Travel Wednesday...Another Dream Coming True

This year another of my travel dream comes true.  Greece! Start off in Athens and spend a few days there exploring history.  On the 'to see' list for sure.



From Trip Advisor site

And yes, there is a cruise ship involved, but also a stop in Italy that is exciting. Pompeii is a place I've always wanted to explore.  I know there will be tons of pictures taken rambling through the digs of this historical site and get ready to be bored this fall when I start sharing a lot of them.

Thanks to John Hauser for posting this great Pompeii picture on the internet!

In the meantime, working on all the fun stuff tied into traveling...hotels, airfare, and the fun side trips.

Yes, I am a travelaholic and don't intend to go into recovery anytime soon!

A Silver Medal and a Lapful of Puppies

Skier Gus Kenworthy isn't happy to just bring home the hunk of silver hanging around his neck.  Nope! He's staying in Russia and working to get the paperwork that allows him to bring home a litter of puppies and their mother that he discovered in Sochi, too. 

What's not to love about a guy who isn't focused  on capitalizing immediately as to what a medal win will do for his career financially?

So now the question is...will Vladimir let the dogs out? 

The Boomer Surfaces

Remember the feeling of invisible in high school?  I do. This time around it’s not because I’m a skinny geek with crooked teeth, it’s became I’m a Baby Boomer.  And it’s not the school ‘in crowd’ of my so called peers, but the powers-that-be in the marketing world.  For the most part they ignore the financial clout of the generation born between 1946 and 1964.

 

Those born during this period don’t exist for a lot in marketing unless it’s to push drugs for aches and pains, or sexual vigor.  But that’s okay with me.  They don’t exist in my world.  When a pop-up for ad on something I’ve googled clutters my space, I just ignore it.  Chances are good that I googled an item just to mess with them.  Let them spend their money by trying to sell me something I’m totally not interested in.  Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Though I confess there is an aged biased area that annoys me.  Publishing.  Especially the gods of New York that determine what readers want to read.  Could it be they are missing the readers asking for Boomer Lit?  Books across genres that have a hero, heroine or protagonist that fall into the 50+ territory?  Maybe they haven’t been to conferences where readers asked ‘why’ they don’t have books with older characters?  Or is it because they didn’t get around to opening the emails from readers asking the same thing?

Several years ago an editor scrawled a rejection across the cover letter I’d enclosed in a submission.  “No one wants to read about love connections between people over 40.”  Yep, you guessed it. My characters were 40.

Well, I have news for her.  In addition to being an author, I’m a reader.  Yes, I read across genres…from YA to non-fiction and all in between.  And yes, I also like to read books about people more seasoned in life and using what they learned from prior experiences, or those who are in the midst of life altering experiences at the ripe old age of 50+.

Future works of mine will also include stories of Baby Boomer struggles and successes.  Being an early boomer, I’ve reached the point of ME.  Focusing on the writing I enjoy and sharing with any readers who want to come along for the ride.  There are a variety of books on my planning schedule ranging from angst driven Young Adult, to Hot Erotic and stories that will fall into Boomer Lit because they will be stories I enjoy or feel.  Some will be romance driven, some will be life driven, but they will all be ME driven.

Do you enjoy reading characters who have lived, or have decided they need to live now that they have reached their Golden Years?

And if you want to read romances of older women and younger men, check out my Cougar books.  Just heard Florence Henderson, who may be past the boomer generation at 80, comment she stays young thanks to good genes and dating younger men.
 http://passioninprint.com/ShowBook.php?CR=LTL_BRLYLGL

Books I Enjoy Friday - The Burglar is at it Again!

Bernie strikes again in Lawrence Block's The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons.  Another fun read by the Master of Mystery!

THE BURGLAR WHO COUNTED THE SPOONS finds Bernie and his lesbian sidekick Carolyn Kaiser breaking into houses, apartments, and even a museum, in a madcap adventure replete with American Colonial silver, an F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscript, a priceless portrait, and a remarkable array of buttons. And, wouldn’t you know it, there’s a dead body, all stretched out on a Trent Barling carpet.

Purchase/read a sample:

http://amzn.to/1iVpjfy

Sharon Ledwith...In a Stew!

Sharon Ledwith can cook as well as write. Gotta love a gal so talented. Hope she has nice bottle of wine ready to serve with this when I show up for dinner!

by Sharon Ledwith

 I LOVE this recipe. I used it for my first book launch party in May 2012. My reason? The characters in my time travel series The Last Timekeepers got to sample a 13th century version of bread bowl rabbit stew, so I thought for my book release—why not imitate art? Since rabbit is a bit harder to find at the local supermarket, I settled on beef for the main ingredient. I believe my party-goers were happy with that decision as my recipe went over fabulously even though it was a tad hot to serve on the sunny, humid day we experienced. But on those cool, damp days, this steamy stew will bring a smile to your face, and comfort to your soul.

This recipe takes about fifteen minutes to prepare and eight or five hours to cook. Serves four.

 Bull’s-Eye Beef Stew

4 bread bowls (or if you prefer, large Kaiser buns). Click HERE to see how to make one.

1 cup 25%-less-sodium beef broth

½ cup Bull’s-Eye Guinness Draught Beer Blend Barbecue Sauce you can substitute this sauce with your favorite brand

1 tsp. dried oregano leaves

1 lb. (450g) stewing beef, cut into 1¼ inch cubes
1 lb. (450g) red potatoes (about 4), quartered
4 large carrots (1 lb./450g), cut into 1-inch-thick slices
1 large onion, cut into chucks
3 tbsp. flour
3 tbsp. water

 Mix broth, barbecue sauce and oregano in slow cooker. Add all remaining ingredients except flour and water; toss to coat. Cover with lid. Cook on low 8 to 9 hours or on high 4 to 5 hours.

Transfer meat and vegetables to bread bowl with slotted spoon; cover to keep warm.

 Mix flour and water until blended. Stir into juices in slow cooker; cover. Cook on high for 15 minutes or until slightly thickened.

 Spoon over meat and vegetables and serve.

While you’re waiting for the stew to cook, there’s plenty of time to relax, get cozy, and delve into that novel you’ve been planning to read. Time travel story, anyone?

If you haven’t already read Sharon Ledwith's novel, The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis, here’s the blurb…

When 13-year-old Amanda Sault and her annoying classmates are caught in a food fight at school, they're given a choice: suspension or yard duty. The decision is a no-brainer. Their two-week crash course in landscaping leads to the discovery of a weathered stone arch in the overgrown back yard. The arch isn't a forgotten lawn ornament but an ancient time portal from the lost continent of Atlantis.

Chosen by an Atlantean Magus to be Timekeepers--legendary time travelers sworn to keep history safe from the evil Belial--Amanda and her classmates are sent on an adventure of a lifetime. Can they find the young Robin Hood and his merry band of teens? If they don't, then history itself may be turned upside down.

To read an excerpt of The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis, please click HERE.

Check out The Last Timekeepers series Facebook Page.

BUY LINKS

Musa Publishing

Amazon Link

Barnes & Noble 

Kobo

Sharon Ledwith is the author of the middle-grade/YA time travel series, THE LAST TIMEKEEPERS, available through Musa Publishing. When Sharon's not writing, researching, or revising, she enjoys reading, yoga, kayaking, time with family and friends, and single malt scotch. Sharon lives in the wilds of Muskoka in Central Ontario, Canada, with her hubby, a water-logged yellow Labrador and moody calico cat.

Learn more about Sharon Ledwith on her website and blog.  Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter.

Blog Chain--What Am I Working On?

Today I'm delighted to participate in a blog chain, a blog that deals with a set topic or in this case set questions.







THE BATON IS PASSED:

The baton for this was passed to me by Marilyn Rice. She invited me to participate by following her posting of last week.  Check it out!

http://lookaftereachother.blogspot.com/2014/02/blog-chain-what-am-i-working-on.html#comment-form

Marilyn lives in England, but we've become friends via social media, a venue that at times I curse because it's so easy to get caught up visiting.  Too many days have occurred where I look at the clock after sitting to 'just check' Facebook or Twitter and discover I've spent a lot more time than intended and am not waaaaay behind on the day's schedule. Does that ever happen you?

Still, connecting with Marilyn has brought me a new friend and for that I'm grateful.  Talented people inspire me, plus one can never have enough friends.

1) What am I working on?

Currently, several projects.  A Young Adult that deals with death and the character's first exposure to grief. This one I started earlier and set aside since last year was crazy busy. Next is a book that can fall into Women's Fiction with a sub-genre of Boomer Lit. The protagonist is 50 and a sudden widow when her husband is killed in an auto crash. She has other surprises thrown her way and deals with them through the support of her best friend and her grown daughters. And, last but not least...I'm in my first collaboration with an author friend...a mystery. 

2) How Does my work differ fro others of its genre?

My paranormal series mixes various mythologies...Celtic, Nordic, Greek and who knows for future books.  Beyond Magic, the first book in the Magical Love series, brings into play a Scottish Cailleach,  a Nordic god who is a son of Thor, and for fun, throw in the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. Mix them up with humans and you have humor, heat and a lot of arguing.

The second book, Emerging Magic gives some of the above characters with the addition of vampires.  Think going home to meet the family and you are introduced to a group that blends a 1960s sit-com. 

The DEAD series starts out with a rich girl waking up a vampire and no access to the trust fun that has supported her lifestyle.  What's a gal to do? Work is a word that never entered her vocabulary and with limited skills and a great body she becomes a stripper.  The rest of the DEAD series is set around the various beings that she connects with in the club she now owns.

As for the contemporary erotic romances, mine have more humor than found in most erotic romance.  And I plead guilty to not having page after page of nothing but sex. Call me crazy, but I like a story to go with my heat.

3) Why do I write what I do?

That leads to the question, why does a chicken cross the road?  Not sure about the chicken, maybe because they want to get to the other side and the road is there.  In my case, it's because I have to also, but not to get to the other side of the road.  Nope, it's to stop all the voices shouting in my head and I never know what they are going to scream about.  Like the  stuff happening now.  All I know for sure is there are times they keep me awake and they have learned I get cranky when sleep deprived.

4) How does my writing process work?

As noted above, said voices start talking.  Their conversations seem to be triggered by pretty much anything...a news item, an overheard conversation,  or the way a person walks down the street.  Anyway, they start chattering and I know it's time to make notes for the future.  When they like an idea enough it becomes a full fledged conversation that means the book has to start.  I work better early in the morning and so me and my voices sit down and do a rough plotting of the book.  Then the real works begins in striving to turn all the words into something the editor doesn't shoot back with a 'What were you on when you wrote this?" comment.

Passing the Baton:

It is with great delight I pass the baton for this blog tour on to the talented Sam Cheever, an author who also covers a number of genres.  I look forward to her answers!

Award winning Sam Cheever writes romantic paranormal/fantasy and mystery/suspense, creating stories that celebrate the joy of love in all its forms. Known for writing great characters, snappy dialogue, and unique and exhilarating stories, Sam is the award-winning author of 50+ books and has been writing for over a decade under several noms de plume. 

 

Places to connect with Sam:

 

https://www.facebook.com/sam.cheever.3

check her website samcheever.com

And her books http://amzn.to/1iQua0N

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Friday - Sharing Nicely

Feeling naughty so downloaded a copy of a Victoria Blisse to my Kindle. Need escape!

Two hot, sexy billionaires know what they want and they want her, but will they be happy to share nicely?


Kerry Matthews is used to stress—she runs her own high-end London club called Diamonds, but what she isn’t used to is attention from two very persuasive and powerful men.

Darren Bennett and Greg Stamford are life-long rivals, but call a truce to spend one night with sassy, curvy Kerry. They’re not content to share forever though. They both have a selfish desire to possess her completely.

Darren buys her seductive lingerie, flowers and chocolates, Greg flies her to Paris for a romantic break, cleans her flat and makes her breakfast in bed. Both vying to cement their place in her heart. She needs to decide between them but is dazzled by their persuasive personas and extravagant gifts.

http://www.amazon.com/Sharing-Nicely-Victoria-Blisse-ebook/dp/B00FSHT4BQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1391784893&sr=1-1&keywords=victoria+blisse