Live to Love on the Edge Blog

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Guilty Pleasure Viggo Mortensen

We loved his sword play in LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy, but he caught my eye well before that in G.I. JANE. If you haven’t seen either A HISTORY OR VIOLENCE or EASTERN PROMISES, you must check them out. Amazing movies, especially EASTERN PROMISES.

Did you know Viggo was also a painter and musician. In fact, Viggo’s paintings have been exhibited in a number of galleries.

Also, if you’ve got a moment, drop by You Gotta Read Videos and vote for the STRONGER THAN SIN video! Thanks. Hope you enjoyed today’s Guilty Pleasure.

Photo Credit: Stefan Servos@en.wikipedia.com

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Here Comes Captain America!

Long weekend coming up and I’m so excited for the extra day! I’m currently working on revisions to THE FIFTH KINGDOM, a romantic suspense that will be out in July. Also hoping to catch up on some television shows I missed this week, visiting the Ocean Grove Chocolate Lovers Weekend and maybe a movie.

I know this movie is not out yet, but I am counting down the minutes until its release. I mean, Chris Evans, looking way buff. And a superhero to boot. My favoritest. So watch out, because here comes CAPTAIN AMERICA!

Hope you all have a great weekend.

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Blog Exchange and a Thursday 13!

We’ve got a fun Thursday for you today! We’ve got a Blog Exchange and Thursday 13 going on. Drop by drop by Mila’s blog where I’ll be talking about my road to publication. Spend some time here to read about Mila and her Thursday 13!

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Depending on where you are, good morning, good afternoon and good evening!

My name is Mila Ramos, and today I’m bringing your Thursday 13!

To give you a little introduction to your day’s host, I’m dedicating today’s Thirteen to all things Mila.

Since I love the paranormal genre, the celebration this weekend with a group of friends will be an ode to the greatness out there! And so here are my Thursday 13 all things Mila done in other worldly ways.

All things Mila Thursday 13

1.    I love Supernatural. Let us stare at the reason for my deep fascination (Jared Padalecki) with the show. Yes it’s great and wonderfully well written. But I think it goes much, much deeper than that. Really deep…..nice, beautifully muscled deep.

Sam from Supernatural

2.    Music stirs my soul. As they say in home island of Puerto Rico, “con la musica por dentro” (with the music inside you).   Jazz, blues, alternative, salsa  classical, world music, Celtic, Italian, dance. I will easily listen to anything and am always searching for new forms of music.

3.    I am a bellydancer. Have been doing it for some time now, and I completely recommend it to any woman out there. Not only does it work you out, but its low intensity!

4.    I am currently working on my doctorate in Organic Chemistry.  I have about 2 years left and can’t wait to be done.

5.    I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the rest of my extended family still lives there.

6.    I have a passionate love affair with chocolate.  I mean a disgusting love affair. If it’s chocolate I love it, now if you bribe me with chocolate…well I’m all yours…until I finish it.

7.    I am the mediator in my family; and the pizza caller.  I do not know how I got the pizza-calling job but I want to resign.

8.    I love antiques. Furniture, collectibles, pretty much anything.  Oh yes….love old antique wood furniture, oak…pretty much those really classy stylish types. They’re gorgeous.

9.    I’ve been a writer for about six years and have to balance that pretty carefully around school.

10.  Pasta is my weakness; I worship the pasta gods.

11.  I’m a wuss when it comes to horror/scary movies.  HUGE wuss.  Yet I like the paranormal….go figure.

12.  I have lived with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis for several years and that it has made me very vigilant about eating right and working out.

13.  I love to cook, maybe it’s the chemist in me, maybe it’s the relaxation of cooking but I am an enthusiastic cooker. I also love trading recipes.

Thanks to Caridad and everyone for dropping by!

For more information on my books, writing and me drop by my blog or my Twitter for more updates, hilarity and adventures with my lasso of truth.

Take care and have a great Thursday!

~Mila

Out Now!

The Seventh Legend –a part of the Dark Pleasures Anthology

The Watchers – a part of the Strange Desires Anthology

Collection of 4 of my favorite stories in Echoes  & Illusions Anthology

Smoldering Ember & Touch of Fire – Contemporary Romance with Whiskey Creek Press

** Keep an eye out for Prophecy of the Boar. The story of Ailsa & Duncan, out soon in a duo anthology with second book Divination.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun!

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This Frog Is Not a Prince in Disguise

AZTEC GOLD paranormal romance novella Carina PressIf you’ve had a chance to drop by the Carina blog, you know a little bit about what inspired AZTEC GOLD as well as my romantic suspense novel from Carina Press, THE FIFTH KINGDOM, which will be out in July 2011 (more on that story next week!).

Here is a little something else about what inspired certain parts of AZTEC GOLD.

I collect frogs. I don’t know how that got started, but one day someone brought me a frog from a trip and then my sis brought me one made of some parasitic wood from Puerto Rico. Then I went to a conference and guess what they gave us? Frogs made from some kind of mineral that deposits on trees in the rainforest. From that day on, if I went somewhere new I collected a frog to commemorate the trip.

So there are these two frogs which inspired parts of AZTEC GOLD and trust me, these frogs have nothing to do with a prince in disguise.

The first frog is one I bought at those pyramids that I mentioned in the Carina Press Blog. It’s made from gold obsidian which is not a pure obsidian since it has strands of gold color through the midnight black stone. Pure obsidian was very rare and therefore highly prized by the Aztecs. It’s one of the reasons all their sacrificial knives were made from the stone.

An obsidian knife plays a big part in the novella, but I won’t say more and spoil it in case you haven’t read it yet.

The second frog I also bought during a different Mexican trip, this time to Guadalajara while I was on my way to the city of Tequila. The kind of craftsmanship in this frog is very common in Mexico and I love the bright colors, but there was something almost crazy about this frog. Something that inspired Eztli Etalpalli, the demon in the novella. Eztli Etalpalli, which means Blood Wing in Nahuatl, has “Jaguar claws and wings sharp as knives.” For some reason I could imagine this crazy-colored frog with sharp talons and long knives out of its back. Can you?

How did Eztli Etalpalli come to exist? Here’s a little blurb for you explaining how the Clawed Butterfly goddess, Izpapalotl gave birth to the demon.

Cynthia paused in front of one panel of drawings and inscriptions which explained how Izpapalotl had fallen in love with a nahual human and taken him as a lover while posing as a normal woman. The union had resulted in a child: Eztli Etalpalli. A panel a little further down detailed the demon demi-goddess’s birth and life up until the time of her banishment.

Unlike her full-blooded goddess mother, Eztli Etalpalli lacked the power to assume human shape, even though her father had been mortal and a nahual. Because of that, Izpapalotl had kept her far away from civilization, fearful of what others might do to the half-demon child.

When Eztli Etalpalli had grown enough to defend herself, coming into her own powers, Izpapalotl had demanded of her worshippers that they build this temple for her daughter. That they deliver their tributes there for safekeeping.

The rest of the story they already knew: Eztli Etalpalli’s dissatisfaction and greed had led to her exile deep in the jungle.

I hope you enjoyed today’s little behind the scenes look at the creation of AZTEC GOLD.

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Creating a Facebook Landing/Splash Page

Many thanks to fellow author Amy Atwell for providing her advice on how to setup a cool Facebook landing page. If you follow these steps, you will be able to provide new visitors with more information than what’s available on the regular Facebook wall (see below). This splash page will be visible to anyone who has not “Liked” you yet.

How do you create such a landing/splash page?

You will need to use Facebook’s FBML language, which is basically HTML code. If you’re not familiar with HMTL don’t worry. If you are using either WordPress or Blogger, you can use the regular editor to create a draft of the page that you want. When you’re done, disable rich text editing or the Visual editor and what you’ll see is the HTML code for what you just laid out.

Step 1: Search for FBML and you’ll find a user for that. “Like” them and add their “App” to your Fan page.

Step 2: Return to the Fan Page. At the top below your name you will see “Edit.” Click on “Edit.” You will see a list of items on the left hand side of the page. Click on “Apps.”

Step 3: This will bring up a list of added “Apps.” FBML should be down on the bottom. Click on “Go To App.” This will open up a blank page where you can either type your HTML if you know how to code or where you can cut and paste the HTML that you created with your blog program. Make sure to also give the page a title, like “Welcome!” Some things to remember:

    The page width is about 500.

    To get paragraph returns, use a < BR > (without the spaces).

    You can use tables and other more complicated coding, just keep the page width in mind.

    Keep the title short as there is not much space on the sidebar.

Step 4: Once you are done with the HMTL coding, click on “Save Changes” down at the bottom.

Step 5: Click on “View Page” and when you reach your Fan Page, look at the left hand side below your profile photo. You will see a list of available items. Click on the name for the FBML page you just created to view it. If it looks good, proceed to Step 6. If not, go back to Step 2 and repeat to tweak your code.

Step 6: To make this your “landing” page for people who have not yet “Liked” your Page, Go to “Manage Permissions.” This choice is located near the top of the items on the left hand side of the page. Down toward the middle of the page in the choices, you can choose which of your pages to make the “Default Landing Tab.” Choose the FBML page you just created.

Step 7: Logout and then go back to your Fan page so you can enter Facebook like someone who has not yet done the “Like.” This will let you see this new landing/splash page. Once you have done a “Like”, you will not see this landing/splash page again.

You can also use the FBML App to create additional pages with content for your readers! Visit my Fan Page to see what kinds of goodies are available.

Hope you found this useful! Feel free to share it with others.

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Human Target Hottie Mark Valley & Contest

I have so gotten into HUMAN TARGET lately. It’s a perfect combination of action, adventure, quirky characters, dark comedy and sexual tension. The last few episodes with the developing romance with Elsa and Chance have been awesome! This is a show that’s on the bubble for Season 3 and I hope Fox decides to stick with it because it is really beginning to hit its groove. Not to mention that Chance, played by hottie Mark Valley, is a perfect alpha male action hero.

Don’t you think? He’s all cocky male, but with a real heart. Drop by the HUMAN TARGET website at Fox to watch some of the episodes if you haven’t already caught it.

Drop by Brigit’s Journals today where I’ll be blogging about what connections Aztecs have to Valentine’s Day and leave a comment for a chance to win some goodies.

Have a great Valentine’s Day!


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