C.D. Hersh's Blog, page 96
July 22, 2019
Tell Again Tuesday Writing Tips for a Blank Page
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
The Right Opening
By Joanne Guidoccio
Have you ever experienced the tyranny of the blank page?
If you’re nodding in agreement, you are in good company. In fact, I believe every author—from beginner to published—has experienced those feelings of doubt and apprehension, especially at the start of a new manuscript. That’s when the gremlin thoughts are most powerful.
In this post, I will offer several suggestions on . . .
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July 18, 2019
Friday Feature Bundt Cake #recipe by @SharonLedwith
Guest talks about
Taking a break with food.
by
Sharon Ledwith
Face it, we all need breaks! A needed holiday a couple of times a year. A long weekend to unwind. A day off to recharge. Even when we’re working, we need to take at least fifteen minutes away from our jobs after we’ve been working non-stop for two or three hours. Hey, we’re not robots, and if our jobs require us to sit, stand, or walk around for any length of time, our bodies will eventually tire, and we lose our focus. And that could cause plenty of headaches for business owners, retail stores, and manufacturers.
Even when I’m writing a book, I make sure I include plenty of sequels between scenes. It’s kind of like a coffee break (or tea if you’re so inclined) for your reader. Scenes include plenty of activity and emotion, at times keeping readers on the edge of their seats. Sequels are devised to break the tension where there’s less activity, letting the readers’ emotions rest. I use this technique in both my young adult book series, The Last Timekeepers and Mysterious Tales from Fairy Falls. This way, there’s a balance between the calm and chaos in every tale I write, and doesn’t leave my reader feeling exhausted at the end of the book.
Ready for a break? How about a slice of homemade coffee cake? It’s a twist on what you would think of as seasonal baking, and trust me, this cake is great for your anticipated time out, whether you’re at work or at home working on your next novel or artistic endeavor. With a prep time of 15 minutes and a total time of 1 hour, 25 minutes, this cake serves about 24 of your closest colleagues.
Gingerbread Coffee Cake
3 cups (750 mL) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
3 tbsp. (45 mL) cocoa powder, sifted
1 tbsp. (15 mL) ground ginger
2 tsp. (10 mL) ground cinnamon
2 tsp. (10 mL) baking powder
1 tsp. (5 mL) baking soda
½ tsp. (2 mL) each salt and ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. (1 mL) ground cloves
⅔ cup (150 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups (375 mL) sugar
3 eggs
½ cup (125 mL) molasses
1 tsp. (5 mL) vanilla extract
2 cups (500 mL) sour cream
Preheat oven to 350 °F (180°C).
Grease 9 or 10 inch (23 or 25 cm) Bundt pan. Dust with flour.
In a bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cloves. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, with an electric mixer on medium speed. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in molasses and vanilla.
Set mixer on low speed. Alternately beat in flour mixture and sour cream, making 3 additions of flour mixture and 2 of sour cream and scraping down side of bowl as necessary.
Scrape batter into prepared pan, smoothing top.
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into center of cake, 50 minutes to 1 hour.
Let cool completely in pan on wire rack. Invert onto serving plate. Prepare sauce to drizzle over cake.
Coffee Caramel Sauce
1½ cups (375 mL) firmly packed brown sugar
¼ cup (60 mL) brewed coffee (brew stronger than package directions)
¼ cup (60 mL) 35% whipping cream, at room temperature
2 tbsp. (30 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ tsp. (1 mL) salt
In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine sugar and coffee. Cook over medium heat, without stirring, until sugar is fully dissolved and mixture is foamy, about 12 to 15 minutes.
Remove from heat. Stir in cream, butter and salt. Drizzle over gingerbread cake. Slice and serve.
So, now that you’ve baked to your heart’s content, it’s time for your break! Leave those dirty dishes in the sink, pour yourself a cup of your favorite hot beverage, and go curl up on the couch with one of my books. May I suggest a visit to Fairy Falls? Just remember to pack lightly.
The only witness left to testify against an unsolved crime in Fairy Falls isn’t a person…
City born and bred, Hart Stewart possesses the gift of psychometry—the psychic ability to discover facts about an event or person by touching inanimate objects associated with them. Since his mother’s death, seventeen-year-old Hart has endured homelessness, and has learned ways to keep his illiteracy under wraps. He eventually learns of a great-aunt living in Fairy Falls, and decides to leave the only life he’s ever known for an uncertain future.
Diana MacGregor lives in Fairy Falls. Her mother was a victim of a senseless murder. Only Diana’s unanswered questions and her grief keeps her going, until Hart finds her mother’s lost ring and becomes a witness to her murder.
Through Hart’s psychic power, Diana gains hope for justice. Their investigation leads them into the corrupt world threatening Fairy Falls. To secure the town’s future, Hart and Diana must join forces to uncover the shocking truth, or they risk losing the true essence of Fairy Falls forever.
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Sharon Ledwith is the author of the middle-grade/YA time travel series, THE LAST TIMEKEEPERS, and the teen psychic mystery series, MYSTERIOUS TALES FROM FAIRY FALLS. When not writing, researching, or revising, she enjoys reading, exercising, anything arcane, and an occasional dram of scotch. Sharon lives a serene, yet busy life in a southern tourist region of Ontario, Canada, with her hubby, one spoiled yellow Labrador and a moody calico cat.
Learn more about Sharon Ledwith on her website and blog. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter, Google+, Goodreads, and Smashwords. Look up her Amazon Author page for a list of current books. Be sure to check out THE LAST TIMEKEEPERS TIME TRAVEL SERIES Facebook page.
July 16, 2019
Wednesday Special Spotlight DISTURBED in a Positive Way by @AliciaJAuthor
Shines On
Alicia Joseph who brings us her rock concert experience.
Not long ago I saw the band Disturbed play at a venue near me, and I won’t soon forget the experience. The concert was powerful, and it was emotional. I’ve never been to a rock concert where so many people cried, or were trying not to cry.
Twitter .
July 15, 2019
Tell Again Tuesday Making Your Characters Believable
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
How to Plan your protagonists journey
By Lorraine Ambers
Throughout everyone’s journey, there are hopes, aspirations, and dreams; and in order for any of those things to come to fruition, certain steps need to be taken to get to the chosen goal. The superficial goal.
Now here’s the tricky part, the unseen truth behind those desires: . . .
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July 11, 2019
Friday Feature #recipe alterations from @EmmaJLane
Guest talks about
Your personal preference recipe for Taco Salad
by
Emma Lane
This recipe is easily adapted to personal preferences. More beef? More cheese? More onion? More sauce? Dollop of sour cream? Scoop chips? Choose your own alterations.
Makes an easy party set up which allows guests to assemble their own plates. Serve with guacamole dip and more corn ships.
TACO SALAD
½ – l lb. ground beef, preferably chuck for flavor
1 med. onion, diced
8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
¼ – ½ head lettuce, chopped to bitesize
1 8-10 oz. can diced tomato
2/3 bag corn chips, slightly crushed
Ortega Taco Sauce to taste (or your favorite brand)
Sauté beef and onion together until done (no pink left). Use fork to break lumps into small pieces. Cover pan and then set aside.
Prepare individual plates covering the bottom with corn chips. Add warm beef mixture.
Quickly scatter cheese to take advantage of the warmth.
Layer with lettuce, and then tomatoes. Drizzle with taco sauce to taste. Sprinkle a bit more cheese for garnish or substitute a piece or two of parsley.
Serves 4
GUACAMOLE DIP
2 ripe avocados, halved with pits removed but saved
1 tbsp. lime juice, lemon works too
¼ cup onion, chopped fine
½ cup tomato, diced
¼ tsp. salt
½ jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tbsp. cilantro leaves, chopped fine – optional
1 tbsp. mayo
Corn chips
Chunk avocados into a glass or ceramic bowl. Sprinkle with lime juice.
Gently stir in remaining ingredients except chips. Tuck pit deep into dip. This stops the avocado from turning dark.
Drop spoonfuls onto taco salad or use chips to dip.
Enjoy!
Here’s a little more from my cozy mystery. I hope you enjoy it.
When Cheryl realizes her new next-door neighbor is someone she loved as a young girl, she immediately puts the brakes on her emotions. Never again would she allow the gorgeous hunk of a man to break her heart.
Ruggedly handsome Detective David Larkin isn’t used to pretty ladies giving him a firm no. He persists, even as Cheryl fights her own temptations. The two struggle to appreciate each other as adults, even as they admit to deep feelings from their childhood.
AMAZON BUY LINK
Read more of the cozy mysteries by Janis Lane on Amazon
Janis Lane is the pen-name for gifted author Emma Lane who writes cozy mysteries as Janis, Regency as Emma, and spice as Sunny Lane.
She lives in Western New York where winter is snowy, spring arrives with rave reviews, summer days are long and velvet, and fall leaves are riotous in color. At long last she enjoys the perfect bow window for her desk where she is treated to a year-round panoramic view of nature. Her computer opens up a fourth fascinating window to the world. Her patient husband is always available to help with a plot twist and encourage Emma to never quit. Her day job is working with flowers at Herbtique and Plant Nursery, the nursery she and her son own.
Look for information about writing and plants on Emma’s new website. Leave a comment or a gardening question and put a smile on Emma’s face.
Stay connected to Emma on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to check out the things that make Emma smile on Pinterest.
July 9, 2019
Wednesday Special Spotlight Peach Bread @ChrisPavesic
Shines On
An intriguing recipe from Chris Pavesic for a wonderful snack.
Fresh peaches are always delicious. Bake them in a pie or bread and your home is filled with a beautiful aroma. Try my easy Peach Bread recipe for an anytime treat that goes great with coffee and tea, hot or iced.
Peach Bread
Photo courtesy of Anna Armburst Pixabay
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
6 oz. blueberry (peach) yogurt
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
1 cup peaches, chopped
1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
¼ cup raw sugar
Preheat oven to 350ᵒ F.
In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, milk, oil, yogurt, egg, and extract. In a separate bowl, combine flour with baking powder and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined.
In a small bowl, toss peaches with 1 tbsp. flour.
Fold floured fruit gently into batter.
Pour batter into a greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle with raw sugar.
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow bread to cool for 10 minutes before turning onto a rack to cool completely.
Slice off a piece of warm Peach Bread, pour your favorite beverage, and indulge yourself with a good book. May I suggest one of the books from my LitRPG series The Revelation Chronicles? ?
In Starter Zone Cami kept herself and her younger sister Alby alive in a post-apocalyptic world, facing starvation, violence, and death on a daily basis. Caught by the military and forcefully inscribed, Cami manages to scam the system and they enter the Realms, a Virtual Reality world, as privileged Players rather than slaves. They experience a world of safety, plenty, and magical adventure.
In the Traveler’s Zone magic, combat, gear scores, quests, and dungeons are all puzzles to be solved as Cami continues her epic quest to navigate the Realms and build a better life for her family. But an intrusion from her old life threatens everything she has gained and imperils the entire virtual world.
Time to play the game.
Above the tree line floats an airship close to three hundred feet long with a slightly rounded wooden hull. Ropes attach the lower portion of the ship to an inflated balloon-like aspect, bright white in color with an identification symbol, a red bird with white-tipped feathers extended in flight, inside a round yellow circle in the center of the canvas. The deck is manned with archers and swordsmen. There are two sets of fore and aft catapults.
What I don’t see are cannons or any other type of a gun large enough to account for the sound of the explosion.
The ship pivots in the air, coming around to point directly at what looks like an oncoming flock of five large birds. Or creatures. They are too big and too strange looking to be birds. They drift closer, flapping their wings.
A moment passes before I realize that they are not creatures either. They are some sort of gliders. A person hangs below each set of the feathered wings, which flap and move with mechanical precision in a sky washed out by the morning sun.
The archers nock their arrows and aim at the flock.
The gliders draw in their wings and dive toward the deck, covering the distance in a few heartbeats. Most of the arrows fly uselessly past the attack force and fall like black rain from the sky. The archers aimed and released the volley too late.
The forward catapult releases a torrent of small rocks at the lead glider. It is a scatter-shot approach that proves effective. There are so many missiles that it is impossible to dodge them all.
But at the moment the stones strike, the other four let loose with fireballs. Spheres of crackling flame spring from their hands, glowing faintly at first and then with increasing brightness. The balls of fire shoot from their hands like bullets from a gun and fly toward the ship, exploding. Pieces bounce off the hull and fall to the ground, throwing hissing, burning globs of magic-fueled fire in all directions, setting everything they touch aflame.
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Want to learn more about The Revelation Chronicles? Click HERE for updates on this and the other series by Chris. Watch the video on YouTube.
Chris Pavesic is a fantasy author who lives in the Midwestern United States and loves Kona coffee, steampunk, fairy tales, and all types of speculative fiction. Between writing projects, Chris can most often be found reading, gaming, gardening, working on an endless list of DIY household projects, or hanging out with friends.
Learn more about Chris on her website and blog.
Stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, and her Amazon Author Page.
July 8, 2019
Tell Again Tuesday Advice from the Best
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
14 Tips from Stephen King
By Joanne Guidoccio
Here are 14 tips, distilled from Stephen King’s book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, a must-read for all writers and wannabe writers. . . .
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July 4, 2019
Friday Feature Nineteenth Century Lunches @julidrevezzo
Guest talks about
Nineteenth Century Lunches and Courting the Stationmaster’s Daughter
by
Juli D. Revezzo
The late 19th century was the time of innovation. The birth of what became the modern city and with it, things like factories, the long work days (often up to sixteen hours!), early trams and trains, all these things arose in the 19th century. This was the era when men’s work moved out of the near-home radius, from the field, into the greater city of London (and beyond) and therefore, there was no opportunity to enjoy lunch at home with his family. For the wife of the late 19th century, this meant a shift away from the lavish meals she and her husband probably grew up on—at least in the case of the upper classes (The organization of an elaborate leisure dinner party was mainly the staple of the upper classes). The underclasses would have dinner at the same hour, but the fare proved meager.
Even these dinners gave way to (for working men, at least—and yes, even the young working women of the age) lunches—and even dinners—away from home.
These workers carried their repast in what has become a staple of modern life: The lunchbox. In the beginning, the lunchbox was a simple basket, or in some cases, a plain old pail. They tended to look like any ole bucket we might now have in our yards, but soon, they took on the look any modern schoolchild would recognize.
Or, if they happened to be managers of said-business (factories, railways), they might (might) have a runner to go out and bring them a sandwich back from the closest local café. (And if one could afford the price, the worker may take a lunch there as well.)
This section of society stars heavily in my latest historical romance, COURTING THE STATIONMASTER’S DAUGHTER, as the hero (and his superior) are stationmaster and assistant stationmaster of a very new industry in Victorian London, the subways. In the course of the story, the stationmaster’s daughter is charged with setting up a luncheon for the men of his station (with the help of his assistant Stationmaster), something of a change for their hardworking employees, usual sandwiches, or leftover meat pies, or maybe soup, from the night before. Even this repast is brought along in a series of baskets and pails. So, the next time you open you (or your child’s) Captain Marvel lunchbox, ladies, 
July 2, 2019
Wednesday Special Spotlight Gina Briganti
Shines On
IvyRose: The Evolution as told by Gina Briganti
IvyRose: The Evolution
When I started writing The Dreaming in 2009 I had no idea that IvyRose would become a beloved part of the Natural Gifts series. Journey back with me to when Dana was at a signing in New York and Ivy, pregnant with Rose, wore lavender essential oil to calm her nerves as she met one of her personal heroes. Dana felt connected to Ivy from the start and accepted Ivy’s phone number when she offered it. Dana and Ivy met later on at Dana’s house, which is when Ivy brought Dana her handmade lip gloss and shampoo. Ivy wistfully shared that she would love to market her body care someday. Dana saw a flash out of the corner of her eye and told Ivy that she had a feeling she would.
In Desert Sunrise, Dana and Lucy took a working trip to New York to meet with Ivy and the ever-adorable cherub Rose, to look at office space for the company they would call IvyRose. The friendship these women share, the vision, the hard work, and their drive to make the world a better place moves me so much it leaves me breathless.
When Life Force Holistic Health Center opened during No Yesterdays, it did so with a whole wall of IvyRose products. Top notch, eco-friendly, wonderful, and just plain fun.
You’ll see more of IvyRose when you read Deep in the Dreaming. I’d tell you more, but, you know, spoilers.
A parallel world. A trapped soul. To save her friends, they’ll battle addiction, magic, and eternity…
Elena Zucchero has lived and lost in reality. Now she fills her heart through her work as a hypnotherapist by helping her patients improve their lives. But when a nightmare plagues her sleep, she learns her friends have gone missing in an addictive alternate plane. And the only way to save them may require feeding the demons of her handsome new client…
Draper Montgomery painfully resists the call of the Dreaming. But despite his dangerous cravings, he senses his enchanting therapist has a wound he can help heal. And to satisfy his heart’s desire, he may just have to risk the very foundation of his mind…
As Elena and Draper discover a deeper soul connection, the therapist struggles to keep her distance in the hunt for her friends. If the people she loves even want to be saved…
Will the perilous hunt to rescue her friends lose them their lives and their souls?
Deep in the Dreaming is the fourth standalone book in the captivating Natural Gifts paranormal romance series. If you like mysterious worlds, conflicted characters, and love that conquers all, then you’ll adore Gina Briganti’s enthralling tale.
Buy Deep in the Dreaming to slip into another world today!
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Gina Briganti writes paranormal, fantasy, and sci-fi romance in north Texas. Her constant companion is a special soul who masquerades as a dog.
Visit her website and blog for book trailers, newsletter sign up, and whatever else she thinks up.
Stay connected on Facebook, Gina’s Amazon Author Page, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram.
July 1, 2019
Tell Again Tuesday Did you listen or ask for feedback?
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
Listen to Your Critics.
They Might Be Right.
By Nancy Massand
Wow, that’s really good!
You just submitted your latest draft to your critique group. Or your writing class. You bask in their praise. You are an author! Then you shop it around to every agent with a penchant for steampunk YA time travel fantasy romance, because you just know it’s gonna be a best seller. But no agent will touch it. Most don’t even reply. What happened?
What happened was that you stopped . . .
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