Celebrating: Vacation

I'm celebrating vacation time!!  

I'm smiling as big as the ones in the above picture - 

although I'm not sure which I resemble most...

Have a wonderful week, everyone, and I'll be back in mid-September!

Have you taken a vacation this summer?  Did you go anywhere or was it a "stay-cation"?

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is follow the link and put your name on the Mr.Linky list, and then be sure to post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! 

International Potluck Blogfest - Babaganough

International Potluck Blogfest
Do you have a favorite recipe? A dish everyone loves?
Share it with us! 

Today Beth Fred, Medeia Sharif and I are hosting the International Potluck Blogfest.  

Here are the rules:

~ Put the bloghop badge on your post.
~ Post the cover of a book you love (it can be your own) with a food and/or recipe from the book, or a food from the MC's region, or any food you just like!
~ Link back to Beth, Media, and Lexa. All three of us.
~ A copy of Beth's Finding Hope, Medeia's Snip, Snip, Revenge, and Lexa's Soul Cutter, plus a $10 Amazon gift card will be given away via Rafflecopter! (The Rafflecopter is at the end of the post)

Soul Cutter

YA Horror/Romance

     The Soul Cutter is hunting again.
     Seventeen-year-old Élan spends her free time videoing psychic scams and outing them online. Skepticism makes life safe—all the ghosts Élan encounters are fakes. When her estranged mother disappears from a film shoot in Egypt, Élan puts her medium-busting activities on hold and joins the search.
     In Egypt, the superstitious film crew sucks at finding her mom. When a hotel guest is killed, whispers start—the locals think their legendary Soul Cutter has come back from the dead. Élan's only ally is Ramsey, a film-crew intern, but he’s arrogant, stubborn—and hiding dangerous secrets.
     When Élan discovers the Soul Cutter is no scam, she finds herself locked in a deadly battle against a supernatural killer with more than her mother’s life at stake.
     Élan is fighting for her very soul.


My novel, Soul Cutter, takes place mostly in Egypt, so my recipe is Egyptian (Middle Eastern).  It's a dip called Babaganough, made with eggplants and sesame paste -- it's yummy and healthy!

BABAGANOUGH
(Appetizer for 8-10 people)

4-5 medium eggplants (about 3 pounds)
1 small bottle of tahini (sesame paste) 200 grams/8 oz.
1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
3 tablespoons oil
water if necessary (it usually is)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1. Cut off eggplant stems. Prick with fork on two sides. Place on baking sheet and bake in 400-degree oven for 1 hour, turning the eggplants every 15 minutes so they don't burn. They should be soft and mushy at the end. If not, continue baking until they are. Remove from oven. Let cool for 1 hour.
2. Cut eggplant in half and gently peel the insides out of the skin and chop into little pieces (or mince in a food processor). Place in bowl.

3. P0ur tahini in a separate bowl. (If there is thick paste adhering to the bottom of the bottle, pour in the lemon juice and a little hot water and mix to loosen.) Add the garlic, lemon juice, and oil. If the tahini is dark, thick, and mealy looking, mix in a small amount of water until the tahini lightens in color and looks creamy.
4. Add salt, pepper, cumin, parsley, and dill. Mix thoroughly.  
5. If there's excess liquid in the eggplant bowl, pour it out, and add the eggplant to the tahini bowl. Mix.
6. Babaganough can be eaten with pita bread, crackers, breadsticks, carrot sticks, or cucumber slices.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Celebrate the Wheel? Blogfest & Freebies

For August 8th, I'm celebrating --

Wait!!

Is it really August? Not only August but the SECOND WEEK in August?

How did that happen?

Every day I'm doing the things on my list -- blogging, returning comments, emailing, FB-ing (yes, that's a word!), doing crits for people, writing a group newsletter, reading in my genre, trying to revise my WIP, and changing the bandages on my poor toe (UGH!).  So how is it that I'm SO FAR BEHIND??

This week I'm celebrating that I keep running on my hamster wheel even if there's no end in sight...

Anyone else feel they're running and running but never getting anywhere?

International Potluck Blogfest
Do you have a favorite recipe? A dish everyone loves?
Share it with us! 

Beth Fred, Medeia Sharif and I are hosting the International Potluck Blogfest on Tuesday, August 12. Here are the rules:
~ Put the bloghop badge on your post.
~ Post the cover of a book you love (it can be your own) with a food and/or recipe from the book, or a food from the MC's region, or any food you just like!
~ Link back to Beth, Media, and Lexa. All three of us.
~ A copy of Beth's Finding Hope, Medeia's Snip, Snip, Revenge, and Lexa's Soul Cutter, plus a $10 Amazon gift card will be given away via Rafflecopter!

I look forward to your foody posts. Sign up below.

Foxy's Friday Freebies!

Foxy has been nosing around the net. 
When she finds great FREE STUFF, she'll feature it on Fridays Freebies posts -

• Free short stories, novellas, and novels
• Giveaways for books and swag
• Free services for authors

Here are Foxy's suggestions for Aug 8, 2014:

Free MG Fantasy Novel Broken Branch Falls by Tara Tyler. “It’s tough to be a goblin in high school.” She’s giving away a copy plus goodies and an Amazon gift card via rafflecopter HERE (ends Aug 31)

Free YA Novel of Your Choice to celebrate the release of Compulsion, a YA southern gothic novel by Martina Boone (it sounds awesome!). Go to the rafflecopter giveaway on Literary Rambles. (ends Aug 31)

For Foxy's other Freebies, go to the Freebie page.

If anyone has a FREE short story (for download or online at a free ezine), novella, novel, special giveaway, or author service, please let Foxy know so she can plug you here!  Write to: laura.6eg(at)gmail.com

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is follow the link and put your name on the Mr.Linky list, and then be sure to post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! 

IWSG: Inspiration

To inspire.

To entertain.

To encourage.

 

These are some of my favorite quotes and sayings.

Do you have a favorite quote or saying?

This is a post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. It exists so the community of blogging writers can share and support each other, blog-hopping to cheerlead and commiserate. To find out more, visit: Insecure Writer's Support Group. Plus, check out the IWSG Website for lots of helpful info and links.

Celebrate Agent News, International Potluck Blogfest & Freebies

My awesome CP, Kate Larkindale, has an AGENT!!!

Kate signed with Suzy Townsend of New Leaf Literary last week and wrote about what it was like to get The Call. If you want to know how she did it, or just want to congratulate her, go HERE.

CONGRATS KATE!!! Woohoo!!!

(That means my 8-member CP group now has 3 agented authors. Wow!)

This week I'm celebrating:
1)  Kate getting an agent!  I'm so excited and happy for her!  She really deserves it!
2)  My Aug 12 bloghop is coming up - please sign up below.
3)  Alex Cavanaugh interviews me about my A-Z's Ghost Story theme HERE. Come say hi!
4)  I had toe surgery and am still alive (in pain, but alive).
5)  I've listened to my awesome CPs, backtracked, tossed out a scene in Ch 4, and I'm writing a new scene - which will change the WHOLE PLOT!  Eek!  Yes, it slows my revisions (again), but not being afraid of advice or rewriting makes me feel STRONG!

Do any of you wish you would get The Call from an agent?  How long have you been querying?

International Potluck Blogfest
Do you have a favorite recipe? A dish everyone loves?
Share it with us! 

Beth Fred, Medeia Sharif and I are hosting the International Potluck Blogfest. Here are the rules:
~ Put the bloghop badge on your post.
~ Post the cover of a book you love (it can be your own) with a food and/or recipe from the book, or a food from the MC's region, or a food you just like!
~ Link back to Beth, Media, and Lexa. All three of us.
~ A copy of Beth's Finding Hope, Medeia's Snip, Snip, Revenge, and Lexa's Soul Cutter, plus a $10 Amazon gift card will be given away via Rafflecopter!

I look forward to your foody posts. Sign up below.

Foxy's Friday Freebies!

Foxy has been nosing around the net. 
When she finds great FREE STUFF, she'll feature it on Fridays Freebies posts -

• Free short stories, novellas, and novels
• Giveaways for books and swag
• Free services for authors

Here are Foxy's suggestions for Aug 1, 2014:

Free Children’s Chapter eBook with Illustrations, “Stone Faces” by Ann & Ken Hicks. It’s a funny, touching, and adventurous story about a 10-year-old girl whose parents are divorcing. Suitable for children ages 8-11. Including the illustrations, it’s about 20MB (well worth it). Ken Hicks will be happy to tell you how to download it -- email him at: khicks(at)aol.com 

Giveaway of Double Negative eBooks and Amazon Gift Cards to celebrate the release of C.Lee McKenzie’s new YA novel, Double Negative. Giveaway via rafflecopter on my July 25th post or C.Lee’s blog.

Free Anthology: Heroes of Phenomena, a Cross-industry Global Anthology of Short Stories. The anthology’s project director is Samantha Redstreake Geary with the collaboration of wonderful authors like Alex Cavanaugh and C.Lee McKenzie. You can download it FREE on Kobo and Smashwords  

For Foxy's other Freebies, go to the Freebie page.

If anyone has a FREE short story (for download or online at a free ezine), novella, novel, special giveaway, or author service, please let Foxy know so she can plug you here!  Write to: laura.6eg(at)gmail.com

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is follow the link and put your name on the Mr.Linky list, and then be sure to post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever!