Brenda Whiteside's Blog, page 99

FEARLESSNESS by Mary Kennedy Eastham

FEARLESS FRIDAY I'm sure you'll all enjoy my guest today, Mary Kennedy Eastham. How fearless is she?
Thank you Brenda Whiteside for finally letting me have a go at one of my favorite words! Fearlessness reminds me of a quote I keep nearby for those times when I'm sensing I need to do something, that nagging something that may not be easy to do.
...The day came whenthe risk to remaintight in a budwas more painfulthan the risk it tookto blossom...
How do we as writers do that with our characters, release their fearlessness, making our stories more complex and memorable? Since actress Jennifer Lawrence at 23 was just named one of the most powerful women of 2013 in the latest issue of the Hollywood Reporter, it reminded me that we all need to HUNGER GAMES up our stories. Katniss Everdeen moves toward everything with zest and a fearless abundance of courage. She has her downfalls before hitting her stride but she never wavers. A life woven with threads of fearlessness doesn't come without some loss.
To give you an example from my own life, I am separated from my husband of 20 years. My heart tells me it's time to move on, sell my house, take my dogs someplace else, probably Southern California where I have some friends and where I'm hoping to connect with a more creative life than here in Silicon Valley, a place that is completely foreign to me skill-wise. But's it's comfortable. My house is beautiful. And the mortgage is paid down to a place where it's very doable financially. But in spite of all my design tricks and talent, to include building a beach in the back yard, this is the house I shared with my husband. Just when I think I'm doing so well, a memory knocks me off-center and for that moment or afternoon I'm divorce mush. So there you have it, my occasional LACK of fearlessness!
We all look for solutions in our own life and with our characters. I've tried to break fearlessness down into baby steps. For me, that is making a January trip to LA to see what's what about renting a small house maybe or finding one of those temporary Residence Inns that takes dogs so I can see if this is a good plan for me.  The View is on in the background as I write this post. Actress Julianne Moore who has always said acting is a freelance gig so who knows if or where the next movie might be, shared this story with the panel. A few years ago, vacationing with her family on the beach, while her daughter was out playing ping-pong, she picked up her Hunger Games book and couldn't put it down. She called her agent and said, 'Get me in one of these movies.' In 2014, Julianne Moore is going to be in the next Hunger Games movie. Fearlessness is seeing an opportunity and just going for it. I wish this for myself, for my wonderful charactersand for all of you.
 For more info about my creative life and books, my amazing publishers keep an updated website for me at: www.rp-author.com/MKE

Mmmm...Clam Chowder With a Hard Freeze

 Tortuga Thursday In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love. I cut down all the mature dill in the green house yesterday. It should've lasted a lot longer but we've had unbelievably cold temps for Paulden. Dill is tolerant to thirty-two degrees, but we registered in the teens a couple of nights, and as low as ten once. Now that's a hard freeze. The poor guys were laying out flat. Looks like we need a stronger heater for these rare occasions. The small plants just coming up don't look dead to me, but a few more days will tell. And we'll plant more. Our pickles and relish require massive amounts of dill.

The orchard got a major trim. This trim was like the long-haired hippie dude who joined the marines. We haven't given a lot of attention to the fruit trees. They had been neglected for the two years before we moved in. We cleaned up the orchard and had apples and pears only the first year. This year we had nothing. Paulden is not a fruit friendly growing environment. So why not go drastic? Lance did the research and went crazy with the chainsaw. We definitely won't have fruit next year, but who knows after that. Maybe what they needed was a good shaping cut.

Boiled and slightly mashed potatoes.Today's recipe was last night's dinner - clam chowder. These nights of hard temp freezes begs for comfort food. I used white potatoes, onions and carrots from our fields. And as you know, I cook by feel or taste so all amounts are up to you depending on how much you want to make and your tastes.

Cut up and boil potatoes until soft. Half mash them. You want some chunks. The mashed ones are what gives the soup it's thickness.

Cook carrots and cut into small pieces. We like quite a few in our
Cook carrots, saute onions.chowder.

In a large kettle, spoon in about three tablespoons of butter. Real butter is best. And if you really like butter and richness, add more if you like. Chop and then saute in the butter an onion. I'm assuming it's a big onion. We're down to our small ones so I actually used three onions tonight.

Mix all of the above together in the kettle and add enough half and half, milk and a bit of clam juice to the consistency you like. We like ours thick. I tend to use more half and half than milk too. Rich, rich, rich.

Clam ChowderAdd chopped clams. We like ours so clammy that you get clams with every bite.

And finally, here is where you can get creative. For spices, we like cayenne pepper and Mrs. Dash garlic blend. Gives it a bit of a bite, but you can spice it up anyway you like.

Enjoy!

Dealing With a Demanding Muse by Laura Strickland

Sometimes, darn it, I just can’t listen.  I try to tell her this.  “I have a life,” I say.
She replies, “I don’t want to hear it.  Listen to this idea!”  She begins to jump up and down.  “Listen, listen,  LISTEN!”
And yes, like any weary-worn mother I do stop whatever I’m doing and listen, because, after all I really do love her and she always has such very good ideas.  The trouble is she all too frequently rolls them out when I’m busy doing something else – shopping or driving to work, preparing dinner or (sadly, far less frequently) doing housework.  And once she shares the germ of an idea, I’m infected and can’t think about anything else.
I’ve had the outlines for complete novels descend upon me while I’m scrubbing the bathtub.  I’ve had entire plots blossom in my mind while I’m folding laundry.  My Muse has spat out pages of conversations between characters at me when I’m supposed to be straightening a closet.
And that brings up another peculiarity of the writer’s life: people talking in my head.  Usually, when folks admit they hear voices, those around them grow concerned.  They exchange questioning glances and mention terms like “over work”, “counseling” and even “mental breakdown”.  They tend to think steps should be taken.  But for a writer, having people talking, posing and even acting out complex scenes in her head is standard operating procedure. 
Once one of my stories is well and truly launched and sailing on the seas of creativity, it takes on a life of its own.  The characters cease to be entirely imaginary and – if things are really going well – assume control of their lives.  They make their own choices, disastrous and otherwise, act out scenes regardless of whether or not I’m in a position to observe them, and carry on conversations even when it’s impossible for me to write them down.  It’s truly maddening, because at that point I don’t want to miss anything.  It makes me wish I could just sit like someone visited upon by the phenomenon of automatic writing and scribble it all down.  But as I’ve told my Muse, I have a life.
So what’s a writer with a bossy Muse and self-absorbed mental tenants to do?  Well, I’ve been known to scrawl plot twists and conversations on the backs of receipts in the car, and I routinely struggle to remember what happens next till I can get somewhere and jot it down.  Crazy?  Yes.  Enjoyable?  Oh, so much!  And I wouldn’t want it any other way.  That’s why my advice to those musing on a successful writing career is: listen to the bratty two-year-old no matter how mad her ideas seem.  That’s what I did, when she talked me into writing about Robin Hood’s daughter.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Laura Strickland – Daughter of Sherwood: Blurb
From the moment Wren bursts into his life, Sparrow loves her.  But he knows she may choose his lifelong rival, Martin, as her mate.  Martin wants Wren also, but Sparrow fears Martin is driven not by love but ambition.  When Martin is captured and held at Nottingham Castle, will the conflict between love and duty destroy the triad?
Buy Link Wild Rose Press  
Connect with Laura on her web site: http://www.laurastricklandbooks.com/

Getting Fearless with Gloria Marlow

FEARLESS FRIDAY My guest on this Fearless Friday is Gloria Marlow. Gloria shows us how being fearless is a relative thing... Fearless has never been a term connected with me. So I don’t have any long, lengthy stories to tell. If I had told my sister I was posting on Fearless Friday, she would have laughed. She was always the fearless one, not me.
It’s rather coincidental that just last week, at Thanksgiving dinner, she asked me why I never road four-wheelers with her and our baby sister. My answer? I was scared. My cousin’s answer for me? I was reading. Both answers were totally right.  I was reading and I was scared.
I often let my fear of consequences override my desires. I’ve always told myself it’s better to be careful than go full steam ahead with whatever I want to do. But the past few years, I have tried to be a little less careful.
Five years ago, I turned forty and became a grandma. There is nothing quite like being a grandma. Not only are grandkids the greatest thing ever, it is really pretty liberating.  The start of my liberation may have come a year or two before that, during a trip to the Florida Keys. We were in a boat, pretty far from land, in deep water, and I actually got in the water and snorkeled. Now to a lot of people that might not sound all that big a deal, but to me, who has let her common sense, her weight and her fears rule quite a lot of her life, it was huge! I didn’t get eaten by a shark. I didn’t drown. (I’ve been swimming since I was a kid so drowning isn’t really usually something I’m very afraid of, but that water was deep.) The boat had a ladder so I wasn’t stuck in the water forever.  None of the bad things I’d envisioned actually happened, and it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done.
Since then, I’ve done a few things here and there that I’ve always wanted to do, but was held back by fear. They were small things, like singing in church again, being a guest speaker at a ladies’ breakfast, and joining a writer’s group. I even learned to walk sedately from the porch to the car, in the dark, without running like the hounds of hell were after me.
The most recent fearless thing I did was ride Space Mountain at Disney World. Yes, I know six-year-olds ride it every day. When I was young, I did, too. Even when my kids were young, I did. But somewhere I long the line, I thought of the dangers, what could go wrong, and the consequences of what could go wrong. From that moment on, those fears kept me off of it, and any other roller coaster, for at least a decade, maybe longer. I just accepted that I would never ride again. It sure wasn’t on my list of things my husband and I would do while we were at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. But one night, we ventured over to the Magic Kingdom because I wanted to shop on Main Street, and before I knew it, he’d talked me into riding Space Mountain. I made it out alive, and it was the most exhilarating thing I’ve done in years!
The thing I tell myself is this – I might never get this chance again, and even if I do, it will never be this exact moment in time. Maybe because time becomes more precious as we get older, I’ve come to realize I don’t want to waste a moment. I don’t want to pass up experiences based on what are usually rare or imagined dangers.
That being said, I don’t ever intend to bungee jump, parachute or walk over hot coals, so Disney World roller coasters and snorkeling is probably as fearless as I’m ever going to get. 
Be sure to check out Gloria's latest release, When Swallows Fall.   Buy Link
Visit Gloria at: www.gloriamarlowbooks.com

A MONTH OF PRIZES - DON'T MISS OUT

MUSE MONDAY

December is the month of giving and receiving - I'm taking part in three giveaways and you can receive lots of goodies if you join me! Visit the pages below for prizes all month long.

December month long contest at Coffee Time Romance and More
I'm giving away Summer in a Bag to promo my latest release, Amanda in the Summer. Win a tote with a visor, mini-spa set, note cards, post cards and bookmarks.
http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/ContestPage.html


Twenty-Five Days of Christmas on The Snarkology Blog
http://melissasnark.blogspot.com/2013/11/25-days-of-christmas-stories.html
Prizes galore.
My day: December 12 and I'm giving away a box of ornaments

Twenty-Five Days of Christmas with The Wild Rose Press
http://thewildrosepress.blogspot.com/ 
Twenty-Five $25 gift certificates will be given away
My day: December 21

DO NOT PUT MARSHMALLOWS IN MY POTATOES

 Tortuga Thursday In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.
No long post for Tortuga Thursday, which was actually yesterday. Too busy with Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. We all went down to Phoenix where the dinner was hosted by Duke and Jodee, my brother and sister-in-law. We contributed grilled veggies from our garden via the freezer and sweet potatoes. We still have a couple of crates of sweet potatoes from our harvest. But we don't like the candied kind so I cooked up a skillet full using Christie's recipe. I'll offer this recipe for today's blog. Hope you all had a thankful Thanksgiving!

As always with the typical way we cook on the farm, no exact measurements. Amounts depend on how many people you have and your taste.

Cut up sweet potatoes. You can peel or not peel - up to you. I used six for this skillet.
Chop up onions. I used two big ones.
Chop garlic. I used three cloves
Curry and Cajun seasoning to taste. I suppose most of you will want some salt. I don't cook with salt.
A stick of real butter. I did use a whole stick for this much.

Melt the butter in the skillet and add everything else. Cook until tender.

Why I Read and Write Regency Romance by Donna Hatch

MUSE MONDAY Please welcome my guest, Donna Hatch. LEAVE DONNA A COMMENT AND BE ENTERED IN A DRAWING FOR A FREE EBOOK OF HER NEWEST RELEASE, A PERFECT SECRET! DRAWING ON WEDNESDAY.    I love historical romance. As a little girl, I loved historical novels such as Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, the Little House books, The Secret Garden and A Little Princess. Sometime in my teens, I read Jane Eyre, the Jane Austen novels, and other historical classics. But I wanted more romance in my stories. So I turned to historical romance. I discovered that historical fiction was a hot market, in every way. I don’t like to read hot sex scenes so finding a historical novel with enough romance while still staying on the “sweeter” side of things became a challenge. Eventually, I found traditional Regency romances. They fit the bill perfectly because they are usually very clean, romances. I had found my perfect historical romance fix. 
It was a short-termed joy.
Historical fiction sales across the board began falling. My guess is that readers got bored with hot, sexy romance novels referred to as “bodice rippers” which seemed to be the same old cliché stores over and over. However, even clean romance novels sales fell. The final nail on the coffin came when two major traditional Regency romance publishers closed their line. This broke my heart. Not only did I love reading them, but I had written a traditional Regency romance novel that I’d planned to submit to them in hopes that they would publish it. For about a decade, people labeled historical romance in general—and Regency romance in particular—a “dead” market. I think I went into mourning.
Yet hope is not lost! Historical Romance novels, specifically Regency Romance novels, have begun to grow in popularity. Sales are climbing for all historical romance and those “hot” romances as well as the “sweet” romances are returning. The traditional romances such as Jane Austen era novels are a fast growing favorite genre.
As a Regency romance author, I wondered why had caused the return of the historical romance?
One reason sweeter Regencies are returning with such a bang is so many recent adaptations of historical era movies based on famous books such as Jane Austen, North and South with the stunning Richard Armitage. As a result a new generation of fans have been discovered historical romances and have fallen in love.
A second reason historical romance book sales are gaining respect is because people turn to a book either to relax or to escape their stressful lives (and escaping is part of relaxing, don’t you think?).  Only a journey into new world can provide the kind of escape found in a historical novel. It may partly be the fantasy of vicariously living the life of the very rich, where handsome heroes vie for our attention and sweep us away into a magical world of happily ever after. 
The upper class of Regency England spoke eloquently, prizing wit and excelling in the understatement attributed to British humor, something I try to bring that out in every historical novel I write.
Regency men were civilized and treated women with courtesy. When a lady entered the room, gentlemen stood, softened their language, offered an arm, bowed to the lady, and did other courtesies I wish men did in this day and age. But the men weren’t soft, oh no! They were athletic; they enjoyed to hunt, box, race, fenced. They were as manly as a girl could want. Honor ruled the day. 
That is why I love them! 
And that is why I love to read and write the Regency novel. My newest sweet historical novel is A Perfect Secret. Though it’s the third in a three book series, the Rogue Hearts series, it’s written as a stand alone book so you can read it without having read the other two.
 Donna Hatch, Historical and Fantasy Romance Novelist
Amazon author page

No Safe Routine for My Guest SS Hampton

FEARLESS FRIDAY Please welcome my guest, Stan Hampton, to Fearless Friday. Stan has quite a tale, so sit back and enjoy! Hello!            So here we are, Fearless Friday. Fearless Friday.            Well, people tend to like a safe and known routine; most are not likely to do anything that requires a leap of faith to plunge into an unknown even though the rewards may be great. The rewards, by the way, may be riches or simply self-satisfaction.            So…            I have had many Fearless Fridays, but which one do I write about?            The day I was a 19-year old kid sitting in the Army Recruiting office, about to sign paperwork to join the Army? To a kid from Oklahoma, the prospect of serving in the Army somewhere in the world (especially overseas) was a huge unknown.            Or nearing middle age, having tenure and retirement with a Federal agency, only to chuck it all and leave a known, secure routine because my life was not working for me? Well, truthfully, a woman was involved too, but that was another type of Fearless Friday.            Or, in middle age, joining the Army National Guard for the first time? Even a disappointing drudgery of mere existence is at least a known, compared to the unknown.            Or, perhaps when I volunteered to deploy. I volunteered for the Persian Gulf War, but that ended too quickly. Volunteering for Iraq when the war was not going away, well, deploying to a war zone was a giant unknown.            Decisions, decisions, decisions.            I choose leaving the security of tenure and retirement.            For 18 years I lived in Colorado Springs, and for 13 of those years I worked for a Federal agency. I had job security, tenure, and retirement, even when the agency started contracting out a lot of activities. But, for 13 of those years a lot of things went wrong; many not of my own choosing, some as a result of choices I made.            You know your situation isn’t working for you when you no longer live, but simply exist from day to day. Sunset becomes nothing more than “I made it through another day.” Sunrise becomes “Here we go again.” In the blackest moments even suicide might be considered a viable option.            But, I chose to leave everything behind. I set a date a year out. In the intervening 11 months my departure seemed like no more than a theoretical possibility. I submitted my resignation. People were disbelieving. Most doubted I would do such a thing. After all, I had made a respectable name for myself at the agency, I had tenure, and retirement. Good jobs like the Federal Civil Service were hard to come by. And I was going to give all that up?            A few people congratulated me and said they admired my courage for plunging into the unknown. I didn’t tell them it was desperation, rather than courage.            On the day of my farewell lunch, I looked at the familiar faces. Good people, people I knew for years and called friends, and respected. I also knew it was highly unlikely I would see any of them again. That is the way I have always been—one chapter ends and I move on, very rarely staying in touch with anyone.            In late December I packed things up—what little I had—gave away many other things, and loaded the U-Haul truck by myself. Late one wintry overcast afternoon, when the wind was blowing in from the Front Range, I locked the door to the house, took one last look at it, and headed out.            I was going to visit a friend and his wife in Wyoming first, then go to Las Vegas—I told very few people where I was going. To most, I simply disappeared.            On my way to Vegas I would stop in Navajo Country to see a woman I had fallen in love with—that is a tumultuous Fearless Friday story all its own.            Then on to Vegas where I hoped to find a job and start my existence, perhaps even life, over again.            But that was the future. That gloomy winter afternoon in Colorado Springs, I lit a cigarette, turned the radio up, and headed out onto the snow swept Interstate. I even—rare for me—dared to hope for the best regarding whatever waited for me in the future. 
THE FERRYMAN

BLURB: Sometimes even a servant of the gods may become curious and intrigued by other possibilities beyond their assigned role, which threatens to upset everything. Charon the Ferryman witnessed an act of love when a little girl offered him a song bird to pay for her grandfather’s shade to be ferried across the Styx. And the shade of a barbarian woman taught him that there was more than the underworld…
EXCERPT: Strong sunlight faded to a pale shadow of itself as if drained of life to create deep shadows along the sloping floor and the uneven walls of the long cavern entrance. Long, narrow stalactites hung from the cavern roof and stalagmites of various heights and thicknesses angled upward from the floor, resembling the scattered, uneven teeth of a monstrous dragon’s mouth. Flowstone along the widening cavern walls had once oozed onto the cavern floor to form rolling stone waves that became a wide, sandy beach to disappear into the shadows.            The cavern roof arched upward, lost to sight save for the pale tips of hanging stalactites. The scattered stalagmites marched into the rippling surface of dark waters. A thick gray mist coated the water that splashed onto the beach. The mist swirled into strange formations caused by a moaning, chilly wind that swept out of the darkness and up the long tunnel.            From deep within the darkness of the gigantic cavern came the ghostly notes of pipes and the echoing steady rhythmic beat of a drum. Torches along the beach burst into flickering life as their flames danced to the ghostly rhythm of the pipes.            The torchlight revealed pale shades, the spirits, of weeping men, women, and children, who shuffled through the sand along the edge of the waters of the River Styx. The river was one of the dark rivers of Hades, the underworld of the dead. The sunlight filtering into the cavern rippled with the shadows of weeping shades descending the length of the cavern entrance. A gilded figure with torch held high lit the way before them.            The music grew louder. A dark shape, lighter than the darkness, appeared in the distance. The gathering shades milled at the water’s edge and waited as the bow of a boat fitted with a bronze beak sliced through the misty waters. A large red eye rimmed in black decorated each side of the polished wood bow. On both sides of the bow square wooden boxes dangled bronze anchors. Behind that lay a narrow platform from a tall, narrow, wooden walkway rose into the chill air. An angled black bow sail and a large black square sail behind it strained with the moaning wind…
http://www.melange-books.com/authors/sshampton/ferryman.html 
SS Hampton, Sr. is a full-blood Choctaw of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a divorced grandfather to 13 wonderful grandchildren, a published photographer and photojournalist, and a member of the Military Writers Society of America. 
Melange Bookshttp://www.melange-books.com/authors/sshampton/index.html
Musa Publishinghttp://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=50
MuseItUp Publishinghttp://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=514&category_id=60&manufacturer_id=249&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1
Amazon.com Author Pagehttp://www.amazon.com/SS-Hampton-Sr/e/B00BJ9EVKQ
Amazon.com. UK Author Pagehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/SS-Hampton-Sr/e/B00BJ9EVKQ
Goodreads Author Pagehttp://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6888342.S_S_Hampton_Sr_

LIVING LIKE A CHEAPSKATE

Tortuga Thursday In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.
Last year, about this time, I recapped what I'd found out over the year about saving money - a constant pursuit on Tortuga Flats. Now, let's see if the same is holding true this year.

Food. Years ago, I diligently combed the newspaper and junk mail ads for coupons and found that they did me little good. Even before we grew our own veggies, I gave some thought to what went in my mouth. Most coupons were geared toward packaged foods that we didn't eat. It's cheaper to make your own and much healthier. No change from last year.

Whether or not you grow your own or shop organic, you can often get deals in the fresh foods section. You might eat only bananas for a fruit that week or have squash as a side dish five meals in a row, but hey, you can save shopping the specials.

Our freezer is full of frozen squash, peppers and cabbage. Our jars of tomatoes and green beans are overflowing the cupboards. We have an extra refrigerator full of carrots. You can do the same even if you don't grow your own. Shop the sales, stock up when it's cheap and can or freeze.

Some grocery stores give seniors a discount everyday (such as New Frontier in AZ) or have one day a month for senior discounts (such as Frys in AZ).

Other Shopping. There are several stores that give veterans a discount. Be sure to ask. Some stores have  buyer rewards programs. Get the card. It's free. Build points and get $$$ off on future visits.


Hair. After paying around $150 a visit for the last few years, I tried to make some changes. I went the beauty school route and never paid more than $20 a visit. But I couldn't keep it up. The inconsistency drove me nuts and my color was...yellow. After a couple of attempts, I finally found a local lady that knows what she's doing. I'm still coming in under the $150. Last time it cost me $80. I just don't go as often.


Entertainment. This encompasses a lot. What we discovered still holds true, and I haven't found anything new this year.
Senior movie discounts - you can't beat $5 movies. That is the cost of our two theaters here. At restaurants, ask for your senior discount or the senior menu. Nearly every eating establishment has some sort of senior discount. Hey, a free drink is worth it! Hotels often have senior discounts too. Ask. If you're not a senior, then travel on the cheap days. Example: During the week, Laughlin, NV has hotels that charge $10-$20 a night compared to $45-$75 on the weekends. Parks, both state and federal have a couple of ways to save. Seniors get discounted lifetime passes. For $10 we get into any federal park. If you're not a senior, check on yearly passes which are much cheaper than paying for each trip.

Wherever you go, ask if discounts are available. Often, they aren't advertised.

A little disclaimer here on senior discounts. I'm lucky that Frank is always able to get them, but there are places that go as young as 55 for discounts. You have to ask.

Gasoline. We all look for the cheapest stations. Up here it's Maverick or Costco. Another way to get cents off is to trade at a supermarket that gives points. Safeway and Frys in Arizona do and have their own stations.

Charge card benefits. We charge most things and accumulate points. The trick is to pay the balance off every month. Don't charge if you can't pay it off. We've used our points for food, a Visa card for gasoline and gifts.

 
Sharing expenses. We couldn't do what we're doing if we didn't share a house and the land with my son and daughter-in-law. It's working for us so far. Financially it's a win-win.

I hope I've been of some help or given you some ideas!

WRITER’S BLOCK by Shannon Kennedy

MUSE MONDAY Please welcome my guest, Shannon Kennedy!
Hi there,Thanks for inviting me to Discover Yourself. I’m glad to be here to talk about what I do to keep writing when my days are long and overwhelming – something that many writers face as they juggle writing and that “day job” Stephen King tells us not to quit!
When I attended Washington State University several years ago, I really wanted to find a critique group in Pullman, WA. I did and learned a great deal from the other writers who met once a week at the Skippers restaurant in nearby Moscow, ID. We traded our latest chapters. Then we were expected to read our work from the previous week aloud, getting not only written critiques but verbal ones as well.
The name of the group was Writer’s Bloc, and the expectation of regular submissions to critique along with the assignments due for my English and History courses since I was doing a “double major” meant there wasn’t time for me to opt out. I had to write every day either for class or for critique. As more experienced members told me, it’d be easier to listen to their advice if I brought in the “raw” or “rough drafts.” After all, I’d be revising and polishing that work anyway.
It was a smart choice and one I follow to this day more than twenty years later. However, instead of carrying in the hard copies fresh from my typewriter, I email my rough draft chapters to my critique partners and beta readers. Since I write mainstream western romance, I have one person who reads those. My other partner reads my teen novels and the kids at the family riding stable are my beta readers who get the rough drafts of my teen books too.
I’m constantly multi-tasking between all the different “hats” I wear. I work on the family farm, a 113 acre riding stable. I substitute teach in four different school districts – a lesson I learned while doing temporary office work – if I signed with one agency, I was dependent on what work they had available. By signing with four agencies, I worked every day. And now, I teach whenever I want during the school year.
However, that’s not all I do. When I’m home at the riding stable, I organize most of the riding programs, teach horsemanship around my day-job as a substitute teacher, nurse sick horses, hold for the shoer, train whoever needs it – four-legged and two-legged. And write books in my spare time, usually from 8PM to 2AM, seven days a week after a long day on the ranch.  When I can’t write, due to the overwhelming needs and pressures of the “real” world, words and stories fill my mind.  Even when I muck the barn, or drive my bulldozer, Frou-Frou, I think about books or short stories or pieces in progress and map out the writing in my mind.
While I have been writing for years, I am the first to admit it took a long time to learn my craft and more importantly find publishers who love my stories as much as I do. Thrill of thrills, Fire and Ice YA has brought out my Shamrock Stable series, horse stories that revolve around a riding stable – gee, sometimes I wonder where I get my ideas. No, I really don’t. What I loved about this book of a teenage girl who rescues an abused horse was that my publisher let me dedicate it to the two ‘real-life’ horses that inspired the novel. One was the horse that we actually rescued and my mom rode him for more than thirty years. The other was my Quarterhorse mare who passed away from cancer in the spring of 2011.
No Horse Wanted, an August release was the story of Robin Gibson who desperately wanted a restored 1968 Presidential blue Mustang for her 16th birthday. She has issues when her parents promise her a horse instead and she decides to bring home the worst one she can find.
An October release, No Time for Horsesis about her best friend, Vicky Miller who must deal with her parents’ divorce. Mom gets the house and a job. Her stepdad gets the new car and a girlfriend. Vicky gets to take care of her five younger half-siblings and that means she doesn’t have time to train her special project horse.

Deck The Stalls is my Christmas novella of what happens at the barn in December. Nothing But Horses will be out in March or April 2014 and I’m writing that now!To find out more about Shamrock Stables visit, www.shannonkennedybooks.com   or http://www.fireandiceya.comEither way, it was good to meet you!Shannon Kennedy Shannon Kennedy/Josie Malone Bio: As a child, I loved to dream away the days in an old cherry tree on my family’s pony farm. In my imagination, the tree became a beautiful Arabian stallion, a medieval castle and even a pirate ship. On rainy days, I headed for my fort in the hayloft. While the rain thudded on the cedar shingled roof, I read books, eventually trading Carolyn Keene for Georgette Heyer. Today, I live on the family ranch in the Cascade foothills, taking care of 32 horses, 4 dogs and the cats. I’m teaching the kids and grandkids of the ones I taught way back when we started. I’ve had a lot of adventures over the years and I plan to write all about them. Deck The Stalls Blurb All Sierra McElroy wants for Christmas is a guarantee that the beloved horses that live at Shamrock Stable will be home for the holidays. Watering, feeding and mucking are part of her daily responsibilities and she’s good with that. However, when her mother decides they can’t keep every horse in the barn and should sell a few to some of their lesson students, Sierra definitely has issues. Family shouldn’t be for sale, especially when the would-be buyers won’t take care of her four-legged kin appropriately. She needs to come up with a plan to keep everyone home where they belong.  A stall- decorating contest may prove to be the answer until an unexpected snow storm shuts down the barn. Now, what can she do to save her friends and Christmas for her two-legged family too?