Cooking?

Okay, so I just couldn't help myself ... after the post about cooking? Ah, I love to cook. I wish I had more time to cook. My favorite dish? Gumbo... done right, Gumbo takes several hours to complete, but the entire house smells of fresh green peppers, onions, smoked sausage and other fabulous odors! I guess that's one of my favorite things about cooking, smelling everything separate and then together as it mixes flavors over a warm fire. Roux, sausage, broth, garlic and everything else fabulous and nice makes for a savory meal that can't be duplicated by any box!

Other favorites? Lasagne, anything in the Dutch oven and - oh, I love buffalo chicken wings ... the homemade ones are the best! I learned to make them recently with a recipe that exceeds Chilis! It's a favorite in my house now and I get to stand beside my children, all adorned in aprons, as we roll the chicken pieces in milk and egg, into the flour and seasonings and then to the oil.

I suppose that's one reason I love to cook, spending time talking with the children as we scrub potatoes or mix chocolate chip cookies. I love teaching them to cook also! My kids love baking and they're learning to cook quickly and loving it too. It's the process we fall in love with, I guess, the time it takes to relax and combine ingredients that will melt in your mouth.

My children all bake entirely on their own now, from the flour to cracking the eggs to scraping the cookies off the pan. My youngest, five, even bakes cookies by herself, though I insist on helping her with the parts that involve heat. It's a riot watching them learn new recipes and experiment in the kitchen. Sure it makes a mess, but when you bite into that slightly baking soda flavored cookie and the kid has this huge smile on their face ('cause they made it all by themselves), any amount of mess is worth it.

I learned to love cooking in the south. Now they can cook! I learned homemade puddings, bisque, jambalaya, etouffe, beans and cornbread. I learned to fry fish and even squirrel. Ma Ma taught me to make chicken and dumplins with real homemade dumplins ... no noodles for this family! Of course, Ma Ma rolled her dumplins just so and cut them each exactly the same size. I opt for a little more creativity in the dumplin sizes.

Oh, I'm ready for supper. Oh, yeah, and for those of you looking for something new, check out my mom and dad's website. We all wrote a Dutch oven cookbook a while back and now have a website with free recipes and tips and all kinds of good stuff. You've got to try the peach pie, or so I've been told, the one with the cream cheese in it ... my sister said it's heavenly!

MyDutchOven.com

I Hate to Cook

I really hate to cook, hate every aspect of it. I don't mind housework. I'll clean all day long, do laundry all day long. (Although my mom says that I don't do the laundry, a machine does. Can you imagine having to wash everything by hand like in her day?) But, cook? No, thanks. In college, my sister and I were roommates and we had a great deal. She would cook and I would do the dishes. I don't mind doing the dishes so much. My poor family rarely eats anything that doesn't come out of a box or a can. I don't mind grilling, so we have grilled chicken and hamburgers. I hate all the mixing and such. I rarely touch any recipe that has more than 3-4 ingredients.

In most families, Sunday dinners are a big deal, but I especially hate to cook on the weekends, so Sunday is fend for yourself day. Most Sundays, my husband opens up a can a soup. (He eats a lot of soup, and not the homemade kind, but the canned kind. I've never in my life made soup except from a can.) Actually, a lot of times, he opens up a can of soup. A typical Sunday is, pasta for my oldest, grilled cheese for my middle one, a scrambled egg for the baby, a can of soup for my husband, and a sandwich for me.

I always said to myself in years' past, I'll do a better job of cooking when I don't work full-time, when the baby gets older, when we're not in the middle of this or that, after I have the second baby, when I don't work at all, when the baby gets older, when I have more time, when I finish this book, after I have the baby, when the kids get bigger. And, I have come to a realization, I'm never going to get better at cooking because I hate it! And, it's okay. My family still gets fed. They eat fruits and veggies at every meal. I'm still a good mom. I would just rather spend an hour on the floor playing with them than in the kitchen making something that will all disappear in a little while.

I think that's what it comes down to. Time is so precious, I like to have something to show for my time. At least if I do laundry, that lasts a week. A clean kitchen floor lasts a few days. Playing with my kids lasts forever. Writing is something I can see for a long time after. Cleaning a toilet lasts only a few hours at my house, but at least that's a few hours. A cooked meal is gone so soon and then you're left with a mess in the kitchen. So, I'm going to stop feeling guilty at hating to cook.

Watching General Conference

I love Conference. I love Conference weekend. Most of all, this weekend I love BYU-TV. For the first time since we moved from Utah, we're able to watch General Conference right on our very own TV at home. Our local cable company finally picked it up and we are rejoicing one and all. Much as I'd root for the Utes over BYU any day, I am grateful that BYU-TV has grown into a channel that even a cable company in Wisconsin feels is worth picking up.

Growing up in western Oklahoma, we used to listen to General Conference via what they called "direct wire broadcast." I believe they rigged up some kind of radio connection through the phone lines at church. (I was a kid at the time; I may have the technical details all wrong.) So we would dress in our Sunday clothes, go to church, and listen to disembodied voices speak to us for hours on end. Looking back, it was truly a blessing for us to be able to receive this. However, it was tough to stay interested when you couldn't see what was going on. I remember drawing lots of things and playing quietly with other kids in the back of the room where we received the broadcast. (Sometimes we weren't too quiet.)

Then one year the NFL went on strike. Miracle of miracles, someone in our branch knew the owner of a local bar--who wasn't using his satellite dish and large-screen TV because there were no football games to show at the bar--and we got to use them to watch Conference. (They took them to the church; we didn't use them at the bar.) What an amazing day that was! I remember that all of us were so excited to actually be able to see the Conference proceedings, see the speakers, and see the Tabernacle and the choir and the surrounding beauty in the outdoor shots. Not many years later, our branch received its own satellite dish and the arrangement was permanent.

Our first Conference in Utah several years later seemed almost odd. The idea of being able to just turn on your TV and watch all these spiritual talks begin given was just, well, weird. But we got used to it. Maybe even too used to it. When we moved away from Utah nine years later, Conference was by then available by Internet streaming. And like good little Utahns used to watching Conference at home, we stubbornly strung wires through the house and continued to listen from home. We learned that while lds.org only does live audio streaming, you can get live video streaming from byutv.com. It's kind of blocky, and things can easily go wrong with the connection, but if you don't mind sitting around your computer you can watch Conference that way. So we did.

And I've got to admit that once again I'm grateful to BYU for making BYU-TV available online. Even though our cable company didn't see fit until recently to make it part of our package, we've still always been able to view Conference and talks from Women's Conference and other shows of that nature. (And U of U/BYU gymnastics meets.)

But today, we've got BYU-TV on our very own television. And we watched Conference at home. No problems at all. And it's become something of a ritual, or a holiday. It's the first weekend in October. It's Conference weekend. And no matter where we are, no matter what setup we have, we go and watch Conference.

Literary Scams—and how to avoid them

by Marsha Ward

All serious writers spend a lot of time looking for places to submit our work, running after the ultimate vindication of our lonely hobby or vocation: publication.

We even follow advice to submit to contests, to see how our work stacks up with that of others. The problem comes when unscrupulous “contest” operators try to scam earnest poets who just want to be published.

A typical scam begins with an expensive advertisement in a Sunday newspaper supplement such as Parade. The headline screams “Free Poetry Contest,” and maybe “$50,000 in prizes,” or “250 poets will receive top prizes,” or something similar.

Two questions come to my mind. Why are they advertising in a general consumer magazine and not a writers’ magazine? Why are there no entry fees? Where do they get all the money for the prizes?

Actually that’s three questions, but you get the picture.

You might ask, “So what is wrong with a free poetry contest that pays nice prizes to a limited number of winners?”

What is wrong is that every single poem that is submitted is accepted for publication! Every poet receives a letter of congratulations for his or her “unique vision” and outstanding quality of work. Each poet is named a semi-finalist in the contest. Then comes the fun part.

Every single poet is promised publication in the company’s latest “anthology.” Every single poet is invited to come to a convention in Washington, D.C. to receive his prize, maybe even a trophy. Every single poet is offered a CD with his poem read by a “famous” voice. Every single poet can have her poem placed on a handsome hardwood plaque.

There’s just one catch: every single poet pays through the nose for each honor afforded her.

To buy the anthology is fifty bucks before it’s printed, more afterward. A biographical note will cost an extra $20. The convention is $600 to attend, not including such necessities as travel expenses, housing, and food (since they only provide two scanty meals for the convention fee). The CD and plaque also cost money.

Fortunately, while the notorious “contest” company—that uses many names—is now using the Internet to further its reach, savvy poets can use it too—to protect themselves against such nefarious ripoffs.

Typing a keyword or two into a search engine such as Google.com is the second step. Type “poetry scam” or “literary scam” and you’ll be referred to such sites as www.winningwriters.com/scambustingsites.htm and www.absolutewrite.com/specialty_writing/poetry_scams.htm.

These sites tell it like it is, and some contain lists of “contests” to avoid, companies to shun, and places to run from. Horror stories abound to warn the unwary poet. Some victimized poets report that they even had to pay for their own trophies.

If you’ve become a victim of such “contests,” you have my sincere sympathy. Please don’t give up. You really do have merit, and your poetry does, as well. You’ve just been “taken” by wicked men, and you aren’t the only one.

If you haven’t fallen prey to the “contest” operators, you might enjoy the hilarious attempts of poet Wergle Flomp, also known as David Taub, to get a poem rejected by such contests. Visit this site to read some of his tries: http://members.aol.com/Raven763/article41rejection.html

I mentioned the second step in self-protection above. The first step is to develop a healthy skepticism to the notion of getting something for nothing. Remember the old adage, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” But also remember, if you’ve been victimized by one of those infamous “contests,” to get back up and write again. You can succeed. Just be wary of ripoffs.

Marketing Mode

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I spent the entire day with one goal in mind--get the brochures in the mail by 5:00! You see, I'm in "marketing mode." My middle-grade novel, MAKE ME A HOME (sequel to MAKE ME A MEMORY seen here) comes out in February, four short months away, and as I've learned the not-so-easy way, these pre-publication months can be crucial.

"So what is this brochure about?" I hear you ask.

"Why, thanks for asking," I reply.

These are my "school visit" brochures. I sent out 90 yesterday. Since my children's novels--MAKE ME A MEMORY, and MAKE ME A HOME revolve around the life of a young girl named Allie, whose soldier father is deployed to Iraq, I focused this first round of brochures at "military impacted" schools--schools on or near military bases. I've spoken at several of these schools, and it's a humbling experience to meet these children who are living the life of my character, Allie. I feel such a connection to them and I'm so inspired by their strength. They are the reason I wrote these books.

I'm especially excited about this brochure because I just received the following endorsement:

"MAKE ME A HOME is a great story and truly captures the 'roller coaster' of emotions that a young person might experience during the deployment of a loved one." --Stacye Parry, The Military Child Education Coalition

I was SO EXCITED to receive this endorsement! The MCEC is a wonderful organization dedicated to military children and they are affiliated with every branch of the military. I hope this endorsement will help to open doors for my little story. And this brings me to the next thing on my marketing "to-do" list:

Reviews and endorsements!

I need to coordinate with my publisher to see that ARCs (advance review copies) are sent out to the major reviewers of children's literature--School Library Journal, Booklist, etc. I stand a much better chance of my book landing in a school library and then a child's hands if it is first reviewed in one of these journals.

Next, on to the local media...

"Does it ever end?" I hear you ask.

I hope not!

Pumpkins & Teachers

Today, I went as a chaperone to my son's field trip. There were five kindergarten classes. We went to a pumpkin patch. It was a fun time. The kids painted pumpkins, had a hay ride, listened to pumpkin stories, counted pumpkins and pumpkin seeds, and explored the pumpkins. Although, my five year old refused to stick his hand inside the pumpkin to feel its squishiness. They even brought home a pumpkin seed to plant. It was a fun trip.

My son's teacher had 21 students. I'm continually amazed at the teachers I meet who have to teach, interact, and deal with kids on a daily basis. I substitute teach twice a week, and I'm always exhausted when I come home. And, these teachers do it every day and many of them go home to their own kids. I'm a pretty patient person, but I literally feel my patience diminishing as the day progresses when I substitute teach. And, I have to admit, there isn't much patience left over for my kids when I get home. That is why I only do it twice a week. I deeply admire teachers and the great service they do for our children. My kids love school, and we've been fortunate to have had wonderful teachers throughout the year. I'm blessed to have wonderful teachers for my kids again this year.

Windy Monday

It's Monday and the wind is blowing again. I really don't think it ever stops in the spring or fall, but as soon as the hot summer sun comes out, it stops until the temperature drops again, bringing the piercing cold right to the bones to declare a change of seasons. I don't hate living in Enoch, but do long for warmer temperatures in the spring, fall and winter.

Perhaps I'll buy a vacation home on an island somewhere after my next novel hits the bestseller list. I'd love to live on the beach. For now though I'm looking at photos of beaches while I plan my winter trip to Samoa. 85 degrees, sandy beaches, snorkeling, volleyball ... Oh, I want to go get my swim suit on right now, but perhaps I'll wait a little longer, maybe a few more miles on the treadmill and a few trips to the tanning salon.

As for now, the cooler temperatures are keeping me indoors where I need to sit to get my novel finished. Perhaps I'll get a couple of manuscripts done before the weather warms back up. I've got to do something when I'm not on the lake.

Yes, I'm rambling. My brain's reloading after working on a synopsis all morning. And while I'm rambling, I'm posting a random photo. This was taken overlooking Cedar City on a little research trip we made recently. I didn't find information that would be particularly useful to my new book, but it was a great hike!