Romancing the Palate

Edits, Revisions, and Rewrites, Oh My!

2012-01-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

If you've ever finished a book, you know that it's only step one. It always feels like a big accomplishment, and it is. Supposedly, less than 30% of people who claim to be writers actually finish novels. So finishing is great. But it's just step one.

The real hard part is what comes afterward.

I know a lot of writers claim to be "clean drafters" and a lot of us are. I'm a pretty clean drafter. If you're not, then editing (copyediting, mostly) is something you should learn to do. But still, finding mistakes and line edits are only one piece of the drafting process.

Not all editors are going to require this, but many books need revisions. Major or minor. There's a scene missing somewhere, a character isn't fully developed, there's a plot hole, an incomplete plot thread, dialogue isn't consistent, what-have-you. All books need some form of revision. Some more than others. And, yes, all authors should expect revisions. If you're not getting revision requests, your editor isn't doing their job.

And then, there's the dreaded re-writing. Not all books need rewriting. But some do. I know I've turned in at least one book that needs minor if not major rewrites. This is the most difficult part of drafting. Why?

Most of us have an image in our head about how our book flows. It might be a timeline, it might be a complexity of relationships. It just depends. But somehow, you know how it goes. Rewriting means you have to change how you feel about the book. How you remember it.

When you rewrite, you have to pull apart your baby, remold it, and toss things that might not fit. It's like major surgery. It's painful, it takes a long time, and you might not always survive. I'm looking at heading into some major rewrites on a book. I think I'm steeling myself against it. I know it will be hard, and take a long time. I just hope I come out unscathed on the other side.

SOLD!

2011-12-14T13:59:00.000-08:00

Okay, I've been waiting to announce this for SO long. I have finally been offered a contract for my Genesis-finaling manuscript, New Nineveh that was also titled Once a Smokejumper at one point. Well, it's still TO BE TITLED, really, because we're going to change it again. But I don't care. I'm just thrilled to have found an editor who likes it the way it is and isn't going to make me change the ending. :)

This was the book I dreamt about for months and it's been one of those book-of-my-heart books for so long, I can't believe I've finally sold it, especially after nearly everyone who saw it said they loved it but still weren't going to buy it. I came to expect that answer.

But I'm very happy to announce that I've been offered a contract with White Rose/Pelican books, and I couldn't be happier right now. Watch for dates and such to come soon. Thank you all for your support!

Eating the Past

2011-11-08T07:46:00.000-08:00

Last night, I watched The Pioneer Woman beat Bobby Flay on a Thanksgiving Throwdown. Ree prepared the perfect (and one might say "quintessential") Thanksgiving meal. The consistent comments from the judges were "this is exactly what I/my mom would make".

However, when they tasted Bobby Flay's meal, they were blown away by his creativity. The man didn't serve mashed potatoes. Instead, he prepared this brussel sprout dish that everyone raved about. And he made a pumpkin bread pudding that even Ree's own children preferred to her pie.

Yet, Ree won. And while I will admit, I wasn't there and didn't taste the food, I wasn't surprised that she won. Because when it comes to foods with nostalgic associations, most people prefer taste memory to taste ingenuity. Even if the new dish actually tastes better.

Food has a powerful hold over our memories and emotions, and anyone who doesn't believe this should have been at this Throwdown last night. I'm pretty sure that most people would have voted with the judges, to preserve the nostalgia over the new experience. Sure, we might be up for the occasional new food, or the occasional reinvention, but most of us would rather have the food we associate with positive mental pictures than have good food just for the sake of good food.

This is important when thinking about using food in writing, because of a little thing we call motivation. The deeper a person's motivation and the more compelling, the better the reader experience (assuming solid writing). The more connected a person is to his/her GMC, the easier it is to tease it out. And one of the most powerful ways we connect to our past, as humans, is through sense memory. Using sense memory as a way to deepen GMC is probably more difficult than I'm making it sound, but it can be very useful.

I am teaching my Romancing the Palate workshop on writing food in fiction next month at Celtic Hearts Romance Writers, where we'll talk about this exact thing. Join me if you're interested. When it gets closer to Thanksgiving, I'll give away a couple of seats in the class, so please check back if you think you might be interested in learning how to romance the palate of your readers.

PS. Later in the week, I will be posting on the Outlander Kitchen blog, so check back for my thoughts.

NaNo Update

2011-11-02T12:09:00.001-07:00

I wrote over 4K last night and no TV until after writing. So I at least made it that far. We'll see how things go today. How did you do?

NaNoooooooooooooooooo...

2011-11-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

I told a friend last night that I was going to write 100K words during November. After I performed CPR on her and assured her I wasn't crazy, she asked me a very important question.

What are you giving up in order to write?

My life is full. Some would say it's overfull. I probably wouldn't disagree with that. I can't stop working my day job, and I can't stop sleeping, so something else has got to give. Here's what I decided to give up for NaNoWriMo.

Television.

Those of you who know me know this is a huge deal for me. I have the TV on while I do everything. While I write, while I work, while I sleep. I need the noise. The stories inspire me. I like to have a lot going on, and TV is one of those things going on.

But I know that part of my focus is always on that TV, which means that even if it's only costing me 10 minutes of every hour in concentration time, that's ten minutes I'm going to need every hour. On a Friday or Saturday, when I write all day long, that's 1 1/2 hours that I'm not writing because I'm watching TV randomly.

So I cancelled my Netflix subscription, hid all my remotes, and am closing up my television. When I'm going to watch shows that are new (like the Top Chef and Next Iron Chef America respectively on Wednesdays and Sundays), I'm going to go watch them with other people, and I'm going to maximize my socializing time.

This will be a good experiment for me. Is writing relaxing enough that it's going to be able to replace my random TV watching? How much will I really miss my Netflix? Will I still have the inspiration I need to write 3,400 words a day? We shall see.

I'll put up my word count for half of my 100K on this blog.

But I'm definitely going to try to make this work. I'll tweak some little things in my life and see what kind of difference it makes (not drinking sugar--just had my last sugary drink at lunch--not eating high glucose foods, sleeping 8 hours). Since there are constants in my world that can't change, I'll have to tweak what I can. We'll see how this works out. If I make it to December 1st, I might be a shadow of who I am today, or I might have found exactly what I was looking for.

Only November will tell...

Business As Usual

2011-10-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

I'm taking an RWA class right now on GMC. For those of you who aren't familiar with GMC, that's not an acronym for a car company. :) It's a writing term for the crux of your book's plot. A lot of writers believe that your whole plot revolves around three things.

Goal
Motivation
Conflict

Simplified: GMC boils down to (Character) needs to (Goal) because (Motivation) but (Conflict).

I always hated talking about GMC prior to this class because I'm so bad at it. And I can never narrow down my characters' motivations well enough to make them shine through.

While I'm definitely learning about how to do GMC better (and my CPs will hear me asking for a lot more GMC-clarification brainstorming before I start writing... beware!), I think one of the things that has been the most telling about this workshop is what it's made me realize about the way I tend to write right now.

I do a lot of "business as usual" writing. One character who wants to change something and one character who wants to keep something the same. So I only ever really have one character who has a definable GMC. And I've noticed that trend in almost everything I've ever written.

The interesting part is that when I submitted my GMC homework, my heroine's goal was pretty much "business as usual" and I didn't hear it in my writing. But the instructor made one tiny tweak to her GMC and made her want to do something to change where she was. And it made all the difference. Where I had been stuck in the narrative, I was suddenly unstuck, because I knew exactly what she wanted. It's amazing how that one little tweak didn't really change anything about her (as I feared it might), or about the core of the story (as I was certain it would). But by giving her a definable external motivation, I suddenly was able to find a new depth to the story.

The best part: it makes me more excited to write the story now. That's excellent news for me. I always want to be more invested in my writing. I think this will help.

I'll keep you updated about what I'm learning. So far, I've realized that I really need to keep learning. This is never a bad thing.

The Joy of Research

2011-10-08T14:50:00.000-07:00

It always seemed strange to me that the cooking profession is so male-dominant when, historically, women were the ones who handled the food preparation for families. I don't think I realized how nuanced this whole concept is until I started researching for my newest project. And I'm really excited about it.

What kinds of things are you researching right now? Anything fun? Anything you want to share?

Six Sentence Sunday #3

2011-09-25T04:01:00.000-07:00

Here's my Six Sentence Sunday for 9/25. From my current wip, The Unlikely Assassin (Book One in my Great Reformers series), here is the opening paragraph. This book begins in July of 1558 in Geneva, Switzerland, and is part of my series about the early Protestant Church fathers. Inspirational historical romance.

Elise scoured the darkened meadow for the source of the alarming noise. The moon shone across the path to the French border, its creamy light broken only by shadows of the far-flung trees and the craggy face of Mont Saléve. Suddenly, a woman emerged from a copse to the west, and Elise jumped to attention.

From afar, it seemed that the woman wore only half a tattered white nightgown. As she ran across the meadow, the unusual white fabric caught the moonlight and glowed, making the darker half appear macabre. If anyone else had been working the turrets that evening, they might have assumed that the asylum had opened its gates, between the inappropriate dress and the shrieking, but Elise knew otherwise.

I'm very excited about this book. I hope you enjoy it. I look forward to finding a home for it as soon as it's finished. And I look forward to your feedback if you have any. For now, thanks for stopping by! And hope you have a happy Sunday!

Garlic, My Love?

2011-09-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago at the Farmer's Market, I bought some fresh (as in, picked that morning) garlic. The woman who sold it to me explained all the different sorts of garlic and what I should use them for. She even had some black garlic (which we all saw, I imagine, on Chopped and which I did not buy). I ended up buying the Rocambole Garlic, a couple of nice big bulbs, and they sat and sat.

(By the way, if you're interested in learning more about garlic, go here. This is the absolute coolest website!)

I turned on the Food Network last night and one of the Best Thing I Ever Ate episodes were about garlic. ALL about garlic. Where you can go to get the absolute best garlic dishes in the entire country.

One of them was this Garlic Soup at Bayona in New Orleans, LA. I thought... I have got to try this! Garlic soup! They puree garlic and onions that have been cooked in duck fat. And the result is this smooth, beautiful soup. I need to make it to NoLa and get this soup.

But the thing that inspired me to utilize this fresh garlic was the garlic bread at Rosario's Ristorante in Boca Raton, FL. While I will not be heading down to the underworld for garlic bread, I did make some of my own. I had some great crusty bread, pureed the garlic I had left, added some olive oil and chopped spices and cheese. Spread it on the bread. Baked it. And wow.

I forgot how much I love Garlic.

I also forgot how much I love to cook / bake and blog. I definitely need to get back into this. I've been working so hard at work, and then doing writing business, in addition to writing. Still working out the kinks with my book that was supposed to come out. I'll keep you up to date on that.

But I want to let you know that I'm going to start blogging here again about food and food books. I have a few food books on my radar lately that I'd like to review. A cookbook. We'll see how it goes. But I really hope to be here more often in the very near future. If you have any requests, let me know. Hope you all have been well in the interim. :)

No Red Flags, No Green Lights

2011-08-18T07:20:00.001-07:00

A relationship of mine recently ended, and as I was processing the experience (in writing of course... do all writers do that?), I kept coming back to this one concept.

The Red Flag.

A good friend and I, several years ago, read a book about dating that insisted each woman should have a bottom line. The absolute line over which, if a man crossed it, he was done. No more second chances. In order to help you find your "bottom line", she suggested developing a list of red flags.

The red flag was a behavior that set off an alarm inside you. We've all been there, right? He does something and everything inside says, "NO!" just for a moment, and you realize... that is just not okay with you. I had an experience once where a guy was so deferential to my needs, he would never (and I mean NEVER... not even when I pressed him) make a decision. I tolerated it for awhile, and then finally got to a place where I had a five-alarm internal freak-out. We didn't break up right at that moment, but it was a sign that we would.

Red flags are:

* emotional or rational
* often unexpressed
* a result of the person you are today

Red flags are not:

* eternal
* external
* immobile

No one else can tell you, for instance, what your red flags are. A lot of people will try, but they really can't. No one can make your internal alarm go off. Your red flags are yours, and you need to discover them.

I've had enough relationships now to know when to look for red flags in myself. I'm impressed that some of my red flags had changed. The boyfriend to which I earlier referred, for instance, would today get a lot more grace about his indecisiveness. There were other red flags that would have nixed him in the end, but not that one. However, in this current (recent) relationship, I have learned something very important.

Red flags are not enough.

There also need to be green lights.

With this particular man, I had a relationship completely devoid of red flags. And I mean completely. There were some yellow ones. But never something that made me reevaluate my bottom line. Some might tell me there should have been, but internally, I never recoiled.

I also assumed that the lack of red flags was enough. Well, if there's nothing keeping us from being together, why can't we make a go of it? He's a fantastic person, we get along well, he treats me incredibly well and is very supportive. Why can't we be together?

Because there were no green lights. I think for either one of us. There was nothing that made me get up in the morning and think, I have to be with this guy. There was nothing really wrong. I didn't feel (and he didn't feel) that stars-in-my-eyes over-the-moon feeling. But we loved each other (perhaps, looking back on it, in the filial sense, and not the eros sense, but it was still love). But there was just nothing waving us on. No real green lights.

What is a green light?

It's sort of the opposite of a red flag. It's an internal alarm in the opposite direction. These, I've felt before. They urge you to move forward. They push you to the next level. They are emotional, they are intense, and they are very real.

The lack of red flags can feel like a green light, because there's nothing holding you back. So you just keep walking. Maybe when you shouldn't. If you are lucky enough, like we were, to stop and look at each other and say, "Is this working for you? Is this working for me?" then you might realize that a lack of red flags doesn't mean a presence of green lights. But you might not.

Am I sad the relationship ended? Of course. He's a good man. We will still be friends. But he taught me an important lesson. The rest of your life is nothing to take lightly. You need to be aware of the things that hold you back as well as the things that move you forward.

Listen to your heart. And don't be afraid to do the brave thing. Be honest. A little pain today will make less pain tomorrow. Be courageous. You are worth it.

World-Building Class

2011-08-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching my world-building class again at Hearts Through History Romance Writers. It's gonna be a great class, so sign up now!

Sign Up Here.

NOVELLAS NEED LOVE, TOO–Contest Open!

2011-07-23T10:46:00.001-07:00

Celtic Hearts Romance Writers’ Contest
NOVELLAS NEED LOVE, TOO
A contest for unpublished novella manuscripts, written by published and unpublished authors, judged by some of the finest editors publishing novellas today!
CONTEST OPEN, ENTER TODAY! See below for final judges, entry information, eligibility, rules, etc. Enjoy!

Eligibility
“PUBLISHED” and “UNPUBLISHED authors are welcome.
The “Novellas Need Love, Too” contest is open to both published and unpublished authors. For the purposes of this contest, “Published” means either an RWA member or non-member who has accepted or initiated a publishing contract from any kind of publisher for fiction in the past five years of 12,000 words or more. “Unpublished” means either an RWA member or non-member who is unpublished in novella (12K or above) or novel (40K and above) length fiction and who has not accepted or initiated a contract with any kind of publisher for fiction in the past three years. This includes self-published works of fiction. If upon entry, you are “unpublished” but receive a contract (for other than the entered manuscript) before the entry deadline, you must notify the contest coordinator and we will give you the option of switching to the “published” category, or withdrawing from the contest.

Entries
Entry must be a novella, whose completed word count falls between the range of 12-40K words. Manuscripts must be completed by the final deadline so they may be submitted to the final judge if requested (November 1^st). If a final judge asks for a full, you’ll want to be able to send it out immediately. Entrant must retain all rights to the entry and not have granted any of them to a publisher or any other party by the contest entry deadline. If your entered manuscript is accepted for publication during the time of our contest (before October 1^st) you must notify the contest coordinator; your submission(s) will be withdrawn from consideration and your entry fee(s) returned.
For “published” authors, the entirety of the entered manuscript must be uncontracted and unpublished, including (but not limited to) the concept and characters, the plot and storyline, and the written manuscript itself. It may be part of a series if (1) the rest of the series is uncontracted and (2) you are not under contract for subsequent series books with a publisher (vanity/subsidy or otherwise).
Please Note:

You may submit multiple entries so long as you pay an entry fee and submit a completed entry form for each submission.
Entries must be ROMANCE. Your synopsis will be reviewed upon entry and if a romance relationship is not obvious, your entry may be remitted to you and your contest fee returned.
You may not enter the same manuscript in more than one category.

Entries are 5 pages maximum with a complete synopsis no longer than 3 pages (double-spaced), for a total of 8 pages maximum. All entries are electronic. Entries must be the FIRST five pages of a novella and may not be from any location other than the beginning (so, if you have a prologue, you must begin with the prologue, and not with Chapter One, although you may include any part of Chapter One that falls within the first five pages). Remember that you’re turning in a complete entry, so please don’t end in the middle of a sentence.

How To Enter
Entries should be submitted to the appropriate category coordinator. (See Below)
Contemporary, Historical, Erotic, and Paranormal categories are for UNPUBLISHED authors. All PUBLISHED authors should enter the Published category, regardless of the category of the manuscript. Judges for the published category will be asked to be familiar with all potential categories.
· Contemporary Romance – Michelle Muse (rmjamuse@msn.com)
· Historical Romance – Lizzie Walker (bttrfly811@yahoo.com)
· Erotic Romance – Sarah Hoss (sarah-hoss@hotmail.com)
· Paranormal Romance – Janet Flowers (romanticheart98@yahoo.com)
· Published Authors – Clancy Metzger (clancym13@gmail.com)
CHRW reserves the right to discard all electronic entries and return fees if a minimum number of three (3) entries is not received in any category. Entrants will be contacted before the entries are returned and given the option to place their entry in another category. We may also refuse an entry that does not follow the rules stated here in the guidelines.
Entry Fee: $10 per entry. You may pay for all entries at once, but please note which entries your payment covers, especially if paying by check.
Pay by Check
Please copy or print this form and include with your payment: Contest Entry Form
Mail to:
CHRW Treasurer
c/o Rebecca Syme
PO Box 445
Bozeman, MT 59771
Pay by Paypal
If paying via Paypal, please click here: Contest Entry Form
You will have the option at the end of the form
to choose Paypal
Paypal address: treasurer@celtichearts.org
All entries will be read and scored for the first round by three trained judges and novella readers. All three scores will be averaged. A separate category is included for overall enjoyment, and will be used to determine the DISTINGUISHED NOVELLA award, which will be judged by a separate judge. The three entries with the highest total scores in each category will move to the final round. An editor from a top digital publisher will judge the final round and select a winner from the finalists in each category.

Categories
Paranormal: Romance novella where the mains focus is on the romantic relationship, but the future, fantasy or paranormal elements are integral to the story (includes time-travel).
Contemporary: Romance novella with a contemporary setting set after 1945. Main focus is the romantic relationship between the hero and heroine.
Historical: Romance novella set primarily before 1945 -- any location. Main focus must be on the romantic relationship between the hero and heroine.
Erotic Romance: Any genre or time period, erotic romance submission only - no straight erotica - this means there must be a HEA ending or at least a Happy For Now.
Published: Romance novella of any category, where the author has been published in fiction over 12K in the last three years. May be any type of novella and have any heat level.
DISTINGUISHED NOVELLA AWARD – Each judging form will contain a unique category where judges will rate their enjoyment of each novella (both manuscript pages and synopsis) in comparison to every novella they’ve ever read. The top five scores (regardless of genre or author) in this category will be forwarded to the Distinguished Novella Award final judge. This judge will pick one winner from among those five, who will receive a certificate and a cash prize (of $50).

Judges
Final Round Judges
Paranormal – Imogen Howson, Samhain
Erotic – Kelli Collins, Ellora’s Cave
Historical – Mary Hamilton, Samhain
Contemporary – Grace Bradley, Ellora’s Cave
Published – Gina Bernal, Carina Press
Distinguished Novella Award (overall) - Heather Osborn, Samhain

Entry Composition
Your entry must have the following:
1. A separate entry form for each entry which includes the author's real name, address, telephone number(s), e-mail address, submission title, category and manuscript word count. Do not include the entry form in the same attachment as your manuscript and synopsis. The manuscript and synopsis will be sent together as one document as an attachment.
2. The beginning of your manuscript, including prologue, cannot exceed five (5) pages. Standard manuscript format must be followed: 1 inch margins, double spaced in a standard font and size that gives 24-26 lines per page. We will not accept entries that have colored, or designer fonts. DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME ON THE MANUSCRIPT.
3. The synopsis must be included with the same file attachment as the manuscript, must be double spaced and is not to exceed three (3) pages. Do not send the synopsis in a separate attachment. Include the synopsis is at the end of your entry, and it should start and end as though it were separate from your manuscript. Any entry that contains a single spaced synopsis and/or begins or ends on the same page as the manuscript will be refused and sent back for correction. The synopsis will be scored. DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME ON THE MANUSCRIPT.
4. Confirmation of your payment. If paying through Paypal, include in the entry form your PayPal confirmation number from your PayPal receipt. Not the receipt itself, just the number. For each entry. If paying by check, please include the check # and amount on your entry form.
NOTE: Your entry, which includes the synopsis must not exceed eight (8) pages total. ANY MANUSCRIPT, OR SYNOPSIS THAT DOES NOT FOLLOW THE RULES SET DOWN HERE WILL BE REFUSED AND YOUR ENTRY WILL BE RETURNED SO THAT YOU CAN CORRECT IT.
Entry Format: Standard manuscript and synopsis format, double-spaced, 12-point readable font, twenty-six (26) lines maximum per page, minimum 1" margins all around. Only the TITLE of the manuscript, the category, and any subcategory should be placed on the top left hand side of the entry. The PAGE NUMBER should be on the top right hand side. IF THE NAME OF THE AUTHOR(S) APPEARS ANYWHERE ON THE MANUSCRIPT OR SYNOPSIS, THE ENTRY WILL BE DISQUALIFIED AND THE ENTRY FEE WILL NOT BE RETURNED.
Manuscript and synopsis must be in a .doc or .rtf file.
All winners will receive certificates and icons to place on their websites.
Questions
For questions please contact the contest chair, Rebecca Lynn, at rlcameron@yahoo.com.

The Cardinal Sin

2011-07-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

I love this image for "cardinal sin". :)

A friend reminded me this morning that I am guilty of the cardinal sin of blogging. Of course, she didn't put it that way, but it's true.

NOT UPDATING MY BLOG

Well, after Blogger got all glitchy on me, I stopped trying to log on, and eventually realized my work computer (a MAC--evil of all evils) is the only computer I can still access Blogger on from this email.

So while this has nothing to do with food or romance, I wanted to say that I'm having a hate-hate relationship with Blogger lately, and hopefully I'll figure this out sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, what have I been up to? Well, I'll tell you soon. :) What have you been up to? Got any good recipes for me?

Victorian Era to the Gilded Age Workshop GIVEAWAY!

2011-05-30T07:59:00.001-07:00

A good friend of mine is teaching a workshop aimed at Victorian romance writers. She’s an excellent teacher, a historian by trade, and a lot of fun. Anyone who comments on this post is in the drawing to win a free registration to this class. And if you’d like to register yourself, you can go here.

Tell me, what intrigues you most about the Victorian Era? If you write in the era yourself, tell me what your book is about!

Six Sentence Sunday #2

2011-05-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks to those of you who came by last week. I’ll continue on with the next six sentences of my foodie romance, Gentlemen Prefer Bombshells, since several of you asked so nicely to know what Alexandra would do next.

His brown eyes round, he stared back in unblinking silence.

She slammed the skillet onto a cold burner, sucked in what she hoped was a menacing breath and fortified herself against the whimpering pucker of his face.

“Precisely how much hot sauce did you use?” Lexi asked.

Marcus stammered, picked up the wrinkled, hand-scribbled notecard, and skimmed it. “I followed the recipe.”

Lexi laughed and shook her head—this poor boy wasn’t going to survive in her kitchen.

Thanks for coming by! Don’t forget to comment and tell me what you’re craving. Then head over to http://sixsunday.blogspot.com for the rest of the sixes!

Six Sentence Sunday

2011-05-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

Alexandra popped a steaming potsticker into her mouth and bit down. The crisp bottom skin gave way and thick, salty pork stuffing spilled onto her tongue.

She waited for the spicy heat of the sriracha to start burning up the sides of her tongue, but it didn’t come. Chewing, chewing, chewing, and no heat. Without a thought, she plucked the skillet from the heat and dumped the rest of the plump, white puffs into the trash with a sliding sizzle.

Marcus swore behind her and a momentary panic made her regret what she was about to do.

~ first six sentences from my current foodie romance WIP, Gentlemen Prefer Bombshells

Wanna see more Six Sentence Sunday posts? Go Here. And thanks for stopping by! If you leave a comment, don't forget to tell me--what food are you craving right NOW?

Foodie Novel Giveaway

2011-04-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

If you follow this blog, you are probably a foodie romance or foodie fiction fan of some kind. So I'm about to give you a great opportunity!

I just reviewed Semi-Sweet, a foodie novel by Roisin Meaney. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

So I'm going to give away two bound copies, courtesy of the author, on this blog. I'll include, with the books to mail out, a foodie treat. Something semi-sweet (or just plain sweet), like the book title.

To enter the foodie surprise giveaway, comment on this post. Tell me what your favorite sweet treat is, and win something really awesome!

The Novel Graveyard

2011-04-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

Some of you know that I have been working on edits for my book pretty solidly for a couple of months now. Let me tell you, doing major surgery on a book is not easy. It's occasionally fun, but it's never easy.

This is my Genesis finaling manuscript. The one that everyone has loved but no one wants to publish. And I can completely understand why. It's sort of a train wreck. Even I think it's a good concept, and plenty of people like my voice, but the plot is just a mess.

I will admit to some frustration with myself. I wish I had known more about plotting and GMC when I first wrote this book because I think it would be publishable if I could have written it with the plot it now has. Only now, it has edit face.

Have you ever seen those photo mashups on the Jay Leno show, where he says, "what would it look like if George Bush and Condoleeza Rice had a baby?" and then there's this ugly mashup that combines pieces of each person, but the finished product looks like a mashup and not like a human being. Or at the very least, like a nuclear experiment gone bad. And not in a Spiderman way. It's sort of a sad commentary on our culture that this entertains us so much. But it's sort of sickly fascinating.

This kind of mashup is what my book feels like right now.

It has the bone structure of its first incarnation. But it's been edited so much that it's really taken on a life of its own. I can't remember much of what it used to be, but right now, it feels like Calista Flockheart had a nuclear experiment baby with Harrison Ford. It's not pretty. At least not by my standards. The worst part is, this whole experience has gotten me thinking about other things.

Like the fact that many of our books won't be published. I'm in a lot of chapters. I see a lot of us talking about our works in progress. But statistically, most of our books won't get published. And after reading my first two novels, they probably shouldn't get published. I should just put them to bed and never look at them again.

Do you have a Field-of-Dreams mentality about your writing?

But as writers, we have this attitude that everything we write needs to be published. Sort of like the Field-of-Dreams mentality. If we write it, it should be published. If you build it, they will come. Except that's not really true. I've read a lot of good books by my friends that haven't been published. In fact, I've read some good books by my friends that have been turned down by major publishers that I felt were better than some of the books these publishers are putting out. So, needless to say, there are some publishing decisions I don't understand.

I do think, however, that the editor at Harlequin who rejected NN made the right decision. I love the book and would love to have it published. And it might be publishable now (or at least soon). But it's not the same book it used to be. I almost wish I'd just chucked it and written a new one instead. Because the amount of time it's taken me to edit this into something publishable has been insane. I do think that what I've worked on lately, as far as new writing, is significantly better than anything I've done before.

Still, there's a big part of me that wants to abandon this old project to the dolldrums and just say, thanks for the experience, but it's time to put you to bed.

What about you? How do you decide when to put a project to bed? When do you give up trying to publish something? Have you ever edited something within an inch of its life? It's not fun, is it? Have you ever put one of your books in the novel graveyard?

The Fabled CSAR Tournament

2011-03-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

This is not the CSAR bracket,
but it's close to this.

Sorry I've been so absent lately. Between contest judging and work and editing, I've been in a cave of my own making. But one thing I've been working on while there is doing this very fun book bracket tournament with my friend Camryn Rhys.

It's called #CSAR (Completely Subjective and Random) and has books of every shape and size and heat level (from inspy to erotic and everything in between). Our blog-friend, Missy Tippens is nominated, and won her first match-up. If you're a Love Inspired fan, you'll recognize several authors. And of course, I had to nominate Jennette Green's His Reluctant Bodyguard because, well because it's awesomesauce!

Anyway, if you're interested, stop by her blog. There's an adult content warning, because she does have adult content on her blog (she's an erotic romance writer), but the CSAR posts shouldn't have anything offensive in them. I hope. :) Anyway, if you're interested, stop on by. That's what I'll be doing for most of the next two weeks in my spare time.

Happy Bracketing! Oh, and GO DUKE!!!

The Completely Subjective Part

2011-03-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

A friend and I are running a blog competition to pick the best book we read last year. We started off with hundreds of books, whittled it down to 64, and now are whittling it down to one. It's NOT easy. Why? Because it's completely subjective. What I like, another person might not. And certainly, the author's not gonna be happy when their book loses, whether my math is right or not.

Last year, I entered a writing contest, and I got ROASTED by a judge. And I mean roasted. She was published, and she was not forthcoming with praise. At all. In fact, she tore me such a big new one, I almost didn't enter contests again. And I'll never forget the day that I got those scores. I complained to everyone I could reach about how horrifying she was, and how stupid she was and how she obviously didn't really read my entry. I was loquacious in my complaint. As usual.

But after everything settled down and I let the comments sit for about a week, I opened them back up again and read them. Some of it still stung. But some of it started to make sense to me. And she pointed out some flaws in my plot construction that I continued to make in subsequent books, and have only recently learned how to change. I realized that as much as I'd wanted the judges to like my work, what I really paid for was a critique. I wanted them to tell me what they thought of my entry, to assign it a score, and to turn it in for evaluation. And that's what she did. Subjectively, she hated my book. But as a very wise person told me later, you're gonna have to get used to people hating your books in this business, honey. Especially after they're published.

That was a good word for me. Because I've entered several contests since then, and gotten some of the greatest feedback of my life from contest judges. I've also gotten some who seemed to not know what they were doing. That's just par for the course, in my opinion. But if I've learned anything, it's that whenever I see a low score or a mean comment, I'm going to act emotionally, so I need to give myself some space to process before I do anything about it. Of course, that's how I deal with my experience.

But I know that as I'm selecting winners in this bracket, I'm reminded of that moment. The moment when you find out there are people in the world who like someone else's work better than yours, or who don't like your work at all. That's a hard moment for a writer. May we all find people who like our work best of all. But most importantly, may we all endeavor to treat all with grace, no matter what side of the red pen we're sitting on.

How Do You Do It All?

2011-03-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

Somebody said to me today, "I don't know how you do it all." I wanted to look right back at her and say, "I don't know how YOU do it all." I've been thinking about this a lot lately. But I'm not sure if it's that we don't value the amount that we do ourselves, or we over-value the amount that other people do.

I'm really convinced that it's a combination of the two. We look at other people's lives and we are in awe of what they get done. But we look at our lives and never feel like we're doing enough. I know I look at my friends who work full-time jobs and also are married and have kids, and I think... I could never do that. I can barely handle having a relationship, let alone something as full-time as marriage.

Yes, I do work a lot. But part of that is because I'm not married and I don't have kids, so I have a lot of free time. :) And I do want to be able to do work so other people don't have to.

Anyway, this was just a random thought I had today. How are you devaluing your own busy-ness. Or how are you over-valuing the busy-ness of other people? Are you taking care of yourself and getting enough rest and time? Are you feeling like you have a full and rich life?

Blog of the Week

2011-03-04T21:23:00.000-08:00

I came across a great foodie blog this week. It's called Kitchen Excursions, and it's a blog by several of my friends in Celtic Hearts. It began as an exploration of vegetarian cooking, but it's turned into so much more. Check it out. There are some great recipes there!

Anyone else come across a great foodie blog lately that you want to share with me? I love to add to my blogrolls!

Wanna Build a World WIth Me?

2011-02-27T10:33:00.000-08:00

I'm just wrapping up my food writing workshop today, and tomorrow starts the famous world building workshop--the one that got me teaching these workshops in the first place. This will be something like my fifth time through this material, and each time I do it, it gets more and more exciting!

I will say, world-building is for ALL writers. Historical, contemporary, paranormal, normal. It doesn't matter. We all participate in some level of world-building and it's important for all writers to have a sense for world-building integrity, to keep readers fully engaged in the whole of your story. We may not be making up every detail about a world like you would if you were writing, for instance, fantasy. But you're still building a world for your readers. You may be researching the world (historical) or you may live in the world (contemporary) or there might be rules for the world that are generally known (most paranormal), but you are building it, nonetheless.

Here's a teaser: Think of your story, whatever story you're writing, as the ice on a lake. Your reader is standing on this ice, being guided across your story by the solidity of your world-building. The thicker and stronger your ice, the easier it is for your reader to get across to the other side (the end). If your ice is weak, your reader might fall through (and DIE! okay, not die... but at least your story will die for them--it's not a perfect metaphor, after all). If your ice has a hole in it, they might fall through. If your ice isn't fully developed, it'll never support the weight of their interest. This class will help you learn how to layer your water and freeze your ice so that it can support your reader through the whole of your story.

So I'm running a contest. Of course. When am I not running a contest?

I'm running a contest for commenters on this blog. Comment and leave me a detail about the world you've built in your book. And you'll be entered for a free ($25 value) spot in my "World-Building for Writers" workshop, given away tomorrow (Monday) by random drawing. Happy commenting. And happy workshopping! (In case you want to just flat-out register for the class, go here.)

~ Rebecca Lynn

Going the Way of Twilight

2011-02-26T19:50:00.000-08:00

Well, my most recent Food Writing Workshop is just about done. I posted the very last assignment last night, and I'm very sad. I always love teaching this class.

I got into a conversation with one of my students about the future of foodie romance. With the proliferation of foodie and culinary romances being published lately, she mused that the future of foodie romance would be similar to the future of vampire romances. That we would start off with some great ones, and then it would peter off into crappy imitations of what we've already seen.

I had to think about that for a minute. I couldn't disagree with her about paranormals. There are very few that I read that really entice and impress me. Most of them, frankly, bore me. (And I'm a HUGE fan of paranormal romance as a genre.) And there are an insane amount of them released every day that are absolutely worthless as a contribution to the genre. Is foodie romance headed in that direction? Is that what happens naturally when you are part of a fad?

It was an interesting thought to me because, of course, I have a foodie romance coming out soon. Or something that will pass for a foodie romance. It's not going to be Louisa Edwards culinary romance, but it'll be at least on the foodie level of Jill Shalvis' The Heat is On. Nowhere near her writing talent, of course... that would be a dream come true for me.

But will Foodie Romance go the way of the Vampire? Now or eventually? Where does this put the Scottish Historical? The Regency Romance? What do these two lasting genres have in common that make them outlast fads? Very interesting. If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them!

Cloche Hat Winners

2011-02-22T10:05:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone for entering this contest, and for telling me some really awesome and hilarious stories!

Here's one more picture of the winning hats... And since EVERYONE made me laugh out loud with their stories, I had to go to a random drawing to pick the winners.

Well, the winning commenters were, via random.org, comments #17 and #4. That would make the winners...

MISSY TIPPENS!!

and

NICOLE NORTH!!

Congratulations to you both! I will contact you individually to get your hats to you. Those of you who commented and didn't get a hat, check back next month (right around spring break), cuz I'm going to give away another one. This was the most popular giveaway I've ever had! :-) So I guess people are liking those hats. Anyway, congratulations! And I hope you enjoy your hats.

Well Goodness Gracious Me

2011-02-18T17:00:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been SO long since I've posted on here. I feel like such a bad blogger. Well, I'll tell you what, faithful readers, I'm going to run my long-promised contest.

I have a beautiful hat. One that I made with my two hands. Here's a picture of it. Isn't it pretty?

There's another picture down there of what a similar hat looks like on my mom's head. Isn't that one pretty, too? (Scroll down for more pictures of the same hat in other colors. The blue one is pretty...

Well, here's what I'm going to do today... I'm going to give away this hat, and potentially another one just like it. I'll run this contest for the next three days. So by midnight on Monday, I'll pick the winner, via the random number generator.

Here's how you win the hat.

Follow me via blogger or Networked blogs (some way I can see that you're following me), and comment on this blog post. Tell me something funny that happened to you since Christmas. Make me laugh out loud, and you'll get two entries in the contest.

Ready? Set? Make me laugh, my pretties...

And the Winner Is...

2011-01-30T19:47:00.001-08:00

As of 10:30 Eastern time, the contest closed. Thanks to random.org, a winner has been chosen. And that winner is:

#5 JOY TAMSIN DAVID

I'll be emailing you to get your email registration. Congratulations! And we'll see you in class!!

~ Rebecca Lynn

Free Food Writing Workshop

2011-01-29T09:32:00.000-08:00

I am getting ready to teach my food writing workshop starting Monday. I am giving away a free seat in this class to one lucky commenter. I will come back and announce the winner on Sunday night.

So... Here's what I want to know from you all. What is your food weakness? The naughty food you love to eat.

Remember, all you have to do is comment. And if you want to check out the workshop, here is the link.

CONTEST WINNER

2011-01-27T09:53:00.000-08:00

Thanks to RANDOM.ORG, I have a randomly generated winner for the "Beef Up Your Characters" Contest that ended last night. And the winner is:

ALEXA!!

Congratulations, Alexa. I hope, if you were interested in the class, that you'll consider taking it. Keena is a great teacher, and the class promises to be good. Here's the link to the class registration.

Thanks, everyone who entered!

Food Writing Workshop

2011-01-24T16:58:00.000-08:00

Did you hear about my food writing workshop? Wanted to take it but couldn't? Been looking for ways to beef up your food writing in your novels? Want to just have a month of serious fun?

My Food Writing workshop, Romancing the Palate, starts on January 31st, with Yellow Rose Romance Writers. You can register here.

If you keep watching the blog, I might even give away a free seat in the class. (Although right now, everyone who comments on this blog, until Wednesday night, is eligible for THIS character workshop, by the fantabulous Keena Kincaid.) In fact, the likelihood is VERY high that I will do so... check back after Wednesday for more details.

Beef Up Your Characters: CONTEST

2011-01-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

When an editor contacted me saying she wanted to publish my novel, one of the biggest things she pointed to about my writing was the strength of my characters. In fact, my first experience with editorial feedback was all about how much she felt my characters come off the page. Different editor, same feedback.

But I haven't always written like that.

I took a fantastic characterization class during my MFA program where I learned how to make characters feel real to people. How to make them unique and interesting, with just enough flaws to make them real, but enough redemptive value that people want to root for them. It's not easy. Let me tell you, I used to suck at characters.

Ask my best friend, who also blogs with me here, Kristy. Of course, she'll probably be nicer to me than she should be, but I remember some of my first work, especially when I first started writing novels as a teenager. My characters were all the same, and they weren't very interesting, even taken by themselves. It was the learning and practicing, writing and rewriting, character sketching and interviewing, and practice-practice-practice that made me better today than I used to be. I still have a lot to learn, but I know I'm better.

So here's my challenge to you.

If you've been told that your characters are flat, unbelievable, uninteresting, lack motivation, or any other critique about your characters, I want you to enter my contest. Because I so completely believe in the combination of education and intention, I'm going to give away one registration to a Characterization workshop. Keena Kincaid is teaching The Dirty Little Secrets of Character Development for the HHRW campus starting on February 1st. (If you don't win the contest, you can always register for this class on your own... it's going to be amazing!)

Anyone who comments on this blog post or any other blog post between now and January 26th, and also follows this blog through Facebook, Blogger, RSS (notify me) or email, will be entered to win a FREE TUITION that I'm paying to Keena's Characterization class. Don't forget to let me know your email address or leave a way to contact you, in case you win. Woo-to-the-Hoo!!

Happy Characterizing!

~ Becca

Chocolate Chip Cookies... Extended Edition

2011-01-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

Kristy here!

so tonite, i made chocolate chip cookies (remember the tollhouse one i'd posted earlier?) again with a slight twist... OREOS! wait, what? OREOS!! (yes... you read that right!) look at what i made!!

YUM!? right?

so what did i do? just reduced the chocolate chips by half and added OREOS chopped up into fourths. to be honest, i eye-balled the amount of OREOS added until it looked like the amount i wanted. (but... if i were to guess, i would have to say it was about 12-15 cookies...)

just wanted to share! happy baking!

ttfn.

Some Big News

2011-01-08T21:11:00.000-08:00

I've got some big news to share. I won't do it right this minute, because I want to wait until it's official. But suffice to say, it's been a big week for me, and I'm very excited about it!

It's Been Awhile

2011-01-03T21:43:00.000-08:00

Wow. I just sort of emerged from the holiday coma and realized that it's been a *long* time since I've been posting on here. One of my workshop students contacted me over the break to ask about an assignment and I thought... it feels like SO long ago that I was doing anything writing-related.

Although we've been doing plenty that's food-related.

And I've been making hats like a mad person these last few days. I'll post a few pictures so you can see what I've been up to. But I'm really more interested in the fact that I need to get back on track. So I'll just finish these last few hats and then I'll say farewell to the crazy crocheting, and it'll be time for me to get back into the swing of regular life again. Which means writing and blogging and cooking and organizing. Oh, and working, too. No doubt about that.

But the crochet-fest was fun while it lasted. Sometimes it pays to be sick. :-)

Chocolate Chip Cookie test (Part 3)

2010-12-22T10:47:00.000-08:00

i've made my last two batches of cookies... one with crisco and one with margarine.

using crisco: these ones LOOKED like the kind of chocolate chip cookies i want. they had height and depth, a golden color. they definitely were appetizing. but when i bit into them, they were NOT chewy or soft. instead they were somewhat crunchy and definitely crumbly. and then the actual taste wasn't buttery either. they were kind of... well... they didn't taste right. here's my best analogy... my husband fills up our drink cup at the restaurant. for the past three refills i've been drinking Coke. so looking into my glass and seeing that carmelly sparkling soda, i assume that he's gotten more Coke. and he did... kinda. it's DIET. so it's the same, but slightly different.

using margarine (blue bonnet brand): the batter didn't look promising. while the other three were relatively solid when all mixed together, this one was very sticky. to the point that i thought i would have to add more flour so that they didn't "melt" all over when cooked. so i baked a small test batch first. i was wrong. they didn't "melt" all over the pan. they held their shape and were soft and chewy. they didn't have as much height as i would expect, but texturally they were (mostly) what i was looking for. my husband liked these the best.

in the future, i hope to check out the effects of these actions on the cookies: 1.) making dough and refrigerating it overnight. my dad reminded me that my mom used to do this when she made these cookies growing up. i had forgotten, but definitely something i plan to try. 2.) increasing the amount of baking powder and reducing the soda. according to becca, this will make cakier cookies. which i am also in favor of... however, at this point i am done with my testing. for now.

so here is what've i learned from all this (excessive) cookie making:

i definitely won't make the unsalted butter or crisco cookies EVER again! unsalted ended up crunchy and hard (if you like that sort of thing... which interestingly my uncle does so these would be perfect for him) and the crisco ones aren't what i'm looking for at all.

for my part, i like the salted butter cookies the best. they end up chewy and a bit crunchy (around the edges). they are buttery and savory and YUMMY! my husband likes the margarine ones, which are really soft, and remain so over time, but less buttery flavored.

that's all i have for now, on that subject. will be testing other (new and old) recipes soon!

ttfn.

Chocolate Chip Cookie testing (Part 2)

2010-12-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

i've made (and ATE!) two different batches of cookies... so far...

i used the tollhouse recipe, as intended, and only altered it slightly. from previous experience in cookie making with my best gal, becca, i knew i wanted to add 1 tsp baking powder to the original recipe. so i did that. and in order to reduce the total volume of cookies produced, (so i wouldn't have to eat SO many!) i halved the recipe.

enough with disclaimers... OKAY...

first batch, i made the chocolate chip cookies with SALTED BUTTER. yum. let me say it again... YUM! to be honest, i seriously contemplated stopping right then and there. these were AMAZING cookies! texturally, they were soft and chewy, doughy but not too, with the perfect amount of chocolate. they were what you expect when you eat a tollhouse cookie. i could NOT. STOP. EATING. THEM!!!

second, i made the cookies again with UNSALTED BUTTER. good. well, let me be honest, all chocolate chip cookies are good (and edible... no: they aren't all gone yet...) but these were more crispy when done. the chocolate seemed to be too much (although there was the same amount in both recipes) because there was less dough around them. not quite what i'm looking for.

i still have to make the margarine and crisco cookies... so the test is not over... stay tuned!

ttfn.

Chocolate Chip Cookie testing (Part 1)

2010-12-17T12:01:00.000-08:00

i have a definite idea of how i want chocolate chip cookies to be... meaty and chewy and chocolaty. i want them to melt in my mouth. i want to sigh as i bite into a fresh one, savoring the melty butteryness of the cookie batter and feeling the chips melt in unison.

ever see ratatouille? where remi bites into the strawberry and then the cheese and they make sweet music together? i want to feel that music in on my taste-buds and in my soul as i eat chocolate chip cookies.

SO...

i am on a mission.

first task: find a good recipe. i have tried many, many, MANY different recipes for chocolate chip cookies. mostly they are all the same... so i decided to look to the mother of all chocolate chip makers, tollhouse, for guidance. this is right off the package:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz pkg) nestle tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixing bowl until creamy. add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. gradually beat in flour mixture. stir in morsels and nuts. drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.

bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, remove to wire racks to cool completely.

when making my cookies in the past, i have had different results when i used different "shortenings." salted butter vs. unsalted butter vs. margarine vs. true vegetable shortening (crisco). so i will be using the above recipe to determine the results of using the various shortenings.

and the only way to find out: MAKE COOKIES! and make LOTS! haha! stay tuned!

ttfn!

Allow Myself to Introduce... myself.

2010-12-16T18:55:00.000-08:00

Kris & Beck - we've been bffs since
we were born... this is just after that.

hello. i am kristy, becca's best gal, and kitchen domestic goddess. :) (ok, so maybe ONLY ONE of those is true...)

i am an aspiring chef and full time mother of two. i like to cook and bake and eat. i intend to try new recipes (often!) and share my experimentation!

what else do you need to know?! :)

ttfn.

The Rockstar Chef You've Never Heard Of

2010-12-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

How is it possible that I've not yet heard of Matt R. Moore? Have you heard of him? Perhaps it's because I don't live in the South, but I consider myself to be pretty savvy when it comes to all things culinary, and especially where food and romance are concerned.

Yet quite possibly the most important discovery of my foodie romance career has been hiding from me. Well, in his defense, he was hiding in plain sight.

Have you heard of Matt Moore? And his cookbook "Have Her Over For Dinner"? Until Harlequin pointed me to the NYT list of 2010's best cookbooks (because a HQN cookbook also made this list... not to point me to Matt Moore's book), I'd never heard of this self-published, self-taught chef with a mission to make men worldwide into productive kitchen partners.

Hats off to Matt Moore.

And if he thinks no one will throw their panties at a man wielding tongs in the kitchen, then he's been to one too many rock concerts, and doesn't know nearly enough romance novelists. As you know, if you read this blog, there's a whole world of foodie romance out there, just waiting to be conquered, and we're doing it one book at a time. Or one book review at a time, or one foodie blog at a time. But we're doing it.

If you haven't seen his website, check it out. Hilarious guy, and some GREAT recipes. I know I'll be bookmarking them. And I've already ordered my copy of his cookbook. I hear there's even a sequel coming out in April. Can't wait to get ahold of that one, either.

What about you? Have you heard of Matt Moore? Or of his infamous cookbook? Are you a foodie romance fan with a penchant for men who can cook? Would you throw undergarments at your dh/bf/dw/gf if they cooked for you? Be honest, now...

Fake Baker

2010-12-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite shows on television in recent months has been Top Chef: Just Desserts. Just adored it. Re-watched episodes, had favorite chefs, tried out combinations of flavors from the show--it was just a blast. I hope (Bravo, are you listening) that this was just the first of many seasons of what promises to be an amazing show.

Through my investment in these pastry chefs, I learned something important about myself. I'm not really a baker. I wish I was, but I'm not. Throughout TC:JD's ten or twelve week run, I think I tried to bake about four times, and every time but one was at least a minor flop. The one that did end up being successful, well, it was just so amazing, I defy anyone to make it and have it taste bad. I'll bet it's virtually impossible (will blog about that later).

One of the TC:JD desserts from S1.

This great cookie experiment I'm doing with Kristy will hopefully help me hone my baking chops, but I'm not overly anticipatory. Why? Because I really suck at science, and being a pastry chef is like being a very creative kitchen scientist. I'm more like the neurotic artist who throws paint at a pallette with eyes closed and hopes for genius, but is willing to trash the trash that inevitably presents itself.

Here's what I think about myself: I want too much freedom in the kitchen. I try to change recipes to make them the way I think they would taste better, and then my cheesecake collapses or my cookies burn or don't bake through or my bread dough tastes oily or whatever. The worst part is, I have absolutely no idea why these things happen. I don't really experiment on purpose. It sort of just happens. If I smell or taste something and it doesn't seem appetizing, I fiddle with it until it does.

Here's that famous cheesecake...YUM.

Of course, in the kitchen I can make magic happen. In fact, over Thanksgiving, I invited a couple of friends over for an impromptu breakfast and I made this delectable concoction that I couldn't replicate if I tried, but it was honestly the best thing I've ever had for breakfast in my life. I remember there were potatoes involved, and sausage. Maybe rosemary and I think a little hot sauce and some other stuff I can't remember. But honestly, I couldn't make it again if you paid me. It was the product of momentary genius that is not at all something I can take credit for. I just kept adding ingredients until it smelled the way I wanted. And it was lovely.

But with baking, when I futz with it, it ends up flopping. So I've just learned to stop futzing. The problem with that is I rely too much on recipes, and I don't like recipes. I mean, I love recipes... as a starting point. But I don't know how to experiment when it comes to baking. So maybe that's something I need to learn to do. And maybe it's just not going to be my forte. Maybe I'll be chained to my recipe book forever.

Still, when I find a good recipe (like the sweet potato cheesecake I made last month, which I will make again and blog about this time, I promise), it goes in my keeper file. If I concentrate, I can follow recipes, and I can often make edible baked goods.

What about you? Are you a good baker? A good cook? Both? Do you use different techniques for different types of preparation? What advice do you have for a fake baker?

Merry Christmasy Cookies

2010-12-06T06:23:00.000-08:00

One of the lessons in my Food Writing workshop is on food nostalgia and the power of food to transport us to places in our past (good, or bad) through our senses. It's an important part of character development when you're using food in fiction.

But beyond that, it's a real phenomenon.

My grandparents came over yesterday for Sunday dinner, and after the pot roast was heartily consumed, we gathered around the table to listen to grandpa tell stories about being in the military, and my mom got out the Christmas cookie magazine to show my grandma.

Not long following was a discussion of what kinds of Christmas cookies or candies we used to make. My grandma's mom, apparently, was quite the candy-maker, so we talked about how to make peanut brittle and real fudge. My grandma was big into peppermint bark and pies. I have a visceral memory of eating one of her sour cream and raisin pies that had honey droplets on top of the merengue, and my childlike mind thought that clouds must be like merengue.

My mom was a cookie machine. And I mean that literally. She used to be a caterer, so she actually made cookies with a machine. We used to have boxes and boxes of spritz cookies in our freezer, which for a kid who loves sugar were often too much of a temptation to resist.

But I actually remember making a lot of cookies with my mom, too. And she used to make about twenty different kinds of cookies every Christmas. We'd have one long day where we just made cookies. The kitchen would be a mess for 24 hours, and at the end, we'd have stacks of plastic containers full of buried-cherry cookies and peppermint bark and spritzes and every cookie imagineable.

So in honor of my food nostalgia moment, I'm going to share my favorite Christmas cookie recipe. These are the buried-cherry cookie and, honestly, I've never had a better cookie in my whole life.

Merry Christmas!

BURIED CHERRY COOKIES
1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. baking cocoa
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
96 maraschino cherries, blotted dry

Frosting:
2 c. chocolate chips
1 c. sweetened condensed milk
2-6 tsp. maraschino cherry juice

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture (batter will be very firm. Shape into 96 balls, about 1-inch round, and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Push one cherry halfway into each ball.

Frosting: Melt chocolate chips in milk in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add cherry juice and stir until smooth. Spoon 1 generous teaspoon frosting over each cherry (the frosting will spread over cookie during baking). Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Cool. Makes 4 dozen. These are very good. They take a little extra effort, but they are worth it.

Decal the Halls

2010-12-02T22:04:00.000-08:00

Christmastime is here. And for some reason, December puts me in the mood for watching non-American television. Not sure why. But tonight, I decorated my tree to the sounds of The Vicar of Dibley, which immediately put me in the mood for double cream and Curly Whirlys.

But there's only one Christmas episode in the Vicar, so I took out my copy of Corner Gas, which put me in the mood for black tea and butter tarts.

I never realized until just today how connected my sense of taste is to my sense of sight. I'm telling you, as soon as I see that yellow and green sign for a certain Canadian gas station, I start to taste ketchup chips and Tim Horton's cappucino.

Or, when I see the green, rolling hills of the Vicar of Dibley opening, I physically start to crave scones and Yorkies (they're not for girls, you see). It's amazing to me. I always knew smell was a trigger. And sound, and texture. But sight tended to be the one I forgot about.

I have to admit, finding pictures for this post made me hungry, as well. Thankfully, it's just about time to go to bed. No worries about late night cravings getting too bad.

Anyway, I wanted to say a couple of things about December.

My best friend, Kristy, is going to be doing some cooking demo blogs on here. We're going to start testing recipes together. First of all, Kristy is testing the different types of fat/oil in chocolate chip cookies and how it changes the cookies. Shortening, margarine, butter, combinations, etc. She wants to see which will be the best for her. I'm excited to see the results.

I'm also hoping to demo some of my recipes that I can send to her and she can demo as well. We'll see how this goes. If you have suggestions, let me know. I'll blog about them as well.

Anyway, I'm all decal'd up for Christmas, and have started watching both Vicar and Corner Gas. I'm ready for my Devonshire cream and my Walker's Chicken crisps to arrive. (I will also be blogging about this.) Happy decorating, all. And happy eating!

NaNoWriMo: Day 30

2010-11-30T18:49:00.000-08:00

I feel like calling for a drumroll! I finished my NaNo draft yesterday, and I'm just done editing my two GH manuscripts as we speak. Holy Moses, remind me never to do this again. I don't think I've seen any of my friends since Halloween. And now it's just about time for Christmas already!

So, what did I learn through NaNo?

1) I learned that there are 24 usable hours in every day, thank you. And that at least eight of those hours need to be used for sleepytime activities, otherwise I am completely useless.

2) I learned that I am the most productive when I work for about 90 minutes at a time and then take a break and then do another 90 minutes and then take another break. I do believe there's some sort of science to back this up about Olympic athletes or something of that nature, but who are we kidding? I learned long ago that I was never going to have a gold medal. I'm mostly worried about productivity during my writing. And it definitely works with me.

3) I learned that I need to be really careful about the goals I set. Some, I'll just ignore when they start to tax me. Others, I will kill myself trying to meet. I should figure out sometime which is which and why, but for now, I just need to be aware.

4) I learned that writing about 2-3K a day (and some days, 5-6K) is do-able for me when I don't have too many obligations. I should be able to crank out a novel a month. This puts my writing schedule in a different time zone than it used to be. We'll see what the effects of this are.

5) I learned that I love this job. I want to do this for a living, and as full-time as possible. I need to get on that.

Thanks for all the encouragement, and for those of you who wrote and won as well, congratulations! Or, if you wrote at all, congratulations! This was a great month.

Don't forget, now that the editing is starting, there's a great workshop by Eliza Knight starting tomorrow to help us edit those NaNo drafts! :-) Here we go, kids!

And the Winner Is...

2010-11-27T09:23:00.000-08:00

I had my Thanksgiving-Is-A-Blank-Slate contest last week. Got some fantastic recipes, and some great stories about Thanksgiving food. And the winner, via random.org, is:

Missy Tippins!!

Congratulations, Missy. You win an Amazon gift card, which I will be emailing directly to you.

Thank you all for stopping by. Next contest will be at Christmas. It will be something amazing. We shall see. :-) Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Holidays!!

~ Rebecca Lynn

NaNoWriMo: Day 23

2010-11-23T09:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back now. Doing my day-by-day NaNo stuff again. It has been a long and very hectic month. Remind me never to do NaNo again when there's so much to do... whoah!

Anyway, the reason I'm here today is to say: I read a fantastic blog last week about making sure that we don't try to submit our NaNo drafts right away. The blogger's point (and I wish I'd marked it so I could tell you where to go to read it) was that many new writers get overexcited after having finished a draft and get married to the draft they've written, instead of seeing it as, primarily, a starting point. They feel like they've "finished".

I also read a blog from an agent who said that she dreads NaNoWriMo coming around because that means she's going to get hundreds of essentially "unfinished" manuscripts, because they're all first drafts, and while they might show promise, they're just too rough.

So, if you've done a NaNo draft, and you're looking for a way to impress that special agent or editor, let me make a suggestion. Take this class:

Eliza Knight, mult-published author and professional critiquer, is teaching an Edit-Your-Book-In-A-Month workshop in December. I took this class last January, and have been very excited to take it again. Now that I will have not one but two manuscripts to work through, I'm going to pick one and take Eliza's class. So I hope you take it with me. It is definitely the best editing class I've ever taken, and it's a lot of fun to take, as well.

So if you have a NaNo draft, maybe join me in this class. Here's a link to the workshop. Take a look. See you there!

My Thanksgiving is Your Blank Slate

2010-11-20T10:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been told that I look like
Dawn French... maybe I should
just embrace it after all.

All of my significant people are going out of town for Thanksgiving this year, so I'm left with nothing but options. I've been invited to several family gatherings. (In fact, I considered pulling a Vicar of Dibley recap and trying to fit them all in one by one.) And I'm very grateful for the hospitality. But I'm thinking of doing something I've never done before.

I'm thinking of spending Thanksgiving alone. It would be a glorious opportunity to not have to drive in the snow, to be alone for a chance (my day job can get sort of people-y sometimes... well, strike that, most of the time), and to make whatever I want for Turkey Day. I might just shock everyone and make a small ham. Or a Cornish hen. Or a goose, like Courtney. Or nothing. Maybe I'll have a vegetarian Thanksgiving. Or maybe I'll go ahead and make this white cranberry cosmo that someone suggested to me on Twitter and watch Sex in the City reruns. Or the Vicar of Dibley. I don't know.

Come on... isn't this cute?

My Thanksgiving is a blank slate. For maybe the first time in my entire life, I have NO solid plans. None. It's freaky.

So here's what I'm proposing. Send me your best Thanksgiving recipes. Post a recipe in the comments of this post and I'll enter you in a drawing to win an Amazon gift card. I'll pick one recipe to make on my Thanksgiving (or maybe more than one) and I'll blog about it. But I'll pick the Amazon gift card winner randomly. So happy posting! Any Thanksgiving-ish recipe, of any kind. Fly, my pretties, fly!

Help make my nice, silent, peaceful Thanksgiving a memorable experience for my palate. And maybe win some Amazon money for yourself to buy that new Lisa Hendrix book... oh, wait, that was me. Well, you can do that, too. But you can buy whatever you want. Just give me a fantastic recipe!

NaNoWriMo Update

2010-11-18T21:12:00.000-08:00

So, my life has been a little freakier than usual lately. I'm teaching this amazing class, I've got Christmas coming up, so work is--well--hellish, I've got a couple of clients with pressing projects, and a board in transition. Plus, I'm writing my NaNoWriMo book. And that has NOT been easy.

It's amazing to me how hard it is, some days, to fit writing in with all the other little things that have to go on in life. And I'm not completely sure how I used to fit it in. Some days, I just wonder if I'm not trying too hard. But then I wake up the next day and just keep trying all over again.

This isn't so much a brilliant, look-how-awesome-I-am post as much as it is a w-t-f post. And not even really that, either. More like a hmm-I-haven't-blogged-in-awhile-what-is-up-in-my-life-right-now post. I guess that's okay, too. It's gotta be okay for me to be uncertain and/or overwhelmed once in awhile, too.

I think that once December shows up, I will be able to breathe a sigh of relief. At least for a second. One of my contracts will be over. NaNo will be over. Golden Heart will be over. Judging will be over. If I can just get through the next two weeks.... I'll be golden.

I might be a little bit sporadic in posting for the next couple of weeks, but I hope you'll keep up with me. Keep coming back. I promise to post very interesting things about food and romance very, very soon.

I'm still about 3K off of my goal to maintain finished ms by the end of November. And while I'm editing a bit as I go, I do have more editing to do.

Food Writing 101

2010-11-12T17:42:00.000-08:00

I'm in the midst of teaching this great food writing workshop over at DDRWA, which has been a blast so far. A very different format than I'm used to, so I feel like I'm scrambling a little bit, but it's fun. I'm spending so much time thinking about food this week, it's been a little bit like being back in the kitchen.

But someone reminded me of something today that as much as I harp on the importance of food experience (eating, tasting, cooking, touching, researching, etc), the most important part of food writing is: WRITING. Because all the food experience in the world doesn't get one single word on the page.

So to all my students who read this: you're teaching me great lessons as well. And you're reminding me why I do this. Press on, and as always, writers write.

NaNoWriMo: Day 5

2010-11-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

I think I've written about 2500 words just in blogs in the last 24 hours. But it's been awesome! It's a great reminder to me that, no matter what's happening, life goes on around it.

I've been blogging on leadership, on food history, on NaNoWriMo, reviewing books, and then, this. Whatever this is. My catch-all.

I'm also prepping my syllabus and assignments for my Food Writing workshop that starts on Monday. Yes, there's still time to register if you want to (go here).

I did a little bit of NaNo this morning. I'll be doing a little more tonight. But probably not much. Tomorrow is going to have to be a big writing day for me.

How about you? How is your NaNo going? Your writing? Your day job? What's your first week of NaNo been like for you if you're doing it.

Food History Guest Post

2010-11-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

I'm over at History Undressed today, doing a food history guest post to promote my food writing workshop that begins on Monday.

Check it out:

One Bituminous Tuber (Or How the Potato Ruined the World)

NaNoWriMo: Day 4

2010-11-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm just about on-target for my 1667 words a day. A bit over, but nothing to write home about. These last two days have been a little busy, and I haven't done the kind of word count that I did the first two days. But tomorrow should be better. And I'm hoping for more words both tomorrow and Saturday.

But I felt like I should check in anyway. Tomorrow, I'm at the History Undressed blog, talking about food writing and food history. I'll post a link when it goes live. Hope you come on over and check it out. It was a FUN post to write about.

Too bad my blog words don't count toward my NaNo goal. :-)

But I'm making good progress on both my novels. Getting my characters in and out of trouble. Trying to stick to some semblance of my plot outline. We shall see. We. Shall. See.

What about you? How is your NaNo experience going? Or if you're not doing NaNo, how is your writing and/or editing and/or work going this week? Had some slow days and better days?

NaNoWriMo: Day 2

2010-11-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well, as with any new commitment, day two was significantly more difficult than day one. Not because of the writing, but because of life.

I got some contest results back today, and they were brutal. And by brutal, I don't mean "critical, well-thought-out, and insightful." I mean, well... mean.

For most of the last year, I have been entering contests on and off, depending on the final judges, trying to get in front of some good people. And I've finaled enough and gotten enough feedback to have a pretty good idea of the quality of my writing. I've also had full requests (that are currently pending) from NY Editors and well-known agents.

I say all that to say: I'm not a crap writer.

I'm not a great writer--I have no delusions about that. But I'm not a crap writer. I've gotten enough feedback from readers, other writers, and industry professionals to know that I have my strengths, and my weaknesses. I'm relatively sure what both are.

So when I get an entry back with all 2's and 3's, complaining about my lack of characterization, my unrealistic dialogue, and asking for more backstory (seriously? more backstory?), in addition to the things I actually suck at, I get a little suspicious.

I get hurt, and angry, and sad. But I mostly get suspicious. Because the emotions will pass, but after that, I do need to think about the really hard part.

After the emotions pass, and I stop wanting to hunt down whatever judge said whatever asinine thing to me, I have to figure out what to do with my feedback. How much of what they said is actually insight, and how much of it is power trip? And I've learned that no amount of "lol" or "smiley face" or "you'll thank me later" can disguise a woman on a power trip. Those kinds of comments, I don't want to incorporate.

from
http://lovingthetasmaniandevil.files.wordpress.com/

A very wise woman once told me that I should not enter contests anymore. She also said that I shouldn't have more than two critique partners. She also told me that I should write a draft once all the way through, not edit, then let my CPs at it, integrate, and start submitting.

This is why I think NaNo is going to be good for me. I don't have time to go back and edit, because I have to keep plowing on. I don't have time to second-guess, I barely have time to first-guess. So I think this will be a good test for me.

And I think I'm done with contests. It's been awhile since I've gotten any feedback that's really helpful on a manuscript from a contest. My critique partners are much better. Much more consistent. And not at all invested in making me feel like crap. In other words, they're critique partners.

So I'm off to do more NaNo writing. Just wanted to check in with myself, remember this moment, and record it for posterity. Heaven knows I can never have enough public humiliation for one lifetime.

What about you? How is NaNo going? Ever had a particularly brutal (read: mean) contest judge? How did you handle it? Did you end up incorporating any of their comments? And the most important question: Do you have chocolate?

NaNoWriMo: Day 1

2010-11-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

Because last night was Halloween (and I was out a little later than I normally am), I was able to be up when midnight turned and NaNo began. And I started writing right at 12:01. It was sort of intense.

I thought to myself, "This is going to be a great. My whole life will be about writing from now on."

Then I went to sleep and woke up. Life started up again. Work had to be done. Life started to get in the way of the writing. And I realized something:

I'm going to have to reorganize my life if I want to get all this done. November is a crazy month for me, as December will be. But I have to get this novel done. So I'm off to try to get in my 1667 words for the day. Wish me luck.

Oh, and if I'm still doing this by the end of the month--talking about how I need to reorganize, but it hasn't been done yet--feel free to cyberkick me.

The Best of Halloween Food

2010-10-31T02:01:00.000-07:00

My favorite part of fall is the special kinds of fall foods we consume. Homemade applesauce (which I blogged about making last year--it was incredible), pumpkin pie (which I will likely blog about at Thanksgiving), apple cider, and I'm sensing an apple theme? Well, you should.

Because today is Halloween. And even though I will likely spend a large portion of the day watching scary movies, what Halloween is really all about for me is one thing: caramel apples.

from dotcomwomen.com
Don't they look amazing? Yummo.

Ever since I was a kid, I've looked forward to fall because that's when the caramel apples come out. And on Halloween, there are actual people who give out these amazing treats for trick-or-treat. I used to get them all the time. I haven't made them in years. But every Halloween, I eat at least one, because they are everywhere. Even my local coffee shop had caramel apples for sale this week.

Tomorrow, I will buy and eat one.

But what's so special about caramel apples? Well, I've spent a lot of time thinking about this, and it comes down to three things, for me, that make caramel apples the perfect snack.

(1) Apples are good for you. I know, I know, this might seem like a moot point. But when you're choosing between, let's say, chocolate cake or brownies and a caramel apple, this can be an important point. There will be less guilt, if you are me, when I can genuinely say that a large part of the snack is real food and not just sugar.

from slashfood.com

(2) Apples are tart, but not overly sweet. Or they are if you use the right kind. And if you're wondering, green and tart apples are the only kind of apples you should ever use. They also need to be crisp, because the crunch is a major part of what makes caramel apples awesome.

(3) The caramel balances out the tartness of the apples quite nicely. It's a perfect, smooth, smoky kind of compliment to the sourness of the apple. I have to say, my mouth is watering right now, just thinking about it.

Here's a thought on other toppings. Now, you may be tempted to load up a caramel apple, because it's sticky and can handle other toppings. But I want to urge you to hold off. Perhaps, add some pecans or crushed salted peanuts. But hold off on overloading it with candy. Otherwise, you lose the essential balanced-ness of the caramel apple.

I feel like I'm doing a Sporkful episode, but I really think this is important.

from foodnetwork.com

The true beauty of the caramel apple is the balance. The perfect blend of the elements to create a perfect bite of food. One that hits all the flavor notes on your tongue.

So do me a favor. Go out today and buy a caramel apple. Just caramel and green apple and maybe some nuts as a covering. Bring it home, sit down with it, close your eyes, and take a bite. (Okay, you have permission to open your eyes while you're cutting it--because, yes, you should always cut the caramel apple, and never just eat it on the stick... even though it's on a stick.) Taste it. Really taste it. And then report back.

I want to know if everyone else's caramel apple experience is as uniquely sublime as mine.

Food Writing Workshop

2010-10-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

Just a quick reminder that you can still register for my food writing workshop. It's starting next Monday (the 8th) and running for two weeks after that. There will be a lot packed into the two weeks, and it's going to be a blast.

It's running through Dunes & Dreams RWA, and you can register here.

Hope to see you there. And thanks to those of you who have already registered!

Wrenvy

2010-10-24T22:14:00.000-07:00

Ever just have one of those days? Where your funk won't go away? (And I don't mean the kind you can shower away, I mean the emotional kind. It's harder to get rid of...)

I'm having one of those days. On top of some other stuff going on in my personal life, I'm suffering from something I like to call Wrenvy. (It has a better ring than Wrealousy... although they both have a faint smack of Scooby-Doo, so I'm happy either way.)

I've been trying to get through Gail Carriger's Soulless for about a month now. Not because it's horrible. Because it's freakin' amazing. Honestly, it's probably the best book I've read since an actual piece of classic literature passed over my desk. It's fantastic.

Here's been my reading process: read a chapter, fall helplessly in love with both Lord Maccon and Alexia Tarrabotti, get angry that GC is such a good writer, throw my Kindle back in my purse, go about my day pretending to be a writer. Next day, pick Kindle back up, refuse temptation to move on to another book that won't turn my skin the faintest shade of Elphaba. Then rinse, lather, repeat.

Have you ever had that experience? It's horrifying.

Especially since part of the reason I'm reading this book in the first place is becuase one of my critique partners, after reading my latest steampunk novel, immediately suggested that I read Gail Carriger. "I'm sure you'll love it," she said--by which, I believe, she meant to say, "you should read this novel to see how steampunk paranormal is actually written, and then flog yourself publicly for ever thinking you could write this book, and then stop sending me this horrific _(insert preferred cultural swear word here--I sort of like "shite" for Sundays)_, thank you very much." Yes, I believe that's precisely what she meant to say.

Or at least, when I read Soulless, that's what I feel like saying to myself.

I've been working on this book for almost a year. I'd conceived this plot before I'd even heard of Soulless, but there are so many plot points that are similar (over-arching plot points, not specifics), it would be really difficult not to look at my book and accuse me of trying to write like Gail Carriger. It would also likely end with you using some form of colorful language and throwing your computer (or whatever reading device held the pages of my novel, perhaps paper if you're old-fashioned) across the room. I wouldn't want to do that to you. Or your computer/Kindle/paper.

But now I'm wrestling with Wrenvy. Writer Envy. I want that feeling back where I thought I had this wonderfully original concept. Where I thought it would be easy-peasy-rice-and-cheesy to market my book because, hello, who'd ever heard of a Steampunk novel with a preturnatural heroine and an Alpha werewolf hero set to the tune of exterminating magic from Victorian Europe?

Apparently everyone.

Except me, of course. Late to the party, and not even fashionably. And my poor book now, other than being perhaps a bit darker than Soulless, is just not comparable. Not only is my writing nowhere near her caliber, but my plot and characters don't even deserve to wipe Lord Maccon's terribly fashionable shoes.

Forgive me, and welcome to my pity party.

But I'm firmly ensconced in my Wrenvy for right now. It's unfortunately hampering my writing, which won't last for long. But it's definitely going to last the night. And I've done all I can do to combat it. Now, I just need to let it run its course. And when I can stop feeling sorry for myself and start writing again, I may not be writing steampunk anymore. Either way, I know what I will be doing:

Reading the rest of Gail Carriger's series. Because it freakin' rocks.

What about you? Have you ever had a case of Wrenvy? Who was it about? Do you mind sharing the outcome... just to make me feel better about what the future holds? :-) Also, is there a cure for Wrenvy?

That Big White Envelope

2010-10-21T15:13:00.000-07:00

It's been exactly two months today since I mailed my manuscript in to the editor who asked for the full print version of New Nineveh, my Genesis finaling book.

This is my first full request. My first full submission. My first request after a contest. But since this one, I've gotten many, many more. For different projects, but also including this one. I'm not sure whether that's a good sign or just a sign that I've been submitting. But the one I continue to think about is this one.

Why?

Because this is the "one" I always wanted. This full request is the reason I entered contests. It's the reason I went on pitch blogs. It's with a house I've always wanted to write for. It's a line that I read voraciously, and whose authors I've met and enjoyed.

Here's the problem.

My manuscript is not normal for this line. It's a setting they've done, but a way they've never done. Potentially, this decision was a purposeful one. (Of course, potentially, it's not.) It's a little boundary-pushing. It's a little unusual.

It's also my first. My first contemporary. My first inspy. My first completed manuscript in my adult life. (I wrote a romance novel when I was 19--it was a long time between books.) My first full request. My first submission. And with writing, you know the drill.

Firsts always get rejected. Everyone says this. Everyone's first sale stories are "my first book got rejected." Some people's first-sale stories are, "my first five/ten/fifteen books got rejected." Especially by NY publishers. Especially by your dream publisher.

And of course I would love to get a call sometime in the next month saying, "hey, we'd really like to publish this book." But chances are, one of these days, a white envelope is going to turn up on my doorstep and it's going to crush me.

Not by the sheer weight of it. But because inside will be my manuscript and a letter of rejection. And the rejection will crush me.

Of course, I'll dust myself off and keep trying. But at this point, after two months of waiting and hearing stories from other authors, my hopes are up. The fact that it's been longer than a month with no white envelope on my doorstep has got me counting some chickens.

And I'm very much afraid of rejection. But I'm more afraid of rejection now that I'm starting to get certain that they will accept it instead of reject it.

I know I shouldn't do that. I shouldn't say they're going to reject it. I'm sure a lot of my very supportive and very well-meaning writing friends will say, "Don't be negative" or "Don't put that out there" or something along those lines. Let me say up front, thank you for your support.

But I need to think honestly about getting rejected. Because if I don't get rejected, I won't have any problems celebrating. You won't be able to keep me from celebrating!

But if I do get rejected, I need to be prepared. Because if I don't get accepted, I'm not going to cope well. Not because I "can't" take rejection. I've got more books written. Something, someday will get published. But because this is my big dream, my NY dream, my big debut novel dream, it's going to be really hard for that rejection to become a reality.

And I'm sure I'll come on here and comiserate with everyone when it happens. I'll be sad and angry, but it won't kill me. But it will be *really* hard for a long time. And it'll be hard to pick myself up off the ground after it happens. But I want to be ready. So when that white envelope comes back, my dreams don't go crashing down and break their neck. A little bruising, I can recover from. But I don't want to paralyze my Positivity by not being prepared.

That might make me crazy. What do you think? Am I crazy? How do you deal with rejections? Have you ever gotten a rejection before? When you make a sale, do you assume it will sell from the start? Do you assume every project will sell? Do you assume every project will tank?

Romancing the Palate

2010-10-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

I'll never forget the first foodie romance novel I read. It was Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie. The heroine was a little overweight, and had to be very careful about what she ate, but she was in *love* with this little Italian restaurant somewhere in Ohio (because I think that's where all Jennifer Crusie novels are set). She was also in love with Chicken Marsala.

And part of what made her fall in love with her hero was his making Chicken Marsala for her. Min had been making it with margarine and spray oil and Cal was dumbfounded that she expected it to taste good without real butter and olive oil. It was a beautiful scene, him in her kitchen, playing with her food, feeding her, watching her eat, reveling in her love of food.

I read that book twice, straight through. I even listened to it once--amazing. The concept of a woman's love for food being attractive to a man was new to me. I'd always been raised to think that men liked women who ate salad. (Please, don't ask about that...) And from the moment I read Bet Me, I decided that I was always going to write women like me, and the men who love them. Women who love food. Women whose love for food is integral to their love story. Women who may (or may not) look like they love food--because, of course, the unfortunate part of our human experience is that not all of us women who love food look the same. It's not necessary for me to have overweight women, although I am, myself, overweight. But it is necessary to have women who love food, falling in love with men who also love food and/or just love them for who they are.

I call these (and I think they should be called) foodie romances. And I love to read and write them. I think there are more of them than are intentional. I don't think, for instance, that Jennifer Crusie intended to write a foodie romance. I think she just wrote a romance novel, and her character's (or her) love of food was just natural to the story. It was beautiful.

Partly because of my love of teaching, and partly because of my love of foodie romances, I'm teaching a workshop next month on Food Writing and Romance at Dunes & Dreams RWA. It's called "Romancing the Palate", and you can register here. If you love food and writing, I think this will be a very fun workshop for you. We're going to cover food professions and home cooking. We'll do exercises about food, senses, sensuality, and cooking. I really hope you'll join me.

What about you? Do you love food? Do you incorporate food into your writing? Do you love to cook? Do you love to eat? :-) Tell me about how you incorporate the things you love into your writing.

The History of Dessert

2010-10-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

A Victorian Dessert stand
picture from
patiannestevenson.com

I adore food history.

Many of you may remember when I reviewed John T. Edge's book on the history of the Southern stomach and said that if I could have one job in the whole wide world, it would be his. I still hold to that. Except I don't want to research just the American South. I want to research the history of food all over the world.

For instance, did you know that the practice of eating dessert after a meal wasn't prevalent in Western culture until well into the 18th century? The effect of trading/shipping routes, the production of sugar, and the rise of the middle class in Europe all had an effect on food practices. Shouldn't surprise anyone, but I found it to be dreadfully interesting. Of course, that doesn't mean that no sweets were produced before then. It just didn't become part of the culture to eat dessert as a course to a meal until then. And then, once the middle class became more prominent, following an upper-class trend of multi-course meals became a way for them to cement themselves in society as "non-poor".

It turns out that food traditions played an important part in social differentiation in the 18th and 19th centuries. Things like this absolutely fascinate me.

Of course, I'm not the food history nazi. I'm not going to go as far as saying that food history should be a part of every novel/romance, but I do think that when you have the opportunity to use real food details, you should take said opportunity and run with it.

That being said, if you're interested, I am teaching a food-writing class next month.... *hint-hint* :-)

What about you? In your research, have you come upon any great tidbits of food history? What is your favorite time period of history to research? What part does food ritual/culture play in your historical research?

Food Writing Workshop

2010-10-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

Starting in November, I'm going to be teaching a workshop on Food Writing and Foodie Romance. Here's the blurb. Please email me at rlcameron (at) yahoo (dot) com, or leave me a comment here with your email, if you'd like to register. It'll be through Dunes & Dreams RWA, so as soon as the information is live, I'll put up a link to get to it.

Romancing the Palate: How to incorporate food into your love story. Whether you have a food professional heroine, a chef hero, or a home cook, want to write a restaurant scene, a food-related love scene, or a big event, this class can be what you need. We'll cover food in the five senses, food as a character, food professions, food history (including using food authentically in historical romance), and food as sensual enhancement. Please join us and romance your palate today.

Bitchin' Kitchen

2010-10-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

I lived in Calgary for awhile last year, and I really got into the Canadian version of the Food Network. So much so, that I kept trying to find ways to get episodes of a few of the shows, to no avail. (Of course, I was distracted by the Olympics! But don't tell anyone about that.)

Lo and behold, when I came back to the US, the Food Network was launching a sister network called The Cooking Channel, and guess what was on this new channel? ALL the great Canadian cooking shows I'd gotten addicted to up in Calgary. I was ecstatic.

There was one, though, that I never saw and, thus, never got into, until it aired last night on the Cooking Channel. It is also my new favorite cooking show. My mom totally called this, because she is cool. "It's Jersey Shores meets Good Eats", she tweeted. My mom is a genius. Because that's exactly what it is. Throw in an little Canadian accent (which makes the Jersey accent sound a bit strange), and you've got it.

Nadia G and her
Bitchin Kitchen (yes, this is
the actual set--rockin, eh?!?)

Only it's awesome. Really.

The first show, the one that aired last night, was all about how to make three great meals to land your soul mate. The first one, the Caramel sauce with Fleur de Sel, I am definitely goin to try! And this chick is hilarious. Nadia, her name is, I think. But more than that, she knows her food.

And she manages to do on her show, with the inlaid sequences, what I think Alton Brown always tries to do and doesn't really succeed at: making campy cool. This girl is the definition of campy cool.

So if you get a chance, check out your local listings, and watch Bitchin' Kitchen, and tell me what you think. I know I'm hooked. I hope you will be hooked with me.

The Sporkful

2010-10-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

I could listen to Tyler
Florence talk about food
all day long. And then some.

Men talking about food.

This is hot.

This post is all about men talking about food, and eating. And I am just going to take a moment to let that sink in. (Those of you who have been around for my post on Emeril talking to his food will understand why this is so hot to me.)

I recently found a podcast that I can *NOT* believe I've never heard of before. Especially because it's been around for about ten months now, and I am obsessively finding new food things on the interwebs. And I did not find it through referral, or through a search. In fact, I was trying to find something completely unrelated, and it showed up on an iTunes search.

So, of course, I subscribed. Even if it sucked, it would still be fun to make fun of, right? Right. But here's the great part: It doesn't suck at ALL! In fact, it is pure, unadulterated genius.

It's called The Sporkful. (Yes, if you've been tuning in to the iterations of my hate for a certain writer whom I call The Spork, this will be hilarious to you. But I generally just think this is genius.)

from thesporkful.com

The Sporkful is an eating revolution. As they say, "Eat More, Eat Better, and Eat More Better." They claim to be "not for foodies, but for eaters", which I respect. But I will say, foodies of all shapes and sizes should be tuning in to The Sporkful Podcast, fanning The Sporkful on Facebook, reading The Sporkful blog, and following The Sporkful on Twitter. Seriously. Genius.

After picking a sort-of greatest hits (the topics I really was interested in) to download on their Podcast, I've done the "Get All" thing, now, and am starting from the beginning. I plan to listen non-stop. Just luxuriating in the witticism, the food analysis, the general hotness of this podcast.

Right now, they are talking about dipping a grilled cheese sandwich in fondue. These men are geniuses.

I can't think straight enough to say anything more witty than, "You must check this out right now." If you read this blog, you are probably interested in food and foodies and eating and all that stuff, so I'm pretty sure you'll like it. It's humorous, it's intense, it's making me oddly hungry for cheese...

And I'm back. Only to say, "Check this out." And then report back. I plan to discuss right along with them, as soon as I can think straight again. And I'm looking forward to hearing what y'all think about this podcast, as well.

(Oh, and if you thought this post was going to be making fun of the writer I have dubbed "The Spork", please feel free to make fun of him at your leisure in the comments section. And go...)

The New Voices

2010-10-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

For those of you who didn't know this, I recently entered the Mills & Boon New Voices contest. Because I didn't want my name all over the internet, I entered under my pen name, so you may even have read the entry and not known it was mine. Of course, the foodie part was a dead giveaway. It's hard to hide that part of my writing. :-) But I do try.

Anyway, I was excited to see that there were several foodie romance novels in the competition, and thought... now we're really taking off. Plus, my friend Miranda recently sold her full-length foodie novel to a major publisher (I'm not sure yet if it's okay to announce, but soon, I will!).

It's still rare for me to find a foodie romance novel, however, where the food is really a major part of the book, and not just trappings. There have been a few. Barbara Samuels' recent RITA-winning book was one. Louisa Edwards' books are some. Miranda's book is one. Writing a real foodie romance is more difficult than just making your heroine a baker or a caterer or your hero a master chef. Much more difficult.

Because in a foodie romance, the food is part of the romance. Not just a fortunate setting.

There's one book I've read recently that was not billed as a food/foodie/culinary romance that I think fits this bill, and it's Jill Shalvis' most recent Harlequin Blaze! novel, called The Heat is On. The heroine is a pastry chef, and her love of food drives her actions as much as her past difficulties or her family background. And her job/love of food is a major part of the book. It's perhaps not as pronounced as I would have made it, but when I put the book down, I found myself saying, she really did a good job with that! And meaning it. It's the first Harlequin book I've read with any kind of foodie heroine where I could honestly say, after I closed the book, now that was a foodie romance. I really enjoyed it.

I'm still finishing Louisa Edwards' newest release, and will review it here when I'm done. But I've already read enough to know that it's definitely a foodie romance. And the book itself is definitely aware of the relationship between food and love. I'm glad. Because that's the kind of book I want to see out in the publishing world. The kind of book I want to read. A real foodie romance.

What I'm hoping the foodie romance train will bring is a heightened sense of how food informs our lives and how the enjoyment of food and the experience of food can inform our love stories.

What about you? Have you read a foodie romance before? Are you a foodie yourself? What books have you read where food is a character? What is your favorite foodie romance?

A NKotWB Milestone!

2010-09-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

Today, we reached 100 followers over at my group writing blog (New Kids on the Writers Block) and then surpassed it (via blogger--I guess, technically, we've had a lot more than 100 followers for quite awhile if you cound email subscriptions, rss feeds, and non-marked followers, but regardless, this feels like a big deal)! So in honor of that, I'm going to do a couple of things.

First of all, I'm going to run a contest next week. The prize will be awesome. Stay tuned.

Second of all, I'm going to try to interview our 100th follower. So, Jennifer Bailey, if you come back on the blog, please contact me at rlcameron (at) yahoo (dot) com. I want to make sure that we can ask you some questions and talk to you about the blog, et al. If I don't hear from Jennifer soon, I'll move on down to the 99th, etc. But this is something I've wanted to do for quite awhile.

Third of all, I'm going to thank my AMAZING co-bloggers! All of them. They make this blog what it is. Or rather, we all make it together. And I love working with all of them. Thank you, ladies, for all your time and hard work. NKotWB is a great place because you are all here!

Thanks to all of our followers!! We definitely wouldn't be here without you! :-) We love you!

~Rebecca Lynn

These Agents Are Makin' Me Thirsty

2010-09-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

Recently, my friend Miranda sold to a major publisher without an agent. Since the publisher who bought her book had enthusiastically requested *my* full ms, I've been doing some research about this process. She'd subbed to a well-known editor who bought the book (um, because it rocks) and then asked her to get an agent for negotiations.

Thankfully, she ended up finding an (also fabulous) agent. But I couldn't help wondering: what if she hadn't? What if her quick search for someone to represent her had turned up someone that she didn't work well with, or someone that would take advantage of her?

Then I read this blog, via a Twitter conversation between @Patrick_Alan and @LouisaEdwards, both of whom I adore. The blog story (in case you don't want to read it) is about how hard it was for him to find an agent after making a sale for a four-book series without one. His decision was to get an IP (intellectual property) lawyer. Patrick Alan said this, and I've found it to be true as well: there are an alarming number of debut authors out there searching for an editor who wants to publish them, and then turning to (or planning to turn to) an IP lawyer when they make a sale because agents' contracts are too restrictive, or they have to pay them too much, or whatever. Whatever the reason is, there are a lot of authors bypassing agents altogether and using IP lawyers instead. That's the "trend", supposedly. (And I don't say "supposedly", because it's not a trend, but because I'm not yet sure how wise it is.)

Of course, it's up to each one of us to determine our career paths. And God bless all those people who got IP lawyers instead of agents. I wish them mucho grande success. I hope that they become the success stories of this trend. And not the carnage. Because every trend has carnage. Look at Justin Bieber.

Let me just say this: there are certain kinds of people who don't need agents (and they are probably the ones who turn exclusively to IP lawyers, or to no one, in a case like Matt's above). I am not one of them. And since I can only really talk about myself here with any certainty, let me tell you why I am not one of those people.

Here are the Top Four Reasons Why I Need an Agent. Stat.

I do not have time to know the market. You may think this is not important. But it is. I have a friend who's an agent (not for romance) in New York. The guy reads more books than anyone I have ever met. It's part of his job. I, on the other hand, have a job that does not allow for me to read every book in creation. And to know what's hot in my genre right now based on industry buzz, etc. This is important because: this is a business. Like all businesses, there are times when it's best to strike and times when it's not. This is why normal people hire stock market experts to invest their money. Because they know the market, and it is part of their job to know what they can and cannot sell. I do not want to waste the time doing this myself when someone infinitely more capable could be doing it for me. I'm lazy like that. You might reframe it to say, I'm entrepreneurial like that. But I'm too lazy to erase it, so I'm goin' with lazy.

I am too close to my manuscript. I can't tell you how many times I've critiqued and/or beta-read someone else's manuscript and come to a really difficult piece of the book and thought: yikes, I wonder if they can see that (occasionally followed by, this really needs to be fixed, but often followed with nothing, because I don't have the time to dissect their plot point by point and show them why what I am saying is true--I am not Hermione Granger). I have one critique partner who will say this to me. But I have several who either do not see it, or will not say it. An agent, while they might love your book, is not going to be worried about hurting your feelings temporarily (in as nice a way as they can, most likely) in order to make your book better. They are great collaborators. That is why they have the jobs they have.

I do not know the editors. I hear names like everyone does. I know who my friends work with, and I know, generally, who works where and what they want. To a VERY limited extent. Agents are the maevons of the publishing industry. They know everyone. They know everything. It's what they are paid to do. They know the editors. Chances are, if Deb Werksman is looking for something, the agents will know about it before we (the authors) will. And maybe, by the time we know about it, it's too late. Becuase she's already bought it. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't know any editors. I follow a couple on Twitter, but they rarely talk about acquisitions, except with authors who already work for them. I get to see, for instance, what Angela James and Jaci Burton are working on (well, I get to at least see that they are working on something cool), but I don't get to know it when it's important to know it. When is that? Before the contract has been signed! Before the manuscript is on the desk.

Case in point: I went to a spotlight where a particular editor said, we are looking for Steampunk, stat. And almost by the time I got home (definitely before my ms was ready to submit), I saw on Twitter that they'd contracted a Steampunk author already. When I asked one of my friends (who also writes for that publisher) about it, I said, so, are they still looking for Steampunk? And my friend said, I doubt it. I mean, if it's really good, they might take it, but I think you missed the train (a pun at which I promptly laughed, out loud, in lol-fashion). Why? Because as soon as the editor made it public to the authors, everyone who had a Steampunk book ready went home and sent that in to them, or at least queried them about it.

So, yes, I still sent mine in, and got a very prompt and very nice (not form) rejection. Which is fine, because I've since had three full requests for the same book. But still. If I had an agent who had the book in his/her hand, I wouldn't have to spend time worrying about what editors do and don't want and how to find it out. That's what commissions are for. To pay your agent for the work they've done for you. And I won't mind paying it. All told, I'm beginning to wonder if most agents don't work harder than most authors I know. They definitely work harder than me.

I may not say no to a good offer. I remember hearing a story about an agent who picked up a (future--they didn't know this at the time) Pulitzer-or-Booker-or-Faulkner-(I really can't remember which)-winning book for the first time. When s/he put the book down, s/he said, this guy has got it. The concept was so unique and engaging, s/he called the author immediately and asked to represent him. The writer said, y'know, that's funny, because just today I got a call from x editor and they offered me a $15,000 advance and x percentage of my royalties. The agent laughed (or at least, I imagine them laughing... maniacally, and with finger tents). You didn't take him/her up on it, did you? The author, thankfully, hadn't. Super-Agent then proceded to start a bidding war for this book and ended up getting him almost 1 million dollars (yes, almost 1 million--I did not type that wrong) in advances and a decent chunk of the royalties. Much better than what he'd been offered.

I know what you're thinking. (Or at least, I will say that as a good segue, whether you're really thinking it or not... and, btw, if you're not, I don't want to hear about it... this is my blog. Get your own.) Why is this important? Because this guy had never made more than $10K a year in his entire life, when the editor offered him $15K, it sounded like more than he could imagine. Well, because the agent knew the market, s/he knew that they could get a lot more for a book of this imaginativity. (Yes, I just used the word imaginativity.) S/he was able to use his/her connections to make this author a lot of money. I don't know about you, but that story in itself convinces me every time I hear it.

So, new authors (and I say this as much to myself as to you): Please be well-informed about what you are getting for your money. No matter which direction you decide to go. Know what you are willing to do and what you are not. Don't do it my way, just because I bolded and underlined things. If you want to get an IP lawyer, get one. But know what you are and are not getting. Don't fool yourself into thinking you're getting an agent when you hire an IP lawyer. You are not. Of course, if you get an IP lawyer and it doesn't work out, I would imagine you could always go to an agent later and say, I've never had an agent before, will you take me on? And they might just do that.

Then again, they might not. So whatever decision you decide to make, just know what you're getting.

So what about you? Are you an author with an agent? How did you decide to get one? Are you an author with an IP lawyer? How did you decide to get one of those? Are you an agent? Do you want to represent me? I have this great book... okay, never mind.

Done. And Done.

2010-09-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

I've done it. I've found my wedding dress. It's from a Polish designer, but I found it on a Steampunk blog, and those of you who know me will know that this is officially my perfect dress. If you want to see the website where you can find this dress, go here.

Now, for the groom.... hmmm..... I'll have to get on that.

Jackie of All Trades

2010-09-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

Just call me
"Renaissance Woman"

I sometimes seem older than I am.

Not that I look older than I am, although I wouldn't put it past me. But I sometimes seem older than I am. This is a combination of the way that I talk and the number of different experiences that I've had, but I've heard from several people this week that they can't believe (some of them were tongue-in-cheek, and some of them, I think, were at least mildly serious) how many different things I've done in my life.

Let me be honest, my general experience of life is that I do things whole-hog. I throw everything I have into projects and people... in fact, I've had more than one relationship (romantic or not) self-destruct because I threw everything into it. Overwhelming, that's the word.

But I generally don't do just one thing at a time. And I never to just one job at a time. I don't think I've had "just one job" since I was in high school. I'm always doing fifteen different things. It's what works for me, and I enjoy it. But I don't enjoy monotony, so those fifteen different things are usually VERY different.

I have work experience in probably twenty different industries, and I love it. Of course, my schitzoid resume is part of why it was hard for me to find a job last year, but I figure it makes me a perfect candidate for the job of writer. Here's what I mean.

I spent six solid months as a hired hand on a big farm. So while I may not know everything I need to know to actually run a farm, I can sure write about working on a farm with pretty consistent authenticity.

I spent two years working as a caterer's assistant. So while I may not be able to pull off a meal for 100 in fifteen minutes like Robert Irvine, I know the culture, the language, the techniques. I can probably write a great book about a Robert-Irvine-like character and his heroine. Okay, dibs on that one.

I spent several years as a pastor, in multiple different roles. I may not be able to marry you tomorrow, but I could write a darn good book about a pastor (man or woman) who has to curry to a (big or small) church in a city, or a small town, or even another country.

You get the idea? You might call me Jack of all trades, master of none? I call my history a goldmine of potential story ideas.

I'm also a coach, so I'm good at reframing. :-)

Would You Like Some Foie Gras With Your Liturgy?

2010-09-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

from thedailygreen.com
This is a reclaimed-church house.

I have a thing about sustainable architecture. Not just green building, but utilizing buildings that already exist, and not erecting these massive new structures that end up being abandoned in ten years anyway.

It's probably most annoying to me when it comes to churches. Because of the "hipster" church movement, a lot of upstart church plants that grew a lot in the early 2000s have built these massive buildings. There are a couple of them here in my area. They annoy me.

So when I had the chance to work for a church that was growing (bursting) and had decided not to go the "new-building" way, I was thrilled. I will say, there are people who still want us to do that, but I really hope we hold out against them. Why? Because I think it's stupid to waste resources on a new building when there are perfectly good buildings we can use already. We found a local cultural center that couldn't rent its big theatre on Sundays, so we started renting it. It's turning out great.

But part of the reason I like sustainable architecture is because there are a lot of ways to do it in a really cool way. Someone I follow on Twitter (@litericat, whose name I don't know, sorry!) posted that they'd gone to this great restaurant that was a renovated church. I thought--okay, that is a place I gotta see!

-from the Terrapin Website
This is the restaurant. Cool, eh?

It's called Terrapin Restaurant. (Okay, as a Duke Fan, I actually had to pause for a moment and decide that I would blog about this anyway, even though the Maryland Terps and I are pretty much frenemies, but I came down on the side of this super cool restaurant.)

Again, it's called Terrapin Restaurant, in Hudson Valley, NY. Here's the website. I'm not going to review it because, of course, I haven't been there. But I've been scouring their website, and I can calmly say that if I am ever in the area, you can bet I'll be going here. And you can bet I'll review it if I get the chance--I doubt I'll ever get a chance to go there, but I'm going to put it on my Bucket List, anyway.

But for now, I'm saying hats off to Chef Josh Kroner. He's managed to do well what I wish more churches would do better: fully utilize the amazing architecture that's already waiting for us.

I Left My Heart in Southwest Calgary

2010-09-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

I always said I would go to Calgary and fall in love. And it turns out, I was right.

There's this BBC TV show called Fat Friends where the very first scene is of a woman sticking her finger into a big bowl of clotted cream and saying, "Fresh Double Cream? Is there anything as sinfully delicious?" She proceeds to plunge that finger into her big, red-lipped mouth and groan like an Italian with acid reflux. It's almost obscene.

I never got it, no matter how many times I watched the show, because there is no equivalent to double-cream (or clotted-cream) in the United States, so I hadn't experienced it for myself.

When I spent my month in Canada last year, I had clotted cream for the first time at Lynette's house. The very first day I'm there, we sat down to cream tea, and instead of butter for the biscuits, there was clotted cream. Reluctantly (because, let's face it, "double cream" just doesn't sound appetizing, and "clotted" cream is even worse), I spooned some onto my little scone bite and put it in my mouth.

The next two seconds were quite possibly the most pleasurable experience I have ever had in my entire life.

Seriously, there are no words.

Instead, here's a picture of Giada having a foodgasm... that's about as close as I can come to explaining.

Well, I could be really graphic and obscene with my words, and that might come close, but still, it wouldn't really come close. Needless to say, I was in love. So I tried to find it, when I went home.

Nowhere. Nowhere sells it, and most places hadn't even heard of it when I asked about it. I was devastated. I just assumed, since I hadn't had it, that it was really in the store, but I'd just passed over it all these years. Well, you know what happens when you assume. You make... well, you know.

Apparently, I might have to move to Canada to enjoy this wonderful, tasty, treaty experience over and over again. Then again, it might be better for my waistline if I don't. Still, I can't help remembering the decadent flavor of Devonshire cream, and the velvety texture on my tongue.

And I'm not wording again. Writing. Can't think. Can't. Speak. Must. Have. Double Cream. Now...

One Lovely Blog

2010-09-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to Maeve and Sarah who gave me a "One Lovely Blog" award. I do love to blog, so it's much appreciated. Both Maeve and Sarah have lovely blogs of their own, but since I have to nominate 10 new people, here we go.

I'm going to nominate:

Denny (who is my cp and writing a book I can't put down)
Kristen (who wrote one of my favorite books of all time)
Lexi (who is a friend and writes Scottish contemps that are awesome)
Mary (who is my cp and a legend in her own rite)
Mellanie (who visits this blog and is writing her own foodie romance that I can't wait to read.)
Orangette (who is a foodie blogger and brilliant)
Patrick (who is hilarious, and whose blog is worth reading just to read it)
Regina (who is my cp and a good friend)
Sherita (who is my cp and a fantastic woman)
Tawna (who is hilarious, 'nuff said)

There ya go. Not only do we get awards, but we get to read other people's new blogs. So go to visit one of their blogs and comment on it.

If you want to pass the award along, nominate ten people who you think are lovely people with lovely blogs. (Patrick, sorry I called you lovely... you're manly, very manly. Not lovely at all.)

Fly, my pretties, fly.

Some People's Children

2010-09-14T16:01:00.000-07:00

Did you ever use the phrase "some people's kids" when it was popular? I remember, in high school, that phrase was all the rage. Everytime someone would do something we didn't understand or we thought was stupid, we'd say "some people's kids!" in some kind of exasperated tone.

I found myself saying that phrase several times today. Just marveling at how people love to create more work for themselves, how they can't adapt to misunderstandings or miscommunications well, how they are incapable of rolling with the punches. One particular situation had me saying it over and over. Not really in anger, just more in disbelief. Some people's kids just don't have the coping skills to adapt to life.

I talked to a woman today who said, "Glory Day!" when she didn't understand something. It was kinda cute. Chris used to make fun of me extensively for saying, "Mother of Pete!" all the time. Of course, he never uses colorful language?!?! Ha. There's a story behind the Mother of Pete thing, but I won't tell it. It's not important. Needless to say, it was born out of an attempt not to say something much harsher.

So what about you? What kind of colorful things do you say when something just doesn't make sense to you? Do you swear? Do you try to avoid swearing? Do you use fake swear words?

Nothing Like The Smell of Raid in the Morning

2010-09-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

If you ever find yourself in the midst of a swirling crisis, there's nothing quite as soothing as a swift rush of adrenaline. I've been having computer problems over the last 48 hours, and now have to do a wipe of my laptop, so needless to say, I haven't been a happy camper.

I went to see a friend of mine to do a little whine-and-walk (which is like a dine and dash, except there is no food, and dogs must be present to pull your arm out of socket). We walked, I whined, dogs yanked on arms, and all was well. I felt nicely refreshed, and a little whined-out, but still very much thinking about all the things that were going to be ruined because of some jackass hacker.

I was more than a little on edge, let's say.

So Mary and I came back to the house, poured a couple big, fat glasses of water, and saw a spider. And then another. These were not chintzy little house spiders, they were ginormous, and more than a little preggers. At least, one of them was. And they were both within about a foot of the door, so Mary was understandably freaked. I was freaked. The dogs were freaked. The construction guys building a house in the backyard were freaked. (Okay, they were more mystified as to why two stylish young women were squealing every ten seconds, when we would look up and see said spider. I might add, they did *not* offer to help. Jerks.)

Seeing as how we were two adult females approaching two spiders without weapons, we did what anyone in our place would do. We talked about how we should call someone to take care of this.

But when we went inside and devised a plan, Mary couldn't stop eying the giant webs outside the door. We tried to watch a movie for a bit, but it wasn't working. Mary got up from the table, after we did appropriate research about whether the spiders were dangerous or not, and said, "Where's the RAID?"

So we emerged from the house, properly face-painted and adorned in cammo, Mary with the RAID, me with the broom. (Okay, there was no face paint or wardrobe change, but I felt like we were heading into battle, just the same.) We strategized. Checked the range of the RAID can, and went to work.

Squealing from me, spraying from Mary, nipping at my hind end from the dogs, and the first spider was appropriately shocked into submission. It fell from its web, dangled a bit, Mary sprayed it with more RAID (after ten straight seconds of spray, I'd said, "I don't think it's dead yet... it should be dead when you RAID it" so she sprayed it again.) It dropped on its little web rope. We squealed. It wiggled around (think: last gasping breath), I squealed again. Mary sprayed it with more RAID, and finally, it dropped to the ground.

Mary put the broom over it and stomped on it because, hello, we have to wear these shoes back inside. Plus, I just got new New Balances and I didn't want to get them dirty.

Spider one: dead.

The second spider was harder to get to. I tried to convince Mary it was a better idea to just call her dad, but she kept saying, "but what if it comes in the house at night?" And she had a point. Since I don't live there, I couldn't really make the decision.

I still hid in the house for a bit, just to be safe. This thing was massive. It wasn't dinner-plate size or anything, but it was huge. And it's getting bigger in my mind's eye.

*full body shudder*

With a new (and harder ended) broom in tow, Mary climbed up on the chair and ferreted out the second spider. I was dumbfounded. I never thought she'd get it out. Or, worse, if she did manage to piss it off enough, I was afraid it would jump at us. (Weirder things have happened.) After she managed to knock it down, it fell onto the deck stairs. I assumed it was gone. Skittered off. I was imagining all the ways it could climb back up through the deck slats and jump on me.

Yes, I'm very afraid of jumping spiders, okay?

But it didn't move at all. It was either too pregnant, or it was half-dead. Either way, it just sat there on the step. So Mary squished it with her big, hard broom. Yup, definitely an egg sac on that thing. She just saved herself from 1000 of its offspring hanging from her rafters. Good work, Mary.

When she said, "Aaaah! It's dead!" We both screamed. This is different from a squeal. There was no fear in this scream, because the wicked witch and her giant consort were dead. Nothing left to fear. We had the oddest sense that we'd just been in battle.

And it was only afterwards, when we raised a celebratory high-five (yes, people still do that) that I realized I hadn't thought about my own personal crisis in the entire span of the 20 minutes we engaged in Battle: Spider(s). There's nothing like a little mortal peril to put your life in the appropriate perspective.

Even if said "peril" isn't really real peril, just imagined peril. Same diff. Or, at least, same same to my brain. I got just as much adrenaline from that spider battle as I would have battling a mugger. At least, that's what I'm telling myself.

What about you? Have you ever distracted yourself from a personal crisis in a strange (or unintentional way)? Do you have any tips? Because now that the spider battle is over, I need some distractions...

It's Steampunk, Cupcake

2010-09-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

I'm seeing cupcake shows popping up all over the place. It seems like every show, now, knows that cupcakes for foodies are like vampire books for teenage readers (okay, and other readers).

Not only are cupcakes the big thing on TV, they're becoming the big thing in bakeries all over the country (world?). There are entire stores just dedicated to cupcakes, called cupcakeries.

I was speaking with a pastry chef last night who currently makes cakes for a big bakery in Illinois. She's been very inspired by cake shows (and cupcake shows) to start doing things in her spare time. She sculpts cakes for friends and family, and wants to do more and more. Except the place she works (a very high-volume bakery, it sounds like) isn't really interested in breaking out into the trendy market.

So a friend of hers is considering starting a cupcakery, and you could just see her eyes light up when she talked about it. She was excited about the potential of having something new and exciting to work on. She was excited for more than the opportunity to make cupcakes.

As I was working on my steampunk book last night, I started thinking about trends and new projects. Steampunk is definitely the "cupcakes" of the publishing industry. It's something that's been around for awhile that had a niche market and is now making it into the general market. It's also a trend.

What make me think of these two things together is the look on my friend's face when she started talking about the cupcakery her friend is considering opening. I recognized the look from my mirror. It's the same look I get in my eyes when I start a new project that really excites me.

Some people would say that I'm "jumping on the steampunk trend". It doesn't bother me that they say that. The fact that I'm relatively new to steampunk doesn't diminish my love or understanding of the genre. For me, it's the challenge of a new thing that I love the most. I love having to research and understand and get familiar with a whole new genre. I do the same thing, these days, every time I write a book. Sure, it's not very efficient, but it's a lot of fun.

It keeps me engaged in the experience of writing. And I've finally started the sequel to my Genesis manuscript, so I know that I am capable of continuing to work in the same genre and enjoy it. I'm also very happy to be capable of working in a new genre and enjoying it. So, sure, I might jump on trends. Some people would say foodie romance is a trend. I happen to think that is here to stay, but for now, I'm just enjoying getting into it. I hope not to offend any foodies or steampunkers or inspy-lovers by not staying in one genre for my entire career. But for someone like me who loves learning the new as much as creating the new, I will probably be jumping from cupcake to steampunk for most of my career.

What about you? Are you writing in a trendy genre? Do you like trends? Or hate them? Have you written in one genre for a long time? Do you enjoy multiple genres?

Laboring Days

2010-09-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

So, today is Labor Day, and for the first time in years, I don't have the day off. Why? Because I'm now working for myself, and my boss is a total nose-to-the-grindstone kind of person. She's making me work all day long.

But as a lot of my friends who work day jobs or go to school are taking today off, I asked myself, why should I work today when no one else is? Why is it that I'm reluctant to give myself a day off when I would give my employees a day off if I had any? What is the difference between working for an external person who holds you accountable and working for yourself?

Any authors want to chime in?

Here are my thoughts, today.

Because I allow myself the freedom to have coffee with a friend if they call me, I feel like I need to not give myself a lot of time off. Because I get to work from home (which means I can eat, clean, and work on my own schedule), I don't think I need to take significant time off. Because my work is multi-faceted (writing this blog and other blogs, doing book reviews, promoting, and other activities, in addition to writing and editing), I can do some of my work while doing other things.

For instance, I rarely read, blog, promote, or do social media time unless I'm also doing something else. I might be hanging out with friends, I might be watching TV, I might be eating. But I rarely just sit and do one thing at a time. So while I'm "working" in that I'm building my platform or making contacts or learning during that time, I'm not "only working".

While I do write or edit (which I try to do at least six hours a day, and at least four hours a day on the weekends), I don't do anything else. So while I may only spend five or six hours a day in dedicated writing time or dedicated editing time, I generally work in some form all day, every day.

Like I said, taskmaster.

Except that part of the reason I work all the time is that I love it. I love blogging, and reading blogs. I love social media and making connections. I love building my network of people. I love reading. So it doesn't really feel like work. And I think that's probably the biggest reason why I don't take "days" off. Because I really don't want to. If I go for too long without reading or writing or networking, I don't like it. I get so that I want to get back to it. Sure, there are parts of it that bore me to tears, but I have to do it anyway. It's part of my job.

Wow. My job. I love the feeling of doing this for my job right now. Of course, getting paid more would be great, so I could *really* survive on it, and not have to do any other jobs at all (I do have two part-time jobs that are very part time, but pay well). But from what I hear, that's kinda pie in the sky. And I'm happy with what I'm doing right now. I'm trying to do more, to be better, to make good money. But I also love what I do, so my job satisfaction is through the roof.

In my "day job" work, I do what's called Coaching. Not for sports, although I would love that, too, but for people's lives. I coach writers, I coach teachers, pastors, mothers, executives, copyeditors, students, people. I coach them in all sorts of different things, from communications to social media to writing and editing to self leadership. But one of the things I coach them towards is the "perfect fit".

I always say, in my first meeting with them, that while they may "like" or "not hate" their job, part of being a healthy and whole person is loving what you do. So part of my job is to help them find the perfect fit. The way I always put it is, "The job where you never need to take a day off." That's the perfect fit.

Folks, I think I've found mine.

Pick a Genre, Any Genre, Then Put it Back

2010-09-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

I read another article yesterday by a big NYC agent giving advice to new authors. Of course, like any new author, I lapped it up. Couldn't wait for more.

One of their five pieces of advice to new authors was to PICK A GENRE. I believe they even capitalized all the words like that, trying to emphasize their insistence.

Because I was mostly skimming the piece at the time, I rolled my eyes a little. Every advice column for new authors seemed to be spouting this "pick a genre" theme lately. And I happen to know several authors who are published in multiple genres. Some even under the same name.

All of my completed manuscripts are in different genres. I happen to like genre-hopping, no matter what agents say about it. I went to a whole panel on how to make multiple genres work for you, at Nationals in Orlando. It was a great workshop, full of authors who'd been successful in different genres.

So I rolled my eyes again and almost closed the article.

Then I read a sentence about a sherrif who turns out to be a vampire and I thought, oooh, this looks promising. I'd been thinking she was talking about genre mash-ups, which I think are also very cool. She wasn't.

She was talking about rules, which I think is a very important point to make. Her basic point was pick a genre in one book! And she was really talking primarily to new authors. Lately, she'd apparently been seeing lots of new authors who don't understand the rules of the genre they're writing in.

Plenty of us subversive types are thinking rules, schmules right now, and to a certain extent, they're not wrong. But some rules have a purpose. They're not prescriptive, they're derivative.

Over years and years of consumers buying books in a certain genre, there come to be "rules" about what must be included in certain types of books. A Scottish novel, for instance, must have some kind of accent, even if the historical inhabitants might not have spoken accented English at all. But it's what the readers want. (Okay, maybe a handful of readers prefer historical accuracy, but look at what's selling in the marketplace. Overwhelmingly, the Scottish characters sound more like Gerard Butler than the historical William Wallace.)

These rules are, in a certain sense, made to be broken, sure. But they're also made to be followed. Agents aren't trying to limit us, they're trying to help us. An editor isn't going to buy something that won't sell well with the masses. And in order to keep the masses happy, we have to (to some extent) follow the rules. It's called Reader Expectation. In a way, a romance novel is a contract with a reader.

You, the author, promise to write a good story that is emotionally satisfying, and you, the reader, promise to love, honor, cherish, and pay boatloads of cash for the opportunity to be emotionally satisfied. Editors and agents are the reverends in this metaphor. They are responsible for making this exchange possible, and they're gonna do everything in their power to make sure it sticks. Because they want you back again and again...

Okay, that's when the metaphor falls apart.

Still, I do think it's important to remember that the rules are there to help us. There's something to be said for following the rules in order to play the game. As other authors have told me who have done the same, if you follow the rules at first, you can always break them later.

Anyway, just food for thought.

Have you read any articles about rules lately? Do you like rules? Or loathe them? Do you write in different genres in the same book? What do you think of this agent's advice?

Golden Claddagh Winner

2010-09-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share that I was notified today that I won the Celtic Category of the Golden Claddagh Contest, sponsored by Celtic Hearts Romance Writers!

And my blog-mate, Camryn Rhys, won the Erotic Category of the Golden Claddagh.

So congratulations to us! :-)

AND THE WINNER IS:

2010-08-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

RAUL

Okay, just kidding. It was JAVIER! By a landslide, baby.

And, we also have two winners for the giveaway.

The winner of assorted books for the Romancing the Palate RWA Swag Giveaway was:
CLANCY

The winner of one book from the RWA Swag Pile is:
SARAH HOSS

Please email me at: rlcameron(at)yahoo(dot)com to claim your prizes!

Congratulations, Javier lovers. :-) You win this round... but the battle will go to... okay, it'll go to Javier, too, he's the hero. But Raul will put up a good show!

Operation Werewolf Name Battle

2010-08-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

So, ladies and gents, I find myself in a quandary. I have this book with a hot alpha werewolf for a hero. When I sent the first half to my cp, she immediately said, "No Joaquin." Loved the character, but couldn't see him without a harelip, I guess. Then, another cp said the same thing this afternoon. Couldn't stop thinking about Joaquin Phoenix. (Btw, not at all the image I was going for.)

That name has apparently been ruined forever?

Anyway, I desperately want to please my best friend and critique partner, so she and I brainstormed a list of Spanish names (had to be Spanish, for plotting purposes) from which to choose the final name for this hottie-bo-bottie.

And we're at a deadlock. She likes one, I like the other. I'm not going to tell you which one is hers and which one is mine, because I want you to be completely without bias when YOU VOTE!

Commence Operation Werewolf Name Battle

Please vote in the comments for one of the following names:

Javier

Raul

The winner will be the name chosen by the most commentors. Double voting will be counted, but not if it's either Keely or myself voting. Voting opens right now. Voting closes Sunday morning, August 29th, at 9:59 am MDT. No votes after 9:59 am will be counted. (If any of you are still voting by then.)

To add to the fun, one of the commenters will win a book from my RWA Swag pile. Your choice, if you win. This is in addition to the drawing that's already going on until Saturday night for a STACK of books from my Swag pile. Also your choice, if you win. So you get two chances to win every time you vote. Plus, y'know, help me out by choosing a name for my character.

May the best name win.

And, GO!

I Am Not Left-Handed

2010-08-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

Most of us, I'm assuming, who were born before 1990, have seen The Princess Bride. Here's my favorite scene in that movie:

The Spaniard duels The Man In Black. They lunge and recover, they do gymnastics and skirt vast amounts of rocky terrain, bantering. Then comes the twist.

The Spaniard is smiling, "because I know something you do not". The Man in Black asks what that might be, and the Spaniard pushes him away, says, "I am not left-handed," and flashes his sword into his right and dominant hand.

Of course, it turns out the Man in Black is not left-handed, either.

When I was a kid, I never understood why they would do this. Why would you fight with a hand that is weaker? Don't you want to win?

Then, when I got a little older, I realized it was a trick, a ploy, a scheme. They were trying to throw off their opponent by fighting at a lower level than they were capable. Lull them into a false sense of superiority, then switch to your best hand, and kick their proverbial butts.

If this is done intentionally, I think it's a phenomenal tactic. But I've started to realize, when I'm reading (of course, you knew this would relate to writing somehow, didn't you? you sly dog, you...) some new authors' work, some of us are fighting with our left hand and not realizing it.

Recently, I've read two specific works that I really wanted to be excited about. In a major way. The author had such a great concept, but the execution was off. In one case, just by a little, and in the other, by quite a lot. I had the feeling that they were, in a sense, fighting with their left hand. I'd found some places in their writing that were SO strong. Beautiful, even. With so much potential. But maybe months/years of bad critique partners or bad English teachers or lack of education or experience had taught them to do something that wasn't working.

It may have been something that a good rule-following writer would do. Like always use complete sentences. Or never use adverbs. Or start with an explosion. Whatever it was, it wasn't working. I spent a lot of time sitting with the entry, trying to analyze what had gone wrong and what they could have done to correct what went wrong. I hope I was able to be helpful.

Then, of course, I started to think about my own writing in this way.

I've noticed, as my critique partners return my full manuscript, I can tell where my voice is really coming across. There are lots of "love this" and "great line" and "amazing scene" comments. And then there are large spaces of blank margins. Of course, not all of it was throw-away. But as I re-read my manuscript, I was able to see that there were definitely parts where my voice had disappeared. I'd become either the academic describer, trying to be distant and descriptive, or I'd become theadolescent narrator, trying to pass judgment on everything that happened and intruding into the narrative.

I don't think any of this was intentional.

But a good read-through of the comments of others and a little analysis of the drier parts (especially when my cps were kind enough to mark them, haha!) has given me the benefit of seeing my own left and right hands, metaphorically speaking. As I work on my current project, I'm much more aware of when I slip into my left-handed voice. It's much easier to pick out than it was when I was doing it without thinking.

What about you? Do you have parts of your writing and/or novel that your cps or beta readers are not enthusiastic about? Why do you think that is? What are the strongest parts of your writing? The weakest?

Dessert: Rachael-Ray Style

2010-08-24T08:03:00.000-07:00

from herecomestheguide.com

There have been a few times in the last year that I've needed to come up with a dessert on the fly. Sure, I could spend hours baking (like I did last week) because I do enjoy it. But I tend to enjoy shortcuts when it comes to desserts. I've decided I'm a lot like Rachael Ray in that way.

On her 30 Minute Meals show, Rachael Ray will often make entire meals without dessert. But when she does dessert, she always does the short way.

I have to make a dessert tonight, and I'm surfing through her dessert recipes, looking for something that won't take me long, but will still be interesting to the other guests at the dinner party.

Last time I did this, I made her Candy Sushi, which is a brilliant recipe. It's green fruit roll-ups with a layer of rice-krispie treat mixture, and a piece of red licorice in the center. Not only does it look freakily like sushi, it also tastes great.

It was such a hit, they actually asked me to write about the recipe in the church newsletter. I laughed and said, "I didn't come up with this idea." They said, "We don't care. People need to know about this. It's so cool." It is definitely cool.

So now I'm preparing for tonight, an Italian-themed dinner at my friend Julia's house, and trying to find something great to make. I know I want to make something easy, but good. Preferrably not too expensive to make. (No truffle shavings, please.) So I thought I'd ask my great blog followers, as well.

What should I make? What would you make? Do you have a link to a great, quick, easy recipe I can make for dessert? Or a recipe you want to post? Don't forget, it enters you in my big book giveaway if you comment!

Sunday Shout-Outs: Foodie Style

2010-08-22T04:01:00.000-07:00

First of all, I am SO excited that Aarti Party will be airing today on the Food Network. Despite the fact that the entire rest of my staff were all rooting for Tom, I have been an Aarti fan since Day One. CAN'T WAIT! I just had to get that out of the way so I could get to the rest of the shout-outs. So without further ado, here are my favorite food-related posts of the week.

** There is something really hot about this post from The Bitten Word. Of course, I love the picture with the glasses and the newspaper. But it's a great post on all the things you can do with summer corn. Loved it.

** If you don't read Cook Sister, you should check it out. Fantastic blog. Plus, this recipe for Choc-Kits looks like a must-try-immediately (MTI).

** Just wanted to take this public opportunity to say how much I miss The Rookie Chef's posts. I know that she's preggers (and probably delivered already), but I want her to get back to blogging, dangit! Bug her with me, will ya?

** I also miss Eat Planet. I know she moved to China... but priorities, people. You are all here to entertain me. Why are you not jumping with the hoops?

I'm feeling extremely self-centered today.

** This Chocolate Tres Leches Cake over at Lick the Bowl Good looks To Die For. Plus, the bunny is so cute!

** I went back through my foodie romance week on NKotWB and found this post that I really think you should check out. It's my Top Five foodie books for food writers. Specifically, those who write about food as an experience in fictional settings. Highly suggest reading all five of them.

** Could be because I did my own cupcake experiment this week, but I really loved this post on Pina Colada cupcakes over at the Eats Well With Others blog. Love the pictures. :-)

** Sophia from Burp and Slurp is probably the only foodie blogger who can subsequently make me cry and laugh and be amazingly hungry all in one post.

** I'm really loving the Freckled Foodie blog lately. I love the chronicle of what she eats during the day. Plus, she's a Kiss Cam Celeb! Fun post.

The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Giveaway Style

2010-08-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, readers, here's the situation.

These are books, and that is my bed.
No, you cannot have my bed. But
some of the books, I am willing
to part with.

(I was tempted to write "faithful readers", but some of you might only come here when it suits your fancy, and some of you might not have been here before at all, and I just don't want to judge you. Or have you judge yourself. I'm very cool like that, have you read my profile? It says right there. I'm cool. It is in print, therefore, true. Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming...)

I have stacks and stacks of books that I brought back with me from RWA Nationals. Some of them I bought, and some of them I picked up. I cannot possibly read all these books, and I want to share the wealth.

In addition, I'm throwing in one of my absolute favorite books of all time. Her Reluctant Bodyguard by Jennette Green. I loved the ARC so much, I bought a copy for one of my blog readers. It's a paperback. And it is one of the best books I've ever read. I think that you'll like it, so I'm giving you one, as well. If you win. Also, it has an absolutely fantastic foodie scene in it. And there's chocolate involved. :-)

So here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment on this post with the best meal you ever ate.
2. Follow me on this blog, on Facebook, through Facebook blogs, or on Twitter.
3. Just kidding, there is no other rule.

When you win, you can choose which books you'd like. I have a stack of Love Inspired, which are all Inspirational Romance (historical, contemporary, or suspense). I also have a stack of Paranormals, a stack of Historicals, and a stack of Contemporaries. I'll let the winner pick what they want, and I'll ship your winnings straight to you.

Have at it, lovies. Let's hear some cool comments about the best thing you've ever eaten.

Submission Day Has Arrived

2010-08-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

As I was printing out my manuscript this morning to send in to Harlequin (umm... I almost can't even bear to write that... I am SO excited), I was all waxing nostalgic about the journey to this point. So, I figured, who better to share this with than the readers of my blog.

No one better. There is no one better.

I remember when I first started writing this book. I remember the exact moment I sat down at my desk and thought, how am I going to communicate to my audience just how angry he is about being in a wheelchair? I wrote the words "Sean Raleigh threw his shoe at the idiot woman's retreating head" and then I was off. From there, it spilled out.

I remember sending this in to the Genesis contest, thinking, they are going to hate it... they are going to tear it apart and hate it. After all, it starts with a violent outburst, it shows a hero at his weakest, and it gets a little sexy. They loved it. All of my Genesis judges wrote beautiful things about it.

Then, I entered the Touched By Love contest, which--thank you God--was a longer piece of the manuscript. One of my judges gave me such a low, scathing score, I almost couldn't read it without crying. Unfortunately, it turned out that she was right. My whole first six chapters was back-story. It opened too slowly. The hero and heroine didn't meet quickly enough. And no one wants to read about a heroine who lies to her hero. Well, no one in the genre I'd decided to write in, anyway. So it was back to square one. Literally.

Major surgery required.

Because I'm stubborn, I attempted to keep the opening anyway. I loved it. It told the story of a hero that I wanted to tell. In order to do that, I had to change the storyline. Since I'd already written MOST of the text by then, I did go through and try to salvage what I could. "What I could" ended up being about 30 of 120 pages. Nightmare of nightmares, I had to rewrite the entire book.

I thought I was going to die. I actually cried. For several days. I couldn't even look at it.

But then I got back into the swing of it. I finaled in another contest. And another. And another. I thought, okay, I can probably stop the contest circuit. And I stopped sending it in to contests.

(My poor little inkjet printer just jammed on page 205. It's not used to printing this much. Bless its little heart.)

Then I won a contest. And the editor who judged the final round wanted to see my full manuscript. It turned out to be Elizabeth Mazer, who works with the Love Inspired line for Harlequin. This was it! Thank you, God. This was the break I had been waiting for. Only problem was, the complete manuscript was over 80,000 words now. Edging into single-title length. Way too long to be an LI book.

So I had to do major surgery again.

Turns out, when you have Connectedness and Communication and Ideation for three of your stop five Strengths, you can tend to get carried away in the storytelling. I'd lost focus on the original story--the story of a man who learns to open his heart to God because he has been shown unconditional love when he deserved it the least (it's also the story of a woman who learns that she can be safe and also be deeply in love at the same time, but who's counting?). I cut out an entire storyline, which meant that I had to cut out 45,000 words and then re-write the last 15,000 yet again.

And all this time, I'm sitting here thinking, Harlequin wants my book! They are going to put together a production schedule for next year, and I want to be on that schedule! Please, please, God, help me get this finished and in so I can tell this story. RIGHT NOW! (Have I mentioned that patience is not one of my virtues? Well, it's NOT!)

But I managed to quiet myself, work through the impatience, and finish AGAIN. The most beautiful thing, though, happened yesterday.

I sent the manuscript to several beta readers, hoping for some feedback. I got a couple of partials because, hey, people are busy, but I had one reader who got back to me immediately. She had loved the book so much, and she was enthusiastic with her feedback. Sure, there were a few, change this on page 144's, but overall, she loved it. When she talked about her favorite parts, they were my favorite parts. My passion for this story came through. I even sent her my "cast photos" and she said, "Jaclyn is *exactly* how I pictured her". (Because I have a thing for Joe Thornton, Sean wasn't exactly to her liking... but the Sean in her head will always be different than the Sean in mine, and I'm okay with that! )

She loved it!

Now, I can only hope that the editor who requested my materials will be equally in love with it. I will be praying a lot over the next few months. But I'm also moving on. Becuase I've realized that not only am I capable of finishing a good novel, and not only do I love this writing gig, but I'm pretty good at it. Maybe not great. But I can hope for greatness to come. And I can be okay where I am today.

And I can start the next story...

Would You Like a Little Knife with that Romance?

2010-08-19T02:01:00.000-07:00

This has happened once before. I did not post about it because I figured it was just too strange for words. But today, it happened again.

I received a knife in the mail with my shipment of books. This was not a knife I asked for, or a knife I ordered. Then, I would not have dropped my books on the floor when I opened the box.

Because I would have been expecting a knife to randomly pop out at me from a box that arrived on my doorstep.

I wish I was kidding.

I am not kidding.

I actually got a knife in the mail, with my historical romances. Again.

The last time it happened, I thought, this is the strangest thing that has ever happened to me. Today, I thought, this is the strangest thing that has ever happened to me twice.

When I signed up for this book club, I realized that I was going to get free gifts in the mail. I assume it would be something strange like a notebook, or a list of address labels. I never order address labels anymore because I always get them for free.

But knives?

Knives are all wrong as free gifts for two reasons.

First of all, if you know anything at all about knives, you know that you should always be choosing your own knives. Unless you know what you're doing, do not buy me knives. Knives are important, like a car. I don't want you to give it to me. I want to pick it out for myself.

Although, if you want to buy me a car, at least do me the courtesy of asking me what I'd like in a car. And then, knock yourself out.

But please do NOT buy me knives. Do not send me knives in the mail. Do not buy me knives for Christmas. Or my Birthday. Or Hannukah. Or Arbor Day. No day is a good day to buy me knives.

For reason number two.

I am not a particularly paranoid person, but I don't want to open my mail and find a weapon inside. This does make me paranoid. (Okay, I'm already paranoid, but it makes me MORE paranoid.) Knives, in any form, in the mail equal weapon.

I squealed.

So please, no more knifeys hiding in my mail. **Sung to the tune of "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed", thanks, Mom.**

What about you? What's the weirdest thing you've ever gotten in the mail?

Closing The Door

2010-08-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

On NKotWB (my group writing blog), last week, someone wrote a great post about closing the door. If I can find it, I'll link to it here. Stephen King is sort of famous now for talking about writing with the door closed. If you've read On Writing, you'll know what I mean.

This has never worked for me.

I read On Writing when it first came out. I was a huge deal because I'd been a Stephen King fan for my entire life. I grew up reading horror and romance all summer. I used to check out armfuls of King, Koontz, Garwood, and Steele from the library and just read, read, read. Stephen King was probably my favorite fiction writer at that time.

Most of what was in the book was new to me, but I remember the writing in silence with the door closed thing pretty clearly. I tried it. It did not work. I gave up on it.

Years later, I went to a writing conference where they also referenced this book. In fact, there was an entire hour-long workshop called "Writing in Silence with the Door Shut" or something to that brilliant extent. I sat through the whole thing, thinking that my real problem was I didn't understand what King was trying to say, and if I could just have someone else explain it to me, I'd get it.

So I tried it again, based on the techniques they gave me, which basically included writing in silence with the door closed. It did not work. I gave up on it.

Third time's the charm, right? Within probably a two-month span of each other, I read three or four blog posts (culminating with the one on NKotWB) where authors touted this tactic and encouraged others to do the same.

And once again, tried, failed, gave up.

I'm not a silence person, I'm not an isolated person. I like to write listening to music, in a room full of people. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I still adore Stephen King, but I think I'm going to have to give up on trying to write like him.

It makes me sad to say this, but I'm going to have to Close the Door on Closing the Door.

Transparency in the Baking

2010-08-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

And these are not my cupcakes...

I am not a pastry chef.

I know pastry chefs, I've worked with pastry chefs, I have friends who are pastry chefs, and I can say with relative certainty that I always rely on them to make excellent, beautifully-created desserts. I generally do not venture into this category at all.

Until yesterday.

For some reason, I've decided that I want to learn how to make buttercream. I know, I know... how long have I been a foodie, and I've never made buttercream frosting? Well, I decided to give it a go.

It was awful.

Actually, it tasted great. But the texture was horrific. I made three different small batches, just to see how the different ingredients would act, and it was like the three Bears again. One was too grainy, one was too loose, and one was just right. I'm not including pictures this time because they were NOT pretty. Not even at all. Not even a little bit. Even the good frosting, I didn't apply well.

So you'll have to take my word for it, that it didn't look good. Trust me. Would I lie to you about this? No. I don't like to admit that it was bad, but it was bad. So why would I admit that it was bad?

Because I'm learning. And when you're learning, you make a lot of mistakes. I've realized over the years that when you make mistakes, admit it, and work with it, you get better a lot quicker. If I make a mistake and pretend it's perfect, then I'm never going to be able to address the problem that got me there in the first place.


These are also not my cupcakes...

Take my buttercream. I'm not completely certain what I did wrong, but I'm going to ask my friend Miranda, who is a pastry chef, what I should do. I'd be willing to bet that if I let her look at the finished product, she'll be able to tell me what I did wrong. Then next time, when I do it again, I'll be able to correct that mistake.

I'll probably make all new ones, but at least I won't make this one again.

What about you? Have you ever made a mistake in cooking or baking and had to figure out how to correct it later? What about in life? Do you know how to fix my buttercream?

You've Got Subtext

2010-08-14T16:50:00.000-07:00

Just turned on one of the super-networks to find them playing You've Got Mail as their Saturday night movie. If you haven't seen the movie (are there really people who haven't seen this movie? if there are, please comment and tell me... I want to know that you exist), it's a very cute love story with a not-so-subtle subtext. In fact, it's not really subtext. It's just text.

The heroine owns a quaint little bookstore in New York City. The hero is part of a corporate team that owns the Big Bad Wolf... er... Fox Books chain. They're putting in a Big Bad Wolf books (really, it's called Fox Books, I was just revealing the subtext... er... text) just around the corner (which is also ironic, if you've seen the movie this film is based on). The hero and heroine fall in love and never know that they're really mortal enemies. (Rah-ha-hah... *tenting fingers maniacally*...)

Meanwhile, the heroine mounts a campaign to get rid of Corporate Baddie Around the Corner, and finds herself at odds with the man she doesn't realize she's in love with. It's a fantastic love story. It doesn't quite have the "please take me out of Box 47" quaint charm at the end, but it's still quite lovely. I'll try not to give anything away.

Anyway, after reading a very interesting post about how authors should be supporting local (indie) booksellers, I got to thinking about the battle between the Big Bad Box Stores -slash- Big Bad Wolf -slash- Corporate Baddie Bookstores and the Intrepid Local Bookstores from You've Got Mail in the context of the publishing industry. Not the bookselling industry, but the business of getting into print.

Someone should make a movie like this: Some intrepid young e-book author meets some big-name print-published author and falls in love online, in secret. Enter, black moment: the print-pubbed author bemoans all those Kindle Whores, never knowing his lover hides a Nook under the mattress and doesn't buy print books any longer. She writes for Ellora's Cave by firelight while he's sleeping soundly on said dedicated-ebook-reader-hiding mattress.

Okay, nevermind, I'm going to write that movie.

Seriously, I know the Indie Bookstore is in danger. But as I listen to the future of publishing, it would seem that so is the Big Bad Fox. Or at least, if we keep heading in the direction of the e-book and dedicated e-reader, then maybe we'll see a shift away from the brick and mortar store, no matter what the size. Will that necessarily be a good idea? Would it necessarily be a bad idea?

Would I miss the smell and the texture of the brick-and-mortar? Of course! I don't know that I'll see them abolished in my lifetime. But will the brick-and-mortar bookstore go the way of the landline? I'm not one for telling the future. I am, however, very interested in what you think. So, don't keep me in suspense any longer... what do you think?

More importantly, will you produce my screenplay? I'm thinking The Kindle Whore Diaries for a working title...

Here's the Setup

2010-08-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

Over at New Kids on the Writer's Block today, Sarah Hoss wrote a post about what she has around her when she's writing. I thought it was so interesting, I decided to write a short post about my own writing "setup".

Unlike Sarah, I generally don't have any physical books open, but I have a lot of stuff open on the internet.

** I almost always have Wikipedia open, but I will say, whenever I find information, I always check the sources. If it's not properly footnoted from a reputable resource, I always look up additional material. I never just "take Wikipedia's word for it" per se, because it's open source. But an awful lot of the information on Wikipedia is accurate, so I always check the footnotes.

** I also always have Pandora open. I can't write without music. I have different stations named for each of the projects that I'm working on. So if I'm working on NN, I either have the "Way Out Here" station on (for my hero's pov) or the "Mozart Requiem" station on (for my heroine's pov). And if I'm working on TH, I have the "Enigma" station on. And if I'm working on TDP, I have the "Tim Burton" station on. Etc. I love that about Pandora.

** I usually have Twitter open. Why? Not for distraction. I've turned off the sound notification. But for motivation. I participate in Patrick Alan's #1k1hr on a regular basis, so I'm always reporting in on my word counts. This really motivates me.

** I always have yWriter open. I use it to outline my novels. Sometimes, I write in it. Sometimes, I don't. And for my more structured novels, I always have the outline open with all its resources. I still wish I had Schrivener, but I'm not sure I want to fork over the cash for a Mac just to use one program. Although it's really tempting. But I like to have yWriter open.

Then, there are the things around me physically.

** I make cast pages for each of my projects and post them above my writing desk. That way, if I have a moment where I really need to think about Sean's or Jaclyn's (or Connair's or Eithne's... or Joaquin's or Sacha's) characters, I can look into their proverbial eyes.

** Most of the time, I have my phone near me. I actually work the best when I have a distraction once in awhile. So I don't turn my phone off, or sit in a silent room. Stephen King would not be happy with me, but whatta y'gonna do?

** And I always have a Diet Coke by my side. :-)

What about you? Do you have a "setup"? How do you use music when you write? The internet? Social media? Write-or-die? Writing software?

The Book That Changed My Life

2010-08-12T05:26:00.000-07:00

Every once in awhile, a book comes around that really shakes me to my core. I read one of these yesterday, and it got me to thinking about other books that had this affect on me, and why. Here are the big ones.

Rules of the Wild by Francesca Marciano. The one profound literary novel that changed my life type of experience. I've read a ton of litfic, I was an English major, after all, and appropriately snobby about my literature for a time. But this was the only litfic novel that really made an impression on me in a lasting way. The woman was so much like me, in what she thought she needed and wanted from life. And when she didn't get the happy ending I wanted for her, I think I realized for the first time that not getting the Fairy Tale I'd always wanted was more of a possibility than I'd ever let myself believe.

It also made me fall in love with Africa, which started a very rich time period in my life, and a whole new level of awareness about my world. I dare you to read this book and not fall in love with Africa. I believe it to be impossible.

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. I read it at 18, and I think I walked around in a haze after that for about two weeks, trying to figure out all the implications it held for my love life and my spiritual life. It was a profoundly beautiful experience for a budding young woman who was not in the best of places, romantically. Helped me end a really toxic relationship, helped me understand God a little better. Like I said, profound.

Even for people who aren't Christians, and I know a lot of people who read this blog aren't, I know people who've read this book and just been profoundly moved by the love story and the redemption of a broken and hurting woman. They weren't necessarily moved to start a new spiritual experience just by opening this book, but it's a love story that is just so powerful. It really rocked me to my core.

And One Rode West by Heather Graham. This was the first really explicit book (and of course, now I laugh at the "explicit" part, because it's really not at all, if you've read it) I can remember reading. After growing up in a pretty fundamentalist household/church (with two very loving parents, I must add, and a lot of happiness), I had some pretty messed up ideas about sex. Redeeming Love helped me think a little differently about sex from a Christian perspective, but I also needed to be able to understand the passionate side of a relationship in addition to a spiritually deep side. More than that, I think I so deeply respected and admired this hero in a way that I hadn't really connected with a hero in a romance novel before. This was a man that I wanted to know more than I wanted to kiss. I loved that.

Eat. Pray. Love. by Elizabeth Gilbert. As someone who has always been a foodie of some type, a deeply spiritual person, and a romantic, I couldn't help but be attracted to the title of this book. But what I found wasn't at all what I expected. I think I read this book three times in a row when I first bought it, I was so moved by it. Her journey helped me see that I had been seeking a lot of the same things she'd been seeking, and coming about my answers in some really unhelpful ways. It's taken some time for all this to sink in for me, but it's helped me to really learn to embrace the concept of balance, in all things.

And then yesterday, I read what I would consider to be the fifth in a list of extraordinary books that have changed my life.

Her Reluctant Bodyguard by Jennette Green. (For my full review, you can go to the Pen & Muse blog, here, and see the entire treatment I gave it.) This book is probably the first piece of "edgy" Christian ,fiction (besides, of course, Redeeming Love) that I've really thought was an excellent piece of reading in addition to being worthy of the label "edgy." In case you haven't heard about "Edgy Christian Fiction", there's sort of a movement of writers within the Christian Fiction genre to try to paint a more realistic and full picture of what life is lifke as Christian in love. They don't shy away from sexual feelings, although most of them don't engage in any kind of sexual contact outside of marriage (but there are some who do, so don't discount it completely). They deal honestly with what it's like to have a moral code that asks you not to have sex, and the tension between that decision and the feelings you have when you meet someone that you're very attracted to.

I haven't really engaged fully in the culture of this Edgy Christian Fiction yet, mostly because I'm still so new to all this stuff. But I'm getting more and more into it. I follow blogs, I listen to (and participate in) discussions, I'm writing a book of my own. Of course, when I wrote the book, I didn't know it was "edgy", I just knew I wanted it to be real, and I didn't shy away from exploring what my characters really thought and felt about each other and their developing emotions and physical feelings.

But in all this "edginess", I still hadn't read a book that I felt was close to what I wanted to do. I'd been doing some market research, and I'd talked with a couple of authors who either had books out or coming out that sounded like they really got what I was laying down about the reality of being a sexual and a spiritual being at the same time. Still, I hadn't read a book that did well what I wanted to do well.

Well... not until yesterday, that is. I unwittingly received for review from my reviewing blog a book that would profoundly change my life in more ways than one.

Of course, I've already outlined what it's done for me professionally. It's given me a touchstone. An example of something that's currently on the market that I can even remotely hope to emulate. I'm not sure I can touch this book with a 10-foot pole, but I will try.

But personally, this book effected me on a whole different level. It rocked some very deep parts of me. I'm not going to get into it all because, let's face it, this is the internet. I don't want some of this stuff being out on the planet for everyone to read. But it had such a powerful effect on me personally that I pretty much couldn't sleep last night. I sat up emailing everyone I thought might like this book, telling them about it, giving them links, telling them I'd buy it for them if they didn't want to buy it for themselves. It was intense.

What effected me so much, I think, was seeing how powerful and potent a relationship can be that's not yet sexual. It reminded me that there's a lot of power and a lot of emotion involved in the buildup. And when I skip the buildup and go straight for the grab or the cop or the sex, I miss out on something.

Also, and I can't forget this is a foodie blog... there's a scene where he feeds her chocolate that was absolutely Un-Freakin-Believable. Wow. Gorgeous. I kept thinking... if I go to Switzerland, will this happen to me? But it wouldn't, I mean, I don't expect that it will. But it's the fantasy of the thing that's so beautiful. It's what keeps us all coming back to the romance novels. Because somewhere deep inside our hearts, we know that there's something better than this out there. Whether we're married or dating or single... we know that there's a deep and powerful love that can rock us to our core, and we desperately want to experience that. And every novel we read gives us a bit more of a picture of what it could look like.

Anyway, before I start weeping again, I will stop. So, what about you? What's the best book you've ever read? Have you ever been just rocked to the core by a good book? What was it? What about the book affected you in such a way?

Beckatron and the Three BLTs

2010-08-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

I bought a package of turkey bacon on Monday in an attempt to test my mother's theory that "you can't tell the difference." (First of all, of course I can tell the difference. I'm a foodie. Second, I need to stop doing things on dares or because I want to prove something to someone. My taste buds are crying out against it.) So for the last three days, I've had turkey bacon TBLT's for lunch. The first one didn't have enough turkey bacon. The second had too much tomato. So I really tried to get it right today.

I think I've finally succeeded, and here's why: BALANCE.

I love yeast rolls, so the first day, I under-did the turkey bacon because I wanted the taste of the yeast roll to come through. And it did. The only problem was, I couldn't really taste the turkey bacon. I had to actually take a piece out and taste it to see if it was there. It was. (By the way, it does NOT taste like bacon.)

The second day, I tried wheat bread in an attempt to get the bread a little less over-whelming of a taste. Great results. I upped the ratio of turkey bacon, and it all looked good. But because I'd put on more TB, I decided to cut the tomato slices quite a bit thicker to make them equal in proportion. Big mistake. Because the tomatoes were fresh, they overpowered everything else. That's all I could taste. Eventually, I took the tomato off and just at a TBL. It was not much better.

Why? Because the true beauty of a BLT is the balance of the texture and flavor of all the ingredients. The fatty, smoky bacon with that crunchy texture combined with the fleshy sweetness of the tomatoes, the crisp earthiness of the lettuce, and the buttery creaminess of the mayo, sandwiched between two not-too-thick, not-too-thin pieces of crusty bread (preferrably toasted). When you get a bite of all these flavors together, adequately balanced, it's one of my favorite tastes on earth.

BUT... when one of the tastes is out of balance, it throws off the whole dish. Ruins the whole experience. Then, it's not really a BLT, it's a tomato sandwich with accoutrements, or a yeast roll sandwich, etc. When one element overpowers, it loses its identity. For me, anyway.

I think that in a lot of ways, writing is like this.

I've done a lot of contest judging in the last eight months, and really enjoyed most of it. What I've noticed is that most of us writers (and I'm sure I should include myself in this as well) can craft some kind of a tasty sandwich. It's enjoyable to eat, relatively free of strange textures, and some blend of talent, craft, and luck. When I'm done, I don't always want to have another, but sometimes I can't wait to get ahold of this chef and eat at that restaurant again (or finish eating the meal I started).

Excluding the random truly bad entry (and if the percentages in general are anything like my experience as a judge, the truly bad entries are such a small percentage, I almost forget about them afterward), most of them leave me with at least some kind of good memory. And when I don't want to finish my sandwich, it generally has more to do with this BLT than anything else.

The author has a talent. Let's say, characterization. That talent, when held in check with all his/her other talents, could really shine. But without supporting talents, or when taken to an extreme, just doesn't leave me wanting more. If an author is really excellent at setting and description, I might have a really good sense of place, and feel completely and sensually placed wherever the story takes place, but I might not have any concept for the action of the plot. A big tasty yeast roll alone does not a sandwich make.

In order to make a book/entry/story/narrative that I really *need* to finish, there has to be more than one thing right about an entry. And it doesn't necessarily need to be free of errors. But there has to be a good balance. In fact, one of the entries I recently judged that I couldn't wait to read more of was not the highest scoring entry I turned in. There were some really glaring back-story issues in the beginning that brought the score down significantly, but out of the batch, it was the only one I wanted to keep reading when I finished.

It was the only one with a real balance of talent. That combination of tastes and textures that made me want more. That's how we want to leave our readers. With a pleasant full-palate experience. I happen to be pretty good at dialogue. I used to write scripts (well, I still write them), so it's understandable that I would know cadence and delivery well enough to write believable dialogue. But I can't write a whole book of dialogue. Even if I were writing a script, I'd have to write action and direction, emotion. In a novel, I need to have the smokiness of that dialogue, and the sweetness of the emotion, and the earthiness of the description, and the creaminess of the action... I need to hit all the notes on the reader's palate.

Because it's all about balance. Right? (Seriously, feel free to disagree with me. I can take it.)

E-Book Experience: Part II

2010-08-10T02:01:00.000-07:00

This has been on my mind a lot lately. At RWA, I met SO many people who were digitally published, it sort of blew my mind. When you go to these big publisher signings (Harlequin, Avon, Grand Central, Bantam, etc.), you see maybe twenty authors in the room, and hundreds of the rest of us vying for a place in line to get La Nora to sign our books. Of course, all authors (I assume) are also readers, so I saw many of my favorite authors there, lining up with the rest of us pre-pubbed people to clamor for free autographed books.

Yet, when I went to the ESPAN meeting, I was the only person in the room who wasn't published yet. And when I went to the Celtic Hearts/Hearts Through History AGM, I was one of the only people in the room who weren't yet published. The same with Passionate Ink. It seemed that the majority of the people I met were already published.

In fact, I was lamenting in my blog yesterday that I couldn't find any e-pub authors signing "books". I joked about having them sign my Kindle cover. Of course, many of the print authors (like Lynn Raye Harris, who signed my current favorite book of hers in paperback, or like Beth Kery or Jaci Burton), I also read in e-book formats. As the matter of fact, many of the print authors who signed books for me were actually signing duplicate copies of books I already had on my Kindle.

But I was sad for some of my friends who either are PAN eligible and their publishers didn't have a signing time, or they aren't yet PAN eligible, even though they have many, many books in print. Many of us are their fans as well, but didn't really get a chance to meet them. Granted, we're all "normal people", and I'm sure if I'd asked Eliza Knight to sign my Kindle cover, she would gladly have done so. :-) (Love her Captain books, by the way... if you haven't read them and you like spicy Regency... seriously, they're awesome.)

As someone who hopes to write for a digital publisher someday, I would like to think that if I become PAN eligible and can actually appear at a book-signing, I would have the opportunity to do so. I have to say, up front, I have no idea why Ellora's Cave or Wild Rose Press doesn't have a book-signing at RWA. But after hearing about the proliferation of digital pubs at RT Convention, I'm considering going to that next year instead of RWA Nationals. Don't get me wrong, RWA was fantastic. But as someone who wants to embrace digital publishing (and the 21st century!), I feel like I owe it to the authors I love to support them whenever I can.

Of course, I'm also an early adopter. And I'm not print-published. So I don't really have anything at stake from being fully behind digital publishing.

I liked what Jaci Burton said at RWA. She doesn't buy print books anymore. She only buys books for her e-reader. I'm thinking of being just like Jaci. How about that? How would it feel not to buy print books anymore? Strange. But good. Maybe that'll be my resolution for the rest of the year. No more print books for me. E-books only. And if it doesn't come in e-book format, I'll just have to be out of luck. :-)

We'll see how this experiment goes...

You Know You're Getting Old When...

2010-08-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

Pictures of men with children are hotter than pictures of hot men.

When I prefer THIS:

To THIS:

I feel very old.

Waiting on the Book Faery

2010-08-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

My roomies loading books into
boxes to ship from RWA Nationals.

When I was at RWA Nationals, I picked up probably more than 100 free books. After stuffing them into every concievable crevice of the packing boxes I brought along, I sent them with my roommates, Melinda & Denise, on a cross-country trek. They drove back to Texas and then mailed my books. So it's taken my books a little longer than others' to arrive, but they've had a much more enjoyable scenic route.

There are some books in that box that I'm itching to get at. I want to read them right now. Others of them are from authors I hadn't previously heard of, or from authors I knew whose books I've read and liked but hadn't had a chance to read their newest release yet.

Some of those books have been signed by noted authors like Nora Roberts, Meg Cabot, and Amanda Quick. Others of them are unsigned. Most of them are signed by their authors, but not all will be known by the general public, even if they should be. People like Lynn Raye Harris, Louisa Edwards, Missy Tippins, Farrah Rochon... you should know them if you don't. Especially if you read this blog, you should know who Louisa Edwards is... foodie romance author extraordinaire.

Literacy Signing chaos at RWA10.
Amazing experience.
But where are the e-books?

One thing that irked me a little bit, and something that I hope RWA will remedy in the future, is that there was no big booksigning for the digital publishers. Granted, Ellora's Cave runs print books and brought them, so I could pick up some of those, but the digital publishers were notably absent.

At these big book-signings, there were plenty of authors there signing bookmarks and book covers, whose books had not been released in print yet. And it got me to thinking... if an author can sign a bookmark and don't have a book out yet, why can't some of the digitally-published authors out there sign bookmarks that have a download code on them? Why couldn't I get an e-book signed? Not the book itself (although I did offer one author the cover of my Kindle to sign... she didn't...), but something that represents the book. If you signed a card that had a download code on it, I would keep the card and read the book.

As a Kindle owner and an e-book lover, this really bothered me about RWA Nationals. I wanted to see a bigger presence from the digital book publishing arena. Yes, there were a couple of workshops that were really excellent, and at least Carina, Ellora's Cave, Red Sage, etc, all had spotlights. But now that Dorchester has gone digital-only, I have to wonder... how are digital books going to be handled at future RWA National events?

What do you think? Did you miss the digital publishers? Do you think e-pubs should have face time at Nationals with their authors doing book-signings? Would you like to sign my Kindle cover?

From My Hands to Your Table

2010-08-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

Even though it's Sweet Pea this weekend (don't even ask... it's like tourist h*** in Bozeman), I decided to brave the Farmer's Market. Of course, it's more crowded than I've ever seen it at opening bell, and it's a nightmare for someone like me who was looking forward to a quiet weekend alone.

And then I get to the fresh produce, and it's all worth it.

I was in produce heaven this morning. I bought fresh Walla-Walla onions, which I'm planning to caramelize this afternoon so I can have them on sandwiches. And speaking of sandwiches, I bought some more of that fantastic Hudderite bread, only this time, in roll form instead of loaf. I plan to have excellent sandwiches with that. Maybe even another BLT because I also bought some more fresh tomatoes.

Or, I could make salsa, because I also bought a bag of peppers (mix-bag... looks awesome), and some fresh cilantro which looks excellent. I bought potatoes, carrots, corn, lettuce, and cauliflower as well.

And then there's the fruit. The Flathead cherries are in season now, so I bought a big bag of them. Raniers are also quite tasty, so I bought a bag of them. All in all, I made out like a princess, I think.

I am very excited for all the cooking I'm going to do this week now that camp is gone. I've already prepped the carrots, lettuce, and cherries. So excited. I'm looking forward to grilling the corn, too. I hope to do a post on that.

But today, I just wanted to celebrate the festivity of the farmer's market. Love that place. If I can't grow my own food (which, at this moment, I just can't), I want to know the person who grows it, and that makes my stomach very happy.

What about you? Do you have a Saturday market in your town? A Farmer's Market? Do you shop there? Do you grow your own food? What kinds of fresh recipes are you planning for the week?

That's Not Me

2010-08-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

My sister, cousin, and I standing next
to our little kid footprints outside
my grandma's house.

My grandma recently went into the nursing home, and it's been a big ordeal in our family. My grandparents were living in another state, happily living their lives, and deteriorating. Their children had to step in at one point and say, "you need to move here, and Mom needs to go into a home." That was a hard conversation, undoubtedly. I was not part of it.

The situation has made my mother ultra proactive about her own end-of-life situation, and it's not uncommon for our family lately to have multiple conversations about what this will look like, what my parents want to happen, what their expectations are of my sister and me, etc. It's difficult for me.

I remember when my great aunt went into the nursing home and subsequently passed away. It was another big ordeal. Her care in one place was not good so they moved her elsewhere, and eventually, it became the topic of discussion of choice around the family table. We had to discuss, at length, what everyone did and did not want to happen to them when they reached "that age".

I also did not take part in these conversations.

My mom sort of teases me about it, but I just don't like to talk about it. I realize that it will happen. I realize (and it makes me cry just to think about it) that my parents will eventually grow old and pass away. I'm not deluding myself that somehow we're all going to live forever in the state we're in. I just don't want to think about it. I feel like focusing my attention on the end of life is not helpful to the present moment.

There are all sorts of "rules" about what to do if x or y happens to my parents, but I sort of plead ignorance. I know what they are, I just don't want to talk about them. Thank God I happen to have a sister who's a doctor who can talk about these things with my parents. Not that either of us loves them any more or less, but I find it very difficult to enforce decisions about death and life. I don't think I could be the one to sign a DNR, for instance, even if I knew it was what they wanted. And I know I'm being completely selfish, but I just don't think I could do it.

My best friend is a mortician, so we frequently have conversations about death, and about our parents. And about our parents' deaths. Neither of us is happy that it will someday happen, and I think we're both secretly hoping that we die before they do so we don't have to deal with it. We both love our parents very much. But she's just so much more level-headed about it than I am. I envy that about her.

Even though I'm a romance writer, I don't harbor any romantic notions about reality. I know what life holds. I write this post not because I particularly want to have conversations about death, but because I wanted to remind my future self that this was where I was today. I know this isn't really a food-related post, but indulge me. :-) I'm having a weird day.

What about you? Have you had to go through this with your parents/grandparents? Does it bother you to talk about death? Or are you comfortable discussing it?

I Love Food

2010-08-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

I was at camp today, and we were just about to break for snack. I said, "Everyone break and get some food." Everyone groaned excitedly and headed for the kitchen, and one of the campers looked at me and grinned.

"I love food," he said.

I couldn't help the instant camaraderie. I put my hand on his shoulder. "I love food too, bro. I love food, too."

There was something incredibly simple about this statement, and yet so profound, I had to stop and marvel at it. I. Love. Food. Of course, the context of a food-related conversation will be different for me than for you, but when I hear the words "food" and "love" in the same sentence, I can't help but think of Geneen Roth.

She wrote a book called When Food is Love that I read years ago. In it, she talks about how emotional eating works. You develop an attachment to food, and food becomes like a friend. So you turn to food for comfort when you cannot get comfort from your social setting, or when there's so much stress in your social setting that there's no comfort to be found. And food provides whatever you need for the moment, so you can function, although it does not actually provide the love you need.

So when my camper said he loved food, I started to think about the When Food Is Love kind of love of food, the kind that is not healthy. I would say that when I was a kid, I probably loved food like that.

But as an adult, I've learned that food will not love me back. And it's still okay to love food. Maybe in the way I love Duke, or volleyball, or the smell of rain. And not the way that I love my parents or my boyfriend (husband, wife, sister, etc).

When he said, "I love food", I felt a connection instantly. Food provides a lot of pleasure, and it can be a great experience. If food is a source of enjoyment for you, I say take pleasure in it. Of course, we should always be aware (with anything) where the boundary is. Are we able to find pleasure in other things? Or is this one thing consuming us? If not, I think it's perfectly fine to take pleasure in food.

So I love food, and I'm proud of it. Food doesn't love me back, but I sure do love it. :-)

Just Desserts: #RWA10 Version

2010-08-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

We had a great round of desserts served at RWA Nationals in Orlando at the Swan & Dolphin. Apparently, their head pastry chef, Laurent Branlard, is quite well-known throughout the world (and especially the United States). I'm not generally a dessert person, so I can't say that I boast a great knowledge of sweets and their treats, but I definitely have a sweet tooth. My friend Miranda Baker, who is an actual pastry chef, has likely heard of him, even though I am ashamed to admit that I have not. But regardless of whether I know the man or not, his desserts are out of this world.

The first lunch, we had this really great Key Lime Tart. If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you'll know that I search the world high and low for a good key lime pie/tart. I would still hold out that the Sweet Pea Key Lime Tart that I had in May was better... but this one was almost on that level. He had a touch of raspberry to mellow out some of the citrusy taste of the lime. I still think the mango is a better balance to that flavor, but honestly, if you held them up next to each other, it would be hard to choose which I liked better.

I think in the end, I would eat both of them. :-)

The second lunch, and this was Miranda's favorite, was the Tiramisu napoleon (that may or may not have been a napoleon--I heard someone call it that, and I haven't asked Miranda--as I said, I don't know that much about pastry and dessert, so I just know it was phenomenal). Unfortunately, I couldn't get a really good picture of it. It's very tiny, here, and doesn't do it justice at all. There were about five layers of flavor in this amazing dessert. Four very different textures, and a really amazing taste experience.

At the RITA/Golden Heart Awards banquet, we had this chocolate concoction that really could have been called "Death By Chocolate." It was chocolate tart shell, fudge, chocolate mousse, chocolate shavings, chocolate syrup, a sliver of chocolate, and then a pool of raspberry sauce (very small) that stuck the tart to the plate. Fantastic. But incredibly rich. No one at our table ate their entire dessert, and we had two grown men there! :-)

When we went to the Todd English restaurant, we did not have dessert, because we had a huge meal (which was fantastic). And at Disney, we had crepes for dessert, which I did not take a picture of, although they were good. The only other dessert I had was one of the brownies at Picabu, and it had printed chocolate on the top that said "Swan and Dolphin". It was a very dense, and one-note flavor, but the texture was excellent.

Overall, I enjoyed the desserts at Nationals quite a bit. I still think that the best sweet thing I ate all week was Miranda's homemade carmels. I told her that next year, she should make a bunch of little bags like she made for me and put them in the goody room. She'd be the most popular author at the conference!!

RWA Nationals: A Foodie's Eye View

2010-08-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

My friend Amanda (right) and my new friend Maria (left) flew into #RWA10 on Wednesday night, just after the Literacy Signing. Thus began our foodie quest of RWA Nationals. I so appreciated their presence, because it helped to remind me that I am first and foremost trying to experience the world through food, and talk about my experience of food.

So I took lots of pictures. And we ate lots of great meals. But since there are so many pictures and so many stories, I didn't want to talk about everything at one time. Plus, if I'll just take it slow, I can have like a week's worth of blog topics without having to do a lot of thinking or research. Done.

Here's a little taste of what I want to do on Romancing the Palate this week.

I wanted to talk about being a foodie on a budget, about foodies eating with other foodies, about the desserts at Nationals, the lunches at Nationals, the dinners at Nationals (two in specific), and the drinks at Nationals. I'm hoping to get through all these posts in one week. And, well, now that I've said I'm going to do it, I'll have to follow through. Good for me.

So tune in this week to hear about all of the above topics, to comment on the food experiences you've had, and to see the pictures of our Nationals foodie experiences. Stay tuned!

The Literary Equivalent of Woodstock

2010-07-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, after a FANTASTIC meeting of the FHL group where I met AMAZING people, I went with Sherita, Anita, and JoAnn to the Literacy Signing. This is an event where 500 authors (and, no kidding, about 2500 fans) all crowd into a room together to raise money for charity.

So incredible.

Met some really incredible inspy writers at the FHL meeting. Lindi Peterson, if you're reading this (yes, you), I'm eagerly waiting to read your book! And I met my new critique partner (who I'm convinced is my kindred writing spirit) Sherita. Loving everyone I've met so far.

On my New Kids on the Writers Block blog, we have a couple of new members. (A couple? Understatement of the year, there...) I met Lynn while we both walked around and looked for our favorite authors. Then I got a text from Jennieke, and I'm talking to a couple of new people who want to write for the blog. It's going to be great.

And Then There Were None

2010-07-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

So I finally got away from the Headache from H*** yesterday, and Ruth (from KoD) was gracious enough to give me her Epcot ticket so I could make my dinner reservation and not have to pay the $100 to get into the park. (Good thing, too, because the food here is so expensive, I'm quickly eating through my budget!)

We ate at the Nine Dragons, in the World Showcase, which I loved. I loved the World Showcase. Th restaurant, since this is a FOODIE romance blog, was forgettable. The company was great, but the restaurant was forgettable. Both my roommates dishes were way too sweet, although my Kung Pao chicken was quite good. Not as good as Tim Yenter's, still. But good.

I'm looking forward to a much better experience with Todd English's restaurant. But Epcot World Showcase was so cool, and we got to see the fireworks/lasers/fire show, which was cool. Although it wasn't cool, temperature-wise. When the fire show started, it got SO hot, I thought I was going to pass out. It was already 96 and then they turned the fire on... Needless to say, we were drenched with sweat. But I got a couple of fun pictures.

I'm feeling much better this morning, thanks to all for the well-wishes. I'm also getting ready to meet a lot of people today. A couple of women I've met through contests, and one of my Celtic Hearts chapter mates, then my new foodie romance friend, and a couple of bloggers from NKotWB. I'm very excited about this day!

I did want to do a quick post before I took off this morning, just to let everyone know that I'm alright and that I lived to fight another day. So far, no more nausea and no more headache. Food in belly, shower taken, and ready to conquer the whole world.

Or at least the city of Orlando.

Or at least Disneyworld.

Or at least the Dolphin Hotel.

Or at least the elevator downstairs.

I rock. :-) Don't I?