Summer is here! Add to the list with YOUR fave summer words

WELCOME — BEAUTIFUL, LONG-AWAITED SUMMER!

I’m so glad you’re here!

SUMMER …  sunshine, sweet-smelling flowers and grasses, fresh fruit,

 

glorious colours,  bird songs, new growing things, baby animals,

 

beaches and sand …

 

and so, so, so much more.

This post is going to be different.

I want YOU, dear reader, to add in the comments section YOUR favourite words, memories, sensations that speak to you of Summer.  Close your eyes and imagine … breathe it in …

Let your creative spirit soar. I am eager to share in what Summer means to you.  🙂

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!  🙂

 

Book Review: The Brevity of Roses – by Linda Cassidy Lewis

Book: The Brevity of Roses
Author: Linda Cassidy Lewis
Publisher: Two-Four-Six Publishing
Date: April 2, 2011
Genre: Women’s fiction
Pages: 362
Price: $13.55 paperback; $3.99 on Kindle
My Rating: A satisfying story that pulls the reader in and doesn’t let her/him go.
 

I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my! When I finished reading The Brevity of Roses I felt as if I had spent an enjoyable afternoon viewing a delectable movie! Even yet, several days later, I woke one morning with that sense of having just been there.

This story pulled me in from the beginning and held me till the end. Linda Cassidy Lewis’ characters come across as genuine with their human struggles – emotional pain, loss, fear, tenderness, misunderstanding, desire, avoidance, family strife, anger, hope, love, and I may have missed mentioning a few. The romantic scenes are well-written, not explicit or over the top. There is some cursing in the story, mostly the ‘f’ word, but it was not out-of-place as you get to know the characters, and I could get past it after the first couple of times. It is not excessive and did not detract from the story at all.

There are three main characters: Meredith I liked, even though the turn of events surrounding her shocked and disappointed/saddened me. Jalal I grew to like; I wanted to follow him closely throughout the book because he was intriguing, although I wanted him to stop being stubborn about his relationship with his father and be mature about it so he could gain perspective for his life. Renee I didn’t appreciate at first – when she showed up where it seemed she shouldn’t be – but then the situation is clarified and she grew on me.

The other characters intertwining around the main ones add so much to the story and help make it well-rounded, believable, down-to-earth. Conversations are natural and easily understood, as if the reader is standing in the room listening in.

A lovely strength in The Brevity of Roses is the importance of family, food, and traditions, with cultural differences finding their place, their blend, in the preparation of meals and recipes – whether for two or twenty.

There is so much that makes this fiction seem like the true story of a few people, but I cannot say more about it or I will give too much away. If you enjoy romance novels that are not x-rated, and real-to-life women’s fiction, you will probably really enjoy this one.

Linda Cassidy Lewis delivered a debut novel that satisfies and also left this reader-reviewer hoping for more from this talented author.

You can find The Brevity of Roses listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!

Very important writer’s exercises!

Just a short post this time to let you know of some very important writer’s exercises … brought to my attention by Steve Vernon.  Thanks, Steve!

Steve shared on his blog (Yours in Storytelling) about these very important writer’s exercises, and I think it is something I should share with you. I hope you find this short video to be of benefit.  😉

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZJHqsjIec0&feature=player_embedded#!

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!  :)

Does duct tape (or duck tape) help your writing?

I LIKE DUCT TAPE.

I can’t tell you specifically why, but I really like duct tape. I find uses for it quite often. If something is broken or loose or needs a patch, I’ll be the one to say, “Did you try duct tape? Use duct tape on it.”

Often I have heard it called “duck tape”, which makes me laugh. Apparently it has been called one or the other since the 1940’s, and was useful as duck tape to WWII soldiers.

Have you ever watched The Red Green Show? It’s a popular Canadian sitcom that was on television from 1991 to 2006 in Canada and the United States – and continues in reruns. The main character, Red Green, found all kinds of crazy and ingenious ways to use duct tape. He would say it’s “the handyman’s secret weapon” because his motto was “if women don’t find you handsome they should at least find you handy.”

I have been saying for some time now that I have to find some duct tape in a colour other than the usual grey, and I want pink. Just because I like pink.

Look at what my daughter found when she was shopping in a local  hardware store recently —

Oh … my!  A whole display. And look at all the colours and patterns! She likes the zebra one — second one in on the bottom left.

I told my husband about it, and when I came home for my week off — look at what he had bought for me —

PINK DUCT TAPE!  What a guy!  🙂

Now take a closer look —

The company picked up on the other name and marketed it. Duck tape duct tape. How clever! And the pink is called Funky Flamingo.  Hilarious!

How can I relate this to writing?  …

Have you ever been writing along and suddenly you are on what seems a totally wrong path for your story?

Perhaps your character starts acting out in a way you didn’t plan, or the plot takes an unexpected turn. Instead of trying to pull it all back to what you first had in mind, try going with it, ‘market it.’ Maybe that duct tape you thought you had turns out to be a roll of duck tape. Doubly good. Underneath it is the same, but on the surface you are about to go on a wonderful adventure that will be even more meaningful when pieced together.

Have you ever started out with one idea and ended up with something entirely different? Or with added twists that make your story even better?

Remember, duct tape … or duck tape … is used to hold things together, and to repair things, and to create new things. Have you used any lately, figuratively or for real? What difference did it make?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!  🙂

 

 

Book Review: Dollars & Uncommon Sense: Basic training for your money – by Steve Repak, CFP

Book: Dollars & Uncommon Sense: Basic training for your money
Author: Steve Repak, CFP
Publisher: RFS Publishing
Date: January 2, 2012
Genre: Non-Fiction; Personal Finance
Pages: 166; paperback
Price: $14.95
My Rating: Excellent for anyone wanting to get out of debt and have enough to live on now and in retirement.

 

I received this book from Library Thing in exchange for an honest review.

I am so glad I was given the opportunity to read this book! With clarity and ordinary language, Steve Repak shares from experience how to get out of debt, how to save money and still have enough to live on, and how to prepare for a financially secure retirement – starting now.

In Dollars and Uncommon Sense you will find sound information and advice. The author, who is now a successful financial adviser, came out of the army with over $32,000 in credit card debt. He struggled to break free of that and eventually figured out how to efficiently pay it all off and still get ahead. In his well-written book – which is as easy to read as it would be to sit down and talk with him – he tells it how it is while helping the reader set up a plan for wise financial transformation. At the end of each chapter is a summary of the main points.

Part 1: Basic Training

Chapter 1 – Change the Way You Think

Chapter 2 – Build Your Foundations

Part 2: Spending

Chapter 3 – Principle: If You Spend Less, You Will Have More

Chapter 4 – Priorities: Give, Pay Yourself, Pay Everybody Else

Chapter 5 – Plan: A Plan for Your Paycheck

Part 3: Debt

Chapter 6 – Principle: Debt Puts Your Financial Health at Risk

Chapter 7 – Priorities: Quit Charging and Start Saving

Chapter 8 – Plan: Uncommon Sense Steps for Getting out of Debt

Part 4: Saving and Investing

Chapter 9 – Principle: It Doesn’t Take a Million to Make a Million

Chapter 10 – Priorities: “Life Happens,” Then “I Quit!”

Chapter 11 – Plan: Invest in Your Future

At the end, Steve Repak has a section called Useful Websites, a Glossary of the words perhaps hard to understand, and Worksheets that can also be downloaded from his own website. He seems to have made every attempt in this book to help the reader understand how debt can be handled, and how to live with adequate funds while also saving for  enough to live on comfortably in retirement.

It is never too late to apply his methods. For anyone too young to even be considering retirement, this is the very time to begin the plan! You won’t regret it.

Dollars & Uncommon Sense: Basic Training for Your Money is not a book to read, say “that was helpful,” and lay aside. This is a book with a step-by-step strategy to live free of the burden of debt and the worry of ‘will I have enough to live on?’ I urge you to “take the steps necessary to change your financial future.”

You can find Dollars & Uncommon Sense: Basic Training for Your Money listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How My Savior Leads Me … and the winner is …

Today we have a winner who has already responded!

This evening our young grandson was visiting and asked to be the one to draw the name out of the basket, so at 5:00 PM EST that is what happened. The winner receives the copy of How My Savior Leads Me by Terri M. Stellrecht, generously donated by the author for one of my readers to win. Thank you, Terri.

So … congratulations to Rebecca Carney who replied: “Thank you so much!! I look forward to reading this book.”   I will put the book into the mail this week for you, Rebecca.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!  🙂

More great Writer’s Helps!

Do you not only come up with great stories, but you also create whole new worlds? If you do, then you may need to put your world on a map.

Have you ever tried to follow a story and wished you could see what the author could see? I have, and a map would have been a great help to me so I could follow along with a visual. Well, if you have ever thought you would like to – or should – have a map for your story or fantasy world, then check out the links I have added to my Writer’s Helps page. One is for maps you can use for free, the other is free software to make your own. How cool is that! 🙂

While you’re there, be sure to check over the other links as I sometimes move things around and I don’t always announce when I add one link to a list.

Just a final reminder, at about 5:00 PM EST a name will be drawn for the book How My Savior Leads Me. Be sure to read my review before entering. Then watch your email as I will be sending notice to the winner.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂