Liz Flaherty's Blog, page 104

And what would YOU like for Christmas?

The holidays are coming so fast! It's okay with me--I love the whole last two months of the year--but it's all so busy and I never get everything done I intended. Gift-giving's gotten remarkably easy. We and our kids are all at stages that if we need something, we go get it. The grands all love gift cards. (And so do we.) There's just not that much to it.

Except some people who never quite grow up love packages under the tree. All the better if they're wrapped instead of gift-bagged. The girls...

A Day at the Spa

 From the Thermea Spa website at www.thermea.caThis year for Mother’s Day my daughters gave me a gift certificate to a spa. It was kind of a surprise, because, really, I’m not a spa kind of person. I’m more of a “I feel guilty taking a day off to go to the spa because I should be working” kind of person. As you might have guessed from previous posts, I can be a little tightly wound at times. But the gift was given with love, so I was happy to accept.

Due to a busy summer, my younger...

The Opinion of Beauty

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” the saying goes. What the saying doesn’t relay is the fact that sometimes that beauty is us… and sometimes that beholder is not us.

Take me for example. A middle-aged, overweight woman doing her weekend chores in mis-matched bacon-grease-splattered sweats and my did-I-forget-to-brush-it hair up in a haphazard ponytail. Bad morning-coffee breath, no bra support, and fat rolls thanks to kids, love of food, and DNA. Yep, I cut a fine figure.
So when hubb...

Found On Kristina's Desk - Again

Periodically, I look around my office space and realize - wow, it's been a while since I cleaned off my desk...and I start cleaning and realize there are things here that...shouldn't be. Today, I'm telling you what's on my desk while cleaning my desk because I also have a blog to write..You know, the old two birds/one stone thing. Although, wouldn't this be three birds/one stone? Anywho, here we go, cleaning off my desk and telling you guys what I find buried in the depths.

A sheet of Jamberry...

Writing . . . And Other Stuff

I've been writing, faithfully, every morning for the last fifteen days--that's my report in for this week about the 21-Day Writing Challenge. I'm doing it.

I have to tell you honestly that I wasn't at all sure I would be able to do it even for a week, let alone for over two weeks with less than one week to go. I've made commitments before--told myself I was going to write everyday and it lasted about two or three days. But this time, I am determined and I think maybe it's because I need to pro...

Casting Call for BOILING POINT by Alison Henderson

The Wranglers are happy to welcome author Alison Henderson back to the writers' ranch. 
I’m thrilled to be back at Word Wranglers to share my excitement about my new book BOILING POINT. Thanks for the invite, Liz!
BOILING POINT is the second installment in my Phoenix, Ltd. female bodyguard series, and I hope everyone will find it as much fun to read as I did to write. It features hidden identities, a hockey-playing detective hero, and a cooking robot. Here’s the blurb:
Zoe Hargrove’s first...

To Indie Publish or Not to Indie Publish

Would he self-publish if he were alive today?With apologies to Shakespeare, that is the question. I’ve talked in previous weeks about the series I’m working on called ‘Love in the North Woods’. The first book in the series is mostly done (still waiting for feedback from some of my beta readers), and the time to do something with it is fast approaching.

I’ve never done this before, but I’m seriously thinking about self-publishing this series.

Am I crazy? Quite possibly.

Here’s my thought pro...

I'll Show you Mine... You Show me Yours ;-)

As you read this, my family is on our way to our annual Mecca: Disney World. It’s Fall Break and we’re getting away from it all for a week of complete immersion into another world. And I’m only feeling a slight twinge of guilt that it means one more week of me not writing on my story.

This is family time. And fun time. And go go go until we pass out time. And the best part about it is how this is the one time where we’re pretty much all in agreement about what to do, where to go, and&nbsp...

Brambling Along

By Margie Senechal
 
Last week I felt like this racoon. It came when I figured out who one of my characters really was. And yes, it's a major plot twist that I hope readers don't see coming.

Yesterday, in preparations for the big wind and rain event heading our way, I went out on my patio to move things closer to the house as there's no room in garage. We are procrastinating pack rats in my household as my garage will attest.

Remember that blackberry bush I chopped back over the summer? We...

The Research Question

I'm in the middle of revisions...so I'm bringing back a familiar question: When do you research?

My favorite time to research is when I'm stuck. Doesn't sound very smart, does it? What I mean is, I don't necessarily research the place I'm writing about, the profession, the weather, etc. before I start writing. The beginnings of stories, for me, are kind of like epiphanies. Some of my writer friends talk about 'seeing' a fully-drawn scene and writing it down. I'm like that, kind of. I see a cha...