Doug Sahlin's Blog, page 3
March 18, 2021
Jayson’s Cajun Shrimp Alfredo Recipe
During the pandemic, Jayson had a lot of time on his hands. He learned how to watercolor, and kicked his cooking skills (which were already awesome) into overdrive. Recently he served me Cajun Shrimp Alfredo. Fabulous. I washed it down with two Warsteiners. Marlowe the Cat went nuts when he smelled the shrimp, but they were too spicy for his delicate system. Jayson shared the recipe with me. After you stop licking your chops when you see the finished dish, scroll down to see the recipe.
Jayson says a true Cajun would cook this meal in a cast iron skillet, which can also double as a lethal weapon.
Cook the pasta and set it aside.Heat a skillet over medium high heat.��Add Olive Oil.Season shrimp with Cajun seasoning.Add to skillet when oil is hot.Cook until shrimp turns pink and set aside.Add sausage and onion to skillet.Saut�� till the onion is translucent and sausage starts to brown.Add garlic and saut�� for 30 seconds or till garlic is fragrant.Add chicken stock into the skillet and scrape up any brown stuff on the bottom of the pan.Add the heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, black pepper and cayenne pepper to the skillet, stir to combine.Simmer on medium heat until the sauce starts to thicken, about 5 minutes. Keep an eye on the mixture because dairy can scorch easily.Add in the cooked pasta and shrimp.Toss to combine.If the sauce is too thick you can thin it out with a little milk. If it’s too thin let it cook down a bit more until you reach the desired texture. Remember to keep stirring while the meal is in the pot.Serve with a sprinkle of parsley. And yes, real men eat parsley.To learn more about Jayson and me, click the book covers below to read the novels author Doug Sahlin has written about my escapades.
February 23, 2021
Prototype for Characters for Stories and Novels
You can find characters to populate your stories and novels wherever you go. All you need to do is be observant. When you see a person who piques your curiosity, take a picture of him with your phone or camera.
February 11, 2021
Creating Character Sheets in Scrivener
Characters are the life blood of a good story. Without compelling characters, you can have the best story arc in the world, but the ��story will fall flat. When you write a series like my Yale Larsson PI series, you have recurring characters. And when you use a character from a previous novel, she needs to have the same color hair and other characteristics. If you don’t get it right, your readers will let you know.
In addition to being a well rounded program for creating a novel or short story, Scrivener also makes it easy for you to keep track of characters. When you create a new file using the Scrivener Short Story or Fiction template, you have a section called Template Sheets, which contains one Character Sketch and one Setting Sketch.
You can add as many Character Sketches and Setting Sketches as needed. Simply click the Plus (+) button at the top of the interface and choose the desired template. Alternatively, you can right-click Template Sheets and choose the desired template from the context menu.
The following image shows the characters in my second Yale Larsson novel, Sarasota Sour Grapes and the character sketch for Yale’s old love, Janet Brown. Notice that I’ve renamed the folder and each template.
After you create character sketches for all of your characters, the sketches are in the Scrivener sidebar for easy reference. When you write a description for a character you haven’t used in fifteen chapters, you can refer to your character sketch to make sure you’re describing the character correctly.
When you create a new story that uses the same characters, you simply drag and drop the folder from one document to the other. That’s a huge time saver. The following image shows a new project after the character sketches were dragged and dropped into it.
February 9, 2021
My Favorite Writing Books
Writers are readers. We read books in our genres, at least we should be, read books for instruction and read books for inspiration. The following is a list of my favorite books on writing and creativity:
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King���I read this book at least once a year. The book is about Mr. King���s writing career and his rules for writing.��Bird by Bird by Anne Lamotte ���In this gem of a book, Ms. Lamotte offers instructions for writing and living.Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg���This book can be read cover to cover, or you can pick a short chapter for inspiration. Ms. Goldberg offers a Zen approach to writing.Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury���This gem of a book contains nine essays on creativity and writing. This is another book to turn to when you need a shot in the arm. Read one short chapter, then plant your butt in the chair and start writing.Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark���This is my favorite reference book. The book is divided into four sections: Nuts and Bolts, Special Effects, Blueprints, and Useful Habits. This is another great book to turn to when you���re stuck.My bookshelves are filled with books about writing, but these are my favorites. These books are available at amazon.com and many other booksellers. The following link contains a list of the books on Amazon: Doug’s Favorite Books on Writing.
My Favorite Books
January 26, 2021
Prototype for a PI’s Cat
When I created Yale Larsson Private Investigator, I thought he should have a pet. I’m a cat lover. Cats are perfect companions. They know when you need company, and they know when you want to be left alone. Many people think cats are aloof. They are actually quite friendly when you get to know them. Cats practice their own form of Zen. They can stare out a window for hours on end, and ignore their owners. In reality, you don’t own a cat, the feline owns you.
I’ve had many cats during my lifetime. When I created Marlowe the Cat, I combined the personalities of a beautiful calico named Niki and a quirky tabby cat named Micah. Niki lived for eighteen years. She was quite independent. Micah is now twelve years old. He’s become somewhat needy in his old age.
Hemingway said to write what you know, and that’s what I did when I created Marlowe the Cat. My readers love him. And Marlowe will return in Yale Larsson PI Book IV: A Pocketful of Euros.
Niki the Zen Cat
Niki the Cat practicing cat etiquette
Micah the Cat is bored
Micah the Cat on high alert.
January 19, 2021
Rituals
Most writers have rituals, something they do when they plant their butts in a chair and stair at a blank screen. The ritual is a reminder to the brain that it’s time to write, time to be creative. Sometimes the ritual works. Other times it fails dismally.
Some writers wait for ideal conditions. E.B White was not a proponent of waiting for ideal conditions. His thoughts on ideal conditions are as follows: “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.”
The time of day at which you start to write is also important. This ritual sends a signal to the muse. Some writers are morning people. I am not. “I write every morning.” Ernest Hemingway
Physical activity is also a good way to prime the pump.��Physical activity is also a good way to stimulate the body and brain when you take a break. “I do pushups and sit ups all the time” Kurt Vonnegut
I have a ritual of sorts. My best time to write is in the afternoon. I write at a small roll-top desk in my bedroom. Two votives are lighted and I start a diffuser with essential oil. I take frequent tea breaks to get away from the computer. ��My muse likes my ritual. My ritual is helping me write Yale Larsson PI Book 4: A Pocketful of Euros.
January 16, 2021
The Myakka Murders
The Myakka River is beautiful, but will live long in my memory as the place where I identified the body of my estranged father. The following video was created by my author, very close to the location where my father was unceremoniously dumped in the Myakka River after he was killed.
January 10, 2021
Create a Bliss Station
Every creative person needs a Bliss Station, a special place where you do you work. Joseph Campbell wrote the following in The Power of Myth:
“You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be.This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something will eventually happen.”
I have two bliss stations: my Author Bliss Station where I write my Yale Larsson PI novels, and my Digital Bliss Station where I edit my photographs and create online videos. Both are constantly evolving. The following image is part of my Digital Bliss Station.��Notice the votive. I have on at each bliss station. I always light a votive when I begin to work. Yes, I have a creative ritual. More about that in a future post.
Write on,
Doug
January 6, 2021
Jack Kerouac’s 30 Cool Tips
Jack Kerouac was a writer and one of the pioneers of The Beat Generation, a lofty group of writers that included William S. Boroughs, and Allen Ginsberg. Kerouac was noted for his “Stream of Consciousness” approach to writing, where he wrote what transpired in a character’s mind, which enabled readers to track a character’s state of mind. Kerouac typed his manuscripts on scrolls of paper, so he could continue to write and not be bothered with putting new sheets of paper in his typewriter. Jack wrote 30 Cool Tips for writers, which I think are worth sharing with my fellow authors and those who want to write. And yes, he wrote yr instead of your.
Jack Kerouac’s 30 Cool Tips
Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy
Submissive to everything, open, listening
Try never get drunk outside yr own house
Be in love with yr life
Something that you feel will find its own form
Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
Blow as deep as you want to blow
Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
The unspeakable visions of the individual
No time for poetry but exactly what is
Visionary tics shivering in the chest
In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
Like Proust be an old teahead of time
Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
Accept loss forever
Believe in the holy contour of life
Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
Don’t think of words when you stop but to see picture better
Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
You’re a Genius all the time
Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven
July 14, 2020
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rules
Rules. I like rules. They add structure to my life. I use them often to solve mysteries and bring criminals to justice. ��The following is a list of what I consider my most important rules.
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 3: When being interrogated, always answer a question with a question.
Yale Larsson P.I. Rule Number 4: Never leave home without a baggie in your pocket.
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 6:�� Stay awake and be alert when on surveillance.
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 11: Always keep the lines of communication open.
��Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 12: He who speaks first loses.
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule No. 17: Assess before you access.
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 21: When in doubt, always err on the side of caution.
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 23: Assume nothing.
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 27: Never get between two ladies when they disagree.
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 36: Never go into any situation unprepared.��
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 43: Don���t forget nothin���.
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 52: Err on the side of caution.
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 56: Always sit with your back to the wall when you���re in public.
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule No. 69: Sometimes you need to bluff to get what you need.��
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 72: When in Rome, dress like a Roman.
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 73 is the same as the Boy Scout Motto: Be Prepared
Yale Larsson Private Investigator Rule Number 82: Expect the best, prepare for the worst.
To see me use these rules to solve a mystery, pick up a copy of my latest mystery.
