Clair Brett's Blog, page 2

Bread on the Brain

Our world is pretty strange right now. I think we are all doing the best we can, and one way we are doing that is to either do things we always said “if I have the time” or we are trying to find ways to be more frugal. Whatever reason bread making has become somewhat of a craze across the United States.I began life as an adult by going out and getting a degree in culinary arts, so I feel I am, if not an expert, at least I have the knowledge to speak on this. Personally, there is nothing better than the smell of bread baking in the oven.I loved baking so much the heroine in my first novel, Dealing with the Viscount owned a bakery.Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with Celiac about five years ago now, so my days of making loaves of bread every weekend stopped. I have not had great luck with baking gluten free bread. We live very close to the King Arthur facility in Vt. And they hold baking classes, including how to make gluten free bread. I will one day go and take the course but being that I have also been diagnosed with diabetes, I’m not so sure giving my that knowledge would be very safe for me. LolWhen my girls were little I would bake during the weekend. And one of the things I would make every weekend was fresh loaves of bread. I had to make extra, because between the four of us the first loaf to come out of the oven didn’t ever have time to even cool down.I am not sure where this recipe came from, it was one that has passed through my family for years, so I am unable to give credit to anyone, but I do thank them for creating such and easy and delicious recipe.Golden Sesame Braids (I made them into loaves)2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast½ cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)1-1/2 cups warm milk (110 to 115 degrees)¼ cup shortening¼ cup sugar1 Tbsp. salt3 eggs7 ½ to 8 cups all-purpose flourTopping:1 egg1 Tbsp. cold water2 Tbsp sesame seeds (optional)Directions:In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, shortening, sugar, salt, eggs and 4 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Divide each portion into thirds. Shape each piece into a 12-in. rope. Place three ropes on a greased baking pan and braid. (or you can grease 2 bread pans and fold the dough into the pans for more consistent slices); pinch ends to seal and tuck under. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.Beat egg and cold water, brush over braids, sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. (if using bread pans, slide the loaf out and tap the bottom. If it sounds hollow, the loaf is done.)I hope you enjoy. If you are a gluten free baker and have any tips for yeast gluten free baking, Iwould love to collect them. Enjoy!Up next we have Brenda Margriet I am sure she has an awesome recipe to try as well!

What Hobbies do I Like?

Today on Romance Writers Weekly blog hop we are talking hobbies. Hobbies we have, or hobbies we would like to start and what it is about our hobbies that we love so much. In our world right now, where many of us are finding we have more time on our hands hobbies are a great way to fill the gap. If you already have a hobby you may have been able to improve on or learn more about your hobby, or maybe just finish projects you had started, but never got a chance to finish. It can bring us calm in what are uncertain times. If you never thought you had time to start a hobby you were interested in, you may decide that while social distancing and staying home, it is a perfect time to give it a try.I was always the person with a plethora of hobbies, some I was good at, some I just had fun doing, but between scrapbooking all my family’s memories, making baby quilts, crocheting during cold soccer games. You name it, I’ve probably tried to craft it.Writing used to be a hobby, and now it is my job, which still blows my mind when I think about it. And other than the marketing end of things, which I hate, it doesn’t feel like work.Right now, I am trying to learn how to embroider. While on the surface, watching the millions of you tube videos out there on what seems to be a million different stitches and combinations, I get bold and think, “That isn’t that hard. I can do that.” The truth is, not so much. While watching the videos of people stringing the stitches together to make a perfect green leaf, with shadowing I don’t consider they have been doing this for a very long time.My stitches in contrast are not always straight. Often, they are not even. One stitch might be longer than the previous one, or it is offset just a touch breaking the line of the stem.My mom used to do embroidery and cross stitch. Had I taken the time to sit with her in my youth she would have given me pointers and guided me to make me better, but I was too busy with life. So, I am stuck watching the YouTube videos and trying to figure out where I went wrong.My husband picks on me, because he says I’ve stitched the same line a thousand times, and at that rate, I will never fill the fabric, but for me, right now, this is ok. I am concentrating on creating something. I am in control and can take it out and redo it if it isn’t to my standards and it is fine. Once I have mastered a new stitch it is very relaxing to make row after row of that stitch without having to think about anything important except the next place my needle needs to strike.I took up embroidery because as a historical romance author, my characters are often doing their own embroidery, but for some reason my heroines are often not very good at this skill. I am not certain I would be considered “accomplished” in the eyes of a Regency character, but that is ok, at least now I know the pain of trying to set a flower in a certain spot and have it off set by just a fraction.I am not sure I will continue with this hobby after our stay at home order is lifted and it is safe for all of us to be out again. I think if I do it will be to embroider a blanket or something large, because I don’t like clutter, so a lot of small projects will drive me crazy. A person can have only so many framed projects hanging on the walls.I’d love to hear about your hobbies and why you enjoy them so much!Next up we haveCaro KinkeadI’m hoping to find a new hobby to add to my list!

What Animal Would I Be and Why?

Today’s topic is a fun one. I am an animal lover so I have actually spent time considering what kind of animal I would like to be. And as much as I would like to tell you that I would like to be some exotic bird, or savanna dweller, the honest truth is with all things considered I’d like to be a dog.I love the three dogs that are currently allowing us to live with them, and they are just plain happy. I think it is a great thing to go through your life only seeing the good.Dogs don’t dwell on the past. Some say it is because they don’t have long term memory, but then you see videos of dogs who are reunited to their owners after years of separation, so I am going with the idea that they just don’t hold a grudge and can let things go and move on. I have never met a dog that wasn’t able to love, no matter what they had been through in their past.Another reason being a dog would be my choice is that they love unconditionally. No matter your mood, how horrible you feel about yourself, they don’t care. They just love. If you are having a bad the best thing to do is come home to your dog, who will sit with you and allow you to rub their velvet soft ears until you feel better. They won’t judge you when you break out the ice cream and will help you hide the evidence. Because dogs don’t have the hang ups that humans do, they can sense so many changes in their human and other dogs. Not to mention that dogs are always curious to meet new people and pets to love on.Dogs find fun and comfort anywhere they are. I love in the summer when I put the dogs outside and one of them lies down on the porch in the sun and just site there with their face tilted to the bright sunshine with a look of pure joy on their face. Each evening one of my dogs chooses a different toy from her toy box to chew on or play with. We didn’t teach her this, she just does it. Every night she has to walk around the living showing everyone, including the other dogs, what a great toy she has. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful place if we were all happy with what we already had, that every time we went to use it, you wanted to go around and show everyone how lucky you are?And lastly, dogs are great judges of character. I am not kidding when I say if my dog doesn’t like you, I see that as a big red flag. While dogs are open and accepting, when they aren’t it is made very clear to all. Dogs aren’t polite because they have to be, if you are not their type or are bad for what ever reason, they sound the alarm. I could have used this superpower in my younger days. I’d like to think I am more discerning now, but I still will trust my dog’s opinion over my own when it comes to people.It seems that I have given this quite a good deal of thought. I’m not sure what that says about me, but there you go, why I would want to be a dog. Can any of you relate?Next up we have Brenda MargrietBrenda also is in competition for her book CROSSROADS CORNER in the 2020 RONE Awards. Please clickHERE to vote and help her out!

My Writing Space

Welcome to Romance Writers weekly blog hop. This week we are discussing ourwriting space both physical and existential. Grab your favorite beverage and a snack and get ready to get into the mind of an author.For the longest time, my writing space was the space I was able to hide in at the time. I had a laptop and would travel to the quietest room in the house. When I whined enough about needing a space that was just mine, my husband finally listened, and we closed in part of our wrap around porch and made me a little cozy office.My daughters and I spent time writing inspirational and motivational quotes all over the beams and lumber used to make the walls of my office. You can’t see them now, but they are there sending good mojo to me all day every day. Over my doorway I wrote “Bestseller are created here.”I researched color to pick a color for the walls that would help with my productivity and motivation, and to create a feeling of calm. I settled on a robin’s egg blue. My desk is a gorgeous Ethan Allan desk my husband bought me years ago as a gift. On the opposite side of the room, we have two bookshelves for my books and nick-knacks, and you can’t have a writer’s office without a comfy overstuffed chair for reading. One entire wall is all windows looking out onto our street, so I can keep an eye on the world while I’m here.When I come into this room, it is me. Every corner, every item helps to make me feel special and at home.Once I sit down to write I need a few things that help to boost my brain into the routine of “we are writing now.” I need a hot cup of tea, usually Irish breakfast tea. I have a water bottle with crystals in it that shimmer in the sunshine. It makes me smile and reminds me to stay hydrated.I keep a notebook for notes and plot points next to me, so I can refer or add to as I write. I also have a classical playlist I use when writing and a soft instrumental one Iuse for rewriting and editing. All these things help to ground me into my moment, and it gets my creativity moving in the correct direction.If you only have your dining room table to use, then create a little basket with a few candles, notepad, crystals, whatever brings you happiness, and juices your creativity. The ritual of placing those things around the you on the table you get yourself into the mood of what you are going to be doing next.I understand how blessed I am to have a dedicated space for my writing and I appreciate it every day I enter that space, but I have had plenty of time stealing corners as I could both can work.Next up is Leslie Hatchtel. Check out her book Bound to Morocco and get a free copy here! I can’t wait to see what her space looks like. Enjoy!

Fun Things I do While Staying Home

How are you? I hope you and your family are safe in this weird time we are living in. My workday has not changed much. Sine I write full time and do that from home, I am already used to #stayhome. But, some in my family are now home, and that does impact my day.I am trying very hard to keep my schedule as normal as possible, because I think that helps my mental stability to see that some things have not changed. However, with one of my daughters home, not working, and doing college online and my husband who is an essential worker but has had a change of his schedule it is harder than I thought.I am trying to embrace the crazy and use it to spend more time with my daughter and enjoy my husband when he is home. My daughter does not sit well, so she has started about a million craft projects. Some of them require power tools, so that can throw a wrench in the middle of a love scene when a power sander starts right outside your office door.I have diabetes, so I am literally house bound. I have gone on a few walks, but even just being outside makes me a bit twitchy, so I don’t force myself to do that every day. I have started those projects that you say you’ll do, but never do. I have begun learning how to embroider. I will never be “accomplished” like my heroines are, but you can read the words I have stitched so I’m calling that a win.I also have a ton of pictures taken before the digital era. My goal is to begin scanning them and move them all to digital. I will admit that is a bit more of an imposing task than my needlework, so that is on the bottom of the list, but it is there. I have an idea if our state’s lock down gets extended past its May 4 date, those pictures boxes will be coming out!I already did a lot of cooking, hello former chef here, so I have not jumped on the culinary bandwagon as much as some, but I’d like to think I was already there.I have made it a point to check in with friends I might otherwise not think to check on. It has been nice reconnecting to people I’ve lost touch with.Again, I hope you are safe and snuggled into your home with your loved ones. I hope that you and yours weather this storm and come out the other side together. If you or a loved one has been struck by the covid-19 danger my heart goes out to you and my wish for a full recovery is sent! Thanks for joining our blog hop today, I hope it brought some joy to your day.Next up we haveBrenda Margriet

Looking Forward to Spring

Spring is just around the corner. I love warm weather and I hate winter. Spring is usually the first sign that I survived another six months of cold and snow. This spring, however, is looking very different for everyone. The world is in uncharted territory with the new pandemic.My wish for the world is that like spring we come out of this scary time with new life and a new respect for the things that are important.On a personal level, what I always look forward to are the leaves popping out on the trees and the robins and hummingbirds coming back to the feeders. But, most of all, I am always looking forward to the days when I can move my computer out onto the porch and sit in the fresh air and sunshine and do my work. I work outside most everyday in the summer, so when spring shows up, I am comping at the bit to get outside. And usually get too excited and spend a miserable afternoon on the porch trying to convince myself fifty degrees is warm, and I should be loving it.Spring gives me hope for cook outs, and campfires, and lazy days in my hammock reading. I am going to use this spring to remind of those things Ihold so dear to me, and grab onto the hope of better days to come.Get out and soak up some sun and fresh air where you are, it is good and healthy. If you look up, I ‘m waving to you from a safe distance reminding you that we are all in the same place right now, but we need to look to spring to reassure us, a new day will come.What do you look forward to in spring? I’d love to hear all about it.Up next we have Brenda Margriet letting us know what she looks forward to in the spring.

New Year's Resolution Update

Wow, March. How did we get here so quickly, even though January and February seemed to crawl? Do you set New Year resolutions?I used to make a lot of promises to myself, maybe it was the champagne at midnight, but come March I had fallen off the wagon so many times the wagon just dragged me along.A few years ago, I changed things up a bit. I still set goals, but to me that is different than resolutions. Resolutions are kind of pass/fail. Goals I find ebb and flow. You may think it will take A, B, and C to reach a goal, but you may end up adding many letters after that before the goal is reached.The other thing I do is I choose a word that I carry with me for the year. For 2019 I chose “stability”. All of my goals and focus were on creating stability in [image error]my life. It helps to make things clear for me. I know if something has nothing to do with my word, then I can pass on it.For 2020 I chose the word “Abundance”. Everything I do is about abundance and I can say I have already seen growth in my business and in my daily life.I knew I wanted to bring my writing career to the next level this year, and a colleague suggested I submit for a Bookbub feature. This is kind of a big deal, and you don’t always get accepted. I had never had one before, but when I thought about what abundance it could bring me I decided to give it a go. Guess what? I got accepted! The Bookbub was set to run on February 8th. I set up other promos leading up to that date, and several for after. It was amazing! As of last count, I got over 47,000 downloads of one of my books and I have had the most profitable month I have ever had. Abundance!I also always make a vision board to guide me during the year. I am happy to say I am currently working on another picture from my vision board.Not to be the one outlier who is all success, I have not been able to lose the weight I gained from my surgery in August. I need to be more diligent about my exercising, and with the word abundance, I don’t say no to cookies. I’ll own it. I’m a sucker for cookies with my tea.I used to get to March and get very angry with myself if I wasn’t on track to make my resolution. I am more introspective now and by having a word to guide me I can look at my progress and decide where I need to shift my attention or keep on keepin’ on.Though, I have resigned myself to never giving up cookies and I can live with that.What are you working on this year?Next up we have the amazingLeslie Hachtelhttps://lesliehachtelwriter.wordpress...

Leap Year--The Extra Day

Welcome! Thanks for joining me today. I am hopping with Romance Writers Weekly. When you get to the end of my post be sure to click the link to go to the next one.Today’s topic revolves around what we are going to do with our “extra day” this year, being a leap year.To be honest, I never thought much about leap year, giving us an extra day. I have always just cruised along noting the strangeness of the idea, but since this question came up, I have been thinking about what I should do with my extra day.All the time we as a culture complain about not having enough time. I’ll be honest, now that I am an empty nester and my kids are basically on their own, they swoop in like seagulls after a French fry from time to time, but I am not in charge of their comings and goings, I wonder how I ever managed it all.I am embarrassingly lucky, that I have a husband who believes in me to have me stay home and work on this crazy writing career. We have also lived frugally our entire marriage, so financially we can swing it.Being able to be home writing affords me more time than I ever imagined, which isn’t always a benefit. I can go a whole day having researched names for a secret society and get no words down on paper.After considering all the extra I already have, I wanted to make sure what I am going to do on February 29, will be noteworthy in some way. I think this leap year I am going to use it to do one thing I have been putting off, yet to be determined (I still have a few days), Choose four books laying around my house, to earmark for finishing by July first, and I am going to do one thing for someone else. Perhaps, I’ll start my morning off at my favorite café, that I don’t go to enough and offer to pay for the bill of the next person who comes in.While I’m not taking this entirely seriously, I think it is a great way to consider how we normally spend out time. We all have the same twenty-four hours in a day, but why do some people find a way to do a bounty of things in that time, and others cannot? Sure, there are physical, emotional, mental, reasons why we may be limited in our daily lives, I get it. What I am talking about are all of us, who flop on the couch in the evening and wonder, “What did I actually accomplish today?”Too many days I end the day, not having done what I planned, and I’m drained, but on those days when I am uber productive I chatter away at my husband about how much I accomplished and end the day energized.I am as guilty as anyone to get lost in the weeds, but I find when I fill my down time with things, I love it makes the boring or difficult stuff easier.There is a commercial out for an audio book subscribing service where the wife says goodbye to her husband, who comments about how tough her new commute is. It shows her listening to the audiobooks on a bus, then a train, then a ferry, then a taxi that drops her off back at her house. You think it is the end of the day, but when she gets in the house her husband mentions that she works from home. This makes me laugh, but as someone who works from home, I understand that need to force into your schedule the things you love.So, my suggestion for all of us, is spend some time this leap year day and do a time audit of how you spend your free time. Are there places you could do the things that you love in between doing the things you have to do? I think it would make the world a happier place if we got back to what energizes us instead of making the most important things those things that drain us. Have a happy Leap Year everyone!Next up we have Leslie Hachtel:

The Winter Doldrums

Welcome to the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop. Glad you could join us. Don’t forget to hop to the next post by clicking the link at the bottom.This week we are talking about how we combat the winter doldrums if we get them. In fact, I am about as far from a winter girl as they make. The prospect of winter even spoils the beauty of the fall season up here in New England for me. I don’t get the seasonal depression that many suffer with, but I become a grumpy hermit from about October to some time in May.I hate being cold. That is my main issue with winter. The snow is beautiful, but to those of us who don’t ski or snowmobile or whatever winter people do in the snow what I see are bad roads, icy sidewalks, higher heating bills, etc.I was the mom in the ski lodge that had her laptop but was hidden under a pile of stuff that every kid, kids I didn’t even know left we me, because I wasn’t going anywhere until the ski day was over. Other mothers and fathers would suit up and join the kids. Not me. I used that time to write or read a book. Mind you the lodge was never warm enough for me, so I had extra socks with me, I even brought blankets to wrap up in.What do I do to get me through winter, you might ask? I spend a lot of time planning my one vacation every year to a warm location. It helps me realize there will be an end to it all. I also make sure that I have my desk situated in a room with a bank of windows to let in as much sunlight as possible. New England can be so dark and dreary in the winter because we are all hunkered down in our houses trying to keep the heat in. I am a sun baby and when I don’t have the chance to soak it up, I get very drained.Other things I do are make sure I keep up with my exercise routine. My body would like to just do what bears do and curl up, sleeping through the long harsh winter. When I don’t exercise it makes me even more tired and grumpy. This may sound counter productive to exercise, but I also use winter to cook all those yummy comfort foods from my youth. We heat our house with a wood stove and even though we are in the 21 century, growing up I used to spend time at my great aunt and uncle’s farm where my aunt cooked on a wood cook stove. So, I do a lot of cooking on our wood stove in the winter. I can put a pot of something on the stove and let it simmer away all day without worrying about the gas bill, because of having to use it. I love cooking in the crock pot during the week and a lot of crock pot meals are hearty winter fare.And lastly, this is when my love of writing and reading come into play. When I wake up and open my manuscript to summer in England, I can forget the weather outside my own window and frolic in the flowers and roses of summer.What do you do to stay out of the doldrums during the winter months? I’d love to know.Next up we have Leslie Hatchtel on her blogYou can also check out all of Leslie’s book on Amazon here.

What I am Working on Right Now

Welcome! I am so glad you are hopping today with the Romance Writers Weekly. If you are not, please click on the link at the bottom to be brought to the next RWW author it’s a lot of fun.This week’s topic is what we are currently working on. I just started a new project, so I am excited about this topic. I am working on improving my [image error]output this year, so I am writing one project and actively working on the plot for another. My hope is to have that project ready to start as soon as this current one is done. Wish me luck.I just set up my scrivener cork board yesterday, and have the first act all ready to go on a project that both excites me and scares me. I host a Facebook group with six other amazing historical romance writers, called the Haute TonReader Society (HTRS). We have a fabulous group of readers that keeps growing everyday.I thought it would be nice to bring our reader members into our world by writing a holiday anthology and having them, by vote, choose some of the aspects they want to see in the stories. From there the idea ballooned. What we have is a premise where all of our characters have been invited to a house party, ending with a Twelfth night ball. The host and hostess love to matchmake and invited all of their unattached acquaintances.My heroine, Maria Lightowler is a country mouse, visiting from the north of England. This will be her only chance to find a husband from the Ton. She is determined, but must reinvent herself to fit in. As the story goes along, she begins to understand those around her are not what they appear, and she begins to realize she can change how she looks, but isn’t sure she wants to change who she is.My hero, Lord Lysander Rothchild, Viscount Milford, heir to the Marquis of Halloway has no desire to attend his aunt and uncle’s ridiculous matchmaking party. He is determined to remain in London, near his father who is failing by the day. Unfortunately, with the prospect on the horizon that Zander will soon be a Marquis the marriage minded mamas are hovering likevultures. Many taking matters into their own hands and putting their poor unsuspecting daughters in situations to trap him into marriage. His latest close call was averted thanks to his close friend, who in an attempt to keep Zander hidden away and safe gets him drunk and sends him to Sussex to his aunt’s party anyway.Zander hates nothing more than people pretending to be something they are not, and he hates it even more when they do it to try and trap him. All he needs to do is avoid those situations that would put him in danger, and lay low. However, when he meets Maria who is masked when he enters the welcome masquerade, he may need to rethink his plan.This is going to be a fun ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ type of romp in the English country side with snowflakes falling and shenanigans abounding. I do not yet have a sample for you, but I always share some chapters with my newsletter subscribers as I am working on a project, and after I will have chapters posted on my website for free. If you would like to join my newsletter list to see those chapters first, sign up here, or feel free to wait a bit longer and check them out on my website.I’d also love it if you joined us over at the HTRS. We have fun research tidbits, giveaway, and author takeovers on occasion. You will also get updates about all our anthology stories as they take shape. Come join us.Next up we have Leslie Hachtel, http://lesliehachtelwriter.wordpress.comTake it away Leslie.