S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 59
May 2, 2015
Sub Op
Ylva Publishing has an open call for their upcoming lesbian romance and erotic antho: "Chef R.G. and sous chef Andi have fired up the burners again and are looking for more cooks for the kitchen! In this follow-up volume to the Lambda finalist anthology All You Can Eat: A Buffet of Lesbian Romance & Erotica, you are invited to submit your best food-related story. Whether it’s a romantic homemade dinner, a randy romp with a stranger, or slow-burning attraction, tell us a tale that we will want to devour.
Guidelines:
Word count: 3,500-5,000 words.
Payment: USD 50.00, plus two contributor’s copies
Editors: R.G. Emanuelle and Andi Marquette
Deadline: August 1
Publication date: November 2015
Rights: None-exclusive First English Anthology Rights for a period of five years, plus First World Anthology Rights
Format: Times New Roman or Arial, 12 pt, single-spaced, saved as a Word or RTF file. Number your pages.
In the body of your e-mail AND on first page of your story, include story title, author name, pseudonym, address, phone, e-mail address, and word count.
E-mail submissions and questions to: ayce2@ylva-publishing.com
1) Original, unpublished stories only. We will not accept reprints.
2) All forms of erotica and romance are acceptable, with the exception of bestiality, incest, and rape. Characters must be at least 18 years old.
3) Stories must incorporate food and/or cooking in some way and, yes, it may take place in a food-related setting (restaurant, kitchen, etc.).
4) Female characters can identify as lesbian, heterosexual, bi, or male-to-female, but the sex/romance must be F/F.
5) We encourage the inclusion of an original, unpublished recipe that is appropriate/relevant to the story in some way. It will be included at the end of your story and will be part of your word count if you do include one. The simpler and shorter the recipe, the better. All recipes must be your own. We will not accept recipes taken from other sources – i.e., books, magazines, blogs, websites, etc. (Note: If you want to use someone else’s – such as your mother’s or grandmother’s–original recipe, we will need express written permission from that person.)
Give us your best original work. We want well-crafted, polished stories with interesting characters and strong narrative. Don’t just give us a quickie hook-up in a 7-Eleven bathroom over a doughnut. Don’t just have your character whip a zucchini out of the nightstand. Be creative. Combine your love of food, sex, and romance in a story that will crank up the heat beneath your readers. Whether you can barely boil water or are you ready for Iron Chef, we want you to cook something up for us. Fast food or gourmet meal—what’s your pleasure? We hope you show us."
Guidelines:
Word count: 3,500-5,000 words.
Payment: USD 50.00, plus two contributor’s copies
Editors: R.G. Emanuelle and Andi Marquette
Deadline: August 1
Publication date: November 2015
Rights: None-exclusive First English Anthology Rights for a period of five years, plus First World Anthology Rights
Format: Times New Roman or Arial, 12 pt, single-spaced, saved as a Word or RTF file. Number your pages.
In the body of your e-mail AND on first page of your story, include story title, author name, pseudonym, address, phone, e-mail address, and word count.
E-mail submissions and questions to: ayce2@ylva-publishing.com
1) Original, unpublished stories only. We will not accept reprints.
2) All forms of erotica and romance are acceptable, with the exception of bestiality, incest, and rape. Characters must be at least 18 years old.
3) Stories must incorporate food and/or cooking in some way and, yes, it may take place in a food-related setting (restaurant, kitchen, etc.).
4) Female characters can identify as lesbian, heterosexual, bi, or male-to-female, but the sex/romance must be F/F.
5) We encourage the inclusion of an original, unpublished recipe that is appropriate/relevant to the story in some way. It will be included at the end of your story and will be part of your word count if you do include one. The simpler and shorter the recipe, the better. All recipes must be your own. We will not accept recipes taken from other sources – i.e., books, magazines, blogs, websites, etc. (Note: If you want to use someone else’s – such as your mother’s or grandmother’s–original recipe, we will need express written permission from that person.)
Give us your best original work. We want well-crafted, polished stories with interesting characters and strong narrative. Don’t just give us a quickie hook-up in a 7-Eleven bathroom over a doughnut. Don’t just have your character whip a zucchini out of the nightstand. Be creative. Combine your love of food, sex, and romance in a story that will crank up the heat beneath your readers. Whether you can barely boil water or are you ready for Iron Chef, we want you to cook something up for us. Fast food or gourmet meal—what’s your pleasure? We hope you show us."
May 1, 2015
A Movable Feast
Anthony Howe makes sculpture come alive by working metal to react with wind, and the illusions created by his kinetic art are out of this world (narrated by the artist, with background music, for those of you at work):
Anthony Howe's Otherworldly Kinetic Sculptures from The Creators Project on Vimeo.
April 30, 2015
PBW's Book of the Month
There will not be a Just Write Thursday this week as I'm finishing up a project for a client today. Since it's the last day of April I'll use this post instead to make my pick for the book of the month, which is Longing by Mary Balogh. You can read my thoughts about it here. The new glasses are helping me quite a bit with reading, which is why I was able to knock out a total of fourteen books in April. That's also the most I've read in one month since the eye surgeries, so I feel very good about my reading future. The last remaining problem with reading is that my book-buying budget is quite a bit tighter now that I'm freelancing, so I'm looking for creative ways to get more books without breaking the bank.
One major thing I've done this month is to sign up for Library Thing's Early Reviewer program, as I can now actually read anything I might receive. I also plan to post about the program and what books I receive from it here on the blog -- and as it happens the LT folks just notified me to expect one of my requests:
Congratulations. You've been selected to receive an Early Reviewers copy of In a French Kitchen: Tales and Traditions of Everyday Home Cooking in France by Susan Herrmann Loomis from the April 2015 batch.
This is the book I wanted most out of all my requests so I think the universe is giving me a nod there; I'll be reading and reporting on it here at the blog as soon as it comes in and I read it.While dropping off a bunch of books at our local public library I also went into their books-for-sale nook for the first time, and was able to score this batch for a grand total of six dollars. The cookbook is not only exactly what I was looking for (my guy loves pasta) but is spiral-bound, which makes it a lot easier to use in the kitchen. It's in brand-new condition and originally listed for $18.95, so at $1.50 it was quite a bargain.
Actually I was surprised by how nice all the books in the book nook were; the Anne Perry hardcover and The Arabian Nights were also in pristine condition, and the Arabian Nights has a bunch of gorgeous color plate illustrations by Maxfield Parrish. The next time you stop by your public library you should definitely check out any books they have for sale. Unless I want to keep them all the review copy or used books I receive will be donated to our Friends of the Library for resale to benefit the library's many excellent programs, or donated to our local public high school for their media center.
What are you looking forward to reading in May? Any exciting new releases I should be keeping an eye out for? Let me know in comments.
April 29, 2015
Audio Sub Op
The People's Ink has an open call for submissions to be read for The Overcast podcast:
"We are interested in speculative fiction, whatever that means to you, be it Science Fiction, Fantasy, Alternate History, Steampunk, Magical Realism, or an as-yet-unnamed genre. Anything that looks at the world from an unexpected angle, we want to see it. We want to read stories that infuse us with extraordinary feelings, transport us to places we’ve never imagined, and fill our lives with characters that we love and loathe. We want to still be thinking about a story days after reading it. Be original. Be amazing.
We are based in Portland, Oregon, and the focus of our podcast is speculative fiction by authors hailing from, living in, or connected to the Pacific Northwest, as loosely defined by the bioregion of Cascadia. There is an exceptionally strong talent pool of speculative writers in Cascadia, and we want to celebrate and promote them to a larger audience. That said, we are not exclusive. We are open to submissions from anywhere. While we’d ideally like to feature Pacific Northwest authors in at least 3/4 of our podcasts, we first and foremost want to feature great stories. So no matter where you live, send us your stories. If they make us laugh, cry, or turn cartwheels of astonishment, preferably all at once, we will find a place for them in our podcast.
This is an audio format publication. We feel that stories of about 20 minutes in length are the sweet spot for podcasts. In preparing for our podcast, we’ve discovered that our average reading speed is approximately 100 words per minute. Which means that a 2,000 word story falls right in the sweet spot. We will consider submissions of anywhere from 1,000 – 5,000 words, but if it comes down to a choice between two stories of otherwise equal merit, we will generally choose the story that is closer to the sweet spot.
Reprints are welcome, so long as they have not been previously produced in an audio format.
Our authors are the heart and soul of our podcast. We are creators ourselves, and we strongly believe that all creators should be paid for their work to the best of our ability. As we are just starting out, the current limits of our ability are a semi-pro rate of $0.02 cents a word. We hope, however, that our podcast will quickly become a success beyond our wildest dreams and bring us fame, fortune, and the ability to pay pro rates. We’d also like a pony. A genetically modified pony with six legs that urinates a nice, rich stout.
Payment will be made through Paypal upon acceptance."
See the guidelines for more details, and if you have that kind of pony, maybe they'll stable it for you.
"We are interested in speculative fiction, whatever that means to you, be it Science Fiction, Fantasy, Alternate History, Steampunk, Magical Realism, or an as-yet-unnamed genre. Anything that looks at the world from an unexpected angle, we want to see it. We want to read stories that infuse us with extraordinary feelings, transport us to places we’ve never imagined, and fill our lives with characters that we love and loathe. We want to still be thinking about a story days after reading it. Be original. Be amazing.
We are based in Portland, Oregon, and the focus of our podcast is speculative fiction by authors hailing from, living in, or connected to the Pacific Northwest, as loosely defined by the bioregion of Cascadia. There is an exceptionally strong talent pool of speculative writers in Cascadia, and we want to celebrate and promote them to a larger audience. That said, we are not exclusive. We are open to submissions from anywhere. While we’d ideally like to feature Pacific Northwest authors in at least 3/4 of our podcasts, we first and foremost want to feature great stories. So no matter where you live, send us your stories. If they make us laugh, cry, or turn cartwheels of astonishment, preferably all at once, we will find a place for them in our podcast.
This is an audio format publication. We feel that stories of about 20 minutes in length are the sweet spot for podcasts. In preparing for our podcast, we’ve discovered that our average reading speed is approximately 100 words per minute. Which means that a 2,000 word story falls right in the sweet spot. We will consider submissions of anywhere from 1,000 – 5,000 words, but if it comes down to a choice between two stories of otherwise equal merit, we will generally choose the story that is closer to the sweet spot.
Reprints are welcome, so long as they have not been previously produced in an audio format.
Our authors are the heart and soul of our podcast. We are creators ourselves, and we strongly believe that all creators should be paid for their work to the best of our ability. As we are just starting out, the current limits of our ability are a semi-pro rate of $0.02 cents a word. We hope, however, that our podcast will quickly become a success beyond our wildest dreams and bring us fame, fortune, and the ability to pay pro rates. We’d also like a pony. A genetically modified pony with six legs that urinates a nice, rich stout.
Payment will be made through Paypal upon acceptance."
See the guidelines for more details, and if you have that kind of pony, maybe they'll stable it for you.
April 28, 2015
RedNotebook
A few years back I test-drove RedNotebook, which has a new version that's just been released. This is one of the more interesting and easy-to-use electronic journal freewares out there, so I thought I'd post the info and links for anyone who is looking for a free electronic notebook or journaling program:
RedNotebook is a graphical diary and journal helping you keep track of notes and thoughts. It includes a calendar navigation, customizable templates, export functionality and word clouds. You can also format, tag and search your entries.
Features:
Enter text for individual days and navigate using a fancy calendar
Add Categories to days and fill them with content
Tag your entries
Format your text bold, italic or underlined
Insert Images, files and links to websites
Links and mail addresses are recognized automatically
(Live-) Search
Automatic saving
Backup to zip archive
Word Clouds with most often used words and tags
Templates for each weekday and arbitrarily named ones
Export the journal to PDF, HTML, Latex or plain text
Graphical preferences dialog
You can have multiple journals
RedNotebook is open source software, you are free to use and redistribute it under the terms of the GPL
Translated into 16 languages
The data is stored in plain text files, no database is needed
Direct PDF export
Markup highlighting
Use webkit more extensively
save your journals on a remote server (SSH, FTP, WebDAV)
RedNotebook is fully translated into 16 languages (make it speak your language)
Optional tray icon and spell checking
auto-completion and command line functionality
(OS: Win 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7)
RedNotebook is a graphical diary and journal helping you keep track of notes and thoughts. It includes a calendar navigation, customizable templates, export functionality and word clouds. You can also format, tag and search your entries.
Features:
Enter text for individual days and navigate using a fancy calendar
Add Categories to days and fill them with content
Tag your entries
Format your text bold, italic or underlined
Insert Images, files and links to websites
Links and mail addresses are recognized automatically
(Live-) Search
Automatic saving
Backup to zip archive
Word Clouds with most often used words and tags
Templates for each weekday and arbitrarily named ones
Export the journal to PDF, HTML, Latex or plain text
Graphical preferences dialog
You can have multiple journals
RedNotebook is open source software, you are free to use and redistribute it under the terms of the GPL
Translated into 16 languages
The data is stored in plain text files, no database is needed
Direct PDF export
Markup highlighting
Use webkit more extensively
save your journals on a remote server (SSH, FTP, WebDAV)
RedNotebook is fully translated into 16 languages (make it speak your language)
Optional tray icon and spell checking
auto-completion and command line functionality
(OS: Win 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7)
April 27, 2015
Doc Doc Goose
Can the internet guess how much formal education you have? Take this online quiz (without cheating!) and find out.
My results:
You can call me Dr. PBW if you want, but alas, not even close. I never enjoyed anything academic, regularly skipped school, spent much of my educational years in detention or the Dean's office, and usually pissed off nearly every teacher who ever had the bad luck to get me as a student.
How schooled are you? Let us know in comments.
My results:
You can call me Dr. PBW if you want, but alas, not even close. I never enjoyed anything academic, regularly skipped school, spent much of my educational years in detention or the Dean's office, and usually pissed off nearly every teacher who ever had the bad luck to get me as a student.
How schooled are you? Let us know in comments.
April 26, 2015
Quick Fixes
I'm a bit shocked to hear that so many Americans are broke apparently because they eat out too much. We rarely go out to eat any more because of restaurant prices (going up) and quality and quantity (definitely going down.) I also find it difficult to eat out because my diet restricts me from eating about 90% of what's on any menu, so I generally have fish. I like fish, but oy, you get tired of it fast when everyone else is eating steak smothered with onions and bleu cheese crumbles.
I know getting into the habit of home cooking takes some commitment, and coming up with quick/easy/appetizing dinners that don't require five thousand ingredients one must procure from a specialty store is a challenge. But home cooked meals are not only thrifty, they bring the family together. If you don't have much cooking experience you can find tons of free cooking classes and videos online. Here's a list of free cooking instructional videos from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension that features quick, healthy dinners.
I think the key to making meals at home more often is to prepare easy, quick dinners a couple nights a week. Just keep it simple, too. For those of you who are looking for ideas, here are
Ten Quick & Easy Things I Make for Dinner
1. Breakfast: We like breakfast any time, so I'll put together some combination of waffles, pancakes, turkey sausage, turkey bacon, grits, egg white omelets, scrambled Egg beaters, toast, english muffins, etc.
2. Calzone and a caesar salad: if you don't like this one I've linked to you can find a bunch of other, easy-to-make calzone recipes online. They sell bagged caesar salad kits in most market produce sections if you need help putting that together, but it's very fast and easy to make your own.
3. Chili dogs: We adore chili, so I make a big pot of it every other month and freeze it in smaller containers, which I then thaw, warm up and put on top of hot dogs or smoked sausage when we want it. Usually these are so filling I don't bother with anything else, but if you want veggies a tray of celery sticks with ranch or blue cheese dip goes well with them.
4. French onion soup and grilled roast beef and swiss sandwiches: This sounds fussy but it's not, as I use sliced deli roast beef or leftover pot roast for the sandwiches and make a very simple version of the soup. Horseradish mayo is a great spread to add to the sandwiches (sparingly for those who aren't fans of the heat.)
5. Grilled cheese and tomato soup: Yes, the childhood classic, and we're still fans. I like using different cheeses for the sandwiches, too. Sprinkle the soup with oyster crackers or cheddar-flavored gold fish crackers for the kids. If you don't care for grilled cheese try BLTs.
6. Homemade pizza and a romaine salad: if you don't make your own pizza, frozen is fine. I make a romaine salad very simply by chopping up romaine and drizzling it with a homemade Italian vinaigrette and a bit of parmesan cheese.
7. Meatball sub sandwiches: a baguette + leftover meatball pasta sauce + provolone cheese; toast under the broiler for a couple minutes. Like the chili dogs these are pretty filling, but if you want veggies try slicing up a cucumber and drizzle with your favorite dressing.
8. Pulled pork BBQ sandwiches with beans and garlic-chive fries: I use an extra-lean pork tenderloin baked in the oven to cut down on the fat plus a bottled BBQ sauce we like. The beans are from the deli (they make them better than I do), and the garlic-chive fries are actually not fried but baked in the oven.
9. Rotisserie chicken and deli sides: Get all of it from your market's deli; if you live in the South Publix has a nice combo meal deal that feeds four for about twelve bucks, which is usually the price of one meal at a restaurant.
10. Tuna salad sandwiches and soup: This is one of my guy's favorite meals; I usually make a light chicken noodle soup to go with the sandwiches.
Another way I use leftovers is to make just about every variation of hot open-faced sandwiches with leftover meat, a little gravy and toast. You can do this with chicken, beef, turkey, pork or ham. If you're not a skilled gravy maker you can buy a jar of almost any variety at the store.
Also, if you want a decadent, beautiful dessert that everyone will love and think you slaved over but that requires no cooking, try this raspberry cream trifle, which my daughter's friends went wild over (and if you don't like raspberries, substitute strawberries, peaches or whatever fruit suits your fancy.)
Do you have any quick fix ideas for dinner you want to share? Let me know in comments.
I know getting into the habit of home cooking takes some commitment, and coming up with quick/easy/appetizing dinners that don't require five thousand ingredients one must procure from a specialty store is a challenge. But home cooked meals are not only thrifty, they bring the family together. If you don't have much cooking experience you can find tons of free cooking classes and videos online. Here's a list of free cooking instructional videos from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension that features quick, healthy dinners.
I think the key to making meals at home more often is to prepare easy, quick dinners a couple nights a week. Just keep it simple, too. For those of you who are looking for ideas, here are
Ten Quick & Easy Things I Make for Dinner
1. Breakfast: We like breakfast any time, so I'll put together some combination of waffles, pancakes, turkey sausage, turkey bacon, grits, egg white omelets, scrambled Egg beaters, toast, english muffins, etc.
2. Calzone and a caesar salad: if you don't like this one I've linked to you can find a bunch of other, easy-to-make calzone recipes online. They sell bagged caesar salad kits in most market produce sections if you need help putting that together, but it's very fast and easy to make your own.
3. Chili dogs: We adore chili, so I make a big pot of it every other month and freeze it in smaller containers, which I then thaw, warm up and put on top of hot dogs or smoked sausage when we want it. Usually these are so filling I don't bother with anything else, but if you want veggies a tray of celery sticks with ranch or blue cheese dip goes well with them.
4. French onion soup and grilled roast beef and swiss sandwiches: This sounds fussy but it's not, as I use sliced deli roast beef or leftover pot roast for the sandwiches and make a very simple version of the soup. Horseradish mayo is a great spread to add to the sandwiches (sparingly for those who aren't fans of the heat.)
5. Grilled cheese and tomato soup: Yes, the childhood classic, and we're still fans. I like using different cheeses for the sandwiches, too. Sprinkle the soup with oyster crackers or cheddar-flavored gold fish crackers for the kids. If you don't care for grilled cheese try BLTs.
6. Homemade pizza and a romaine salad: if you don't make your own pizza, frozen is fine. I make a romaine salad very simply by chopping up romaine and drizzling it with a homemade Italian vinaigrette and a bit of parmesan cheese.
7. Meatball sub sandwiches: a baguette + leftover meatball pasta sauce + provolone cheese; toast under the broiler for a couple minutes. Like the chili dogs these are pretty filling, but if you want veggies try slicing up a cucumber and drizzle with your favorite dressing.
8. Pulled pork BBQ sandwiches with beans and garlic-chive fries: I use an extra-lean pork tenderloin baked in the oven to cut down on the fat plus a bottled BBQ sauce we like. The beans are from the deli (they make them better than I do), and the garlic-chive fries are actually not fried but baked in the oven.
9. Rotisserie chicken and deli sides: Get all of it from your market's deli; if you live in the South Publix has a nice combo meal deal that feeds four for about twelve bucks, which is usually the price of one meal at a restaurant.
10. Tuna salad sandwiches and soup: This is one of my guy's favorite meals; I usually make a light chicken noodle soup to go with the sandwiches.
Another way I use leftovers is to make just about every variation of hot open-faced sandwiches with leftover meat, a little gravy and toast. You can do this with chicken, beef, turkey, pork or ham. If you're not a skilled gravy maker you can buy a jar of almost any variety at the store.
Also, if you want a decadent, beautiful dessert that everyone will love and think you slaved over but that requires no cooking, try this raspberry cream trifle, which my daughter's friends went wild over (and if you don't like raspberries, substitute strawberries, peaches or whatever fruit suits your fancy.)
Do you have any quick fix ideas for dinner you want to share? Let me know in comments.
April 25, 2015
Timing, Everything
We had some friends over and ordered in Chinese, and this was the sunny little fortune that came out of my cookie:
After receiving this and a couple other unsolicited but really lovely positive messages lately, I've decided that the universe is cheerleading me. It happens every now and then, usually when I'm busy but feeling good and really in no need of pom poms.
Which means . . . hell if I know.
This is what I would like know: Where are the pom poms when I truly need them? Like 2014, remember that rollercoaster ride, universe? Or when I got shin splints last month, and realized it only when I was still on foot two miles from home? Or the morning when I e-mailed the client a correction and gave the wrong page number (that was so professional)? Or every single time I open a menu and see something delicious I want but I can't have on my diet? Speaking of the diet, where was your support on Prom dress shopping day, when we stopped at that nifty French macaron mall cafe and I nearly died a thousand deaths in front of the display case with all those lovely little rounds looking at me and whispering seductively Diet? We do not diet in France, cherie. We spit on your diet.
I appreciate the good thoughts and positive energy -- honestly, I do -- and I'm sure deep inside somewhere I can fly. Today, however, I need to move my butt, finish the edit on the client's next installment, update the ledger, finish the laundry, and make sure I get in at least three miles with the walking. Oh, and figure out what to feed these people for dinner that is low-fat, has no cholesterol or sugar, and doesn't resemble or taste like tree bark and twigs.
Maybe you could drop a hint in the next cookie?
After receiving this and a couple other unsolicited but really lovely positive messages lately, I've decided that the universe is cheerleading me. It happens every now and then, usually when I'm busy but feeling good and really in no need of pom poms.
Which means . . . hell if I know.
This is what I would like know: Where are the pom poms when I truly need them? Like 2014, remember that rollercoaster ride, universe? Or when I got shin splints last month, and realized it only when I was still on foot two miles from home? Or the morning when I e-mailed the client a correction and gave the wrong page number (that was so professional)? Or every single time I open a menu and see something delicious I want but I can't have on my diet? Speaking of the diet, where was your support on Prom dress shopping day, when we stopped at that nifty French macaron mall cafe and I nearly died a thousand deaths in front of the display case with all those lovely little rounds looking at me and whispering seductively Diet? We do not diet in France, cherie. We spit on your diet.
I appreciate the good thoughts and positive energy -- honestly, I do -- and I'm sure deep inside somewhere I can fly. Today, however, I need to move my butt, finish the edit on the client's next installment, update the ledger, finish the laundry, and make sure I get in at least three miles with the walking. Oh, and figure out what to feed these people for dinner that is low-fat, has no cholesterol or sugar, and doesn't resemble or taste like tree bark and twigs.
Maybe you could drop a hint in the next cookie?
April 24, 2015
Completely Bananas
Here's a look at how Chiquita Bananas' fun Nana Serif font was created (with background music, for those of you at work):
April 23, 2015
Just Write
Today I'm off to write something new and post it online before midnight. Everyone inclined to do the same is invited to join me.
My link: I'm bending the Just Write rules a little today by posting an old partial I've always wanted to finish. I did do a bit of rewriting and clean-up on it today, but it was already three full chapters, which is why there is so much of it. I'm still trying to decide if I want to continue on with it, but while I do, you can check out Ghost Writer .
For more details on Just Write Thursdays, click here to go to the original post.
Image credit: windujedi
S.L. Viehl's Blog
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