Tag: Writing

Another tequila sunrise…

~ Meg ~ 44 Comments

Week 18 in The Year of Drinking Adventurously – TEQUILA!

Yes, tequila, my old friend… we have some stories, don’t we?

I think of tequila as the official party booze.  (And rum, too.  But that’s another chapter.)  Who doesn’t love a good Margarita on a hot summer day?  Don’t answer that — it’s rhetorical.  Thursday is Cinco de Mayo – not Mexican Independence Day, like most people think.  Rather it’s a day that commemorates a decisive battle won against the French Army.  And an excuse for Americans to get drunk on someone else’s holiday.  (We do that for St. Patrick’s Day, too.  Any old excuse works, really…)

Tequila is made from the blue agave plant, Unknownmust be distilled in Mexico to be classified as tequila, but may be bottled elsewhere.  Not all tequila is 100% agave tequila, so read your labels.  The finer tequilas, like my current bottle, 1800 Silver Tequila Reserva, is 100% agave.  This is one spirit I would never cheap out on.  You will pay dearly for it, after the fact.

So how do I like to drink tequila?  Well, I do love me a Margarita -Meg is short for Margaret, after all.  But the first tequila cocktail I ever had was a Tequila Sunrise.  And yes, it was because of The Eagles’ song of the same name.  Obviously I discovered The Eagles before Jimmy Buffett or I’d have been Wastin’ Away in Margaritaville…  And I might not have been of legal drinking age at the time.  And I might have sneaked off to New York City with my friends.  To see Siouxie and the Banshees at Radio City Music Hall.  Epic…

The Tequila Sunrise:

3 ounces orange juice
1 1/2 ounce tequila
1/2 ounce grenadine

In a tall glass or Collins glass… The drink is mixed by pouring in Tequila, ice, then the juice and, lastly, the grenadine. The signature look of the drink depends on adding the grenadine without mixing with the other ingredients. A spoon may be used to guide the syrup down the glass wall to the bottom of the glass with minimal mixing.  Oh! Pretty!

Of course tequila makes for a fun shot, too.  You sprinkle salt on the space between your thumb and index finger, have a lemon wedge ready, pour a shot of tequila, and “lick, drink, suck.”  That is lick the salt, throw back the shot, and suck the lemon wedge, people.  I heard you all snickering.

Oh and the whole worm thing?  You know, eat the worm at the bottom of the bottle and you’ll have hallucinations?  That’s a myth. Skip the worm, that’s just gross, sorry.

So mosey on over to Lula’s blog and see how she tequila’d!

Double Seduction (13)

~ Meg

Chapter 13 of Double Seduction: a novella of suspense written with Fictional Kevin. This chapter in the collaboration is Kevin’s.  The other chapters can be found here.  Comments are turned off so go visit him and give him some love!

Chapter 13 – Lucky

“OK, but I just wanted to say…” David began.

“Not on the phone, in person. Tomorrow, 10am, I’ll meet you at Shipley Park near the fountain.” Melody’s tone was angry and resolute.

“I’m just glad you’re still talking to me. I’m so sorry. Can you just hear what I need to tell you now?” David pleaded.

“No, I can’t talk to you right now. I need to think. Goodbye until tomorrow.” With that, Melody disconnected.

Continue reading on Kevin’s blog:  here

Worth It

~ Meg ~ 39 Comments

Don’t get discouraged…

Writing can be a blessing and a curse. If you’ve been at this a while, you know what I mean. Sometimes things go very well. Creativity is sparkling, words are flowing, the keys of the keyboard tap out a furious staccato. The finished work is brilliant – some of the best stuff you’ve ever written. You edit carefully, then send it out into the world, on your blog, into a self-published book on Amazon, or in a query to an agent. You wait for the response.

And nothing….

You get a few likes on your blog, maybe a couple lukewarm comments. Your book languishes, sales are weak, nonexistent even. The agents are silent, or worse, dismissive… “Thank you but your work isn’t a good fit for me. Good luck in your journey…”

If you are expecting the usual litany of “think positive”clichés, sorry! You know how I hate that crap! Nevertheless, how do you keep from going under in the floodwaters of writing and publishing?

Remember why you started writing in the first place.  Even if your goal is to make a living at this endeavor, your most basic reason for writing has to be because you love it.  You have a song to sing, a story to tell, a cause to champion, and so forth.  We all want to be appreciated, have readers enjoy what we write.   But it is a rare thing to achieve overnight success.

Our world has trained us to expect instant gratification.  If we can’t have “it” right now, something is wrong.  Writers need to have vision – a long view.  Ok, here’s a cliche but an appropriate one:  it’s a marathon, not a sprint.  A marathon requires setting a pace, having time goals for the splits of the race, refueling at appropriate opportunities… You know what I’m saying?  Yes, some faster runners will blow by you. But here’s the cool thing about marathon running:  most runners race to achieve a personal best.  That’s why thousands of slow runners sign up to participate in marathons.  The goal is completion, not winning.  So to carry the metaphor back to writing, success can’t be tied to sales, reviews, likes and comments.  Success is tied to your personal best.  And like a runner who keeps training, you only get better the more you run.

Don’t let your desire for validation derail your dreams.  Whatever you write, for whomever you write, on whatever medium you write, remember that you love to write.  And that alone makes it worth it.