P.J. Schnyder's Blog, page 2

#authoryes & #bloggeryes with Thanks

It’s been a tumultuous time on the Internet. I’m not one to perpetuate the negative once the informative phase has past. But what I do want to do is call out positive influences. And so I’m posting a list (by no means complete) of authors and bloggers who’ve had a wonderful impact on my personally and professionally.

#authoryes

Katee Robert – friend and crit partner, confidante and advisor. I’m telling you all, she is the first person I check with to be sure I’m not crazypants. We all need a friend so honest.
Philippa Ballantine – dear friend and creative collaborator. From kitchen shenanigans to wonderful foodie exploration, Pip is inspiring.
Tee Morris – Did I mention shenanigans? Also, Tee is the kind of nifty creative who inspires epic projects.
Linnea Sinclair – incredible mentor and friend. I have so much love for Linnea and she is the first person to pin me with a glare and tell me to WRITE. Everything else be damned.

#bloggeryes

Miss Snark’s First Victim – this incredible community dedicated to helping aspiring authors via constructive feedback has been invaluable. I can’t recommend it enough for both aspiring and established authors as they continue to grow.
Joyfully Reviewed/SimplyAli – always incredibly supportive to the author community both online and at conferences. I feel so lucky to count Joy & Ali as friends.
Wicked Little Pixie – If you ever need a friend to tell it like it is, Pixie is your woman. I’m so thankful for her support and more importantly her friendship.
That’s What I’m Talking About – the reviewers of this site are enthusiastic and supportive. They always make me smile. I feel so very lucky to know them.

Where’s PJ been?

There’s a whole lot of Life going on, and there’s nothing like a particularly O.O moment to help you prioritize your To Do list.

I’ve been deep in the day job, traveling Mon – Thurs every week plus working Fridays remotely for quite some time now, immersed in the most challenging project I’ve ever undertaken both in terms of technical requirement and the application of my people skills. It’s stressful, somewhat anxiety-inducing, and yet engaging and stimulating and well…I love my day job.

I’ve also been re-balancing the routine in order to get my writing productivity back up to a good pace so that I can meet the deadlines for Piper J. Drake‘s upcoming new romantic suspense series with Carina Press. Also stressful, somewhat anxiety-inducing, yet incredibly fun and creative.

So I was in transit from the mid-west to the east coast late Thursday night, pondering my weekend To Do lists for both these careers when the PJ Daddy texted me:

How are you? Guest what, we are sitting here waiting for night angel blooming. Start opening now

* Some explanation: I gave PJ Daddy a Queen of the Night night-blooming cactus some years ago. He’s been trying to catch the flowers blooming all summer but so far, he’s always been away when they bloomed.

I was thinking, Oh! How nice. He gets to see it this time.

Then PJ Daddy texts me this:

By the way, did you know thSt your sister had an accident, broken her leg

DADDY. Your prioritization. It is NOT RIGHT.

Lead with the broken limbs, my friends. There is no good segue.

My lists for either career were immediately tossed aside and I set about finding out what actually happened, where my sister was at the moment, and what I could do to help. This included notifying my little brother in Colorado and my mother in Thailand, because, well, that hadn’t happened yet. Oy.

There was no sleep Thursday night. There was some day job on Friday but I confess to multi-tasking family stuff as my little sister went through surgery that morning.

The actual situation? She missed a step going down a small set of stairs and fell. Broke her leg in two places and dislocated the ankle on the same leg. She came through surgery like a champ and is now heavier a metal plate and a half dozen screws. Otherwise, she’s fine and the family is rallying to help her out as she recovers, especially with my 7 mo old nephew. I think he’s 7 months. Maybe 8 months.

In any case, I came away with a newly simplified perspective. All it takes is missing one step, and you end up looking at the world from a completely different angle.

The Centurion Corporation…coming Fall 2015

Lots of things going on behind the scenes in my world.

*bouncy*

I’m very excited to be able to announce that Carina Press has acquired my new romantic suspense series, The Centurion Corporation!

It’s a 3 book deal!

*muppet flails*

Yup, I’m stretching past my comfort zone and writing in a new genre. But I think my readers will enjoy this new series. It’s still hot, still action-packed, and still features alpha heroes with strong heroines.

The main difference? None of the characters go furry.

With this change, I’ll be evolving into a new me as well: Piper J. Drake. I’ve taken steps to make sure Piper-me offers fun and entertaining content all over social media — different from PJ-me — plus teasers and insights into this new series as I embark on this adventure. So come follow Piper-me. You can still call me PJ for short.

Follow Piper:

Web: http://piperjdrake.com/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/piperjdrake

Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/piperjdrake

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorPiperJDrake

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PiperJDrake

Tumblr: http://piperjdrake.tumblr.com/

And for those of you who love my sci-fi and paranormal romance, PJ will still be around. I’ve got some nifty new creative projects lined up, beginning with the re-release of the Terra’s Guardians series..newly edited and with extras throughout. More news on that coming soon.

 

 

Thai Pumpkin Custard | Sankaya

The PJ Mommy used to make this and to be honest, she didn’t teach me how. A childhood of helping her out in the kitchen gave me memories of the steps involved and an internet search for ingredient ratios followed by experimentation led to this recipe. Ingredients listed are enough for either option 1 OR option 2. Double batch to make both at the same time.

Ingredients

One small (~14″ circumference) kabocha squash *

4 eggs

3/4 cup coconut milk **

1/2 cup palm sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Option 1: Steamed inside the pumpkin

Wash pumpkin thoroughly. Cut a circular opening in the top and save the cut out circle with stem.  Scoop out all of the pumpkin insides/seeds and rinse to ensure it’s clean and smooth inside.

Mix the palm sugar, coconut milk, and salt over medium-low heat until the palm sugar dissolves. Take off the heat and cool back to room temperature.

Add eggs and vanilla extract  to the the coconut milk mixture and whisk, mixing well to form the custard.

Pour the custard into hollowed out pumpkin, just to the bottom of the circular opening.

Place in a steamer and let steam for 45 to 60 minutes untouched ***. Test for done by slide a knife point into top of the pumpkin where custard will not leak out. Knife point should pierce skin and enter pumpkin easily. Once done, allow to cool completely. Slice into individual pieces and enjoy!

Option 2: Pumpkin steamed in custard

Wash pumpkin thoroughly. Cut in half and scoop out all pumpkin insides/seeds. Rinse to ensure clean and smooth inside. With a large, sharp knife cut the pumpkin into 1 inch wedges then in turn cut each wedge into 1/4 inch pieces. Set aside under a damp cloth to keep moist.

Mix the palm sugar, coconut milk, and salt over medium-low heat until the palm sugar dissolves. Take off the heat and cool back to room temperature.

Add eggs and vanilla extract  to the the coconut milk mixture and whisk, mixing well to form the custard.

Scatter pumpkin pieces across the bottom of a large custard dish. There should be a double layer of pumpkin pieces.

Pour custard mixture over the pieces, filling just to the bottom lip of the custard dish. Place in a steamer and let steam for 45 min. Surface should appear firm and should “jiggle” all together as opposed to having wet/heavy spots. Once done, remove from steamer and allow to cool completely.

Serve over sweetened “sticky rice”.

* Note: The Thai cook with this squash occasionally. The tough green rind is tough to cut through and after cooking can be bitter, but the orange flesh is smooth in texture especially after steaming and has good flavor.

** Note: Shake the can of coconut milk prior to opening and pouring out to measure. Other Thai recipes rely on the separated thick cream, but this one should be well-mixed inside the can.

*** Steaming time will vary depending on size of pumpkin and thickness of pumpkin’s walls

 

Recipe for sweetened “sticky rice”

Ingredients:

1 cup sweet rice

1 can coconut milk

1 small cake cane sugar (about 3 Tbsp) – can substitute white sugar

Soak sweet rice in water for 2 hours minimum before cooking.

Steam sweet rice in bamboo basket over pot of boiling water (or use cheese cloth). Sweet rice is done when soft and semi-clear. Remove from steam and place in large mixing bowl.

Heat the coconut milk in a small sauce pan, adding palm sugar. Stir until dissolved and bubbling slowly. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, mix the sweetened coconut milk a little at a time into the cooked rice using wooden spoon. Allow rice to absorb coconut milk before adding more. You may not use all of the coconut milk. Rice should stick together and should not turn soupy or porridge-y.

Taste. Add additional sugar to taste if necessary. The sweet rice should not be too sweet, but should compliment the fresh fruit or custard.

PJ Update: June edition

To be honest, there’s been a lot going on…storming, forming…

And still, there’s nothing definite I can announce. At least not yet. The publishing industry is all about hurry up and wait in that way.

I can say I’ve turned in an exciting new series proposal to my agent. If she thinks it’s ready for submission, we’ll be getting it to the requesting editor(s) asap.

I’m working on a second series proposal and that’s going to be completed by the end of this weekend. Yup, through the holiday weekend.  That’s not to say I won’t have fun, but it is the way of things for authors balancing a writing career with a day job.

The catch here? Both of these new proposals may trigger a new me, a new identity. My new pen name isn’t a definite decision as yet but I will keep you all posted.

This doesn’t mean life as PJ will go away though. I still intend to write PJ’s sci-fi and paranormal romance, steampunk and urban fantasy.

Many readers have been waiting for the Terra’s Guardians series as well. I haven’t forgotten it. My agent and I have been trying to find it a good home and after looking at the options out there, we’ve agreed it might be best for me to self-publish this series. Both Heart’s Sentinel and Red’s Wolf will go through an updated editing round, and will be scheduled for re-release dates in preparation for a fresh new novel in the series. All of these releases are tentatively scheduled for 2015.

I’m determined to ensure the editing, cover art and book layout are nothing less than excellent quality for my self-publishing ventures so I hope fans of the series will be patient for just a little while longer.

Adventures and Writers

I’m going out to have an adventure this evening.

One can’t always schedule them, but take the opportunity when you can. It makes for good stories

In the meantime, here’s a look back to the road trip adventure I had a little over a week ago on the road trip to Lori Foster’s RAGT.

Play Find the PJ at Balticon!

Crazy, I know. I’ve only just returned from RT Booklover’s Convention, but how could I miss Balticon when it’s so close and has such great peeps attending? I’m on quite a few panels this year and looking forwarding to lively discussions on all of the topics. Still deciding on which book to do my reading from so if there are requests, feel free to let me know in the comments.

Author Branding Across Platforms and Media

For aspiring and experienced authors alike, one of the main challenges is gaining exposure. Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Google+ have become key. But it’s more than simply having an account. Building an author brand and a following is about developing content to attract your target audience as well as being creative and standing out in the crowd. Spreading your work across various media types: print, eBook, audio book, podcasting, and blogging are ways to reach more readers.

Participants: Allie Gamblin (M), PJ Schnyder, J.R. Blackwell, T Jackson King, Charles E. Gannon
Saturday11:00 AM in Derby


Out of Sight, Out of Mind?

Where does a story or novel published online stand a year after publication? Does print publication offer a chance to have new readers encounter that work over a longer period of time? Do readers bother to mine web archives for earlier works by an online-only author, or do they just look at what’s new. Author and reader panelists discuss.

Participants: PJ Schnyder (M), A Kovacs, Alessia Brio, Barbara Hill, Andrea Trask
Saturday1:00 PM in Derby


Author Promotion Material

We all know authors need stuff, but what stuff? What promotional items are available and which ones are effective?

Participants: Starla Huchton (M), PJ Schnyder, Jeffrey Lyman, Neal Levin, Allie Gamblin
Saturday3:00 PM in Derby


Reading

Participants: PJ Schnyder, James Daniel Ross, Andrea Trask
Saturday11:30 PM in Pimlico


Positive Role Models in Manga and Anime

The Bad Role Models are easy to identify — but what anime characters are considered positive role models for adults or children? What story lines and or character arcs have become personal inspiration? Come share!

Participants: Christine Chase (M), PJ Schnyder, Kathreja Sarfati
Sunday7:00 PM in Parlor 1026


I Like Anime, So How Do I Share It With Friends?

How to introduce folks to anime, and how to help them identify and avoid some of the weirder subject matter.

Participants: PJ Schnyder (M), Jason Banks, Christine Chase, Lee Sarfati
Monday10:00 AM in Salon D

There are days…

There are days when you tremble under the strain of your own expectations for yourself.

I want to write more novels in the Triton Experiment series. I want to take Kaitlyn and Rygard exploring, growing and developing as people.

I want to launch a new paranormal romance series based on mythology and objects of magic.

I want to bring back the Terra’s Guardians series with new novels, new love stories, and more shapeshifters.

I want to bring back Evie from Evie’s Gift and introduce her to Cassie, building a whole steampunk world to explore.

And I want to be incredibly good at my day job.

Sometimes I find myself so immobilized by the pressure I’m exerting on me, I don’t know how to break free.

This is how I cope:

Have chocolate. Take a nap. Breathe. Then DO.

When the Trend is Over

That awful moment when a panel of editors say they’re incredibly tired of receiving (insert trend here).

You: OMG my manuscript features exactly THAT. Oh no!

This, by the way, happened to me the other day after reading this article: 10 Science Fiction And Fantasy Stories That Editors Are Tired Of Seeing

It’s almost as unwise to follow through with the knee-jerk reaction to trash your manuscript in despair as it is to sit in the same panel, take careful notes on what those editors are looking for now and start a brand new shiny manuscript on exactly what they say they are looking for. By the time you finish writing, revising, and polishing said new manuscript – the trend has moved on and those editors are looking for something else.

So why are these articles valuable? Why are those panels key to keep in mind?

Maybe you already have a shelved manuscript to take down, dust off, and polish within a very short time frame to pitch to that editor. Maybe it can help you decide and prioritize work you’re doing on multiple projects. Or maybe you can mention to your agent that editor wasn’t interested in xyz but did mention abc and one of your fellow authors had that manuscript already prepared. A rising tide raises all boats in the harbor, my friends.

Knowing about the industry trends is a good thing. It allows you to recognize an opportunity and seize the moment, if you have a manuscript to match the moment. On the other hand, writing from scratch to chase the industry trends is quite often a ticket straight into despair. Some authors can do it, but I certainly can’t and many other authors descend into madness trying.

To be honest, trends come and go. My plan is to write. Write a lot and of the best quality, from my heart. While I’m on submission I’ll be writing something else while I wait. I’ll amass a pile of manuscripts if at all possible. When the trend comes back around, and it most definitely will, I’ll have a manuscript or three ready for it.

Release Day! Survive to Dawn

With the release of Survive to Dawn, Book 3 of the London Undead series, this current story arc comes to a close. Wow. It’s been a crazy ride.

I very much hope you enjoy Danny and Deanna’s story as well as some of the questions I’ve answered about the origins of the zombie epidemic. Though it’s not a cliff hanger book, I did leave the doors open for new stories to be added to the London Undead someday, if you all enjoy the world.

Reviews are very much appreciated if you’d like to let others know what you think of the book. Amazon, B&N, Goodreads…all great places to post reviews and really help my series.

To celebrate the release of Survive to Dawn I’m on a blog tour. There’s also a fun giveaway package, so I hope you’ll check out the tour.

Plus, there’s a ton of great authors helping me throw a release day part this evening from 7pm to midnight Eastern Time on Facebook:

PJ’s Survive to Dawn Release Day Party

Lots of great chatting and cool giveaways. Have fun!

 
Monday, April 21, 2014
That’s What I’m Talking About {Review}
 
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Simply Ali {Guest Post}
 
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Joyfully Reviewed {Guest Post}
 
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Babbling About Books {Review/Spotlight}
 

Friday, April 25, 2014
The Book Pushers {Review/Guest Post}
 

Saturday, April 26, 2014
The Book Tart {Review/Spotlight}