Mollie Cox Bryan's Blog, page 30
September 21, 2011
Mom's Brownies
Preheat oven to 350.
Melt one stick of butter (or oleo, as mom says).
Mix it with one cup of sugar and four eggs.
Mix in one cup of flour and one 6-ounce can of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup.
Grease a 13 x 9 pan.
Pour the batter in.
Bake for 25 minutes.
After it cools, sprinkle powdered sugar over it.
Sign up for my newsletter for more recipes. You can sign up for it here: http://eepurl.com/fNbM-/ . Also, I've a group of recipes available from Cumberland Creek Scrapbook Crop. Email me at molliebryan@comcast.net if you'd like a copy.
September 13, 2011
A Mysterious Pee-er
I'm currently compiling my old newspaper columns, which I plan to sell in an e-book format. For those of you who don't know, I wrote a slice-of-life parenting column for the Daily News Leader in Staunton for years. I'm enjoying going through them and reliving some of these moments. Thought I'd give you a sample today.
We have a mysterious pee-er in our house. I am hoping that it is Tess, but I can't be sure.
She is just 22-months-old and many of the manuals on potty-training say not to even try until a child is two, but I noticed that she began to be interested in all things potty about a month ago and so I dug out the old Elmo potty chair and she promptly urinated in it. I made a big fuss over it and let her go around in undies (a big deal) and she peed right through them. Okay, I thought, it must have just been a fluke that she actually went once in the potty.
Against my better judgment, I called my mother, who swears that I was potty-trained by the time I was a year old, which I find hard to believe. She said, "Keep after her. Let her go around without a diaper for awhile and sit on the potty so she can see what it feels like. Talk to her about it, like she is an adult."
OK. That was worth a shot. Oh, to have two children completely out of diapers, what heaven, what utter and complete joy that would be. (Emma was a slow toileter—she was just over 3. And according to my mother, we had missed out "window of opportunity" with her. Though doctors would tend to disagree.) So, I have been letting Tess go around buck naked. She loves it, revels in being naked, as all toddlers seem to. She spends most of her time in the living room while her sister is in preschool. And I am in and out of the room, picking up, checking my emails, getting her juice, cleaning up spills, and so on. I ask her if she needs to pee. "No pee, Mommy."
"Okay, but if you need to, sit on the potty, okay?"
"Okay Mommy."
Of course, I have cleaned up various accidents—of both varieties in the past few weeks. But last week, I moved the potty chair while I was cleaning and noticed some urine in it. What????? Evidently Tess had used it while I was out of the room! A breakthrough, I thought, wishing I had been there to cheer her on.
When I told my husband about it, he brought up another possibility.
"Maybe Emma did it."
Mmmmm. Interesting possibility. But I don't think so. She takes great pleasure and joy in using the "big girl" toilet and announce it to us almost every time she does. But, she is becoming a kind of prankster and likes to tell stories—so it's hard to get the truth out of her. I asked her about it she denies using the potty chair. "It's for babies," she says. In the mean time, Tess is still having accidents through the house.
A couple of days ago, she went on Emma's bed. I have gotten to the point where I put a diaper on her after she has an accident. She hates diapers. Essentially, I had almost given up again. There is just no point to forcing the issue. And when my husband is home, he just can't take it. He just can't take the unknown quantity to this method. Where will she go? When? And will he be the one to discover it by stepping in it? Or will she pee on him again, as she did last week? So, since he has been home for a few days, I have been slacking off and shortening her naked time.
This morning, though, I noticed urine in the potty again. Obviously, it was from yesterday. We were doing a major cleaning in the living room and the potty chair had gotten relegated to a corner. I can't figure out when Tess (or Emma) would have actually used it. But there you have it. Pee in the potty—and yet no pee-er to speak of. It's looking like I will have to keep a closer eye on that potty chair.
Don't forget, you can pre-order Scrapbook of Secrets. If you do, let me know and I'll send recipes from Cumberland Creek to you.
September 5, 2011
Five things I thought about during my morning run:
1. Better put a rain coat on.
2. Better take it off.
3. Three caterpillars going across the road. On my second lap, they are all three going the other direction. Hmmm.
4. Laboring on Labor Day weekend. Cleaning the girls rooms and building loft beds. Next we are on the the garage.
5. Thinking about my new newsletter. Um, er, in the works.
September 3, 2011
Five things I thought about during my morning run:
1. Whoa. It's REALLY humid.
2. My favorite part of the day is when my girls come in my room every night and snuggle and talk about their day. It's been the sweetest surprise this school year. When they were little I read to them every night. Then, they just wanted to read themselves. Now, this ritual. 
3. Journey. I really like them. I've been listening to a lot of Journey on Pandora.
4. Thinking big about my books and there are some changes I'm planning.
5. Emma is working today at the museum. She loves it. I wish she were getting paid! So surpising how she has taken to interpreting at the museum.
September 2, 2011
Checkin' Out My Whole Cover!
My cover flats came in the mail yesterday—and they are awesome. I love that my cover is so bright and cheery. I think it will really POP on the bookstore shelves and on websites. I also like that it hints at the tension in my book with it's "cute" skull and crossbones and fingerprint. You just know there's more to this book, there's an underlying evil, right? And there is. Mwhaha! So here's the cover and the back copy, along with some of the reviews. What do you think?
August 30, 2011
Five things I thought about during my morning run:
1. It's so cool out here. Feels like fall.
2. Poor Tink. The guys working on the road have made her a nervous wreck.
3. I don't think I'm going to be able to live without homemade tomato sauce. Now that I've learned how to do it—and have fallen in love with the making of it and the FLAVOR.
4. Sunflowers and faces.
5. My work-in-progress. Calling it Scrapbook of Legacy. I'll be working on it today all day. Let's hope for no calls from the school.
August 23, 2011
Five Questions for Laura Childs
Laura's scrapbooking series offers one female sleuth, a sidekick, and several other quirky characters that come in and out of her fast-paced cozy (or thrillzy), including a "romantic interest." Her main character Carmella is a designer who owns a scrapbooking and craft store in New Orleans. Score points for setting. Laura does not call her books cozy. She uses the term "thrillzy" to describe them. Interesting term aptly describing her latest book, a page turner.
Along with her scrapbooking-themed books, she also writes the Teashop Mysteries and the Cackleberry Mysteries. I can't imagine juggling three mystery series. She must be one organized writing machine.
One of my favorite things about her books is the titles. They are absolutely some of the best titles in terms of hooking into the scrapbooking theme: Bound for Murder, Motif for Murder, Frill Kill, Death Swatch, Tragic Magic, Fiber and Brimstone, and Skeleton Letters. I've often wondered how she came up with them.
And so it was the first question I asked her for my five questions.
Q: How did you come up with the titles of your books ?
A: I noodle around ideas for a "what if?" Basically off-beat circumstance, plot device, or murder that I can spring on readers right in the very first chapter. Then I work on coming up with a title that ties in thematically. And if I don't have a title, I can't start writing -- I'm very phobic that way !
Q: What drew you to creating Carmella ?
A: I wanted to create an independent, free-spirited, and highly creative entrepreneur. At the time I pitched the scrapbooking mysteries to Penguin, scrapbooking was just beginning to get popular so to make Carmella a designer/ scrapbook shop owner seemed perfect.
Q: What do you think is the secret of your success as a mystery author?
A: I never, ever, forget that I am completely beholden to, or at the mercy of, my readers. I write for my readers, not for my publisher, editor, agent, or anyone else.
Q: What do you think readers like best about your books?
A: I think readers enjoy the fast pace. When I started writing cozies the whole genre seemed a bit plodding. So I kicked the pace way up, added lots more danger to my books, and worked to create a hybrid between a cozy and a thriller, a thrillzy ! Oh, and I make the books interactive. If you read about character enjoying a slice of New Orleans black bottom pie, you can go to the back of my book and find the recipe! Makes sense, huh?
Q: If you could be a pie, what kind would it be and why?
A: Definitely an apple pie. Very wholesome and midwestern. And my mother, who is no longer with us, made the very best apple pies. She would literally hand-select apples from the orchard and make the entire pie from scratch. The dear lady cooked pot roast until it was a charred lump, but she had the golden touch when it came to pie.
Sounds like my kinda lady, Laura! Thank you kindly for stopping by my blog.
Please check out Laura's website and books.
August 21, 2011
Five Questions for Laura Childs
She doesn't know this, but New York Times bestselling author Laura Childs holds a special place in my writer's heart. Her book, Bound for Murder, was the first scrapbooking mystery I ever read. It was fascinating to read a mystery using my favorite hobby as an integral part of its plot. Years later, here I am about to publish my own scrapbooking-themed mystery, although it is not like Laura's series at all.
Laura's scrapbooking series offers one female sleuth, a sidekick, and several other quirky characters that come in and out of her fast-paced cozy (or thrillzy), including a "romantic interest." Her main character Carmella is a designer who owns a scrapbooking and craft store in New Orleans. Score points for setting. Laura does not call her books cozy. She uses the term "thrillzy" to describe them. Interesting term aptly describing her latest book, a page turner.
Along with her scrapbooking-themed books, she also writes the Teashop Mysteries and the Cackleberry Mysteries. I can't imagine juggling three mystery series. She must be one organized writing machine.
One of my favorite things about her books is the titles. They are absolutely some of the best titles in terms of hooking into the scrapbooking theme: Bound for Murder, Motif for Murder, Frill Kill, Death Swatch, Tragic Magic, Fiber and Brimstone, and Skeleton Letters. I've often wondered how she came up with them.
And so it was the first question I asked her for my five questions.
Q: How did you come up with the titles of your books ?
A: I noodle around ideas for a "what if?" Basically off-beat circumstance, plot device, or murder that I can spring on readers right in the very first chapter. Then I work on coming up with a title that ties in thematically. And if I don't have a title, I can't start writing — I'm very phobic that way !
Q: What drew you to creating Carmella ?
A: I wanted to create an independent, free-spirited, and highly creative entrepreneur. At the time I pitched the scrapbooking mysteries to Penguin, scrapbooking was just beginning to get popular so to make Carmella a designer/ scrapbook shop owner seemed perfect.
Q: What do you think is the secret of your success as a mystery author?
A: I never, ever, forget that I am completely beholden to, or at the mercy of, my readers. I write for my readers, not for my publisher, editor, agent, or anyone else.
Q: What do you think readers like best about your books?
A: I think readers enjoy the fast pace. When I started writing cozies the whole genre seemed a bit plodding. So I kicked the pace way up, added lots more danger to my books, and worked to create a hybrid between a cozy and a thriller, a thrillzy ! Oh, and I make the books interactive. If you read about character enjoying a slice of New Orleans black bottom pie, you can go to the back of my book and find the recipe! Makes sense, huh?
Q: If you could be a pie, what kind would it be and why?
A: Definitely an apple pie. Very wholesome and midwestern. And my mother, who is no longer with us, made the very best apple pies. She would literally hand-select apples from the ordhard and make the entire pie from scratch. The dear lady cooked pot roast until it was a charred lump, but she had the golden touch when it came to pie.
Sounds like my kinda lady, Laura! Thank you kindly for stopping by my blog.
Please check out Laura's website and books.
August 16, 2011
Five things I thought about during my morning run:
1. School starting tomorrow and all the shopping I have to do TODAY. Argh.
2. Cumberland Creek.
3. Dipping my toes into self-publishing. I'm working on compilation of my newspaper column, a collection of funny and inspiring thoughts on parenting. Stay tuned for that.
4. Trying a different route today with a few more hills. Whew. It's always good to change it up a bit.
5. So nice to take Tess with me this morning while I was walking the dog. We've gotten some great walks in this summer, my girls and me. That's something to be grateful for–especially during a summer where we couldn't afford a vacation. At least we have gotten in some good "hanging out together" time.
August 15, 2011
Bleeding Heart: Do I Critique for Free?
This is the next stop on the Mystery Writer's Rolling Blog Ink. Today's topic is "Do You Critique for Free?"
Writers are a funny lot. We need the support of other writers because we work alone. It's the nature of our work—and it's difficult for us to see it clearly. We are not like doctors or flight attendants, coming into contact with people every day and knowing whether or not you've failed. And yet the other person in our work, the reader, is key. It's why we do it. So another pair of eyes looking over your manuscript is a necessary gift. It's good to send our drafts to trusted colleagues and friends who will critique our work. By now, I've developed enough friendships with other writers who I trust to send my ideas and manuscripts to. And I try to reciprocate.
But for a writer I don't know to contact me out of the blue and ask if I'd critique their work? I'd love to help. And my bleeding heart knows exactly where they are coming from. But I am at a point in my career that time is money and money is time and all that. It's a bitter pill for me to swallow. But I have valuable critique skills and will not do it for free. I can't justify taking time away from my own work to critique something for free. It's simply not feasible.
But that said. It doesn't have to be money that this writer offers me. It could be a service, like proofreading or, um, a really good massage. I will also take food and free publicity in lieu of money. And while I'm wishing…a vacation would be nice. If you have a beach house and would like me to have it for about a week, I'll critique your manuscript. heh.
I love the barter system. But what about you? Do you critique for free?
Please check out the other writer's on today's tour:
KT Wagner: http://northernlightsgothic.com/do-you-critique-the-work-of-other-writers
Kathleen Kaska http://www.kathleenkaskawrites.blogspot.com
Nancy Lauzon http://chickdickmysteries.com/blog-6/
