Making up for lost time

A while back I was gifted with some Versatile Blogger Awards, but since I fell off the face of the earth just before receiving these, I have yet to pass them on.  It gives me great warm fuzzies to know others follow  my blog and find it worth their time, and I appreciate that enormously.  

There are so many great informative and imaginative blogs out there and following so many can be time-consuming.  That's why I am happy to pass this award onward to other bloggy friends who make the reading worth my time.

1. Thank and link back to the person who bestowed upon you the wonderful award:  

Great big fluffy thank you to Bryan at the Time Guardian Blog.  I can't wait until your books get picked up because I'm looking forward to reading them.  They sound like exactly what my kids would love to read.  

L'Aussie at L'Aussie Writing, I love the imagery in your writing.  Thank you for all your input and for following my blog.

Thank you also to OfficeGirl at Tired but Writing.  We have quite a lot in common.  It's almost scary sometimes to read your posts ;)  Make sure you tell us all about your upcoming writer's conference.  I haven't gone to one yet because I'm too darn poor for conferences, associations, contests, etc.  Some day it's going to be all that's on my Christmas list, and then someone (*ahem*--hubby) will have to pay for one.

2. Share seven interesting or amusing things about yourself.

Hmmmm. Tough one.  Feels funny to tag myself as interesting or amusing, but here's my best...

  1) I foresee the cause of my death to be dark chocolate overdose, most likely Lindt or Lindor truffles.  Should I just sue them now?
  2) I love creepie/crawlies.  I had to adopt out Pebbles, my Red-Tailed Columbian Boa when I left for boot camp because my husband couldn't stand to feed it the rats.  My dream pet: a Monitor lizard.
  3) I lived in a nudist colony for a very short period of time when I was a child.
  4) I was groped twice at The Hobbit House, a restaurant/bar in Manila staffed entirely by little people.  I guess my budonkadonk was too hard to resist at eye level.
  5) I won a big, fat essay contest with a piece I wrote on washing a chicken. *make sure you use Woolite*
  6) I've eaten locust, deep-fried.  Tasted like chicken, but I couldn't stand the "hull" in the mouth afterward.
  7) I can't let myself play RPG's.  Nope, can't do it.  I'll end up living at the computer, and not to blog or write, but to RPG the last half of my life away.  Damn you, EQ (aka EvilQuest).  You started all this!

3. Pass the award top 15 bloggers you have just recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for any and all reasons!! I tried to choose blogs I follow which didn't appear to already have this award.  Without further ado and in no particular order:

  1) Matthew @ The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment
  2) Jo @ Shoveling in a Jo Storm 
  3) Katie @ Creepy Query Girl
  4) L.@ Spunk on a Stick
  5) Stu @ Stusplace
  6) Sara @ Sara B. Larson
  7) Tina @ Sweet Niblets 
  8) Karen @ Eternal Moonshine of a Daydreaming Mind
  9) Roni @ Fiction Groupie
10) Megan @ The Write Stuff
11) Shelli @ A*Musings
12) Julie @ Silver Lining
13) Tara @ Feel of Something New
14) Anne @ Piedmont Writer
15) Margie @ Spin Me Write Round

4. Contact the bloggers you picked to let them about the award so they may pass on the awsomesauce.

Please stop by and visit any of my bloggy buddies you haven't visited yet and check out their blogs!

My Let's Talk Blogfest Excerpt!

Thank you, Roni @ Fictiongroupie for this fun, awesome blogfest.  Yay!  This is my first blogfest entry, and I can't wait to see the excerpts everyone else posts today.  Everyone should check out the list.  It's huge.  There are over 90 entries.  This 'fest is all about the dialogue...

Here's my clip.  Setup: My MC, Emma, speaks to her close friends after she learns that Gabriel (our Hero) is irreversibly bonded to her.


“That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard,” Vi mused. “Makes sense why he didn't want to tell anyone. He was protecting you, if you ask me.”

“I'm not asking you,” Emma huffed. Violet raised both eyebrows in feigned surprise.

“Could have fooled me. Have you talked to Daniel about this yet?”

“Are you kidding? Gabriel's his golden child lately. It would crush him.”

“Well, Gabe suffering in silence until he dies in front of us won't sit too well with him either.”

“What am I supposed to do? Should I give up my life for his life?”

“You know that's not what I'm saying, Em,” Vi snapped, “but maybe we can find some other solution. Dan can do some research...” Both lost in thought, silence stretched between the two.

“I'm terrified of him, Vi.”

“Oh, really? Is that what you tell yourself?”

“What do you mean?” Emma asked as Dave entered the suite he shared with Vi.

“What up, people?” he asked jovially. His smile died as he encountered their sober faces.

“I mean, Emelia,” Vi said sternly, “that there's more between you and Gabe than plain ol' fear."

“Oh, yeah,” Dave agreed. “When you're in the room, he's like a super magnet. You can't keep your eyes off him. Anyone who knows you well can see that. Well, except Dan 'cause he's Dan and only sees you as his little girl.”

“Well, that's ridiculous,” Em said, her voice rising.

“Uh-uh,” Vi shook her head. “If you feel fear, it's not fear of him, Baby Girl.”

“Yep. I'm pretty sure you can slap him around and call him Brenda, and all he'd do is look at you with goo-goo eyes,” Dave laughed.

Emma grunted at him. “Sometimes you are so dumb!”

“Well, enlighten me, then. What's all this about you and Gabe?”

“Oh, Lord! Do I have to go through all this again?”

“No. If you go talk to Dan, I'll catch up the curly-haired midget.”

“Hey now!” Dave scowled. Violet shot him a look so loving it could melt snow. He smiled at her. Emma felt a familiar jab of envy.

“Alright, I'll try to talk to Granddad. That's all I'm promising.”

“Don't give him a heart attack. Be gentle,” Dave quipped.

“And Em, Gabe's a very, very good friend, not just to me, but to all of the team. Yes, even Ray now,” Vi said earnestly, then added softly. “We can't let him die. He's given us too much, saved our happy asses too many times, and he did it all even when we were so cruel to him. In some crazy way, after what you've told me, I suppose he did all this for you.”

Emma left the suite with her head spinning. She could tell her grandfather about the true situation, but he'd be hurt to know either Gabriel would die or his precious Emelia would suffer for him to live. He couldn't even stand for her to associate with the Aegis, as much they meant to him, preferring nice boys for her to date. She honestly didn't know how she could get up the nerve to discuss it with him anyway. It had taken her three days to work up to Vi and Dave. In the meantime, she'd steered clear of any place she could run into Gabriel.