Christine Amsden's Blog: Christine Amsden Author Blog, page 18

A Chocolate Tour of Kansas City

I’m a chocolate snob, which isn’t an easy thing to be at a grocery or department store. Top end on a store shelf will be Lindt, Godiva, or Ghirardelli (which is better for baking). For the chocolate snob on a budget these are good, solid, everyday choices. But one wonders if, perhaps, for a special occasion, there’s something more.

Kansas City isn’t the first place you think of for gourmet chocolates, but after spending a week doing exhaustive searches for the best chocolates nationwide, I realized that it was the place to start. It is, after all, my home. Or at least, it’s half an hour from my home. Most of the nationally ranked chocolate is scattered randomly across the US, with a noticeable pocket in New England and plenty of competition dotting the map from coast to coast. These chocolatiers will be happy to ship their chocolate to you, but shipping costs for chocolate are at a premium because chocolate is temperature sensitive. In fact, some chocolatiers refuse to ship chocolate during the summer months. It’s March now, an ideal month for chocolate shipping, but the bottom line is still that small samples of chocolate from each individual chocolatier is likely to average $50.

Hello hometown chocolate!

Kansas City Guide’s list of the best choclatiers is out of date. For one thing, Chocolaterie Stam does not seem to have a Kansas City location any longer. For another, their top picks at Annedore’s are no longer being produced.

Today, my family and I visited six local Kansas City chocolate shops. It was a delicious day! I bought samples of truffles and other recommended candies at each shop, but I spent most of the day trying the chocolate sea salt caramels, or chocolate sea salt turtles, at each location so I could make a fair comparison of the “best” chocolate in town. The combination of chocolate, sea salt, and caramel is both insanely popular (for a reason) and my personal favorite. Nearly every store recommended this type of candy as their best seller.

I have good things to say about every shop we visited, but because people like top X lists, here they are in order, based on the chocolate sea salt caramels.

(Insert drum-roll here.)

1. Christopher Elbow

Ranked number one on several local guides, and located in the heart of Kansas City where they produce their chocolate for shipment nationwide, Christopher Elbow deserves every bit of its reputation. Though I could not find any Kansas City chocolatier on nationwide “top 10 lists” (yes, I like them too), the clerk at the store assured us that Christopher Elbow had recently been ranked #2 in the nation by Consumer Reports. I confirmed this at home – specifically, their 21-piece collection was given the coveted second place recommendation. When I performed further searches for Christopher Elbow I found them, if not listed among the top picks, then in the comment section where users said things like, “I can’t take this list seriously without Christopher Elbow.”

I will reserve judgment, never having tried the other shops on those lists, but I will say that if they’re better than Christopher Elbow, I definitely need to save money for a chocolate tour of the United States!

Christopher Elbow was my first stop of the day, and its dark chocolate sea salt turtle set a bar too high for any other shop to reach.

Their turtle was masterfully put together. The delicate chocolate coating sprinkled with sea salt surrounded soft, melt-in-your mouth caramel and finely chopped pecans. When I broke the candy in half to share with my husband (we had a lot of candy to eat in one day), the caramel formed a long, thin string that only gradually pulled apart. That’s how melt-in-your mouth this caramel was. The pecans were chopped finely enough to provide texture and flavor without overwhelming the candy or forcing you to take great big bites of whole nuts in between bites of chocolate. In fact, from beginning to end this was a consistent blend of the primary flavors. Since the caramel was so soft, the chocolate coating did not dissolve before the caramel melted in my mouth. The sea salt was sprinkled fairly evenly across the top, allowing me to enjoy the candy in several small, delectable bites.

Please note that this is a pricey store. The turtle was $3. Their bon bons were $1.75 each. (Note: they cost closer to $2.50 each if you want it in a cute box. I recommend bringing your own box!) 

The friendly clerks at Christopher Elbow recommended its chocolate drinks and mentioned that they offer discounts on “First Friday,” the first Friday of each month, including no sales tax if you pay in cash. We will be back!

2. Andre’s

 Andre’s, near the Country Club Plaza, is more than a chocolatier. They are a bakery and restaurant as well. I plan to return to try some of their pastries. Since we arrived at Andre’s near lunchtime, we considered stopping for lunch but their limited menu (which includes two choices, changed daily) would not have suited our tiny tag-alongs.

Andre’s did not have a turtle, but the friendly lady behind the counter recommended a chocolate sea salt caramel. This small, round, chewy delight contained the ideal ratio of chocolate to caramel. The caramel itself was soft, sweet, and delicious, and those two flavors blended perfectly. In fact, the only minor problem with the Andre’s caramel was that it was a one-bite wonder. The sea salt was not distributed evenly across the top of the beautiful candy, but instead placed in the center in a tiny ball. The net result is that if you want to savor the candy over more than one bite, you’ll sometimes get sea salt and sometimes won’t. Given the size of the candy, you could make an argument that it is supposed to be eaten in one bite and if that is your opinion, then Christopher Elbow has real competition. However, I feel strongly that candies should scale to individual bite sizes.

Andre’s was a little cheaper than Christopher Elbow, depending upon the candy. The ones made with pricey liquers were, of course, more expensive. Those were over $2 .Most of the rest were closer to $1.40 each (ballpark). They also sell a much wider variety of chocolates, pastries, cakes, and other sweets. I look forward to testing the truffles I purchased from them after I’ve had a chance to digest today’s chocolate indulgence!

3. Annedore’s Chocolates

Coming in third place, on the chocolate-caramel combo at least, was Annedore’s, a beautiful little shop near the Country Club Plaza. They were all decked out for Easter when we arrived and aesthetically speaking, this store took the prize with its rich mauve walls, elegant chandelier, and innumerable displays of chocolate bunnies in various poses.

Unfortunately, it came in dead last for customer service. This was our fifth stop of the day, and up until we arrived at this shop our pronouncement that we were on a “Chocolate Tour of Kansas City” was met with varying degrees of enthusiasm (or at least amusement) from the clerks and staff. Most were excited to be a part of it, and took pride in suggesting their best chocolates. Not so at Annedore’s. Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing rude or unprofessional about the service we received here, but the woman working there had my eight-year-old saying out loud that she “seemed pretty sad.” (Unfortunately in an awkwardly loud voice that the aforementioned sad woman could overhear quite plainly!) Still, though I could not say it aloud I must admit I agreed with him. I don’t know about you, but regardless of the quality of products at a store, customer service makes a difference. Enthusiasm and pride make a difference. Annedore’s was my least favorite stop of the day. I did not have fun there.

Nevertheless, their chocolate sea salt turtle was the next best after Christopher Elbow and Andre’s. The caramel was nearly as soft, the chocolate of comparable quality. The biggest reason that their candy came in third was its size – it was too big. Which meant that the chocolate to caramel ratio was off – a big hunk of caramel wrapped in a thin layer of chocolate meant that the chocolate flavor dissolved away, leaving only the caramel and nuts. Each bite was a less complete experience.

For the cost conscious among us, I will also add that Annedore’s is less expensive than Christopher Elbow. Their prices are right at the same level as Andre’s. (About $1.40 per truffle.)

4. Panache Chocolatier

Its chocolate caramel may not be high on my list, but my family had more fun at this stop than any of the others, bar none! We wandered around the chic store for a few minutes, looking dubiously at their chocolate popcorn, chocolate-covered oreos, and chocolate-covered cornflakes before we told the man and woman behind the counter that we were on our “Chocolate Tour of Kansas City.” When we said we had set out to find out which chocolate shop was the best, the young man rose to the challenge! He immediately went in the back and brought out samples of their truffles and chocolate-cove

I feel the need to stop here and say, wow! Chocolate-covered cornflakes? I couldn’t believe how good these were. I mean, cornflakes, right? But they were mostly Panache’s smooth chocolate with just a bit of crunch. A nice texture variation and my biggest, most pleasant surprise of the day. I would go back to Panache for those cornflakes alone.red cornflakes. Then he started bouncing around the store, overwhelming us with all the awesome chocolates he had to sell us.

Every shop recommended their caramels, and Panache was no different. I suppose chocolate and caramel is just one of those easy combinations that people love, regardless of where they are. And Panache’s caramel was fine. I think it is very accurate to call it a “caramel,” however, rather than a “chocolate sea salt caramel,” because their high-quality caramel is firm, meaning that the thin chocolate coating melts away well before the caramel begins to soften. The result is that you get a quick frisson of chocolate followed by a long, leisurely excavation of caramel.

The prices at Panache vary depending upon what you go for, but overall I found them slightly cheaper than Christopher Elbow’s, right on a level with Andre’s and Annedore’s, if not a hair cheaper. Their caramel cost $1.25, the bag of cornflakes $6. They have lots of great gift possibilities in a wide range of prices.

5. Laura Little’s Candy Kitchen

(Note: I apologize for the lack of photograph. This was our sixth stop of the day, we were tired, and we just plain forgot to take the camera out.)

This little shop located in Prairie Village, our last stop of the day, was also our most affordable. We left with just as much candy as we did from anywhere else, but at a fraction of the cost. This store makes all its own candies and fudge, and the size of its selection was second only to Andre’s. We could, of course, only sample a small fraction of what they had to offer.

Laura Little’s does have a turtle, but it does not contain sea salt. I will stop right here and say that it really needs it. I only discovered sea salt as an addition to chocolate a few years ago, but whoever came up with it was brilliant. He or she should go right up there in chocolate history alongside Johannes van Houten.

Laura Little’s did have a chocolate sea salt caramel (no nuts), and as the price was so reasonable, I gave that a try as well. This candy was nice and big, the kind you can really sink your teeth into. A lot of the upscale chocolatiers miss the value of that satisfying, sink-your-teeth-in feel. This was no delicate little chew, but a real mouthful, even if you have a big mouth. The only downside was the quality of the chocolate which, while good, could not compare with the high-end shops we visited.

6. Chip’s Chocolate Factory

Chip’s Chocolate Factory, located in the Crown Center shopping mall, has long been a favorite of ours for the mouth-watering fudge that they make right in front of you. The store is never short of kids watching the master of fudge throw chocolate ribbons high into the air like a chocolate acrobat.

Chip’s does not rate as one of Kansas City’s best for chocolate and I can understand why. While their fudge is amazing, I found their chocolate to be subpar and overpriced. Their truffles are 3 for $4.99 and the rest of their candy is sold by weight, $4.75 for 4 oz. 

Their turtle was not good. I won’t go so far as to say that it was bad, because it’s really hard to make halfway decent chocolate, nuts, and even low-quality caramel taste bad. But please, don’t go to Chips for the candies. Go for the fudge. In fact, don’t go anywhere else for fudge. It’s awesome!

But back to the turtle, which I must reluctantly describe for you. The caramel was stiff, too chewy, and not smooth. The chocolate might have been okay, but it melted away in an instant, leaving only the inferior caramel and so many whole almonds that they fell out of the candy, leaving me to eat the salted almonds by themselves. (Not that I dislike salted almonds, but that’s not the point of a turtle.)

***

The bottom line is that even my last pick on this list of caramel-chocolate combos is a worthy store. Kansas City may not rate nationwide (at least according to most lists) but we have a great variety of delicious chocolate right here to enjoy!

Life Cycle of a Novel: Pausing for Breath

There comes a pint in every rough draft, when you’re racing madly for the finish line, when you have to pause for breath. Or at least, I do! Actually, this usually happens three times — once at about 25k words, once at about 50k words, and once again just as I’m about to finish.

The reason? Something has changed from the outline. Something that maybe just seemed like a clever add-in at first but which grew to the point that I couldn’t just slip it in. I have to consider it from every angle, possibly do some new character sketches, and then go back to make spot changes so that the story more or less works.

I get upset when I have to pause for breath. Even now that I’ve done this more than half a dozen times and I know the pattern, I get upset with myself for not being able to rush ahead. But inevitably, after the pause, I realize I did the right thing.

This week I paused for breath. I wrote almost no new material, and in the end I changed only a few lines of what I had already written. But I feel more confident moving forward that I know who my characters are and what they need to do.

Writers sometimes get too caught up in word counts, and I am no exception. But creativity is not a process you can measure quantitatively. My progress for the week was not 0 words written. It was literally immeasurable.

Movie Review: Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

In a word: Awful.

In a few worlds: Really truly actively bad from beginning to end.

But my kids (5 and 8) really liked it. I guess because there was a lot of action, the good guys won, and there was no ambiguity.

I reviewed the first Percy Jackson movie last week. This week, I got the latest out of the Redbox because my kids liked the original and I like my kids. Actually, I love my kids, which is the only reason I will undoubtedly be watching the NEXT movie in this series, whenever it comes out. This is what parents do for their kids.

The first movie wasn’t that bad. I said it was fine and don’t over think it. The premise was quite good. I wish the follow-through had been better.

This movie, on the other hand, begins with Percy having doubts about himself because he isn’t beating the daughter of Aries at camp games (I’m still not sure why all the dmi-gods are at camp) and having some strange existential crisis about his destiny and about being good enough.

Then comes a newcomer to camp — a cyclcops. Another son of Poseidon, like Percy. Apparently, cyclops are what happens when gods have kids with nymphs. (Note: This is NOT what happens when gods have kids with nymphs. Cyclops are a breed of one-eyed monsters who, like the titans, are sons of Uranus and Gaea. In most classical stories, children born to gods and nymphs are immortal and not considered demi-gods.)

Around the same time the tree shielding the camp is poisoned and will die if they don’t find the golden fleece and… blah blah prophecy… blah blah save or doom the world…

The world building in this story is poorly done. The action scenes are laughable. The characterization is painful. The climax had my eyeballs rolling into the back of my head.

And to top it all off, they now have a fleece that will cure anyone from mortal wounds, which sort of takes some of the tension out of future installments, don’t you think?

All I can say is, I love my kids, and for whatever reason they did love this.

Movie Review: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

I originally watched this movie when it came to the theater, but my 8-year-old heard about it from some friends at school (because of the recent release of the sequel) and wanted to watch it. So we watched it together (amazon digital content, $2.99). And for an 8-year-old, it was a good movie.

For an adult, on the other hand…

Let me start by saying that I did read the book first, and for a change my advice is: Don’t. Seriously, don’t. One of the reasons I watched the movie was that as I read the book, the only thing I could think was that it would make a much better movie. Why? Because it was cinematic. It was all bangs and blings, with almost no depths of character or situation that would have made the book bring more to the story than a live-action extravaganza. This story should have started as a script.

The core idea is very cute — the Greek Gods are still having kids and Percy’s the son of Poseidon. Great setup.

I didn’t care for the world building much. The Greek myths did not merge seamlessly into the modern world. I didn’t understand the purpose of the camp for demi-gods. And frankly, they got some of the myths wrong. The one that really gnawed at me was Persephone — she’s supposed to be in Hades during the FALL and WINTER, not the SPRING or SUMMER. Her story clearly established the purpose of the seasons in Greek lore.

But my 8-year-old enjoyed it and he is interested in the sequel, so I imagine I’ll have a review of that one too.

I recommend this for kids, tweens, and teens. Adults, its’ fine. Don’t over think it.

Book Review: Sin Undone

Though I continue to enjoy this series for all the reasons I’ve been saying — a fast pace, an intriguing world, suspenseful plots, etc. — I have to confess that Sin has been my least favorite heroine so far. She’s prickly. I’m not a fan of prickliness, and I almost always have trouble buying that a personality trait like that gets softened by the right man, especially over the course of a single adventure.

Sin is the head of the assassins guild — she took the job for a reason I can’t even fathom. Honestly, she brought almost all her problem upon herself. Yes, some bad things happened to her, but she consistently made them worse all through her 130 years or so.

As for the part wereworlf part vampire — at this point the world building slipped and I’m not sure I understood how or why that came about. I could have used a few more mechanics.

This book set up a coming apocalypse, which is the main reason I didn’t give it two stars. I’m excited about the end of the world.

Rating 3/5

Tit;e: Sin Undone

Author: Larissa Ione

Published September 1st 2010

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Book Review: Death Sworn

Leah Cypess has once again written a captivating tale of magic and adventure that is appropriate for young adults but engaging for audiences of all ages.

Illeni was a powerful sorceress — one of the most powerful. She had her entire life to look forward to, including a young man she planned to marry, but then she learned that the magic was slipping away. Bit by bit it would fade until there was nothing left. There is nothing left for her with her own people either, so she goes on a suicide mission to teach magic to the assassins guild and while she’s at it, try to find out who’s been killing her predecessors.

This story has strong characterization, strong world building, lots of mystery and drama, and a terrific ending. After reading several of Leah’s stories, I’ve come to believe that her endings are her strength. I have yet to feel disappointed in hos she brings her tales together.

I highly recommend this story for fantasy lovers of all ages.

Rating: 5/5

Title: Death Sworn

Author: Leah Cypess

Publication Date March 4, 2014

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Book Review: Ecstasy Unveiled

This continues to be a fast-paced, enjoyable series full of intriguing world building, moral gray areas, and lots of steamy content. At this point, the characters are starting to blur together a bit in my mind, which is the main reason I’m going three stars. The bad-ass heroes and heroines need a bit more variance, and I wasn’t sure I entirely bought into Lore’s back story.

Lore is hired to kill someone that Ides must protect in order to earn her wings into heaven. She would kill Lore to stop him except — it turns out she has to protect Lore too. Lore is an assassin, but he’s not in it for the money — he’s in it for his sister’s freedom, which makes it tough to convince him to back off.

A one-off note: The titles for this series are seriously uninspiring. I guess they hold true, but they are so completely interchangeable. This is often a problem in romance, but not usually as much of a problem in paranormal romance.

I do continue to recommend this story to adult paranormal/urban fantasy fans.

Rating: 3/5

Title: Ecstasy Unveiled

Author: Larissa Ione

Published February 1st 2010

Aaron Paul Lazar’s Lady Blues

I’m pleased to introduce my friend, Aaron Paul Lazar, here today to share a bit about his vision for his latest book, Lady Blues. There’s also a sneak peak at chapter one!

A Miracle Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease?

I can’t help myself.

I wrote about a fictitious cure for leukemia in Essentially Yours (Tall Pines Mysteries, book #2) because my cousin suffers from this dreaded disease and I wanted so badly for someone to find a cure. I can’t help but imagine the day when a real cure arrives, and somehow, I was compelled to write about it.

My grandmother died from Alzheimer’s Disease at the age of ninety, in 1997. This woman was a powerhouse of personality. I based my character Maddy Coté in the LeGarde Mysteries on her flamboyant and gushing mannerisms in Gram’s honor.

Gram was a real rebel for her day. Imagine a “grandmother” DYING her hair BLOND in the fifties! Whoa, now that was a shocker. She always wore colorful outfits, loud chunky jewelry, gave loud smacking kisses, and smashed me to her bosom when she saw me. And worst and most shocking of all, my grandmother drank BEER. Yes, a green bottle of Narragansett accompanied every meal.

Indeed. She was one wild woman.

And I adored her.

I will never forget how the illness stole her away from us, and how I felt the first time she didn’t remember me. I also remember the intensely personal and amazing moment when I sang one of “our songs,” to her, and she came back to me for just a few minutes, calling me by name and saying “Isn’t it nice to be with family?” just before the curtain fell again and she disappeared forever.

Sigh. It still makes me very sad.

So, here I am seventeen years later, making up a miracle cure for the dreaded disease that has affected so many people. I just hope it’s prophetic.

In Lady Blues: forget-me-not, my protagonist Gus LeGarde, befriends an elderly gentleman, Kip Sterling, in a new nursing home for Alzheimer’s patients.

Gus refers to himself as “a hopeless romantic, a Renaissance man caught in the twenty-first century.” No stranger to passion or heartache, Gus lavishes love on his family and dog as he mourns the loss of his lifetime soul mate, Elsbeth, in the first book of the series, Double Forté. He teaches music at Conaroga University, imparting the love of the classics to his young students. Gus is passionate about French Impressionist painters, gardening, and cooking lavish gourmet meals for his family and friends. His rambling, 1811 Greek Revival farm house lies among the rolling hills and bucolic splendor of the Genesee Valley. He plays Chopin etudes to clear his mind and feed his soul, and has an impeccable inner moral compass. By the time we get to Lady Blues, book ten in the series, he has fallen in love with and married Camille Coté, Maddy’s daughter.

Now, back to our story about the miracle.

When a new drug called Memorphyl starts working on Kip and memories start to bubble to the surface in this fascinating fellow, all kinds of trouble is stirred up. But one persistent memory keeps on bugging him, and he asks Gus for help.

Back in 1946, Kip lost the love of his life, Miss Arabella Mae Dubois, affectionately known as Bella, a lusty and talented blues singer he met in the Harlem clubs. Kip is obsessed with finding her, and Gus promises to help.

Now that I think about it, the Bella I created here actually has quite a bit in common with my grandmother, personality-wise. Hmm. Interesting parallels, I think. Bella and Kip, a biracial couple in a very intolerant age, were quite the rebels, themselves.

Wouldn’t it be great if someday, somewhere, somehow, we really do get a cure for Alzheimer’s? What if all the memories came pouring back, and patients in nursing homes began to be released back to their families?

I love the idea. Hey, maybe if I write about it enough, it’ll come true someday!

Buy NOW at Amazon Lady Blues: forget-me-not: A Gus LeGarde Mystery (LeGarde Mysteries)

Lady Blues
Chapter One

I strolled along Main Street with Siegfried, my best friend and brother-in-law, unable to shake the song repeating in my head. I’d played it for my Opera 101 class yesterday at school, and since then, kept hearing Marcelo Alvarez singing “Che gelida manina,” from La Boheme. Because Camille and I had seen him perform in this role last fall in New York City, it made me long for Lincoln Center, or at least a really good hot pastrami sandwich from a decent deli.

Why I thought of food at that particular moment was a mystery, because we’d just finished a big breakfast of scrambled eggs, home fries, and bacon at Clara’s Diner. I shrugged and let the warm spring air caress my face and bare arms. The sun felt good after the lingering cold of March. I reveled in the feeling of freedom, happy to have no appointments or chores looming in the near future, and looking forward to a leisurely stop in the village bookstore.

A warm breeze teased across the Genesee Valley, filling me with a curious sense of exhilaration. Just past the bagel shop, from the top of the ridge where our historic village of Conaroga, New York perched, I stopped for a minute to enjoy the view. Rolling hills swelled in the distance, coated green with winter wheat.

I wanted to stay put and soak it all in, but Siegfried was rapidly disappearing into the crowded street. With his blond ponytail swaying behind him, his long legs ate up the ground.

I hurried after him. “Hey, buddy. What’s going on?” I wasn’t sure why our trip to the bookstore warranted such an effort.

He frowned, walking faster. “Ja.”

What kind of an answer was that? Had he even heard me? “Sig? You okay?”

I loped for a few paces and caught up with him. Rushing along the sidewalk in front of Victorian homes with deep porches and brightly-colored gables, we finally reached the commercial part of the village, jogging side by side past quaint shop windows offering flowers, travel dreams, gourmet pizza, and works of art.

A bus belched smoke and rumbled past us, its gears grinding. The advertisement on its broad side read, “Got Milk?” Beneath the text, a smiling actress wore a milk mustache.

I glanced down at my black tee shirt. The slogan, “Got Opera?” had produced a few confused grins from customers at the diner, where Siegfried and I enjoyed our breakfast.

“Hey, what’s the hurry, big fella?”

Siegfried didn’t answer.

I wasn’t sure why he seemed so distracted, but I responded when he motioned for me to quicken my pace because over the years, I’d learned to trust his sixth sense and recognized something in his expression that spelled danger.

We crossed the street, almost at a run now. Siegfried frowned at something on the other side of the road. I followed his line of sight and realized he wasn’t headed for the bookstore, but for Thom Kim’s tailor shop.

Siegfried had been doing a lot of business there lately. A man of his height required the help of a tailor from time to time, but he’d found dozens of excuses for alterations in the past few months. A loose button here, a burst seam there. He’d been visiting the shop almost twice a week, and I wondered why.

“Why are we hurrying?” I asked again.

He burst into a sprint, shouting now. “Look!” He lunged ahead of me, his sea blue eyes trained on the top floor of the building.

I smelled it before I saw it, then looked up.

Smoke.

It poured from the upper floor where Thom Kim lived with his sister, Lily. Although the street teemed with people, no one seemed to have noticed the smoke. We careened along the sidewalk, pushing through shoppers and students.

Cursing because I left my cell phone in the car, I grabbed the nearest student texting on his phone. He stared at me through black dreadlocks as if I were attacking him. Which I guess I was, in a way.

I pointed up. “Call 911. Tell them there’s a fire.”

The crowd parted, staring and pointing at the smoky building. The boy with the phone gawked at me, as if locked in a trance.

I shook his arm. “Call 911!”

In that instant, he came to life, stabbing at his phone. “Okay. I’m on it.”

Siegfried and I rushed into the building. No one stood behind the sales counter or in the work area in the back of the shop.

“Where are they?” I said, hurriedly searching behind doors and cabinets.

“Upstairs,” Siegfried said with certainty, pointing toward a back staircase.

We scrambled toward the stairs, entering a cloud of thick, choking smoke.

A woman’s cry came from above.

“Lily!” Siegfried shouted, covering his mouth and nose with his shirt. He scaled the steps two at a time with me right behind him.

A hoarse bellow came from the left in what had to be Korean, Thom’s native language. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of movement, followed by a burning rafter crashing to the floor, but smoke quickly obscured my view.

A flicker of orange flames bloomed in another doorway, flaring to the ceiling. The fire was spreading fast.

“Professor,” Siegfried yelled over the roar of the inferno, peering into the darkness. “I can’t see!”

On the far side of the building, a window cracked and exploded, allowing the smoke to shift and clear just enough to give us a view of the bedroom, where I now headed to search for Thom Kim.

“There!” I said, pointing to the man pinned beneath a fallen timber.

Fire crackled along the wall and licked orange-red near his arm. The bed, fully engulfed, leapt with flames.

A scream erupted farther down the hall.

Lily.

“Get her!” I shouted over my shoulder, stumbling toward Thom.

Siegfried quickly ducked into the smoke, following the direction of her cries.

The wall of heat blasted me, nearly melting my resolve. Stooping low, I took a deep breath and crawled toward Thom. I pulled hard on his arm, but couldn’t budge him. He uttered a low moan. The fire had reached him and his sleeve was starting to burn.

Grabbing his jacket from a nearby chair, I slapped it over his arms, extinguishing the flames, then kicked repeatedly at the scorched beam until it finally moved. Breathless, I half-dragged, half-carried Thom out to the hall, stumbling backwards away from the fire and denser smoke. With a concerted effort, I slung him over my shoulder.

A blast came from the rear of the building.

Oh my God. Siegfried. Lily.

Horrified, I searched the smoke for my friend, shouting his name. “Siegfried!”

The black cloud rolled with a vengeance now, completely obscuring my vision. I struggled to breathe and reached for the stairway rail, trying to balance. Tears bathed my eyes, but failed to cool the inflamed tissues. I wanted to pull my shirt over my mouth and nose, but it was impossible with Thom on my back. I didn’t want to drop him.

Siegfried stumbled out of the darkness and crashed toward the stairway with Lily in his arms. Tinier than her brother, she clung to Sig’s neck, still conscious. Choking with relief, I followed them down the stairs and into the street with Thom draped over my back. The fire roared above, creeping up the outer walls, and sparks fell to the sidewalk. Breathing hard, we ran away from the burning building.

Wailing sirens approached in the distance.

Thank God, the fire department.

In front of the old cinema, two students reached out to help me carry Thom farther down the street.

Holding his legs, I walked with them, noticing the gash on his forehead and the angry burns on his arms and face. “Careful,” I said. “He’s badly burned.” I looked down at my own arms, which prickled and throbbed, but they weren’t nearly as bad as Thom’s.

“Are you okay, Professor?” Siegfried said, coming up close behind us.

I nodded, catching my breath. “I think so. You?”

Still carrying Lily, he gave a curt nod in return. “Ja.” Soot smeared his face and arms. His ponytail had come undone, and his hair flowed over his shoulders in a snarled tumble. Backlit by the light of the fire, he reminded me of an angel warrior.

Two fire trucks shrieked to a stop in front of the burning building, delivering firemen who raced to set up the hoses. A kind young woman came toward us with a blanket, laying it on the sidewalk. She helped us gently lower Thom to the ground.

The owner of the bagel shop dragged a chair onto the sidewalk, motioning to Siegfried and Lily. “Set her down right here ‘til the ambulance comes.”

“Okay.” Siegfried tried to put her down, but she wouldn’t let go. Still coughing, he stuck a hand out to stop the well-meaning spectators who tried to pry her off him. He waved them away. “Nein. I will hold her.” He dropped into the chair with Lily on his lap.

Wild-eyed, she looked around with panic in her eyes. “Thom?” A slew of words I didn’t understand followed, trailed by a long bout of coughing.

I tried to calm her. “Thom is there, Lily.” I pointed toward her brother who lay on the blanket nearby.

Well-meaning volunteers surrounding him and blocked her view, thankfully hiding his condition from her. Within minutes, however, an ambulance skidded around the corner and screeched to a stop twenty yards from us. The bagel shop owner ran into the swelling crowd, waving her arms to get their attention. “Over here.”

The van backed toward us and two EMTs leapt to the street, sprinting in our direction.

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Life Cycle of a Novel: Slow and Steady

There are a lot of approaches to writing a rough draft. Some do it in spurts, writing tends of thousands of words in a few days. I’m more of a slow and steady kind of writer. I set measured weekly goals that I break down into daily goals — although if I’m on a roll I try not to stop!

I don’t believe in racing to the finish. NaNoWriMo has become a phenomenon in this country, such that whether it’s November or not the general consensus is to write until a draft is done. To keep going, not looking back at the starting line, only looking forward at the finish line.

Again, that’s not me. I write in fits and starts, pushing forward only to take a few steps back. I may rewrite a chapter several times (like I did today) before moving on. I try not to sweat the little things, but I see the beginning of my story as a foundation for the rest, and I can’t write atop a crumbling foundation. Little cracks can be overlooked or patched later, but big ideas need to be fixed.

One thing I’ve noticed about going from draft to draft is that as true as it is that issues can be fixed in a revision, the fact of the matter is that the words I write first have a tendency to haunt me. Strangely, I’m not entirely about the words I write badly — it’s the ones I write well that I can’t shake in redrafts. It’s hard to let go of a brilliant paragraph, even if it no longer fits into what I’ve rewritten.

Now that I’m working hard on my 8th novel (well, that depends upon how you count — but I’m not counting the three in the novel graveyard), I feel less like listening to other writer’s “supposed to” stories with regards to drafting a novel. I don’t have to keep writing without looking back. Looking back is how I move forward. I’m definitely not passing that along as a “supposed to” for anyone else.

Trust your instincts, especially when it comes to rough drafts. This is usually the most fun part of the writing process. True creation is going on right now, and it’s YOUR creation. You own it. For me, it’s got to be slow and steady.