A.M. Ruggirello's Blog, page 7

Salata de Vinete {Eggplant Salad}

About a week ago I teased on Twitter that I had purchased the biggest eggplant I’ve ever seen, specifically for this recipe:

I’ll let you be the judge of its size based on the pictures below, but seriously, it’s one massive eggplant. And it only cost me a dollar. I love the farmer’s market! This recipe took me a little longer than expected to cook up because of some unforeseen circumstances, but my eggplant survived the delay, and I’m so excited to share with you a delicious Romanian delicac...

Unde e rețeta?

That’s Romanian forWhere’s the recipe?

No recipe this week, folks. I teased something special, made from the giant eggplant I picked up at the farmer’s market last week, and planned on having it ready to go by today, but my beloved city of Milwaukee was on fire and I couldn’t bring myself to write, let alone cook.

Please accept my sincerest apologies, and you can expect a new post next week, August 22nd.

Dragoste (love) to the local police and fire departments.

Especially my husband—

and his...

Let’s Talk About Dracula {Prelude}

header via FreeImages.com

This is a prelude for my soon-to-comeLet’s Talk About Dracula series (those who know me knew this had to be coming soon. I’m kind of obsessed with vampires). Until then, and to get us all in the appropriate frame of mind, I wanted to share some of my favorite memes/gifs/puns having to do with the infamous Vlad the Impaler. I hope these haven’t been circulated too well on the world wide webbecause they’re really best enjoyed the first time around.

Please let me intro...

Modern Romanian Artwork

I’ve been looking for ways to incorporate my love of Romania in my interior decorating; a simple, yet effective, way to scream loud-and-proud, I’m Romanian. This is me!I love traditional artwork (post on that soon), but for my hanging wall of paintings, I felt a more modern representation of Romania and its culture would fit best.

For your viewing pleasure, here are some of my favorites:

Romanian Folk Tapestry

byoanabefort

Gold Foil Romanian

by WhitespaceAndDaisy

Bucharest, Romania

by P...

Transylvanian Bean Soup

Contrary to what you might think, this soup, in particular, is a staple ofsummer and not the bitter cold of winter. Take a second to let that sink in. I still haven’t convinced my husband of it, but it’s true! We’ve been so engrained to think soup = cold, but in Romania, this Transylvanian Green Bean Soup is often made during the warm months. No, it’s not cold like gazpacho; it’s served warm, with a dollop of sour cream (or my alternative: Greek yogurt). You’ll love how the cream/yogurt plays...

Mărțișor {Welcoming In Spring}

One of the traditions I remember most growing up, although never having participated in, is themărțișor(pronouncedmart-e-shore), which translates to little March (martie meaningMarchin Romanian). Beginning on March 1st, and continuing through the month, the mărțișoare are handed out to women (and, in some regions, men, as well). The mărțișoare is a thin, red and white cord, sometimes with a little charm affixed to it. Those without a charm are meant to be worn on the wrist, as a way to herald...

Some New Things…

Since the blog has been experiencing some radio silence lately, I figured I might update you with what’s going on in Ashley land, and what to expect in the future (read: it’s a lot).

Cover Art Tutorial

After all the interest I received from my previous cover art tutorial for REUTS Publications, I’m excited to revive it and offer a new cover art tutorial based on a dear friend’s manuscript. You can expect weekly (or bi-weekly, let’s be real… my summer is p-a-c-k-e-d) posts, from start to finish documenting how a cover design goes from an idea to an advertisement on a Barnes and Noble bookshelf. I’m super excited, so don’t forget to sign up for my mailing list (form below in the footer) to follow along!

From Dill to Dracula

Did I mention I’m busy? From Dill to Dracula is the source for a lot of my daily efforts. Honestly, it started as a joke. I tweeted about how Romanian recipes tend to be unhealthy, and how I should try to create a cookbook of interpreting Romanian recipes with a healthy twist. Playing off this joke-of-a-concept, I tweeted the hypothetical name of my cookbook:

And then… I fell in love.

I secured the domain name and got to work. From Dill to Dracula has transformed a bit. I dub it A Romanian Food and Folklore Blog where I’m planning on sharing both my family’s Romanian recipes, as well as different cultural tidbits you might not be aware of. There’s already a recipe posted, with a few in queue awaiting release. For the first few months, I’m going to try and be ambitious, posting every week. Then, once there are enough posts in the blog, I’ll be cutting that down to every other week.

If you’re interested in following along, please be sure to sign up for my mailing list. It’s different from the one I use for Eventide & Barley, so you’ll need to make sure you’re signed up for both

An Argument Against Designing for Thumbnail

I’ve worked with many publishers and independent authors on their book covers, and there’s a common request made amongst them: to make sure the title is legible in thumbnail view. I push back at the start, but if the client is adamant I’ll concede and create what they’re looking for. But, whole-heartedly, I stand by my belief:

You shouldn’t design your cover for thumbnail view.

That’s not to say it isn’t important, but I’m also arguing that it doesn’t make or break your book sales, either. The logic behind making sure things are legible at thumbnail view has blossomed from the rise of online sales, where in the sea that is an Amazon.com search result, you’re but one minnow, striving to catch the attention of a reader. But there’s one thing some people might forget: You don’t have just a cover to go off of, on any of these sites. They’re always coupled with the title, author, price, etc… in text form beside the image because that’s what helps facilitate a sale.

And so, again, I argue: You shouldn’t design your cover for thumbnail view.

But, still, a lot of people don’t believe me and insist the title is blown up, unobstructed, etc… so that people can read what it says in thumbnail view, even though that might not look best for the design. What you should be designing for is the actual cover—what it’ll look like in print or eReader format. This is never a thumbnail size. People don’t really care about the thumbnail, but an attractive cover at full size can and will help sell your book. People judge books by their covers, not their thumbnail.

Don’t believe me? You be the judge. Check out the covers below from a few of the Big 5 publishers. Does it look like thumbnail view has dictated what their full cover looks like? (You can click on the cover to visit its Amazon page.)

              

What my argument comes down to is a book cover can be compelling without the need to read every letter. Pigeon-holing your designer to make a cover that can be read at thumbnail view might cause you to miss out on a truly spectacular design.

A Pantser Finds An Outline.

There’s no denying it—I’m a pantser. Always have been. Always will be.

Wait a minute. I might not be a pantser after all! For years, the traditional method of outlining a plot, whether it be on a screen or by hand, always discouraged me away from my writing. Each plot bunny would have so much energy and enthusiasm at the start, only to wither away as each chapter outline made it seem further from anything I’d be able to write.

Well, friends, things are about to change.

A wild plot appears!

Welcome to Note App, a site that hasn’t paid me a penny to endorse it, but that I’ve grown to love. Above was the beginning structure to the outline for my WIP Oupia {A Temporary Title}. This interface gives you a cloud equivalent to Scrivener’s cork board, at no cost to you (there’s a free version that should suffice).

And look at all the colors! I’ve broken my outline into multiple different sections:

Yellow stickies = Overview of information, so I have the characters going across the top, a key explaining all my colors beneath that, and the big yellow sticky is the premature query I wrote, helping me better define this story.

Green stickies = Full chapters.

Blue stickies = Scenes that need a home. Many of these are elaborated on and eventually become green stickies!

Pink stickies = Plot directions, where I define certain inner workings of my setting, since it’s sci-fi, after all.

Purple stickies = Questions that may or may not go against the established plot, and need to be revisited.

And, you know what? I’ve been having a blast outlining this story. Instead of blooming discouragement, there’s excitement at seeing all the pieces I do have figured out, which encourage me to figure even more out.

So, for those of you looking for a cloud-based non-traditional way to outline, I absolutely recommend Note App, from personal experience. I have a newfound inspiration to go through all my beginning WIPs and try to outline them, and I imagine I’ll walk away with writing a lot quicker first drafts, too.

What do you think? Have a non-traditional method of outlining/plotting your story you’d like to share?

I’d love to hear it!

What The Stock? Edition 41116

I’m bringing it back! I had to. Some of the stock images I found while perusing for book covers were just too good (or too bad) to pass up. So, I hope you enjoy the revived What The Stock:

 

There are so many things going on here. Cupid? Check. Cheesy Wedding Singer? Check. Gun? Absolutely. Overacted feud? You betcha. I . . . I have so many words, and so few at the same time. What sort of company or advertisement would require such an image? Maybe a twisted anti-Valentine’s Day / anti-Wedding Singer ad? I mean, you’re pretty limited by that pink background, so I’m definitely thinking this has ties to Valentine’s Day. But, in the end, I guess we’ll never know.

*Chuckle Snort*

Enough said.

 

I typically wouldn’t have a problem with something like this, but the lack of head really limits the use of this picture. I hate when photographers auto-crop stock for you. If someone really needed a head-less, par-nude man, you can keep the head on and let the designer crop it themselves.

I have very few words for this one other than: punk, meaty, contemplative woman.

Have an image you think deserves a feature in my What The Stock? post?

Contact me by email, or post the image URL in a comment below

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What were they thinking? WHAT THE STOCK? by @amruggs #mondayblogs http://www.eventide-barley.com/what-t...
This is the stock they don’t want you to see. WHAT THE STOCK? by #coverartist @amruggs http://www.eventide-barley.com/what-t... #mondayblogs