Liz Flaherty's Blog, page 107

The New Kid on the Block

I’m thrilled to be the newest member of Word Wranglers! When Liz Flaherty invited me to join, I was honored, and I have to admit, a little daunted. In my last group blog, I only had to post once a month. But here at Word Wranglers, I’ll be posting every Saturday. Yikes! I’m experiencing a little performance anxiety!

Let me introduce myself. I’m Jana Richards and I write contemporary romance, historical romance set in World War Two, and romantic suspense. I like to add a touch of the paranormal...

The Unspoken Reader Contract

Ava here! I recently had a lengthy conversation with a new writer who was working to complete her first novel. She mentioned some points in her story that are notoriously “against the rules.” I didn’t lecture against her decision for two reasons: 1) I wanted to be supportive, and 2) snark and sarcasm roll off my tongue way more readily than true wisdom.
But it got me to thinking about why these were “against the rules.” So I’m using this blog as the platform for the answer I should have given...

Football, Pumpkin Spice, and Heaven

I'm going to let you guys in on a little secret: where the seasons are concerned I'm a bit of a flake. I know, you're absolutely shocked that Kristina could be a flake about anything; let me tell you, I was just as shocked to discover this as you.

You see, I always thought winter was my favorite (because, hello! snow!), but then I can't discount spring because - new flowers and all the pretty colors...but there is something about a 90 degree day spent in the pool that is just heavenly...and th...

Welcome Matthew Peters

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'Mid pleasures and palaces

Congratulations, Margie--you win the giveaway from last week's trip to Michigan! Thanks to everyone who visited and/or commented. We had a great week, but I gotta tell you at least one of us is tired. The driver probably is, too.
I love being home. With the boyfriend. With the cats gazing at me with those "you're grounded, Mom" looks. Back to the place Nan today referred to as "the back of the beyond" (I've always wondered what the "front of the beyond" is.) It is quiet and still and autumn's...

Day 5 -- a "Tasteful" Writing Day

So right off, our supper last night was amazing! Liz's Hoosier green beans rocked and my cedar-plank salmon was perfectly delicious. We added hot bread and a salad and man, oh man, it was a great supper. We had wine, too, of course--mine was Dry Creek Cab and Liz's was the last of her bottle of Sangria from Warner Winery here in South Haven. We were really impressed with their wines--well, okay I was very impressed with their wines. Liz just got a good buzz going and agreed with whatever I sa...

Day four...strolling on the dock of the bay...sort of...

Oh, the boat ride was fun! Captain Chuck took us all up and down the Black River on the Lindy Lou. There were only four of us--a couple from Saginaw, Nan, and me. Afterward, we went to visit some fruit markets and orchards and a winery we didn't even plan for. Working this afternoon, and I just got to the end of the scene and had one of those good writer thoughts-- "Duh. What do I do now?"

There is an abundance of black squirrels up here. While I'm sure some people find them annoying, I just t...

Day Three in Michigan

I'm starting this right now at 4:15 on Wednesday afternoon because Liz just said to me, "Nan, quit d**king around and get to work!" Seems overly harsh, but now she's getting me watermelon, so I can hardly be resentful, now can I? ;-) And then there's the whole she's-absolutely-right thing . . .


Our day has been quite lovely so far. We hung out at the cottage for a while this morning, talking and well, talking. Then we headed to town, wandered there some more until lunchtime. We ate at Clementi...

Day Two--"Taste" of Michigan

Congratulations to Kim Hanson--she wins an autographed copy of Protecting the Quarterback and some swag from Wrangler Kristina Knight's giveaway last week. Drop Kristi an email so she knows where to send your prize. 

Hi, everybody. A fun day! We got up, wrote some, ate some, sat at the table and said we should move some. Sat there a while longer. Moved some. Finally we got dressed and combed and went downtown. We went from shop to shop, enjoying the beautiful weather and the friendli...

Michigan Retreat Day 1

We got off to a dandy start on Monday morning because (and we're totally blaming the universe for this one), Mercury is in retrograde. We were about fifty miles into our trip when Liz realized she'd left her phone at home. Well, no way could she do this trip without her phone, so we emergency called her hubs and he met us about halfway and brought her phone. Whew! Truthfully, it was fine to go back because I couldn't imagine going a whole week without my phone either! Besides, we're on vacati...