Rachel Neumeier's Blog, page 432

You know what?

"Less" is not a synonym for "fewer".

Also, "addicting" is not a synonym for "addictive".

Also! "Literally" is NOT a synonym for "figuratively".

Even though that last one is the wrongest*, the other two actually bother me more. Sets my teeth RIGHT on edge, let me tell you. And although the less than / fewer thing is super-common and I'm pretty used to it (but still hate it), I swear the addicting / addictive confusion is new. At least, I never used to notice it and now I sure do.

JUST LIKE FINGERNAILS ON A CHALKBOARD.

Oh! And the other one I hate? "All right" is STRICTLY TWO WORDS. There is NO SUCH WORD AS "Alright." Anybody who says otherwise has simply knuckled under to the forces of barbarism and is contributing to the decay of civilization.

If you are not on good terms with the English language, then you should REALLY listen to your copy editor.

* Do not be snippy about "wrongest". I'm fine with made-up words that do their job in the context in which they are used. Making up your own words does not mean that it's okay to confuse "addictive" with "addicting".

I am so in the 21st century

Now using Twitter!

I know! But I couldn't, or at least didn't want to, until I could both check Twitter and use it from home, which depended on getting a smartphone, which I only did a couple weeks ago. (I am having some trouble bringing myself to use "tweet" as a verb to describe writing anything, though.)

Anyway! I noticed this article.

So amazing that anybody would do this! I mean, authors tweeting nothing but promotional announcements about their latest books to the point where people unfollow them because it gets so annoying. I don't think of myself as especially self-effacing, but I would be embarrassed to death to do that.

No!

Instead, I will bore people to tears with comments about my dogs, probably. That's why I immediately followed Deb Coates. I mean, she's an author (first book juuuust about out now) (it's WIDE OPEN if you want to go look for it) and a client of the same agent AND she is totally into HER dogs, so I know we can be twitter buddies! If that is a term! If not, I just made up a clearly useful term that ought to exist and now does.

Actually so far I am finding that the biggest problem with twitter is you can check it so fast and easily that it is tempting to do that from your car. While waiting for a red light to change. While you are supposed to be driving because the light actually has changed. I am sure that is annoying to the people behind me and I hereby promise never to do that again. Unless it's a really long light.

Okay! Writing, dogs, links to recipes, and all kinds of random trivia over on Twitter. YES AND I WILL LET PEOPLE KNOW WHEN MY NEXT BOOK COMES OUT (July, btw) but not the point of annoying anybody, I promise.

I won! I won!

Fair warning, this is not a book-related post! Today we are talking Food, which after all is very important also!

The chili cookoff at the Cavalier party yesterday? Last year I won Best Overall with an entry in the "traditional" category. This year I won the "white chili" category*, and since we kind of forgot to do a vote for Best Overall, I am free to imagine that mine would have won again.

So, since it is Very Darn Cold and thus excellent chili weather, here are both recipes. You will see that while I went with "best possible traditional chili" last year, this year I went for "very odd and exotic white chili."

Best Ever Traditional Chili

Actually I did not follow an exact recipe, but I think I can re-create the recipe I used pretty closely. Thus:

2 Tbsp oil

2 large onions, chopped

3 fresh jalapenos or cayenne-type chilies, minced (seeded if you prefer)

1 Tbsp freshly minced garlic

3 Tbsp ground chipotle powder (got mine from Penzey's) (chipotle powder if HOT so keep that in mind) (the smoked flavor from the chipotle is great and regular chili powder is not a substitute. Not that it would be exactly bad, but totally not the same.)

2 Tbsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp ground oregano

1 Tbsp smoked paprika (also from Penzey's)

1 tsp salt or more to taste

2 lbs chuck, cut into a fine dice by hand (truly improves texture of chili)

1 lb pork sausage (along with chipotles, this is the very important secret ingredient)

1 35 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

3 Tbsp tomato paste

2 cans red kidney beans or other red beans, drained and rinsed

Sour cream, cheddar cheese, chopped onion, avocado, or whatever other accompaniments you like.

Saute the onion in the oil for about 5 minutes. Add the minced jalapenos and the garlic and saute 2 more minutes. Stir in the spices and oregano and cook 1 more minute.

Brown the diced chuck in a hot skillet and remove to a bowl. Brown the sausage and drain. Add both the beef and the sausage to the pot with the onions. Add the remaining ingredients except the beans. Add 2 C water. Simmer until the beef is very tender — start to check after 1 1/2 hours. Add more water as necessary. After the beef is tender, add the beans and simmer another ten minutes or so. Serve with accompaniments.

There! Try that one of these frigid nights and let me know what you think.

Then try this one! This recipe is for a much smaller amount, so double or even triple if you want enough for a crowd. In that case, you may need to brown the chicken and onions in batches.

Thai Chicken Chili

12 oz boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch piece ginger, minced

3 cayenne-type fresh chilies, minced

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp Aleppo pepper or other mild ground chili pepper

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp peanut butter

1 14-oz can coconut milk (I prefer chaokoh)

1 15-oz can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

3 carrots, shredded (I suggest a food processor for chopping the carrots)

1 stalk celery, finely chopped.

1 green onion, finely chopped

2 Tbsp finely julienned fresh basil, if you have some handy.

Jasmine rice, to serve

Combine the chicken, onion, garlic, ginger, minced chilies and seasonings and toss to coat. Saute 6-8 minutes. Stir in flour and stir for one minute. Stir in coconut milk and one can of water. Stir in peanut butter. Bring to a boil and add remaining ingredients. Simmer gently for ten minutes. Serve with rice, if desired.

* Actually, mine was the only entry in the "white chili" category. But it was very good. Hope you enjoy it!

Saying goodbye in a better way –

My little boy is going off to his new home on Sunday! I am sure he will wrap the whole household around his adorable little paw in nothing flat.

His sister is SO not for sale!

She is a great puppy with tons of pizazz — here's hoping she sets the show world afire when she hits the puppy classes!

I took these pics with my new phone, but I have to say, not crazy about the photo quality. Kinda think I won't be throwing my digital camera in the trash any time soon.

A must read post –

From Leah Cypess, author of http://www.amazon.com/Mistwood-Leah-C..., which is on my TBR pile. Or maybe still on my wishlist, which is, however, merely a long distance extension of my TBR pile. I see she has a second book out, too.

Anyway!

Like Leah, I don't think I was generally very jealous of other's accomplishments when I was growing up. I mean, maybe I'm not remembering clearly, but I don't think so. But it is more of an issue for me as a writer.

Leah says:

[Y]ou are always hearing about other peoples' good news. About books hitting the NYT bestseller list, receiving awards, getting on state lists or indie lists or ALA lists. And even when I like the author and/or love the book, I noticed a little twinge each time, a tiny voice whispering, "Why not my book?"

And of course I have received awards and got on the ALA list and that's very nice and I do a little happy dance every time I get another notice about something like that. But that also does make me value the NYT bestseller list more than the ALA list, because that's the mountain not yet climbed. And why is ISLANDS not next to THE HUNGER GAMES in Walmart, huh? How about that?

Leah talks about what works for her in combating jealousy. Me, I just make a point of being sincerely happy for other writers' success, just as I strive to be sincerely happy when somebody else's dog finishes a championship. (Well, at least as long as the book — and the dog — deserves its win.)

I really do think being actually sincerely happy for someone else is one emotional response that is pretty firmly under your conscious control, or should be, and it's not even that hard. It's not like I want to see THE HUNGER GAMES disappear from Walmart shelves, right? It totally deserves to be up there. I just want my books up there with it.

Anyway! Click through if you have a minute, and read the whole thing.

The end of an era

Volterra

3-21-96 — 2-5-12

He lived a full live and he was old when he died.

Not the least hard thing to bear when they go from us, these quiet friends, is that they carry away with them so many years of our own lives.

John Galsworthy

In the midst of death, we are in life.

Kenya is expecting.

When you feel lousy, puppy therapy is indicated.

Sara Paretsky

Well, this is insulting:

Check out this post about "Seven literary SF/F novels you must read." Damien G Walter posted this one and frankly turned me right off.

That kind of list is always kind of laugh-worthy because, hello, tastes are kind of not identical across the whole readership? I've never seen a list I even halfway agreed with and surely nobody else has, either.

But here's the bit that made me choke:

What makes these novels distinctly 'literary' as opposed to the genre novels they resemble? Put simply, they are better. More ambitious, deeper in meaning, both intellectual and poetic. They might be harder work for readers trained to the easily digested conventions of commercial fiction.

Gosh, thanks for dissing all that commercial fiction, buddy. God forbid we should sully ourselves reading that shallow lowbrow barely-literate trash.

I actually liked THE ROAD, all right? (That's the only one on the list I've read.) But don't go telling me it's so much better and deeper and more ambitious and poetic than crass commercial genre stories — or that quality defines literary. The only people who think it does are the ones who read widely in so-called literary fiction and almost not at all in genre fiction.

Anybody disagree?

Here's a nice post . . .

That is totally relevant to my life, like, ALL THE TIME, it sometimes seems.

Because it's tips for revision.

Here's a highly condensed list (follow the link and read the whole thing):

1. No matter how much you may like a scene or a line, if it doesn't serve the story it has to go.

2. Edit in layers, focusing on one thing at a time.

3. Make sure every character is acting with purpose, and not just doing what plot tells them to.

4. Do characters grow or are they the same at the end?

5. Make sure it's dire. Make sure your protag has a lot to lose if they don't solve their problem.

6. Make sure you have individual voices for all your characters.

7. We all have words we like to use or things we do that we know we need to cut. Hunt down the mistakes you know are there.

8. Make sure you switch smoothly and clearly when changing scenes, locations, and POVs.

9. Find a way to include [backstory] in ways that don't stop the story. If you can't, cut it.

10. Don't be afraid to cut.

That's the short version, like I said! I personally think everything here is important and also sometimes hard except 8, which offhand I don't think I've had too much of a struggle with. Well, number 7 is not actually hard, but it is highly tedious. The Find command is your friend when it comes to taking out half those semicolons or whatever.

I think 3, 4, and 6 are the hardest because it can be impossible to tell whether you've actually done it or not. Especially in later revisions, you can be too close to the story to see whether your tweaks have got the job done or not.

That's why critical readers are so important!

And it's not just me, either. Even Caitlin (my agent, and a pro at editing), handed the most recent version of BLACK DOG off to a colleague because she felt a fresh pair of eyes would be really helpful. It's very reassuring that this colleague saw almost nothing to mess with. Yay!

In case you're interested, I will be cutting two scenes to speed them up, including the climactic battle. But evidently everything important is working at this point. Whew!

The very best part of seeing your book on the shelves . . .

Sometimes I think the BEST part of having a book actually come out is you can then be sure you are TOTALLY DONE with revisions.

From this you may gather that I have once again received editorial comments from my agent. Yes indeed.

Actually, I took a close look at the comments on BLACK DOG and I think I can do all that in precisely one day. I think it looks like several hours of work, but no more than that. Yay! However, I have been too tired to trust myself with anything that requires coherence in the evening, so I'm waiting till this weekend to actually do this.

Then, of course, I also have comments back on THE MOUNTAIN OF KEPT MEMORY, and I expect there will be a little more to do with that one, but hopefully not too much more, because I optimistically promised Caitlin I could turn it around not later than Feb 20th. Possibly I should have read over THOSE comments a little more carefully before making any rash promises, considering I also have the master gardener symposium to prepare for (I'm doing a class called Gardening To Stop Traffic and I still have a lot of work to do on it); and there's that Cavalier party in St L where I'm going to try to win the chili cook-off again, this time with a new recipe in a new category — if my chili wins, I'll post the recipe. And the new smart phone is a trifle distracting, I admit. It still strikes me as just weird to have a camera in your phone, which shows you how far behind modern technology I was, right?

NEVERTHELESS! By the 20th, I swear.

Recent Reading

So, just read Valor's Choice and The Better Part of Valor, by Tanya Huff. Huff isn't an auto-buy author for me, or at least she never has been . . . I like her books okay, but I don't go seek them out.

Well.

A friend recommended the Valor series to me, and I have to say, the other two in the series? Those are the first books I bought with my new phone! Woo hoo! Internet access through a PHONE, I must be in the 20th century!

ANYway, loved 'em! I enjoy military SF, at least as long as it's more adventure than blood-and-guts. Not that I want it all sanitized exactly, but I want the main character and at least some of the secondary characters to be competent and sympathetic. Loved Staff Sergeant Kerr! She is SUCH A GREAT SERGEANT. Not that I would know, not personally, but she READS like a very true-to-life extremely competent senior NCO.

And right at the beginning, when Huff sets up an obvious romance between Staff Sergeant Kerr and her lieutenant? And then the romance NEVER HAPPENS? I have been loving the urban fantasy / paranormal romances I've read in the past few years, but it was GREAT to see this obvious romance set-up and then . . . nope, never develops. Instead, Huff totally develops the staff sergeant / 2nd lieutenant relationship. That was so unexpected! And felt so very believable!

So, the frame story of the universe, where "elder races" have "evolved beyond violence" and thus roped in humans (and a few other "younger" species to do their fighting for them . . . that type of thing strikes me as a trifle cliched and also utterly stupid and unbelievable . . . but I didn't even care. Huff set the universe up so she could get the characters she wanted into the situations she wanted, and she did, and it was well worth doing.

So! Can't wait for the other two books in the series to arrive. Meanwhile, I'm loaning the first couple to my Dad. He'll love 'em.