TIWMGK- Why Daddy and I insist you play board games.

by | Apr 10, 2013


Honestly I was never big on board games growing up. Mommy’s mind wanders. I’m always creating a story in my head; a word you say, an image I see, anything really can start me off and I lose track of a game. Which means mommy tends to lose a lot. That is, if she doesn’t pay attention.
Now you know from playing that mommy is competitive maybe not as competitive as daddy, but I’ve been known to threaten to salt the earth a time or two, when one of my villages is threatened in Settlers of Katan.
You guys have developed a love for board games; because of daddy. I freely admit it. You have since you were really young have seen him and his friends play some version of a game every Saturday, for years. Now as you’ve gotten older you’ve begun to experience the camaraderie of game play.
You’re just beginning to learn to negotiate and figure out strategy. Something I wish I’d paid attention to earlier.  As I watch you laugh, wheedle and sometimes threaten the other players at the table, I have to admit I feel a sense of pride. ( Not because of the threatening. ) But, because of your ability to discern what works and what doesn’t.

I knew  playing games with other’s prepared you to function in the real world. Teaching preschool for three years cemented that knowledge, but honestly it’s different when it’s your kids. Seeing your personalities blossom under the one on one attention you get from daddy is reason enough to call you out of your respective rooms and demand that you turn off the TV or whatever electronic device you’re on at the time.

Like mandatory reading time which I’m happy not to have to enforce too often ( Did I mention that I love that you turn off your DS’ or the TV immediately without arguing?) Sunday afternoons or even Friday nights when we get to sit down and roll the dice or to play cards  with you is the best time.
It’s just us as a family.  Actually spending time together doing something fun. While inadvertently teaching each other how the world works.

Late just like Spring

by | Apr 7, 2013

Hi everybody! We finally have lovely weather. Not too hot. Not too cool. It’s Florida so I’m sure that’ll change sometime soon. But, for now, it’s pleasant and we’re outside enjoying it.

Last month I happily received the news that my Goal Setting Workshop has been accepted for this years Moonlight and Magnolias Conference, in Atlanta Georgia.

I’ve been fortunate to have presented it in Jacksonville and I’ll be presenting this workshop again next month at my local Chapter CFRWA.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the encouragement and support of my fellow RWA members and chapter mates. What I can say is this; whatever you do, what ever you want to do, find your tribe.

That group comprised of people who get you, who care about you and who support you. These are the people who will get you through those rough patches or give you an extra push when needed to keep you going.

Thought for the week.

by | Apr 2, 2013

A recent incident reminded me of this:

“You teach others how to treat you.”
 

Funny how one small incident can cause you to rethink how you interact with other people.

Why you shouldn’t try to write things with a headache.

by | Mar 26, 2013

I’m a panster. Or more accurately I’m somewhere between a panster and plotter. I think my stories through, but unless i want to end up stuck, I write it as it comes. I could have just thought about where I want it to go and honestly it might take another direction.

I’m like that with blogging too.

I’m totally a panster when it comes to blogging. Except for my New series on things i want my girls to know and the Guest blogs once a month I generally have no idea what I’m going to blog about. Sometimes I get lucky and I get an idea that morphs into two or three blog post.

Usually though, it something that has happened in the course of my day/week that triggers an idea. It percolates and the night before the post needs to go up I find myself writing and editing. Which leads me to last Saturday night.

Yep I wrote a post which I intended to title Here be Dragons. I had such a blinding headache while I wrote my blog that I ended up titling it, wait for it, Where be the Dragons?

Still cute but different feel. I obviously didn’t notice it until the post had already gone up. It could have been worse. So now you know.

Guest Blog- KC Burn- Romantic Deal Breakers

by | Mar 20, 2013


Today’s guest blog deals with Romantic Deal Breakers. I’m pretty sure you guys have some ideas on what those might be. KC Burn my good friend and partner in crime has a few ideas on the subject:

I watched The Birds not long ago.  I’d never seen it before (I’m not much into old movies) but I thought it was maybe time I did, for my own edification.  I mean, it can’t hurt to watch what’s considered a classic, right?  
Well, one part in particular caught my attention.  The heroine (whose name escapes me… clearly I wasn’t THAT into it) follows the hero home (a man with whom she had a brief conversation with in a shop… where she LIED about who she was), sneaks into the hero’s house and leaves a bird as a gift for his sister (who she knows even less than the hero).  The heroine also pumps local inhabitants for information about the hero and his family.  
My first thought?  Ew.  Creepy stalker.  Forget the damned birds, Hitchcock had the makings of a scary movie right there.   No doubt that part of the story was meant as some nod to feminism or something.  On further consideration, though, I know I’ve read scenes like this in romance novels and was perfectly willing to suspend disbelief that the recipient of such actions would be romantically inclined towards the ‘stalker’. 
In real life, though?  This would be, hands down, a romantic deal breaker.  But I am a lot more forgiving in my fiction, and I’m not even sure it’s necessarily because of the ‘fantasy’ element.  I’ve read more than one sexy hero who smoked, and the smoking itself was sexy in the story.  Real life, though?  Another deal breaker.  Several years ago, my husband wanted to take up cigar smoking.  I told him I refused to have kids with someone who smoked.  So he didn’t.  The irony of us later deciding not to have children is not lost on me.  Nevertheless, I think I surprised him by taking such a hard stance, because I’m a fairly laid back sort of person.
What about cheating?  Now, I see more of this in gay romance than I have in straight… at least, where the cheater is forgiven and taken back.  Personally, I think that it has more to do with long-established reader expectations in straight romance than anything else.  Regardless, cheaters can be forgiven and the relationship can go on.  I don’t know if I would consider this a deal breaker, because I’ve never truly faced the situation.  I like to think I could be reasonable if I was in love with the person and it was a one-time physical thing, but I can’t be sure.  Can a relationship truly survive that fractured trust?  I’ve seen it strongly affect friends’ subsequent relationships, long after breaking up with a cheater.
So, I’ve covered smoking, stalking and cheating.  What about other plots like voyeurism, gambling, drug addiction, abuse, alcoholism?  I’ve seen them all in fiction, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have the patience in real life to accept these in my relationship.  And I’m reasonably sure no one actually fantasizes about having a partner with these issues, so what is it that makes these plots compelling?  Why are these not reading deal breakers? 
Tortured heroes?  Super sexy in books.  In real life?  No way.  I like my men with minimum baggage, fully sane and responsible members of society.  Of course, that may be because I’m loaded with baggage and not entirely sane.  Thankfully I’m still a responsible member of society.  
I believe the reason we read about tortured characters and seemingly impossible relationships is hope.  Hope that if these people with all these problems can find love and happiness, well, we’ve all got a chance, too.   But I’m willing to entertain other explanations!

Cover Up Blurb:
Detective Ivan Bekker has hit rock bottom. Not only is he recovering from a bad breakup with a cheating boyfriend, he’s also involved in a drug bust gone bad. Ivan had to kill a man, and his friend was shot and is now fighting for his life. Though Ivan is under investigation for his part in the shooting, his boss sends him on an off-the-books undercover operation to close the case. The timing is critical—this could be their chance to plug a leak in the department.

Off-balance and without backup, Ivan finds himself playing a recent divorcé and becoming Parker Wakefield’s roommate. He finds it hard to believe that sweet Parker could possibly be a criminal, much less have ties to a Russian mafia drug-trafficking operation, and Ivan lets down his guard. His affection is unprofessional, but Parker is irresistible.

When Ivan comes across clear evidence of Parker’s criminal involvement, he has to choose: protect their relationship, regardless of the consequences, or save his career and arrest the man he loves.

Bio KC Burn has been writing for as long as she can remember and is a sucker for happy endings (of all kinds).  After moving from Toronto to Florida for her husband to take a dream job, she discovered a love of gay romance and fulfilled a dream of her own — getting published.  By day, she edits web content and at night she neglects her supportive, understanding hubby and needy cat to write stories about men loving men in the past, present and future.  Writing is always fun and rewarding, but writing about her guys is the most fun she’s had in a long time, and she hopes you’ll enjoy them as much as she does.

Visit KC at her web site: http://www.kcburn.com or on Twitter: http://twitter.com/authorkcburn

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