Murder Blog Make-over & A fiction writing challenge for YOU!

MURDER BLOG has a whole new look!

As most of you know, I’m taking the Blogging 201 challenge.  The last few days it has been all about redesigning your blog to make it more user-friendly and accessible on all devices.  I learned that my last theme was not user-friendly, even though I loved the way it looked.

Also, to help solidify my brand– crime writing mixed with a flair of imagery relief– I designed a new header.  I think you’ll all agree it incorporates the site title, Murder Blog, with my style of blogging– using cute images to make my point– perfectly.  I had a lot of fun creating it.  I hope you all enjoy it.  And I hope you can tell by now that I would never harm a cute little kitty, or any animal for that matter.

Although I needed to make these changes it’s been very time-consuming.

I feel guilty about not writing…

  See what I mean?

Maybe I’ll stay up late and write…

 Er… Maybe not.

Speaking of not writing, my husband Bob came home all excited yesterday with a present for me.  What was it you ask?  A fishing pole.

A fishing pole?  What do I need with a fishing pole?  Well, he has visions of me going fishing with him.  Here’s where we come to the cross in the road.  Make the hubby happy and go fishing?  Or work on my current WIP and get published.  Hmm…

Seriously though, it’s important to balance a happy family life with your writing life, in my opinion.  Yes, great writing can stem from anger, sadness, even loneliness.  However, I think a happy home life will leave your imagination free to run wild…

While I was searching for this photo (above) I got a great idea.  At least, I hope you’ll think it’s a great idea.

When you look at this image (below) how does it make you feel?  Write me and tell me a story about this picture…

Does it evoke feelings of a magical place, or is there a killer lurking in the shadows?  This will be fun.  Come on, it doesn’t matter if you’re a writer or not.  Give it a try.

Here’s mine to kick things off…

I could see the sun’s glow ahead of me.  I’d stayed alive all night.  And now, salvation was finally within my grasp.  As I approached, I saw a horse off to the side.  “Hmm… what’s he doing here?”  I said quietly.  “More importantly, where’s his rider?”

Warily I hugged the thick forest’s edge, keeping one eye on the horse while I skimmed my immediate area.

A man suddenly popped up from behind the horse’s saddle.

My heart skipped a beat, and I dove behind a large boulder. I watched. And waited…

Now it’s your turn.  Make it the first thing that pops into your mind when you look at the photo, like I did.

Good luck.  I can’t wait to read what you wrote!