When I hear the phrase “words to live by” I think of Facebook memes and quotes at the end of writing exercises. But they are more than that. Often they’re a shorthand for someone’s philosophy toward a particular thing or life in general (Don’t sweat the small stuff), or an emotion. Speaking of which, I am not sure where “Bless her heart” became a “fuck you”. That is not how it’s used in the South, rumors to the contrary.
I can think of three phrases I use often and the reasons behind all of them. I fall back on “everything happens for a reason” to help cope with minor disappointment. An example would be the events of one evening when we had tickets for a concert two hours away. First my partner had an appointment she had to keep so I was to meet her. Being pathologically early, I left home in plenty of time. Along the way I realized I had forgotten the tickets and had to return home. I’d never taken this exit before, ended up wandering around the back streets of a city and being totally lost. (This was before GPS). When I did finally get back on the road I ran into traffic that was literally stopped. Basically I was in a parking lot for nearly an hour. When I picked up my partner we decided that something was telling us not to make this trip so we went home, convinced that we would have been in an accident or something had we continued.
“I can do anything for 15 minutes” is another I use often to make myself start something I don't want to do. It isn’t always true of course, but it does usually urge me to action. I try to use it when scheduling big tasks, and setting goals I am resistant to, even though I know I must (for instance, physical therapy exercises).
One I remind myself of (although sometimes don’t listen to myself), is “don’t love anything that doesn’t love your back”. This includes jobs, possessions, and toxic people. Sometimes that even includes a story that won’t let itself be written and causes too much stress.
My favorite is “life is short”. Sometimes I’m so busy working on one thing to another that I forget to stop and enjoy my life. Then I remember another favorite, “Life isn’t a rehearsal”. These words to live by remind me how to live.
My favorite part of Spring are the colors on the mountains of home. The tender greens mix with redbuds and dogwoods painting a picture no mere human could create.
I admit it. In some regards I'm a tough nut to crack. I don't impress easily and I surely do not trust easily. However, there are a few traits that I find appealing, characteristics that will touch my heart immediately and lower my guard.
Probably the easiest way to my heart is showing gentleness and compassion for animals. Watching a man romp with his pit bull is nice, but there is something about big men with little dogs that makes me smile. A photo of Seth Rollins, a WWE Superstar, playing with his Pomeranian simply melts me. Roman Reigns (WWE Superstar and #manofmydreams) surrounded by chihuahua’s in Santa garb make me swoon.
Finally, I'm drawn to those who are adventurous. No one wants to do the sa
As a writer of Urban Fantasy, I live to tell stories that transport you to a super- natural world, one that intrigues you, touches your heart, and entices you to return over and over again. I also hope to give you something to think about. The characters you meet are a motley bunch of beings: humans, Weres, vampires, incubis and wraiths. More than that, they’re diverse in terms of race, culture, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, and power bases.
Conflict in these worlds occurs due to differing goals. Or crazy family drama. What they come to understand is that the path to peace is intention. You have to want it, and commit to creating it.
He wanted Cheyenne--the surprise was it never occurred to him he’d have the chance to do anything about it. But here he was, looking into the eyes of the person he’d fantasized about for months, the person who’d already set his life on edge. How many chances would he get if he blew this one and then regretted it?
The blog hop topic this week is my "favorite movie made from a book". It would have been so much easier to write about favorite books that had been ruined by being made into a movie. I'm not generally a fan.
Jake Hargate is a man with a past. Born into a rich and powerful political family in Massachusetts, they were all raised to believe one thing: protect the family's interests at all costs. After leaving that life behind, Jake finds love and happiness
married to Max Krause, a Dom, and Ally Renjel, a submissive. Being Max's submissive gives Jake the security he needs, and topping Ally gives him the control he craves.
I've been known to embarrass myself by breaking into laughter at inappropriate moments. Who doesn't enjoy laughing? I have laughed so hard at movies that my sides hurt. In fact, I have laughed through movies that apparently the rest of the audience did not find funny, like Tremors. Anything by Kevin Hart is sure to be a hit. I love Katt Williams even though his specials are bleeped so much it can be hard to follow his stories. Offbeat humor is one of the things that make my favorite books just that-favorites. Having read Smoke and Mirrors (Tanya Huff) at least 20 times, I still occasionally laugh out loud.
Over the past few years social media has exploded with ways to connect to friends and family. As a marketing tool, they were economic and direct ways to interact with your readers. But there are too many to use them all effectively. Marketing gurus always advise a new one along with ways to use them. These are also ways for me to stalk, er, follow folks I'm interested in. Roman Reigns. Jason Momoa. The Winchester boys.
But truthfully, no one has time to use them all. I do spend time on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I try to check them everyday but sometimes that just isn't possible. I also blog. Obviously.
Blurb for My Future Step Brother
Lyndsey Turner only wants to have fun. She doesn’t care if her dad marries Travis Clark’s mother. Travis is super-hot and sets her body on fire every time he steps near her.
Can an ancient Hindu sex manual turn an arranged marriage into a love match?
That’s the story question posed by How To Woo… A Reluctant Bride, a sexy historical short story set in Victorian London.
