Image acquired from the Internet Hive Mind via ifunny.com
Blog
Editing Rants: Oxford Comma Rules!
Image acquired from the Internet Hive Mind
It’s official; the Oxford comma rules! Yes, a Maine Court on March 13, 2017 ruled in favor of a labor dispute based on the Oxford comma.
Happy, happy dance. Read all about it here: “A court’s decision in a Maine labor dispute hinged on the absence of an Oxford comma“
…. why no, I am not obsessed about the Oxford comma in the least.
Previous comma posts are here: Editing Rant: Clean up #1 – Commas; Editing Rant: No just no; Other Cool Blogs: Pictures.
(okay, maybe a little)
Flash: Lips
Rating: Mature
The mesmerizing lips drew back redder than when they approached. Julia compelled her eyes open with difficulty; her last orgasm was still rifting through her body. She barely felt the ropes tying her wrists and ankles that kept her body attached to the chair even when her spine had bent in half from pleasure.
Kade’s tongue flicked out to gather the salty red moisture before it dripped. Julia’s eyes watched the motion and her nipples tightened. As he continued to back up, she tried to focus on those behind him. Every time she looked at him all she wanted to do was beg for more. Oh God, so much more.
He only had a taste. A quick bite. The movement of his finger tracing his lips as he considered her with black alien orbs brought her eyes back to the most wonderful, pleasurable, frightening thing in her world. Her breath was drawn from her. His teeth so perfect.
Breaking contact, Kade’s black eyes became engrossed by the single drop of blood left on his index finger.
Julia heard the scraps and movements of others in the room. She searched inward for terror. The kidnapping, the ride, the punches, and being tied up. She had wanted to scream and scream and could not. She tried to struggle and could not.
Now satisfaction provided calm and languish to her mind and muscles. She could scream now but didn’t want to. Too much effort. The logical part of her mind tried to prod the emotional side to panic with no avail. Eventually it gave up.
Trying to puzzle out the black and the beings inhabiting it would take energy Julia no longer had. She felt so good. The easiest thing to focus on was Kade’s lips.
“My dear little angel,” the lips formed words. “You are a tasty treat like few others.”
The head and body turned denying her view of the lips for a precious few seconds. “I wish I had known,” Kade projected to the four corners as he spun. “I wouldn’t have a called for a joint feast but kept this morsel for myself.”
Kade knelt in front of her and whispered; the sound still carried. “But I did and I will not renounce my invitation to share.”
She watched as the lips approached, hoping. She moaned as they drew back when he stood from paradise lost.
“Harris, Pascal, Eugene. Please, my friends, partake a sip. Remember to leave enough for the others to savor.”
(words 415 – originally appearing at Sunday Fun on Breathless Press 1/20/2013 -The original photo was of unknown copyright so did not put on my site – published on old blog 1/20/2013; republished in new blog format on 4/9/2017)
Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words May 8, 2014
Amazon Cover for: This Crumbling Pageant
Write Scared
Award winning screenwriter and best-selling novelist Patricia Burroughs did a guest appearance on Magical Words in 2014 as part of a book tour for This Crumbling Pageant. The blog “Of Adders and Writing Process” meanders for a while, setting the stage. But she eventually cracks down to her take away advice:
…As a writer, you must write those scenes that scare you. … Write about whatever your story requires and your characters deserve, especially if the thought of putting those words on <paper> terrifies you. Write the scenes you are afraid people will judge you for. … If your book needs them, if your characters deserve them, you have to write them…
You can read the full posting and related comments here: s/
WRITING EXERCISE: Look over your body of work. Have you ever written scared? Have you ever avoided writing scared?
Book Review: Homegrown Herb Garden
Book Cover from Amazon
As you know, some of my arts include gardening and cooking. I really enjoyed this book.
Homegrown Herb Garden: A Guide to Growing and Culinary Uses by Lisa Morgan and Ann McCormick
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON
Take your home cooking to the next level by incorporating fresh homegrown herbs! You don’t need lots of space for a huge herb garden, and you don’t need to spend a lot of money on fresh herbs at the grocery store or farmers’ market. With Homegrown Herb Garden, you can choose the herb or herbs you will use the most and build your herb garden around them. Start with an overview of how to grow, harvest, and store herbs. Then, learn how to handle each herb and what flavors they work well with. The culinary section includes how to prepare and use your herbs, plus savory and sweet recipes to feature them in. Choose your favorite herbs, learn to grow them successfully, and never be at a loss for what to do with them!
MY REVIEW
Book comes in two parts 25% herbs and 75% recipes for those herbs. Total herbs covered 15; total recipes provided 62.
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for in an herb book! Each of the fifteen herbs are given height/width growth, water needs, and harvest instructions. The instructions for growing in containers are real instructions instead of the normal “appropriate size container and water regularly” – root depth is covered for instance. Whether the herb is a candidate for early start in house and transfer out to the garden or if it is best just to directly plant it in the garden (tranplantability). Etc.
Ms. McCormick lets the reader know when best to harvest and why (in case you ever wondered why you need to harvest early in the morning). Everything you need to set up an herb garden is here. It is amazing. Why more gardening books don’t do I don’t know. This changed how I was going to set up my garden – now I am going to split it into the “wet” and “dry” sections. Five stars all the way.
I don’t have herbs yet (still setting up the garden), so haven’t tried out the recipe section. The recipes are complicated, created by Le Cordon Bleu trained Chef Morgan – beautiful, but complicated. I may eventually attempt one or two (the rosemary chocolate chip cookie recipe is very tempting). At the beginning of each herb recipe section (at least three recipes for each of the fifteen herbs), includes best pairings with the herbs – what types of cheeses, meats, fruits & vegetables. I don’t see myself using that information very much, but new cooks working toward mastery of the kitchen may find it useful. More helpful is how to chop/use each herb in a dish – but I got most of that from the herb section. I found Chef Morgan’s sectioning herbs into woody and grassing completely unhelpful for my purposes – but I totally can see another cook getting an “a-ha” moment and running with it.
So for the recipe section, I would give two stars (Goodreads – it was okay) or three stars (Amazon – it was okay). But the herb section was so exactly what I have been looking for – and I have gone through a lot of online searches and gardening book reading, I know how rare this is and would have bought the book JUST for the herb section (in fact I did buy it just for the herb section) – I had to give this manuscript Five Stars.