Tag Archives: random thoughts

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

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Happy Turkey day y’all. Gobble, gobble. lol I actually like Thanksgiving as far as holidays go. I like that it’s about food and family and getting together. In my family, at dinner, we go around the table and tell about the one thing we are the most grateful for that occurred in the last year. Not all the things that make us give thanks or a few of them. Just one. It makes us focus and keeps the momentum going so everyone gets a chance before the dinner is over. It’s awesome.

So many of our holidays have turned into three ring circuses. I like hanging out with friends and family, watching football and generally just being with the people who love us and we love back. Then if you’re lucky, you made plans to go gorilla shopping the next morning, complete with infiltration plans and an exit strategy, with those very same people. Cause for Black Friday shopping, you NEED a posse. People who will have your back and not leave a man behind. But they also have to have sharp eyes to look for bargains as well as coordinate color combinations. So really, you want a variety of family members to go with you to cover your back. Yes, it has gotten that grime out there. Little blue haired old ladies will cut a bitch to get to the blouse on sale. Seriously.

I also vary my menu a little every year. Yes, I do turkey and ham. And most of the sides are perennial favorites. But this year instead of a chocolate pecan pie, we are having a dark chocolate mousse. I’ve decided to forgo candied yams in favor of the simpler baked sweet potatoes. And so on. Here’s my Thanksgiving menu:

brined, dry rubbed turkey
ham
mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and herbs
sweet potatoes
green bean casserole
broccoli and cauliflower in a cheddar cheese sauce
stuffing with chestnuts, gruyere and bacon bits
turkey gravy
pumpkin pie
chocolate mousse
cranberry sauce

This menu is for 4 people. I add more sides and maybe an appetizer sampler if I have guests arriving. But for the small, nuclear family thing? The above menu has been honed from years of tweaking to find the perfect balance for my family. Yours may vary.

Now the best part of Thanksgiving isn’t the main menu, although that is pretty great. Nope, the best part is the left-overs. I like messing around with different recipes to use the turkey as much as possible. I even use the turkey carcass as a soup base. But that’ll come later. And if you serve turkey for Christmas, then some of the leftover recipes will stand you in good stead.

Random Thoughts 12

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The following random thoughts are slightly controversial. You’ve been warned.

I read that people who eat their boogers have a better immune system. Totally gross and makes a weird kinda sense. But I write romance books and so my mind turned toward other bodily secretions that might help boost immune systems. In addition to being a romance writer, I am a sarcastic bitch. So my next thought was… now how can dudes market this to help position for greatest advantage? Cause if it ever came out that swallowing had health benefits and was good for you, well, I know in my heart of hearts that men won’t let that pass unnoticed. I’m not sure it’s in them to let it pass. I can see the ad campaigns now and the Superbowl half-time commercials. lol

You can’t call yourself pro-life and not support welfare to the maximum. You can’t say that women have to have kids and then provide no way for those very women to feed those kids. It is not logical. You also should be adopting babies left and right to provide for them as well. This needs to be said because I see advocates of getting rid of abortion in America also advocating getting rid of welfare at the same time. So you punish the babies for the indiscretions of the parents? How is that pro-life? Seems like you hate us all because those hungry babies grow up to be hungry adults. And then, nothing about life is sacred because those kids are going to take out their anger on us all. And those that acted to mold them, and those that didn’t act but merely looked on, wouldn’t a small part of the retribution be deserved? Because it was preventable. Some things go together like peas and carrots. One is Forrest and Jenny. The other is feeding the babies that are being forced to be born. Or adopting them to feed and raise them. It’s all about the feeding and clothing and housing of the kids. Really. I just never hear about how adoption laws and money ear marked for the kids being born to the women denied contraception and other services are at the forefront of the pro-life debate. So what? The kids are born only to die of starvation or neglect? I’m cool with either position on this debate in America–see I have enough money to do what I want in the country of my choice when I want regardless of the moralizing minority in this country… but I digress–but I want the logical conclusion of either position to be taken care of at the same time. Because this shit doesn’t happen in a vaccuum. In addition to the deaths brought on by back yard abortions–and if you’re cool with women dying by getting illegal abortions ask yourself… how Christian was that?–we are going to have a shitload of unwanted children. I want ALL of this resolved, not just the beginnings of life. If we as a society force children to be born to people who don’t want them, we are then obligated to take care of said children. End of.

I got nothing else right now. So… that is all.

The 11th Random Thought Post

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I was just thinking that the white light people report seeing when they die is really a worm hole to a different dimension in our universe, or maybe another universe. Who knows. All the depictions of worm holes, descriptions of them and what I can come up with to speculate that maybe as our identities, selves, souls, whatever, transforms from a combo of matter/energy synergy here in Earth to pure energy when we die. Not only the creation but also the maintenance of the worm hole would take a lot of energy as well. Maybe we see the demarcation of the line between this plane on this universe and the passage to another. Anyway, it’s just one thought. A random one at that. Thought I’d share.

I wonder if the situation in the Capitol is going to get so bad in the future that we’ll have more days of government shut down then we will of government working. Using the budget and bringing our country to a stand still is the new negotiating tactic of opposing parties, I’m not sure that America is going to come to a good end. I have a bad feeling about this. It was my first thought when the crazy tea partiers threatened to do just this. It’s still my thought.

Why do I choose to do things like a Nanowrimo follow along when I KNOW I have a problem with authori-teeee. The artificial deadline isn’t an impetus for me to work harder, faster. No, it’s more like a dare. And then me snidely responding that I don’t care about your stupid dare, I quit. And not doing shit. Cause my brain is waaaaaay screwed up. And plays games with me. So much so I tell it to shut up and put it in time out. My brain and I have an interesting relationship. And yes, I’m crazy. A special, special snowflake kind of crazy. 😉

Why does food seem more delicious, more enticing when I decide to try and lose some weight? Is this the Universe’s sick cosmic joke? I have experienced the situation where a food would not be appetizing before I decided to restrict calories in some manner will all of a sudden become mesmerizing after the decision has been reached. Seriously. Stop it. It is so not appreciated. So. Not.

That is all.

Random Thoughts 10

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Today is the day after Halloween. It’s November 1st. All Saints Day. And the first day of Nanowrimo. That’s right, it’s National Writing Month. In honor of it, I added a cute little graph in the sidebar to measure my progress for this month. However, November being national writing month overshadows a larger reality. At least for me and probably several other writers out there. November isn’t the only month I track daily word counts or have a monthly target word goal. So while I put up the progress cartoon because it’s cute and I do want to support all those authors who are participating in Nanowrimo, it’s an every month kinda thing for me. And not to give you the wrong impression, I didn’t sign up at the official website either. Like I said, this is more in support of, than a try to do. My life is just like that.

Making chocolate martinis tonight. Just kinda feeling like it. In fact, I did a general shopping trip to the liquor store to stock up on the things like Kahlua, vanilla vodka and grappa. All for mixing into drinks. Like my chocolate martini. I got the grappa to make some cafe correttos after dinner. I’ve been missing them since the last time I was in Italy. Since I have an espresso machine, might as well make some for myself. If the drink turns out nice, I put up a recipe. I’ve been drinking the lemon drop recipe I put up a few months back all summer. Maybe it’s time to switch up on the drinks.

I’ve been reading or hearing about a rash of teen suicide. It makes me so sad. We are failing out kids somehow, in some fundamental way. There is nothing more tragic than a young life lost. Seriously. I am at a loss as to what to do. But I talk to my teen and I hope that somewhere along the line, mine know there are a vast array of answers to any one problem. Life isn’t like a math equation. It doesn’t just have one solution. I guess we start at home and then radiate out from there. But still, it is sad. Really fucking sad.

I want a EMP weapon that only takes out cars. I am sick of all the frickin’ people in all the cars driving here and there, zipping around like where they’re going is important. It’s not. We’re ants in a vast colony of workers. Take away the cars and we’d have to limit the distances to be traveled. How nice would it be to not have so much traffic on the roads? Bliss, I tell you. Bliss.

That is all.

Happy Halloween 2013

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Happy Halloween! It’s the spookiest day of the year. Muhahaha. lol An excuse to dress up and eat candy? Sheesh, what’s not to like? I love Halloween. I like the trick or treaters. I like the grownup costume parties. I like it all.

Halloween always signifies the start of the holiday SEASON. You know the one with the capital S. It starts the Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas trifecta. One right after the other toward the end of each month. And mostly having to do with food. Again, what’s not to like?

So I did the Wicked Warriors Halloween Hop to give away my book FarSeen. I gave away two last time I participated in a hop. Gonna do it again this time. The winners are sandyg265 and Krysta B. I’ll get in touch with you by email or you can go to the contact page and drop me a line with what format you want. ** as an aside- if any of you who participated in the blog hop but didn’t win and you want an epub copy in exchange for a review, please let me know by leaving a comment or using the contact form or email. I’ve got one left.**

Thank you to everyone who participated!! I had a lot of fun doing the hop and I hope you did as well!!

Just a little news. I have this on my home page, but I signed a contract for my second book, Hat Trick,  in the Name of the Game series with Rebel Ink Press. I signed to have part 2 of a 2 part prequel released next year in March/April. Night Blind will be published by TEB and is part of my OtherKind series. I also had 3 short stories accepted into anthologies. Date Night, Homecoming and Show Me will be released at various times over the next few months by some really good people. October has been a month filled with treats for me. Lovin’ the awesome.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday Season. lol

Update 10/30/13

Status

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I’ll do a larger post tomorrow. I just wanted to briefly do a small status update today. Mostly because the blog hop is closing tonight. If you want a chance to win my latest release, go the Halloween Hop post and leave me a comment. I kinda think of these hops like trick-or-treating as adults go from one blog to another gathering chances for treats. lol

I will announce the winner of my giveaway tomorrow. Probably on the home page where I do most announcements. I might do more than one giveaway. It is Halloween after all and you never know what the spirit will move me to do. 😉

I think I might do nano. Although the work I’ll be working on is longer than 50k. So maybe I will use any 50k within the 92k-ish the novel will be as the barometer of whether I win at nano. I win. lol I like the sound of that. So if I can set shit up to make that happen more often than not, well, don’t shoot me if I do it. lol I should get one of those nifty word/progress bars to put in the side bar menu to track if I’m on target. But I am not doing this as part of the big nano. It’ll be a personal one. Just for me.

Cripes. November is almost upon us. I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. Halloween tomorrow. Then All Saints Day the day after. Should be a blast. Not.

 

A Sunday Observation

Chat

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In addition to the status post allowed by this theme, there is also a chat post. Trying that one out today.

So this week was a little hinky. Instead of random thoughts on Friday, I did a snippet. I normally do snippets on Saturday. But yesterday, I didn’t post anything to let the snippet post from Friday be at the top. I guess I could’ve pinned the post, but what fun would that be? So I did the snippet on Friday instead of Saturday because my book, FarSeen, generally released on Friday. So the snippet was in honor of that. It was a good idea. But then I was left with nothing for Saturday.

Today, instead of doing a book review of a sort, I am doing a little chat update. To let you know why I’m doing what I’m doing. lol

I have a dude that randomly walks around town and plays the tuba. It rocks. So, here I am sitting and writing, when I hear his tuba. It breaks up the monotony of my day. And I see him all over town. He walks everywhere carrying this big ass tuba and playing it for all the world to hear. I smile every time I see him or hear him. He brings a little bit of joy into my life. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t for other people as well. I also sure it brings no small amount of pleasure into his life. We all win. But mostly I do because I live in the town with the dude who plays the tuba as he walks around in random patterns. Yup, I win.

That is all.

New Purchase

Status

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Seriously posting a status update to talk about hitting the button for a new Kindle Paperwhite 3G… y’all. OMG. I am so excited. Seriously. I only have one reading device and it is really, really old. Like getting to the point where it keeps shutting down and rebooting old. Like I might not have a reading device soon old. So I ordered the new device. I could’ve gotten the non- 3G one now. But, I dig on the 3G. A LOT. It makes downloading books way easier to have both wifi and 3G capabilities. And it’s for life so the extra money is well worth it. The one I have now is 3G as well and it ROCKS. Wanted the same for the new one.

So I broke down and looked at the available options. And because I already have a Kindle, I’m getting another one. It’s just the way I roll, yo.

This seems to be the week for me to get electronic devices. I also picked up a small 7 inch tablet. It’s yellow and cute and I like it. I need more time to study it. But it seems cool for now.

Smutty Sunday 10/13/13

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Changing it up a little bit again. Instead of genres or specific books, I thought I ‘d do an author recommend and mini spotlight. Not on the authors, but on their books. The more I thought about doing reviews today, the more these two names kept popping up in my mind. Elizabeth Hunter and Thea Harrison.

They write about similar things. Kinda. But their writing styles are vastly different. I love them both. For each, I like a particular series of books and tolerate the others in the authors stables. But even for the books that aren’t my favs, they rock. Really good writing, decent editing and tight storylines. Both authors have things to share that are really good things. Their worlds are worlds I like and want to be a part of.

Elizabeth Hunter and her Elemental series of books are a bundle of goodness just wrapped in a book looking package. I love vampire stories. I love original stories. I lurve original vampire stories. LURVE. Can I say <3 enough times? I don’t think so. Her vampire lore is stunning.

She has other books, a shifter series which is slowly coming forth, and a contemporary with an unusual twist. Nothing you read that she wrote will disappoint you. It’s just that some things delight slightly more than others. If I had to choose, I be all about the Elemental series. But  no place is the wrong place with her books.

Thea Harrison’s Elder Races books are so lush, so epic, I can’t gush enough. Again, awesome world building. Just awesome. the depth of some of these characters is amazing. And my favorites are the first book and the one about the Vampire Queen. LOVE those two the mostest. The others were good as well. But the interesting storyline for the first book really grabbed my attention. And the way paradoxes was handled in the vampire queens books was fabulous.

Thea started another series as well. It was interesting. But nothing close to the caliber I’ve found in the Elder Races series. But then again, it could just be a young serious and the superlayers won’t show up until later.

Mixed Bag w/a Snippet

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I’m feeling all free form today. I’ve got a lot of shit to do. Although I am ever grateful that I’ve gotten a lot of shit done. I seem to write and be productive in cycles. Whatever. i was going to do my usual snippet today seeing as it’s Saturday. But I thought I do a few different things today. So in no particular order…

1. Scrivener is working out well so far. I’ve got no cause for complaints. I think the more I get into it, the more I’ll like it.

2. Began writing the first full length book in Steel and Stilettos. It’s been kinda cool working on two different interweaving storylines. It should be fun. And it looks like I will meet my end of the year deadline for getting my writing goals finished.

3. Edits. The bane of my existence. I would rather poke my own eye out than edit. Some people are naturally handy at this skill. I am not one of them. It is excruciatingly painful for me. So of course, I am currently editing Hat Trick and still awaiting edits on Driven and Homecoming. I do not like the current edit to writing ratio. 3-1 the other way would be okay, but this way… not so much.

4. Here is a small snippet from something I am currently working on. Don’t tell anybody. Shh… keep it between us.

They both looked up, their faces only separated by inches. She couldn’t resist. Not anymore. She closed the distance between them slowly. Giving him time to move if this wasn’t what he wanted.

He didn’t move.

She licked his lower lip then took it between her teeth, gently sucking it into her mouth. He tasted divine. She could feel his breath as he exhaled softly. She licked along the seam of his mouth, asking to be allowed entrance. He opened slightly.

She could have moved her tongue in fast and hard. It was what she wanted to do. She was greedy for a more complete taste of him. But she held herself back and went gently, moving slowly in. Sipping when she wanted to gulp.

 

5. I got a new chest of drawers. And now I must rearrange my clothes. It’s a task. I’ve been assigned it. There isn’t any escape.

6. Two more blog hops planned before the end of the year. One for Halloween to support my Wanton Witches Collection story, FarSeen. The other to bump up Home Run as well as hype the next book in that series, Hat Trick.

7. Did I mention, TEB contracted Night Blind? It’s being released next year. There is a lot of excitement going on over there. It should be a fun ride. We’ll see. They are looking at two more books in that universe. Got my fingers crossed.

8. Geez, I didn’t know I had so much crap all jumbled together to make up a writing life. Who knew? If I remember more crap, I will edit it in.