I is for Islands!

In particular, Hawaiian Islands.  And maybe Pismawallops Island, or some approximation thereof :)

It's Photo Thursday, and we're going to the Big Island of Hawaii.  A few of my favorite shots from our 2012 visit:

 We began our trip to the Big Island with Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The volcano didn't cooperate with flows of hot lava, but it did bubble and steam a bit for us.

 Some beautiful ropy pahoehoe lava (something I learned about at age 3 at Craters of the Moon).

 

I really liked the contrasts between fresh(ish) lava and the vegetation rapidly taking over. 

 

When the volcano closes a road, it is CLOSED!

Transitions from lava to rich rainforest were quick.  I couldn't get over the fiddleheads on the tree ferns.

Waipio Valley.

Nothing like pizza made on a one-burner camp stove!  This will have to do instead of ice cream--that all got eaten before any pictures could be taken.

 

We did spend a little time on beaches (not much--we burn too easily!), but usually without our cameras.  This was a classic Hawaiian morning on the east side of the Island, taken from camp.

And, for a different sort of island. . . I'm pretty sure Pismawallops Island is out there somewhere (photo is of the northern San Juan Islands, taken from Lummi Island, Washington State).

A to Z Theme Reveal Blog Hop!

It's almost here--the crazy exercise known as the A to Z Challenge.  Hundreds of bloggers sign on each year to blog almost daily through April (we get Sundays off.  Isn't that generous?) in a big blogging party.  Why?  There are several reasons.  One is to increase traffic and (hopefully) active followers for our blogs, because a huge part of the Hop is going about and reading the blogs of others, and following those that you like.  For some of us (okay, for me), another reason is one similar to the reason for doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month): it creates a focus on my writing in my own head and life.

Last year, doing the Hop for the first time (having jumped in at rather the last minute on an impulse), I met a number of great bloggers, and also figured out what I really wanted to do with this blog.  Not bad, for something just tossed into the hopper without much thought.

This year, with my blog chugging along pretty well (as you know, I've settled into a pattern of two reviews and a Flash Fiction each week, and yes, it does encroach on my novel-writing time, but probably in a good way, since it keeps me reading and keeps me writing fiction even when all about me is editing and formatting and marketing, oh my!) (I apologize for an inexcusably long parenthetical digression. .  . now where was I?), I am a little more conscious of what I'm doing and why.  And I have a THEME.

Yeah, yeah, you say.  Get to the point already.  What is that glorious theme?

First, I'm going to tell you what it's not.  I was sorely tempted, but my theme is NOT Ice Cream (it would have been a nice marketing ploy as my new mystery, Death By Ice Cream is launching in just a few days.  But just a little too much.  And the research would probably cause serious weight gain).

Nor is my theme haiku, though the brevity of that form made it tempting.

You could write a haiku about these almond blossoms.

I toyed with the idea of world travel.

Okay, I cheated.  This isn't in Holland.  It's a few miles from home, in Golden Gate Park.  But it originally came from Holland.

And in the end, I went with my great passion: Wilderness.

Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado

Here's what the month will look like:
Mondays: Reviews of adult books on wilderness/wilderness travel/backpacking.
Tuesdays: Original fiction and non-fiction pieces on wilderness travel.
Wednesdays: Reviews of children's books on wilderness, wilderness adventures, and settling the Wild West.
Thursdays: Photos.  I do a LOT of backpacking (the US style, i.e., wilderness travel with everything I will need on my back, sleeping in tents and cooking on a dinky alcohol-burning stove).  I will be highlighting some of my best photos from around the West (US and Canadian Rockies).
Fridays: Flash Fiction.  If possible, I will do these from the Chuck Wendig prompts, and force them to fit the letters of the day.  Should be interesting.
Saturdays: a return to something I've not done much recently: posts on writing.  I'm not sure how that will relate to the wilderness theme, except writing is all about the inside of my head, which is pretty much an untamed wilderness.  We might call it the writer's journey, too.

And, of course, as often as possible, I will mention ice cream.  Because. . . you know why!

So check out the list and hop around to see what some of the exciting themes of A to Z 2014 will be!

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In related news: only three days left to enter to win a paperback copy of Death By Ice Cream.

Click the link above or in the side-bar!  Do it by Monday or lose your chance!

Okay, I lied about that.  Because tomorrow kicks off the Death By Ice Cream blog tour and e-book give-away.  Visit jemimapett.com on March 22 for a review and a chance to enter to win!

The other participating blogs are:
Gus Sanchez
Will MacMillan Jones
Storybook Reviews
Rosalee Richland
Lisa Frieden
Finishing with Carla Sarett on April 2

Help me with my new book!

So the editing and revising and outside input and all is working well, rapidly turning my first murder mystery from a stinking heap of random words into an MS that I can be proud of.  But I'm totally stuck on one particular point:

The Title

That's right.  I've been working on this for years, and have never lit on a title that I really like.  So I'm going to give you the two-bit summary and a list of possible titles and let you vote.

Pismawallops Island is a quiet place where nothing much happens, even at the High School.  That’s why JJ MacGregor likes it.  When a rogue member of the PTA threatens to disrupt the even tenor of life in the middle of Puget Sound, JJ wants someone to take a firm stand.  When Letitia Lemoine shows up very dead in the freezer where there should have been 30 boxes of ice cream bars, JJ worries that someone might have taken her command too seriously.  Not the sort to sit back while someone else solves her problems, JJ just can’t help asking a few questions.  But someone wants her to stop—and a loud mouth and insatiable curiosity can be a dangerous combination.

And here are the possible titles:

Death Stalks the PTA

The Corpse in the Ice Cream

Murder a la Mode--please ignore this option--it's been done, more than once!

Death By Ice Cream

Fundraisers Can Be Fatal

The poll is over there in the side-bar, because I can't figure out how to put it right here.  ~~~>

Oh--and if you have a better idea, speak up!  I'll even give you credit!