July 13th ChallengeDa

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! First I want to say Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law, Frank. Hope you have a great day!

I have the ideal day to write. The girls spent the night at their Aunt’s house, my hubby is sound asleep, I woke up early, but I can’t seem to get the lead out. I’ve been up for over four hours, and these are the first words I’m writing, and even they are a struggle.

I’m just so tired. Hopefully this second cup of coffee will kick in, and I will be able to take advantage of this quiet morning. Yesterday I was in the mood to write, but my household wouldn’t allow it, and it frustrated me to no end. Today I have no excuse.

With any luck, my phone will charge enough for me to get the pictures from yesterday off of it. The cake Lys made was beautiful, and quite yummy, and I wanted to show you the pictures. Plus I got some great shots of “the cousins”. The girls had so much fun together. The get along really well, and it is such a shame they aren’t able to get together more often.

Kara did fine traversing the bridges. I knew she would. It boosted her self-confidence knowing she could tackle something she had always feared. She only had half of her brood with her yesterday, just her three oldest, so she was able to kick back relax and enjoy her day, not having to stress over chasing around the little ones.

New York was well represented yesterday, even though we were missing more than half of the crew. Cathy and her son Mark were there, but Frankie and Kristen had to go to a graduation party, and I’m not quite sure where Samantha was. Joe and Maria came and they brought their chocolate lab Blaze. Man, what a smart dog he is. Even though Michael and Kaitlyn (and baby Frankie) couldn’t come, Steve and Gina were there. The only branch of the family not represented was Billy and his brood. So we had ten out of

Dani, Gia, Lys, Lex, Grace
Holly & Angie

twenty four.

I realize you don’t know who all these people are, or how the relationships fit, but because I’m sure you will be hearing about them all from me in the future, I thought I would give you a little background. Cathy and Maria are twins and their brother is Billy. The three of them are my mother-in-law’s second cousins. Maria is married to Joe, and Cathy was married to Peter. Peter and Joe are brothers, but not twins. Maria and Joe are the parents of Kara, Michael and Steve. Cathy is the mom of Frankie, Mark and Samantha (Mark and Samantha are twins). Billy, who was married to Patti, have Bridget, Richie, Willie and Eric. Kara is married to Jamie, and their kids are Alexa, Gia, Angie, Samantha, Nicholas and Antonio. Michael is married to Kaitlyn and they have a daughter Francesca (aka: Frankie). Steve is married to Gina, and Frankie is married to Kristin.

 

It’s enough to make your head spin isn’t it? This is only one example of a small portion of our family. If I ever got into my collection of cousins, your heads would really spin.

Can you see where I get my inspiration for the intricately woven family dynamic for my Bradford series? In Taking Chances you got to meet Samantha and her brothers. Future stories will feature her brothers and love interests of their own. Those love interests will have families of their own as well to bring into the mix – and so on, and so on. Who knows, perhaps someone from one family will hook up with someone from another family. Only time will tell.

Alright, it is now almost eleven o’clock and I haven’t even started on Faerie Tale Queen. This morning may require a third cup of coffee…

I hope you have an incredible day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

In for a penny, in for a pound

There are some times in life where half measures will not cut it. You need to say “in for a penny, in for a pound”; and go for it, knowing full well you will either rise in a blaze of glory or crash into a spectacular explosion. There is no sticking one toe in first to test the water, sometimes you “just gotta jump on in”.

 

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Good grief! I got nothing! I thought it would be an easy prompt. Hopefully I’ll have better luck with FTQ.

Your Next Challenge is (from my writing group):

You are speaking to a cashier, when you hear shouting behind you.

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.