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This is a guest post by Kymberlyn Reed, whom I had the pleasure to meet on a fiction website. We got acquainted on Facebook, and I dare say, anyone who is a fan of Calvin and Hobbes is alright with me. Please, enjoy reading her experience in cosplay and leave a comment.  Have questions?  Leave a comment! My Life in Cosplay – The Beginning My first experiences with the idea of cosplay happened a year after Star Wars (A New Hope) came out (yes, I am that old). I remember how life-altering that film was for me, a little girl who loathed the weak, simpering “heroines” of Disney films and which populated a great deal of he books I had the misfortune to have read. The moment Princess Leia literally exploded on screen, sassing up Darth Vader without flinching and pretty much rescuing the very guys who were supposed to be rescuing her, I… Continued

“The more I know about people, the better I like my dog.” — Mark Twain I’m feeing pet-like this Saturday.  My old road dog passed away in January, and the family was dithering about getting a new dog.  But, we went down to the Humane Society (which I call the pound) and picked out a loverly nice  purebred (imagine that) pitbull.  She’s as sweet as sugar and so cute to boot. The new dog got me thinking about famous people and their pets.  What do they look like?  A quick web search brought me to the following shots. Enjoy, I’m going to play with the new dog! Hover over the slide with your mouse and the celebrities name will appear at the bottom.  Sorry  it’s not as clear as I’d like it to be!! [slideshow_deploy id=’1581′]          

If you have a desire to garden and tend plants this year, this is the time to start. Nothing screams accomplishment than a variety of herbs for cooking or that sprig fresh mint in your sweet tea (or crushed at the bottom of your mint julep.) Uh, oh! Maybe you don’t have the outdoor area? Here are some helpful tips to get you started planning your indoor garden. 1. What is your purpose for the garden?  A project with the little ones? Growing herbs for cooking? Meditation and/or a calming activity? 2. How much space do you have? Your garden can be in a closet, the basement, corner of your bedroom – any space is a space for plants. A windowsill garden does very well for herbs and smaller veggies. 3. What kind of garden do you want? Snake plants, herbs, ferns, orchids, ivies? Depending on the light and the

So, some of you may be sitting there RIGHT NOW wondering….what the heck does Dahlia do when she’s not writing up those great stories of hers?  Well, dear readers of this blog, I’ll tell ya….in pictures. I’m a crochet fanatic.  I like to knit, but crochet is my thing, if you know what I’m saying.  It’s faster, to me, and you can get a lot of projects done quickly.  I do like the smooth lay of knitting, but….I sacrifice style for speed.   So whenever I’m trying to work out some plot twists or am simply taking a break from the keyboard, this is what I’m usually doing. If I’m quick, I can whip out a hat in 30 minutes. The scrunchie takes longer because I’m using a smaller needle. All in all, it’s fun, mindless,and the family gets a lot of warm stuff out of it to boot. Till

Do Sexual Harassment and Racism Belong in Fiction? Sexual harassment and racism…pretty taboo topics, right? That’s why I chose to tackle them. I don’t like to read, nor do I like to write mindless entertainment. Most readers nowadays want a fluffy romance with minor complications and a HEA. While I do concede to Happy Ever Afters, I make sure it’s a rocky road to get there. You will find sexual harassment and racism both in Afterburn. Having been an aircraft mechanic for eleven years, I was dying to write about a woman grease monkey. Nobody else is! And let me tell you something about harassment…it’s ugly, but it’s there. Sexual harassment happens to women in male-dominated professions on an everyday basis. So, it’s an issue in Afterburn. It’s a fact of life and fiction isn’t real if it doesn’t portray real life. Racism: Another ugly, but sadly, real life issue. Even in