Holiday Celebrations that are Out of this World - my science fiction #ff for the #WEPff December challenge.

Here we are! WEP's final challenge for the year 2015. Today we have been asked to present our entry with a science-fiction flavour. That was a big ask, so Yolanda and I asked the ninja, Alex, to do a guest post on writing in this genre. It helped my feeble efforts, so I hope it helped others.

But my default genre is romance, so, sure, I think I cover some of the science fiction tropes, but I meandered off into the realms of romance, mixed up a little with ironic words from George Orwell's 1984. 

I hope you enjoy my foray into sci-fi. Click on the badge to read more entries.

The Pod Faded to Black

Rachel was skinny, wan, with hair dank brown, darkening to black. Her eyes were grey mist, inviting closer scrutiny. Edward wondered why he felt a strange emotion on seeing her. It grew in his chest and moved upwards, causing his throat to tighten. When he spoke, he sounded like a schoolboy. 

Edward didn't understand Rachael's attraction. He didn't understand attraction, full stop. Random attraction wasn't encouraged on Xcelsior. But Rachel. He counted it as extraordinary luck that he worked side by side at the Ministry of Literature with a legend. She was probably the greatest writer of this generation. 

They met regularly at the Xcelsior Social Gathering of Like Minds for New Reincarnates. Both had been teleported to Xcelsior--she from Bandanland, he from Paradox 21--to prepare for the Annual Holiday Gathering and End of Year ReBooting of Minds. Edward was a poet. They needed his pen to create uplifting, soulful words for the Season of Celebration of Technological Miracles.

Rachel was already quite famous on Bandanland and beyond for her romance volumes which were widely distributed in special reading pods throughout the galaxy. Her exquisite words filled a void in the population who suffered from a surfeit of technology, whose regimented lives permitted no idle time for reality romance. Indeed, Rachel’s first lecture addressing the New Politic had been revealing: she’d waxed eloquent on the need for love and romance in people’s lives to make a sterile world more palpable. Edward, always a coward, had studiously kept his face passive, as he’d seen the Grand Enforcer and his minions frowning at her tender words. Finding partners for the population was their domain.

During the Social Time that followed, he found Rachel had not read any of his poetry. Few people had. He was a pedant, but the poems he penned on his stylistic device were empty, soulless, utilitarian. The poems in his head, they were a different thing entirely. Thirty-first-century poets in the Poleaxer Galaxy were obscure, even more irrelevant than their predecessors on the defunct planet Old Earth from which the Reincarnates sprang.

Rachel and Edward. They were the only people at the Social Gathering who were not involved in the intricacies of the New Politic skirmishes. The two of them often ended up in a dark corner, talking about their shared love of the literature of Old Earth.

‘I do miss having someone who knows who Shakespeare was,’ Edward hissed, well aware he had just committed Thoughtcrime. ‘I recite his sonnets by heart every morning. It helps me retain a fragment of my soul.’ He beckoned her to follow him and they leaned against a wall of glass impregnated with bright rolling lights which reminded him of drunken snakes. He squeezed his eyes shut and imagined a bright picture of the Bard instead. The lights were meant to stimulate your mind, but they unnerved him, and his glass of Health-Giving Herbal Tincture trickled down his once-pristine white jacket much like the edicts from the New Politic trickled down into his mind, displacing the finer things of his life.

Edward hated who he’d become. He felt the person he’d been, his reincarnation, was of a farmer on Old Earth, happily tilling soil and gathering real food.

“Looking around me,’ Rachel whispered, as to be heard speaking words that typified Ownlife was dangerous in this company, ‘I don’t see anyone who appears to have a soul.”

Rachel’s face, when she looked at him, seemed lacking. Her muscles and tendons didn’t really support her face frame. Odd. Was she a reincarnation or a robot?

“The only thing I find scintillating is literature and –”

“And?’ There was that unfamiliar pumping feeling in his wellspring, a strange bellyfeel. ‘Why don’t we move away from these drunken snakes to OurSpace?”

Edward knew then that he was going to love and romance her, despite it being a Sexcrime and despite her odd face. He knew they would make Goodsex together. But partnering was ordered by the New Politic. They would be relegated to the status of Unpersonhood if discovered.

They settled on an ugly plastic couch which could be impregnated with listening pods, so he spoke quietly. If the Love Ministry heard his next words he’d be subjected to ReOrientation Activity class after work each day. He’d be locked away until early in the Year Next because everyone would be busy practicing Relaxation, ReCommuning and Mindfulness to prepare for new technological discoveries.

“So we have to do something about this dearth of literature,” he said. Both knew to substitute “romance” for “literature.”

Rachel smiled. At that moment Edward understood why her face seemed curious and incomplete. Her face was a superstructure which until now had never supported a smile.

They did not, of course, return to his pod and sleep the night clasped in each other’s arms, although that was what Edward had on his mind. Instead, he invited her to join him for his Early Rising Feast the following morning. It was Xcelsior’s Annual Holiday Gathering and End of Year ReBooting of Minds’s Eve, so they would be offered a glass of historic Egg Nog that had originated on Old Earth. The eggy drink would be followed by Xcelsior’s chef’s attempt at pancakes created with nano-blasted cereal pellets drowned in manufactured sweetener mimicking honey found on Old Earth.

***  

Those first moments as they found their table for the Early Rising Egg Nog and Pancakes feast were a new, exciting dance. Sipping their fat, yellow drinks that brought a sparkle to Rachel’s cheeks, Edward thought: This is what it feels like to be alive. I never knew this feeling inside before. Rachel and he were like two ballet dancers executing a new move. Touch. Swirl. Touch. He dreamed of lazy hazy days in the country, running through fields of sweet grasses. 

Something sparked between them. Satiated by a full stomach, he asked her to join him at the Simulated Ozarks’ pod to see the flaming maples. Rachel accepted. In the Ozarks, Edward would be himself, his best self.

When they were surrounded by a particularly fine farmhouse amid crimson and vermilion foliage, he whispered to her his secret poems on country life.

When he finished, they kissed with a careful passion. This was going to be the best Annual Holiday Gathering and End of Year ReBooting of Minds in history.

Then the pod turned black.

WORDS: 1064

FCA

Thanks for coming by and reading my story. I hope you check out more stories. Not so many this month! 

Blogging beats other social media...at least for my readers. And a little romance...

Hello everyone!

My post for IWSG (below) was about whether we preferred blogging over other social media. It seems (not surprisingly) those who visit me prefer blogging. That's good to know. Most commenters who prefer blogging stated, however, that they have changed the way they blog. Instead of daily, or thrice-weekly posts, most are posting once a week. Personally, I think once a week is enough to keep in touch and have your little soapbox/inspirational/crafty moment, but more importantly, it enables us to devote more time to our writing.

Apparently, Wednesdays and Thursdays are the prime blog post reading days, so if you post once a week, maybe you, like me, are posting around Wednesday.

Today I am giving a shout out to my monthly bloghop, WEP, which is there to give writers of any ilk the chance to participate in a writing prompt. It is a great way to get feedback, and some (including myself) have used the bloghop to write a serial that will evolve into a publishable novella. It's amazing how the prompt can shape the story.

Some of you know that WEP evolved from RomanticFridayWriters, but that shut out those who didn't write romance, or didn't think they did. But most of us agree that whatever the genre, often a romantic element gives the story that buzz, that tension, that isn't present if there's no hint of romance.

I saw The Fault in our Stars yesterday. For those of you who've read the book, I highly recommend the movie which stays very true to the book. Even though this is a story of living with a terminal illness, without the romance between Hazel and Gus the story would not have been nearly as engaging. Their romance gave readers/viewers a focus for their shattered emotions as they viewed teenage angst from another point of view.

So, on Wednesday 24th June - Friday 26th June, I invite you to dabble in romance if you haven't before, or post romantic photos, post a photo essay from a romantic city/place/time in your life, pen romantic poetry, get your vamp on...whatever you fancy! There's a $10 Amazon Gift Card for the most creative entry!

As a taster for the ROMANCE prompt, here is a romance with a twist I wrote a couple of years ago for #FridayFlash when I got my vamp on...I hope you enjoy it.

I remember when the sky stretched above me, high and blue. I remember it filtering through the branches in slivers of light.

You reached out your hand and took the picnic blanket, red and black, made of the softest wool. You shook it free from its folds, its tassels floating in the afternoon breeze, until it settled onto the thick grass.

Mesmerised, I watched the rise and fall of your arms, then you stepped forward, held those arms out to me.

There we lay, bathed in sunlight and joy, inhaling the sweet smell of the sea.

So wrapped were we in each other we didn't notice the air had become cool.

I turn and see the stranger who is no stranger.

The strength of him is like nothing I've seen. His powerful arms fling me aside as if I were a rag doll. My face is in the grass. I squirm to the side, my head thick and throbbing.

I hear my Adoni grunt. The stranger is a madman. The two men struggle, but Adoni is no match for those arms, muscles like steel ropes, squeezing. 

Adoni is failing.

I fling myself onto the madman's back. I feel helpless but Adoni needs me. 

Pulling, pulling, on the ropey arms. The stranger turns to me and I see eyes gleaming like underwater stones.

It is the moment of inattention Adoni needs.

"Rialdo!" he screams. "She's mine now. Let us be!"

The madman falls to his knees. I peer closer. It is Rialdo. I remember the sweetness of our love...but this is another Rialdo, a man undone by love, Adoni's and mine.

I drop to my knees and face him.

"Adoni speaks truly, Rialdo. Our love was of another time, another world."

"My world is bleak and black without you, my love. I have come for you."

"No!" I hear Adoni scream.

Rialdo's eyes burn red in the fading light.

"No!" I echo Adoni's scream, dread thrumming through me. "I must stay with Adoni. He is my life now! We have many years of earthly pleasure before us."

"I'm sorry my beloved, but I must take you with me this time. Now. You will be mine into eternity."

I remember the last earthly sound I heard. It was the rustling of the leaves in the trees at the edge of the forest and my name in the wind - "Elspeth! Elspeth! Stay!"

Over to you...

You can practise your short stories, flash fiction, poetry etc during the WEP challenge each month. Current prompt - ROMANCE. You can sign up right here in my sidebar or visit WRITE...EDIT..PUBLISH.Love to have you - you can request critique, suggestions...we may even help you get published!!

Insecure Writers Support Group Post - What's your writing routine? Are you 'over' blogging?

Hello everyone!

I'm not actually feeling insecure this week, but I'm feeling somewhat overwhelmed. You know how it is, too much to do, too little time. So maybe I'm insecure in prioritizing. How about you? Is this a strength for you or a weakness?

Some writers work on one project at a time, keep at it until  it's finished, submitted and accepted for publication, then move on to their next project. Does that sound like you?

I, along with many of you, I suspect, work on projects as the spirit move me - from flash fiction pieces for the WEP monthly bloghop (which is turning into a novella set in Paris), short stories for competitions and magazines, and working on one particular novel that requires a re-write in many areas before submission. while other short stories and novels languish on my hard drive.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had the whole day to write? That happens very occasionally to me, but my daily routine includes teaching English for 20+ hours a week, plus prep. time, critiquing for my online critique group, occasional critiquing for writer's group members, reviewing books, attending book launches for friends who actually finish a book and publish it, not to mention the usual domestics.

Then there's social media, which as we all know, takes shameful amounts of time away from everything else if we don't control it. Lately I've been seeing blog posts about bloggers who are  'over' blogging in favour of facebook, twitter, tumblr, Google+ etc, all of which take less time than the drain of creating blog posts, the demands of visiting other blogs (if you want people to visit you, some of whom will actually read your posts) and an over all disenchantment with something that used to delight them.

I don't know about you, but I still find blogging the most satisfying of the social media, but its time commitment is a worry. Facebook, twitter etc don't require much commitment, just a quick in and out to show you're still alive and cooking.

Over to you...

• Do you feel secure about your writing life/schedule?
• Do you have social media sorted so that it enhances your writing rather than interferes with it?
• Are you 'over' blogging in favour of other less-demanding social media?

Go here to find other posts for IWSG.

Before I go, one thing I'm not insecure about is creating a writing space for those bloggers who like writing prompts. Write...Edit...Publish has a ROMANCE prompt for June, acknowledged as the most romantic month of the year as it's when most brides marry (in Australia, it's September - the beginning of Spring). So why is Geo's and my wedding anniversary tomorrow, June 5?? 

For the WEP prompt, you can deal with romance however you wish - it doesn't have to be wine, chocolate and roses (but that is a nice thought) - it could be a photo essay set in romantic spots close to home or abroad - it could be a tale of romance gone cold - it could be an extra-terrestial romance. Any ideas? I would love it if you posted to the prompt. I am offering a prize of a $10 Amazon Gift Card  to the entry I consider the most creative use of the prompt. If I am overwhelmed with entries, I will offer a second prize of a $5 Amazon Gift Card.

Details for submitting at are Write...Edit...Publish, but basically you just add your link to the Submit List which will be posted in early June.

 

COLOUR - Choosing a colour to suit your brand. What colour are you?

Hello fellow bloggers!

Well, Halloween's over. The HAUNTING blogfest was excellent. Now I have to decide which story intrigued me most for the $10 Amazon Gift Card. Thank you to all the participants! What great quality stories, poems and photos!

Yes, I'm huddled away beginning my latest NaNovel, but I love blogging so much I decided not to take a hiatus;  rather I prepared a few posts ahead of schedule. I will come by after I put in my writing hours and comment.

Today I'm going to share something with you that I've been pondering awhile. I keep changing my blog look because I'm never happy with my colours. That has partly been because I'm a pink girl, and haven't wanted to shout that out too loudly in case those of you who are deep, dark and serious take one look and run! Egad!

I've finally stopped toying with pink and embraced my favourite colour (which is closely followed by white and blue). I've worked up a collage for my new header which says it all - I love Pink. Hope you like it.

WHY DO BLOGGERS USE SUCH VARIED COLOUR COMBINATIONS FOR THEIR BLOGS?

Look around you at the different colours that represent various bloggers in the community. We have Roland Yeoman's black, Donna Hole's yellow, Alex J Cavanaugh's blue, J. L. Campbell's pinkish tones, Yolanda Renee's brown (now she's gone and changed some of it!) Somehow these colours just seem right for these bloggers. Why? If they read this, I hope they'll tell us!

Colour selection is one of the key elements of building a strong brand. Every colour has a different feel and associations. By choosing a colour or a combination of colors for your brand, you will take on those associations. Colours will evoke certain emotions and feelings towards your brand so it's vital to choose a colour that will represent your identity effectively.

There's been a ton of research on this topic, and I can but scratch the surface today. It has been shown that people make a subconscious judgement about a person, think...blog and other social media...within 90 seconds of their initial viewing. Between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone. Getting the message? Colour is HUGE! 

WHY COLOUR MATTERS

Where to start? Colour symbolizes your product, in this case you and your social media presence. By combining the same colours (usually two or three), your brand will be recognizable on any social media, very useful if you have a product to promote.

Have you heard of the great new tool to help with color selection--Cymbolism? It’s an interactive survey of colour and word associations. Every page loads a new word, for which you have to select a colour you feel best represents it. You can see most popular associations either by colour or by word in the image below.

To help you select the right colour for your brand, here are the results from Cymbolism, and there are some examples of brands that use each colour:

Now do you think this chart represents your colour choices? I decided my pink (belonging to the purple spectrum) pretty much describes me -- romantic (and a little bit Victorian, haha), decadent (with my love of chocolate and other sensuous things in life), elegant, stylish (hmm...in my dreams)...but overall, pink describes my personality pretty much to a T. 

Perhaps you align yourself with the brands who choose not to associate themselves with one colour. Instead of two or three colours, they choose four or more. This represents variety. These brands are usually platforms that host a vast amount of different applications or goods.

There are also two more colours that haven’t made it on the list: black and white. These are arguably not even colours, and they will go well with pretty much everything you choose. In Western culture, white is considered the colour of purity and peace, but in some parts of Asia white is the colour of death. However, cultural differences aside, on a social media platform white provides a clean background to add images/text to. (Many people prefer to read black text on a white background above all others.) Black is a heavy colour, but also complementary to many others. Used on a blog or other social media site it would suggest serious, deep and dark to all who come by.

HOW TO SELECT YOUR COLOUR

Look through the table above for a quick overview of what each colour represents. Of course, your opinion may differ. Some questions to ask yourself:

• What colour represents me--thus your brand's personality?
• What colour suits the characteristics of my product/service?
• What colour will give my readers the best impression the first time they see it?

You aren’t limited to one colour. Some brands like eBay choose to go with many colors to represent variety — but you can also choose a couple of colours that work well together. I like pink, white and blue.

In the competitive world of colour selection, it is often suggested you pick a different colour than that of your competitors. If you are a romance writer, for example, nothing says it like pink, (unless of course you write dark paranormal romance etc.) so you will have to find something edgy so you don't blend homogeneously into the background. Find something to make your pink more alluring than all the others.

If you're interested in further reading on this topic, I've found some links. I haven't checked all of them recently, so some may be dead, but here are some tools and resources you may find useful:

Articles and Resources:

• Color in Motion
• Veerle Pieters: Choosing Color Combinations
• Xerox Exchange: Choosing a Color for Your Business
• Why Color Matters
• Brand Identity: The Importance of Color
• Pallasart Web Design: How to Make Effective Use of color in Websites
• Elf Design: Choosing the Right Color Palette

Tools:

• Cymbolism
• Adobe Kuler
• COLOURlovers
• I Like Your Colors
• ColorJack
• DeGraeve Color Palette Generator
• Color Combinations

Source:  http://www.usabilitypost.com/2008/09/29/a-guide-to-choosing-colors-for-your-brand/

Dimitry Fadeyev, A Guide to Choosing Colours for Your Brand, 2008

• What do your colours say about you? 
• Did you find this post helpful?

Author Helen Lacey shares her childhood travelling the Australian Outback...and the books that kept her company. There's pretty horses too!

Hello friends!

I am delighted to host Helen Lacey today as part of her launch for her new novel, Date With Destiny. Helen is a fellow Aussie, fellow Queenslander, with an interesting story to tell of an early childhood spent travelling around the Australian Outback. What great motivators to write -- travel and reading.

Hi Denise and thank you for having me here today.

I think most of us have people or places that shape us and make us who we are and generally we’re moulded from a young age. I had a happy, although fairly unorthodox childhood.

My parents and siblings emigrated from Wales to Australia when I was two. Once some of the older brothers and sisters moved out and married, my parents and three of my siblings started travelling this wonderful country in a fabulously renovated motor home and did so for several years. 

Because of this lifestyle I didn’t have a conventional education for a number of years. I actually went to a total of seventeen schools over several states, but while we were travelling for those few years I didn’t attend school for any regular length of time. Instead, I had books. Lots of them, compliments of my dad. 

When I was eight and in between schools as we were half way across the Australian outback, my father gave me a battered duet copy of Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty and Jack London’s Call of The Wild. I read the stories from cover to cover, back to back and it instilled in me a lifelong love for horses and had me longing for a dog like Buck all of my own.

Next came Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, R.L Stevenson’s Kidnapped and several Dickens’s classics. Of course, some of these books were hard going for an eight year old, and I often resisted and begged to go back to the classics I loved like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. But my lovely dad insisted and whenever we stopped at a small town he would take me to the local book exchange or second hand book shop. 

It was on one of these trips where I discovered the stories that would enrich my life in ways I had yet to imagine. Little did I know at the time that these books were my education when school wasn't an option. Over the course of several towns we picked up three books – Little House On The Prairie, Anne Of Green Gables and Little Women. Because we travelled and moved around so much making friends my own age was hard and my brother and sisters were a lot older than me . . . but I had my books. I had Anne Shirley and Jo March and Laura Ingalls. These three young heroines changed my young life and set me on my path to become an author. Anne Shirley in particular resonated with the girl I was who never quite fitted in. Not that I was an orphan or had red hair. I was the youngest of eight siblings and had very ordinary brown locks – but the way Anne lost herself in stories and had such fabulously huge dreams, struck me in a profound sense.

I also realized something else – these books also had a romance running through. Anne had Gilbert, Joe March her professor and Laura Ingalls fell for Almonzo. In fact, I realized I had actually been reading romances long before I picked up my first Harlequin novel.

My dad’s gone now, but I am eternally grateful to him for introducing me to the world of Black Beauty and all the countless books I read during those early years that made me what to write stories of my own.   

About Helen:

From Welsh parents and a large family, she lives on the east coast of Australia in a small seaside town at the southern most point of The Great Barrier Reef, with her wonderfully supportive husband, many horses and three spoiled dogs.

Connect with Helen:

Website    Blog      Facebook    Twitter     Goodreads 

Date With Destiny

 Financier Grace Preston did fourteen-hour days in New York City. She didn't do small towns in Australia. Not since she'd fled almost twenty years ago. But when a personal trauma sent her home-with a secret she couldn't reveal-the last person she needed was her first love.

Local cop Cameron Jakowski had loved Grace for most of his life. But he wanted marriage and family and she didn't. He was small town, while she was big city-and lived half a world away. But for now she was right here-a walking, talking temptation. One he managed to avoid...until he made one mistake. He kissed her. And reawakened the passion that could change their lives...forever.

Read Reviews

Buy Links



Mills & Boon UK

Harlequin US

Amazon

Amazon UK

B&N

Powell's Books

BAM

indieBound

Watch this series set at Crystal Point:

I have a copy of my August Harlequin Special Edition,  Date With Destiny, to give away to one commenter. So leave a comment and share with us your favourite books when you were growing up.

Thanks Helen for appearing on my blog today. I loved reading about your literary childhood influences, very similar to my own.

And please, pretty please, don't forget to sign up here for Write...Edit...Publish's blogfest where you can post just about anything. Travel stories would be very apt for the VACATION (HOLIDAY) prompt. Thanks to everyone who's already signed up.

#RomanticFridayWriters Challenge No 30 - Learning to Dance When it's Over. My story, 'Full Circle'

   Full Circle                                                   

‘Move those bellies, ladies! Up! To the side! Down! Circle now! Yes!’
 I peer into the window of the decrepit hall. A kaleidoscope of colour meets me—a scene straight from the Arabian Nights—a circle of whirling ladies moving around a shabby timber floor, bright skirts billowing, bare feet stamping, jewellery jangling. They are urged on by a moving work of art—a red-swathed Egyptian goddess, Amy Winehouse up-do swirling, curling, shapely arms gracefully uplifted, flowing fluidly around the room.
 ‘Circles, ladies. Circles. Ah, that’s good. You can do it! Lovely, lovely…”
 What is this? I look around. There, on the jagged timber door, a little sign:

Samira’s Belly Dance Class.

Wednesday 7.30pm.

Beginners Welcome.

*

 Belly dancing? Here? Could I be so bold? No. Benjamin’s right. I’m a yellow-bellied coward. Afraid of life.
 ‘Ladies, I said move your belly. Nothing else! Up! To the side! Down! To the other side! Circles! Do you feel it?’
 Delight gleams through the sheen of sweat on rosy faces. These ladies are feeling it all right! Smooth, sensual, erotic! I’m unloved, unlovely, abandoned and afraid.
 ‘Let it go!’ Samira urges. ‘You are beautiful! Isolate. Push! Shoulders forward! Move! Shake it! Shimmy!’
Breasts wobble, bellies wobble, arms wobble. Samira glances at my window. She shouts in her husky voice: ‘The only restrictions are those you put on yourself!’
 She’s talking to me.
 ‘Shake it ladies!’
 Gold bells tinkle, wrist cuffs rattle, ankle cuffs clink.
 I close my eyes, visualise myself in that glorious room. Visualise myself throwing off the chains of the long miserable years of marriage with Benjamin.
 ‘No, I could never do this.’

 The dance class is over. The music stops, the stamping feet still, the clapping hands silence. I head home, lost in alone-ness.
 The crashing waves near my front door thump out a message. I lean against the deck rail and listen. Life. Must. Go. On. Hope. Dream. Imagine.

 If I drape some chiffon over my jelly belly, buy some scarves, beads and fringes…I could do this!
 I consider my life, the long painful years of being nobody, nothing. The kids have left, Benjamin has left, it’s just me left.
 Excitement bubbles up like water from a once-blocked fountain. ‘I can do whatever I want,’ I shout, surprised at the sound of my loud voice.
 'I can be free!'
 Instead of being the end of the world it could be the beginning of my world.

 I’m off to learn to dance the world’s oldest dance. Bring it on!



©DeniseCovey2012

Word count: slightly over 400. FCA.

*Image - RiRi's Dance Acadamy, UK.

Many thanks to Jules Preston, writer,
for his series of guest prompts.
Thanks Jules

Romantic Friday Writers is a fortnightly on-going blogfest where writers respond to prompts or themes. It showcases the work of many fine writers who write romantic flash fiction or poetry under 400 words. You don't have to write of hearts and flowers; there just needs to be some element of romance present in your story/poem. 

Click on the icon in my sidebar or the link at the end of my post to check out others participating today or join the blogfest yourself. You will be most welcome. Check out the Romantic Friday Writers Website. A winner is awarded the recognition of being the week's Featured Writer. It is a great place to practise the art of writing and push the boundaries of innovation.

My lie revealed. Welcome Crusader Groups 20 and 21 - ROMANTIC SUSPENSE/CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE/SWEET ROMANCE/HISTORICAL ROMANCE

Hello to you all! And welcome to the approx. 100 new followers who've joined me since I launched my Publication Party! I've been getting around to you slowly, but many of you are not linked through google friend, so unless you leave a comment I cannot find you. Many bloggers are having this problem!

Some of you in my crusader groups are old friends, some new and some very shiny new! It is going to be fun following all your latest posts and commenting. I haven't finished going round following you all on twitter yet, but I will make sure I do asap.

i've just popped out to make us a badge. Take it to display near your Romance feed.

So welcome:

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

• Raquel Byrnes
• Tara
• Tina D C Hayes
• Lynnette Labelle
• J L Campbell

ROMANCE/CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE/SWEET ROMANCE/HISTORICAL ROMANCE

• Summer Ross
• Savannah Chase
• Charlotte McClain
• Liz Fichera
• Margo Benson
• Kerrin Hearfield
• Nas Dean
• Hope Welsh
• Alyssa Fox
• Gina Blechman
• Deniz Bevan

I've finally finished linking you all in my left sidebar. Hopefully we can encourage each other on our romance-writing journey.

Congratulations to those who made the final cut in the first Crusader Challenge - woo hoo! Can't wait to see who won this fun writing challenge. Oh, and for my crusader challenge most people thought I was lying about my son's fuliguline - no! So true! I have his flawed pottery dog and love it. My lie was that I'm a dust collector. I don't like lots of stuff to dust. Who does?