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Choices...do I really have to pick one?

10/27/2015

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​There’s something to be said for choices…and for this week’s Romance Writer’s Weekly blog hop there certainly were choices to make.  The first choice was to decide which of the “would you rather” options that were offered…and it wasn’t an easy one!  I bounced between red headed hotties and blonde hunks or scuba diving or sky diving…and finally decided that since my choice of men didn’t include either of the selections, it would have to be the latter.
Now, I have to preface my entry with the fact that I am absolutely PETRIFIED of being in water over my head.  Not sure where that fear came from, but it’s been an anchor around my ankle for as long as I can remember.  I can’t think of anytime my mother left me in the bathtub as a baby and I almost drowned or getting stuck in water unable to swim as a child.  So, the fear is absolutely ridiculous.  But it exists.  In fact, I am so scared of drowning that even though I learned to swim and love to swim, I cannot swim in water that is over my head.  I sink like a freaking rock!
On the other hand, I used to be scared to fly in an airplane until a job that I had forced me on a little prop plane from Indianapolis to Chicago because it was the most economical mode of transportation.  So, I climbed on that damned plane and promptly turned green (according to the woman in the seat next to me) as soon as I felt the land drop out from under the wheels of the plane.  I mean, really, how in the world does an enormous contraption of steel manage to stay in the air?  Alas, I have learned to love to fly and it has become exhilarating to me to get on a plane and look out the window and see the clouds below us!  I even climbed in my younger brother’s small plane, in the front seat, and watched as the little Volkswagen with wings lifted up off the tarmac without my stomach turning inside out.  Someday, I may even try to take lessons myself, that’s how much I love flying.
Skydiving and scuba diving are the extremes of both.  I have to admit, I was tempted to jump in the skydiving simulator during a trip to Vegas but when I weighed out the cost value of seeing a two hour entertainment show as opposed to a few minutes of faked glory, the show won out.  And when I’ve seen some of the awesome photos that people have taken of sunken treasure when scuba diving, I have to say that there is a certain romantic appeal of diving with a hunky instructor down to the depths of the ocean floor.
I know, I can’t decide to do both and honestly, I don’t know that I could do either when it came down to it.  So, I guess it’s a matter of which way I would rather take a chance that I might die.  Do I want to smother to death under the water or risk being eaten by sharks?  Or do I want to take the chance that my parachute might fail and my head would literally go up my ass as I hit the ground at five hundred miles an hour?  I know, that’s an exaggeration, but isn’t that what writers do?  Exaggerate the reality to make it interesting?
For my bucket list, I’ve always wanted to rid myself of my fear of water over my head.  But I can also imagine the freedom of flying through the air like a mighty eagle.  Of course, in my case, it probably wouldn’t be the graceful flying of an eagle it would be more like the flopping of a vulture.  Or the failed attempts of a chicken with clipped wings trying to fly across the top of the pasture fence.  I don’t do graceful.  I do clumsy.
With all that said, to be able to go beneath the water and feel the flow of tropical seas on my body has got to be the most sensuous feeling.  To scavenge along the bottom of the ocean and finding a fabulous piece of pirate’s gold or a queen’s trunk of rubies, emeralds and sapphires would have to be the most awesome and profitable adventure.  Even though it would be very difficult for me to divest myself of such treasures if I found them.  Oh, to see the remains of a ship carrying newcomers to the New World and wonder what their last thoughts were as their ship plunged to the depths of the ocean.  All their dreams of a new life shattered like the wooden boards of their ship.  What would they have been when they arrived here?  A plantation owner in Louisiana or a proper Southern lady entertaining guests in her parlor or sipping mint juleps on her veranda?  And of course, there is always the question of how the ship met its unfortunate fate.  Did a hurricane come up and throw the ship around the ocean with the wind howling and the thunder cracking until the broken ship finally took on water and sunk in the calmness of the eye of the storm?  Or were they attacked by marauding pirates who actually sunk the ship and took the women for themselves turning them into wanton sexual objects with their petticoats ripped and their bodices exposing cleavage for the men to fondle at their desire?
Ah, yes, it would have to be scuba diving for this romance author.  Scuba diving to weave the ideas for new stories to tell.  Pirates turning Victorian women into prostitutes perhaps to be rescued by a brave soldier when they reached the streets of New Orleans and living happily ever after.  And the very thought of a sexy scuba instructor leading the way under the depths of the blue green water of a tropical ocean, pointing out brightly colored fish and sunken treasures could lead to yet another romance story.  Definitely, scuba diving could provoke the creative mind of a romance author and fill it full of erotic and sensual love scenes of both historical and modern day genres.
For more stories about what romance authors would choose for themselves please start with the blog of Leslie Hachtel  at http://lesliehachtelwriter.wordpress.com.  Until next time…

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Bourbon...Beads...Boobs...and Books

10/14/2015

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 I have returned after a wonderful three days in New Orleans!  With a nickname...just call me #beadcollector!  There's a story behind this...I posted on my Facebook page that I was heading to New Orleans to get some beads...as a joke...and my youngest daughter posted back that she wondered how I was going to explain to my grandchildren how I got all the beads...and so started the bead games!
The #beadcollector kept everyone up to date on her progress from Indiana to Louisiana and everything in between.  It was a trip which marked a lot of firsts for this woman...
This was my first vacation with a group of women and I think I have to say I had some of the best traveling companions ever!  In our little group were authors Lacey Thorn, LaNora Mangano, Fiona Riplee and Jeana Mann...please check out my listing at the end of this post to see how you can connect with them and read their latest romance books.
As far as food goes, this trip was filled with a lot of firsts there too:  Alligator sausage, grilled alligator, boudin, blackened pork, pickled peppered okra and green beans, oyster shots, bananas foster, and of course the legendary beignets from Cafe DuMonde!
It was the first time that I spent a birthday away from anyone in my family.  Instead, it was spent eating at Jackson Brewery, walking down Bourbon Street with a hurricane in my hand listening to every type of live music there is, watching the street performers and finally...yes...another first...I went to a drag show!  And tucked bucks!  I have never been so envious of a man's boobs in my entire life...or their hair...or their asses...or their clothes...
I learned a lot more about the history of New Orleans than what I had already learned while doing research for my Vengeance Trilogy and got to actually walk down Pirates Alley which is featured in the first book of the trilogy...Blood Vengeance. Heard about crimes of passion and crimes of pure stupidity.  Became even more fascinated with the history of the houses beyond Bourbon Street and the French Quarter.  Learned how to pronounce Tchoupitoulas Street and to watch out for drunks who mistake you for someone that they thought they saw in a show earlier that night.
The people were so wonderful.  We met some of our fellow authors from the SOLA chapter of RWA for a book signing and panel discussion at Octavia Books and learned that almost everyone in New Orleans believes in ghosts...just like me!  I would encourage you to pick up books by Colleen Mooney and Dawn Chartier or take a trip to visit Octavia Books.
The highlight of the weekend was the wonderful masquerade ball hosted by a group of awesome romance authors.  The Midnight Gala was an event to be remembered with an array of excellent food, music, booze, and dancing in the ballroom at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel.  
All in all, it was a wonderful and exciting experience but I sure am glad to be back home...preparing for the next adventure!


Thanks to:

OCTAVIA BOOKS
www.octaviabooks.com
www.facebook.com/OctaviaBooks

COLLEEN MOONEY
www.facebook.com/colleen.mooney.716

DAWN CHARTIER
https://www.facebook.com/dawn.chartier

LACEY THORN
https://www.facebook.com/authorlaceythorn?fref=ts

JEANA MANN
https://www.facebook.com/JeanaEMann?fref=ts

FIONA RIPLEE
http://fionariplee.com/

LA NORA MANGANO
http://findinglanora.weebly.com/

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Norris vs. MacGyver

10/5/2015

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We were given quite a lot of topics to choose from for this week's blog hop over at Romance Writers Weekly...so I chose to talk about who would win a fight between Chuck Norris and MacGyver...
First of all, there are a lot of different types of fights...are they fighting over a woman?  Are they fighting for popularity?  Or are they getting down and dirty in hand to hand combat?  Let's talk about that...
If they are fighting over a woman, it is going to be a matter of taste...not theirs...but the woman's.  Sex appeal and masculinity are in the eyes of the beholder.  For me, I prefer the somewhat groomed fellow with a little bit of ruggedness to them.  But I also love a man who is inventive with gadgets because you never know what I might need fixed around the house...let alone...if they are inventive with gadgets I would imagine that they would be inventive in the bedroom as well.  Correct?  And besides...I don't have a lot of time to molly coddle some needy fellow so by all means...go out and play in your workshop and stay out of my kitchen!
Now, with regard to popularity, I don't know why anyone would want to fight for THAT!  Popularity comes with multitudes of people with demands...but I digress..we aren't talking about me.  Once again, popularity is going to depend upon the geographic location.  I would imagine that a country girl would hands down prefer the muscular ruggedness of Norris whereas a city girl would likely prefer the more refined looks of MacGyver.  So, there's nothing there to fight about, right?
Hand to hand combat is the one that I think I'm supposed to write about.  In my opinion, Chuck Norris has the physical fortitude to out battle MacGyver in hand to hand, blow by blow, combat.  On the other side of the coin, MacGyver woudn't have to go hand to hand because he'd merely render his opponent helpless with one of his gadgets.  So there would be no fight at all. However, for the purposes of discussion, let's assume that there were no gadgets and it was nothing but hot, sexy man against hot sexy man.  All that hard muscle and slick, sweaty skin....lean...mean...fighting machines...
Earth calling Teresa...hello...???  Are you there...get your mind out of the gutter and get back to the task at hand...
I just can't keep my mind on writing when I think about these two showing muscle and showing determination to kick the other one's ass...ass...did someone say ass?  As in tight, round, manly ass...
Forget writing...I think I want to go see if I can find some reruns of Walker: Texas Ranger...which obviously tells you which one would win the fight if they were fighting over me...Chuck Norris all the way!  

For more stories like this...join our Tuesday blog hop starting with Susan Scott Shelley:

http://www.susanscottshelley.com/#!her-blog/c1cod
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Cold, Rainy Saturdays are Busy...

10/3/2015

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I'm only taking a brief break from my busy day to say a little bit about why I actually don't mind rainy Saturdays...you would not believe how much I've accomplished today!  In the kitchen I have cream of vegetable soup...homemade chicken pot pie...dutch apple pie...white chocolate macadamia cookies...and homemade wheat bread!  I'm so pleased with myself that I am going to even share my recipe for the cream of vegetable soup below the photos.
I have gotten started packing for my trip to New Orleans and I understand that it is going to be sunny and 85...even though my nephew posted on my Facebook page "cloudy with a chance of hurricane..."  the only hurricane that I'm going to see is the one in my hand as I take a stroll down Bourbon Street on my birthday!  
I added some new photos to my album and can't believe how many new memories I have been making!  The Kentuckiana Authors Book Bash was held at the very beautiful and historic Palace Theater in Louisville, KY.  Because I'm really interested in historic--and haunted--places, this was absolutely the best!  Accompanied by my beautiful daughter/assistant, we had a wonderful mother daughter day and she carried out enough books to keep her occupied during the current deer hunting season while her husband is out freezing his skinny arse off in a tree stand.  
Watch my blog on Tuesday as I answer the question "Who would win a fight between Chuck Norris and McGyver?" for the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop.
So it's farewell for the evening as I venture off to work on my newest WIP...On A Wing and a Prayer...
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Teresa's Cream of Vegetable Soup
Peel and cube 4 medium potatoes (I prefer red skins)
Peel and cube about 1 cup raw carrots (I cheated and used pre-sliced today)
Bring potatoes and carrots to simmer in 1 large can Chicken Broth 
 Cook until the vegetables are tender and add 1 cup frozen peas
Add 1 can Cream of Onion soup and 1 can Cream of Celery soup
Add 1 cup diced ham chunks or 1/2 cup Real Bacon crumbles
Add 1 cup diced Velveeta Cheese
Simmer until the cheese melts...I like to serve it with homemade bread...it's a very rich and creamy soup that is great for a damp, autumn day!


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    I love the peace and quiet of living in the country.  It inspires me and refreshes me at the end of a long day.

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