What's Your Chocolate? Blogfest - Monday Sept 10

So today is the “What’s Your Chocolate” Blogfest. Well with a name like that, I'm surprised everyone isn't an entrant! 

Simply...Do you love chocolate? Does the very word make you drool with anticipation? Share...

So I'm to post about my favorite chocolate – what it means to me, where and when I indulge, a favorite memory – anything chocolate-related.

Hosted by M. Pax, Laura Eno, Brinda Berry, and Ciara Knight.

Do I love chocolate? Well, rather. I succumb to all that's good about chocolate - how it calms you, how it makes you feel - but not how it makes you feel guilty for eating it. High quality food should be guilt free and shouldn't lead to self hatred should it? I love reading all those spurious articles in magazines which always give me spurious reasons for eating chocolate - so I eat it. 

There must be a reason why chocolates are the gift of choice in the early romance stage of a relationship. When a man continues to ply you with chocolates after the first date, maybe that means he's a keeper, lol! (Well, it's one point in his favour anyway!)

There are different chocolates for different occasions. I'd hate to get sick of them, ahem, as if...

Mother's Day chocolates are usually of the boxed up variety - in Australia, Cadbury Roses is a perennial favourite, or Darrel Lea (which, unfortunately, has just gone to the wall.)  It's an iconic Aussie brand since Cadbury's (which I wrongly thought was Australian) was whisked away by those 'dastardly Americans' as one article says. It went for $19 billion in 2010! There must be money in chocolate! It was originally a UK company which set up a factory in the antipodes early in the 20th Century. You can still visit the Cadbury's factory in Tasmania and gorge yourself silly if you want. My one disappointment  with Cadbury's is that instead of being nice thick chunky portions, a block is now made up of these flat little bits which don't give a full chokky flavour.

My favourite chocolate is hard to say, but if I buy a block of chocolate, I like Cadbury's Roast Almond. I'm not a fan of Lindt chocolates - they have a lot of oil in them apparently, which makes me sickish. 

If I really give it a lot of thought (and I don't usually - I just grab myself a chokkie), I adore Ferrero Rocher, good Italian brand, especially the white chocolate variety covered in coconut (I adore coconut.) I try to only eat them on a special occasion and by golly, if they catch my eye I can think of a special occasion very quickly!

AFTERWORD:

Just read the other day that some company has found that by adding orange juice to the recipe they can replicate the full chocolate flavour with greatly reduced calories, which diet companies have been trying to do for ages. 

I'm sorry I forgot to preschedule this post and how quick did Sept 10 come around!! Now I'm off for a run to counter all that chocolate...

Click on the Chocolate Badge for more delicious entries...

• What's your favourite chocolate?

#RomanticFridayWriters - Challenge No 44 - I Should Have Kissed You!

My Insecure Writers Support Group post is the previous post.

It's time for RomanticFridayWriters again! Today our prompt is I Should Have Kissed You. We have upped the word count to 600 for this Featured Writer challenge. Good luck to all who enter this weekend. Go to the RomanticFridayWriters website to learn more, or if you'd like to post your flash fiction or poetry. You have until Sunday AEST to enter via the linky.

I Should Have Kissed You

‘Tonight you’re mine. It’ll be like old times,’ Inya said as he drew Sally into his arms. He wrapped his arms beneath her and scooped her off her feet.

‘I should have kissed you like this six months ago. Maybe you wouldn’t have taken so long to come back.’

‘Why didn’t you?’

‘I was afraid.’

‘Afraid?’

‘Yes. I thought I might scare you off if I got too intense. I knew you were leaving.’

‘Keep on kissing me like this and I’ll never leave.’

'That's the plan.' Inya lay Sally onto the soft sand. ‘I’m sorry it’s a bit damp.’

Sally giggled. ‘I need cooling off.’

‘Don’t want that.’

 Sally stroked his back. ‘I’m not going to stop you. I could stay here with you all night.’

☁☁☁

She’d known it would happen. The promise was in his eyes as he fed her the magical picnic lunch. Every strawberry he’d placed on her lips was a delight. Every sip of the luscious champagne had gone straight to her head, until she was ready to make love with him right there under the palm tree in broad daylight.

But night had come. The moon was playing hide and seek with the clouds. The palm trees whispered.

‘Inya, these last six months were torture.’

‘Torture!’ Sally felt his grimace. ‘I couldn’t believe you’d come back to me.’ He kissed her face, her neck, her shoulders.

Only the lapping lagoon was witness to their loving.

☁☁☁

Afterwards, they lay on their backs clutching hands, watching the stars glimmer in the black night.

‘So lovely to see the stars again,’ Sally murmured. ‘The skyscrapers got in the way in New York. I’d lean out of my apartment window, but it was no use. Wrong sky. Wrong constellations.’

‘One day I’m going to name a star for you, Sally. It’ll be the brightest new discovery. How would you like that?’

Now isn’t that amazing! applauded the voices in Sally’s head. ‘You’re my star, Inya. You’re the only constellation I want.’

Inya lifted her hand to his lips and kissed each finger. ‘So how are you going to manage your corporation from a Pacific Island?’ he asked, ‘And a pretty backward one at that?’

‘All sorted. Janine in my office as exec. She’ll do the day-to-day and I’ll be in contact all the time. You have the internet here, you know.’

‘It sounds simple, but somehow I know it’ll be a lot more complicated. I’m sure you’re going to have to go back to New York. A lot.’

‘Hmm. You’ll come with me then?’

‘I don’t know Sally. I’m just an islander. Left school at sixteen. What could I do in New York?’ He reached for her and flipped her over until she was lying on top of him. His arms were strong around her. She felt a powerful sense of comfort and security. Oh my, I’m home! One day soon she’d marry him, make him a wonderful wife and maybe down the track a mother. She could already see their gorgeous children running wild on the island, learning skills a city kid could only dream of.

She took his face into her hands. ‘Well, you could show the guys there a trick or two, like in the second Crocodile Dundee movie.’

‘The what?’ He looked into her eyes. ‘Is this the beginning of the re-education program?’

Sally tensed. Why couldn’t this be easier?She dropped her head on his shoulder and kissed him as the hot tears flowed. Any moment now he'd grab his surfboard and be gone for the rest of the night.

 ©DeniseCovey2012

☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁

WORD COUNT: 596

Full Critique Acceptable

Want to read more RomanticFridayWriters stories on the theme? Go here...

Brisbane Writer's Festival Greeter! Her enthusiasm for books is obvious as she crafted her hat herself. I've just been to a session on Romance writing by best-selling Regency author Anna Campbell, who told us that of all the types of justice in the world, romance writing has emotional justice. True...

#Insecure Writers Support Group - 10 Quick Tips to get that book written.

First Wednesday of the month already! Time for the IWSG again! Thanks Alex J Cavanaugh for starting this group. 

Fellow emerging writers, here's some advice I picked up from Elizabeth Sims in the Writer's Digest recently. It encouraged me, so I will pass it on. Of course, I've put my own spin on it...

10 QUICK TIPS TO GET THAT BOOK WRITTEN:

1. PAINT A TWO-STROKE SCENE

- Make one stroke visual - SHOW something.

- Make the second stroke evoke one of the other four SENSES: a sound, smell, taste, feel...

You want examples?

The rooftop was studded with chimneys. A cold wind whipped in from the harbour.

She got pregnant that same muggy night. The cracked vinyl of the Buick's back seat left claw marks on her shoulders, and she remembered the dark smell of the plowed field next to the open road.

Your turn....

2. NAIL A CHARACTER IN TWO MOVES

- Give each character a distinctive physical trait. Some memorable traits include:

* Huge hands

* A graceful gait

* A painful stoop

* Fiery red hair

* Thick bi-focals

Your turn...have fun...

- Give each character a distinctive psychological trait.

* Extremely competitive

* Annoyingly calm in all situations

* Willing to be a martyr

* Insecure about not having a university degree

* Secretive about his/her wealth

Your turn...let your imagination run riot...

Alternate showing the two traits you choose the first few times we meet the characters. Doing so will create a mental anchor for your readers.

3. FICTIONALIZE A REAL PERSON BEYOND RECOGNITION IN TWO STEPS

I first heard this advice at a Writing Course. It makes characterisation easier and more real, I was told.

- Change the person's sex.

- Make the fictional character much more physically attractive than the real person is. Then let loose and make the character as despicable as you wish.

4. PLUG A PLOT GAP WITH ONE OR TWO TRICKS

- Ignore the gap completely and hope no one notices. Even successful authors do this all the time. In Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, he admitted even he didn't know who killed the chauffeur. 

- Acknowledge the hole then instantly keep going. Successful fiction is studded with sentences like...

* I don't know why I'm telling you this, but...

* She didn't know how she did it, but she managed to scale that vertical steel wall and run to the car.

Have some fun with this. Will save you time and energy plugging up gaps...

5. SHIFT A MOOD WITH TWO QUICK STROKES

Mood is really about emotion, both in characters and readers. 

Check out Muriel Spark's sentence from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie:

The evening paper rattle-snaked its way through the letter box and there was suddenly a six-o'clock feeling in the house.

- So how do you shift the mood in two steps?

Using quick writing tips mean more time for this...
Photo taken using Instagram

* First, present ONE detail. Spark used the evening paper coming in. You could use a little event like that, too, or you could use something that is physically felt by a character.

* Then, simply announce the mood change, as Spark did. The word suddenly is your friend here. 

More examples...

^ I heard the first bird sing from the morning darkness, and suddenly I felt that everything would be all right.

^ As soon as he reached the embankment, the hairs on his arms stood up. Even before looking down, he realized, Yes, death is here.

To be continued...

And I must share that today is the first day of the Brisbane Writer's Festival. Always good to celebrate books, authors and readers. The school groups were out in force...

• We like our posts relatively short for IWSG, so I will continue the final 5 tips next IWSG post. Have creative fun with these tips. I hope they help you in your WIP.

Go here to read more IWSG entries...

The Query - 3 Tips for that query...You have 10 seconds to catch the editor's eye! Make each second count.

Are you going to be noticed?

I subscribe to a Travel Writer's website as along with writing novels and flash fiction, I write travel articles about the places I've been (and as my followers know, I've been to plenty...). 

I learned about the 'pitch' when I studied Journalism years ago, and yes, in freelance journalism it's all about 'pitching the story' to editors, much like your story pitch for that wonderful novel you've written. I was recently sent this little article on the 'query' for travel articles and it works fine for querying that agent or editor for your novel...

I've recently submitted a manuscript to a publisher. I'm quite confident my ms is a good one, but I wonder whether the query letter I sent along with the ms will be good enough to catch the editor's eye. Oh, those queries...do we sink and swim by them?

Over to The Right Way to Travel...

"This week, we’re talking about techniques to help you sell your travel articles faster and easier.

And, today, I’d like to focus on the query letter – the letter you send to editors pitching your story to their publication.

Many writers treat their query letter as an after-thought, once the “hard work” of writing their story is over. But this is a huge mistake. Your query, you see, is the advertisement for your story.And, however good your article might be, if it’s not accompanied by a compelling query, it’s unlikely to ever meet an editor’s eye.

To make matters harder, Denver Post Travel Editor Kyle Wagner says you have just 10 seconds (or less) to win over an editor with your pitch.

So, how do you get your editor at “Hello?”

Here are three suggestions from Kyle:

** 1. It’s all about the subject line and/or the first sentence.

A truthful editor will admit that they devote about 10 seconds to every query. That means you have the subject line and maybe one or two sentences into your query to get some attention. If you can’t woo the editor then, your romance is over before it’s begun.

** 2. Use your writing skills.

I’m amazed at how many writers think it’s OK to put 100% effort into their stories but only 40% into the query. Make sure the editor will want to read the story by dazzling them just as much by your query prose. Spelling counts. Use the same active verbs and strong adjectives as you do in your story.

** 3. Just because it’s e-mail doesn’t mean I'm your drinking buddy.

Don’t use the editor’s first name, don’t start off with your credentials or the famous people you know, and don’t act in a familiar, informal way as if you and the editor were at a bar together last night. Address it like a professional letter.

Be sure to keep these tips in mind next time you’re composing your query."



The Right Way to Travel - 2012 American Writers & Artists Inc

• Do you agree with this 'query' advice?
• Do you have any 'query' tips to share?

Romantic Friday Writers - Challenge No 43 - The Romantic Picnic.

The RomanticFridayWriters bi-monthly challenge this week is 'The Romantic Picnic.  I'm writing a sequel to my previous Challenge, I Need a Change, with the setting in a romantic paradise, based on a real island in Fiji. If you didn't catch my story you can read it here. The challenges are open to all writers of prose or poetry.

Here are the guidelines for this challenge:

The "Romantic Picnic."  

- Who initiates the picnic; is this a first date or dedication to the continuing relationship? 

- Is there an agenda to the picnic: marriage proposal, pregnancy announcement, promotion or new job assignment? 

 - is the picnic all about the continuing romantic relationship: one lover affirming their devotion to the other, or a mutually shared, opportune moment of togetherness?  

***Any genre, any POV; just remember to include a romantic element and a picnic, in 400 words or less.***

Back to the Island

Inya spread the mat on the lush grass, watching how the palm tree shadows painted pictures with the midday light. Squinting into the sun, he remembered a day just like this, six months ago. Their last picnic.

Joy spiked his heart just thinking of her. From the night she’d tripped over his fishing line, to the day she’d left on the boat, they’d been inseparable. What a week that’d been! She’d promised to come back, but he’d been afraid to hope.  

She was here! He’d seen her boat come in. Afraid to meet it, he’d decided to wait for her to find him. That’d mean she really wanted him. She was good at tracking him down. 

Wherever he was, she’d find him.

He opened the hotel picnic basket. The hotel staff loved Sally. Said she was perfect for him. They’d given him all these goodies and a bottle of chilled champagne.

He lifted the plates out of their plastic bindings and set them out side by side. Then he reached for the cutlery and napkins. Pretty fancy!

Before getting out the delicious-looking sandwiches and papaya salad, he picked some gorgeous red ginger flowers from a nearby bush. He filled a plastic tumbler with fresh water and set them in the middle of the mat. 

He checked the sun. She should be here any minute. Just thinking about her made him hot. He threw off his tee shirt and dived into the water. Ah, cool! He was so nervous he was as stiff as a board. He started to swim out to the islands in long, lazy strokes, luxuriating in the glorious feeling of soft water flowing around him. He rolled onto his back and looked at the cloudless blue sky.

‘Inya!’

Sally’s here!

Splashing madly like a kid learning to swim, he looked towards the shore. There she was, running into the water, throwing off her clothes as she ran. 

In a few strokes they were all arms and legs and gulping water, gabbling nonsense. He pulled her close and kissed her, and kissed her...

‘I love you Inya.’

‘I love you Sally. I’m never letting you off this island without me again.’

‘I’m never leaving without you.’

‘Hungry?’

‘Starving. Do I detect a picnic under a tree?’

‘You do.’

‘How romantic. Do you have kava?’

‘Nah. The hotel sent champagne.’

‘I’m more of a kava girl.’

‘I know. Just wait till tonight.’

WORD COUNT: 404

FCA

UPCOMING RFW CHALLENGES:

Challenge #44 -  Sept 7 -  I Should Have Kissed You  FW/RunnerUp

Challenge #45 -  Sept 21 -Oh How I Hate My Beautiful Friend
Challenge #46 -  Oct 5   -  Birthday Madness 
Challenge #47 -  Oct 19 -  Halloween – House of Horrors.  FW/RunnerUp

Like to read more RFW posts on The Romantic Picnic. Go to RomanticFridayWriters for the list...

get the InLinkz code