Friday, February 1, 2013

Blondie in the Reef


Blondie in the Reef

KJ Waters


I just had the most amazing day at Discovery Cove in Orlando. This is a SeaWorld related water park and has to be one of my favorite places on the planet, after Bermuda and perhaps Scotland. This is not your ordinary water park. Discovery Cove is the place where you can swim with dolphins, sting rays, tropical birds and fish. No lie, get right in there and touch the critters! The fam and I did just that today.

We arrived at the beautifully landscaped park at 7:45 am and headed to the 'free' alfresco buffet breakfast. My daughter likes to call it free, but as much as we paid to get in I've got a different take on that.

Dolphin Experience

Meet Squiggy -- and she didn't even eat me!

After breakfast we arrived for our appointment with our dolphin (never thought I'd write that). We gathered with a group of people and sat through the dolphin orientation. Then, and only then, were we allowed to step into the ice cold dolphin pool for a half an hour of dolphin 101.



We fed the dolphin, pet it, and had our pictures taken kissing it. The size of this gorgeous creature was impressive, much larger up close and personal than when you see it from a distance. I was the only one who scared the bejesus out of the thing when I put my hand on its belly during the photo shoot. Luckily it didn't eat me. Then a real treat -- they let us hang on to the dorsal fin and ride it about 20 yards. My son was fascinated with Squiggy, our dolphin, and all things science. He was not so thrilled about being waist deep in ice water with a 500 pound carnivore. 

Lazy River
After dolphin U we geared up with vest, mask, and snorkel and headed directly to the lazy river. The sandy beach leading up to it squished wonderfully under my feet and the water was deliciously warm. The lazy river is not your typical blue painted cement job either. It is surrounded by Florida's finest -- palm trees, flowering bushes of every possible color, and tons of gorgeous flowers and foliage.


The bed of the river is a mixture of sand and river rocks and the water varies in depth, adding to the real river feel, ranging from 3 feet to over 8 feet deep.


After five minutes of blissful floating down river a waterfall appeared drowning any hope of you loungers keeping your gorgeous locks dry. This waterfall keeps the birds from making an escape out of the aviary. Yes, I said aviary right in the middle of the lazy river. Cool, huh? Beautiful pink spoonbills welcomed us and there were birds aquatic and otherwise chirping and flitting about.

This peacock was our personal greeter for the aviary.
You can stay in the lazy river if you like or you can exit via a stairwell that leads to the rest of the aviary. We did both, having floated along the river for three or four passes. A male peacock was the greeter welcoming us and followed us around once inside.

We passed a station where they gave us a dish of various diced fruits and veggies. The kids enjoyed feeding the birds that landed right on us to eat out of the bowl. There were all sorts of winged critters I'd never seen before along with the usual parrots and parakeets. We didn't even get pooped on, which wouldn't have been too bad since you're in your bathing suit.  A half an hour of birds was plenty and we made our way back to the lazy river for a few more passes.


The Reef
The reef chock-o-block full of fish.
After the air warmed up a bit we made our way over to the reef. This was a truly magical place chock-o-block (to quote Steve Erwin) full of aquatic life. At first glance it looks like the rocky shore line of Monterey, California, minus the palm trees. Standing on shore looking into the water all I could see was a few dark shapes and expected a somewhat tame experience. I stepped into the cold water slipping on my mask and put my face in the water. The sheer beauty of what I saw took my breath away.

A huge fluorescent blue fish darted out of my reach. I looked to my left and saw a deep cavern running through the middle of the reef and in it a dozen or more sting rays of every possible size  floating through the water reminding me of birds in flight. They ranged from 2 to over 10 feet if you don't count the tail as long as me.

I was itching to explore every corner of this watery heaven, however, my children were not so keen. My son did not get the water gene and spent a whopping 5 minutes with the mask and snorkel on feet firmly planted on the ground. Shorty-girl is a water bug but at 4 years old she was not thrilled about a hundred slimy friends in the water with her.

After a torturous half hour of appeasing them, I left them (with an adult, so don't get all huffy) to explore with my underwater camera in tow. I found a shallow area where I could stand and video a coffee table sized sting ray and as it moved towards me I backed up, stepping on another 8 foot ray. Crikey! Scared the daylights out of me but the monster didn't seem to mind. They clip the stingers, like a finger nail, so there is no danger from these gentle creatures. Even with that fact firmly planted in my head Steve's fate was constantly in the back of my mind. It unnerved me to be surrounded by the huge rays, at least at first. Here is the video I took:

Swimming with Rays

There was a glass enclosed section holding a dozen or more sharks of all different shapes and sizes. It was amazing to swim right up to the glass and 'swim' with them. Black tipped, tiger, bull, and nurse, sharks all swam through the blue water just feet away from me. Never appreciated glass so much in my life! 

My family pulled me kicking and screaming out of the reef to get our 'free' hot lunch around 2:00 and then we made it back to the reef and lazy river. The kids were watered out by about 4:00. They played in the sand while I floated neck deep in the warm lagoon and slurped on sweet tea soaking up the watery loveliness.

At 5:30 the park closed. I was devastated. I couldn't believe they were going to kick me out of my new-found heaven. We packed up our gear and headed back to the condo my head full of glorious sun filled blue water splashing dreams. But I will be back! If you are in Orlando don't miss this amazing water park!


Connect With Me

When I'm not working on Stealing Time you can find me on my social media at the links below. I hope to have my novel completed by spring 2013 with book two close behind.

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Location: Discovery Cove Way, Orlando, FL 32821, USA

Thursday, January 17, 2013

The Next Big Thing... Stealing Time


The Next Big Thing . . .

Welcome to the next big thing blog hop! Join the fun blog hopping our way through some new reads, including works in progress and new and upcoming releases. For those who haven't been part of a blog hop before, you read my blog and hop on over to the next blog link for more entertainment. Bloggers hand picked by yours truly!


Thank you to Richard Weatherly for tagging me in this blog hop. Richard is a successful writer and social media icon, at least in my little world on twitter and facebook. Check out his site here.

Part of the Blog Hop is to introduce you to my work in progress by answering ten interview questions. This was originally posted in October of 2012.

I hope you'll take some time to follow the links to my author friends' blogs as well. They have some truly impressive books in print and a few in the works as well. See the end of the post to see who I've tagged.

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing


What is the working title of your book?

Stealing Time

Cover art for Stealing Time

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I've always been fascinated by time travel stories, especially ones that take you to the past. After a harrowing summer in Florida with four major hurricanes, the first striking only three days after I moved into the state, the idea to combine hurricanes and time travel into Stealing Time began brewing in my head. It wasn't until the following summer that I began working on it.

What genre does your book fall under?

Time Travel Thriller (Hey that's T cubed).


Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Gerard Butler as Mike Walsh

The only actor I've pictured in the movie version of Stealing Time is a character in book two, Mike Walsh, who would be played by Gerard Butler. Sigh. I'm not sure it's helpful to put anyone else in the reader's minds. I want them to imagine Ronnie, Jeffrey, Jack, Steph and Mathias on their own.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Wow, that's a toughie. Ronnie Andrews has a bad day or two? No, surely I can do better than that.  Let me try again: Ronnie Andrews finds herself inexplicably thrown back in time during the worst hurricane to hit Central Florida in more than forty years.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I will self publish this first one and maybe try for traditional publishing after I see how this one goes.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Ahem, you had to ask. OK, confession time. I've been working on this for 7 years. But . . . I will have 3 books completed by year 8ish. I've decided to split the story into 3 separate books and then I'll release them as a compilation at a later date. 

Why? I realized last spring that e-books were running a lot shorter than traditional pubs, at least in my genre. It occurred to me that people may not want a tome, even if it is amazing, er, really good. So Stealing Time will be a trilogy.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I like to compare my story to Michael Crichton's Timeline, in that it is science fiction that is more reality based than spaceships and weird creatures from the future. Timeline also has a healthy dose of historical fiction thrown in along with the sci-fi aspect, like Stealing Time. 

Other works that are similar, although I don't think anyone has tackled the material in the way that I have, are perhaps Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. This series is technically a fantasy set up as opposed to science fiction since the character is sent back in time via druid standing stones in the hills of Scotland instead of a time travel device. My series is less romance type and is not any where as long or detailed as Diana's works.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 
http://www.amazon.com/Outlander-Diana-Gabaldon/dp/0440212561

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I first decided to write a novel after becoming enamored (some may say obsessed) with Outlander. Diana has a book called the Outlandish Companion that describes the characters and tapestries of her vast novels. She also talks about her writing process and one section in particular describes how she writes a scene without knowing how it fits in to the rest of the story and then makes the connections afterwards.

I was very inspired by that, being similarly challenged with structure while having an abundance of creative ideas. The thought of a successful author having a creative rather than structured approach to the novel seemed a heck of a lot more plausible strategy for me. I've used some very helpful tools to give me the structure, which you can read about on my guest blog here that involves a book called The Marshall Plan, by Evan Marshall. A thank you to Kirkus MacGowan for allowing me to guest blog on his site.

My son has been my biggest supporter on this journey and has contributed some great ideas to the book. I think I may have a budding writer in the family. 

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I rather like extreme weather!

If you are fascinated with weather, as I am, I've included a healthy dose of bad scary weather, written from actual experience. I've been in about 15 hurricanes and tropical storms in my lifetime and can easily convey the power and awe I felt during those storms.

I've also tackled the time travel component in a very original way, without spoiling it, I can only say as the story develops the method of time travel and the intricacies of how one is placed back in time is revealed and it is very complex.

If that's not enough, I've got a sexy blonde heroine as the main character and a tall, dark, and handsome accomplice to throw another curve ball in her unsettled world. Oh, I forgot to mention there is a mad scientist and a sadistic captor. Interested? I hope so!

Watch for posts on January 24, 2013 from these authors:

Ron Chapman and his debut blog 

Elisha Chirchir

Charles Dougherty

Jessica Stank -- A Writer's Journey


Check them out now and learn about their current novels and works in progress.


Connect With Me

When I'm not working on Stealing Time you can find me on my social media at the links below. I hope to have my novel completed by late summer 2013 with book two close behind.

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Wednesday, January 2, 2013


Blondie's Liebster Blog Award


It happened. It did. I was nominated for the Liebster Blog Award. I've been seeing this badge on other blogs for awhile now and wondered how, if, when, maybe, someday... Now thanks to a wonderful supporter of my blog, Judy from Rhode Island (but pronounced Rhoa Deye Lind) I'm now part of the prestigious Liebster club!! Thank you Judi! You are amazing! Be sure to check out her great blog 50 and Fabulous. 

 The rules of this award are listed below and I hope you check out my answers to Judi's questions, my random facts, 11 questions for my nominees, and who I've chosen to pass the award on to next. 

 I promise my next post will be a water adventure. I've got two written and will share them shortly.

The rules of the Liebster Award are as follows:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog and link back to the blogger who presented this award to you;

2.  Answer the 11 questions from the nominator, list 11 random facts about yourself and create 11 questions for your nominees;

3. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 11 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been chosen. (No tag backs)  

4. Copy and Paste the blog award on your blog.


Questions From Judi


1.  What is the one food you can't do without?

Probably salad if we're talking about healthy food. Yes, I realize salad is not 'one food' but I have a 'bigger than yer head' salad almost every night. If we're talking about desserts it would have to be ice cream -- coffee ice cream with Oreo's and caramel sauce. (Wipes the drool from my lips.) 

Nightly evening snack mixed green salad with cherry 
tomatoes, baby carrots, avocado, and mixed nuts.
2.  One thing you want to do before you die? 

Scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef. No doubt would be an amazing experience made even better if I saw a shark and still had all bits accounted for afterwards.

Great Barrier Reef, yes please. Add sharks and stir.

3.  What is your favorite hobby and why? 

 Is swimming a hobby? Ah heck it's my blog I can chose swimming if I want to. So yes, swimming in rivers, lakes, lazy rivers, pools, oceans, streams, creeks. Yeah, definitely swimming. But only if it's warm.

Swimming would have to be my favorite hobby. No doubt. Why? See Blondie in the Pool. 

4.  If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? 

Gerry, you wanna go to Bermuda? 
Bermuda and Scotland would be my top two travel destinations. I've been to both and fell deeply in love. Maybe just take a few Scottish people to Bermuda. Then I can be warm and enjoy their fab personalities and swim in that gorgeous ocean. 

5.  What book are you reading now? 

 I'm reading several books now...but mostly my own book. See #6.



6.  What are you looking forward to most in the New Year? 

My upcoming novel cover design.
Hopefully it will be out this spring.
Finishing my novel and getting it out in the world will be a great joy in 2013. I've already written about two-thirds of the second book in the Stealing Time trilogy and I can't wait to get back to it. Did I mention both books have Scottish people in them? I haven't managed to get Bermuda in them yet but I do have an ocean scene with a buff dude in Puerto Rico. I need to find a way to put the Scottish people in the sea. Book three maybe? 

 7.  Favorite meal when eating out?

Seafood, no doubt, is my favorite meal. As one of my twitter friends say, it's mermaid food. If I had to pick one I'd say scallops in white wine and a huge salad with goat cheese, walnuts and cranberries. 

Mermaid food is my fave.
8.  If you have one 'do-over', what would it be? 

Do over? Not sure about that. I'm very happy with my decisions. Maybe to travel more before I had kids. Although I did make it to Ireland, Scotland, England, Bermuda and Switzerland before kids. Oh, and Canada if you can really count that.

9.  What is your favorite movie and why?

That's a tough question. I'm not sure I have a favorite movie. I really liked Timeline but mostly because I studied it for the genre and timing of the plot. I'm not sure I'd call it my favorite movie. Enjoyed Beowulf and Grendel and the documentary War of the Gods about the filming of Beowulf during a hurricane and the other disasters they endured. A coincidence that the hurricanes that are in my novel are the same ones that hit Iceland during the filming of this movie and a Scottish dude stars in it? I think not. 

Not my favorite movie, but a good one...

10.  Who is your favorite TV character?

Dexter is my favorite character at the moment. I've cut out most of 'my shows' to make time for writing. TV is the bane of a writer's existence, as you know, because it sucks away your productive time. I've weeded out all other favorite shows and left Dexter as my Sunday night guilty pleasure. 

Why Dexter? If you're not familiar with the show, he's a serial killer. I know what you're thinking, he's my kind of guy with all that bloody knife action. But, the writing is excellent. They're masters at suspense and building the scene to maximize the viewer's angst. I have to wait an hour afterwards to get to sleep after watching an episode. Michael C. Hall plays the role as Dexter beautifully with brains, brawn, and excellent deadpan snark in voice over. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out on Showtime.

Favorite TV Character -- Dexter. Dark and twisty. Snarky and intelligent. 
Plus he rids the world of bad people. What's not to love?

11.  If you had a day to do anything you wanted to do, what would you do?

That's easy. See my blog Blondie in Bermuda. That would be #1 on my list. Snorkeling in the aqua waters of Bermuda with a well muscled man. It'd have to be summer though. Water is too cold this time of year, but since it's a fantasy type question I'm gonna go with a fantasy type answer and make it July.

 This Blondie Loves Bermuda

Random Me Facts  

1. I am allergic to onions and garlic. And no, I'm not a vampire! You did hear the part about me liking the beach right? Sunny warm beaches? Nope, not a vampire.

2. My favorite chocolate is Caramello, or any good chocolate with oooey gooey caramel. 

3. I used to play underwater hockey.  No, I'm not kidding, this is a real sport. My team mates told me I played like a guy and I won the MVP award.

4.  Both my father and step father were Episcopalian ministers. Mom, you have some s'plainin' to do.

5.  My favorite actor is Gerard Butler. Also my favorite flavor of human... Scottish.

6.  I love the Black Eyed Peas, especially Will.i.am.

7.  I broke my hand and foot on the same boyfriend's body. Different times in the same year. Very glad to be rid of him when I moved on to college.

8.  I love water, and I don't mean just to drink.

 9.  I drink sweet tea with Splenda in large quantities.

10.  I'd rather play with my children than clean the house. 

11.  To prove #6, I shake my thang to The Black Eyed Peas Experience Kinect game. 

Questions for my Nominees


Even if you're not a nominee feel free to answer these questions in the comments section. Like all bloggers I love comments. It's like crack to a crack ho. So get me high...

1. What is your favorite movie and why?

2. Who is your favorite author and why?

3. What is the concept behind your blog? Simply to promote your book/skills/product or a bigger purpose, like mine as therapy to deal with my current location?

4. What is your favorite meal?

5. What would you describe as your biggest personal accomplishment?

6. Why are you so awesome? I ask this because I chose you...apparently I think you're pretty fab.

7. What is your favorite household appliance and why? Ha! How's that for a quirky question.

8. For the ladies: Thongs, granny panties, or something in between. For the gents boxers or briefs (or just give me a cheeky answer if you prefer.)

9. What is your favorite holiday and why?

 10. What is your favorite restaurant? Why? 

11. Which question above was the hardest to answer? Why?

Nominees

1. Chef John Malik A Writer Trapped in a Cook's Body

2.  Shaunda Wegner Slow Stir Dribblings from a Writer's Life

3.  Charles Gonzo The Gonzo Lecture

4.  Scott Phillips Rattle and Blast

5.  Jonny A. Mypixel.se

6. Marla Madison Reading and Writing are Fattening

7. J.J. Collins Author

8. Stuart Haddon

9. Kenny C Dontthinkjustwrite

10. Valentine de Francis tossing logic out the window 

11. Chuck Barrett 


I really appreciate you stopping by my blog! Made my day in fact! Please take a few minutes to check out these amazing blogs.  If they're anything like me, a comment will make them very happy. 

Connect With Me

When I'm not working on Stealing Time you can find me on my social media at the links below. I hope to have my novel completed by spring 2013 with book two close behind.

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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Blondie on the Blog Hop -- The Next Big Thing

The Next Big Thing . . .

Welcome to the next big thing blog hop! Join the fun blog hopping our way through some new reads, including works in progress and new and upcoming releases. For those who haven't been part of a blog hop before, you read my blog and hop on over to the next blog link for more entertainment. In this case, two very creative indie authors who recently released their novels.

A big fancy 'thank you' to Shaunda Wegner for including me in this bloggertunity! Check out her blog and her soon to be released historical cookbook. Very cool concept! Don't miss her paranormal fiction books already available on Amazon.

Part of the Blog Hop is to introduce you to my work in progress by answering ten interview questions. I would love for you to comment below because you know that comments to a blogger are like crack to an addict. So get me high, baby!

I hope you'll take some time to follow the links to my author friends' blogs as well. They have some truly impressive books in print and a few in the works as well.

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing


What is the working title of your book?

Stealing Time

Cover art for Stealing Time

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I've always been fascinated by time travel stories, especially ones that take you to the past. After a harrowing summer in Florida with four major hurricanes, the first striking only three days after I moved into the state, the idea to combine hurricanes and time travel into Stealing Time began brewing in my head. It wasn't until the following summer that I began working on it.


What genre does your book fall under?

Time Travel Thriller (Hey that's T cubed).


Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Gerard Butler as Mike Walsh

The only actor I've pictured in the movie version of Stealing Time is a character in book two, Mike Walsh, who would be played by Gerard Butler. *Sigh* I'm not sure it's helpful to put anyone else in the reader's minds. I want them to imagine Ronnie, Jeffrey, Jack, Steph and Mathias on their own.


What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Wow, that's a toughie. Ronnie Andrews has a bad day or two? No, surely I can do better than that -- let me try again: Ronnie Andrews finds herself inexplicably thrown back in time during the worst hurricane to hit Central Florida in more than forty years.


Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I will self publish this first one and maybe try for traditional publishing after I see how this one goes.


How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Ahem, you had to ask. OK, confession time: I've been working on this for 7 years. But . . . I will have 3 books completed by year 8ish. I've decided to split the story into 3 separate books and then I'll release them as a compilation at a later date. Why? I realized last spring that e-books were running a lot shorter than traditional pubs, at least in my genre. It occurred to me that people may not want a tome, even if it is amazing, er, really good. So Stealing Time will be a trilogy.


What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I like to compare my story to Michael Crichton's Timeline, in that it is science fiction that is more reality based than spaceships and weird creatures from the future. Timeline also has a healthy dose of historical fiction thrown in along with the sci-fi aspect, like Stealing Time. 

Other works that are similar, although I don't think anyone has tackled the material in the way that I have, are perhaps Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. This series is technically a fantasy set up as opposed to science fiction since the character is sent back in time via druid standing stones in the hills of Scotland instead of a time travel device.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 
http://www.amazon.com/Outlander-Diana-Gabaldon/dp/0440212561


Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I first decided to write a novel after becoming enamored (some may say obsessed) with Outlander. Diana has a book called the Outlandish Companion that describes the characters and tapestries of her vast novels. She also talks about her writing process and one section in particular describes how she writes a scene without knowing how it fits in to the rest of the story and then makes the connections afterwards.

I was very inspired by that, being similarly challenged with structure while having an abundance of creative ideas. The thought of a successful author having a creative rather than structured approach to the novel seemed a heck of a lot more plausible strategy for me. I've used some very helpful tools to give me the structure, which you can read about on my guest blog here that involves a book called The Marshall Plan, by Evan Marshall.


What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I rather like extreme weather.

If you are fascinated with weather, as I am, I've included a healthy dose of bad scary weather, written from actual experience. I've been in about 15 hurricanes in my lifetime and can easily convey the power and awe I felt during those storms.

I've also tackled the time travel component in a very original way, without spoiling it, I can only say as the story develops the method of time travel and the intricacies of how one is placed back in time is revealed and it is very complex.

If that's not enough, I've got a sexy blonde heroine as the main character and a tall, dark, and handsome accomplice to throw another curve ball in her unsettled world. Oh, I forgot to mention there is a mad scientist and a sadistic captor. Interested? I hope so!


Next week, stay tuned for more posts in The Next Big Thing blog hop. Watch for posts on November 7 from these authors:


G. A. Albrethsen -- http://gaalbrethsen.com

Alex Gouthro -- Jagouthro.blogspot.ca

Check them out now and learn about their current novels and works in progress.


Connect With Me

When I'm not working on Stealing Time you can find me on my social media at the links below. I hope to have my novel completed by spring 2013 with book two close behind.

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