National Wormhole Blog Hop

While I don't normally post on Thursdays, I couldn't resist this one. Thanks to a couple of my writer friends, Stephen Tremp, and  Laura Eno, I found out about this fun blog hop to honor Albert Einstein on the occasion of his birthday. What all the participants are doing is writing a short piece on where they would go, either back in time or forward, if they could jump in a wormhole. Probably the biggest challenge for most of us will be keeping the post to 100 words or less, but I'll give it a whirl.

Come with me into the past:

"Wyatt? Wyatt Earp?"

"Yes'm, and who are you?"

"Maryann. I just got here."

"How? Don't see no horse or carriage. An' the stage ain't due till tomorrow."

"I came through a wormhole."

"A what?"

"Uh, I'm guessing you wouldn't understand. But now that I'm here, would you teach me to shoot? I always wanted to be Annie Oakley."

"Who?"

"Annie Oakley. You know, the woman sharpshooter. And boy could she ride a horse at a full gallop. I haven't done that in too long."

"Never heard of her."

"Okay, but what about it? Will you teach me to shoot?"

"Meet me at the OK corral."  

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

 Here is  a list of other blogs that are in the blog hop. Enjoy the stories.

Monday Morning Musings

I'm happy to be part of a cover reveal for Laura Eno's upcoming book Jewel of Shaylar. This is a terrific cover and proves once again the importance of a truly great cover.

Here is a bit about the book:

 

Archaeologist David Alexander investigates the cave where his father disappeared and hurtles into another world, one filled with magic and bizarre creatures. The mad ravings in his father's journals of icemen and dragons may not be fantasies after all.

Convinced his father may still be alive, David begins a treacherous journey to find him and discover a way home. Along the way, he encounters a few unlikely friends. A Dreean warrior, a beautiful thief and a satyr join him as he searches.

 

David's arrival into this new world sets off an explosive chain reaction of events. Faced with powerful adversaries and few clues, he may not get the chance to rescue his father before disaster strikes, condemning both of them to death. Or worse.

 

 

 Find Laura on: Website - Blog - Facebook - Twitter - Goodreads

 

In Oscar news, "Argo" won best picture and Daniel Day-Lewis won his third Oscar for best-actor for his performance as Abraham Lincoln in  "Lincoln." The award for best actress went to Jennifer Lawrence for her performance as a young widower in "Silver Linings Playbook." Anne Hathaway won the supporting-actress Oscar win as a doomed mother-turned-prostitute in the musical "Les Miserables."

Christoph Waltz won his second supporting-actor Oscar  a genteel bounty hunter in "Django Unchained." Tarantino also won his second Oscar, for original screenplay for "Django."

In a big surprise Taiwanese director Ang Lee won the best-director trophy, when many people expected it to go to Steven Spielberg  for "Lincoln." Another neat surprise was when Michelle Obama appeared to be one of the presenters for the best-picture award.

Normally I try to see most of the films nominated for awards, but this year I was not able to. Looking forward to seeing them on DVD in the future. What about you? Did you see them? Agree with the awards?

The Next Big Thing

My writer friend, Stephanie Neighbour, gave me the job... er, challenge... er honor of participating in a game of virtual tag. Stephanie asked me to participate in The Next Big Thing where I will answer ten questions about my work in progress and choose five other writers/bloggers/authors who will be tagged at the end of this post. Stephanie really  had fun with her post, so I thought I would give it a whirl.

1. What is the working title of your book? My current WIP, which has all of 5,000 words written is the third book in the Seasons Series and is titled Out Of Season. While there is plenty of room to change the storyline in the next 75,000 words, I think the title will stay. (OMG, why did I have to remind myself of how much more I have yet to write?)


2. Where did the idea come from for the book? When I first started the mystery series, many moons ago, I did all the things a writer is supposed to do to try to market a series. I wrote the first book, Open Season. Did a detailed synopsis of the second book, Stalking Season, and did an overview of the whole series with short synopsis of story ideas for several more books. The idea for Out of Season was one of those story ideas that came to me when I imagined what kind of grisly cases a pair of homicide detectives in Dallas might face. Little did I know it would take a hundred years for the series to get published.

3. What genre does your book fall under? This is a police procedural mystery.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? I have a good friend here in my neck of the woods who is a terrific actress and I think she could bring Sarah to life on screen. Not only that, she keeps asking when auditions are. For Angel, I would love Halle Barry to consider the role.

5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book? ACK! I'd rather stand on my head for an hour - if I could - than figure out a logline. I usually can't do that until I am at least halfway into a book, and even then the logline basically sucks.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?Actually, neither, although I would love to have an agent. (hint, hint) Hopefully, the book will be accepted by Five Star Cengage, the company that published the first two books in the series. Since Stalking Season got a starred review from Publishers Weekly , I think my chances of acceptance is pretty good. Unless I totally bomb with the writing. Please tell me I won't bomb.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? This first 5,000 words took three days. For previous books, it took the better part of a year to do the first draft, then almost another year to do rewrites. If I was a more disciplined writer, I would probably turn out books faster, but I get sidetracked with the business of promoting, doing some editing or other freelance work to pad my bank account, or taking time out to play on stage.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? My books are similar to the 87th Precinct Series by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter). In fact, his books are what inspired me to write police procedurals.

9.Who or what inspired you to write the book?  Do I repeat myself or just say "see above?" (smile)

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? The Seasons Series has been described as "Lethal Weapon" set in Dallas with female leads. Readers who enjoy a bit of humor with a gritty mystery might like the books.

I love to promote my friends and am happy to introduce you to Stephanie and her terrific blog. She is a comedian and there is lots to smile about in her posts. However, I do hesitate to ask some of my other friends to add one more thing to their to-do list, so I will only tag a couple of folks. If anyone else would like to join in the fun, just let me know in the comments and send me a link to you blog that I will promote next week.

My tags are:   Terry Odell, Laura Eno, and Morgan Mandel

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate

All of us participating in the "What's Your Chocolate" blogfest are to write something about chocolate. What's not to love, right?  I have met few people who did not like chocolate, but my father was one of those few. That's why I would order chocolate ice cream when we went to the local ice-cream shop for a treat. He always liked to "help" us with our cones. "That little bit is dribbling there. Let me just clean it up for you."

Several licks later, the ice cream would be half gone. When I wised up, I never ordered vanilla again. Or strawberry.

But this post is not about chocolate ice cream. I want to write about chocolate cobbler. That's right. I've heard about all kinds things chocolate: chocolate cookies, chips or otherwise, chocolate cake, and chocolate pie, but I had never heard of chocolate cobbler until I did an Internet search for "chocolate." I couldn't believe it when several sites for chocolate cobbler popped up. I thought cobbler was made with berries or peaches or apples. Chocolate?

BTW, if you count how many times I use the word chocolate, you will see that it is a lot. If you leave a comment with the exact number, I will put your name in a hat for a drawing for a free book. You can pick any of my books in e-format or paper. Your choice.

Now back to the cobbler. Christy Jordan shares a recipe on her blog Southern Plate, which has a lot of great recipes. On her blog she clarifies that chocolate cobbler is also known as mud pie, and that is what she was accustomed to calling it. The first time someone mentioned how much they liked her mother's chocolate cobbler, she had no idea what they were talking about.

It's mud pie, everyone. Just because it is cooked in a cobbler pan does not make it a cobbler.

Christy has step-by-step instructions for making mud pie, and after looking at it for a few minutes, I think I need to take a break and do some baking.

Back in an hour or so.

OMG, this cobbler is to die for.

I thought the Chocolate Better Than Sex Cake was the most decadent chocolate treat, but mud pie, or cobbler if you are not living in the southern part of the United States, is giving it a run for the money. If you'd like to try the cake, here is a link to a great recipe by Kimberly Pugliano. The main thing I like about this recipe is that not everything is measured, especially the candy, which the cook is free to munch on while preparing the batter.

Do I dare take another baking break?

What the heck. If you want to find more about chocolate while I'm gone, you can visit some of the others who are participating in the blogfest. We will all be on a sugar high by the end of the day.