Beth Cato's Blog, page 165
May 15, 2012
On the Throne
I now have that attention... thanks to my "toilet story."
My local, regional newspaper, the West Valley View, has an article in today's edition about my flash fiction "Brains for Breakfast" and Uncle John's Bathroom Reader presents Flush Fiction. The article can be read on page 11 of the PDF.
To anyone dropping by because of the article... Hi! Thanks for visiting.
May 13, 2012
Sunday Quote sends out Happy Mother's Day wishes!
"If you stuff yourself full of poems, essays, plays, stories, novels, films, comic strips, magazines, music, you automatically explode every morning like Old Faithful. I have never had a dry spell in my life, mainly because I feed myself well, to the point of bursting. I wake early and hear my morning voices leaping around in my head like jumping beans. I get out of bed quickly, to trap them before they escape." ~Ray Bradbury
May 11, 2012
Why do you write?
And yet, despite all my fears and pain, I keep writing. Maybe I'm just masochistic like that.
I asked my friend a question: why do you write? Just as we're told our book characters need motivations for their actions, authors need to know their motivations, too.
We don't do this for money (and if you do, you're delusional), though the money is awfully nice when it comes. Most writers feel a need to write, a compulsion. (If you're interested in the science behind that, there's an amazing though dense book called The Midnight Disease by Alice Flaherty.) We need to tell stories. We need to let the voices in our head have an outlet. We need to feel validated and intelligent.
Our conversation reminded me of another talk I had with my husband a while back, when there was a big lottery jackpot in the news. I bought some quick-pick tickets, and then found out my husband also bought tickets--not something he usually does. So, we had that nice little dream chat about what we would do when we won big.
We agreed on the obvious things. Pay off the house. Move someplace pleasant within easy drive of my parents--hello, central California coast! My husband would quit his job and likely seek employment as a math teacher, as money would no longer be an issue. That got me thinking about my own job, my own motivations.
If I won that mega jackpot, I would continue exactly what I am doing now. I would still send out short stories. I would still collect rejections the way some people collect Beanie Babies. I would still have an agent. I would want my novels to be published through traditional means, rejections and all; I don't want to buy my way into a book contract, I want to earn it. But, I told my husband, when I did finally get a contract, I would use our money and hire the most awesome publicity team on the planet!
Alas, we didn't win big. But the dreams are still there... and I still hope to hire a PR team someday, even with a much more modest budget.
Tell me... what motivates you to write? What would change (if anything) if you won that lottery jackpot?
May 9, 2012
Bready or Not: Slow Cooker Chipotle-Style Shredded Beef
Chipotle is one of my very favorite restaurants. The food they serve up is fresh tasting and super delicious. However, I haven't eaten there in over six months. Why? I've been more careful about what I eat, and their portion sizes are huge. If I go there, I have to go for lunch and then I'll only need a light snack for dinner, and probably finish my leftovers the next day.
So when I saw a recipe on Pinterest that claimed to replicate Chipotle's shredded beef, I was all over that. But the recipe needed tweaking. It was for a pressure cooker, and I don't have one of those. I needed it to work in a crock pot. All the risk was worthwhile. The recipe was so good that my husband told me I had to make it again. This one's a keeper.
A note about the chipotles in adobo sauce: if you like a lot of heat, blend the peppers and sauce beforehand, or leave the peppers in when you eat. As for me, I can't handle the heat. I placed three chipotle peppers in the pot and then removed them near the end; if you don't want any heat, don't use the chipotles at all, or add a few sprinkles of red pepper flakes. Adapt the recipe to the level of spiciness you like.
Recipe adapted from Six Sisters' Stuff.
Slow Cooker Chipotle Shredded Beef
Ingredients:
3 pounds beef eye of round or bottom round roast, all fat trimmed
5 cloves garlic
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 lime, juiced and zested
2-4 chipotles in adobo sauce (to taste)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground oregano
1/2 tsp ground cloves
salt and pepper
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon oil
1 can low-sodium beef broth
Directions:
Place the garlic, onion, lime juice and zest, cumin, oregano, ground cloves, and beef broth in the slow cooker and stir together.
Trim all the fat off the meat and cut the roast into 4 inch chunks. Season with salt and pepper and brown on high heat in 1 teaspoon oil. Once it's browned on all sides--not cooked, just browned--add the meat to the crock pot. Add the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and bay leaves.
Cook for 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH.
Once it's cooked and the meat proves tender enough to shred with a fork, remove all of the meat and place on a platter. Discard the bay leaves (and the chipotles). Shred the meat with two forks and then return it to the pot. Simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes to let the flavors penetrate.
There are several ways you can serve this at the end. I ate it like a Chipotle burrito bowl, layered with salad greens, shredded cheese, pico de gallo, cilantro lime rice, and sour cream. My husband ate the meat and rice. It's also really good (fresh or as leftovers) as a quesadilla. Wrap it in a tortilla. Mix it with a simple salad. Freeze it and pull it out again later. However you decide to gobble it up...
OM NOM NOM
May 6, 2012
Sunday Quote is easily amused
"Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you're doomed." ~Ray Bradbury
May 4, 2012
Desert Dreams Conference 2012 - Recap
My dear friend Rachel flew from Texas to partake in the conference. We became friends back when we both lived near Seattle in 2003, but we've been apart for years now. We share the same goofball, gutter humor, so being together means constant giggles and escapades, such as being cheese ninjas or pondering vomiting fountain lizards.
She's also the extrovert to my introvert, so at the con we balanced each other in a yin-yang kinda way.
Then I had the delightful experience of meeting my agent, Rebecca Strauss. Oh, I was so nervous about this. What if we met and she didn't like me? What if she thought I was a total dork?
But after talking with her at total ease, it was clear I could be my totally dorky self without any worries.
Yes. I made a sign that says, "ZOMG THIS IS MY AGENT-->" and stood next to her.
Even though I've been agented for a year, meeting her in person made everything feel more real. The internet and phone calls are great and all, but it still doesn't equal that face to face time. I'm so grateful that she was able to come to the conference.
As to the conference overall, the speakers inspired many light bulb moments and provided dark temptation in the form of chocolate EVERYWHERE. The local RWA chapter, Desert Rose, puts together a great line-up of authors, and I loved that it took place at the Chaparral Suites again. The grounds are just downright beautiful, vomiting lizards and all.
The weekend was one of the most extraordinary experiences in my life, and I hope for many more like it in the years to come.
May 2, 2012
Bready or Not: Tunnel of Fudge Cake
This is hard core in the most gluttonous, delicious way possible.
As you can see, it's a bundt cake. It cooks up and creates its own middle layer of fudge inside. When the cake is fresh, it oozes out in an amazing way. After it has been in the fridge, honestly, it tastes even better. The middle solidifies so it's like there are two layers of fudgy frosting, one on the inside and one on the outside. You also have this whole mingling of textures thing going on: cakey chocolate, fudgy chocolate, chocolate glaze, walnuts, chocolate, chocolate, chhhhhhocolate.
It's good. It's one of those cakes that a prisoner would ask for as his last meal before execution. The good news is, it's incredibly easy to make. You don't have to kill anyone to eat it, but you will feel like you've sinned.
If you don't like nuts or have allergies--sorry, this cake really does need them. I think they provide some scaffolding for the massive quantities of chocolate.
The recipe is from Relish Magazine, and originally in Bundt Cake Bliss by Susanna Short.
That's not sunlight. That's illumination straight from heaven, accompanied by angels singing in chorus.
Tunnel of Fudge Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups butter, softened
6 eggs, room temperature
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
Glaze:
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 to 3 tablespoons milk or half and half
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan with butter or cooking spray, and dust well with flour.
In a small mixing bowl, combine flour and cocoa powder and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add confectioners' sugar and mix thoroughly. Stir in flour mixture by hand until well blended. Gently stir in nuts. Batter will be thick and rather mud-like. Spoon all of the batter into the prepared bundt pan.
Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until the top is set and the edges begin to pull away from sides of pan.
Cool the cake upright in the pan on a wire rack for 1 1/2 hours to allow fudge to set. Invert onto a plate to cool thoroughly. Make sure the cake is completely cool before you add the glaze.
To prepare glaze, combine sifted confectioners' sugar and cocoa. Add 2 tablespoons milk. Mix thoroughly, and add more milk if needed to create a smooth but pourable glaze. Spoon glaze over top of cake, allowing some to run down sides.
Go run a few miles. Take an insulin injection. Dig in.
OM NOM NOM.
April 30, 2012
A Guest Blog from Leonid Korogodski: Optimism and Darkness in Science Fiction
Today I'm presenting an enlightening guest post from Leonid Korogodski, author of the critically-acclaimed Pink Noise .
Optimism and Darkness in Science Fiction
In mid-February, I attended Boskone, a science fiction convention in Boston. I was on the “Optimism vs. Darkness in SF” panel, together with John Joseph Adams, Jennifer Pelland, Phoebe Wray, and the moderator Peter Brett. After the panel, Justine Graykin, who was in the audience, came to me and said thank you for a brief speech I gave at the beginning of the panel, saying that this was worth attending it. This was perhaps the most memorable moment at Boskone for me. Although my time was sharply limited after the convention, I always meant to go back to this subject and post a version of what I said at the panel. The time is now.
By one of its many definitions, science fiction examines the impact of technology and progress on the human psyche and human society. So it is not surprising that we find the themes of optimism and darkness so sharply stated in SF, for they inhere in the phenomenon of progress itself. Anything growing displays this pattern: the potential for things to go wrong grows, yet the potential for the good grows as well.
When your son or daughter is born, the first concerns are medical—and though sometimes serious, in most cases they are light and manageable easily. As the child grows, though, as she learns to walk, there comes a chance of her getting lost. As she learns to bike, there comes a possibility for her to get seriously hurt. As she learns to drive, the danger goes higher still. She goes out in the world, leaves home, finds people to love… Every step of the way, the potential for things to go wrong grows. And although often we may feel we’d rather have her stop, we don’t. Because we feel that the potential for the good is greater.
Is it always, though?
What we see here is a battle of two major tendencies that fight it out everywhere in the universe. One is exemplified by the second law of thermodynamics: in any closed system, entropy statistically grows. The maximum state of entropy is that of death, because everything is uniform, with no differences: the same temperature, the same density, nothing differentiated. When he discovered this law, Ludwig Boltzmann grappled with the “heat death” scenario—what would occur when the entire universe ran down to such state.
Interestingly, Boltzmann arrived at such a pessimistic outlook while trying to do to physics what Charles Darwin had done to biology: to introduce the evolutionary principle into the picture. Unfortunately, the first pioneers in science often have to start with simple things, covering the basic, easily isolated scenarios. And so it was Boltzmann’s fate to study systems close to equilibrium. However, when several decades later Ilya Prigogine turned to studying systems far from equilibrium (and yes, there is a rigorous mathematical definition of what that means), he did successfully what Boltzmann had once failed to do.
Prigogine discovered (and received a Nobel Prize for that) that in open systems far from equilibrium, entropy statistically goes down through a variety of processes (depending on the system) that are all varieties of spontaneous self-organization. Since any closed system still obeys the second law of thermodynamics, this can only be possible if the open system exchanges entropy with its environment, giving more entropy out than it receives from the outside, increasing its internal order and complexity at the expense of its environment. This may appear to be coincidental in each case, but in fact the law is universal and it’s only its relatively late appearance that prevented it from being called the fourth law of thermodynamics.
This generalized evolutionary principle is the source of all structure in the universe: from formation and evolution of galaxies (with huge near-empty voids between them), to birth of stars, to planets and their geologic processes, to the appearance and growing complexity of life, to birth of consciousness (see also Neural Darwinism), to our society with its complex social structure, to the increasing growth of technology… The spiral of progress never ends but rises to the ever greater levels of complexity. Who knows what the next stage may be, for surely it will never end?
Yet in order to rise in order, to lower the entropy, complex adaptive systems must keep increasing their rate of energy flow with their environment, which also necessitates an increase in the number of energy pathways and their complexity. And in order to persist within their environment, they must become progressively smaller relative to the environment. Indeed, although galaxies and stars are huge, containing enormous energy; but the relative rate of flow of energy and entropy in them is way smaller than in our brains and in computer chips.
And here we come back to the potential for the good and the potential or the bad, the promise and the disillusionment, the optimism and the darkness. Close to the top of the observed spiral of progress, at the level of human societies, we have already faced them both. The higher the complexity, the greater both become. But does it mean that we must stop? No way. The message of the unnumbered “fourth law of thermodynamics”—the generalized evolutionary principle—is that, although things can certainly go wrong, the likelihood of them going well is greater, after all. This principle is universal. And even though any given child can die in infancy, more will survive. And even we may drive ourselves extinct, it is more likely that we won’t; even if we do, perhaps other intelligent species (if they exist—in fact, they must exist, although progressively more rare than life, planets, stars, and galaxies), they will survive. To stop, however, is to die for sure. Stopping the progress ultimately brings “heat death” (in all the many ways that one can die).
The potential for the good is greater. But being the creatures of survival that we are, we tend to focus on what could go wrong. Thus, much of our literature reflects less optimism than darkness. Science fiction is the child of the very latest loop of the evolutionary spiral (the technological progress). Even within SF, we see the focus shifting over time from physics to biology to sociology—like in a developing fetus going through the philogeny in its ontogeny, through the earlier evolutionary stages, in her mother’s womb, so does the literature of science fiction, in its own way.
This makes SF even more susceptible to darkness. But, paradoxically, this is for the best. After all, our very tendency to focus on the things that can go wrong is what makes the likelihood of our survival higher. The dystopias we write are warnings and perhaps one of the very mechanisms that actually raises the potential for the good. In this, perhaps, we see the evolutionary principle in action. So, when reading yet another dark thing, do remember that the good will ultimately triumph. Seek those rays of light in darkness. Smile.
Originally posted on Pinknoise.net .
April 29, 2012
Sunday Quote had an Amazing Conference
"Writing is the hardest work in the world. I have been a bricklayer and a truck driver, and I tell you -- as if you haven't been told a million times already -- that writing is harder. Lonelier. And nobler and more enriching." - Harlan Ellison
April 27, 2012
An Interview with Corey Ralston: One Act Play Competition
Corey Ralston is an old and dear friend of mine. We co-edited the school newspaper together back in junior high. Corey's now a Renaissance man back in my hometown: a journalist, a photographer (he took my author photographs), an actor, a director. He's also heading up a one-act play competition that will result in five winning plays being performed by an accomplished acting company.
I interviewed Corey about this opportunity.
This is a one-act play competition. What are the rules?
The Kings Players in Hanford, CA are looking for any genre of one act plays. They should have a minimal set as it will be black box and no more than 20 minutes in length. It would be preferable if there were no more than 4-5 actors in the play.
What's the deadline?
Deadline is September 1. But the sooner the better.
How do people submit entries?
People can email entries to coreyralston at gmail.com.
What rights or payment are involved?
We are offering no royalties but a chance for new work to be performed onstage.
Is there anything that you would like to see--or something you have seen too much of?
Although Comedies are great. It would be very neat to see more mystery, fantasy and thriller type scripts.
When and where will the plays be performed?
As part of our Theater Company's 50th (Golden) Anniversary season we are going to reserve two weekends for the showing of the plays. We hope to select at least five scripts and if there is a ton of great material this may turn into an annual event.
Since entries may come from all over the country and the world, is there a way for writers to see their performed work online?
That is entirely possible. And I will do more research into that idea.
Is there anything else you want to say?
It is rare that new material gets a chance to be performed and we really feel there are a lot of untapped resources and we want to help bring your vision to our stage.
Thanks, Corey!
If you have any questions about the competition or want to submit an entry, you can contact Corey at coreyralston at gmail.com. Break a leg!
