It's Still Just Me....Six Sentence Sunday #SixSunday #excerpt

As always, for those who might not know here's what 6 Sentence Sunday is all about-

Pick six (6) sentences from anything you like (it can be from a Work in Progress (WiP), something you recently sold, something you hope to sell or even something already under contract and available for purchase – and don’t worry, Six Sentence Sunday is for published AND unpublished writers). Then post them on your blog on Sunday. That’s all there is to it!

You can add yours link to their official list by signing up before midnight the Saturday beforehand, but for any who are familiar with it, you probably already know they will be shutting down soon and there will be no more Six Sentence Sundays. The last SSS is January 27, 2013.

When Jasmine opens the door upon Derrek's arrival, he truly is overwhelmed by her appearance in this next snippit from Love By Design.

Dressed in a dark purple evening gown that shimmered and hugged her curves as though made for her, Jasmine lit up. With a deep plunging neckline and thin spaghetti straps, the dress hung to the floor and hid the style of heels she wore beneath it.

“Pick your jaw up off the ground, Derrek.” Jasmine smiled, seeming as at ease in this as she was in a t-shirt and jeans. She held herself poised as though nothing had happened the night before. “It’s still just me.”

If you missed previous Six Sunday posts from Love by Design and would like to check them out, look at the top of the page in my pink tabs for SSS Posts where you can easily find links to each previous post.  

The Way to a Man's Heart- Taryn Raye's Beef Stew & Rolls

This recipe is an all day Crockpot recipe, so prep early. Around here we love beef stew, but the idea of it out of a can these days just doesn't sound appetizing, so I decided to give it a try myself and see what I could come up with. Having fresh beef and vegetables makes ALL the difference. My husband won't buy the kind in a can anymore and the kids love it, too.

Ingredients-

1-2 lbs Stew Beef or Round Steak

3 Packages of Brown Gravy Mix (I believe the brand I use is Pioneer)

3-4 Carrots, peeled and cut in rounds

3- 4 Celery Stalks, sliced

Med to Large Onion, sliced

Potatoes, peeled, rinsed and cut in bite-sized cubes

Beef Bouillon (preferably powder or granules to cubes- no waiting to dissolve it in water)

Water

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Tablespoon of Butter

Directions-

1. Combine all vegetables into a Dutch oven with water, salt, pepper & tablespoon of butter
2. Bring to boil for approximately 5 minutes
3. While veggies are taking a hot bath, cut stew beef or round steak into bite sized pieces.
4. Toss beef with a teaspoon or two of beef bouillon powder or granules in a bowl
5. Save back hot water in Dutch oven, scoop out partially cooked veggies with a wide slotted spoon
6. Alternately layer meat and veggies in a crock pot or slow cooker
7. Mix 3 packets gravy with enough of the hot water from veggies to fill crock pot and cover meat and vegetables
8. Cook 8-9 hours on low, stirring occasionally, if possible
9. Serve with yeast rolls

Friday Spotlight- How Hard Can It Be? @RobynPeterman

This morning I'm proud to introduce and spotlight fellow KY author and friend, Robyn Peterman, who's new book HOW HARD CAN IT BE? was released yesterday. I've already bought it and spent the better part of yesterday sucked into the story and laughing my behind off at the crazy situations Rena has gotten herself into now that she decided to become romance writer. Crazy porno writing grannies, a sexy cop and a bestselling romance author whose fame has been hard-won through blackmail and theft are just a drop in the bucket. I'm probably going to spend more time today reading than anything else because I'm eager to find out how this ends (and I can't wait to see the movie!)

Check it out!

What happens when an accountant decides to grab life by the horns and try something new? Apparently a pirate named Dave, a lot of pastel fleece, and blackmail—just to start with...

Visualize and succeed, Oprah said. I was sure as hell trying, even if my campaign to score a job as the local weather girl had ended in a restraining order. Okay, TV was not my strength. But a lack of talent has never stopped me before. Which is why I’ve embarked on a writing career. I mean, how hard can it be to come up with a sexy romance?

Leave it to me to wind up in a group of porno writing grannies who discuss sex toys and apple cobbler in the same breath. Also leave it to me to leak an outlandish plot idea to a bestselling author with the morals of a rabid squirrel. And only I could get arrested for a jewelry heist I didn’t commit—by a hunky cop whose handcuffs just might tempt me to sign up for a life of crime. Maybe I’ve found my calling after all...


Here's the interview Robyn did on Lexington's WKYT Channel 27 Newsfirst this past Wednesday-

If you'd like to find out more about Robyn you can hop over to

Robyn's Website
where she has links to follower her on Twitter (and you can follow 2 of the main characters as well- Rena and Shoshanna)

Once Upon a Time... Come visit on Thursdays with Taryn

In the search for old blogposts worthy of "repurposing" I found this one- which a fellow author (who is also my publisher now) had suggested was so nice, I should use it for my author bio on my website when I became published. I'd TOTALLY forgotten about it until I saw it and so I went to my website and added it on my About Me page as an "introduction before my current Bio.

~~~~~~

Once Upon A Time...

In a land far, far away....

The grass shimmered with a hint of blue in the countryside of a little town in Kentucky. Horses and mules whinnied and munched on oats and molasses, hay and licked the salt block.

Amidst the quiet clucking of chickens as they pecked the ground and the breeze caressing her, a young redheaded girl curried the mane of her favorite horse. The massive creature was almost solid black with a white star on her forehead. Midnight Lady, the girl had named the horse.

The sky was pale blue with soft white clouds like pillows, wisping across and the young girl had not a care in the world. All she cared was that she was with her horse, whispering a fairytale in the horse's ear, of riding off into the sunset someday.

Her ideas were simple. She dreamed of having a home and a husband, children, pets and horses. She also dreamed of being a writer. It filled up her lazy summer afternoons, thinking of stories that she could write that might be interesting enough to be published or read by others. She read a lot but she also daydreamed about how wonderful her future would be if she could just have all those elusive things she imagined would make her happy.

Now grown, she has the husband, the children, a pet, no horses of her own, but she can look out the window down behind her house in the country and see the neighbors horses.

And as for writing, well, she's still working on that. Still thinking up stories, still daydreaming it into reality...still chasing that elusive butterfly of her heart.