Chick Lit Goddess

...because every author wants to feel like a goddess!

Fall

October Guest Blogger: Josephine Thomas

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Why I Love Halloween

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and I’m not referring to Christmas. Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a huge Halloween fan; it’s my favorite holiday out of all of them. I love the cool weather, the candy, the costumes, and last but not least, the scary movies.

Growing up, I loved Halloween because it was the one day you could be someone else for a day and just let loose. Now that I’m older, I love Halloween because it brings out the silly side in people. And as crazy as the world has gotten, we all could use a fun holiday to bring out our inner child.

Being a film student, I was often required to watch films that wasn’t in my preferred genre, which just so happen to include horror films. But after seeing movies such as The Shining, Rosemary’s Baby, Night of the Living Dead (the 1968 version), and my personal favorite, The Omen; I fell in love with the genre, and now horror films are my go to films.

Here are my top 5 reasons of why I love Halloween, in no particular order:

  1. Getting to dress up in a costume of my choice
  2. Scary movies
  3. Passing out Halloween candy
  4. Candy Corn m&ms
  5. NaNoWriMo Eve

About the author:  Josie Ann is a native of a small town in southern Louisiana. At the age of eighteen, she began taking online college courses, where she received her degree in Writing for Film and Television. She relishes in reading, hanging out with her family, pigging out on junk food, and creating stories people can relate to. Her debut novel, Sliding into Love, is set to be released in 2017.

October Guest Blogger: Janet Eve Josselyn

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Why I Hate Halloween

There’s a lot to like about Halloween if you like candy, gore, sexy nurses and death. But I’m not a big fan of the Halloween tradition.

I love seeing the costumes, though, especially on toddlers. Who doesn’t like a toddler dressed as a lion or a cop? You don’t get to see that any other time of the year.

But there are way too many sexy nurses, sexy princesses, sexy Miley Cyrus’s, sexy teachers and just plain sexy teenage girls. The boys, on the other hand, tend to favor costumes that would be accompanied by a fair amount of weaponry. As the mother of a boy, I can attest to the male desire to wield a weapon or two and Halloween is one of the few days out of the year when that’s considered normal, out in public.

By far the most popular costumes every year are the ones featuring blood, guts, gore and death. Bare skulls, arrows going through heads, swords going through bodies, axes dripping in fake blood – it’s all so hideous and creepy and violent. I do like the ghosts, though. The little toddler ghosts.

I’m not a fan of candy either but I hand it out with wild abandon on Halloween. Nobody wants to be given an apple or a box of dried out raisins on Halloween. I don’t want to end up with a bowl of candy sitting in my kitchen so if you come to my house around 9:00 in the evening, I will invert the bowl into your bag and then turn out all of the outside lights and be done with it for another year.

Possibly the most objectionable part of Halloween, however, is the underlying message that if you don’t cough up the treats something bad will happen to your house and it may involve toilet paper. Toilet paper clinging to your tree branches will take forever to blow off, especially if it rains. So it’s basically extortion and the price is candy.

I guess it could be worse!

About the author: Janet Eve Josselyn is a graduate of Colby College, Harvard Graduate School of Design and Boston College Law School. She is a blogger for The Huffington Post and has published one novel, Thin Rich Bitches. She enjoys collecting advanced degrees and not using the knowledge for monetary gain. To her credit, she is remarkably optimistic despite her obvious shortcomings and lack of talent.

Contact Janet: Facebook Twitter

 

 

October Bloggers

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fall-is-the-best

Fall is finally here (though it’s hard to believe that with temperatures in the high-eighties, here in Texas)! From the first sight of pumpkins, the words “lattes” and “pumpkin spice,” comfortable fall, cute clothes, Dallas Cowboy and Green Bay football, and cuddles with a loved one. That being said, can’t you see why I love this season?! So, to get in the mood, through the month of October several authors will be featured sharing their posts on certain topics that I gave them.

If you’re interested in participating in monthly blogger posts, email me!

Guest Bloggers for October:

October Guest Blogger: Martha Reynolds

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MY FAVORITE MEMORY OF FALL

It might seem strange that the scent of decaying leaves would be pleasant. Memorable. But scent is a funny thing, the way it triggers the remembrance of long-ago days.

We lived in a house at the end of a long driveway. The house was set way back from the road, which was actually a highway. Not the kind of highway you think of today, but a major route that stretches from Cape Cod to California. Trucks rumbled by all day, so it made sense to build a home far back from that road.

My sisters and I didn’t have neighbor kids to play with (there was an elderly couple on one side – I remember the man always scowling), so we found our own fun. When October rolled around, there were leaves – so many leaves! Oak and maple trees surrounded the property, and on Saturdays my dad raked all morning. We may have tried to help, but I’m sure we didn’t. Still, once the leaves were raked into a big pile on the far corner of the driveway, pushed against the high stone wall, it was time to jump.

Normally, we couldn’t jump from the stone wall to the driveway – it was a drop of about five feet, too high for me at five and my sister at seven. But the leaves provided a cushion – and we’d bury ourselves in the pile, trying to hide from each other, and from my father. What fun! Well, until it was time to burn the pile down.

Back then, leaf-burning was permitted, because, for the most part, people were careful. My father burned small portions of the pile at a time, never leaving it unattended, and never letting us get too close. I was fascinated, and still am, but it’s a rare sight these days to see anyone burning leaves. Still, once in a while, when the weather is warm enough for an open car window, I catch a whiff and am transported back in time. And it warms my heart.

About the author: Martha Reynolds is the author of six novels, including the Amazon bestsellers Chocolate for Breakfast and Bits of Broken Glass. Her writing has appeared in Magnificat magazine and her very short poem was read by journalist Connie Schultz during NPR’s Tell Me More poetry challenge. She and her husband live in Rhode Island, never far from the ocean.

It’s Savory Saturday

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Green Tea. My favorite!

 Since yesterday was the first day of my favorite season, I anticipate that I will be upping my intake of the savory drink, tea, green tea specifically!

I first started drinking green tea when I would have sushi, and I couldn’t get enough of it.  When my husband and I received our wonderful Keurig machine as a wedding present, green tea was at the top of my list!  HERE is the link to the Keurig machine and Keurig cups.

(**Note: Some of you might have seen that earlier this week my Keurig machine died.  I will hopefully be getting a new one tomorrow).

If you do not have a Keurig cup, that is okay.  As long as you have green tea bags, you can still have and enjoy the drink.

There is no other kind of tea that is better than Green Tea!  While some might think that this Chinese tea is bland, I disagree.  When served hot this soothing tea it has a woodsy flavor and a hint of tang, but when served cold its natural flavors mixed with a lemon exude a refreshing summery taste.

As a writer I think it’s important to have a warming or refreshing drink, green tea is my choice.  On a good day (meaning without having writer’s block), I can drink up to seven or eight cups.  I also must tell you something that every writer needs if drinking a hot drink, a Mr. Coffee mug warmer.  This can help keep your tea nice and warm while you write.  I also bought another one and placed a glass candle (Yankee Candles, for an example) on top of it and let it melt, for a nice aroma while you write.

Below is a recipe for creating my perfect cup of tea.

Pick your favorite coffee mug
Put the tea in the Keurig maker!
Patiently wait for it to brew
Drink up!

One note about drinking green tea is that it’s good for you.  Without going into too many details, green tea can help fight cancer and heart disease.  It can assist in lowering cholesterol, burning fat, preventing diabetes and strokes and can also help wart off dementia, says the following link.  (Please see THIS site if you would like more information on the benefits of green tea).

Now that this blog has been written, I’m off to make yet another cup of green tea!  You should too!  Happy Sipping!