Saturday 21 November 2015

NO BEER



Life is especially busy at the moment with birthday's and of course...ahem...writing. There are even a few friends that want to meet up. Given the amount of times I bemoan fate (it doesn't answer back) about how plain a life I lead; how lonely; how no-one remembers me; no-one's left a review of my book/s (there's seven); no-one calls...and then the phone goes...  

So, back to juggling life and writing.  In my world they do appear to be two separate things. I know I can multi-task but the writer in me likes to make everything quite a challenge.  Hence I become my own worst enemy.  

It was the birthday of someone very dear to me, (not cost-wise), and they happen to like beer.  I don't.
One of my life-long searches is to find the alcohol that I will actually enjoy the taste of.  I'm fortunate enough to have friends that let me taste their drinks.  The suspicious writer in me always checks that they've had a sip out of the glass first before I sample.  The 0 - 10 scale of how my taste buds have reacted is told  through the resultant grimace, shudder or occasionally worse.  Hopefully their kindness is in fact exactly that, because otherwise they could only be pampering me in order to laugh at my face pulling.  No...they wouldn't...would they?  Hmm...

Anyway, this particular friend is often trying to persuade me to buy beer and I adamantly declared that I never would.  Occasionally I make such declarations and come to regret them.  This was one of them.  Buying the beer, even making a gift of it would have been a dawdle, cheaper and less time consuming.  I came up with the idea of beer as the birthday theme.

Thursday 19 November 2015

THE MOST EXCELLENT WORLDWIDE BOOK TOUR #9: Meet author ELIZABETH HORTON-NEWTON

 
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Author Name:  Elizabeth Horton-Newton
Book Title:  “View From the Sixth Floor: An Oswald Tale” and “Riddle”
Genre and Sub-Genre: Romantic Thriller/Alternate History
Book Content Rating:  Adult (18+)  Based on language, violence, sexual content.

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Meet our charming author, ELIZABETH HORTON-NEWTON

About the Author:

Elizabeth Horton-Newton was born and raised in New York City. She began writing when she was a child, writing stories for friends and family. In the 4th grade at P.S. 151 in Manhattan she wrote an essay about her dream job- she wanted to be an author. While attending Hunter College High School she often cut classes to sneak off and work on writing her first novel, a love story about her favorite Beatle, Paul McCartney. It has long since been lost to time. Continuing to write short stories over the following years, she married, raised a family, divorced, set up housekeeping with her four children, and returned to school.

After attending Long Island University in Brooklyn, NY majoring in Media Arts and East Tennessee State University earning a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in Psychology and Sociology, she worked in the social work field for thirteen years. She currently lives in E. Tennessee with her husband, author Neil Newton, and a collection of rescued dogs and cats. Her first book "View From the Sixth Floor: An Oswald Tale" was published in October 2014; a love story that revolves around the assassination of President John Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963 and the ensuing conspiracy theories.

​This was followed in June 2015 with the release of "Riddle" a romantic thriller about a Native American convicted of killing his high school girlfriend. Returning to his hometown he struggles to readjust to life in a town divided in its belief of his guilt or innocence. Suddenly accidents are happening and people are dying in the town and some eyes turn suspiciously toward Kort Erikson. She is currently at work on her third novel, "Stolen", a romantic thriller about kidnapping, gypsy crime families, and the Witness Protection Program. 

Friday 13 November 2015

FRIDAY 13th TRIES...


In this post I'm not even going to tell the truth about the types of 'lazyblogitis' I've suffered from.  For I doubt not that you're all going to be fairly cognisant of how it all goes.  There's always myriads of ideas waiting to burst forth like spring flowers.  That's in a couple of months by the way.  Almost decent, (I'm only speaking for me and my characters) sensible sentences formed these past weeks but like dreams in the night quickly hide from the light.

For the here and now – yummy lunch time – I have cooked a delightful dish.  To some it may appear somewhat green.  Never fear.  It ‘tasteth somewhat different to how it doth looketh.’  Or maybe it does.  My word versus the onlooker’s eyesight = a trip to some very fine buildings.



This is how I ‘magicked’ up the sensation on the plate: Peeled 1 medium onion and hacked it. It cried.  Not me.  I did something similar to an inch of ginger – sliced it with a sharp knife. The 3 cloves of garlic I made mincemeat of.  Then with the rapeseed oil bubbling I stood over them as they sizzled. I smiled cruelly at their steaming cries. Finally, deducing they were getting browned off, I threw in half a dealt-with fennel, 3 lots of chopped pak choi, 3 cracked-on-their-head eggs, 2 jaggedly cut carrots that had been sweet on me and stirred like crazy. Midway to resting my arms and wipe the forehead of the 'ladies glow' I poured in a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, darkly dangerous soy sauce and hot (I know how to handle it) chili pickle (confession: not my homemade).  Rested I took up the spoon once more.  Then, no way am I going to admit to having forgotten, I thrust in a third of a packet of kale. Apparently it’s really good for the insides.  As it’s my first time...(very shy admission), I'm not sitting in judgment.

Thursday 12 November 2015

THE MOST EXCELLENT WORLDWIDE BOOK TOUR #8: Meet author GLEN BARRERA


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Author Name:  Glen Barrera
Book Titles:  The Assassin Who Couldn’t Dance and A Capable and Wide Revenge
Genre and Sub-Genre: Thriller/Action
Book Content Rating:  Adult (18+) Language and Violenc


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About the Author
Glen, a former partner in a real estate appraisal company, who still takes appraisal assignments from time to time, now writes. Over the years he's edited a company newsletter, written short stories (one a contest winner) and poetry. It wasn't until he divorced a few years ago, however, that he finally found time to take a writing course while working on his first novel. The Assassin Who Couldn't Dance and a follow-up novel, A Capable and Wide Revenge (now available), were tutored by Michael Mirolla, a published Canadian writer.

​He is now working on a third novel with the working title, Sweet Peach. Glen grew up in Chicago, with college at Western Illinois University, College of DuPage and the University of Illinois, Chicago. He studied Isshinryu Karate for fourteen years, sailed for seven years out of Burnham Harbor, practices Tai Chi and plays classical guitar. A Chicago boy at heart, he now lives in a western suburb.