Saturday's Hunk of the Day!

Someone mentioned this guy the other day, so I went looking for pictures. This was the best shirtless one, (though I could have done without the necklace) and you can't see the eyes very well, but aside from those minor flaws, it ain't half bad.

Enjoy your Saturday!

TGIF!!!!

It's Friday, so here's a nice, brooding Raphael to get your weekend off to a great start.

I know what you're thinking. He's got clothes on, but look closely at those pants. They're made of leather.

Puts things in a whole different perspective, doesn't it?

And I know you can't see them very well in this picture, but the baby blue sweatshirt matches his eyes. The shadows add even more to his seductive power.

No, this is no casual snapshot, but a carefully constructed trigger to set off explosions in your imagination. The look in his eye and the position of his hand are telling you that he could just as easily have posed for this one in the nude and the impact would have been the same.

Interesting, isn't it?

A blog without a picture is like a....

I nearly had a meltdown Tuesday night. Sharon had just sent me a bunch of new hunk pictures, and Blogger had developed some sort of "internal error" and was not letting me post them. ARRRGGGG!!!!

As the ducks in Berkeley Breathed's "A Wish for Wings that Work" once said:
"Catastrophe! Calamity! A considerable setback!"

Fortunately, that problem has been corrected, but how can one blog without pictures????

I suppose we all know the answer to that one: you just have to write more words. Not that this is a hardship for me, but sometimes when I have nothing in my head to write, I gaze at those images and the words begin to flow.

Take that picture of Derrick yesterday. I went through my files, chose it for the blog, wrote a blog, and then had a bit of a fantasy about what it might be like to somehow incorporate that pic into a story. A story about a photographer who has taken photos of a hundred different men and everything stayed strictly business, but then, there was Derrick, and the hands started shaking and the knees got weak.

You just never know how a person will react when they finally meet "the one." I'm exploring that in Renegade right now. Poor Dax has never met an available female of any species who did it for him--until now, and she's a girl who's down on men in general and only wants to go back to the one she left behind. Dax wants her for himself, but when it comes to enticing women, he's clueless.

I don't know about you, but the bumbling, awkward type gets to me a lot faster than the smooth-talking Romeo who can charm the pants off any woman he meets. By the same token, an accomplished rake whose skills desert him when he finally falls in love has a similar appeal.

But whatever kind of hero you like best, that image of him is important, whether it comes to you in a picture or in words. For some, a few descriptive words are best because they like to use their own imagination. Others like to have a very clear portrait drawn so that they know exactly what that character looks like.

What is your preference?

Whopping Weasel Wednesday!

When I first saw this photo, I thought: Oh, yeah, right.... somebody's trying to get all artsy-fartsy with the naked men, and I didn't bother saving it in my computer.

Later on, I ran across it again, or one of you may have sent it to me, and I looked at it in an entirely different light. I was like: OMG! It's freakin' Derrick!

Funny how that changed my attitude about whether it was being pretentious or not. I get it now. Derrick is not just another naked man; he's a work of art.

Some of it's natural--I seriously doubt that anyone but God is responsible for the shape of that yummydoodle--but the rest of his body wouldn't look anything like that if he hadn't put a lot of time, effort, and sweat into its creation. Of course, his being an ex-Marine might have had something to do with it, too.

I heard a funny little tidbit about Marines while at the retreat. Marine stands for: Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Essential. We all laughed, of course, but though I'm sure a good many Marines fall into that category, some would be offended by it, and Derrick just might be one of them. Something tells me there's more to him than meets the eye.

Wouldn't you love to find that out firsthand?

Tasty Tuesday: Pa's Pea Soup!

This recipe was written by my father many years ago and given to my mother's cousin Mildred, or Silly Milly, as she was often called. After my father's death, she sent me the original version which he had typed up for her on his trusty Woodstock. In her letter, she asked that I never let it be lost, and since the internet is forever, here it is.

I have transcribed it exactly as he wrote it, (including his footnote) but it loses a little something for not being on the original paper, which has yellowed with time but still reflects the force with which he would strike the keys. A much more accurate typist than I am, there's not a single mistake on the page.

Not being as big a fan of country ham as Pa was, I prefer to use regular ham chunks with little or no fat. Plus, I like to serve it with grated cheese on top, which thickens the soup like magic when you stir it up.

However you make it, it's an unbeatable tummy warmer for a cold night.

Enjoy!

SPLIT PEA SOUP

(Made in a 3 1/2 quart crockpot)

4 cups split peas
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 shakes of Cayenne pepper
1 to 2 cups chopped onion
Country Ham - as desired **
When all ingredients are in crockpot, fill with water to within 1" of top and cook on "low" about 6 hours or until peas are as soft as you like.

**Since I'm on a low fat diet, I only use about a 2" x 3" slice of Hickory Mountain ham with all fat removed. I use scissors to cut it into narrow strips and cut the strips into little cubes and fry it before putting in crockpot. Obviously, more and fatter country ham will improve the flavor, but I make some concessions in the interest of longevity.

Bradford Woods Retreat!

I went to the INRWA chapter's annual retreat this past weekend at Bradford Woods near Martinsville, IN. I learned a lot, got to know a lot of great people; some I'd already met and some who were brand new.

I arrived at 4pm on Friday, armed with my computer and a pumpkin pie for the pitch-in. I was very impressed with the facility, which is an old manor house that was restored and turned into a retreat facility which is affiliated with IU. The grounds were beautiful: about 2500 acres with a lake and camping and other buildings including a barn with an area for therapeutic horseback riding for the handicapped. I don't consider myself handicapped, but I did get a bit of a workout having to climb these stairs whenever I went to my room. My knees actually feel better than they have in a long time as a result.




























I ended up sharing a room with Melanie, another newbie to the chapter. This is my bed, which was quite a departure from my queen-sized bed at home! There's my trusty fan, which Melanie didn't mind, otherwise, I doubt I would have slept a wink. As it was I didn't do too badly considering that huge black bag there is full of my pillows. I must have my pillows wherever I go, which explains why I'm always so exhausted when I go somewhere that I can't take them! I know . . . I'm such a wuss!



















The pitch in dinner was delicious, and afterward we had a fire in the living room area and plenty of opportunities to chat. I learned so much from talking with the other members, some published and some not, but all with something to contribute to the discussions.

I will admit to being nervous. I'd only been to two chapter meetings prior to this event, but an email from Melanie, who had only joined the month before, made me decide to attend when she said she was looking forward to getting to know everyone at the retreat. Me, I'm just a big chicken who has this phobia about being in a crowd of strangers. I'm not a party animal, nor do I mingle well. I have a tendency to sit back and observe, but this was difficult for me because I felt like I had to participate more than that. Not that anyone was anything but friendly and supportive, it's just a shyness thing with me.

After a slight panic attack following the Friday evening dinner, I was able to join in the group by the fire and talk without too much trouble, particularly when Judie Aitken, one of the members who emailed me last year and encouraged me to join, was there and made a point of asking me a few questions. She got me started talking about my books and my publishing experience which was very helpful to me. Of course, it didn't hurt that she'd read Slave and loved it!

Saturday morning we had breakfast and a great grammar workshop presented by Leshia, who is on the left in this photo.


























It was very fun and informative and I went back upstairs to my desk in the living room and got cracking on Renegade, putting what I'd learned to use.




















After a terrific lunch, I went for a walk on the grounds. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera with me (what was I THINKING???) so I don't have a picture of the lake or the woods I hiked through. After my walk, I took most of these pictures during our free time, and since most of the ladies were off doing their own thing, these rooms look a little deserted!

This is the dining room. The food was prepared in the manor's kitchen and was wonderful. Best of all was the fact that we didn't have to cook it!




















The living room area. That's Melanie on the couch with her computer and Kathy over by the window.



















This is the porch where we had our goodie table. The Cat Master was good and only ate one piece of fudge and one small brownie from the stash, but there was more chocolate in that one building than you would believe. Seems I'm not the only writer who craves chocolate!





















We supposed to bring along a scene we had written where love between the hero and heroine is revealed and read them aloud on Saturday night, and the group would comment and critique your work. I read one from Fugitive, and was fortunate enough to go second because I was so nervous, I'd have had a stroke if I'd had to wait much longer. As it was, I got pretty choked up on the last two lines--and I hope you'll all feel the same way when you read it!

After that, I went up to bed and read for a while. Emma Wildes is in our chapter, and I'd bought her book off of the used book table, so that's what I was reading when Melanie came upstairs. We wound up talking until 1:30 before we finally went to sleep. She had never read any of her work to anyone before and was pretty nervous, too. During the short chapter meeting on Sunday morning, she won a scholarship to the Golden Heart awards, which helps pay her entry fee, so you may be hearing more from her in the future!

All in all, I had a great time and it was definitely worth doing. I would encourage any of you fledgling writers out there to join your local chapters and get to know the members. It's already been a big help to me in so many ways. I made some good contacts, learned a bit of grammar, got over some shyness, learned how to fix the em dash function on my Microsoft Word (thanks to Emma). That alone was worth the price!

Sunday's Hunk of the Day!

I chose this photo for obvious reasons, though perhaps I should have kept him for Whopping Weasel Wednesday.


The caption was put there for obvious reasons, too. Click on the picture and you'll see what I mean.




I'm on Wickedly Romantic and Casablanca Authors today.

I'm still at the retreat, but I'll be home this afternoon.

Have a great day!