Around the Web and Back Again

Sorry the blog's been a bit quiet lately - I'm writing, just everywhere else.

I'm working on wrapping up book two in the series, Reservations for Two, which is still finding ways to surprise me. I've also gotten to stop by a few blogs, and when I haven't, A Table by the Window has.

I got to stop by Suzanne Woods Fisher's blog column Dreams Comes True, where I get to chat about the origins of the project and realities of a writer's life.

Serena Chase featured A Table by the Window in her Happily Ever After blog on USAToday.com. 

I stopped by Novel Crossing to chat about how I got my start as a foodie.

Laurie Tomlinson and I got to chat on Inspy Romance about what's coming up in book two and what I would make if I had a chef coming over for dinner.

The Recipe Club featured the Moroccan Oranges recipe. 

Lastly, at A Girl Who is a Geek you'll find a list (which coincidentally includes, yes, A Table by the Window) of foodie fiction from a delightful mix of authors. 

Also, don't forget to check out the recipe for Bavarian Sugar Cookies, as well as the Pinterest board for A Table by the Window. And if you go browsing on my boards, you'll find one for Reservations for Two as well, which may include a few hints (and potentially a few red herrings, since sometimes things change). 

Until later! 

Something Had to Give

Dear Readers -

As you might have noticed, the blog's been collecting dust bunnies lately. Working on this book, I've found I haven't been able to write, take care of life, and blog at the same time. In the past I was able to blog and write at the same time, but in the past I didn't have this guy -

- who can be a handful. There have also been quite a few other things going on, making keeping up with posts more difficult than usual.

With the Oscars coming up (February 24th!!), I have thoughts to share, and we'll get to those at some point. Robbie Iobst and I will be doing a round-up of the nominees pre-Oscars, and I'll be doing another Oscar fashions post after the big day.

I've also got a recipe post that's been mostly done for a while...trouble is, I've kind of misplaced the data card with the photos on it.

All that to say, there will be blog posts someday. Until then, I'm occasionally tweeting (occasionally on the subject of The Bachelor, that fertile ground for reflection and comedy) and posting on Facebook from time to time (most recently - character name changes is a hot topic).

Later!

-h

Maybe Later

So, I've tried to write a blog about characters for two days now.

That dog just won't hunt.

This one won't either.  She's a herder, not a hunter.

She also likes tulips.

And naps with Danny.

Baths? Not so much.

Peanut butter?  Yes, ma'am.

Grammar Matters

With the rise of facebook, twitter, and blogging I read a lot of...unedited prose. And I'm good with that, most of the time. There are several blogs I love to follow, several people I'm perpetually amused by.

I just want to change their grammar.

So to take a break from the monotony of "No, I'm not contagious but I still have a concerning-sounding cough"-type prose, I thought I'd take a minute to share my top 10 (or so) grammatical beefs.

1. Your vs. You're. Drives. Me. Crazy. I see it much more often than I should. Whenever you're writing either, take a moment to say, "can this sentence be said properly if I say 'you are'." Because if it can, you may need to make a change.

2. Yay/Yea/Yeah/Ya confusion. This one's a biggie, so we'll take a minute to define each one.

Yay: Interchangeable with "Hooray." A spoken/written cheer.

Yea: A sign of affirmation. "Yea" is the opposite of "nay."

Yeah: informal form of "yes." While not a cheer, is often more emphatic than yes (oh, yeah!)

Ya: even more informal form of "yes." I would discourage this one.

3. Their/There/They're. An oldy but goody. I see less of this one than the your/you're issue. Maybe that's a sign of progress.

4. O/Oh confusion. It happens. "O" on its lonesome can be short for "of," as in, "bowl o' goodness," when telling time (four o' clock), or when praising God (O Magnify the Lord). "Oh," on the other hand, (according to the Encarta Dictionary) is used to express or introduce a strong emotion or response, used to show thought, or attract attention.

5. Its/It's. Another oldy but goody. Again, see it less than #1. Or maybe it just bothers me less.

6. Farther/Further. Farther is distance. 'Cause it starts with "far." Further deals with non-physical things: "Push the concept further, see where it will take you."

7. Non-plussed. Pronounced "Non-pluhst." Means baffled. Most people think it means unfazed. They're wrong.

8. Texting language. You've seen in. Ur instead of your. R instead of are. There is no reason for this. Because a.) you should be able to spell all of these words correctly, having exited from grade school, and b.) the shorted forms arose from lazy texters, but now we have smarter texting functions on cell phones (have for a few years now), so go ahead. Splurge. Spell the whole word. I dare you.

9. Than/Then. Than is used in comparison (fall is wetter than winter). Then is not. Got it?

10. Gender-neutral pronoun issues. This one's a bit trickier to explain, but we've all seen it. "If your volunteer is late, sometimes you need to show them grace." Okay...there's only one volunteer. The trouble with English is that we don't have a proper singular gender-neutral pronoun. If you try to say "it," it makes your volunteer sound somehow inhuman. Writing he/she, him/her is too cluttered. Just pick a gender. You may appear sexist depending on which pronoun you choose, but at least you'll be accurate.

Okay. There are other problems out there, but these are the ones that bug me most when it comes to grammar.

Here's the thing. The internet's big, people. You write something, and most likely, more people will see it than you think. So go ahead. Make a good impression. Spell things correctly. Most browsers these days have automatic spell checkers. If you see the red squiggly line, consider it a sign of a problem, not a decoration. Write things correctly. You never know when it might be useful to look like you know what you're doing.

Coming at some point in the future: Words I hate, words I love. I've been working on that post for a LONG time. This may come as a surprise, but I have strong feelings about certain words...and words in general.

Apologies

I'm sorry. This blog has been so neglected, it's starting to look like my basil plant (which is less neglected than it is in need of some sort of plant food. Anyone with insight into this matter, feel free to share your wisdom). I'm sorry because I have not:

1. Blogged about my big research weekend in Portland (remember that?), which kicked off with a salute to Studio 54 and involved women in go-go boots climbing over bathroom stalls. At the University Club.

2. Blogged about the fact that my website's not up yet. But it will be. Someday.

3. Blogged about the number of book-related meltdowns I've had in the last three weeks. Actually, not sorry about that. Consider yourself spared.

4. Blogged about the Superhero Symposium I'm attending next weekend.

5. Blogged about the SUPER COOL FINISHED HOODIE. I haven't even taken pictures - how lame is that? Does anyone say lame anymore? Is lame lame?

6. I'm sure there's something else, and I'm sorry for forgetting about it.

So I'll just start in, and write more in subsequent blogs. I'll probably apologize in those too.

1. The peach cobbler. Every last trace, all gone. This took a while. You would not have believed my kitchen. It looked like that kitchen, in the movies, when the kids cook and things get a bit out of control. The last step was scraping the dried cobbler dough (whether the first or second batch, hard to say) off of the stove and counter top. Seriously, forget duct tap. You want cobbler dough. Trust me.

2. Studio 54 night at the University Club. Oh, the deep delight. The young Portlanders, in their rented costumes and large hair. Their go-go boots and zippered orange backless miniskirt dress thing, which they admit would not be good for picking up the children in. The gay men in red leather pants. The slightly drunken conga line. Oh - and the aging boomers who lived through that era, are due-paying members of the club, and dancing with as much gusto to "Celebration" as the aforementioned party-goers.

The best part, though, was going into the lady's restroom and noticing a cocktail glass on the floor in one of the stalls. Empty. And two pairs of go-go boots. And one woman's voice, saying "I just can't believe he doesn't get it" and another assuring her in the tones one uses during inebriated relationship crises. (I just now thought a bit more about the whole cocktail glass thing. I mean, who brings that sort of thing into a restroom, anyway? Because there's no use in taking it in if it's empty to begin with, so that means that someone was drinking on the floor of the lady's room, and that's just a sad sad statement about...something.)

Anyway, enter orange-miniskirt-zippered-backless dress go-go woman, who enters the stall next to the drama stall, apparently recognizes voices, decides to first strike up a conversation before hoisting a leg to climb over the side.

In a orange-miniskirt-zippered-backless dress.

I'm retouching my lipstick while this is going on, and clearly I've got the best seat in the house. Then in walk some older ladies, clearly club members, who take the scene in impressive stride.

2. The next day, I got to go to the Powell's rare books room, where the very very nice man let me take pictures of whatever Godey's Lady's book my heart desired. Also bought Amy Karol's book, Bend the Rules with Fabric which is fabulous and the sort of thing Sara would be very interested in.

3. Website is not up yet, but it will be. My fearless designer has been working two jobs and going to school, and none of those involve the extra time spent in designing the site. However, one of her jobs involved the sighting of a man who looked very much like Lucius Malfoy, so she's forgiven.

4. Um...what else. The hoodie. No pictures yet, so there's something to look forward to.

5. Superhero Symposium, because I want to write a superhero book someday. No joke. Something between The Incredibles and Watchmen that takes the idea of the superhero and pushes it a bit further.

6. Getting tired, and with me getting up to go to the OCW fall conference tomorrow, that means it's very nearly bedtime. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the happy Oregon (and Southern Washington) writers. Eva Marie Everson is speaking, should be a very good day.

7. I'm doing Beth Moore's Esther study right now, which I'm enjoying very much. This is, however, my first Beth Moore, and I always find I spend much of the video time contemplating her hair. I spend an embarrassing amount of time fantasizing about sending different people to participate in TLC's What Not To Wear, and I can't help but think that if Nick Arrojo were to get his hands on it (and I know they have someone else doing hair on the show now, but I only ever get to watch the morning reruns), she'd be, like, two inches shorter. Also, were the wind to blow, the top would move. In her favor, Beth (or whoever shops for her) has impeccable taste in clothes. Sometimes I think that, if we were to move to Texas, I would be considered quiet to the point that medication would be considered.

8. I think that's it for now. Next week I may attempt to make a skirt, but I'll definitely be working on the book, and thinking positive thoughts about it.

Etiquette for Writers

I've had this post brewing in my head for a while; it seems like a subject that needs to be explored but hasn't yet been.

Or maybe it has and I haven't seen it yet. Either way, I'm adding my two cents. Writers can get rather lax on the subject, especially considering that our business attire can include bunny slippers. But it will only ever help your writing career! And let's face it, writers can use all the help they can get.

In Critique Groups:

1. Be constructive. For some reason writers, who are some of the most articulate beings on earth, have a tendency to take a look at a piece of writing and say, "it's awful." Kind of a head scratcher, considering that we are unilaterally thin-skinned. If a piece of writing is truly bad, no amount of saying how bad it is will improve the writers' understanding of the craft. Do the verbs need to be more active? The writing more visual? The characters more concrete? Please try to say something nice about everyone's manuscript.

I was in a Fantasy Fiction class once at the U of O, and read some truly horrible short stories. I mean, so bad I saved them.

But in every case, I found something nice to say. When in doubt, "Vivid Characters" is a good standby.

2. Don't rewrite someone's work. You have a computer/typewriter/paper to write your own things. Give suggestions, give edits if invited, but imposing your voice over someone's work isn't helping anyone. Consider, selfishly, that your voice is your own. If you share your voice, you're competing with yourself.

In Written Communications with those in the Publishing Industry:

1. Be professional. Never use email abbreviations (ur instead of your, 4 instead of for, 2 instead of to/too. Frankly, I don't think they should be used ever, but that's just me.). Spell and punctuate things properly. Let the editor/agent initiate the use of smiley faces.

2. If you know the editor/agent personally, do use their first name as an address. If not, use Mr./Ms./Mrs.

3. Never, ever demand a response. Instead, write something along the lines of "many thanks for any assistance."

4. It should go without saying, but never tell an editor that God has said their publishing house will/should publish your book. If in fact God thinks such a thing, assume that God has not chosen you as the vessel of that message.

In Your Blogs

1. For pete's sake, spell check. Seriously. Nothing bothers me more than gross misspellings in a blog. Be aware that your blog is your internet face. Your internet face should be spelled and punctuated properly. If you can't manage to write a blog appropriately, why would anyone read your book? No one's expecting your posts to be professionally edited, but it's important to catch the basic stuff.

2. Be appropriate with content. Assume that the person you would like to rant against reads, or knows people who read your blog.

3. Be aware that prospective editors are likely to check out your blog. You've been warned.

At the Conference

1. Show up for Editor/Agent meetings clean and well-dressed. If you're meeting with Karen Ball, don't wear perfume or cologne OR scented hair product in your attempt to look groomed.

2. Have your proposal materials ready, with a cover letter addressed to the person whom you are meeting.

3. Make sure your materials are at their very best state - it's rude to show up with work that's riddled with stupid mistakes. Have a few people go through it first.

4. Be ready to talk articulately about the project (this is often the most difficult part). Practice in the mirror if you have to.

5. Be gracious and thank them for their time, no matter what.

6. Never write on someone's business card.

7. Try very hard not to lose the business card of editors/agents when they're given to you. The card is your golden ticket for further correspondence. Use it to follow-up with a short thank-you note after the conference.

8. Never approach an editor/agent/published writer for their assistance while they are in the restroom or in the middle of prayer. Back off FAST if they don't appear at all interested. Don't be that guy!

9. Don't pick your nose during a meeting. Just saying.

To come:

Etiquette notes for when you're publishing, and after you're published.

Random on a Sunday

A few things...

I'm sorry to my subscription readers who received a short email post last night. There's some odd combination of keystrokes that makes a post publish, and when it publishes, it sends out automatically.

Those people already know some of the following information: the basil is still alive. It was the tiniest bit droopy when we got home last night, but after a watering it perked back up. Also found a tiny slug in the gerbera daisy pot. Probably the grossest thing I'll deal with for the rest of the month.

I spent Friday and Saturday at a marketing conference. We spent a lot of time talking about "brand." Thing is, the books I've got coming out in the near future are not the books I'll be writing in the slightly later future. We've decided not to worry about my brand until I've had a few books released and we get an idea of how things are working. I'm good with that.

Tomorrow morning, I get to sit down with my editor and edit through Plain Jayne. That's one of the happy things about living in the same city as your editor - you get to do these things in person! And while the drive time to her office is tax deductible, I don't know that I'll take it. It's just under a mile.

On tonight's schedule: going to my parents' house for dinner, Danny getting a haircut, and going to bed early! We're both still wiped after this weekend. We had to get up early. I hate getting up early. I became a writer so I wouldn't have to get up early.

Make sure to keep checking my posting places on AmishReader.com and Burnside Writers' Blog. There are new posts showing up from time to time!

New Post Place

Forgot to mention this earlier, but I'm now contributing on occasion to the Burnside Writer's Blog. There are lots of different posts, ranging from theological thoughts, social justice, social commentary, and IPA rankings. Also some miscellaneous humor.

If any of you remember when my short story was published by the Ankeny Briefcase, just know that it's largely the same batch of people.

Check in from time to time if you're interested! I wrote a piece on Focus on the Family's The Truth Project. It's possible my next item will be on bathroom books. Haven't decided.

The Now

Editing a full-length manuscript is like having a bolt of hemmed fabric unwound around the block. At some point you realize you should tweak the hem at a certain point, but that point is, like, on the other side of the block. And it's by that house with the barky dog and you're just so fed up with that dog that you'd rather not walk all the way over there to change that little bit.

I'm kind of overwhelmed at the moment. I don't remember being this overwhelmed with Divine Discontent, but that may be because 1.) DD didn't have a deadline, and 2.) I procrastinated for quite a while before digging into DD.

There's an outstanding family conversation about who's genetically responsible for the procrastination tendencies, and so far no one's been willing to incriminate, whoops, I mean, "suggest," a parent. But I digress.

I had these really pretty ideas about how I would painstakingly go through the manuscript and make all sorts of changes. But you know what? I've been staring at this thing for nine months straight. I can't help but think of the character of E from The Incredibles - "I never look back, darling, it distracts from the now."

While I certainly wouldn't ignore the things to be tweaked, the Now is calling, and it looks like fun. Inspired by my friend Michelle, I'm planning on spending May challenging myself to shake things up and do things differently. For me, that will translate into trying new restaurants, new recipes, new routines, new crafts AND a new book.

Looking forward to that, and some new blogging material. According to the powers that be, true bloggers aren't supposed to post less than twice a week. Twice a week? Unless you want my laundry stats, I don't necessarily have much to say twice a week.

Excessive blogging distracts from the Now.

Just Can't Stop Blogging

Things are continuously changing on AmishReader.com. Now authors have a feature where we can keep a cute little blog on the site. The blog has different content than this one, a little more geared toward the Reader of Amish Fiction (rather than the Amish Reader, who presumably wouldn't have a computer).

If you'd like to check it out, it's here. I did post some info on the book that is unavailable anywhere else, and will be following up with answers to some of the questions I get asked a lot.

I'm ALMOST done with the book. Very close. Like, one chapter. Need to be done soon, because I've decided that I want to make striped throw pillows for my couch, and possily a new lampshade, and play the piano, and try an Italian chicken dish I've been meaning to make for a month...

Into the Tunnel

Wow. February was not a great blogging month. In my defense, things have been crazy. My goal for the book has been completion by the end of March, and edits through the month of April.

It is now March. The writer-guilt is stronger than ever. For the uninitiated, it's the feeling that you should be writing. At all times. Leaving the house is a bad idea, because it means leaving my computer behind, and leaving my computer means I'm not writing. Blogging properly has gone to the wayside, because it's writing something else. I'm not supposed to be writing anything else.

The book is turning me into an incommunicative agoraphobe.

Good news is, I'm healthy. I don't write well when I'm sick. Actually, I don't really write at all. I just sneeze and feel sorry for myself. It's hard being witty when you're congested. After an unhealthy December that put me behind, I'm at least holding steady.

And I'm over the worst of the "middle-of-the-project" syndrome. The end is truly near. I can see it. Taste it.

I've decided to start making a list of the things I'd like to do when the book is all finished and turned-in...

1. Practice the piano without feeling guilty.
2. Read during the day without feeling guilty.
3. Go out on a random photo shoot during the day (should be things to shoot by then) without feeling guilty.
4. Knit during the day without feeling guilty.
5. Acknowledge that Danny's been waiting for that sweater since December and still feel guilty, but better since I'm working on it.
6. Take a bath without feeling guilty.
7. Catch up on correspondence.
8. Make new throw pillows.
9. Iron. Feel guilty for not ironing.
10. Spend time with family and friends.
11. Go to the Art Museum.
12. Go to the Natural Sciences Museum.
13. Try new recipes.
14. Exercise.
15. Watch Mamma Mia! with my sister.
16. Sing along, just to see the look on her face.

It's possible that Mommy guilt and Book guilt are related. In my case, the child is quiet, but it's always there...

Truly looking forward to being done with this project. The next project runs closer to my personal tastes, content-wise. Having the main character (of undecided name) run around Portland, taking design courses and working in a bookshop has a lot of fun potential. Don't get me wrong, I like Plain Jayne. But it's definitely been a challenge. I think I've grown a lot as a writer, been pushed to write outside my preferences and create something likable anyway. For that, I'm pleased. Having a project, any project, going on this long is tough though. Looking forward to getting to that list!

Triumph over the Machine

Victory over an inanimate object shouldn't be this sweet. I've been trying for a couple months to figure out the Slideshow widget on Blogger; today, justice has prevailed.

There are few things more frustrating than being a photographer and not being able to post a stupid little slideshow on your blog. Than having a photobucket slideshow html code and having nowhere to embed it. Seriously, it's up there with undercooked $25 pizza.

Blogger sweetly informed me that a handful of photo-album sites would cooperate with me. Very long story short, I discovered Picassa Web Albums to be friendly to my plight, and look at that! Now, large-ish thumbnails are displayed on right-hand sidebar (go ahead, look at the pretty flashing pictures!) and can be clicked on to view the larger version.

Show your friends, show your family. All photos can be ordered in a range of sizes to add a nice touch to any room. Or, shoot me an email (find it in my profile) to set up a family or individual portrait shoot. The weather is lovely and the location options are wide open.

In other housekeeping, note the subscription widget below the "Places to Click". This blog can now be embedded into Google and Yahoo pages.

The last of the happy news for the day is that another one of my Heart Gallery kids found a home. Keep those kids in your prayers and consider being involved with the Heart Gallery of Lane County.

Pardon the dust

While I'm setting up this blog (because I'm really pretty done with myspace), I'll be re-posting some of the oldies-but-goodies from my original blog.

In the meantime, amuse yourself by visiting http://www.digyourowngrave.com/flight-of-the-hamsters/. I originally got it off the Yarn Harlot's blog (may she reign forever), and let it be said that I beat the high score she posted.