Julie Kenner's Blog, page 104
December 20, 2012
Why insomnia is bad for your dress size
I’m over at Fade into Fantasy on today’s stop on the Release Me blog tour. Come by, learn about my late night forays into the refrigerator, and enter to win a copy of Release Me! 
From Christmas Blue to Christmas Magic
Happy almost Christmas! Just in time for the holidays, I’ve got a great guest blog for you guys: Sylvie Kurtz shares a truly amazing-sounding recipe for Brioche … and the new cover for her Christmas romance! Cool, huh? You can snuggle back with a good book and a delicious treat. Gotta love it! (And today I’m blog-hopping again! You can find me at Fade Into Fantasy … stop by and say hi and enter the giveaway!)
Without further ado, here’s Sylvie!
I grew up in the northeast where one thing you could count on was a white Christmas. I loved all the lights, the sparkle and the sounds of the season. Then I got married and moved to Florida, then Texas where snow for Christmas would be nothing short of a miracle. Christmas seemed to lack that extra layer of magic. And that seemed such a loss after I had children and tried to recreate the magic I’d felt as a kid. I grew to dread the holidays.
Blue isn’t a very good color for the holidays, especially with little children around. So to get myself out of that funk, I started thinking about what could make the holidays really horrible. Losing my husband or one of my kids, came the answer. That was the nugget for A Little Christmas Magic. Writing that story, I found my Christmas spirit once again.
Christmas is also about food—both in my story and in my household. Two items that my family insists they must have are sticky pecan buns for breakfast (tradition from my husband’s side of the family) and a Yule log (tradition from my side of the family.)
Here’s my recipe for sticky pecan buns, adapted from both my mother-in-law and Healthy Breads in Five Minutes a Day:
WHOLE WHEAT BRIOCHE
2 cups white whole-wheat flour
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 package granulated yeast
½ tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons cup vital gluten
1 cup lukewarm water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
6 tablespoons honey
2 large eggs
Whisk together the flour, yeast, salt and vital gluten in a large bowl.
Combine the liquid ingredients and mix them with the dry ingredients without kneading. The dough will be loose, but will firm up when chilled.
Cover—not airtight—and refrigerate for at least two hours.
CARAMEL FILLING
½ cup honey
½ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ teaspoon orange zest
1 cup finely chopped pecans
Cream together all the ingredients, except for the pecans. Spread half the mixture evenly into the bottom of 9″ X 13″ pan.
Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and shape into a ball. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is a 1/8-inch thick rectangle. Add flour as you go to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter, but not so much the dough becomes dry. (This is the only tricky part of the recipe.)
Spread the remaining filling evenly over the rolled-out dough. Sprinkle with the nuts. Roll the dough into a log, starting at the long end. Pinch the seam closed.
With a sharp knife, cut into 12-16 pieces. Arrange over the caramel in the pan so that the swirled edge is visible to you. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. While still hot, invert onto a serving dish. Once the caramel sets, it’s nearly impossible to pry the buns from the dish.
Serve warm.
May the holiday season find you surrounded by love and may it feed your spirit with joy!
Sylvie Kurtz writes adventures that explore the complexity of the human mind and the thrill of suspense. Check out the redesigned cover for A Little Christmas Magic and the brand-new French translation, La Magie de Noël. www.sylviekurtz.com
J.K. here: Thanks so much for stopping by today! I can imagine the heady scent of this baking in a toasty kitchen. Heaven…
How about y’all, readers? Gonna give this a try for the holidays? (We posted early so you have plenty of time to shop for ingredients!) Do you have a holiday favorite?
And don’t forget to enter my holiday contest!
December 19, 2012
Release Me Goodreads Giveaway!
Hey hey! Look what I just saw:
The Goodreads Giveaway for Release Me just went live!
Random House will be giving away 25 copies! The giveaway ends January 4!
How to use lists to organize and navigate Twitter
Let’s face it: Twitter can be daunting. Especially if you follow a lot of people. Maybe you’re an author and follow other writers, fans, publishers, agents, celebrities, whoever. Maybe you just enjoy the conversation on Twitter and so you follow a bunch of different folks from celebrities to local businesses to family members.
Whether you follow fifty people or fifty-thousand, using Twitter lists can make the experience much saner! (Also, a lot of folks don’t realize that you can add someone to a list without actually following them!)
This post will teach you how to use Twitter lists to organize Twitter and to better navigate Twitter.
Let’s get started. Lists are a way that you can sort through the stream of conversation that is the world of Twitter. I have thousands of people I follow. If I had to find my friends’ or family’s tweets in that stream, I’d be dead meat. But if I put everyone in a private “Family” list, all I have to do is go to that list to see what everyone is up to.
Similarly, I can keep all my publishers in one list, celebrities I follow, local stores I frequent, etc. etc.
Not only that, but I don’t necessarily have to create the list! Lists can be either public or private–and you can subscribe to the public ones! That’s how I keep track of people in my local writing group chapter. I subscribe to the Twitter list that a member of the group created. Sweet!
Creating a List
What you see when you arrive on Twitter when you’re logged in.
First thing you want to do is go to Twitter and log in. Once you go, you should see something like the image on the left (my Twitter page).
Let’s say that you want to put your five best friends into a list called “Besties.” First, you need to go to where you set up the lists in Twitter. That is in the top right of the screen–the little gear next to the blue writing prompt icon.
When you click and pull down, it will look like this:
The “gear” on Twitter drops down to a menu that includes “lists”
Now, click on “lists”.
This will take you to a page that looks like this:
This is what you see when you click on Lists. If you don’t have Lists, the “list” portion will be empty. But we’ll soon fix that!
See the “Create List” button to the right of “Lists Subscribed to/Member of”? Click on that!
You’ll get a new box that looks like this:
We wanted to call the List “Besties” so you’d type that in the List Name. You don’t have to have a description, but you can add it if you want.
If this list is just for you to organize your Twitter life, you may want to keep it Private (just click that button). If you want other people to be able to see (and subscribe) to your list, then keep it on the default Public setting.
Once your list is created, Twitter will prompt you to add people to it. Navigate to the people you want using their name or their Twitter handle (i.e., @juliekenner). Their information will pop up in list format. (In the image below, I searched for my buddy Dee Davis.)
Beside the person’s name will be a little icon that looks like a person with a drop down arrow. Click on the arrow to get another menu. It will look something like this:
The first step to adding someone to a list. Click the little person icon!
As you can see, the third item on the drop down menu is Add or remove from lists. Click that.
You will get yet another screen. This one will show you all the lists you have created with little check boxes beside them. Check the box you want to add your friend to (in our example, you’d check “Besties,” but since I hadn’t created that list when I took the screenshot, we’ll just say that we want to add Dee to “my new list”).
It will look a bit like this:
Check the appropriate box and voila! you have a list!
To add more people, simply search for that person, click on the little “people” icon and repeat the process!
Once you have lists in place, when you navigate to that list, you see only the tweets made by the people in your list. A much more manageable chunk!
But how do you navigate to the list?
Easy!
Just click on the “me” button at the top of your screen. The bottom item on the top left box is “lists”. Click there, and you will see all of your lists pop up underneath your profile box.
This is the Box on the Me Screen
So there you have it! That’s how you set up (and find) a list!
But what if you want to subscribe to someone else’s list? Or tell them how to subscribe to yours?
Also super easy.
Just navigate to someone on Twitter. Let’s go to my Agent’s twitter page, www.twitter.com/Trident_Media
When you arrive, you’ll see the box in the top left with “Lists” as the bottom option. Click on that, and you get to what I’m calling the “List View” page.
One of those is Trident Agents. If you click on that, you’re given the option to subscribe. (See, it’s in the top left about where it used to say “Lists”). Just click!
Now back at your own profile, when you go to your List View, Trident Agents will be in your lists. Not as one you created, but as one you subscribe to. Click on it, and you will be seeing only those tweets! Groovy!
So there you go! I hope this intro to using Twitter lists was helpful!
Next Twitter How-to: Using hashtags (#)!
Did this help? What Twitter topics would you like to see covered?
And don’t forget to enter my holiday contest!
One more quick note: I'm blog-touring for the rest of the month and early January! Come by and say hi! My tour schedule is here.!
And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!
December 18, 2012
Put the privacy screen up…I have a scene to write!
I’m blogging over at Seductive Musings at today’s stop on my blog tour about one of my favorite scenes in Release Me that involves a limo, a phone, a game of Simon Says and …
Well, let’s just say that my keyboard didn’t quite melt …
Curious? Come on over! And you can even enter for a chance to win a copy of Release Me!
A whole new meaning to “high” tea
Beautiful, rich, and a just a tad messed up
I’m over at ARe Cafe on today’s stop on the Release Me blog tour talking about how much I love strong characters … but only if their strength is colored by their flaws. Come by and share some of your favorite strong characters with flawed melty insides. Hint, one of mine has a last name that’s a city in Texas.
Use this link to get to my guest blog at ARe Cafe!
Join me tomorrow at Seductive Musings! You can find the full tour schedule here. Remember, Random House is giving a way a copy of the book or a digital read at every stop!
e sure to scroll down and share the post! After all, sharing is sexy!
And don’t forget to enter my holiday contest!
Don’t Miss Double Danger by Dee Davis!
Happy Release Day to Dee! And a great day for readers! Be sure to snag your copy of Double Danger!
If only I could come up with another word for “miss” that starts with a “D” I would have had a truly awesome headline.
But that would distract from the real point which is that today is Release Day for my BFF Dee Davis and Double Danger, book six (wow!) of her A-Tac series (with more to come!).
This is especially cool as I take full and complete responsibility for how awesome this series is.
No, really. Because it was conceived in my back yard. (Excuse me while I buff my nails on my shirt.)
Yes, about six (wow) years ago, Dee was visiting. We took our wine glasses to the back yard, dangled our feet in the pool, and did what writers do when we get together (yes, drink, but also talk story ideas).
Dee was putting together a proposal for a new series and we talked and talked and drank and drank, and by the end of the evening, A-Tac was born!
See? All you readers owe me a big debt!
But seriously, congrats to Dee (who is also a fellow Whine Sister), and if you haven’t checked out the series, dive right in! The water’s fine. Trust me, you won’t regret it!
Have you read the A-Tac series? Are you a romantic suspense fan?
And don’t forget to enter my holiday contest!
December 17, 2012
Of Hobbits and Tolkien and Target … oh my!
Hello world! I have Liv Rancourt blogging here today about her adventures in Middle Earth, ah, um…well, sort of! Liv has a really cool day job (check her website if you don’t believe me) and she used to front a rock band and studied Gregorian chant. How. cool. is. that? Without further ado, heeeereeee’s Liv!
First I want to thank you for the chance to appear on your blog, Julie. (J.K. here: of course!) I really appreciate it!
Now, I’m going to let you all in on a little secret. I can’t exactly speak Elvish, but I’m a huge Tolkien fan. As such I am clearly excited by the release of the new movie. So excited, in fact, that it inspired this blog post…
I survived Target. On Saturday, December 8th.
There & back again.
Now, that may not sound like that much of an accomplishment, but hello? Christmas is in less than three weeks, and the Target closest to my house has a parking lot designed by dwarves. And yes, I mean like the short guys in the Hobbit who spend all their time digging convoluted tunnels.
To get into the store, I first had to drive up a narrow ramp that pivots sharply, with the bare minimum in the way of sight lines. If you take it at more than about 7.5 miles an hour, the odds of getting into a head-on collision with a dragon…I mean, another happy holiday shopper…are pretty exponential.
I kinda wish I had Gandalf along to lead the charge. Or maybe that Aragorn dude…
Oops, wrong story.
Instead of Gandalf, there were a series of Rent-A-Cops, whose waving arms and neon orange vests did their best to keep the flow of traffic moving. Because if people can’t park, they can’t get into the store to buy things. And that’s the real goal of all this, right?
After successfully navigating Mirkwood the parking garage, I took myself into the store. I wrestled a cart away from one of the red-vested elves who run the place, and reached for my list, only to find I had nothing in my pocketsss…
Isn’t that precious?
Because there’s nothing like doubling back – for the third time – through a throng of frantic villagers to find that one thing absolutely necessary for the success of Christmas.
Like any worthy quest, there were moments of abject despair. Where ARE the potato mashers? How can I put together Christmas dinner without a potato masher? And there were moments of glorious euphoria, like when I found the PERFECT glass peacock ornaments.
Not a gold ring, but still pretty cool.
Now, I know you’re all picking up what I’m putting down here. Holiday shopping is what you make of it, and I wish you all the best in your travels. And remember…
There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after. (JRR Tolkien)
Or, for those of you who are headed for Target…
There are no safe paths in this part of the world. Remember you are over the Edge of the Wild now, and in for all sorts of fun wherever you go. (JRR Tolkien)
Peace,
Liv
Thanks so much for blogging today, Liv, although the “Christmas in less than three weeks” part of your post gave me heart palpitations! Liv writes paranormal and romance, often at the same time. Come visit her at her website & blog (www.livrancourt.com), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/liv.rancourt), or on Twitter (www.twitter.com/LivRancourt).
Liv is also the author of the holiday-themed romance short story, The Santa Drag, available on Kindle for just 99 cents!
When Mackenzie Reed takes a job as a mall Santa, she doesn’t expect to run into the one guy she ever loved … while she’s in Santa drag!
One more quick note: I'm blog-touring for the rest of the month and early January! Come by and say hi! My tour schedule is here. Thanks, J.K.
Why bookstores are like a bad boy lover
I’m over at Harlequin Junkies for the first stop on the Release Me blog tour! Come by, say hi, and enter to win a copy of your very own!
I’ve been doing a lot of shopping lately, which means dropping in and out of a lot of bookstores. Because what’s the point of shopping if you don’t pick up a few books? And it suddenly struck me: Bookstores have a bad boy quality to them.
Don’t believe me? Well, let’s let me prove it to you. I’ve been spending a lot of time with Damien Stark, the super-sexy, darkly dangerous hero in Release Me who claims Nikki for his own. Read more at Harlequin Junkies
Be sure to come visit! And look for me tomorrow at ARE Cafe!
(Scroll down to share this post! After all, sharing is sexy!)
