Marcia Lynn McClure's Blog, page 11

National Pig Day!!!!

Today's the day we celebrate PIGS!  Seriously!

Years ago, I started a "Anti Bacon-Deprivation Day" with some of my friends!  One day in March, we would make a point of eating bacon (something we all love, love, love!)!  However, the funny thing was, that after a few years of celebrating "Anti Bacon-Deprivation Day," I learned that March 1st is officially "National Pig Day!"  Awesome, huh?

So, to kick off March (which is going to be official "Brevan McLean" month in my mind and here on my blog), let's start with celebrating "National Pig Day"!  Shall we?

Now, be sure and consume some bacon today as part of your "National Pig Day" celebration.  Maybe have BLTs for supper!  Maybe have a toasted bagel, slathered in cream cheese, and generously sprinkled with REAL Bacon Bits for breakfast or a snack!  While you're out and about pick up a pig!  (Mitch and I are going to see Gnomeo and Juliet together today, so I'll pick mine up then.)  It doesn't have to be a big pig…it can be like a little farm animal or something with a picture of a pig on it!  Picking up any bacon or pork products also counts.

Next, be sure and enter my blog contest for this week!  Just tell me a pig story or tell me about the new pig you acquire today (via a comment here, Facebook or e-mail) and I'll pick my favorite Pig Tale (Get it?) as the winner!  The prize is a fun little game our family LOVES called, Pig Pile!  We LOVE this game!  My friend Rhonda sent it to us one year for Christmas and it's soooo fun!  It's really easy to learn and anyone over about ten or eleven will love it!

March is fun!  I love green and St. Patrick's Day and the fact that spring is upon us!  Furthermore, I love Brevan!  So watch for some "Brevan-ness" to come spilling out of my random brain, too!

Meanwhile, HAPPY NATIONAL PIG DAY!

Swaggart's Favorite Jerky, Etc.

Okay…remember a while back I asked you what were some details you'd like to see on Swaggart Morretti's bio page? I LOVED some of the responses! Actually, I loved them ALL…but a couple of them were just too fun! The first one that comes to mind was Trista's suggestion, "His favorite kind of Jerky???"

Well, believe it or not, Swaggart does a favorite brand and flavor of jerky…that being Jack Link's Teriyaki Jerky (specifically the mega pack). Swaggart (or Swag, as we that close to him call him) prefers Jack Link's Teriyaki because it's tender, packed with flavor, and just plain good!

Wanna win a Mega Pack of Swaggart's jerky?  Sure you do!  Just let me know some other fun facts about ANY of my characters that you would like to see appear on the Bio Pages and I'll drop your name in my hat to win a package of Swaggart's FAVORITE Jerky!  Actually, Trista G. R. (Who submitted the question), Facebook me your address and I'll send a package to you, just because I LOVED your question!  Very random!  I LOVE randomness!

30 Day Challenge-Day #6 (Contest Winner and New Contest, too!)

Day #6 of the 30 Day Challenge is right up my alley!  "A band/artist many people may not know of, but that you think should!" This one was actually kind of difficult as well as fun…because there are quite a few bands and/or artists I like to share with others!  However, one band/artist totally comes to mind first…The Neville Brothers and Aaron Neville!  I LOVE THE NEVILLE BROTHERS AND AARON NEVILLE!  I cannot even express myself when it comes to them…not well, anyway.  My children all grew up with Aaron Neville and The Neville Brothers and love them as much as Kevin and I do.  In 2008 we had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see them in concert in Denver!  Now, you need to know…that by 2008, Aaron Neville and his brothers were into their 70s!  The oldest was pushing up to 80 years of age and could still 'jam' like nobody's business!

The Neville inspire me…they have song (a rendition of Bird on a Wire) to which they added these lyrics:  "Don't cry no more…don't cry.  It's completed…oh, it's finished…it's been paid for…" These lyrics touch the very depths of my soul!  The Neville Brothers are very religious and often there will be themes of repentance, forgiveness, atonement in their songs.  LOVE them!  Now beyond their lyrics…these guys can JAM!  I know that's an archaic word, but it fits so perfectly!  Here's a video clip of the song Brother Jake (one of my kids' favorites).  Keep in mind that at the time they are performing this they are well into their late 50's and 60's.  When we saw them perform this song in 2008 in their 70s, they were just as awesome!

Now, in truth, Kevin and I discovered Aaron Neville shortly before the Neville Brothers.  Aaron Neville performed several beautiful and popular duets with Linda Ronstadt in 1989 and we loved them!  Pretty soon thereafter, we saw a movie with Goldie Hawn and Mel Gibson (Hysterical by the way) called Bird on a Wire.  The ending credits song was Bird no a Wire by The Neville Brothers.  We loved this of course, and I ran out to buy find them in the store (in the days long long long before the convenience of on line shopping).  I couldn't find a CD with the song on it, but I DID find a CD entitled Warm Your Heart by Aaron Neville.  Purchased it in an instant and it became a life-long family favorite!  Gorgeous CD!  Very romantic and mellow!  Oh, just sooooooooo romantic!  (In fact, there's one track Close Your Eyes with Linda Ronstadt where Aaron abandons his famous falsetto and speaks the words "I love you!  I love you!"  AWESOME!)

Anyway, I found a couple of YouTubers for you…one is the very romantic (at least in MY opinion) 1989 video Don't Know Much…it's old-school MTV and the sound is really low…AND I suppose it's a little middle-aged for you younger 'shorties'…but I love it!  The next one is kind of weird…I think someone just put their CD on play and filmed their fish tank…but it's actually kind of groovy and relaxing!  I will confess that probably one reason our family digs Aaron and The Neville Bothers so much is the smooth, easy, southern, New Orleans or Louisiana themes of many of their songs.  Still, I think anyone who loves a broad spectrum of music can't help but fall in love with this music!  Furthermore, how can one suggest a band and/or artist without offering…well, an offering!  Thus, leave a comment, a Facebook message or e-mail me the reason YOU might just turn out to be a fellow Neville fan, and be entered to win this week's blog contest…a Warm Your Heart CD and The Best of The Neville Brothers CD!

Oh, that reminds me…"Sil" you won the Dean Martin CD (which, I might add, has a different cover than the one I posted…a MUCH better cover!)  Facebook your address to me and I'll get that in the mail for you!  Meanwhile, groove to Aaron and The Neville Brothers, ladies!  LOVE them!

My Strange, Random, Fixated Brain!

I am sooooooo weird!  Seriously!  A couple of days after I posted the Conagher DVD, I had a dream that I was at the North Pole theme park in Cascade, Colorado…and that Sam Elliott was there!  I couldn't get over to meet him because I was worried that the special stationary you could buy to write letters to Santa on would run out, so I was in line trying to get stationary and envelopes and couldn't get over to meet Sam!  (Kevin's interpretation is that I think Sam Elliot would make a good Santa Claus!).  Anyway…random dreams like this are a common thing with me…dreams and perplexing feelings of familiarity.  By 'perplexing feelings of familiarity' I mean…well…here's an example:

Ever since I put the Jackson Browne "Somebody's Baby" video up on my blog a few days ago, something had been bugging me…who does Jackson Browne remind me of in that video?  It was sort of driving me nuts!  I knew he reminded me of someone else and it was just sort of picking at the back of my mind.  For a couple of days it bugged me.  Then, yesterday…WHAM! it hit me!  Cillian Murphy!  THAT'S who Jackson Browne reminds me of!  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!  I love it when my brain finally works!  Take a look at Jackson and Cillian side by side and see what you think:

CRAZY, huh?  Not the best photos for examples…but I think you can see why my brain was bugging me about it!  Whew!  I'm so glad THAT'S all worked out!  Aren't you?

Winner and TOTALLY Random New Contest!

Sam, Sam, Sam! Yep! I picked a winner out of my hat for the Sam Elliott/"Con Conagher" DVD! Karen Brown! You crazy, lucky girl! E-mail or Facebook me your address and I'll get your Sam/Conagher DVD in the mail to you! Ahhhhhhhhh! How fun!

Now…what to do for this week's contest? Hmmm…what to do what to do? I know! Since Kissing Cousins is coming out in printed form next week, how about this…a Dean Martin CD! How funny! Yes! This CD may not have the best cover…BUT…it DOES include several songs from my Kissing Cousins tune list (i.e. That's Amore, Sway, Innamorata and You Belong to Me)!  Corny, but fun, right?  Just so the regular thingy to enter…comment here, post on Facebook, or send me an e-mail at marcialmcclure@cs.com.

Now, I have to tell you…you cannot imagine how excited I am to see Kissing Cousins in print!  It's a favorite of mine…especially now that the whole "shirtless" thing with Swaggart has been rectified!  Whew!

I'm working on new stuff that I LOVE!!!!  LOVE LOVE LOVE these new books I've done and am doing!  For some reason, my brain is wildly alive right now…which is weird for the end of winter for me!  But I think the combination of Mitch being home, spring just around the corner and sunshine are just making be so happy and light-hearted that it's manifesting in my work!  Wait until you get a load of the hero in The Trove of the Passion Room!  I can't wait for you to read that one!

In the meantime, let's just have a little Dean Martin CD contest this week!  It's random, vintage and I love it!

30 Day Challenge-Day #5

Day #5 of the 30 Day Challenge is TOTALLY random!  And believe me when I say…I TOTALLY went random with it!

#5-"A random song from you past!"

This was really hard for me because, when it comes to random songs from my past, the list is endless!  However, I just decided to go on YouTube and start entering old song titles.  Eventually, I came up with this one…"Somebody's Baby" by Jackson Browne.  It's kind of smooth, mellow song…not a whole lot to it…but it's very catchy.  Furthermore, whenever I hear it I feel the need to do a certain little dance move or 'totally tubular' groove my friend and I used to do during the chorus every time we heard it.  (Too hard to explain the little groove in words.)  I always, always liked this song, but for some reason, it always sort of made me too relaxed and almost melancholy to be a favorite favorite song.  Still, I like it!

Now, the interesting thing is…that although I had seen photos of Jackson Browne way back in 1982 when this song was popular…I'd never seen his band until today when I was watching this video (see below)!  Seriously!  They were VERY different from any other popular 80s band at the time!  They're like…sort of middle-aged!  I couldn't believe it!

Anyway, for my Day #5…here's a random song from my past…popular the year I was 17…"Somebody's Baby" by Jackson Browne and his middle-aged band!

Cast Ryder Maddox-The Winner is….

I had no idea how close this 'casting' race would be…therefore, I had no idea how much it would freak me out!  Josh Duhamel and Eric Dane were neck and neck the whole way!  Poor Channing Tatum just didn't come close for the character of Ryder where voting was concerned!  (I hope he's not too offended!  And fear not…he's up for other roles that I think fit him better!)  The first time I tallied the votes (which were overwhelming in number, I might add) Josh and Eric were literally dead even!  I couldn't believe it!  I had to show Kevin because I couldn't believe it!  But now that there's a winner…I'm totally stressed!  I know one 'team' will be disappointed!  Don't get mad at me, okay…because this is all in fun!  AND we are only pretending to cast the movie!  I know that in truth no actor can fill Ryder's boots for any of us!  So let's just keep pretending and whichever 'team' doesn't win…know that your guy WILL be cast in a Marcia Lynn McClure hero position at some point…of that there is no doubt!

So, at the risk of provoking hate mail, a flogging or something else…here's the result of the "Ryder Maddox" voting contest… (don't get mad, okay?)…the winner…and I mean only by a nose (it was seriously so close I can't even tell you!)…is Josh Duhamel!

For those of you who voted for Eric Dane (and don't worry…he's up for a TON of hero parts) and are disappointed, let's highlight Josh's good characteristics:  Tall, handsome, fabulous smile, able to portray a great sense of humor and wit, great voice, charming…okay?

I'll put Josh's photos on Ryder Maddox's bio page (as the actor who won the casting contest), and then what do you say we all take a breath and break before we vote on someone else!  It's emotionally taxing!  Casting is such a hard job!  Who knew?

Thank you so much to everyone who voted!  It was such a blast, wasn't it?  I enjoyed watching the votes roll in via blog comments, Facebook and e-mails…LOVED the extra comments of 'why' a vote was cast!  I hope this was fun for you…even if your guy of choice didn't win!  I had a ball!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Vote for Ryder Maddox!!!!

Yep!  This week we're voting on who will represent Ryder Maddox on Ryder's page in my Character Bios section!  I've chosen my top three favorite submissions for Ryder Maddox and three photos of each guy being considered for Ryder appear below!  You can only choose one guy to be Ryder in the Character Bios section, so take your time before voting!

My daughter had a great suggestion…just pretend like you're the person casting the part of Ryder Maddox for the movie version of Dusty Britches!  Once you've decided who you would 'cast' as Ryder, leave a comment here, e-mail me at marcialmcclure@cs.com with a Subject Line: Ryder!, or send me a Facebook message or wall post with the name of who you've chosen to for Ryder!  Fun, huh!?

Check out my three favorite candidates below and then send you vote to me!  I'm so nervous!  Who will it be?  Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

So here are my top three picks for Ryder using your submissions (in absolutely no particular order):

Josh Duhamel as Ryder Maddox…
Tatum Channing as Ryder Maddox…

Eric Dane as Ryder Maddox…

30 Day Challenge-Day #4

Do you know what I'm discovering? I'm discovering that this 30 Day Challenge thing is a good motivator for blogging! I'm not quite sure why…probably because it urges my mind along different venues than writing my stories does…and that's a good brain-rest for me!

Day #4 of the 30 Day Challenge Thingy is this: "Eight ways to win my heart." Another hard one, of course! Still, I'll give it a whirl. Again, I'm going to operate under an assumption…the assumption that the eight things are things that I find endear people to me. Does that sound right? Oooo! It's kind of hard!  But I can totally think of #1…

#1…Laugh! Laugh wholeheartedly and especially WITH me and you're in! Make me laugh and laugh with me and it's a done deal!

Okay…that was the easiest one! From now on it will be difficult I think! But…here goes!

#2-Treat others with respect, gently and with compassion…and/or sprinkle random acts of kindness! I LOVE that!

#3-If you're a female, harbor a love of romance! If you're a male, be an everyday hero!

#4-Own a deep love and appreciation for the past…people, things, events, movies, history, hand-written cards and letters!

#5-Enjoy sitting around the table conversing or playing cards more than watching TV!

#6-Relish, love and bathe in Autumn!

#7-Be a patriot and/or a Veteran!

#8-Struggle with weight and weight-loss!  (I'm serious!!!!)

So there you have it!  That was a hard one!

This Week's Random Contest-Sam Elliott as "Conagher" DVD!

I cannot even TELL you how random I'm feeling today!  I just want to goof off and do nothing but fiddle around with stuff.  Do you know what I mean?  Therefore, I picked another random item for this week's Blog contest…another DVD of an old "made for TV" movie I like…Conagher.

Now, you must understand that I LOVE Sam Elliott…especially his voice!  I couldn't have cared LESS about the Super Bowl this year, but while over at my friend's house…when I heard Sam Elliott's voice introducing the Packers…I HAD to run in and listen!  LOVE that voice!  Anyway, Conagher is an old movie based on a Louis L'Amour book.  It's just a simple sweet cowboy movie that I love!  I think the fact that Sam Elliott and Katherine Ross are married in real life made it a little more fun for me, too!  It's not way, way exciting…just romantic and tender!  This blog contest is the same as the others have been…just comment here, Facebook  or e-mail me at marcialmmclure@cs.com and any of those count as your entry!  I'll pull a winning name from the hat Monday!  Okay?  Ooo!  Here's a little trailer teaser of the movie….