Contest! Ozark Romance Authors

There is still time to submit to the Ozarks Romance Authors' Weta Nichols Contest as the deadline is extended to May 1st. Winners will be announced at our 2012 Annual Conference, scheduled to be held June 23, 2012, in Springfield, Missouri. Winners are not required to be present to win. Winners who are not in attendance will be notified via email, and prizes will be mailed promptly. We will also post the winners’ names, titles, city, and state, on our website.

Final Round judges are: Lucienne Diver, Author and Novelist with Knight Agency, and Cori Deyoe, agent with Three Seas Literary Agency. The real prize is having one of these women read your work!

Follow the link below to enter:

http://ozarks-romance-authors.com/

Some years ago, I said, out loud even, that I was not going to read another Nicholas Sparks book as long as I lived. I said it. I meant it. I did, although I don't take as much umbrage with Nicholas Sparks as I do with that Grisham guy, that guy, his writing is truly atrocious. I will give him the credit of allowing the little guy to win in the end, and that's good. I work for attorneys in my real life job, and so I get that angle. Other than that, hey dude writer man, you are not above being edited and if the reports I hear are correct, that your wife is your editor, well, you need to rethink that.

No, Nicholas Sparks, in my mind, writes the same book over and over again, the character names may change, but it's seriously always the same book.

But you know, Mr. Sparks is doing alright. Better than alright. Look at the movies his novels have wrought. Well, okay, I've swallowed my arrogant words, not that I think The Lucky One is such a great novel miracle, oh no. I don't.

What I was aching for when I picked up this book was, plain and simple, language that all of us can relate to. Easy, uncomplicated, unstuffy, common language. Stuff we would all say, language we would all recognize and relate to. It was an exercise of sorts for me, just to see again how Mr. Sparks writes.

What I found in reading this book, is that it's just so simple with him. Language is easy. No hidden agenda, no formalization, no fear about words, just write it out and let the words fall where they may and let them work. Easy, no big struggle.

Now, I'm reading and I am gauging it all; the words dropping out casually, willy nilly even, seem to work for Sparks. Yes, he has a dynamite agent, but still...

I have to tell you I am enjoying this book. It's not heavy; it's not burdensome, it's not overly-intellectual; it's enjoyable.

Hmmm...what are you reading this spring? Are you reading critically or for enjoyment or both?

Maintaining Your Writer Self

So, you've closed yourself in your office, put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, settled your rear end in the chair and you put your hands on the keyboard and nothing comes.

You look around for a minute and look back to the computer screen, little niggling thoughts creeping in. Did I shut the coffee pot off? Did I just hear the phone ring?

Something's off but you don't know what. Your fingers aren't moving. The works you know you need to do, it's just not coming.

Your well is dry.

I say this a lot, and it's true. As writers, we spend an awful lot of time in our own heads. We observe the world, dissect, listen, embellish, imagine, and generally carry our story arcs and charcters around everywhere we go. Sometimes it seems as if there is really nothing there.

When that happens, it's because external issues or pressures have locked down our internal workings. Juggling a job, kids, schedules, bills, worries about parents and other life concerns take over and wear us out.

Here are some ways to fill up the well again.

Take yourself somewhere you wouldn't ordinarily go. Motorcross? A Korean restaurant? An art museum? Wander in it, let yourself feel, smell, taste, every element of that activity. Take a little notebook, and write down what you experienced and how it made you feel.

Read. Writers tend to be readers. Read. Not only will you find it satisfying but you'll enrich yourn writing by seeing how others do it.

Take up a hobby. Photography, knitting, woodworking, ceramics, whatever it is, allow yourself to revel in it. Make it a big deal. Share it with friends and family, talk it up.

Join a charity and work. It will take you straight out of yourself and your life situation and make you more empathetic to the plight of others.

Exercise. Yes, exercise. Nothing can clear out the brain cobwebs and lift your spirits like a brisk walk. And walking is free!

Take time for yourself. Let the world go on without you for awhile and just rest.

Okay, let's get at it and fill up the well!

Well, I'm sitting here tonight, thinking I need to post something on my blog, something to catch up with you all since it seems that I haven't been here in forever.

I've been working really hard in my real-life job, and I've been obsessed with re-writing a novel I wrote some six years ago, and thinking about publishing it on kindle. I've done my taxes, I've been tending to the bare bones of my life. Uh hunh....

My life right now is sort of like the photo - all that stacked-up stuff in the attic, where I've been going with some regularity. The book has to get done after all, and the attic seems to be the place to find all the secret tantalizing treasures and beautiful masterpieces that will add depth and dimension to my manuscript. So, if you're looking for me at all, I'm in the attic, covered in dust and cobwebs. Send up some soup, if you take a mind to. I'll be here, pouring over old ribbon-bound memories and grainy black and white photographs, and I won't be coming down real soon. Not until I find that treasure I'm seeking.

What's your process? How do you write or where do you write the best?

February Musings

February. Beautiful, blue and white February.
When I think of February, I think of white tulips in a blue and white vase, blue hyacinths sprouting in a china cup, white plumes of smoke rising from chimneys, and food of course. When don't I relate food to any given topic?
Cinnamon rolls. My mother made the best cinnamon rolls ever, ever on the face of this planet and any other. I've tried to emulate her recipe but, after trying many times and not quite making it, I've found another way.

Wanna hear about it?

First of all, let's just say that rapid rising yeast is the breadmaker's friend. I love it. It takes a lot of work out of the equation.

I take one package of the rapid rise yeast and mix it with:
2 c. flour
1 teas. salt
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. soft butter (unsalted)
1 egg

Just mix it together, don't get too worked up about it. And then, add 1/2 c. warm water, and 1/2 cooled scalded milk. Mix together. Begin working in more flour, just a little at a time until you've added probably 3 1/2 cups.
Turn your dough out onto a floured board and knead, adding more flour, for about 5 minutes. Form into ball, turn into a greased bowl, greased side atop. Lay a clean towel on top of the bowl. What I do is I put my dough bowl in the oven and put a baking pan filled with hot water on the bottom rack.

Sauna time for the sweet dough.

Okay, let it rise for about 1 1/2 hours. Pull it out, punch down the dough, turn it back out onto a floured board and roll it out. Roll it until it's about 1/8 inch thick, and begin slathering with butter, and I do mean slather in the biggest slathering way. Slather to about 1/4 inch from the edge. Drop brown sugar all over your dough, a thick layer. Sprinkle cinnamon over, a lot of it. I sometimes will chase the cinnamon with smoked cumin but, warning, if you do this, don't inundate your dough with cumin as it will become bitter if used ad nauseaum. For once I am saying, don't be liberal. You don't have to use cumin at all, quite frankly. Sprinkle just a little white sugar over and now, it's time for the roll up.
Working quickly, pull your dough toward you and begin rolling up. Roll, roll, roll, til you're at the end. Seal these edges with a bit of water.
Slice the roll, about one inch apart, place rolls in greased pan, cover with clean towel and again, let it rise, preferably in a sweet roll sauna as described above, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, bake for 25-30 minutes and enjoy.

Happy days!

Guacamole

It really is all about the food sometimes. I love good guacamole. When it's fresh, made with quality ingredients, it just rocks, seriously.

So, let's talk about it, guacamole, that sort of mysterious green dip, the green stuff that sometimes looks more like what one would find in a baby's diaper than anywhere else.

Please now. Don't get mad about the reference to the baby diaper.

It's just that I don't do the pureed green upon green thing. I just can't stand that stuff. Here is what I do. I do the chunky version. Okay, see below.

Four, yes four, avadocos, Hass preferably.

Two roma tomatoes, diced

One fresh lime, or two, depending on your preference

One Jalepeno pepper, seeded and diced

Smoked cumin, to taste

Salt

Pepper

Red pepper flakes

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

Cilantro, rough chopped

Good salty tortilla chips

One large bowl

Scoop the meat out of the avocados and drop into a bowl. Chop carefully because the avacodos tend to bruise easily. Throw in the chopped romas, the jalapeno, the cumin, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, the red onion. Squeeze the lime juice over liberally. Just before serving, toss with fresh chopped cilantro.

Winter Memories

I'm giggling tonight, thinking about my childhood and how it all was when we were all together in the present life. I am specifically thinking of our family adventures in winter, adventures mostly having to do with ice-topped lakes, in Minnesota, my motherland.
My dad, well, he liked a little danger. If truth were to be told, my mother liked more danger than he did but she never showed it.
I'll tell you that when us kids were little, for entertainment's sake and because we had no money to do anything that required a fee, our parents would pack us into the big old wood-trimmed station wagon and away we would go...to the lake of course.
Now, if you are a Minnesota or Wisconsin native you know what I'm talking about. We got a lotta lakes up there in that area, every town's got one, and those lakes will freeze over and well, let's just say there are more than a few snow mobiles sunk at the bottom of those lakes. Other stuff too, including people sometimes. I know, plenty of stories there.
Anyway, I am giggling tonight remembering how my dad would drive out onto the ice and gun the engine and let the car swirl madly on the frozen ice. He knew just how far out to go and how long to let those hot tires graze the frozen surface before it got dangerous. I remember thinking, "Wheeeee!" and my stomach would drop in a big happy way. My mother would scream, "Oh Jerome!" over and over again, and of course, at some point she would have to point out that we were all about to die a certain death, a frozen one, and we needed to get out of there quick.

I also remember getting back home, drinking hot chocolate before bed and falling asleep thinking my dad was the biggest guy in the universe, and how fun the twisty curls in the car were, and how beautiful the moonshine and the ice was...I remember all this.

What is your favorite winter family memory?