Veronica Found Another Magazine Quiz!

This one’s adapted from the August 25th issue of People magazine and they were interviewing singer Rita Ora. All answers below are mine alone!???????????????????????????????

???????????????????????????????Describe your style in three words: long and flowy.  Wait, do conjunctions count? Where’s an editor?  OK, try: Long, flowy, lavender? Actually, I have different styles depending on whether I’m at the day job or at home. We used to have to wear business suits, very proper, except we looked pretty ridiculous in meetings with the scientists who were usually in shorts, T shirts and sandals. Now anything goes, more or less. I usually wear a dress and an open front cardigan or very rarely a jacket. On the casual days, I wear a denim skirt with a blouse & Tshirt, often Hawaiian floral, but sometimes cat-themed. And I do have some vintage blouses. At home I like denim skirts, or long cotton skirts in bright colors, T shirts….but always the long, blingy earrings.

What was your first perfume? Toujours moi, as I mentioned in a post recently.

What’s your favorite smell of all time? Vanilla! when I’m baking, I just breathe in the vanilla scent for a few minutes. Too bad it tastes so awful. Well actually good, or I’d probably drink it by the tiny bottlefull.

What do you splurge on? Books. Movies. Oh wait, this was kind of a clothes-and-makeup kind of quiz so….either mascara because I’m ALWAYS looking for one that will make my eyelashes amazing but not clump, or fingernail polish because I love the colors.

What’s your favorite city to shop in? I’d probably love Paris or Portobello Road in London but as I’ve never been to either, let’s go with Main Street in Disneyland. So that would be Anaheim apparently.

What’s the last thing you bought? My fabulous steampunk costume for the Fantasy Futuristic & Paranormal Gathering at the RWA Nationals. Tied for 4th place, thank you very much. Lots of lace and purple and sparkles….

???????????????????????????????Is there an item in your closet you wear over and over? I do tend to have favorites that I  wear a lot just because I always feel good in them. I have this one black dress for work with a pink and creamy white flower print that I gravitate to for difficult-meeting days. At home, I love my Target T shirt with Sesame Street characters on it. (Shrug, what can I say?)

When did you fall in love with red lipstick? On me? Never. I’m too pale for it. I admire it on other people though.

What was your biggest makeup mistake to date? My daughters keep telling me I cannot wear turquoise eye shadow. But I sneak some on anyway, just a tiny hint…

And the magazine quiz didn’t ask, but I’ll tell you anyway, the oldest thing in my closet is actually the blue sweater my late husband wore when he asked me to the Senior Prom (All together now, “Awwwwwww.”) Which was oh, a few years ago LOL. The oldest thing of my own, besides my wedding dress, which is actually in the cedar chest with the aforementioned sweater, would be some Carole Little skirts from the 1980’s. She had the best fun, colorful prints, lots of cool trim, tiers…long and flowy!

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Interview with Guest Author Yolanda Sfetsos

Recast72lgVeronica: Today it’s my pleasure to interview Yolanda Sfetsos, author of  Recast, Volume 1. First a little about yourself:

Yolanda:  Wife. Mother. Writer. Bibliophile. Dreamer. Animal lover. Intrigued by the supernatural. Horror freak. Zombie enthusiast. Movie & music fan. Slave to her muse.

Lives in Sydney, Australia with her awesome husband, lovely daughter, and cheeky cat.

Veronica: Let’s jump right in and ask what prompted you to start writing?

Yolanda:I started writing back in my teens. I lived far away from my friends and had plenty of alone time, so I put it to good use by putting pen to paper whenever I didn’t have homework or wasn’t reading.

I’d made up stories inside my head for years but one day decided to take that extra step and actually started writing them down. For a while I shared them with my friends and even co-wrote a series of romance stories that were available in the school library.

Even then, I would write a variety of genres ranging from sweet romance to horror.

Veronica: Which five people (real, fictional, historical) would you invite to dinner and why?

Yolanda: Clive Barker, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Charlaine Harris and Stan Lee, because I reckon we could have a really long and fun conversation about life, creativity and writing. I think the wealth of knowledge between them would be astounding.

Veronica: hat would be an amazing table and the discussion would last until the wee hours for sure. Is there a word or phrase you most overuse in a manuscript? (I confess to “that” being my worst word LOL)

Yolanda: Oh yeah, I’m also guilty of the overuse of ‘that’. Asides from that—LOL—I find myself overusing a different set of words for each story. During my latest editing project, I overused ‘sounded’, ‘house’ and ‘little’. Weird, I know.

 Veronica: Yes, I find in each book I’ve gotten carried away with some new phrase. In the most recent one it was “bug out” for leaving the planet. I like to ask some Quickfire Questions:

Must watch TV Show: The Walking Dead (VS sez: Oh me too! I love Daryl…..)

Music on repeat: Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix, Vol. 1 (at the moment)

Favorite Movie: I’ve got a bunch of favourite movies—Star Wars, The Lost Boys, The Goonies…to name a few—but I recently fell in love with Guardians of the Galaxy. So that’s my fave right now. 😉

Cats or Dogs? I love all animals. (But we have a cheeky cat called Loki)

Favorite Flower: Sunflowers

Tea or coffee: Tea in the morning, coffee in the afternoon

Morning person or evening person: I get up at 4:30am during the weekdays, so I’m going to say I’m a morning person. I love knowing that I’m awake while most people around me are still asleep. Also, getting an early start is always awesome.

Favorite Perfume: Don’t like perfume

Veronica: Well I guess we won’t ask you what scents your characters might be wearing LOL. What are you working on next?

Yolanda: I’m at that stage where several projects are trying to get my attention at the same time. I have two urban fantasy (Sierra Fox) spin-off ideas that are desperately trying to get my attention. I also can’t wait to write the last two books in my RECAST series. I’m looking forward to writing the stories of two very different, but just as damaged, brothers who’ve taken their own paths in separate parts of the galaxy.

But I’m guessing one of the urban fantasy ideas will win first place, because the main character is shouting the loudest. 😉

Veronica: What one question do you want to ask your Readers today?

Yolanda: Let’s see… I’d love to know which Recast character is their favourite. 🙂

 Veronica: Where can your Readers find you online?

WebsOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAite   Twitter     Goodreads

Thanks so much for having me over!

Buy Links for book: 

Recast, Volume 1:

Samhain Publishing | Amazon | Amazon UK 

 When betrayal, revenge, secrets and lust collide, there can only be chaos.
WITHER
Recast, Book 1

Wrangling is in Colt’s blood, but the woman he loved wasn’t easily tied down. Now a mysterious clientwither sfetsos has him wrangling someone who may not be human. Colt doesn’t care as long as he gets paid.
Colt could solve or multiply Brynn’s problems. She doesn’t expect him to understand why she left, but she needs his help. Colt looks as good as she remembers, and even after years, their mutual lust is alive.
Desire strips away secrets. A secret that could be their death sentence…

CLASH
Recast, Book 2
Half-Recast Ace Abu is determined to get to Fray and destroy the Clash Arena.
When he finds a barstool in Grit, he’s ready for a few beers, but the sexy singer on stage only makes him burn hotter.
Ely’Shea longs for freedom. When the boss is away she indulges her passions. That night she catches a glimpse of an alluring cowboy.
Unable to resist temptation, they’re consumed by passion…but once the fuses are set, their deepest secrets could blow any chance of forever to hell.

Product Warnings

Contains shapeshifters, space cowboys, female sheriffs, singers, double lives, and so many secrets it can only end in total madness.
RECAST, Volume 1 is now available from Samhain Publishing.

 

 

 

 

 

N Is for Nile

???????????????????????????????Given that I write a series of paranormal novels set in ancient Egypt and the Nile appears in all of my titles, how could I pick anything else for my letter N in the A to Z challenge?

I’m not sure why this Victorian trade card for the Newby Evans Piano company has a Nile crocodile??????????????????????????????? and a fox chatting, but I thought it was charmingly comedic.

Here’s wonderful quote from John Keats’ Sonnet to the Nile:

Son of the old moon-mountains African!
Stream of the Pyramid and Crocodile!
We call thee fruitful, and that very while
A desert fills our seeing’s inward span.

And another from an American Poet, Bayard Taylor, in his To The Nile:

Mysterious Flood,–that through the silent sands???????????????????????????????
Hast wandered, century on century,
Watering the length of great Egyptian lands,
Which were not, but for thee.056

 

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