Thursday Thoughts: Universal Illusions

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Silver James

universeDear Universe, I am challenged every day, by reality and illusions both. As a writer, though, it’s probably the illusions that give me the most grief. Pulling gossamer strings from thin air, weaving them into words that tell a story, that sings the tale struggling to be told. Magic. Yes. Creating characters and settings and dialogue and descriptions and creating a tapestry out of nothing but sheer imagination is at once the most fulfilling and frustrating life to live. But I am a writer and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Bring it on, Universe! Let’s make magic.

Today, Silver, you will be challenged.

Challenged by the illusions. Tempted to look to time, space, and all things material for understanding; to judge your place in the world; and to make decisions about your life.

Fight it.

Go within.

Remember there’s magic.

You’re alive for greater things,
The Universe

© http://www.tut.com ®

Silver, you are greater.

What illusions will you spin today? What magic will find its way into your lives?

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Wednesday Words: Back

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Silver James

wurkn-on-mai-plan-for-word-domination-caleb-pupGet back, Jack! I’ve got your back (or as my “guys” would say, “We’ve got your six!” 😉 ) Today’s #1lineWed theme is “BACK.” Here’s a snippet from the first chapter of NIGHT MOVES. This is in Hollywood’s POV.

****
The door slammed open and two cops walked in. Great. Could my day get any better? I’d known the big one for years. He sauntered over like he owned the place.

“Well, as I live and breathe if it isn’t little Eric Hilton.”

Huh. Original. I offered him the smile I save for the bar flies hoping to ride me home. The hair on the back of my neck prickled as Digger sat up and took notice. His snarled message was sub-vocal but Wolves have wolf hearing, even in human form.

“He keeps hassling Nightriders, he won’t be living and breathing long.”

I snorted out a laugh, coffee spewing. “This is a little outside your beat, Officer Gerald.”

“Didn’t expect to see you scumbags out in the light of day.”

I made big, I’m-scared eyes and said, “Ooooh.” Gerald didn’t look impressed so I added, “You want something or are you polluting our air just for the fun of it?”

The cop lunged for me but his partner grabbed his arm and hauled him back with an urgent, “Not here. Too many witnesses.”

Huh. So the pansy-ass cop had a serious hard on for me. I wondered what I’d done to chap his ass. Alice arrived with breakfast and a gimlet eye for the cops.

“We don’t give discounts,” she drawled. “You want food or coffee, sit your butts down. You just here to hassle my customers, there’s the door. Don’t let it hit your ass on the way out.”

Damn. Who knew the old broad had that much fire? Gerald’s partner yanked him toward the door muttering about how they couldn’t afford any more disciplinary actions. Yeah, I needed to look into those fuckers. Digger caught my eye and nodded. We’d find out what that shit was all about sooner or later. First though, Mom’s most excellent pancakes, a half dozen eggs over easy, a pile of bacon, and another cup of hot coffee.
****
So, since I have your back, and y’all have mine, anyone want to back up and share some back story words? 😉

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Tuesday Treats: Texas Sheet Cake

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Silver James

For those of you who need a rich, yummy, warm, chocolate fix! This recipe is a staple in all the recipe boxes of the bakers I grew up around (my mother and me included). Though…it really irks me to call this Texas Sheet Cake but even Ree Drummond who is an Okie through and through calls it that so…

texas-sheet-cakeIngredients For Cake:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup Crisco shortening
1 stick margarine (I use butter)
3 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Ingredients For Icing:

1 stick margarine (I use butter)
6 Tbsp. milk
3 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
1 box powdered sugar
chopped pecans (optional) [According to the recipe, NOT optional at my house! 😉 )

Directions:
Combine flour and sugar in a mixing bowl.

In a saucepan, mix water, Crisco, 1 stick margarine, and 3 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa.

Bring to a boil. Keep stirring fairly often while it is coming to a boil.

After it comes to a boil, remove from heat and pour into mixing bowl with the flour and sugar. Mix well.

Add buttermilk, baking soda, eggs and vanilla. Mix well.

Pour into a greased and floured 13 x 9 pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Check at 25 minutes – insert a toothpick. Cake is done when it comes out clean.

Ice cake while it is still warm.

To make icing, bring 1 stick margarine, milk, and 3 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa to a boil, stirring as you go.

Remove from heat. Add vanilla and 3/4 to 1 box of powdered sugar.

Mix together with mixer. Add pecans if you want.

Pour over cake and spread.

Enjoy! Lainey Walker from NIGHT MOVES is going to make this for Eric “Hollywood” Hilton. If she wasn’t his mate before, she will be after! 😀

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Monday All Over Again

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Silver James

Monday again babyI spent a good part of the weekend at the ballpark watching the 14Us play. They won their bracket on Saturday. Yay! As I’m typing this around noonish on Sunday, I have no clue as to the final outcome. Hopefully, I’ll have the energy to edit this post to update. 😆

Baseball stuffs: While I’m on the topic, things have changed tremendously since Only played softball. I remember when we first found her a wheeled equipment bag big enough for all her catcher’s gear and backup (for when she played a field position), extra gloves, bats, cleats. We carried canopies, “camp” chairs, and all equiment–like the trainer’s kit, ice chest, etc.

Sport wagon

Game day tent

Now there are collapsible wagons. And pop-up “game day” tents. I want to shake my cane and tell the whippersnappers how tough it was in our day! 😉 I got tickled at one of the boys on the team. He was trying to tease Only with a Yogi-ism. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a term applied to the wonderful malapropos used by Yogi Berra, one of Only’s heroes. He was using the “Half the game of baseball is 90% mental.” She countered with “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” He just sort of stared. Yeah, whippersnappers! Anyway, after sitting downwind of a dirt field with 30 mph winds blowing, Only and I are now proud owners of the pop-up tents. 😆 You can check them out HERE and HERE.

Reading/audio books: I finished off Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changling series. My eyes have appreciated the rest but time to get back to real words on the screen/page. I have many books waiting. Not sure which one I’ll glom onto in the next day or so.

TV: Finally clearing off some of last season’s Outlander episodes on the DVR. Yeah, about time since the new season started Saturday night. 😆 Ah well. I think I have 4 episodes left? But it’s baseball season!

Writing: Hollywood finally got his $h!+ together. In case y’all aren’t familiar, Eric “Hollywood” Hilton is the hero of NIGHT MOVES, the next Nightrider installment. I have lots of disjointed scenes written, including Lainey Walker’s entrance into the Nightrider world. She’s his heroine, FYI. Wood just didn’t want to cooperate with his intro. Because games were played late Saturday, I got chapters 1 and 2 written, so yay! Hopefully, I’ll have chapter 3 done by the time y’all read this. I posted Wood’s picture on my reader’s page on Facebook, in case any of you don’t follow me over there. You can click on the Facebook icon in the side bar, follow me, and scroll down to see Wood’s picture. All I can say is he’s a handful. 😉

That’s my update. What about y’all? What did you do this weekend? What are you reading? Writing? Watching?

Oh, fence update. The BiL is supposed to send a guy over to give us an estimate. LG does NOT need to be building a fence. Just sayin’…

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Friday Sinema: Be the Cat. Not.

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Silver James

We all need to be more dog. Just sayin’… Happy weekend! I’m fence and wall building and maybe trying to fit in a live baseball game or two. What are y’all up to?

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No Thoughts This Thursday

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Silver James

Yeah…I’m late with the blog. It’s not that I forgot. I didn’t. I even had a message from the Universe picked out. But…

Life happened. With a crash. And my entire afternoon was lost in a puff of concrete dust and rotten wood. Brief back story. Our house was built in 1968. The previous owners (who built the house) had a concrete block wall separating the back/side yard from the two neighbors to the west. When we moved in, with very large dogs, we put up a wood privacy fence. Skip ahead almost 20 years and add normal wear and tear (plus a replacement wood fence 10 years ago), sandy soil, Norwegian wharf rats, carpenter ants, ancient tree roots, and more than a few earthquakes.

Just before noon yesterday, there was a creaking groan, a loud crash, and yelping dogs. I went dashing out to discover five sections of the wooden fence in my neighbor’s yard, covered with the concrete blocks from the 3-foot high wall. I was terrified one of his little dogs was caught under the mess because when my dogs and his dogs are out at the same time, there is much barking going on at the fence. Luckily, he wasn’t home and his critters were safely inside. It was my two big boys who yelped–startled, scared, but unhurt.

I did’t stop to grab a camera then. I grabbed the landline (it was closest to the back door–my cell was still in my office) to call Lawyer Guy. Then, still sans camera/cell phone, I grabbed work gloves and started shifting as many blocks as I could. I managed all but four–those were too heavy for me to life and too far away to “roll.” My neighbor got home, we moved the rest of the blocks, and sort of put the fence back in place. LG got home and “secured” the sections with bungie cords.

Today, I’m waiting on a contractor my BiL suggested to see how much it’ll cost if he does the labor. None of us are in good enough physical shape to really do it, but we will if the cost is too high.

Anyway, that pretty much killed any writing mojo and Stormageddon was arriving around 5:00 for his weekly visit and dinner with Jammie and Big Daddy while Baseball Boy conducts practice. By the time he was gone, dogs fed, etc., I took arthritis-strength acetaminophen and went to bed.

And that’s why no Universal musing today. Instead, I offer a pan photo of the aftermath. Click on the photo to get the full size pic.
Yard pan

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Wednesday Words: Up

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Silver James

wurkn-on-mai-plan-for-word-domination-caleb-pupToday’s theme for #1lineWed is one that leaves a lot open to interpretation. When I searched for “UP” in BLOOD BRIDE (which is complete now! Well, first draft anyway 😉 ) the opening scene gave me lots of possibilities. So, consider this a tease, a snippet, an enticement I hope you enjoy…

Chapter 1

Some wise guy once said, “Every life is heroic.” Couldn’t prove that by Rhys Kendric. He’d had a chance to be a hero once, but he’d cut and run like a prissy little girl. Of course, he’d been fifteen, with the Blood Moon hanging full on the eastern horizon and the grisly remains of his father lying at his feet.

Fuck. He hated getting maudlin like this. That’s what happened when he went too long between jobs. Rhys stared at the grimy mirror above the back bar and toasted his reflection. After draining the cheap whiskey in his glass, he slammed it on the bar. His fingers itched to pick up the phone lying at his elbow. Maybe he’d call Frank. It was Wednesday night. He’d be home watching TV. If the old man didn’t have a job, he’d know of someone who did. The face of the phone lit up before he could make the decision. Frank.Speak of the devil.

“Yo. Gotta a job for me?” Rhys hoped he didn’t sound like he was begging. Not that he was. Much.

“I can’t call just to say howdy?”

Rhys pulled the phone away and stared at it like it might bite him. Frank Lucchese never called just to chat. He put the phone back to his ear. “What’s wrong?”

“Nuthin’.”

Something in the old man’s voice put Rhys on guard. “Dammit, Frank. What’s up?”

“I almost didn’t call you, son.”

Fuck. When Frank called him son, things weren’t going to hell, they were firmly in residence. “Why not?”

“There’s a job. It’s tailor made for you.”

Ah. A job with special sauce on the side. That meant another Wolf had jumped bail. Frank always called him in for those hunts. Took one Wolf to track and trap another. Still, something was off. “Waitin’ for the other shoe, old man.”

Rhys heard Frank suck in several deep inhalations, like he was working up his nerve to keep talking. “The job…well, it means going back to your old stompin’ grounds.”

Double fuck. Now it was his turn to suck in oxygen. He hadn’t been back to Fleetwood since that fatal autumn fifteen years ago. Except in his nightmares. He closed his eyes and the scene his memory replayed was just as vivid now as it had been in real life.

****

What’s up in your worlds? Got any words to share?

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Tuesday Treats: Red Velvet Churros

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Silver James

Do I really need to say anything else about this dessert? I thought not. Go forth and enjoy!

Red Velvet Churro Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups water
¼ cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup red velvet cake mix
2 eggs
canola oil, for frying
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 ounce cream cheese, softened
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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A Monday in April

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Silver James

Coffee MondayI suck at blog titles, especially when I’m caffeine deprived. 😆 Ah well. I need to focus what little talent I have on book titles anyway, right? *nods*

Yesterday was Opening Day for baseball season! Yayayayay! Baseball is back! Sadly, my Cardinals lost. 😦 They’re off today but will play the Pirates again tomorrow. Just like last year, the Cards are plagued by injuries.

Book news. I have now been invited to write in the Kindle Worlds of three NYT/USA Today best-selling romance authors. Here’s what I’m writing over the next few months:

August release: Roxanne St. Claire’s Barefoot Bay world. Book title: DOUBLE TROUBLE, which is a Hard Target crossover. Gabe Rossi calles in a favor from Dominique “Dom” Karras, intrepid black ops pilot and ladies man. Dom is supposed to fly a surrogate mom and her twins from Barefoot Bay to a safe house in the Caribbean. Dom doesn’t do moms or kids. *bwahahahaha* There is the BEST scene of dirty diapers! Just sayin’…

October release: Paige Tyler’s Dallas Fire & Rescue. Book title: NIGHT FIRE, a Nightriders crossover with Smoke Jenner, arsonist extraodinaire, and Leigh Daniels, arson investigator. Go #TeamSmoke! 😀

November release: Susan Stoker’s Delta Force world. Book title (working): RESCUE MOON, a Moonstruck Alphas crossover. Wolf and super-soldier Hawkins “Hawk” Greenwood is recruited to save a kidnapped college professor from Mexican bandits.

January, 2017 release: Back to Paige’s DF&R world. Book title (working): CRASH LANDING, a Moonstruck Alphas crossover. A Wolf FBI (or maybe Homeland Security) agent meets his mate, a female ARFF with DF&R, at the scene of a plane crash.

Other books in the works:

BLOOD BRIDE will hit your Kindle this summer if SMP declines. (A Moonstruck Alphas book)
NIGHT MOVES, Hollywood and Lainey’s story, should be out in May/June. *crosses fingers*
Untitled Penumbra book – Roman’s story, this fall.

No concrete word on the next three Red Dirt books, but fingers crossed for all three releasing in 2017 – spring, sumnmer, and fall. THE BOSS AND HIS COWGIRL releases June 1 and HIS CONVENIENT COWGIRL BRIDE comes out in October.

Reading: I’m still doing the audio book version of a reread of Nalini Singh’s Psi-Changling series. She has a new book coming out this summer in the series. I finished T.M. Causey’s THE SAINTS OF THE LOST AND FOUND. My review was cool enough that Toni included it in her newsletter. That book is one my Best Books of the Year list on Goodreads. As far as I know, I’ve finished up all my contest reads and I have another MS to critique for my CP. I need to stop reading/listening and write. LOL

There’s not much else going on in my life. We get Stormageddon time because it’s baseball season (Baseball Boy coaches a 14U team and he has an evening practice that conflicts with Only’s working hours so we get the Sprout for dinner and play one night. Okay, back to words for me. What about y’all? What do you need to get back to this week?

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Friday Sinema: Foolin’ Around

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Silver James

I’ve never been much on April Fool’s jokes–pulling them, anyway. That doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a good one. When Smart Bitches and Dear Author websites would conspire, I always enjoyed their goofiness. In searching for a video for today, I came across this one. Many schools do “Graduation” videos (Only did these for both her BA and her MA) where students thank teachers/professors and wax poetic on their educational experiences. Well, the teachers in this high school took that one step further. I laughed. I hope you do too. Happy April Fools!

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