I love the topic of this post, since I could probably list the mistakes from every book I’ve ever written. Thankfully, I don’t make the same mistakes, but new fabulous ones each time. Oh wait, need to share Wednesday Male Hotness

Aaaaaand you’re welcome. 

Okay, focus people, I’m down here. Anyway, mistakes. My first pubbed book was called Quest for Fire and I really loved the story. And, when looking back, parts of it are really good. But a book can’t stand on parts alone. So here’s the mistakes I made:

First, the book was written as a entertainment piece for me and a friend while we were slogging through our teaching Master’s program. It was never intended to be a book for mass consumption. So there’s a number of inside jokes and story plots that just don’t make sense. I was such a newbie author I never considered any of this. Now I write with the express purpose of putting the story out there. Also, I read and reread what I’ve written over and over again to make sure the story holds up. I also have fabulous editors I trust, which helps immensely. I listen to them and take the advice they give.

Next, one of the character’s wasn’t very likable unless you understood the inside jokes. Huge problem. What made it worse was the fact of how I chose to craft the story. Some of her actions and decisions just didn’t make sense. I chalk that up to the fact that the book wasn’t meant to be read by anyone, plus school was stressful. The stress and anger came out in Abby’s actions. Yeah, I’ve learned not to use my character’s as a release valve.

I think I’m more confident in my writing and my voice. I also know where I make mistakes and where I need to improve. I have a document where I keep all the repetitious words and phrases I use. When I think the MS is ready to go to the editor, I pull it out and go through the book one more time. Often I catch myself on the first draft now so I can avoid, but never entirely. 

Thankfully, I have the rights to the book back so I plan on fixing, updating and releasing it sometime in the future. I still love the story and the characters and I know the book will be better for all the changes I plan on making. 

Now run over and check out what the other Bloggers have to say on the topic.

Jessica
Bronwyn
Kris
Jessica D
Kayleigh

See y’all next week! — Gwen

Our fab topic this week is all about our fave people on social media. Yeah, anyplace that will net me Wednesday Male Hotness I am all for.

For the most part, I don’t follow a huge bunch of people on social media. I figure the more I goof off, the more time is sucked away from writing, but I do have a few people that I love to catch up on. These are in no particular order, so here we go.

1. The Try Guys from Buzzfeed – if you’ve never viewed their videos you are so missing out. The four men are hilarious and will try just about anything from sexy Halloween costumes to pregnancy to survival. I usually find myself laughing out loud as I sit in my room. 

2. Matthew Santoro – he has his own YouTube channel and does “educational” videos that usually end up making me laugh. His content is varied and can cover anything from the strangest deep sea creatures to the 10 most deadly plants on Earth.  Whatever the subject there’s usually 10 and he counts the down.

3. The Inked Boys – I follow them on Facebook and on their site. The pic above will give you an indication of why they’re in my fb feed. LOL! Yep, hot mens pics. Need I say more??

4. Facebook Peeps – I love keeping up with all my friends on facebook. Most of them live far away from me so social media is the only place I can keep in contact. You will find the links to most my peeps at the bottom of this page since they’re also part of the Random Bloggers. These are the same people I follow on Twitter too.  

5. Jenny Trout – I love this woman. First, she’s amazing and so funny, plus I really enjoy how she puts words together. If you’ve neither read her blog or her books you are missing out. I suggest you heard on over and check her out.

Yep, that’s about it. I don’t have a ton of places or spaces that I go to other than YouTube. I watch music videos there or look up DIY projects. I have an Instagram account, but don’t do tons with it. I know I should, but yeah . . . I don’t. Maybe the other bloggers have better stuff, I bet they do. They’re way cool.

Jessica D
Paige
Kayleigh

See you all next week!! — Gwen 

Happy Almost Halloween!! I love this time of year. The leaves are turning, the air is getting crisp, and pumpkin everything is in the air. The house is all decorated (and has been since the end of September) and scary stuff is all around. 

Other than this guy, he’s not scary at all!

I’m not much on scary stuff. I don’t like “horror” movies, since I think they’re really dumb. For a while, I went to a ton of scary movies that were more psychological thrillers than Friday the 13th stuff. The only one that scared me was Stir of Echoes with Kevin Bacon. That was freaky. 

I love movies like Hocus Pocus, Ghostbusters, Practical Magic . . . stuff like that. If it’s fun and magical then I’m all for it. 

Which leads me to our random Wednesday question about who I’d want to haunt me or skip me. Ummm, everyone. I don’t want anyone to haunt me. Believe me, I’ve been through enough shit without being haunted by a ghost.

Now saying that, I will share with you that probably a month after my mom died she came to me. Was I scared? Hell yes, but I was also thrilled. I had been so devastated by her passing that her visit eased that. She knelt by my bed and told me she was fine, happy, everything was good. I could tell since she looked awesome– younger, fit, and smiling–things she hadn’t been at the end. 

Do I miss her like crazy? Hell yes, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her. On the flip side though, I know she isn’t sick anymore or in pain so that, to me, is worth everything.

Now, moving away from the serious, I will tell you I wrote a short story ages ago called I Only Have Eyes For You and it was about a woman who moves into a house that turns out to be haunted by a majorly sexy ghost who totally sexes her up. Now, that is something I could be down with. LOL!!! Eventually, I want to expand it into a book, but like everything else it will wait til I finish the damn book I’m struggling with.

So, with that I am off . . . literally and figuratively. Now run over and check out what the other bloggers have to say.

Jessica
Bronwyn
Jessica D

See you all next week!! — Gwen

Hallo!! Welcome to the randomness that is Wednesday. Before we begin let me introduce you to the WMH for today.

So, it’s another 5 words or less, which I obviously do horrible with. And today’s topic is especially hard since it’s focused on me. Normally, I would make jokes about all the things listed above. This time, though, I won’t, since I’ve been fighting with depression. I need to remind myself I’m awesome and own it.

My Style: Comfortable, No fuss, Sparkly, Eclectic

My Looks: Smiling, Tall, Pretty, Brown eyes

My Personality: Friendly, Funny, Thoughtful, Quirky, Loving

Hello!! Before we even get started let’s show off Wednesday Male Hotness.

Yep, this whole post is about guilty pleasures and indulgences and I will admit WMH is one of mine. I don’t go searching for pics of hot men to save on my laptop, but if I happen to find one then yeah I will capture him. 🙂 

Okay, so I’m going to just make a list, in no particular order, of what I consider my guilty pleasures and indulgences.

1. Top Gear on BBC – I love Richard Hammond, James May, & Jeremy Clarkson. They totally crack me up. In fact, they can make me laugh even if the day is going to total shit. Thankfully, they are doing a new show together on Amazon so I will certainly watch.

2. Big Red – yes, I love the sweet red soda. I don’t allow myself to have it often, due to the caffeine, but if I’m out and I see one I will often grab it up.

3. Books – I love to read! Books to me are a necessity, but others may consider them an indulgence. I know that reading when I should be writing is something that I constantly fight against.

4. Mint M&Ms and Health Bars – I love chocolate. And these two are my very favorite affordable candies. I’m so glad the Mint M&Ms are around all the time now, since they only used to be offered at the holidays. Now I can indulge all year round. 

5. Godiva – when I’m looking for expensive chocolate this is where I head.

6. Napping – I love to curl up and take a nap, especially on a rainy afternoon. This usually only happens on Sundays, but a girl can still dream.

I’m sure there’s more, but it’s late and that’s all I can think of right now. It feels like I’m trying to develop a cold, which is not welcome. So I am going off to bed and you are going to run and check out what the other bloggers will say to this topic.

Bronwyn
Jessica D

See you all next week!! — Gwen

Hello! This week the randomness is all about our favorite holiday. Oh, wait, before I do that let me share Wednesday Male Hotness with you.

*sigh* Yep, WMH always make the day better, right?

Anyway, holiday . . . I love Halloween. I actually already have decorations up. I even made 2 new ones this year and, I think, they came out really well. What do you think?

We also purchased 2 new decorations from an awesome site called Victorian Trading.

I have loved Halloween since I was a kid. As a child, it signaled the beginning of the holiday season to me. Oh and candy, can’t forget that. I loved picking my costume out each year and going around the neighborhood. We lived in a fairly good sized neighborhood, but it seemed as if we knew everyone. I remember getting home-made goodies in my bag that was far superior to the crappy bag candy peddled in the stores. A number of the houses would have parties going so I would go in with my Mom and visit and eat cookies and drink punch.

We’d be out forever visiting the neighborhood and showing off our costumes and collecting huge piles of candy, cookies, brownies . . . I think I even had a caramel apple one year. 

As if! So this week is all about summer . . . in pics. I can’t say this one was the best. I’ve fought depression most of the summer and, most of the time, haven’t felt as though I’ve been winning. I have gone a few places and done some things, which is probably a good thing. One huge positive is I got a kitten and Maeve has so made a difference. So, here is my summer in pics.

Yeah, I know not very exciting. Now run and check out the other girls because I’m sure they had way more exciting summers than I did.

Jessica
Bronwyn
Kris
Kellie
Jessica D
Paige

See you all next week!! — Gwen

Hey All! I know, I’ve been missing for soooo long and I’m sorry. I could fib and say aliens kidnapped me (if it were the Sandaki, I’d never have come home), but alas it was something more mundane. I am still struggling to finish a book and dealing with depression. *sigh* So sucks.

Anyway, let me throw some Wednesday hotness at you.

Yep, gotta love those cowboys.

So, this is all about recipes and I will admit that I do not like to cook. I CAN cook, I just don’t enjoy it. My Sis on the other hand not only loves it, but is amazing at it. So I eat what she makes. Yay me!!

But I can share some recipes she’s made or ones she’s planning on making. Pinterest is our friend for this. And there is not 26 recipes here, sorry. But here goes:

This is one I want us to try since it sounds soooo good. It’s called Chicken Cordon Bleu Soup and it looks so yummy.

We’ve tried Creamy Chicken and Rice Bake and it was so good.

Pizza Casserole was another goodie, but we skipped the whole crockpot deal since it was unnecessary. I mean after you precook half the stuff, why dirty up the crockpot??

I think we also tried Chicken Breasts Lombardy since all the ingredients sound so familiar. It was really good.

Easy Lemon Chicken Potato Casserole was another really good one, but next time we’d use way less lemon since the flavor kind of overwhelmed. We also used yellow potatoes and they were the bomb.

Chicken Biscuit Bake was another one I loved. It was very much a comfort food and something I hope we repeat. 

We have an entire board of drinks on Pinterest. Hey, don’t judge. A lot of them do contain alcohol, but there are some that just sound good. Here are ones I hope we try . . . soon.

Kahlua Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate sounds so so good and once it’s gets chilly it’ll be perfect in the evening. Or whenever.

I love eggnog and this White Russian recipe starts with that. Can’t wait to try it once the Nog is out on the shelves.

We found a recipe for Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread and I so want to try it. 

Peach Pie Scones with Vanilla Glaze was a recipe we tried and daggone it was good. I so recommend you try it too.

Okay, that is enough for me. I gotta get back to the never-ending book. Now run over and check out what recipes the other girls have for you.

Bronwyn
Jessica D
Paige
Kayleigh
Kellie

See you all next week! — Gwen

I’m pushing myself to finish the book I’m working on, but couldn’t miss this blog. The ladies I blog with are an amazing lot and I want them to know that. 🙂 So here are the words I’d use to describe each of them.

Bronwyn – Talented, Funny, Crafty, Lovely, Loving

Jessica – Camping Companion, Talented, Giving, Hilarious

Kris – Wonder Woman, Artistic, Beautiful, Talented

Kellie – Huge Heart, Crafty, Talented, Sweet

Jessica D – Quirky, Talented, Funny, New Mom

Paige – Talented, Hardworker, Veteran, Procrastination-Companion

Kayleigh – Reader, Talented, Music lover, Ireland

I’m sure you can tell there was a kind of theme going on. LOL Every single one of these ladies is incredible talented. I’m so lucky to be among them.

Now head over and check them out. Not many of us this week since a bunch are on deadline. Hopefully, we’ll all be back together soon.

Bronwyn

Kellie

See you all next week! — Gwen

This week in the randomness of Wednesday our blog posts are, as Bronwyn put it, a play off of Jeff Foxworthy’s trope of You Might Be a Redneck. If you’ve never heard him do this . . . where have you been?? Under a rock?? For those of you who’ve never heard him do this here’s a brief sample:

You order sweet tea anywhere and everywhere, knowing they are going to bring it without argument.

Saying “Oh hell no” is a sign for everyone around you to duck and run for cover because you are about to throw down.

As a child, you ran around after dark and chased lightning bugs.