September 8th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! Finally settling in to the “new normal”. This morning was smooth sailing. Everyone was up and out of the house, on time, fed, and with lunches packed.

My cousins

I have been meaning to tell you folks about this since our return from Texas, but there always seemed to be something else going on, or I was too rushed to give this the amount of time it warrants.

Remember I told you that while we were in Texas, we went to visit cousins of mine who I had not seen in decades? We had an amazing time, but since we have reconnected, I’m a little sad because now, as an adult, I realize how far away they live, and the limited amount of time I will realistically get to spend with them in the years to come. BUT, that has absolutely NOTHING to do with what I wanted to tell you about.

Debbie and Leo, my cousins, own a company called Solutions by Mobile; and that company developed an app that helps churches communicate with their parishioners called Church by Mobile. The concept is so simple, yet brilliant. It allows for the church leaders to send out messages to their congregation, it allows for donations to come in to the church, and they even have something for you to be able to listen to the sermon even if you can’t make it to church that Sunday.

It made me think of all the folks we have on our prayer chain at church. How great would it be to get a text message saying so-and-so’s daughter just went into labor, please pray for all to go well? Or how about the folks who are in the hospital or rehab or recuperating at home and physically can’t get to church but would benefit from hearing the sermon? OR even something simple like a text saying, “Just a reminder, don’t eat dinner before the youth group meeting tonight, because we’re ordering pizzas for everyone.”

See, I told you it was simply brilliant. It’s one of those forehead smackers with you saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

I know many of you have pretty strong religious affiliations, and I wanted to ask you to share this website with your religious leader – not because my cousins own the company, but because it would help your church, temple, mosque, whatever.

I passed on the information to my pastor yesterday. (Yeah, I know, I’ve been naughty. Yesterday was the first Sunday in weeks that I’ve been to church.) One of the best things about the app is that it doesn’t matter if your church has 50 members or 50K members, it will still be beneficial, and the app itself is ridiculously inexpensive.

Okay, no more sales pitch, and I want you to know that I have ZERO ties to the company, and in no way shape or form do I benefit from telling you about Solutions by Mobile; but I thought the Church by Mobile app was amazing, and if I thought it would help you, why wouldn’t I share?

Okay, I am now about to embark on five UNINTERRUPTED hours of writing, and I’m excited. My little pea-brain was working overtime while I slept and I have a fairly clear picture of where FTQ needs to head. So I am off to Ireland.

I hope you have a delightful day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

A helping hand…

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.

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”.

 

***

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.

July 11th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! It’s finally Friday! I was looking forward to Friday this week, because I don’t work on Fridays, and I was planning on getting a lot of writing on FTQ finished, but I’m not sure how much I’m actually going to get done.

My adorable nieces

We are having a party to celebrate my two nieces’ and my brother-in-law’s birthdays tomorrow (6/30, 7/7 & 7/13), so today I have to go to the grocery store to get the ingredients to make broccoli salad, beans, and all the stuff Lys needs to make the cake. Then I have to go and pick up the gift cards and the cards.

One of 3 Kara's going to have to
deal with...

It’s also my cousin from NY’s birthday, and since she’s coming, I want to get her a card too. We don’t exchange gifts, but since tomorrow is her actual birthday, I wanted to have a card for her. I just heard she’s making the trek by herself (along with her kids who don’t drive yet) this year. This should be interesting, because she’s not fond of driving over bridges, and there are several between her house and my in-laws.

Kara, Lex, Gia, Angie,
Samantha, Nicholas
(Antonio hadn't hatched yet,
but if you look close, he's
there too.)

Hey, we all have phobias of some sort, right? Me, I’m city phobic, and I’m not a fan of birds, but you know that already. I know she’ll be just fine. She’s a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for – she has to be, being the mom of six beautiful children, but perhaps instead of a card, she would appreciate and adult beverage more. LOL (No that she’d drink it, because she’s driving, but she could take it home with her.)

Our newest little cousin
Frankie

I don’t know if any of the other cousins are coming this year. The picnic is an annual thing, and the only time we get to see them, which is a shame because we have a grand old time when we get together. I know one cousin is definitely not coming because they are on vacation, and I’m bummed about it, because I wanted to meet his new baby girl. She’s coming up on a year old at this point, and is as cute as can be.

Okay, it’s time to get my hubby out the door, and then I’m off to ShopRite before it gets crowded. I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Dragons!

Dragons! Dragons! I’ve been chasing dragons for over two decades now. Actually, I have traversed the globe, chasing stories of what people thought where dragons. I have managed to disprove every occurrence or siting thus far. In actuality, they were either extraordinary spiraling weather or lightning strikes, or in several cases, unusual clustered flocks of birds in the air; but this time, this time, it’s different.

I arrived in the remote Alpine village three days ago to gather information. All the witness accounts were identical. The beast only struck at night. It had two glowing eyes, shot fireballs, and was accompanied by a loud whirring sound never before heard.

Buildings were charred and crumbling. Farmers as well as livestock lay dead, pierced but something projected from the monster. The attacks would only last for a few minutes, then the creature would disappear over the mountain range.

I assembled a small group of men, and we headed into the mountains in search of the beast, intent on slaying it. We crested the peak, then began our descent toward the ravine, and that was when I caught my first glimpse of the beast. I told the men to maintain their position, and I crept further to investigate.

It was black, fifteen meters long, and four meters high. It’s wingspan was at least seven meters. I had never seen anything like it before. This strange creature was not an animal, as I had expected. It rested on three wheels, had a small blade in the back, and a large blade on top. It looked to contain doors and windows.

I didn’t have enough time, to go on with the story, but I was going to have our “dragon” slayer witness a man get into the helicopter and fire it up. Did the language I use lead you to believe this was many centuries ago, way before helicopters even existed? It’s what I had hoped, but you can only do so much in ten minutes…

Your Next Challenge is:

In for a penny, in for a pound

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