Dominique Eastwick

Who Doesn’t Love Crunchie® Bars? by Sharon Ledwith  Those were my go-to chocolate bars when I was a kid, and I still love’em to this day. This angelic chocolate covered sponge toffee recipe will bring back memories of the good old days when a trip to the corner store armed only with a dollar bought more than just one candy bar. Create a batch for gifts or to add to the festivities, these melt-in-your-mouth treats will add life to any party. CHOCOLATE COVERED SPONGE TOFFEE 1 cup white sugar 1 cup dark corn syrup  1 tbsp. vinegar  1 tbsp. baking soda  1 pound chocolate confectioner’s coating  Candy thermometer  Butter a 9x13 inch baking pan.  In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine sugar, corn syrup, and vinegar. Cook, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Set candy thermometer in place, and heat, without stirring until temperature reaches 300° F (150° C). Remove from heat and stir in baking soda.  Pour into p...

A MUST READ from CHRIS PAVESIC   The Revelation Chronicles is an exciting futuristic series written by the incomparable Chris Pavesic . Starter Zone , Book One, was applauded by readers and reviewers for it's unique storyline, creative characters, and intense action. The amazing story of Cami Malifux continues with Book Two and will not disappoint. Escape from a world of darkness into a magical realm of limitless adventure. In Starter Zone , Cami kept herself and her younger sister Alby alive in a post-apocalyptic world, facing starvation, violence, and death on a daily basis. Caught by the military and forcefully inscribed, Cami manages to scam the system and they enter the Realms, a Virtual Reality world, as privileged Players rather than slaves. They experience a world of safety, plenty, and magical adventure. Now in Book Two magic, combat, gear scores, quests, and dungeons are all puzzles to be solved as Cami continues her epic quest to navigate the Realms and build a...

Six Tips to Revise Your Writing from C.D. Hersh While we have been working in our (my wife’s) garden, between rainy days, cleaning up weeds, volunteer trees and leaves, we have been talking about cleaning up the two years’ worth of bird droppings and green mold from the railings and edges of our Trek decking. Our deck is a three-level beauty, designed by Catherine. The deck is a joy to sit on and a great place to entertain, but it’s a bear to clean. We have noticed the birds’ ‘gifts’ deposited on the railings and the mold creeping across the banisters, and meant to get out and take care of them, but other things got in the way. We got too busy, worked too hard, it got too hot to work on the deck, and we were just too lazy. In retrospect, we should have paid more attention to what was happening, because we have let a minor job turn into a major one, once again. Oh, yes, we’ve faced this challenge before. Last time we cleaned, we spent about five hours cleaning the railings a...

IN PROPER PROPORTION by HL Carpenter So there we were, with a packet of strawberries threatening to go soft and the need for a recipe to make good use of them. None of the sauce recipes we found called for as many berries as we had. And then we realized all the recipes could be reduced to proportions. In this case, the proportions were 1:1:2, meaning that as long as we used 1 part water, 1 part sugar, and 2 parts strawberries, we could adjust the quantities to achieve the result we wanted. Once the sauce was made and we were eating vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce topping, we began to think of all the ways we use proportions in our writing. Here are two examples. Book covers The Golden Ratio or Golden Mean is a mathematical concept that creates a symmetrical, eye-pleasing composition. Yes, we know—math! EEK! Thanks to web-based calculators, you don't actually have to do the calculations. But understanding the idea that proper proportions are an importan...

The Power of Read Local by Leigh Goff  There is a social trend of ‘local first’ movements spreading around our nation that focuses on improving local economies and supporting communities from within. Supporting local, whether it be farms, shops, authors, or restaurants is a great way for groups of committed people to affect change in their neighborhoods. One of these ‘local first’ movements is called Read Local. Read Local benefits the community and makes communities unique. An example of this is Maryland author Nora Roberts who has her own foundation that supports literacy, and she also donates to programs with local organizations being a priority. Photo Courtesy of deltatoast Pixabay When I wrote my second YA novel, Bewitching Hannah , historic downtown Annapolis inspired me. With my published novel, I wanted to highlight what makes my town unique with the hope of making it more of a destination than it already is. I included popular sights and historic houses as th...

Nearly every book I write involves food in some way or fashion. Some in slight ways some because a meal effected me so greatly I have to give it a staring role. This happened with Roosevelt beans when I was rafting on the Snake River. And they ended up along with the chef in Infiltrating her Pack.  I would like to say the same to Pumpkin Waffles but I have to admit to just loving pumpkin. So although there are Waffles in my story The Billionaire Trap they aren't Pumpkin... #sorrynotsorry dom’s Morning After Pumpkin Waffles INGREDIENTS: ·          2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour ·          ¼   cup brown sugar ·          1   tsp baking powder ·          2 tsp pumpkin spice ·          1/2 teaspoon baking soda ·        ...

The day was perfect; one of those low humidity, blue sky, breeze-off-the-lake days that made tourists flock to central Florida. Green and yellow tents filled the park and costumes were the attire of choice. Dogs in costumes, babies in costumes, teens in costumes, turtles in costumes; every life form Andi encountered wore a costume. Her own costume was her usual jeans and boots, topped by a red tank and a red cap to match the red linen covering the platter of cupcakes in her hands. This year the cupcakes were salted caramel apple. The recipe was new and the friends who’d taste-tested had raved over them. They were sinfully delicious and should easily be the best cupcakes in the park. She’d still baked three batches before she was satisfied. Competition in the Cupcake Wars at the annual Cooter Festival was always fierce. She signed in, took her number, and walked to the table at the end of the tent. To get to her assigned spot, she had to step around a lumbering turtle. The damp...