Some of My Favorite Things: A Blog Hop

June 20, 2018June 16, 2018 / saraletourneau / 27 Comments

Guess what, everyone? I created a blog hop! 🙂

The truth is, I’ve had a hard time thinking of topics to blog about now that I’m back from my (unexpected) hiatus. It’s as if my brain is a car engine that’s having trouble starting… and it’s a strange feeling, to not know what to write about. So I figured, maybe the best way to get those creative juices flowing again is to do something easy and fun. And that’s how the Some of My Favorite Things was born.

I also had a goal for this post: to choose “favorites” I haven’t blogged about before. In other words, you won’t find anything bookish, writerly, or tea-related (well, at least not tea recommendations *lol*) here. So I think you’ll discover a few new things about me today – and maybe we’ll find we had more in common than we did before. 🙂

So, what did I choose as some of my favorite things? You’ll have to read on to find out. 😉
Continue reading →

The Freestyle Writing Challenge, Part 2

September 22, 2016September 21, 2016 / saraletourneau / 17 Comments

Last year I tackled the Freestyle Writing Challenge for the first time. It was a fun way of writing about whatever I wanted (within the topic chosen by the blogger who nominated me, of course) and seeing how many words I could type in a short amount of time. Today, I’m *finally* accepting Sarah J. Higbee’s nomination to take on the Challenge again. Thanks, Sarah!

Here are the rules for the Freestyle Writing Challenge:

Open an new Microsoft Word document.
Set a stop watch or timer for 5 or 10 minutes, whichever challenge you think you can beat.
You topic is at the end of this post, but DO NOT SCROLL DOWN TO SEE IT UNTIL YOU ARE READY WITH A TIMER.
Fill the Word document with as many words as you can. Once you begin writing, do not stop.
Do not cheat by going back and correcting spellings and grammar with spell check in Word. This Challenge is only meant for you to reflect on your own control of sensible thought flow, not your ability to write the right spelling and stick to grammar rules.
You may or may not pay attention to punctuation and capitals. However, if you do, it would be best.
At the end of your post, write down ‘No. of words =_____’ so that readers have an idea of how much you can write within the timeframe.
Copy and paste the entire passage on your blog post with a new topic for your nominees, and include these rules with your nominations (at least 5 bloggers).

So, Sarah’s topic for her nominees this time was… Continue reading →

The “Be Thankful” Challenge

December 2, 2015November 29, 2015 / saraletourneau / 19 Comments

be-thankful

Thanksgiving may have been last week, but the holiday season is a good time to be thankful for what we have and who we cherish. So, when fellow fantasy writer Elizabeth Rawls nominated me for the “Be Thankful” Challenge, I knew I couldn’t let this one wait. (Thank you, E.!)

The rules for The “Be Thankful” Challenge are:

Share the “Be Thankful” image in your blog post.
Write about 5 people in your life you are thankful for.
Write about 5 things in 2015 that you are thankful for.
Spread the love and challenge 5 other blogs to take part.

So, let me share with you some of the people and things I’m most grateful for…

Continue reading →

The Siblinghood of the World Bloggers Tag

October 15, 2015October 13, 2015 / saraletourneau / 15 Comments

So I’m still sifting through the blog tags and awards I received over the summer, and the next one is the Siblinghood of the World Bloggers Tag from Elizabeth Rawls. (Thank you, E.! Sorry it’s taken me so long to get to this!) This was originally known as Sisterhood of the World Bloggers, but someone wanted to make the tag more inclusive and changed the name. Not a bad idea, I say. 🙂

The rules for Siblinghood of the World Bloggers are as follows:

Thank the blogger who nominated you and link to their blog in your post. (Check!)
Answer the questions that the blogger who nominated you has provided.
Nominate 10 other bloggers, and notify them of said nominations.
Create 10 questions for your nominees.

Elizabeth put a neat twist on hers, and started all of her questions with the phrase “Would you rather…”. So, here we go! Continue reading →

The Freestyle Writing Challenge

August 13, 2015August 12, 2015 / saraletourneau / 29 Comments

Fellow writer Sarah J. Higbee nominated me for this Freestyle Writing Challenge back in June. As you can see, it’s taken me a while to get around to it, but I always intended on following up. 😉 Thanks Sarah, and sorry for the delay!

Here are the rules of the Freestyle Writing Challenge:

Open a blank document.
Set a stop watch or mobile phone timer to 5 or 10 minutes.
Your topic is at the foot of this post. DO NOT SCROLL DOWN TO SEE IT UNTIL YOU ARE READY WITH YOUR TIMER!
Once you start writing, do not stop until the alarm sounds!
Do not cheat by going back and correcting spelling and grammar using spell check. (The challenge is only meant for you to reflect on your own control of sensible thought-flow and for you to reflect on your ability to write with correct spelling and grammar.)
You may or may not pay attention to punctuation or capitals.
At the end of your post, write down “No. of words = ____” to give an idea of how much you can write within the timeframe.
Copy and paste the entire passage on your blog post with a new topic for your nominees, and copy / paste these rules along with your nomination (at least 5 bloggers).

And Sarah’s writing prompt was… Continue reading →

The Reader Problems Tag

May 2, 2015April 23, 2015 / saraletourneau / 35 Comments

Thanks to Michelle at The Writing Hufflepuff for tagging me on this! This is a more wacky and humorous “blog hop” than other ones I’ve done, so I knew I had to join in. Each question delves into different “problems” readers can experience because of their love of books and reading. So, here we go! Continue reading →

One Lovely Blog Hop

March 2, 2015February 28, 2015 / saraletourneau / 24 Comments

This Blog Hop stop has been in the works long enough that not one, but two fellow writers invited me to take part: Angela B. Chrysler, and E. Rawls. I “met” Angela on Twitter (I think?) late last year, and we immediately bonded over our love of fantasy literature and our dreams of becoming published authors. She’s now preparing to self-publish her debut novel, Dolor and Shadow, which is due out in late May. As for E. (full first name is Elizabeth), she was also nominated by Angela for the same blog hop; and like me and Angela, she’s a fantasy writer and Tolkien fan. Thank you, ladies – and sorry it’s taken me so long to respond!

Here’s some information and rules about the One Lovely Blog Hop:

This blog hop is designed to show our readers a more personal side to ourselves. We’ve been challenged by another author/ blogger (somewhat like the ‘ice bucket’ challenge) to list seven interesting facts to help cast light onto that tough writer’s/ blogger’s persona we all like to project. But we want to show that behind every story is a story, our story, my story; and like everyone else, I have dreams, hobbies, problems, and goals. This blog hop is a way to share some of them with you, my readers.

The rules are that I share 7 Lovely Facts about myself, and links to a maximum of 15 blogs that I enjoy reading. If I’ve nominated your blog (see names below) please don’t feel any obligation to join in but, if you do, please link back to the blog of the person who nominated you (that would be me, Sara Letourneau), share facts about yourself, and nominate 15 blogs (or as many as you can).

My brain tends to freeze when I have to think of random things to share about myself… But I’ve come up with seven that fit the billing. 😉

Continue reading →

Beautiful People, Vol. 1: Valentine Edition

February 10, 2015February 8, 2015 / saraletourneau / 25 Comments

Beautiful People is a monthly blog meme hosted by Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ Further Up and Further In. Every month they pose 10 questions for writers to answer about – what else? – their writing.

I discovered Beautiful People last week through fellow writer-bloggers Grace & Steele. As soon as I realized this was a writing-related meme, I knew I should join in. 🙂

And since it’s a Valentine’s edition, guess what this month’s topic is? Yup – fictional couples from our stories! Here are my answers to Cait and Sky’s questions, focusing on my WIP’s protagonist Eva and her love interest Aurek. Continue reading →

It’s Blog-Hopping Time!

November 10, 2014November 10, 2014 / saraletourneau / 11 Comments

Many thanks to Nick at The Parasite Guy for nominating me to take part in the current World Blog Hop! This turned out to be a fun exercise, and one that’s easy yet challenging. Easy because it involves only two steps: