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Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Favorite Friday

Favorite gemstone

Amethyst

The amethyst is a purple variety of quartz and the February birthstone. Ancient Romans and Greeks wore this stone to ward off intoxication. It is also a healing stone and used for healing the soul, body and mind. Amethysts hold the universal vibration and this enables the holder of the crystal to be connected to it, so this makes the amethyst a good meditation stone. I feel a connection to amethysts, possibly because of their properties or maybe because of their beauty.

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Weird Word Wednesday

Agog

agog

adjective \ə-ˈgäg\

: full of interest or excitement because of something

Full Definition of AGOG

:  full of intense interest or excitement : eager <kids all agogover new toys>

See agog defined for English-language learners »

See agog defined for kids »

Examples of AGOG

1. The news has chemists agog.

2. Her supporters were agog at the idea.

3. The town is agog over the plan.

Origin of AGOG

Middle French en gogues in mirth

First Known Use: 1559

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Monday, August 11, 2014

Monday Musings: Mountains in Arizona pics

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This was taken at the archery range where I go with my friend to shoot at targets. I love being outside in a place with no other people. It’s so quiet, except when gun shots go off at the nearby gun range. I see lizards running around, and we are usually bothered by a pesky fly that won’t leave us alone. Haven’t seen any rattlesnakes yet. Don’t really want to unless it’s far away from me.

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This is Cupcake Mountain. This picture was also taken at the archery range.

Friday, August 08, 2014

Favorite Friday

Favorite Show—Witches of East End

Yes, I do like my witch shows. This one is dark. I really like how they have linked the witches to Asgard and the Norse gods. Long ago these witches came through a portal to escape their hateful father, the king. They escaped his wrath but ended up cursed. The witches have different magical powers to aid them, but magic can’t solve everything. This season they have to defend themselves against something that came through the portal. And for the ladies, there are some hot guys in this show.

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Wednesday, August 06, 2014

Weird Word Wednesday

Agita

ag·i·ta

noun \ˈa-jə-tə\

Definition of AGITA

:  a feeling of agitation or anxiety

Examples of AGITA

1. <took a deep breath to dispel her agita as she stepped onstage>

Origin of AGITA

S Italian dialect pronunc. of Italian acido, literally, heartburn, acid, from Latin acidus

First Known Use: 1982

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Monday, August 04, 2014

Monday Musings: Losing a pet is never easy

On July 15, 2014 we lost our older male dog. This isn’t the first dog we’ve lost and won’t be the last, but it’s never easy to lose a pet. I don’t understand how these creatures worm their way into our hearts. I mean, they are only animals, right? They aren’t human. And I think that is the answer—they are not human. They give us what a human cannot—unconditional love and constant companionship. So we love them differently and we mourn them differently. I always worry that I didn’t do the right thing for them. They can’t tell me what hurts them or what they want, so I have to guess. This time I think I guessed it right. This gives me some comfort, but losing a pet that is a constant in your life is heartbreaking, no matter how you lose them.
Hercules wasn’t like any other dog. He was a chi-weenie, so he was part dachshund—a hound. Hound dogs lead with their nose and prefer to be out sniffing things. Herc didn’t care if he pleased his masters. He did his own thing. So when he was always at my side, I knew he was there because he wanted to be there. We tried a training technique on him once. The idea behind this technique was that dogs don’t like to be shunned by the pack, so they won’t repeat whatever they did to get them shunned. This technique worked great on our other, people-pleasing, dog, but not on Herc. When it came time for him to be let outside and shunned for 15 minutes, he didn’t care. He just went about exploring the yard with his hound nose. And that made me love him more.
In the end he lived up to his sturdy name, fighting for his life as long as he could, and then I told him it was okay to stop fighting. Farewell, my sweet boy, I sure hope we meet again.
RIP Hercules
1998-2014
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A few of his many nicknames throughout the years: Monkey Butt, Stinky Man, Peanut, Mouse, Mr. Grumpy Jeans, The Badger, Old Man.
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One of the first pics I took of him as a puppy.
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He always thought he was a bigger dog.
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Hunting in the grass in CA.
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1998 or 99 in CA. Happier times.
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Can you believe he was red-flagged at the vet? LOL
My Pictures0011
This is one of my favorite pics of him playing with his sister. Devil Dog!
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Even as an old man he still had some fire.
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His favorite place was on my bed right next to me.
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Patrolling his yard.
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Hanging out with Loki.










Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Friday, August 01, 2014

Favorite Friday

Favorite music—Loreena McKennitt

 

I wrote a bunch of books to her music. Her songs create an otherworldly atmosphere that takes you back to another time. Mediterranean style beats evoke ancient Rome and Greece, while more primitive music and earthy vocals call upon the ancient Celts, white-robed druids gathering in a moon-splashed grove.

 

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Weird Word Wednesday

Agamospermy

aga·mo·sper·my

noun \(ˌ)ā-ˈga-mə-ˌspər-mē,ˈa-gə-mō-ˌspər-\

Definition of AGAMOSPERMY

: apogamy; specifically :  apogamy in which sexual union is not completed and the embryo is produced from the innermost layer of the integument of the female gametophyte

Origin of AGAMOSPERMY

Greek agamos + English -spermy

First Known Use: 1944

Browse

Next Word in the Dictionary: agamospore
Previous Word in the Dictionary: agamospermic
All Words Near: agamospermy

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Tabby's Nocturnal Nights: Dealing with change

Tabby's Nocturnal Nights: Dealing with change: This has been a time of big changes for me. After losing my second dog—a dog I’d had for 15 years, a dog that was always at my side and a do...

Monday, July 28, 2014

Monday Musings: Arizona sunsets #2

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This is my favorite one because of the reflection in the pool. I caught the light at just the right moment.

 

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Magical.

 

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I like the blue spaces between the clouds painted by the sunset.

 

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I like the deep hues and different layers of color.

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I like this one because of the different colors.

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The sky looks like it’s on fire. Beautiful.

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Friday, July 25, 2014

Favorite Friday

Favorite TV show

Defiance

I wasn’t sure about this show at first, but I watched it and was drawn into the story of a post-apocalyptic earth and different alien races living alongside humans. What I like about this show is that instead of taking place during an alien invasion, it takes place after an alien invasion that almost destroyed earth, and we get to see how all of the different races try to come together and rebuild society. I see parallels between our world today and a world where aliens replace different races. There is racism and differing religious beliefs that cause conflict in the new mixed society.

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Weird Word Wednesday

Agammaglobulinemia

agam·ma·glob·u·lin·emia

noun \ˌā-ˌga-mə-ˌglä-byə-lə-ˈnē-mē-ə\

Definition of AGAMMAGLOBULINEMIA

:  a condition in which the body forms few or no gamma globulins or antibodies

agam·ma·glob·u·lin·emic adjective

Origin of AGAMMAGLOBULINEMIA

New Latin, from a- + International Scientific Vocabularygamma globulin + New Latin -emia

First Known Use: circa 1952

agam·ma·glob·u·lin·emia

noun (Medical Dictionary)

Medical Definition of AGAMMAGLOBULINEMIA

: a pathological condition in which the body forms few or no gamma globulins or antibodies—comparedysgammaglobulinemia

Variants of AGAMMAGLOBULINEMIA

agam·ma·glob·u·lin·emia or chiefly Britishagam·ma·glob·u·lin·ae·mia

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Monday, July 21, 2014

Monday Musings: More backyard wildlife--Godzilla pics and mysterious holes

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Godzilla has been hanging here for a couple of weeks. He doesn’t run away from me anymore.

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This one is hard to see, but he is looking right at me.

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I hope he eats all the bugs in my yard.

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This freaked me out. I saw it the other morning. Something big was digging in my yard. I think and hope it was a rabbit trying to hide, but I don’t know. Yikes!

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Friday, July 18, 2014

Favorite Friday

Favorite TV show

Motive

I didn’t want to watch this show at first. I was kind of bored with all the cop procedure shows, and I didn’t see the point of watching a show that reveals the murderer and victim in the beginning. It turns out this is a genius idea. I started watching it because there wasn’t anything else on at that time I wanted to watch. And now I want to watch it every week. Why? Because after I see the murderer and the victim, I have to know why that person killed the other person. At first, it appears so unlikely that the seemingly normal, nice person would kill someone. But I guess everyone has a breaking point. And that is the draw for me to keep watching. This show focuses more on the killer and victim and less on the private lives of the cops, though we do get to see some of their private battles play out.

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Weird Word Wednesday

Agamic

agam·ic

adjective \(ˌ)ā-ˈga-mik\

Definition of AGAMIC

: asexual, parthenogenetic

Origin of AGAMIC

Greek agamos unmarried, from a- + gamos marriage

First Known Use: 1816

Rhymes with AGAMIC

Adamic, balsamic, ceramic, dynamic

agam·ic

adjective \(ˈ)ā-ˈgam-ik\ (Medical Dictionary)

Medical Definition of AGAMIC

: asexual, parthenogenetic

agam·i·cal·ly adverb

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Monday, July 14, 2014

Monday Musings: Moon pics #2

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Moon at sunset (This is my favorite and the most beautiful time of the day.)

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Moon in the black of night (I like the contrast between the bright moon and night sky.)

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Moon with a side of palm tree

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Moon in the midst of sunset colored clouds (This one was captured by accident. I caught it at just the right time to get the moon’s detail and the clouds colored by the setting sun.)

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Crescent moon framed by palo verde branches

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Crescent moon and jet stream (Another happy accident.)

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Crescent moon glimmering in the night sky between branches

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Friday, July 11, 2014

Favorite Friday

Favorite TV show

Dominion

I just watched the pilot for this new SyFy series. It’s based on the movie Legion about the archangel Michael siding with the humans in a war against the angels. In the movie, he protects a young pregnant woman who carries the savior who will end the war. The series picks up 25 years later when the “savior” is all grown up and just discovers what he is. The war between humans and angels has been on hold. Factions run the country. This is a dark series and not for those who believe angels exist to help us. In Dominion, angels, all but Michael, hate humans and want to destroy us. I like it. Maybe because I tend to like dark tales and don’t believe angels are nice with halos and white wings. SyFy has also turned up the heat lately. There were a few partial nudity scenes in the pilot. I can live with that. Recommended to fans of dark angel stories with angel orgies (yes, this is true) and post-apocalyptic worlds.

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Weird Word Wednesday

Afreet

afreet

noun \ˈa-ˌfrēt, ə-ˈfrēt\

Definition of AFREET

:  a powerful evil jinni, demon, or monstrous giant in Arabic mythology

Variants of AFREET

afreet or afrit

Origin of AFREET

Arabic ʽifrīt

First Known Use: 1786

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Monday, July 07, 2014

Monday Musings: Writing help—Revision Funk

Lately I have been in a revision funk. What’s a revision funk? For you non-writers, a revision funk is when a writer has trouble revising, or making improvements, to the story they are trying to finish. You’d think after writing and revising 7 books, the 8th book would be a piece of cake. But no. It seems I’ve hit a wall for some reason. It may be that I’ve become too lackadaisical, or I’ve become complacent and not taking the process seriously, thinking I can just breeze through revisions without much thought. Not a good attitude to have if you want to put out a good book.

Looking for inspiration, I bought a book on revision to help me refresh my memory. Even experienced writers need to keep learning and exercising the writing muscle. And my writing muscle has been in need of some toning. This book has some really helpful tips and techniques for doing revisions and self-edits. I’m glad I decided to do something about my funk rather than just sit around and complain about it. Or even worse, turn out a crappy book. This doesn’t mean I can skip the editor, but it’s given me some inspiring ideas and helped me turn revisions into something fun instead of a tedious chore.

The book I’m reading is called Revision and Self-Editing for Publication (2nd edition) by James Scott Bell.

 

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Friday, July 04, 2014

Favorite Friday

Favorite Movie

Let Me In

This is a fantastic vampire movie. The vampire appears as a young, innocent girl, but she is anything but innocent. She is a dangerous predator—to everyone except the young bullied boy who is ignored by his troubled mother and father who abandoned him. To him, she is a savior, a guardian angel. The two form a unique bond, one based on need but also affection. She needs him to protect her during the day and help her find prey. He needs her because he is alone. A compelling look at what I think is a true relationship with a vampire. This is not a sparkly, beautiful love story. The wintry New Mexico setting also helps set the bleak mood of this haunting tale. Highly recommended for fans of horror and vampire lore.

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604