A Catherine Noon

Life After NaNo

2011-12-07T00:00:00.000-06:00

Please join me today as I discuss life after the National Novel Writing Month, today at the Writer's Retreat Blog.

Thursday 13: Thirteen Herbalism Terms Defined

2011-11-17T10:34:00.001-06:00

In the study of herbalism, I come across a number of terms that are both interesting and mystifying, since they're not things we use in everyday conversation. I thought I'd share 13 with you - out of a list of quite a bit more than that! o.O... Never knew whatcha didn't know, huh? Me neither.

So. Here we go:

1. Abortifacient: A drug or other agent that induces the expulsion of a fetus.

2. Alterative: An agent that produces gradual beneficial change in the body, usually by improving nutrition, without having any marked specific effect and without causing sensible evacuation.

3. Analgesic: A drug that relieves or diminishes pain.

4. Anaphrodesiac: An agent that reduces sexual desire or potency.

5. Anesthetic: An agent that deadens sensation.

6. Anthelmintic: An agent that destroys or expels intestinal worms; vermicide; vermifuge.

7. Anthocyanins: Any of a class of soluble glycoside pigments that are responsible for most of the blue to red colors in leaves, flowers, and other plant parts.

Bonus: Glycoside: Noun: A compound formed from a simple sugar and another compound by replacement of a hydroxyl group in the sugar molecule.

8. Antibiotic: An agent that destroys or arrest the growth of micro-organisms.

9. Anticoagulant: An agent that prevents clotting in a liquid, as in blood.

10. Antiemetic: An agent that counteracts nausea and relieves vomiting.

11. Antihydrotic: An agent that reduces or suppresses perspiration.

12. Antiperiodic: An agent that counteracts periodic or intermittent diseases (such as malaria).

13. Antipyretic: An agent that prevents or reduces fever.

Source: Jeanne Rose,The Medicinal Herbal, Aromatherapy and Herbal Studies Course, 2001, page 102

The Seduction of Words

2011-11-05T00:02:00.000-05:00

Let's face it: words are sexy! Come visit me on Silken Sheets and Seduction and tell me YOUR favorite words!

Around the Blogosphere - Come Along!

2011-11-02T06:15:00.000-05:00

Thank you to bestselling author Delilah Devlin, for graciously offering Rachel and me a guest post today. I wrote about NaNoWriMo (of course!) and give some details about what all the madness entails. Stop by today, and comment please! (That way, it will look like I have friends - grin!)

Should You NaNo?

2011-11-02T00:02:00.000-05:00

Join me today at the Writer's Retreat Blog, where I answer the question of whether or not to NaNo!

And the Craziness Begins!

2011-11-01T06:10:00.000-05:00

NaNoWriMo officially begins today! Have you signed up? If so, I'm a.catherine.noon on the NaNoSite, so please come friend me.

What is NaNo, you ask? It's that craziness that is November! Every year in November, National Novel Writing Month encourages thousands of people to write, and many of them complete the 50,000 goal - and more! - and come away with completed novel drafts. It's great fun!

Check it out, and the NaNoWriMo site!

Dragons!

2011-10-27T09:43:00.000-05:00

Come visit me today Beyond the Veil. I share my love of dragons and stitchery, and some of my super sekrit places to get great stitchery kits. Enjoy!

Dragons and Werewolves and Paranormal, Oh My!

2011-09-29T00:09:00.002-05:00

Join me as I share some of my thoughts on dragons, werewolves, and the paranormal in fiction and television and movies, today at Beyond the Veil.

My First Post Is Up on Silken Sheets!

2011-09-17T14:32:00.000-05:00

I recently joined a group blog, called Silken Sheets & Seduction. As part of our launch, we are giving away some amazing prizes, including an e-reader loaded with 50 ebooks.

My first post, "What Is Sexy To Me," is up and ready for your perusal. Check it out - and please leave a comment; we love 'em!

Enjoy!

Silken Sheets & Seduction Launch Party!

2011-09-11T21:26:00.000-05:00

Silken Sheets & Seduction is going live in 2.5 hours! To celebrate, we are giving away a Kindle loaded with over 35 books, as well as several other amazing prizes. Check out our trailer on You Tube today!

Two New Posts

2011-09-10T21:47:00.000-05:00

I'm blogging at Beyond the Veil this month on Classic Television and shows that I loved when I was younger. It was fun digging into my memory and examining what shows I used to like, because they inform what I like now.

Then, over on Samhain Publishing's blog, I talk about "When In Doubt, Knit". What kinds of things do you do when you are stalled for ideas, to get yourself going again?

It's fun to write on group blogs, and I'm pleased to be part of these two. It's a little awe-inspiring since I'm around authors with a great deal more experience than me. I'm grateful to be included with them.

A Poem for Saturday

2011-09-03T11:26:00.000-05:00

Have you ever experienced a moment when reading a piece, where it feels that the author somehow wrote it directly for you without even being aware of it? Some call that Kizmat, others synchronicity. Me, I find it startling. Creepy, even. Particularly if it feels like the author has a webcam into my life and writes things that will work for whatever moment I'm feeling the moment I'm reading their words. Julia Cameron does that, a lot.

Poet Sarah Fuhro did it this week. I want to share with you her lovely poem. Enjoy.

It's Almost Time

It's almost time,
almost time for the change in light
but almost time for the poor and weak to reach out
their trembling hands to each other and to grasp.

It's almost time for the kind to smile
and be seen
in all their glory,
for the shift in power.

It's almost time for the silenced to sing
and for the earth to receive the sweet rain
of justice as it falls on ploughed fields.

It's almost time to be brave
and to go the next step without knowing how.

It's almost time for the knowledge of the Moon
to rise in the dark sky and let us know
there is more than one way
to see the road ahead.

Staying the Course

2011-08-21T14:50:00.001-05:00

Today being Sunday has got me in a pensive mood. I think, as writers, we tend to think a lot about method: what is our method, what is the method of writers we admire or want to emulate, and what should our method be in order to be better - better authors, better sellers, better writers, better people.

At the end of the day, though, none of that matters. If the story we have to tell gets told, then we've done well. Getting to the page, or to the keyboard, is the important victory. We may cry and gnash our teeth on the way there, but if we get there, then we've won.

Writing can be a release from stress and it can be a stressor. It is, always, the truth of itself: it is nothing less than what we see, day in and day out, moment by moment. We may write what we see in literal terms, or we may write what we see on the screen of our minds. If we're lucky, others will find solace in what stories we tell. But tell them, we must: our job description is "storyteller," after all.

Someone remarked to me recently that they weren't certain that all stories deserve to be told. I disagree. I think there is room in the Great Conversation for the inane and the mundane. I think it is true that not all stories deserve an audience, nor should all stories want one. Sometimes the painful truth is that we may, ourselves, believe that our story should have one, but the reality is there isn't one. Does that mean we shouldn't write it? That we should muzzle ourselves in favor of the peace of the world? Not bother the silence with our noise?

No. If we have a story, and we each of us do, then we should tell it. We should struggle with the pen or the keyboard and wrestle that minotaur. Worrying about where to send it when we're done is not the job of the storyteller. That is a job for later, when we put on the hat of author and learn the business of publishing. But many good stories are told, every day, by people to whom publishing is anathema. And many other stories aren't told that should be, that fester in silence because the writer forgot the one and most important rule:

If you See it, Write it.

Story is God.

Polyamory

2011-08-12T15:06:00.002-05:00

Fellow Beyond the Veil author Xakara wrote an excellent essay on Polyamory this week that I thought folks would find interesting. Please stop by and take a read, and be sure to comment. Xakara loves to interact with her readers. Visit her post, here.

Characters I Love

2011-08-04T21:12:00.003-05:00

I have great news! I am humbled and pleased and excited, all at the same time. I have been accepted into the Beyond the Veil community of authors. These are some amazingly talented paranormal and science fiction/fantasy authors. It's an honor to be included.

Today is my inaugural post, and the theme for August is Characters You Love ~ Or Love to Hate. Here's my take on it.

Thursday 13: The "I'm Not In A Mood Anymore" Post

2011-08-03T18:06:00.002-05:00

As a follow-on to last weeks vent of spleen, this week I want to focus on 13 Things I'm Grateful For. And, for those of you who are curious if domestic mayhem was committed at the Noonypad last week, all is well. THINGS were discussed, and are on their way to being resolved.

See what a good rant can help with?

:)

1. I'm grateful for my OCD creative husband. In the last 3 weeks, he's sewn over 14 garments, finished building 4 pieces of furniture, and started his Victorian boudoir photography series. He's got 3 photo shoots this Saturday with professional models! I'm so excited and proud to be married to him.

2. I'm grateful my kid is healthy, happy and safe. And drug free. And hasn't made me a grandmother.

3. I'm grateful for my neurotic dog. I mean, what, you'd expect me to have a normal dog like everyone else? Coyote keeps me sane by comparison.

4. I'm grateful that Belii, who has feline kidney disease, is doing well on his new diet.

5. I'm grateful to Jean Marie Ward for her advice on how to accomplish #4 for the long term. Jean Marie, thanks. Truly.

6. I'm grateful The Kitten Monster of Doom is healthy and that I haven't killed her and made a Daniel Boone hat out of her hide, complete with a calico tail.

It'd be a really cool hat.

7. I'm grateful Boria is playing with Nadya (the kitten of #6) and not sulking all over the house anymore. Besides, it's cute, and he's lost weight. And she wins, a large portion of the time, which is worth seeing.

8. I'm grateful to my chiropractor for figuring out what's wrong with my back and fixing it. It'll be a long haul, but I'm already seeing results. He rocks.

9. I'm grateful to be doing a TT on gratitude. It's easy to forget how much better one feels when one writes a list of things for which they are grateful. Saying thank you is an underrated spiritual path.

10. I'm grateful I know how to type. (No, I'm actually serious. Watching my friends who hunt and peck is painful. I am glad I took the time to learn it.)

11. I'm grateful I have friends who can't type. And friends who can. Y'all, I love you!

12. I'm grateful my car has air conditioning.

13. And the number one thing I'm grateful for this week? MY NEW AIR CONDITIONER ARRIVES TOMORROW! I THINK I'LL KISS THE UPS MAN. WOMAN. NON-SEXIST TERM OF ENDEARMENT FOR THE LOVELY INDIVIDUAL WHO BRINGS ME SALVATION FROM THIS SWELTERING, STICKY MESS THAT IS THE NOONYPAD.

Happy TT!

Thursday 13: The "I'm In A Mood" Post

2011-07-28T15:54:00.003-05:00

13 Random Things. And if you have to ask, don't.

1. When you “do the dishes,” they’re not done until they’re put away.

2. “Doing the dishes” means all the dirty dishes get washed. Not just the ones in the sink. Or on the drain board. Or on the stove.

3. When you are doing nothing but going to school, you damn well better be getting A’s and B’s – ESPECIALLY if I had to work full time, get an MBA (and a straight-A average) AND wrote a novel in 20 months. NO SYMPATHY.

4. When you walk out of the house in 90+ degree weather with 80%+ humidity, SHUT THE FUCKING DOOR.

5. Don’t sound surprised that I have air conditioning living in Chicago. I’m not 12 anymore, and I’m not homeless.

6. Stop making fun of me, ridiculing me, or even fucking commenting that I make lists. I like lists. They keep me organized. Deal with it.

7. Your disorganization and failure to plan do not constitute a problem on my part. Especially if I ask you, several times, ahead of time, to do things that would avoid said problem.

8. You don’t get to call me “anal” if you do #7.

9. Don’t stand there, in 90+ degree weather with 80%+ humidity, with the refrigerator door wide open, trying to figure out what’s in there that you can eat. It hasn’t changed since the LAST time you were in there, you helped me shop, AND I TOLD you what I bought. Use your memory.

10. Failure to use your memory is not solved by “I’m sorry.” It’s solved by FUCKING USING YOUR MEMORY!

11. Because I’m better organized than you does not mean I should do all the organizing.

12. Because I’m better organized than you does not mean I should be the one taking all the notes.

13. Don’t fuck with me before coffee or you’ll get an entire Thursday 13 post dedicated to you in absentia.

Any questions?

I'm Guest Blogging at Delilah Devlin's Blog!

2011-07-17T07:00:00.005-05:00

Pardon me, but fangrrl moment. Delilah Devlin impresses the socks outta me. Srsly.

And I nearly fainted when she kindly extended a guest blogger slot to Rachel and I: WHEN BETA RELATIONSHIPS BECOME SERIOUS; or “How To Use a Catcher’s Mitt”. I'd love it if you stopped by and checked it out, and be sure to thank Delilah for visiting. Check out her books and all the work she's doing (she's got two anthology calls open right now, too!).

Thanks, Delilah!

Wiley Wednesday: In Defense of the Pen

2011-07-06T06:00:00.004-05:00

My essay "In Defense of the Pen" is up today on the Writer's Retreat Blog. Come on by!

If you aren't familiar with it, the Wiley Wednesday articles are a series of essays related to the craft and business of writing. Written once a week by the authors of the Writer's Retreat blog, you can find material on all aspects of writing.

New World Order, Chapter 20: Cross-Cultural Interactions (Belinda)

2011-07-04T15:09:00.004-05:00

The new chapter of New World Order is up. C'mon over and enjoy!

New Pandora Station

2011-07-02T14:21:00.001-05:00

I built a Pandora profile that now links to my Facebook, so it's got my branding consistently throughout (thank you, Pandora, for building in that functionality!). So I am now up on Pandora so you can participate with the stations I create for my characters and for world-building, and share your stations with me. Cue the music!

Thursday 13: A Writer In Her Library

2011-06-30T17:05:00.000-05:00

Today we continue with craft books. The fun thing about craft books is that they can serve as inspiration for art that one wants to create. I get ideas and inspiration when I read them and see pictures of things. It’s one of the reasons I love knitting and crochet magazines, because the full-color glossy pictures are fun to look at and imagine myself making the outfits. Even if I don’t make the specific item in the picture, the design ideas influence my own creations.

1. Epstein, Nicky: Crocheted Flowers; Sixth & Spring Books, New York, 2007
This is the publisher that handles a lot of the current Vogue books. They do a lot of Ms. Epstein’s as well. I love this book. She’s an amazing designer with a seemingly endless fount of ideas, and her instructions are easy enough that I, as a novice crocheter, can follow them. I’m sure that anyone without my 2D/3D hangups would find them super simple to follow along. I even made an enormous blue crocheted rose, as practice, that turned into a gift for a friend out of town. Fun stuff.

2. Knight, Erika: The Harmony Guides: Basic Crochet Stitches ; Sixth & Spring Books, New York, 2008
This is the second of my crochet reference books that I have in my main, working collection. This is an awesome book. I’ve heard excellent things about the Harmony Guides series; if they’re anything like this one then they’re well worth the investment. I had taken one crochet class and was able to follow the instructions in here; again, someone without my 2D/3D issues would find it very clear and easy to follow. Highly recommended.

3. Jacobs, Kate: The Friday Night Knitting Club; Berkley Books, New York, 2007
Here we switch gears entirely to fiction with knitting in it. (I’d say “knitlit” but someone thought of it first and came up with a series; see below.) (Wish I thought of it first, though!)
This was a gift from my sister-in-law and follows the lives of the people in the Friday Night Knitting Club. It’s a cool idea for a story!

4. Murphy, Bernadette: Zen and the Art of Knitting: Exploring the Links Between Knitting, Spirituality, and Creativity; Adams Media, Avon, MA 2002
If I were to write a memoir about my thoughts on knitting and spirituality, this would be the title I’d want to give it. I love it. Ms. Murphy wrote a deeply thoughtful, fun and accurate book about how knitting can connect us with the deeper vibration. Brava!

5. Roghaar, Linda & Molly Wolf: Knit Lit and Knit Lit Too; Three Rivers Press; New York, 2002
These two are awesome. Find out why you should “Never Knit Dog” and how one woman’s abduction in a war-torn country was turned into something much less sinister with the power of knitting. Highly, highly recommended. They also have KnitLit the Third: We Spin More Yarns - MAN, I wish I thought of these titles! ~grin~ I haven’t read the third one, but that’s a function of time rather than inclination. ~eyes TBR pile~

Moving on then…

6. Better Homes and Gardens, Knitting Year-Round; Better Homes and Gardens Books, Des Moines, 2003
I really love this book because it lays out a plan for knitting the entire year, including how to finish season-specific items in time for use during that season, but also so you’re not knitting a really heavy woolen sweater in the middle of July’s heat. Lots of fun.

7. Bush, Nancy: Knitting on the Road, Interweave Press, Loveland, CO, 2001
This is one of the first design books I bought, and I really love it. She’s got a lot of great thoughts about knitting while traveling, and all sorts of thoughts about portability. Lots of fun.

8. Carles, Julie and Jordana Jacobs: The Yarn Girls' Guide to Beyond the Basics; Potter Craft, New York, 2005
I got this book when I was part of Crafter’s Choice. It’s not bad, but it’s not something I’d say run out and buy immediately either. The authors are spunky and fun, and it’s a good idea generator.

9. Epstein, Nicky: Knitting On Top of the World: The Global Guide to Traditions, Techniques and Design; Nicky Epstein Books; New York, 2008
This is a gorgeous book. It’s essentially a coffee table book, due to size and glossiness, but Epstein as always delivers an expert product. She’s an incredible designer and I recommend checking this out – even if you only do so at the library, the pictures alone will make you swoon. Her thoughts and instruction on design interpretations around the world are worth the read.

10. Falick, Melanie; Handknit Holidays; Stewart Tabori and Chang, New York, 2005
I love this book, and the next one I have by her: Weekend Knitting; Stewart Tabori and Chang, New York, 2003. Falick edted for Interweave and her experience shows. These are professional, well-designed, and very informative – not to mention, fun. Highly recommend both of these.

11. Family Circle; Easy Sweaters; Sixth & Spring Books, New York, 2001 and Easy Afghans, 2003.
I like both of these as good, solid, simple compendiums of easy projects to make. They’re a good way to learn how to do structures and such, and I’ve made several of the afghans multiple times as gifts.

12. Griffiths, Melody: Knitting in No Time; Reader's Digest Association Inc., New York, 2006
A surprising and fun book. Mulitple quick-to-knit projects of all kinds, this is a great place to go when you need gift ideas or stash-busters.

13. Harding, Louisa: Knitting Little Luxuries: Beautiful Accessories to Knit; Interweave Press; Loveland, CO, 2007
I love Louisa Harding. She’s another of my favorite designers. This book is beautiful – full of lovely photographs of elegant knits from shawls to sweaters to unusual items. I like this collection because it gives you ideas for things to make with one or two skeins of luxury yarns, so that the project matches the quality of the fiber. Lots of fun.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s glimpse into my library, and that maybe I’ll inspire you to start checking out the wealth of information in craft books. Even better, maybe you’ll pick up a craft or two. Happy TT!

Thursday 13: A Writer In Her Library

2011-06-16T11:27:00.001-05:00

Welcome to another segment of my ongoing series, “A Writer In Her Library.” Today, I’d like to pull the focus a bit and talk about categorizations.

When one goes to a library, the books are organized according to some particular method. The most common are the Dewey Decimal System, as seen in many high school libraries and some public ones; and the Library of Congress System, as seen in, well, the Library of Congress, as well as many universities and some public libraries (for example, the Chicago Public Library System).

Both of these systems are useful, and a good way for Librarians to manage information. When I set up my library, though, I wanted something simpler and that fit the way I use my books. This leads me to an important observation about managing information that I’ve learned over twenty-five years managing offices and the information in them.

The critical part of any information management system, be it books, paper files, or online content, is getting the information back out of the system when it’s needed. Fifteen years ago, before Google was even a common term, (Google was founded in 1998), the internet was described as a global library where all the books were piled in the middle with no rhyme or reason. That’s one of the reasons Google has been so successful. Its search algorithms allow users to get more and more precise search results for information they need. There are other methods of doing so, Yahoo! being one of the most markedly different, but my purpose here is more to discuss the philosophy of organization rather than its specifics. I use Google as an example, though, because its key success factor is its ability to return the information that the user needs, when the user needs it.

That, fundamentally, is the purpose of any organizational system. Some of them require more training on the part of the user in order to use them (Dartmouth’s university library catalog in 1993 is one of the most complicated I have seen), but the fundamental purpose behind them is the same: organize data in such a way that it can be retrieved, as needed, in accordance with the need of the user. (So when you look up flowers, you don’t get baking flour, for example.)

What I’ve learned handling this process for various offices and people that I’ve worked with is that this last point is the most challenging. It doesn’t matter how well I understand file management. It matters how the people USING the files recall the data, because that is how they’ll look it up. Some people recall colors better. Some recall people and authors better. Some, like me, recall by date and subject.

In setting up my own library, something I haven’t taken the time to do until recently, I have complete authority over the subjects I pick. This is a rare pleasure. Usually, I’m working with a team and I need to set up the system according to how the team thinks rather than my personal preference. But now, with my books, I get to be boss and peon.

I was surprised to find out, then, that my cookbook collection had a lot more subject divisions than when I started to pull all of the books together. It was fascinating to start separating them into their relevant subjects and I found that I had more than I thought. I’m one short of 13, so it’s not a proper Thursday 13, but I share my subject headlines both from a sense of personal pride and fun in that I get to determine the subjects, but also in the rare chance that one or more of my readers might see something in my subject divisions that might inspire them with their own libraries.

1. Comprehensive Cookbooks

These are the traditional “cookbooks” that one thinks of when one thinks of the generic term: Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens, etc. General, all-purpose, and comprehensive; the cookbooks in this category fill most of the needs of the home cook from main dishes to beverages and such.

One interesting thing I noticed is the books in this category tend to be organized in one of two ways: by meal or by ingredients. Some cover topics like Breakfast, Lunch or Light Fare, Dinner, Entertaining, Beverages, and Desserts; the second group covers topics like Meat, Fowl, Fish, Soups and Stews, Vegetables, Beverages, Cakes, Pies, Candies, Ice Creams and Frozen Custard, etc.

2. Cooking for Two/Working Adult Cookbooks

If you had asked me before I started collecting cookbooks when I thought the “cooking for two” idea came about, I would have said it was my own generation (Generation X) when we were in high school in the 80’s. The so-called nuclear family of Reagan and then the growing propensity of people to marry late and have children late would have engendered a need for such books.

Boy, was I wrong. My earliest book of the type is 1963. Granted, it’s not strictly for two people, but it’s called THE WORKING WIVES' (SALARIED OR OTHERWISE) COOKBOOK by Theodora Zavin and Freda Stuart. They discuss smaller portions and also the ideas of making items ahead and all sorts of time-saving ideas. I have also seen titles from the 1920’s on the same subjects, so my generation is hardly the first to realize that the primary cook of a household may, in fact, work for pay outside that household but still need to feed its members adequately.

3. Canning and Storage

It will come as no surprise to my long-time readers that I was probably born in the wrong century and would privately love to be a frontierswoman. In fact, I used to play in the Society for Creative Anachronism, otherwise known as the SCA, who at times describes itself as an organization for re-creating the medieval times but with plumbing and without the Plague.

I like the idea of canning and storage. While I haven’t had the time to devote to it or a large enough garden to make it cost-effective, my plan is to remedy that when we buy either our first or second home. In the meantime, I’m an armchair frontierswoman. I love reading about malic acid and fruit pectin, and know that apples can be used as a good natural thickener. Until I can really go to town putting up the fruit crop from my peach orchard, I’ll fantasize in my books.

Besides. My neighbor has a lovely mulberry tree and if I go late at night, maybe they won’t notice my ladder and bucket. Pardon me, I’ll be right back…

4. Family Cookbooks

It turns out I have several cookbooks compiled by family and for family. I find these at garage sales, through my family, and as fund-raisers. They’re an interesting window on how other people cook, as well as their favorite recipes.

5. Cook’s Illustrated

This is both a magazine and they do a hard-back annual compendium. I have one of the annuals, as well as a couple years’ worth of subscriptions. Of all the cookbook magazines, I like this one the best because they review multiple cooking methods for the same type of food, as well as multiple iterations of the same kind of dish (like, say, oatmeal).

6. Specific Technique and Equipment

This is fairly self-explanatory. It’s a category for the cookbook that came with our microwave or the blender, etc. I have a title called ELECTRIC BREAD, for example, that has recipes for using a breadmaker. Anything of that type goes in this section.

7. Meal-Specific Books

Again, pretty self-explanatory. It’s not the compendium as mentioned in section one, but it’s a book all about a specific meal – I have one entitled BRUNCH, for example.

8. Weight Watchers

It startled me how many Weight Watchers cookbooks I actually own. (They’re really good about making their cookbooks sexy, full-color, and food-porn, though I’m sure their marketing department wouldn’t describe them in those terms.) (But if I didn’t like food porn and sexy full-color exposes on my food, I wouldn’t NEED Weight Watchers, now would I?)

(Get your mind out of the gutter. I don’t mean porn with food, I mean food porn. As in, a sexy spread about Zanzibar Chocolate Ice Cream that won’t add twenty pounds to your ass just by reading the recipe.)

9. Vegetarian

Um, this about, like, Vegetarian cooking.

Duh.

10. Health and Instructional Books about Food and Eating

Hmm. My topics are getting more and more self-explanatory.

Do I need to discuss what Health and instructional Books About Food and Eating are?

In all seriousness, I include topics like the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for treatment of intestinal disorders and other such topics in this area.

11. Culture-Specific Cookbooks

Russian, Jewish, Mexican, Asian, etc. all fit in here. I have, for example, an excellent review of all types of Russian cooking by Anne Volokh, the first post-Soviet food reporter in Russia. (Prior to Glasnost, they didn’t have such an occupation; at least not openly.) I lump other cuisine-specific books in this category because that’s where I expect to find them when I go looking for ideas.

12. Ingredient-Specific

As in, 101 Different Ways to Prepare Chicken, and such. I have a book on Mustard, one on Garlic, and actually two on Mushrooms (since my husband LOVES them).

I don’t have a 13th Category, so I ask you, the Reader: tell me, in Comments, what you might add to my list or how you organize your own cookbooks.

As I’m typing this, my buddy who is sitting here reading while I type, said, I have one. So, here is Dorothy’s additional category:

“Making Ingredients” as in, How to Make Cheese, How to Make Flavored Vinegars, How to Make Butter, How to Distill Oregano, etc.

Oooh. Those sound fun. Hmm. Maybe I need to go cookbook shopping here soon.

Book addiction? Me?

Silly. There’s no such thing. ~nods~

Happy TT!

Wiley Wednesday: Music and Editing

2011-05-31T23:26:00.002-05:00

I know it's been awhile, but I am getting caught up with my blogging duties. Since tomorrow is Wednesday (well, in 35 minutes it'll be midnight so really it'll be tonight...), I posted my Wiley Wednesday at the Writer's Retreat Blog.

If it's been so long you can't remember what the heck that is, Wiley Wednesday essays cover informational topics related to writing - either the craft or the business. I hope you enjoy!

Thursday 13: A Writer In Her Library

2011-03-23T22:49:00.002-05:00

Chapter Three

Today’s TT focuses on Knitting Reference books. These books focus on particular techniques, rather than a designer’s vision of patterns, and include stitch dictionaries. I love knitting reference books. They usually have things in them I don’t already know, or look at a particular topic in a new way.

In fact, when I signed up for the Master Knitter course through TKGA, a bibliography is part of the course. I figured, in my arrogance, that I am The Noony! Of COURSE I have all the books on the bibliography, and what books I don’t have aren’t worth bothering with, because I am The Noony.

Boy, was I stunned. I had, like, two.

Out of FOUR PAGES.

Sheesh. Put me in my place, whydon’tyou?

I have since collected several of the books on the recommended bibliography and wow, those folks sure know what they’re doing! These books are awesome!!!

Anyhoo, back to MY list, because after all, I am The Noony.

1. Crompton, Claire; The Knitter's Bible; David & Charles; Cincinnati, OH; 2004

I like this book a lot. It covers the basics, but after each technique, it includes projects that use what you just learned. There are several projects that I want to try myself, including gorgeous little sachet bags and blankets and purses and things. Well-rounded, fun book.

2. Epstein, Nicky; Knitting On The Edge; Sixth & Spring Books; New York; 2004
Knitting Over The Edge, 2005
Knitting Beyond The Edge, 2006

Nicky Epstein is an amazing designer. She doesn’t only ‘do’ knitting, she’s published books on crochet design as well. She travels internationally, teaching, and even came to our guild here in Chicago two years ago.

She decided to write Knitting On The Edge when she realized there weren’t any guides to edging techniques available at the time. Some books had some edgings, but nothing really dedicated to the edges of garments. She started researching and collected a number of edging options, as well as designing a bunch on her own, and voila: a phenomenon was born. Immensely popular, On the Edge was followed a year later with Over the Edge, and then Beyond the Edge. These are stitch dictionaries as opposed to longer design books; they are filled with ideas that you can incorporate into your own projects. There are a few projects given that utilize the patterns, but for the most part, it’s simply a graphic of a particular edging pattern and instructions for how to work it.

Since she has a very involved website, I’m going to include that here rather than an image of her table of contents. You can check out her work here: http://nickyepstein.com/. She doesn’t only have textile arts; she created a line of handmade buttons and clasps that are incredible and well worth a browse.

The books are available for purchase:
Knitting On the Edge

Knitting Over the Edge

Knitting Beyond the Edge

3. Golden Hands; Aran & Fair Isle Knitting; Marshall Cavendish; London; 1977

A classic book, but worth a look if you like the style of knitting. It includes detailed instruction on the art of Aran (cable) knit sweaters and Fair Isle (colorwork). It’s got a number of interesting patterns that will expand your skills and experience with these two techniques.

4. Kooler, Donna; Encyclopedia of Knitting; Leisure Arts Publication; Little Rock, AK; 2004

This is a good all-around technique dictionary. There are some lovely pictures, and I totally want to make that handbag on the table of contents.

5. Leinhauser, Jean; Learn to Knit in Just One Day; American School of Needlework; San Marcos, CA; 1994

This one holds a special place in my heart. I dearly wanted to learn to knit for most of my life. I couldn’t master crochet, and I tried the one needle knitter from K-Tel with some success. But I really, REALLY wanted to learn to knit.

Sadly, I can’t translate two-dimensional instructions into three-dimensional reality.

I really tried, too.

I picked up this book several times over the years, and could NOT master it. I finally took a class in 2000 from Sharon Shoji, a Chicago instructor and designer. I haven’t looked back.

And do you know what? After I took the class, this book suddenly made sense!

If you don’t have the 2-D/3-D disconnect, this is a remarkably easy book to learn from. It’s thorough and teaches you to make sweaters and afghans in a very short time. I actually like it because it doesn’t have a lot of the clutter of some of the modern glitzy books, which can be good when you’re trying to learn.

6. Leisure Arts; 99 Knit Stitches; Leisure Arts Publication; Little Rock, AK; 1997

This book a surprise. It’s put together in a booklet format that seems light-weight, but when you delve into it, it’s got a very well-rounded group of stitches to try. It’s a good little stitch dictionary and has the benefit of not weighing a lot in one’s knitting bag.

7. Rutt, Richard; History of Hand Knitting; B T Batsford; London; 1989

This is the classic book on knitting history. Written from the point of view of scholar and not knitter, it’s a little dry, but the information is comprehensive and well-researched. If you’re curious about knitting’s origins in history (like the fact it probably comes from the Middle East, for example, and the oldest extant knitted textile is a sock from Turkey), this is the book for you.

8. Starmore, Alice; Book of Fair Isle Knitting; Taunton Press; Newton, CT; 1988

I coveted this book for ages. Starmore is my hero. I looked up the book and couldn’t find it for under $150, since it had gone out of print. I saved and saved and one year, got two gift certificates for Amazon. I found it for $99 and pounced on it.

The next year, Schoolhouse Press re-released the book.

:(

Not that I have anything against Schoolhouse Press. Lovely group. But sheesh!

If you are serious about Fair Isle (colorwork), this is a phenomenal book. Starmore teaches you about design, not just the knitting process. She also discusses the history of the art, which is worth a read.

9. Sterling; Knitting School: A Complete Course; Sterling Publishing Company; New York; 1990

I bought this through the Crafter’s Choice book club. I do not recommend it. Poorly done, with inadequate explanations. I kept it because I already know how to knit and figured that some of the instruction might be useful, but this is little better than a stitch dictionary.

10. Vogue; Vogue Knitting and Vogue Knitting Quick Reference; Sixth & Spring Books; New York; 2002

These are excellent reference materials. The Quick Reference can be carried in a knitting bag. Vogue Knitting covers all the basics, and has an excellent overview of different cast-on and cast-off methods, construction, and a modular sweater design method that breaks down the design process into clear steps.

11. Vogue; Stitchionary: Volume One - Knit and Purl; Sixth & Spring Books; New York; 2005
Stitchionary: Volume Two – Cables, 2006

These are good stitch dictionaries. There are more volumes than the two I have, but Volume III is colorwork and IV is crochet, neither of which I really need. These two basic ones are good. They’re not great; they don’t have details about the stitches or how they work, and I find the Harmony Guides better for basic instruction. But I’m loyal to Vogue and like these two books.

12. Vogue; The Ultimate Sock Book; Sixth & Spring Books; New York; 2007

If you like socks, BUY THIS BOOK.

‘nuff said.

I love it. It covers toe up and cuff down, all sorts of design information, and then a whole library of designs for you to play with. Loff!

13. Walker, Barbara G.; A Treasury of Knitting Patterns; Schoolhouse Press; Pittsville, WI; 1998
A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns; 1998
Charted Knitting Designs: A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns; 1998
A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns; 2000

Awesome!! These are an excellent basis for any knitter’s library. In fact, Walker has nearly eclipsed Alice Starmore as my Number One Knitting Hero. I use Walker’s books more often than Starmore’s, as it happens. She’s smart, funny, and opinionated. I love her. Her stitch books put the Stitchionaries to shame: she gives details for EACH of the stitch patterns she includes in her books, which include her thoughts on the history of the stitch, how it works in garments and projects, whether it looks good on the front and back or if it’s one-sided, etc. I love these books, and am grateful to Schoolhouse Press for re-releasing them.

If you are a knitter who is familiar with Walker’s books, you should check out the Walker Treasury Project. It’s a blog that records modern color pictures of the patterns in the four books. Four more information, visit the blog.

Happy TT!

A Writer In Her Library, Chapter Two

2011-03-17T06:04:00.000-05:00

Thursday 13: A Writer In Her Library

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! As a fourth-generation Irish American, today has special significance since my uncle, the oldest surviving Irish relative on American soil, passed away this month. Our family draws together to remember our connections and to celebrate our family ties. I wish you and yours a very happy and bountiful year! As you raise a glass in celebration, please toast to my Uncle Tom and the family of poor Irish potato farmers who have “made it good” in the new land.

Today I offer the second installment in my series, “A Writer In Her Library.” We continue with craft books today and venture out of the anthologies and into the single titles. I have an eclectic collection spanning some of the glitzy modern photo-intensive books that have little in the way of actual instruction, to those older books from the 50’s and 60’s that have a lot of instructions and much less glam. Enjoy!

1. Singer Sewing Series, Sew and Save for Home and Fashion, Elmsmere Publishing Inc, New York, 1972.

This one caught my eye at a Brandeis Used Book Sale a couple years ago. It’s a battered 3-ring binder, like the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, and covers all sorts of the basics of sewing. Since it’s also targeted to the thrifty home sewer, there are a lot of tips on mending and wardrobe construction.

2. The next five are all from Reader’s Digest. Some of my acquaintance don’t like the RD books because they are abridged; however, I have always enjoyed their how-to books for their depth and breadth of coverage of the topic. I remember the first time I saw a stitchery book and coveted it so badly! It took another decade before I broke down and bought one used, and I love it.

Back to Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills. Reader's Digest Association Inc., Pleasantville, NY; 1981.

This one is a gem. It’s got all SORTS of cool stuff. The one that got my husband is ‘build your own stone house.’ Now he wants to go out and collect rocks. :)

3. Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual. 1973.

When my husband and I moved in together, we merged our libraries (which were both prodigious). We each had a copy of this book.

‘Nuff said.

4. Complete Guide to Needlework. 1979.

There she is!! This is my first compendium of needlework purchase, and I love it! It’s got stitchery alphabets and instructions for all sorts of crafts! I don’t always learn from 2D to 3D very well, but once I got the basics elsewhere this was a snap - and if you don’t have the whole 2D/3D problem, you’re set.

The interesting thing about this one, is that it has sections on both macrame and lace (including bobbin lace and tatting), which after about 1985 is not something you see much of.

5. Crafts and Hobbies. 1979

JACKPOT! This is awesome. The breadth of crafts included here is staggering, and almost rivals the Family Creative Workshop - and this is only one volume! It goes from Drawing to Enameling to Preserving Fruit, all in the same book. Who needs a television with this thing around??

6. Fix-It-Yourself Manual. 1977.

This is a good book to have around if you own your own home or do your own repairs. It’s got oodles of advice for how to handle common household problems, and includes a section on Furniture Repair that’s exceedingly useful.

7. Better Homes and Gardens Sewing Book: Sewing How-To For Home and Family. Better Homes and Gardens Books, 1981.

This is an excellent resource. I’m wondering if I have a typo in my bibliography, because what I found online was 1961 where the cover matched my recollection. Either way, this is an excellent sewing book. It covers adjusting patterns and making fitting fixes better than almost any other sewing book I own. I highly, highly recommend this if you are serious about sewing garments for yourself or others.

8. Jefferys, Chris; Learn to Sew: A Beginner's Guide. New Holland Publishers Ltd, London, Cape Town, Sydney, Auckland; 2005.

I really like this one. It’s big and has very clear pictures. The projects, as you can see from the Table of Contents below, are broad-ranging and non-repetitive, but cover all the basics you need to develop a good basis for making your own garments or soft furnishings for the home.

I love the Silverware Roll; that seems like a fun gift for the holidays. The Table Runner with Mitered Border is beautiful and I like the zippered bags. I find zippers intimidating, and the idea of making several small bags to practice seems wise.

9. Oops! Missed a Reader’s Digest. I have it in a different spot on the shelf because it’s in a different format than the ones I listed above; I simply included it in the single titles on the shelf.

Step-by-Step Sewing Course: Essential Techniques for Making Over 150 Creative Home Projects. 2005.

I couldn’t resist the cover.

I’m shallow. ~shrug~

I really want to make that bolster! Maybe this will be the year. From the book jacket:

“Learn to sew and make beautiful gifts and decorator-style custom furnishings for your home with the Step-by-Step Sewing Course. This handy guide is filled with more than 150 projects and variations for beginner, intermediate, and advanced sewers, complete with clear, easy-to-follow, illustrated instructions that lead you through each project, one step at a time. Along with vital information about essential sewing equipment and basic techniques, you'll discover how to make...: Quick and easy bedspreads, Tablecloths with lace panels, Decorative window treatments for every type of window, Shower curtains and bath mats, Pillows with romantic ruffles, Duvet covers, Padded fabric headboards, Gift bags for special occasions, ...and so much more! “

10. Simplicity, Simply the Best Sewing Book: Revised Edition. Simplicity Pattern Co., Inc., New York, 2001.

This was the recommended book for Veronica Brackett’s excellent sewing courses at Vogue Fabrics in Evanston. If you ever get a chance to take one of her classes, DO IT. She’s the single best sewing instructor I have ever met.

The book is good. It starts with your sewing philosophy (do you want to sew simple and buy complicated? Or spend time sewing complicated and buy simple?) and goes through basics. It’s even got a selection of basic patterns to get you started.

11. Singer, Sewing Step-by-Step. Cy DeCosse Incorporated, Minnetonka, MN, 1990.

I like the Singer books. They good, solid, basic, and I have a Singer machine so the instructions are targeted for my equipment.

12. Vogue, Vogue Sewing Book. Butterick Publishing Company, New York; I have two editions - 1975 and 2000.

The 1975 has a section on menswear and is much more in-depth. The 2000 eliminated the menswear section (and it’s only been this year that I’ve started to see men’s patterns making a comeback on the pattern sites) and is a lot more sparse on the instruction. Still, this is a classic reference and well worth having on the shelf.

The Table of Contents, below, is from the current edition but is substantially similar from edition to edition.

13. And now we switch gears into the Knitting Reference section. This is distinct from the Knitting Patterns section, in that the material here covers the basics in how to knit or includes various stitch guides like the Walker books and the Vogue Stitchionaries.

This first one is a surprising find, to me anyway, because I’d already purchased my reference books for knitting and didn’t think I needed any more. I’ve since learned that Debbie Bliss is a knitting luminary and well worth taking a look at her work; this book is no exception. Truly an excellent resource.

Bliss, Debbie, How to Knit. Trafalgar Square Publishing, North Pomfret, VA, 1999.

In looking at this today, I realize that I should crack it open and review the section on colorwork, since I’m working on an intarsia (color block) project that’s proving a bit of a challenge. ~glee~

Thank you for visiting today, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into one writer’s library. Happy TT!

Welcome to the St. Patrick's Day Blog Hop!

2011-03-16T21:40:00.002-05:00

My offering for this Blog Hop is a sweet romance with a twist that I wrote for a Flash Fiction Carnival. The subject was the elements, and this is for Water. I figured it was fitting, since Spring is just around the corner. Enjoy!

To start the Blog Hop, go here.

Water
Fionula ran the water into the kettle, the filter making a soft high-pitched whine as it worked. It was an extra unit she’d had from her last apartment and she’d given it to Kirby for his new place.

“Hey,” Kirby greeted, wandering into the kitchen and sitting down on one of the only chairs that didn’t have boxes or packing material stacked on it.

“Hi there. How ‘ya feeling?” she asked brightly, noting he didn’t look very good. More like depressed and mopey. She never really liked Sara, and this was just another black mark against Kirby’s ex-girlfriend.

He sighed and looked out the window. “Okay, I guess.”

She set the kettle on the stove and lit the gas. She bent to rummage in the canvas sack she’d lugged over and pulled out the smaller bag of produce and set it in the sink. She set the pork roast, still chilly from the freezer, on the counter. Finally finding the tea buried under the net bag of potatoes, she fished it out and plumped the cardboard box back up.

“Well, cheer up, Kirby. I brought pork roast and vegies, and tea. And then you can have a bubble bath and ice cream.”

He actually laughed at that, she was pleased to note.

“A bubble bath?” he scoffed. “Come on, Fionula. I’m not a chick.”

She turned around and put her hands on her hips. “Armand said to come over and cheer you up, so I’m going to do that. Besides. I’m gay, so whatever you have,” she waved her hand negligently toward his lap, “doesn’t interest me. So your virtue is safe with me.”

He stared at her, nonplussed.

She pulled her other bag closer and pulled out the bubble bath, followed by two glass container candles, a plastic bag with a pint of Zanzibar Chocolate ice cream, and her copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. “I’ll even read to you.”

He pulled the bag of ice cream closer half-heartedly and peeked inside. “There’s a cow on your ice cream.”

“Yeah?” she retorted. “That just shows it’s made with real cow juice.” She yanked it away and stuffed it unceremoniously in the freezer. “Show respect, that’s Zanzibar Chocolate.”

“‘Cow juice?’” he echoed faintly. “Ew?”

She snorted. “Then don’t complain,” she said in a reasonable tone of voice.

He smiled but it faded too quickly. She surveyed her supplies. She pulled out the greens and set them in the sink and washed the apples. She looked over her shoulder at him. “You want to help me wash these greens?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, sure, why not.”

They spent the next thirty minutes preparing dinner. He seemed to forget some of his melancholia in the routine and helped her position the pork on top of the chopped apples. She doused it with hard apple cider and put it in the oven.

“Okay. Now I’ll go start the bath.”

“Fionula, come on. I don’t need –”

“Shush. Come on.”

He groaned but got up and followed her. She started the water and he adjusted the temperature. She let the tub fill with bubble bath, the sharp scent of lavender filling the small space.

“Hey! This doesn’t smell half bad!” he blurted.

“Gee thanks.”

“You know what I mean, Fionula. It’s not all girly and whatever.”

“Kirby, that’s not an improvement,” she said, laughing. “I could have brought bubble gum. Or baby-fresh scent.”

He grimaced. “Ew.”

“Okay. You get in the tub and I’ll come back in and read to you, k? Oh! I’ll get the ice cream.”

“Before dinner?” he asked, actually smiling.

“Of course! ‘Life’s short, eat desert first,’” she quoted. She closed the door on him before he could think of a response.

It didn’t take him long to get ready and he did seem a lot more relaxed once he was actually in the water. She handed him a bath pillow with a big silly pink bow on it. “It’s a housewarming present,” she told him.

He smiled. “Thanks!” He seemed to really mean it. She put the bow on the counter and he blew the pillow up, then sat back with a sigh.

“Okay.” She settled herself on the toilet, using a towel as a pillow. “Hänsel and Grethel.”

“I know this one!” He sounded pleased.

“Bet you don’t,” she countered, meeting his gaze. “Have you read the originals?”

He looked perplexed. “The original what?”

“Grimm’s Fairy Tales aren’t kids’ stories, really. They’re folk tales that were changed for children, made lighter. The originals are really dark and, well, grim.”

“Oh!”

She read him the story and by the end, he seemed really engrossed. She went to check on the pork and came back to find him looking through the book. “Hey!”

He smiled and handed it back. “This one,” he requested, pointing.

“Brother and Sister, huh? Okay.”

By the time the bath was over and dinner was ready, the dull melancholy look had left Kirby’s eyes. She even got him to laugh a couple times during dinner.

As she put her coat on to leave, she looked at him. “Here,” she handed over the book, “you can read some more if you want.”

“Thanks!” He looked down at the cover and then met her eyes. “Thanks, Fionula. Really. I had a good time tonight.”

“I told you,” she said firmly. “It’s the Zanzibar Chocolate.”

“Right.” He shook his head and hugged her. He waited by his front door until the elevator came and then waved at her as she got on.

She hitched her bags a little higher and smiled to herself. It worked every time. Zanzibar Chocolate and a bath could cure anything.

The original post appeared here.

Air is here.

Fire is here.

Thanks for visiting!

Challenge - Noir Friday

2011-02-18T06:00:00.005-06:00

I was challenged on Romance Divas this week to write a story a'la 1930's noir fiction. The challenge was:

Your story should include the following: a dirty taxi, a missing councilman, a Dick Tracy watch (radio included), and should take place in the 1930's.

Here, then, in honor of Flash Fiction Friday, is my story. I think it might work out to be a Chapter One in a possible novel; what do you think? Shall we continue? Read on and decide for yourself. (I should warn you, because of the time period, there is profanity and racism in the writing, so please don't continue if you're not comfortable with either.)

Taxis these days are abysmal. God damned pig-shit Irish think they run the place, and they can't even keep the damn taxis clean. Damn Cermak, anyway, for getting shot when it should have been Roosevelt. World's Fair comes here, you'd think they'd clean up the damn things.

"Move it!" my driver shouted out the window, his cigarette in danger of landing his lap. He shook his fist at some Black kid trundling a huge cart of flat cardboard boxes from sidewalk to sidewalk, wrestling the dumb thing up the eighteen-inch curb.

Progress. That's what they call it in the papers. Just an excuse to beat up on the little guy, like always.

"Go left at the next street," I told the driver.

"Look, buddy, you really don't want –"

"Just do it!"

God damned pig-shit Irish, thinking they're better than good honest Americans. Come over here with their potato famine and their accents and think they run the place. Stupid Cermak; why'd you leave us like this?

"Let me out here."

The driver's blue eye gazed at me in the mirror, his disagreement plain on his freckled Irish face. His nose didn't show the signs yet, but they're all drinkers. Irish whiskey, Scotch, it didn't matter. They say God invented the stuff so the Irish would never win a war.

And now they're in my town. Thanks a lot!

I got out around the corner from forty-seventh, smack in the Black Belt. Lieutenant Dziedziecz thought I was nuts for coming here, but here is where the witness lived.

"You're a nice White boy, and Polish to boot, Lapinsky. How you gonna go to the Black Belt at night and find a tinker's damn in the place without getting shot or worse? The Councilman sure as shit ain't in the Black Belt, for Christsakes!"

"You wanna find the Alderman, or not?" Dziedziecz came from New York, by way of Poughkeepsie. Couldn't get it through that brick he called a brain that Chicago had Aldermen, New York had Councilmen.

He kicked me out of his office with his characteristic profanity, and I gave as good as I got.

There are benefits to being a gumshoe and not a cop, chief among these is I don't have to take shit from a Pollock no matter how rich he was. Still came from Warsaw, or at least his pop did, same as me.

My watch chimed and I glared down at it. A Dick Tracy radio watch, the genuine article! My kid bought it for me as a birthday gift last month. God damned comic book hero, and my kid thinks that's what I do for a living. I'd leave the thing at home but the wife says it makes me a better father.

Because of a watch?

The bar I wanted was three doors down. And I mean down – the thing lived in the basement of a three-storey brick number. The three-flat housed two famous Black Jazz musicians and what was reputed to be a famous Black madam, but I didn't care about that. I wanted the bar.

The hulking bouncers loitering by the cast iron fence and smoking promised to interfere with that plan…

I pulled out a cigarette and approached. "Got a light?"

The one closer to me turned to get a better look at me and then stared. "Lapinsky?"

"Joe Brown? What the Hell you doin' all the way down here? I thought you was going to Los Angles!" I lit my own damned cigarette, since neither of them showed any sign of doing it.

"Los Angeles," Brown drawled, spreading out the syllables like a Spaniard. "When you gonna learn another language besides Panglish?"

His buddy made a sound somewhere between a cough and a snort and covered his mouth with one huge black fist. If he could have turned red, he would have. Hell, maybe he did; with the night around us, Hell if I could tell if Black skin reddened.

"What are you doin' here, man?" Brown asked me. "This is Reggie."

Reggie nodded but said nothing, so I sketched a salute in his direction. "I'm lookin' for the Alderman. Word is, your Bartender could help me."

Reggie straightened, no longer blushing. Brown motioned him back and he hesitated, then leaned against the fence again. Except this time, I had his undivided attention.

"Police send you?" Brown wanted to know.

"I told Dziedziecz where I was going." I paused. "He said I'd get my ass shot off."

Brown laughed, a loud bray of sound that echoed through the street even over the sounds of Jazz coming from the place on the corner. "You might at that, you crazy Pollock. You might at that."

I narrowed my eyes. "That mean you'll let me in?"

Brown glanced at Reggie, who shrugged. He turned back to me. "Yeah. You can go on in. Ask for Marve."

"Thanks."

"And Pollock," Brown added, "be careful."

Great. First the Lieutenant and now Brown. You'd think I was shakin' down Capone's place or something, and not some Black dive bar in the middle of the Black Belt.

Progress, my ass.

I took a final drag on my cigarette and tossed it into the gutter. The steps led down to a black door. Here's hoping they led up again.

Thursday 13: A Writer In Her Library

2011-02-17T06:37:00.004-06:00

As my Facebook friends know, I host a series called A Writer In the City. In thinking about what to focus on for my Thursday 13 responses, I decided to give my readers a glimpse into the books in my library - for, as I’ve been told, I have rather a lot of books.

Today I’d like to focus on one of the sections of my library, my craft books. I have several sections within it, including knitting, crochet, weaving, pysanky, woodworking, candlemaking, needlecraft (which includes Bargello, needlepoint, counted cross-stich, etc.), beads and jewelry making, polymer clay, PMC (precious metal clay), and more. (I’m startled to see how much more, as I am preparing for this Thursday 13.) Join me as I discuss thirteen of my craft anthologies.

One word on methodology. I’ve been keeping a bibliography of my library for more than a decade now, partly because I have so many books I need some simple way to keep track. A while back, I mentioned this to a writing friend of mine, someone who is already published. She gave me the assignment to write down the publisher for each of my books, because the library of books we like will be a window into the publishers who publish works we want to write. I decided that makes a lot of sense. Here are the categories I use in my Excel spreadsheet:

Label? (This tells me if I need to put a book plate in the book. I designed my own custom plates using Avery labels; you can use a regular one from the store or a fancy embosser, your choice.)
Location (i.e. what shelf or, sadly, box. I need a bigger house!)
Subject
Author
Title
Publisher
City (If it’s New York and a bunch of others, I just write, New York et al)
Year
Format (Hardback, Trade, MM for Mass Market)
Notes
Checked-Out? (I don’t loan my books. Ever. This column is for when I do.)

Thirteen Books from the “Crafts: Anthologies” section:

1. Family Creative Workshop, Ed.; Family Creative Workshop, 23 Vol. & Index; Plenary Publications International, Inc.; New York & Amsterdam; 1976.

These are awesome. Hands down, one of the best anthologies for crafts I have ever seen. If you’re lucky, you can even find the volumes library bound - if you do, buy it. They’ll last even longer. They cover truly the largest spectrum of crafts I’ve seen in any anthology - and note, it’s 23 VOLUMES - as in, 23 separate, big, lovely books with color pictures. An orgasm on the bookshelf.

And do you know what? These books are so popular, crafters keep them alive. There’s even, I kid you not, a Facebook page!

2. Nine volumes of the Singer Reference Library:

Creative Sewing Ideas
Decorative Machine Stitching
Quick & Easy Decorating Projects
Quick & Easy Sewing Projects
Sewing for Style
Sewing Projects for the Home
More Sewing Projects for the Home
Timesaving Sewing

Published by Cy DeCosse Incorporated; Minnetonka, MN; various years from 1985 to 1995.

These are very, very good sewing instruction books. As you can see, they cover a myriad of subjects, and are thin enough to not overwhelm but thorough enough to give you a good grounding in the topic. The “Quick & Easy” ones are excellent for beginners, and the others are good once you’ve got the basics down. Singer does a great job of filling their books with lovely glossy photographs that are a visual feast.

3. Greystone's Creative Hands; The Complete Knitting, Dressmaking and Needlecraft Guide, Vol. 1-3; Greystone Press; New York, Toronto, London; 1975

I should say, at this point, that I like older craft books. Prior to about 1975 or maybe 1980, craft books actually had in-depth chapters and articles that weren’t driven by pictures and short-attention-span-theater. I have an EXCELLENT sewing book, for example, published in the 60’s that tells how to alter clothing for a full-figured woman. Since the average American is size 14 or higher, this is a useful skill - particularly when most off-the-rack stuff is 14 or smaller.

Greystone’s books are interesting in that they cover a lot of ground. I only found 3 volumes at a used book sale, but according to Library Thing, there are a total of 22. I like them because they cover all the basics and advance from there, and are targeted toward someone who is interested in doing most of the work themselves on clothing and home furnishings.

4. I’m not a huge fan of Time-Life books, at least not where anyone can hear me. (Which is a shame, because they’re really quite something.) I have two sets of books, the first of which is The Art of Sewing. They were published in 1975. They are incredible. The covers are different colors, depending on the topic at hand, and are inspiring from that alone - but the range of topics is even more awesome. Sadly, a search of the Time Life website today yielded no match; however, a look on Google for the art of sewing yielded many raves for the “vintage” collection of books.

The Art of Sewing: Boutique Attire
The Art of Sewing: Classic Techniques
The Art of Sewing: Decorative Techniques
The Art of Sewing: Exotic Styling
The Art of Sewing: Making Home Furnishings
The Art of Sewing: Novel Materials
The Art of Sewing: Personal Touch
The Art of Sewing: Restyling Your Wardrobe
The Art of Sewing: Separates That Travel
The Art of Sewing: Shortcuts to Elegance
The Art of Sewing: Sporting Scene
The Art of Sewing: Traditional Favorites

In particular, my two favorites are Personal Touch and Restyling Your Wardrobe. While the pictures are out-of-date because they’re from 1975, they are classic enough that with modern fabrics and a modern eye one can use them with current fashions. Restyling discusses how to, for example, make a skirt from a pair of suit pants - what a novel idea and a great way to use expensive suiting fabric! Pretty cool if you’re into the modern D-I-Y movement, too.

5. Oddly, my second set of Time Life was published in Alexandria, VA, and the first in New York. Weird, no? Anyway, this next antholody is Home Repair and Improvement. I actually remember seeing adds for this series, though the version I have is from 1997 and I won’t admit to watching TV in that year. ~smirk~

Home Repair and Improvement: Adding On
Home Repair and Improvement: Basic Wiring
Home Repair and Improvement: Energy Alternatives
Home Repair and Improvement: Fireplaces and Wood Stoves
Home Repair and Improvement: Kitchens and Bathrooms
Home Repair and Improvement: New Living Spaces
Home Repair and Improvement: Plumbing
Home Repair and Improvement: Porches and Patios
Home Repair and Improvement: Weatherproofing

These are fun for me, even though I don’t yet own my own home, because they give me ideas and information on how to do things when I do. Also, New Living Spaces helped me figure out ways to more efficiently use the space I do have now, even though it’s a rental.

6. The next several are single volumes. Better Homes and Gardens; Creative Crafts and Stitchery; Better Homes and Gardens Books; United States; 1976.

This has been published in multiple versions and I’ve wanted a copy since I was about 14 and saw it at my friend’s house who was a crafting goddess. (She had some seriously cool stuff at her place, and her mom owned the local knitting shop, so I was in serious adoration of these ladies.) This book is fun and feels like a textbook - same size and weight as my college calculus book, actually. (More fun though.) (Yes, I know I like math. But I like textile arts more. Hush, now, I’m’a talkin’ here!)

The section on knitting is fun to look at, because I never know what techniques I might want to borrow. I always browse the patterns in older books too, because the constructions are remarkably similar to current garments and sometimes the older explanations are easier to understand.

7. Guild, Vera P.; Good Housekeeping: New Complete Guide to Needlecraft; Good Housekeeping Books; New York; 1971

Similar to number 6, but from a different home company. I like both Good Housekeeping and Better Homes and Gardens; I think they’re both thorough and fun to read. I like this one because it presents a lot of needle crafts in ways that are easy to follow. I find the older pictures as inspiring as today’s glossy magazine photos, though I could wish more of them were in color.

8. McCall's; Needlework Treasury; Random House; New York; 1964

Something I only learned in recent years, McCall’s, Vogue, and Butterick are all the same company. They each have a slightly different ‘feel’ from each other, and I’m not sure if it’s a recent development or they’ve always been part of the same group. This treasury is fun because it’s got, like 6 and 7, a lot of different options for exploring needlearts.

Sometimes, the older books cover things like tatting, bobbin lace, and other forms of knitting that aren’t looked at by the more modern books.

9. Crafter's Choice; Complete Illustrated Stitch Encyclopedia; Crafter's Choice; New York; 2001

I accidentally got roped into Crafter’s Choice a couple years ago. They’re like Columbia House, but for craft books. If you have any impulse control issues around books, which the fact that I’m doing a TT on books might clue you into the fact that I do, I do not recommend getting involved with any club that sends you stuff you have to send back in order to not buy. Once it’s in your hot little hands, you’re not gonna want to let it go.

Jus’ sayin’...

This isn’t a bad book, by any means. It’s big, and glossy, and modern, and has lots of good ideas. I kept it when I did a purge of my library, so obviously something in it calls to me. It’s just not one I’d say “thou must run thee out and buyest thee this book” or something.

10. Michael's; Michael's Book of Needlecrafts: Knitting, Crochet and Embroidery; Lark Books; New York; 2005

Okay, okay. It’s silly, I admit it. I mean, it’s a craft store, what could they POSSIBLY offer me in a book that I can’t get by a better publisher like the ones already listed above?

d00d. You walk by something for long enough, and pretty soon that puppy will be talkin’ to ya and seducin’ ya and then poof, it’s in ya’ll’s shoppin’ cart... (I admit, the backpack design had me at hello, and the needlepoint on modern projects just clinched it. I fought buying the stupid thing for months, walking past it at Michael’s stores from here to the coasts and back. I bought it though, ~mumbles~ ahem, Crafter’s Choice...selection of the month...~mumbles~)

11. Better Homes and Gardens; Decorating Book; Meredith Corporation; United States; 1976

Better Homes and Gardens publishing offices in the 70’s must have been friggin’ Mecca.

d00d.

This.book.is.awesome. It’s full of ideas and, even better, it’s full of how to do stuff. LOFF! And it’s set up like their cookbook, the one that’s in the binder and has extra little pages and stuff...

12. Better Homes and Gardens; Handyman's Book; Better Homes and Gardens Books; Des Moines, New York; 1970

Same thing, but for Handyman people. (Handypeople probably didn’t scan well in the early 70’s.) (Besides, one doesn’t really hear of “handypeople jobs.”) (ANYWAY...) This one is useful for all sorts of things that go bump-crunch-bang in the middle of the night. Even if you have to hire someone to fix something, this book will tell you everything you need to know to evaluate what sort of, ahem, person you need to hire.

13. Rupp, Diana; Sew Everything Workshop; Workman Publishing; New York; 2007

BEST.SEWING.BOOK.EVER.

Srsly.

I’ve seen a LOT of sewing books. (Really. I once spent four hours in a circus tent full of books at a used book sale, drowning in the home ec section.) This is the single best sewing book I have ever seen in my life, trumping even the sewing bible, the Vogue Sewing Book. If you can only afford two books, get this and the Vogue one. If you can only get one, buy this one.

The one and only time I’ve WANTED to visit New York City was when I found out that the author has her own shop there. Make Workshop.

d00d. I wonder if she wants a love slave?

Happy TT!

New World Order - Making New Friends (Belinda)

2011-02-15T06:19:00.000-06:00

The next installment of New World Order, Chapter 18, "Making New Friends," is up on Taurus and Taurus for your perusal. Enjoy!

Spreading the Love Blog Hop

2011-02-11T16:39:00.008-06:00

Today, I'm going to share something a little sweeter for Valentine's Day. This little story was inspired from a picture prompt and I thought my readers might enjoy it. I wrote it way back on March 30th, 2008, and I figured it's time to blow the dust of it just in time for some Valentine's Day inspiration.

Thanks for visiting. Be sure to visit the other fine authors in this year's Valentine's Day Blog Hop, and good luck!

Blue Highway

“Hedges. Hedges, Wilhelm. Why is it always hedges?” Lars grumbled. “And look!” He pointed with an agitated arm. “Now they are putting hedges next to the trees!”

“Calm yourself, Lars. It’s not seemly to get so excited. It’s a beautiful morning,” Elder Wilhelm Yoder soothed. “Look there. You see how the trees form a line like they are walking to market?”

“Yes,” he sighed, “I see them.” He clucked at Mila and Kesta to hurry up. The two black mares obligingly moved into a light trot, their unshod hooves making soft ‘clops’ on the pavement.

The road was only two lanes. He and Wilhelm drove in the right-hand one. The English in this land drove on the right, but in their home country drove on the left. It numbered among the many things Lars didn’t understand. To the right of the white line separating the road, the ugly hedgerows began. Nearly waist-high and wide to the depth of his forearm, trees had been planted just beyond them, spaced evenly like in an orchard. But this close to the exhaust fumes of automobiles, the trees would be useless for produce. Another hedgerow started just after the trees, like a fence, and then the woods began.
“Are those Mr. Madden’s woods too?” Lars demanded, the thought popping unbidden to his mind.

“Mmm,” Wilhelm responded. “I do not know. Why is it you ask?”

Lars blushed and looked away. “Curiosity only, Elder.”

“We Amish are a curious people,” Wilhelm said softly.

After a moment, Lars realized he was teasing. “Forgive me, Elder. I feel out of sorts this morning.”

“And why is that, young Lars?”

“It’s Rebecca!” he burst out. “Viktor Sauder gave her flowers at the Meeting. Flowers!”

“It is Easter, my son,” Wilhelm said quietly. Then, “Are you out of sorts because you neglected to bring any?”

Lars shot a look at the Elder and found himself regarded by calm, age-filmed blue eyes. “Yes,” he said miserably and looked back at the road. “What if she chooses Viktor?”

“If you neglect to bring her any gifts, perhaps she will,” Wilhelm said gently. When Lars whirled to retort, he held up a hand. “I said ‘if,’ my son. ‘If.’ We go to market after Mr. Madden’s delivery.”

Lars stopped. That thought had not occurred to him. “I brought candles to barter,” he noted thoughtfully.

“Perhaps you should barter with Mrs. Mills, young Lars. She makes such pretty hair ties.”

When Lars met Wilhelm’s gaze, he found the old man twinkling at him. “Do you approve of the match?” Lars asked, greatly bold.

“I do, my son.” He patted Lars’s knee. “But first, to business. We have much work to do, and we are missing the scenery.”

Lars grinned and turned back to the road. The sun, not up yet, provided enough light that the woods were cast into bluish shadows. “Aren’t the hedges rather attractive in this light?” he asked the Elder.

Elder Wilhelm just smiled and settled deeper into his seat.

(Original post here.)

Start of the Blog Hop is here.

Thursday 13: Snowpocalypse 2K11

2011-02-03T06:49:00.001-06:00

This storm covered 30 states! Pretty amazing. Here are 13 random thoughts on the Lee of the Storm:

1. Tuesday night, we made it through Lakeshore Drive just in time, apparently. Michael picked me up at 3:30 P.M., having left his office at 3:00, and we didn’t get to our garage until 6:00 P.M. We were lucky: many, many people got stranded on Lakeshore and had to be rescued.

2. This is the view from our car, with 50 mph winds sweeping west (to the left as you’re looking at the photo), causing whiteout conditions and driving snow and ice before it. Lake Michigan is directly to the east of Chicago, so the storm picked up water off the lake to add to its fury.

3. Here’s an article with pictures about the Drive being back open, and all the stranded cars.

4. Several buses were even stuck, my bus driver this morning told me, and had to come to work the next day anyway!

5. The thermocouple on our furnace gave out. What’s a thermocouple? Here's what Google gave me. What happened is that the furnace blew out (it’s gas operated). We re-lit it, and it blew out. We re-lit it, and it blew out again. We built a burm of snow around it, and it blew out - but this time, the flames came several inches out of the opening, missing my face by a breath, and burned all the hairs off my left hand.

Here’s the guys, building the snow wall:

6. The city did a terrific job of plowing everything. The streets are, by and large, open again. They plowed our street in the night, using a dump truck to get the snow out of the way.

7. The ‘problem’ with plowing the streets, is that it creates a burm. A burm is a small mountain of snow, snaking along beside the road from the snow that was pushed out of the way of the plows. The bus stop is on the curb, on the other side of the burm from the bus. This means I had to climb over a wide burm to get to the bus.

8. Our offices were actually closed yesterday, as was most of the city. The Chicago Public School System, CPS, closed for the first time in 12 years. My husband and stepson were home for the day too.

9. I didn’t get to have a traditional snow day, though, due to the wonders of modern technology. Our office has a VPN, or Virtual Private Network, so I can work from home.

10. Cable, however, was out. We use a cable modem. So my internet, wireless, AND television were all out.

11. I piggybacked onto my upstairs neighbors’ wifi, which let me access work files - but very sloooowwwwwlllllyyyyy. I live in a 1925 brick building, whose walls are 12” thick. So the signal, she wasn’t strong.

12. After the drama with the snow, and the fire in the furnace, and the shoveling and cable and working and VPN and food and stuff, I decided to take a moment to myself in my nice, warm bathroom.

And a giant friggin’ spider crawls up the wall and trundles on over to me to say hello.

D00D!

13. I am very grateful that today is a sunny day, and that we have survived Snowpocalypse 2K11! HOORAH!

Update from the World of Weave!

2011-01-27T23:12:00.001-06:00

I have some news from my weaving classes and pictures, as well as an announcement about WeaveSpa. Check it out on Knoontime Knitting! And another entry, here!

That Good-For-You Food - Yogurt!

2011-01-20T06:48:00.000-06:00

Stemming from discussions with some friends, my contribution to Thursday 13 today centers around 13 Things About Yogurt. An unusual topic, perhaps, but an interesting one none-the-less:

1. Yogurt can be made from cow’s milk, goat’s milk, even soy milk. One article I saw said “any mammal milk,” which gave me pause - elephant yogurt? o.O...

2. It’s fermented milk. Commercial yogurts have the fermentation added, but you can make it at home with a commercially-available home yogurt maker.

3. I have a commercially-available home yogurt maker.

4. I’m not brave enough to try it yet...

5. The bacteria that make the yogurt are VERY beneficial to the human digestive tract. By now, most folks have heard about “acidophilus” (which my spellcheck tried to make “audiophiles,” but I digress...), but there are a broad spectrum of bacteria that are useful.

6. When you have any kind of intestinal trauma, from simple stomach flu and food poisoning all the way up to intestinal disease, yogurt can help re-populate the healthy flora in the intestines and ease up on painful symptoms.

7. Yogurt is an excellent facial cleanser.

8. No, that’s not a typo - yes, it is a non sequitur (my spellcheck tried to make THAT ‘squirt’). You can simply take yogurt in your hands (use a spoon, don’t just dip your paws in the container, sheesh!) and spread it on your face with gentle, upward sweeps of your fingers. HINT: let it come up to room temperature first. (Ask me how I know.)

9. It is an excellent cure for yeast infection.

10. No, I have not personally tested that theory. I used to get them a lot (infections) and did a LOT of research. Something about the beneficial bacteria eats the yeast in your system, and so applying it directly on the … um, affected area... is how it works. I just couldn’t do that myself, but my herbal instructor confirmed it is effective. (Couldn’t eat yogurt for months when I found out, as a matter of fact...)

11. Now, I eat yogurt pretty much daily. I have intestinal problems that I won’t bore you with, but the yogurt helps a) soothe my stomach and gut and b) helps keep the good flora well-populated. Cuz a flowery colon is your friend. (Um, forget I wrote that last sentence...)

12. Yogurt impersonates sour cream REALLY well, and if you use the 0% fat yogurt, it’s MUCH fewer calories. I put it in my spicy Indian food (which, happily enough, is actually rather authentic - they put yogurt on it too!), Mexican food, my baked potatoes, in soup, all sorts of stuff. Even put cocoa powder and honey in it! (The yogurt, ya goof, not the Indian food...)

13. If you need a quick dip for fresh broccoli florets, put some mild curry powder and a smidge of garlic salt into half a cup of yogurt and stir really well. YUM! And, 0% fat is your friend!!

Wow. Despite my worries, I actually ran out of 13 before I ran out of list! We might have to do this one again!

Happy TT!

New World Order - Chapter 17: Banker’s Hours (Belinda)

2011-01-16T21:56:00.000-06:00

The long-awaited next installment of New World Order, Chapter 17, "Banker's Hours," is up on Taurus and Taurus for your perusal. Enjoy!

Thursday 13 - 13 Stress-Busting Tips

2011-01-13T06:00:00.001-06:00

I’ve had quite a bit of stress in my life lately, and it’s reminded me of the tools I’ve been given, learned, or, let’s be honest, been forced to incorporate in my life in order to manage the stress. While the obvious best solution is to eliminate the stressors in life, sometimes that’s not an option. When stress rears its ugly head, and we aren’t in a position to slay it outright, here are some of the tools that have worked for me. I hope they help you, too.

1. Breathe. This is one of the most effective, in-the-moment tools in the arsenal. Recently, I learned that breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth can give it an extra stress-busting kick that can help to bring the adrenaline down.

2. Drink lots of water. So what, it makes you go to the bathroom a lot? (Seriously, this is one of the most common complaints in response to this suggestion that I hear.) Water helps to wash toxins out of our bloodstream. Stress releases toxic chemicals into our system (that’s part of why it feels yucky and why, over time, stress is actually damaging to the human body).

3. Learn about stress. There are a lot of good materials out there, from places like the Mayo Clinic or your health provider’s website, to your doctor, books, friends, and the internet. Get good information about what stress is, how it affects the body, and what you can do about it. Knowledge is power.

4. Take your own advice. Many times, we know what we “should” do, we just don’t do it. Take the steps to remove your own blocks to good behavior, and implement what you know will help you in the long term.

5. Don’t be the lone gunman. While that has an echo of ugliness, because sometimes people literally become gunmen when under stress, I mean it more figuratively: don’t suffer in silence. Tell your friends, your pastor or rabbi or other religious counselor, your therapist, or other trusted advisor. Talking about it, even just admitting “I feel stress” is the first step to taking control and reducing the stress in your life.

6. Understand bravery. Being brave isn’t lack of fear. Being brave is doing something even when you’re afraid. Sometimes, the things that are causing the most stress are within our power to change, we’re just afraid to. Practice bravery in the small things so that when big things come up, you have the skills polished and know what to do.

7. Trust yourself. Your own inner guidance, that moral compass inside you, is your best and truest friend. Learn to listen to yourself, so that when you need it, you’re there to advise you.

8. Exercise. Endorphins that are released when you exercise lower stress. It can also boost your ability to handle new stress, so it’s kind of a perpetual-motion machine of goodness that can beat back that stress. Just do it!

9. Eat well. Medicating ourselves with too much sugar or fat is a common response to stress. Be aware of this impulse and make good decisions about food. If you need to get yourself into a program like Weight Watchers or Overeaters Anonymous if food is your drug of choice.

10. Remember, or learn, the Serenity Prayer: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the strength to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Simple, powerful, liberating.

11. Learn what you can control in a situation. There are always options. When you can hone your ability to see those options, you empower yourself. You may not like the options, but having them can give you, well, options. When you can make decisions, you exercise control. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle.

12. Go easy on the drugs. Understand the effects of your drugs of choice: caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, or others. Know that putting them in your system has consequences, and that when we’re stressed, it’s natural to want to self-medicate. The problem is that doing so can cloud our ability to effectively deal with the stress that caused the urge in the first place, which is why it’s difficult to stop. If you need help doing so, see a therapist or cessation group and get information and support.

13. Massage. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: massage works. It works with the body’s natural healing processes and boosts your ability to manage the stress you’ve already developed as well as prevent further stress from having adverse effects. If you haven’t tried it, make a resolution to find a good massage therapist. Highly worth the money and time you invest.

Above all, remember: you are the architect of your life. If there are things happening on a regular basis in your daily round that you don’t like, you have the power and authority to change them. Be open to the abundance in the universe and trust yourself. You can do it!

The Daily Round

2011-01-01T12:09:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year! 2011 not only begins, but a new decade in the new millennium begins. It’s a new, new beginning.

As with anything, though, plans rarely survive contact with the enemy. In typical fashion, I am reminded by the Universe that not everything is within my control.

A fact I am disgruntled by, I might add…

My story is typed from a table in the Acela Lounge in Washington, D.C., on Saturday afternoon, New Year’s Day. It SHOULD have been, or rather was INTENDED to have been, typed from a train somewhere in the Carolinas. Maybe, dare I suggest it, Georgia.

DC was YESTERDAY.

Ah. But that would be the case if the plans survived contact with the enemy.

The enemy, in this case, being a burst water pipe.

We were taken via rickety golf cart to our train via the wrong way down the tracks (no, really; the Red Cap [i.e. Bellman] got lost… reassuring, eh?) and got to our car – the last car on the train, and aaaaallll the way down the tracks from the station – and were told “Oh, didn’t anyone tell you? Your compartment is flooded, we put you in Coach.”

For a twenty-five hour trip.

Needless to say, we were not, um, pleased.

We were put up in a Holiday Inn (an actually nice one; I was gratified and surprised, not being a fan of the Holiday Inn chain) for the night and given a stipend for the cab and for dinner. They managed to get us into a sleeper car for the trip to Florida on an earlier train, but ON New Year’s Day instead of New Year’s Eve.

We both fell asleep prior to midnight, in the middle of attempting to watch a movie. I did manage to call my husband and a friend and wish them Happy New Year first, then zonked.

In the “seeing the Sacred in the ordinary” department, this was pretty darned cool for the possible outcomes. We didn’t get derailed, the train didn’t hit anyone while we were on it, and we got a nice, comfortable hotel with two huge comfy beds AND a bathtub. And dinner – a pretty nice Chinese takeout with too much salt but very yummy steamed dumplings and won ton soup.

All in all, one of the better contacts with the enemy experiences my plans have gone through.

Thereby proving, once again, that adventure is all in how you look at it.

Happy New Year!

Thirteen Management Tips

2010-12-30T06:32:00.001-06:00

So. … This is my list. It has no introduction, on account of I can’t think of one. Suffice it to say, if you’re a manager, and you want to motivate your team members or build trust, don’t do these things:

1. Yell a lot.

2. Don’t apologize.

3. Yell some more.

4. Look confused when confronted about your mood and why you’ve been yelling.

5. Tell the person that confronted you about your mood and why you’ve been yelling that they obviously don’t know what their effect is on others.

6. Yell at your team members about stuff they do outside of work, that has no bearing on work, and when they don’t bring it in to work.

7. Look surprised when they tell you it’s none of your business what they do outside of work. They’re your employees, right??

8. When you do get an inkling you might have gone a teensy bit overboard, apologize and act contrite to everyone EXCEPT the team members you yelled at.

9. Yell some more.

10. Blame your yelling on your own stress and tell people that if they find your yelling stressful, they should consider themselves lucky that’s all the stress they have in their lives.

11. Don’t apologize.

12. Yell about how you’re the boss, because obviously your employees have failed to realize that you are the boss.

13. Pass off 1-12 as “clearing the air.”

There are many good management books out there. Some are even in English. They’re available for free, even, at libraries. Public ones. That are nearby. Even walking distance of some places.

Isn’t society advanced?

Thursday 13

2010-12-16T06:00:00.002-06:00

Thirteen Words:

This is what you do when you're pressed for time, haven't done a TT in ages, and need to do a TT cuz yer friends are startin' ta eye yer blog with a dust rag in their hands...

1. Prevaricate
2. Bonk
3. Abscess
4. Obstreperous
5. Fiddle
6. Loquacious
7. Moody
8. Defenestrate
9. Transit
10. Vector
11. Cetacean
12. Nitwit
13. Catalepsy

There!

~faints~

The Versatile Blogger Award!

2010-12-12T14:46:00.002-06:00

Thank you to author Darla M. Sands for awarding me The Versatile Blogger award. It's much appreciated, Darla!

I 'met' Darla through a mutual writing community and she joined my online writing forum. Over the last couple years, we've become friends and supported each other through the trials and successes inherent in the writing life. I got to see her blossom from a novice blogger with one blog to the proud author of two individual blogs and as a contributing author to several others. Her steady output and inventive writing style are continuous sources of inspiration to me, as is her support and upbeat personality. Thank you!

The Versatile Blogger Award:
Here are the rules:
1. Share 7 things about yourself
2. Pass The Award to 15 bloggers recently discovered (or however many you can manage).
3. Notify the blogger recipients.
4. Link The blogger who gave the award.

Seven things about me:
1. I love to write.
2. I love dark chocolate.
3. I'm afraid of spiders.
4. I dislike interpersonal conflict.
5. While I am strongly right-brained in my thinking style, I am good at details and working in a stepwise fashion.
6. Writing out of order is fun.
7. I speak Spanish and Russian, though I don't get as much practice as I'd like.

Here are my award recipients:

1. Allie, of Hyperbole and a Half
2. Debbie Cairo
3. Tina Holland
4. Lucius Antony
5. Rowan Larke
6. Silently Mine
7. Tess Miller
8. Kaige, at Impulsive Hearts
9. Michael A. Horvich
10. Perri Sanborn
11. Sand Castles, by Darla M. Sands
12. Romance Divas Blog
13. Sasha Devlin
14. S. K. Yule
15. Maddy Barone

Enjoy!

The Importance of Mentoring

2010-11-16T17:05:00.000-06:00

I am a member of the Romance Divas forum, and recently they issued a call for submissions. My article, The Importance of Mentoring, was selected to be published today. I'm so excited!

Check it out here.

13 Reasons to NaNo

2010-11-11T06:38:00.000-06:00

Every November, writers across the globe participate in NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. My boss says, “Yeah, but are the fifty thousand words any good?” implying that writing fifty thousand words in a month means somehow the quality is bad. But people all over, myself included, write it anyway.

Why?

Well, I can’t tell you why Mbute in Nigeria does it, but I can tell you why I do it. So here, without varnish, are thirteen rebuttals to my boss, the NaNoHater:

1. Most people never finish a novel, even though they say “I’d like to write a novel.” I don’t want to be one of those people.

2. Writing fast gets you onto the page, past the Critic.

3. Writing more is preferable to writing less.

4. Writing 1,667 words a day is good practice for life. It teaches that slow and steady wins the race, and that we can create without drama.

5. Writers aren’t all drunk, disorderly, and undisciplined. Some of us, many of us, are much like marathon runners.

6. People thought the first woman to finish a marathon was nuts too. And the woman who finished last in the 1984 Olympics, staggering across the line, people though she was nuts. But she did it, anyway, in spite of all that.

7. Writing fast and nuts is fun and contagious, which is why people band together to do it.

8. There is strength in numbers. Writing with thousands of other nuts people is electrifying.

9. It feels good to finish a novel, and it feels good to do it again. Thus, I’m in my second NaNo.

10. Writing a lot gives you practice, and you get better with practice.

11. Rough drafts and ‘ugly ducklings’ are a necessary part of the creative process.

12. You can’t perfect what you ain’t writ. So all respect to the “yeah, but is it fifty thousand good words’ crowd, DUDE. IT’S A ROUGH DRAFT. WHATCHOO GOT? NOTHIN!

13. I live to write, so I NaNo.

Thursday 13: 13 Exercises for Knee Health

2010-09-09T06:31:00.000-05:00

Some of you already know, I have some significant knee problems. In the course of dealing with them, before surgery and after, I’ve had to learn a number of new exercises and habits to keep my knees healthy. They help my ankles too, which is also important because of old sports injuries.

I got to thinking, I’m not the only one with some knee challenges, so I figured I’d share my exercises. Use them in good knee health!

1. Walk, don’t run. If you have osteo-arthritis, walking is a lot better for you as an exercise. This doesn’t mean you can’t ever run, despite what several doctors have said to me, but it does mean you’ll have more work to do if it’s something you want. In the meantime, walk. A lot.

2. Get good shoes. Srsly. I have completely had a revolution in thinking about shoes since my surgery. I spent way too much money and time on my knees to ruin them with crappy – but cute – shoes. Get good shoes, people. New Balance and Nike are my favorite; DSW is a good place to bargain hunt. But initially, I cannot overstress the value of going to a real, live shoe store. One of the best is Waxberg’s.

3. Stretch the hamstrings. Those are the big muscles on the back of the thigh, under your butt. Particularly if you have a sedentary job, like I do, these muscles get very tight and painful. First stretch: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, facing a chair or bench. Set one heel on the bench, and if you need to for balance, hold onto something or use the wall as a support. Bending forward carefully from the hips, bend until you feel a stretch in the back of your leg. Hold for thirty seconds, then do the other leg.

4. Second stretch: Stand perpendicular to the chair, feet shoulder-width apart. Put the heel of the leg closest to the chair on the chair. Lean toward the chair with the hips, feeling a stretch inside your legs. Hold for thirty seconds and then do the other leg.

5. Third stretch: Stand facing the chair, feet shoulder-width apart. Set one heel on the chair and turn the hips in toward that leg. So, if your right leg is up, turn with your hips to the right. You will probably feel a stretch without even leaning over; hold for thirty seconds.

6. Stretch the thigh by lifting your foot and holding it with the hand – right foot, right hand; left foot, left hand. Push your hips forward and pull your stomach in. You will probably feel a stretch just with that; if not, pull on the foot a bit to tighten. Hold for thirty seconds.

7. Cross one leg over the other. Lean away from the uncrossed leg. To put it another way: cross your right leg in front of the left, and then lean to the left with your hips. You will feel the stretch down the outside of your left leg. Hold for thirty seconds. Then do the other side.

8. Practice squats – very carefully! Stand, feet shoulder-width apart. Without allowing your knee to bend over your foot, squat down – only as much as it takes to feel it; even if it’s only a little. Over time, you can increase this. Then come back up. Do this 12 times, each side, then rest. After a week, increase to two sets; third week, three sets.

9. Side squats: starting in the same position as for #8, step out to the side and squat on that leg, then come back up. Be very careful to not allow the point of the knee to extend past the toes on either side.

10. Back squats: starting in the same position as for #8 and #9, step back and squat on that leg, then come back up.

11. Ball squats: these are done with a ball behind the back. (A small volleyball-sized one is fine, if you have it; otherwise, you can use an exercise ball.) Stand about a foot and a half in front of a wall, and put the ball at your lower back. Back up until you can hold the ball against the wall with your body. Then spread your feet about twice shoulder width. Pushing back against the ball, squat down no farther than ninety degrees, then push back up. Do this twelve times as a set; same incremental increase as for #8.

12. The Roller. I hate this one, but I really, really helps. Using a foam roller, roll along your IT band (the fascia that extends along the outside of the leg from the knee to the hips) up to ten times, back and forth. (If you’ve never done it before, you may only be able to do this once or twice at first, and it hurts a LOT.) Persevere. This is one of the single best things you can do for chronic knee pain; you will hate and love the roller thingie.
Here's a good You Tube.

13. Good massage. If you can find a massage therapist that knows myofacial release, HIRE THEM. They will do tremendous things for managing knee pain and helping you to get better. Good therapists will also be able to suggest other exercises to help you.

Good luck. Chronic pain is no fun, and managing it – improving it – and moving past it are a long-term investment. It’s worth it. Hang in there.

Vosges Chocolates

2010-09-07T06:51:00.001-05:00

I'm blogging about Vosges Chocolate today over at Eclectica. Check it out!

The Night Is a Harsh Mistress, Chapter 18

2010-09-06T06:22:00.000-05:00

Chapter 18 of The Night Is a Harsh Mistress is up. We get to find out about the mysterious Viktor and his father, and who, exactly, David Greene is. Enjoy!

Labor Day Blog Hop

2010-09-03T06:20:00.003-05:00

Happy Labor Day! Thanks to Booknibbles.com for the wonderful tour! If you’re just coming across this post, you can catch the beginning HERE.

In celebration of the beginning of the end of summer, here is a brief excerpt from a novel about the intersection between the world of Men and the world of the Fey. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Shards

Daniel Guthrie sat in the street, the blood and the noise made no impression on him. The body in his arms dragged against him; its weight pulled at his shoulders, his back. The tears had dried on his cheeks, his chin; he stared at the ground somewhere by his feet. He felt hollow, numb. David Behan was dead.

He knew when the police came, their sirens pierced his ears. Blue and white strobed through the nighttime blackness, cut through the street lights. He heard Bryan Sullivan speak to them, his voice cutting through the din.

“Yes, sir. I saw the whole thing. Self defense.”

The words made no sense to Danny. The detective kept trying to speak to him, even asked Bryan to try to get a response. Danny didn’t care. His throat closed, shut tight, and it felt like he’d never speak again.

“Sir, we have to take the body.”

A hand closed on David’s shoulder, crossed in front of Danny’s face, tried to lift the body away. He saw that much before Bryan appeared, holding his arm and shoulder in front of Danny, blocking him from moving. He realized Bryan had been speaking for a while, repeating the same phrase over and over.

“Danny. It’s okay. They’re here to help. You have to let them take David, Danny. It’s okay.”

It felt like his ears popped, like in a plane landing. He sat on the ground, in the street. The grit stuck to his hands grated where he gripped Bryan’s arm. His neck felt stiff but he turned to meet Bryan’s gaze from inches away. Bryan’s face looked haggard, twenty years older than his twenty-five. Tear tracks and blood splotches stood out against his pale skin. Danny blinked.

“Bryan.” Danny’s voice felt worn, hollow.

“Danny!” The relief in Bryan’s voice almost embarrassed Danny, like Bryan revealed personal information to strangers.

“Yeah. I’m here. I won’t… fight them.” Hurt them, he almost said. He couldn’t say that openly, not when the detective hung over his shoulder.

After a moment or two, the paramedic apparently decided Danny was not going to interfere again and motioned his partner forward. They moved David’s body to a waiting gurney. He saw Bryan out of the corner of his eye, watched him track the gurney and swallow. But Danny didn’t turn. He knew they would take David to the ambulance and then the hospital morgue. All he could focus on was the blood. So much blood, it pooled in the street, soaked his jeans and shoes, squished in his socks. He knew it matted his hair, streaked his face. The mad detachment welled up again, swallowed the sound and the light. Bryan started to speak again but Danny could only focus on the blood on the ground nearby. Gravel and broken glass studded it, here and there sparkling in the light from the nearby police cruiser.

David Behan was dead.

Okay, on to the next blog. I hope you make it to the end, where I’ll be giving away a gift certificate. Good luck!

Thursday 13 - September 2, 2010

2010-09-02T06:13:00.000-05:00

So, I got some grumpy news from a friend this week. Rather than expose it to the world of the internet, which could give it legs I don’t intend, I figured I’d vent in a general fashion. It’s been a tough couple weeks, and I’ve been kind of off my game.

On the other hand, staying off my game seems silly. So the second half of my list is stuff I’m grateful for. In fact, since half of 13 is 6.5, the greater part of my list (7) will be grateful stuff. That way, I can vent and then focus on the happy.

1. When people say stuff and then don’t follow through. This is sometimes annoying, sometimes unprofessional, but can be hurtful.

2. Lack of communication. If you do something that doesn’t include someone it should have, don’t let them find out through Facebook. That’s like finding out at recess.

3. Broken fingernails that break off beneath the quick. Ow.

4. When my dog poops on my carpet. GAH!

5. When the alarm clock goes off in the morning.

6. When I can’t find my hammer to kill the alarm clock with. GRR!

And what am I grateful for?

7. My family.

8. My friends.

9. My pets.

10. My writing community. Y’all are awesome, d00ds!

11. Airplanes. Srsly. I get to go visit mah peeps later this month by plane. I’m very excited!!

12. The telephone. The friends who can’t come are going to call in later this month. I’m so excited!

13. Forum software. It lets me stay in communication with people all over the globe, and maintain friendships that otherwise wouldn’t happen.

Thank you!

Happy TT!

Chapter 3 of Initial Public Offering

2010-09-01T06:55:00.000-05:00

Chapter 3 of Initial Public Offering is up.

For a quick blurb on the story, visit our "About the Stories" page.

Wiley Wednesday: Irreducible Minimums

2010-09-01T06:14:00.001-05:00

I'm blogging about Irreducible Minimums over at the Writer's Retreat Blog this week. Stop on by!

Thursday 13 – 13 Reasons to Go On Retreat

2010-08-12T06:59:00.000-05:00

I haven’t been doing as much promo as usual for my Evanston Writers Workshop Retreat, but not from lack of interest. It’s just been a hellishly crazy couple of weeks! (Which is also why I’ve been so resoundingly silent on my blog duties… o.O…)

So. Other than the urge to HIDE FROM THE WHOLE WORLD… ~blinks~ sorry, was that my outside keyboard? … Here are 13 Reasons to Go On Retreat!

1. TO HIDE FROM THE WORLD! (Duh. I mean, d00d, you didn’t see that one comin’?)

2. Stephen R. Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and other books, suggests that we need to renew ourselves on a regular basis. He calls this process “Sharpen the Saw.” After all, if you continue to saw away with it and never sharpen it, what happens to the blade? People are the same way. Renewal can take many forms – education, recreation, rest… but it must take some form, regularly, in order for us to maintain our effectiveness.

3. The Evanston Writers Workshop First Annual Retreat is this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, August 14 and 15, at the Fox River Bed and Breakfast outside of beautiful Starved Rock State Park, Illinois.

4. Our theme is EWW Unplugged: Rest, Rejuvenate, and Write!

5. When we retreat, not just EWW but in general, it’s useful to step out of our daily round and go somewhere. (I’ll address how to do a staycation retreat below.) Sometimes, the simple act of changing one’s surroundings can help shift personal reality into a new perspective, which makes it easier to feel as though one is actually retreating.

6. Another reason to retreat is that it provides perspective. It’s easy to let the self get swept up in the flurry of day-to-day activities and not take a step back to see the forest. But the forest is an important thing to see. Just because you’re toodling along on the path, efficiently and quickly, doesn’t mean you’re in the right forest! Uhps!

7. If you can’t afford to take a weekend elsewhere, you can do a Staytreat. These are related to Staycations, in that you don’t physically go anywhere. But like the Staycation, the Staytreat must be out of the ordinary flow of events. Plan special meals, baths, relaxing events, writing events, or time with special books and people to make your Staytreat a Retreat and not a Retread of the Same Old Weekend.

8. That’s another reason to retreat, actually: the dreaded malady, The Same Old Same Old. Highly contagious, this malady afflicts four out of five people and leads to boredom, mindless surfing of the addictive interwebs, addiction to television and silly reading material, and carboloaded eating habits.

9. Retreat is an excellent remedy for “I haven’t been writing lately.” Retreat Unplugged is even better, though difficult for modern Interwebwarriors. One of the key tools for this is the Almighty Prompt. There are many, many opportunities for prompts all over the interwebs (caution – may lead to mindless surfing, so maybe give the task of finding the prompts to an enterprising family member – but watch them for signs of this malady!!).

10. Get compatriots! Gather your friends, in the webs and in the flesh, to retreat with you! Communication software (and the old-fashioned telephone) work wonders to connect people across distances. Read to each other, share prompts, share writing time… but share the retreat! It’s a lot easier to retreat when you have help!

11. Unplug. Turn everything off (except maybe the air conditioner…). Turn off the computer, the cell phone, the television, the radio, the iPod, the CD Player, the 8-Track… (sorry, belay that last), you know what I mean – TURN THAT … OFF!!!

12. STAY unplugged for a whole weekend. Light your home with candles, stumble around with a flashlight, write outside by the light of the street lights – use bug spray as needed! – but practice being off the grid.

13. If those STILL don’t help you, then come join us! We’ll help you retreat good and proper! Saturday and Sunday, August 14th and 15th, at the Fox River Bed and Breakfast in Illinois. See you there!

~Happy TT!~

Initial Public Offering - Chapter Two

2010-08-04T20:20:00.000-05:00

The next chapter of Initial Public Offering is up. Enjoy!

Updates to Photo Series, "A Writer In the City"

2010-08-04T06:27:00.000-05:00

As some of you know, I've been doing a photo series on my Facebook account called "A Writer in the City." If you haven't checked it out, please feel free to stop by. If you're following, here's the link to today's upload.

Enjoy!

New World Order, Chapter 14: No More Games, Mr. Balistreri (Belinda)

2010-07-25T19:17:00.000-05:00

Chapter 14 is posted today. I'm about a week late, since we want to post every other Monday and that would have been last Monday. But Rachel and I noticed some continuity problems in the chapter, and things just got busy this week.

It's interesting working on a serial novel. While this chapter was already done, not all of them are, so it's still fluid until it posts. It's been fun to work on. As some of you know, we've submitted our novel to a publisher, and it takes place in the same universe as New World Order but with different characters. Continuing to work on New World Order, which to us is now the 'older' project, keeps us grounded in world building because we have a much clearer idea of where we're trying to get with it.

We met while Rachel was here earlier this month and discussed the timeline of the different books in this universe. That's very helpful as well, because we know where we have to get story-wise in order for all the parts to fit together.

In any event, I hope you enjoy!

Gom gom gom...

2010-07-15T21:16:00.002-05:00

I'm blogging about Ornes Candy Store's Dark Chocolate today on Eclectica. Stop by!

How To See the Forest If You’re a Tree Person

2010-07-06T06:05:00.001-05:00

I am blogging today at the Writer's Retreat Blog about "How to See the Forest If You're a Tree Person." Stop on by!

New World Order, Chapter 13: You Can Pick Your Friends… (Belinda)

2010-07-05T12:40:00.001-05:00

Chapter 13 of New World Order, "You Can Pick Your Friends..." is posted on Taurus and Taurus. Enjoy!

Association Meme

2010-06-24T13:52:00.003-05:00

Have you ever played the word association game? In that game, someone will say a word, then the next person says the first word they think of. Each person who follows simply says what ever word comes to mind, based on the previous word.

For instance:
Person 1: red
Person 2: bull
Person 3: pasture
Person 4: grass
etc.

For the meme, it would look more like this:

Alice said excitement

Hootin’ Anni said thrill

Mari said ride as in roller coaster

Here are the rules:

1. Anyone can play, whether they have been tagged or not.

2. Include the rules and logo in your post.

3. Copy out all the responses that were made before you.

4. Link to each of the people who responded before you.

5. Put in your response. Your response can be as little as a single word or as much as 100 words. It can be a word, a phrase, an image, a song, a video, a story, or a short rant.

6. Tag anyone you would like to challenge to play this game. You do not have to tag anyone.

7. You can do this any time you run across it, even if you were one of the previous responders.

If you have done this meme on your blog, you are welcome to put your link in here. Be sure to link to the specific post, and welcome to the Association Association.

Want to simply jump in? You are welcome to start with the word “Excitement”, or to take off from any of the responses you find among the players listed below or from anywhere you see this meme.

Alice said I remember riding the “Batman” roller coaster in Great America. You dangled from it with your feet hanging down. There was a pile of shoes under it and a sign warning that if you lost them, you wouldn’t get them back. So my response is “shoes”.

Noony said:

Shoes remind me of shame, of having my feet measured by some stranger and then having to wear clunky, ugly Famolare's to school. When I got there, though, my shoes became cool and so it didn't matter as much. But I secretly harbor the desire to wear fancy, flashy, electric-pink shoes. So my response is "yearning."

Thursday 13: Thirteen Prompts

2010-06-24T06:27:00.000-05:00

The Evanston Writers Workshop holds Prompt Group sessions every second and fourth Wednesday at the Barnes and Noble in Evanston. While you could certainly join us, I figured I’d feature a mini-session for today’s Thursday 13: thirteen writing prompts to prime the pump and get you moving. If you decide to try one or two (or all!), please link to the result in the comments so I can come visit and see!

1. You are a middle-aged woman, dressed in black, walking in New York’s Central Park at six o’clock in the evening on a Sunday. Who are you, and what are you doing?

2. Go to your bathroom and find something scented: soap, bubble bath, cologne or perfume. Take it back to your desk or wherever you write. Close your eyes and inhale the scent. Then write.

3. Try a picture prompt. You can go to Google Images and look up random things, or use this one as a starter:

4. Try using prompt cards: take 6 settings, 6 plot ideas, and 6 characters, shuffle each set and pick one of each. Then write about the combination.

5. Setting: desert. Plot: betrayal. Character: Charlotte, 33, hairdresser.

6. Go to Pandora dot com and enter the name of a band you don’t often listen to, but that a character might. Listen to the resulting station and write a story with your character.

7. Open a book at random, and pick the first sentence on the left page. Write that sentence on your paper or type it into your word processor and write for 500 words.

8. “Martin never thought he’d see the day when…” and keep going.

9. Take a short story or flash that you’ve written and rewrite it, from the perspective of another character or with a different type of ‘feel.’ Example: if it’s a romance, write it as a spy story; if it has a happy ending, change it to a murder.

10. Rewrite a story from the Bible. Old Testament ones are interesting: try the story of Ruth or maybe the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah.

11. Rewrite a modern story that you like (this one is tricky, because it can be plagiarism if you mimic word for word, but I’m speaking more of using something as a model and creating your own story from it). Example: Star Wars is about a young man, coming of age, on a hero’s journey. For your story, set that same saga somewhere else, like a young police officer in modern-day New York…

12. Tell a story from the point of view of your pet. Make it serious, not a parody. Make the setting without humans.

13. Write a story without a sense: sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, something. Don’t use that sense at all in description. Bonus points if you eliminate one that you use all the time: if your characters are usually very visual, then eliminate that and describe everything by sound and touch.

~Happy TT!~

Thursday 13 – 13 Things I’m Excited About This Summer

2010-06-10T06:37:00.001-05:00

With all the doom and gloom repeatedly in the news through all media channels, it’s easy to forget that it’s good to just be alive. It’s even better when we can muster some excitement to be here. In honor of this sentiment, I would like to share thirteen things I’m excited about this summer. Enjoy!

1. I’m learning to weave! I’m attending the Chicago Weaving School and wrote about it last week – with pictures. More pictures will go up after tonight’s class, where I learn to put the weft on and actually weave some fabric. Yahoo!

2. I put in a garden! We have lots of new plants to play with, even some flowers. I also, it appears, have a very industrious squirrel who is soon to be a dog toy.

3. My dog is getting better at behaving when on a walk. We might even get to have some guests over!

4. I have a house guest coming next month for almost a whole week! I can’t wait! Rachel’s visiting the first week of July and we’re going to paint the town red and even visit Madison, the setting for our first serial novel, New World Order.

5. I’ve started back up with Skep, Old Tools For the Present. It’s a blog that I write with my friend and circle partner, Dorothy.

6. I’ve also re-started Eclectica, which used to be a print newsletter. It’s now on the web in blog form, and actually has been since 2008. But I recently re-started it and am blogging about chocolate, gardening, and some other cool things.

7. My writing group is going very well. We are planning our next events, including an Artist’s Way workshop that starts this Sunday and a retreat in August.

8. I was invited back to Michigan to distill oregano again. We’ll be making hydrosol and essential oil. There are possible opportunities to go back and make lavender and lemon verbena, and I couldn’t be more excited.

9. Tunisian knitting class starts a week from Sunday. It’s only two Sundays, but I figure it will be a neat way to learn another way to knot yarn. Knit yarn. I meant knit.

10. Going to Starved Rock in August for our retreat with EWW. We’re working out details, but it should be really fun.

11. Going to Las Vegas in September for our annual writing retreat with a small group of writing friends. I’m excited, since we have a couple new people joining us. We’ll even check out Zion National Park. Can’t wait!

12. Submitted a novel to a publisher a couple weeks ago, so I’ll hear, one way or the other, this summer. Either way, it’s exciting to take the next step in being a New York Times bestselling author.

13. I’m re-doing a camera bag design I’m doing, and have a better design. I don’t know that I’m happy with a curl in this one, so I may make a third, but the design process is rewarding.

I’m so excited, I can’t stand myself! Must go clean something… (bonus points if you can tell me where that comment comes from… hint… it’s an animated movie…)

~Happy TT!~

Thursday 13 – 13 Thoughts About the Body

2010-05-27T06:02:00.001-05:00

In honor of joining a new gym, the Evanston Athletic Club, here are thirteen thoughts about the body and being in it.

1. Stress is a fact of life. It is dangerous, because it causes the body to secrete chemicals that are harmful to it, but that are helpful in the fight/flight response. This is necessary for survival; however, too much of it can create harm long term.

2. One of the ways to combat stress is to make an effort to get into the body. If you are great at this, you probably don’t need to read the rest of my post. But if you, like me, sorta suck at it, then read on.

3. Yoga is one of the ways I’ve found that helps me get into my body. I don’t have to “do” anything actively, which is counter-intuitive for an intense person like me, but as I follow the instructions of the teacher (in a group class), I find that I can unhook my mind’s chatter and just do the poses.

4. Being in the body isn’t spectacular, or earth-shaking. It’s quiet. At the end of yoga class, for example, I don’t leap up filled with an epiphany or anything (or, at least, haven’t YET), but I feel calmer and more centered.

5. There is a difference between Grounding and Centering. Grounding is merging your energy with that of the earth and the world around us, and is an act of connection. Centering is pulling our attention and energy back into the physical center, what the Chinese call the Dantian.

6. We have a lot we can learn from the Chinese and Indian philosophies of the body.

7. Massage is another great tool for stress management and physical health. In particular, related to stress, the muscles and connective tissue form something called adhesions in the fascia. If you imagine the fascia as a strip of stretchy fabric or canvas, it wraps around the muscles. It should move smoothly across the muscles and not get stuck. In the process of exercising or being stressed, collagen deposits act like glue between this fascia and the muscle fibers and literally adhere them together. This is what accounts for the crunchy feeling when you run your knuckles along the big muscle of your thigh. Breaking them up can be a tad unpleasant, but will help you feel a LOT better and looser.

8. Trigger points suck. But if you find a good massage therapist that knows trigger point therapy, keep them!! (The therapist, not the trigger point.)

9. Swimming is good food. I find that floating on my back, using my legs to kick gently and my arms to guide myself along the lanes, helps my neck to relax. It takes a while, like sometimes thirty or forty minutes, but it really helps with stress and pain associated with computer work.

10. Chinese Baoding balls help prevent, or manage, carpal tunnel syndrome and other tendonitis associated with typing too much and knitting too much. They’re tricky to explain, but I did find a You Tube that might help. (As I watched it, I thought, I could do a You Tube – the Noonychannel!)

11. I actually HAVE a Noony channel. Not much is on it, just a video about Chuck the Sheep (no, it’s not salacious in any way and yes, it really is about a sheep), and a poor attempt at my first movie… with a twist… (Yes, video quality is awful, but a) it was my phone, and b) I don’t know anything about video production.)

12. The Noony channel has nothing to do with managing stress. Or being in the body.

13. I begin to see my problem. Attention span much?

~Happy TT!~

Thursday 13: 13 Conference Epiphanies

2010-05-13T06:40:00.001-05:00

In preparing for our first writing conference, Evanston Writers Workshop 2010 “In the Trenches With the Writer,” May 15 and 16, 2010, I have learned a few things. Some of them are useful, some obvious, and some… well, it is ME, after all, so what do you expect?

1. Debbie did a great job designing our website.

2. I didn’t learn this, but the others doing the conference with me are newer at running events, and it was new to them: the last week ALWAYS has flux. We’ve had lots and lots of swapping and changes. This is normal and is no cause for alarm.

3. When you’re not working for a major corporation, you don’t have as much money as you do when you plan an event for one. This means, you can’t just schedule a car service to pick up your keynote speaker at the airport.

4. Which means, I get to pick up our keynote speaker at the airport.

5. Which means, she’ll be trapped in a car with me for an hour between Midway and the hotel.

6. I sure hope we still have a keynote speaker Saturday. o.O…

7. I designed the program in Microsoft Word. This is much, much easier than other people think it is. I should remember, just because something is easy for me, doesn’t mean it’s “easy.” I’ve had lots of classes and stuff and lots of years of training to make it look easy.

8. I had fun designing the program. (This is an important epiphany.) It’s 11x17, which gives me four full letter-sized pages to play with.

9. I could have used twice that, even three times, with all the content I wanted to put in it.

10. I REALLY love to write. And create. And make programs, newsletters, print stuff, online stuff.

11. You can register at the door, either with a check made payable to “Evanston Writers Workshop” or online (we will have a laptop available since there’s wifi). We will take cash, but may not have any change, so exact change is preferable. Prices:

Member Full Conference Price: $90.00
Member One Day Price: $54.00
Non-Member Full Conference Price: $100.00
Non-Member One Day Price: $60.00
Student Full Conference Price (proof required at the door): $60.00

12. The support of our members and friends means the world to us. We’ve even had members join who were crunched for cash, simply because they believe in what we’re doing. We really, REALLY appreciate their support. Thank you.

13. I’m getting really excited about the conference. Registration starts at 8:00 in Winnetka; hope to see you there! The conference website has more information.

Thursday 13 – 13 Sewing Truths

2010-05-06T06:46:00.003-05:00

It's my birthday Saturday, and so I bought myself some new sewing patterns since Vogue Patterns is having a sale today and tomorrow. In the process of playing with the images, inspiring myself, I thought of my post for today.

1. Sewing, like any craft, has its share of work. Stuff one doesn’t necessarily like doing, or things that are necessary for the final product. These are part of the process.

2. You know how they say ‘enjoy the ride,’ like you’re supposed to enjoy the process of doing something and not really focus on the product?

Yeah, that’s really hard.

3. I sew slow.

4. #3 is okay, because #2 is true.

5. #1 is also true.

6. Even so, I love to look at patterns and imagine what I can do to design things. I like to design.

7. I’ve been a designer my whole life. It started in calligraphy, and branched out into needlepoint, music, writing, and knitting.

8. It’s not really a surprise that I’d like to sew; it’s tactile, it’s like sculpting with fabric, AND I get to wear what I design.

9. I’m scared of #8.

10. #1 is still true. And because of that, I’m reminded of another truth: the verb is “to sew,” not “to have no fear.”

11. Sometimes, I’d like to run over whoever came up with the idea of Zen. And flow. And process over product. And all that crap.

With a hummer.

12. It’s my birthday Saturday, and I’m excited about the patterns I just purchased.

13. COME TO MY WRITING CONFERENCE! (This is not a non-sequitur!)

Thursday 13 – 13 Things On My Mind

2010-04-29T18:45:00.007-05:00

1. When I type that phrase, “On My Mind,” I always thinks of David Eddings’ books. “Mind? Mind? Islena doesn’t have a mind!”

2. My upcoming writing conference that my writing group is hosting. It’s in two weeks! ~faints~

3. I finally updated my craft blog! I hadn’t touched the poor thing since February. I made a Spring Bag!

4. And a Camera Bag! I’m really proud of the camera bag, because I designed it myself!

5. I just posted Chapter 11 of New World Order on Taurus and Taurus. The story is fully plotted out into a three book arc, and we’ll keep this first trilogy on the public (free) blog.

6. I attended Spring Fling from Chicago North’s chapter of the RWA.

7. At the Spring Fling, I pitched Burning Bright to Managing Editor Lindsey Faber of Samhain Publishing.

8. She wants to see it! ~faints~

9. ~gets up~ She wants to see it! ~faints~

10. Pitching isn’t NEARLY as intimidating as I thought it was. ~faints again~

11. Fainting hurts if you miss the floor and hit the desk instead.

12. One does not die for pitching to an editor for the first time. Who knew?

13. I’M SENDING A MANUSCRIPT OF A FULL LENGTH NOVEL TO A PUBLISHER! FOR REALS!

~faints~

New Stuff!

2010-04-29T18:35:00.003-05:00

Here is Chapter 11 of New World Order, for your reading pleasure.

And I'm blogging about two new knitting projects at Knoontime Knitting today! One is a Spring Bag and the second is a Camera Bag. Enjoy!

Thursday 13 – 13 Reasons to Attend Our Conference

2010-04-08T07:27:00.002-05:00

My local writing group, Evanston Writers Workshop, is having our First Annual Conference! I’m so excited. Here are thirteen reasons by YOU should attend the conference, if you’re anywhere near the Chicagoland area (and being on planet Earth counts as ‘near’…)

1. It’s my writing group! (Duh…)

2. MaryJanice Davidson is our Keynote Speaker! She’s a multiple best-selling author on BOTH the coveted New York Times AND USA Today lists, and has written a whopping 66 books to date! I cannot wait to see this woman speak. She’s funny, down-to-earth, and incredibly knowledgeable.

3. It’s at the Winnetka Community House, one of the most gorgeous venues in the area. Check out their website for pictures and more information. I almost fainted when Debbie said we are having the event there. I’d go just to see the place!

4. Author Sherrill Bodine. She knows fashion (heck, she IS fashionable!!), she’s funny, and she knows a heckuvalot!

5. Crime novelist and short story author, Libby Hellmann. Past national president of Sisters in Crime, this lady knows a LOT about mystery and crime writing, as well as public speaking and video production.

6. Author Jamie Freveletti, published with Harper Collins. Her debut thriller, Running from the Devil (HarperCollins/ William Morrow), was released in May, 2009, was chosen as a “Notable Book” by the Independent Booksellers of America and has been nominated as a “Best First Novel” by the International Thriller Writers. It has been translated into three languages and was an international bestseller. Her second novel, Running Dark, will be released in June, 2010.

7. Cuz I said so! (Just had ta slip that in there…)

8. Me! No, really! I’ll be giving a couple presentations, including Sustaining the Creative Process, How to Critique Effectively, and How to Set Up a Blog. I even have a spiffy bio on the conference website! (I feel all official!!)

9. It’s $100 for sixteen hours of panels, workshops, The Prompt Pit, and face-time with our guest speakers! Saturday and Sunday, 9-5 both days, May 15 and 16, 2010. BE THERE!

10. Our panels will include: Agent and Editor panel; Genre author panels (several); Creatures, supernatural and sci-fi; and a Children's author panel.

11. Our conference website is awesome! Designed by our very own Debbie Cairo, it’s got all sorts of cool stuff. Check it out!

12. Publicist Dana Kaye. Learn about the art of publicity from Chicago’s very own expert! Look out, she’s a writer too, so this fine lady understands your pain!

13. Did I mention, this is our writing group? The Evanston Writers Workshop started in 2007 and is now over 300 strong – and growing! We meet weekly on Wednesdays at the Evanston Barnes and Noble at 7:00 P.M., and we have workshops and conferences and will be the next force to stop Global Warming!

Hmm. Maybe I should look up “hyperbole?”

Nah.

Our First Ever Writing Conference!

2010-04-08T06:36:00.000-05:00

My in-person writing group, the Evanston Writers Workshop, is holding our first-ever writing conference! I'm so excited, I can't see straight. Here's some more information:

We want YOU!

...to attend our First Annual Writing Conference, of course! You asked for it, and we listened. We have a plethora of panels (and found our thesaurus to boot!), but today I want to highlight our Keynote Speaker: Ms. MaryJanice Davidson. You NEED to hear her speak!

Here's why:

She's more fun than a barrel of monkeys! A multiple best-selling author on both the prestigious (and coveted) New York Times AND USA Today Bestseller lists, she really knows the business of publishing from the inside. From the trenches, say! (And our conference theme IS: In the Trenches with the Writer!)

Prolific, funny, and down-to-earth, we have asked MaryJanice to talk to us about the publishing business, keeping the momentum going once you finish one or two novels and are trying to figure out "what next," and her in-general thoughts she would have loved to have someone like her share back when she was first starting out.

She has written a prodigious 66 books so far! Here's the list, from her website:
1. By Any Other Name (1998)
2. Adventures of the Teen Furies (1998)
3. Dying for Ice Cream (1999) (ebook)
4. Secrets 6 (2000) (Love’s Prisoner)
5. Reunions (Too Good To Be True) (2000) (under the name Janice Pohl)
6. Escape The Slush Pile (non-fiction self-help) ebook 2001
7. Thief of Hearts (2001)
8. Naughty or Nice (2001) (Santa Claws, a Wyndham Werewolf Story)
Was originally released as “Nicely Naughty” as an e-book that is no longer available
9. Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul (What I Learned in Spite of Myself)
10. Undead & Unwed (2002)
11. Canis Royal: Bridefight (2002)(e-book)
12. Love Lies (2002) (e-book)
13. Secrets 8 (2002) (Jared’s Wolf)
14. Lighthearted Lust (2003) (There’s No Such Thing as a Werewolf) (e-book)
15. Under Cover (2003)
16. Beggarman, Thief (2004)(e-book)
17. Cravings (2004) (Dead Girls Don’t Dance)
18. Forgotten Wishes (2004) (Love’s Tender Fury)(e-book)
19. Perfect for the Beach (2004) (My Thief)
20. How to Be a Wicked Woman (2004) (The Wicked Witch of the West Side)
21. Merry Christmas, Baby (2004) (Undercover Claus)
22. Men at Work (2004) (The Fixer-Upper)
23. Undead & Unemployed (2004)
24. The Royal Treatment (2004)
25. Bad Boys with Expensive Toys (2004) (The World is Too Darned Big)
26. Bewitched, Bothered, and BeVampyred (2005) (Night Mares)
27. Derik’s Bane (2005)
28. Hello, Gorgeous! (2005)
29. The Royal Pain (2005)
30. Undead & Unappreciated (2005)
31. Undead & Unreturnable (2005)
32. Betsy the Vampire Queen (2005) (first 4 Betsy books combined)
33. Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace (2005)
34. Romance at the Edge: In Other Worlds (2005) (Beggarman, Thief)
35. Charming the Snake (2005) (Savage Scavenge)
36. Kick Ass (2005) (the Incredible Misadventures of Boo & the Boy Blunder)
37. Bite (2005) (Biting in Plain Sight)
38. Really Unusual Bad Boys (2005) (Bridefight, Mating Season, & Groomfight)
39. Wicked Women Whodunit (2005) (Ten Little Idiots)
40. Sleeping with the Fishes (2006)
41. Jennifer Scales and the Messenger of Light (2006)
42. Undead & Unpopular (2006)
43. Drop Dead Gorgeous (2006)
44. Mysteria (2006) (Alone Wolf)
a. Fangs Again (2006) never got published
45. Surf’s Up (2006) (Paradise Bossed)
46. Valentine’s Day is Killing Me (2006) (Cuffs and Coffee Breaks)
47. Dead & Loving It (2006) (Santa Claws, Monster Love, There’s No Such Thing as a Werewolf, & A Fiend in Need)
48. Swimming Without a Net (2007)
49. The Silver Moon Elm (2007)
50. The Royal Mess (2007)
51. Undead & Uneasy (2007)
52. Doing It Right (2007)
53. Demon’s Delight (2007) (Witch Way)
54. No Rest for the Witches (2007) (Majicka)
55. Over the Moon (2007) (Driftwood)
56. Mysteria Lane (2007) (Disdaining Trouble)
57. Fish Out of Water (2008)
58. Undead & Unworthy (2008)
59. Dead Over Heels (2008) (Undead & Wed: A Honeymoon Story, Survivors, & Speed Dating, Werewolf Style Or, Ow, I Think You Broke The Bone
60. Betsy: Bride of the Vampire (Undead 5-7; Dead & Loving It) (2008)
61. Seraph of Sorrow (2009)
62. Undead & Unwelcome (2009)
63. Faeries Gone Wild (2009) (Tall, Dark and Not So Faery)
64. Undead & Unfinished – to be released July 6, 2010
65. Rise of the Poison Moon – to be released July 27, 2010
66. Me, Myself, and Why – to be released September 2010

For more information on MaryJanice, check out her awesome website.

And to meet MaryJanice in person, and hear all about her writing process, sign up for the conference! What are you waiting for? Space is limited. Come visit the conference website today! 10% discount for EWW members.

Wiley Wednesday: A Tool to Tame Entropy

2010-04-07T06:40:00.000-05:00

I'm blogging at the Writers Retreat Blog today on entropy and productivity. Stop on by!

Thursday 13: March 18, 2010

2010-03-18T06:36:00.001-05:00

I drove in today. This might not sound unusual, but I usually take the train, except for Fridays when I drive with my husband.

You’ll note, those of you paying attention, that today is not Friday.

Nope. Not one bit. So here I am, or at any rate, there I was, driving all by myself through the wilds of traffic, when it occurred to me: a) I shouldn’t drive PC (pre-coffee), b) I really want a coffee RIGHT NOW THANK YOU, c) honking my horn does not make coffee magically appear (but it pisses off the prick in the SUV behind me so that’s cool, and d) there are THIRTEEN REASONS WHY I LIKE CHICAGO MASS TRANSIT!

In no particular order:

1. When the bus driver honks, coffee doesn’t appear either. BUT, it does mean that I don’t have to pay attention to whatever it is that she’s honking about.

2. My commute, from my house to my office, is between sixty and ninety minutes. This gives me time to write and knit.

3. I’ve made all sorts of cool stuff on the train. Right now, I’m working on a lace shawl and my Master Knitter homework.

4. I love my AlphaSmart 2000 because I can sit it on my lap and type away. On a one day commute, I can get up to ten pages of material, between 2,000 and 3,000 words.

5. It’s nice to get to work without road rage. (I don’t GET road rage, mind you. That’s what the horn is for.)

6. I get a lot more exercise. I wear a pedometer, and average between five and seven-and-a-half miles of walking daily. The larger numbers happen when I walk to the farther bus stop, that lets me off a mile and some-odd from my house. Walking calms me down, and lets me work out stuff in my mind. It’s strange, but I’ve noticed it helps to slow down if you want to speed up. Zen? Yeah. But hey. It works.

7. Here’s a more serious one. (Yes, I can be serious.) It’s like going through a sort of metaphysical buffer between work and home to take transit. Because it’s an enforced quiet time with me, myself, and three million of my closest friends, I get two hours a day of chill time. It turns out, this is good for my psyche.

8. It works better for my psyche to NEVER EVER EVER FORGET MY IPOD. Jus’ sayin’. Cell yell? Don’t be that person.

9. If you do run into that person, you can bury them by that other one, over there. ~points~

10. Is there a statute of limitations on putting the cell yeller out of my misery? o.O…

11. It’s good for the environment. Yeah, yeah, I know that’s the new black. But really, it is. I used to run a transportation reduction program when I was fresh out of college, so do you WANT a lecture on airborne particulates?

12. It slows down my day. This may sound odd, but in today’s day and age, I really do need it. If I drive very day, I find I feel rushed. If I take transit, I don’t. It’s as though that enforced slow time, one hour in the morning and one at night, help keep me calm.

13. I can do my morning pages in the morning on the bus and train. This keeps me sane.

New World Order, Chapter 8

2010-03-15T06:33:00.001-05:00

Chapter 8 of New World Order, "In Plain Sight", is posted. Enjoy!

Thursday 13: Plants!

2010-03-04T06:22:00.001-06:00

GARDENING! It’s nearly Spring, and I can’t wait to get back into the garden! Of course, I have to clean up the doggie nuisances that she buried in the snow (!) and that are thawing out – ew. Then I have to get rid of a rusty chair, tie up my yew bushes, and get some more plants to put in the ground. Plant it green side up. Plant it green side up. Plant it green side up.

So, what shall I plant green side up?

1. Cherry tomatoes

2. Pear tomatoes

3. Roma tomatoes (sensing a theme?)

4. Green bell peppers

5. Some sweet peppers of some other kind, and maybe a hot plant for my husband

6. Green chard

7. Ruby or rainbow chard

8. Garlic

9. Onions

10. Genovese basil

11. Marjoram or oregano

12. Opal basil

13. Snap dragons

What? I know I can’t eat them, but they’re my favorite flower next to gladiolus! I live in the city and have no back yard. We installed a five by ten above-ground planter a few years ago and I do French intensive gardening. It works for me. Can’t wait to have some land and a BIG garden! Pumpkins, squash, potatoes, an orchard… But for now, mine your acre of diamonds.

Dig it!

Thursday 13: February 18th, 13 Pretty Things

2010-02-18T06:06:00.000-06:00

Thursday 13 – February 18, 2010

Today is Thursday.

Not very inspired, but working at it. So, 13 pretty things:

1. Emeralds.

2. Puppies.

3. Kittens.

4. Ladies and Gentlemen all dressed up.

5. Water lilies.

6. Great herons congregating (which I’ve only seen once, in Horicon Marsh, Wisconsin).

7. Horicon Marsh, Wisconsin. (~grin~)

8. Mount Shasta, California.

9. My husband. (Aww.) (But srsly.)

10. My stepson. (Aww.) (But srsly.)

11. My paycheck. It helps me pay the rent and afford fun things.

12. Chocolate.

13. Waking up. (Well, maybe not waking up, but the FACT that one is able to wake up is pretty darned awesome.)

Thursday 13 – February 11, 2010: 13 Things I Learned From my Outward Bound Expedition

2010-02-11T06:24:00.001-06:00

Today is Thursday. As I stared out the train window this morning, noodling on things to write for TT, I found myself musing about the snow. So, my TT today is about what I learned, camping in harsher weather even than today's Chicago day.

1. If you write it and share it, people respond. Outward Bound International posted my alumni story on their website!

2. I can survive zero degree weather without a tent.

3 The heat triangle, made up of layered clothing, movement, and food, is what keeps you alive in extreme cold.

4. There are few bugs in the Boundary Waters in winter. For this I am grateful.

5. You need a lot more calories when you’re on the ice for 6 days, traveling 35 miles through ice and snow on cross country skis and a dog sled.

6. No one rests on a dog sled. Those fancy seated sleds they use on the silver screen? Pansies. We helped push our sled – the front one weighed 550 pounds, and the rear one 350!

7. I never knew I could smell like that. Exertion, no showers, 7 days = stinkeh Nooneh!

8 The dogs? Yeah, they don’t bathe either.

9. One of the dogs ate a raven out of the sky.

No, I’m not kidding. The dogs are fed raw meat that’s been frozen, with boiling water poured over it to make a kind of stew. This is so they get water, since they genetically won’t drink (they live in frozen areas like Alaska and Antarctica, so they don’t react to water like a pet dog would). The ravens, which are ginormous, want the meat too and dive-bomb the dogs. The ravens know exactly where the edges of the chain allow the dog to get to. One decided to dive-bomb and peck one of the dogs as she slept on her roof. Thwap. Thwap. Thwap.

CRUNCH!

No more raven.

Nuff said.

9. I can camp by myself on the ice overnight, and cut down my own tree. Hoo-rah!

10. I didn’t write the whole time I was out there. I actually found that the writing pulled me out of the moment, and that I wanted to make sure I stayed present. Instead of writing, I hung out and relaxed when we weren’t moving around. It felt good.

11. It’s hard to explain my reality to others, even ones on expedition with one.

12. Snow in Chicago is no sweat after camping in colder and more icy weather.

13. Clearwater Lake is God’s Country. I wish I could write well enough to do it justice.

The Night Is A Harsh Mistress, Chapter 17

2010-02-08T07:28:00.000-06:00

Chapter 17 of The Night Is A Harsh Mistress, featuring Rachel Carmichael, is up on the Writer's Retreat Blog. Enjoy!

Palette Cleanser

Thursday 13, February 4, 2010: Bootcamp

2010-02-04T06:57:00.001-06:00

A lot of people I talk to feel that 2010 is the year to get shit done, myself included. (Not that I talk to myself.) (Nevermind, forget I said that.) ANYWAY…

So, with the “Get Shit Done” theme in mind, here are 13 suggestions from the bossy to the downright drill sergeant. I channeled my inner domme people, so be warned… LET’S GIT OFF OUR ASSES! To quote Larry the Cable Guy, GIT R DONE!

1. Go away, stop reading this, and write for 30 minutes by hand on a clean piece of paper or notebook. Then come back and read #2.

2. Get up, put shoes and socks on (and clothes, yeh slob!) and go walk around the block for 30 minutes. Yes, it’s cold. No, you won’t die of ice poisoning.

3. You still paying rent at the gym? You’re not subsidizing their employment. Go look up the exercise class schedule and schedule one – ONE – class this week. Tell me in the comments which one you pick, when it is, and then come back and tell me you did it.

4. What is the title of your WIP (work in progress)? Your original work, not any derivative works. Go away, set the timer for 15 minutes, and write on it. If you can’t figure out what to do next in the plot, then interview your main character. Tell me in the comments how it went – and if you want, share the interview.

5. Check out Julia Cameron’s website. Consider this year might be the year to try it. If so, let me know in comments; I’m forming new Clusters for late Feb or early March if you’re interested.

6. My focus for 2010 is “Body, Mind, Spirit, Space.” My mantra is “Get my shit together.” As part of Body, I’ve been working out and making different choices about food. I am not paying attention to the weight, because the number started upsetting me since it wouldn’t move quickly. Accordingly, what I’m focusing on is stuff I can control – like movement and food choices. Today I plan to go to the gym at lunch and do some weights for upper body. What is your plan for today, no matter how small?

7. Don’t underestimate your own knowledge. Repeat after me: “I know what I know.”

8. No, #7 isn’t optional. Go back and do it again.

9. You know what thing you are avoiding admitting you know? It may be a writing-related thing (should write my WIP today), exercise (should go to the gym), food (should buy a vegetable), space (should wash that pile of laundry before it sues for separate maintenance)… Pick one. ONE. (Yes, I said one. Can’t you count?) What small step toward that one can you take before 9:00 P.M. local time today?

10. Tell me what your one thing is for #9.

11. Then do it.

12. Stop. Breathe. No, really. In…two…three… Out…two…three… In…two…three… Out…two…three… Notice the shift in your thinking from the beginning of this list to now. If you are feeling conflicted between panic (Oh shit, I have stuff to do) and resolve (Yeah, yeah, I know what I gotta do), you’re doing it right. Part of getting shit done is the ‘want to.’ But another part is the relaxing and centering. No one can get stuff done when they’re going a million miles an hour in seventeen different directions. Breathe. Deep. Two… Three…

13. JUST DO IT! Pick one thing, any one thing, and do it. You have a lunch break, an evening, maybe even a whole day off today. Today, now, is the only time we own. We don’t own tomorrow, it’s not given to us yet. We don’t own yesterday, it’s gone and won’t return. But now… now is where your power is. Own it. Live it.

Do it.

HOO-RAH!

Wiley Wednesday: Mind Mapping

2010-02-03T07:04:00.001-06:00

Come join me at the Writer's Retreat Blog today, where I share my thoughts on Mind Mapping.

New World Order: Chapter 5

2010-02-01T07:05:00.000-06:00

Chapter 5 of New World Order is posted: "Superimposed." Enjoy!

Thursday 13 for January 14th!

2010-01-14T06:54:00.000-06:00

Thirteen Places I Want to Visit

I love to travel, but in the last couple years have been limited by graduate school and the fact my stepson is in private school that we pay for. I’ve gotten away from grandiose travel plans in favor of staycations, but I thought I’d ruminate on where I’d like to go – both ‘if money were no object’ but also in the sense of, you can’t go anywhere if you don’t know where you want to go…

1. Las Vegas! I used to live there, actually, back in the dark ages. You think I’m kidding, perhaps, but it was a very dark time for me. I’m not really the ‘Vegas’ type, if there is such a type. I found it lonely and devoid of intellectual culture (which probably makes me a snob, but so be it). It’s a fun place to visit, and I had a great apartment, but I sure didn’t enjoy living there.

Of course, the natural question is, if you hated it so much, why go back?

Well, it’s a nice place to visit? ~sheepish grin~ Actually, a friend of mind lives there and I’m going to visit her. I’m really excited!

2. Salt Lake City! I’ve only driven through, and a good friend lives there. I want to visit her and her family!

3. Melbourne, Australia! Same reason!

4. Alabamalama… Sensing a theme here, aren’t you?

5. Antarctica! Ha! No, seriously, I do want to go there. Don’t know anyone there, just want to see the place. It’s got me curious!

6. England. I have friends in London, Manchester, and Scotland (yes, I know Scotland isn’t in England, but she’s English and I don’t know if she’ll BE in Scotland when I get there, so…)… You’re right, that didn’t make sense. Let’s just say England, Ireland, Scotland, and leave it at that.

7. Toronto, Canada. I have a friend there I want to visit, and it’s an amazing place! I’ve done a lot of research and really want to explore it!

8. Madison, Wisconsin. One of my novels is set there, and I’d like to go back for more research. Besides; it’s a beautiful town!

9. Chicago. Oh, wait. I live here.

10. I’d like to visit Europe, all over the place. I can’t do that in only one visit, so… I guess I’ll just spend my life exploring it!

11. St. Petersburg, Russia. I want to see Tsarskoe Selo and the Hermitage, walk the canals, and shake my fist at the statue of Peter the Great… o.O

12. Kiev. It’s the seat of Slavic culture on earth and I wanna go!

13. China. Big place, I know, but I’d love to toodle around the whole thing. The south farm country is gorgeous, and I’d love to see Beijing, Shanghai… I even want to visit Hong Kong.

I ran out of TT, but there’s more places I wanna go! ~jumps up and down~

Happy TT!

The Night Is A Harsh Mistress, Chapter 16

2010-01-11T06:00:00.001-06:00

Chapter 16 of The Night Is A Harsh Mistress, featuring Rachel Carmichael, is up on the Writer's Retreat Blog. Enjoy!

Chapter 16: You Know That Saying, ‘Don’t Poke the Bear’?

Wiggins: A Cop Tale

2010-01-08T07:29:00.002-06:00

What do writers do when we’re bored or seeking inspiration? We do what any self-respecting sports fan would understand: we challenge each other to duels!

Originally posted on the Romance Divas forum, one of the top writing-related forums on the internet, this challenge came about because I failed to step backward fast enough when the Captain asked for volunteers.

That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it!

Well, okay, this is my story, but hope you enjoy!

Original Challenge, issued by Jess Granger, Thursday, January 07, 2010:

“Your hero/heroine just got a job working in supernatural law enforcement. Lately they've been having some trouble with Leprechauns running a money laundering scheme for a bunch of investment bankers/vampires. Your hero/heroine is just about to meet with a new partner for the undercover operations when she/he suspects someone is following...

Please include a feral cat with a notch in his ear, a wedding invitation, and the phrase ‘sweet butter on a biscuit.’”

“Thank you for calling Chicago 311 Emergency Response. Please state the nature of your emergency.” Calysta, the nametag read, sounded heartily bored.

I resisted rolling my eyes. First week on the job and it didn’t do to make waves, particularly about employee attitudes.

“A what, ma’am?” Calysta blurted, interrupting my train of thought.

I met her eyes and she moved the gum in her mouth over to one cheek, like I wouldn’t be able to tell she had it in her mouth.

“Jessup! In here!” my lieutenant shouted from her office.

“Yessir!” I answered automatically.

Crap. ‘Sir.’ I called her sir! Nothing for it. Just getcher ass in there, Jessup, but sweet butter on a biscuit was the Lieutenant sensitive about her rank and place in a male-dominated department. Even if I was female, I’d cut no points for calling her ‘sir.’

I felt the presence the minute I stepped in the room and froze in the doorway.

“Della Jessup, this is your new partner. Wiggins, say hello to Della.”

“Hello…” The voice whispered and hissed through the room like a nineteen fifties bad monster movie ghost voice, eerie in all the right places. I felt a shiver travel up my back, around my neck, and down my front, tightening both nipples on its way by.

Gods I hate that!

“I want you to take Wiggins to the meetup, Jessup.”

“Lieutenant, there’s nothing here!”

“Oh?” a voice asked. And it wasn’t the Lieutenant.

Frickin’ ghosts. Never should have allowed them on the force. Damned ADA regulations stipulated no discrimination on account of any disability, including the bodily challenged.

“All right, Wiggins. Come with me. We have to meet –” I broke off, mid-sentence, because I saw it again. The same black-haired waif I’d been seeing everywhere since yesterday, following me in Trader Joes, following me to LA Fitness, following me to my carport, following me!

“Jessup?” Wiggins murmured.

“Do you see it?” I realized the second it left my mouth, how is a ghost supposed to ‘see’ without any eyes, but I let it stand.

“What?”

“The kid, there…” I pointed, but of course, poof, no black hair. No waif. No stinkin’ kid! “Come on,” I snarled instead, leading the way back out to my cruiser, first stopping to pick up my sidearm from the security lockup.

“Sign here, Della,” Sergeant Whiska ordered.

“Sergeant, when did you get an earring?” I scratched my nose. Earrings were non-regulation on duty, just like gum, but…

The feline grin that appeared after my question startled me and I had to resist the urge to step back. His teeth looked sharp! “Like it?”

“Um…”

“Beautiful,” Wiggins susurrated.

Whiska flicked all of his fur in a wave down his back. The glossy reddish brown flashed in the light and I had to physically put my hands in my pockets to avoid petting him. After the evolutionary jump that let cats speak, they now had equal status with humans. One did not pet a fully accredited Sergeant of the Chicago Police Department.

Not if one wanted to keep their hand, anyway.

Whiska handed through another piece of paper and I took it automatically. Then I looked at it; the loopy calligraphy beautiful. And pink. Pink? “What’s this?”

His grin widened. “Jezebel agreed to marry me! That’s your wedding invitation!”

“When’s the shower?” I asked curiously, eyes on the invitation.

He hissed. “I don’t like water.”

“No, silly. The wedding shower?”

“Oh. I don’t know yet.”

“Maybe we’ll throw one for you,” Wiggins put in.

On that note… “I have to run, Sergeant. Thank you for this. I’ll see you later!”

My car had chilled to ice in the hour it sat in the lot, thankfully free of the snowstorm. First Blizzard of the New Decade, the news called it. I rolled my eyes.

“Where are we going?” Wiggins asked once we sat down.

Uh, once I sat down. Wiggins… wafted, I guess. “National City Bank, then the Bank of Ireland. Seems the regulators want some police presence. We’re close to an indictment.”

“On what?”

“Money laundering.”

“Mmm.” Wiggins sounded thoughtful, though I still couldn’t see anything in the car with me. “Perhaps you should not tell them of my presence.”

“How come?” I asked.

“I could be of some use, perhaps.”

“Sounds good.” I shivered as I pulled onto the main street, clogged with new snow. Here’s hoping Wiggins didn’t give the bankers the… well. What was I supposed to say now? Willies?

Yeah, I did that, and Lieutenant would find me a trained ape by that name for a partner.

Nevermind. Forget I thought it.

We turned onto Columbus Drive, both lost in thought.

Chapter 3 of New World Order Is Up!

2010-01-07T16:07:00.003-06:00

Chapter 3 of the serial novel, New World Order, is up and ready for your review and comments. (Not that we whore for comments, or anything gauche like that...)

New World Order is a serial novel written by me and a colleague, fellow writer Rachel Wilder. We conceived of the notion late last year to write an erotic tale using "real" magic and preternatural creatures, but set in present-day Madison, Wisconsin. Come join us as we explore Belinda and Brock Gary, twin siblings, as they navigate the tricky waters of love relationships and deal with magical and nonmagical beasties. Enjoy!

Thursday 13 – January 7, 2010: Thirteen Reasons Why Writing Is Better Than Not Writing

2010-01-07T04:36:00.003-06:00

I’m a writer. Those of you who know me, know this. Occasionally, I get questions like “Why do you write?” or “How do you write so much?” Instead of answering them directly, I want to share a few thoughts on why writing is better than not writing, in a whole host of ways. This applies to writers and non-writers alike.

1. Julia Cameron, in her seminal work The Artist’s Way discusses the concept of Morning Pages. This is three pages of longhand writing daily. They act in subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) ways to align us with our own creativity and with our own awareness. While difficult to describe, even the evidence of a week can show their power.

2. Writing is a way of grounding. Something about kinesthetically running the pen across the page is therapeutic (I speak here of literal writing, and not just keyboarding).

3. Which is ironic, actually, since I’m typing this list. Which leads me to the next idea, that any writing is good, regardless of the method of doing it. I personally think that it counts even if it’s spoken into a voice recognition software (the one I recommend is Dragon Naturally Speaking ).

4. Storytelling is our birthright as humans. Even if we tell stories verbally, which many good storytellers do, writing them down is a way of preserving them and interacting with them that leads to insight and better acquaintance with repeating issues.

5. Memoir is valuable. I’ve spoken with many people over the years who lament the passing of elders who left this plane without their stories being preserved. Even the vaunted Smithsonian Institution is acting to halt this loss of our cultural heritage with folklore preservation efforts, but more can be done at the grassroots level by ordinary people like you and me.

6. Writing is becoming more and more critical in today’s economy, and only will continue to rise in prominence. Regardless of your opinion about the internet, it’s not going away. While it is a tool of the developed and wealthy world right now, more and more inroads are made every day to bring connectivity to the masses all over the globe, from Africa to Iceland, and Fiji to Indonesia. Facility with written communications, emails, web pages, and whatever the next generation of communication tools will be is critical to professional and interpersonal success. Srsly.

7. Writing is fun. The grammar method of teaching writing is broken, as you’ve probably heard me rant before in these pages if you’ve been reading for a while. If you haven’t, then I’ll simply say, the grammar method of teaching writing is stupid. It isn’t how the human organism communicates, and it stifles creativity. Creativity is messy, like children with finger paints. Rather than be afraid of it, we can embrace it and harness its raw power.

8. Grammar and spelling are even more important now than ever before, despite the proliferation of text-speak and lol-cat language. Why? English, for good or ill, has become the global language of the internet. While there are signs that other languages have gained prominence (German and Chinese, among others), English is still the way that businesses conduct international business and how a very large chunk of the reading population reads – even if it’s in translation. In order to effectively communicate, we need a common language – and simply saying “English” isn’t enough. Grammar is there for a reason, and as much as I dislike saying this, it has importance. It allows people to communicate in a common tongue – which anyone reading the story of the Tower of Babel can see is of a benefit to society.

9. Even non-writers need to write to share their art. Knitters, for example, are voracious consumers of knitting patterns, knitting profiles and interviews, history, design concepts, and all sorts of things. In fact, Nancy Bush made headlines in the writing industry because her last book signing drew 350 patrons – completely unexpected by the publisher (but totally understandable to those of us who are fiber geeks – it’s Nancy Bush, for Heaven’s sake!!).

10. One of the requirements for the national certification of Master Knitter in Handknits is… to write a pattern that the applicant designed themselves. While knitting knowledge is a requirement for this, so is writing. There are a host of other fields for which this is a requirement, from auto mechanics to physics.

11. It’s a marketable skill. You can use it in all sorts of industries, whether it’s for writing letters and such or using them as a copy editor or content provider. Technical writing, for example, is a lucrative profession. While it requires writing skills, it also requires expertise in the specific industry for which you’re writing.

12. You can tutor others. High school students and college students are notoriously weak in the area of writings skills, and there are a growing number of immigrants who need assistance with written English. If you want to pick up some money on the side and help others doing it, this can be a rewarding sideline.

13. You can share your love of writing with others! Group blogs, writing groups, online forums, and a whole host of other avenues for writing are available to you – all under the radar of the traditional publishing world. By that, I mean you don’t have to be a professional freelancer to write and get exposure. Plus, if you follow this route, you will eventually gain the skills necessary to get published professionally – and then, you can remember all of us “wannabe’s” and tell MORE stories of “When I was a newbie writer, I…”

Happy TT!

The Power of Plurality: The Many In Support of the One

2010-01-06T17:36:00.001-06:00

I blogged on the power of people over at the Writer's Retreat Group Blog today. I hope you visit!

Thursday 13

2009-12-31T22:18:00.002-06:00

Woo-hoo! 2009 is over!

Here's my quick and dirty list of 13 things.

What kind of things?

...

I don't know either. But there's 13 of them! :)

1. Happy New Year!

2. I'm glad it's a new year.

3. Today is a Blue Moon.

4. I am excited about my novel, Conservator, because it's coming together. I'll be able to submit it this year!

5. I love to knit. Something about using the needles and the yarn is satisfying.

6. Soap is fun to make. A wand mixer makes it easier.

7. My dog is doing a lot better with her training, and it's actually fun to take her out for walks.

8. I painted my nails gold for New Year's Eve.

9. Peter Jackson is a genius.

10. My writing group, Evanston Writers Workshop, is really getting strong and I'm so grateful to have found it.

11. Debbie Cairo, the founder of the writing workshop, is awesome!!

12. I don't like tummy aches, or I'd be at Debbie's house for New Year's Eve.

13. Alpaca and Mohair are my two favorite fibers to work with.

Happy New Year!

Thursday 13 – December 3, 2009: I’m Exhausted

2009-12-17T05:54:00.000-06:00

I am exhausted. Tapped out well and truly. I only have three more days before I’m done with grad school. Yes, I’ll have my MBA. What does that mean? It means my TT this week is a little… well, you can define it yourselves. Take a look:

1. Chocolate is good food. (Yes, I’ve said this before. I’ve earned the right to repeat myself, dammit!)

2. Coffee is yummy.

3. One of my favorite drinks I got from Ms. Jeanne Rose, the Grande Damme of all things Herbal and Aromatherapeutic. (If you have any interest in either topic, she’s written over forty books and is an incredible and wise lady. Check her out, here. The drink is called the Cosmic Caffeinator and the recipe is copyrighted, so I can’t post it in its entirety, but it’s coffee, tea and hot cocoa and when these alchemize, the world stops and the angels sing. I don’t know if angels exist, but when I drink this stuff, I don’t care. They sing.

4. How many angels can dance on the… Nevermind.

5. It’s sort of anticlimactic to work this hard for twenty months and have my MBA coursework over tomorrow. It’s becoming more real to me, except I have two more final papers to write and class to attend tomorrow night. I just want it to be over! I’ve got A’s in all my classes (well, two have A minuses, but I think that still counts) and I’ve worked my everlovin’ ass off, but I don’t want to celebrate. I want to sleep!

6. We’re going to celebrate in January. My friend is throwing a party for me and says I should invite “everybody.” Everybody, I says? “Everybody.” O.o…

7. I know a lot more people than I thought I did!

8. I finished NaNoWriMo last month. It feels anticlimactic too. It was weird. I looked at my manuscript yesterday and was pretty damned impressed, if I say so myself. Fifty-two thousand words and some change. Holy cow. I wrote an original novel! I’ve done it in fan fiction, but that’s kind of the ugly step-child of “real” writing. This baby is the real thing!

9. I’m dreading editing that puppy. I think the final manuscript length will be around 80,000 to 100,000 when I add in the parts I need and take out the stuff I don’t. But it’s really becoming real to me, which is a bizarre experience.

10. I can never spell bizarre. You’d think, after twenty years or more of writing as an adult, and lots of writing before that as a … (Wow, that was a weird sentence. Let’s just do the Elmer Fudd and say, “a long time.”) You’d think I’d get it right! Thank God for spell check. It’s got 2 r’s. It’s SUPPOSED to have 2 a’s. Why? Cuz I said so.

11. Who came up with this spelling crap, anyway? I think Webster ought to be in some weird Purgatory place designed by Dante Alighieri with like a four-headed dog and a woman who nurses monsters with her thumb, or something.

12. I really shouldn’t write lists when I’m tired. God knows what’s gonna come off the keyboard.

13. I need more coffee. Thank God this list is over! Now, if I can just be done with my classes!

Happy holidays!

Chapter Two of New World Order is Up!

2009-12-11T06:11:00.000-06:00

Come join Taurus and Taurus for Chapter Two of New World Order.

Flash Fiction Fridays

2009-12-04T05:25:00.000-06:00

Over on the Writer's Retreat Blog, we feature members' writing during the week or just in general. Since my entry links back to my blog here, I'll just share the link below. But do check out the Writer's Retreat Blog, because we have some other great stories for you to savor!

I wrote this in response to a prompt last year in the March FADness, or Flash-a-Day, competition. I enjoyed it because the main character was modeled, oddly enough, on my cat Seryozha.

It's called "Succession." Enjoy!

Thursday 13 – December 3, 2009: Thirteen Randomities

2009-12-03T05:06:00.000-06:00

It’s Thursday! … I have a cold. So guess what? You get a window on the Noonybrain. o.O

1. Chocolate is good food.

2. Why is Starbucks so blinking expensive? I don’t like their practices, and they burn their beans, and yet I still go there and buy stuff. I spent seven bucks this morning!! On a coffee and a scone! Isn’t it Einstein who said stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?

3. Einstein is stupid.

4. Yeah, yeah. I know. Shut up. It’s MY list, I have a cold, and I can say whatever witless witticisms I desire! Besides, Einstein is a hero of mine.

5. So is Ben Franklin.

6. And DaVinci. I love his idea of the trivium and quadrivium. (Extra points if you know what those are without googling them.)

7. I love Google. I love googling stuff. Makes my writing so much more… well, hey. I’m a curious person. Google is like crack for curious people. Must.keep.clicking…

8. I’m a big fan of Day and Nightquil. I also use propolis tincture and VitaBiotic, as well as my regular vitamins, when I’m sick. And lots of sleep. Saw a thing once, about the duration of the cold from the Renaissance to the present. Sadly, I don’t remember where, so I can’t give credit, but it went something like this: colds, 1598: treatment – bed rest, chicken soup, water, juice; duration, two weeks. 1955: treatment – bed rest, chicken soup, Vick’s cough syrup, Vick’s rub, water, juice; duration, two weeks. Present day: treatment – Dayquil, Nightquil, Contac or Benadryl cold, chicken soup, tea, Echinacea and goldenseal, vitamin C, multivitamin, bed rest, juice, salt water gargle; duration…

Two weeks.

Yeah.

9. I’m tired of coughing.

10. Humidifiers really help at night, particularly in a cold place where there are heaters that steal all the water out of the air. We put tea tree essential oil in ours, which is anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. I slept a lot better last night.

11. I actually like Office 2007. There are several new features that I’ve grown to depend on, mostly having to do with how fast I type and maneuver around the keyboard. I like being able to control formatting on paste, for example, and more pasting options. It’s a lot smarter about where and how to paste images, too.

12. I feel bad for homeless people. I know, that sounds like the usual yuppie complaint, but there was this crazy woman at Starbucks this morning, dressed in thick rags and talking to herself. She bought herself coffee and then tried to talk to me. I feel bad because I don’t have all the energy to heal everyone I come in contact with, no one does. Mother Teresa said, don’t be afraid to do the little you can do, because it matters. But when I see people like this woman, I feel like it’s never enough, there is too much misery in the world. No one should be shamefaced in giving back to the world a portion of its lost heart, which is the frontispiece from Sarah Ban Breathnach’s excellent book, Simple Abundance, though I can’t remember the woman who said it. But anyway, I try to remind myself of that, to remind myself of what I do for others and that it’s enough in the eyes of the Universe.

But that woman will still be cold today, and hungry, and crazy. And I feel bad for her.

13. I’m not always this morose. My puppy makes me happy. She’s got cute feet, and they smell like corn tortilla chips. (Don’t look at me like that. You go smell your dog and tell me if they don’t smell like chips! And if you don’t have a dog, don’t judge what you don’t know!)

I TOLD you it was a random list!

I DID IT!

2009-11-30T22:41:00.001-06:00

I finished my novel! It's my first, full-length original novel. I'm so excited I could spit!

Neither cold, nor stroke, nor homework foul could keep me from my novel!

I'd love to wax poetic about how amazing it is to write a novel, but... MY IS TIRED!

~faints~

Thursday 13 – November 26th, 2009: Thirteen Things I’m Grateful For

2009-11-25T23:01:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know it’s sort of common this week, but I don’t care. Gratitude can never be overdone; we can never be too grateful for the abundance in our lives.

So what are you grateful for? Tell me, in comments!

1. Chocolate.

2. Chocolate.

3. Choco… Oh, fine. I was just kidding. I’m grateful for my lovely husband Michael. It may sound sappy, but he’s pretty farking awesome, man. So is my stepson Joshua. Woot!

4. My father-in-law comes home from the hospital tomorrow (Friday). He had a stroke two weeks ago and it was dicey there for a while. He’s still got a bum arm, but he’s moving around and anxious to get home.

5. My big fat Italian family. I’m half-Irish, but honorary Italian by marriage. I love it! They’re loud, rambunctious, loving, inclusive, and MAN can they cook!

6. My job. One of my online buddies mentioned that, and I think she’s totally right on. In today’s economy, I’m grateful to have a job I love and that I enjoy my coworkers and the work I do helps people. I could do a lot worse (and believe me, I have… I once counted traffic!)

7. That I no longer count traffic.

8. I was grateful to count traffic at the time, though. I mean, I got paid an hourly rate AND got expenses! My expenses were a per-mile charge I got to write in for, and it varied by tax year. It meant I could drive to way far locations and actually get extra money! This was way cool when I was in college.

9. I am grateful I’m no longer in college and don’t say way cool anymore.

10. I am grateful I can type. Srsly.

11. I am grateful for the internet. Like, way cool, man.

12. I am grateful for our new car. I got stuck in Minneapolis last summer, see. Stuck as in stranded. My car died. So we bought a new one. We named her Black Betty, after the song. Woah Black Betty/Bam a Lam… which is a lot cooler on the radio than typed. ANYWAY. She’s a pretty black car and I love having reliable transportation!!

13. Turkey. Triptophan coma. Woot!

Thursday 13: Thirteen Reasons Why I Love the New Coffeemaker

2009-11-18T23:52:00.004-06:00

1.

2. It's pretty.

3. It makes coffee.

(Really. You didn't see that one coming?)

4. It can make decaf!

(Really. My intern, gods bless her little ditsy heart, stood there with my coworker and I as we're setting up the new coffee maker. She looked quizical and then asked, "Can this machine make decaf?")

5. ...

Yeah, made me speechless too.

6. IT MAKES FREAKIN' COFFEE!

7. It heats the water inside the unit, so you don't have to have the burner on to have hot coffee. This is a plus when you're the first one in the office and have to make the first pot; you can just put your cup under the basket and voila! coffee.

8. People that put their cup under the basket to steal my coffee before it's even brewed. Hey. I do it. IT'S MY COFFEEMAKER.

9. Put cinnamon on the grounds before you brew it.

10. Honey in my coffee is better than sugar or sweetener. Tastes lovely and isn't overprocessed.

11. No one is asking me WHERE IS THE NEW COFFEEMAKER? Did you know the old one is broken? When is the new one coming? Srsly. I actually had an email asking, I kid you not, "how was it shipped?"

IN A BOX!?

12. It makes coffee!

13. And the number one best thing about the new coffeemaker?

IT'S NOT BROKEN!

Thursday 13 – November 12th, 2009: Thirteen Pet Peeves

2009-11-12T06:29:00.001-06:00

So. I admit it. Our coffee maker at work died, and I’m caffeineless. For the second.day.in.a.row. A caffeineless Noony is not a happy thing. So, I figured I’d share. Don’t say I never gave ya nuthin’.

1. Paper cuts. Something about the winter air makes my skin dry, and I have been getting little nicks and slices every time I go in my briefcase for a file. And manila folders HURT. Maybe it’s a sign that I should not do my homework?

2. Weirdos on the train. I mean, I’m sure there’s a cultural awareness group for Weirdos, but really, who wants to join? Weirdos! This guy on the train today had these big silver dishes on the side of his head (okay, they were SOLD as earphone, but they looked like freakin’ plates, people!!). I looked up and he met my eyes and gave me this big grin – the kind of grin you don’t give strangers. I mean, hello??? We’re on a train, dude. Keep it down.

3. People with too much crap that they take up more than one seat. You know who you are. SCOOT OVER!

4. CELL YELL!!! Need I say more?

5. Small, yappy dogs. Dude. If you wanted a cat, get a cat. You don’t want to walk the damn thing anyway, so what’s the point? Annoying the neighbors? Well, you’re doing GREAT! “But terriers bark, that’s what they do!” Yeah? That’s what Draino is for!

No, I’m not THAT mean, I just haven’t had coffee. I’m not going to feed Draino to Muffy.

I sure might be tempted, though.

6. CELL YELL!!! Oh, wait. Said that one already.

7. Parking spaces that aren’t. (You suburbanites probably won’t get this, but that’s because you’re the ones DOING it in the first place.) You know, when you come home at oh-dark-thirty because class ran late and you just want to go to bed and there it is: Tah-dah! A spot, in front of your house.

It’s a spot, all right. Just won’t fit your car. The spot that will?

Yeah, that’s four blocks away.

8. Female gingko trees.

9. …

Okay, I’ll explain. Female gingko trees STINK. Somewhere between bar puke and dog shit. I’m not kidding you. Apparently, the male gingko trees don’t, since we’ve got one not four trees from our house and it smells just fine, thanks. No, this one’s a doosy, and it’s been stinking up the neighborhood for about two weeks now. It will go away, and has been fading. But dude, firewood mean anything to you?

9. People who complain about the broken coffee maker. Yes, I know it’s broken. I’m the one that put the frackin’ sign on it! Didn’t I order a new one? Didn’t I send an email about the new one? Do I LOOK like I want to discuss the finer points of coffee service and what we didn’t get but should have? I HAVEN’T HAD ANY COFFEE EITHER THIS MORNING, DO YOU REALLY WANT TO START SHIT WITH ME?

10. Broken coffee makers. See #9.

11. New biz-speak. Dude, seriously. The language is English. We have enough people in the cultural salad bowl adding words to the piquant dish that is our tongue. WE DO NOT NEED FAKE ONES! This was on my business school required reading panel for Module One: “Most educationists consider learning by doing to be the most effective learning methodology.”

Educationists???

The word, people, is “educators.” ~headdesk~

12. MAN, do I need coffee.

No, that wasn’t number 12. THIS is number twelve: PEOPLE THAT BUG ME ABOUT MY LIST! I’m writin’ it, I get to say it how I want. Type it. WHATEVER.

13. Bicycle messengers. No, really. If you don’t live in an urban environment, you probably think, oh, cool, they’re keeping down pollution and staying healthy. Yeah. Don’t you believe it. Those people are VULTURES. Worse. Ninjas with wheels. They have NO regard for pedestrians or traffic laws and are dangerous, the lot of ‘em. I once had one whiz in front of me, jump the curb, narrowly miss the woman standing near me, and careened into a planter. I’ve had them hit my car as they drive by, ignore red lights, and cause accidents. GAH!

~shudder~ There. I feel better.

NaNoWriMoPepORama

2009-11-10T06:57:00.009-06:00

Yes, well, so I make up words. Sue me.

But, today, I wanted to highlight Chris Baty, from NaNoWriMo. He sent an amazing Week Two pep talk, in which several things jumped out at me. It was so good, and I had such a hard time picking which parts to share, that I figured heck with it, I'd post the whole thing here.

Dear Author,

Hey there! It's Chris Baty again, and hoo, boy, have I been watching some television. Do you know this show Battlestar Galactica? I've just started in on the first season, and I am shocked by how much stuff the show's writers borrowed from NaNoWriMo.

For instance, Battlestar Galactica centers on a group of humans stranded in space after their worlds have been destroyed by their enemies. NaNoWriMo takes place in the space of November. In Battlestar Galactica, people are hunted by shape-shifting robots who sometimes wear red dresses. In NaNoWriMo, participants sometimes hunt for the, uh, red address bar, where…um.

Shoot. Okay, so the similarities break down a little bit at the granular level. But there is one irrefutable nod to NaNoWriMo in the show that many veteran NaNo participants likely noticed right away. The crew on BG use mysterious technology to "jump" from one galaxy to the next, folding time and space to cross vast distances in the blink of an eye.

This was obviously inspired by NaNoWriMo's two famous wormholes, which fling writers forward (in a good way) when they hit 25,000 and 35,000 words. At these magical tipping points, normal rules of NaNoWriMo physics no longer apply. Forward writerly motion becomes easier, fitful stories take off, and word-counts begin accelerating towards warp speeds.

Our mission this week is to heave ourselves up to the precipice of the 25,000-word wormhole. From where I am now, that feels woefully far away. In reading through the forums, I see I'm not alone. Our non-noveling lives have turned hectic, we're facing tough decisions about what to do with our characters, and we're grumpy from lack of sleep. I am also—for the third year running—facing the very real possibility that my protagonists might literally bore me to death.

To help get us through Week Two and on to the exciting worlds beyond, I have a few tips I'd like to share.

1) Write every day. Even if you just knock out 75 words before collapsing into bed, those 75 words will keep you connected you to your story in essential ways, and make diving back into your book much easier.

2) For now, stop thinking about 50K. Just sprint thousands. Visualize each writing session as a tall staircase made up of 1000 steps. You are part ninja, part monkey, and part stairmaster cyborg. You were born to fly up those steps. Bash out 250 words, and you've made it halfway to 500. Keep going for another ten minutes, and you're past 500 and within striking distance of 750. Once you hit 750, you could sneeze out enough words to get to the top! After each thousand, be sure to take a quick break and celebrate. Then fire up that monkey spirit and go run another thousand.

3) Remember that your book is important. I didn't say this in the Week One pep talk because we'd only just met and there's really only so much cornball sentiment from a random guy on the internet that anyone should have to tolerate in one month. But here's the truth: You have a book in you that only you can write. Your story matters. Your voice matters. The world will be richer for you seeing this crazy creative escapade through to 50,000 words.

This may be hard to believe given the craptastic state that many of our manuscripts are in. But there are great, unexpected things ahead for you in Weeks Three and Four. And there is someone out there who has been waiting their whole life to read the book you're writing now.

So don't slow down. Don't give up. We'll be at the first tipping point soon!

Chris

Thursday 13 – Things I Like to Eat

2009-11-05T06:57:00.000-06:00

1. Chocolate.

2. Chocolate.

3. Chocolate.

HAH! You thought I was serious, didn’t you?

Well, really, it IS chocolate. But if I can’t have chocolate, I also like

1. Potatoes

2. Scrambled eggs with salami

3. Quiche

4. Frozen mangoes with Greek yogurt and honey

5. Ice cream

6. Coffee

7. Tea, particularly hibiscus with lemon

8. Pumpkin pie

9. Macaroni and cheese

10. Tuna and noodles (not the casserole)

11. Hamburgers with bleu cheese and bacon

12. Corned beef and cabbage

13. Bagels

And, for a bonus, you guessed it! Chocolate!

NaNoPagesMorningThingie

2009-11-05T06:13:00.000-06:00

So, I’ve been writing.

A lot.

No, really. A LOT. For some reason, I decided NOT to discontinue my MBA work, OR the other two novellas I’m writing while doing NaNoWriMo. So my daily word count is really about triple the NaNo count. But I’ve learned something in the process, and it’s about the tools.

Yeah, the tools. What tools, you ask? Well, read on, MacDuff, an’ I’ll learn yeh!

I sat down this morning to do my morning pages and realized I didn’t do them yesterday. (I am, on occasion, inclined to ignore my own advice.) (No, YOU don’t get to ignore my own advice, I’m just special. So there. ~sticks out tongue~)

Well, actually, let me back up. I sat down with my AlphaSmart to write some more on my current WIP. No, the other one. In the process, I kept finding myself noting things that I usually put in my morning pages. Like stuff about my day, the bus, the weird lady in the corner talking to a cell phone without a cell phone, stuff it’s really better NOT to write about pre-coffee but that’s what the rules say – morning pages are first thing in the morning, every day, and twice on Sunday.

So, as I’m trying to type, I realized something.

Julia Cameron is right, again.

Darn it all, I really get tired of that.

So I’ll say it again, for myself if no one else is listening: morning pages should be done every day, particularly during periods of heavy creative production. We need the rest they provide. And if you don’t believe me, just try sitting next to me on the bus one morning before I’ve had my coffee and talk on your nonexistent cell phone.

I might even invent a new word for you.

~typity~

NaNoWriMuse

2009-11-04T06:18:00.000-06:00

This is actually kind of fun! I write and I write and then I get to post my word count! Zoom!

I’ve learned something about the writing process in the process, too. Yes, that’s process in the same sentence twice. ~shrug~ That’s what editing is for, right? Ah, grasshoppa, you just stumbled on something there…

See, I’ve found that the internal editor isn’t really my friend. I mean, sure, it helps me fix things once I’ve written them, but it does a piss-poor job of actually WRITING itself. In fact, you know what? The editor doesn’t write a lick of sense! It doesn’t even write a lick of nonsense! (Maybe if it did, it would be more prolific…) But as I work to accumulate word count, I have to get around the urge to perfect as I write and just be willing to tell the story.

Which, I suppose, is like any writing.

But I’m continually amazed, and this is my fourth day at it, that I make my word count so fast. When I actually write, I write … well, I write a lot more than when I don’t write, that’s for sure!

So, friends, I hope my disconnected post-NaNo-daily-post babble makes some sense, because the important part is this:

Just write.

It’s a helluva lot harder to edit it, if ya ain’t written it first!

Take THAT, editor!

NaNoWriMo Word Counter Thingie

2009-11-02T21:41:00.000-06:00

NaNoWriMo Word Counter Thingie
So, of course, I want to know how I’m doing, right? So, I set up the NaNoWriMo word count thingie on the NaNo site. But that’s not enough!

Must.have.spreadsheet.

(Hey. I work in Finance as a day job, what do you expect? Excel is, like, cool, man!)

So, I set up an excel sheet. Nothing enormous, just a few simple calcs. Targets, cumulative totals, that kind of thing.

~techgeekglee~

Date; Goal; Cumulative Goal; Actual Daily; Actual Cumulative; Notes.

MUST have Notes.

After all, I am, like, a writer.

But that’s not enough!

No. In today’s day and age, must have widgets!

Ergo, I went to a really interestingly named site, too: language is a virus. Which, when you think about it, really is true.

But, I digress.

I got mahseff a widget! Yes, folks, a brand-spanking-new widget. ~preens~

Go see for yourself! Look right, young man, look right! It’s even – gasp – updated for today’s word count!

Which accounts for the paucity of sense but overabundance of exuberance of this post.

Time now, for a NAP.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

NaNoWriMo!

2009-11-01T09:29:00.002-06:00

It’s November. (WHERE did the time go??) November is the traditional time of turkey and family gatherings, which for some of us can be a mixed blessing. We like the food just fine, it’s the…

Nevermind. My family might read this.

ANYWAY. What else is important about November? NaNoWriMo, of course!

Say wha?

NaNoWriMo is what we writers (insert lofty, snooty voice here) like to call, National Novel Writing Month. Brought to us by the same people who invent greeting cards, probably. But it’s a month in which participants attempt to write 50,000 words of a novel, start to finish. Poof.

I’ve known about this for a while now, but never really thought to participate. Something about this year is different. Bad water, maybe? But I threw my hat in the ring and today begins the writing.

Which of course, being me, means that I have some thoughts about the writing. (Put the rotten tomato down. Now. There’s a good boy.) One could simply get out of bed, skip the shower, (ew!), and go right to the keyboard to write and not stop until word number fifty thousand and one.

OR, conversely, we might think of a saner way to do this.

Now, I know there are people out there who do the ‘double dog dare,’ which is a hundred thousand words in a month.

I’m not one of them.

I want to have my sanity at the end of this, and I have a huge family celebration smack in the end week. So, how do I plan this?

Let’s break it down. 50,000 words divided by 30 is 1,667. So, if we write 1,667 words a day, we’ll hit our target. For me, writing in paragraphs spaced similarly to this blog, where paragraphs are single and there’s a line break in between each one, that’s about four pages. Just four pages a day. I can do that. Some days, I might have more time, so I could bank some extra pages to see me through that aforementioned family week.

But what else? We might be tempted to abandon all hope, ye who enter… Uh, wrong quote. We might be tempted to abandon the tools we know keep us stable and balanced. This is a supremely BAD idea. Why? Because, dear reader, we want to arrive at December sane and balanced! I am a devotee of the Artist’s Way, as those of you who follow this blog know. So will I skip my morning pages and avoid artist dates in the interest of having ‘more time to write?’

Absolutely not!

In fact, Julia Cameron advises us to take TWO artist dates in a time of heavy creative output.

And trust me. Fifty thousand words is heavy creative output.

So I plan to write my four pages a day, shower and brush my fangs – and floss! – and do my morning pages, even if it’s kicking and screaming. And, I’ll admit, today was tough – I wanted to skip them and dive right into my WIP, but I was a good little writer and did them.

And here’s the thing. I don’t feel crazy.

(Of course, isn’t that what all crazy people say? O.o…)

Business School and the Writer

2009-10-02T06:17:00.000-05:00

So, what do you call a writer in business school?

CRAZY!

Srsly. I decided to get my MBA in Finance at long last. I attend Argosy University and am loving it. My favorite instructor is Dr. Peter Sigiols, who isn’t content with a Juris Doctorate but is now getting a DBA, or Doctorate in Business Administration.

He’s crazy too.

What I’ve learned, other than why a weak dollar is good for trade, is that it’s tough to write and study and work and sleep and have a life.

I’ve also learned that in order to write, one simply has to write.

Sounds simple, but it’s hard to do.

Notice, I did not say “have time to write” or “wait for inspiration.” Those things are luxuries we cannot afford. Too many writers have unwritten projects because they’re waiting for the time or the inspiration to work on them. The only way they get written is to, well, write them.

So. What do you call a writer in business school?

A writer in business school.

Duh.

Uh... Oops ~blush~

2009-06-12T06:50:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I fell off the wagon, and instead of waiting, the darn thing ran off and left me here. So... Let's do this.

JUNEBUG!

Since I left off on 5/20, that leaves the rest of those days for stories. I'll do them now, this month. (Reminds me of the cartoon pirate - "No, THEES lahn!")

Mai Madness: Fenton and Kilasha, Chapter 6

2009-05-20T06:46:00.001-05:00

This is for Dawn, who is about to become a Mamma. She kept pestering me to write more of this story, so here you go, Mamma! (Have Not-the-Mamma buy you some ice cream for you!) To catch up, here's where it starts.

Fenton and Kilasha, Chapter 6

Kilasha trembled with exhaustion, her muscles protesting their unaccustomed position on horseback. She blinked and her vision refused to lighten. She realized with a chill that night was coming, and fast. She pulled her mount to a stop, heart sinking. She had no tent, nor any blankets.

After cursing herself silently for several minutes, she made her decision. She dismounted stiffly and led her friendly companion into the trees.

The horse nosed at her, his breath comfortingly warm. He lipped at her braid and she laughed, pulling it away from him.

“No, my princeling, that’s not for you.”

The stallion flipped his ear in response and promptly tried to investigate her silks.

It dawned on her he was probably hungry. Spotting a small clearing, she tethered him by his reins and left him happily gorging on the fluffy grass and weeds. She removed the rest of his tack. The saddle was much heavier than she expected. She tugged at it and it came free all at once, tumbling into her arms and sending her onto her backside. The stallion turned and regarded her, his eye curious, and then turned back to his meal.

Upon investigation, she discovered three hidden pockets in the saddle; one at the rear and one on each leg piece. She liberated a small woolen blanket, light but warm, and a felt pad. There were fire-starting tools, eating implements, even a carving knife and half-finished animal figurine made from a soft wood. The badge on a spare riding jacket gave her pause, it bore the insignia of the Castle guard.

She made herself a small nest near the stallion, startled by the warmth of the simple blanket. Further rummaging yielded a pouch of jerked meat, beef by the smell. She broke off a piece and gnawed at it distastefully. As the last light faded from the sky, she drifted to sleep, tired beyond endurance.

A piercing scream woke her. It was the stallion. He reared, snapping the branch she’d used for a tether, and spun. His front hooves slashed out and a rough-clothed man fell back with a cry, clutching his splintered ribs.

She started to sit when a hand closed on her shoulder.

“Don’t move,” a voice grunted harshly in her ear, the odor of foul breath overpowering.

The stallion hopped sideways and one hoof flashed out. Her assailant went over backwards, face a mass of blood.

She stifled her scream with one fist. She whirled, trying to see, but the moonless night offered no help. She wished she’d built a fire, but they would have found her sooner. ‘They found you anyway,’ her mind whispered.

She shivered, staring into the night. She got to her hands and knees. The stallion blew out a sharp breath and she jumped. He crow-hopped sideways and kicked another assailant, a faceless mass in the darkness. She fumbled at her side in the bracken and clutched the knife in a trembling fist.

More steps sounded in the inky black and she made up her mind. Kilasha rose, intending to flee. She backed two steps and the third failed to find purchase. Off balance, she fell. Her head slammed into a rock and she felt like she dropped into a deep, dark hole.