Wednesday Words: Chaos Over Easy

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Silver James

Wednesday has rolled around again and I have more new words. Still making headway, even though I have to remind myself that slow and steady wins the race. Our inspiration this week is varied. From #ThursdayTreads, we have: “I made it easier for you.” And from #1lineWed, we have the open-ended command of **Chaotic free-for-all: Break those rules. Do whatcha want. Dazzle us with brilliance. Or baffle us with bullshit.** Since I’m movstly baffled and always full of BS, I took the prompt at it’s own words. Not sure exactly where in the timeline this fits, but it does. Trust me. And it’s just a bit of silly by-play among comrades.
****
The kids were already sacked out. The truck ride had been a godsend for everyone but their trek had taken its toll. Even the men were wearing down. Except for Kin and Loch. Dalton tried not to snipe at the two Wolves. It just wasn’t fair. He was, after all, a genetically-enhanced Navy SEAL. Or had been. A SEAL. He was still genetically enhanced. Just because those two could shift into wolves shouldn’t give them all the freaking stamina in the world. Then again, there were drawbacks to their condition. He glanced at Kin, who was staring toward the puppy-pile of kids and one very attractive woman.

Dalton knew what was on the man’s mind and that the whole situation bothered the Wolf. He’d overheard Loch lecturing Kin about doing the right thing and telling Meg what he was before taking the actions his libido and inner wolf demanded, ie. claiming her as their mate. And being an inveterate romantic—who knew?—he’d taken steps.

“I made it easier for you,” he told Kin. When the other man only arched a brow, Dalton continued. “We’re taking a break tomorrow, according to Duke so I’ve arranged to keep the kids occupied.”
When Kin still didn’t respond, Dalton added, “So you can have some alone time with Meg and…you know…tell her.”

“You?” Kin finally said, not even attempting to hide his skepticism. “With all the kids, off somewhere?”
Defensive now, Dalton’s lip lifted in a bit of a sneer. “I can handle them. Navy SEAL, remember?”
Loch stared at his boots and muttered, “A bit like a clueless Peter Pan and his Lost Boys.”

“I heard that!” Dalton glared now. “I am fully capable of keeping the kids close together for some rest and down time while Kin sneaks off into the woods with his true love.”

“You, entertaining the children?” the normally reticent Uri asked. “Won’t that be a chaotic free-for-all?”
Tank piped up. “A chaotic free-for-all? Huh. Is that like herding cats, or something?” When all eyes turned to him, he explained, completely deadpan, “Asking for a friend.”

Kin simply growled. And walked away.

“Chicken,” Dalton called after him.

Dalton got Kin’s right hand, middle finger extended, raised in reply.

“Well, that’s gratitude for you.” Completely put out, Dalton stalked off in the opposite direction.
The rest of the team burst into laughter. “Good times,” Tank managed to sputter during his deep deep belly laugh.
****
There you have it. Writers, anything in the prompts that tease you to action? Ignite ideas? Send you scrambling to fill in a blank screen or page? Have at it, and feel free to share if you wish. Readers, let’s make today’s question easy: What’re you up to?

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Tuesday Treats & Titles: Divine Interventio

Posted on December 13, 2022 by Silver James

A friend* mentioned that she was waiting until the end of the week to make her Christmas Divinity. It made me chuckle. I rememer all the gooey batches of divinity my mother made through the years because she didn’t believe my dad when he told her that it was too humid. This is a fact of Christmas candy life. And the best cook in the Red Dirt Royalty family confirms this. Welcome to “Throwback Tuesday.” 😉 She said I could share the family recipe, which was kind since it’s MY family recipe!

Granny’s Christmas Divinity
3 1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Water
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup White Syrup (Karo brand is what we use)
3 beaten egg whites (stiff)
1 Cup Pecan pieces

Let’s Make It
Mix first 3 ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Heat until sugar dissolves then cook to 260 decrees on a cooking thermometer. Pour over egg whites while mixwer is on. Add vanilla. Beat. Add pecans and mix. Cool mixture then drop by rounded spoonfuls on foil lined cookie sheet. Let completely cool then store in airtight container.

Tips:
1 – You can use parchment or wax paper but we’ve always used aluminum foil. Not sure why.
2 – Any “white” syrup brand will work. We’ve just always used Karo.
3 – Check the humidity. You want a dry, cool day with 50% or less humidity.

Now, I’m sure you’re asking yourselves who is the best cook in the Barron and Tate families? It’s Katherine Barron Tate, of course! She looks completely at home in the kitchen in her jeans, boots, chambray shirt with the sleeves rolled up and her apron. More often than not, she’ll be wearing her peearls too, because that’s how she rolls. If you’d like to read how country star Deacon Tate finds a baby on his tour bus and Oklahoma Highwaqy Patrol Trooper Quin Kincaid is wrangled into baby guard duty, grab a copy of THE COWBOY’S CHRISTMAS PROPOSITION. FYI, it’s on sale at Amazon for $1.99 in the Kindle edition. No clue if it’s on sale at other outlets. Just click on the title or a pic with the cover to hit the Amazon link. What about y’all? Do you have any family holiday recipes?

*I’m lookin’ at you, Patti! 😉

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Three Mondays Left

Posted on December 12, 2022 by Silver James

Who’s ready for Christmas? I’m getting there. I have presents coming for delivery. I have a few final presents to pick out and up and I need stocking stuffers. Decorating is minimal this year for reasons. No outdoor lights (just on the porch and along the walkway) yet because brrrr! I did get the door wreaths switched out from T-giving to Christmas so there’s that. I suppose I should replace the sunflowers on the dining room table with the poinsettas. I’ll get right on that…8*Shifty eyes*&

In writing news, The Nitpicker won. I’ve gone back and rewritten the first 9 chapters. It’s all good–in fact, I think it’s better. Upward and onward this week with more new words.

I met and surpassed my Goodreads reading challenge for 2022. I hit 150 books early in the week. I’ve boosted to 155 and may boost again as I’m current listening to 153. I finished my relisten and new release listen to Darynda Jones’s Sunshine Vicram series. I LOVED all 3 books. Then I reread Kristen Ashley’s STILL STANDING (Wild West MC) in prep for the new release, STEEL AND SMOKE. Vintage KA and she’s not everyone’s catnip. I’m currently listening to Nathan Lowell’s THE WIZARD’S BUTLER. Truly enjoying it so far. Not sure if it’s a fantasy, UF, or straight paranormal. No romance, just fun stuff.

LG, with very little help from me, and more from Uncle Fix-It cleared space in the garage so the garage doors can be replaced. We’re getting both of them done, though only one was buggered up. The other hasn’t been opened in 20+ years. Long story. Anyway, the door guy is supposed to come this week. Hopefully, LG can work a deal to get him to install Pete’s cat door. 🤞🏼

Stormy had indoor soccer yesterday. Considering the weather, this made me happy. Soccer ain’t my thing but he has fun and his 2 besties from school are on the team. The team is a mix of kids from different places–schools, home school, etc.–and all the parents are awesome. Most of this team played fall soccer together. In other sports news, ARMY beat Navy! 🥳 

LG streamed this season’s episodes of “Wednesday” and enjoyed the heck out of it. He, like me, was a big Addams Family fan. I caught part of the last episode and yeah, Imma gonna have to make time to watch it all. We’re still watching “Tulsa King” too. Those are about the only non-reality shows I watch. Yeah, I’m all weird like that.

Headed to Wallyworld and then I can have coffee as I settle in to work. Curious as to what the week will bring. What have y’all been up to?

 

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Friday Sinema: The Finale

Posted on December 9, 2022 by Silver James

Bless their hearts. That’s all I’m going to say… Have a great weekend, y’all.

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Thursday Thoughts: Inventing Imgination

Posted on December 8, 2022 by Silver James

No Universal message today, though this quote has a universal message

To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. ~Thomas Edison

Boy, does this apply to writing–especailly when you sit down to begin a new project. Or, in my case, when you are in the middle of one and figure out that some of the junk in the pile doesn’t fit. So you dig through it and find the parts that do. Come to think of it, this also applies to the editing process, just sayin’… What will you imagine and/or find in your pile today?

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Wednesday Words: Best Revenge

Posted on December 7, 2022 by Silver James

Okay, so revenge isn’t actually part of either of our prompts for today but that’s the direction my snippet went. From #1lineWed, we have **FOR ME Through the door. What do you see? Something is happening… is it…** (mo9st of which managed to confuse me but hey, I still managed to incorporate all of it!) and from #ThursdayThreads, comes this awesome thought-provoker: “All of it was gone.” This short scene takes place shortly after a previous snippet–the one where they watched the Russian tanks roll through a village. This conversaton takes place between Maxim and Kin.
****
“I want to fight.”

The boy’s statement came out of nowhere. Kin glanced over at him, a glimmer of understanding poking at him. On sentry duty, he’d been surprised when Maxim showed up. The kid perched on a rock without a word. Now, ten minutes later, he’d found his voice.

Unsure why the boy had picked him, Kin didn’t rebuff him. “Why?”

“I am old enough to fight.” Max’s hands curled into fists and he thumped them on his thighs.

“Not really. Not unless you have no choice.” Kin looked away. “You’re English is pretty good.”

“I am smart.”

“But you have a lot to learn, kid.”

The boy sulked. “I need to fight. For me. For my sister. For my country.”

“What happened, Maxim? Back in Maripol.”

“Marishka was in hospital. The treatments. My father he was police, yes? My mother and I, we were home.” At Kin’s nod, the boy continued. “Sirens and then the bombs. ‘Something is happening,’ my mother says. Then…” He closed his eyes and shuddered. “The house, it fell.”

Max’s voice lost all emotion. “My mother…she was…buried. I looked for my father. At the police station, I looked through the door.”

“What did you see?”

“Nothing. Only the front wall still stood. I went to hospital. I found Marishka under her bed.” He turned bleak eyes to Kin. “My town. All of it was gone.”

Without thinking, Kin pulled Max into his arms.”

“That village, they fought. If it is not for me, then who will revenge us?”

“There are many ways to get revenge, Maxim. You are smart. Use your brain. Grow up. Get an education. Your country will need engineers and doctors and scientists. It will need architects and builders. Especially builders. Soldiers? We take lives. We tear down things. Builders put life back together for those who survived. You and Marishka are survivors. Learn. Become. Then go back and be a builder. That, son, is the bloody best revenge of all.
****
And there you have it. I have to admit that I’m really liking the way some–okay almost all–of these scenes are coming together to form the whole story. Kinda makes me want to go buy a jigsaw puzzle and put it together. LOL Truth be told, this was one of those stories that I had no idea where it was going. Meg, the heroine, is based on a character suggested by a writing friend. All she said was, “Her name is Meg and she studies wolves. And Kin is her mate.” That was …wow…a LONG time ago. It’s taken me this long to figure out the circumstances of her rescue, their meeting, and the events that follow. I certainly hope it’s worth the wait for my readers. So, question of the day: Is revenge a dish best served cold?

PS: I just realized. This is Pearl Harbor Day. Kind of a fitting theme…

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Tuesday Treats & Titles: Pot Luck

Posted on December 6, 2022 by Silver James

So…I’ve broken my brain over the fixing of geo-political goofs in CROSSFIRE. Breaking my brain is not something new but it does sort of leave me stumped on a post for today. So, instead of me struggling to come up with a treat and a title and the recipe, I’m going to toss it out to y’all. Let’s talk about books. Because most of us hang out here because we like books, right? I mean, it’s not like I’m any sort of influencer when it comes to fashion, music, viral videos, ets. right? So books. I challenge you to come up with one book that you really, REALLY enjoyed (and might read more than once). Is there a food scene in that book? Share the food. Or, you can pick a favorite character and decide what their favorite food is–main dish, dessert, snack, drink, you pick. Sound like fun? I think it does so I’ll start. And while I do this blog thing mostly to tell folks about my books, I’ll pick a book and character that isn’t one of mine. Because I love books too, writing AND reading. Or in my case, listening.

One of my favorite characters is Lt. Eve Dallas, a homicide detective in a futuristic NYC. She lives on coffee but couldn’t afford “real” until she hooks up with Roarke, the mysterious billionaire who seduces her with actual coffee. And real beef. She also lives on spaghetti and meatballs and pizza. Which is all brought out in almost every book in the In Death series by J.D. Robb. That’s an easy one for me. So, I’m going off into the weeds to pull out a character who might not be as well known–Sunshine Vicram. The third book, A HARD DAY FOR A HANGOVER, in this series by Darynda Jones releases today. I’ve just finished a relisten of the first two books, A BAD DAY FOR SUNSHINE and A GOOD DAY FOR CHARDONNAY. Like quirky charachters, tongue-in-cheek writing, and suspense with a side order of sexual tension? Yeah, give these books a try. Sunshine is all about the coffee. Hrm…I think I see a trend here. 😉 Sun is a former detective who’s been elected as sheriff–in a race she didn’t declare for but “magically” appeared on the ballot and won. That’s all I’m going to reveal. That and there’s an incident in her past–she was kidnapped at age 17. This is not a spoiler. She returns home with a 14 year old daughter and moves into the “guest” house her parents built for Suna and Auri behind their house in the artsy town of  Del Sol, New Mexico. It’s all good. Trust me on this. I love Darynda’s warped sense of humor and the way she imbibes it in her main characters. Now, I need to come up with a treat that would match Sunshine’s quirkiness. Coffee is too easy. Ah ha! MUFFINS! Muffins play a big part in the first book (and make subsequent appearances in the rest of the books) and contribute to Sunshine’s bad day–which is also her first day on the job as sheriff. I like muffins. Blueberry especially. I’m also a fan of Starbucks’ pumpkin cream cheese muffins. I don’t make those. I do make blueberry. Now I’m tempted to go make a batch. But I’d have to go to the store to get the ingredients. LOL Maybe I’ll just make a Starbucks run.

So that’s how the came is played. I’d love to see how you pair a character and/or book to a food. Are you up to the challenge?

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A Fifth of Monday

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Silver James

As I mentioned in a FB post yesterday, four weeks from yesterday is Christmas. I suppose I need to speed up preparations, huh? I’ll get right on that. Actually, as most of you are reading this first thing, I’m at Walmart for grociers but also scouting for stocking stuffers and possible gifts–or I would if people had…you know…given me their wish lists.

So, last week. It went by fast. I made some serious progress on CROSSFIRE. Until Friday. On Friday, my inner nitpicker started pounding on the door. And shouting. *sigh* See, I’m basically anal-retentive when it comes to factuality (is that even a word?) in my writing. I research. A lot. If I don’t know about a subject. Why? Because there are always readers out there who do know that subject. If they’re like me, a writer getting the facts wrong is as irritating as a sweetgum ball stuck in your fuzzy houseshoes. And yes, I’ve dinged writers and stopped reading them because they got things so blatantly wrong. Yeah, yeah. Again, y’all are asking yourselves “why?” Well, this story is going a certain way. And I started it without doing my research. Who knew Ukraine was basically flat? The fact they grow so much grain should have been my first clue. D’uh. 🤦🏼‍♀️ But I have mountains in the book. And hills. Oh, there are mountains, the Carpathians. These are famously spooky mountaints. But they are on the far opposite corner of were the actual battles are taking place. Because there are encounters with enemy soldiers. And then I picked a neighboring country to lend aid to the team that isn’t actually part of an alliance that would help them with logistics. That’s when Miz Nitpicky broke my brain on Friday.

Skip to now. I spent the weekend researching–and apologizing in the author notes to be included in the back matter of the book when it publishes. I’ve switched the aiding country–at least in my head an dnotes but now I have to go back and fix all the instances in the books. I’ve added a bit of transportation instead of the team walking so far. And they can still end up in the Carpathians but because the Ukrainian armed forces held and beat back the Russions, that’s the part I’m having to apologive for because I let the Russians incursion get farther in-country. Literary license. Sorry. Anyway, I’m backtracking a bit this week, cleaning things up and then moving forward full spead ahead because Miz Nitpicker will be locked in the cellar where I can’t hear her.

In other news, I finished listening to a couple of books and started on my relisten of Darynda Jones’s Sunshine Vicram series. Book 3 releases tomorrow so I am indulging my craving for Darynda’s brand of zany characters and suspense. A BAD DAY FOR SUNSHINE makes me smile a lot, occasionally laugh, and generally just enjoy the heck out of the story, writing, and writer’s voice. 

Saturday was First Saturday which means siren test and lunch at our fave Mexican restaurant with the family. This fall it included soccer, which occasionally precluded siren test because…watching Stormy play is more important. He’s started winter in-door soccer now. It happens on the weekends at night. The facility is awesome but with the plexiglass walls around the fields, it’s a little hard to see what happens at the far end of the field from where you might be sitting, plus the kids are playing on a bigger field. They were pooped by the time the games was over. Part of the team had also done a 1-mile “Jungle Bell” fun run on Saturday morning. I don’t know about Stormy, but I’m pretty sure his mom (who also did the mile) slept hard Saturday night. 

I don’t have much else to report. This week is more writing, figuring out Christmas stuff. Oh! I did switch the Thangsgiving door wreath out for the Christmas wreath. I’ll put out the porch lights at some point when it warms up a little. And that’s it for me. Anything new or interesting in your life?

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Friday Sinem: Peace & Goodwill

Posted on December 2, 2022 by Silver James

I had so many titles for today’s video. Cats and Dogs. Goodwill to Cats. Oh Come All Ye Playful… Around here, it’s sort of the opposite. It’s Loki who wants to play with Boone and Jake, and Pete, now that he’s in the picture sometimes. FYI, Loki is the Demon Lord Kitty of Mischief and Mayhem. Boone is our OLD man (at 17), 1/2 Newf-1/2 Golden, and Jake is 1/2 Newf-1/2 Great Pyrenees. Pete is the stray that has taken up residency in our garage. He started out as Pistol Pete, now he’s Pete the Garage Cat, who occasionally comes inside. Anyway, this is just a sweet little video of a cat and a dog just trying to co-exist, even if one of them would prefer to be an “only child.” Have an awesome weekend, all. It’s First Saturday around here so sirens, Mexican food, and family!

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Advice

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Silver James

I know “The Universe” (aka the fine folks at tut.com) are giving us inspiration and positivity to live our lives but dang it, so very often the messages just fall right into line with what writers deal with in our lives. Yes, we are human. Monstly. Yes, we live lives outside of writing caves and the imaginations that put us in those caves. Yes, there is more to life than making up stories and typing out the words to tell them. But writers, you tell me. Is this good advice for us or not?

When in doubt, Silver, show up early.

Think less. Feel more.

Ask once. Give thanks often.

Expect the best.

Appreciate everything.

Never give up.

Make it fun.

Lead. Invent. Regroup.

Wink. Chill. Smile.

And live as if your success was inevitable, and so it shall be.

Happy global domination,
The Universe
©www.tut.com

Especially wink, chill, smile, Silver!

And yes, non-writers, this is good advice for y’all too. Don’t get wrapped around the axel. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Find the humor and the joy and embrace both. And feel confident in yourself and the life you are living. Sound like a plan? For me, this is a solid plan to get this book finished, edited, and publsihed. I’m going to wink at this WIP, chill, and smile as I write. Upward and onward! Global domination, here I come!

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