Monthly Archives: April 2013

Grass is Greener

By | |
Comments Off on Grass is Greener

I have grass is always greener syndrome. It is a serious affliction. There might be a cure. But I might or might not want it depending on whether I like where I’m at. See, serious frickin’ problem going on here.

I like my yoga classes. I like how I feel after I get done with yoga. I feel centered and more able to deal with the day to day bullshit that swings my way on a daily basis. Recently I got a new yoga teacher for my Monday/Wednesday class. His teaching style is really different from my old teacher. And I want my old teacher back. My new teacher is way too into the yoga philosophy and is very zen-like in his teaching style. Now, I know what I want. But I also know what the universe gave me. I am betting on some level that I have the yoga teacher I have right now because he is what I need. But my mind is doing its crazy dance of telling me I don’t. It is a form of resistance. And really when it comes to the power of the universe shoving something down my throat, resistance is futile. I should gracefully give in. But I will probably bitch and bitch until the light bulb goes off and I figure out why I have the yoga teacher I have at this moment. And then I’ll be all grateful. Until then, I will whine about wanting my old yoga teacher back.

I want to exercise outside. I do yoga inside. My brain is trying to tell me to skip my yoga class in favor of doing my own thing outside. now this could be in response to my resistance to my new teacher. Or it could be that I am just trying to get out of yoga. Or it could be that I really want to get outside. The thing is that if I do skip yoga, there is no guarantee that I will actually get outside. Plus, I could just go at anytime. Before or after I do yoga. So why does my mind tell me to skip yoga? I think it is because gremlins live in my brain and they live to mess with me. Plus, I have spring fever. That combo is bad, bad, bad.

We moved from Alaska to where we are now. I wanted to move. Now, I want to move back. Life back in Alaska was comfortable. I knew all the best places to eat, shop, get a drink, etc. Plus, I was able to work at will in my profession. Not writing, my legal one. Here not so much. I don’t know the legal community and it is harder to pick up the odd job. And lawyerly communities are very high school girl cliche-ish. I know the minute we moved back, I would want to leave again. So when I was being a lawyer, I wanted to be a writer. Now that I am writing full-time, I want to be a lawyer. Go figure.

See, the grass is always greener. Always. Until you step over onto the field that looked so lush and find it is just like the one you came from or maybe even a little worse. Cause there are potholes in this field that you weren’t aware of or wasn’t readily visible when you were gazing at it longingly. Trying to talk my brain into being content exactly where I am is a huge monumental task. I have to work it every minute of every day. Don’t want the highs and lows like a pendulum swinging back and forth.  Just want the even keel of being content without too much variation in the emotional spikes in either direction. Maybe I need to go on a vacay. A little holiday. Or maybe I just need to find all of that right here at home.

Macadamia Nut Crusted Halibut with Mango-Papaya Salsa

By | |
Comments Off on Macadamia Nut Crusted Halibut with Mango-Papaya Salsa

One day it was cold. The next day it was warm. Today is gonna be hot. Hot I tell you.

Spring makes me want to get out my shorts and just be outside. Seriously I get itchy feet to not spend anytime indoors. I think it is stir crazy madness from being indoors all winter. If I didn’t have yoga during the winter, I’m sure I would commit mass homicide. Ya know?

The other thing spring does is make me think about food. Okay, maybe I think about food all the time. I like to cook. I like to eat. I like those two things together even more. Even when I travel, the first thing I do is look up different restaurants, holes in the wall and generally check out the food sitch. Museums, places of interest and what the region is known for are secondary. I gotta say I was in HEAVEN when I went to Italy. Umm, cause, ummm, there was just so much damn delicious food at really beautiful places next to museums and places of interest. And the wine, sheesh. Nirvana. Seriously.

But I digress. Spring. Food. Got it. So spring makes me think of things like pesto sauce and pasta primavera. It makes me want to trade in my beef and lamb for scallops and fish. Lighter food for warmer weather. Makes perfect sense to me. Not just salads and the like. But delicate sauces, seafood, chilled white wine. Lets not forget the fruit. Spring makes me crave fruit. Juicy berries. Pineapples and tropical good things.

Having lived in Alaska, I got a lot of great seafood. And for those of you that don’t know, Alaska has GREAT restaurants with really innovative chefs. They do amazing things with seafood. What is even more interesting is the close connection that Alaskans have with Hawaiians. Guess it’s cause we are all so remote from the rest of the country. Both states are separated by miles of stuff before we can get to the next state. So we stick together in lots of ways.

One of the best ways is the fusion of food. The recipe I am posting below is from a restaurant in the Kenai Peninsula, home of the best fly fishing in the world. A place where you can catch record breaking salmon. It is considered the playground of South Central Alaska. And it is. The restaurant is Mykel’s. If you get a chance to go, do. You won’t be disappointed. In either Mykel’s or the Kenai. Seriously.

This recipe combines fish with fruit. Alaska with Hawaii. It says spring. It taste delicious. Fabulosity all rolled together. They make it with a Mango-Papaya Salsa. I prefer a spicy Strawberry one. Both are good. Enjoy.

 

By: Taz

Macadamia Nut Crusted Halibut with Mango-Papaya Salsa

4 6- to 7-oz. Halibut Filets
1 cup Macadamia Nuts—crushed
3/4 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp. Water (mixed with eggs)
Flour for dredging
Peanut Oil for sautéing
Seasoning Salt

Place macadamia nuts and panko in food processor bowl fitted with a work blade. Using pulse, crush nuts and panko together until you achieve a medium coarseness. Do not over grind nuts or you will extract oil. Beat eggs with water until smooth. Heat a large saute pan or skillet on medium-low to medium heat. Lightly season halibut, dredge in flour, shake off excess then dip in egg mixture, then place in macadamia nut mixture and coat well. Press nuts on and lightly shake off excess. Add oil to pan and place halibut in pan. Let brown 3 to 4 minutes then turn over. Continue cooking halibut until golden brown on both sides—approximately 6 to 8 minutes total time. If using thick filets (one inch or more), finish cooking in a 350 degree F oven for 7 to 10 minutes. Serves 4.

Mango & Papaya Salsa—Hawaiian Style

1 Papaya—peeled, seeded and cut into small H-inch pieces
1 Mango—peeled, seeded and cut into small H-inch pieces
3 Tblsp. Sweet Chili Sauce
1 can Papaya Nectar (11.5 oz. can)
1 tsp. Mint Flakes—crushed
2 tsp. Chopped Pickled Ginger
1/4 tsp. Salt
Place cut fruit into a mixing bowl, add all other ingredients and mix well. Let set two hours. Can be made up to five days in advance. Serve at room temperature or just warm (do not let boil–fruit will fall apart).

Strawberry Jalapeño Salsa

15-20 strawberries, chopped into small even dice
1/3 medium red onion, finely minced
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
handful of cilantro, well rinsed and finely chopped
1 Jalapeño, finely minced, seeds and all.  (leave the seeds out for less heat)
juice of 1 lime
fresh cracked black pepper

Mix everything in a bowl.  Chill until ready to serve.
~about one hour before serving

 

Music Mondays

By | | ,
Comments Off on Music Mondays

Starting out the week can be hard. After the laid back weekend, being a work week is for most people, me included, a craptastic thing to do. But I think that music can make anything better. So in my quest to find a way to make Mondays better, I decided to start the work week with a song or two.

Yesterday I went shopping for some trees for my yard. I no longer live in a housing development that is regulated by a homeowners association, which is GREAT. But I do live in a city that has pretty strict regulations about how many trees have to be in my yard. I will take the tree regulation over the crazy homeowners association Nazis any day of the week. I got two apple trees cause I love apples. they are dwarf trees so they will not grow as big a regular apple trees. And I had to buy two because they aren’t self-pollinating. The bees in my areas haven’t been decimated by whatever is going on with bees in other parts of the country so I am GRATEFUL for that. The bees will pollinate my trees and I will hopefully have apples. Not expecting them this year but maybe next year I will get a small crop of them.

I also got two cherry blossom trees. Because they are a big deal where I live now. We even have cherry blossom festivals and the like. So I decided to get in the spirit and get a couple for my yard.  Again, I am hoping that next year my trees will bloom as the festival gets underway. Like they belong to the group of other cherry blossom trees.

Not wanting to stop there and because I had 5 trees die last year, I picked up a red leaf maple as well. I wanted my tree leaves to have some variety. Green leaves, yellow leaves and red leaves now adorn my yard. And I don’t mean for fall when all the tree leaves naturally change color. But during spring and summer as a natural part of their foliage costume. I did this because one of the things I really like about fall is the changing color of the leaves. But I wanted it for the whole growing season. And with the different types of trees available that have different color leaves, it totally is.

So how does this all tie into music you ask. Well, as I was browsing different green houses and tree farms yesterday, they had music piping through the area. And some oldies but goodies were playing. It made shopping for trees that much more fun. And what should be playing but some Red Hot Chili Peppers. Awesomeness right? It got my Sunday going GREAT. So I am looking at my new trees this morning and I have some RHCP playing as I look at them. Somehow as I look at my trees and listen to some music, Monday doesn’t seem so bad.

Enjoy Music Mondays.

 

 

Smutty Sunday

By | | ,
Comments Off on Smutty Sunday

So I thought I would start a regular feature. A wrap up of the week by giving some suggestions about reading material. Books I like. If you like them too, well there you go.

For my SF/F fans, I’ve been digging on Kate Elliot. I first read her Crown of Stars books a while back. They have stayed with me. She had such a nice pace in her works. I haven’t read her newest Spiritwalker books but I’m going to. Not a lot of sex in her books. Just great world building. Which takes no small amount of talent. She also has great pacing. When I read, there is in invisible metronome that ticks in my brain. Good books have a certain pace. Words are carefully chosen to make that come alive on the page. Like poetry almost.

I’ve been on a motorcycle kick lately. I don’t know which came first, my love of bad ass dudes on motorcycles or Kristen Ashley. Cause her books have a lot of them. I just finished her first Chaos series book and it ROCKED. As usual. Can’t wait for the next one. Her mountain man series had a motorcycle rider in one of them, Sweet Dreams. And then Motorcycle Man had the ultimate bad boy rider. AWESOMESAUCE. Her books are contemporary romances with a lot of drama. And now she has a whole series dedicated to badass boys on their toys! Shew, color me a happy happy girl.

For the people that like a little paranormal romance, I read and reread Nalini Singh’s Archangel books. It just has a whole lot of goodness in them. Lots of magical realism. Magical realism is concept that is being bandied about a lot in writerly circles. It just means that the world building in the book just accepts the supernatural elements regardless of what they are without question or explanation. Kind of like an alternate reality that just is the way it is no matter how much it looks like our reality in the here and now. So in her books, angels and vampires and hunters just are. Always have been, always will be. But her angels and vampires aren’t the sparkly kind- thank christ. They are just smokin’ hot alpha-y and the back stories ROCK.

To break in with a book about spirituality might be a little jarring. But I am going to do it anyway. Hey, a girl can’t live on smut alone. Ya know? So if it isn’t offensive to you, your god, your beliefs or whatever. Check out Ram Dass’s Paths to God. The book rocks. Lots of insights that aren’t particular to one kind of belief system. It is broad enough to touch on lots of different areas. Cause there are a multitude of paths. And really none of us know which is the right one. Besides, what if there is really more than one. It could happen.

Now on to my smut rec for the week. Been thinking a lot about Tymber Dalton’s Reluctant Dom book. Yes there is sex in it. Yes there is bdsm in it. Yes there is menage in it. A trifecta of goodness in my opinion. But there is also a sad story. A journey of discovery. And an evolution of character. Happiness comes to all of us when we can take such a journey with the characters in the book. And while there is kink in there, there is more than kink. Which to my mind is the best kind of kink book. Even a book that is about sex has to have more than just sex. Ya know?

Now that’s a wrap. Have a great week.

Sex in Books

By | | ,
Comments Off on Sex in Books

Yesterday  I posted a little something something on a writers’ forum about sex in books. Yup I said sex. The questions that was asked was who my reader was. I am reposting my answer below:

 

People who don’t think that sex should be excluded from every genre but erotica. And people who don’t think that just because people are sexing it up in a book, it is erotica. It can be erotica. But it can also be the adult version of sf/f, horror, mystery, etc. It amuses me that whole weirdness that exist by genre writers. Ummm, people in the old west had sex. It’s a western whether the sex is portrayed. But now all of a sudden because we put some sex into it, it’s an erotic western. Ummm, okay. I’m actually good with that. I can then choose those books that have adults writing them for other adults to read doing adult like things. Okay, I’ll confess I was a pervy teenager as well. I probably read those adult books back then. Okay, Okay. I did. Hmmm, maybe that’s why I like to write sex in all my fiction regardless of genre, well except those that are actually targeted for kids. Cause that would just be gross.

 

So I guess, I’m the target audience. Perverted adults that like to read about sex in all genres. lol

 

Now, there are a lot of things to talk about in that post. One, authors are weird. And so are the people that categorize books. Sex makes people feel all CRA-CRA in western culture. Well, in a lot of other cultures too. I promise, weirdness about sex is not limited to America or Japan. Lots of people in lots of different cultures have lots of weird hang ups about sex. In print and in real life. Genre fiction writers are as prone as everybody else in the whole my crap is better than your crap and I want to point that out so I can make myself feel like I am superior to you or make you, at least, feel inferior to me. Cause, they whisper, you write dirty things. I write in the great genre of mystery, sci-fi, etc. etc. etc. insert genre of your choice here. Just another form of discrimination peeps. That’s all it is. So move long. Yeah?

And two, not all books with sex in them are erotica. Seriously. Erotica to me is if sex is the main theme throughout the book. The genre is secondary. While genre books written for adults have whatever the genre is as primary with the sex as secondary. The sex happens in those books um, cause, um, there are adults in those books. And adults have sex. I promise it is true. Adults have sex. Including it in writings is just more honest. To me at least. Getting squicked out about sex in a book whether you are the writer or the reader is really juvenile. Seriously.

I mean how do you think we have kids in real life? Sex. How do you think little aliens can crop up in fiction? Sex. In every genre, to even have characters to talk about, there first was sex to make that character possible. And if there are adults in the books, they are probably having sex too. Cause it is a biological imperative. It really, really is. Food, shelter, sex. I promise there are lots of studies on the biological imperative of species continuation. So really, it’s not just erotica, it’s science. lol

Alrighty, talking about all this smex, smut, and borderline porn, as erotica is portrayed, is making me want to go write. Laters.

Rinse and Repeat

By | |
Comments Off on Rinse and Repeat

So I was thinking about genre fiction and all the tropes, cliches and repeats that go on with it. There are so many stereotypes when it comes to books and writings.

Like Literary fiction is by smart peeps for smart peeps. And it is usually about nothing. Nothing happens. It’s just a telling.

In Romance, there are certain story lines that get used over and over again. Like secret babies or marriages of convenience or boss-secretary. There are certain things within the story line that gets reused like dish rag. Like virgins who are old enough not to be or motorcycle gang members who are really misunderstood heroes.

In SF/Fantasy, there is usually a quest. To find something or someone without which or without whom the world would end as they know it.

Nothing in fiction, or in real life for that matter, is new. It has been done a thousand times before. But for some reason, novels cycle these in great numbers. Like a thousand books about rock stars. Or a gazillion books about millionaires who fall in love with broke waitresses. Or orbs that must be found at the end of the quest.

I get that repeating verbatim, aka word for word, another person’s words is plagiarism. But what about all these recycled and repeated themes, tropes and story lines? No, I am not saying that using such is considered plagiarism. What I am saying that using such is a necessary part of writing fiction. I bet google searching will find your book has already been written. Your story has already been told. But, and this is a big but, I hope that you have written it better. That in your telling, something fresh and something new emerges. Even though it has been done a thousand times before. I also hope that your characters are the ones that are memorable. Fresh, new and defines that particular trope, cliche or theme.

I like reading genre fiction. I see the patterns in the writing. But I like it anyway. What I don’t like is laziness on the part of the writer, falling back on the trope and not making it theirs. Even if a theme has been written a thousand times, I appreciate that certain something that takes that trope and makes it their bitch. Now that’s talent. To take something old and make it new.

Carina Press Tweet Pitch

By | | ,
Comments Off on Carina Press Tweet Pitch

I just ran across a phenomena. Something for which I am sure Twitter is responsible. I have been glued to my computer screen reading the author pitches being made on Twitter. Carina Press, a digital first epubisher, is taking pitches from both agented and unagented writers.

I am totally getting into the story pitches. There have been several that I as a reader want to read. Wish they were already available. Then there were a couple that I as a writer wished I had thought of. It had been completely gratifying to browse all the cool ideas being thrown out by all these creative types.

It is also a learning tool. I can see the difference between a good pitch, a bad pitch and the really great pitches. Awesomeness all rolled into one.

And yes, I opened a Twitter account just so I could vicariously live the life of an editor at a publishing house. lol Not really. But still, it has been an eye opening experience.

If you have a Twitter account and a completed manuscript, check out #carinapitch on Twitter. check it out even if you don’t because it is really fun and a good way to waste a few minutes of your day.

Me, I have wasted many minutes of my day. But it has also not been a waste because if I ever get a chance to pitch, I will have learned something from the carina pitch today.

Sunshine

By | | ,
Comments Off on Sunshine

No this post isn’t about weather. Although it could be. This is about the manuscript I am working on at the moment. Gonna be a mid-length May-December romance. And not the cougar kind where the woman is older than the man. Nope. This is your plain jane, average, run-of-the mill kind where the guy is older than the girl. Not creepy older. About 12, 13, 14 years older. He is also the boss but she is not the secretary. lol  I like to write my chicks to be more. I like reading about heroines that are smart, sexy, and fun. So that’s how I write ’em. My girl in this story is a forensic accountant. And she ROCKS.

So I was listening to a CD I have. It is a chill-out CD. Cause I can’t write to just anything. It has to groove a little. Ya know? But not too groovy or I wanna dance. And not too slow or I wanna sleep. Too much beat makes me crazy and not enough is distracting. I need that stuff that is in the middle. So I am listening to the CD and what is playing but Stryke’s Aint No Sunshine. This is a chill out version. And it is about an older guy messing around with a younger girl.

I am thinking that in the song, the age of the girl is really young. Don’t get all crazy. It’s just a song. Although it happens in real life, my story is about a woman who is around 27 or 28. See, not crazy young. I am not a big fan of real young girls in real life being hit on by old dudes. It squicks me out. But an adult woman and a slightly older adult man? Well, that makes a good romance story line, no?

So for your listening pleasure and for mine to keep the story line in my head as I write is Stryke’s Aint No Sunshine.

Brain Fried

By | | ,
Comments Off on Brain Fried

You know, after you’ve written so many thousands of words when the word well has been fried all out. I need a few days to reset. I wrote almost 20K words in like three frickin’ days. Not only are my fingers tired but so is the rest of me. So I just cruised the internet yesterday. Set up a goodreads account. Well I’ve had a goodreads account for a while but it was mostly just blank. But I finally decided to do something with it. Sheesh. Who knew being all author-ly was so much more than getting words on a page.

Gonna try and get some words out today. Well see. What I really want to do is read somebody else’s stuff. Got a few books that just downloaded to my kindle. They are so burning a hole in the back of my eyeballs. I keep glancing over to it lying all innocently beside me. Enticing me by just quietly waiting until I can’t take it anymore and click the on button.

Getting lost in the words of other is a good thing. Plus, the authors I want to read are some of my favs. Kristen Ashley, Lauren Dane and Cynthia Eden. How can I resist all that goodness? I can’t. I am weak. Weak I tell you.

So I like Kristen’s work cause she writes the BEST heroes. All that alpha male yumminess makes me squirm. In a good way. They are all badass and sweet. I like the way they talk. I like the way they walk. I like the way they do just about everything. They don’t mess around. Once they’ve made up their minds to have the girl, they HAVE the girl. Mmmmm.

I like Lauren’s work because her heroines ROCK. Straight shooters the lot of them. No bullshit. They don’t give it. They don’t take it. And… this is a BIG and… they are not too stupid to live women. I get so tired of chicks in fiction being too frickin’ stupid to be anyone I want to know, admire or read about. Don’t get that in Ms. Dane’s books. Her heroines kick ass.

Cynthia writes awesome chicks and awesome dicks. lol Plus, her books are filled with things that go bump in the night. What’s not to love? I love me some werewolves, vampires and all sorts of paranormal peeps. Her writing is tight, her story lines tighter and there is ALWAYS great sex and a satisfying ending.

So that’s why my kindle is like crack to me. When I am not putting my words to page, I WANT and NEED to read other’s word on pages. I choose to pick authors that are GREAT at what they do and offer me characters that I want to read about.

Now, off to pick up the kindle crack.

Reasons to Celebrate

By | |
Comments Off on Reasons to Celebrate

So I had a pretty productive month in March. I decided last year about mid way through to start taking my writing seriously. As a result, I buckled down and just began to write. It took me almost 8 months to write my first novel. 86,000-ish words never felt like so many in my life. And I love to read long books so I was so certain that writing a large book would be easy peasy. Not so much. But eventually I got it done. Finished. So happy, I could weep tears of joy, ya know?

So that’s my first thing to celebrate in March, I sent out my finished manuscript to a couple of publishers and am hoping to hear back. Waiting is such the bitch. Gah.

I also finished and submitted two novellas/novelettes. Short little things. One was around 18,500-ish words and the other a little over 11,000 words. I submitted them both.

Things two and three to celebrate, no?

Related to one of the things above, I just got word that the 11,000-ish word thing was just accepted for publishing. How awesome is that?!?!?

So a BIG reason to celebrate number four. Like party celebrate. I know that maybe not everyone would be as happy as I am over this. I know it is a smallish work in the grand scheme of works but still, it ROCKS.

Thing number 5 to celebrate is that I finished a 26,000-ish word novella that I also submitted last month. Still waiting to hear back on that one.

Which brings me to my thing number 6 to celebrate. I also did a very short story for an anthology call. A little under 3000-ish words. I won’t hear back from them for quite a while so no worries about that one.

So all in all, March was an absolutely FABULOUS month for me. Six submissions. One acceptance. Equals a really happy writer.