Are you a fan of fools?

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

Whether you’re joining me from Brenda Margriet’s blog post or starting your blog hop here, welcome.

This week’s topic comes from the delightful Jenna Da Sie – April 1st has just passed. Do you play or have you played an April Fool’s joke?

The short answer is: This year? No. Ever? Probably, though I can’t remember one.

I’m not a big fan of the “holiday.” I’ve always been a big fan of laughing with people and not at them. April Fools Day jokes seem to have escalated into pranks, and giving human nature, which seems to take everything to the extreme, I have to wonder how many people get hurt, physically and emotionally, on April 1st by someone whose excuse is “It was just a joke.”

I can do without a day to celebrate and encourage that.

I don’t usually take such a serious tone here on my blog, but this one resonated with me.

Sorry.

So, is Jenna Da Sie fooling around? Find out as the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop continues at: http://jennadasie.com

 

If you give a man a cookie.

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

Whether you’re joining me from A.S. Fenichel’s blog post or starting your blog hop here, welcome.

Today’s topic comes from the delightful Jenna Da Sie – Would You Rather Cooking Edition: 1) Cut out butter forever or sugar? 2) Have a normal size oven that heats inconsistently or have a toaster oven that bakes everything perfectly? 3) Make something beautiful that tastes terrible or make something ugly that tastes great? 4) Forget to preheat oven or forget to bring ingredients to room temperature. 5) Have to measure ingredients by eye or have to guess how long things have been in the oven? 6) Win a national baking award or create a recipe that gets handed down for generations? 7) Mix everything by hand or wash all dishes by hand.

Well, as the bulk of my cooking experience is centered around the creation of cookies, consider this my Would You Rather Cookie Edition.

1. Would you rather cut out butter forever or sugar?

Okay, cookies are basically butter and sugar, so we’re talking about half the ingredients. Also, being from Wisconsin, I almost have to side with real butter. But a cookie without sugar? Ugh. Looking at all the alternatives, I would probably be making my cookies with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter (even though I really can.)

2) Would you rather have a normal size oven that heats inconsistently or have a toaster oven that bakes everything perfectly?

Well, I’d have to bake them in fours or sixes instead of a dozen to the pan, taking twice as long, but I usually try to sample one from each batch because . . . warm, fresh from the over cookies are the best. So 2 to 3 times the samples = win. And unevenly baked cookies can be gross.

3) Would you rather make something beautiful that tastes terrible or make something ugly that tastes great?

Even the ugliest cookie is beautiful. No contest.

4) Would you rather forget to preheat oven or forget to bring ingredients to room temperature.

No, no, no, no, no. Cookies have to go into a hot oven. the dough can come out of the freezer, but that oven has to be hot.

5) Would you rather have to measure ingredients by eye or have to guess how long things have been in the oven?

Tough one. I use Siri on my phone to time cookies to perfection, and I am sure my eye is a lousy measuring device, but I’d rather have cookies with too much sugar than have them come out burned.

6) Would you rather win a national baking award or create a recipe that gets handed down for generations?

Cookies are a personal experience for me, so I really have no interest in awards or creating recipes for others. What I’d really rather have is a recipe that is so good it has been handed down for generations.

7) Would you rather mix everything by hand or wash all dishes by hand. 

Here is where my age will show. I have stirred up batches of cookie dough by hand, and by the end my hands hurt. On the other hand, nothing makes my hands feel better than soaking them in warm water.  (Lots of hands in this paragraph. My editor would kill me.) Anyway, bring on the dishes.

So, there are my answers. To find out what’s cooking in Leslie Hachtel’s kitchen, check out her blog post as the Romance Writer’s Weekly blog hop continues at: https://lesliehachtelwriter.wordpress.com/

And also check out her wonderful historical romance, The Defiant Bride:

I resolve…

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

 

Whether you’re joining me from Leslie Hachtel’s blog  or starting your blog hop here, welcome.

Leslie is also giving us today’s topic: Let’s talk about your New Years’ Resolutions.

I’m not the kind that makes really hard New Years resolutions. I’ve tried and usually failed, instead I try to set some goals to strive toward. My goals for this year include:

1. Re-branding. Look for a new look to my website, social media, and Amazon pages.
2. Advertise and grow my readership. I’m going to put a little more effort into getting the word out: “Hey, I write stuff.”
3. Lose weight. (On the list every year. usually a fail, because I like to eat and hate to exercise.)
4. Write, write, write, or, yeah, and write.

Anyway, goals are set, full steam ahead.

Now check out what Brenda Margriet resolved as the Romance Writers weekly blog hope continues here: http://www.brendamargriet.com/blog

And check out Brenda’s amazing new novel, No Life But This: Click here to read an excerpt.

Give me a little sugar.

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

Whether you’re joining me from J. J. Devine’s blog post or starting your blog hop here, welcome.

Today’s topic comes from the wonderful J. J. – What is your favorite holiday cookie recipe?

Now I’m sure the idea behind this topic is to give you all some great cookie recipes you can bake, but I’m not much of a baker or cookie maker.

However, I do consider myself a top-notch cookie eater, and when it comes to Christmas cookies, I don’t hold back, and I pretty much love them all. (Thus the continuing New Years resolution to lose weight.)

But my all-time favorite, the one i only allow myself during the Christmas season, is the plain old Iced Sugar Cookie. (<– Okay, there’s a recipe linked. Don’t know if it’s the best, but it looks damn good to me.)

Anyway, I have these tempting me right now:

I’m thinking breakfast…

Okay, while I add another couple of pounds to my middle section, head on over to Leslie Hachtel’s blog and check out her cookies as the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop continues at: https://lesliehachtelwriter.wordpress.com/

Also check out Leslie’s wonderful novel Once Upon A Tablecloth:

A Summer Fling

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

Whether you’re joining me from Dani Jace’s blog post or starting your blog hop here, welcome.

Today’s topic comes from the wonderful Jenna Da Sie – Write a poem about summer ending.

I’ve never considered myself much of a poet, but this week’s topic inspired me to give it a try:

 

A summer fling

 

Long days, hot nights

A beach-side stroll in the pale moonlight

Stardust paints your perfect lips

Dare to take a skinny dip?

 

Feet sink in hot white sand

Your warm skin, my questing hand

You lay with me under the moon

Making love until we swoon

 

Your hand in mine, felt so secure

A relationship to build and nurture

Could it stay forever true?

Could there be a me and you?

 

The sun sets earlier each day

Not as much time to while away

As nights grow cold so does your heart

You ask me why we chose to start

 

That fight we had the other day

Was that what drove you far away?

I miss your touch, your smell, your taste

Was it truly all a waste?

 

You say it was a summer fling

Not true, not love, not anything

You only want to be my friend

Why did the summer have to end?

 

So, what do you think? Let me know in the comments down below.

Then check out what A.S. Fenichel wrote as the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop continues at:  http://asfenichel.com/blog

Romance Writers Weekly – Organization, smorganization.

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

 

If you’re starting your blog hop here, or just hopping over from Brenda Margriet’s blog,  welcome.

Today’s topic comes from the wonderful A.S. Fenichel – The year is half over! OMG! Tell us about how you organize your world? Do you keep a day planner? Do you use your phone? Is organization important to you or is your life in total chaos and you love it?

Now, I am not the most organized person in the world. I rarely make lists, and don’t have a daily planner. Hell, I rarely have a daily plan. It’s usually just a mental list of what I’d like to accomplish.

That said, I do have a shared Google Calendar that I share with my wife for the big, important events I don’t want to lose track of. But other than that, each day is kind of a crap shoot.

Maybe I can pick up some tips from the other bloggers today, so I’m heading over to Leslie Hachtel’s post, where the Romance Writer’s Blog hop continues: https://lesliehachtelwriter.wordpress.com/

And check out Leslie’s fun, sexy novel, Hannah’s War:

Romance Writers Weekly – The day I died

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

 

If you’re starting your blog hop here, or just hopping over from A. S. Fenichel’s blog,  welcome.

Today’s topic comes from the wonderful Jenna Da Sie – Start from the end. You’re the ghost of Christmas future. Write about your life from your funeral to the present. How were you celebrated?

Grim, yet interesting.

I hope people will smile and laugh when they remember me. I know grief is part of the process but . . . ugh.

As an author, I hope my books will live on and continued to be read. And while I don’t have any deep-seated religious beliefs, I do hope there is something beyond.

I think my greatest worry is that I know I will die with so many unwritten stories and characters in my head. Or further stories of the characters I’ve already written about. What happens to them? Could heaven be a place where they all come to life? Where I can share a tankard of mead with Jord Thorson at an inn in Asgaard? Where I can take a seat on the bridge of the Starboard Mist with Rik and the crew to fly through space?

Hopefully I’ve got a little more time yet to write. There are a lot of stories rumbling around in my head.

I’m almost scared to hear what my buddy Marc Stevens has to say on this topic, but the next hop on the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop is his at: https://marcstevenserotica.wordpress.com/

And check out Marc’s fun Suburban Spies story in the Cherished Secrets anthology:

Romance Writers Weekly – What has it gots in its pocketses???

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

I get the dubious honor of kicking off today’s blog hop where today Brenda Margriet asks: What’s in your purse? What does what you carry tell others about you?

And check out this excerpt from Brenda’s amazing novel When Time Falls Still: <Click Here>

Well, I don’t carry a purse, or a murse for that matter, but I do carry a bit of stuff around with me in my pockets.

So let’s take a look:

Keys: Car, house, and all those little bar-code cards you need to shop just about anywhere nowadays.

Pocket knife: For opening packages, cutting strings & threads, and general guy-tool usage.

Nail Clipper: Grooming, precision cutting strings and wires, another multi-purpose tool.

Chap Stick: Necessary especially during Wisconsin winters.

Breath Strips: Because you never know…

Wallet: Cash, Credit Cards, Drivers License.

Business Card Case

Handkerchief

Puppy Poop Bag (I don’t have a dog, but I do walk my daughter’s puppy on a daily basis. Always good to have a backup.)

Not Pictured: My iPhone, because I used it to take the picture.

Now hop on over to Xio Axelrod’s blog to see what she carries with her: http://www.xioaxelrod.com/

But before you leave,check out one of my favorite new series, Xio’s amazing Falling Stars series:

Romance Weekly – The view from my window.

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

RWW also has a website with its own blog, a newsletter, and can be found on Facebook, and Twitter (@RWWBlog).

If you’ve wondered in from Jo Richardson’s blog post or are just starting your hop here with me, get set for some interesting views.

 

 

Our challenge today comes from Betty Bolte who asks: Our surroundings influence our mood and view of the world as much as setting in any story. What is the view outside your window, or what would you like the view to be?

 

 

Ah, the view from my office window:

A pretty conventional, Ozzie & Harriet kind of neighborhood. Most houses built in the 1960’s.

Does it inspire my writing? You wouldn’t think so at first glance.

But one of the best aspects of speculative fiction is finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. That house across the street has had workmen in and out of it for the past month. Are they doing some major remodeling…or building a command base in the basement. Maybe a mad scientist is constructing a lab right across the street from me. Explosions, shambling monsters, maybe a flying saucer landing in the back yard…I wouldn’t be surprised. But that’s just the way my head works. In any case, we’re a prime target for a zombie invasion.

 

I don’t know if I need anything special in the view from my window to inspire my writing. maybe the complete normalcy of it all helps keep me grounded, though I do wonder what kind of stories i would be writing if the view out my office window looked more like this.

Yeah, that might be cool…

 

Find out what’s lurking outside Kristi Rose’s office window as the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop continues at: http://www.kristirose.net

And check out her amazing The Girl He Knows (No Strings Attached Book 1)

 

 

Romance Writers Weekly – What Is Romance?

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

RWW also has a website with its own blog, a newsletter, and can be found on Facebook, and Twitter (@RWWBlog).

 

If you’ve wondered in from Brenda Margriet’s blog post or are just starting your hop here with me, set your sights on romance.

 

And don’t forget to check out Brenda’s wonderful romantic suspense novel Mountain Fire:

 
Our challenge today comes from Jenna Da Sie who asks: Romance. There are many different meanings. What does it mean to you?

 

Ah, romance. For me it boils down to that Happy Ever After. Isn’t that what we’re all looking for?

 

Maybe because I’m looking it from the other end of life, but after 37 years of marriage, it feels like the true romance of a story happens after you read that last chapter. “And they lived happily ever after…”

 

Not that there’s not any romantic events in a romance novel, but for me true romance starts after love is discovered between two people.

 

 

It’s that daily feeding of the relationship, the hand holding, the peck on the cheek, and the stolen intimate moments while the kids are napping. As complicated as cooking an elaborate meal and as simple as picking up your dirty socks. The building of the life together, and the sharing of the good and the bad.

 

 

At first romance becomes the tool for life-meshing, two people spending so much time together they don’t know where one leaves off and the other begins. Romance can fill those awkward gaps while getting to know this stranger you’ve fallen in love with.

 

 

 

 

And for me a big part of romance is humor. Humor puts the happy in happy ever after. Laugh, love, live.

 

 

 

Okay, enough of this touchy-feely stuff.

 

Find out what romance means to Teresa Keefer as the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop continues at: http://teresakeeferauthor.weebly.com/musings-from-the-woods.html