Joely Sue Burkhart's Blog, page 80

Gregar is Coming…Again

I've been thinking about another short read before Return to Shanhasson, the final book in the trilogy, comes out in October.  Last night, Gregar walked in my dreams and gave me this, below, the opening to a new short project I'm working on.  Depending on its length, it'll either be a standalone or combined with my other Blood & Shadows short stories for Kindle in the next month or two. 

I sure wish I had his image for the cover of Shadowed.  *hint hint*

Some men tremble in the face of death.

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Ode to Rhetorical Queries

For Mr. Nathan Bransford who writes "Well, I suppose it would work for someone to write an ode to queries beginning with rhetorical questions, but so far I have been spared that unfortunate spectacle."  Although I don't think this ode will bring out the snide comment gun.  I hope.  *wg*

Have you ever wondered why
Your query letter fails?
Why Agent mutters die, die, DIE!
As soon as he reads your mail,
And never asks for a full?
Have you ever taken the time
To read his wants and desires?
Or do you...

Forcing the Work

I've got too different angles of "force" I'm thinking about at the moment.  Forcing a bulb (to make it bloom early) and forcing something against its will.  I'm doing both at the moment and neither is going very well.

I planned to plot the rest of Vicki this month and she just doesn't wanna.  She doesn't want me to plot.  It's the oddest thing.  Every time I sit down to think about hero's journey, dark moment, whatever, she just digs in her heels and clamps her mouth shut. 

So to get back at...

Vacation Reads Week 4

With my novella done, I was able to participate this week!  Check the main hub for links (later today and this weekend as the posts go up) to read my post about The Bloodgate Guardian.

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In this collection, Cindy Lynn Speer, author of The Chocolatier's Wife and editor of StereoOpticon, a collection of re-told fairy tales, gives us several new stories and an interesting look at the classic 'Cinderella' as well. Cindy's stories examine the roles of women, our expectations, and the aftermath of...

Sourdough Fail

My lovely sister in law (Aunt BB) doesn't believe I've ever cooked something I had to throw out, so here's another example just from yesterday.

I posted last week that we were going to try homemade sourdough and that I had the starter bubbling on the counter.  I fed the starter for a week, stirring and nurturing it (although I did fudge a little in the beginning and added real not "wild" yeast).  Yesterday, I decided it was time to give a loaf of bread a try. 

My first goof was that I forgot...

Review: The Bloodgate Guardian

Thanks to Kait Nolan for passing this review along. From Saucybelle at A Taste For E-Books , "four dark chocolate chunk cookies for a delicious, spicy, and kinda dark read.  Bravo Joely!"

Burkhart presents an action-packed read that I couldn't put down (we won't talk about what I didn't do at work just so I could finish it).  The mythology was beautifully woven into the story in a way that–if I didn't quite get everything because I hadn't heard it before–was well enough explained that I...

Vicki's Wordle

Once again, Paperback Writer is inspiring this post with her Cloud Profiles post today.  Since I'm working on Vicki's story, I wrote down keywords for all three main characters, and then changed the color palette to reflect their personal colors in the word cloud.  What's interesting is that Wordle doesn't know which color to give to which word/character, so some of Elias's words come out in Jesse's color, etc. But it makes me think about similarities and cross overs. Just because I gave the ...

Review: The Bloodgate Guardian – Recommended Read!

From CK2S Kwips & Kritiques,

THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN is without a doubt one of the best books I have read this year so far. The combination of intense action, phenomenal world building, and multidimensional characters kept me up far too late as I couldn't put it down until I'd finished it. Highly recommended!

Read Debbie's entire review here.  Thank you so much!

Vacation Reads – Week 3

REQUIEM by Heather S. Ingemar

Hattie Locke has a gift: when she sings, the dead dig themselves from their graves to listen. As a death-siren, her life has always been this way.

Then the dead begin to show up in numbers far beyond expected. With each song she sings, they grow pushy and demanding, rushing the stage to reach her. Trapped in a place where her dreams of music become her nightmares, Hattie is left with nowhere to turn.

But then she meets a boy, who promises freedom from her curse.

Now...

Retake Homemade: Lentil Soup

Jane Brody named this recipe appropriately:  My Favorite Lentil Soup.  From her Good Food Book and my all-time favorite soup recipe.

My Favorite Lentil Soup

2 T. olive oil

2 onions, chopped (I only used 1 to hopefully convince the monsters to eat it)

3 carrots, grated or chopped

3/4 tsp. marjoram

3/4 tsp. thyme

2 14oz cans fire-roasted tomatoes, with juice

6-7 cups broth

1/2 tsp coarse salt

black pepper to taste

6 oz dry white wine

2 T. dried parsley

grated cheddar cheese for topping

Heat the...