Cover Reveal: Holiday Magick

My short story, "Finding Fire," is part of this anthology. :)  I had a wicked amount of fun writing this one, and I was so pleased that Rich and Jess liked it!  Sexy men, fire, Spring Break, Valencia, Spain's celebration of Las Fallas... and magick - all things I love.  Watch for it coming out May of this year!

Also, look at the cool artwork just for my story!

Holiday Magick: 20 Holiday Stories with a twist

People don't usually question holiday traditions or their origins, but maybe they should. Over centuries, explanations of how and why holidays exist may have been lost or changed.
Some holiday histories might only be known by a few individuals. Ancient magic spells could have influenced how we celebrate today. Fairies, zombies, or demons may have shaped our holidays.
Consider the following...
Why do people give red roses and cards on Valentine's Day?
Is there more to the story of Purim than is traditionally told?
Why do people wear green on St. Patrick's Day?
What happens to spirits that are captured during the Japanese Doll Festival?
Where does Santa get his helpers?
You may think you know the truth, but you can't be too sure.

Fuzzy Friday Happy Earth Day Easter Ostara Passover Love

... because cute bunnies always make my day.  And it gives me time to enjoy the EARTH today... as in, I'm going outside to play!

Pets in Santa Hats!!

Much merriment to you - no matter what you celebrate!

Writing Around the Christmas Tree

… if we'd actually put one up yet.

We have some stars, and the stockings, and the Jingle Wreath (which, honestly, is around for the sole amusement of the H-of-A tormenting the cat.)

I don't know if it's a common issue with writers, but I always start holiday break with a million plans for writing.

999,999,997 of which never get done.

See… you think there is a ton of time now that the official "work" is on break.

Ha!

I'm still baking.  (Yeah, those cookies are going out TOMORROW, not today, for those of you waiting.  And at least two of ya' are getting stuff after Christmas.) 

Then, of course, every weekend is booked.  Yes, it's fun and wonderful and I love seeing my friends and family.  It takes a lot of time and prep, though.

Cleaning for Christmas Breakfast.  Packing and wrapping presents (the few besides cookies).  Travel, travel, travel… car maintenance.  Heat and wood requirements.

EVIL EVIL SNOW. (Ok, we've got flurries… which only means each one gets an even longer glare.

ICE!  (My chiropractor is getting sick of me.)

Horses + Ice + Snow! (See above comment.)

And recovery time from all that.

A Christmas when we had actually gotten the tree up. And had Rhetta.

The biggest thing is the whole usurpation of my schedule, though.  I am a pretty free spirit with a flexible schedule - but it's still a schedule!  And I stick to it!  Yeah… notsomuch now.  And the feeling of being lost due to being unable to keep my schedule only makes things worse.  Here's a big example of how:

Now, the Husband-of-Awesome is so titled because he is so.  The H-of-A also gets 2+ weeks off from work during this time.

I love my husband; I adore him.  He is my best friend, and I love spending time with him.  And he enjoys spending time with me.

So, if he's planted on his computer behind me, I'm not getting work done.  He can even be working, too, like paying bills.  It doesn't matter.  I'm expecting some question, some comment, or some interruption.  You know… you kinda talk to people you like.

Remember: My normal workday is alone in my house.  Alone.  The cat gets her arse tossed outside or upstairs if she becomes demanding.

Until he went outside to do the physical labor of taking care of the rest of our firewood, I was edgy and unfocused.  After that: Called all my article contacts, finished laundry, did dishes, packed cookies for mailing, organized some of my scary desk, and made dinner.

See how productive I am alone?!

Even now, as I'm trying to get this blog done, he's distracting me.  It's cool stuff he finds on de Interwebs… but, um, yeah, writing?

He's also usually in bed at this time. Or, if it's a weekend, playing video games.

And, of course, I WANT to spend time with him.  We just went to go see Black Swan tonight (awesome movie, btw!).  So… work?  Have fun with husband?

Christmas.  Holidays.  Vacation time.  Not good for writing - no matter how much you beg Santa.

Better to suck it up and enjoy it.  Living, after all, is the fuel for writing…

And my friends Kelly Harmon and Tracy Morris have much better posts going into that topic.  So, go read them!

That, and I haven't had much time to spend with the H-of-A with the months of overtime anyway. <3  If there's missing blog posts in the next few weeks - you know why.  ;)

Happy Holidays!

Merry Manic Monday!

It’s Christmas Week and things are… a little crazy to say the least.

Happy Solstice & Yule… Despite my FB post, technically, per the actual Earth’s Orbit.. it is on the 21^st, though we just enjoyed the gorgeous full moon tonight on the way back from our friends’ holiday shopping evening – which was excellent.

I haz me a pretty present!

“Graffiti Dragon” – I squeed all over the store because I fell in love with this one the moment I saw it!  This actually came from Studio 206, which is next door to Stained Glass Creations, from my other friend Stef – the amazing paint artist. 

I’m also still in baking mode… and those of you to whom I mail stuff, well, it’s getting put in the mail on Tuesday, so you will likely enjoy it during the 12 days of Christmas rather than before Christmas.  Extend the love!

I promised more on the surprise New York City trip with my Mom, but it’s late, I’m cold, and there’s not a whole lot of details.  It was a lot of fun, though.  Here are some pictures!

In fact, that’s our job for tonight: Finally clean off our Camera!

So, my blogging presents to you:

Two cuties cuddling by the fire.  (At least one of them is cuddling by choice.  Guess who!)

And me and my pretty horsey!

Other news, before bed:

Christy and I have a fun guest post on the Bad-Ass Faeries Blog!  Please go over and see it and leave us a comment?  Pretty please?  :) 

Now, I’m off to bed with a thousand jobs to do tomorrow – including FINALLY seeing my baby – well, the big half-ton baby who lives in Leicester.

Yeah, that one.  :)  I threw my back out last Friday moving wood, visited my chiro like three times this week (thus my missing Wednesday post), and can now go visit her… preferably before I throw my back out again moving the two cords of wood that got delivered yesterday morning.  (Also on tomorrow’s list: Get Back Brace at Home Depot to hopefully prevent this).

Wish me luck, and happy holidays!!

10 Baking Mistakes I made so You Don't Have To - Part 2

I've been baking cookies for some time, and learned some important lessons that I'm happy to pass onto you.  Welcome to the 2nd part of Mistakes I've Made so You Don't Have To.

5 - Mistakes can be Good Things

Even if you've done your research and homework, things will go awry.  And that's ok.  Taste them - try them.  Several of my mistakes have landed me some excellent discoveries. 

One of my favorites is this peppermint cookie brittle, aka “Peppermint Mistakes,” that looked horrific on the pan (and gave me nightmares before I discovered the joys of silicon pads).  It's crunchy, sugary, and unlike anything else I eat around the holidays.  (The mistake was before I discovered I'm Just Here for More Food and did not realize that my chocolate would melt like butter, and the sugar from candy-canes would liquefy). 

And even if it's not gift-able - or even edible, what did you learn?  :)

4 - Don't do the work that technology can do for you  (aka Protect your writing assets: your hands & wrists!)

As a writer, I have enough issues in my wrists, hands and fingers from typing too long.  The last thing I need is further injuries from baking.

Get a good mixer - both a bowl mixer and a hand mixer.  The extra money for quality is worth every cent and more.

Use a food processor for mixing, too.  (See prior note about Alton Brown for more info on this.)

Wooden spoons have more strength and stability than plastic ones, so that will also save your wrists, and pastry cutters make short work of what you don't feel comfortable mixing in the food processor or with a mixer.  Well, shorter work than just a spoon.  (Go with the food processor or mixer whenever possible.)

I've mentioned silicon pads several times.  They are wonderful - especially if you are prone to gooey mistakes in the oven.  Beyond awesome.

And lastly - spring for good oven mitts! LOTS of them.  If you haven't experienced the agony of typing with burned fingers, knuckles, hands, etc., may you be blessed with never having to experience it.  Especially when you are on deadline.

3 - Tip the Staff

I mail a lot of stuff.  A LOT.  Not just during holiday seasons, but all year.  (Well, duh, I'm a writer - these manuscripts haven't grown legs yet!)  The Post Office knows me by name… Only packages from Utah get lost (though, going to Utah seems ok.). 

They realllllly like my cookies.  So does the mailman.  And the UPS driver.

2 - Helpers… don't really help.

This is one of those really hard lessons to learn.  Cooking with kids - be they your own children or someone else's - is a great time to bond and have fun.

It's NOT very productive.

If you're going to invite others into the sanctity of the kitchen, do it for the right reasons.  Kids/Youth need supervision with the tools, want to know why with everything, and most of all, want to experiment!  This is all wonderful, and I highly recommend baking with kids - but do it for the experience.  Not because you think it will get your baking done any faster.

It won't.  And if you feel it will, you'll end up getting impatient and losing the magic that comes with baking with kids.

The same goes for friends - even foodie friends.  You will likely end up in a food fight (possibly a higher likelihood than with children), you will get in each others' way, you will be postponed by giggle-fits, and you will continually swap aggravating and unsolicited advice on technique, ingredients, and recipes.

Bake with others for fun - not productivity.

1 -  Remember, they're just cookies!  And it's s'posed to be fun!

Yes, more and more people are cooking and baking - so it's not as unique a gift as it once was.  It's still special.  No one will make exactly what you make - and if you have included family recipes, it's even more from the heart.  Points for creativity and love - even if presentation and flavor aren't Iron Chef levels.  It's a gift - not your entrance exam into Johnson and Wales.

And chances are, they'll be eaten and enjoyed within a few days, anyway - without close inspection.

Happy Baking!

Eek! The Holidays are Upon Us!

Thank goodness Thanksgiving is over… oh, wait, now I've got Yule and Christmas to plan for???

And _______ has a grand plan to do Really Awesome thing for _____ that I need to help with…

Deep breath.

And _______ is having a party.

So is ________.

Another.  Deep breath.

And I've got an editing deadline?

And… COOKIES?!?!!!

And when I REALLY DID intend to put my tax info together before now.  Well, it's all sorted into envelopes?  Yeah, I've sorted it into envelopes year round for the past three years… but my envelopes are better categorized this year?

I mean it this time:  DEEEEEEEP BREATH!

I have a horse!  :)  She puts me in the Now and lowers my blood pressure. That's great - but I have to cover the year end expenses and follow up with the vet!

-Gives self a stern look-

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeep Breaaaath.

Did I even mention my writing and the fact I did NOT finish my novel in November and I did NOT make 25 submissions? 

Yes, but I DID make 11, with one two more days left.  And, so far, *knocks wood,* only one novel rejection and two short story rejections so far.

And I DID get writing DONE on the novel.

Seriously, it's the holidays.  You're supposed to be sharing good will and charity.  And that includes yourself, Me.  (And anyone else who's listening.)

Yes, there are priorities and obligations with friends and family.  And y'know what? Right now those people I'm close with and care about among friends and family don't expect me to be perfect.  They expect me to be me, well, an eccentric, somewhat scatterbrained, but caring individual.  A writer - hell, most of them identify as writers, and I don't hold them to levels of perfection.  That's why we're close.  Those that hold me to unrealistic expectations (or, rather, unrealistic if you know me), well they'll be disappointed… and why should I care?

I've got priorities for stuff I'm paid to do.  Y'know what?  The abovementioned people placed above this priority get that.  And I know they've got mortgages, bills… basic necessities of food and family, too. 

I've got priorities for the causes I'm passionate about.  The people who pay me may "get" that, but I still need to get work done.  The people I care about also get that, and usually are willing to work with me around these things.  I do the same for them.

I've got to write my stories.  In my heart, this priority is two steps up, but in my mind I know I need to pay for things and that other people depend on my contribution to websites and fundraisers and that writing.

My heart is actually in a lot of places.  Most of my paid gigs I do not just for money but because I care about the stories, individuals, and missions associated with the gig.  Of course, it's also with my friends and family - with whom I've spent the past few days happily offline.

It's exhausting to be passionate. 

It's also fulfilling, amazing, and mind-blowingly awesome. 

I spent almost 3 hours tonight trying to figure out how to make a fan page on Facebook for the Bay State Equine Rescue.  I wanted to do it right so people could see what we did in their newsfeeds.  There was a lot of deleting and re-doing, and a lot of Google-ing and research, and I threw my whole self into this project.  I'm happy to have figured it out (so it appears), and do hope everyone goes to the page and Likes it. 

But I didn't get much else done besides answering email.

Those of us who are passionate throw every atom of our being into whatever project we're working on: making a fan page, writing an article, editing a website, baking cookies. 

For things we can rein in our passion on (like most emails and spaces between full-throttle-passion-engaged projects), we can multitask.  Once we're in the throes of a project, or even a part of a project with a beginning, middle, and end, it's often to the temporary exclusion of most else.  (A ringing phone, for example, will break my concentration and garner a glance at caller-id to see if it's a potentially life-or-death situation… I would assume fire alarms would too, but I'm happy to say I haven't had to test that.)

With the holidays, there are so many projects and so many priorities that I throw my whole self into, that I'm passionate about, that I so easily make myself sick when I ought to be enjoying and celebrating the passion I can share. 

I'm not alone in this, either.  In fact, most of the people I know & care about make themselves sick over the holidays.

Why?  How can we get around it?  What are ways we can remind ourselves that we should be celebrating our passions and loves?  What do we do to minimize feeling forced to perform for people and things we aren't passionate about or that we don't love?

I'll keep reminding myself of what I said before.  The people who I care about and who care about me understand… and I need to remind them of that, too. 

Celebrate the people and things you're passionate about during whatever holiday you celebrate (or don't celebrate) this December.  And let the people with whom you share true love and friendship with celebrate however they need.  And we should remind each other that we're doing this.  Because we care.  Because we all have things we're passionate about.

Happy December!

Shh! Don't -nom- tell anyone...

(I intended this before Christmas, but it's still a good post now… ;) )

A few years ago, I remember reading a story in Newsweek, I believe – not one of my cooking/food magazines – about sharing holiday recipes. A young woman wanted her boyfriend's family's holiday toffee recipe, but even after the two were engaged, no one would share the recipe with her. It was a special gift the family would give every Christmas.

The story ended with the woman having broken up with the fellow and regretting the fact she hadn't stolen the recipe the one time she had the chance.

Contrasting with this lost recipe regret is this woman's regret of including the recipe for biscotti she'd made one year. When everyone saw how easy it was to make, they were less appreciative of receiving it.

Of course, these few years ago were only beginning the current popularity of the "foodie" culture. Currently, the number of people interested in food and food preparation is still growing; it's quite the marketing trend. When you give food, it's almost expected you give the recipe. If you don't, you get asked – and not sharing is quite the faux pas.

My group of friends has always been foodie-rich. The best thing college cable had was the Food Network, so sharing recipes was a given – and many of us Alton Brown fans – so was sharing preparation tricks. (For example, the puffy pie-like consistency in my kiffle cookie crust is entirely dependent on rolling technique.) Even if we don't share recipes, most of us can get a rough idea of a recipe just from eating the food with awareness. (Eating with awareness is paying close attention to taste, texture, smell… and how each of those changes as you eat. Basically. ;) ).

On the other hand, most of my friends have families rich in food traditions, so we respect, "It's a family recipe; I can't share it." Also, none of us have a ton of money for presents, so we respect what each makes as gifts. For example, when Caroline & Jesse gave me their macaroon recipe, I changed it to something different so our gifts wouldn't overlap.

What to do then? We share some recipes, and we work on our own signature treats. And we respect each other's food. No one's made my kiffle recipe, for example, though many of my friends have the DragonLance source book that has it. (Granted, I've made a few minor changes in ingredient and preparation.) No one else makes the different thumbprint cookies that Caroline & Jesse perfected, nor their rocky road fudge. Big Scott's fudge was different from the rocky road fudge.

So, we all do have our own "secret" recipes that we break out around the holiday season, but they are collectively agreed upon secrets. No one regrets missing out on cooking opportunities – but also, no one takes these specialties for granted.

Delicious holidays - er - new year to you!

Merry Manic Monday

Aaaah, first Monday of December!

I just got back from spending the weekend with a few good friends, seeing a play with them, and attending their Christmas party - while I caught up on the rest of my baking (including my first time making biscotti - which, I may add - came out GREAT!)

So, I'll take a leaf from my entertainment editor and admit to discombobulation in this communication.

xx

I'm already considering my New Year's Post on Resolutions/Business Plan… less than a month and that will be up. Money and conventions are important considerations… as is continuing regular fiction submissions.

Making money. Also very important.

xx

My good friends Renée and Sean finally got an apartment storefront in Connecticut! I'm wonderfully happy for them, though I will miss seeing them as often. Or… we may just have to spend a little more on gas and visit for longer times. Whatever it takes. Besides, I'm all for helping out at the store, too.

Our New Year starts with helping them move in/set up.

To take a peek at some of the cool stuff that will be at their store, check here.

xx

I also feel like I'm back to square one in organizing after NaNoWriMo.

No… not quite… I'm still < 100 emails in the inbox, my side desk is mostly cleared off… but the poor animals' litter boxes desperately need cleaning… as does the right side of my desk.

My kitchen table and counter is taken over with cookies - but most of those are getting mailed out. J (Ok, that has nothing to do with NaNoWriMo… it just happened to immediately follow, so it continued the backlog.)

Of course, it is also holiday season, so that makes it harder for everyone to organize.

Husband-of-Awesome has had to work the past two weekends so that they can get this government contract done before we leave for our last vacation of the year. I'd really like to get enough of a rough draft done on the current novel before vacation, too. So, it's a push for both of us.

xx

My plan: get back on that more rigid schedule I had after Dragon*Con.

Most creative people I know love their freedom - but we work best under deadline and within limitations. With sending out cards and cookies - and writing deadlines, a rigid schedule - using the timer on my cell phone - is probably just what I need.

What is your favorite way to get everything done in the holiday season?