Friday Fictioneers - TEMPTATION

It's Friday Fictioneer day which means writers from around the globe are writing 100-word flash fiction stories based on the same photo prompt. This week's photo convinced me to have a conversation between two Greek Gods. (Photo and art compliments of Claire Fuller.)

TEMPTATION
By Beth Carter

Apollo buried his angular nose in Athena’s soft curls and sighed.

“What scent is that? Lilac? Honeysuckle? Rose?” He inhaled again.

Athena shook her long locks and cocked her head toward the yellow bottle.

“It’s a secret formula apparently made from Norwegian wildflowers. The shampoo is magical. That’s all I can tell you.”

Apollo grunted. “Why?”

“Zeus told me we’d be mere bedrock if—”

“Rubbish. He exaggerates. Don’t believe those silly mythological tales.”

Apollo drew a small heart where he planned to etch their initials. Unable to resist, he again smelled Athena’s fragrant hair. They both turned to stone.

Try it! Please comment here then post your story at http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/1-february-2013/

A Valentine's Day Decor Tip

Need an easy, cheap romantic idea for Valentine's Day? Look no further. I discovered this simple tip years ago and use it as a Valentine's Day centerpiece.

Simply take a pretty bowl (clear is best) and add one bag of cranberries. Fill the bowl with water and allow the cranberries to float to the top. Add white tealight candles, light them, and voila!

Get creative. You could divide the bag of cranberries and place them in tall, clear vases using just one tealight in each--or separate the cranberries into several small vases, add the candles, and place them around your bathtub! Romantic, right?

Love is in the air. Yes, I'm a hopeless romantic.

I'm A Calendar Girl

Okay, saying I'm a calendar girl might be a stretch but I am in the 2013 SIX-WORD MEMOIR desk calendar by SMITH Magazine! Pretty cool, right?

When I received an email from the editor, Larry Smith, last year I was thrilled! I've never been in a calendar and I usually buy three desk calendars every year. Why? Because I love them. They're funny. They're inspirational. They're motivational. They're sillly, helpful, themed or brainy--whichever you prefer.

And now calendars are on sale. Since we're in the second week of January, you can get a calendar for a good deal. Here's a link. http://www.amazon.com/Six-Word-Memoirs-2013-Daily-Calendar/dp/B007C1L6R6/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357787767&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=2013+Six-Word+Memoir+Desk+Calendar

By the way, I was asked to give the editor a few special dates for my memoir to appear so I gave him my birthday, hubby's birthday, my daughter's birthday and our anniversary. You'll just have to get the calendar to see when my six-word memoir appears. Happy 2013, everyone!

A Clean Slate

Happy New Year! It's time to start anew with a clean slate and fill it with resolutions and/or goals. I thought we'd begin with a wonderful, timely quote by Emily Dickinson: "Dwell in possibility." Let's do just that.

Since my resolutions are always some variation of exercise more often and be more productive, I'd rather focus on goals. I've divided my goals into two groups: "Me" Goals and Writerly Goals. Here goes.

"Me" Goals

• Try yoga.
• Learn a new language (either Spanish which is more practical or French which is more beautiful).
• Go on weekly dates with hubby.
• Go dancing once or twice a month.
• Go to the movie theater by myself. I've never done this (my daughter loves going alone), and since my husband hates the movie theater, I must embrace this goal and stop feeling like a loser who doesn't have friends.
• Get up earlier. When I worked outside the house, I was up by 6:30 and out the door by 7:30. Let's just say I've gotten too lax in this department.
• Write more, read more and Facebook less. Now, I won't banish FB. Not at all. I love FB and bought the IPO so I want everyone to embrace FB. I just need more balance in this area.
• Take more walks.
• Learn to kayak.
• Ride my bike already!
• File (don't pile!) This is a tough one.
• Try a new recipe every week. I've done this over the years but usually fizzle out. But I have discovered many new recipes by tackling this goal.
• Play more board games and cards. In other words, adopt my parents' fun social life.

Writerly Goals
One of my writers' groups, Sleuths' Ink, asks its members to fill out two goal cards every December. One card is to keep and the other is read by the president the following year. Embarrassment equals motivation here and usually works pretty well among our members. Here are my writerly goals:

• Edit my novel, Thursdays At Coconuts, one final time and submit it to agents by June 1, 2013.
• Edit and polish two already drafted picture books (submit one by March 1, 2013, and the other during the summer). 
• Flush out my picture book series with my daughter.
• Keep my blog current.
• Create a website.
• Attend new writers' conferences.
• Continue to submit six-word memoirs.
• Continue work on my non-fiction book of haiku.
• Continue adding recipes to my cookbook.
• Market What Do You Want To Be? and add a new element to increase new interest and add readers.
• Do a better job of marketing The Missing Key.
• Figure out how to get my picture books on Kindle and Nook! (At least hire someone to do this.)
• Hold a book signing in Florida.
• Meet Florida writers.

Okay, that's plenty to keep me out of trouble this year. How about you? What are your resolutions or goals? And for a fun comparison of resolutions versus goals, plus some good laughs, hop over to my friend, Jan Morrill's blog at http://janmorrill.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/resolute/ Let's dwell in possibility.