Last Friday of the Month Recipe & Book from Kimbra Kasch

Today I bring you Kim Kasch and her new way of looking a really yummy treats...and then how to make them.  And since this is slightly before Valentine's Day, you have plenty of time to try them out :)  Smart, aren't we.

Take it away, Kim.

LOOKING FOR LOVE?

Romance writers fantasize about love, all day long, for money ;)

Looking for Love…aren’t we all? Whether you’re looking for a good romance novel to cuddle up with this Valentine’s Day or the love of a good man or woman, we all need affection.

It’s true. And it’s serious. I recall one college professor telling us about a study where a group of babies who weren’t held, in orphanages, failed to thrive. I’ve also read stories about babies who died when they weren’t held.

So, what do these stories tell us about love and affection? They show us, vividly, that we all need human affection. And, what better time to look for a good romance novel or a little love and affection, than at Valentine’s Day?

So, I thought I’d share a few photos and recipes to help you have the best, Love-filled, Valentine’s Day ever.

But first, we all need to remember that every romance starts out a little rough. We need to work through the layers to build the relationship, just like a cake. Of course, with a cake, it’s a little easier but sometimes it looks just as messy.

We start with the cakes and then cover them with a thick layer of buttercream frosting (the crumb coating). This beginning stage doesn’t look so pretty but it’s a necessary layer. We put on this “crumb coating” and then let the cake chill in the refrigerator before we put on our second coating of frosting, or cover it all with fondant.

This second layer builds the “relationship” or cake and turns it into a much prettier product. 

But we aren’t finished yet.

Every love story needs a little fine-tuning. We need to spend some time on the details if we ever want to stack it up and turn this love-story into a “true” romance.

And, if you’re not a large cake person, you can always back some cookies or make some cupcakes.

Here are a couple of tips to help anyone become a happy home-baker. But, remember, if you don’t have time to start from scratch, you don’t have to put so much pressure on yourself to make and bake—because that’s the easiest way to ruin a good romance.

Instead, start out with a package of freezer sugar cookies from your local grocery store. By cutting a few corners, you can spend more time on the fine tuning of the decorating details, which can be a lot of fun and you’ll be sure to have a festive holiday with half the hassle.

Here are a few photos of some cookies I made for the holiday.

Recipes:
Buttercream Frosting:

4 cups of powdered sugar

1 Cup (2 sticks) of Softened butter (I use salted, because it cuts out one step of adding salt to the recipe)

2-3 teaspoons of vanilla

1-2 tablespoons of milk

(optional: One tablespoon of zest from a lemon or orange)(Blend slowly until fluffy and all ingredients are incorporated.)

Sugar Cookies:

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon vanilla (or the contents of one fresh vanilla bean-is best)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup softened butter

2 cups sugar

1 egg (at room temperature)

DIRECTIONS:

1)                  Preheat over to 350, while you are stirring all the dry ingredients together

2)                  Cream the butter and sugar until smooth then add in the egg and vanilla

3)                  Slowly add in the dry ingredients.

4)                  Use a tablespoon and drop equal amounts of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet

5)                  Bake until golden brown or about 10 minutes.

6)                  Cool on wire racks before decorating

Cake:

INGREDIENTS:

1 and ½ cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or the contents of 1 fresh vanilla bean)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

DIRECTIONS:

1)                  Preheat oven to 350 degrees, while you're creaming your sugar and butter together.

2)                  Add eggs, one at a time.

3)                  Add vanilla

4)                  Add milk

5)                  Slowly incorporate the flour and baking powder - (if the mixture seems overly dry, add a few more tablespoons of milk)

6)                  Bake for 30 minutes.

7)                  For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes.

8)                  Cake is done when you stick a toothpick in and it comes out dry but moist. If the toothpick comes out totally dry the cake will be overdone.

A Little Bit About My Romance Novel:

Morgaine Le Fay And The Viking is a tale of extraordinary lives and epic adventures. This tale weaves the legends of Holger Danske and Morgaine Le Fay together.

Theirs was a romance that threatened two kingdoms.

Blurb:

Travel across oceans, continents, and countries to discover the story of legendary Viking hero, Holger Danske, and his magical romance with King Arthur’s half-sister in Morgaine Le Fay and the Viking

This is the story of two warriors who never thought they’d find love, especially on the battlefield, yet standing poised against each other Morgaine and Holger face an attraction more powerful than any sword, stronger than any warrior and more magical than all the powers of Merlin.

Excerpt:

Arthur looked up, turning away from the battle before him, as if he’d suddenly awoken from a bad dream. Frantically searching the field, he knew something horrible had happened before he saw it. Somehow, he could feel it.

His eyes locked on one warrior. Even from this distance he could see the man was a giant among men. Broad-shouldered and thick-thighed, his legs squeezed the sides of his horse, as he galloped forward.

Staring as the brutal beast made his way across the field, Arthur was an unwilling witness to the attack. The Nordic warrior was flexed and drawn. Taking aim, he flew like an arrow straight toward his target.

            "Nooo!" Arthur’s voice bellowed out of his chest, rising high into the air, as he could do nothing more than watch…

Riding fast as the wind, the horned devil swept up beside Arthur’s sister. Whisking her off her saddle, he stole her away before anyone had an opportunity to raise a sword or throw a lance against him.

Smoke billowed up from the ground. Burning arrows lit the dry grasses afire, transforming the meadow into a smoldering field of wooden shafts stabbed into the earth, as the cries of men rang up into the air. Maimed knights and injured warriors littered the field.

But there was only one sight Arthur’s eyes locked upon…

Her white steed was left standing bareback in the open field—a ghostly image amongst the fighting men. A haunting reminder of what had been taken.

Buy:

Amazon

Find Kimbra:
Amazon Author page | Goodreads | YouTube |Facebook | Twitter
| Google+ | Pinterest | Linkedin | Plus, on Instagram @kasch.kim

Take Five and Meet Author Mary. E. Thompson

Today we get to meet Mary E. Thompson and learn more about her and her romance series Big & Beautiful.  Why B&B as a series name? I asked her. 

 "I started writing the books because I’m a plus sized woman and struggled to find books that featured women that weren’t fit, lean, and perfect. I couldn’t relate to them so I started writing about women I knew. My best friend. My family. Myself. There are a lot more BBW books out now than when I started writing the books, telling me readers want to read about women who have a few extra curves"

Welcome to An Indie Adventure, Mary.  Tell us, what inspired you to write your book Round & Ravishing?

Honestly, my readers! After the first eight books in the series came out, my readers wanted more. I loved these women and couldn’t say no to them, so I added five new books to the series. I’m loving every second of it!

How do you use setting to further your story?

The entire series is based around women who connect with weekly girls’ nights. They all get together at the cupcake shop one of them owns, a place called Bite Me! Cupcakes and friendship set the scene for each story with a small town full of snow outdoors and warmth indoors.

How do you construct your characters?

My characters tell me who they are!

Seriously though, I’m a plotter. I have a list of questions I use to get to know my characters so I can figure out who they are and what they want out of life. I always find a picture, on Pinterest, of a person who my character is to me. Between my questions and the picture, I always have a very good idea of who my character is by the time I start writing their story.

How is your main character completely different than you?

Tara is a woman who likes to be in the spotlight. She was an actress, although not a very successful one. She feels like herself when she’s pretending to be someone else. Playing different characters has helped her figure out who she is. For me though, I’m happy to be behind the scenes! I was on stage crew in high school and never even considered auditioning for a play, even though I’ve always loved theater!

Tell us something about yourself we might not expect!

I read my first romance novel less than four years ago!

I’ve always been a reader but growing up I read a lot of mysteries and dramas. I read some chick lit, but I’d had those preconceived notions of romance novels so many people have. When I read my first, I couldn’t stop reading them! I absolutely fell in love with romance novels and have read as many as I could possibly get my hands on since, but I was definitely not that kid who dreamed of being a novelist. I was in my 30’s before the idea of writing a book even crossed my mind!

Give us a brief summary of Round & Ravishing :

Tara thought her life was perfect. Right up until everything fell apart. With no job, no boyfriend, and no future, she returned home to Winterville to help her mom run her floral shop. She felt like she was back in high school, working for her mom and living at home.

When nude pictures of Tara show up online, her life is scrutinized even more than it ever was in Hollywood. She can’t leave the house without someone asking her questions or thinking she’ll be willing to model for them. As if.

When Tara meets Noah she thinks he’s playing her. He doesn’t seem to know anything about the pictures. As they get closer, doubts creep in, but Noah holds strong as her rock.

Until he learns the truth.

Buy: 

Amazon | iBooks | Kobo

Bio:

Mary E. Thompson grew up loving to read, like a good little girl. Many nights she would fall asleep with the flashlight still turned on as she hid under the covers trying to finish the last few pages of a book. As an adult, the light from her ereader means she doesn't need a flashlight, but she still stays up way too late to finish a book.

When Mary's not reading, she's playing with her two kids or living out her own real life romance novel with her hubby. She has a weakness for chocolate, especially when it's paired with peanut butter, and has been known to have a bad day just because there's no chocolate in the house. Unless there’s wine. Then everything is okay.

Mary grew up in Buffalo, New York and swears she's the only local to never ski or snowboard. Soccer was always her sport, with a couple adventures white water rafting and skydiving to keep things interesting. 

Mary moved to South Carolina for college but missed Buffalo every day. Yeah, she thinks she's crazy, too. She somehow convinced her South Carolina born and bred hubby to return to Buffalo to raise their kids and live out their lives. He’s still not sure what he was thinking.

Find Mary: 

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Goodreads

Five Secrets From Author Rosalie Redd

Today I have the pleasure of introducing Rosalie Redd.  

I always love finding new-to-me authors. 

And lucky for us, Rosalie is a prolific author 

Hi there! I’m Rosalie Redd and I write paranormal romance with broken heroes, tough heroines, and happily ever afters. I live in Oregon, where rain is just another excuse to keep writing. When not at my computer, you can find me at Jazzercise, waterfall collecting in the Pacific Northwest, or relaxing with my hubby and our pesky cat, Snookums.

Thanks, L.A. for hosting me today.

You're welcome. Please tell us Five Secrets we may not know about Unimaginable Lover or you, but will after today!

1) Council Leader Tanen steals more than just the blue sunstone. Only this time, the stakes are personal.

2) Sheri has a penchant for helping strays and the downtrodden. Seems she gets more than she bargains for when she finds Tanen broken and battered in her shed.

3) An old friend(?) returns to the story in an unexpected way. Hehehe…

4) I once competed in a Dance Dance Revolution gaming contest and actually made it to the second round! LOL!

5) My favorite indulgent sin is Dairy Queen ice cream cake. Yum!

Blurb :

A shifter and a human together? Unimaginable…

One careless decision. The colony betrayed. Tanen’s only course is a desperate hunt for justice, but his solo mission is cut short when he’s mortally wounded during a fight. Rescued by a sweet, innocent female who nurses him back to health, he can’t deny the passion that burns between them. Now he must choose between his duty and honor or his desire for the precious, but forbidden, human female.

Broken promises and ruined love hardened Sheri’s heart. When she finds an injured and extraordinarily sexy man on her property, she’s pulled into a world she never imagined. As she nurses him back to health and they bond over their love of books, she’s torn between the lessons she learned from her rough past and the need to seek solace in Tanen’s arms, but she must learn to trust him, and herself, in order to survive.

Buy:

Amazon US | B&N - Nook | iBooks

Find Rosalie:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Author Page

My New Endeavor: Heart To Heart Word Art

Many of you know I create my own book covers, learning after watching the talented Neringa B. create my first few.  I absolutely loved the process. 

And I've always loved quotes that stir me to be better or elevate me when I'm down.

So I married the two and created Heart To Heart Word Art.

11 oz mug shown

Grow Old With Me, used in a mock-up for a desk. Pretty :)

Be Still in 8x10, or 4x6 & 5x7 ( used in a Mock up here)

I work with several photo editing programs such as Photoshop, On1 and DXO.  Finding the art, manipulating it and making it mine is incredibly rewarding. 

Taking photographs and using them is a double bonus for me. 

My goal is bring a bit fun, beauty and inspiration as printable digital art. 

For you, or to give as a gift.  Currently these are 8 x 10", but I'll have other sizes available soon. As well as an option to have them professionally printed.

I'll have new art as often as I can but the above images 

give you an idea of what I'm doing. 

Do you have a favorite quote? Add it to the comments :)

Don't know what printable digital art is all about? Visit the link above.  

Questions? I'll be happy to answer them.

Screenwriter Robert Gosnell on Opposing Characteristics

You Think You Know Someone 

"Once upon a time, there was an ocean,

but now, it's a mountain range

Something unstoppable was set into motion

Nothing is different, but everything has changed."

                                      Paul Simon

Shortly after I joined the Navy, while in Radio School at the Naval base in San Diego, I made a friend. He was older than I, in his mid-twenties, while I, having joined the military right out of high school, was still in my teens. He was a bright, articulate guy, but what impressed me the most about him, and what I hoped to learn from knowing him, was his self-confidence. He was fairly brimming with it, and I was envious.

During one class, we were instructed to engage in teletype messaging, a common mode of communications between ships and military installations at the time, and I was online with my friend. One of us would send a message, and the other would reply.

In the midst of this exercise, he suddenly began to "jam" my efforts to send messages. I would begin to type, and he would immediately start typing simultaneously, turning my message into a garbled mess. I laughed it off, at first, seeing it as a harmless practical joke. But, it continued. Every time I tried to type, he over-rode me. I asked him to stop. He wouldn't. I asked again. He still wouldn't. It went on this way, until the end of class.

Afterward, I asked why he had done something so rude and inexplicable. At first, he wouldn't give me an answer, but I badgered him about it until he finally gave in. His explanation? He was intentionally trying to make me angry, because, in his view, when people got angry, their true feelings came out. In short, he wanted to know if I really liked him!

I was flabbergasted! Here was a guy whom I admired for his self-confidence, and now had discovered he was riddled with insecurity! For me, it was a real head-scratcher.

Though I didn't know it, at the time, my friend had taught me a valuable life-lesson. He had introduced me to the concept of opposing characteristics. Later, when I began writing, I reflected back on that event, and others of the same ilk, and became aware of what a valuable tool that particular aspect of human nature can be in developing a character within a story.

Because, we all have opposing characteristics, in some form. The best of us have our dark side, and the worst of us have some  positive qualities to offset the negatives. It's human, and if we want our characters to be human; to be realistic, we must instill those characteristics within them.

Opposing characteristics provide two basic elements to enhance a story: first, they reveal an internal conflict within our character, and conflict is critical to story-telling in any form. We allow the audience to see those conflicts at work, and it gives our character depth and dimension.

The second benefit of the opposing characteristics tool is its ability to demonstrate a weakness within our character. A potential fatal flaw changes the tenor of a story by leaving open the possibility that winning or losing may hinge on this very internal conflict. It did just that in the courtroom drama "A Few Good Men," wherein our villain, Jack Nicholson's Col. Nathan Jessup, was brought down by his own arrogance.

My friend from Radio School and I remained friends until the class ended and we were sent to different duty stations, but I never regarded him in quite the same light. He had shown me a chink in his armor; he had revealed his opposing characteristics.

Nothing was different, but everything had changed.

~Robert

 "The Blue Collar Screenwriter and The Elements of Screenplay" is currently available at:
Robert's book, 

Amazon digital and paperback
CreateSpace 
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords

Find Robert at:
Website (with information on classes)
Email

BIO: 

A  professional screenwriter for more than thirty years,  Robert Gosnell has produced credits in feature films, network television, syndicated television, basic cable and pay cable, and is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of Canada.

Robert began his career writing situation comedy as a staff writer for the ABC series Baby Makes Five.  As a freelance writer, he wrote episodes for Too Close for Comfort and the TBS comedies Safe at Home andRocky Road.  In cable, he has scripted numerous projects for the Disney Channel, including Just Perfect, a Disney Channel movie featuring  Jennie Garth. In 1998, he wrote the  Showtime original movie, Escape from Wildcat Canyon, which starred Dennis Weaver and won the national "Parents Choice Award." Robert's feature credits include the Chuck Norris/Louis Gosset Jr. film Firewalker, an uncredited rewrite on the motion picture Number One With A Bullet  starring Robert Carradine and Billy Dee Williams, and the sale of his original screenplay Kick And Kick Back to Cannon Films. Robert was also selected as a judge for the 1990 Cable Ace awards, in the Comedy Special category.

In 1990, Robert left Hollywood for Denver, where he became active in  the local independent film community. His screenplay Tiger Street was produced by the Pagoda Group of Denver, and premiered on Showtime Extreme in August of 2003. In 1999, Denver’s Inferno Films produced the action film Dragon and the Hawk  from his script. In 2001, Robert co-wrote the screenplay for the  independent feature Siren for Las Vegas company Stage Left Productions. His feature script Juncture was produced by Front Range Films in March of 2006. 

Robert  is a principal member of the Denver production company "Conspiracy Films." He is frequently an invited speaker for local writers organizations,  served on the faculty of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in 2002, and in 2007 was chosen to participate as a panelist for the Aspen Film Festival Short Screenplay Contest. Robert  regularly presents his screenwriting class "The Elements of Screenplay," along with advanced classes and workshops, in the Denver area.