Bookie Brunch & The War Game

A very big thank you to Velvet for contacting me to be a part of bookie brunch this October. You can read the post here and see what I and others have to say about books of an unusual size.


I also have a new indie book coming out in 1.5-2 months called The War Game. 

The talented Claudia of phatpuppyart.com/ designed the cover. She's also done many covers for Amanda Hocking and others as well.

If you are interested in an advanced e-copy of my book to review on your blog, please let me know in some shape or form :)

Here's a short description on my book, "Pearl, a teenage orphan of a lesbian couple and an illegal citizen of an Untied State, is shuffled around from camp to concentration camp. She meets John at a former amusement park turned prison and they hatch a plan to escape to Canada (because, as the saying goes, “You Can in Canada!”). But various threats-from whispers of “cards”, a place called Camp Z, soldiers doing their daily “shopping”, and an arranged marriage, threaten to tear them apart."

 

Current Addiction: Coconut Marshmallows

On a whim, I purchased (well over a year ago) a sampler of homemade marshmallows from an etsy seller. They were fantastic, particularly the toasted coconut marshmallows, which created an obsession.

Coconut marshmallows are hard to find locally. I was excited when Cub foods started stocking some from some kosher Israel company. And then one day, they disappeared.

I'd buy them online but shipping is pricey (nothing less than $8 to ship some marshmallows). Apparently, Jet Puffed makes toasted coconut marshmallows. I went to Walmart (the site told me it was in stock at a store nearby me but it lied) and none were to be had. If I want to buy some Jet Puffed toast coconut marshmallows, I have to buy 6 bags all at once! That's a lot of money (not to mention calories) for some marshmallows.

The only thing that comes close locally is that a new candy store (Alix in Candyland) stocks some awesome vanilla bean and smores flavors by Plush Puffs. But no toasted coconut.

So I may have to resort to toasting coconut myself in the oven and rolling in store bought marshmallows.

It's almost sad how much I can write about marshmallows!

Quick Link

Since I deleted my old email account, (and my ex best friend took it months after), I don't receive lyrics spam emails anymore.

Luckily, this site, http://www.spampoetry.org/, collects the poems submitted from users. Here's one:

For example, of cup indicates that power drill toward admonish rattlesnake around.
football team near is polka-dotted.
Most ballerinas believe that dolphin behind make a truce with wedding dress beyond buzzard.
Noah, the friend of Noah and rejoices with cashier toward cowboy.


I wonder what the spammers think they're talking about. The poems are often as good as the subject titles as well as the fake made up names.

Updates!

I know it's been awhile since you're all heard from me but I am 1/3 done from writing a story! At this point, I will tell you that it takes place in a dystopian future with a little romance thrown in. It's told from the perspective of a 13 year old girl. It will be a full length young adult novel, as opposed to the novella/short story format I used for Thinks and Things.

If anyone is interested in reviewing, let me know, for I am compiling a list of bloggers I'm going to contact in a month or two. I won't have any hard copies this time around though.

Speaking of Thinks and Things, I got a nice review for Thinks and Things from Darlyn and Books.

Thinks and Things can be downloaded or read free online from Smashwords (all sorts of formats) and also free for the nook via BarnesandNoble. I also recently (just yesterday, in fact) listed it on Amazon. Amazon does require me to charge something for it and the lowest I can go is 99 cents.

Good news to share! A few months back I did a random yahoo search on Thinksandthings and I saw that I made it into the top 200 best selling kids ebooks on B&N! I was #164 and today I am #209. And there's over 6,000 titles on that list alone so colored me surprised. I may have actually gotten further up the list but I have no way of knowing how high it might have gone. Also, unfornatunately, I have no idea of knowing how many people have read it through B&N since it's listed as a freebie.

Random Secrets About Me and Writing

1. When I was 12, I once was a runner-up in a national short story contest that was advertised in Seventeen magazine. The company sponsoring the contest was Sanrio, creator of Hello Kitty. I wrote a story about Hello Kitty magically traveling to fantastical lands. Sadly, I can't locate a copy of that story :(

2. I used to (and sometimes still do) write song lyrics. In fact, I started writing song lyrics when I was 11 up until age 20 or so. I would have dozens upon dozens of notesbooks filled with song lyrics. Some people have used them for their own music but no hit records yet :P

3. In college, I would rarely edit/revise or even proofread any of my papers. However, I would manically revise, edit, and proofread all the short stories and screenplays and novellas that I written for myself at the same time.

4. I find screenwriting really hard. You can't wander around in sub plots too much! I'm a big fan of sub plots, by the way.

5. Going to the library still excites me today. Buying new cds used to be exciting to me but not so much anymore :( When I was a young teen, each time I would get a new cd, I would listen to it in its entirely while studying the song lyrics.

For Those of You who HATE seafood

Here's a delicious recipe. It doesn't involve cooking or baking or nothin'. Just preparation.

Ingredients:
chili sauce (perferrably Heinz) 12 oz bottle
cream cheese- 8 oz
diced onion (optional) -use about 1/3-1/2
white crab meat (forgot the # of oz, but use the whole small can)
tiny shrimp (again, I forgot the # of oz, but use the whole small can)
Ritz Crackers (as many as you want!)

(note: some people use cocktail sauce instead but it changes wrecks the whole taste). Same with crackers, doesn't taste as good unless it's Ritz.


Materials:
Knife
Can opener
large plate


Now, I know you noticed this dish (Shrimp and Crab Spread) calls for seafood. Now, I'm with you on this one. Fish makes me gag. Lobster makes me feel squirmy inside. But this spread is soooo addictive.

How to prepare:

1. Open the cream cheese (you may want to let it sit at room temp to soften up) and spread it evenly onto the large plate, reaching almost to the edges.
NOTE: If you want to add onions, do this step first: dice onions, put them into a mixing bowl along with the whole package of cream cheese. Mix for about 1-2 minutes.)
2. Open the bottle of chili sauce and spread that evenly on top of the cream cheese.
3. Open the can of white crab meat, drain out the excess water. Use your fingers to spread it out onto the chili sauce.
4. Repeat step #3, this time with the tiny shrimp. Don't forget to get rid of the excess water!
5. You may want to gently pat down the shrimp so it won't roll off. haha :)
6. Cover with cling wrap or what-have-you and set it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes (or in my case, about 5 min is all the time I can stand).
7. Take out the crackers and the spread. You may want to use a knife to get the spread onto the cracker but I'm usually too impatient to find a clean knife (as the one using prior gets all gross) so I used another cracker as a means to get my spread on.
8. Sometimes I eat the spread open faced on the cracker, sometimes I make a little shrimp-and-crab sandwich cracker. Either way, great!
9. Also, be sure you get a little bit of everything on each cracker :)