Up Next

So I just conditioned my hair with my leg shaving creme.

In my defense, I'm totally blind without my glasses on and they come in similar containers. They don't however smell anything alike...which is when I caught on. We'll see how it goes! Maybe I'm on to something!

But what I really wanted to talk about is the fact that Next week I'm going to be over at Unicorn Bell all week! Following in the considerable footsteps of L. Blakenship from Notes from the Jovian frontier. Yikes!

I'll be posting on Character. From the simple things like naming them (which may not really be that simple!) to the more in-depth stuff like getting inside their heads.

And even bigger news! My birthday falls on that week so I'll be declaring that day a national holiday! Make sure to check in to see what fun project I have planned for that day!

Hopefully I'll see you all there!

Enough Vacation

This weekend we did so many random things it was ridiculous. It's partly why I've been offline with the blogging for so long. I have this mammoth pile of dirt sitting in my yard to turn into vegetables.
So many things to do with the gardening. I shouldn't starve to death anyway. That's always a good thing.

We shall feed the WORLD! Mwahahaha!

The other thing I'm working on, besides my ongoing WIP,  is a short story..hopefully wrapping up in the next day or so...of 5000 words that will be sent out to Writer and White Cat for their Steampunk anthology call they sent out a bit back.  (Whoa..run-on sentence much!?)

Maybe I've lost my ability to multi-task. Maybe I've just gotten Really Bad at splitting my mind into a million directions. MAYBE there just needs to be more hours in the day! There! I solved that problem! HA!

I think I shall submit that bill to congress. See how far I get with that! More Hours in the day? Any takers? Yah. I can't imagine how That could go badly...

Regardless.

Writing two stories at once has been an interesting experience I have to say.

First and foremost..the Time! I need a Tardis. Barring that...maybe more coffee. Oi! I do enjoy this new character I've developed. I'm even thinking that he might possibly fit into my main WIP. Which would be cool. I've always loved writers that do that. Huge elaborate cast of characters. Well developed characters, mind you!  And they bring in this minor character from some obscure part of one of their books, and BAM! Major story line! Love it. Anne Perry was brilliant with this. Though, Anne Perry is brilliant at character development in general.

Anyway. I have huge plans for this character beyond this short story. HUGE I tell you! But, my main WIP is stalled. Be it the gardens. Be it work. Be it this new story. SOMETHING seems to be pulling me in a different direction lately.

I can see the space/time continuum...it's broken.

My problem is not What to Write for my WIP...is more that right now...as silly as it sounds. I'm frankly more interested in this new character! Uh oh. Or. Maybe that's not exactly what I mean. Because I love my story. I love the characters. I love what I'm going to do with it. I believe entirely in it. However. Right now. Now? Now it's summer. (well. Spring...) The garden needs to be put in. And taken care of. I have approximately 2 or 4 extra clients a week due to summer people that breeze through the Coast of Maine.  Lots of family stuff in the summer. Am I a seasonal writer? Is that a thing? Do others struggle with this? Do others find that you write far less in the beautiful months of spring and summer? Or do you carve out time Regardless?

I know what my answer "Should" be for this question. And I honestly try, every day, to sit down and write something.

And the result of that would lead to a whole NEW blog post on the difference between QUALITY writing time vs. QUANTITY of writing time. Because generally...if I'm pressed for time, or only have an hour or so...It all gets deleted later. Cause it's Crap!

Oi. And now. Enough Vacation! It was exhausting. Back to work!

Disturbingly Oily

I had a very disturbing day a few days ago.

Disturbing because I thought, all innocent like, that we had moved beyond this issue. I truly thought it was something that I could put my culinary mind at rest about. But, alas. Apparently not. People still do not understand the different uses for the variety of oils out there. They, amazingly, still think getting one "EVOO" (May you burn in a bath of it Rachael Ray) is perfectly acceptable for all uses in the kitchen.

Sigh.

Stop it! Just STOP!

Ok. First of all. No self respecting Chef goes about in the kitchen saying "EVOO". They just don't. I think they would probably be taken to the walk-in and stabbed quietly a few times if they did. So Stop it. Now. It's a redundancy. If you have Olive Oil in your kitchen. It better be extra virgin. Or you lose your chef card.

Moving On.

There are SO Many different Oils to cook with it's ridiculous. Nut oils. Grape Seed oils. Different Olive oils. All dependent on what you want to do. How high of a temp you want to cook with.

Quick run down of a very few...

Nut Oils:  Great for high high temp cooking. Like Saute. They have a very high temp burn point. Meaning that you can get them up to a really high temperature before your pan bursts into flames if you forget to put something (like the food you're cooking) into it. You can see the burn point of an oil by carefully watching for the slight shimmer of the oil in the pan, then it starts to smoke a little. That's the burn point.  Nut Oils get really hot before they do this. They're great for seasoning cast iron pans for just this reason. However. If you have a nut allergy. DO NOT USE! Grape seed Oils are the next best thing.

Grape Seed Oils: Again. High Burn Point. Lighter flavor then nut oils. They don't have the allergy issues. Some people feel they are too fruity.

Coconut Oil: This has a med burn point. But it's great for baking. You can use it for sauteing, because it does impart a wonderful flavor, but you have to be careful. Quick. Have your prep done.

Mmmm. Tasty...

Olive Oil: Extra Virgin. The workhorse of the kitchen. However. The Beauty of Olive Oil is the surprising depth of flavor in the small 'vineyard' offerings. Much like wine, olive oil has different flavors if it is handled and stored differently. So this is a great way to have a cheap, healthy salad oil on hand for the summer. Find a local Co-op, or Specialty store. Do an olive oil tasting. I'm not kidding. You will be amazed at the range of flavors.

Also. Light and heat are not a great way to store your oils. So right out there by your stove top? Bad. Unless you use them at a rapid rate. I generally get a big can of Olive Oil, and transfer to a more useable container that I keep by my stove top. But the main can is kept in a cool dark place. You know your oil, Any type of oil, has gone bad when it smells rancid. Smell it. Does it smell like car oil? Or Gasoline? Or Vaseline? It's gone bad. Throw it away. There is nothing you can do. No secret culinary tricks. Just throw it away.

And not down the sink, idiot. That will clog your drain.

So the guy next to me in line at the grocery store said, "Just get the Crisco Brand Olive Oil, we can put that on the salads. It all tastes the same."

First of all. Crisco makes an Olive Oil?! Second of all, CRISCO MAKES AN OLIVE OIL!?

Kill me.

A Plague of Awards

A short while ago I was given an award! (yay!)

Part of the fun of this award is in recognizing other Great Bloggers and spreading the Wealth, so to speak. So, now that I finally have seven and a half seconds to breathe...I shall do this!

Without further ado...I would like to Recognize for services in the field of Kreative Blogging:

Katie Mills at Creepy Query Girl Her posts are fun, insightful, and it's rare that I don't get something out of them. Thank you Katie!

L. Blankenship over at Notes from the Jovian frontier I love how she's able to put a concept down so my brain goes...Oh...RIGHT! Exactly! Her post about Plot v. Story is very interesting.

Ru at And then she was like blah blah blah is hysterical. It's good to know life isn't so serious all the time.

Shaun at Valleys ShutterBug Amazing amazing photography. Seriously. He makes a telephone pole interesting to look at for crying out loud.

And Finally....

Sean. Blogging at Civil War Horror. Always interesting. I always learn something new about our great nation, and the little bits and pieces of history that we're built on. Things we shouldn't forget.

You may notice that I didn't answer the Questions that apparently come with these Blogger Awards. That is my Right as an award recipient! I find them a bit silly...sorry. :P So enjoy your award and pass it on! Or not... I've enjoyed your blogs regardless!

Have a wondrous day

I'd like to thank...

Squeeeel!

I got my first blog award! It's very exciting!

It's this one:

 

I was nominated by the lovely Amanda from  Drama, Dice and Damsons! 

Very cool! Thank you! I shall be paying it forward within the next couple of days...as soon as my schedule calms down enough for me to spend more then 5 seconds on here. I just wanted to make sure I said thank you!

SO Thank you! Now...back to work...tomorrow's a killer..gah!

Cheating Bastard

I'm having a crisis.

I'm cheating on my WIP.
I feel like I should be sending it flowers, with a card, and chocolates. Maybe a diamond bracelet.

Mainly because I have left it all alone for so long, it must be wondering what the hell is going on.

But see. There's this Anthology thing going on that I really want to get in on so off I went like the writing slut I am. Creating a whole new character. And a whole new world.

When I first read about this over at Alex's blog I knew I wanted to try, but wondered how I would come up with something to write about. Should I just write a short with the characters I have and use it as an exercise in 'getting to know my characters better'? Or write something entirely new?

Oddly enough, while working at a chair massage gig, into my head waltzed this character. Oh hello. Then a (quasi) plot. Followed by a couple of secondary characters and and a few other things I won't get into. Now, normally, when my mind wanders at work I'm plotting out my current wip...trying to work out the next step, fixing glitches, coming up with twists, etc. So I was a bit surprised when this happened.

And now I feel guilty. I've never had two stories going for any length of time. And, if I work this new "short" right it could be a major story. I'm not sure if there's enough space in my brain to HOLD two major stories!

Part of this guilt could be my Catholic upbringing. We're trained to feel guilty for crazy random stuff. (Like, apparently it's bad to throw scissors at your sister's head. Who knew?)

Now I'm REALLY going to get behind on Sherlock. And there's only three episodes!

Stuff and Things

So technology.

Good lord. As a writer don't you just want to have it all just be ok? Don't you want to simply just push a button and have your e-mail open. Don't you want to be able to type your document and then hit save? (Or in my case, because I'm sane and DON'T use Word...Just put it on the Cloud). And that's it. That't all. Go about your everyday life...maybe blog a bit, read a book, work at your job, call a few people...pat your dog, feed your kids...you know. Life.

It's craziness now. Craziness.

Platform Building. Something I'm just now starting to touch my big toe into the lukewarm waters of. It's a massively overwhelming place. First off, seriously, who in all honesty has the freaking TIME?

They're all crazy...

I have been adamant in my total refusal to get on twitter. The twitter world to me, Honestly...it looks like the cyborgs are truly taking over and are speaking directly through the computer screens, what with all the # and@ and !# and who knows what all. Either that or everyone on Twitter is Really Angry all the time. I understand that I just simply don't "speak twitter" yet, but man...it's just ridiculous. And I do understand, at some point, this will have to change. Maybe not today...maybe not tomorrow. But soon. (heheh)

I have a Facebook account. But I'll have to get an author one. And then somehow manage two! Actually, THREE (as I have one for my personal business as well.) Oi. *Note to self: hire minion to manage facebook accounts and say clever and wondrous things about me. Must be willing to take payment in form of garden herb such as mint.*

Wait...what's this logo for?

Tumbler? Pintrest? Sigh. Honestly. Right now. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my phone to load the pictures it has onto my chromebook I just got because my other computer just shit the bed. Tricksey. Though, the only tricksey thing I've encountered about this computer thus far.

I have a goodreads account. Never go on there. Don't have time. Really. Just. Don't. Have. Time. I would rather be married, thank you, then spend half an hour trolling about gr doing god knows what there. What are you supposed to DO on gr? Other then put your books in that you've read. Good lord that could take DAYS!

And Blogging. I love it. I'm Finding that I'm not as consistent as I'd like to BE with it...but hey! I'm new! I'm learning the ropes. A - Z taught me a ton. I had no trouble keeping up with the posts. But then I got the plague and couldn't reply or visit as much as I wanted to. And when I stopped visiting, I noticed that people stopped visiting me. Hmmm. Coincidence? I think maybe not. Oh well. Ya live and learn! I enjoyed the A-Z. Not sure I'll do it again as my WIP suffered a huge deal.

Bad ass Blogger!

And my final STUFF...and it's a biggie...I was gonna sit on it, but this post is long and rambly and if you've made it through this far..well... NEWS!

I am now a Moderator over at Unicorn Bell! Very Exciting! I'm thrilled! *happy dance*
So go over there and check out what we're all about. It's a great place!

(Wow...whiny post...I blame it on my sunburn and overload of fresh air.)

Dominatrix Character Writing

No. Not that type of character! Sheesh!

Though that might work...

See. I have this scene. And it's giving me fits. I know what I want to accomplish. My MC needs to be given a tour of her new surroundings. Oooo. Thrilling I know. But it kinda is given that her new surroundings consist of an underground steampunk lair complete with dorms, engineering, a lab for 'experiments', kitchen, and a huge observation/dirigible landing deck. That last is, of course, above ground. But I'm not telling you how they get there.

My Problem is the character giving the tour. She's driving me nuts. And I'm not sure why. I don't know why her personality isn't coming through right. She and my MC aren't supposed to hit it off for a while...and they aren't. But she's just coming off as a scene killer. Dialogue killer. Just plain...ugh.

Bitch.

Me. Lounging about. Thinking about my story...

Control my story. I think not.

So I did a background check on her, re-read the character interview I had done for her. Turns out she has some issues of her own. But still, it didn't really answer why she was being so reluctant to be the tour guide. Why it simply wasn't working. So I re-re-read the character interview. This time without the wine...And there it was. What I had been missing all along. Only not missing, as technically on some level I knew.

There is, in my WIP, a political faction that kidnaps people for genetic and biological "experiments". All in the name of Scientific advancement. This character was one such person, kidnapped, and then rescued (I'm not giving anything away...just her background). But it turns out that she's ultimately a tribal leader where she originally comes from. So it would be far beneath her to lead my MC about and show her the ropes. Insulting even. Ah.

Crap.

Though knowing this bit, that technically I already knew, I was just trying to tell myself (god my head hurts!)...makes it much easier (hopefully) as all I have to do now is decide between two options. 1) Create a new character. Hmmm. Tempting. Though the 'good?' side is getting character heavy right now. or 2) Use one of my already created already busy with other things characters. Decisions.

We shall see! News At 8!

Ahh Spring

In Maine this means several things all at once.

Mud. Mud comes to mind immediately. Black flies. Mosquitoes...

But for me...The Farm Stand is open! Thank what ever freaking deity you may hold holy!
Seriously.

Or sauteed. Or grilled. Or baked. Tasty goodness!

Don't get me wrong. I love Winter Squash and baked potatoes. Hell. I grew up in The County of Maine. I think they'd probably 'disappear' me quietly if I stopped eating potatoes. But a girl can only take so much. I need the fresh, warmed by the sun veggies. Granted, the pickings are slim right now. But I don't really care! Salad is back on the menu! With Fiddleheads! Steamed to perfection then just a dash of freshly ground pepper, kosher salt and a bit of cider vinegar.

Oh. And another thing that I'm very super excited about. The Winery's are opening! Sweet. Around here there is an abundance of local winery's. Some good, some great, some...lets call them young. Two of my absolute favorites are The Cellardoor. Beautiful place in Lincolnville, ME. Looks very much like Italy. And their wines are done quite well. They have a white called Perfect Stranger that goes with absolutely everything. Meats, fish, desserts, breakfast. Turkey. It's amazing.

The other place, opening on Mother's Day...very apropos...is Sweetgrass Farm Winery and Distillery. This one I'm more excited for their Distillery then their Winery, to be honest. Their Three Crow Rum is amazing. It tastes like melted, toasted brown sugar. The Peach Smash is a perfect end to a summer's evening. And I cannot say enough about the Back River Gin. Stellar. They even make their own bitters! Just incredible.

Go. Taste. You will wonder why you haven't before! Bring your student driver with you to drive you around...

More Lashings

Welcome to May! Which is not April! Which means....*dramatic pause*...the A - Z blogfest is over! Phew. As fun as it was, and I did have fun...ah the memories...I'm glad it's over so I can get back to my regularly scheduled crazy.

That being said. I have the first page of my current WIP, or more honestly my only WIP being critiqued over at mainewords by Marcy, as well as at In High Spirits by Dianne. Scary stuff!

Blogfest hangover

There's a lot of useful stuff being said in the critique and comments so go over to their sites and check it out!

Also...wanted to say hi and thank you to all my new followers! Welcome!

And...that's about all I have time for...silly work...getting in the way of my writing..Blast. Go over to one, or both, of those other sites and leave me some helpful suggestions. Any comment is a good comment!

Unless it's for penile enlargements.  I really don't need those. Thanks though.