Thursday Thoughts: Universal Pantser

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

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

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

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

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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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Knowing

I wish I could say I was emersed in my writing and forgot to set up this post yesterday, which is what I normally do. I try to be organized and stay a day ahead. The operative word is try. I’ll admit to being pretty bummed by the world of late. I see adults acting like spoiled toddlers–and don’t put words or sides into my mouth because most of you don’t know me well enough to know what I truly think. There’s enough to go around, trust me. There are times I want to lash back and tell people what I truly think, but then I realize that I’m not helping to solve the problem, I’m adding to it. Civility. We need more of it. So I’ll continue to keep my mouth shut because the Universe has it right once again.

Silver, you’re the only person who knows what’s right for you.

The only one –
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®

And if you don’t know what to do, Silver, wait until you do. In the meantime, bask in your awesomeness.

I do know what’s right for me. Most of the time. And if I’m waffling, I’ll wait. There are some things that I know without a doubt. I know right from wrong. And I know it’s right to bite my tongue and let the stupid people be stupid without my comments. That doesn’t necessarily make me awesome but hey, who am I to argue with the Universe, right?

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Wednesday Words: Sink or Swim

With summer in full swing, today’s #1lineWed theme seemed like a no-brainer. Except I really didn’t have either word in my WIP. I about to SINK into a sea of dispair rather. In other works, I had a kitchen sink. My characters often sink to their knees. No one was ready to swim in the current project, though I’ve had tears that swim. So what did I do? I sat down to do a bit of free writing. And I got a scene. Today’s snippet is short because it turned out to be something of a spoiler so y’all get only a short tease. I have hopes that this scene will get me on track with the end of the book, so stay tuned.
***
Shy
I swam up through foggy darkness. I was holding my breath and my heart pounded so hard in my ears I couldn’t hear. Where was I? I couldn’t move. A heavy, warm weight blanketed me.

“Breathe, babe.” The order, one I needed to obey, whispered in my ear.

My body ached. Bad. Almost as bad as those first days in boot camp when the drill instructors drove us to the point we grunts could only faceplant in our bunks at night and sink into exhausted sleep.
Whatever held me down slid away and that gruff voice teased my hearing again. “Dammit, Shy. Breathe.”

I inhaled and coughed as air hit my lungs and my ribs expanded.

“Come back to me, baby.”

Where had I been that I needed to come back from? I breathed again, and it came easier. Or it did before memories flooded through me, swamping my brain so I stopped breathing again. Rough hands clamped on my shoulders, hauling me up, shaking me until I gulped in another breath. I remembered now. I remembered the men circling like sharks. I remembered the sound of thunder. I remembered…
***
So how is your day going? Are you sinking or swimming? Writers, do you have any sink or swim words to share?

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Tuesday Treats: Asian Chicken, Cabbage and Noodle Salad

It’s hot. When it’s hot, I hate heating up the kitchen–mainly because we’re on a metered system with peak hours that don’t end until after time to start dinner. This is quick and easy, fairly filling, and keeps things chill. Please note that my adaptations are in brackets.

Prep Time: 10 min.
Total Time: 10 min.
Servings: 4 servings, 2 cups each

Combine cabbage and noodles in this fabulous-looking salad. This Asian Chicken, Cabbage and Noodles Salad is oh so easy to make, thanks to a few key ingredients.

What You Need
1 pkg. (3 oz.) ramen noodle soup mix
1 pkg. (14 oz.) coleslaw blend (cabbage slaw mix)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts
4 green onions, diagonally sliced
1/3 cup PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts
1/2 cup KRAFT Lite Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing
1 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter

Make It
Break Noodles into small pieces in large bowl. Add coleslaw blend, chicken, onions and nuts; mix lightly. Discard Seasoning Packet from soup mix or reserve for another use. [As near as I could figure, this recipe calls for using uncooked Ramen noodles. I guess the noodles soak up the dressing? Anyway, I’ve never made it that way. I cook the noodles because NOODLES!]

Beat peanut butter and dressing with whisk until blended. Add to salad; mix lightly.

As long as you aren’t allergic to peanuts, this is a fairly healthy and yummy quick lunch or dinner for those hot summer days. For all the nutritutional info, CLICK HERE to go to the Kraft recipe site. I checked with the characters and I couldn’t get any of the guys to admit that they would eat this. The kids all turned up their noses, too. However, the Bee Dubyas are all, “Heck yeah! We love this!” For those unfamiliar, the Bee Dubyas are the Barron Wives (as in the BWs). 😉 Roxie Rowland Barron from REDEEMED BY THE COWGIRL was the one who introduced the other wives to this dish. If you haven’t yet, you should read the whole Red Dirt series, but especially REDEEMED because it’s a finalist in the National Readers Choice Awards. You can get a copy from all the on-line retailers and on the Harlequin site. To find those buy links, check out the RED DIRT page by clicking the cover or by clicking on the tab at the top of the page.

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Another Monday…

It’s Monday. D’uh. Not enough coffee in the world. Just sayin’. Still fighting the chest crud and I made the mistake of taking a second dose of meds when I woke up. I was sleeping hard and kept hearing this weird noise. It kept going off and irritated Adidas enough she was patting my face while Cooper was patting the bed. Fog-brained, I tracked the noise to the bathroom. Lawyer Guy had left his phone. At least I got to stop at Starbucks on the way home.

And it’s not like I had anything to espouse last night when I normally set up the blog post. Last week was. The weekend was. I have a lot on my to-do list this week and the stupid crud leaves me with little energy. *draws an arrow toward self* Whiner!

Okay. Those dang words aren’t going to write themselves. Welcome to my boring life. 😆

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Friday Sinema: In the Air Tonight Vice Style

Since I shared “In the Air Tonight” (and yes, I am a HUGE Phil Collins fan) from LUCIFER last week, I thought I’d share what I’ve considered to be the sexiest five minutes in television for 30+ years. My opinion hasn’t changed. MIAMI VICE and the scene that explains why it was such a hit. Enjoy.

Crockett and Tubbs. Starsky and Hutch. They don’t make ’em like that anymore….

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