What is Love? @sloanebcollins #plottingprincesses #amwriting #marriage #love #MFRWorg

What is Love?

Merriam Webster’s definition of love:

a (1):  strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties <maternal love for a child> (2):  attraction based on sexual desire :  affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3):  affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests <love for his old schoolmates>

The definition just doesn’t seem to encompass the feeling of an all-consuming romantic love, does it?  I write Romance, about two people falling in love, and encountering pitfalls along the way, things they have to overcome to profess their love to each other and end up happily ever after. So that’s romantic love, with the hero sweeping the heroine off her feet, seducing her with the best sex ever, and proposing in a unique and romantic way.

But that’s not always real life. Love goes so much deeper than what’s in the pages of a book. Yes, my husband completely surprised me with the proposal. We’d already been talking about getting married, even had the rings picked out, but had talked about doing it at back at home (I was in college, he was in the army). So one weekend he drove up to Mizzou, and wanted to walk around the campus. He had asked me what my favorite spot was, so I took him to the columns on the quadrangle. It was night time, the spotlights were shining, and he took me to the middle column and pulled the ring out of his pocket. He couldn’t kneel because it had been raining that day, but it was still so romantic.

And almost twenty-eight years later, he’s still showing me how much he loves me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Good morning.  It's my turn to be up on the Plotting Princesses today.  I chose today because (drum roll please) IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! 

I've honestly stopped counting the years.  The last time somebody asked me how old I was, I had to stop and do the math in my head to come up with the right answer (and since you all know how well I do at math, it was actually the wrong answer LOL).  Age is just a number, right?  Too bad it's such a BIG number. 

One of my birthday traditions is to get whatever meal I want for my birthday, whether it's a home-cooked one or going out to a restaurant.  I haven't decided yet what I want, but I know it will be delicious.   Plus because it's my birthday there will be cake!

Birthdays also mean getting presents.  Except today I'm going to be giving a present instead of getting a present.  How's that for a new birthday tradition? 

My latest book released on February 1^st.  Wicked Wagers is a box set of the first four books in the Lovin' Las Vegas series, and today I'm going to give a copy to one person who posts a comment on this post.  It couldn't be simpler.  You post, your name goes into the hat and you might win a copy of Wicked Wagers, the box set.  

Even if you don't win, you can still go and pick up the box set at the regular price of $7.99.  Still a great deal for four books. 

  

Amazon:  http://amzn.to/1nALQoM

BN:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wicked-wagers-kathy-ivan/1123351980?ean=2940152788273

iBooks:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/wicked-wagers/id1080483145?ls=1&mt=11

Kobo:  https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/wicked-wagers?bookId=40d504f4-5292-43c3-bc16-20ecef68a5bb

Google Play:  https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kathy_Ivan_Wicked_Wagers?id=sIx-CwAAQBAJ  

I also wanted to tell everybody about a new release that I have coming out on March 2^nd.  This is a Kindle World book and it's part of Melissa Foster's The Remingtons series.  I was thrilled and honored to be asked to take part in this series, and my book, Could This Be Love, will release along with several others at the same time.  Here's the cover.  

Make sure and mark your calendars for March 2^nd, and grab this brand new, standalone story. 

I need a #Hero

I admit it.

I love Thor-his bulging muscles. His manners. His charm. Well, I love the Chris Hemsworth version of Thor.

Actually, I love Chris Hemsworth. Yes, he is handsome. But it’s so much more than that. Over time I’ve come to appreciate that a hero isn’t just someone strong and capable of handling a stressful or chaotic event--and looks good doing it. No, a hero is so much more. Mr. Hemsworth persona (since I don’t actually know him I can’t affirm that he is as good as he looks/seems) is my ideal hero.

For me, a hero is someone unwavering in his devotion to his wife and children. His sense of humor is contagious—but his laughter isn’t the result of someone else’s misfortune. He’s not afraid to show his emotions to those he’s closest to. His strength is daunting but he uses it for good. He’s kind, lifting up those that are downtrodden. And he has passion.

Michelle Miles: Creative Pursuits

I taught myself how to cross-stitch over a decade ago when I was young(er) and single. I discovered it was a relatively inexpensive hobby I could do on weekends when I was broke and had to stay home (i.e., I couldn’t go party with my friends). One year, I started stitching projects in January and made something for every lady in my family. It was a huge undertaking but I got it all done and everyone loved their gifts.

When my son was small, I stopped stitching because needles, small beads and floss don’t go well with a toddler. ;) But I picked it up off and on over the years. A couple of years ago I discovered these great kits for Christmas ornaments with beads. I thought I’d give them a try. Turns out, I really liked making them. Back in December, I ordered more kits and decided to try my hand at a Santa face stitched on perforated paper. I’d never stitched on that before but I actually liked it. It’s sometimes easier than stitching on linen or Aida cloth.

Anyway… Here is the result.

I'm so excited, I could scream! #newbook #RssosSisters #MFRWauthor

Lately, I have written about everything except for my new book. Yup, The Wild Rose Press will be publishing Temporarily Insane, my second romantic comedy mystery, featuring my always job searching heroine, Hattie Cooks, and the hunky detective, Allan Wellborn.

Here's a blurb: No man. Bad job. And Murder. Hattie Cooks is still searching for her dream job and one might be available...in the Big Apple, far away from friends, family, and Allan Wellborn. In the meantime, she finds temporary employment at an accounting firm where two auditors turn up dead.

Detective Allan Wellborn dumped Hattie for Blonde Bimbo who coincidentally is employed at NLB where fishy things are taking place. When Allan interviews Hattie, he must determine why all signs point to her as a possible suspect.

Can Hattie find out who is murdering auditors before she’s arrested?

Pretty much fun--right? So here's an excerpt:

Escaping the daily grind @sloanebcollins #PlottingPrincesses #Escapism #PearlsPerils #amreading #MFRWorg #scrapbooking #feedmysoul

I'm pretty much a loner, and need to escape the daily grind of a big city and a demanding day job. So when I'm taking a break from writing (or have the dreaded writer's block), I find other ways to feed my soul.  I don’t usually play a lot of games, and was never into video games, but lately I’ve been playing a game on my iPhone called Pearl’s Perils, a hidden objects game.  But it’s not like any iPhone game I’ve seen before. This is the official description from the Facebook page: “Get swept back to the romantic and sordid 1930’s along with our trailblazing heroine, Pearl Wallace, ace pilot and world explorer. Pearl’s glamorous social life grinds to a halt when her father mysteriously dies and she inherits a strange island filled with perilous secrets. Journey with Pearl and her deliciously sarcastic best friend, Iris Hillman, as they travel the world, uncover a global conspiracy, and navigate a chilling mystery you won’t soon forget!” 

The story line is fun, and the artists are truly talented. The scenery is lush and beautiful, and true to the time period of the 1930’s.  The story takes place on Artemis Island, and in Paris, New York, and Russia.  While following Pearl on her journey and trying to solve a mystery, you earn coins, cash, and energy, but you also get to build and design your own Artemis Island. That’s the most fun part to me.  As the story progresses, you earn, badges, coins, and cash to help you purchase decorations and buildings.  I usually play the game on the train commute to work, and before I go to sleep. It’s my chance to escape the daily world and go to a romantic era and location, and design a place I’d love to live. 

I used to do cross-stitch, then for many years I was hooked on scrapbooking.  I still have all my supplies, and keep all my photos and memorabilia so I can get back to it when I have spare time. I like to do a scrapbook for each vacation, so I've got stacks of boxes, one for each trip, ready to go.  So until I can actually work on those scrapbooks, I've been doing shadowboxes for each vacation.

This one from Hawaii is still a work in progress, but I'm almost done!

Books are my other choice of escapism.  Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, and Cozy Mysteries are my favorite genres.  In books, I can go anywhere I want.  I think part of why I love Cozy Mysteries so much is they take place in small towns, and have a cast of characters the reader gets to know and love.  And there’s usually a theme to each series: knitting, cooking, sewing, magic, crafting. 

I just realized as I was writing this post that I tend to lean toward small towns even in my choice of escapism: the small towns of Cozies, and the island in iPhone games.  I’ve always wanted to live in a small town.  Life seems so much simpler.  You don’t have a long commute, have to deal with strangers every day, there’s a slower pace, and a sense of community that is lacking in a sprawling big city. 

My husband and I prefer to vacation in places where we can get back to nature.  We might venture into a big city for a day, but we don’t stay very long, and would much rather be out among the mountains, forests, coastlines. 

So until we can build our cozy little cabin on the outskirts of a small town in the mountains, or a forest, or on the coast of Maine, I’ll keep reading my favorite genres, designing an island of my own, and remembering vacations in shadow boxes.

What ways do you escape the daily grind of life? Books? Movies? Games?  What are your favorites? 

Michelle Miles: The Great Declutter of 2016

I’m sure we are all aware by now that it’s a brand new year. I, for one, was glad to wave goodbye to 2015 and welcome in 2016 even if I was feeling somewhat under the weather for the holiday.

But it’s a new year and that means new goals and new adventures. I have deemed this year as the Year of Decluttering. I have reached my limit of Crap I Don’t Need Anymore and so I’ve begun to really downsize. My first order of business was to actually declutter the Christmas tubs. We have fifteen or something absurd like that. I ditched everything that was broken or not in use for the last five years. The only thing I really kept was the kid’s artwork over the years.

I told the husband I wanted to go through the pantry and get rid of stuff that was expired and donate the stuff that wasn’t that we were never going to use. He handled that quite nicely and we did purge a lot of stuff.