S.L. Armstrong's Blog, page 9

Recipe Monday: Deviled Eggs

One of the things I cannot attend a holiday gathering without is my deviled eggs. My father loves them. In fact, I–as a non-egg eater–love these as a small snack sometimes. They’re pretty quick, especially is you buy pre-boiled eggs from the market (which is what I usually do ’cause I suck at hard boiling eggs). Keeping a packet of the pre-boiled eggs in the fridge means this is an easy, quick meal/snack with little effort!

Ingredients

6 hard boiled eggs

2-4TBSP mayonnaise

2-4TSBP sweet relish

1-3tsp yellow mustard

salt

pepper

Slice the eggs length-wise and separate whites from yolks. I then push my yolks through a sieve to get the smoothest, finest dusting of yolks. Into the yolks, add the lower half of the measurements, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of pepper. Mix. Now, this should be a creamy, soft mixture, but sometimes, the yolks are really dry. Add the next step up in measurements, going bit by bit, until the right texture is achieved. Taste. Adjust for personal tastes (I usually end up adding more salt and sweet relish than the recipe calls for).

Spoon or pipe into the egg white halves and arrange on a platter. Serve cold.

A Political Post: Gun Control

I don’t usually get political on my blog, and this will be the one and only time I’ll address this, and I’m not turning on comments. This is me. My opinion. My thoughts. Nothing more.

It’s been difficult to find time or desire to blog, quite frankly. Between the holiday stress and the heartache of the Newtown tragedy, this December hasn’t been too festive of one. I’ve tried avoiding Facebook entirely because many of the people I once respected as sane, rational individuals have turned into pro-gun folks who just spew whatever propaganda they feel like that day. It makes me angry.

I don’t believe the Second Amendment intended for civilians in the 21st century to have unlimited access to all sorts of firearms. I don’t believe owning a gun is a right. I believe strict gun control laws are the first step toward a less violent America, and I believe harsh punishments for gun control violations are the second step. This isn’t something I will ever bend on. I’ve believed in gun control for a very, very long time now, and I think it’s simply shameful that people keep saying now isn’t the time to discuss such regulations.

Like it wasn’t time to discuss it after the Luby’s Massacre (50 people shot, 23 dead).

Like it wasn’t time to discuss it after Columbine (39 people shot, 12 dead).

Like it wasn’t time to discuss it after the Fort Hood shooting (42 people shot, 13 dead).

Like it wasn’t time to discuss it after Virginia Tech (49 people shot, 32 dead).

Like it wasn’t time to discuss it after the Aurora movie theater shooting (70 people shot, 12 dead).

Like it isn’t time to discuss it after Newtown (26 people dead).

Now is the time for dialogue, for legislation, for an overhaul of the gun laws in America. No, it won’t fix the problem, but it’s a fucking step. It’s a step toward not seeing another swath of innocent people cut down because some crazy decides to pick up an assault rifle—LEGALLY purchased—and shoot up a mall, a school, a workplace. Yes, a knife or a bomb or a coke can can be just a lethal, but those are just derailing comments. My cat could potentially be lethal, doesn’t mean that if he scratches, I will die. A knife can be lethal, but you have to get up close and personal with your victim, who can struggle and fight, whereas a gun… A gun is quick, impersonal, and very, very final.

And we know this because the very same day 26 people lost their lives in Sandy Hook Elementary School, 22 children in a Chinese school were attacked by a deranged man with a knife and—while some are in critical condition—none of them are dead.

The United States has become an entitled, spoiled 2-year-old with a huge case of the MINE!s. We, as a country, want to call privileges rights and rights privileges. The rights that we have should be healthcare, food, shelter. The right to our own person. The right to marry whomever we desire regardless of gender. The right to be safe and happy. Guns and tax breaks and religious domination are not rights, and shame on those who would trade the safety of their fellow human beings for the privilege of owning a gun.

Recipe Monday: Peanut Brittle

Every year, I make peanut brittle. My family likes it. My in-laws like it. I ship it out to all sorts of people. It’s easy enough, but you need some special equipment and patience. A word of caution: candy making results in liquid sugar heated to very high heat. Don’t get it on you. It’s culinary napalm, quite literally. It gets on your skin and sticks and burns and won’t come off easily. Be very careful when playing with sugar and heat.

Ingredients

2C white sugar

1C light corn syrup

1C water

2C unsalted peanuts

1/2tsp salt

2TBSP butter

2tsp baking soda

1tsp pure vanilla extract

Prepare a sheet tray by spraying lightly with non-stick cooking spray.

In a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat, combine sugar, corn syrup, and water. Using a candy thermometer, cook the sugar until it reaches 234F. Add the peanuts and continue to cook until it reaches 290F.

Turn off the heat, remove the thermometer, and stir in the butter, vanilla, and baking soda. I use a silicon spatula made for high temperatures, but a wooden spoon would also work. Turn it out onto your cookie sheet and let cool for 30 minutes. Break apart and store in an airtight container!

Writing Projects in 2013

So, R, K, and I went over the writing schedule next year. OMG. Admittedly, anything we write for SMP has a bit of a grace period, but anything for another press has to be in on time. I need to sit down and figure out timetables and such so we don’t miss a deadline, but… at least I have the list of publications we’re shooting for!

Anthology Submissions

1/31/2013 – Untitled, K’s and my Sandy auction short story about a priest and an angel. I have a solid idea for this one, I just need the time and focus to work on it.

2/28/2013 – SMP, Dracones, gay dragon theme, and I have a vague idea for the short.

3/31/2013 – SMP, Serve Me, gay slavery, and we plan to play in the Egaea world again with a House of Water slave Elf, but not show a more progressive, happier master-slave pairing. It will be more representative of what sort of use the lust slaves truly were put to.

3/31/2013 – SMP, Blood Embrace, gay vampires, and we have a great idea for this one. XD It even has a title, Catch and Release.

4/15/2013 – DSP, Cuddling, I’m iffy on subbing to Dreamspinner as I’ve heard they’re shit at editing (and my own experience with buying their work shows poor acquisitions and poor editing), but I’d like firsthand experience rather than anecdotal statements. This is a call for gay couples who are re-ignitiing the spark in their relationship, and K. and I want to write an older gay couple.

4/30/2013 – SMP, Forgotten Menagerie, which is gay non-canine, non-feline shifters, and I plan to play with a fox shifter.

4/30/2013 – LT3, Proud to be a Vampire, for Less Than Three press, and I’m still mulling around with an idea. It hasn’t gelled quite yet, but I have plenty of vampire ideas in my head.

5/31/2013 – SMP, Blurred Lines, trans* and genderqueer fiction, which is something K really wants to write for.

8/31/2013 – SMP, Bygone Beasts, gay fantastical shifters, and I plan to write me some unicorn shifter porn because I’ve wanted to for YEARS now.

9/30/2013 – SMP, On Her Knees, lesbian slavery, and I have an idea for a vampire mistress and her little blood doll.

Iffy are another DSP call for gay doctors and an SMP call for bisexual psychics, both I’d write with Erik Moore. As those are closer to the holidays, I don’t know if they’ll actually be written.

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And then there’s the proper fiction. Non-shorts written for individual release. I need to work out deadlines for them, though.

Novel – Immortal Symphony: Overture, season one of the Immortal Symphony serial. I have the first episode written and with the editor. I have until the end of December to finish writing the second one and get it off to her. Deadline for the final episode is March 31st. Also need to write two deleted scenes for it, at least one of them kinky smut between Dorian and Gabriel.

Novel – Immortal Symphony: Counterpoint, season two of the Immortal Symphony serial. I need to begin writing this in October 2013 to make the February 2014 release date.

Novel – Lessons In Cowboy, gay contemporary cowboy with a country music star. I’ve been squatting on this manuscript for years now. It’s over a quarter written. Time to finish it.

Novella – Human Rights, gay furry with a human. This is almost half complete. So close!

Novella – Under the Strawberry Moon, lesbian poly werewolves. I wrote this outline a year ago and want to finally write the story. Since it’s 100% outlined, it shouldn’t take too long to write the thing.

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I already know what single title projects I’ll be working on in 2014, too. Wanderlust: Land of Nod, the first in a het novella trilogy; Polyfidelity, a novel about a poly quad; Other Side of Night: Havva & Amiri, the het follow up to Bastian & Riley; 52 Weeks, our psychological mind- and genderfuck of a bisexual D/s novel; and The Keeper’s Heart, the long-awaited sequel to The Keeper. I haven’t even looked at SMP’s 2014 calls because I might cry if I did. XD

So. My post about what’s coming in 2013. I’m crossing my fingers we can meet this sort of schedule while publishing and attending cons.

Recipe Monday: Basic Almond Cookie Dough

This is a tried and true recipe I use every holiday season. It’s a mother dough. In other words, it’s the base dough you can then make dozens of other types of cookies out of.

Ingredients

3 1/3C all-purpose flour

2 3/4C cake flour

1 1/4tsp salt

2 tins (16oz total) almond paste (NOT marzipan, but almond paste), chopped

1lb softened butter

2C sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2tsp vanilla

Sift the salt, AP flour, and cake flour into a big bowl.

In the bowl of a mixer (and you need to do this in a stand mixer, it doesn’t work otherwise), add the chopped/crumbled almond paste and process for a minute. Add butter and whip on medium high until light and fluffy.

Once the butter and almond paste are light and fluffy, add the sugar and beat for a minute or two. Add your eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly. Add the vanilla and mix.

On low speed, add the flour 1/3C at a time. Mix until all the flour is incorporated, and then break the dough up into fourths. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. I tend to chill it overnight and work with it the next day.

With this dough, you can make all sorts of spritz and sandwich cookies.

For spritz cookies, bake at 375F for 4 minutes, turn the pan, bake an additional 3 minutes. They should be the barest of brown on the bottom and edges.

For sandwich cookies, add another 1/4C of AP flour to a quarter of the dough at room temperature. Roll out, cut your cookies, place on cookie sheet, and then freeze for 5-10 minutes. Bake at 375F for 4 minutes, turn the pan, bake an additional 3 minutes. They should be the barest of brown on the bottom and edges.

Bad Writing Advice

So, on a list I’m part of, an author posted up a link to this list of words to avoid when you write: http://writerswrite.posterous.com/eig.... Now, first and foremost, I hate these kinds of lists. HATE. Usually, they do more damage than good. But, as I was trying to be part of the group after a gentle poke from a mod, I went and looked at the link.

I then spent half an hour ranting, mainly because the ‘advice’ was badly given. I feel my response to it might help other authors, so I’m sharing it here.

Below is that rant.

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I’ve read through this and have to say I don’t find things like this helpful. In fact, I find them detrimental to authors because it cripples them. The problem with lists like this is they are not writing tips, they’re editing tips, and authors shouldn’t be editing as they write. Writing will never be done if you’re too busy worrying over every single word choice. Yes, word choice is important, but write the story first, and then question word choice during the editing phase. I tell my authors all the time to just write their story and let me worry about their word choice. Authors can seriously overthink something (I know I have), and a good editor will help them smooth out bad word choice.

This particular list isn’t about not using words, but using them correctly. I agree with some of what’s said here, but I would never tell an author to avoid those words (just like I wince when authors are told to avoid all adverbs, adjectives, epithets, this list of words, that list of words, dialogue tags…). Eventually, if an author followed all those lists and pieces of advice, they’d be left with simple ‘See Spot run. Run, spot, run!’.

I’m also suspect of this list because of #5. The author of the piece says to avoid the word ‘is’ and all its forms. What they are actually describing is all the forms of the verb ‘to be’. From the way they word it, they don’t know what they’re actually telling you to avoid. The example they give–”Hey guys, I can’t–I’m busying am-ing.”–what do they think that apostrophe ‘m’ means? ‘I am busy’, which is a legitimate sentence with no other way to say it to avoid all forms of ‘to be’. I will admit, the ‘to be’ + ‘-ing verb’ or ‘to be’ + ‘-ed verb’ (which are called participle forms) can frequently be replaced with an ‘-ed’ verb (simple past form), but not always. Consider these two sentences:

I was sprinting toward the door when the shot rang out.

I sprinted for the door when the shot rang out.

The sequence of events for those two sentences are completely different, and they cannot be used interchangeably. That’s the bitch of the English language. In the first, the character is already running before the shot is fired. In the second, the shot fires, and then the character starts moving. This is why lists say ‘Don’t do X’ are unhelpful because there are always exceptions, situations where X is not only useful, but necessary.

The biggest problem I have with the poster’s ‘fixes’ to these problems is they continually try to replace one word with 10, 15, 20 words of exposition. One perfectly good word swapped out for dozens of purple prose I would hack at with red pen the minute the author sent it my way.

I do agree that 98% of the time, ‘that’ can be removed from writing. I advise authors to do a search for words like ‘that’ and ‘just’ and ‘very’ and ‘really’ in their manuscripts and read the sentences aloud with that word omitted. If the sentence reads the same, delete the word. Sometimes, though, ‘that’ is very necessary. “Do you remember what happened that day on the beach?” though needs the ‘that’ to make sense.

The poster also doesn’t seem to know what a metaphor or a simile is, despite trying to make a point about them.

I apologize for the lengthy response to this, but as an editor, it really ruffles my feathers when I see this sort of well-meaning advice that usually doesn’t come from an editor but another writer or a meta-writer. Writers just need to write. I would rather be sent a manuscript with an awesome story told that is bloated with ho-hum word choice that I can fix through the editing process than a technically perfect manuscript that avoids all ‘pitfalls’ but is dry and lifeless because the author overthought it. I can’t speak for all editors, but the editors I work with tend to think the same way I do. Don’t send a grammatically bad manuscript, of course, first drafts and the like, but what are being said in this article aren’t rules like grammar. This is a writer who writes about writing telling other writers how he thinks they should write.

My advice? Write how you write. Write with passion and with purpose. And, if you have a few extra words thrown in there, your editor will catch them.

Lately, I’m A Bad Blogger

I have been horribly remiss in blogging lately. I can only blame the hectic holiday schedule. I hosted Thanksgiving at my home for the first time, and that sucked up about three days of my life. Recovery time was another day. Now, I’m gearing up for the winter holidays!

Winter holidays are my favorite. I love them. Absolutely love. I am my most cheerful, forgiving, and joyous right through New Year’s Day. We’re going out Monday afternoon to choose our Christmas tree (a Fraser fir, my favorite). Saturday, I begin my frantic baking. My plan is:

Peanut brittle (several pounds)

Marshmallows (candy cane, orange-chocolate, and root beer float)

Cherry-almond spritz cookies

Almond-raspberry sandwich cookies drizzled with dark chocolate

Sugar cookies

Honeycomb

Raspberry-vanilla petit fours

Hazelnut-chocolate petit fours

Coconut macaroons

It will take me a week or two to get all the baking and cooking squared away. But I’m so looking forward to it. Christmas tree, fairy lights, colorful ornaments, and holiday music. It all brings me such peace and happiness. Husband-thing is very grouchy during the holidays, but I never let it get me down. I smile and sing and laugh regardless of any Grinches in my life.

I’m also writing. I have a short story due Dec. 15th (co-authored with the awesome Erik Moore), and I am trying to finish the second episode of Immortal Symphony: Overture with K. Piet so we can begin the third (we’re ahead of schedule at the moment). I also have my co-authored short story with K. for Cari Z, who won a short story from us in Piper’s and MJ’s Hurricane Sandy relief auction. On top of it all, I’m trudging my way through Human Rights so I can finish that ASAP.

We did sort out next year’s writing, and the list makes me want to cry. XD We’ll see how much I can do. Ultimately, SMP is doing awesomely, and that pulls me away from my writing. But, I’m trying to balance it all.

The Mondays in December will be baking recipes (mostly from the stuff up above), and Fridays will be fiction teasers. I can’t promise content on Wednesdays in December. I’m going to try, but… no promises.

Dorian say hi!

Recipe Monday: Turkey and White Bean Chili

I am not a fan of soups, stews, or chili. I don’t know why, but they never feel like meals to me. It’s a rare thing when I make one for supper. On the other hand, the husband-thing loves soups, stews, and chili. XD It can be a real pain in the ass. He really likes chili, but usually, the brick red chili he prefers is just too spicy or acidic for my tastes. So, I developed this turkey and white bean chili that’s so light, so lovely, that it’s just a perfect mean with some tortilla chips or a good hunk of buttered, crusty bread.

Ingredients

1lb ground turkey

1 green pepper, diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 gloves garlic, grated

1/4C cilantro stems, finely chopped

1 8oz bottle salsa verde

32oz chicken stock

1 15oz tins of white beans, drained and rinsed

1 lime, juiced

1/2tsp cinnamon

1/4tsp garlic powder

2tsp salt

1tsp pepper

1tsp cumin

pinch of red pepper flake

pinch of oregano

In a 4-5 quart pot, add a splash of oil and the turkey. Add 1tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and brown over medium-high heat. Brown it, which means that the pieces of meat should have a beautiful brown crust, not merely be gray. This is where a lot of awesome flavor is developed. Once the meat is browned, turn the heat down to medium and add your green pepper, onion, grated garlic, and cilantro stems. Cook those with the meat until soft. Add the whole 8oz bottle of salsa verde, and use a bit of the chicken stock to swish everything out of the bottle. Don’t waste a bit!

Cook for a couple of minutes, and then add the chicken stock, beans, lime juice, and spices. Taste for seasoning and adjust how you’d like, and then simmer for half an hour to an hour, depending on how thick you’d like your chili. Make final seasoning adjustments (I usually add a splash of heavy cream at this point), and then serve with scallions, chopped cilantro, sour cream, and cheese! It’s an awesome, quick supper that tastes delicious.

Beta Reading vs Editing

I’ve watched authors around me talk about publishing for some time. I’ve learned a lot about those authors and the books they publish through how they talk about their process. I’ve also learned a hell of a lot about other published and their standards through watching authors chat about the process. A lot of times, though, it’s just made me sad, especially when it comes to self-published authors who skip very, very important steps or conflated terms in order to save a dime or a week of production time.

In fact, one of the panels I sat on at Necronomicon shocked me. It was mainly Storm Moon Press and one other small publisher. The panel was about small press etiquette, though we didn’t talk much about that at all. As we were waiting for the room to fill up, the other publisher asked us how we produced our print books. I said we used Lightning Source, and he was shocked. Shocked! We used an actual printer and paid someone to typeset our books? Why didn’t we just use MSWord and CreateSpace? After all, he could produce a book for $250 to $500, and we were spending three to four times that in our production process.

And then I looked at one of his press’ books and knew why we spent the time, effort, and money we did: we wanted quality. Sadly, his outlook is well shared among most small publishers.

But, I digress. The point of this–and where I think he failed to understand–is that editing costs money. Editing isn’t cheap. Editing is, also, not a negotiable step. Editing should always happen by a competent professional who won’t take an author’s shit. And editing, my friends, is not the same as beta reading. I do believe beta reading is also insanely important, but that’s more on the author’s shoulders than a publisher’s (unless you self-publish, and then it’s all on your shoulders).

Beta reading is when you send your manuscript to a friend or colleague and they read it over and give you their opinion. It’s getting that initial reader feedback over whether the plot, characters, pace, and story work as a whole. This is where weak characterization or a plot hole can be found and corrected. It helps shape the story from a reader’s perspective, and it’s an invaluable tool for an author. I covet my beta readers (who are fellow authors), and I offer to beta for them in return. Without them, I think there would be a lot more stumbling blocks for my editors to deal with.

And that’s the main point of a beta reader. They work with you to polish up that manuscript and find the most glaring issues so your editor can do the dirty work of picking it all apart without having to worry about those issues. If your character is unlikeable, a beta reader can tell you that so you can fix it, rather than wasting your editor’s time on an issue that a quick read by someone other than yourself could have detected. Beta reading, though, is not editing. Beta reading doesn’t look for the same things editing does, and most people who beta read are not trained to edit professionally. So, using four or five readers as your editing brigade doesn’t make for an edited manuscript. It makes for–at best–a proofread manuscript, and I–as a reader–think that’s not good enough for me to spend my hard-earned money on.

Editing, on the other hand, is when someone trained goes in and tears your manuscript apart. They look at plot issues, characterization, pacing, word choice, repeated words, syntax, punctuation choice… They should always be thorough and precise in how they edit the manuscript. This is where a good book becomes a great book, and I wince whenever I see an author breeze through their novel edits in a day or two, saying the editor pretty much only left praise in their wake. That isn’t editing. I don’t care how good of a writer you think you are, you will always need an editor, and a great editor always has criticism to include with their praise. I don’t think I’ve ever–even on my cleanest manuscript–not had at least two rewrites and a hell of a lot of small fixes to do, and it takes a bit of time. I also tend to have no less than three passes from the initial editor, and that’s as it should be. As you change the manuscript, there are new issues that will crop up, and it’s the editor’s job to nip them in the bud.

This is a similar process that computer software, websites, and apps go through, albeit in reverse: QA (quality assurance) and Beta Testing. QA is like editing in that it is done by someone professionally trained who goes through the program to ensure that everything is working correctly. Beta Testing, on the other hand, is like beta reading — it is done by a selected group of actual users who make sure that the program is working as intended. These are two very different intentions, and both are necessary before a project can be considered complete. It’s the same with a manuscript. What a beta reader looks for and what an editor looks for are very different things, but both of them need to be examined before an author can call their book complete.

Recipe Monday: Sausage Gravy

Long ago and far away, I fell in love with sausage gravy. My father would make it on special occasions, and I would devour it like you wouldn’t believe. When I got married, he showed me how to make it myself, and then I turned the recipe into my own. It’s a once a month treat for us because it’s very carb heavy, and I don’t make my own biscuits. I use canned biscuit dough.

Ingredients

1lb mild ground pork sausage

1C heavy cream

1C whole milk

4TBSP butter

2TBSP flour

salt and pepper

In a large skillet, brown the pork sausage. When I mean brown, I don’t mean that it’s all gray and cooked. Put it over medium high heat and cook it until little bits of caramelized goodness form on your ground pork. Drain it and set it aside. In the same skillet over medium low heat, add the 2TBSP butter and 2TBSP flour. Whisk it together and cook for a couple of minutes until the raw taste of flour is lost. Slowly add your milk, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Add in your cream. Season with salt and pepper. Now, the salt and pepper is personal, but I tend to use about a teaspoon of ground black pepper and a teaspoon of salt.

Add the sausage to the gravy and cook over low heat until the biscuits are done. I always taste my gravy at this point and adjust thickness, salt, pepper, and butter. This is where I add the additional 2TBSP of butter, usually an additional splash of cream or water to thin the gravy some, and more salt and pepper. Serve over warm buttermilk biscuits. So good!