Five Facts...Three Questions...One sentence

Happy Friday! Did you have a good Christmas? Mine was relaxing and filled with way too much food. In other words, a perfect holiday!


Today's guest on Friday Five...Three...One is Margo Hoornstra, a mother, author, grandmother, resident of the upper Midwest and my fellow author in The Class of 1985 series from The Wild Rose Press. She's here to talk about herself and her new Class of '85 book, To Be or Not.

OK, Margo, take it away...

 FIVE FUN FACTS:

1. Favorite word: Snuggle. It’s a universal term for closeness and love at all age levels.
2. First thing you do in the morning: Brew coffee. Drink coffee. And please don’t speak to me until I do.
3. Favorite song to dance to: Head and Shoulders; Knees and Toes with my grandchildren.
4. What constitutes a crime against nature: Abuse of an animal by someone they trust.
5. Favorite destination: Anywhere on the water. Boating, swimming. Sunbathing, not so much.

THREE QUESTIONS

1. What book is on your nightstand? Not as romantic, but how about on my iPad? A Holiday to Remember a progressive contemporary romance written by several talented ladies of The Roses of Prose. www.rosesofprose.blogspot.com
2. What would your mother say about today’s underwear choice? Whatever happened to good old fashioned white?
3. What scares you most? Losing someone in my family.

ONE SENTENCE

Using these four words, write a sentence: Skeleton. Chocolate.  Spa. Files.

Fresh from a two hour workout at the spa, I scoured some computer files for my latest work in progress and allowed myself nibbles of the chocolate skeleton left over from Halloween.

YOUR TURN:

Feel free to give us a teaser about your new book and information where to find you online.

Blurb: To Be, Or Not

Barry Carlson had it all, a successful career in professional baseball and the adoration of any woman he wanted. Except one. Forced to retire in his prime, Barry returns to his hometown of Summerville, New York to coach the Minor League Hornets.

Twenty years ago, Barry broke through Amanda Marsh’s trust issues. He melted her ice, won her love, then walked away without a backward glance to survey the wreckage. Now Amanda is the head of public relations for the Hornets and happily single—until Barry slides back into her life.

Still reluctant to trust, Amanda gives Barry another chance. But the announcement of their twenty-fifth high school reunion leads to an asinine bet between Barry and his old buddies, and threatens to ruin their newfound relationship. As scandals of the past and present converge, can Barry and Amanda get beyond their differences to find their second chance at love?

To learn more about Margo, visit one or all of these sites:

Blog:     www.margohoornstra.blogspot.com

Website:  www.margohoornstra.com

FB:           http://www.facebook.com/pages/Margo-Hoornstra-Author/251502834867396

Twitter:      https://twitter.com/#!/MargoHoornstra

Friday Five...Three...One... is a chance for guest bloggers to share a bit about themselves in a fun format of Five Facts, Three Questions and One Sentence. If you'd like to be a guest on Friday Five, Three, One drop me an email.

To request or to return...that is the question

Today is the third busiest retail day of the year. It's the day when we take back all the gifts that didn't fit, didn't work or just didn't strike our fancy. News reports suggest a record $46 billion worth of merchandise will be returned.


$46 billion.


I find that number a bit embarrassing.


Does it mean we're a nation of 300 million ingrates? Yes, I know sometimes gifts don't work or don't fit... but I have a feeling it's often down to the fact that we just don't like something that someone else thought we would and we feel entitled to have exactly what we want in a gift.

And I must not be alone in my ambivalence to returning gifts. Although holiday returns are now an expected part of the gift-giving, a survey by American Express found that nearly 60 percent of gift getters won't tell Great Aunt Milly the fate of the red popcorn sweater she gave them.

Of course, as my mother would say, if you'd given me a list, you wouldn't be standing in line. But I find making a list equally problematic. As a child, it was fun and exciting. As an adult, it seems selfish and more than a bit presumptuous.


What do you think? It is better to ask for what you want and need or to stay quiet knowing you can join the hordes returning gifts after Christmas?

Friday Five… Three… One

Happy Friday! I hope everyone is ready for the holidays.


Callie Hutton is today's guest. Besides giving us insight into her mother's opinion of underwear, she's also talking bout her new book, A Wife By Christmas from Soul Mate Publishing.

Callie, you're up...

FIVE FUN FACTS:

1.     Favorite word: Tenacious

2.     First thing you do in the morning: Make coffee

3.     Favorite song to dance to: YMCA

4.     What constitutes a crime against nature: Abusing and/or neglecting animals

5.     Favorite destination: Home

THREE QUESTIONS

1.     What book is on your nightstand? "Twice In A Lifetime" by Jennifer Jakes

2.     What would your mother say about today’s underwear choice? Why bother?

3.     What scares you most? Something happening to one of my children.

ONE SENTENCE

1.     Using these four words, write a sentence: Wimpy. Dairy. St. Nickolas. Millions.

St. Nickolas is certainly not wimpy, delivering millions of toys to children and drinking their favorite dairy drink while munching on cookies.

YOUR TURN:

Feel free to give us a teaser about your new book and information where to find you online.

High School Principal Max Colbert needs to get rid of that pesky History teacher, Ellie Henderson. Getting her married off is the perfect solution, except everyone he introduces her to doesn’t seem right.

In 1906 Guthrie, Oklahoma, History teacher, Ellie Henderson, has been a thorn in High School Principal Max Colbert’s side ever since he took over three months ago. When she’s not flying by his office, late for her class, with books and papers jumbled in her arms, she’s attending Suffragettes meetings against his orders.


Because of her family connections, he can’t fire her, but he can certainly find someone to marry her, and keep her busy in the kitchen. And far away from his school. Max soon finds that what seemed like a good idea can turn into disaster when Miss Ellie Henderson is involved. The woman is a master at getting into trouble.

With the Christmas season in full swing, he has many opportunities to introduce her to prospective husbands. However, the uncomfortable feeling is growing that no one is worthy of the minx…

 My website: http://calliehutton.com/

Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/A-Wife-by-Christmas-ebook/dp/B006H2A51E/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1324167458&sr=1-1 

Friday Five...Three...One... is a chance for guest bloggers to share a bit about themselves in a fun format of Five Facts, Three Questions and One Sentence. If you'd like to be a guest on Friday Five, Three, One drop me an email.

Over at Savvy Authors Today

I'm talking about character development over at Savvy Authors today. Stop in and share your thoughts.

http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/content.php?1753-Three-Steps-to-Filling-out-Characters-Sketched-by-Someone-Else-by-Keena-Kincaid

FRIDAY FIVE... THREE... ONE....

Friday Five, Three, One. This is a chance for guest bloggers to share a bit about themselves in a fun format of Five Facts, Three Questions and One Sentence. If you'd like to be a guest on Friday Five, Three, One drop me an email.

Today I welcome Casey Crow, who's talking about herself and her new book, Can't Fake This from Loose, ID. I met Casey at RWA Nationals a few years ago and have been waiting for the release of her first book ever since.


Casey, take it away...

FIVE FUN FACTS:

1. Favorite word: Succulent. It's both pretty and sexy.
2.  First thing you do in the morning: Hit snooze 5 times. I'm so not a morning person so I set my alarm 25 minutes early because I need that much time to drag myself out of bed. 
3. Favorite song to dance to: Seriously? You ask a dance choreographer that? Jeeze, the pressure. Oh, alright, I LOVE "Sideways" by Dierks Bentley. Your body involuntary moves to beat whenever you hear it.
4. What constitutes a crime against nature: Littering. It irks me to no end when folks litter. Lazy bums, they are.
5. Favorite destination: The beach. Any beach.

THREE QUESTIONS

1. What book is on your nightstand? This week I'm reading the light contemporary Tangled up in Love by Heidi Betts.
2. What would your mother say about today’s underwear choice? "Here's five bucks. Go buy something new."
3. What scares you most? Something bad happening to my children.

ONE SENTENCE

Using these four words, write a sentence: Splash. Implants. Weed. Asset.

As I'm planting flowers today to create a splash of color and lovely asset to the window box, I noticed the weeds had overtaken the garden. 

 

YOUR TURN:

CAN'T FAKE THIS

A divorcee ready to reenter the dating world, Anna Ryan is determined to be the best “product on the market,” which requires a lot more experience so she propositions sexy police officer Chase Harris to teach her how to make hot, passionate love as opposed to just having sex. He takes it a step further, instructing each lesson based on The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Buy Kindle version on Amazon

Buy all versions at Loose, Id.

Visit Casey at http://www.caseycrow.com

CAN’T FAKE THIS Excerpt

See the CAN’T FAKE THIS book trailer

Follow on Twitter @caseyecrow and Facebook Casey Crow

Casey writes erotic and spicy contemporary romances with the tagline “Sexy, Southern & Sassy.” Visit her at www.caseycrow.com.  Follow her on Twitter – caseyecrow and Facebook – Casey Crow.

It's not what you know...it's what you feel

An interesting discussion came up on one of my writing loops this past week. How to find your "voice."

We all know that voice is one of those elusive, I'll-know-it-when-I-hear-it attributes.

In my opinion, voice is innate. It slumbers in a place so deep within us that we can't access, but...and this is an important but...we can create the condition that will wake it.

How?

Let go.

What i mean by that is don't be afraid to put yourself out there along with her characters. Yes, we write fiction, and yes, our characters' fears, wants and needs aren't necessarily our own…but the want, the vulnerability, the doubts, the regrets, the passion, the pain…all comes from us, the authors.

The idea of write what you know doesn't have to do with the circumstances you're writing about--it doesn't matter if you've never been to Paris, never been a medieval warrior, never carried out a classified spy mission. What matters is that you've loved, lost, laughed and had your heart broken. Put what you know in the emotions your characters are going through.

Let go and write.

Thoughts?

Let there be light

The short days are getting to me.

I love the holiday with its festive mood and gatherings, but the days are too cold and too short this time of year for someone like me to call it the best time of the year.

I prefer the hot days of summer where midnight is as lively as noon.

What I dislike most, though, is the dark. The “black of night” seems blacker, and I find myself craving light. I’ve never been a fan of long nights, but since my visit to the Islands of Orkney a few years ago I seem to miss the light more.

When I was there, it was June, and the days stretched on forever as the summer solstice neared. Nights were lit by soft sunlight that disappeared only for a few hours.

The tour guide at Maeshowe , a chambered cairne build roughly 3000 years BC, noted that it was the opposite at the December solstice. A soft glow for an hour or two, then darkness.

Yikes!

We then hunched over and walked to the center of the tomb, which was pitch black and the guide shone her flashlight to recreate the Solstice sunlight. Whenever the lack of light really begins to bother me, I just flip to this website and remind myself it could be darker.

FRIDAY FIVE...
THREE...
ONE....


Welcome, everyone, to my first Friday Five, Three, One. This is a chance for guest bloggers to share a bit about themselves in a fun format of Five Facts, Three Questions and One Sentence. If you'd like to be a guest on Friday Five, Three, One drop me an email.


And now...


My debut guest for the Friday Five, Three, One is LK Hunsaker, whose new book, Moondrops & Thistles, is out today. LK, thanks for being my test subject...er guest.


FIVE FUN FACTS

1. Favorite word: This week? Absolutely! (It changes often.)
2. First thing you do in the morning: Get dressed; writer-dressed, not going out dressed. Sweats, tee, slippers. I get up and go right to work so I dress for it first thing.
3. Favorite song to dance to: That changes often, too. Recently, I Like It by Enrique Inglesia and Dynamite by Taio Cruz. I know, you asked for one, but these two are current obsessions.
4. What constitutes a crime against nature: Wow, hard question. I’d say it’s when we thumb what we know is right and decent in favor of temporary satisfaction and fleeting pleasure, resulting in unnecessary pain and destruction.
5. Favorite destination: Water! Beach, ocean, lake ... a nice swimming pool. I adore Italy and Scotland and would gladly go back any time. But, I also like being home and am always glad to return.

 THREE QUESTIONS

1. What book is on your nightstand? Evergreen by Belva Plain, a recommendation from a friend
2. What would your mother say about today’s underwear choice? Ha! She’d probably say I should find something cuter.
3. What scares you most? The possibility of losing a child. I can’t imagine anything worse. My kids are my center.

ONE SENTENCE

Using these four words, write a sentence: Scream. Hangover. Sweat. Blog.

No need to scream at me; I’ll sweat it out and get my blog post written despite the nasty word hangover I already have from the twenty-thousand I wrote yesterday.

YOUR TURN

Feel free to give us a teaser about your new book and information where to find you online.

Daws is a stalwart soldier entrenched in his work.
Deanna is a fiery spirit on a mission.

Love. Honor.
Trust.

Sacrifice.

Moondrops & Thistles


Website: http://www.lkhunsaker.com
Blog: http://lkhunsaker.blogspot.com
Moondrops on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MoondropsAndThistles

LK, I love the name of your book. What inspired it?

If no one sees the lights, do they still twinkle?

I've started a morning exercise where I pull four words out of a jar and then write a sentence using those words. It's almost 4 p.m. and my four words are still staring at me...the sentence remains unwritten.

Instead, I find myself staring at my Christmas tree and wondering about the naked backside.

Yep, I said naked.

The faux fir is only half-gussied up for the holidays because I don't decorate the side of the tree that goes against the wall. I'm not sure why. It's not that I think it's too difficult--if I can clean the top of  my cabinets and scrub basements, hanging lights and a few ornaments can't be tough--nor do I lack enough decorations. I just don't see the point.

To me, Christmas decorations are for the viewers' pleasure, and no one is going to see the "other" side of my tree. But I sense I am alone in this philosophy. Of my friends who answered the quick question on FB, the majority decorate all sides of the trees.

What about you? Do you decorate the side of the tree no one sees? Why or why not?