Terry Odell's Blog, page 240

Friday Field Trip — France

Today’s field trip comes courtesy of Beth Barany, who’s going to be my guest blogger on Tuesday. Consider these pictures as a ‘bonus’ to go with her post.

Thanks, Terry, for having me on your Friday Field Trip column. I’m Beth Barany, a novelist, writing coach, and speaker. All the photos below were taking during a trip to France last Sept. 2012. I go to France to be inspired, and boy was I! I loved the streetgraffitiin Paris, and fell in love with the town of Beauvais, France. I got really in...

The Numbers Can Lie

What I’m reading: Contest Entry #2 of 5
There’s still time to enter Michelle Monkou’s contest… scroll down to Tuesday’s post and leave a comment. Winners announce over the weekend.

[image error]Rankings, Ratings, and Statistics—how many #1 Best Sellers are there? Technically, at any given moment in time, there should be only one, right? (Name that movie/television series.) Yet we see people boasting that they’re best-selling authors all the time. How far down the list can you be to consider yourself a best-...

What’s Cooking Wednesday – Sun-Dried Tomato Crusted Chicken Breasts

Don’t forget to scroll down to yesterday’s post and leave a comment for two chances to win Michele Monkou’s new release!

Made this the other night (and forgot to take a picture—sorry).

I’ll give you the ‘real’ recipe here, but tell you my variations, which is a frequent happenstance because I tend to be a ‘last-minute, what’s-for-dinner’ cook and use what I have on hand rather than make a special trip to the store.

Sun-Dried Tomato Crusted Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:

2 c. fresh breadcrumbs made f...

Inner Child, Report To Duty

Today I welcome Michelle Monkou to Terry’s Place. Michelle Monkou writes contemporary romances with a sexy, sensual edge. With over 16 books to her credit, she continues to write for Harlequin Kimani Romance and self-publishes on Kindle and Nook. (There’s a giveaway, so keep reading!)

[image error] Each day, especially birthdays, highlight the reality that I am getting older. Hearing my joints pop and crack are also those pesky reminders that time marches on. And yet, the child inside is still there ready t...

The Medium Makes a Difference

What I’m reading: Meet the Annas, by Robert Dunn (Nook) Contest entry #1 of 5

I still need more responses to my blog survey before I have enough input to make responsible decisions about changes to the blog, if any. Link in the sidebar.

While visiting my parents, I had the opportunity to watch Life of Pi, which is the first time in at least ten years that I’ve seen a movie nominated for an Oscar, but that’s beside the point. One of the reasons I chose that movie was because the book is my book...

Friday Field Trip — Creatures Great and Small

Was digging through my files. A lot of these were taken pre-digital, and were scanned into the computer. Not phenomenal quality, but unless someone else sends me stuff, you’re stuck with it.

Brown anole

Baby elephant seal (Fat Albert)

African Elephant

Tree snail

Mule Deer

Giraffe

Banana Slug

African Lion

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Voice at the Blood-Red Pencil

What I’m reading: Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (book club)

I’ve been invited to become a ‘regular’ rather than a ‘guest’ at The Blood-Red Pencil blog. Today’s my first ‘official’ post in my new status. Hope you’ll pop over and say hi. (I’m not 100% sure what time the posts go live over there, but if it’s not there yet, please click back later.)

I’m talking about character voice and have a few tips to share.

What’s Cooking Wednesday — Picadillo

A family favorite. Hadn’t made it in quite some time until last week.

Picadillo

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic, minced

1 large onion, diced

1 bell pepper (I prefer red to green), diced

2 T olive oil

3 medium tomatoes, chopped, or canned diced tomatoes

1 pound lean ground meat (I used turkey)

2 t salt

1 t pepper

1 T brown sugar

3 oz stuffed green olives, sliced

½ c raisins

½ c tomato juice (or the juice from the canned tomatoes)

Instructions:

Sauté onion, garlic and pepper until tender

Add ground meat; cook until...

Awareness: Breaking The Ice for Cold Cases

I “met” today’s guest, Todd Matthews, when he got a Google Alert which sent him to last week’s guest’s, (Terry Ambrose) interview about my book, Deadly Bones, which featured a cold case and mentioned NamUs, where Todd works. We got in touch, and since we both feel raising awareness of NamUs is important, Todd agreed to write a blog post for me. And maybe one of you, or someone you know, can benefit from this database. Or, like I did, use it in a book.

What is NamUs ? It’s the National Missing &...

Let There Be Light

What I’m reading: Safe Harbor, by Antoinette Stockenberg

Since I’ve been traveling, I’m revisiting a post from 2010 about making sure we’re aware of the realities of light.

[image error]Light is important when we’re writing—and I’m not talking about having enough light to work by. I’m talking about how much we can describe in our scenes. One of my critique partners questioned a scene I’d written:

She stepped inside and closed the door behind them. Placing her forefinger over her lips, she shook her head befo...