Sarah's Scribbles

New Name, New Site

2010-09-15T23:15:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

I've finally decided on a pen name! First, I wanted to thank everyone who gave me their opinions. I have many reasons for wanting to have a pen name in the first place, and even more reasons for why I chose this name over the other one I was seriously considering.

So to find out what my new pen name is - and to check out my brand new website - please go here!

From now on, I'll be blogging over there and this blog will eventually be relocated. If you follow me here, I'd appreciate it if you go and follow me over there too :-)

Dragon*Con 2010 Recap

2010-09-07T11:46:00.003-04:00

As many of you know, I went to Dragon*Con this weekend and it was my first time. For those who have never heard of it, it “is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe!” When it came to sessions, I focused mostly on the writing track.

I live blogged the conference via Tumblr posting from my phone (See! I was taking notes, not texting). I did this mainly at the request of my friend Adam - and I know a lot of people who might benefit from it. I’ve linked the writing-related ones at the bottom of this email.

Well, I just want to say that the rumors are true: Dragon*Con is awesome. I met so many fantastic people, got a long list of book recommendations, learned a lot and laughed until my stomach hurt! Here’s a recap of my first night.

I really only had one major issue during Dragon*Con, which I posted on Tumblr here. Summary: I lost my badge (meaning it got ripped off in the middle of a massive half-drunk crowd) and their badge replacement policy is this: Buy a new one.

I got two awesome t-shirts (a Firefly and a Doctor Who) from Stylin Online and a smaller vendor. If you want to order from Stylin Online use the code “stylin2010con” for free shipping. They have some great shirts including some old-school cartoon styles!

Next year (and I DO plan on going next year!), I hope to reserve a room in one of the host hotels because having to leave the party in time to make the bus was kind of a drag. Our hotel was only 0.7 miles away, but walking in downtown Atlanta at night isn’t the smartest idea.

I might even dress up next year. I’d love to do a Mockingjay suit if I can swing it. I met a guy whose sole motivation for working out is costuming. He’s one of The Spartans and is really in to costumes and such. He (obviously) was a huge proponent of me dressing up next year; he even gave me the name of his costume guy in Orlando.

On Saturday, I wore my "I learned to read from a rainbow" shirt with a rainbow and the Reading Rainbow butterfly on it and it was a great hit. I had people shouting at me across the street about it. On Sunday, I wore my Mockingjay shirt and got a few comments on it. As I was leaving, I discovered a girl wearing the same shirt. We high-fived each other.

Have you ever been to Dragon*Con? Do you plan on going in the future?

Writing session notes:

World Building
Goal Motivation Conflict
Fightin’ and Writin’
Pros Discuss Plot
Creating Unforgettable Characters (and my new crush on AJ Hartley)
How to Spice Up Your Fiction
In the Beginning: What You Need to Know
Marketing Yourself

Which Month is September?

2010-09-02T16:15:00.000-04:00

As you may or may not have noticed, August is over and September has begun. Now I know you’re all just dying to know what month September will be in my Year of Months, so I won’t keep you guessing any longer. My birthday month (yep, I celebrate for a whole month; it was a momentous occasion) will be:

Craft Month!

This is one that I’ve been putting off for a while because I’m pretty horrible at crafts. In fact, it was about three hours away from being Vegetarian Month when I decided I didn’t want to be a vegetarian for both Dragon*Con and my birthday. I’ll probably do that next month.

The rules of Craft Month are:
1) I must work on a crafty type thing for at least thirty minutes a day
2) I think that’s it. No more rules.
3) But I didn’t want to make a list with only one thing on it. Or two, for that matter.

Last night I spent nearly two hours on Craft Month activities because I’m giving myself a pass for Dragon*Con; it’s going to be too crazy and I don’t want to drag supplies all the way to Georgia with me.

A little while ago, my roommate and sister saw a friendship anklet a friend wore. They both declared they wanted one, so I told them I would make them roommate anklets with the huge box of jewelry-making supplies my mom had given me earlier in the week. So last night, I did just that.

Mine (green and black beads - sorry for the bad lighting) is pictured above. Chelsea’s is made with black beads with silver and gold squiggles and it says “Laugh.” Kayelee’s is made with black beads with a white splatter pattern and her charm says “Love.” I’m not entirely confident in the construction of these anklets (though I didn’t tell K and Chels that), so I won’t be surprised if they fall apart at some point – but they’re really pretty now!

My next few projects are probably going to involve mending all the sheets Jasper has torn when he leaps with his death-talons onto my bed in one of his crazed playing runs.

Quotable:
My loving sister: So how many pieces of jewelry am I going to have to wear by the time this month is over?
Me: ‘Have to wear’? You mean ‘how many pieces of jewelry will you have the great honor of wearing,’ right?

For those wondering, Revision Month went remarkably well but not quite as planned. There were many days when I wasn’t able to spend five minutes, much less an hour, working on my book – but I still got A LOT of revising done, definitely more than 31 hours worth in the month. Yay! Go me!

Now back to my regularly scheduled expanding of my horizons...

End of Summer Giveaway Winners

2010-09-01T00:55:00.000-04:00

Wow! First I just want to say thanks for all your support for this giveaway - all the tweets and blog posts are really appreciated. Welcome to my new readers/twitter followers; I hope you stick around :-)

This was so fun I'm definitely going to have to do it again! (Though, perhaps on a smaller scale? Haha, I'm glad I drive a truck - for that trip to the post office!)

I was so happy that random.org provided me with numbers allowing every winner (except one, who was the last number drawn - but still, she got her 5th pick) to get a choice in their top 3, so yay! Now, on to the winners (in no particular order)

The winner of Hush Hush is: Erica Woolridge

The winner of The Time Traveler's Wife is: Jeff Cottrell

The winner of the Dresden Files pack is: Adam McKercher

The winner of the Pain Merchants pack is: Marcie Turner

The winner of the Neil Gaiman pack is: Zach Swee

The winner of the Romance eBook pack is: Jeanette8042

The winner of the Last/Lost Thriller pack is: Linna

The winner of the $15 gift card is: Lauren

The winner of the Anita Blake pack is: Annie McElfrish

The winner of the Romance Paperback pack is: Marlene Breakfield

I'll be emailing all the winners tomorrow to get addresses and such. Again, thanks to everyone who entered and congratulations to the winners.

Breaking Records at the Hunger Games

2010-08-25T23:24:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday, the ladies over at YA Highway do a thing called Road Trip Wednesday where many people write about the same topic. This week's topic?

What would you do to impress the Hunger Game judges? (NO SPOILERS. If you event hint at a spoiler I will kick you in the shin - which you probably won't fear after reading this blog post, but whatever)

HAHAHAHA! Oh man. Let me just start by saying that me in the Hunger Games would be a very bad idea. The Capitol may even outlaw it because it would be underwhelmingly entertaining.

I'd like to say that I would totally kick butt and win the whole thing - but that would be a bold-faced lie. For those who haven't spent time with me IRL, I'm a huge klutz. I can't even walk down a hallway without running into one or two walls.

Maybe one talent that might help me in the Hunger Games is the fact that I seem to know everyone. I'd probably get a lot of neat gifts. (Speaking of gifts, check out my Book Giveaway. hehe, and I'm not above shameless self-promotion) But then, I'd be an even bigger target because all the Careers from Districts 1 & 2 would kill me just to get the gifts.

It's not just that I don't have any physical grace - it's more like such a lack of grace that it becomes a disability. In fact, I'd probably set a new game record or two. It'd go something like this:

Announcer 1: 3...2...1...

Death-cannon: BOOM! BOOM!

Announcer 1: Did Sarah N. Fisk just die before any other tribute even got off their starting positions?

Announcer 2: I believe she did, Bob. In fact, her destruction was so complete that she managed to take another tribute out with her.

Announcer 1: Outstanding, Steve. Bye-bye District 42.

Announcer 2: *hearty laugh*

Hm. Yeah. I'm going to go sign up for archery lessons now... In the meantime, leave me a comment with what you think your Hunger Games survival skill is?

Oh, and if you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, get thee to a bookstore!

End of Summer Book Giveaway

2010-08-24T13:37:00.005-04:00

Over the past few months, I have been blown away by the amount of kindness and support from my online writer friends on this blog and on Twitter. Not to mention the support from my friends IRL. So, to say thank you, I wanted to do a book giveaway!

And I don't mind admitting that some of this is selfish in that I need to clear some books off my shelves before the wooden planks collapse from the weight! (And I would rather give them to YOU than they end up with some stranger who may not treat them like they deserve to be treated!)

Some of these books I own and have read, some I will purchase for this contest and some I haven't read.

I apologize that the book cover pictures aren't working right now, I'll fix them later today!

On to the prizes!

1) Pain Merchants Prize Pack: A new hardcover copy of The Shifter by Janice Hardy and a pre-order of its sequel, Blue Fire (releases October 5). This book is great and the author is just as awesome! I can't wait for the sequel.

2) Anita Blake Prize Pack: The first four books in the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton - paperback, gently read

3) Dresden Files Prize Pack: The first three books in the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher - gently read. I love these books!

4) The Last/Lost Thriller prize pack: The Lost Symbol (gently read, hardcover) by Dan Brown and The Last Patriot (new, hardcover) by Brad Thor

5) Romance eBook Prize Pack: A super pack of 10 nook Romance eBooks. These can be viewed on a nook, on your computer, or on any nook app (Android, iPhone, iPad)

6) Romance Paperback Prize Pack: A super pack of 8 new paperback romance books!

Not pictured: Killing Me Softly by Maggie Shayne

7) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - gently read, paperback

8) Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick - gently read, hardcover.

9) Neil Gaiman Prize Pack: American Gods (gently read, paperback) and Anansi Boys (new, paperback)

10) A $15 gift card to the bookstore of your choice (as long as the gift card can be purchased online)

How to Enter

Required:

Be a follower of my blog. It's easy, click on the little "Follow" button on the sidebar over there ---->; If you use Google Reader, this will let you subscribe automatically!
Fill out the form below.

Extra Entries:

+2 Tweet/facebook about the giveaway w/ a link (1 each per platform)
+3 Follow me on twitter @sarahnfisk
+3 Blog about the giveaway w/ a link (+2 more if it's a separate post)
+3 Friend me on Goodreads
+5 Make a donation of $5 or more to the National Psoriasis Foundation here. If you like, you can read about my own experience with Psoriasis here.

Rules

I apologize to any of my international friends, but this is open to US and Canada residents only.
Each entry will be assigned a number in an Excel spreadsheet. The winners will be chosen by random.org
Contest ends August 31, 2010 at 11:59 PM
NOTE: You may have to scroll OVER THE FORM to see the submit button.
If you have any other questions, please leave them in the comments!

UPDATE: The contest is now closed! Thanks to all who entered. Winners will be announced soon.

Giving Myself Permission or “How someone I’ve never met is responsible for me finishing my planned revisions months earlier than I thought I could”

2010-08-23T16:22:00.001-04:00

For the few of you who aren’t aware, WriteOnCon was a totally free, totally online, totally awesome writer’s conference held two weeks ago. (If you missed it, get to the website quick – all the content is still up and there are some great posts!) On August 10th, editor Molly O’Neill had a post called “Give Yourself Permission” that basically said the following:

What do you need to do to further your writing? Give yourself permission to do that.

Even as I went on in the conference, this post stayed in the back of my mind. Before I write about how the post affected me, I’m going to take a little time talking about how it might affect you, and other writers. Molly (I feel weird calling her that, but weirder typing “Ms. O’Neill.”) wrote a list of things you might need to give yourself permission to do. Here are some of my favorites:

Permission to call yourself a writer

I think almost all of us have a problem with this – at least before publication. We call ourselves aspiring or pre-published. There’s always some kind of qualifier.

Here’s what I think: If you write with a certain level of dedication and an end goal in mind, you’re a writer. It’s OK to say: “I’m a writer.” And don’t worry about all those people who think you’re not a writer until they can buy your book (though most of them will ask for a free copy first) at Barnes & Noble – they just don’t get it.

Roni Griffin wrote about this not too long ago, too.

Permission to collect sparks of inspiration from even the unlikeliest of encounters.

Yes, people think we’re crazy when we see a butterfly land on a watermelon and blurt out that our male main character would be so much more memorable if we made him shorter than the heroine – but who cares?

If it inspires you, embrace it.

Permission to think of your characters as real people (and to perhaps actually like them better than some real-life people you know).

I once posted something on Twitter like: “I think I’m love with my MMC.” And you would not believe how many people responded in-kind.

The truth is: If they’re real to you, they’ll be real to the readers. If you don’t love (or love to hate) them, the reader won’t either.

Permission to hire a babysitter, or to blow off some homework, or to order dinner in, or whatever it takes, to give yourself a little more space in your life for writing.

This is something I’d been struggling with for a long time. Due to the crappy economy, I have to work a full-time job and a part-time to job to make ends meet. I also have a dog to take care of (though my sister helps a lot with that, and now my roommate does too. Hi K and Chels!) and some semblance of a social life (SO important for writers – but that’s another blog post entirely) to maintain. I was running all income-generating activities for a $25,000 a year non-profit – as a volunteer. Toss in two writers groups (one of which I run), reading (it’s market research!) and trying to keep my apartment from looking like a pig sty – and you have a packed schedule.

Every time I sat down without work in front of me or slept more than six hours, I would feel guilty because I knew how much work I had to do. I gained weight because I didn’t have time to cook decent food or work out. It wasn’t maintainable.

So I made a few little changes. And a big one.

First, I gave myself permission to turn down social invitations. For example, two weekends ago my sister and some friends we had in town all went to the beach. I stayed home and revised all day. Things like this are sometimes tough because most non-writers don’t understand how important finishing the damn novel – and fast – is to you. Lucky for me, I think my sister and roommate do.

I can’t really help you if the people who surround you aren’t as supportive. Just keep telling yourself how it will pay off one day – and then they will realize this isn’t just a ‘little hobby.’

Then, I pulled out the big guns; I resigned my position as a Director and VP of Development for the Phi Sigma Rho Foundation. This was a very tough decision for me, as I really believe in the mission of the Foundation but resigning was something I wanted to do for a long while.

I spent three years in this position and it has morphed into a HUGE responsibility. In two years, in a failing economy, I increased the income of the Foundation by more than ten times what it was the year before I came on. You don’t accomplish this without spending A LOT of time on it – a lot of unpaid time, mind you. Ask anyone I’ve lived with over the past two years: My Foundation work caused me more stress than any other single thing in my life. Something had to give.

And giving myself permission has paid off, in a big way.

Since allowing myself to resign, I have completed all my planned revisions for Miranda’s Fire. This is something I thought I might complete by the end of September – if I was lucky. This doesn’t include the additional revisions I’m sure I’ll have once my Beta readers get back to me, but it’s a tremendous milestone. (Go me!)

So, Dear Readers, go read Molly’s post and then tell me: What do you need to give yourself permission to do? Even if you’re not a writer, I know there’s a passion inside of you itching to get out. What do you need to do in order to follow your dreams?

Think about it. Then give yourself permission.

Urban reThink

2010-08-19T18:38:00.000-04:00

I apologize to my non-Orlando readers, but this post probably won't be of much interest to you.

Some of you may or may not know that Urban Think, the downtown (near Lake Eola) indie bookstore closed a few months ago. The space is owned/leased by The Urban Think! Foundation, and they are currently working on making it into "a modern "think" space for emerging creative professionals and the greater Orlando community."

Which I think is pretty freakin cool.

You can learn more about it at http://www.urbanrethink.com/, but the reason for this post is: I would like you all to fill out their (anonymous) survey because I want them to know there are writers in the Orlando area who would appreciate the use of this space. You can also vote on the new name and sign up to receive email updates.

And this isn't just of use to writers. I believe they're wanting to support all creative types - photographers, artists, sculptors, poets, screenwriters, fashion designers - maybe graphic designers, dancers or actors too.

This is the most excited I've been about something happening locally in a long time. I've been hoping for something like this since I read this blog post on Fuel Your Writing about writing centers. I can't wait to see it develop!!

(And if anyone involved with the Urban Think! Foundation or Page15 or Urban reThink sees this, I would love to get involved!)

On Being Alone

2010-08-09T15:45:00.000-04:00

"Society is afraid of alone though. ... But lonely is a freedom that breaths easy and weightless, and lonely is healing if you make it."

I haven't been posting much lately due to a lack of both time and motivation (Why post if I have nothing to say?). However, I watched this video of the poem "How to Be Alone" written and performed by Tanya Davis and it inspired me.

This poem stirred me as I feel like this is one of the must misunderstood things about me: I don't mind being alone. Dare I say I'm happy being alone? Don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming that I necessarily want to be "alone" forever, but it wouldn't be as big a tragedy to me.

"Cause if you’re happy in your head, then solitude is blessed, and alone is okay."

When I say that I'm perfectly happy not dating anyone, people often look at me with these pitiful how-sad-for-you faces like they don't believe me - because no one could possibly be happy without a romantic companion, right? The irony is: I often feel sad for them because they don't understand the joy of being your own person.

I've known many people in my life who simply cannot stand being "alone." Their identity lies in who they are dating/married to. One friend refused to end a relationship she was miserable in until she had another guy lined up. Another stays in a desolate relationship because she doesn't think she can do better.

(She can.)

Others spend way too much time, energy and money (in my opinion, of course) in a desperate search for the "next one" after only being single for a week or two.

As if they can't wait to get away from themselves. As if they don't recognize their own beauty.

It's not completely their fault though, is it? Society is constantly bombarding with theses messages. Telling us to pair off. We're worth less if we aren't married by a certain age. It's embarrassing if you have to eat by yourself because that must mean no one likes you.

"You’re no less an intriguing a person when you are eating solo dessert and cleaning the whip cream from the dish with your finger. In fact, some people at full tables will wish they were where you were."

Maybe you're one of these people desperately searching for someone to complete you. Maybe you're not. Either way, I have a heart-felt wish for you:

I wish you can make peace with yourself before attempting to find peace in someone/something else.

I wish for you to realize you're complete on your own,

You don't need anyone to validate or condone you;

Love yourself before requiring someone else to love you.

"Take silence and respect it.

If you have an art that needs a practice, stop neglecting it,...

If your heart is bleeding, make the best of it.

There is heat in freezing, be a testament."

Note 1: I know someone's going to get pissed at me for this - as someone always does. Please note, I don't think there's anything wrong with being paired off. It can be fulfilling and wonderful. What I take issue with is the idea that you need to be paired off, as if you're miserable, worthless and useless if you're not.

Note 2: Notice I put "alone" in quotes many times. While I see Tanya Davis's poem/video as a celebration of being unattached, I take issue with the definition of alone meaning "not romantically attached." I've been single many times in my life.

I've never been alone.

Two Things I Realized Yesterday

2010-08-03T11:03:00.001-04:00

Guess what I realized yesterday? Two things, actually.

1: It's August. I need to pick a new YOM theme. Yeah, I'm a little late. I'm sorry that this month's theme is going to be a little boring to y'all, but it's something I need to do. It's kind of a cheat since I'm not really expanding my horizons. It's going to be Revision Month. I'm SOO close to the end of revisions for Miranda's Fire (though further than I thought due to one little question from Donald Maas) and I really need to dedicate myself to it.

Y'all know one of my favorite authors is Laurie Halse Anderson. She's hosting an event she calls WFMAD: Write Fifteen Minutes A Day. (Join us! It's not too late to jump in.) However, I'm going to be revising, which isn't necessarily writing; often it involves pulling one's hair and making unintelligible noises at the ceiling. And I'm going to dedicate myself to one hour (or more) a day instead of fifteen minutes. Don't worry, next month I'll go back to pushing my personal limits.

Some of y'all may be wondering how Workout Before Work Month went. Reader's Digest version: Not well. Jasper was happy when we went on walks, but I hate mornings. That's not going to change anytime soon.

2: I didn't have a "Follow" widget for the blog. Now I do. Take a look over there ------> and clicksy on the "Follow" button if you'd like. Let me know that more than just my mom reads my blog.

Oh crap. Actually, I don't even think she reads it.

On a mostly unrelated note, if you're a writer and you're needing a little encouragement (and who doesn't, really?), check out these two posts: YA writer TH Mafi has another knock-out post entitled "Seven Reasons Why You Rock My World" and lit agent Rachelle Gardner compares us to Olympic Athletes.

Janice Hardy's Blue Fire

2010-07-23T11:17:00.001-04:00

Hello!

I know I've been neglecting my blog lately but I've just been SO busy. With working full-time at Rotech, part-time at Gaylord, Foundation work and writing, there's not even enough time to sleep, let alone post here.

So what pulls me out of my blog-hibernation? Janice Hardy's second book in the Healing Wars trilogy, Blue Fire, is due out October 5th. I can't wait! And there's a chance I might not have to. Because she's giving away an ARC on her website. (That's a link to the contest, but don't bother because I'm going to win! ;-))

If we've ever talked about YA books, you've probably heard me talk about The Shifter, the first in the series. Because it's amazing. You can read my very short review on Goodreads, but I'll just say here that it is a great book. Imaginative, well-told and non-stop action. There are even explosions (we all know how much I love explosions)! And BONUS, Janice is really nice and is tireless in her efforts to help other writers via her blog.

Also, check out this anthology that Janice and her crit group put together, Eight Against Reality AND the Kickstarter program for the publisher of Eight Against Reality, Panverse Publishing here.

So if you're looking for a great YA fantasy, I highly recommend you read The Shifter. And I'm not just saying that because of the contest (which you should enter as long as you agree to let me borrow Blue Fire if you win). It's a great book and I'm looking forward to all of Janice's future books! (And aren't those covers awesome??)

Free Books

2010-07-07T14:12:00.000-04:00

I woke up to an email telling me I had won a free book (The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz from a Goodreads giveaway). This happens every now and then - and it's always EXCITING! I won White Cat from AliseOnLife, Scones and Sensibility from Elana Johnson, and Suite Scarlett from Kate Testerman (though I never received that one, but that's another story).

A lot of people wonder how I do this, where I find out about things like this. My sister thinks I'm lucky. I don't know how lucky I am, if you take into account the sheer number of contests I enter. And how do I find out about these things? I read A LOT of books and more about books. To be a writer, you kinda have to.

I'm addicted to books. My bookshelf is exploding with them. I love to buy them, but my recent employment troubles have put a damper on that so now I feed my addiction with these contests.

And today, for the first time ever, I'm going to share some of my secrets with you.

Goodreads

The book from this morning is the first I've won on Goodreads, but I only just entered my first drawing last week. Publishers and authors will run giveaways on books that aren't released yet through Goodreads in the hopes you'll review the book and help them build buzz. They determine the winners based on an algorithm (with some luck thrown in) based on your activity on the site. So if you are on Goodreads (and if not, you should be - and be my friend) and you read a good amount, this may be worth looking into.

To see the giveaways, log in to Goodreads and click on "explore" on the top menu. Go to "books" and then click on the "giveaways" tab.

These giveaways are SO EASY to enter. After you enter your address once, it's just a few clicks. It's also pretty easy because there are hundreds of giveaways in one place.

Book Bloggers

Book bloggers are notorious for wanting to receive free books, but they also give them away - especially those who are trying to build their reader-base. Here is a list of ten that will get you started, but there are thousands of these blogs out there and I don't even know how to tell you to find them, except for maybe here. I don't even know how I found the ones I subscribe to.

Entering these contests can range from "so easy a monkey could do it" to "wait, isn't this the sequence for launching a nuclear missile?" Some just want you to leave a comment on the blog. Some may want you to make a video. Some may be easy to get one entry (leave a comment) but then will provide you additional opportunities for entries (Tweet about it, blog about it, become a "follower," etc)

But what's cool about doing it this way: often book bloggers will cross-link each other (for publicity) so reading one blog will usually lead you to many more. And if you're interested in books, you'll probably enjoy these blogs anyway.

Industry Pros

I'm lumping all these into one because, honestly, sometimes they overlap. Published authors, agents and (less often) editors will give away books on their website or blog to drum up publicity.

To find these, I would first suggest checking out your favorite author's websites and blogs. Use Google Reader to subscribe to them. If you're interested in hearing about the publishing industry, you can subscribe to agents and editors blogs, but I imagine only writers are interested in this. If you're looking for some good YA agents and authors, check out my blog roll over there -----> Also, agent Nathan Bransford has a good selection of blogs in his left sidebar.

Aspriring Industry Pros

These are often (for me) the most exciting blogs and websites. It's especially fun when you start reading someone's blog while they're writing their novel, develop a relationship with them, getting to see them go through all the steps, and then reading about their three-book deal!

Aspiring writers run contests often, in an attempt to attract more readers. I don't even know how many of my favorite blogs I've found because someone linked to a contest. Come for the free stuff, stay for the awesome content. Group blogs are awesome, because they link to other blogs and contests all the time. Again, some of these are in my blog roll and in the blog rolls of the other blogs I've linked to.

Please Remember

So, that's the bulk of my free-book-getting secrets. There are a few things I would like y'all to remember when entering these contests, though: There are people behind these websites. People who spend their time and often their own money to bring these giveaways to you. Be nice to them. Leave them blog comments. Check out other posts on the site - because you'll probably enjoy them. They start these blogs because they have something say; something to give away is merely a secondary benefit.

And don't forget that pesky legal thing where, if you review a book that was given to you by the author or publisher, you have to state that with your review.

And I'll try to be better about linking to contests from this blog.

The End of Recipe Month, Beginning of WB4W Month

2010-07-06T11:50:00.000-04:00

I know I'm a little late on posting the final recipe of June, but I've been really busy. In addition to Mac N Cheese, my sister also wanted me to make "real meatloaf." So, I did. And she said it was the best meatloaf ever. (it was all kinds of yummy!)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup finely crushed saltine cracker crumbs

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan.
2) Press the brown sugar in the bottom of the prepared loaf pan and spread the ketchup over the sugar.
3) In a mixing bowl, mix thoroughly all remaining ingredients and shape into a loaf. Place on top of the ketchup.
4) Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until juices are clear.

And with that recipe, Recipe Month is officially over. I'm really glad I did this, but I'm also really glad it's over. Deciding on and making a new recipe every day became tiring - but I discovered a whole bunch of new recipes that I will probably make time and time again.

I have begun Workout Before Work Month, with limited success. On the first day, I forgot to change my alarm time and woke up late so I only had 15 minutes. And I had to walk Hannah. Her walks are more like "walk three inches, stop, repeat."

However, on Friday, I woke up early enough and Jasper and I went on a 30 minute brisk walk on the lake behind our apartment. And I have to tell you a secret, Dear Readers: I liked it. Well, once I got over the overwhelming "I DON'T WANT TO GET OUT OF BED" feeling, I liked it. Jasper thought it was The Best Thing Ever and I was fully awake when I got to work. I think you all should try this thing with me!

On Monday, even though I didn't work, Charlie and I took our dogs for a walk around the neighborhood relatively early in the morning (for me, anyway). Today, I ruined it by being too tired to get out of bed. I stayed out a little too late last night. *shrug* Oh well. Tomorrow's another day :-)

The Most Difficult Month

2010-06-30T16:52:00.000-04:00

July is going to be a very busy month for me (two conferences and a weekend of visitors), so I started thinking about next month's Year of Months theme a little early... as in, before 11:55pm the last day of the month.

I decided yesterday, against my better judgment, what next month will be. It's going to be difficult, possibly tortuous. One of the worst things I would voluntarily do to myself. You might not think it's that bad, but it is to me.

Anyone who has ever slept in the same house as me or worked with me will tell you how much of a Not-Morning Person I am. I'm an anti-morning person. Even after spending a year and a half at AB, where I had to be on-site no later than 7:00 AM every day, I hated it. Like, a burning, stormy, furious kind of hate. I want you to fully understand what this means to me.

I gained some weight during Recipe Month, despite my original intentions to find healthy recipes. When I'm faced with the choice between some boiled broccoli and chicken dish and an Egyptian pastry pudding thing, my self-control crumbles. I wanted to do some kind of month that would help me lose weight.

But Lose Weight Month isn't specific enough, nor is it new to me. The point of the Year of Months is to challenge myself, broaden my horizons. So I had to do something I normally wouldn't do. This idea flashed across my brain and, though it terrifies me, my inner drill sergeant is yelling at me to not take the easy way out. And now I have to tell you (can you tell I'm stalling?) so that you won't let me chicken out. Ok, here goes. *deep breath* July 2010 will be:

Work Out Before Work Month!

I know many of you are probably thinking this isn't a big deal, but it's huge for me. Think of one thing that you really hate doing (mine is waking up early). Like cleaning the toilet with a toothbrush or cutting your mother-in-laws toenails. Think of something else that you don't really like doing (mine is working out). Maybe it's mowing the lawn or doing the dishes? Combine them and picture doing it every workday for the next month. Now you know how I feel.

I know this isn't one of the original YOM ideas, but I think it's better than some of them and definitely more challenging. The good (or maybe bad, depending?) news is I will have more leeway to do actual blog posts instead of just posting recipes. I feel bad if I post more than once a day (as I'm doing right now - sorry!).

Now, as always, the rules:

I will work out every weekday before work for at least 30 minutes.
If I'm working two shifts that day, I'm exempt. I'll take a walk at lunch or something to make up for it. I need my sleep on those days.
There is no way in Tartarus that I am waking up early on a weekend to work out - not even for the YOM - so weekends are exempt.
I'm putting no restrictions on the type or intensity of the workout. I plan to start with vigorous walks with my dog and increase the intensity as time goes on.
This isn't mandatory, but I will make an attempt to eat more healthily. Less desserts. More vegetables, fruits and whole grains. I will try.

Mac'n Cheese & Road Trip Wednesday

2010-06-30T12:39:00.001-04:00

I'm combining two posts today, so skip to the bottom if you don't care about a very cheesy mac'n cheese recipe.

With Recipe Month winding down, I asked my sister what she wanted me to make. "Homemade Macaroni and Cheese WITHOUT Velveeta Cheese," came her almost instant reply. My mind immediately turned to Paula Deen. If she can't make a good heart-stopping Mac'n Cheese, I don't know who can.

Silly me, I didn't really notice how many eggs were in the recipe before I started making it - and I was too scared to change the recipe because bad things happen to me in the kitchen. It wouldn't really be a problem, except my sister doesn't like eggs. Let's skip right over how weird that is and talk about what I have renamed as the "Mac'n'cheese Casserole," because there are way too many eggs for it to be traditional Mac'n Cheese.

It was yummy, super rich (duh, it's from Paul Deen y'all), and JM had two servings before we even realized he had put one in a bowl. It's also very easy to make and you have plenty of leftover cheese (which never goes to waste in my house). Grating the cheese takes a little bit of time, but - call me a weirdo, I don't care - I really enjoy grating cheese. Don't ask me why, but I love it. I look forward to it.

2 cup dried elbow macaroni (4 cups cooked)
1/3 cup grated Cheddar
1/3 cup grated Swiss
1/3 cup grated Jack
1/3 cup grated Colby
1/3 cup grated Muenster
1/3 cup grated Gouda
1/2 cup sour cream
4 tablespoon butter, cut into pieces
6 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup milk
Nonstick spray

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2) In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Season water with salt and cook macaroni until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain pasta and place in a large bowl. While pasta is still hot, add all cheeses.

3) In a separate medium bowl, using a whisk, combine the sour cream, butter, eggs, salt, pepper and milk and add to the macaroni mixture.

4) Spray casserole dish with nonstick spray and pour macaroni mixture into the dish. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown. Top with additional cheese, if desired.

--

The lovely ladies at YA Highway do this thing called Road-Trip Wednesday where many people write a blog post based on one question or topic and they're all linky-linked together. This is the first time I'm participating!

This week's question: What's the best book you read in June?

I've read four books this month, which according to my Goodreads, is about average for me - except for March, when I read a freakish amount of books. Between A Great and Terrible Beauty, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Incarceron, and Specials it's hard to choose, but I'm going to have to go with...

It's got a darkly imaginative world that I could so easily see and feel while reading it. I know the sequel is coming out later this year so I expected the half-ending like so many in YA series these days. It's not a perfect book, and I do have my issues with it, but it was an entertaining and engaging read.

Pie of Destruction

2010-06-29T13:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I decided to make a pie. I have no idea where the recipe came from (perhaps a mischievous fairy slipped it in?) but it's called Tricia's Fantastic Fudge Pie.

Well, Tricia, I'm sorry that I ruined your fantastic pie. I should also apologize to my sister, my dogs and my lungs. Because when I destroy a pie, I don't mess around. To be honest, I'm surprised I made it through most of recipe month without this kind of thing happening several times. I really shouldn't even be allowed alone with a stove/oven.

Here's what happened: I made the pie as instructed. At the allotted time, I removed it from the oven. I then noticed it still looked kinda liquid-y and decided to return it to the oven. Half way down, the store-bought pie plate (which is really closer to a wet paper towel than metal in terms of structural properties) folded in on itself. Some of the HOT pie filling splashed on me, so I dropped the pie into the oven.

It doesn't look as bad in the picture as it did in real life. That's probably because you can't really see the half of the pie sizzling on the coil. And also because you probably didn't know that the top is supposed to be chocolate, not broken pie shell.

So what did I do then? (after taking the picture, of course. I'm always thinking of my blog readers) I turned the oven off, picked up what remained in the pie plate and scooped some into a bowl - and started calling it "warm pudding" instead of "pie." It was kinda liquid-y, but I don't know if that was because it was scrambled, was supposed to be that way, or just needed to cook more. It tasted good, though - very rich.

Once the oven cooled off (and K came home and discovered my disaster) I cleaned up what I could. HOWEVER, there was a lot of charred hard stuff sticking to the coils so I decided to "self clean" the oven. Our BRAND NEW oven.

Even with doors open and fans running the whole time, I think I have chemical burns on my throat.

Oh, and in case you want to try to make this warm puddi... I mean pie, here's the recipe:

1 9 inch pie shell
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

2) In a medium bowl combine eggs, melted butter, and sugar. Stir in vanilla. Set aside.

3) In a separate bowl, mix together flour and cocoa powder. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and stir until thoroughly combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour into shell

4) Bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes. Serve hot.

5) Don't drop it.

Weekend Recipes

2010-06-28T11:20:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, my friend John-Michael came over and I made Turkey Cakes with Spicy Roasted Tomato Salsa. They were different and I liked them. I don't have a food processor, so I just use my blender for everything - with mixed results. (The salsa was more like puree and it refused to shred all the turkey).

Also, if you don't like the flavor of cilantro (I DO!), you might want to cut that down because it was prominent.

For the spicy roasted tomato salsa:

3 large plum tomatoes (about 12 ounces total), cored

1 hot red or green chile (like serrano), ribs and seeds included, finely chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

For the turkey cakes:

1/2 pound diced cooked turkey (1/2-inch dice)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 tablespoon finely chopped chives or finely diced scallion

1 fresh red or green chile (like a serrano or jalapeno), seeded and finely diced

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

Grated zest of 1 lime

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

3 tablespoons leftover turkey gravy (or heavy cream)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 egg, separated

1/4 cup fine cornmeal

1/4 cup olive oil

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Set them cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet and cook until the skins split and the tomatoes soften, about 10 minutes. Let them cool slightly before removing their skins. Put the skinned tomatoes in the food processor with the remaining ingredients. Process until well blended. Adjust the seasonings and serve alongside the patties.

2. Put the diced turkey in a food processor and pulse until very finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and add the cilantro, chives or scallion, chile, breadcrumbs, lime zest, lime juice, and gravy or cream; mix until well combined. Season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the egg yolk.

3. With wet hands, mold the mixture into eight patties 1/2 inch thick; they should only just hold together. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

4. Put a baking sheet in the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the cornmeal in a shallow bowl. Whisk the egg white with 1 tablespoon cold water. Dip the patties into the egg white and then coat with the cornmeal. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat; add the olive oil, and when it's hot, add the patties. Cook on each side until golden, about 2 minutes per side (work in batches if necessary). Transfer the patties to the heated baking sheet in the oven. Bake until heated through, about 5 minutes. Serve with the roasted tomato salsa.

We had a movie day at work on Firday so I made this Sweet and Nutty Popcorn. I didn't really like it. My coworkers said they like it but they didn't eat much of it so.... It was a little difficult to mix before everything was coated because I have a large pot that's not quite large enough.

1-1/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons butter

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 cups popped popcorn

2 cups bite-size wheat square cereal

1 cup salted cashews

1 cup golden raisins

Directions

1. Combine sugar, water, butter, and cinnamon in a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven. Bring to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to cook for 4 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Remove syrup from heat.

2. Add the popcorn, cereal, cashews, and raisins to the syrup; stir quickly to coat all ingredients evenly. Spread coated popcorn mixture in a single layer on 1 or 2 large baking sheets lined with waxed paper or parchment paper. Cool completely. Break up any large pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Makes 12 cups.

On Saturday I made these Easy Beef Enchiladas, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I somehow skipped over the "taco seasoning mix" ingredient when I was making my shopping list so I just threw in some cumin, garlic powder and onion powder instead. I did not include the rice, because I don't like rice in my enchiladas/burritos/etc. They were, as the recipe's name implies, easy. They were also yummies.

What I would change: The onions didn't have time to cook so I would cook them along with the beef. Y'all know I don't really like onions, but I think even people who do would have a problem with practically raw onions in their enchiladas.

1 lb. ground beef

1 pkg. (about 1 ounce) taco seasoning mix or burrito seasoning mix

1 can (about 16 ounces) refried beans

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1 cup cooked regular long-grain white rice (optional)

12 flour tortillas (10-inch), warmed

1 1/2 cups prepared enchilada sauce

Shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cook the beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat. Stir the seasoning mix, beans, soup, onion and rice, if desired, in the skillet.

2. Divide the beef mixture among the tortillas. Roll up the tortillas and place seam-side down into a 3-quart shallow baking dish. Pour the enchilada sauce over the filled tortillas and sprinkle with the cheese.

3. Bake for 20 minutes or until the enchiladas are hot and bubbling.

Since Sunday was Do Nothing But Read Day, I wanted to make something I could grab and eat when hunger struck without interrupting my reading too much, so I made these Mini Meat Turnovers. They were good, BUT...

It may just be my complete lack of skill, but these were hard to make. I had so much trouble cutting the biscuits in half and making a turnover without putting 18 holes in it, that I gave up after only four and made double-sized ones using a whole biscuit. That worked a lot better, but many of them still un-sealed themselves in the oven. And it takes sooooooo long to roll out each individual biscuit. Yes, I'm whiny and spoiled. At least I know it.

This recipe makes a lot, so make sure you have people to share these with!

1-1/4 pound lean ground beef

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

2 teaspooons chili powder

2 teaspoonos dried oregano, crushed

1 teaspoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon snipped fresh cilantro

2 10- to 12-ounce packages (20 total) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

Milk

Salsa (optional)

Directions

1. For filling, in a large skillet cook ground beef until brown; drain off fat. Stir in tomato sauce, chili powder, oregano, and garlic powder. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in cilantro.

2. Grease a large baking sheet; set aside. Separate biscuits; cut each biscuit in half horizontally. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece of biscuit dough into a 4-inch circle. Place about 1 tablespoon filling onto half of each circle. Fold opposite side of circle up and over filling. Brush edges with a little milk; seal edges with a fork.

3. Place filled turnovers 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheet; brush with milk. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from baking sheet. Cool slightly on a wire rack. Serve warm. If desired, serve with salsa for dipping. Makes 40 turnovers.

Make-Ahead Tip
Cool turnovers completely on wire racks. Place in an airtight freezer container; freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat, transfer frozen turnovers to an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until heated through.

Quick Post to End All Quick Posts

2010-06-24T15:55:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to let my blog readers know that I started a tumblr here. I'm going to use it differently than my blog, so don't worry about the blog changing. I'm just going to try it out for a while and I'd appreciate if you tried it along with me!

<3

Egyptian yummies!!

2010-06-24T13:06:00.001-04:00

Yesterday's recipe was so good that it deserves its own blog post. I've had this Om Ali (it's an Egyptian dessert) recipe sitting around in my pile for a while. I have no idea where it came from as it's typed in 12 pt TNR on a plain sheet of paper.

It took a little longer than I expected, but it was absolutely and completely delish. It's kinda like a nutty (lots of nuts!) bread pudding - but better because it uses pastry instead of bread. I couldn't find hazelnuts (apparently they're seasonal?) so I replaced those with almonds.

All I have left to say is: NOM NOM NOM!

1 (17.5 oz) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1 c chopped pecans
1 c chopped hazelnuts
1 c raisins
1 c flaked coconut
1 1/4 c white sugar, divided
4 c milk
1/2 c heavy cream

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish

2) Place the pastry sheets in the baking dish and place the dish in the oven. Watch it closely. When the top layer turns crunchy and golden, remove it from the oven. Continue until all the sheets are cooked.

3) Preheat the oven broiler.

4) In a (BIG) bowl, combine walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, raisins, coconut, and 1/4 c sugar. Break cooked pastry into pieces and stir into nut mixture. Spread mixture evenly in 9x13 inch dish.

5) Bring milk and 1/2 c sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Pour over nut mixture

6) Beat the heavy cream with the remaining 1/2 c sugar until stiff peaks form. Spread evenly over nut mixture in dish.

7) Place dessert under oven broiler until top is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Serve hot

Random thought: You could use these puff pastry sheets for the chicken pot pie from a few days ago

Up next: Turkey Cakes with Roasted Tomato Salsa

Probably More Recipes Than You Care to See

2010-06-23T13:08:00.001-04:00

My sister and I went to visit our parents this weekend for Father's Day. I made lots of recipes.

For dinner Saturday, we were just looking for something quick and easy, so I used another recipe from Laura W: Baked Ziti. She got the recipe from allrecipes.com and said her sister makes it often.

It was OK, but my dad complained about the lack of meat (no surprise there though). I think I might have messed up the quantities or something (I did use macaroni instead of ziti), because it probably could have used more cheese and sauce. Overall, it's easy and you can mess with it as much as you want to. Also, you might have all the ingredients for it in your pantry right now.

Oh, and I don't have the picture for this one because, apparently, when I asked my sister to take a picture of it, she thought I meant with ... like .... a camera or something. (I take all these pictures with my phone). So I'm too lazy to look for the camera cord ... but I think y'all can just imagine what this looks like, can't you?

1 (26 oz.) Jar Prego Traditional Italian Sauce
1 1/2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
5 Cups Hot Cooked Tube-shaped Pasta (Ziti)
1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

1. Mix pasta sauce, 1 cup mozzarella cheese and ziti. Spoon into 2-quart shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.

2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until hot.

--

For dessert the same night, I made these chocolate banana wontons - mainly because my mom had all the ingredients and I love chocolate and banana together! They were delish and we ate all of them! We weren't huge fans of the dipping sauce, however. We thought it might be good to, instead of sprinkling the powdered sugar, make a simple icing (milk and powdered sugar).

This was the first time I ever fried anything and it went pretty well. At my mom's suggestion, I did it in a skillet instead of the deep fryer.

Short version: YUMMY. Oh, and mangoes are slimy. Do not like.

1 ripe mango, seeded, peeled and cut up

1/4 cup pineapple juice

3 Tbsp. lime juice

1 Tbsp. granulated sugar

24 wonton wrappers (about 3-1/2x3-1/2-inch squares)

1 medium banana, peeled and cut into 24 slices

4 oz. milk chocolate bar, broken into 24 equal pieces

Cooking oil for deep-fat frying

Powdered sugar

Directions
1) For the mango sauce, combine mango, pineapple juice, lime juice, and granulated sugar in a blender or food processor. Cover and blend or process until smooth. Spoon into a serving bowl, cover, and chill until serving time or up to 24 hours.

2) For each wonton, lay a wonton wrapper on a work surface with a point toward you. Lay a banana slice and a chocolate piece on the lower half of the wonton wrapper. Brush edges of wonton wrapper with water. Fold the top point down to meet the bottom, forming a triangle. Gently press the edges together to seal. Set aside; cover with plastic wrap while filling remaining wonton wrappers. Repeat with remaining wonton wrappers, banana slices, and chocolate pieces. (At this point, filled wontons can be covered with plastic wrap and chilled up to 24 hours before frying.)

3) Heat 3 inches of cooking oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 365 degrees F. Fry wontons, 4 to 6 at a time, in hot oil for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown, turning occasionally to brown evenly. Use a slotted spoon to remove wontons from oil to paper towels to drain. Cool about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve within 1 hour with mango sauce for dipping. Makes 24 wontons.

--

For breakfast on Sunday, I made a blueberry streusel coffee cake, which turned out OK. Here are my tips to help make yours turn out better than mine did:

Make sure you reserve enough batter to cover the top.
In fact, make a little extra batter.
I'd advise using most of the "topping" in the middle layer and just sprinkling it on the top. On top, it becomes a hard crunch layer that's just not as satisfying as when it's mixed up with the hot and juicy blueberries.

Other than that, it was good.

1 8-ounce carton dairy sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup chopped nuts
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

Directions
1. In a small bowl, stir together sour cream and baking soda. Set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat granulated sugar and butter with electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well mixed. Add the flour and baking powder; beat until well mixed. Pour the foamy sour cream mixture into batter; mix well.

3. For topping, in another bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts. Set aside.

4. Spread half of the batter into a greased 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Sprinkle blueberries over batter. Sprinkle with half of the topping. Carefully spread remaining batter over all; sprinkle remaining topping over. 5. Bake in a 325 degree F oven for 55 to 60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 16 servings

--

For Father's Day dinner I made Puff Pastry Shells with Brie and Lobster (Crab) Cream. These were actually really easy to make despite it being all fancy. I never knew there was such a thing as frozen puff pastry shells. Now that I do... it's going to be dangerous for my waist line. I can think of all sorts of things to put in these little wonders!

They were pretty good except the crab that we got was a little fishy - so that was distracting.

2 10-ounce packages frozen pastry shells (12 total)
2 tablespoons butter (no substitutes)
1 small red onion, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1-1/4 cups half-and-half or light cream
1/2 cup dry white wine or champagne
6 ounces Brie cheese, rind removed, cut up
8 ounces fresh or frozen lobster or crabmeat, cut into chunks (about 1-1/2 cups)
Green peppercorns in brine, drained; capers, drained; halved dried figs; or chopped smoked almonds (optional)

1. Thaw and bake pastry shells according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir over medium heat for 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in flour and ground red pepper. Stir in half-and-half or light cream and wine or champagne. (Mixture may appear curdled, but will become smooth as it cooks.) Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly; cook and stir 1 minute more. Add Brie, stirring until melted. Add lobster or crabmeat; heat through.

3. Spoon into baked pastry shells. Garnish with peppercorns, capers, figs, or almonds as desired. Makes 12 appetizer servings.

--

OK, so I cheated a little for Monday. Not much, but a little. About a week ago, I decided I was going to make my sister and I these crab salad sandwiches. We've eaten these all our lives. So I start making it and suddenly realize that I've never actually made it. I've watched my mom and my sister make them countless times, but I've never done it. I didn't count that for the recipe that day, but I made it again Monday and I'm counting it. Because working from 8 AM until 11 PM two days in a row should give me some leeway here.

I don't have a picture of this one either because I was about to pass out and couldn't be bothered to press the two buttons on my phone. I'm also not really good at judging amounts so .... sorry if this isn't as precise as you would like:

First, put imitation crab in a bowl. Use about as much as you think would be good for a sandwich (I don't know, 1/2 cup? 1/3 cup? probably less). Mix in a big sprinkle of shredded swiss cheese and a squirt or two (I use the squeezable kind) of Miracle Whip. Spread across bread. Enjoy!

Haha, this is why I don't write recipe books. I guess you could use mayonnaise instead of Miracle Whip, but then you wouldn't have that zip!

Like I said, it's one of my favorites from growing up and it's a fresh alternative to ham and cheese/PB&J (which I LOVE also).

--

I had to work 8AM til 11PM again on Tuesday so I gave K three recipes yesterday morning. I told her to pick one and get the ingredients on the way home. She picked the Easy Chicken Pot Pie. I made it late last night, scarfed it down before bed and ate it for lunch too.

While this might not be quite as good as the traditional (aka time-consuming) version, you really can't beat taking five minutes to throw things in a pan and having a full meal 30 minutes later. The ease of it simply can't be beat.

I think this might be even better - and still just as easy - if you used a Pillsbury dough of some kind. Like crescent rolls (I love pot pies with a flaky crust!)

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
1 pkg. (about 9 ounces) frozen mixed vegetables , thawed
1 can (12.5 ounces) Swanson® Premium White Chunk Chicken Breast in Water , drained
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose baking mix

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Stir the soup, vegetables and chicken in a 9-inch pie plate.

3. Stir the milk, egg and baking mix in a small bowl. Spread the batter over the chicken mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.

4. Cost per recipe: $8.09 Cost per recipe serving: $2.02

Cookies and Amish Breakfast Casserole

2010-06-18T15:28:00.001-04:00

I was going to make bruschetta yesterday for my writer's group, but that got canceled. I sent my sister a text:

Me: Should I make bruschetta or cookies tonight?
K: Cooookkkiiieessss!

Yesterday's Peanut Butter M&Ms Cookie recipe was sent to me by Twitter friend and blog reader Laura W. This is what she said about the recipe:

I haven't actually had a chance to try these yet, but I hope to someday. This recipe was found on another blogger's site, who actually found it from another blogger. (Link to Recipe on Annie's Eats: http://annieseats.blogspot.com/2007/08/peanut-butter-m-cookies.html)

Well, Laura, now you know you have to try it because they were delicious. No kidding. My sister got one and went in to the living room to eat it. I walked in just as she finished and she said, "I want another one!" in the most desperate kind of voice. It was hilarious. Also, my coworkers gobbled them up today.

This recipe makes a fairly large batch of cookies, so you may want to share them (or not!) :-)

1 Cup Butter, Softened
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Cup Reduced-Fat Creamy Peanut Butter
2 Tablespoons Milk
2 Eggs
2 2/3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 lb. Milk Chocolate M&M's

1. Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter and milk in a large bowl. Beat until well blended. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add gradually on low speed. Gently stir in the M&Ms.

2. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Shape the dough into 1 ¼” balls and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, checking frequently to avoid over-baking. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack and cooling completely.

--

Today, I made another breakfast for my coworkers. I was going to make a pumpkin casserole, but apparently Publix no longer carries pumpkin puree year round. So I had this other recipe in my purse and decided to go with that.

My coworkers loved the Amish Breakfast Casserole so much they ate the leftovers for lunch. I normally don't like to put potatoes in breakfast things (I like them on the side, though), but this worked well together. Plus it gives you some lasting fullness. EDIT: I forgot to say this: The recipe said you could substitute sausage for bacon, so I did!

It was good but I just want to say something about the supposed "total time:" 50 minutes, my butt. I'd say give yourself about 90 minutes to make this without being rushed. You can do other stuff during the 35 minute baking time though. Oh, and it's A LOT so make sure you have a big mixing bowl.

1 pound sliced bacon, diced
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
6 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 1/4 cups shredded Swiss cheese

1) In a large skillet, cook bacon and onion until bacon is crisp; drain. In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; stir in bacon mixture. Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish.

2) Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until set and bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting

Lots of Recipes!

2010-06-17T16:55:00.000-04:00

Life has been CRAZY lately so, even though I've been making a new recipe every day, I haven't had the chance to post them. So here goes.

As I mentioned last time, I made a Caribbean Jerk Chicken. This recipe was sent to me by my Twitter friend and blog reader Meg. It's pretty tasty. Too spicy for my sister, but really, what isn't? I liked it. We had some frozen peas and corn so I threw those in there instead of broccoli. We've been eating on it this week (as you can probably tell by the picture in Tupperware on my desk.) Here's the recipe, as Meg sent it to me.

In a regular-sized crock pot, add (in this order):

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
A Lawry's or store brand (I use the Kroger store brand--it is even better.) bottle of Caribbean Jerk marinade
A bottle's worth of hot water (Shake around to get excess marinade from the bottle sides.)
A can of pineapple chunks, juice and all (Again, I go for the off brand here, as Dole comes across as a little too sweet in this recipe.)
Optional: if you want a veggie in this dish, I'd suggest broccoli florets (Raw will cook better than those from a freezer bag, so if you want to use the freezer bag ones, wait to add them.) but even though I love veggies, I prefer this dish without them.

Close lid and cook for about 4 hrs on high, or 6-8 hrs on low, flipping chicken breasts to other side about halfway through.

Then, when chicken is completely cooked, (It is usually falling apart by now. If you like firmer chicken that stays in an intact piece, you can experiment with shorter cooking times.) switch to high if you've been cooking on low, or leave on high if you've been cooking on high, and add:

Your broccoli florets if you are using the ones from the freezer.
A cup of rice. (We like long grain white rice for this dish.) ...just about any sort will work, as long as it isn't minute rice.

Use a spoon to push the broccoli and rice below the surface of the liquid, so you don't have some bits that are completely cooked and some that are still raw.

Cook for about 30-60 min on high, checking periodically to see if the rice is done. (You may need to stir a time or two.)

Makes 4 generous servings. (We usually eat this by itself, as a one-pot meal.)

Freezes VERY well, and reheats in the microwave... sometimes with even better results.

Warning: can have a little kick to it.

On Tuesday I was very busy. No, I mean it. This is what the first part of the week was like for me:

- I worked Monday 830am - 5pm

- Made these brownbag burritos.

- Slept for four-ish hours

- Worked at Gaylord from 11pm to 7 am

- Made the vanilla shake, below

- Worked at Rotech 830am -5pm Tuesday

- Worked at Gaylord from 6pm to 11pm Tuesday

- Passed the heck out.

- (I won't continue to work like this. I'm working to pay for an awesome Writer's Conference)

I needed two quick recipes for Monday and Tuesday and this one fit the bill. These burritos (they're vegitarian btw!) are VERY quick and easy and yummy. It says it's 8 servings, but if you want to make a meal out of them you're going to have to make bigger ones - so I made four larger burritos. I also added sour cream.

1 15 oz can black beans

1 cup salsa

1 tbs ground cumin

1 tbs chili powder

8 flour tortillas

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

1) Rinse beans in cold water, drain well.

2) Combine beans, salsa, cumin and chili powder in large pan. Cook over medium-high heat for about ten minutes, mashing beans slightly with back of wooden spoon. Stir occasionally, adding a little water if mixture looks too dry.

3) Spoon bean mixture into tortillas. Top with cheese (and sour cream!). Fold each tortilla into an envelope shape, ensuring both ends are tucked in. Eat warm or wrap in plastic to take for lunch.

As you can see from my timeline above, I had so little time on Tuesday that I went for the easiest recipe I could find: A vanilla shake. I know what you're going to say, but if you work for 24 hours straight, you can have a milkshake for breakfast too. I think it's a law or something.

I don't think I really have to tell you that this was good because you can probably see that from the ingredient list. If you're not such a big fan of vanilla taste, you might want to cut down on the vanilla extract though. Also, I don't have a picture for this one. You know what a milkshake looks like. And if you don't, you have bigger problems.

1 cup vanilla ice cream

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1) In a blender, combine ingredients. Blend until smooth. Pour into glass and serve.

See- I told you it was easy!

On Wednesday I made yet another recipe from Pillsbury's Fast and Healthy Cookbook my coworker Jen shared with me: Weeknight Pork and Vegetable Stew.

This was another incredibly easy recipe. In fact, I was finishing up The Forest of Hands and Teeth (don't read it if you don't like zombies) so I was only half paying attention and it still turned out good. It's a nice, light healthy dinner - more like what I should be making every day.

Total: 30 mins

4 servings (1 ¼ c each)

1 teaspoon canola oil

¾ lb pork tenderloin, cut into 1 inch cubes

½ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 cup frozen small whole onions

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed

½ teaspoon chopped garlic in water

1 lb frozen broccoli, carrots and cauliflower
1 jar pork gravy

1) In 3-qt pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add pork; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently, until pork is browned.

2) Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender and pork is no longer pink in center

230 calories, 7g fat, 16g carbs

Up next: I was going to make bruschetta for my writer's group, but that got canceled, so I don't know yet.

Weekend Recipes

2010-06-14T09:18:00.001-04:00

This was a crazy-busy awesome weekend. Our roommate who hasn't really moved in yet, Chelsea, had a birthday party at her old place on Friday so K and I had 3 house-guests. On Saturday, we hung out by the pool, went to dinner at Imperium in Celebration, then hung out in Downtown Disney. It was great.

Yesterday, I began work on an exciting new project - so stay tuned to find out more. It's unlike anything I've ever done before and it looks like it's going to be pretty awesome. Here's a hint.

Now, on to the recipes. I won't be post Sunday's just yet because I haven't eaten it yet. It was supposed to be dinner Sunday night, but we went to Bento instead - so I figured it would make a good lunch this week.

On Friday I made "Crispy Crab Tarts" for Chelsea's party. They were VERY simple and pretty darn yummy. The recipe originally was called Crispy Shrimp Tarts but it said you could make it with crab - which I prefer. Though the book said it took 25 minutes, I think it was maybe 15 minutes... unless your oven just takes a long time to heat up.

24 frozen mini fillo shells (from two 2.1oz packages)

½ c cream cheese spread

24 frozen cooked deveined peeled medium shrimp/pieces of cooked crabmeat

¼ c duck sauce/Chinese plum sauce

1) heat oven to 350F. Place fillo shells on ungreased large cookie sheet

2) stir cream cheese to soften. Spoon 1 teaspoon cream cheese into each shell. Top each with 1 shrimp.

3) Bake about 2 minutes or until cream cheese is soft. Remove from cookie sheet: place on serving platter. Top each with ½ teaspoon duck sauce and grated lime peel, if desired

Makes 24.

40 calories. 2.5 g fat. 3g carbs.

This recipe is also from the Pillsbury Fast and Healthy Cookbook, shared by my coworker Jen.

On Saturday I made blueberry muffins for my house guests. This was the highest-rated blueberry muffin recipe on www.allrecipes.com.

They were very tasty, but didn't quite turn out like I expected. For whatever reason, the crumb topping and blueberries fell to the bottom during cooking. Jessica came up with the perfect solution though: Turn them upside down and eat them with a fork. We started calling them "Upside-Down Blueberry Streussel." If you make these and can figure out why my topping fell to the bottom, let me know.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

2) Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder.

3) Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup.

4) Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries.

5) Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

6) To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

7) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Pizza Quiche and Cookie Dough Cupcakes!

2010-06-11T11:33:00.000-04:00

Apparently, as I was typing that last post, my lovely sister was sending me pictures. We have a psychic link. Or maybe it was the text I sent her.

I know you probably can't believe your luck (where's that sarcasm font when you need it), but today you are not only getting two blog posts from me - but two recipes from yesterday!

I was in the kitchen ALL NIGHT last night, so I hope y'all appreciate this. For dinner, I made a pizza quiche. It was kinda blah, eh, OK and all other mediocre descriptors. It doesn't taste good without the pizza sauce on top, either. And it's a lot of work. I probably won't ever make this again.

Here's a tip though: If you are using a spring-form pan (like I did) that may not be water tight (like mine isn't), make sure you form the dough high enough on the sides so that none of the filling spills out and drips from the bottom of your pan into your brand-new oven, making your whole house smell like burnt eggs for who-knows-how-long. You know, hypothetically.

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening
3 to 4 tablespoons cold water

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 ounces)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

3 beaten eggs
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup chopped pepperoni or Canadian-style bacon
1 2-1/2-ounce jar sliced mushrooms, drained or 1/4 cup sliced pitted ripe olives
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1 8-ounce can pizza sauce

1. In a large mixing bowl combine 1 1/4 cups flour and salt. Cut in shortening until pieces are the size of small peas. Sprinkle cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, over mixture, tossing with a fork after each addition until all is moistened. Form dough into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, flatten dough with hands. Roll dough from center to edges, forming a circle about 12 inches in diameter.

2. Ease pastry into a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom or a 10-inch quiche dish. Press pastry into fluted sides of tart pan or quiche dish and trim edges. Line the unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of foil. Bake in a 450 degree F oven for 8 minutes. Remove the foil. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes more or until pastry is set and dry. Remove pastry from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degree F.

3. In a medium mixing bowl toss together mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, and 1 tablespoon flour. Sprinkle cheese mixture over bottom of hot pastry shell. In a large mixing bowl stir together eggs, milk, pepperoni, mushrooms or olives, and oregano. Carefully pour egg mixture into pastry shell.

4. Bake in a 325 degree F oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Meanwhile, heat the pizza sauce in small saucepan over medium heat. Serve quiche with pizza sauce. Makes 6 servings

--

Today is our good friend and future roommate's birthday party and Kayelee volunteered to make the cake. Well, she... um... failed. Kinda. So she texted me yesterday and asked if I could make some cupcakes, expecting me to grab a box mix from Publix and whip them up in a few minutes. It being Recipe Month and all, it didn't feel right. So I found this recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes on allrecipes.com and decided to try it out. It takes a little extra work, but I think it's worth it.

Of course, I tried one last night. They are yummy! In fact, I wish I had one right now, but I know we have to save them for the party. Oh, and K decorated them so you can give her the credit/blame for that. It was my idea to decorate them with mini cookies though - a little hint as to what lays ahead for the party guests.

If you make these, it is VERY important that you allow the cookie dough to freeze thoroughly. Otherwise it will cook along with the cake and be very dry. For a shortcut, you can use pre-made cookie dough and freeze it. Also, I made the cake recipe as per the directions on the box. Oh and, following some suggestions from the comments at All Recipes, I used a chocolate cake mix to make it prettier.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup canola oil
3 eggs

1) Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt; set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls; place onto a baking sheet, and freeze until solid, about 2 hours.

2) Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

3) Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon into the prepared cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.

4) Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (not the cookie dough ball) comes clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

100th Blog Post

2010-06-11T10:54:00.000-04:00

Look, Dear Readers, it's a milestone! This is my 100th blog post since I started this blog. Ok, well there are some technicalities - like blog posts that I've deleted, so it's probably closer to 110 posts. But that's not important.

Y'all read my last post about the Psoriasis Walk, right? Oh, what am I saying? Of course you did. Since then, one of my awesome coworkers, Jen (the same one I've been getting the recipes from), has signed her entire family up to be on my team! And we've already raised almost $300 - 30% of our team goal. We're currently the top team in fundraising for the Tampa walk (ok, I know it doesn't happen until November, but it's something).

Hopefully, some of my other coworkers and friends will join (hint, hint, winky face) - because it's going to be awesome. I'm planning on making a day out of it and doing some kind of something. Like a picnic in the park or a winery tour or SOMETHING fun. So please join my team and walk with me to cure psoriasis (or if you live in some random place like Missouri or California or, you know, NOT Florida, you can just donate).

I have two recipes from yesterday to post, but I'm waiting on my sister to send me the pictures (my phone was dead)... so if you know her, feel free to bug her for me. ;-)

Crunchy Trail Mix Bars

2010-06-10T14:54:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was another busy day for me (Yay for my return to the Celebration Writers Group after over a month hiatus!) so I made another quick and easy recipe. You can make this over the weekend and snack on it all week.

I've been snacking on it today while at work and it's pretty tasty. It's very sweet and satisfying. It's also one of those recipes that you could really play with and add all kinds of tasty things. I, as a hiker, am a big fan of GORP, so I didn't get too fancy with it.

Oh, and where it says "toss to coat" .... don't try that. Doesn't work and it'll just make a mess. Fold it gently like you would with rice krispie treats.

This is another recipe from Pillsbury’s Fast and Healthy Cookbook, shared by my coworker Jen.

4 c Cheerios cereal

3 c trail mix (seeds, nuts and dried fruit)
¼ c butter or margarine
1 c packed brown sugar
2 tbs all-purpose flour
½ c light corn syrup

1) Grease 13x9 inch pan with shortening, or spray with cooking spray. In large bowl, mix cereal and trail mix; set aside

2) In 2-qt pan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, flour and corn syrup. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a full boil. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.

3) Pour mixture evenly over cereal mixture; toss to coat. Press mixture in pan. Cool 10 minutes. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 6 rows

130 calories, 5g fat, 18g carbs. Makes 36 bars

Next Up: A Pizza Quiche. And maybe a bonus recipe if I get really motivated.

Two Days of Quick Recipes

2010-06-08T16:56:00.000-04:00

The first half of this week is very busy for me (even without the 4 AM Fire Alarm I had the pleasure of enjoying last night), so these recipes are going to be quick and easy!

Yesterday, I had about 35 minutes at home before having to leave again (thanks to my lovely sister walking my pup for me), so I made Quick Black Beans & Rice from Pillsbury's Fast and Healthy Cookbook that my coworker Jen shared with me.

And it was quick. I had just enough time to chop the jalapeno (the only real work invovled in this recipe), throw it in the pot, get ready while it was cooking, and scarf down a quick bowl before running out the door. It was also pretty tasty too. I'm beginning to realize I don't much care for the texture of instant rice, but you can't beat the convenience of it on a busy night.

Also, I couldn't find "mexican-style" stewed tomatoes so I just got regular stewed tomatoes and threw in some onion powder, garlic powder and cumin.

Prep: 10 minutes
Total: 20 mins
5 servings (1 c each)

¾ c water
1 14.5 oz can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 15.5 oz can black beans, drained
1 c uncooked instant brown rice
1 c frozen whole kernel corn
1 medium jalapeno chile, seeded, finely chopped. (1 tbs)

1) in 8-in skillet, mix all ingredients. Heat to boiling.

2) Reduce heat; cover and simmer 12-14 minutes or until almost all liquid is absorbed.

240 calories, 1.5g fat, 46g carbs

--

Today, I have even less free time so I opted for a morning smoothie. I generally don't like homemade smoothies because I hate the berry skins/seeds that always end up in them. However, this one had no berries or anything like that. In fact, it's more like a milkshake with some protein.

However, it wasn't enough to keep me satiated for any amount of time - actually, it wasn't enough to satiate me in the first place. BUT, it was YUMMY. If you like peanut butter, you'll love this. So here's the recipe for the Peanut Butter Smoothie from recipe.com. Sorry there's no picture - like I said, no time.

1 cup vanilla or chocolate ice cream
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons peanut butter

1. In a blender container, blend together ice cream, milk, and peanut butter. Makes 1 or 2 servings.

Oh and I call BS on the "2 servings." It's more like 1/2 a serving.

Up for tomorrow: Crunchy Trail Mix Bars (another busy day!!)

More Free Books for You to Win (and share with me)

2010-06-08T09:30:00.000-04:00

I promise to post yesterday and today's recipe soon, but first I wanted to share with y'all yet ANOTHER giveaway by YAHighway.

So check it out and if you win... Well, I wouldn't mind you sharing ;-)

Spots and All

2010-06-07T15:36:00.001-04:00

Ok, Dear Readers. I've signed up for another fundraising event. But wait! Give me three more sentences before you stop reading, please.

I'm not saying that causes like the LLS and ACS aren't important to me ('cause they are!), but this is a cause that is as close to my heart as you can get - literally. I have suffered from Psoriasis for the past seven years and it's only getting worse. There is no cure and the treatments not only don't work for me - but have possible fatal side effects.

There, my three sentences are up. If you can move on without reading the rest of this post... well, quite honestly: you have no heart. Or maybe just a grinch-sized one.

Reader's Digest version: I'll be participating in the National Psoriasis Foundation's Walk to Cure Psoriasis on November 6th. Click here to go to my personal page.

I know I've spoken to many of you in-person about Psoriasis, but I don't think I've ever blogged about it. Psoriasis is an immune disorder wherein your immune system randomly attacks your skin cells, manifesting in red scaly lesions. If severe, it can be disabling. Even when mild, it can seriously alter your quality of life. Psoriatic arthritis, which is closely associated with psoriasis, is crippling. For more information, please watch this two-minute video: (BTW: if you're eating, you may not want to press play just yet)

How can you help? You can donate here or - even better - if you live within driving distance of Tampa, please join my team here.
Below is the same text displayed on my fundraising page:

My Story

Psoriasis isn't contagious, awareness is.

I was diagnosed with Psoriasis when I was in college. Since then, I've been living in constant FEAR.

FEAR of developing Psoriatic Arthritis and not being able to enjoy many activities I love. Of living in constant pain.

FEAR of getting kicked out of pools and water parks due to a GENETIC disease.

FEAR of developing one of the many conditions associated with psoriasis like: heart attacks and strokes.

FEAR of social isolation, rude comments and disgusted stares.

The National Psoriasis Foundation has helped me face these fears. In addition to funding genius research that may one day lead to a cure for, not only Psoriasis, but many other diseases of the immune system; they are committed to educating both the public and patients about the condition. They are also instrumental in helping the medical and medical insurance industries understand the disease. (My first dermatologist mis-diagnosed me… THEY don’t even completely understand Psoriasis.)

Thanks to the NPF’s support, I now wear shorts without fear, using any rude comment, stare or question as an opportunity to educate someone about the disease. And I no longer worry about what friends and potential boyfriends think - there is no room in my life for someone who can’t accept me, spots and all.

Here’s another video where America’s Next Top Model CariDee English talks about her experience with psoriasis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZWVfnXcFAU&feature=related

CariDee was lucky. She found a treatment that lets her manage her disease. Many don’t.

There is no CURE for Psoriasis. There are treatments, but not a single one works for everyone. Treatment is a guessing game - and it’s a dangerous one. With side effects like skin cancer and fatal brain infections, the treatments are often worse than the disease itself.

This is where you come in. The National Psoriasis Foundation depends on donors like you and volunteers like me to fund research and advocacy programs. Please consider making a donation to help the OVER 7 MILLION Americans affected by this disease by clicking on the "Support Sarah!" button to the right.

Also, if you live within driving distance of the Tampa area, I'd be honored if you'd join my team "Sarahtopia" for the Walk to Cure Psoriasis.

Weekend Recipes

2010-06-07T08:54:00.000-04:00

I didn't really have time to post this weekend's recipes, so you're going to get them in one big clump here. BTW, my cell phone's camera has a lot of trouble focusing and I'm too lazy to drag out my real one (I have to actually plug a cord into the computer to get pictures off of it! Too difficult...), so I'm sorry if the pictures are blurry. They look fine on my cell phone screen. :-)

Kayelee bought some broccoli last week with no real plan for it and challenged me to use it. I found this recipe for Sweet & Sour Chicken with Brown Rice and decided to try it.

Verdict: It was ok. Kinda blah. We didn't save the leftovers. If you're trying to loose weight, you may want to try this one: Not only is it low in calories, you won't want to over-indulge.

2 cups instant brown rice
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons apricot preserves
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 pound chicken tenders, cut into bite-size pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons finely grated or minced ginger
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
6 cups bite-size pieces of vegetables, such as snow peas, broccoli and bell peppers
1 5-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained

1. Prepare rice according to the package directions.

2. Meanwhile, whisk vinegar, soy sauce, cornstarch and apricot preserves in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, undisturbed, for 2 minutes. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink on the outside and just starting to brown in spots, about 2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate.

4. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, garlic and ginger to the pan and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 20 to 30 seconds. Add broth and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add vegetables, reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the vegetables are tender-crisp, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in water chestnuts and the chicken. Whisk the reserved sauce and add to the pan. Simmer, stirring constantly, until the sauce is thickened and the chicken is heated through, about 1 minute. Serve with the rice.

--

On Saturday morning, I made a sausage breakfast pizza. I don't eat mushrooms. Ever. So obviously, I left them out of this one. Also, I forgot to save tomatoes for this so I only had about 1/2 a cup. I also used an 8x11 dish so it was thicker than intended. If I were to do it again, I would make sure I used the bigger pan. It's harder for the eggs to cook without burning the rest of it when it's so thick. It was still good.

Kayelee said, "It needs gravy." I would say it doesn't need gravy, but it would definitely be good with it.

1 (13.8 ounce) package refrigerated pizza crust dough
1 pound Bob Evans® Original Recipe Sausage Roll
8 ounces pre-sliced mushrooms
1 cup diced tomato
2 cups shredded pizza blend cheese
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Unroll dough and press into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish, covering bottom of pan and 2 inches up sides of dish. Crumble and cook sausage and mushrooms in medium skillet until browned. Drain well on paper towels.

Spread sausage, mushrooms and tomatoes over crust. Top with shredded cheese. In small bowl, whisk eggs until well combined. Pour over pizza. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until eggs are set and crust is brown.

--

I still had broccoli to get rid of, so I made Corn & Broccoli Calzones on Sunday. After the first bite I said, "I don't like it." But I kept eating and I realized it was pretty good. I missed the part of the instructions where it said to use your favorite marinara for dipping - because I thought, "This would be better with some sauce."

Still good though. And portable.

I couldn't find regular pizza dough so I used the canned Pilsbury kind - 2 cans. Here's a little tip: It doesn't like being reshaped so this is what I came up with: Take the roll of dough out of the can and cut into four pieces, kinda like sushi. Unroll one piece and cut the length in half. Place the two halves side by side and press together to make a rectangular shape. This way it looks more like a homemade Hot Pocket than a calzone, but it works.

This recipe makes a lot (at least it's a lot for two people) so you may want to halve it unless you have a whole family to cook for. I ended up making 8 calzones because of the dough difference. Also, I forgot to buy scallions so I just sprinkled some dried chives from my spice rack into the mixture. And if you're thinking about using dried basil instead of fresh, I ask you to reconsider. Have you smelled fresh basil lately? It's divine.

1 1/2 cups chopped broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels, (about 3 ears; see Tip)
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
2/3 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
All-purpose flour, for dusting
20 ounces prepared whole-wheat pizza dough, (see Tip), thawed if frozen
2 teaspoons canola oil

1. Position racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 475 degrees F. Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.

2. Combine broccoli, corn, mozzarella, ricotta, scallions, basil, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

3. On a lightly floured surface, divide dough into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into an 8-inch circle. Place a generous 3/4 cup filling on one half of each circle, leaving a 1-inch border of dough. Brush the border with water and fold the top half over the filling. Fold the edges over and crimp with a fork to seal. Make several small slits in the top to vent steam; brush each calzone with oil. Transfer the calzones to the prepared baking sheets.

4. Bake the calzones, switching the pans halfway through, until browned on top, about 15 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving. Healthy Heart Variation: To reduce saturated fat even further, use nonfat ricotta in place of the reduced-fat ricotta. 334 calories, 2 g saturated fat.

Bonus: Stuffed Celery Bites

2010-06-04T08:51:00.000-04:00

My SFF writers group (yes, I have two. I used to have three.) met at my apartment complex yesterday for the first time. Usually, we meet at Panera but we have a swank business center with a conference room and I decided to try it out (people liked it, btw). I wanted to make a little something for them, so I made my second recipe for June 3rd.

It was insanely easy to make and it was OK. I'd recommend this if you have sudden company and just happen to have a tub of cream cheese and a bag of celery around the house. If you have more time or more ingredients available, see if there's something better you can make first.

Don't get me wrong, they weren't bad. They were just OK... but they are pretty - which we all know is the most important thing for an appetizer. Taste is second :-) (BTW the picture was taken with my cell phone, which sometimes makes pictures yellowish.)

This recipe for Stuffed Celery Bites is also from recipe.com. I didn't get pine nuts when I was at the store so I skipped that whole part. I think you can get pretty creative with the 'garnish' part of this recipe.

2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 clove garlic, minced
8 stalks celery
1 8-ounce tub cream cheese with dried tomato or cream cheese
1/4 cup shredded Italian cheese blend (1 ounce)
2 tablespoons dry-roasted shelled sunflower seeds
Celery leaves (optional)

1. Lightly coat a skillet with non-stick cooking spray. Add pine nuts and garlic. Cook over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes or until nuts are golden brown, stirring frequently. Set aside.

2. Remove tops and wide base from celery. Using a vegetable peeler, remove two thin strips from the rounded side of the celery, creating a flat surface.

3. In a small bowl combine the cream cheese and shredded Italian cheese. Spread or spoon cheese mixture into celery.

4. Cut each filled stalk of celery into 2-inch pices. Sprinkle half the pieces with the pine nut mixture and half with the sunflower seeds. Top with celery leaves, if desired. Makes about 32 pieces (8 servings).

Two Recipe Month Successes in a Row!

2010-06-03T08:52:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Kayelee and I wanted to make burgers on the grill, so I just made a light appetizer for the 2nd. These were cute, good and oh-so-easy to make. I recommend them if you're having company over and are looking for a quick, easy appetizer.

BTW: If you've ever decorated a cake before, yours are probably going to be prettier than mine.

Here's the recipe for Basil-garlic Tomatoes from recipe.com:

2 tablespoons light dairy sour cream
2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil
1 tablespoon light cream cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
16 cherry tomatoes (about 8 ounces total), halved
Cracked black pepper (optional)

1. In a small bowl, combine sour cream, basil, cream cheese, and garlic. Stir until well mixed.

2. Place sour cream mixture in a resealable plastic bag. Cut a small hole in one corner of the bag; seal bag. Pipe a small amount of the sour cream mixture onto the cut side of each tomato half. If desired, sprinkle with cracked black pepper. Makes 4 (8 tomato halves) servings.

Despite the weather refusing to cooperate, Kayelee and I decided we could grill by the pool every day and be happy :-) The burgers were good and, of course, the appetizers were too.

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Since my new coworkers have been so supportive of recipe month, I wanted to make them something. I'm going to be pretty busy tonight so I decided I would make them a Thursday breakfast. I *almost* went for something that I knew was going to turn out well, something safer - but I'm glad I didn't. The Blueberry Surprise French Toast Casserole recipe is also from recipe.com. Two words: NOM NOM

It was easy to put together the night before, then when I woke up I put it in the oven. My coworkers seem to like it. One of them, Marjorie, mentioned that it would be cool to add powdered sugar on top and I agree. (wish I would have thought of it!) :-) BTW, I used a french loaf (I don't think I used the full 8 cups though - which might be better) from the farmer's market and maple syrup.

12 slices dry white bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 8 cups)
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
12 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 cup maple syrup or maple-flavored syrup
Blueberry-flavored, maple, or maple-flavored syrup

1. Place half of the bread cubes over the bottom of a well-buttered 13x9x2-inch baking dish (3-quart rectangular). Sprinkle cream cheese and blueberries over bread cubes. Arrange remaining bread cubes over blueberries.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs with a rotary beater; beat in milk and the 1/2 cup syrup. Carefully pour egg mixture over the bread mixture. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 2 to 24 hours.

3. Bake, covered, in a 375 degree F oven for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake about 25 minutes more or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean, and topping is puffed and golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm with blueberry-flavored or maple syrup. Makes 8 servings.

Recipe for 6/1/2010: Pepperoni-Cheesy Potatoes

2010-06-02T09:07:00.000-04:00

I left work at 5pm yesterday with no recipe. I wanted to stop at Publix on the way home so my plan became: get something from the free recipe cards Publix has in the produce section.

Turns out, not such a good plan.

I mean, this recipe really wasn’t too bad – except for the salt. If you can find low-salt versions of the ingredients, it would probably be pretty good. Kids will love it either way. It's also very EASY. It uses a lot of pre-processed pre-cooked foods.

Also, I cooked it for 30 minutes, which might be a little long because the top layer was hard to cut through.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe. (Courtesy of Publix)

1 (4.9 to 5.25oz) dry scalloped potatoes mix

1 (14oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes

1 ½ cups water

¼ tsp basil leaves

¼ tsp oregano leaves

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

½ (3.5oz) package sliced pepperoni
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup Parmesan cheese

1) Preheat oven to 400F. In a greased 2-quart casserole dish, combine dry potatoes and sauce mix; set aside.

2) In a small saucepan, combine undrained tomatoes, water, basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Bring to boiling. Pour tomato mixture over potato mixture and stir. Top with pepperoni slices; sprinkle with cheeses.

3) Bake, uncovered 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Serves 6. Per serving: 200 calories, 9g fat, 4g saturated fat, 10g protein, 20g carbs

Apparently, the 31st is the last day in May

2010-06-01T09:59:00.000-04:00

I realized last night at approximately 11:02 PM that May was ending. And, Dear Readers, I was SAD! Post Card Month was awesome. It’s one of the Months that I will probably continue on in my regular life (just not every day!). I even already ordered more postcards. I got back in touch with so many people – all because of 2 or 3 sentences written on a little piece of cardstock.

I highly recommend it.

After recovering from the sudden feeling of loss, I realized I needed to decide what month June should be. This wasn’t easy. There aren’t many left to choose from – at least I feel like there aren’t. So I just asked my sister. What was her answer? You can probably guess that one:

Recipe Month!

Shocking, really. The person who lives with me wants me to try a different recipe every day.

This month is going to be somewhat of a challenge because I’m also trying to lose some weight. So, if you have any great low-cal or low-fat recipes, please send 'em my way. And even if you just have some great fatty recipes, I want those too (for cheat days). :-)

Rules:
- It can be any kind of recipe - whether it's just a different way to put a sandwich together or a smoothie all the way up to a complicated masterpiece.
- I can never have made the recipe before. (Though there's no rule against trying one I've only eaten before!)
- There aren't many rules this time.

KOrtizzle's Grab Bag Giveaway

2010-05-17T14:39:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been crazy busy with moving, starting my new job (yay!) and launching a huge campaign for the Foundation. So here's a quick post about Kathleen Ortiz's grab bag giveaway. I figured most of you, Dear Readers, are readers and/or writers so you might be interested in this one. Here are some deets from KOrtizzle's blog:

Top 3 highest point holders will win. If there's a tie, I'll use a number generator.

Prize: Three random YA or MG books from my stash, though most are from July 2009 - August 2010 (yes, some ARCs are involved). Plus an additional prize that will consist of the following: bookstore gift card, note for a query critique, note for a synopsis critique, note for a first chapter critique or an extra book.

Ya won't know what you get 'till you open your package :)

Point system:
+1 New blog follower
+2 Current blog follower
+2 Refer someone (you must list who, and they must list you as well - no limit)
+1 Saying you were referred by someone (you must list who, and they must list you as well - only one)
+1 Link my contest to your blog (include link)
+1 Link my contest to your Twitter (include link)
+2 Post an actual blog entry detailing this contest and include what you hope to get if you win
See the original post here.

I'd love to win this! If I do, I'd like to get some awesome YA books, especially those in the fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal areas! (I just hope my bookcase won't collapse when I add more books to it! I have an addiction, I can admit it). As for the "additional prize," I'd be honored to receive a first chapter critique from the lovely lady agent, but I'd also be happy with a bookstore gift card - so I can further feed my addiction. As most of you know, I've already received a query critique from her - which was awesome! (and, I'm still working on revisions so, no, I haven't sent her the partial she requested).

Post Card Month! (and Photo Month wrap-up)

2010-05-05T02:27:00.000-04:00

As most of you know, May will be post card month for the Year of Months! This means I will write and send (theoretically) a post card every day to a different person. I ordered some very nice postcards but they haven't arrived yet so I'm using some touristy cards I've been picking up around town until then.

It's kinda fun so far. I've realized something already: Postcards are sorta like the pre-internet version of writing on someone's Facebook wall.

I still owe y'all the last four pictures of Photo Month, so here we go.

April 27th. This glass is not "beer-clean," later known as "beer-ready." I'm pretty sure AB invented the concept, but there are many ways to tell your beer glass isn't up to cleanliness standards. One of them is the bubbles that are formed on the side of this glass here.
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April 28th. Kayelee made me take this picture. She said, "What a horrible way to die! How did he even get in there."

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April 29th. I told K this is what our Cylon overlords will think I look like when they take over because this is what it looks like most of the time while I'm sitting at my computer - while editing.

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April 30th. I really didn't think my LAST picture for Photo Month would be this silly, but... I mean, just look at that lady's claws! How do you even function like that?? (Also, please ignore my blindingly white leg in the bottom of the picture)

New Job

2010-04-29T17:00:00.000-04:00

I know I'm behind on posting pics, but I just wanted to throw this up since so many people are asking questions about it.

I got a job today. Kinda. It's a 6-month contract position with the possibility (if the company continues to do well) of going on full time. I'll be working in the Contracts department of Rotech Healthcare working on all aspects of contracts. The pay is decent (much better than what I've been scraping by with the last year or so) and she promised me the work would be challenging.

I like what the manager told me about her management style and she seems to love her team. They're not exactly paying me what I'm worth (but, seriously, who really can? ;-) ) though it seems so many companies are taking advantage of the economic situation in this way.

I'm most excited about having a regular schedule again. Even though I've had plenty of time recently, it's hard for me to do anything on such a random schedule.

This has been a GOOD week for me. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.

On another note, I've decided that May will be Postcard Month so make sure I have your updated address and you may be one of the 31 lucky people to receive a postcard from yours truly :-)

Best Day EVER!

2010-04-26T23:22:00.000-04:00

Normally, when I'm behind on posting pictures, I post the oldest ones first. But today, I'm starting with today's pic. Why, you may ask, is this today's picture? Read on.

We had a rental agent coming to look at our apartment at 10 am so I woke K up at 8 am so she could clean her room before he got here. We tidied up and after he left, we went to look at apartments. Our goal was to decide by today where we were going to be living (in case you missed it, we're rooming with my Sorority sister Chelsea).

In between apartments, we stopped by Verizon because K's phone had stopped working yesterday. Verizon sent me an email a week or two ago that said if we upgraded to a a Palm Pre or Pixi, we would get free Mobile Hotspot (it turns your phone into a mini wireless router for up to four devices). So K and I both got a Palm Pre Plus - for $25 each! They only had one in stock, so mine will arrive in a few days but it's an AWESOME phone and I'm so excited.

I had an interview at 2pm and at 1pm, when we were eating lunch, I called my recruiter because she had asked me to in order to help me prepare. She informed me that my interviewer was in an ambulance on her way to the hospital. So my interview is postponed until further notice. (I know, you're thinking this probably isn't the way to start a blog titled "Best Day EVER!" but please bear with me)

After looking at the three remaining choices for apartments, we decided (while eating gelato at a cute little cafe) on The District at Universal. It's a cute, trendy kinda place and all three of us get walk-in closets!! :-D We're all super excited.

So, after deciding this, we wanted to put a deposit down to hold our apartment. K and I (Chels was still at work) found the closest ATM and withdrew money to get a money order. While we were in line at the Post Office, my aunt called me. We had some hints that something exciting was coming so K leaned over to listen with me. My aunt works at a small non-profit in Tulsa and they had a huge fundraiser yesterday with an auction. She told us that, for our birthdays (yes, 5 and a little over 8 months away) she bid and won an item for us. Here is the description of the item:

A trip to LA, CA where you can be ON SET DURING FILMING OF "Castle", and tour backlot sets of "Desperate Housewives", plus stay at the Sheridan Universal Studios, airline tickets, dine at Wolfgang Puck, UWink, The Grill on the Alley and other wonderful treats.

I'M GOING TO SEE A FILMING OF CASTLE!!! When she told me this I started squealing in the middle of the post office and Kayelee shushed me. People were staring at me, but who cares? Two words, people: Nathan Fillion.

Then we put down the deposit on our apartment. I couldn't stop grinning.

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Pic for Friday April 23rd. I took this shortly after arriving at the Residence Inn near the Cincinnati Airport. I took it because it struck me as strange when I realized how quickly I feel at home in these kinds of places. I spent so long living in hotels that I'm almost immediately comfortable in them.

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Pic for Saturday April 24th. Here's a picture of the Foundation's Board of Directors (plus a BOD Alum) hard at work.

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I took this picture shortly before my plane landed in Orlando on Sunday. It was the first time I looked at a city lit up at night and thought about how wasteful it is. I know that many of these lights are necessary for safety reasons, but I wish it wasn't so. There's also humans' inherent fear of the dark to contend with. But I wonder how much energy is wasted - how much pollution is created - just to keep cities lit at night. I mean, you can see this stuff from space!

Pics: I've Been Busy

2010-04-22T17:52:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted a pic since Sunday, so I have a little catch-up to do.

Monday's picture is of an apartment complex's leasing/clubhouse area. I don't even remember which one. After a while, they all look the same. They have a sort of faux elegance that (I guess) is supposed to convince you they are, in fact, a 'luxury' complex. I've looked at 30 apartment complexes this week (Some of them were in I'm-just-going-to-lock-my-doors-and-keep-driving areas so I didn't look at 30 apartments). I have some tips for the folks who come up with the marketing materials.

If EVERY complex says they have "luxury" apartments, the word doesn't mean anything anymore. Come up with something else.
Calling an apartment that looks at a retention pond "lake view" and then saying you're going to charge me extra for this "wonderful" view makes me want to punch you in the face. Lucky for you, I have a great imagination and simply imagining this act makes me feel better.
On a related note, having an upgrade charge for ANY floor you choose is kinda ridiculous.
You cannot say that a 2-bedroom with 900 sq feet is an "open, spacious floorplan." Unless you're in NYC. Which you're not.
What exactly does "resort-style" pool mean? Because you all say you have one, but some are really crappy so I'm confused.
Three machines does not translate to "state-of-the-art fitness center."
Don't advertise that you have a clubhouse if the residents can't actually use it.
Do not have your leasing agents say something like: "You really should put down a deposit today because these are going so fast!" Um, I know that Orlando's apartment, condo, and house vacancy rate is 28%. Remember what I said about wanting to punch you in the face?

End rant. On a brighter note, I may soon be sharing an apartment with one of my favorite people: Chelsea. (In addition to K. Don't worry, I haven't been able to get rid of her yet ;-) )

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Tuesday's pic is of the wonderful weather we had Tuesday night. Beautiful, isn't it? I got soaked running from Barnes and Noble to my car. Approximately 15 minutes after this picture was taken, I was snuggled in my bed with two adorable puppies. THAT is how you deal with this kind of weather.

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To describe Wednesday's picture, I'm going to have to rehash some of Rachael Leigh Cook's immortal words: This is your brain. This is what happens to your brain after watching LOST.

And doesn't Jasper look as happy as a clam in this picture? (Or as Kayelee would say, he's a clam-face) He <3's David. And Andrew. And Chelsea. And Sam. And Aaron. And just about everyone who comes over except JM and people who yell a lot.

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I haven't taken today's picture yet. Also, I'm going to be in Cincinnati (RANDOM side note: this is the first time I've spelled that city correctly the first time I tried - and I've been typing it for weeks. Yay me.) this weekend for a Foundation meeting, so I'm going to have LOTS of new material for my pictures.

See you on the flip side! :-)

Pics: UCF Book Festival and Puppy Eyes

2010-04-18T22:14:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I went to the UCF Book Festival. It was great! One of the highlights for me was getting to meet Janice Hardy. I'd been reading her blog for a while so that was fun. This picture is from when I got her to sign her book, The Shifter. (The lights in the arena are really bad for pictures so they all pretty much look like this.)

In addition to book signings and vendor booths, they had panels all day where authors and editors talked about books and book-related topics. Most of the people there were teachers and librarians. I wonder why there weren't as many readers there? It's a good chance they weren't marketed to. I only found out about it because I periodically check UCF's public event calendar for my Central Florida Events page.

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I'm taking the easy way out today and going with a puppy pic (my first one for the month!). But look at those eyes! This is what I face every time I have to leave the house.

Today's Pic AND Bonus Video!

2010-04-16T18:46:00.000-04:00

Today, Kayelee and I went to see Robert Venditti (author of The Surrogates) give a talk. It was a special "open to the public" session of a Creative Writing class at UCF.

Can you believe some of those students came in, signed the attendance sheet (for extra credit) and left?! Ungrateful little ... Oh wait, I'm starting to sound like an old person.

Me and K were two of the few there who weren't in some UCF writing class. I know there was at least one other there - this hot guy who sat behind us. Oh well, we enjoyed it. And K has a strange fascination with signed books.... Seriously, it's kinda creepy.

Speaking of my charming sister, I've always said that we should have a TV show. Like the Kardashians, but way more awesome. As proof, I submit to you this video from our explorations of Celebration this weekend. And the conversation (if you can call it that) we had on the way home from UCF. Only, I don't have that recorded so you're going to have to just watch the video. :-)

Pic: Art of War

2010-04-15T21:57:00.000-04:00

My sister, her boyfriend, another friend and I went to an art showing and lecture today at UCF called Art of War. Kevin Haran, a UCF art professor, makes these pieces out of foam board and consumer cardboard. Keep an eye out on Kayelee's blog for a picture blog about the event coming soon!

Here's Kevin's bio from the event website: Kevin Haran offers a look at his experience with drawing, painting and sculpture. Haran has a B.F.A. in Studio Art and a B.A. in Art History from UCF. He earned an M.F.A. in Painting/Drawing from the University of Tennessee in 1991. Haran was Associate Curator of Education at the Knoxville Museum of Art and currently teaches studio art at UCF.

Book Review: The Hunter's Moon

2010-04-15T02:30:00.001-04:00

My reading has slowed down quite a bit lately, but I recently read The Hunter's Moon by O.R. Melling. It's the first in a trilogy. This was recommended to me by the website What Should I Read Next.

One sentence summary: When her cousin and best friend (same person) is taken away by the Faerie King, timid Gwen must trek across Ireland alone to rescue her.

I became interested in this book because it's a YA fantasy that's a little different from the rest. Once I started reading, I wasn't immediately hooked but the pace picked up as the story went on. I'm not sure if this was on purpose or not, but I felt a little confused at parts. It's hard to describe but I was kinda fuzzy for a while. If it was on purpose, it was a fantastic given the subject matter. If not, ... oops.

The pacing of the novel isn't perfect and it's a little frustrating at times. Sometimes, I feel like Melling got a little excited with her description, but there are some lovely images.

To be honest here, I'm getting a little tired of the teen girl who thinks she's unattractive and uninteresting all of a sudden fall in love with a hot, mystical guy and she's magically transformed into this brave heroine. It's tired.

Overall, it was an entertaining read. I give it 3.5 stars

Pic: Just Before the Dawn

2010-04-14T09:39:00.002-04:00

I took this picture this morning while waiting for Panera to open.

After I took it, I started thinking about the magic of those few minutes just before the sun rises. It's the visual promise of a new day. It's when you have no idea what's going to happen, but you're looking forward to it anyway.

So it's funny that I took this a few hours before I received some not-so-good news. I hadn't told too many people this: I was in the process of applying for Commission with the Coast Guard. It has been a long process and I was supposed to find out in mid-May if I got in.

I found out today that I have been medically disqualified. (I always hate my psoriasis, but some days I hate it more than others)

Oh well, I guess. One door closes... how soon until the next one opens?

4/12 Pic: Harley and 4/13 Pic: Life-saving Buckets

2010-04-13T21:00:00.000-04:00

Last night, my job was to watch this motorcycle. For eight hours. In a locked room. I pretty much have the most exciting job ever. (That was sarcasm in case y'all didn't catch that)

On top of the thrilling task, I opened my book and discovered it was actually the third in a trilogy and not the first as I had expected. So I watched TV shows all night on my cell phone. Thank goodness for VCast.

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These buckets save lives. Don't believe me? Watch this. (Bonus: It has Anderson Cooper)

Also, if you'd like to help Firehouse Subs help firefighters (for free) go to their Chip In Program on Facebook.

Pic: Two Days of Pics

2010-04-11T21:10:00.000-04:00

Let's be fair: I said I would take a pic every day, not that I would post it to my blog every day... I took a picture yesterday but finally got home at 1 AM after being awake for 30 hours straight - and then got kidnapped by K this morning to help her film stuff for her blog - so I'm posting today's and yesterday's pictures here now.

Today's picture is the first from Picture Month that I'm actually in! Yesterday I went to Gainesville for a Phi Sigma Rho Family and Alumnae event at Lake Wauburg. There were more girls there, but these are all we could round up for the picture; some of them were at the rock climbing wall.

I had a fun time hanging out with some old friends (most of the girls I knew have left by now) and meeting some new Phi Rhos. One girl came up to me and said, "I heard you were one of our founders." Heather said, "She's THE founder*." The girl said, "Oh, well it's nice to meet you. I'm Michelle" Then she giggled**. It was cute.

*Most of the people who knew me from college knew this, but the people who have met me since or know me from high school don't. In 2003 I started a local chapter of Phi Sigma Rho, a national engineering sorority. You can read more about it on the Phi Rho-Tau About Us page and in this guest blog I wrote for the national sorority.
**Phi Rhos don't generally giggle. At least, as far as most of us will admit.

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Today, my sister and I went gallivanting around the Orlando area filming footage for her blog. We had fun... you'll have to watch her blog over the next few weeks to figure out exactly how much fun :-)

Today's picture also has me in it! This is a replica of the "Fountain of Youth." It's in the St Augustine area of Gaylord Palms, attached to the scaled replica of Castillo de San Marcos.

Pic: With Spring Comes.... Pollen?

2010-04-09T09:08:00.000-04:00

First, I want you to guess what this is a picture of. Go ahead....

....

....

....

This is a picture of my truck from this morning. It looks like it took a shower in yellow paint. I heard on the radio this is one of the worst pollen seasons ever. Have I mentioned lately how thankful I am for my lack of allergies? (Don't be too jealous, I didn't exactly hit the genetic lottery when it comes to health. My family history includes: Psoriasis, heart disease, breast cancer, thyroid issues, diabetes, you name it.)

This is also why we've been having the trouble with bees hanging out at our front door. My sorority sister Amber suggested using a fruit cup to lure them away from our door and so far it seems to be working - but it rained really hard last night so I don't know which is responsible for the lack of bees outside this morning.

My heart goes out to all of you allergy sufferers. My advice: get a good air filter and stay inside for the next few weeks. It's not pretty out there.

Florida Senate Bill 6 = Idiocy

2010-04-09T07:10:00.000-04:00

I interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you some breaking news: The Republicans in the Florida House are idiots. Just to be clear, I am a political moderate who usually votes to the right of center. But passing Senate Bill 6 is nothing short of idiotic.

For those who aren't familiar with the bill, here are the highlights:

Teacher pay will be based on students' scores on standardized tests.
When considering pay, silly little things like experience, advanced degrees and certifications will not be taken into account.
New teachers will only receive one-year contracts with renewal hinging on student test scores.

On the surface, this sounds kinda good doesn't it? The teachers get paid more if students do better on tests. What could be wrong with that?

Well, for one, how would you like it if you didn't know what your salary was going to be next year? If you didn't know whether or not you'll be able to pay that mortgage payment anymore? Sure, none of us know for sure but you usually have a determined salary. And if you knew you could get a more steady salary if you just moved to another state?

Also, what motivation would you have for pursuing a higher-level degree - for increasing your knowledge in your area of expertise - if it had no effect on your job position or salary? Hmmm, probably NONE.

Second, most students don't have anything invested in these test scores. If students don't like a teacher because they are strict or give a lot of homework, they can purposely fail the test with the intent of effecting the teacher's pay (or to get said teacher fired). It's already happening at a local high school that uses test scores to determine teacher bonuses. Don't tell me it won't happen; I don't know if y'all remember high school or not, but kids are mean.

Another complication one of my teacher friends pointed out to me is this: some of these tests also determine what level of class the child will be in the following year. This teacher once had an entire class purposely fail a test because they didn't want to take the "advanced" track. How is that the teacher's fault?

This bill holds teachers responsible for so many factors completely out of their control. Say there's a 16 year old boy who has to work 40 hours a week at Publix to help support his family. He doesn't have time for homework or to study so he doesn't do well on the tests. Is this the teacher's fault?

This is just another instance of people trying to hold schools/TV/video games/the church/whatever responsible for raising their children. (The link will take you to an Onion article, which is only funny because it's TRUE)

If (currently undecided) Governor Crist signs this bill into law, don't be surprised when all our experienced teachers leave the state in droves. If you have kids in public school in Florida, you should probably follow them.

Please contact Governor Crist to let him know how you feel about Senate Bill 6. I'm upset about it and I don't even plan to have any children any time soon.

Pic: Palms on the Water

2010-04-09T03:01:00.001-04:00

I'm posting today's pic a little late. I also don't have a post to go along with the pic, so go ahead and call me a slacker. It's not my fault.... I finally started watching The Guild and now I can't stop. I haven't even worked on my novel for at least four days, but I have to watch *just one more* (over and over again). And I'm not even a gamer.

Anyway. Enjoy the pic. See y'all tomorrow (I mean, later today).

Pic: Celebration

2010-04-08T00:20:00.001-04:00

<-- This building is very important to me. Well, to be more precise, what goes on in this building is very important to me. You've seen and heard about my writing/editing spaces, but this is where the real magic happens. This building is where a group of talented writers meet every week to critique each other. Inside these four walls, I may hear things I don't want to about my work - but I need to hear them. So I can get better.

I took a few pictures at Celebration today, but not enough for an album so I'm going to post them all here. Today was the sixth day in a row of absolutely gorgeous weather in Central Florida. I was walking around thinking "Why in the world would anyone NOT want to live here?" Seriously, just take a look at these pics and try to tell me you don't want to book a suite at the Celebration Hotel right now.

Pic: School Library Month

2010-04-06T20:41:00.001-04:00

Today's picture is honor of the 25th Anniversary of School Library Month!

"School Library Month (SLM) is the American Association of School Librarians' (AASL) celebration of school librarians and their programs. Every April school librarians are encouraged to create activities to help their school and local community celebrate the essential role that strong school library programs play in a student's educational career. The 2010 theme will be "Communities Thrive @ your library." "

Check out Laurie Halse Anderson's blog from more information. She's the official spokesperson.

Maybe you're wondering why I chose this particular section to take the picture? If you really want to know... it's because it was the only row at the SW library without people standing in it. So don't try to read too much into it!

Pic: Leu Gardens

2010-04-05T23:25:00.002-04:00

On the first Monday of every month, Leu Gardens offers free admission. It's not quite as good as MoBot, but it's still a fun place to visit - especially for free! Most of the people there during the weekdays are single moms, retired people and photographers.

This picture is of a cactus that has been cut off. I thought it was neat. You can see all the pictures from my visit on Facebook.

I'm not quite sure why, but my favorite section at Leu Gardens is the Arid Garden. At MoBot, it was the Rainforest!

I think maybe it's because desert plants are the bad-a$$es of the plant world. They're all like, "Why doesn't anyone else want to live here with these awesome snakes and lizards? You said it rains three days a year and there's no break from the sun? That's cool. What do you mean you need dirt to grow in, you pansy? I'll settle down in this gravel between these two boulders. Oh yeah, baby, check out this vascular system!"

Pic: Easter Basket!

2010-04-04T05:00:00.001-04:00

Happy Easter everyone! Kayelee got me a (mini) Easter basket. She couldn't wait until morning so she gave it to me at 12:07 :-)

I didn't get her an Easter basket, but I did make her no-bake cookies in celebration of her being able to eat sweets again (she gave them up for Lent).

No-bake cookies are something that's been around in our family for a while. They may look a little weird, but they are delish! Here's the recipe if you want to try them yourself:

No Bake Cookies

1 stick of butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 cup of cocoa

Mix these four ingredients over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Immediately add:

2 1/2 cups of oats (old-fashioned)

1/2 cup peanut putter

Fold mixture together.

Drop on wax paper and chill.

Pic: Not What It Seems

2010-04-03T23:20:00.002-04:00

What do you think this is a picture of? You could say it's Shepard's Pie - but you'd be wrong. Well, technically, I guess that's what it is. But with meat that tastes like dog food smells, powdery potatoes and rock-hard cheese on top it certainly didn't taste anything like Shepard's Pie.

Not to mention shortly after I ate the little bit I could stomach I had to take a longish bathroom break.

Eww. Yep, that's what I said.

Pic: Construction Site

2010-04-02T20:48:00.002-04:00

This construction site is right next to our apartment (In fact, I think one of those buildings in the distance is mine). It's going to be the future home of the Dr. Phillips Foundation.

I walked by this today on my walk with Jasper (K and Hannah came this time too!). As I was looking at the site, examining how the excavation was going, I realized something: I used to get paid good money for managing things like this. Now I get paid no money for writing books and little money for sitting in locked rooms. (Though, I'm working on changing that - but I've been working on it for a year)

It's amazing how much my life has changed in a little over a year. I'm not sure whether or not I miss the work itself (there's really nothing I'd rather be doing than writing books!) but I know I miss the paycheck. I miss being able to register for conferences whenever I wanted to and not worrying about how to pay for it. I miss walking into a bookstore and walking out with a bag full of new books. I miss not thinking twice about taking Hannah to the vet every time she did so much as cough. I miss being able to go to dinner with friends without wondering if it's going to effect my ability to pay rent next month.

Those people who give you a superior look and so easily say, "Money isn't everything." - They obviously don't realize how much being poor sucks. No, it's not everything. But it helps.

End rant.

And for those of you wondering why I'm posting random pictures on my blog, see here.

Pic: My Writing Space

2010-04-01T23:03:00.000-04:00

In case y'all missed it, April is Picture Month. Here's today's picture:

There's been a lot of discussion lately about writers' writing spaces, so I thought I'd share mine. (Glamorous, isn't it?) Well, technically it's not my writing space because its not really mine, per se... but you get the idea. This picture was taken at Panera but I like to write at Bento and Barnes and Noble more.

I do have a desk in my room but I've never actually written at it. If I do write at home, it's usually in a living room chair. I just can't write very well at home. Even though my writing locations all have internet, it's so much easier for me to get distracted when I'm at home. I hate silence and I usually can't write to music or TV... so I prefer the random sounds of a restaurant or coffee shop, which I can tune out. I think if I had an actual room that I could dedicate to writing, I would be able to write in that... but that's just not possible right now.

March Ends, April Begins - Year of Months style

2010-04-01T02:00:00.001-04:00

Before I start, I just wanted to link to two awesome things going on in my world right now. My sister has declared that she is FINALLY going to start video blogging. I can't wait because she's pretty hilarious - at least to me. Also, my Twitter-friend ChristaCarol is running a contest to give away a lot of great YA books. You should check it out and check out her blog.

Thank you, Dear Readers, for voting! I know I didn't give y'all much time to vote, but it had to be decided before midnight. The results were overwhelmingly in favor of Photo Month! This means I will take a photo every day in April. Some days it may spark a blog post, some days it may just be a picture. I have a feeling a majority of the pictures will be taken with my camera phone because I have an amazing talent for forgetting things at home - like my camera. That and it's SO much easier to upload from my camera.

What will I take pictures of? I dunno. Whatever strikes my fancy that day, I suppose. Let me just warn y'all, I've never claimed to be a good photographer - so don't expect TOO much.

Now, I know some of you (OK, probably just one of you) are wondering how Bike Month went. Um, how exactly do I say this...?

I didn't ride my bike once!

OK, wait... I have a story. For the first few days I just didn't go anywhere within seven miles because I was working a lot. After that, I found myself consolidating my trips. If I wanted to go to Walgreens, I'd wait until I drove by it on the way home from work. The first time I had somewhere to bike to, it was to Firehouse Subs for lunch one day. The day was so nice (and I knew they don't have a bike rack) that I decided to walk (1.5 miles, one way) instead. I've walked to many places this month that are within 2 miles of my apartment.

It wasn't until mid-March I had somewhere I wanted to bike to. So I went in to the garage to get my bike out, only to discover my front tire was flat - and I mean FLAT! I didn't want to hunt for my hand pump so I talked Kayelee into going and made her drive.

A few days later I found my pump and tried to put air in the tire. I don't know if I'm just a wimp or there's a hole in the tire, but I pumped FOREVER and it never got less flat. So that's the first day I cheated. I drove to Bento to get some writing in. I only cheated one other time - today when I went to Barnes and Noble to write because I didn't get around to it until 8pm and I didn't want to lose more writing time (they close at 10).

In summary, I didn't ride my bike once during Bike Month, but that doesn't mean I didn't work toward the purpose of this month. The purpose was to increase my activity levels while reducing my carbon footprint. So we're going to call March a semi-success.

April's Year of Months

2010-03-31T19:24:00.000-04:00

Hello, Dear Readers! I just realized it is approximately five hours until April and I still haven't decided what Year Of Months theme it will be.... so I was wondering if y'all would help me out. (Yeah, I know. I'm awfully needy this month)

Please take the poll in the side bar -------->

I've removed one of the remaining options (Conversation month) because it's not really viable at this time.

Misconceptions About Writers

2010-03-29T18:31:00.001-04:00

"No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others."
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Some of the conversations I've had over the past few days have helped me realized just how misunderstood writers are by anyone not familiar with the process or the industry. Here are some of the common misconceptions:

1) Writers are crazy.
OK, as Miranda would say, there is some truth in every myth - but most of us are pretty normal with just a touch of crazy (to be honest, I OFTEN have conversations with people I've made up). We may see the world a little differently, but we don't all write novels while standing naked at a desk or marry our 13 year-old cousins. We are not all recluses or alcoholics or (possible) pedophiles. You hear these stories because they are the exception, not the rule. In fact, agents and editors these days often "screen for crazy" before offering a contract. The days of pulling your just-completed masterpiece from a pile of empty whiskey bottles and sending it to your editor without ever leaving the house are over. No agent is going to put up with that. (OK, well maybe Dan Brown's agent would if he acted like that - who wouldn't for 15% of the gazillion dollars his next book will make?) Also, see this wonderful post by Veronica Roth.

2) Any well-known writer is rich.
No. No. No. I can't even begin to tell you how many NYT bestselling authors must work real jobs to make ends meet. And if they don't make NYT? ... They may be breaking even after paying for marketing and author events. Most of us write because we love it - not to make money. The ones who are in it for the money usually quit pretty soon when they realize how hard it is to make a living as a writer. Stephanie Meyer, JK Rowling, Dan Brown, James Patterson and Rick Castle (yeah, I know he's not real. so what?) are, again, the exception to the rule. Most of them, including the amazing Laurie Halse Anderson (whose books, by the way, are common in school curricula!), are just barely getting by. I've talked about this before, so I'll move on.

3) Writers don't do much actual work.
Many of us write in solitary (not me! I prefer coffee shops and restaurants with wi-fi), so you may not ever actually see a writer in action, but believe me: A LOT of effort goes into writing a book. Most serious writers will take 6 months to a year to write a book - but that's not because we're goofing off. It just takes that much time. It's HARD WORK. For most of us, we're having to do this on top of working full time, being a mother, running errands, having a social life, etc. And when you see us browsing websites about strange sea creatures or staring off into space for thirty minutes or commenting on agent blogs? We're working.

4) We read kids' books because we're regressed (this is for YA writers only).
No, we read them because any writer worth their weight reads profusely in their genre. Oh yeah, and YA books are awesome. I know writers in other specific genres (like horror and romance) have similar issues.

5) Writers are all geniuses.
HAHA! We'd like to think so, but really we're not. Most of us are average - but we DO work really hard and do ridiculous amounts of research so that we at least look smart.

6) If you haven't published a book, you're not any good.
I get this all of the time: ME: I write YA fantasy novels. THEM: Oh yeah? What's your name? I'll look for you at Borders. ME: I'm not published yet. THEM: Oh, so you're not really a writer.
AHEM! I personally know a dozen great writers who prove this one wrong. We're just at an earlier point in our careers. We can't just poop out a sell-able book and all of a sudden it's on bookshelves. It takes LOTS and LOTS of time. Publishing is like the Ent of the entertainment world. Oh, and self-publishing is much quicker - but it definitely doesn't automatically mean you're a great writer.

Another thing you might not know? Most writers (well, most of the good ones anyway) think we suck. So unless you have something encouraging to say, back off - it's hard enough as it is.

Unwind

2010-03-27T03:52:00.000-04:00

I finished Unwind by Neal Shusterman about a week ago and it's taken me this long to formulate my opinion of it. This book made me sick to my stomach, but not for the reasons you would think. It was both awe-inspiring and deeply disturbing. Shusterman isn't exactly known for pulling punches, but my jaw dropped so many times while reading Unwind that it was sore afterward.

The book deserves more than my typical one-sentence summary: In an undetermined future (the MC mentions his grandfather's use of iPods seen in an antique shop), the Second Civil War - fought between pro-life and pro-choice armies results in a haunting compromise: "a human life may not be touched from" conception. "However, between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, a parent may choose to retroactively 'abort' a child" through a process called "unwinding." Unwinding means the child is taken apart and used for parts. According to the law, as long as every part of the child goes on living, he/she's not dead. (Hey, I told you it was disturbing.) The MC, Connor, is a 16 year-old whose parents choose to unwind him due to the trouble (fights) he gets in to. He finds out and runs away, inadvertently taking two other Unwinds with him.

As unsettling as this world is, I really think (if you can stomach it) you should read this book! If you don't have a visceral - or maybe even a physical - reaction to it, you must have no pulse. It doesn't matter if you are pro-choice or pro-life, it will force you to look at the subject from a new angle. I saw some chatter arguing about which side of the debate Shusterman intended this book to support, but I think the fact that both sides can claim it proves he only intended to start the conversation. For me, he succeeded royally. My mind is still reeling a week later.

At first, I thought it unbelievable Americans would allow this to become "a common, and accepted practice in society." Well into the book, you find out that the idea of unwinding was initially meant as a joke - to shock both sides into seeing reason. It's like that story in the Bible where King Solomon offers two women fighting over a baby the compromise of cutting the baby in half. Only if Shusterman had written it, the women would have agreed to the compromise. One of the most telling lines in this conversation is "people let it happen." Watch the evening news for an hour and you'll see it's not that big a jump. So many debates about a certain issue devolve into a situation where each side's hate for the other becomes stronger than their devotion to the original idea.

The one thing I did have a hard time believing was how easily parents like Connor's signed the unwind orders. Throughout the book, he reflects on memories from his childhood and you discover that his parents are not terrible. In fact, they're pretty normal and loving parents. I don't care how "acceptable" unwinding has become, I can't see parents like these sending their kid off to die (you know these people don't actually believe that BS about the kid still being alive in pieces) for doing something like getting into a few fights at school.

The story is gripping and the circumstances are high enough that you will be biting your fingernails at several points. My one criticism is the lack of advanced technology. It seems the only advances that have been made are medical - and those are astound. I have to give any book that entrances me and disturbs me this much 5 stars.

I NEED Uplifting Stories

2010-03-23T18:50:00.001-04:00

Hello Dear Readers. For the second time this year, I'm going to ask a favor of you.

As many of you know, I was rather down in the dumps yesterday. I'm not quite as depressed today, but the feeling still lingers. There wasn't any one particular thing that happened, but a barrage of little things - not the least of which was witnessing and noticing several acts of human cruelty and selfishness.

So to counteract this, I'm asking nothing more from you than to restore my faith in humanity. (No pressure, right?) In the comments, please leave a personal story about someone acting in a selfless, kind, thoughtful, etc way. I will even tell you a story to start you off:

While in college, I met someone who would quickly become a very good friend of mine, David N. Due to the outrageous amount of homework Mechanical Engineering majors suffer through, we spent a ridiculous amount of time together. Very early in our friendship, I found out that David was also an avid reader in the fantasy and sci-fi genres.

I told him about a book I had read as a kid. All I remembered was there was a girl who rode around in space on the back of a huge butterfly powered by a substance in a butterfly ring. It was the first book that made me realize a writer could create a world of their own. Sure, we all see fantastical movies as children, but there's a certain point when you realize it's not real. At that point, many people sort of move away from fantasy, but - thanks to this book - I didn't.

I had been searching for this book for a while and began to doubt whether I had ever actually read it or not. I was hoping David would recognize it and solve my life-long doubt. However, he said he had never heard of it and we never spoke of it again.

Fast forward to eight months later. It's Christmas time. David gives me a present. I open it to find Heartlight by TA Barron. I quickly realized this is the book from my childhood I had decided was nothing but a dream. It took me a little bit longer to realize how incredibly thoughtful this gift was. David, somehow, tracked down this book based on the sparest of fuzzy details from a two-minute conversation months earlier.

It's a gift I'll never forget.

NOW, it's your turn, Dear Readers! Don't let me down :-)

My Happy List

2010-03-20T17:13:00.000-04:00

Hello Dear Readers! I haven't written much here that isn't book reviews, so after seeing this post on my friend Angela's blog, I started thinking about my own happy list. She asked her blog readers what kind of simple things make them happy. Here are my answers:

When Jasper (my 45 lb chihuahua) lays on my freezing feet in bed - or really any kind of puppy cuddling
A really good hug
A book that makes you want to live in its world
A beautiful day - like today (I'm waiting for K to finish eating so we can go for a walk!) when I don't have to work
The first bite of a molten-esque brownie sundae
A seamless Firefly reference in regular conversation
Great conversation with friends over wine
The smell of lavender on my freshly-washed sheets
Hearing a sincere "I can't wait to read the next chapter" in crit group
Laughing so hard it makes my cheeks sore

I'm sure there are more things that should be on this list, but that's all I can think of right now. What's on your list??

I'm On a Reading Binge!

2010-03-17T16:43:00.000-04:00

My reading fest hasn't slowed down yet! I mentioned on my last post I was reading Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. My one sentence summary: At age 16, everyone gets an operation that transforms them into a care-free beautiful Pretty, but being perfect has a price. Let me tell you, I thought it was great! I knew it was a YA dystopian (a sub-genre I happen to LOVE) but I didn't expect it to have as much action as it did so I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the title was kinda lame and expected quite a bit of preaching, but I'm willing to admit when I'm wrong. There are some pretty heavy themes in this series, but I think Westerfeld handles them well. He certainly doesn't pull punches about the severity of some of the issues, but he doesn't allow it to overpower the entertainment value either. It's fast-paced and devour-able (did I just make a word up?). We'll say 5 stars (out of 5).

So, after reading Uglies, I simply had to read Pretties next! I also thought this was pretty good, but not quite as good as Uglies. There were times when I felt like it was trying to get something across, or get to the next point, and it pulled me out of the story a bit. I've heard people complain that they didn't like the Pretty slang, but I loved it. It's like when you listen to a Sorority Girl stereotype (don't get mad at me: I said stereotype, not all sorority girls) talk and you KNOW certain things about the person from the language they use. It gets the point across: Pretties are mostly vapid, shallow and dense. 4 stars.

I also read Geek High by Piper Banks after hearing great things about it. My one sentence summary: Miranda is a math genius in a school full of geeks and she still struggles to fit in. I was vastly underwhelmed. It's a light-hearted fun story but there are so many cliches and stereotypes that I rolled my eyes countless times. I found myself skimming over paragraphs because the conversations and chain of events were predictable (though I figured out the 'twist' of Shutter Island just from the previews - and was shocked when I found out how much it surprised everybody else - so there's a good chance I read too much. Nothing surprises me anymore). 2.5 stars.

This has apparently been a Scott Westerfeld week because the most recent book I read was Leviathan. One sentence summary: A steampunk retelling of WWI with Clankers (machine-based) versus Darwinists (genetically engineering animals). Let me start by saying I had very high hopes for this book. I've been listening to people rave about it since October - and I loved Uglies so much - so I probably had impossibly high expectations. I have to say Scott (no, we're not on a first-name basis, but I've read so much of his work lately I feel like we should be. And I like to pretend), you kinda let me down. The storytelling was perfect, the world building flawless (I LOVED the ecology of the Leviathan) and the slang addictive. But that was it.

Deryn's character fell flat for me - typical Mulan-type story of a girl pretending to be a boy so that she can join the Navy/Army/whatever - though she is likable which is more than I can say for Alek. I put the book down several times (while at work where there is NOTHING else to do) and wasn't too compelled to return to it. The story doesn't seem to be going anywhere and there's not much driving tension. I've read a review where the person calls this book "prologue-like" and I completely agree - and wish I had known that before I read it. It's part of a series and can be described as a "set up" for the next book, but as a stand-alone it's pretty slow moving. With all that being said, I'll read the next book. On a whole, I'll give it 3.5 stars.

With these latest reviews, I feel like I should explain something. I've said before that you probably didn't want book reviews from me because I like most books and am very forgiving. However, some of the lower ratings from the past few weeks might make you think otherwise. Here's why: For me, there is a huge difference between not liking a book and disliking it. I DISLIKE Odd Hours, that Maximum Ride book that should have been titled Global Warming is Bad, and the book from the post linked to at the beginning of this paragraph. I have lukewarm feelings toward most books and I LOVE some really great books like The Hunger Games, Graceling, Ender's Game, and anything by Laurie Halse Anderson. I normally don't like books that are lacking explosions, knife fights or high levels of tension.

Here's an explanation of my star rating levels:
5 stars = Awesome. Everyone should read this book. Great characters, great plot and great writing style (the Trifecta, I like to call it).
4 stars = Pretty good, but one of the Trifecta is lacking a bit. Or maybe it's just a little too predictable/like something else I've read before.
3 stars = Enjoyable. Maybe not the most unique or well-written or action-packed but I feel compelled to finish it.
2 stars = All around "eh" response.
1 star = Don't waste your time reading this book. I may not have even finished it. Usually boring or the writing was insufferable or the characters made me want to kill them (when the writer doesn't intend this reaction).

So have any of you read any good books recently? Do you like my book reviews? Should I keep doing them?

Quick Post for My Fellow Writers!

2010-03-11T11:30:00.001-05:00

First of all, my Twitter friend ChristaCarol has a good round-up of some contests/giveaways going on in the blogosphere (does anyone actually like that word??).

Here is a FANTASTIC contest where you could receive a 40 page (yep, you read that correctly, FORTY pages) critique from 7-figure-book-deal garnering agent Suzie Townsend (among other prizes).

Author Elana Johnson is running a contest in conjunction with the one above where you could win one of SEVEN signed books!

Over at Guide to Literary Agents, Chuck Sambuchino has a contest for all of you Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance writers! You could win a 20 page critique by the contest judge, Joanna Stampfel-Volpe.

If you know of any other contests/giveaways going on, please share them in the comments!

In other, unrelated news: A woman named Sarah Fisk has self-published a fantasy post-apocalyptic novel. It's not me. Now I wonder if I should write under a pen name when I become published. ;-)

In related news to the unrelated news, fabulous agent Rachelle Gardner has a pretty great post for those who are thinking about self-publishing.

What I've Been Reading

2010-03-04T22:24:00.000-05:00

I've been reading quite a bit lately and just wanted to share some of these books with you.

The book binge started with Kristin Cashore's Graceling, which IMO is an amazing novel. It's a YA fantasy novel about a girl (niece of the king) who is Graced (a natural born special talent) with fighting/killing. Adventures ensue. There is plenty of action (y'all know how I love action in my books). The love interest ACTUALLY seems like someone a smart young woman would fall for (unlike so many male love interests in YA fantasy recently). In fact, I have a little crush on him. It's a long novel, but it is incredibly easy to read. I devoured it and plan to read it again. This is precisely the kind of book I would love to write one day. I give it 5 stars. (out of 5)

After that, I decided to finally read The Time Traveler's Wife. I bought it a while ago when everyone was raving about it but never got around to it. I know many people love this book, but it really wasn't for me. With some exceptions, I usually don't care for any kind of literary fiction. I'm not denying that the author is very talented and writes nice prose, but I found the book tedious. A friend of mine said his roommate was enrapt by this book and became extremely emotional about it. I didn't. *shrug* Different strokes for different folks I guess. I give it 2 stars.

While becoming bored with The Time Traveler's Wife I picked up another book that had been sitting on my shelf for a while: Pucker. It's about a boy, burned and disfigured as a young child, who must travel back to his home alternate-world in order to save his dying mother's life. When he returns to this home he is healed and becomes very popular with the ladies. This was OK. It was entertaining, but the MC is pretty unlikeable/shallow and I found some of his actions/thoughts to be unbelievable. I love the idea of a seer skin though, and how it worked differently in the different worlds. I give it a mediocre 3 stars.

The most recent book I finished is Justine Larbalestier's How To Ditch Your Fairy. This is another one that elicits a "eh" response from me. It's cute, entertaining, and relatively original. However, the MC is extremely self-absorbed (obviously intentional but still annoying) and she doesn't seem to suffer REAL consequences for her stupid actions - in fact, she seems to be rewarded for them (not a good theme for YA, IMO). I'm teetering between 3 and 4 stars.

I'm currently reading Uglies by Scott Westerfeld and so far I'm loving it. It's much more action packed than I expected, which is great for me. I'll keep y'all updated.

Bike Month!

2010-03-03T12:19:00.001-05:00

Wow. I wrote this post a few days ago, but then things kinda went crazy on the blog. I just want to say thanks to EVERYONE who commented, spread the story and sent messages of support. Frankly, I'm excited mainly because of the discussions everyone was and is having on the subject. It's a sensitive issue and I believe the solutions to everyone's concerns require a balance and the Orlando Public Library has gone just a little too far on the conservative side. When I walked into that library I never thought I'd start a national conversation that involved at least two NYT Bestselling Authors. Of course, I never thought I wouldn't be allowed to look at certain books without a chaperone either.

Now, for a far less controversial and probably more boring (to you. it's exciting to me) subject:

In honor of the last day of Walk Month, Jasper and I went on a particularly long walk near my apartment. Then I went to the farmer's market and walked around downtown Orlando for the rest of the morning. I really enjoyed February's challenge and I think the habit will subsist now that the month is over. I can't say that I took a walk every day, but I did on most. And I tried to take longer walks when I had missed one.

So, assuming I averaged 30 minutes a day, I walked for 14 hours this month just for the sake of walking. That's approximately 49 miles (remember, these were leisurely walks) and 3800 calories burned. When you look at it that way, it's pretty awesome.

While walking around on Sunday, I decided - more than likely the FANTASTIC weather greatly affected my decision - that March will be Bike Month. This means I will ride my bike (or walk) to everywhere within 7 miles of my house. I had plenty of time to think about it Sunday morning and I came up with some rules:

7 miles means the distance I would have to bike as opposed to drive. Since you can't ride a bike on the highway, these distances often differ.
I will not bike if it is unsafe and I have to go somewhere at that time. This includes rain, bad neighborhoods and questionable neighborhoods at night.
If someone else is going to the same place I am, I can ride with them but I can't ask someone to take me somewhere.
I can drive if I am going to have to carry something that is so big/heavy as to make bike travel unsafe
And finally, I can drive if it's to an interview. (Let's hope I get to use this caveat soon!)

On the way home from work the other day, I took a slight detour to check out some of my favorite local places and many of them don't have bike racks! Publix and Barnes & Noble do, but Bento and Firehouse Subs don't. This should be interesting...

I'm a little scared of this month, but I'm also very excited! For those of you doing your own YOM, what is your MARCH CHALLENGE?

Orlando Public Library Part II

2010-03-02T10:37:00.002-05:00

I received a response from the email I sent yesterday. I know many people wanted to see how this played out so I'm pasting it below.

Dear Ms. Fisk- We regret that you had an apparently unpleasant interaction with staff today.  While it does appear that they were communicating our policy it sounds as though we should have done a better job in sharing this information with you.

In November of 2004, we put in place our policy regarding age limits in certain areas of the Library.  A great deal of thought and consideration went into the policy and the text can be found here http://www.ocls.info/About/BOT/PDFs/Policies/AgeRequirementPolicy.pdf.

The policy was in fact designed as a protection for our younger visitors.    I'm sorry that whatever you observed today gave you the impression that we did not enforce the same rules in the Children's area that we do in our teen area.  We do place access limits on both of these areas and remain confident that our decision to do so meets the best interests of children.

We are happy to accommodate certain access to these areas by adults and should you have a need for extended browsing I am sure we will be able to help.  Managers in the Children's Department (also over Club Central) are Stephanie Lum and Vera Gubnitsaia and either should be able to help with any requests that front line staff cannot accomodate.

Debbie Moss

Assistant Director

Orange County Library System

Ok, well besides the fact that this email doesn't really address any of my concerns, I have a few other comments.

First, the word "apparently" in the first sentence has a certain connotation: it implies they don't believe my account, which is more than a little insulting.

Second, my problem isn't the "sharing" of information, it's the fact that the policy itself is flawed. It's a library policy that prevents adults from looking at books! Is there anything more preposterous than that?

This policy has been intact since 2004?! I can't believe that no one else has had a serious issue with it.

Apparently they don't allow lone adults to wander the children's section either, though it's obviously not as strictly enforced since... um, they were. The teen section has a sort of corral around it with a narrow entrance and a sign that says something like "Only Ages 13-18 Beyond This Point."

And while I'm on the subject, it's not the concept of a teens-only area that I object to. It's that the YA books are in the restricted area. If they had been placed just outside the area, there wouldn't be a problem.

And lastly, saying that you should be able to accommodate me seems like an attempt at making me feel like I'm asking for something out of the ordinary. Again, all I want to be able to do is browse BOOKS in a LIBRARY! Tell me please, Dear Readers, if I'm being unreasonable here? If you say so, I'll shut up.

Finally, I just wanted to remind everyone that this policy is not the Librarians' fault. It's a policy made by the Board of Trustees, admittedly political creatures. It was probably made under pressure from lazy/over-protective parents (the same ones who try to ban books because they say "shit" or hint at sexual activity or drug use - as if these aren't issues teen face in their real lives everyday - but don't get me started on that because you'll be reading this all day).

Orlando Public Library's Policy on YA Fiction

2010-03-01T13:54:00.004-05:00

Dear Readers. You know how much YA Fiction I read. (Since I write it, it's kind of a requirement). Well, imagine my surprise when I went to the main branch of the OCLS Library today (the one near my house doesn't have a great selection) and was told that I had to have a librarian escort to so much as *look* at the YA books there. They didn't give an explanation as to why and I can't find one on their website.

When I got home, I tweeted this:

"If you are over 18, you can't even go into the YA section @oclslibrary w/o a librarian escort. This means I can't browse. SO ANNOYING!!"

and this:

"I can write YA, but I can't look at it??"

I know that some companies like Firehouse Subs are really great with customer service via Twitter, but I don't see OCLS doing too much of that. Soon, after I wrote the following letter and sent it. I love libraries and the last thing I want to do is make trouble for them, but I don't think this policy is at all fair. I'll let you know if I receive a response.

Hello,

I visited the main library today and was severely disappointed to discover your policy regarding your YA Fiction section. First of all, this is a public library and my tax dollars go to support it, so I don't appreciate being told I can't go into a PUBLIC section of the library without supervision. I also don't appreciate the implications of your librarian looking me up and down with an accusing eye and asking if I am younger than 18.

Second, I am a writer of YA fiction - which means I read quite a bit of YA literature. Luckily, today I was only looking for certain titles, but normally I browse for extended periods of time. It's called "market research." Since I don't believe one of your librarians will stand looking over my shoulder as I browse titles, themes, characters, settings, etc for hours, this ridiculous policy prevents me from fully utilizing the library.

Even for non-writers, this policy is a shame. It prevents patrons from stumbling upon great books just because they're written for a YA audience. You're essentially saying that there is no value for adults in these books - and anyone who has ever read Laurie Halse Anderson or Julie Anne Peters or Chris Crutcher (and I could name hundreds more) would know that isn't true.

I can see only two possible reasons for this policy. At first, I thought it might be some kind of misguided attempt to try to keep teens safe from perverts but quickly dismissed that idea when I saw that lone adults were permitted in the Children's section without supervision. The other motivation might be to create a "cool" teens-only atmosphere that encourages teens to read. As a YA author, I obviously appreciate the sentiment, but you should have made the actual books accessible to the general public. Whatever the reasons, I can't support a policy that strips me of privileges when I have done nothing to warrant it.

I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Sarah N Fisk

*** UPDATE: See my follow up post.

2010-02-21T07:47:00.000-05:00

You know, Dear Readers, that I don't normally ask too much of you but this time, I need your help! It won't cost you any money or even much of your time, I promise!

I was recently struck on the head by a story idea that is much different from my normal. Seriously, it wanted so much to be heard that it nearly knocked me out in its excitement. I will not tell you much about the story, but what I need from you, my well-traveled readers, is a location. Here are my requirements:

It should be a touristy type place with a feeling of history about it: like an old grand hotel or historical building (Like Mount Vernon, but smaller)
Small towns are preferred.
Ideally, it would be a single large building with maybe a few smaller buildings around it.
A garden would be a great plus, especially if it is in a courtyard of some sort
Bonus points if it is in driving distance (short weekend trip or less) from me so that I can visit and take 10,000 pictures.
Super extra bonus points if there have ever been rumors of ghosts at the site.

Now I need you all to reach into your memory banks and pull out the perfect setting for this story! (please leave at least the name in the comments here. If you know the website, that would be GREAT!) For those Miranda's Fire or even Brigid's Cross enthusiasts, don't worry. This story will need to marinate a long while before its ready to be put in black and white. But if I can do it well, it's going to be awesome!

On another note, March is fast approaching! What do you think my next YOM challenge should be?

Also, I have been reading this book that is so good that it's making me rethink much of Miranda's Fire (not the main story, just some small elements). Have you ever read a book that just makes you happy you live in a world where it exists? I'm currently tearing through Graceling by Kristin Cashore and I will probably be reading through it again, much more slowly. The heroine is definitely not a weakling and the MMC is someone you can believe Katsa would fall in love with - someone worth falling in love with, unlike so many MMCs in recent YA novels. So Good!

My Very First Query Letter

2010-02-17T01:32:00.000-05:00

Ok, I just danced around the house and woke my sister up (SORRY KAYELEE! There are still cupcakes in the kitchen if you're angry with me) to tell her this... so I need to take a deep breath.

Whew.

So, most of you know I recently won a query letter critique on Kathleen Ortiz's blog. For those of you not knowledgeable of the publishing world, a query letter is something you send an agent/editor to try to get them to read your book. So winning the contest meant that a Real Live Book Agent was going to take a vicious (virtual) red pen to my query letter.

And then I thought: Um.... What query letter?

It's confession time, Dear Reader. Before entering this contest, I had never written a query letter. I know, I know, but I thought it better to focus on revisions for Miranda's Fire first. I, of course, had written/spoken less polished summaries of my WIPs... and the summary/hook is the main part of the query letter. Also, I had read countless blog posts on how to write a query letter, query letters that worked, biggest query letter mistakes, etc... Plus I've gotten pretty good at writing letters that make people give me their money, so that helps.

So I wrote one. Then I let it sit for a day and revised it. Then I let it sit for another day and revised it again. Shortly before I was about to send it to Ms. Ortiz, I had a slight panic attack. It was late at night so I went on facebook chat to see who was around and asked two very smart people (Thanks Brent and Cookie!) to read over it real quick. I made some minor revisions based on their comments and sent it off, stomach flip flopping.

I know it was silly to be SO nervous, but this was my very first query letter experience and I hear people bemoan them so often that I am quite terrified of the whole concept.

Well, I just got back the agent's notes. She made some minor comments - three to be exact - and I mean, like, MINOR. Three! I was thinking, "What does this mean? Was it so bad that she didn't even know what to say?"

Then I read the note at the bottom and I squealed like a teenage girl at a Jonas Brothers concert.

She said that it "was a REALLY well written query" and then some more stuff about not fixing something that isn't broke. THEN! Then, Dear Readers, she said that it "sounds REALLY intriguing" and that, when I'm ready, she would "love to take a look at the first few chapters" and that I could "feel free to bypass the query stage" and send her an email.

As a writer, I lament that have nothing better to express my feelings than this: SQUEE!!

Now, it's back to revisions. A good query letter isn't worth a darn thing if there's not a great novel to follow it!

A Book Review - Sort Of

2010-02-16T02:48:00.000-05:00

With as much as I read and blog, it seems natural that I would do book reviews on here, but trust me, you really don't want that. See, I'm REALLY easy to please when it comes to books. I'm very forgiving and enjoy most of them, so my book reviews would be all rainbows and sunshine. For example, I love the Twilight books - most writers don't. It was so engrossing that I was able to forget how creepy it is that a 107 year old man stalks a 16 year old girl.

So, if I DON'T like a book ... well, that's really bad, to say the least.

I read this book a week or two ago. I had heard great things about it and was pretty excited about it. So excited, in fact, that I used a B&N gift certificate I received for Christmas to buy the hard cover instead of either waiting for the less-expensive paperback or getting it from the library. I tell you all this so that you can truly understand how utterly disappointed I was at how horrible it was. So bad that it took me almost two weeks to put it into words instead of just grunts of anger and garbled curses.

No, I'm not going to tell you what book it is. It's not Dean Koontz's Odd Hours, if that's what you're thinking - those who know me well know what that's all about. Why won't I tell you? Because I want to get a book deal and I don't want people in the industry to hate me. And I don't want the author to call the FBI on me. So if you're worried that you may be about to buy this book, let me know and I'll tell you what it is so that you don't make the same mistake.

So the book centers around the burgeoning romance (I use the term loosely) of a high school girl (FMC) and an ancient paranormal creature (MMC, not a vampire, but it might as well be) going to her high school who may or may not be trying to kill her. She feels inexplicably drawn to him even though he is a total a*hole to her when they first meet - probably because he's hot. Sound familiar? If not: THEY MEET IN BIOLOGY CLASS. How about now? To the author's credit, the MMC doesn't sparkle, so that's a HUGE difference. Right?

For most of the book, nothing much really happens except for FMC obsessing over MMC's facial twitches. No seriously, the FBI or something should recruit this girl cuz she can read something from EVERY SINGLE smile or look. She's like the Mentalist and the guy from Psych on superhero drugs.

Except, of course, she doesn't notice other obscenely obvious things. Like exactly what MMC is. It's painful to go through the FMC's clumsy searching and reasoning for over half the book when the book cover (beautiful, by the way) and tag line tell you what he is. Seriously? 300 pages of trying to figure out what he is and then you expect us to be all shocked and "Oh my gosh, I never would have guessed"?! Ugh, I wanted to bang my head against the wall.

So, this isn't much a spoiler because it's so predictable - but the two MC's fall in love. But HOW? WHY? There's really no romance between them. They basically make snide remarks at each other the whole time and FMC even suspects MMC of some violent things. The romance doesn't develop, it's just thrown on there. Just because he's hot, doesn't mean she's in love with him. MMC doesn't ONCE act not-creepy or perform some kind of romantic gesture.

With that all being said, the writing is pretty good and the voice is definitely there. (She just needs someone else to plot out the romance arc for her.) This author is coming out with another book and I will probably read it - but I'll probably get it from the library this time.

Sarah's Scribbles

New Name, New Site

Dragon*Con 2010 Recap

Which Month is September?

End of Summer Giveaway Winners

Breaking Records at the Hunger Games

End of Summer Book Giveaway

Giving Myself Permission or “How someone I’ve never met is responsible for me finishing my planned revisions months earlier than I thought I could”

Urban reThink

On Being Alone

Two Things I Realized Yesterday

Janice Hardy's Blue Fire

Free Books

The End of Recipe Month, Beginning of WB4W Month

The Most Difficult Month

Mac'n Cheese & Road Trip Wednesday

Pie of Destruction

Weekend Recipes

Quick Post to End All Quick Posts

Egyptian yummies!!

Probably More Recipes Than You Care to See

Cookies and Amish Breakfast Casserole

Lots of Recipes!

Weekend Recipes

Pizza Quiche and Cookie Dough Cupcakes!

100th Blog Post

Crunchy Trail Mix Bars

Two Days of Quick Recipes

More Free Books for You to Win (and share with me)

Spots and All

Weekend Recipes

Bonus: Stuffed Celery Bites

Two Recipe Month Successes in a Row!

Recipe for 6/1/2010: Pepperoni-Cheesy Potatoes

Apparently, the 31st is the last day in May

KOrtizzle's Grab Bag Giveaway

Post Card Month! (and Photo Month wrap-up)

New Job

Best Day EVER!

Pics: I've Been Busy

Pics: UCF Book Festival and Puppy Eyes

Today's Pic AND Bonus Video!

Pic: Art of War

Book Review: The Hunter's Moon

Pic: Just Before the Dawn

4/12 Pic: Harley and 4/13 Pic: Life-saving Buckets

Pic: Two Days of Pics

Pic: With Spring Comes.... Pollen?

Florida Senate Bill 6 = Idiocy

Pic: Palms on the Water

Pic: Celebration

Pic: School Library Month

Pic: Leu Gardens

Pic: Easter Basket!

Pic: Not What It Seems

Pic: Construction Site

Pic: My Writing Space

March Ends, April Begins - Year of Months style

April's Year of Months

Misconceptions About Writers

Unwind

I NEED Uplifting Stories

My Happy List

I'm On a Reading Binge!

Quick Post for My Fellow Writers!

What I've Been Reading

Bike Month!

Orlando Public Library Part II

Orlando Public Library's Policy on YA Fiction

"If you are over 18, you can't even *go* into the YA section @oclslibrary w/o a librarian escort. This means I can't browse. SO ANNOYING!!"

and this:

"I can write YA, but I can't look at it??"

My Very First Query Letter

A Book Review - Sort Of

"If you are over 18, you can't even go into the YA section @oclslibrary w/o a librarian escort. This means I can't browse. SO ANNOYING!!"