Plotting Princess Vicki on The Holiday Reel Turns

The Holiday Reel Turns

I have many favorite Christmas movies; however, there's some that are a little different and would like to share a bit of them.

a favorite holiday shot of mine

Millions. Takes place during the euro conversion in England (yes, I know. Didn't happen in England.) Two brothers find a duffle bag filled with pound notes and have a field day spending and sharing, only the robber is trying to get it back. Poignant moment: The youngest brother, who talks to various saints, is wondering if his recently deceased mother is a saint. There's an awesome scene where he is reunited with her, and he asks what she's done to be considered for sainthood. The mum says, "Don't you know? It was you." I cry every time.

Stalag 17. Set in WW2 at Christmas time. There's a spy in the American unit and he's giving secrets to the Germans. Is the bad guy who everyone thinks he is? A superb performance by the entire cast, and particularly, William Holden.

PP for the day! Paty Jager & Secrets of a Mayan Moon

We're lending a tiara to Paty Jager today!

Read thru to the end because she has a fantastic giveaway!

Paty, how did you get from your day job to writing romance?  I had a critique partner who saw a new small press publisher was starting up and she urged me to send Marshal in Petticoats to them. They contracted that book and nine more.

What are your three favorite books of all time? Oh,man! Nora Roberts’ MacGregor Christmas- it opened the door to romance books to me. LaVyrle Spencer’s Hummingbird- It made me want to write historical western romance. Sue Grafton’s A is for Alibi- This book made me want to write mysteries.

Morning, afternoon, or evening person?

 Morning I’d say, though my husband would beg to differ. I have a hard time getting out of bed before the sun is shining. I’m pretty good in the afternoon, but by evening I want to curl up with a book or watch a good tv show and not tax my brain.

Michelle Miles: What are your holiday traditions?

The holidays always seems to sneak up on me, even though I know they’re coming. And then I’m annoyed Christmas stuff is up in the storesbefore Halloween has even come and gone.

I suppose that’s a tradition in itself. We know the decorations are going up before we take the kids trick-or-treating, we still grumble about it. I like to carve pumpkins every year for Halloween and decorate the house with all the fall stuff I have. We usually buy mums that die in a week or two. This year, I had a fog machine for added effect whilst handing out candy.

I have a neighbor a few doors down who put up Christmas decorations around the first of November last year. They’re the first one on the block to get their decorations up. Maybe that was their goal – to be first.

Plotting Princess Kat Baldwin has thoughts about Brainstorming 101

Brainstorming 101

Hiya! I’m a Pantser (a writer who plots by the seat of her pants). So what am I doing hanging out with Plotting Princesses?  I’m here because they’re my friends and this is a fabulous group of women, but also because I love to brainstorm with other writers. It’s fun! I love brainstorming other authors’ plots.

So, let’s talk about brainstorming. Please excuse me if my psyche background comes burbling out, but this is a really exciting topic for me. Let’s look at the brain.

Everyone knows about right brain and left brain functions.

But there’s much more to it than simply accessing your right-brain. This simplistic view fails to explain true genius or creativity. Here’s how it really happens. Suppose a wild idea pops into your mind, it takes analytical brain functions to apply it to anything useful.



Apathy and Passion

It's election day and while I don't want to make this message about politics-too mean and nasty, I thought maybe a reminder about why we vote was a good topic for today. I promise you I'm not going to tell you which party you should vote for or who's the better candidate. Please, unless you've been on a remote island with no access to radio and TV, you've heard that song and pony show for over a year. Politics is like religion-your choice.

So why should you go vote today? Because we live in a democracy that depends on the people making the decision on how they want their government run. Maybe I'm naive, but my going to the polls and casting my vote, tells the government who I want running our government.

If people don't vote, then you let everyone else make the decision for you. Your voice is not heard and well, frankly, in my book, you have no right to complain about the government. Because "We the People" in our constitution is all of us and we create the government.

Blog: Amy Rogers-Is Writing a Novel Like Giving Birth?

I’ve been blessed with both of these experiences in my life and I do see some parallels. One important difference: my children were born with the temperaments God gave them.  The characters in my stories, however, are entirely within my power.  I can make them into whatever kind of person I want.


Amy Rogers


In my debut novel Petroplague, I used my God-like power to create a heroine I’d love to meet in real life. Christina Gonzalez has the two kinds of strength I admire most: strength of character and strength of intellect.  She’s smart (working on her PhD in microbiology at UCLA) and she knows the difference between right and wrong. The scientific work she’s doing—using bacteria to increase domestic energy production—is supposed to be a good thing.

Until an eco-terrorist sabotages her field test and a microbial monster is born.

In Petroplague, Christina’s creation mutates.  Her bacteria start to eat gasoline and turn it into vinegar.  They swiftly contaminate the fuel supply of Los Angeles, paralyzing the city and forcing a quarantine of the entire region.  At first Christina hides behind her youth and guilty feelings and lets her elders handle the situation--until she’s the only person left who has the power to save Western civilization.

Halloween Hauntings by Karilyn Bentley

Happy Halloween! I love this time of the year. While it's not my favorite holiday - that spot goes to Christmas - it is definitely up there in second place. What's not to love about leftover chocolate candy? We all know Halloween is a special time for kids - and some adults - to dress up and go around begging for treats, but do you know how the traditions started?

Halloween has its history in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced sow-en). Samhain is a celebration of the end of harvest season and the upcoming winter. November 1st was their New Year's Day. October 31st was New Year's Eve for the ancient pagans and it was on this day that they believed the walls between the world of the living and the world of the dead thinned, allowing the deceased to come into the world of the living and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops. A bonfire was part of the Samhain celebration.