Terry Odell's Blog, page 233

Friday Field Trip — Cover Reveal

A departure from my usual Field Trips. I love my cover artist, Dave Fymbo, and love sharing how he works. This time, I challenged him to create a cover for the digital version of Rooted in Danger. The dilemma was that since this book was published in hard cover when it came out, the publisher created the cover. I liked it, but I thought it needed more “zing” to stand out in the e-book stores, where the first images you see are thumbnail size. For Where Danger Hides, we tried to make it as sim...

Writers as Artists, and More

What I’m reading: Contest entry #4/5.

Sharing my happy news. Rooted in Danger, Book 3 in my Blackthorne, Inc. romantic suspense series is a finalist in the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence contest. Perfect timing, as I’m getting ready to start the upload process as the digital rights are now under my control.

Today is one of my days at The Blood-Red Pencil. I’m talking about differences and similarities between writers and sculptors. Hope you’ll stop by.

It’s also the last day to ent...

What’s Cooking Wednesday — Easy Coq au Vin

My neighbor, sue Prescott, who probably has more cookbooks than I have books, period (and that’s a LOT) offers her variation on Coq au Vin.

COQ AU VIN A LA SUSAN — Serves 6

Recipe By: Susan Prescott

Ingredients:

4 slice Bacon — diced

¼ cup Flour

1 tsp Dried Thyme

½ tsp Salt

1 ½ lbs Skinless Chicken Thighs — 6 pieces

6 cups Crimini Mushrooms (about 10 oz.)

2 cups Carrots — sliced

1 tbsp Tomato Paste

1 cup Dry Red Wine

1 cup Low Sodium Chicken Broth

Instructions:

Heat large Dutch oven over medium high heat. A...

In the Interview Room — Maryann Miller

Today I welcome Maryann Miller to the Interview Room.

You can invite anyone, alive or dead, to dinner

Who would you invite and why?

Where would you eat?

What would you eat?

What question would you ask?

I would love to have dinner with Abraham Lincoln. I know he was not a perfect president, but he certainly was an influential one, and I have always been captivated at how he has been portrayed as a kindly statesman. Maybe I could introduce him to real Mexican food, enchiladas in a green sauce made wi...

Mountain of Authors: Part 1

What I’m reading: Contest entry #3/5; Little Century, by Anna Keesey (Book Club)
The Booklover’s Bench contest ends the 18th. Don’t forget to enter.

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of participating in the Author Showcase at a local library presentation, called “Mountain of Authors.” (The showcase part sounds a lot more exciting than it was–there were about 20 or so of us who were given the chance to speak for one minute about our writing, meet readers, and sell books which helped raise money...

Friday Field Trip — Trinidad

We haven’t had pictures from Jason for a while. He was snowboarding and everything was cool until the end of the day when he was riding the lift and the woman in front of him fell. He tried to avoid her, and in doing so broke his right humerus. He’s a southpaw, so it could have been worse, but they don’t make left-handed cameras. He managed to heal enough so he didn’t have to cancel his scheduled trip to Trinidad. So, welcome back, Jason!
(Before you enjoy his photos, don’t forget to pop over...

Great Expectations

What I’m reading: Hot Water by Maggie Toussaint (Nook)
Are you a newsletter subscriber? Is my Spring newsletter sitting unopened in your inbox (or, heaven forbid, your spam folder)? Be sure to check it out, because there’s an exclusive subscriber-only giveaway and only place to find the link is in the newsletter. Good prizes, I promise. If you’re not a subscriber, click the link in the nav bar so you’ll be on the list for the next one.

I’ll admit to a guilty pleasure of playing the daily challe...

What’s Cooking Wednesday — Lamb Stew

I found some nice lamb stew meat on special, and decided to make lamb stew. As is typical, I didn’t have a recipe on hand when I bought the lamb, so when I got home, I looked up some recipes on line. Of course, I didn’t have all the ingredients for any one of them, so I cobbled a few together. It’s more about technique than exact ingredients. Living up here, I wasn’t going to make another trip to the store. So, if you want a glimpse of how I usually cook, this is it.

(I made this during Passov...

In the Interview Room – Mary Montague Sikes

Today I welcome Mary Montague Sikes to the Interview Room.

Plotter or Pantser?

I’m probably a little of both. I don’t write down an outline, but I have the characters and story in my mind when I start the book. As I write, I love it when the characters take over. Then the plot can change in a completely different direction. When I began my last “Passenger to Paradise” book, Jungle Jeopardy, I had planned Tyler Hunter as a villain in the story. As it turned out, I fell in love with Tyler, and he...

Don’t Fear The Unduki

What I’m reading: The Taken by Vicki Pettersson (Nook); Contest entry #2/5
A brief synchronicity aside related to last week’s post on setting, and how it can give ‘insider’ moments. Hubster and I were having our weekly Netflix Nite, and the movie was Madagascar 3. There was a sequence set in Monaco, a place we’d been, and even in a cartoon, we had the I’ve been there; that’s what it looked like moments which added to the enjoyment of the film.

In some of my earlier critique groups, when most of...