Weekend Review & Mashup

Obviously Wednesday's wrap up didn't happen... my procrastinator spirit was in full drive as I raced from work to liquor store and grocery story (no one can say I don't have my priorities straight...) home to finish cleaning before in invasion on Thanksgiving.

I'm also getting ready for a little release/count down fun - so be sure to check back starting on December 1 to see what's happening!

So a lot in a little space:

I'm doing one more crock pot meal for the month. Last week's turned out really well - and left overs were still good.. but there was something about the way it smelled that made me less then happy with the cool ranch chicken (sometimes it is the little things) - But this one is different. It's my twist on a lasagna soup. It took me about 45 minute to get everything ready and into a crock pot to simmer all day was the lasagna sauce (my own recipe: tomato sauce; paste; seasonings/spices; garlic; onion, ground beef) + Italian sausage (first time I tried that)
Then it will be buffet style later with gluten and gluten free noodles for the guests... hopefully this will work well?


And onto other things:

WRITERLY

I am almost done!! I have a few bits to add while I'm thinking about them - and then not thinking about them because ideas will always pop into my head when I'm NOT actively writing *grumbles* So as of Monday - I'll be done with NaNo and taking a few days off to reset the mind before jumping back into edits for STATIC

PUBLISHINGLY

We are at t-minus 12 days.... EEEEP!! I'm so excited and so nervous... and I'm working on a bit of fun for the beginning of December.

READERLY

Taking a little of that down time to get some reading started. i have a huge wish list stored for Christmas, which means I need to knock out some more now (twist my arm!)

OTHERLY

Getting ready for a crazy three weeks at work before the nice Christmas break - lots to finish in a short period of time... but if you haven't noticed, I tend to thrive a bit on chaos - so I say bring it! (remind me I said that then I'm losing it later)

So short and sweet - as I have rooms to vacuum, food to prepare and workouts to starts... and obviously words to pound

Chat soon!

Last NaNo Crock Pot for the year...

It doesn't seem possible, but we have reached that point in the month - where one more crock pot meal should hold everyone until Thanksgiving - and then there will be leftovers until Christmas.... just kidding - but not really. And if I'm being honest, I'm a little sad that this is the last one - because that means this story is almost over - well in theory it is, but that's another post for another day.

So for this week, we are going to make a Cool Ranch Crockpot Chicken.

Of all the recipes, this one has the least number of ingredients, but it also takes the last amount of time to cook...which is great - as long as I remember to start it in a few hours!

You can find the recipe here and be sure to check back on Wednesday to see how this one turned out!

Now back to pounding keys...

Wanderings of Wednesday...

Short and sweet - this week's crock pot - the bourbon chicken was really good. I was afraid that it would be dry and  maybe too full of flavor - but it wasn't either. And leftovers have been yummy!
Now onto other things:

Writerly
NaNo is continuing to roll - some days are easy and I can knock out 8K+ - others I'm fighting to break 1K... I'm hoping to break 40K tonight so I'm in the home stretch to that goal of 50K but feel fairly certain my story will need more then 50K words - but I have time... hehehe
This NaNo continues to amaze me - some times the characters are all but screaming at me - and that's usually when I've stopped for the night and am just about to fall asleep... wow - totally just remembered that I had typed myself a note in my phone that I never reviewed...three cheers for plot help!

Publishingly
I'm trying to spread the word - let people know ETCHED is coming... I'm getting other pages on this Blog ready for release. I'm hoping to get to some local bookstores in the next few days and set up signings and other fun stuff.

Readerly
Same books - little progress... maybe I'll get them finished this weekend...

Otherly
So because of NaNo and student council conferences - I'm behind on grading and housework... and with Thanksgiving coming up, I'm trying to use my time really wisely...

So this will remain short - with the idea that in the future, I'll have more time to really expound on writer life and read life... so until then, keep writing.

Put it in the pot!

So this week's Crock Pot meal will not be prepared until Tuesday.... have I mentioned November
hates me? Not really - but maybe a little.

I have been neck deep in words - pounding keys as quickly as the story will unfold because life just has too many things planned for me - which is why Tuesday will be crock pot day!

Last Christmas, my brother got me a programmable crock pot - the problem that I had previously run into was that I left really early for work - and most meals only needed 7-8 hours to cook - I was usually gone at least 10 (on a good day) - therefore a programmable crock pot + freezer prepped meal = yummy food that was completely over cooked or dried out.

The recipe? Slow Cooker Bourbon Street Chicken - you can get the recipe I'm using via https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=2034705

This particular meal has been prepped and waiting in the freezer for a few weeks. I just bought the last ingredient - Apple Juice at the store - so we're ready to go!

Now let's hope I remember to actually (1) put it in the pot (2) turn the pot on... both have not happened before and I didn't even have NaNo to blame...

Wish me luck...
Now get back to writing!

Where were were 11/11/15

So before I begin this week in review, I wanted to do a follow up on Sunday's Crock Pot - it turned out well. I did end up adding extra garlic and a few other spices because I was afraid it would taste a bit bland, and the end result was very good. Naturally, my daughter was disappointed in it's lack of Disney appearance (told you she would expect to see the mouse himself...) I did try to appease her by serving it in her beloved Minnie bowl, which I think saved me this time. Next time I make it, she will be expecting the stew in the mouse... and now, for our regularly scheduled program:

WRITERLY Things:

• NaNoWriMo 2015 is still happening, but this novel is behaving differently then the others - but if I think about it, each year was some how different.
• Two years ago DEMANDED to be written grabbing huge hours of my time where I just pounded keys and the words flowed
• Last year, the characters wouldn't shut up and while I anticipated 60K, they weren't done until closer to 82K - and I'll be the first to admit that the ending is sub-par and major revisions will be needed when I return to that story.
• This year, however, wants to be written, but it isn't in a great hurry, which sort of bothers me. The characters are there, but they aren't demanding my time like the others, and the story is happy to give me small chunks each night, which honestly works better as a form, but because I'm used to the crazy write until I can't see approach, this calmer approach feels awkward. BUt I tell my students that they have to let the story speak, and listen to what it wants to do - and I like to follow my own example, so I am cranking less then 2K a night - some days I'll have a little rush and hit over 4K, but that's about it. I am ahead of the curve having broken 20K last night, but I was hoping to be further along in the story - 
• I know what's happening - the plot is there - but its just taking it's time.
• Another learning experience - which may make this first draft more user friendly for edits. Where as the others sort of threw themselves at me, this one is being a little more meticulous with pace and content...something to ponder as I move forward.

PUBLISHINGLY Things:

• One month from today ETCHED will be on the shelves - GAH! That's crazy! Are you ready? I'm not!
• The Goodreads giveaway ended last night, and I was so honored to see 879 people signed up for my giveaway. 
• The business card debacle has been fixed, and I am working at slowly disbursing them in society... 

READERLY Things:

• I am still working on the same books as last week, as I expected given that NaNo takes up so much of my time this month... 

OTHERLY Things:

• Tomorrow I leave for the PASC State Conference with a great group of student leaders - some of whom have not gone before and others who this will be their last trip to the state conference before graduation, so this past week has been busy planning and preparing not only for the trip, but also to take care of everything that needs to happen in my absence...

And for now, I think that's all. I still have to pack, and clean, and NaNo before the night is up... and maybe get a workout in... and then there sleep..... ha!

NaNo Crock Pot

I had what I thought was a great idea to share some easy and yummy recipes this month to ensure that people lucky enough, or unfortunate enough - to live with a writer during NaNoWriMo would still be able to eat.

And then... I happened to google something and found that someone else had the same idea a few years ago. So I deleted this post and moved on with my life...

Until this morning when I prepped a crock pot meal I had never made before... If it ends up tasting even half as yummy as it already smells the prep time will be worth it. So I figured what the heck - nothing wrong with offering a bit of help - right?

So this week's crock pot meal was found via Facebook and Pinterest. It is: Disneyland's Slow-Cooked Beef Stew.

You can check out the meal yourself via https://www.pinterest.com/pin/554857616570406568/

Please note I will not be scooping out a hard roll to make a Mickey shaped bowl for the finished product - much to the dismay of my little girl... maybe another time.

I have tried to select meals that are easy to prep and will offer a decent meal plus provide left overs... to feed the family while I pound keys later this week.

It too me about half an hour - maybe a bit more to prep as I was trying to multitask without my daily allotment of caffeine via tea - but it still wasn't too messy. I did need two good size bowls as I prepared - one for the meat once browned so that I could saute the garlic and onions, and another for the potatoes, carrots and celery (I didn't add mushrooms - not a fan)...

I'll be sure to share how the finished product turned out once it's done cooking!

Do you have a favorite? Please share and I'll pass it along!

Where were we....

So here's my attempt to be more consistent with blogging and communication in general...

All things WRITERLY:

• Nano is in full swing, and yet again, this year is different. I really like the general premise for this year's stab at 50K, but my characters are not being as cooperative as usual. They're there - but they aren't as loud and ready to feed me information as they usually are. Usually, I just have to sit back and keep up. This year, its really like pulling teeth, but I think I've made a bit of progress on that front. I actually printed out a calendar for the month of July - (when my story takes place) and mapped my characters movements during that month. See, the story is really based on travel and near misses so I needed to make sure I knew where they were going. I'm hoping now that I have a timeline, they will be a little more willing to cooperate.... We'll see how that goes.
• I am also hoping (hahaha) to continue working edits for STATIC, which I'd LOVE to start querying after the new year... if its' ready. I know it needs a major rewrite in the beginning, but I'm hoping the rest isn't too messy. Time will tell!

All things PUBLISHINGLY:

• Just over a month from launch for ETCHED - eep! I have I mentioned EEEEPP!! 
• I'm sort of enjoying watching the giveaway on Goodreads. I think I feared that no one would want a copy of my book - so to see the number slowly climbing is exciting.
• And I'm navigating the new author waters, and have found and rammed into my first moment of live and learn... first of many, I'm sure. And while this one isn't major, it's annoying and will one day be laughable.
• So I pondered the idea of what to do for marketing with giveaway and other paraphernalia, and after tossing around the idea of stickers and totes, decided cute little business cards with the cover of the book and a cool tag line on the front and all relevant launch info on the back would make a lot of sense. Pass them out - they get stuck in a wallet or pocket and hopefully end up in front of a computer and not in the washer... And they came in the mail today - like a kid in a candy store - until I opened the packaging.
• They look GREAT - until you turn them over... and then they still look great. BUT (yes, there's a catch) apparently they don't flip the way you would expect a card to flip - like a book - they flip on the short end. Like I said, more annoying then disastrous, but I've learned a lesson - make sure it's EXACTLY as it should be. I did proof it, and it looked great, but I didn't pay attention to the layout of front and back

All things READERLY:

• I'd love to say I'm being really dedicated to my reading, but I'm not.
• I've been working on GIRL ON A TRAIN for several days, and enjoying it, but there so much else going on I can't really focus on reading - sad commentary on my November

ALL things OTHERLY:

• Anything else happening? Yup - but it can wait for another time - because I need more of it, and I have a book that needs my attention - after I put the little one to sleep. 

So until later -

It's November and that means Chaos!!!!

I love November, but not because that means the holidays are right around the corner.
I love November, and not because the house is now filled with bowls of Halloween Candy.

I love November because that means NaNoWriMo!

It is the time of year where writers all over the world scramble to knock out at least 50K of a new idea - and I'm right there with them!

I've been sitting on this idea so long that to finally let it free is empowering - and a little terrifying.

So here's the all those crazy writers out there who are trying to add writing a novel to their already full lives - good luck!