Artist, Author of Sci-Fi, Space Opera, and Romance

Today’s The Day – A Flash Writing Challenge

Kayelle Allen 02/20/2012 Humorous Stories 2 Comments

I’m a Writer.

This is from a flash witing challenge and is reprinted in full on this blog.

– – –

Every day, I get up and I look in the mirror, and I say, “My name is Chris, and I’m a writer. Today’s the day, baby! I’m gonna be famous.” As you can see, I don’t just talk to myself; I lie to myself.

Yeah, well today, I quit. Writing, not lying.

Here’s why. The last line of my editor’s letter said, “Make it more heartwarming, and it’ll sell.”

Heartwarming? I’ll give him heartwarming! How many hours did I sit here, at his suggestion no less, staring at the screen, trying to come up with ways to increase action? Okay, so now you’ve got your slam-bam action. There’s a crisis on every page. And he wants “heartwarming.”

I’m an action writer. Heartburn is more like it.

My hero’s a player, smart, in great shape, face and body like one of those models from New York. He can do anything. Problem is, he’s all mouth. You know the type. Knows everything, and makes sure you hear about it. Here’s one of his lines. “I’m so much more intelligent than most of my friends that they don’t seem to like me. Apparently, they have ego problems.”

How do you make a guy like that heartwarming?

He’s a spy. Carries an arsenal in his pants, in more ways than one. Kills for a living. Crude and rude. Think Dirty Harry meets James Bond. What does this editor want, Dirty Harry meets Love Story? Cute little warm fuzzies all over the place? My poor hero would puke.

I can see it now: “Love means never having to say I’m Bond. James Bond.”

My friends would laugh themselves silly. Hmmm. Wait a second. What if I made it a comedy? I could do comedy. Dirty Harry meets Love Story… I could call it “Dirty Love Story.” Yeah… I kind of like that. Maybe the hero’s got a thing for love stories. Reads women’s erotica on the sly, to find out what women really want in bed. Yeah! That could work. That’s heartwarming, isn’t it?

I gotta go find a pen. Today’s the day, baby! I’m gonna be famous.

Kayelle Allen is an award-winning, multi-published author. Her heroes and heroines include badass immortals, warriors who purr, and agents who find the unfindable–or hide it forever. She is known for unstoppable heroes, uncompromising love, and unforgettable passion.

Mardi Gras Bread Pudding with Sweet Butter Topping

Kayelle Allen 02/16/2012 Kayelle Allen 5 Comments

Bread Pudding.

Would you like an easy recipe for your Mardi Gras party or dinner menu? How about a simple bread pudding even the kids will enjoy? This one is an old favorite, and it’s served with a sweet butter topping and cinnamon sugar. Good down home cooking.

Clean up is easy too. You’ll need one large bowl, one small one, a baking pan, measuring cups (you can mix the cinnamon sugar topping in one), measuring spoons, and a whisk.

Bread Pudding with Sweet Butter Topping

Bread Pudding

1 loaf whole grain bread, broken into small pieces

2 12 oz. cans evaporated milk

1 cup water

6 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp. nutmeg

5 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place broken bread pieces in a large bowl.

Combine milk, water, eggs, sugar, nutmeg, and vanilla, and blend well.

Pour over the bread, add the softened butter, and toss to coat. If dry, add 2-3 teaspoonsful additional water, one at a time, until bread is well moistened. Mixture should be wet, but not soggy.

Spoon mixture into a greased 13×9 inch baking dish.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until set.

Serve with Sweet Butter Topping.

Sweet Butter Topping

6 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

? cup sugar

1 cup whipping cream

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Melt butter in small saucepan. Whisk in flour and cook 3-4 minutes. Stir in sugar and whipping cream. Cook 2-3 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Serve warm over bread pudding. Add Cinnamon Sugar Sprinkle for garnish and taste.

Cinnamon Sugar Sprinkle

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar

Combine ingredients in a small measuring cup, and sprinkle atop warm bread pudding.

This makes an easy dessert that’s filling and tastes wonderful. All the flavors of home, and very little work. I like the smell of bread pudding when it’s baking. It reminds me of childhood and happy times. What recipes do you make that bring back fond memories?

Pietas, Lord of the Immortals

Kayelle Allen 02/13/2012 Character Insights

Pietas ap Lorectic was introduced in the book For Women Only. He’s a physically beautiful immortal male who appears young, despite being over twelve thousand years old. He and his twin sister were the only naturally conceived and born Ultras.

The name Pietas comes from the word “pieta“, meaning “representation.” A famous statue by Michelangelo called “The Pieta” represents a dramatic event in Christendom. Another word for “pieta” is “creation.” Pietas was considered (at his birth to two supposedly infertile immortals) to be the highest creation, the epitome of success. His mother, Helia hid her pregnancy from all but a close circle of others, fearful of what might happen if humans discovered she was fertile.

Unknown to Helia, she carried twins. A female child was delivered only minutes after Pietas, and she was considered a delight, and a good omen. She was named Dessy from the root word decet (dess-say) meaning good or proper. We know her today as Empress Rheyn Destoiya, or the Conqueror. She detests being called Dessy. Pietas makes a point of calling her that to irritate her.

Pietas and Dessy’s father is Mahikos. Those who’ve read Surrender Love had an opportunity to meet him. Helia will appear in an upcoming book.

Other names for Pietas in human history are Marauder, Impaler, Hammer of God, Soul Ripper, Destroyer of Worlds, Slayer of Innocents, and Hound of Hell. He is mentioned in the Tales of the Chosen series, and Surrender Love. There is a love-hate relationship between Pietas and Luc Saint-Cyr, whom Pietas insists on calling by his Sempervian name, Cyken.

Reality Quotient : My Characters’ Occupations

Kayelle Allen 01/28/2012 Kayelle Allen 2 Comments

Luc Saint-Cyr – an extraordinary entrepreneur.

Author friends Melisse Aires and Tracey H Kitts each did blogs on what their characters do for a living. Occupations take up probably a third of our waking hours, so by default, most writers include something about what the characters do within the story. It makes it more interesting to have something unusual or unique.

I started thinking about my various heroes, what each of them does, and how well what they do fits into our current reality. Would what they do be something we do in our culture? Well… that depends on where you live and how much money you have, but here’s a quick list for you. I divided it into heroes and heroines. Because I write M/M as well as M/F, I had more names in the heroes list. To balance that, I added females who had a large part in their respective stories.

The Reality Quotient ranks from 0 (for “yer-kiddin’-me,-right?” to 3 (for “it-could-happen”).

Luc Saint-Cyr – entrepreneur. His Reality Quotient looks good if you consider only his title, but… he’s also the wealthiest man in the Tarthian Empire, owning more companies on his own than any conglomerate you can name. That doesn’t include his own conglomerate, Lucsondis Enterprises. People joke about Luc that he “could buy a planet.” Probably few — er, strike that — probably no readers out there with this kind of wealth.

Reality Quotient: 0 (Sorry, Luc, but you are one of a kind.)

Books: Antonello Brothers 1: At the Mercy of Her Pleasure Antonello Brothers 2: For Her Only Tales of the Chosen: Alitus Tales of the Chosen: Jawk Tales of the Chosen: Wulf Surrender Love

Izzorah with his drums.

Izzorah Ceeow – drummer. Izzorah started out as a runaway seeking asylum on an alien world. He made his way from Felidae to Tarth, found two of his cousins, and bunked with them until he could find a way to make money. Because of music lessons his parents had provided, he knew how to play human-type drums. It was considered proper training for a young male to learn how to entertain, and because he begged hard, his parents allowed him to take up the noisy lessons. It took him years to get a gig as a permanent player with Kumwhatmay, but the group eventually hit it big.

Reality Quotient: 3 for being a drummer, 2 for the alien aspect if you apply it to Earth’s various cultures (0 if applying it to alien worlds).

Books: Surrender Love

In another installment of this idea, I’ll talk about other heroes and heroines.

Here are links to my friends’ posts:

Melisse Aires: http://melisseaires.blogspot.com/2012/01/character-occupations.html

Tracey H Kitts: http://traceyhkitts.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-do-your-characters-do-for-living.html

What’s my personal Reality Quotient?

On the scale of 3 I’ve been a waitress (I lasted 2 entire days – LOL), and on the 0 scale, I worked on fighter aircraft in the Navy, as a member of VFP-63 (“The Eyes of the Fleet”) in San Diego — back in the day. I’ve also been a secretary, file clerk, insurance biller, full-time mom, wife, and let’s not forget author.

What kind of jobs have you held? Would they be a 0 (“yer-kiddin’-me,-right?”) on the Reality Quotient? How about a 3 (“it-could-happen”)? What have you done that’s in between?

Author: Kayelle Allen

Today’s The Day – A Flash Writing Challenge

Mardi Gras Bread Pudding with Sweet Butter Topping

Pietas, Lord of the Immortals

Reality Quotient : My Characters’ Occupations