D is for Duke Gardens: A to Z Blogging Challenge

It's April and you know what that means: The AtoZ Blogging Challenge! For those who haven't played along before, the AtoZ Blogging Challenge asks bloggers to post every day during April (excepting Sundays), which works out to 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet. In my opinion, it's the most fun if you choose a theme.

My theme this year is Places in my Heart, all about the places I've been and loved and that have mattered to me in a lasting sense.

For my regular readers, you'll see more than the usual once-a-week posts from me this month. I'm having a great time writing them, so I hope you enjoy reading them, too.

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D is for Duke Gardens

I got married in Duke Gardens, so obviously this is a special place for us. 

The first weekend my husband and I ever spent together, we had a picnic there, sitting near the lake. Throughout our long distance courtship, while he was in grad school at UNC Chapel Hill, I'd come visit him, and we'd keep coming back to Duke Gardens for long walks and talks in a beautiful setting. So, when it was time to marry, it made sense to do so in a place that had been such a part of our relationship. 

Since we ended up settling in the Triangle of North Carolina, we still get to visit Duke Gardens regularly. We have a relationship with the ducks, who spotted us a mile away as suckers who will buy multiple bags of duck feed. We named the Heron in the lake (Harry, of course). We have a particular bench inside a magnolia tree where we like to sit and people and bird watch.  It's beautiful in different ways throughout the year. 

It's both cultivated and wild, organized and chaotic. Just like us. 

C is for Carolina Theatre: A to Z Blogging Challenge

It's April and you know what that means: The AtoZ Blogging Challenge! For those who haven't played along before, the AtoZ Blogging Challenge asks bloggers to post every day during April (excepting Sundays), which works out to 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet. In my opinion, it's the most fun if you choose a theme.

My theme this year is Places in my Heart, all about the places I've been and loved and that have mattered to me in a lasting sense.

For my regular readers, you'll see more than the usual once-a-week posts from me this month. I'm having a great time writing them, so I hope you enjoy reading them, too.

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C is for Carolina Theatre

The Carolina Theatre is a lovely old dame in downtown Durham, North Carolina. We discovered her some time shortly after moving to this area and are now regulars for many of their events.

We spend the most time enjoying their Friday night retro film series, which plays both classics and cult classics and everything in between. It's a favorite date night for the husband and me, and sometimes we take the kids, too, especially when we feel their pop culture education is at stake! Recently played films I've enjoyed include: The Princess Bride, Bladerunner, Cowboy Bebop, The Secret of NIMH, The Evil Dead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Gaslight.

The theater itself is beautiful, designed in the 1920s in the Beaux Arts style. There are several different performance spaces inside, for movies or stage events. Besides the retro series, we've enjoyed multicultural performances like Japanese drumming, musical performances by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Madeline Peyroux, and presentations of various sorts.

Between the events, the lovely people who run the place, the gorgeous venue, and the yummy snacks, the Carolina Theatre is definitely my kind of place.

B is for Big Bend, West Virginia: AtoZ Blogging Challenge

It's April and you know what that means: The AtoZ Blogging Challenge! For those who haven't played along before, the AtoZ Blogging Challenge asks bloggers to post every day during April (excepting Sundays), which works out to 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet. In my opinion, it's the most fun if you choose a theme.

My theme this year is Places in my Heart, all about the places I've been and loved and that have mattered to me in a lasting sense.

For my regular readers, you'll see more than the usual once-a-week posts from me this month. I'm having a great time writing them, so I hope you enjoy reading them, too.

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B is for Big Bend, West Virginia

From our neck of the woods, in the Piedmont area of North Carolina, our vacations are usually a choice between "head for the sea" or "head for the mountains." When we choose mountains, we've ended up in West Virginia a few times in the past decade or so. 

Big Bend is a state park day use area full of running water and large rocks to climb on, and a variety of hiking opportunities. I've been here with just my husband and also with my children and once with my mother, too. It's been wonderful every time in all sets of company.

My youngest daughter is a creek-dobber, like me, delighted with hard flowing water and small fish and the sparkle of light through trees and on water. So this is our kind of place.

There's something about the sound and smell of the water that clears my head of all pollution (external and internal). I only wish there was a place like this in my own town. 

A is for Alhambra: AtoZ Blogging Challenge

It's April and you know what that means: The AtoZ Blogging Challenge! For those who haven't played along before, the AtoZ Blogging Challenge asks bloggers to post every day during April (excepting Sundays), which works out to 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet. In my opinion, it's the most fun if you choose a theme.

My theme this year is Places in my Heart, all about the places I've been and loved and that have mattered to me in a lasting sense.

For my regular readers, you'll see more than the usual once-a-week posts from me this month. I'm having a great time writing them, so I hope you enjoy reading them, too.

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A is for Alhambra

I first visited Spain when I was a college student, in 1992 as part of a summer study program. There is so much about that summer that lives in my memory, but nothing shines brighter in my mind's eye than the Alhambra. 

The Alhambra was the last Moorish (Muslim) stronghold in Southern Spain. It's beautifully preserved and a major tourist attraction, famed worldwide for the beauty of its architecture and gardens.  It's definitely on my list of the most beautiful human-made places I have ever seen. There's a famous poem, by Francisco Asís de Icaza y Beña that expresses it well:

In English: "Give him alms, woman, for there is nothing sadder in life than being blind in Granada."

It was my first exposure to Arabian styles of architecture and I fell in love hard. The tile work, the detailed carvings, the water features and statuary are magical. There's a romance to it. You can't be there and not feel the history and imagine stories. 

AtoZ: Theme Reveal: Places In My Heart (a little late)

It's almost April and you know what that means: The AtoZ Blogging Challenge! For those who haven't played along before, the AtoZ Blogging Challenge asks bloggers to post every day during April (excepting Sundays), which works out to 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet. In my opinion, it's the most fun if you choose a theme.

In 2016, I did favorite superheroes.
In 2015, I released my first novel, so my posts were all about that.
In 2014, the first time I played, I did evocative words.

I love this blogging challenge both for how it pushes me and for how it puts me in contact with new bloggers to read and network with.

I missed the official theme reveal on March 20, probably because I was deep in editing my third novel at the time, so I'm playing a bit late.

My theme this year is Places in my Heart. I'll be talking about places that have mattered to me in a lasting way in my life. Here's my list of planned posts.

A: Alhambra, Granada, Spain

B: Big Bend, West Virginia

C: Carolina Theatre, Durham, NC

D: Duke Gardens, Durham, NC

E: Elmo's Diner, Carrboro, NC

F: Ft. Abercrombie State Historical Park, Kodiak, Alaska. 

G: Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier National Park, Montana

H: Chena Hot Springs Resort, Fairbanks, Alaska

I: Tybee Island, Georgia

J: Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Lexington, Kentucky

K: Kennicott/McCarthy, Alaska

L: Last Train to Nowhere, Nome, Alaska

M: Museum Road, Oxford, England

N: Natural Bridge State Park, Kentucky

O: Occoneechee Speedway Trail, Hillsborough, North Carolina

P: Plaza Mayor, Madrid, Spain

Q: "Queen City", Cincinnati, Ohio

R: Richardson Highway, Alaska

S: Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

T: Tom's Book Nook, Bellevue, Kentucky

U: Ouzinkie, Alaska (Monk's Lagoon)

V: Vermont

W: Weaver Street Market, Hillsborough, North Carolina

X: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

Y: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Z: David Traylor Zoo, Emporia, Kansas

This year, instead of doing a linky signup, we're playing BINGO. Using this bingo board, the idea is to track down posts that meet each category. So, come read with us at AtoZ starting Saturday :-)

• A post that mentions a car, truck, or motorcycle.
• A post that mentions a book you've read and reviewed.
• A post about an animal you've never learned about before.
• A post with an image of something green.
• A post that inspired you to make something.

• A post about something in your fandom.
• A post with a recipe you tried.
• A post where you learned something new.
• A post that mentions outer space.
• A post that mentions ancient times.

• A post that mentions a horse.
• A post with an image of a dog or cat.
• A post with something you're allergic to.
• A post with diversity.

• A post with coffee.
• A post with a pun.
• A post with a poem.
• A post that made you laugh.
• A post that made you cry.

• A post about a place you've been.
• A post about a place you will probably never see.
• A post that improved your health (or offered a way for you to try to).
• A post with a story you can tell around the campfire.
• A post with three or more different words that begin with X.

A Room of My Own

I've never had a writer's nook or office or room of my own.

I write where I can. On the sofa in my living room, standing in the kitchen, in my car while I'm waiting for one of my daughter's, in coffeeshops, at the library.

My time is coming.

One of my daughters is about to go off to college, which is going to mean a room shuffle . . . and, perhaps, a writing space of my own.

I like daydreaming about it, imagining what I'll have in there.

Here's my list, as of today:

I want a dry-erase wall, preferably also magnetic. Without a designated work space, I struggle with

brainstorming and organizational space. I'd love to have a blank wall to write out all my bubble maps and timelines on, to hold snippets I'm not ready to use just yet, to display visual  cues and inspiration.

I recently found out that these don't even have to be white, so I can still have a cool color, too. Maybe a peaceful green or a calming blue. It's chaotic in my head, so it would be good to have the walls be calm.

I'm also going to need an awesome chair. Something wide enough to sit in sideways with my feet tucked up or to share with my dog when one of us needs that.

I don't really want a desk. A wide, flat surface just becomes a junk collector for me, so a chair and a nice folding table will do nicely.

Sometimes, I think it should be a traditional library wingback, other times an overstuffed cushy thing, or maybe something really weird looking, like a giant hand or a spiral shape. I'm looking forward to trying out a bunch of possibilities. I'm 45 years old and I've never really chosen a chair to please only myself.

I like to imagine some plants in there with me. I'm happiest when among trees. My grocery store has been selling indoor palms and ferns and lots of jungly-looking greenery here lately and I like the idea of having a little private jungle feeding me oxygen as I pound out my words.

I won't really need a lot of shelf space or a need to make tea in there, since this is going to be in my house, which is already full of bookshelves and ways to caffeinate, so I should have room for my own private forest near the windows.

I'm not sure how that will go, as I am not known for my green thumb, but this is a dream room right now, so the plants are lush and healthy, fed by the wild imaginings created in their presence.

I'll keep some display shelves up high with copies of my books on them and remembrances of my writing life, like name-tags from cons and pictures and such. Stuff to make me feel successful and re-inspired when I get discouraged.

What do you think? Anything that's a must-have in my writer's garrett? What's in your creative space (real or dream)?

Books Worth Your Bucks

I was invited to participate in this blog hop: Books Worth Your Bucks.

I love this idea: taking a moment to tell the world about a book you've read and considered worth the dough. You can read the details and join the blog hop here.

I'm going to tell you a bit about Overlook by Elizabeth Hein and the sequel Escape Plan. The two books make a single story if read in order, a satisfying story about revenge, justice, and finding one's true path in life. The story is complete in these two books, too. It's not the beginning of a longer series.

(And you can get both books for as little as $8 if you're a digital reader or $25 for both paperbacks)

Overlook is the premiere neighborhood in an imaginary North Carolina town in the 1970s and Stacia rules it with an iron fist inside a kid glove. Property values and family values are one and the same, and woe be to anyone who upsets the status quo with unseemly drama or tragedy in the Stepford-like lakeside community.

Things begin to change when Stacia’s best friend Kitty becomes the center of a particularly unsavory family situation in the shape of a philandering husband who fails to keep up appearances. More than one of the Lookers is revealed in a different light as Kitty’s life falls apart and Stacia decides where her loyalties lie.

Book two picks up in the immediate aftermath of the events at the end of book one. I can't tell you much without ruining it, so I'll say that there is a pretty powerful event that ends book one, and book two begins with the repercussions of that. 

Now what? is the big question. Like finding out what happens to the princess after the prince comes, the second book shows that taking action against your troubles might just land you in an entirely new pool of hot water.

I recommend these two books for readers who enjoy realistic, but dramatic stories and strong character arcs. It’s also interesting as a period piece and a commentary and the changing roles of women in the 1970s. Stacia and Kitty are great characters and the two books have a lot to say about friendship among women.