Category: Ruminations

Friday Face-Off: Sugary Delights

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations3 Comments

FFO.jpg

It’s time again for the Friday Face-Off meme, created by Books by Proxy, with weekly topics hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog.  The idea is to put up different covers for one book, and select a favorite.

This week’s theme is “Coraline opened the box of chocolates. The dog looked at them longingly.” – A cover featuring something sweet

Well, my choice feels so obvious it seems almost like cheating…but I thought I’d see what I could find for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.

This one is bright and fun, but you can’t actually tell that it’s about candy or chocolate (title aside, of course).  I was surprised, actually, by how many covers did not prominently display sweets!

Continue reading “Friday Face-Off: Sugary Delights” →

SCW Quarterly Retreat: June 2019

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations1 Comment

I had an excellent time at my writing group’s second quarterly retreat this past weekend!

cherylmahoney's avatarStonehenge Circle Writers

This past weekend, several of our writers gathered for a day-long retreat.  We had a great time discussing writing–and actually writing!

We did a morning exercise on theme, and in the afternoon discussed author business plans–getting to the practical side of things.  We also did two writing sprints, and spent some time on free writing.  Another great day of writer fellowship and learning.

Pictured: Ingrid Victoria, Magnus Victor, Mattias Bergman, Cheryl Mahoney, Kelly Haworth,  Karen Blakely and R.A. Gates

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Blog Hop: Ancient Writings

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop2 Comments

book-blogger-hop-finalToday’s Book Blogger Hop question is: What’s the oldest work (by publication date) you’ve read?

I took a Greco-Roman class in college where we read a number of ancient Greek and Roman works.  I can’t name most of them from memory, so let’s give it to Homer (8th to 7th century BC) with The Illiad and The Odyssey.

The Bible is an ancient text I read daily–I’m currently reading the Gospel of John, which dates to around 100 AD, one of the later books.

Setting religious texts into its own category, the oldest author on my shelf I read on a semi-regular basis is probably William Shakespeare (lived 1564 to 1616).  Hamlet (1602) and Much Ado About Nothing (1600) are my favorites.

After Shakespeare, I think it would be Jane Austen, who lived  slightly before Charlotte Bronte.  My favorite Austen is Northanger Abbey (1818), my favorite Bronte Jane Eyre (1847).  And once you’re into the second half of the 1800s, I’ve read lots of books from that time.

Hmm, there’s a big jump in time from Homer to Shakespeare–about 2,300 years!  Makes me feel that I’m actually ignoring most of human history.  Anyone got a recommendation for a good book from around 600? 🙂

Coming June 28th: The Servants and the Beast

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations1 Comment

I’ve posted here before about the Beauty and the Beast collaboration I’ve been involved in recently, and now I’m very excited to share that the book will be out at the end of this month!

cherylmahoney's avatarStonehenge Circle Writers

We’re delighted to announce an upcoming release from Stonehenge Circle Press: The Servants and the Beast, a collaboration of five of our writers.

The Servants and the Beast is a 35,000 word novella written by Karen Blakely, R. A. Gates, Kelly Haworth, Jenniffer Lee and Cheryl Mahoney.  Retelling the story of the Beauty and the Beast from a new perspective, with more than one twist, we’re excited about sharing this very special story with you.

For now, you can already add it to your “To-Read” list on Goodreads.  We’ll be sharing much more over the next few weeks (including the gorgeous cover) and look for the book to be available for purchase June 28th.

If you’re not convinced yet, here’s the back of the book blurb to tell you a little more.

You think you know the story – prince gets cursed, girl meets Beast, they fall in love…

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Blog Hop: Chunksters

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop2 Comments

book-blogger-hop-finalToday’s Book Blogger Hop question is: Do you read books over 400 pages?

Yes…and that actually feels like a pretty normal length for a book.  I’d guess most books I read fall somewhere between 300 and 450 pages.  A YA book might be shorter, but I read less of those than I did in the past.

500 pages is a longish book which might give me a little pause, 600 pages is long and gives me a definite pause, and 1,000 pages is a LONG book that I need a compelling reason to pick up.  Reading very, very long books feels like a bigger commitment than shorter books–it has to be one I really want to live with for weeks, to the exclusion of others.  But I’ve read a number of books up there in the LONG range, and wouldn’t completely rule a book out because of its length.

Though I do seem to have a block about picking up the very long Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell that I can’t seem to get past…