Excerpt From The Redemption of Tara

Sophie disappeared into the bathroom and Tara stepped out on to the balcony. Down below the pool staff was busy setting up chaise lounges and raising sun umbrellas for the day. The morning was warm and clear without a cloud in the sky. Just another day in paradise, thought Tara, only right now it didn’t feel like paradise.
The pool was just under their room maybe thirty feet away. Tara concentrated on one of the pool chairs and said, “Into the pool.” The chair slid along the concrete pool deck and launched itself into the pool.
The splash brought the attention of the pool attendants who were wiping down and setting up chairs, and they watched in baffled silence as the chair floated for a second or two then began to sink lazily to the bottom of the pool. One of the guys looked around, threw up his hands, took off his shirt and jumped into the water. He retrieved the chair and with a great deal of effort dragged it to the pool deck. Tara bit her lip, smothered a giggle and made a mental note to leave a generous tip for the morning pool staff.

She looked beyond the pool deck onto the oceanfront. About a hundred yards away, a lone man stood in the morning light on the deserted beach. From her vantage point on the balcony Tara saw that he was holding some sort of remote control device. A small drone, about the size of a platter took off from the sand. Tara brought her focus to the small aircraft.
“Land on the sand,” She commanded. But the drone continued rising. Her inner voice piped up.
“This is not as simple as it appears. From this distance and considering the size of the object, we will need a little help. Use the talisman to help us focus our power.”
Tara reached down and grabbed her necklace; again she focused on the drone and said, “Land on the sand.”
The drone stopped climbing and simply hovered. The man holding the remote control looked confused and began to work the controls in earnest but the drone didn’t move.
The voice continued to instruct, “More concentration, and this time use your body just a little.”
Tara concentrated harder on the drone as she extended her arm, pointed her finger at the aircraft and slowly lowered it repeating her command. The drone dropped through the tropical air and landed gently on the sand. The man on the beach turned over his remote control and pulled out the batteries, then put them back in. He jogged over to the drone and began turning it over in his hands trying to find the cause of the malfunction. “Perfect.” said the voice.

A Taste of Paradise

The setting for the book “The Awakening of Tara” is the tropical island of Barbados. I chose this island as the backdrop for my series Charmed in Paradise because after spending several weeks there for work (I periodically taught yoga at a high end resort there) I found it to be the closest thing to paradise I had ever experienced.  Not only was the Island warm, romantic and beautiful, the food was heavenly!

If you would like to experience a little of this paradise I suggest you read book one, “The Awakening of Tara” and try out a couple of these recipes. By the way, these recipes make up the meal that Mimi makes for Asha in the book. Who is Asha, you ask? Guess you’re going to have to read the book to find out!

Barbados Pepperpot Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 onions, finely-chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 Scotch Bonnet pepper or 1 habañero pepper, seeded and minced
• 1 teaspoon whole coriander seed
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 cups acorn squash or 4 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes or 4 cups carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 (16 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes, chopped, including juice
• 4 cups vegetable stock or 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 (14 ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk

• ¹⁄₄ cup chopped cilantro

Directions:

Cook onions in oil in a skillet until tender. Place onions in crock pot along with garlic, ginger, chili powder, scotch bonnet, coriander, celery seeds, salt, pepper, sugar, squash (or carrots), kidney beans, tomatoes and stock.

Stir to mix well.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours or until vegetables are tender. Add coconut milk and stir well. Set crock pot to high and cook for 15-20 minutes more. Garnish with cilantro before serving.

This recipe is from Food.com http://www.food.com/recipe/caribbean-pepper-pot-soup-83279

Fried Plantains

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable or canola oil
• 2 green plantains

Directions:
Combine water, garlic and salt in medium size glass bowl and set aside.

In a large (12-inch) saute pan, heat oil to 325 degrees F. Peel plantains and slice crosswise into 1-inch pieces. Carefully add plantains to oil and fry until golden yellow in color, about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes per side. (The oil should come halfway up the side of the plantain). With a spider or slotted spoon, remove the plantains from the pan and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, standing them on their ends. With the back of a wide, wooden spatula, press each piece of plantain down to half its original size. Then place the plantains in the water and let soak for 1 minute. Remove and pat dry with a tea towel to remove excess water.

Bring oil back up to 325 degrees F and return plantains to pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 4 minutes per side. Remove to a dish lined with paper towels, and sprinkle with salt, if desired. Serve immediately.

This recipe is from Alton Brown and Foodnetwork.com

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/fried-plantains-recipe.html#!

 

Tamarind Sweet Balls

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 (7-ounce) packagetamarind paste*
• 1 tablespoon Thai-style hot sauce (recommended: Sriracha)
• Pinch salt

* Can be found at specialty Asian markets.

Directions:

Put 1/4 cup sugar in a shallow plate. In a bowl, combine the tamarind, hot sauce, salt, and remaining sugar. Using your hands, mix the ingredients together. Divide the tamarind mixture into bite-size portions, and shape into balls. Add the tamarind balls to the sugar, and roll to coat evenly.

This recipe comes from the cooking channel

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/roger-mooking/tamarind-balls.html

Why Are Billionaires So Sexy?

 

He laid her naked body gently on the bed, the surface of which was covered in one hundred dollar bills. She could feel his ravenous eyes devouring her. He reached over to the bedside table. It was the piece he’d insisted she secure for him when it had come up at Sotheby’s; the winning bid had been $497,000.00. From the drawer he retrieved a mitten. But this was no ordinary mitten. It was finely handcrafted from the fur of Russian chinchillas. He slipped it over his hand as he stared deeply into her eyes. She felt her womanhood begin to melt, going soft and syrupy. He placed the velvety fur of the mitten on her cheek and watched her shiver at the incredible sensation. Somehow flushed with heat and chilled at the same time, she involuntarily released a low purr from deep within her throat. He slowly ran his gloved hand down her body, gliding the fur over the sensitive skin of her neck and she shuddered with anticipation. The crisp, rough texture of the money against her backside and the luxurious softness of the fur glove against her neck made all of her skin come alive, every nerve firing at once leaving her unable to control herself. A low moan escaped her lips like a thief in the night as his gloved hand slid tantalizingly over one breast and then the other. He leaned down, his eyes staring deeply into hers and brushed his lips teasingly across hers. And then he claimed her lips possessively with his and she tasted hints of French champagne and lust as the glove continued its journey southward, setting her entire body aflame with desire…

What is it about these naughty billionaires and their sexy money? If you go to the romance section of your favorite bookstore or online retailer these bad boys with big bucks are everywhere. Each one seems to have a dark secret and a nasty little proclivity that sets our hearts a flutter. But why is their money so important to the overall equation?

It’s easy to point our crooked little fingers at E.L James and her breakout novel Fifty Shades of Grey but these seeds were sown long before that phenomenon took hold. Even that bastion of wholesome family entertainment, Walt Disney introduced our trembling pre-pubescent hearts to the story of Cinderella. That poor step sister/house maid who hits the magical equivalent of the Power Ball Lottery and meets her handsome (and of course, incredibly rich) prince. What little girl didn’t dream of that fate befalling her?

Having unlimited resources suddenly thrust upon us in the company of a roguishly handsome, yet flawed (let’s face it—every girl needs a project or life’s just a yawn fest) alpha male with the mega hots for us is the stuff of dreams.

So, while I love and appreciate my everyday life filled with soccer practice, doctors appointments, housework and bill-juggling, I also love escaping into a world where people  jet off to Paris at a moment’s notice and pull chinchilla gloves from the drawers of nightstands they picked up for half a million bucks.

There are those who would deride me for my little billionaire fantasy but I remain shamelessly unapologetic and freely admit that yes, part of the attraction is the money. Now my only question is: Where can a girl get her hands on a chinchilla mitten—on EBay?

Sara McBride is the author of The Awakening of Tara, the first book in her Charmed in Paradise series of BBW Paranormal Romance novellas available at:

http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Tara-Paradise–Book-Paranormal-ebook/dp/B010MFYDP0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1437333550&sr=1-1&keywords=the+awakening+of+tara .

Excerpt From The Temptation of Tara

…Tara strolled into the warm Caribbean water feeling like a supermodel. This is what it must feel like to be one of those girls in a magazine, she thought, totally naked and not a shred of self-consciousness. She replayed all those years of turning off the lights before getting undressed with Richard and giggled.

The warm water lapped at her knees, then splashed higher around her thighs. Troy was up ahead playing in the waves like a little kid. When the water was waist deep, Tara dove forward and began to swim toward him using one arm to propel herself, the other hand clasping the pendant firmly.

The old Tara would never have dove into the water; she would have been afraid her makeup would streak or her hair might look strange if it got wet. But the Tara now holding the pendant didn’t care about any of those things.

She swam to Troy, coming out of the water beside him like a mermaid.

“Hi,” she whispered.

Troy turned and greeted her “Hey, you changed your mind!”

Tara gave him her twenty-four-carat smile then added some come-fuck-me to it. Troy’s eyes grew wide and the boyish grin fell off his face, replaced by a look of unabashed animal hunger.

“My God you’re beautiful,” he said, his eyes roving from her hair to her face to her bare breasts.

Tara leaned forward and kissed him hard, and in that moment, released all her pent up sexual tension from the last year, released all her anger at Richard, all her frustration with work and life in general, and a felt the awakening of a deep need she couldn’t quite describe.

His mouth tasted salty and sweet, and his lips felt firm and hot against hers. There was nothing gentle or tender about their kiss. The shrinking violet became the lioness, hungry and demanding. Tara pushed her tongue deep into his mouth, exploring, and Troy returned her intensity with his own deep hunger, his insistent tongue in a dance with hers, igniting a fire between her thighs.

She let go of the pendant and reached her arms around his waist, took his perfect backside in her hands and pulled herself to him; felt a thrill of heat in her sex as his cock began to harden against her belly.

Troy reached back and grasped her bottom in his huge hands, kneading urgently as he lifted her cheeks and pulled them apart. Tara felt a pang of insecurity but she reached up and squeezed the glowing stone for a second and immediately felt her doubt evaporate.

Troy couldn’t get enough of her big ass and all its curves and fullness; seemed eager to possess it. The thought made her pussy flush with heat. She felt his erection stiffen and lengthen as it pressed persistently against her stomach.

He ran a finger up her spine and planted soft kisses along her neck, sampling her honey- colored skin with his insistent tongue. Goosebumps spread across Tara’s flesh like flames on a pool of gasoline. A low guttural growl escaped her throat as her excitement began to build. Troy’s hungry mouth made its way from her neck down her shoulder then back up again where he found an earlobe and began to tug at it with his teeth. Tara moaned and pressed her cheek against his face; allowed herself to sink into the sensation as he possessed her…

Don’t miss book two of the Charmed in Paradise Series:

The Temptation of Tara

By Sara McBride

Release Date: July 22, 2015

Just Grin and Bare It

Sometimes you have to step outside of your comfort zone to evolve into the person you want to be instead of the person you are. The fact is this process is seldom fun and often painful. But it is absolutely necessary for growth.

This is the story of one of those moments for me.

It was early in my fitness/wellness career. I was fresh out of yoga school and I had talked my way into a job at a high end resort spa. But if the truth be known I was vastly under qualified for the job.

I began having a re-occurring nightmare where I’m late for work. I drive through town at break neck speeds almost mowing down little old ladies and women with strollers along the way. When I finally get there the class is full. I introduce myself and quickly lay out my mat, only to realize I have neglected to get dressed. There I stand naked in front of the world.

One day after teaching yoga, a student from the class approached me. She said that she had really enjoyed the class and that she worked for an all-inclusive hotel chain in the Caribbean. This chain liked to bring in guest yoga instructors and they would pay for all expenses all you had to do was teach two classes a day. Sounded like a great deal to me; they would assign me to one of several resorts with varying themes like sports-oriented, high-end luxury, or their non-stop party location. A few days later I signed a contract stating that I would teach whatever, whenever, wherever in exchange for a one-week free vacation.

Three weeks later I was on a plane headed for the Caribbean. I arrived at the party hotel, unpacked and headed for the manager’s office where I was told I would get my schedule for the week. The manager was super busy but he welcomed me warmly and handed me my schedule, assuring me that his assistant would answer any questions I might have. She gave me a tour of the lush, tropical resort, explaining to me that the resort was divided in half. One side was the nude side and the other side was the prude side. “Your 7 am class tomorrow morning is “Nude Yoga on the Beach” and your 5pm class is “Sunset Yoga on the Prude Terrace.”

I stood there in shock. Nude yoga on the beach? She asked me if I had any questions, but all I could think of was that I had signed a contract to teach whatever, whenever, wherever they wanted me to. They’d flown me all the way down there from L.A. to the Caribbean– what the hell was I supposed to do? Nope, no questions, ma-am.

I didn’t sleep a wink that night–all I could think of was that my nightmares were coming true. At 7am I wrapped a towel around my naked body, grabbed my yoga mat and headed down to the nude beach. There on the sand, assembled on towels and yoga mats were 40 people patiently waiting, the class was a mix of both men and women and all of them were naked as the day they were born. I strode confidently to the head of the class… OK maybe not that confidently, laid out my yoga mat, ripped off my towel and in all of my naked glory introduced myself and started class. The participants ranged in age from early twenties to late sixties and honestly, it was a tough class to teach. There were students with lots of different fitness levels, the sand made balance postures tough, and there was the difficulty of analyzing body alignment while trying really hard not to “look” at bodies. I was a little freaked out about touching people to help them with their poses, even in places I would have been fine touching them clothed. Somehow it all seemed weird in this setting, because dammit, I was naked!

But I made it through class without any major embarrassing incidents. At the end of class several people came up and told me how much they had enjoyed the class. A nice woman in her late fifties with big blue eyes and huge boobs asked me “Are you a nudist?” I politely said no, to which she replied, “Well I really appreciate you respecting our lifestyle. My husband and I come down here three or four times a year and we always enjoy the yoga classes. But you’re the first teacher that ever taught the class naked!”

After the shock wore off, I realized that I had just lived through my “nightmare,” and while it had been challenging, I had made it through. Every class I taught after that seemed, well….easy. And when I was faced with a situation that was tough, my mantra became “Well, at least I don’t have to do this naked!” Not surprisingly the nightmares disappeared after that and yoga became my specialty. The resort was so impressed that I began to fly to the Caribbean on a regular basis moving from property to property to teach. As the popularity of yoga grew I was contacted by other companies to teach at their resorts and on cruise ships and was blessed with the opportunity to travel the world and teach yoga. Now I never taught nude yoga again, but somehow knowing that I could made me a far better teacher

One Week, One Million

A week after after Harper Lee released her controversial new novel, Go Set A Watchman, the book has sold 1.1 million copies. Critics were lukewarm to the book and many fans of To Kill A Mockingbird were horrified by an aging and racist Atticus Finch. But none of that seemed to affect sales.

Publisher Harper Collins announced today that the book has topped the million dollar mark in USA and Canadian sales in just a little under a week, all of which is considered to be surprising because Ms. Lee had been adamant for decades that her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird would be her only book. But in February Harper Collins announced that “Watchman” would soon be released, setting the publishing world aflutter. Now it seems that cash registers and accountants are the ones all aflutter. Can you say Cha-Ching?

Check out my new book trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFVRWIYTlmg

Get The Awakening Of Tara Now At Amazon!

Book one is now on Amazon.com!

Click on the cover below to grab your copy today.

Charmed in Paradise

Want a taste of my upcoming book?

Check out this excerpt from my hot new paranormal erotic romance series Charmed in Paradise!

-Sara

The beach volleyball game was in full swing but Tara’s eyes were glued to the guy in the yellow swim trunks. His bronze skin glistened with a combination of sweat and sunscreen in the hot Caribbean sun, and she fixated on the muscles of his legs rippling beneath his skin as he moved smoothly across the sand. Although he was a little thin for her taste, his shoulders were broad and well-muscled and his chest was what could only be described as chiseled. But it was his perfectly flat stomach and narrow waist that had all of Tara’s attention. His body reminded her of Channing Tatum in…what was the name of that movie? Oh yeah, Magic Mike.

The thought brought a tingle between her thighs that made her shiver in the tropical heat.

Their lounge chairs were front row center of the beach volleyball court packed with sexy, toned bodies actively engaged in friendly competition. Beside the court an island woman and her little daughter sold jewelry from a small shack. A large hand-painted wooden sign on the front of the shack proclaimed “Handmade Jewelry and Fortunes Told.” It was a popular place for vacationers, who seemed to be drawn to the island-themed jewelry and unable to resist the temptation of indulging in a psychic reading in the back room of the tiny hut.

Tara made a mental note to head over and check out the place later. It would be fun to take home something handmade from paradise and might even help her forget her awful breakup—Hell, she might even have her fortune told.

“Not a bad view, huh?” her best friend Sophie quipped from the lounge chair next to her. “But maybe you should put your tongue back in your mouth before it gets sunburned.”

Tara looked over at her blonde friend in the barely-there bikini that showcased her considerable assets. Tara couldn’t help but admire Sophie’s long, shapely legs, small waist and perfectly perky breasts. The two had been besties since junior high school and Tara had always envied Sophie’s figure. Tara was wearing a black one piece suit with a thick ruffle across the chest to downplay her D-cup breasts. A black sarong with teal and brown hibiscus flowers tied around her waist hid what she considered to be an overly large bottom.

Tara had always been a big girl. She was tall (a shade over five-eleven) and since puberty had been curvy with large breasts, a thick waist and an ample butt. All the dieting and exercise she did never seemed to put a dent in any of those assets. What she really wanted was to have the waif-like body of her best friend. But she loved Sophie in spite of her friend’s physical perfection.

“Was I that obvious?” asked Tara. Sophie laughed and said, “I think it was the puddle of drool that gave you away.”

“Come on Sophie, cut me a little slack, I’ll bet it’s been three months since I saw a man who wasn’t wearing a parka and mukluks and here I am, faced with a smorgasbord of glistening skin—who could blame me?”

Sophie looked at Tara over her Ray-Bans and said, “Speaking of which, how long has it been since you’ve seen a naked man …in the flesh, that is.”

The very thought of doing the math on that question depressed Tara, so she picked up the glass that held a magical fruit and rum concoction from the beachside bar, took a long sip and returned her attention to the volleyball game. The guy in the yellow swim trunks leapt high into the air, his tight little butt clearly visible in his sweat-soaked trunks as he attempted to block a shot from a guy on the other team who she now noticed was almost as attractive as the guy in the yellow trunks.

How had she not seen that guy? Back in the day she never would have missed that. Her game was definitely slipping. Tara felt the dark cloud of doubt that had been following her around lately creep back in.

Sensing her friend’s change in mood Sophie picked up her own glass.

“I’d like to propose a toast. To best friends!”  Sophie extended her glass toward her friend. Tara turned and reached out with her glass to seal the toast but stopped midway.

“Wait—here’s to best friends—in Barbados!” Sophie’s smiled broadened. “To best friends in Barbados” she said “and may they have a magical adventure!” The girls giggled and touched glasses with a hearty clink, then drank deeply.

Tara could hardly believe that she and Sophie were actually here in Barbados. It just didn’t feel real. Sophie had insisted…for the most part had kidnapped her, bringing her here to this super high-end luxury five-star resort. She knew Sophie was right. She deserved this, mainly because the last two years had been so hellish; lately it seemed like whatever could go wrong had gone wrong.

It had started at work when they announced that they were going to be cutting back. During the layoffs she had been terrified she would lose her job and in fact she had barely managed to keep it, proving to her boss that she was more valuable than one of the other girls in the office by putting in extra-long hours and landing a big account in the week before the last cuts. But after the layoffs she began to think that the people who’d gotten canned might have been the lucky ones. The work load was crushing and she ended up doing the jobs of three people. Those long hours became the norm and she found herself barely seeing her live-in boyfriend and fiancé Richard.

Then came the bombshell. Out of the blue Richard announced he needed “some space.”

He packed up his stuff after their trip to Iron Mountain and moved out. At first she thought he was overreacting to her long hours at work and that if she gave him a little time he would come to his senses. He certainly wasn’t going to just throw away six years of their life over this rough patch, was he?

But he never came to his senses. In fact he stopped calling, and after a few weeks she began to really worry. One day she got an email from him saying that he was calling off the wedding, that he had found someone new and he was moving on with his life. She tried to call him and reason with him. For God’s sake, they’d been a couple for six years, couldn’t they try to work this out? But she was shocked to discover that he had changed his number. When she called his mother, all she would say was that Richard was moving on and it was probably best if Tara did the same. She was devastated.

She moped around for months and threw herself into her work. If it hadn’t been for Sophie, who kept her from sinking completely, Tara would probably own ten or twelve cats by now and be spending her evenings watching reality TV.

For the last few months, things seemed to be getting better. At work business picked up and the company began to hire new people. Her work load decreased and her boss actually gave her a sizable bonus and a raise. The deep funk that had swallowed her whole seemed to lift a little and she began to feel hopeful. But then…

Her thoughts were interrupted by something bumping hard against her leg then landing next to her beach chair. She absentmindedly reached down and picked up the object.

She looked up and found the guy in the yellow shorts standing directly in front of her, sweat dripping off his spectacularly muscled body. For the first time she got a good look at him. She definitely liked what she saw.

His thighs were thick and while not huge, had a very nice shape. His upper body was an inverted pyramid with wide shoulders plunging to a crazy small waist and he had a deep muscular V at the front of his hips. His stomach was flat but rippled with that washboard appearance that she found so sexy, and his face was red and flushed, which for some reason really turned her on… he looked sexy hot!

 All Tara could think was, “Wow, he looks like he just had sex—really great sex!” She got goose bumps, nipples stiffening and blood racing.

He said something to her but because her brain was caught up in her bawdy thoughts she couldn’t quite grasp his meaning. So she said the only thing she could get her mouth to say, which was, “Huh?”

 Yellow shorts leaned in a little closer. “Umm, the ball. Can I have the ball?”

“What ball?” stammered Tara.

“The ball you’re holding,” he gestured downward, and his face broke into the most adorable crooked grin. Tara looked down and for the first time realized she was holding—yep, it was definitely a volley ball.

“Oh, this ball,” she whispered as she glanced at it absently.

“Yes, that ball.”

Tara looked around and everyone seemed to be staring at her. Oh God.

She looked back at yellow shorts… well actually she looked right at his crotch which was right at eye level, the intriguing shape of his junk clearly visible in his tight, wet, yellow trunks.

In some small corner of her mind a voice said “everyone is looking at you looking—no—staring at this gorgeous guy’s crotch,” but for some reason she couldn’t seem to stop herself and she continued to stare.

“Ahem,” yellow shorts cleared his throat.

Tara tore her eyes away from his ample package, and croaked.

“Yes?”

“Uh, the ball?” he asked.

“The ball…yes you want the ball. She laughed nervously. “Here ya go,” and finally tossed him the ball.

Yellow shorts trotted back to the volleyball court shaking his head, and Tara’s gaze followed his bouncing buns the whole way.

From the lounge chair next to her she heard Sophie say, “Wow…that was smooth, Mathers. Good to see you haven’t lost your mojo after all this time, pal!”

Tara took another deep drink from her glass, sighed deeply, sat back in her lounge chair, closed her eyes and promptly fell asleep.

---

Who is Sara McBride?

My Bio : When a life-changing injury forced her to give up a successful career as a personal trainer, Sara McBride did what any girl with the gift for gab and a typing speed that is freakishly fast would do — become a paranormal BBW erotic romance writer.  Long frustrated with the fitness industry’s lack of acceptance that many people naturally have a body mass index above the “normal” range, she has always championed acceptance and wellness for all — not just those crazy people who love to exercise.  Viva la BBW!  A lifelong reader of fantasy and paranormal fiction, Sara lives with her very patient husband and two small children who now begin every sentence with “As soon as you’re finished writing that chapter, could we….”  Her license plate holder reads “My other car is a broom.”  This is her first work of fiction.