Do you like to read romance novels? Wouldn’t you like to know more about your favorite authors? Well you came to the right place! Join the writers of Romance Weekly as we go behind the scenes of our books and tell all….. About our writing of course! Every week we’ll answer questions and after you’ve enjoyed the blog on this site we’ll direct you to another. So come back often for a thrilling ride!
Welcome. If you’re joining me from Jo Richardson’s blog, or if you are starting your blog hop here, welcome. 
Hey, and have you seen, Jo’s incredible Cursed be the Wicked is now available in paperback:
This week Xio Axelrod of Romance Writers’ Weekly, wanted to know: What do you do when you’re not writing?
The answer could be presented in two forms:
1. I find inspiration for my writing in my hobbies.
Or
2. I waste a lot of time.
Hobbies? I got ‘em in droves. And never enough time.
Number one on my hobbies list is computer gaming. I’ve been an avid gamer for years. My current addiction is a game called Minecraft. It’s an amazing ‘sandbox’ game and I could lie and say how much building castles and other world aspects helps me build my literary worlds, but the truth is, it’s just great fun. I currently spend a lot of time on a shared server with about two dozen people (kids) building and playing together in our shared world. Here’s a picture of the ‘home’ I built in my Minecraft world.
Now, most of my other hobbies got packed up when we moved into our new home (the real world one) this summer, and I haven’t unpacked them yet, but with the holidays behind me and winter at my heals, I will probably start to rediscover them.
I’m a model maker, and love creating miniature structures and dioramas. Most of my stuff is still in storage but I was able to unearth a medieval shop and an Egyptian pyramid I built from my pile of boxes:
One of my upcoming projects will be a lifelong dream of mine, to run my own railroad. My new home now offers me adequate room to make that dream a reality.
I spent (misspent) much of my youth playing in bands. Guitar, bass, keyboard, and just about any other instrument I could get my hands on. I still have a few in storage. Another of my hobbies I hope to pursue once again is music.
Speaking of musicians, what did Xio answer to her own question this week? Click to find out at: http://xioaxelrod.com/
Also check out her incredible romance, The Calum:
A Writer's Haven 
You just get more and more interesting, Steven, the more I learn about you
As Popeye once said, “I am what I am.”
Thanks for stopping by Sarah.
We need to have a group band with all the musicians. I’ll be the groupie. I’m good at that! Thanks for sharing.
Rock on Veronica. ♥
I’m thinking about taking saxophone lessons. We could have a band, just like Stephen King, Dave Barry et al. The Remainders. I love that you are a model maker. Your pictures remind me of playing with my brothers Lincoln Log sets. We built some amazing things with those and their Erector sets. What fun you must have.
Cool idea. We could play at romance writer conventions 🙂
You’re a jack of creative trades.
…or I’m just really good at wasting time 🙂
Wow Steven! What an interesting guy you are! Minecraft could be the makings of a novel, itself!
Minecraft is very fun, even in single player mode.
Wow – great hobbies! I always wanted to be in a band 🙂
I’ve been out of it for a while, but I just moved close to one of my old drummers, and he’s been talking about doing something…
Seriously, how much cooler can you get? My godson is obsessed with Minecraft. He hosts LAN parties and everything. I bought him a new headset for Christmas and he almost wept, lol. I used to tool around in Second Life. If you haven’t checked it out, it will blow your mind.
I did try Second Life when it first came out, but got pulled into World of Warcraft instead.
My son used Minecraft to build a world for a project in school. Unfortunately I don’t think the teacher really understood the amount of work that went into it! As for model trains – I’ve always had a secret obsession with them.
I can see where Minecraft could be used as a teaching tool, but the teacher would have to ‘get it.’
Castles of any kind are cool!
I have purchased a series of plaster molds that will allow me to design and build castles piece by piece. I plan to build something with them very soon.
I used to love building models with my dad when I was a kid. My first one was the submarine from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea!
I loved that show, and I think I remember building that model as well.
It’s cool to learn this about you, Steve!
My 10 year-old son is obsessed with Minecraft! He wants to be a commentator, but I won’t let him have a YouTube channel until he’s thirteen. Meanwhile, he practices all the time. “Hello, everybody! It’s F for Fenix here and welcome to another Minecraft let’s play video!” 🙂 Minecraft looks like a lot of fun! I just wish they had a kinnect version where you could physically “set” the blocks. Still, with the number of formulas for making things you need to remember, it’s probably great for memory!
Thanks for giving us a peek into your world!
I hesitate to mention this, but has your son seen Twitch.TV. It’s live game broadcasting as opposed to videos like Youtube. There are some young broadcasters actually making a living playing games. I’ve been playing around with it myself, but not ready to launch a channel yet.
Ah, thanks for the tip, Steve! I’ll check it out!:-)