What's Your Chocolate? Blog Hop!

Welcome to the What's Your Chocolate? Blog Hop. You can check out M Pax's website HERE for more blogs to visit. I've been doing my own drooling with anticipation while I thought about what my favorite chocolate was. I decided that my chocolate desires changed with the seasons.

I associate chocolate covered cherries with Christmas. In fact every year I buy a box to eat throughout the season. I can remember having a box when I was twelve that I shared with my brothers and sister.

During Easter, my chocolate takes on a different taste when it is chocolate covered marshmallows I crave. I can't wait until next year when I can share it with my granddaughter in the form of brightly colored tinfoil designs.

My summer favorite is M&M's peanuts. The chocolate doesn't melt in the heat (as long as you don't sit out in the sun with it).

My all time favorite would have to be chocolate peanut clusters. I remember my mother keeping a candy dish with goodies in it, when I was young. I loved lifting the lid of the cut glass candy dish and picking out one piece to eat after school. My mother loved that particular kind of chocolate also.

As much as I love chocolate, I don't eat it very often. Because of physical problems, I'm not supposed to have any at all, but I do indulge occasionally. I imagine that eating low-calorie chocolate would help, but it doesn't taste the same. Since I don't need to eat it to make me feel better, I will continue to take an occasional bite of chocolate and enjoy the seasons as they come.

Insecure Writer's Support Group

I have a confession to make: I've been hiding out for the last week or so. You know, when that feeling comes over you that says you are the worst writer in the whole world? Naw... you've never felt that way! That's only for beginners and young writers. But I'm a beginner at 60, and a young writer. And some days I wonder why I ever decided to try and write at all!

It's then when I remember that I have a dream to share the stories I hear inside. I have always created something in my life. I wrote music and played the viola in orchestras across three continents. I've seen some amazing things during those tours and right now, and idea is bubbling inside for a new story. Will I decide to write it?

As soon as I let go of my fear and insecurities, I can begin to allow the story out. Being transparent has always been difficult for me. And allowing others to see a part of my life sounds scary to me. But isn't that why we have this support group? So we can lean on each other and encourage one another through the rough times. Also, I think the best thing I've gotten from I.W.S.G. is the inspiration to move forward and put those words on paper (or computer). I leave you with a quote I saw recently:

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Do You Have Time?

"You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it." ~ Charles Buxton

Bobbi Jones Jones

 

Recently I was scrambling around trying to finish the formatting of my book, Dragon Kind, when I found myself grumbling about how there was never enough time to do anything. I couldn't write because I needed to work on the formatting, and I couldn't do the formatting because I needed to make a new post for my blog, plus I hadn't done any visiting to my blogger friends, etc. and so forth. You know what I'm talking about.

And then I ran across this quote and it smacked me up the side of my head! I've read about making schedules before, but I'm not very good about keeping them. Usually when I get up, I would start by putting out the fires that were shouting for my attention and hope I'd get to what I wanted to do. Well, today I did something different. I refused to listen to the alarm bells and decided that if they had waited this long, they could wait a little longer.

I made a list of what I wanted to accomplish today, and in what order I wanted to accomplish it in. I gave myself ample time with each task so I wasn't racing through the job and then I started with number one. Believe it or not, even though the day isn't over yet, I'm zooming through my list and I don't feel harried or pressured.

I'm sure there will be days when things go off kilter, but I'm prepared for those also. If something else demands my attention that I can't avoid, I have an eraser on the end of my pencil and I can re-arrange my list. This wasn't any profound idea that I'm revealing to the world, it's just the simple idea of deciding to do what I want and need to get done. And the rest can wait until tomorrow!

"We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough." ~ Helen Keller

Excerpt from The Chameleon Effect #8

Chavez works for The Agency and has been assigned to rescue Kira Rostropovich and return her to Vega Minor, where she resides with her parents. After being in prison and being 'bought' by Chavez in an auction, Kira is not happy about being searched by Chavez. But he finds a tracking device on her right before a mercenary, Captain Maddeson, finds them and demands that Kira be turned over to him. Chavez immediately makes a sudden jump across the galaxy, much to Kira's surprise! Kira continues to have nightmares and is haunted by the fact that her life is in danger. She demands to go back to Prison Planet 452, but Chavez has someone to add to his crew complement first.
Kira's dream keeps coming back. Is it a warning? All she knows is that her destiny lies intertwined with the prison planet. Will Chavez understand? It is six hours away from rendezvousing with Dr. Winters, who will attempt to help Kira with her problems. But Captain Maddeson is on an intercept course to capture them and return them to the warden. Will they escape?

Upon boarding Dr. Winters, Chavez altered their flight plan to arrive at Darius, in the Merridian sector, before returning to Vega Minor. Something in his gut told him this retrieval of Kira had been too easy. Captain Maddeson didn’t give up when credits were involved, so he was out there somewhere, coiled like a cobra, ready to strike. What Chavez didn’t know was how closely he had missed him. But what he did know was that by diverting their flight to Darius, it would give Dr. Winters ample time to examine Kira.

Chavez escorted the small, wiry doctor, whose head came just up to Chavez’s shoulders, to the personal living space he kept as his own quarters. He had packed away his private effects so Dr. Winters could make himself comfortable. Gone were Chavez’s bear skin rug and ornamental throwing knives. What was left gave the space a Spartan appearance, but Chavez knew the doctor had a lot of expensive medical equipment to fill up the room. He’d been close friends with Dr. Winters for many years and willingly gave up the large quarters to the one person he could call his friend.

“Doc, you can have the first door on your left for your quarters.” Chavez had moved his personal belongings to the bridge and would sleep there or in smaller quarters so the doctor could have as much room as possible for his equipment.

“Thanks.”

He peered into the room and stepped in long enough to unburden himself with an armload of equipment. Then he turned to Chavez with anticipation written all over his face.

“Where is Kira? I’d like to get a good look at her as soon as possible.” Dr. Winters followed Chavez to Kira’s quarters and waited while he pressed the pad that would announce to Kira she had visitors. But there was no answer.

“Kira? We’d like to see you.” Chavez spoke into the comm-link. He pressed the entry pad when Kira didn’t open the door. The door was locked, but Chavez bypassed it with his entry code and it slid into the wall allowing the two men entry into her quarters. They found Kira lying on the bed with her eyes fluttering and drenched in sweat. She was startled by their intrusion, causing her to jump up and lunge forward into a defensive stance.

“How dare you enter my quarters uninvited!  Just what do you want?” she shouted. Her breath was rapid and her eyes burned with fire.

Dr. Winters stepped forward to calm her. “Kira, we’re not here to hurt you. You didn’t answer your door and we were worried about you.” He offered her a towel.

Kira relaxed her stance and accepted it. After wiping the sweat from her face and neck, she asked, “You’re that doctor I met from Arcturus. What do you want?”

Dr. Winters nodded and smiled. “I’m Dr. Winters. We met via the comm-link. I’d like to examine you, if you’ll allow it. I understand you’ve been having some dreams?”

Kira averted her gaze. “So. Chavez told you.”

“Yes, but I think there might be a way to get them to stop. Or, to figure out what they signify.”

Kira nodded as she threw the towel on the bed. “I’d like that. What do you want me to do?”

“May I look at your back?”

Kira hesitated, sizing up the small, wiry man and then turning to Chavez. “Does he have to stay?”

“Of course not.” Dr. Winters turned to Chavez and ousted him with a wave of his hand. “Excuse us for a minute, will you Chavez?”

Chavez made a display of unhappiness at being told to leave, but he sauntered out, flipping his ponytail over his shoulder as he gave one last look at Kira.

After he was gone, Dr. Winters smiled and asked, “Would you mind lowering the top of your jumpsuit so I could see your back?”

Kira turned around slowly as she unzipped her silver jumpsuit. Dr. Winters gingerly pulled down the top of her suit so he could see her back. His eyes widened as he saw what he thought might be there: mottling on either side of the spine, all the way up to her neck. He was silent while he measured the size of the spots, pressed on them to see their depth and if they caused any pain. Then he carefully pulled her jumpsuit back up, turned her around and examined her arms and wrists, which were clear.

“Thank you, Kira.” Dr. Winters said. “May I take a blood sample?”

Kira shrugged. “What’s wrong? What did you see on my back?”

Dr. Winters gave Kira a reassuring look. “I think someone has injected you with autonomous transposons, which are elemental genes that can move from one place to another along your chromosomes. It appears they are travelling up the spinal column at the moment. I’ll know more after I see your blood work.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about. What does all that mean?”

“There are special genes that are affecting the chromosomes in your DNA along your spinal cord. They caused the spots to appear.”

Kira’s eyes grew large and round and her face paled. “Am I going to die?”

“I haven’t seen any evidence of death, yet, but it is serious.”

Kira closed her eyes and shook her head to steady herself. “I can’t believe all this is happening to me! First my memory and now this! What am I supposed to do about it?”

There was an insistent chiming of the doorbell and then rapping on the door. Dr. Winters knew Chavez wanted to know the outcome of his examination. After getting an affirmative nod from Kira, he stepped over and pressed the privacy button to unlock the door. It opened with a hiss and an impatient Chavez stormed in.

“So what’s happening?”

After receiving another nod from Kira, Dr. Winters filled him in on her primary diagnosis.

“Those spots weren’t there two days ago.” Chavez insisted.

“That means the genes are moving quickly through her nervous system.”

“But why would they inject her in the first place?” Chavez asked.

Kira waved her arms before Chavez and Dr. Winters to interrupt their conversation. “Hey! I am in the room, guys. Don’t talk about me like I’m not here!”

Dr. Winters turned to her. “I think you might have been injected for experimental gene reproduction and to see if you would adapt to your surroundings. Why they sold you in the auction is a mystery still.”

Chavez watched as Kira’s eyes filled with tears, but he didn’t want to embarrass her by bringing up her pain. His desire to comfort her was overridden by his hate for the one who had done this to her: the warden. He wanted to get even. Not only for Kira, but for all the people he’d wreaked havoc on. But his reverie was interrupted when Dr. Winters turned to Kira and asked,

“ Kira, can you tell me about your dreams?”

Kira closed her eyes, and then began describing her dream. “All I can remember is being inside a white room, strapped to a hard bed or table and someone comes towards me. I start to ask for help and I wake up. It’s the same each time. Except this last time, the person gets to me and he has something in his hand.”

“Can you see what it is?” Dr. Winters tried to push her on into the dream image.

“No, it’s all blurry. But it’s small, like a pen or needle.”

“A laser-syringe, maybe?”

“Yes! That’s what it is!”

“What happens next?”

Kira opened her eyes and sighed. “I don’t know. It’s all a blank, but I bet I get injected like you said I did.”

Dr. Winters exchanged looks with Chavez as he pressed a laser syringe on her finger to get the blood sample. “Probably so. Kira, you rest now and I’ll look at your blood work. We’ll talk after that, okay?”

Kira gave a half smile, which didn’t go unnoticed by Chavez. Was she actually trying to smile?

 

 

To be continued...

Christine Rice's Blog Tour

Christine Rice is a freelance writer who has just published her book: Freelance Writing Guide. I look forward to having her as a guest on my blog September 16th.

If you are aspiring to be a freelance writer and don't know where to start, or have already started, the Freelance Writing Guide is a excellent book to read for making a plan for your first year. It outlines marketing strategy, gives a realistic look at your first year and helps get you pointed in your own direction. Christine's blog tour will introduce this valuable tool to us in a question and answer format. I hope you visit us and hear what she has to say about being a freelance writer.

Be Inspired!

I want to thank L. G. Keltner at Writing Off The Edge for passing this tag on to me. To complete the responsibilities of this award, I must answer some questions regarding my current writing project.

What is the name of your book?
The working title for my new book is called The Hidden City.

Where did the idea for your book come from?
The idea for my book came from a picture of a ghost town out in the desert. I decided to transform it into a hidden city on an arid planet.

In what genre would you classify your book?
I would classify this book as Sci-fi/Fantasy.

If you had to pick actors to play your characters in a movie rendition, who would you choose?
I don't have anyone in mind right now, but someone who was young and muscular would fill the bill for the protagonist. He is strongminded and determined.

Give us a one sentence synopsis of your book?
A young man with a telekinetic chip, that gives him special abilities, is stranded on a backward planet and must escape a saboteur to save his home planet from a plague.

Is your book already published?
My book is just getting started.

How long did it take you to write your book?
It has taken three weeks to establish the basic plot. Now I'm starting to weave in the subplots.

What other books within your genre would you compare it to? Or readers of which books would enjoy yours?
Readers of Issac Asimov's I Robot and Orson Scott Card's Homecoming Series would enjoy this book.

Which authors inspired you to write this book?
Issac Asimov and Orson Scott Card

Tell us anything that might pique our interest in your book?
Matt will be stopped by his angry brother, who is seeking revenge, unless an old man, who is sworn to keep the city's secret, divulges their whereabouts and helps Matt repair his ship so he can deliver the antidote to a plague. Good versus evil? If the secret community is found out, it could be annhilated and the citizens' freedom lost forever. Is it worth losing his community to save an entire planet? What will the old man decide?


Now I'm supposed to tag 5 more people. I have no idea who has received this award already. I'll pick 5 of the many bloggers who inspire me the most. This tage is my way of saying your blog inspires me. Whether you choose to pass it on or not is up to you. We're all busy, after all.

M Pax

Susanne Drazic - Putting Words Down On Paper

Amanda Rose - Flowering Fiction

Elysabeth - Elysabeth's Writing Emporium

Alex J Cavanaugh

There are many others who inspire me everyday, but I'm only supposed to name five. I hope you all are inspired by someone today!

Creating A Plot For Your Story

Have you heard the saying: Plot is a verb? Something is happening, and going to happen. "Plot is the things characters do, feel, think, or say, that make a difference to what comes afterward. It's the way of deciding what's important and then showing it to be important through the way you construct and connect the major events of your story." (Anson Dibell - Plot)

Recently I've been studying the ideas that make up plot and have discovered a blethora of ideas on how to construct a story. I'm told to make a list, or construct a literary house for my story, containing the moral of the story or backbone, defining the stakes and stating the main goal. All of this is done in the smallest part of the story, the scene.

Creating a scene with your protagonist (or main character) is the way we introduce our story to the reader. Each scene should be tight and motivated by the story's basic idea. Leave out all extraneous details that are not important to that particular scene and show, don't tell the story's action.

There is a lot of talk about showing versus telling. Since I'm not an expert and there are many examples of this already, I'll skip the explanation except to say that when you show the action, you push your story forward, whereas telling can stall the action. You can tell part of your story if need be, in exposition, when you want to add backstory or cover large amounts of time.

Creating a well rounded plot will cause your story to hang together when you keep it simple. By establishing your basic plot with your protagonist, you can then add subplots to create more tension and action. Adding subplots will cause the story to be interwoven with side glimpses at other characters and a blending together of thoughts and ideas.

Remember, plot is a verb. Keep the action rolling and your story will take off and soar! How is the plot of your story? Are you creating action in your scenes? Are you showing and not telling?