Friday Plot Swap~ Solid Gold Style

Friday Plot Swap

Dawn's Plot Swap

Have a plot? Leave one.

Need a plot ? Take one.

Have I got a story for you this week! 

Can it be a coincidence both of the stories came out within days of  each other? 

I think not. 

This just begs to written

Germany is transferring nearly 700 tons of gold bars worth $36 billion from Paris and New York to its vaults in Frankfurt.

That could be an awesome story alone. Think of all the people who have to be planning and scheming how to steal even just a little of this money right now!

But, then you have to read this!

German police say robbers dug a 30-meter (100-foot) tunnel into the safe deposit room of a Berlin bank and escaped with their haul, setting a fire as they left to cover their tracks.

You know who is plotting to steal it?

THOSE PEOPLE! Right? 

What a great plot! 

Think of these characters: 

• The reluctant thief who is only involved because he/she plans to use the loot to do something noble. 
• The daughter of a former thief who wants to pull of a heist to shed doubt on her father's conviction. 
• ooh, even better, the daughter of an former thief who infiltrates her father's old crew to pull off the heist and leave them hanging just like they did her dad. 
• The police officer who just knows the tunnel robbers are going to make a move on the gold and wants to be ready for them. 

I could do this all day!

What do you got? 

Swap with me! 

Pillow Talk

Tell Me Your Story Tuesday

Pillow Talk 

First, some old country to get you in the mood.

 Talking in Your Sleep~ Crystal Gayle

I so wanted to be her when I was 8 years old...or, at least, I wanted her hair!

One night this week, I had a rude awakening...literally. My husband yanked my pillow out from under my head, smiled at me like a loon and rolled over.  Okay, technically, this--> 

is a loon and he looked nothing like that. 

But, that's not the point. 

The point is this happens frequently. 

It's worse when he's been playing hockey. He's "windmill" saved my pillow in the middle of the night, "kick" saved a two-liter bottle of Coke off the coffee table while he was sleeping on the couch, and carried on complete, if incoherent, conversations with me of which he later had no memory. 

The most interesting happened right after we were married. 

I woke in the middle of the night to him petting my hair like I was a Cocker Spaniel and laughing manically. 

If he knew I was telling you all this, he would throw in his own story about the ONE TIME I did something similar. 

He came to bed after I'd been asleep for a while and I demanded to know if he "filled up the forest". 

Yeah, I don't know. I completely remember the conversation and at the time it made perfect sense to  me. The next morning? Not so much. 

So, tell me your story.

Do you talk in your sleep? Walk in your sleep? Get up and dance the Macarena? 

For another interesting sleep story, you can read about the Cookie Monster, Marvin the Martian and why I will never do drugs. 

Makeover Monday~ The Girls' Bathroom

Makeover Monday

Makeover Monday

My Daughters' Bathroom

I've decided to add an extra feature to the blog this year.

Welcome to my first 

Makeover Monday!

 I am not, by nature, an organized person. 

Decorating and being crafty are so not in my skill set,

 but I've made a commitment to start making our house more 

"my style" and less "it-was-on-clearance" style.

This began when I decided to clean out my closet to avoid working on revisions for my current WIP. 

You can read about the closet makeover and my ensuing injury here. 

Now, that my revisions are finished and I'm out of my writing slump, I'm ready to share some other projects. 

Besides, we all love BEFORE and AFTER pictures, right? 

Before:

This is also our guest bath.  

The monkeys were cute. They were also on sale. No one in the family has a deep affection for monkeys, though I have had the two stuffed ones on the toilet since I was a little girl. 

This gives you a little more of the full effect of the shower curtain and a view of my oldest daughter's preschool artwork. Um, yeah, she's in 5th grade now. Time for a change. 

But, first, you must feast your eyes on the  wondrous organization I had going on under the sink. 

Everything you need in one big, tangled pile. 

The bathroom is a peanut butter color and I would really love to paint it a soft purple or celery green. Except that I hate painting. So, peanut butter it will stay. Maybe I'll attack that on Spring Break. 

First, we needed a cool new shower curtain. 

and a place to put the towels

The monkeys were replaced by a basket of wash clothes and 

family picture on the wall instead of the giraffe. 

*Side note*

The picture frame hung in my classroom last year. I just stuck it up there because the color matched. 

The day after I redecorated, a family friend came out  and announced,

 "I found myself in your bathroom!"

For a moment I was afraid he'd had some sort of spiritual awakening in there!

Then, he explained he was in the background of one of the pictures. 

The frame may not stay. I can't decide if it's weird to have eyes on you while you do your business or not. 

I got the pink and blue tubs at the Target $1 spot. They made me stupidly happy. The purple container above is suctioned to the mirror. Each girl has one to hold their toothbrush, toothpaste and a small cup. 

And, last, my favorite part....

UNDER THE SINK!

These are from the container store and I will freely admit I stole this idea from 

http://www.alejandra.tv/ 

So, that's the first makeover. 

I've already done a few more spaces. For every week I keep what I've already done organized, I'm rewarding myself with buying something for the next space I plan to work on. Some of the projects are small, some are entire rooms... We'll see how that works out. 

What do you think?

Would you like to see the other spaces? 

Are you as intrigued by before and after pictures as I am? 

Have you done any organizing/redecorating? 

I'd love to see it!

Friday Plot Swap~People are crazy.

Friday Plot Swap

Dawn's Plot Swap

Have a plot? Leave one.

Need a plot ? Take one.

First, a little music to inspire you today. 

The song would make a pretty good plot itself. But, 

today's swap is inspired by the chorus: 

God is great.

Beer is good.

And, people are crazy. 

Let's start with Mars, shall we? 

Mars One, a Dutch-based non-profit seeking to send people to Mars, has put up an advertisement seeking applications from interested parties. A total of 30 astronauts will eventually live on Mars, according to the plan, sent in teams of four making the journey every two years from 2023.

Definitely want to read the fine print on this one!

One note of caution: The trip is one-way, and if everything goes to plan, you will grow old and die on Mars.

So many places this story could go!

Then, we can move on to stupid crazy.

Serial Bank Robber's Love Letter Helped Convict Him

This guy's escape and crime spree could be a novel in itself. Guess he thought so, too. He wrote out every detail and sent it to a (hopefully, former) girlfriend. 

My favorite part is that at the very end of the letter, he asks her to send him $100. Run, sweetie. Run now! 

This just screams "creepy, stalker suspense!" What if the girl didn't even know him? Or if he is a long ago ex-boyfriend? Or, if all of it was a distraction so a different crime could happen? 

We'll end our swapping journey with just crazy, crazy. 

Man arrested for barking at police dog

The headline is slightly misleading. The man was already handcuffed and in the back of a cruiser when they brought a drug dog to search his car. Clearly, the man responded in the best manner possible barking and growling at the dog. 

I'm sure the officers loved that! 

Swap with me!

What kind of craziness is going on in your plot? 

Or your world? 

It's Over! Goodbye 2012!

Tell Me Your Story Tuesday

It's Over!

Happy 2013!

     I won't bore you by going back over all the reasons 2012 was not a good year for me. I will just let out a deep sigh of relief and let you know that 

I am so glad it is 2013! 

Plus, Yahoo Horoscope 

(which has to be one of the THE most reliable sources on earth, don't you think?)

 promises good things for me this year: 

You've been preparing for the breakthrough and surge in success, so you'll be more than ready to take your rightful place in the limelight. All areas of your life receive the benefits and blessings of Jupiter for the second half of 2013. Your confidence is sky high and you feel more optimistic about life and your future than you have in ages. All of the suffering, heaviness and loss of 2012 will quickly become a thing of the past as you embrace the amazing opportunities being showered upon you in 2013.

Limelight here I come!

So, tell me your story. 

Do you have high hopes for 2013

or was 2012 a banner year for you? 

What'd you do to ring in the New Year? 

Kiss anybody good? Real or imaginary? I don't judge.

You can read my past NYE exploits here. 

HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT FIRST DAY OF THE NEW YEAR!

    

Where have you been?

Tell Me Your Story Tuesday

Where have you been? 

Or the story of how life slapped me in the face and I quit blogging for a while.

By Dawn Alexander

 If you're still reading this blog, thank you. I've been out of touch for a while. Paul A. Shortt got a month long feature for his new release and if you look past that you will see that I missed the entire month of October.

 Honestly, I thought no one would notice until this weekend when the president of my RWA chapter said, "I keep stopping by your blog and that man's still there."

So, if like Jen, you've been dropping by and seeing Paul alot. I thank you for continuing to check in.

I wrote in September about getting myself together. Everything was under control.I was ready to start writing, blogging, playing on social media. 

I was ready to be me, again. 

Then, October happened. 

Sometimes, just to let you know you ain't running nothing, as my dad would say, life backhands you.

Five deaths in 9 weeks. 

That's where I've been. 

Two family friends, two high school students and one cousin, who is being laid to rest today.  

All with their own stories that they don't get to tell anymore. 

I am making a proclamation that this year is done. 

No one else can get sick. No one else can be hurt. No one else can die. 

2012 has not been a pleasant experience. I have high hopes for the year to come. 

I just have to get there...with this little thread of sanity I am clutching intact. 

      

      

Happy Release Day To Paul A. Shortt

Tell Me Your Story Tuesday

Happy Release Day! 

Paul Anthony Shortt

Welcome back to the blog! I looked back at your first interview from August of 2011. So much has changed for you since then!

Thanks for having me again! Yeah, things have come along a lot. It's been a really exciting time.

First, tell us about Locked Within.

Did the inspiration for this book come from any particular source? 

I had seen an increase in the amount of books where the hero was some powerful supernatural creature. I wanted to try something different, where the hero was just a man. Sure, Nathan Shepherd gains knowledge from past lives through the course of the book, and learns how to harness the power of being reborn, but compared to his enemies he's just a mortal. He has vulnerabilities and has to use his wits to get by.

Reincarnation has always interested me. The idea that we've been here before, and will be again, is kind of comforting. One thing I hadn't seen much of was a setting where reincarnation was considered the norm, and it was assumed that most people had been reborn at least once. Although Locked Within features conflict over the matter, it's still a world where reincarnation forms a central point in the development of the supernatural society.

Locked Within is set in New York City. I know you recently took a trip there. Had you visited there before writing the book? Where did you visit that is mentioned in the book? 

My wife and I had our honeymoon in New York 4 years ago. The book was firmly in my mind at the time, and had been for many years, but I hadn't started writing yet. We spent 2 weeks in Manhattan. Between that and our week there earlier this year, we still haven't seen or done everything we wanted to!

I've visited several places that appear in Locked Within. The New York Public Library and Riverside Park in particular play important roles, and Grand Central Station appears as well. There's also a bar called Druids in Hell's Kitchen which pretty much serves as the location for a disused bar that features in a particular scene.

Can you describe the feel of holding a book with your name on the cover? ('cause some of us are still waiting for that, you know!)

There's no one feeling that can really describe it. Excitement. Fear. Giddiness. Pride. Fear. It was more than just a feeling of accomplishment; it was also a sense of responsibility. I'm a professional author now, I've achieved my lifelong dream, so I have to work even harder than ever to stay here. 

But at the same time, yeah, I've achieved my lifelong dream. It's amazing to look at the book, feel the pages, smell the paper, then read my name on the cover and think "Wow, I did this."

So, you are doing a live book launch as well as a virtual launch on Twitter (which I think is awesome.) How is that going work? 

The live launch is being held in Hughes and Hughes bookstore in Dundrum, which is near Dublin. The store is doing an amazing amount to promote the event and we've already reached 100 confirmed guests on the Facebook event. I can't wait!

The virtual launch will be the following night. I'll make sure to start it at a time when people from the other side of the Atlantic can make it. I'll assign a Twitter hashtag for people to use so that anyone who's online can join in and chat about the book. 

And, do I understand correctly, that you are already working on a sequel? Tell us about that and when we can look for it. 

Yeah! I've actually been working on it since last year. I'm currently in the middle of a hefty re-write before sending it back to my publisher. Originally my plan was to write 6 books about Nathan Shepherd, but after thinking things over, I decided to shorten the series into a much more manageable trilogy.

The sequel, Forgotten Cause, continues Nathan's story and has him facing not only the consequences of his actions in Locked Within, but also actions taken in his past lives. He comes face to face with an old nemesis, and a woman who could be an ally, lover, or a traitor. If the manuscript is accepted by my publisher and the editing goes well, we should be on course for a release date in 2013.

Last, on a personal note, tell us about the twins! 

Hehe, yeah, those two are currently kicking lumps out of my wife's insides. As you may know, last year we had our first baby, a boy named Conor. We lost him after only three days. It was a really hard time, the worst we could possibly imagine, but we had our friends and family to get us through.

We knew we wanted more kids, so when we found out Jen, my wife, was pregnant again, we were thrilled. You can imagine our surprise at the first scan when the midwife said "I think that's another fetal sac." It was small, less than half the size of the larger one, but there was a definite heartbeat. The midwife was concerned we might lose the smaller one. My wife said that as soon as she saw the heartbeat on the monitor, she knew the second twin would be fine. At the next scan Twin 2 had caught up completely and now the pair of them are weighing in well above the average, even for single babies!

We're expecting them to be delivered by c-section on the 28th of December, but based on their size they could decide to come early. It's been a pretty incredible year. Our lives are changing in big ways and I can't wait to see what's next!

It has been awesome getting to know Paul through his writing journey. 

What else would you like to know? You can leave a question in the comments, or if you have minute, leave him a note of congratulations on his first release.