Tuesday Treats: French Toast To Go

Posted on June 21, 2016 by Silver James

French toast to goSometimes, I really crave something sweet for breakfast–waffles, blueberry muffins, French toast… But who has time to drag out all the ingredients, the pans, etc. and who wants to cook when it’s hot? I caught this recipe the other day and did a double-take. Easy-peasy French toast with chocolate chips! What is not to love/enjoy about this puppy?!!!

French Toast To-Go

Ingredients:

1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large egg
salt
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 slice white bread
1 tablespoon semisweet chocolate chips
Directions: Whisk together the milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, egg and a pinch of salt in a microwave safe mug or to-go coffee cup until well-combined. Spread the butter onto one side of the bread and cut it into bite-sized cubes. Add them to the mug and stir until all the pieces are soaked with the egg mixture. Pour the chocolate chips on top and push them in between the bread pieces. Microwave the toast for 2 minutes in 30 second intervals until it is no longer runny. Let cool for about 1 minute and enjoy!

Want to watch how it’s done? CLICK HERE

Now go forth and enjoy! Right after you tell me what temptation food you have that you’d love to have as “fast food”?

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Midsummer Monday

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Silver James

summer solsticeToday is the longest day of the year. Technically, there are more hours of daylight than any other day. It’s “midsummer day” even though it is the first day of summer. It should be mid-year day but…whatever. Yes, my brain is still not running on all cylinders so cut me a little slack, ‘kay?

So…I finished Red Dirt Royalty #5. THE BOSS AND HIS COWGIRL, Red Dirt Royalty #3 released–and did pretty well. I hit the top 10 on Amazon of Harlequin Desires. So…cool. And I got a contract addendum for COWGIRLS DON’T CRY, RDR#1. Harlequin is releasing it in audio book. In SWEDEN! Yeah, that was my reaction. 😆 So, who knew that my Oklahoma billionaires would be a hit in Sweden. Next project is DOUBLE TROUBLE, a Hard Target crossover with Roxanne St. Claire’s Barefoot Bay series. I have until August 1st, but I want it done before I leave for San Diego for RWA Nationals.

Speaking of…Cool invites received–a champagne reception with Nora Roberts (that’s due to my service award), and Grand Central/Forever Romance invited me to cocktails and appetizers. I haven’t figured out how I got on that list but dude! So goin’! And I should have checked a map before I decided whether to go with marina/ocean view or city view in my hotel room. I chose ocean but there would have been a chance I could see Petco Park from the upper floors because…All Star Game! No, I don’t have tickets. Yes, I’d sort of like to go because…BASEBALL ALL STAR GAME! But…CROWDS! Ick.

And further speaking of, my OSU Cowboys are in the winners bracket of their bracket at College World Series. They play again tonight against Arizona. Go Pokes!

Reading, I am. Just finished Rocki St. Claire’s BAREFOOT WITH A BAD BOY. All I can say is, DUDE! GABE ROSSI! Which, for me, pretty much says it all. 😆 I’m moving on to BAREFOOT AT MIDNIGHT because silver fox hero and I need to get a feel for the area as I start writing DOUBLE TROUBLE. My cover is REALLY COOL but no reveal until much closer to release in mid-August. And I don’t have a blurb yet because, you know how I love writing blurbs…NOT!

TV = baseball. I’m not really watching anything but baseball at the moment. I’m trying to catch up on reading when I’m not writing.

And that, is the sum total of my week/weekend/life. Y’all tell me what you’ve been up to. I need to live vicariously through all of you!

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Monday? Yes, Yes It Is

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Silver James

Monday again coffee girlSo…I’m running late. This should surprise no one. 😆 I finished the first draft of Red Dirt #5 (WINNING HIS COWGIRL, working title). Rough draft came in at 50,196 words. I need to get it around 49K so I have room for edits after Mr. HQEd gets his hands on it. But a late thread occurred to me so I also have to go back and layer that in so it’s not a complete surprise. Anyway, more work today and tomorrow. By Wednesday, I’ll either be hiding under the covers or feeling more human. 🙄

The REAL OSU swept South Carolina in the NCAA Baseball Super Regionals. The ‘Pokes are headed to Omaha for the College World Series. Yayayayayay! The Big 12 sent 3 teams into the Supers. All three advanced. More yayayayayayyay! And the Cardinals swept the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nice to see the Redbirds pitching getting stronger and bats unlimbered. Yes, lots of baseball because I can have it on TV in the background and not get too distracted when I’m working.

Speaking of, TV has pretty much been baseball. 😆 All my shows are in hiatus or reruns.

Reading. I have managed some. I just finished listening to RIPPED FROM THE PAGES, by Kate Carlisle, in her Brooklyn Wainright Bibliophile Mystery series. These are cozies and I really enjoy Brooklyn. The narrator was awesome! I also read Joe Hill’s THE FIREMAN. That sucker was over 700 pages but wow. Just…wow. NOT a romance. No HEA. Just makes one think. I’m currently rereading SWEET STARFIRE an early SciFi romance by Jayne Ann Krentz/Jayne Castle. Y’all know I can’t read the genre I’m currently writing so no contemporary romance for me for awhile. 😦 This gives me a sad, thought I do get to read two of Roxanne St. Claire’s Barefoot Bay books ASAP because…RESEARCH! DOUBLE TROUBLE, my Barefoot Bay Kindle World novella is next on the drawing board.

And speaking of covers…Yeah, yeah, crazy segue. Deal with it! 😉 I’ve seen my cover for DOUBLE TROUBLE and it is awesome! I also have my final cover for CONVENIENT COWGIRL BRIDE! Reveal coming soon.

Okay, update/break time is over. Back to work. I have 50K words to read and fix! Come Wednesday, I’ll be celebrating big time! What did y’all do this weekend? Probably stuff far more fun then me. 😀

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Friday Free For All

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Silver James

Fifties LatteStand by for gritching and a few high spots gathered from around the webz of the last few weeks while I’ve been in deadline hell.

Gritch–well-known author disses categories on a writers’ loop. Pissed me off. Discourse. Do I engage or walk away? As a few weeks have passed, I let it go but it pissed me right the hell off. She blew off categories like they were easy to write–that same old “it’s a formula, insert tab A in slot b plot.” Seriously? It’s hard to write a category, people. Trust me! I zip out my suspense and paranormals by the word full. My categories? I sweat BS&T. (Blood, sweat and tears).

Awesomesauce: Y’all need to go to the RED PEN OF DOOM blog and check out this amazing 007/Star Wars mashup video made by some students. Y’all should check out all his posts while you’re there. Guy is an awesome guy. Yeah, I see that pun there. 😉

Apologists – FB massaging trending news, the vast majority of employee support Hillary, and all I see is how terrible it is that the Republican Congress wants to look into thing and get an explanation? You can darn well be sure that if the shoe was on the other foot, the lefties would be screaming bloody murder. That said, anybody who gets all their news from a social media site like FB deserves the idiocy they get. And there was a summit. Can’t tell if anything changed. The rhetoric hasn’t. And you know, I don’t care who you support or why but the next person who suggests I fail as a woman because I refuse to vote for the apparent Democratic candidate JUST BECAUSE SHE’S A WOMAN? Yeah…don’t. I’m too tired and short-fused. Obviously, since I discussing politics in public, I thing I very seldom–if ever–do. And speaking of…

Far be it for me to dis another woman’s fashion sense but damn. If you pay $10-15,000 dollars for an outfit? You shouldn’t look like you’re wearing a Chinese concentration camp uniform or a bedazzled white lab coat. Especially when your message is, “I feel your pain, shrinking middle class, despite my millions in speaker fees, and….” Well, enough politics.

Dear New York Times: You suck. You go all out on an article about Rizzoli and Isles the TV show (it’s the show’s last season) and yet you forget to mention Tess Gerritson, the NYT best-selling author who writes the freaking books is never mentioned? REALLY?!?!?! Here’s the LINK to the article. Tess’s response? “How would the journalist feel if they left his by-line off…” Yeah. Grrrr. Disrespect is disrespect.

Okay, I need to balance out the negative with something positive. Here…cute critters. Have a great weekend. Who’s doing something fun?!? Me? Writing and editing (hopefully).

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Thursday Thoughts – Universal Bounce

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Silver James

universeSo, y’all know my life is beyond crazy. I’ve had two books and was part of a box set that required a rewrite of a novella all released in the last two weeks. And Mercury was in retrograde. *nods* Plus the dratted deadline is looming ever closer. Six days and counting. As of my posting this last night, I need approximately 7300 words to the end. That’s to hit the minimum word count. I wanted to give myself a little room for the story. I want to be finished by Monday so I can hard edit before sending it off to New York. Trying to market, write, update things, and keep my sanity has been…interesting. I’m tired. I’m down because sales have slacked off of my self-pub. Things are tight–time, $$, energy. And then the Universe popped up, hit the nail on the head, and made me laugh.

Inquiring minds want to know, Silver:

Have you ever felt so down you wondered whether or not you’d bounce back?

Were you later surprised by how quickly you did bounce back?

And then were you surprised by how far you went?

Did you promise you’d never forget how amazing that was?

We did.

In awe,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®

And did you really once celebrate by dancing on a tabletop, Silver, to Barry Manilow?

Actually, it was Iron Butterfly’s “In A Gadda Da Vida”…. shifty-eyes-ani2faster And yes, there is a story there. No, my lips are sealed because I’m pleading the Fifth! Or did I drink the fifth. I forget… 😆 So, let’s be positive. I’m celebrating that I can publish stories and put them out into the world and that some people love them. What are you celebrating today?

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Wednesday Words: By the Numbers

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Silver James

wurkn-on-mai-plan-for-word-domination-caleb-pupHello. I’m the chicken with it’s head cut off. 😀 I’ve had three books come out in the last couple of weeks. Well, two books, plus a new novella and a book in a box set. And that pesky deadline looming in front of me like a train barreling down the track. The good news is I’m under 10K words to hit the end. So…according to the rules of #1lineWed, whose theme today is “NUMBERS,” I’m supposed to post from a WIP. Yeah…no. I’m combining marketing with blogging. So here’s a snippet from NIGHT MOVES because, hey, with a theme like NUMBERS and a heroine who wants to be a CPA…

This is a conversation between Wizard, who’s the bartender at Chaisin’ Tail, and Lainey, her first night dancing–and before she meets Hollywood. 😀

“I gotta say, you aren’t the type we normally get in here.”

“Yes, well. About that. I need to make some money. A lot of money. Quickly.”

His thick brows scrunched toward the bridge of his nose and he studied me. “You in trouble?”

Uh oh. I probably should have made up something—like I was studying strippers for a research paper for a sociology class or something. I never was much good at thinking fast on my feet. I was slow and methodical, the type to like numbers and accounting. “No. Not me. It’s a…family thing.”

He continued to give me a narrow-eyed look but didn’t pursue the topic. I felt like I’d dodged a bullet. “So…music? I admit I haven’t thought much about it. I tend to listen mostly to country music. The song I danced to this morning was good. Do you have more songs like it?”

Wiz chuckled and shook his head as he ripped the top off a beer with his hand—his bare hand. After a long guzzle, he said, “Most dancers rehearse. Choreograph their routines. Are you tellin’ me you just climbed that pole and did what you did?”

“Pretty much, yes.”

“Damn, babe, you’re killin’ me. I’ll pick out a few songs.”

“Few songs?” I blinked a couple of times, wrapping my brain around that. “I’ll be dancing more than once?”

“Yeah, babe. Didn’t Hoss explain? You’re on once an hour between seven p.m. and two a.m. Last call is two, but the girls keep dancing until we kick the assholes out at three.” He was flicking through some CDs and got a wicked grin. “You familiar with Dylan?”

I was counting up the hours up on my fingers, but glanced up. “As in Bob?”

Wizard nodded. “Yeah. Got your name right here. Lady Lay.” He eyed me again. “And wear your cowboy boots. They’ll go with the fringe.”

I clamped my mouth shut. The name was as good as any and my boots were infinitely better than those stilts the other dancers wore. At the moment, my brain needed numbers. Math. Yes, math was good. I started counting again. Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, one… Six. I had to get on that pole six times a night?
****
So? Who’s got some numbers for us? Share your snippet, 1-liner, or anything else!

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Tuesday Titles: THE BOSS AND HIS COWGIRL

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Silver James

TheBossAndHisCowgirl_James

Happy Book Birthday to Clay, and Georgie!

And ME!  

When the billionaire boss beckons… 

Ever since she left behind her cowgirl roots to work for him, Georgie Dreyfus has had a crush on her boss, US Senator Clay Barron. So the sexy speechwriter is speechless when Clay comes to her rescue on the campaign trail…and they discover a mutual chemistry that will no longer be denied.

But when their relationship faces one of the biggest veto threats of all, Georgie goes home to Oklahoma to regroup. Now the billionaire Barron must choose: continue his quest to win the White House or win back the woman who’s laid claim to his heart…

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This book took a strange turn as I was getting to know the characters. They both surprised me and I fell madly in love with Clay while I was cheering Georgie all the way to the end, promising her she’d get her very own Happy Ever After. Clay made me mad. And he broke my heart. Georgie made me cry. Clay and Georgie made me cry–all in a very good way!

So go read this book. If you find it out in the wild, take a picture of it and post it, tagging me so I see it. Sometimes, it takes some of the “big box” stores to get the shelves turned over. If you don’t see it today, if you happen to be out and about, it’ll be there eventually. And ladies? Take a page from Georgie’s story. Check your “girls” often and get that yearly done no matter how big a pain. I want to keep all of you around for years and years to come!

Oh, and if you haven’t preordered your copy, you can get it at AMAZON | HARLEQUIN | iTUNES/iBooks | KOBO | And mark it WANT TO READ on Goodreads!

Posted in Books, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A May Day Monday

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Silver James

Boss-Cowgirl wine ad PR 1K
I have a manuscript due in a week. Well…a week and a day. Normally, I’m done and working on hard edits by this time in the process. Granted this deadline had a short trigger but add that in with real life stuffs and while I’m not quite to the flailing stage, I’m close.

So…I wish I had exciting adventures to share. Nope. Nada. I worked all weekend. We did keep Stormageddon Friday night while Baseball Boy’s team played in a tournament. I suppose that was an adventure in babysitting. Lawyer Guy and I were exhausted by the time The Only arrived to pick him up. At one point, I had Stormy sitting in bed with me watching baseball. He doesn’t like to go to bed and fights going to sleep. Been there, done that (why yes, he DOES take after his mother, why do you ask?) “Don’t lay down,” I told him. “There’s no sleeping in this bed during baseball.” The kid was so tired he had the stumbles but he sat there. And fell asleep. Sitting up. He fell over sideways on the bed and woke himself up before I could catch him. And then he was awake until Mom arrived. So much for reverse psychology. 😆

This was a big weekend for college baseball and softball. The REAL OSU (Oklahoma State) is in the baseball regionals. As of this typing, they’re undefeated in the winner’s bracket of the Clemson regional. OU is undefeated in their bracket of the Women’s College World Series. So yay! Lots of sports playing in the background as I pound out the words. EDIT FOR UPDATE: OSU moves on to Super Regionals! YAY! OU moves on to the WCWS FINALS! YAYAY!

Oh, have I mentioned that I have a book releasing tomorrow? THE BOSS AND HIS COWGIRL was a very emotional “write” for me. Once you read it, I think you’ll figure out why. Clay and Georgie are prefect for each other and it all comes down to “What will a man do for the woman he loves?” It will be available in bookstores where romance is sold and at the big box stores like Walmart and Target. It’s supposed to populate the shelves Tuesday but I’ve learned sometimes the stockers take their own sweet time. I’ll be haunting my local stores. Well, in between mad bouts of writing. I know. I live such an exciting life, right?

So what exciting things did y’all do this weekend? I want to live vicariously through you!

Posted in Books, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Friday Sinema: I Said I Do

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Silver James

THE BOSS AND HIS COWGIRL goes live on Tuesday, June 7th.

When the billioniare boss beckons…
Ever since she left behind her cowgirl roots to work for him, Georgie Dreyfus has had a crush on her boss, US Senator Clay Barron. So the sexy speechwriter is speechless when Clay comes to her rescue on the campaign trail and they discover a mutual chemistry that will no longer be denied.

But when their relationship faces one of the biggest veto threats of all, Georgie goes home to Oklahoma to regroup. Now the billionaire Barron must choose: continue his quest to win the White House or win back the woman who’s laid claim to his heart…

There’s a scene in the book where Clay and Georgie, the hero and heroine, dance to this song. I figured it was a nice way to spend a couple of minutes today. Enjoy and have an awesome weekend! I’ll be working to give Clay’s younger brother, Cash, his own HEA. 🙂

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Thursday Thoughts – Late Again

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Silver James

coffee lifeNot in my world. Just sayin’…

So, no wisdom from the Universe today. See, yesterday’s #1lineWed theme–LATE–really hits home. I feel like I’m running perpetually behind–a day late and a dollar short. I was never one who was early to bed and early to rise–unless forced to…like with deadlines, but then I’m late to bed and early to rise. Nice to know I have something in common with the awesome Joss Whedon. 😆

I always was an early-morning or late-night writer. Early morning was my favorite; late night was because you had a deadline. And at four in the morning, you make up some of your most absurd jokes. ~Joss Whedon

Because that’s where I am at the moment. I haven’t hit panic mode but I feel like I’m half a step off the pace. I have new books out–the box set and NIGHT MOVES. THE BOSS AND HIS COWGIRL releases on Tuesday and I’m not ready for it either. I’m facing the hard deadline on RDR#5 and lagging behind, though I did make up some big numbers over the weekend despite everything. That’s what’s kicking my butt. I need to make updates to this site, catch up on FB, Twitter…Instagram. Gah! *flail*

Speaking of, I did mention a status update. 🙄 So, Saturday was the book signing down at Anadarko Public Library where, I add with a big golly gee, I’m the featured author for June! I sold two book, the whole family made the road trip, and we stood in line for over an hour to have Meers burgers and homemade ice cream on pecan cobbler at the Meers Store. Trust me, both are worth standing in line that long for. The “fun” started on the way home. The Only got sick. I mean you DO NOT want me to describe how sick she was. We were about 15 minutes from the house. She had a plastic bag but it had a hole in it. So…anyway. We got home, got her clothes off and she got in the shower to clean off. Clothes went into the washer, and I spent thirty minutes cleaning the back seat of Drover. (Drover would be my Highlander.) Only crawled into my bed to wait on her clothes. We ended up sending Baseball Boy and Stormageddon home. I took Only home around 9:30. Wasn’t sure she wasn’t going to end up staying the night. Anyway, we think it was food poisoning from their dinner Friday night.

So, no writing on Saturday, which put me behinderer. And yes, that’s a word because I say it is! 😉 Sunday, I made up for lost time. Sort of. The same for Monday. I was back on my word count pace to finish before deadline so I’d have time to edit. Then I realized that Cash, the hero who has done awful things to his brother’s wives in previous books, wasn’t going to be redeemed on the track I was going. Tuesday was a lost cause as I puzzled through the situation. Yesterday? Yesterday I figured it out. I figured out WHY Cash did the things he did and I figured out how he could redeem himself in the eyes of his brothers. Maybe. So, today? Hopefully many more words. My word count over there on the right is steadily growing. And Cash is breaking my heart in the process. No. Really. He made me cry yesterday and it wasn’t from pulling my hair out. 🙂

I’m still late, but getting there. So…double duty. Some musing, a little inspiration maybe, and a follow/catch up post. Back to work. I can’t wait to see if Cash is going to break my heart again today. How ’bout y’all? Running late or right on time?

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments