It’s the next book in the continuing spin-off series, Psy-Changeling Trinity. I’m currently on book 7, with…something like 9 more to go so I won’t be jumping on OCEAN as soon as it hits my Audible App. That’s okay. I want to remember all the players, all the plot twists, all the everything leading up to the new addition. Doesn’t matter that I read and listened to this series multiple times. It still keeps my attention.

TV? Yeah…not so much. Though…I am curious about Kevin Costner’s new series, “Yellowstone,” coming to the Paramount channel on June 20.

Not a whole lot else going on so not much to follow-up on from last week. Instead, here are some random thoughts that have bounced around in that vast cosmic void I call my brain.

I was watching the news and flashed on one of my poly-sci classes from college. We spent a great deal of time talking about propaganda and how the media can either be coerced or complicit in promulgating it. I see far more complicity and complacency than my journalism teachings are comfortable with.

Self-driving cars make me nervous as hell. The fact that there’s a generation that won’t be able to manually parallel park sends shudders down my spine.

Adidas thinks she’s supposed to be fed no later than 6 a.m. It doesn’t matter that she take three bites, jumps down, and goes off somewhere to nap after those bites. She will sit next to my face and pat me until I notice her. And she gets upset when I pull the bedspread over my head. She then coerces Cooper into coming in and patting the bed until I acknowledge him. He thumps the mattress hard enough that it moves. I keep reminding myself that I’d be lonely without my furry children.

How does one tell the difference between an alpaca and a llama? Especially at a distance?

I need new glasses. And no, it has nothing to do with my previous question. My prescription has changed hugely, both my far vision and my medium. Surprisingly, my reading vision is better without my glasses, so I’m not sure what’s up there. Maybe in August, depending on my next HQN royalty check. Glasses are not cheap with my weird eyes.

That’s been my weirdness of late. What observations are you making?

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Friday Sinema: The Champion

Posted on June 8, 2018 by

Oklahoma’s own Carrie Underwood won her 18th Country Music Association award this week for the Female Artist Video of the Year. The video and the song? THE CHAMPION. Which I think is going to be my theme song for the rest of the year. If this doesn’t give you a lift on this Friday, and a bright outlook going into the weekend, there’s not much that will. Congrats, Carrie! You ARE a CHAMPION!

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