Got this from a friend, and I though it perfect for today. Happy Halloween everyone!
Browsing Old Cemeteries
Harry Edsel Smith of Albany , New York :
Born 1903--Died 1942.
Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the
car was on the way down.
It was.
=============================
In a Thurmont, Maryland , cemetery:
Here lies an Atheist, all dressed up and no
Place to go.
=============================
On the grave of Ezekial Aikle in
East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia :
Here lies Ezekial Aikle, Age 102. Only The
Good Die Young.
=============================
In a London , England cemetery:
Here lies Ann Mann, Who lived an old maid
But died an old Mann. Dec. 8, 1767
=============================
In a Ribbesford, England , cemetery:
Anna Wallace
The children of Israel wanted bread, And
The Lord sent them manna. Clark Wallace
Wanted a wife, And the Devil sent him Anna.
===============================
In a Ruidoso, New Mexico , cemetery:
Here lies Johnny Yeast... Pardon him
For not rising.
===============================
In a Uniontown, Pennsylvania , cemetery:
Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake.
Stepped on the gas instead of the brake.
==============================
In a Silver City , Nevada , cemetery:
Here lays The Kid.
We planted him raw.
He was quick on the trigger
But slow on the draw.
================================
A lawyer's epitaph in England :
Sir John Strange.
Here lies an honest lawyer,
And that is Strange.
=================================
John Penny's epitaph in the Wimborne,
England , cemetery:
Reader, if cash thou art in want of any,
Dig 6 feet deep and thou wilt find a Penny.
==================================
In a cemetery in Hartscombe , England :
On the 22nd of June, Jonathan Fiddle went
Out of tune.
==================================
Anna Hopewell's grave in Enosburg Falls ,
Vermont :
Here lies the body of our Anna,
Done to death by a banana.
It wasn't the fruit that laid her low,
But the skin of the thing that made her go.
==================================
On a grave from the 1880s in Nantucket ,
Massachusetts :
Under the sod and under the trees,
Lies the body of Jonathan Pease.
He is not here, there's only the pod.
Pease shelled out and went to God.
==================================
In a cemetery in England :
Remember man, as you walk by,
As you are now, so once was I
As I am now, so shall you be.
Remember this and follow me.
To which someone replied by writing on the tombstone:
To follow you I'll not consent.
Until I know which way you went.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Have Mercy on Kids Who Stutter
Did you know that Friday was International Stuttering Awareness Day? Three million other Americans, or approximately 1% of the population, stutters. That said, my guest today is Ms. Pamela Mertz, who also has a brilliant and heartfelt blog...Make Room For The Stuttering. Right now she's posting a series on women who stutter. I encourage all of you to check it out.
Have Mercy on Kids Who Stutter
Imagine being an 11-year-old, in sixth grade. There are 30 kids in the class. The teacher takes attendance at the beginning of the period, and does it in a fairly traditional way. She calls each student's last name alphabetically, and each kid has to say "here" or "present."
No big deal, right? This is played out in classrooms all across the country.
The 11-year-old's last name begins with "S", so he has to wait while the other kids' names are called. It's always done the same way too, starting with the "A"s, never with "Z."
Waiting, this kid does what he always does. He focuses on what he is going to say and what will happen when he says it. His palms start to get sweaty and his heart starts to pound. He can feel his face grow really hot and realizes he is squirming in his seat.
He is thinking, "Please, not today, please not today, please let it be OK today." But he knows that the same thing is going to happen.
He wishes he was sick and could go to the nurse's office.
Then he hears the teacher say "Stasick." He decides to say "here," which might go easier than it did yesterday. He opens his mouth, says "hu-hu-hu-hhhhh- here" and his eyes squeeze shut. He hears the teacher call the next kid's name.
Maybe it won't happen today. Nah, he hears it, the snickers from the kids sitting behind him. Then the skinny kid with big ears whispers loudly, "Spastic Stasick, he can't t-t-t-t-talk."
The kid tries to shrink down in his seat as he hears the kids laughing at him, just quietly enough so that the teacher doesn't hear it. She never does. He has thought about telling her, but knows that will just make things worse.
The kid tries to shrink down in his seat as he hears the kids laughing at him, just quietly enough so that the teacher doesn't hear it. She never does. He has thought about telling her, but knows that will just make things worse.
It's bad enough that he is pulled out of his classroom twice a week to go to speech. When he is pulled out, (and it's always during math or science, the classes he likes) he hears the kids whisper, "There goes spastic Stasick with the b-b-b-b-babies learning how to talk".
He can't talk to his speech teacher about the teasing either; he only gets 20 minutes with her and there is usually another speech kid in the room.
He can't talk to his speech teacher about the teasing either; he only gets 20 minutes with her and there is usually another speech kid in the room.
There is no way the kid can tell his mom, because she always tells him to slow down and think about what he is trying to say before he talks. The kid keeps thinking, "No one understands me."
Lunch time is the worst. No one sits with him, and when kids walk by, they snicker and laugh. A couple of times, the skinny kid with big ears bumped into him on purpose, knocking him into the wall and making him drop his stuff. The kid and his friends start yelling, "Spastic can't walk either." That gets other kids laughing, including girls.
Lunch time is the worst. No one sits with him, and when kids walk by, they snicker and laugh. A couple of times, the skinny kid with big ears bumped into him on purpose, knocking him into the wall and making him drop his stuff. The kid and his friends start yelling, "Spastic can't walk either." That gets other kids laughing, including girls.
This kid stutters. He dreads being called on in class. He never raises his hand, even when he knows an answer, and is teased a lot. He is called names, left out socially and sometimes pushed. He does not know anyone else who talks like him and is really starting to hate school.
Kids who stutter get teased and bullied. Kids can be cruel, especially in middle school. Most people do not understand stuttering, because they have never met someone who stutters. Only about 1 percent of the population stutters and it's usually boys.
Kids who stutter get teased and bullied. Kids can be cruel, especially in middle school. Most people do not understand stuttering, because they have never met someone who stutters. Only about 1 percent of the population stutters and it's usually boys.
If you know a kid who stutters, know this: It's not his fault. Stuttering is an involuntary stoppage of normal speech flow. It can be hereditary and some research suggests that it is a neurological disorder. There is no known cure yet for stuttering, but therapy with someone who understands stuttering can help, especially with feelings of shame, embarrassment and isolation.
Kids who stutter are just like anyone else, they just talk differently. It is not OK to tease or bully a kid who stutters. We have heard enough in the news lately about what happens when bullying is left unchecked.
Friday was International Stuttering Awareness Day. The only way to raise awareness about stuttering is to talk about it. It will sure make it easier for the kids.
To learn more, visit The National Association for Young People Who Stutter, the National Stuttering Association, and The College of Saint Rose. Or Pamela's blog, Make Room for the Stuttering.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Feeding the Homeless -- A Shift in the Warehouse
A hungry stomach can not hear. ~Jean de la Fontaine, French Poet, 1621-1695
Last Saturday I went with my church to volunteer at the local food bank. It was an eye-opening experience, and one I hope to repeat regularly. You know me, I’m all about food and feeding people, so this kind of thing is right up my alley. A couple dozen of us—singles, couples, and families with kids--showed up for a three-hour stint in the warehouse, inspecting and repacking food for distribution to those in need. Ahead of us, just on their way out the door, was a group of about the same size from Gannon University.
I was startled when, after our group arrived, one of the young men in the Gannon group gave up his chair and rolled it over for me to sit in. Chivalry does still exist in some parts of the world. Unfortunately, instead of taking a moment to appreciate that fact, after I thanked him and he left, I turned to the friend I had arrived with and asked, “Do I look that old?”
I didn’t sit in the chair. I spend most of my time sitting. I had come for a workout…and a workout I got.
Our first assignment was to watch a 13-minute video on how to recognize foods that the Food Bank can not accept. For instance, any food that has been packed in the same box or container with any open cleaning products must be considered contaminated and thrown out. There’s no way the food bank can risk food contamination.
So if you make donations to your local food bank, or supervise collections for food drives and such at your church or school, please, please, please separate the stuff with chemicals in it from the stuff for people to eat, just to be safe, or all of your hard work and good intentions may go for nothing.
Also, as much as they would like to, the Food Bank can not accept any home-canned goods. We all know they taste the best, because they’re made with love, but unless they are commercially sealed, they are a no-go at the Food Bank.
So make sure you give your excess home-canned goods to your family and friends. If you don’t have enough friends, you can send some to me…I love home-canned anything :). I would also be able to use it in my soup (and now baking) ministry for the homeless shelter.
I’m serious. If you have home-canned stuff you want to get rid of, email me at Liana (at) lianalaverentz.com and we’ll work something out…a win-win for everyone.
But back to the Food Bank. Any packages that were open and therefore might have been touched by bugs or rodents (face it, where there’s food, there’s bugs and rodents) had to be thrown out as well. But the good news is, at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwestern Pennsylvania, none of that food goes to waste. It’s all collected in a separate place, and picked up by an Amish farmer, who converts it into slop for his pigs.
On this day, we contributed opened boxes of Fruit Loops, Rice Krispies, and many other brands of breakfast cereal to the (future slop) bin, as well as some fresh bread that was in wrappers that had gotten ripped somewhere along the way.
A lot of things like the cereal comes from stores, still in the manufacturer’s original case lot cartons, which have been damaged in shipping somehow. Either crushed or torn or poked through with the equipment used to move the case lots around. So these damaged case lots are sent to the food bank, where volunteers like us open the case lot cartons, separate the damaged individual boxes of cereal from the ones that are not damaged, inspect the food, repackage what we can—(if only the outer packaging is damaged we can tape it back up—but if there are any holes in the bag that would expose any food, out it goes)—and recombine it into new case lots for the Food Bank to distribute. The extras are then sent to the Food Bank’s internal “grocery store” where individuals can go up and down the aisles and pick up small amounts of different donated foods.
As for the bread, it came from a local commercial bakery, and was still fresh. All we had to do was take it off the racks, inspect the bread for mold and the bags for holes, then repack the inspected bread—buns and loaves of every shape, size, and color—into cartons provided by the Food Bank. Taped shut, and labeled BREAD, they went onto nearby pallets and created fresh case lots for the Food Bank to shrink wrap and distribute.
Before we knew it, our time was up, and our work was done. As the English dramatist John Heywood said, “Many hands make light work.” But the Second Harvest Food Bank has many opportunities for group and family volunteering to help those in need. The Food Bank welcomes children age six and up, and even has child-friendly projects for them to work on. The Food Bank also sponsors specific Family Days, with shifts available between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. and Family Nights, with help needed from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. It’s a fun way to involve the whole family—be it your individual family or your community family. Get a group together and go. All you need to do is call and make your reservation.
Who are those in need? Well, here are some Fast Facts from the Second Harvest Food Bank, the largest non-profit food distribution organization in Northwestern Pennsylvania. Second Harvest solicits, inventories, and distributes donated products to 254 member agencies that directly serve people facing hard times. During fiscal year 2009-2010, Second Harvest distributed 7.7 million pounds of food to 72,600 people in NWPA.
They can’t serve this many people without help from people like you. Three ways you can help are to donate money (for every $1 donation, Second Harvest can obtain $17 worth of food), donate time (hours are available Monday through Saturday…check their website for more information), or you can donate food directly. Second Harvest accepts non-perishable food donations Monday through Saturday.
They then distribute these foods to the people who need it through various member agencies, like churches, food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, kids cafes, child care centers, backpack programs, and senior citizens food programs. The people who benefit from the Second Harvest Food Bank include the homeless, single parents, senior citizens, children, the working poor, the unemployed and underemployed, the disabled, and families in crisis situations.
That’s a lot of people needing food. Is there someone you can help feed today?
Last Saturday I went with my church to volunteer at the local food bank. It was an eye-opening experience, and one I hope to repeat regularly. You know me, I’m all about food and feeding people, so this kind of thing is right up my alley. A couple dozen of us—singles, couples, and families with kids--showed up for a three-hour stint in the warehouse, inspecting and repacking food for distribution to those in need. Ahead of us, just on their way out the door, was a group of about the same size from Gannon University.
I was startled when, after our group arrived, one of the young men in the Gannon group gave up his chair and rolled it over for me to sit in. Chivalry does still exist in some parts of the world. Unfortunately, instead of taking a moment to appreciate that fact, after I thanked him and he left, I turned to the friend I had arrived with and asked, “Do I look that old?”
I didn’t sit in the chair. I spend most of my time sitting. I had come for a workout…and a workout I got.
Our first assignment was to watch a 13-minute video on how to recognize foods that the Food Bank can not accept. For instance, any food that has been packed in the same box or container with any open cleaning products must be considered contaminated and thrown out. There’s no way the food bank can risk food contamination.
So if you make donations to your local food bank, or supervise collections for food drives and such at your church or school, please, please, please separate the stuff with chemicals in it from the stuff for people to eat, just to be safe, or all of your hard work and good intentions may go for nothing.
Also, as much as they would like to, the Food Bank can not accept any home-canned goods. We all know they taste the best, because they’re made with love, but unless they are commercially sealed, they are a no-go at the Food Bank.
So make sure you give your excess home-canned goods to your family and friends. If you don’t have enough friends, you can send some to me…I love home-canned anything :). I would also be able to use it in my soup (and now baking) ministry for the homeless shelter.
I’m serious. If you have home-canned stuff you want to get rid of, email me at Liana (at) lianalaverentz.com and we’ll work something out…a win-win for everyone.
But back to the Food Bank. Any packages that were open and therefore might have been touched by bugs or rodents (face it, where there’s food, there’s bugs and rodents) had to be thrown out as well. But the good news is, at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwestern Pennsylvania, none of that food goes to waste. It’s all collected in a separate place, and picked up by an Amish farmer, who converts it into slop for his pigs.
On this day, we contributed opened boxes of Fruit Loops, Rice Krispies, and many other brands of breakfast cereal to the (future slop) bin, as well as some fresh bread that was in wrappers that had gotten ripped somewhere along the way.
A lot of things like the cereal comes from stores, still in the manufacturer’s original case lot cartons, which have been damaged in shipping somehow. Either crushed or torn or poked through with the equipment used to move the case lots around. So these damaged case lots are sent to the food bank, where volunteers like us open the case lot cartons, separate the damaged individual boxes of cereal from the ones that are not damaged, inspect the food, repackage what we can—(if only the outer packaging is damaged we can tape it back up—but if there are any holes in the bag that would expose any food, out it goes)—and recombine it into new case lots for the Food Bank to distribute. The extras are then sent to the Food Bank’s internal “grocery store” where individuals can go up and down the aisles and pick up small amounts of different donated foods.
As for the bread, it came from a local commercial bakery, and was still fresh. All we had to do was take it off the racks, inspect the bread for mold and the bags for holes, then repack the inspected bread—buns and loaves of every shape, size, and color—into cartons provided by the Food Bank. Taped shut, and labeled BREAD, they went onto nearby pallets and created fresh case lots for the Food Bank to shrink wrap and distribute.
Before we knew it, our time was up, and our work was done. As the English dramatist John Heywood said, “Many hands make light work.” But the Second Harvest Food Bank has many opportunities for group and family volunteering to help those in need. The Food Bank welcomes children age six and up, and even has child-friendly projects for them to work on. The Food Bank also sponsors specific Family Days, with shifts available between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. and Family Nights, with help needed from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. It’s a fun way to involve the whole family—be it your individual family or your community family. Get a group together and go. All you need to do is call and make your reservation.
Who are those in need? Well, here are some Fast Facts from the Second Harvest Food Bank, the largest non-profit food distribution organization in Northwestern Pennsylvania. Second Harvest solicits, inventories, and distributes donated products to 254 member agencies that directly serve people facing hard times. During fiscal year 2009-2010, Second Harvest distributed 7.7 million pounds of food to 72,600 people in NWPA.
They can’t serve this many people without help from people like you. Three ways you can help are to donate money (for every $1 donation, Second Harvest can obtain $17 worth of food), donate time (hours are available Monday through Saturday…check their website for more information), or you can donate food directly. Second Harvest accepts non-perishable food donations Monday through Saturday.
They then distribute these foods to the people who need it through various member agencies, like churches, food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, kids cafes, child care centers, backpack programs, and senior citizens food programs. The people who benefit from the Second Harvest Food Bank include the homeless, single parents, senior citizens, children, the working poor, the unemployed and underemployed, the disabled, and families in crisis situations.
That’s a lot of people needing food. Is there someone you can help feed today?
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Taking Time Out To Say Thank You
If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough. ~Eckhardt von Hochheim, German theologian, philosopher, and mystic
I’ve often mentioned in this blog the many blessings in my life, and how thankful I am to be so abundantly blessed. So today I want to share with you a little thing I do to remind me to say thank you throughout the day. It’s really quite simple. If you walk into my house, you’ll see Thank You notes of all kinds and colors discreetly propped up in different places. If you look closely you’ll see that they’re not all notes written to me by others. Some of them are, to be sure, but others are blank. The ones sent to me remind me of people I have helped in one way or another. The blank ones I use to remind myself to say Thank You to God for all His help, and the many blessings I have been given.
So if you’re looking for a way to increase your prayer life, here’s something you can try. Just get yourself a box of Thank You notes, and prop or tape them up in the places where you’re most likely to see them. In your house it might be your bathroom mirror, your bedroom nightstand, or even on the ceiling above where you nap or sleep, so you see it when you open your eyes :).
Your entertainment center might be a nice place to put one, or somewhere over the kitchen sink. Maybe even your laundry room, or somewhere you can see it when you fold clothes. You can put one near your computer, both at home and/or at work, or tape it to the top of your laptop. If you don’t work with a computer, I’m sure you can find a place to put one in your workspace, wherever it is. If you’re shy about people seeing it, a simple post it note with the letters TY will do. You’ll know what it means, and chances are no one else will even notice it there.
In your car, there’s the visor or dashboard, or even the trunk. Maybe you can find a place for one in your purse, or gym bag. If you have an exercise bike or treadmill, that’s a great place to put one.
Be creative. I’m sure you can come up with something special. And when you see them, just take a moment to stop, smile, and say Thank You.
I’ve often mentioned in this blog the many blessings in my life, and how thankful I am to be so abundantly blessed. So today I want to share with you a little thing I do to remind me to say thank you throughout the day. It’s really quite simple. If you walk into my house, you’ll see Thank You notes of all kinds and colors discreetly propped up in different places. If you look closely you’ll see that they’re not all notes written to me by others. Some of them are, to be sure, but others are blank. The ones sent to me remind me of people I have helped in one way or another. The blank ones I use to remind myself to say Thank You to God for all His help, and the many blessings I have been given.
So if you’re looking for a way to increase your prayer life, here’s something you can try. Just get yourself a box of Thank You notes, and prop or tape them up in the places where you’re most likely to see them. In your house it might be your bathroom mirror, your bedroom nightstand, or even on the ceiling above where you nap or sleep, so you see it when you open your eyes :).
Your entertainment center might be a nice place to put one, or somewhere over the kitchen sink. Maybe even your laundry room, or somewhere you can see it when you fold clothes. You can put one near your computer, both at home and/or at work, or tape it to the top of your laptop. If you don’t work with a computer, I’m sure you can find a place to put one in your workspace, wherever it is. If you’re shy about people seeing it, a simple post it note with the letters TY will do. You’ll know what it means, and chances are no one else will even notice it there.
In your car, there’s the visor or dashboard, or even the trunk. Maybe you can find a place for one in your purse, or gym bag. If you have an exercise bike or treadmill, that’s a great place to put one.
Be creative. I’m sure you can come up with something special. And when you see them, just take a moment to stop, smile, and say Thank You.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Taking a Break
No post today. My shoulder is acting up again, so I'm taking a break from the keyboard. I'll be spending the day cleaning my office, which is long overdue!
Be blessed,
Be blessed,
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Guest Author, Keena Kincaid
Just a quick bit of housekeeping before we start our interview...the winner of my special birthday drawing of an autographed copy of one of my books, winner's choice, is...Jennifer Mathis! Congratulations, Jennifer!
For a chance to win the same in my regular monthly drawing, just leave a comment here today or on any post in September. Good luck and Happy Fall!
And now...Drum Roll.......Finally, it's the day we've all been looking forward to! Today's guest speaker is historical romance author Keena Kincaid, fellow Rose and Bookspa friend, who graciously shares a bit of her life and her writing philosophies with us, as well as the blurb and an excerpt from Enthralled, her exciting new sequel to Ties That Bind. If you're wondering where my questions came from, most come from the Bio page on Keena's beautiful website, and others from her funny, insightful, and always interesting blog, Typos and All. Welcome, Keena!
Tell us about your Dirty Little Secrets (Workshop).
This workshop focuses on helping authors build three-dimensional characters through the use of their secrets, and then how to use these secrets to propel the plot. My inspiration for the workshop isn't just my own characters, who all seem to have secrets, but also soap operas. I love the twisted, crazy secrets that soap opera heroines and heroes keep--and all the crazy things they do to keep those secrets! I'm giving it right now (September 6 - 30) for Elements RWA. Anyone interested in hosting this workshop, please go to my website for more information.
Give us an example of a mathmatically challenged knight.
Well, from the time my nephews and nieces were toddlers, story time has been one of our favorite activities. They'd gather around, and I'd tell them another installment in the ongoing adventures of the half-faery siblings Alden, Master of the Green Realm, and Freyda, Mistress of the Mirror, and their dragon-lord cousin, Joel (my niece and nephews, of course). Alden can never keep track of the magical arrows in his quiver, and he can't defeat the red wizard until he figures out a basic math problem. It was a way to help my nephew master math.
Tell us more about life to the left of nowhere, and how you incorporate the experience in your books.
I grew up in a small, small farm town and lived all the hallmarks of small town life, i.e. I graduated with most of the kids with whom I went to kindergarten, everyone knew everyone else's business, and whenever I got in trouble at school, at least three people called Mom before I got home that afternoon. There's a type of forced intimacies in small towns that I find very applicable to my 12th-century setting because most of my books take place in crowded castles where everyone knows everyone else's business.
I see you grew up with pigs, cows, brothers, and a half-broke pony named Star. Care to share any sibling stories?
Interesting how you slipped those brothers in there, like they were just another aspect of living on a farm :). Nothing in particular sticks out. Like most brothers and sisters, we argued, but I think we covered for each other more often than we tattled on each other. My mother, in particular, wanted us to be close, and she never encouraged tattling. In fact, we usually got in more trouble for tattling than the one tattled on.
What do you like the best about medieval history?
I'm not sure I can narrow it to one thing or even one sentence. It's a period of change that served as the nursery for much of how we think and what we believe. Most of the our present rituals have roots in this era, yet we know so little of day-to-day life. As a writer, the time period provides a lot of story fodder.
What do you find the most confining when writing about that time period, and how do you overcome that?
The cliches are most confining. Everyone thinks Knights in Shining Armor and Damsels in Distress. But not only was the code of chivalry more like a guideline, it also only applied to noblewomen (if them). If you were a peasant in the field, a knight was the last thing you wanted to see. Additionally, what little we know of medieval women hardly fits the"damsel" motif. There are numerous accounts of women defending castles against siege that defy the stereotype. However, this is what readers know, so it's a balancing act.
Ties that Bind was a finalist for best Paranormal Romance in the 2010 RomCon Reader's Crown Choice Contest. Congratulations! What can you tell us about RomCon?
RomCon was fabulous. I had a great time and met hundreds of readers. And the sessions were fun. The paranormal tea, speed date an author and the murder-mystery game were my favorites.
I see you're an inveterate traveler. Do you travel light or heavy? What tips can you offer to the uninitiated?
I travel light. I did a lot of backpacking in college. When you carry everything you have on your back, you learn how little you really need. I apply the same when traveling. So I only bring essentials--a few changes of clothes and my computer. My best tips: Layers, wear most pieces of clothes more than once, and decide whether your base color is going to black or brown. That way, you only need to take one pair of shoes.
Let's do some word association: I give you four words and you tell me what comes to mind when you read them:
Intrepid--This makes me think of Liza, my heroine from ANAM CARA. She's definitely a woman who keeps moving in her chosen direction regardless ofwhat happens (until she meets the hero, of course).
Spontaneous--My writing process. Yes, I'm a pantser. LOL!
Wanderlust--An incurable affliction that expensive to treat.
Mystical--This would be the druids in my stories. The hero and his family are descended from druids, but as you know, by the 12th century that society was long past. So they have--as Aedan (hero from TIES THAT BIND) assumes--all the fun without any of the responsibility.
What's up next for Keena?
My next book, Enthralled, sequel to Ties that Bind, comes out October 22. The two share an external conflict and villain, but have different lead couples.
Blurb:
To claim her, he must abandon home, duty, and honor-or reveal the secret of her Sidhe heritage and risk losing her forever to dark magic. William of Ravenglas wants only one woman-his foster sister, Ami-but she is promised to another, a fate sealed by his father's recklessness. Resolved to her forfeiture, he forges a dangerous path to bring stability to the house of Ravenglas, balancing the secret demands of the queen against loyalty to the king.
Ami, true sister to Aedan ap Owen the minstrel, refuses her fate. She wants William. But when his kiss awakens her dormant magic, it triggers cascading events that sweep her into the queen's fiendish web and threatens William's life.
Now Ami must learn to control her fey powers or watch William die. But with a mystery lover in his past, even if she succeeds will he truly be hers?
Excerpt:
“You would not dance with me earlier.” Ami stilled, surprised by her own blurting.
“You know why.”
William’s vague acknowledgement of what stood between them shivered and stretched through her, sparking hope and dread. He stared at the flames until the light must have blinded him.
“You kissed me,” she whispered, “on the steps, not a month ago. You…”
“I have kissed you many times.”
“Not like that. Not with…” The memory alone nearly erased her ability to think. He’d not kissed her, but practically claimed her. His mouth firm and confident, her body pressed between his and the wall, no inch of him left to her imagination. The kiss had changed her, and if Aedan and Tess hadn’t interrupted them, he could’ve taken her maidenhead on Carlisle’s steps. She would’ve welcomed the loss. “I would not say no,” she whispered.
“You are not free to give me your consent.” William lowered his hands, his fingers fisting at his side. “Nor I am free to accept it. I cannot give you what you wish, Ami,” he said, the pain his in voice as sharp as a shearing blade. “Ever.”
“But you wish it, too.”
“My wishes are as irrelevant as yours.”
“Irrelevant?” She stepped away from the bittersweet warmth of his presence. The heavy pain in her chest was not irrelevant. Nor was the bitter anger boiling in her stomach.
“You are promised to Hugh of Braose.”
“I do not want to wed him, William,” she whispered. “Please do not make me.”
He turned away from her. “I cannot change that or the terms of the marriage contract. Even if I could, I would not. ’Tis for our elevation.”
“Your elevation.”
“The entire family will benefit. That is the whole point of marriage.”
She looked at the spoon in her hand, tempted to rake it across his face, tried to imagine a lifetime without him and failed. “We grew up in a cold home. Do not put me in another one.”
He stepped closer, captured her in the pool of heat that was as much a part of him as the stick up his ass that made turning him midcourse next to impossible. “’Twill be your home. You can make it as bright and warm as you want.”
The spoon bent in her hand. “Not without…”
You. She swallowed the word, tossed away the mangled utensil and set her hand against his chest. The agitated pace of his heart pulsed against her fingers as the tug-of-war between desire and duty held him motionless.
“Please do not do this to me.”
She let her fear rise to her eyes, pushed it through her body, from her skin to his.
“Stop, Ami. I know your tricks.” He lifted her hand from his chest. “And I will not be swayed by them as I was as a boy. I have already sent a note to Papa. I told him you would be brought home, soon.”
“What?” For a moment, she was frozen by disbelief, then fury swept through her like a forest fire. Wood popped in the hearth, and the kitchen brightened. “Brought home?”
Grabbing his chin, she forced his gaze to hers.
“I will not be dismissed, shuffled off like a cow to market. I will not go. Do you hear me? I will not.”
“Ami, you must go back. I leave with the queen.”
“Then I will ask the queen to invite me to court,” Ami said. “She liked me well enough.”
“No,” he whispered in a dagger-sharp voice. “I would leave you at the steps to hell before I would allow you at court.”
For a chance to win the same in my regular monthly drawing, just leave a comment here today or on any post in September. Good luck and Happy Fall!
And now...Drum Roll.......Finally, it's the day we've all been looking forward to! Today's guest speaker is historical romance author Keena Kincaid, fellow Rose and Bookspa friend, who graciously shares a bit of her life and her writing philosophies with us, as well as the blurb and an excerpt from Enthralled, her exciting new sequel to Ties That Bind. If you're wondering where my questions came from, most come from the Bio page on Keena's beautiful website, and others from her funny, insightful, and always interesting blog, Typos and All. Welcome, Keena!
Tell us about your Dirty Little Secrets (Workshop).
This workshop focuses on helping authors build three-dimensional characters through the use of their secrets, and then how to use these secrets to propel the plot. My inspiration for the workshop isn't just my own characters, who all seem to have secrets, but also soap operas. I love the twisted, crazy secrets that soap opera heroines and heroes keep--and all the crazy things they do to keep those secrets! I'm giving it right now (September 6 - 30) for Elements RWA. Anyone interested in hosting this workshop, please go to my website for more information.
Give us an example of a mathmatically challenged knight.
Well, from the time my nephews and nieces were toddlers, story time has been one of our favorite activities. They'd gather around, and I'd tell them another installment in the ongoing adventures of the half-faery siblings Alden, Master of the Green Realm, and Freyda, Mistress of the Mirror, and their dragon-lord cousin, Joel (my niece and nephews, of course). Alden can never keep track of the magical arrows in his quiver, and he can't defeat the red wizard until he figures out a basic math problem. It was a way to help my nephew master math.
Tell us more about life to the left of nowhere, and how you incorporate the experience in your books.
I grew up in a small, small farm town and lived all the hallmarks of small town life, i.e. I graduated with most of the kids with whom I went to kindergarten, everyone knew everyone else's business, and whenever I got in trouble at school, at least three people called Mom before I got home that afternoon. There's a type of forced intimacies in small towns that I find very applicable to my 12th-century setting because most of my books take place in crowded castles where everyone knows everyone else's business.
I see you grew up with pigs, cows, brothers, and a half-broke pony named Star. Care to share any sibling stories?
Interesting how you slipped those brothers in there, like they were just another aspect of living on a farm :). Nothing in particular sticks out. Like most brothers and sisters, we argued, but I think we covered for each other more often than we tattled on each other. My mother, in particular, wanted us to be close, and she never encouraged tattling. In fact, we usually got in more trouble for tattling than the one tattled on.
What do you like the best about medieval history?
I'm not sure I can narrow it to one thing or even one sentence. It's a period of change that served as the nursery for much of how we think and what we believe. Most of the our present rituals have roots in this era, yet we know so little of day-to-day life. As a writer, the time period provides a lot of story fodder.
What do you find the most confining when writing about that time period, and how do you overcome that?
The cliches are most confining. Everyone thinks Knights in Shining Armor and Damsels in Distress. But not only was the code of chivalry more like a guideline, it also only applied to noblewomen (if them). If you were a peasant in the field, a knight was the last thing you wanted to see. Additionally, what little we know of medieval women hardly fits the"damsel" motif. There are numerous accounts of women defending castles against siege that defy the stereotype. However, this is what readers know, so it's a balancing act.
Ties that Bind was a finalist for best Paranormal Romance in the 2010 RomCon Reader's Crown Choice Contest. Congratulations! What can you tell us about RomCon?
RomCon was fabulous. I had a great time and met hundreds of readers. And the sessions were fun. The paranormal tea, speed date an author and the murder-mystery game were my favorites.
I see you're an inveterate traveler. Do you travel light or heavy? What tips can you offer to the uninitiated?
I travel light. I did a lot of backpacking in college. When you carry everything you have on your back, you learn how little you really need. I apply the same when traveling. So I only bring essentials--a few changes of clothes and my computer. My best tips: Layers, wear most pieces of clothes more than once, and decide whether your base color is going to black or brown. That way, you only need to take one pair of shoes.
Let's do some word association: I give you four words and you tell me what comes to mind when you read them:
Intrepid--This makes me think of Liza, my heroine from ANAM CARA. She's definitely a woman who keeps moving in her chosen direction regardless ofwhat happens (until she meets the hero, of course).
Spontaneous--My writing process. Yes, I'm a pantser. LOL!
Wanderlust--An incurable affliction that expensive to treat.
Mystical--This would be the druids in my stories. The hero and his family are descended from druids, but as you know, by the 12th century that society was long past. So they have--as Aedan (hero from TIES THAT BIND) assumes--all the fun without any of the responsibility.
What's up next for Keena?
My next book, Enthralled, sequel to Ties that Bind, comes out October 22. The two share an external conflict and villain, but have different lead couples.
Blurb:
To claim her, he must abandon home, duty, and honor-or reveal the secret of her Sidhe heritage and risk losing her forever to dark magic. William of Ravenglas wants only one woman-his foster sister, Ami-but she is promised to another, a fate sealed by his father's recklessness. Resolved to her forfeiture, he forges a dangerous path to bring stability to the house of Ravenglas, balancing the secret demands of the queen against loyalty to the king.
Ami, true sister to Aedan ap Owen the minstrel, refuses her fate. She wants William. But when his kiss awakens her dormant magic, it triggers cascading events that sweep her into the queen's fiendish web and threatens William's life.
Now Ami must learn to control her fey powers or watch William die. But with a mystery lover in his past, even if she succeeds will he truly be hers?
Excerpt:
“You would not dance with me earlier.” Ami stilled, surprised by her own blurting.
“You know why.”
William’s vague acknowledgement of what stood between them shivered and stretched through her, sparking hope and dread. He stared at the flames until the light must have blinded him.
“You kissed me,” she whispered, “on the steps, not a month ago. You…”
“I have kissed you many times.”
“Not like that. Not with…” The memory alone nearly erased her ability to think. He’d not kissed her, but practically claimed her. His mouth firm and confident, her body pressed between his and the wall, no inch of him left to her imagination. The kiss had changed her, and if Aedan and Tess hadn’t interrupted them, he could’ve taken her maidenhead on Carlisle’s steps. She would’ve welcomed the loss. “I would not say no,” she whispered.
“You are not free to give me your consent.” William lowered his hands, his fingers fisting at his side. “Nor I am free to accept it. I cannot give you what you wish, Ami,” he said, the pain his in voice as sharp as a shearing blade. “Ever.”
“But you wish it, too.”
“My wishes are as irrelevant as yours.”
“Irrelevant?” She stepped away from the bittersweet warmth of his presence. The heavy pain in her chest was not irrelevant. Nor was the bitter anger boiling in her stomach.
“You are promised to Hugh of Braose.”
“I do not want to wed him, William,” she whispered. “Please do not make me.”
He turned away from her. “I cannot change that or the terms of the marriage contract. Even if I could, I would not. ’Tis for our elevation.”
“Your elevation.”
“The entire family will benefit. That is the whole point of marriage.”
She looked at the spoon in her hand, tempted to rake it across his face, tried to imagine a lifetime without him and failed. “We grew up in a cold home. Do not put me in another one.”
He stepped closer, captured her in the pool of heat that was as much a part of him as the stick up his ass that made turning him midcourse next to impossible. “’Twill be your home. You can make it as bright and warm as you want.”
The spoon bent in her hand. “Not without…”
You. She swallowed the word, tossed away the mangled utensil and set her hand against his chest. The agitated pace of his heart pulsed against her fingers as the tug-of-war between desire and duty held him motionless.
“Please do not do this to me.”
She let her fear rise to her eyes, pushed it through her body, from her skin to his.
“Stop, Ami. I know your tricks.” He lifted her hand from his chest. “And I will not be swayed by them as I was as a boy. I have already sent a note to Papa. I told him you would be brought home, soon.”
“What?” For a moment, she was frozen by disbelief, then fury swept through her like a forest fire. Wood popped in the hearth, and the kitchen brightened. “Brought home?”
Grabbing his chin, she forced his gaze to hers.
“I will not be dismissed, shuffled off like a cow to market. I will not go. Do you hear me? I will not.”
“Ami, you must go back. I leave with the queen.”
“Then I will ask the queen to invite me to court,” Ami said. “She liked me well enough.”
“No,” he whispered in a dagger-sharp voice. “I would leave you at the steps to hell before I would allow you at court.”
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
What I'm Reading...
Short and sweet today. If you only read one book this year, let it be this one! You won’t regret it. Once you do, you’ll realize how normal you are. That alone makes it worth its weight in gold.
Until next time…happy reading!
Until next time…happy reading!
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