13 pictures that have been on my home page
I moved into this web site about this time of year last year. At that point I was doing good to have just the blog up and running. I’ve learned a bit since then and have branched out a bit. For instance, I now have what they call a “static front page” on my site. I change out the material on it now and then. Here is some of what’s been there.
1. What I gave Mr. Al for Valentines this year.
2. Big Hole Montana
3. Baja Mexico
4. and 5.
These two together. Landing at Salt Lake City airport
6. Mexico again.
7. Sunset over the Clark Fork River.
8. The Bitterroot Montana
9. The meme I’m still running on a seperate page here on this site. I was advertising it on the Welcome page.
10. More Montana mountians
11. An overpass built exclusively to carry traffic over a rail yard. Says a lot about the role of trains in this place.
12. Grass in a local park
13. The gravatar I just started using. This is on my Welcome page right now. I even explain what a gravatar is.
Ah Maria, Who is Truly Enlightened?
We left off with Empress Maria Theresa of Austria butting heads with her Emperor son, and that’s where we resume with week.
“If I conversed only with my equals, I should have to spend my days in the imperial vault.” So wrote the Emperor Joseph. The truth was, while he believed that of himself, he didn’t think that anyone else was worthy of their positions. Time and again he lambasted those whom he felt held their positions because no one “below” them was allowed to have the job. “The title of Privy Councilor cannot be denied him, no matter how much a fool, simply because once upon a time there was a sensible and honest individual in his family….If the court and ministers would not only withhold honors from all these vapid and useless members, but would regard them with contempt, there would soon be a change.”
Mom pointed out that what was sauce for the goose was sauce for the gander. If merit was all, then where would he, a Hapsburg, be? His case was different. He accepted his hereditary privilege without question; much as he accepted without question that his every idea of reform must have naturally been based on the firmest logic for no other reason than he thought of it.
It was an extremely exasperated Maria who wrote. “You are an intellectual cocotte.(18th century spelling) You chase after what seem to you clever ideas without the least shadow of discrimination. You catch onto any idle word-play, any telling phrase you read in a book or overhear in conversation and come out with it yourself at the first opportunity, without asking whether it is relevant or not.”
Welcome Skhye Moncrief
Good morning, Alice. Thank you for having me over as a guest. My latest Time Guardian story is about to be released–June 25th. I’m extremely wired with this event. The reason I wrote this novel is one of those choices authors make… Hence, my focus on craft here today. So why did I write that story?
SWORDSONG was the Time-Guardian novel I wrote after reading the earlier works of Karen M. Moning before my Time Guardians series was contracted for publication. I kept thinking I seriously needed to simplify my world and write a story in my series more like hers set in the “real” present, i.e. something more familiar for readers who just might not care for being thrown into a whole new world. This is one of those crazy decisions we writers make never knowing if it will pan out for us. 🙂 But SWORDSONG set off a whole new layer of worldbuilding in my over-sized fantasy world I’ve created–one that coexists with ours. I wanted to make the story world more tangible for the reader. Okay, that’s if you can call a novel tangible in any sense other than it’s a physical object, i.e. a book! But everyone was writing these new worlds interwoven within the fabric of the one we occupy. I just had to try the marketability angle. So, I whipped up some ambiance…
We are soldiers of Truth.
We are students of the past.
We are guardians of Time.
We live, and, from living, we must die.
Death is not risk.
Death is adventure.
Death is part of the Cycle.
Woe be to he who fears the Call.
~Time Guardian Creed (www.timeguardians.com
)
My creed worked to define reality for my lads regardless of the setting. It’s reality. A reflection of their goals–life in general. These men time travel. They can’t risk screwing up history. So, their creed is kind of blunt and harsh. But it hits home as they ponder a what if… Just as I had asked those same thoughts about paradox. Time travel and prehistory was my cup of steamy tea that I read for so long. I studied archaeology too long not to send my characters back to times and places we can never visit. Why? I can answer that. 😉 Oddly enough, a psych test I took during a continuing education class when I was about 19 noted I lived in the past. I guess this aspect of my writing is just a reflection of who I am–my curiosity and fears. Then again, I keep writing romances that reviewers label thrillers, suspense, etc. I just don’t know what goes on inside my head! *sigh* Although, I’m always explaining to my critique partners that if a story has a chase aspect, it should ring true. And time guardians safeguard history. They’ve got to beat the clock as the pages move forward. Ticking clocks and chases… Aye, there’s the Time-Guardian rub.
A Scientist and His Girlfriend Under the Stars
“So beautiful. Doesn’t it make you want to do something?” She squeezed his hand.
“Uh-huh.”
“Pft. I know. You want to study them.”
“No. I want to visit them.”
Monkey Man hosts the 160 Character Challenge. See what you can write in 160 characters or less, spaces included.
New Shoes
Jill: Honey, I don’t think I can take another step. These shoes are killing me. Look. They’ve turned my feet purple!
Jack: How can you tell?
Today’s theme is purple
Previously in Jack and Jill: 6 Feet Under
The rules for Photohunt can be found here.
Be sure to visit the home page.
Suzie’s House 170: Sniper Cousin
Ohgodohgodohgod! Lisa knew Tracy was going to do something crazy to Ben or Gene, but she couldn’t imagine what, and had to stand there helpless, watching what ever it was just like when they were little kids.
For several minutes Lisa and Tracy stood behind the couch watching the TV over Ben and Gene’s heads. Then a commercial came on, and Tracy made her move.
Catherine’s Challenge
Martin never thought he’d see the day when Charlotte, the hair dresser, would dump him in the desert. He could still smell the orange crème yogurt she’d tried to feed him in their Vegas bathroom before taking that slow ride to abandonment. Now he’d have to live on flies. Maybe he shouldn’t have bit her.
The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Flash Fiction 55 is hosted by the G-man, a host with the most.
Today A. Catherine Noon offered a writer’s prompt challenge. I suspect I didn’t do it the way it was intended, but I managed to include 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 12. Since she did my Association Meme, I had to give it a go. Hope you like it, Catherine. 🙂
