And the Un-Birthday gift goes to....

Because there wasn't a whole lot of entries in the Un-Birthday giveaway, I went and did a double-randomization drawing whereby I first printed out a list of the entrants:

Then, I snipped the names into strips and tossed them into a heap. Without looking, I drew out names one by one and numbered them by the order in which I drew them out:

Oddly enough, #10 remained #10...

Lastly, the fun geeky part, I went to Random.org and asked the site to choose a number between 1 and 10. It picked....(click to enlarge photo)

So, that meant the prize goes to...

Woohoo!! Sylvia Liu, come on down! You're the next contestant on The Price is Right!!

Ooops, did I just let slip how much time I spent watching that show when I was growing up? I blame my mom who watched game shows to learn English (I was rather shocked at how many of the dirty jokes she understood on Match Game!), so I had to watch them with her. ;)

I'm glad these contributor's copies

that have been sitting in my file cabinet will go to a new home. Hope you'll like them, Sylvia!

Have I been promising to tell you about the Wild, Wild Midwest SCBWI Conference I attended that first weekend in May, which now seems like forever ago? I think I mentioned it was fabulous, didn't I? Well, it really was. I thought my head was going to explode with information, and new faces and names to memorize, and trying to fight off Morpheus, the powerful god of sleep.

Some of my favorite talks were given by the one and only Lin Oliver (co-founder of SCBWI), the incomparable Jane Yolen, and the uber talented Peter Brown, of whom I am now a huge fan-girl.

It was great to connect with old friends like Alina Klein, Kristi Valiant, Cindy Kump, and my lovely critique group partner, Jo Branham. And it was equally great to meet new friends like Sheralyn Barnes and Troy Cummings, who are both fabulous illustrators (you should check out Troy's new book, Giddy-Up, Daddy!), plus fellow 12x12'ers like Lori Mozdzierz, Susan Halko, Val McCammon, and Shannon Abercrombie!

There are some gems in those talks too...but I've still not gone through my notes yet, so can't share any interesting tidbits. Maybe next time?

Hope your week is a good one; I have grand plans for an extensive Spring cleaning. Woohoo.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

An Un-Birthday Giveaway + more!

This is the week I turn 49. Yeah...yay. You can tell I'm just beside myself with joy. Rather than focus on my unfortunate predicament, I'm going to hold an un-birthday giveaway (since today is not my birthday). I'll refer you to Alice in Wonderland in case you don't know what an un-birthday is.

It's not a spectacular giveaway (I'll save that for my 50th un-birthday), and those without younger kids probably won't be interested, but it's my un-birthday and I can give away what I want to. ;)

The prize will be 3 Ladybug and 2 Babybug magazines that have my poetry (I don't think they're my *best* poetry, but Cricket Magazine Group editors thought they were good enough to publish, and that's fine with me).

Since I have no idea how to work Rafflecopter, I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way: you'll have to just leave a comment, or email me if you can't seem to get Disqus to work for you, and I'll put all your names in a container and pull a name out. Or if I get really organized, I will pull all the names out to assign each a number and then use Random.org to pull out a number.

I'll do the drawing on Sunday evening, May 19th, 2013, and post the winner on Monday, May 20th. This is opened to everyone anywhere in the world, not just U.S. and Canada.

So, I lied last week when I said I'd have some thoughts on the SCBWI Midwest Conference to share this week. I decided to pre-empt it for the giveaway...which will give me a topic to post about next Monday, after announcing the winner.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! (Did that make me sound like a cheesy infomercial?)

If you write non-fiction picture for kids, or want to, there is going to be an event running July 1-7, 2013, called WoW Non-fiction (Week of Writing Non-Fiction). It's like a 7-day NaNoWriMo but for writing non-fic picture books. It's totally free to join in the fun, but, and here's where it deviates in a great way from NaNoWriMo, you get to win fabulous prizes such as writing classes, critiques, and more!! It's like getting something for nothing, and how often in life does that happen? I'll be participating and hope you will too.

Okay, now leave me a comment; tell me anything that's on your mind. :) I'll answer any and all questions and put you in the drawing for those 5 magazines.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Can't Sleep Without Sheep!

I just got back late last night from the most incredible time at the Wild, Wild Midwest SCBWI Conference, and then had to get up bright and early this morning to bring Son1 to his wisdom teeth extraction surgery. Plus, there was a mountain of laundry to do and bread to bake for breakfast tomorrow...which is my very boring way to say I'm too swamped to write a real blog post today.

BUT, one of my literary idols, Susanna Hill, has exciting news! Her cuter-than-kittens-videos picture book Can't Sleep Without Sheep will be out in ebook format!! I was thinking I'd get the e-version for myself but the paper copy for one of hubby's cousin's kids.

I'll be back next week with, hopefully, some thoughts on the conference. Have you had an incredible weekend too?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Oh, oh, pomelo!

Growing up in Hong Kong, the pomelo (Citrus maxima), sometimes spelled "pummelo," was my absolute favorite fruit among the tons of tropical fruits I could choose from. The book "Edible: An Illustrated Guide to the World's Food Plants" says it's greenish yellow in color, but I rarely see them in that color. Their specific (i.e. species) name is not maxima for nothing though. See how huge it is next to a grapefruit, which usually looks large.

Pomelo (left) and its puny grapefruit friend

The skin is seriously thick:

Mom used to cook the skin in a pork dish. It was always kind of bitter, but I liked it.

A wedge of pomelo in Son1's large hands

Our health food co-op recently started carrying pomelos so we had to buy some. They are every bit as tasty as I remembered them. If you get a chance to buy one, I recommend you try one! (And, no, I didn't write that line because it's National Poetry Month.)

What's your favorite fruit?

Next weekend, I'm going to the Wild, Wild Mid-West SCBWI Conference and meeting up with old and new friends! I think I may be posting my usual Monday post on Tuesday instead as I don't get home until late Sunday.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Don't know much about...picture books

Or at least that's what I used to sing. Now that I've completed a course called The Craft & Business of Writing Children's Picture Books offered by the lovely Mira Reisberg in her Picture Book Academy, I can say I know a good bit picture books. And I've been writing picture book stories too, hoping that one day, I can pen one that will be as timeless as "Ferdinand."

Next up, I'll be taking Mira and Marsha Diane Arnold's Writing Wonderful Character-Drive Children's Picture Books in May and Susanna Hill's Making Picture Book Magic and The Craft and Business of Illustrating Children's Picture Books in June!

If you want to write for children, I highly recommend taking any and all of those courses!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

So sad about the seedlings

My father-in-law wasn't the only one who passed away recently. When we got home from the funeral and burial on the East Coast, we discovered that nearly all of the seedlings hubby had started last month died too:

Luckily, the onions seem to be hanging on. Hubby was relieved because he didn't want to get the generic "yellow" or "red" onion sets from the local nurseries. There are very specific varieties that he likes (some for sweetness, some for long-term storage).

(Yes, those are ladybugs swarming all over them. The cursed Asiatic ladybugs sometimes nip off the seedlings.)

Remember what they looked like from this post? Ugh. I hope your spring planting, if you started one, is faring better!

My wonderful Facebook-based Picture Book Critique Group cheered me up considerably by sending this amazing lavender plant for condolences on my father-in-law's death. I've only been with them for a couple of months and they have been such a source of laughter, love, and invaluable information and support for me! I have really lucked out with all my critique groups. :)

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

The end of an era...

...sure feels like it to me, anyway.

My father-in-law passed away Monday, April 2nd. He had a bad bout of pneumonia but we had high hopes that he'd pull through because he had had many near-death experiences in the span of his 86 years, and always survived when medical professionals were certain he'd not make it.

I couldn't have asked for a better FIL. He accepted me into the family before anyone else did (possibly because I fell in love with his homemade sauerkraut at first bite).

One thing that we have bonded over recently is our love of writing. The last thing I got to tell him before he died was about my winning Susanna Hill's "in Just - spring" contest. He wanted me to give him a print out of the story next time we stopped in to see him, but he died 2 days later and I never got to share it with him.

There are so many good and funny stories I could tell you about him, but I'll wait for an anniversary of his death. Right now, we're still too sad and have too many funeral things to deal with.

My FIL in the center, surrounded his two sisters, his brother (left) and his favorite nephew

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Almond for all, and all for almond

...with apologies to Alexandre Dumas. :}

As I promised last week, this post will feature a recipe. I've tried a couple of different almond cookies recipes before. Each has merits. I couldn't say that I like this one more than the others, but it's the one I tried most recently. The kids and I liked it fresh. After being in the fridge for a few days (hubby kept it in the fridge at work as they have mice there), hubby said it tasted like a biscotti...a lot crunchier than it was when not refrigerated. So, you can try keeping it on the counter or the fridge, depending on whether you like crunchy.

Almond Cookies

2 1/2 C AP flour
1 C sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1 C butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/8 t salt
1 T almond extract
1/4 lb whole blanched almonds*

Preheat oven to 325F
In food processor, mix flour, sugar, butter, salt, and baking soda until the dough forms little balls**
Add eggs and extract***
Roll out dough on floured surface
Cut with 2 1/2" cookie cutter
Put on greased cookie sheet****
Place almond in center of each cookie
Bake for 25 minutes

*I never use blanched almonds. I like the way the brown skin adds color interest to my recipes.
**I would put all the dry ingredients first and pulse it a few times to mix before adding the butter
***that's all the recipe says; I combined the extract and eggs and poured the mixture in through the spout of the food processor
****I used parchment paper instead of greasing the sheet

One more note: I also finely grounded about a 1/4 C of almonds and added it into the flour mixture. Without this, the cookie is pretty much just an almond flavored shortbread, which is fine but is not almond-y enough for me. I also like speckled look my unblanched ground almonds gave the cookie. You may have to adjust the liquid amount to compensate for the extra dryness...or cut back on the amount of flour.

If you try this recipe, let me know how you like it! I'm still in search of the perfect almond cookie recipe. :)

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

I won!!

Remember my last post about entering a story for Susanna Hill's "In Just Spring" contest? Well, guess what? I bet you couldn't guess from the title. I won! Check out Susanna's hilarious post about it.

I'm doing the Snoopy happy dance! You're lucky you can't see me.

I have been so busy trying to do a bunch of writing (and getting far too distracted by Facebook once again...but it's mostly to do with the writing groups that I'm in, so it can't be helped), that I forgot I didn't have a post for today. Duh. Worked out fine anyway since I wanted to let you know how I did in the contest. ;)

So, I'll just show you that spring is really getting close to being here. It's already here, spring equinox wise.

Spring-y outside (pardon the reflections off the window)

Spring-y inside (these are around 2 weeks old)

Happily, Winter Storm Virgil didn't dump on us like it was forecasted. So, while there is some snow on the ground, it should be gone by mid or late week.

Next Monday, you'll get another mouth-watering recipe. Bet you can't wait! Has Spring come to your corner of the northern continent yet?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Susanna Hill's Spring Story Contest

If you have little ones who love picture books or are a picture book writer yourself and you've not been over to Susanna Hill's blog yet, you are missing out! Susanna is the author of some really fun picture books, like Punxsutawney Phyllis, and is an amazing teacher of writing children't lit too.

Plus, she runs these fabulous writing contest with great prizes! This time, the topic is Spring. The rules are in her blog post.

So today's post (which will be in lieu of Monday's post) is an entry for her contest. 

~~~~~

What Henry Knew (237 words) 

Henry spotted snowdrops unfurling their leaves and bobbing their little white heads.

“Look, Pappy,” he said to his grandfather. “Spring is here!”

Pappy scratched his white-as-snowdrops head. “I don’t know, Henry,” he said. “Sniff the air; does it smell like spring yet?”

Henry took a deep breath. “I smell snowy clouds and drippy icicles,” he said.

Pappy nodded. “Me, too.”

“Not spring yet,” said Henry.

The next morning, Henry awoke to a light snow covering everything, including the brave little snowdrops that had tried to bloom yesterday.

But the sun came out and melted the snow. Henry spied some pointy crocus leaves piercing the soil.

“Look, Pappy,” he said to his grandfather. “Spring is here!”

“I don’t know, Henry,” said Pappy. “Does it smell like spring yet?”

Henry took a deep breath. “I smell frosty air and frozen ponds.”

Pappy nodded. “Me, too.”

“Still not spring yet,” said Henry.

The next morning, Henry awoke to a frosted yard and icy plants. The crocus tips sparkled like glass.

But the sun came out and thawed the frost. Henry saw the golden glint of daffodils up by the house.

“Look, Pappy,” he said to his grandfather. “Spring is here!”

“I don’t know, Henry,” said Pappy. “Does it smell like spring yet?”

Henry took a deep breath. “I smell wriggly worms and muddy grass.”

Pappy smiled. “Me, too. And look, there’s a grape hyacinth!”

Henry knew Spring was really here!

~~~~~

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Oatmeal Cake

You can tell when I don't have much to write about in my boring (I like it that way!) life...and have been baking too much instead: I post recipes. Here's a favorite of mine. One of hubby's aunts made this for his dad when his dad was convalescing once and we all liked it a lot. It doesn't look glamorous, but tastes tons better than it looks.

Oatmeal Cake

Preheat oven to 350

grease and flour a 9x13 cake pan

Cake: 

1 1/4 C boiling water

Add 1 C quick oats to water

Set aside and cool to lukewarm

Put oats in mixer bowl

Add:

1/2 C butter or shortening

1 t vanilla

2 eggs

1 C brown sugar

1 C white sugar

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t salt

Mix and cream

Add 1 1/2 C flour and 1 t baking soda

Bake for 30-35 minutes

Baked but naked.

Topping: start about 15 minutes after cake is in the oven and have ready to spoon over hot cake

6 T butter

1 C flaked coconut

1 C chopped nuts

2/3 C brown sugar

1/4 C evaporated milk

1 t vanilla

The topping in progress.

Heat everything on low just enough to dissolve sugar and butter

Do NOT let boil

Spoon over hot cake

I use half the amt of sugar called for in the cake, but close to the full amountt for the topping.

The final cake in all its gooey glory!

Because it has oatmeal, I feel like we can eat it for breakfast...and we do. Dessert breakfasts are the best!

p.s. I had leftover cooked steel-cut oats I had to use up and it worked great in here in place of the rolled oats and hot water mixture.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Time travel, you say?

The media/writing guru Kristen Lamb once advised writers not to just blog about their writing. Readers are interested in all aspects of a writer's life and one would be well-advised to write about all the different aspects of one's life instead of solely about writing or reading or books in general or publishing.

I don't know if I've just not read enough writer's blogs out there, but nearly all the ones I have read talk pretty much about writing. I feel like I'm the only one wearing red at a little-black-dress cocktail party. It doesn't bother me to be different because I've always liked not following the crowd. But, I do wonder if that's the reason why I don't get visits from a lot of writers, besides a handful of writer-friends.

Well, today, I'm going to talk about writing! Sort of.

My talented Science-Fiction critique group, The Minnows - comprised of writers who have been published by e-zines and paper 'zines, won awards, as well as an author who has several books published by Samhain - has put together an e-anthology of time-travel tales called "Out of Time."

Each of us has written a time-travel tale inspired by unique perspective and sensibilities. This was an effort to challenge ourselves to write to a theme as well as to write for a charity. "Out of Time" is now available at Smashwords for 99¢ and all proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders.

If you like reading science-fiction, especially for a good cause, hop on over to Smashwords to get a copy!

To learn more about some of the other members of my critique group, check out the following links:
Janet Guy
K.P. Hornsby
Russell James
or find us on the Facebook page.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

One of these eggs is not like the others

Sung to that Sesame Street tune. Just look at that egg, next to its regular-sized compatriots:

Seriously, that dude barely fit into the egg carton:

I pity the poor hen that popped that one out of her butt. And, you might have guessed, it turned out to be a double-yolker!

We currently have 12 hens and 1 rooster, and they sport interesting names like most of our chickens had. The rooster is named "Average" because we had three roosters, and he was the "average one." Our hens are Dino, Tawny, Nazgul, Styrene, Tethys, Squinch, Popcorn, Grievous, Glaux, Brody, Ferrous, and Pigeon.

Pigeon is one that we'd hatched out in an incubator after a raccoon killed most of our chickens last August. She imprinted on Son1 and acts like a kid, following us around and trying to talk to us. She also jumps up on your arm by gesture-command"

We love our chickens the way some people love their dogs (the ones we don't eat, that is; the ones we do eat, we love them like people love their fancy Sunday dinners).

Do you keep chickens? Does your town (if you live in a city) allow you to keep chickens? Here're some great chicken resources for you to check out if you're in need of more info:
Community Chickens
Living Homegrown - this talks about all aspects of urban gardening, not just raising chickens, but Theresa has a lot of great posts about chickens too

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Pecan Tassies

If you've been a frequent visitor, you're probably thinking "whatever happened to the recipes??", aren't you?

Well, you're in luck...finally! I made pecan tassies the other day. Yum, yum. And I know you want some!

Pecan Tassies

1/2 C butter
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 C flour
3/4 C packed brown sugar
1 large egg
pinch of salt
1 T melted butter
1 t vanilla
3/4 to 1 C chopped pecans

Cream the butter and cream cheese and work in the flour until well-blended. Chill at least 1 hour.

Press small portions of the dough into miniature muffin pans to form shells. You should get 18-24 shells depending on the actual size of your pans.

Beat the brown sugar and egg together and blend in all of the remaining ingredients. Divide to fill each pastry shell 3/4 full. Optional: topping each with a pecan half.

pre-baking

Bake at 325F for 25 minutes.

baked

I doubled the recipe and filled up 24 of the small tins and 12 regular sized tins. The mini ones are super cute; try them!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams