I know it's been a while since I've shared a Favorite Friday with you, but today I have a really fun one. We (my family and I) love superhero movies. There's just something about them--action, adventure, fighting for what's right, self-sacrfice, and of course, humor. One of our new favorites is The Avengers. I hope you had the chance to see it on the big screen. It was amazing, But if you didn't, don't fret. It will be available for purchase on September 25th. We can hardly wait! And...it appears that they have a few fun surprises in store for us. Fandango shared this unaired clip on its Movie Blog today. Thought you'd enjoy! Such a love story waiting to be written, or rewritten, here :) Yes, I'm a diehard romantic at heart.

*Spoiler Alert* You may not want to watch if you haven't seen the movie yet.  Here's another clip from The Avengers for you to enjoy, and our absolute favorite part in the entire movie.

What other superhero movies do we enjoy? I'm glad you asked.

• Thor
• Iron Man 1 & 2
• Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
• Captain America (huge fan of Chris Evans--he is who I envision Gage McKenna from my Alaskan Courage series looking like).

Not too shabby, huh? :)

• Sky High (yes, not your traditional superhero movie, but so much fun and the same principles exist--the underdog overcoming and justice prevailing).
• Spiderman 1-3 (with Tobey MacGuire)
• The Amazing Spiderman
• Batman Begins and  The Dark Knight--which is a little scary for me in all honesty. Haven't seen Dark Knight Rises yet, but plan to. My daughters have seen it and enjoyed it.
• The Incredible Hulk (with Ed Norton).
• X-men and X-Men 2 (not a fan of the rest).
• The Incredibles (yes, it's animated, but it's fabulous).
• Underdog (a little cheesy in parts, but really funny).

Hope you have a superhero kind of day!

I hope you are all having a wonderful week. I was going to feature another favorite adventure athlete today, but I've been pleasantly reminded this week about the power of movies and the inspiration they offer writers. The topic has popped up multiple times so I've decided to plunge in. My family has been going through a very difficult time with my mother's rapidly failing health. I was chatting friend and author advocate extraordinaire Kelli Standish about how to refuel as an author during difficult periods in our lives.

Every author is unique, but I shared how I find movies to be a fabulous source of inspiration. Kelli and I discussed our favorites and she made some excellent recommendations that I've added to my Netflix Queue. The same topic was discussed on one of my author loops a few days earlier and we too shared our favorite romantic movies and I garnered several to add to my Queue. It seems I'm not the only writer who finds movies inspiring. For me, it's not so much a particular theme or time period, but rather the beauty of a good story well told.

I adore books and read voraciously and while movies could never replace them in my heart, there  is something to be said about the ability to sit down and watch an entire story unfold in a matter of a couple of hours. Even seeing our favorite books played out on the big screen is a ton of fun (when it is done right). I adore watching the various renditions of Jane Austen's classics and Bronte's Jane Eyre (FYI: the most recent version with Micheal Fassbender  is fabulous!).

I also find there is a great connection between movies and books. My stories play out like movies in my mind as I write, and I humbly hope that will transfer to my readers' enjoyment and to their deep connection with my characters. Earlier this week, author Jody Hedlund blogged about this very thing in her post How to Make Your Book Play Out Like a Movie.  A reader contacted Jody saying how the scenes of The Doctor's Lady played out like a movie in her head. I'm not surprised as Jody is a fabulous storyteller and I cannot think of a greater compliment. I humbly hope the same can be said of my stories some day.

I'd like to leave you with a few movies I adore. Hope you'll enjoy them too!

Favorite Adventure Movies:

• National Treasure  and National Treasure: Book of Secrets
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• The Mummy
• Romancing the Stone
• Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
• Fool's Gold
• Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Favorite Inspirational Movies:

• Soul Surfer
• Facing the Giants
• Amazing Grace
• The Ultimate Gift

Favorite Romance Movies:

• The Notebook (tissues required)
• Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version with Colin Firth and the movie with Keira Knightly)
• Sense and Sensibility (movie with Kate Winslet)
• Emma (movie with Gwyneth Paltrow)
• Leap Year
• The Proposal
• North and South (BBC version based on Elizabeth Gaskell's novel with Richard Armitage)
• Jane Eyre (movie with Michael Fassbender)
• A Walk to Remember (tissues required)

May all your adventures be blessed!