Liz Flaherty's Blog, page 7

A Good Time by Liz Flaherty

At Black Dog Writers the other night, we used story prompts and wrote for 20 minutes. Most of us wrote in longhand, a few on tablets, a few on phones (how do they DO that?) and one of the best writing voices in the room was blocked; he hates prompts. We had a good time ... we encouraged each other ... we learned stuff.

Today at Hairtique, Denee rescued my eternal blondeness, Megan and Pam told funny stories, and the clientele that were in there added to the conversation. We talked about ... ...

Crimson at Cape May by Randy Overbeck

“An astounding ONE MILLION Children are victims of human trafficking worldwide.”

When I first encountered this statistic at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, a few years ago. I was stunned to silence. I remember I stood there, rooted to the spot, reading and re-reading the sentence. 

One million children.

January is Human Trafficking Awareness month, so I thought it was an apt time to remember those lost in human trafficking. A few more stats hit me as well.

In the ...

Welcome, 2025 by Liz Flaherty

Well, regarding the title, I'm late again, obviously. I started this for last week, but then Debby Myers had something already done and it was really timely and I figured people are used to me being late and not having relevant subject matter at all, so here I am.

I don't do resolutions, goals, or even a word for the year, as I've nearly always failed at all three of them. What I did this year was start over on Christmas Day. I intend to do better, to feel better, to laugh more, to eat health...

BASSIST’S INSTINCTS by M.J. Schiller

He’s a bad boy. She’s a bad girl. When their worlds collide, nothing will be the same

again.

Dakota Blackstone plays bass for one of the hottest bands in the country, Insatiable Fire.

That’s why he’s confused when Hali Cole’s manager comes to him and proposes that

they sing a duet.

I mean, Hali’s cool and all that, but I’m not the lead singer of the band, my brother Phoenix is. But, they insisted they have the right Blackstone brother, so I thought I’d give it a try. I’ve known Hali for for...

Writer Monday ~ Liz Flaherty

I'm still feeling my way with the blog and the new website, so bear with me! We'll have Writer Mondays and Writer Wednesdays from time to time, and I'm looking forward to sharing things to read, things writers talk about, good prices on books, new books, old books--did I say things to read?

So, I'm on first. Hello, I'm Liz Flaherty, your host at Window Over the Sink. Today I'm talking about The Girls of Tonsil Lake, my first women's fiction title. It's a girlfriends book, it takes place at b...

The Drive by Debra Jo Myers

Snow flurries were falling. As a little girl, I’d join the neighborhood kids bundled up, and we’d go sledding, have snowball fights, and build snowmen. We’d be outside until dark, freezing before giving in to go home. 

My mom purchased more winter garments in one winter than kids today get. Snow pants, a scarf, a sock hat with a pom-pom. Now they don’t own those things or care about snow or even know what a true “snow day” is since school closes at the mention of SNOW.

I wanted to declare a “...

Dodging the Holiday Fog

by Kyra Jacobs

But last week I was on my way to work and drove into a fog so thick I feared for a few miles that I would miss my exit ramp to get off the highway.  Of course, it didn’t help that Indiana does this ridiculous daylight savings time stuff now (yes, I know, I need to get over it already) so it was both foggy AND relatively dark. Thankfully, I spied the exit sign soon enough, and eventually made my way out of the fog.

Admittedly, that’s how I felt coming into December this year—l...

A Lifetime of Holiday Memories… Family First

by Nancy Fraser

Having just experienced my seventy-fifth Christmas, I’m willing to admit… I don’t remember

much about the first one. Maybe not even the second year either. However, after that, the

memories fade in and out. As a child of the 1950s, Christmas was a lot different than it is now.

Gone are the aluminum Christmas trees, covered in boxes and boxes of silvery icicles that hid the fact ornaments and lights were more expensive. Nowadays everyone’s gone ceiling tall artificial, or natur...

A Perfectly Imperfect Holiday

by Marla White

The other day, a friend asked me if I loved Christmas so much because of the nostalgia of it all, the memories it evokes of childhood and presents and happy family gatherings. After thinking about it for a minute, I have to honestly say no. Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of happy childhood memories of the holidays, but none of them are perfect even through the rose-colored glasses of yesterday.

 

My dad used to blind us every Christmas morning with a bar of lights that had th...

Brand New

Good morning, and Merry Christmas. It's quiet here, with our family scattered and likely still asleep in their own homes. Even the cats are still asleep. Well, except for the one who hurried into the office ahead of me and perched on my desk like she belonged there.

This is the day I reserve for myself in the Window Holidays Project. I love the Project, that some authors come every year and that some visitors come every day. I get the chance to create graphics, thinking each year I'll get bett...