I get so annoyed with people confusing black pepper with bell peppers. How can anyone who cooks think these things are anything alike? Thanks English (#ThanksObama) Well in this case I can very firmly blame the English. Ok, mostly the English but also the Dutch, Portugese and Spanish - basically "Europe." You see, when Europeans came to… Continue reading Trivia: Peppers
Category: Writing
Writing: Emotional Intelligence
It's a weird cross-over that I want to make a professional presentation dressed as Batman's Harly Quinn (the full suit version from the 90's cartoon). I want to talk to the managers in the company and stand up and say, "Hello puddin'!" And then talk about manipulation of emotional intelligence. We all do it to… Continue reading Writing: Emotional Intelligence
Review: Bad Characters
Oh the irony that I got called out for "always liking the books I read" and then I read something awful. Thanks universe. Thanks a lot. (Thanks OBAMA) Without naming names, this book was pretty awful. It's the first of a trilogy and as much as I hate leaving a plot unfinished, I don't think I want… Continue reading Review: Bad Characters
Review: Critiques & criticisms
I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about my form of critique. I had a friend who mentioned that I'm only blogging about books I enjoyed. Their actual comment was something along the lines of, "You like everything you read." That isn't true. I'm reading something right now I'm not enjoying very much.… Continue reading Review: Critiques & criticisms
Writing: Word Breakdown – Unanimous
I was listening to the news and heard the word "unanimous" and the way the person said it my brain began playing with the word. Un-animus. Huh. So Un means not. Easy enough. Animus is the root word of animosity. Meaning hostility but it also means "motivation to do something" (i.e. The animus for change… Continue reading Writing: Word Breakdown – Unanimous
Writing: Prep’ing for NaNoWriMo
This weekend my husband asked me if I'm doing NaNoWriMo. I looked at him like he asked if I wanted to go on a 90-day fast. Of course I'm doing NaNo. I will almost certainly fail but damnit I have to try. So we talked a bit about what we needed to do in order to prep for… Continue reading Writing: Prep’ing for NaNoWriMo
Writing: Cookbook Basics
I've been talking about writing a cookbook for several years now (more than 2, less than 10) and I know how I want to start it: Stocking the kitchen It always amazes me how many people don't keep something I think is basic and essential in their kitchen. It always reminds me of the old Bogart/A.Heburn… Continue reading Writing: Cookbook Basics
Writing: The Book Net
Everyone talks about the "hook" in a book, that little thing early in the book that gets readers to keep reading - an interesting character or a cool-sounding villain that needs defeat. Good books have a quick, clever hook that is so unobtrusive you don't know it's there until too late. Most people (so I am… Continue reading Writing: The Book Net
Writing: Audience
This is something I think about professionally more than as a writer. As a writer, I really have an audience of one: me. But it IS something I have thought about. It IS something I circle back to on occasion. You see, I learned in late high school/early college that the top two selling genres… Continue reading Writing: Audience
Writing: Introduction or Novel?
I was organizing my writing folders and re-read a novel I wrote. It's unpublished and might well remain unpublished forever. It has pretty huge problems. Mostly because it's one giant introduction to world & characters. I really struggled with making a plot for it at all. But it's all really important stuff that sets up the second… Continue reading Writing: Introduction or Novel?
Dream by Day 