Blog – Shelley Burbank, Writer

🍹Friday Happy Hour, June 26, 2020

Shelley Burbank
June 26, 2020
Friday Happy Hour / Good Life Crazy Times
2 Comments

Makings for a Not-Quite Tequila Margarita. Lemon drop mix. Passion fruit sparkling water. Lime juice. PHOTO BY: Shelley Burbank Happy Friday Happy Hour, Peeps!Have you wanted to change a bad habit but at that same time maintain a pleasurable ritual?This is me right now with my love-affair with the cocktail. I so enjoy an end of the day libation, the sense of sinking into a mellow, relaxing mood at the end of the day, maybe having a few nibbles, and listening to some jazz. I like cocktail glasses, cocktail napkins, and cocktail garnishes. On occasion I love…

✍ Writing Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Serenity on a Wednesday with lavender chamomile tea, new age music, and a book on my e-reader. Photo by Shelley Burbank Happy Writing Wednesday, friends!How was your day today? I started out analyzing this website to find out why subscribers weren’t getting blog post notifications. Which led me to my plug-ins. Which led me to my email marketing program. All before coffee. Yes. You read that right. All. Before. Coffee. Here’s the thing. When you are trying to be a professional, published author, writing becomes much more than sentence structure, character development, cool new plotting techniques, and everything…

🌴 Mindful Monday, June 22, 2020

✍️Writing Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Shelley Burbank
June 17, 2020
Good Life Crazy Times / Writing Wednesday
9 Comments

Two resources I've been consulting this week as I prepare to rewrite my current project: LOVE & EAST MERCY Happy Writing Wednesday, Peeps! Now that DISGUISED is published and ROSALIE is completed and posted, I am beginning to work on my next project. In 2005 I wrote a novel as part of Harlequin’s Book In A Year (BIAY) program. I met a few really great aspiring writers in this “class,” and for many years following we joined together in a Yahoo group to talk shop and share a bit. We even started a group story, which I…

🍸Friday Happy Hour, June 12, 2020

Shelley Burbank
June 12, 2020
Friday Happy Hour / Good Life Crazy Times
4 Comments

Vintage apron classing up my crazy cleaning and cooking frenzy today. Happy Friday Happy Hour, peeps!Even though my intention is to also write Mindful Monday and Writing Wednesday posts on this blog, I seem only to be motivated lately to compose Friday Happy Hours. Trying NOT to read too much into that. Something shifted for me this week; suddenly I’m feeling a bit more energy after months of slogging through my tasks (thank you for the depressive mood, Covid-19, you monstrous B*%$#!). For some strange reason, today I woke up in the mood to clean. I mean,…

🍸Friday Happy Hour: Social Media Whoa(s)

Shelley Burbank
June 5, 2020
Friday Happy Hour / Good Life Crazy Times
12 Comments

This week 's Friday Happy Hour is brought to you by the color YELLOW. It's Lemon Drop season, peeps! Happy Friday Happy Hour, Peeps! So, it’s Happy Hour Friday. Hubby brought home not only vodka and three types of olives but also lemon drop mixer! Yes, I know you don’t use the olives with the mixer. Basically, ⅔ mixer to ⅓ vodka, shake it up with ice, serve with a lemon peel. I think the mixer might also be good with sparkling water for a non-boozy sipper. DISGUISED UPDATEFor those of you who are waiting with bated breath…

🍸Friday Happy Hour: May 22, 2020

Shelley Burbank
May 22, 2020
Friday Happy Hour / Good Life Crazy Times
5 Comments

In a little while I am going to participate in a virtual happy hour on Zoom with some of my Maine neighbors. It’s so weird and ironic. Most of them will be within literal shouting distance of each other because their houses/camps are next door. I mean, they could open up their doors/windows and yell at each other, they are that close.

✍️Writing Wednesday: Adapt!

Shelley Burbank
May 20, 2020
Good Life Crazy Times / Writing Wednesday
6 Comments

Focus on your goals. Adapt to circumstances beyond your control. Take pleasure in your work. All is not lost! After ranting a bit yesterday about how my idea for a cozy mystery series ran into the cold, harsh reality that someone beat me to it, I spent the rest of the day researching the market. By the time I was done, I’d come to the conclusion that I am probably not a cozy mystery writer anyway, and maybe I should take my idea and turn it into a chick lit series! As far as I can tell, this…

👓 Doggone It: All The Best Ideas Are Taken

Shelley Burbank
May 19, 2020
Good Life Crazy Times / Writing Wednesday
8 Comments

Is it true that all the best ideas are already taken? In a world where everyone is writing and self-publishing and traditionally publishing genre series, is there anything left unexplored?See, I have a hankering to write a cozy mystery series, one with a character I absolutely adore and want to spend many hours with as she solves puzzling crimes. Every cozy mystery series needs a hook: the main character’s a witch or owns a cat or runs a bookshop or is a member of a knitting club. I wanted to set my series in a milieu…

☕️ Earworms, Dreams, and Flags on the Moon

I woke up this morning with the song “Dust In The Wind” by Kansas playing through my mind. An earworm, I believe this phenomenon is called. I don’t know about you, but as this pandemic progresses my dreams run through my nights like a magical film library produced just for me--vivid, strange, compelling, and with discernable, if odd, storylines. I won’t bore you with any descriptions, as we all know listening to other people’s dreams is about as interesting as watching nailpolish dry, but the line of the song that keeps reverberating over and over as if…