UPDATE: The winner is…Cara!
*~*~*

We never see this. Well, almost never. We can have years in between seeing a blanket of snow, so we savor it. Strange, I know. But the kids have dug through drawers to find gloves they never need and find boots that won’t soak up water in a second to go play in the snow. Mind you, the “kids” are 11, 16, and 20—plus my dear daughter, whose age I won’t mention.

Other than ensuring our many animals (goats, horse, geese, and chickens) are all safe and have food and shelter, they are in play mode. Mom (my dd) made two big pots of soup yesterday for us to nosh on whenever we get hungry—taco soup and tortilla soup. What is the difference? Oh, big difference the way she makes them. One has beans and beef the other is purely veg and spice. They had a karaoke night last night in the living room—always hilarious. We all nap when we want (me, more than the others).

So far, no power outages other than yesterday morning’s inexplicable loss. The temperature will warm up above freezing tonight, but not long enough to melt everything. So, tomorrow, we expect a lot of ice on the roads and patches of snow. We’ll be stuck inside another day, which I love, but which may be kind of confining to the kids since one day of snow is fun, two is boring, right?

Anyway, strange day. Terrible fires in LA, a president-elect sort of held accountable for his crimes, continued weirdness about which countries we’re going to annex/conquer because we can… I’m happy to turn off the news, enjoy the winter wonderland outside, and simply be happy I’m here to see another snow fall.

I hope you are all safe and cozy in your homes.

For fun, I’m including a memory game for you to play! Exercise that gray matter! It’ll help you keep sharp, promise. I’m using the images from my OG bounty hunter series set in Bear Lodge, MT—Montana Bounty Hunters.

Enjoy the game. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what you see when you look outside. Do you have snow on the ground? Is it raining, sunny? Do you have big plans for the weekend? Have fun!

UPDATE: The winner is…Angela Carter!
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So, the other day, I posted a poll to choose the next theme for another Boys Behaving Badly Anthology. The winner of the poll is “Burn”—a tentative title. I’m okay with that. So, authors start thinking about how you can use heat/burning/fire in a short story between 2500 to 5500 words. I’ll put together a Call for Submissions soon and make a formal announcement.

Ugh. My puzzle generator changed, and I don’t like change. I hope it works similarly to the old version. Since I’ve settled on a theme for the antho, I thought I might list some ideas authors might play with for their stories. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me which idea you love. If you have another idea to offer, I’m sure authors would love to see it!

UPDATE: The winner is…Margaret!
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The weather’s taken a decidedly cold turn here in central Arkansas—and I don’t likey. Tessa (my lovely, grumpy cat) and I could not be coaxed out of bed early today. The first alarm went off and I rolled over, the cat yowled a complaint, and back to sleep we went. It’s supposed to be really chilly for the next week. Bleh. I’m ready for pool weather.

Last night, all the girls sat in the living room, snug beneath our blankets, as we watched Wicked. Even my hard-to-please daughter loved it. I would definitely recommend it. After the movie, we ate hot apple pie. I went to bed feeling all warm and cozy with the cat snuggled at the top of my pillow to keep my bald head warm. It’s quite a sight, but I won’t be sharing any pictures! Today, my daughter is hoping I’ll feel up to a flea market jaunt and maybe dinner out. I’ll have to nap all the way up until the time we go, pop a pain pill, and then I’ll be ready for it. I’ll be leaning on the shopping cart in the store.

I can’t wait for the day I can do something spontaneous and fun without worrying about whether I’ll drag ass and drag everyone else down. Not that they would ever complain. Anyway, I do have a plan for today, and you can bet I’ll be bundled up in layers of warm clothing. I hope you have a wonderful Saturday!

Solve the puzzle, then for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what you love to do when the temperatures take a nosedive.

UPDATE: The winner is…Cindy!
*~*~*

I’m pretty miserable right now, but it’s all part of the process and very predictable at this point. I just have to weather another week of aches and pains (like intense charley horses). Thank goodness for hydrocodone! Oh, and Benadryl. The latter helps knock me into sleep better than anything. Right now, it’s aches in my legs and feet. I like being clear-eyed for at least the first part of the day so I can get some work done and update my budget sheet/pay some bills. So, no pain relief just yet. This afternoon, I’ll take a hydro, then join the family to watch Wicked! I can’t wait!

In the meantime, let’s play! We haven’t played this game since last summer!

I bought this little brainstorming tool years ago at some writers’ conference. “Story Cubes” is a brainstorming game. You roll the dice, and whatever pictures appear face-up are the ones you use to riff off a story. You can try to include all the cubes in your “story” or choose a few. The story you tell doesn’t have to be long or even any good. They all count!

To make this fun, I’ll offer a prize—a $5 Amazon gift card—good for purchasing one or two stories…
Have fun with this! Don’t overthink! Here’s the roll…

UPDATE: The winner is…Beckie!
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Christmas decorations are still up, but it’s time to make some plans for the New Year!

Is this something you like to do? Do you set resolutions? Plan to join Weight Watchers? Sign up for yoga classes at the local rec center? Set a budget to improve your finances? Maybe plan a trip or two?

Every year, always, I set plans in motion. Some goals I achieve, some I lose interest in working on by mid-January, but others, are a constant work in progress. I love the process of planning for a new year—and it always begins with my writing goals. Seeing as I abandoned writing in August due to my diagnosis, I’m a bit wary of setting goals too far in the future, and I have tons of self-doubt about whether I can ever achieve my former productivity, but I am going to set some goals anyway as something to shoot for. And I’ll go for pie-in-the-sky because I’m an optimist, and if I have to adjust later, ah well. I have to have goals and starting points to remain motivated.

So, for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle to keep that gray matter functioning, then tell me whether you have any goals for the new year, big or small. 

UPDATE: The winner is…Beckie!
*~*~*

Believe it or not, I was searching for a Night Before Christmas kind of image and came across an illustration that took me down a rabbit hole. There is another Night Before Christmas story, written in the second volume of an 1832 collection of stories, Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka by Nikolai Gogol. It’s much darker than the lovely poem we read to our kids. It’s set in the Ukraine and begins with a witch flying across the sky and the devil stealing the moon and hiding it in his pocket. He wants the sky dark because he has a beef with a blacksmith of a small village and wants to be able to sneak up on him. When he comes down to the town to search for the blacksmith, he finds the witch, who hides him when townsfolk come searching for him. It’s a tale with twists. The blacksmith is in love with the village beauty, who sends him on a quest to steal the Tsarina’s slippers before she agrees to marry him. The witch ends up capturing the mayor and another man and hiding them in coal sacks. The blacksmith, after pretending to be dead, overpowers the devil, and forces him to fly him to see the tsarina (the future Catherine the Great), and she gives him the slippers. All ends well of course, and there is an opera dedicated to the story by Tchaikovsky…but Google it if you want to learn more.

In the meantime, I (and you) have learned there is another Night Before Christmas tale out there!

Solve the puzzle to see Solokha and the Devil! Then, for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me whether you’d love to see the other Night Before Christmas story given a bit of sunlight so more people know about it! Would you prefer to see it in a film? Or rewritten as a children’s fairytale?

UPDATE: The winner is…Beth!
*~*~*

Counting down the days until Christmas, trying to come up with holiday-themed posts, can be hard! I do love movies, though. I read all day long (editing, writing), and when I want a break, it’s not a book I gravitate to. I love movies. I love the full immersive experience. Lights off, volume up. After Thanksgiving, I get serious about hunting down holiday movies to watch with the family, and we’ve watched quite a few, so far: Elf, Hot Frosty, National Lampoon’s A Christmas Vacation… I know we’ve watched a couple of others, but they escape my mind.

Last night, the 15-year-old and I sat down to watch my favorite (and yes, it is a Christmas movie!), Die Hard. Get this. She’s 15—and had never seen it. When it was over, she said, “Best Christmas movie ever!” I feel so vindicated. LOL

Because there’s still time to fit a few more movies in, I’m looking for your suggestions. I listed the new film, Red One in the puzzle below, because I’m hoping to talk my family into watching another action flick with me (my favorite genre!). For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, give me some more suggestions for holiday movies to watch!