Thursday Thoughts: Universal Success

Posted on August 14, 2025 by Silver James

The Universe is back in writing advice mode. Well, okay. Technically, It usually is–or at least that’s how I interpret the messages. This one in particular sets out things very succinctly.

It doesn’t matter if you are a plotter, a pantser, or a puzzler. It doesn’t matter if we write fiction or non-fiction. We need some sort of roadmap to get us from the first sentence to the final word.

The secret to every success, Silver, lies not in what or even who you know, but in clearly “seeing” where you want to go.

And going.

The power to have it all,
The Universe
©www.tut.com 

P.S. You were born with the gifts of a god, Silver, and I don’t just mean making it rain.

You know, in a way, writers are gods of a sort. At least those of us who create fiction. Too bad we can’t do it in the proverbial 7 days. Just think of all the books! 🤔 On second thought, probably better than it takes us a while. But we do breath life in the worlds we create, the characters our imagination gives birth to. It is our super power. Use it for good.

Now, if I could only make it rain on demand….

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Wednesday Words: Soul Mates

Posted on August 13, 2025 by Silver James

EDIT: Well, filch! Got the day right, wrong time. This whole am/pm thing is a pain and I get distrcated and don’t check to see if the dang blog publishes until waaay past OOPS! time. *sigh* It’s Wednesday. I have words. Sadly, no award for me from last week’s Thursday Threads but that’s okay. I have fun with these words and yes, I’ve already expanded this scene but y’all will have to wait until the book comes out. I’ll only say that this scene is part of Ariel getting to know the young fae who…well…you’ll see. This week’s inspiration prompt is: *“Our souls speak to each other.”*

****
Druic carefully carried the two ceramic mugs from the counter to their table, artfully dodging around people. With a flourish, he placed the latte with a stacked heart design in the foam in front of Ariel. He set his own mug down and settled onto the bench.
Ariel eyed his coffee then Druic’s. The other fae’s mug displayed a swan. “Do I want to know?”

The tips of Druic’s pointed ears reddened as he mumbled, “It’s a skinny vanilla.”
Sipping in lieu of laughing, Ariel maintained a poker face. He realized he knew very little about his new…sidekick. The kid had already compared himself to Batman’s Robin. “Tell me about yourself.”

Blushing more, Druic rattled off his lineage, education, and position in the Seelie Court. Ariel didn’t roll his eyes but it was tough not to. “So much for name, rank, and serial number. That’s not what I asked. I want to know about you. What do you like to do? Do you read? What’s your favorite food? I mean…besides drinking skinny vanilla lattes.”

“I blame that one on my lady.”

Ariel raised an eyebrow in surprise. “The queen drinks those things?”

“Oh no. Nonono.” Druic shook his head vigorously. “Not Queen Titania. My lady.” Scarlet washed over his face and ears.

“Ah, I see. Your girlfriend.”

“Yes.” The kid breathed out the affirmation like a prayer. “She is my one. Our souls speak to each other.”

Ariel wondered if the lady shared Druic’s enthusiasm. He’d find out.
****

There you have it, just two fae sitting in a coffee shop sipping lattes and getting to know one another. Writers, if you can use it, don’t lose it. Readers, do you like little scenes like this that might or might not move the bigger plot along? I call it adding a touch of domesticity. 😉

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Tueday Treats & Titles: Pumpkin Moon

Posted on August 12, 2025 by Silver James

Today’s treat is about as easy as it can be. I mean…two ingredients. Some stirring. Baking. And voila! Muffins! I’ll be honest. I haven’t made these. I probably will when it gets closer to actual pumpkin time but I figured we could all tuck it into our recipe boxes just in case.

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
Yield: 12 muffins
Prep time: 5 minutes Minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes Minutes
Total time: 25 min

Ingredients
1 box Devils Food Cake mix *do not add water, eggs, or oil
1 can 15 ounces pumpkin puree *not pumpkin pie mix

Let’s Make This
1 – Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners.
2 – In a medium bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree and cake mix.
3 – Divide the batter evenly among the twelve muffin liners.
4 – Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
5 – Cool for 5 minutes before enjoying!

Tips
1. Store in air-tight container for a few days or freeze.

2. If you have an “old-fashioned” ice cream scoop–the kind that has a release lever–use to scoop this really thick batter into the muffin cups.

3. This batter is very dense so the muffins don’t rise much.

Poor Hannah. The school called and said she needed to bring a snack for the Pumpkin Festival at school. Liam found her sitting on a kitchen stool staring at a can of pumpkin puree and a box of cake mix. She hadn’t been to the store, didn’t have eggs, milk, or oil. If these things don’t taste yummy, then blame it all on Liam. 😉 Curious? Grab the whole MOONSTRUCK GENESIS series to get the whole story of how Hannah met Mac and the Wolves, how Liam came into the world, all the adventures and the formantion of the Sisterhood of the Mates. And finally, how they found themselves in a small mountain town in West Virginia. Just click on the pic, the series title, or use the QR code to take you to the series landing page. You can find all the books and all the on-line retailers where you can procure your copies. And just remember… It might be August but pumpkin spice everything is just around the corner!

Pssst. This is an actual recipe. Cross my heart.

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Monday Misadventures, Toby Edition

Posted on August 11, 2025 by Silver James

Another Monday and we’re almost mid-August. Days are getting a little shorter. School starts this week. We’re still sleep deprived and wondering if we’ve lost our collective minds or if they just wandered away for a short adventure.

Speaking of adventures, last week was a whirlwind of them as you know if you read my Friday post. There have been a few improvements, some status quos, and lots of coffee.

Woke up Sunday morning to the debris of a small tornado, ie. Toby. He shredded the pillow Pete naps on when he’s not napping on the bed. It sat on my antique cedar chest and Pete had the stuffings arranged just the way he wanted them. That’s been his go-to spot for a couple of years. I’d caught Toby lying on it the other night, took it away, told him “NO!” in no uncertain terms and put it back where it belonged. Yeah, well. I know better now. He seems obsessed with Pete’s scent. On the flip side, Pete is all attitude now. He’s figured out that Toby doesn’t quit know what to do with him when he stands his ground. Pete gets a smug look when he sits blocking a doorway and Toby just sort of stands there making little whiny noises.

Sadly, Loki is still mostly in the witness protection program. He did come out yesterday morning for a bit while both dogs were outside. Toby has tried to get into Loki’s secret hiding places under the table and bed in Jake’s room (aka the guest room) whick Loki considers to be his room too. I’m fairly confident they will work it out. Loki needs to just stop and stare at Toby like Pete does in stead of running away. When he runs, Toby thinks it’s a game.

Saturday night, I tried a different tactic for the Midnight Barking. Pete was still out in the garage so I invited Toby to get on the bed thinking he was just missing warm-blooded contact. Oh. My. God! It was like trying to sleep with a toddler who’d just eaten a whole chocolate cake and was jonesing for a can of Redi-Whip. Not my brightest idea even if it made me remember back to the days when Only would sleep with us upon occasion.

I did manage a little bit of writing. I really wish this dang book would write itself. I’d tell it to take it’s place on the back burner for lack of cooperation but no other characters/plots have stepped up to pinch hit. I’m about 23K words in. I know the story and have a good sense of the characters now but the words I write really are blah. So I write over them. Around them. Under them. Then I erase them and start over. Rinse and repeat until I get fed up and say, “I’ll fixe the damn think later, move on!”

It’s hot. We’ve only hit 3 digits once so far but we’ve pushed that mark a lot with high enough humidity to make being outside miserable. I will say that the wind this morning held a hint of cool even though it was 79 at 7 a.m. We’re supposed to get a break for a few days starting tomorrow. The good news is, the days ARE getting shorter. As I mentioned to begin this post.

On that note, I need to start the laundry, drink some more coffee, try to figure out how to train a stubborn dog–I mean seriously!! Toby is a toddler in the terrible twos. You say “No!” and he stares right back and mimics with a “BarkNo!” 🙄 How was your weekend? Also, have a great week! May we all be productive.

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Friday Free-For-All: Critter Edition

Posted on August 8, 2025 by Silver James

TGIF! I promised some news. This has been quite a week. Let me back up to Sunday. Well, actually, I need to go back a little further. LG and I have been watching the local rescue pages. I mean, we’ve always kind of done that but it’s been a long time now since Boone crossed the rainbow bridge. Jake has been happy being an only dog, seemingly. But he is getting older and having a younger running buddy might be a good thing. We had no plans to actually adopt. We just window-shopped. The D&CDS has always been good to us, putting the right dog or cat in our path at the right time.

So…Last week, I saw a dog posted on the Neighborhood app. Someone had dumped a Great Pyrenees out at the lake and he ended up on the portch of a young couple that do fostering with a GSD rescue. The gal was posting in all the usual places. No microchip. No one claimed him. They then went knocking on doors. They found an elderly brother and sister (and by that, I mean even older than LG and me) who had started taking care of the dog and had him vetted. He’d already been neutered by they got his shots and had him tested for the usual. But then they had trouble confining him–short fence and he is a wanderer. When he didn’t come home, they figured something had happened. They admitted they couldn’t handle him, huge puppy that he is. So, the couple started looking for fosters and/or shelters.

I showed his picture to LG. We talked about it. I contacted the gal. We talked. He’s 1 1/2 years old. His potty trained. He’s heartwarm negative, has his shots, as mentioned neutered. Got along with their herd of GSDs and their cats. On Sunday, they brought him over to meet Jake. There was no dust-up. Thing was, LG had a procedure (upper GI scope) scheduled for Monday morning and I had to go with him. We didn’t want to leave the pup home alone with the cats until we were sure there’d be no dust-ups there. They agreed to keep him one more day and they’d deliver him back to us on Monday afternoon. Happy anniversay to us. 😂

This is Toby. He is sweet and goofy. He is also nosey. Very curious. He has to smell everything. I haven’t been able to get any “cute” pictures of him but you can get an idea from the two I’m posting. Pete is not happy but he’s only hissed at Toby once. Toby backed off. I’ve only seen Loki three times since Toby’s arrival. He’ll eventually come out and make friends. Jake has warned Toby off from being too curious about Loki. Click on the side arrows to see his other picture.

According to the vet, Toby is likely 1/2 Pyre and 1/2 Anatolian Shepherd. He’s already as tall as Jake but not as heavy. Jake is 130, Toby is only 90 at the moment. He’ll put on a little weight as he matures. I can testify that he is ALL muscle! Training him is going to be fun. 👀 He’s smart but stubborn. He is also a night owl. Any little noise outside and he’s on alert. BarkBarkBarketyBark. Last night between 11 pm and 6 am, I went out with him twice and LG went out three times. Hopefully, he’ll learn. If not, I see many daytime naps in my future.

In other news, the tests found nothing wrong–which is good, sort of–but that means we still don’t know what is causing his symptoms.

That’s all the free. What’s your week been like? Have a great weekend!

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Journey

Posted on August 7, 2025 by Silver James

IYKYK

I’ll admit something here. I laughed out loud when I read this little tidbit from the Universe. Are y’all familiar with the above internet abbreviation? It stands for “If You Know, You Know.” It’s a way to share something of an insider’s joke without giving it away or going into a deep explanation. It pops up a lot on X. I’ll let you read the Big U’s message, then I’ll explain but some of you–especially those in the various writers’ communities on X–know.

The one thing all famous authors, world-class athletes, business tycoons, singers, actors, and celebrated achievers in any field have in common, Silver, is that they all began their journeys when they were none of these things.

Yet still, they began their journeys.

You are so poised for greatness,
The Universe
©www.tut.com 

P.S. One day, they’re going to name something big after you, Silver! Like a statue, a college… or a hurricane.

So…Most social media sites are riddled with “bots.” Those are fake accounts (often trading on famous people) and they want to follow and be followed for things like monetization but mostly to “sell you their services.” This is especially true for writers. If you follow them back, they immediately DM you. And they usually have fewer and a couple of hundred followers while they follow thousands. The same goes for the sexbots but that’s a different post. 😲 Anyway. The writer bots. They all have an AI-scripted pitch. Their first line is often “How is your writing journey going?” Hence my LOL reaction to this week’s message. But the Universe is right. Until we start the journey–whatever our journey may be, we won’t ever achieve our goals. My goal today is to write another chapter. What’s your goal?

P.S. I’m far more likely to have a hurricane named after me than I am any of the other options. Just sayin’…

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Wednesday Words: Don’t Go

Posted on August 6, 2025 by Silver James

Well…it’s been a week. As one of my favorite memes says, “After Tuesday, even the calendar says WTF…” There’s stuff going on in RL. Not bad stuff, just busy stuff. There will be explanations soon. In the meantime, I am managing to get some new words, including today’s, which came from last week’s Thursday Threads. I did not win, place, or show but that’s okay. They were fun words that will nicely fit into the story when their time comes. Drumroll please…. The prompt is: *“He didn’t go with you?”*

****
“He didn’t go with you?”

Ariel jerked. “No. Why would he?”

“Isn’t he like your…your squire? Or something?”

“I’m not a knight of the Round Table, Sade.”

“Cut me some slack, Ariel. I was four the last time I was in the Summer Court and I wasn’t exactly in a position to take Court Hierarchy 101 as an elective.”

He almost smiled. Once upon a time, that statement would have been laced with swear words. He’d have to give Sinjen credit where credit was due.

“Druic is…” And now he was stumped. “Let’s just call him my intern.”

Coffee spluttered from between Sade’s lips as she’d just taken a big drink. Nikos reached over and slapped her back a few times. She choked, inhaled, coughed, and then took a big swig from her mug. She then managed to say, “Your…intern. Like he’s in Fae business school?”

Ariel exhaled, the breath sounding too much like a sigh but he didn’t care. “How do you think we train the young ones, Sade? We aren’t born knowing our magic.” He glanced at the dragon. “I’m surprised you have nothing to say, Nikos.”

“We have other…names for those such at Druic but you are correct. It is not like we send our young to a place like Hogwarts.”

Sade spluttered again but didn’t choke. “Stop it. Both of you.” She arched a brow at the dragon. “You do realize that Hogwarts is a fictional place, right?”

He arched a brow back at her. “Is it?”
****

There you have it. A fun little scene among “friends.” This book has been full of stops and starts but I’m making progress. Writers, take the prompt and use it, if that be your wish. Readers, how do you think Nikos trains his dragons? 😉

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Tuesday Treats & Titles: Sade’s Faves

Posted on August 5, 2025 by Silver James

It’s Tuesday. There’s a lot going on. Sade is going to need a pick-me-up before the day is over. That’s the plan anyway. No words yesterday, but there were ideas as I sat in the waiting room at VA. Why are these Sade4’s favorite you might ask? Because they are CHOCOLATE COFFEE MUFFINS!

Yield: 12 MUFFINS
Prep time: 10 Minutes
Cook time: 20 Minutes
Total time: 30 min

Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream at room temperature
1 cup of milk at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of instant coffee
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or chocolate chunks (plus extra for sprinkling on top of the muffins before baking)

Let’s Make ‘Em
1 – Preheat oven to 425.
2 – Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick spray or line with muffin cups.
3 – In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4 – In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, eggs, sour cream, milk, vanilla and instant coffee.
5 – Pour the wet ingredients into the `flour mixture and stir until just combined (about 20-25 stirs will be all you need)
6 – Gently stir in the chocolate chips.
7 – Divide the batter between muffin cups, filling each cup to the very top. Sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top of each muffin.
8 – Bake at 425 for 5 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350 and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes. Check after 15 minutes by inserting a toothpick into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean you’re done. If there is still batter clinging to the toothpick, put them back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
9 – Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then finish cooling on a wire rack.

Tips
1 – You can make 6 giant muffins instead of 12 standard. Just adjust the cooking time from 5 minutes at 425 then 15-20 minutes at 350 to 5 minutes at 425 and 20-25 minutes at 350.

There you go. Made from scratch goodness. I’ll admit I’m tempted to get a chocolate cake mix and follow the muffin recipe on the back to see if there’s any difference in taste. There probably will be because…HOME MADE vs. box! Anyway, if new folks tumble across this, try the recipe, grab the first book, THAT OL’ BLACK MAGIC, to discover FBI Agent Sade Marquis’s obsessions with both flavors. And, of course, Hannah is jealous. *bwahaha* Just use the QR code or click to head over to Books2Read to find all the places you can get all the books in the series.

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Monday – One, Me – Zero

Posted on August 4, 2025 by Silver James

Actually, it’s not that bad. It’s the first Monday of the month. This is a crazy-busy week. I’m up and headed out the door with barely a sip of coffee. That’s going to make for a long morning.

First, I have declared this to be AuGoWriMo, which stands for August Go Write More Month. Which I guess–technically–should be AuGoWriMoMo. Anyway, while I have no word count goal–daily or monthly total–but I would like to have this dang book finished. That won’t happen unless I put my butt in the chair, stay off the interwebz and spit the story out of my imagination. To that end, I have written a little bit each day and I’ll write some today when I get back.

Today is VA day. LG is having a procedure done and they insist he have a driver. That would be me. It’s nothing serious but they will put him partially under. It’s just more tests as they continue to work on diagnosing some of his new symptoms. Jake and I will go and sit in the waiting room. I’ll try to listen to the book I’m currently listening to but because Jake will be with me, there will be lots of peopling involved. *shudder* But we all gotta do what needs to be done, right?

Also coming up this week is our anniversary. It’ll be number 42. We don’t have any special plans. We’ll talke about it at some point.

I’m currently doing a relisten of Thea Harrison’s Elder Races series. It’s been several years and I’m enjoying them. Again. DRAGON BOUND, the first book in the series is a lot of fun. I’m currently listening to STORM’S HEART, about a thunderbird and a dark fae. Next up is SERPENT’S KISS, about a griffin and the vampire queen. Fun times.

In nature news, I FINALLY saw a hummingbird at the feeder. I was excited. I know they’ve been there because I have to refill it but I’d only glimpsed what might have been. Yesteday, I saw one land and sip. Yay. We also had a brief cool-down over the weekend and a brief rainfall on Sunday morning.

This was also First Saturday weekend but plans for siren test and family lunch were rearranged. Only had a school workshop that was four hours on Saturday so someone else covered her siren. Since there was no family lunch as a result, I stayed home. It worked out because I did get a couple of scenes fleshed out and a chapter moved from “write it” to “needs edits.” That’s progress.

On that note, gotta get ready to head out. Hope y’all had a great weekend and that the work goes well for us all.

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Friday Sinema: War Dogs

Posted on August 1, 2025 by Silver James

Today’s video is a little darker than usual but I’ve always liked this song and well-trained K-9s are always fascinating. Here’s an interesting take on the Dogs of War to take us into the weekend. Tomorrow is First Saturday so siren test and family lunch for. What plans do you have?

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