Lori L. MacLaughlin's Blog, page 18
May 19, 2015
Observing a Book Signing and Panel Discussion
On Saturday afternoon, I attended a book signing/release event at Barnes & Noble for the novel, Stella Rose, by Vermont author Tammy Flanders Hetrick. I’m hoping to get a chance to do a similar event at B & N and wanted to know what to expect. Hetrick only spoke for ten minutes or so, which I thought was surprisingly short. I arrived a few minutes late, unfortunately, and didn’t get to hear the bulk of her speech. She then opened up the floor to questions. The question/answer session lasted m...
May 15, 2015
Celebrate the Small Things!
Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly celebration created by VikLit and now hosted by Lexa Cain to celebrate the happenings of the week, however small or large. You can learn all about it and sign up for it here. 
Wow, this month is flying right by! I can’t believe we’re halfway through it already. This week I’m celebrating:
Another Indie bookstore, The Flying Pig in Shelburne, VT, agreed to carry my book! Whoo, hoo! My two flowering crabapple trees have blossomed, and my yard smells heaven...May 8, 2015
Celebrate the Small Things! and A to Z Challenge Reflection
Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly celebration created by VikLit and now hosted by Lexa Cain to celebrate the happenings of the week, however small or large. You can learn all about it and sign up for it here.
This week, I’m celebrating the wonderful warm weather! (Finally!) It has been sunny and 70s-80s all week. I’ve been raking like mad to get all the leaves off my lawn before the grass gets too tall. I can’t believe how fast it’s growing. The trees are leafing out, and two of my flow...
May 6, 2015
IWSG — Book Signings, Promotion, and Marketing, Oh My!
Today’s the day for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) where, on the first Wednesday of every month, writers get together to share their insecurities and offer encouragement. The IWSG was created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, and you can learn all about it and sign up for it here. 
Now that my book is finally published and I’ve done some online promotion with a blog tour, I need to think about doing promotion in person. Both the local independent book store, which is carrying my book, and the...
May 1, 2015
Celebrate the Small Things!
Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly celebration created by VikLit and now hosted by Lexa Cain to celebrate the happenings of the week, however small or large. You can learn all about it and sign up for it here. 
Today, I am celebrating that I survived the A to Z Blogging Challenge! Whoo, hoo! Hooray!
Congrats to everyone who participated! It’s fun, but it can be exhausting.
I’d like to say a huge Thank You! to everyone who stopped by! Over the next few weeks I’ll be around to catch up on...
April 30, 2015
A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 26: Zack Mayo from An Officer and a Gentleman
Z is for — Zack Mayo from the movie An Officer and a Gentleman 
We finally made it to the end of A to Z! Whoo hoo!
For me, the last was the hardest. Even this morning, I didn’t know who I was going to write about. Last year, I wrote about Zorro, so that was out, and I couldn’t think of any other fictional “Z” characters I was really familiar with enough to call a favorite. Before resorting to fudging, as I did with “X,” I did a Google search to jog my memory and ran across Zack Mayo from the...
April 29, 2015
A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 25: Yvaine from Stardust
Y is for — Yvaine from the movie Stardust
Hidden in the English countryside, lies the village of Wall, so named for the stone wall that separates it from the magical kingdom of Stormhold. The dying king of Stormhold throws a ruby necklace into the sky and tells his sons that whoever brings back the necklace will be the new king. The necklace hits a star and knocks it out of the sky. The fallen star crashes to Earth in the form of a beautiful young woman, Yvaine.
Tristan, a young man from Wal...
April 28, 2015
A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 24: Mary Lennox from The Secret Garden
Xis for — Mary LennoX from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden
I am totally cheating here, choosing a character whose name ends in X rather than beginning with X.
The Secret Garden is one of my favorite books. Written in the early 1900s, it tells the story of young Mary Lennox, a spoiled brat who is ignored by her wealthy parents and is brought up by servants instructed to keep Mary out of her parents’ way. She lives in India until a cholera epidemic kills everyone in her household,...
April 27, 2015
A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 23: Westley from The Princess Bride
W is for — Westley from William Goldman’s The Princess Bride
“As you wish.”
Whenever “farm boy” Westley said these words to Buttercup, he was really saying, “I love you.” Buttercup’s realization of this ignited a love so true, it survived pirates, kidnapping, evil princes, Cliffs of Insanity, a Fire Swamp, and the Pit of Despair.
The Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies, and Westley, played by Cary Elwes, is a perfect hero. He’s smart, strong, and capable, and his love for Buttercup n...
April 25, 2015
A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 22: Vincent from Beauty and the Beast
V is for — Vincent from Beauty and the Beast
I’ve always loved the storyline of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale — the cursed beast-prince angry and brooding in his dark castle, saved by the love of a kind and beautiful woman.
In 1987, Ron Koslow created a TV show based on this fairytale, but with a twist. The Beast, in this case, isn’t a witch-enchanted prince, but an extraordinary man named Vincent (played by Ron Perlman) with princely bearing who looks to be part lion. His tawny hair re...
