Wednesday Words: Be Ready

Posted on November 18, 2025 by Silver James

Srew it. I it publish before I set the time for tomorrow. Have your Wednesday Words 12 hours early. 🤦🏼‍♀️

How can it be Wednesday again–and already?!?! It is. And I have words. Actually, I have a lot of words but y’all only get the bare bones. I did the mandatory 250 words and then added, subtracted and ended up with around 2K words.Sadly, other people impressed last week’s Thursday Thread’s judge. That’s okay. I don’t do it to win. I do it to make sure that I get some words written even if I’m procrastinating. Last week’s prompt is: *”Be ready at dark.”* The snippet is, at this point in time, apropos of nothing in the timeline. That means it will happen but I have absolutely no clue when. 😄

****
Ariel slipped back into the shadowed stairwell. He would not admit his relief. As he’d been thinking of her all morning, it was as if he’d conjured her out of thin air. Still, he wasn’t ready to be seen yet. Of course, that was before that damnable dragon strode through the front door as if this hotel was his lair.

Sade instinctively turned to stare at the suave man striding toward her, the smile on his face not reaching his ice-blue eyes though his arms were open as if to offer a welcoming hug. The woman beside her caught her breath and let it out on an appreciative sigh. Sade couldn’t blame her. Nikos was something to look at.

“My darling Sade. What brings you here to the wilds of New York?”

He would have hugged her if she hadn’t stared him down. He laughed. She didn’t. What the bloody fucking hell are you doing here?”

“I might ask you the same question, Agent Marquis.”

“I’m here on official business.”

“As am I.” Nikos stared at the hallway.

Ariel stepped into the light and regarded them both. To Sade, he said, “You know about the murders?” She nodded. He’d already read the knowledge in Nikos’ eyes. “You have thoughts?”

“Serial killer,” Sade said immediately. “I know the victims are of a type but they’re all human. Is there something about their deaths that ties them to a magick?”

The Fae shrugged. “Perhaps. We need to go hunting. Be ready at dark.”
****’

There it is. Things are getting serious in Rochester. *bwahaha* Writers, enjoy the prompt. Readers, would you go hunting with this crew?

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Tuesday Treats & Titles: Moonstruck Cinnamon Roll Bundt Cake

Posted on November 18, 2025 by Silver James

Moonstruck Cinnamon Roll Bundt Cake
Yield:12 servings
Prep time: 5 minutes Minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes Minutes
Total time: 40 min

Ingredients
2 Jumbo Cinnamon Roll packages (I use the Pillsbury rolls)
1 Standard Cinnamon Roll package

Instructions
1 – Preheat oven to 350℉
2 – Generously grease a 12-cup Bundt cake pan.
3 – Open cinnamon roll packages as per the instructions on the package
4 – Place the regular sized cinnamon rolls in the bottom of the Bundt cake pan.
5 – Place the jumbo sized rolls around the outer and inner edges of the pan.
6 – Place into oven at 350 Fahrenheit and bake for 30 – 40 minutes.
7 – Place on cooling rack for 5 minutes, flip cake over and let cool for 1 hour.
8 – Remove Bundt cake pan. Drizzle with icing if desired.
9 – Drizzle with the icing included in the cinnamon roll packages.

Tips
Note: To prevent overbaking, check the internal temperature after 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and insert a thermometer into the center of the cake. The cake is done when the internal temperature reaches 180 degrees Fahrenheit. If more time is needed, return the cake to the oven and check temperature every 5 minutes. 

Have guests coming for the holidays? Need a quick dessert or easy breakfast? Boy have I got the recipe for you! Talk about easy peasy and quick? And the only clean-up is the bundt pan. Everything else disappears into the trash can.

And yes, even Hannah has made this dessert. Even more awesome, if she’s busy, Liam can–and does–make it.

“Yo, Silver! I’m gettin’ effin’ tired of you saying even Hannah can make this. You keep throwin’ shade at me. I can cook. Mostly. Sort of. I mean, look at my kid. He didn’t skip any meals.”

Me, sitting here biting my lips because Liam is standing behind his mom doing that whole Chevy Chase SNL New mocking schtict.”

“My son is standing behind me, isn’t he?”

Me, nodding, big-eyed and really trying not to laugh. Laughin at Hannah can be dangerous.

“You know, son, I brought you into this friggin’ world and I can take you right back out of it.” Liam leaves, laughing. “Do you see what I have to put up with? Look, all you readers out there, I need some back up here. Go buy MOONSTRUCK: SECRETS. It starts at the very beginning of my story and has a lot more info than the Original BLOOD MOON. I mean, don’t get me fu-rrrricking wrong. That’s a good story but it just gives you the basics. Plus, you get Lightfoot and Liz’s story. It’s a good one. Not as good as mine and Mac’s because we are fu-rrrigging awesome. Just click on any pic that has the cover or on the titles. Through internet magic, you’ll end up at Books2Read and you can find your favorite on-line bookstore. And see? I told I wouldn’t fucking cuss.”

Make Hannah’s–and my–day, folks. Go buy the book. Or, if you already have the book, read it and leave a review. And enjoy this great breakfast/dessert cake.

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Mid-Monday Musing

Posted on November 17, 2025 by Silver James

This meme always makes me laugh. I really don’t want to adult today but I sorta have to. There is laundry to be done and I need to make a quick trip to Ace Hardware for birdseed. I might be brave and take Toby with me instead of Jake. We’ll see. He was something of a PITA Pup yesterday.

Thanksgiving is a week from this Thursday. The James Gang is coming here for various reasons. I given everyone their choice: full (or almost full) T-giving feast with turkey and all the trimmings or we can go straight for the good parts–turkey sandwiches and pie. The Kids are discussing and will let me know. I’m the only one who truly loves the whole thing including stuffing, mashed potatoes and giblet gravy, homemade rolls, cranberry salad, green bean casserole, candied sweet potatoes with marshmellows, and then the pies. Some like turkey, potatoes and gravy. Some like turkey and sweet potatoes. Some like pie. One year, we were all incredibly busy and we “defaulted” to turkey sandwiches and pie. It was a hit for both T-giving and Christmas if/when other families had “visitation rights.” I am not opposed to this solution.

In sports news, Stormy’s soccer team made it to the championship finals in this weekend’s tournament. Sadly, they lost but it’s the first time they made it that far in a tournament. Big yay there. We made it to one game but then health kicked in so we stayed home Sunday. It happens. My Cowboys lost. OU won, beating Alabama.

I worked on the book a little on Saturday before we head out for the soccer match. I produced new words but spent more time rearranging some scenes and working on the timeline. Every time I do that, I have glimmers of hope that I will finish the dang thing eventually!

I also finished off Anne Bishop’s TURNS OF FATE. If you are a fan of her The Others series, you really should give this new series a try. I already want to relisten to this book and I’m gritting my teeth on how long it might take for the next book to be published. I loved it. I may have to do a relisten of The Others now. Or maybe I’ll give her Black Jewel series another try. I’ve never really been able to get into that one for some odd reason.

That’s about the sum total of my weekend. Did any of y’all do, read, watch anything exciting? I’ll just be hanging around hiding in my blanket fort in-between loads of laundry.

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Friday Sinema: Carry Me Home

Posted on November 14, 2025 by Silver James

I discovered this song, artist, and video thanks to B.E. Yes, it’s going to be inspiration for a chapter in Ariel’s book. Have a great weekend. We have soccer. Maybe. Depends on the weather.

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Knowing

Posted on November 13, 2025 by Silver James

Sometimes, I wonder if blogging is worth the time and effort. Heck, sometimes, I wonder if social media is worth it. Yes, I’ve made friends that I’ve never seen in person and probably never will. Yes, I stay in touch with friends that I have met but we live far-flung lives. See, I’m basically an introvert. Oh, I can put myself out there. In fact, I’ve been an actress–but that was like writing. I put on somebody else’s “life” and pretended to be them for awhile. I’ve also been a fire chief and taken command of incidents. I guess it’s the two fish constantly circling each other and it depends on which is on top when the current stops. I’m a Pisces, you see. And no, I haven’t had much coffee yet, why do you ask? Anyway. The Universe hit me with this:

The only way to get what you really want is to know what you really want.

The only way to know what you really want is to know yourself.

The only way to know yourself is to be yourself.

And the only way to be yourself, Silver, is to listen to your heart.

I do,
The Universe
©www.tut.com

P.S. French toast every now and then might help, too, Silver.

I wish there waqs a way to magically write books. I mean, like a dream up the story and book fairy plucks the words out of my imagination and with a sweep of her magic wand displays them on the monitor. There it is–the book whole cloth, in no need of revisions, timeline perfect, plot points in place, and character arcs guaranteed to make readers everywhere fall in love with the them and everyone wants to read it and Hollywood wants to make it into a movie and…and… Wait. What was the question? Okay, Big U. The message is there. I just need to figure it out. Maybe I’ll go fix some French toast for breatkfast…

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Wednesday Words: Now Is The Time

Posted on November 12, 2025 by Silver James

Wednesday, Wednesday, so good to me…

Oh, wait. Right song, wrong day. I have words to share this lovely Wednesday morning. I was lucky enough to capture the honorable mention for last week’s Thursday Threads flash fiction challenge. The prompt is: *“You should get out sometime.”* This is the third week in a row the prompt fits nicely into the same extended scene. In this case, it’s the beginning of the scene.

****
As she stepped off the bus, the drizzle trailed chilly fingers across Aisling’s cheeks. She didn’t bother with her umbrella. It would do nothing to hinder the damp and with the wind kicking up, she’d just be battling one more thing on her way home. Having grown up in Seattle, Rochester’s sodden atmosphere didn’t hold a candle to weather she was used to.

The long block’s walk to Post House was made in semi-dark. She’d stayed late at the library. Again. Even after six months, there were nooks and crannies and vaults to be discovered.

There were times when she wanted to hunt down her predecessor and give that person a good rant. She made it up on the porch just as the front door opened. The Bees and Carla spilled out.

“Aisling!” Carla all but shouted her name. “Perfect. You’re just in time.”

Brad and Bruce nodded in unison. “Come with,” Bruce urged.

Aisling shook her head out of sheer reflex and took a step back away from the group.

Carla shook a finger at her. “Uh uh. We’ve talked about this. You should get out sometime. And guess what! This is sometime. We’re heading down to Cavanaugh’s.”

She couldn’t help herself. She asked, “The place across from the Daily Grind?”

“Yes. Ye old Irish pub and neighborhood watering hole.” Carla didn’t give her a chance, hooking her arm through Aisling’s. “C’mon. It’ll be fun.”

Pulled along, she wondered if those would be famous last words.
****

Y’all know the drill. Writers, do your thing, should you wish. Readers, have you ever been to an Irish pup? 🙋🏼‍♀️

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If It’s Tuesday…

Posted on November 11, 2025 by Silver James

…It must be time for tacos! Yesterday slipped away. I had two tech guys all over the utility pole in the backyard yesterday so interenet was hit and miss and then I wanted to try something different for dinner and…and…I totally blanked about doing a blog for today. And didn’t remember until just now. Come back tomorrow for words! Enjoy your tacos. 😉This pretty much sums up my mentality at the moment.👇🏼👇🏼

Also, it’s Veteran’s Day. Thank all those you know for their service and the sacrifices made by their families while they served. Thank you, Veterans! ❤️

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Monday Mosey

Posted on November 10, 2025 by Silver James

Another few cups of coffee and I’ll be ready to mosey my way through Monday. Have you ever used the word mosey? Have you ever mosied? Is it just a Southern thing? I need more coffee.

First up, AT&T Tech is coming back out today. I’m a bit confused but I hope they aren’t. The tech guy who was here most of Wednesday did LOTS of things to the things. He switched out two hardware items–mysterious boxes that get things connected. He went to the branch box which is about a block and a half away to check our connecitons there. He cleaned those–and the whole box in general. He rewired the inside control box that does the fiber to cord switch, He discovered our outside box was literally hanging by a nail. He rewired inside it and attached it properly to the brick with masonry screws. Then he went up the ladder to the stuff out on the telephone pole. THAT’S when he decided to call in the crew that is coming today. At least, I hope it’s the outside crew. Inside Tech Guy put in a work order for Outside Tech Guy to come fix the stuff on the pole. Long story. We were one of the first neighborhoods to get AT&T fiber and we immediately switched to it and U-Verse rather than Cox Cable. (Do NOT get me started on them!) Anyway, that was a loooong time ago. There have been ice storms, wind storms, and storm storms with subsequent damage. The stuff that needs fixing out there was outside of Inside Guy’s box. So, the message from AT&T is that Tech is coming today between 8 and 10 a.m. But it sorta sounds like it might be another Inside Guy. Or something. I’m so confused. Anyway.

I managed to write some last week and over the weekend. I feel weird not knuckling down and forcing out at least 1700 words a day. This is November. But my brain just doesn’t want to cooperate.But I wrote! I finished off 2 chapter that I’d started and got stuck in. They are now complete. The plot is moving forward and solidifying. I think I know what’s going to happen in the end. I have new scene to write. Poor Sade’s entrance keeps getting pushed back. She started to appear in Chapter 7. Now it’s like chapter 10 and with this new scene, it’ll probably get bumped to chpater 11. Still, progress!

In other creative news, I played around with Microsoft’s Copilot image maker. I’ve played around with Grok (the beta program on X, not the downloaded one) and the results were never quite…right. I got a few good images from Grok but many that I just tossed. Remember the Halloween pics of the dogs and the cats? Those were Copilot. Anyway, I played around Sunday morning. I now have some fall graphics with the boys (dogs) and the boys.(cats). I also have their descriptions saved so I don’t have to go through that again. Granted Toby still needs a little tweeking but I’ve figured out how to upload an image so CP can get a visual. On a whim–and because his was the last scene I wrote on Saturday–I decided to play around with Nikos’s dragon form. CP nailed it! Then it offered to do a 3-panel image of Nikos morphing into his dragon. It’s pretty darn cool. And no, I’m not sharing any time soon. This book is supposed to be Ariel’s. Nikos will get his own.

In book news, I’m listening to Rhiannon Held’s Silver series, first book SILVER, second book TARNISHED, which I’m listening to now. The books came out in like 2012(?) or thereabouts and are a very interesting take on werewolf life and history. If you aren’t familiar, you might check them out. I actually read the books back then. Now they are out in the full cast version from Graphic Audio. That’s a yippee for me! I bought the first two but the series is available on Hoopla. I’ll be borrowing the other three books from Hoopla, book budget being what it is.

No soccer. No college football. All my teams had byes this week. Not much else went on so on that note, I weill return you to your regularly scheduled social media scrolling. I’m going to have another cup of coffee while waiting for Tech Two to arrive. Hope y’all had a great weekend!

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Friday Sinema: Monkey Business

Posted on November 7, 2025 by Silver James

Yes, I’m late. But hey, I’m here! I apologize for the quality of some of these videos but I think you’ll get the idea. WC Fields famously once said never work with kids or animals. Good thing advertisers didn’t get the message. Hope this gives you a laugh. Enjoy your weekend!

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Show

Posted on November 6, 2025 by Silver James

Today’s message from the Big U comes at a time when I’m finally getting some insights into one of the main characters. Aisling has turned out to be almost as big a PITA as Toby. Except she doesn’t chew up pillows. At least not yet. First, she fought me over her name. Then she balked about her entrance into the book. She informed me that she was just as important as Ariel and therefore…yada, yada. So then this message recently dropped into my inbox and things started to fall into place.

No one, Silver, can see into your heart.

Which is why you sometimes have to show them how you feel.

Winks & hugs –

The Universe

©www.tut.com 

P.S. No one can see into your mind either, Silver, but then, your thoughts eventually become things.

Writers are said to put our hearts and our souls into our work. Which is true for the most part. In order to engage our readers, we have to give them a glimpse of our hearts. We have to show them how we feel about our characters. If we’re honest, we’ll admit that we even love the villians just a little bit. This is how we breath life into our characters and how we get our readers to care. I know that I, as a writer, want to connect with my readers and want them to connect with my characters–love them or hate them. It’s the PS that explains writing in a nutshell. Our thoughts eventually become things. Those things are words and sentences. Paragraphs. Chapters. And finally, a complete story meant to entertain, lead the reader on an adventure, to fall in love. Gotta show not tell. And then we all get the HEA. And no, I haven’t had much coffee this morning, why do you ask?

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