P.J. Schnyder's Blog, page 9

Lemon Trees and WIPs

The PJ Daddy has been taking care of my Meyer Lemon Tree for me. This past Thanksgiving, the tree had plenty of lovely lemons, all sweet and fragrant. If you’ve never had a Meyer lemon before, it’s sweeter than a normal lemon and less acidic. It’s lovely.

During the year, though, PJ Daddy kept thinking I was wrong about the tree and it must be a lime tree because the flowers appeared in January and the fruit grew over the course of the year – always green. It took pretty much the whole year for the fruit to mature and finally turn yellow in November.

Growing Meyer lemons requires patience and faith. It is indeed a lemon tree. The green fruit will eventually mature to a gorgeous yellow, maybe even with a sunset orange tinge. The mature fruit will be so aromatic, it can fill a room with its sweet scent and the taste is wonderful.

My writing has been like that this year.

There haven’t been many releases this year from me. I’ve had a lovely short story, but other than that, all of my projects are requiring time to mature. I look back on the year and feel as if I’ve been in stasis. Behind the scenes, I feel I’ve been taking one step forward then falling two steps back. But I have faith. There’s a lot in store for 2013.

My first major release will be BITE ME, Book 1 of the London Undead series, in June 2013 from Carina Press. This is a 3 book contract and books 2 and 3 are already outlined and queued up. There won’t be a long wait between releases for these books. I’m really hoping you all enjoy this series.

FIGHTING KAT, the sequel to HUNTING KAT and next book in the Triton Experiment series, has been submitted. *crosses fingers* Also, I released a free holiday read A GIFT FOR BOGGLE, as a present to my readers. I’m so very glad The Galaxy Express and other fans of this series enjoyed Boggle’s story. I really enjoyed the challenge of writing it.

I’ve got other projects, big things, in various stages of “almost ready” and official announcements have to wait just a little bit longer. There’s also WIPs (Works in Progress) outlined and ready to be drafted. There’s a whole lot in play.

So I hope my readers will be patient and stay with me. There’s many more stories to come. It’s just taking time for the fruits of my work to mature.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

This is more of a concept set of directions rather than a step-by-step recipe. I got the idea from multiple photos on Pinterest. However, I decided to go with the quick, not-from-scratch version of baking when I originally tried out this experiment.

In the future, I plan to decide on my favorite chocolate cupcake from-scratch recipe as well as my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

For now though, I’ll share with you the simple tricks of these great cupcakes.

Ingredients:

Batch of favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Batch of favorite Chocolate Cupcake Batter

Batch of favorite icing

Preparation:

Prepare favorite cookie dough recipe. Refrigerate cookie dough for about 30 minutes to an hour, until easy to work with and not sticky.

Roll cookie dough into 24 small 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls. Freeze these for at least 30 min, longer if you want the cookie dough more raw in the center.

*Note: The more raw you want your cookie dough int the center, it is recommended you use an egg-free recipe. Since my cupcakes come out with the cookie dough baked as opposed to raw, I don’t worry about this as much.

Heat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit or temperature recommended for cupcake batter recipe. Prepare two 12 cupcake tins with cupcake liners.

Prepare favorite cupcake batter recipe.

*PJ Tip: I have a powerful blender. For simple boxes of cake mix, it’s easy to blend all the box ingredients in the blender and then even easier to pour to fill the cupcake cups as opposed to messy spoons for the normally free-flowing liquid batter the cake box mixes produce.

Fill each cupcake cup approximately three quarters of the way full.

Remove cookie dough balls from freezer and carefully place one ball into each cup of batter. Allow to sit on top if you’d like the dough to be more in the center of the cupcake or press gently to the bottom of the cup.

Bake for the recommended time of the cupcake batter directions. Test with a toothpick for doneness (toothpick comes out clean when done).

Allow to cool thoroughly and then ice with your favorite icing.

Mistletoe Madness Blog Hop 2012

The holiday season is filled with so many things.

There’s hustle and bustle, the warmth of friends and family, and celebrations and traditions everywhere. Time flies in a blur of lights and music.

And my favorite moments? They’re the ones stolen beneath the mistletoe.

A kiss, intense and savored, unhurried and enjoyed, the kind to steal your breath away.

Sigh…

*melts*

Ahem. Sorry about that.

Moving on…

 

This holiday season I’ve got a couple of surprises for my readers. First, I’m offering a a box of goodies as my giveaway on the hop.

And the box? As much fun as it would be to have the winner surprised when they open it, I figure it’d be more fun to share with you all what you’re entering to win.

Included in this giveaway are various books by awesome authors as well as a Triton Experiment tshirt, assorted signed cover flats for my books, a PJ Schnyder tote bag, pen and notepad plus some fun swag I nabbed in my con travels this past convention season. So take note, the books in this image are just the beginning.

This giveaway is open to international entrants. Remember to follow the directions in the Rafflecopter widget for the various ways to earn entries!

Also, visit the Contests page to enter to win the Grand Prize of the Mistletoe Madness Blog Hop, a Kindle Fire! And enjoy the other stops on the blog hop with more great prizes to win: Blog Hop List

 

Next, I wanted to give a gift to my readers. What better way to celebrate the holidays than offering a free read to everyone?

This science fiction romance short story has a particular history and is, in fact, the response to a gauntlet tossed down by The Galaxy Express after their review of HUNTING KAT, Book 1 in the Triton Experiment series:

The Galaxy Express issues a Challenge

This story is my answer.  (click the cover to open the PDF)

Boggle receives a special Christmas delivery, exclusive and non-transferable. He just has to make sure he doesn’t fry the courier with his security system. O.o

And wait, there’s more coming! Subscribe to my newsletter for a special sneak peek of a surprise coming just in time for Christmas featuring OrD, my podcasting partner in Mangos & White Rice.

Whew. On to the entering to win prizes… Happy Holidays, everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Arm Warmer Inspiration

I’ve completed developmental edits for BITE ME, Book 1 of the London Undead series, to be released in June of 2013. The changes to the manuscript aren’t so much to plot or existing characters, but adding detail. My editor suggested, and I agreed, that more insight into how the city of London has changed with the onset of a zombie apocalypse was something that could be crafted in further description.

One aspect of my added detail is in the clothing. Yup. Haute couture isn’t a priority when running from zombies. Practical clothing, comfortable and warm, is a better choice for the survivors. And considering my altered world, DIY (Do It Yourself) is also a wise practicality.

I’ve always found arm warmers to be versatile and practical. They leave my fingers free for finer manipulation, say typing or squeezing a trigger…

I made these for myself a few years ago using Artyarns Silk Rhapsody Cappuccino Cream, a silk and mohair yarn of utter luxury. The pattern is called “Silk Sleeves” by Leigh Radford. For fellow crafters, you can find other crafty projects I’ve made on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/people/pjschnyder

You might just find these or a similar design with incorporated thumb-holes in BITE ME.

 

Nam Prik Ong

Commonly served as a side dish or appetizer, this savory pork dish is something the PJ Daddy’s wife serves us as a main entree. No complaints here! It’s incredibly tasty and satisfying, not too spicy for those who are wary of the legendary spiciness of Thai cooking.

This recipe requires the extensive use of a mortar and pestle. It’s quite common in Thai cooking and I really prefer the results as compared to trying to use a food processor. However, if you don’t have one, a food processor will do.

This recipe is also a multi-tasker’s recipe. Several things will be cooking or being prepared simultaneously. I recommend reading through the recipe carefully before you begin to cook.

Note: Preparation and cooking time is 3 hours and more. Because this is Thai cooking, all measurements are ballpark estimates. Seriously, I learn all of my Thai cooking helping in the kitchen alongside someone who already knows how to cook the dish. Capturing this in recipe form is a best guess but it’s key to taste and season until it comes out the way you prefer.

Nam Prik Ong Ingredients:

2 whole heads of garlic, cleaned and de-papered

1/2 cup shallots, thinly sliced

2 tsp shrimp paste

1/4 cup Cilantro roots, thoroughly cleaned

2 cans red curry paste

1/2 cup of vegetable or cooking oil

10 medium to large vine ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

1/2 cube Knorr pork bouillon

3 to 5 tsp fish sauce

1 to 2 tsp mushroom flavored soy sauce

1 Tbsp wet, seedless tamarind

1 to 1 1/2 lbs ground pork

2 Tbsp palm sugar

1 Tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped (garnish)

Shrimp Garnish and Noodle Ingredients:

1 whole head of garlic, cleaned and de-papered

1/2 cup of vegetable or cooking oil

dash of salt

1 large package of rice vermicelli noodles

3 lbs raw, jumbo shrimp – cleaned and deveined

1/4 cube Knorr chicken bouillion

Directions:

In a mortar and pestle, pound garlic cloves from two whole heads. Garlic should be thoroughly mashed, not liquefied. Set aside in a small bowl with thinly sliced shallots.

In the same mortar and pestle, pound the garlic cloves from the remaining head of garlic for the garnish and noodles. In a medium frying pan, heat oil and add a dash of salt. The oil should be very hot.  Add only mashed garlic from the 1 head, just mashed in the mortar and pestle. Fry the garlic evenly until it just turns a very light gold, a couple of minutes. Remove the entire pan from heat and set aside for later.

Wrap shrimp paste loosely in aluminum foil. Bake in toaster oven at 450F for about 10 min or until it takes on a roasted, aromatic scent.

In a clean mortar and pestle, pound cilantro roots. Add roasted shrimp paste. Continue to pound until thoroughly mashed and mixed. Add red curry paste (for less spicy, add only one and a half cans). Continue to pound until entire mixture is thoroughly mashed and mixed.

In a very large wok, heat half a cup of oil over high heat. The wok and oil should be very hot. Add the 2 whole heads of pounded garlic and shallots. Fry evenly until just turning a light golden brown, a couple of minutes. Add curry and shrimp paste mixture. Stir to mix thoroughly and continue to cook about 2 minutes.  Add chopped tomatoes. Carefully stir to ensure tomatoes are thoroughly coated with curry and shrimp paste mixture. Continue to cook over medium high heat until the tomatoes are soft, about 10 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse wet, seedless tamarind in cold water. Place the tamarind in a small bowl and add 1/4 cup very hot to boiling water. Using the back end of a spoon, mash the tamarind into a paste with the hot water. This will extract the flavor of the tamarind.

Once the tomatoes are soft in the wok, season: add pork bouillon, fish sauce, mushroom flavored soy sauce. Stir and continue to cook over medium high heat for another 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the noodles. rinse the uncooked noodles first in cold water. Then in a large bowl, soak in very hot water. Set aside.

Return to the tomato mixture. Stir, scraping the sides of the wok to be sure nothing is sticking. Add ground pork. Stir to mix thoroughly, breaking up any large chunks of ground pork. Continue to cook over medium high heat for at least 30 minutes or until pork is thoroughly cooked.

Season the tomato and pork mixture: add palm sugar and oyster sauce. Taking just the liquid extracted from the tamarind and not the seeds or paste, add 2 Tablespoons of tamarind juice. Stir thoroughly and continue to cook over medium high heat for another 45 minutes or so. Allow to remain uncovered to reduce liquid and intensify flavor.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add 2 Tablespoons of the previously prepared fried garlic and oil.

Drain the soaking rice noodles and then cook in the boiling water for about 1 to 2 minutes, or until white. Drain immediately and set aside in a serving bowl. You can toss with a tablespoon of the previously prepared fried garlic and oil to keep the noodles from sticking.

Bring another large pot of water to boil. Add 1/4 cube of Knorr chicken bouillon. Add 2 Tablespoons of the previously prepared fried garlic and oil. Add shrimp and cook for just a minute or two until white and pink. Be very careful not to over cook the shrimp. Drain and set aside.

Return to the tomato and pork mixture. Stir. Taste. Adjust seasonings to preference. After adding seasonings, stir, allow to simmer for another 5 minutes before tasting again.

Note: the seasoning stage is toughest. Depending on how sweet or sour the tomatoes are, more or less of the seasonings are required and it is very reliant on frequent tastings by the cook. Control flavor of dish with these: palm sugar adds sweet, tamarind adds our, fish sauce adds salty

Once the tomato and pork mixture is seasoned to taste, transfer to a large serving bowl or casserole. Place cooked shrimp across the top and generously sprinkle fresh chopped cilantro. Serve alongside cooked rice vermicelli. When plating, place a small pile of the rice vermicelli on the plate and top with generous spoonfuls of the nam prik ong and a couple of garnish shrimp.

 

 

 

 

Guest Post: Christine Price

I love NaNoWriMo.

I’ve participated every year since, oh, 2001? I remember sitting in the basement of the University library, staring at the computer monitor and trying to figure out how a vampire who mixed Weetabix into microwaved blood could make a story. Even if I wasn’t actively signed up for it, due to pending finals/midterms/work schedule/what have you, I’d try to meet the word count or at least get something concrete going.

This year, with November 1st looming quick in the distance, I’ve decided to pass.

You see, as I write this, I’m nine months pregnant.

Pffft. Excuses. A real writer would find a way to triumph of the adversity of the mental and physical exhaustion, the constant stress, the sleepless nights and the overall terror of impending first-time parenthood. Or at least, that’s the theory. In practice, I’m pretty sure that anyone with a modicum of sympathy in their body would let it slide this once.

But you see, it’s not just NaNoWriMo which has been impacted by my pregnancy. It’s been my writing in general. The fact that I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in six months has impacted the quality of my work. I’m thankful I managed to finish my new release, Half Blind, before this whole thing started and as it is I feel bad my editor had to deal with me during the editing process. And if it’s not the exhaustion, it’s the ‘pregnancy amnesia’ getting to me. I literally contradicted myself four times on one page the last time I sat down to attempt writing something substantial. (I cannot even vouch for the quality of this article, please send PJ your condolences for hosting me).

And then there’s the emotional aspect. Why do all my characters suddenly have children? It makes no sense. Even if it did make sense, I don’t think parents wax rhapsodically about their brilliant offspring all the time. (Well, I’m sure some do, but I’m equally sure that those parents take time out from their eruptions of parental ecstasy once in a while… unless they have their own show on TLC). I randomly burst into tears over the most ridiculous stuff (“Oh my god, this character smiles too much, I’m the worst writer ever” *bawl*) and I pity anyone who’s been on the receiving end of the increasingly snippy emails I’ve been sending at my other job.

Anyway, I’ve come to my point: yes. There has been a pretty significant impact on my writing. And it’s influenced my decision not to embark on my yearly NaNoWriMo quest. But it’s been fun. For all the exhaustion and mood swings, it’s also given me surprising amounts of insight into what it means, for me, to be a ‘real adult.’ Suddenly knowing I’m responsible for another human being has actually made me feel a bit more confident, and once I’m able to write coherently again, I think it’ll actually be reflected in what I produce. And it’s something I’m really looking forward to. Just wait and see what I come up with for NaNoWriMo 2013.

And for everyone participating in NaNoWriMo, have fun. See if you can spare me a thought once or twice when you’re 20,000 words in and struggling to figure how plot point x is going to intersect with character arc y. I’ll be changing diapers. Or possibly be in labour. Good times either way.

Half Blind is available through the Samhain Publishing store or on Amazon.com.

Christine Price lives with her family Edmonton, AB. Her fascination with the written word began at a young age with a one-page story titled “My Mother is a Werewolf” and took off from there. In her spare time, she enjoys unfortunate puns, good books, borderline decent wine and making contingency plans for a zombie apocalypse. (Believe it or not, this used to be an unusual pastime!)

Christine loves hearing from her readers and can be reached at priceiswrite@christinepricewrites.com via email or on the Web at www.christinepricewrites.com.

You can also follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CPriceIsWrite. Sometimes, she’s interesting!

 

Guest Post: Kay Keppler – NaNoWriMo—This year, once again, NoNoNoNo

Every year I start off with the best intentions. This year, I say to myself, this year I will do NaNoWriMo.

And then I don’t.

I don’t have lame excuses, either. I’ve got good excuses. Who can write 50,000 words when they’re gone for a week visiting family for Thanksgiving? (And if you’re really visiting family, you probably need a week to recover in addition to the week you spend “celebrating”—traveling back to the bosom of your dysfunctional family, sleeping on that wretchedly uncomfortable sleeper sofabed, doing a tutorial for your Aunt Myrtle and Uncle Al on their new digital camera, and then eating that turkey.)

And all that traveling and recovering for Thanksgiving doesn’t begin to cover the demands of a job or whatever else a person has to do. Why take a month that’s jammed up with one of the biggest holidays of the year, and make it even more jammed with NaNoWriMo? Who needs the pressure? I’ve always thought that NaNoWriMo is an excellent idea—for March.

This year, though, I swore would be different. This year would be the year I’d join NaNoWriMo, and I’d cross that finish line first. I’d get those 50,000 words written. I’d succeed!

I had these dreams because I’d made a major life change. Last summer I quit my job to enroll in an MFA program—a graduate program in creative writing. I was free to write! I could—finally!—do NaNoWriMo. School and NaNoWriMo would go together like—a horse and carriage. Turkey and mashed potatoes. Ebony and Ivory. Almost unbelievably, NaNoWriMo would exactly dovetail with My Year of Scholarship. Write, write, write!

But… as anyone who has been in a program like this knows, it doesn’t exactly involve writing 50,000 words in a month, does it? You read novels. You read texts. You analyze. You write papers. Eventually, you write a chapter or two. And then other people read what you wrote and analyze it. You think. You adjust. Then you write some more.

I love it. I’m having the time of my life, and I want to get the most out of it. So I’m working hard. I’m really, really busy….doing stuff other than writing 50,000 words a month.

And of course, I’m still traveling for Thanksgiving. So I’ve got the week of travel, the week of recovery, PLUS getting all my homework done. When do I have time to do NaNoWriMo? I know what you’re thinking: That’s a lame excuse. You’re right. You’re absolutely right. If ever there was a year that I could do NaNoWriMo, this would be it. And still I’m not.

Perhaps it’s not that big a priority. Perhaps I don’t like the pressure. Perhaps I’m lazy. Perhaps I don’t like to write in months that have major national holidays.

Because, really, if we held NaNoWriMo in March, I’d be there. Honestly.

Kay Keppler is a writer and editor of fiction (Zero Gravity Outcasts, Betting on Hope) and nonfiction (Practical Vim, Outsource It!). She lives in northern California.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

This recipe starts with a base bechamel sauce, but then it becomes so much more with the addition of cream cheese followed by cubes of cheddar. I love the end result with pockets of golden cheddar cheese melting throughout. Decadence, it’s right here.

Ingredients:

7 oz pckg elbow macaroni, uncooked

1/4 cup butter

3 Tbsp all purpose flour

2 cups milk

8 oz. cream cheese

1.2 tsp salt

1.2 tsp pepper

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 cups cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2″ cubes

1 cup bread crumbs

2 Tbsp butter, melted

2 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 F.

Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain. Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter. Stir in flour and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until smooth and bubbly. Continue to cook for an additional few minutes to develop a light gold color.

Stir in milk slowly, adding a little at a time with constant stirring or whisking. Mixture should remain smooth with very few, if any lumps.

Reduce heat to medium. Add salt, pepper and mustard. Stir. Add cream cheese and stir until completely melted and sauce has thickened. This takes about 3 to 5 minutes.

Stir in cooked macaroni and cheese cubes. Pour into a 2 qt casserole dish for baking.

In a small bowl, stir together bread crumbs, melted butter and parsly. Sprinkle evenly over the macaroni and cheese.

Bake 15 to 20 min or until golden brown and heated through. Serve as a side or as the main dish.

Guest Post: Seleste deLaney – I Hate November. I Love November.

* Disclaimer: This post contains words that may be inappropriate for some readers.

I did my first NaNoWriMo in 2007. I started off gangbusters and did 13,000 words in the first three days. My thoughts went something like, “This is a snap! No problem. I’ll be done in a week.”

Then the words dried up. Every day was a struggle to get more words on paper and I was up until the wee hours on that last night to hit my 50,000 and win. The book wasn’t done, but I was. It took me eleven months to finish that novel.

And golly-gee-hot-damn, November was right on the horizon again. So I signed up for NaNo… again.

Why would I put myself through all that drama and stress again? Because the story I wrote in 2007 became my first completed novel. I’d written a motherfucking book! Plus, I had this other story stuck in my head that was screaming to get out. So I sat down on November 1 and started the process all over again.

This time I panicked because I didn’t have those crazy word counts in the early days. If I didn’t get ahead of the game, how the hell was I supposed to win this thing? But it was a new year, a new book, and a new me. With steady word counts, I not only won NaNo 2008, but I finished the draft in December. I wrote that book in less than two months.

By NaNo 2009, I was officially an addict. I’d developed this twisted love-hate relationship with the month of November. I couldn’t wait to see it come around again and, then whenever I was in it, I’d curse myself for deciding to take part in this madness for yet another year.

Not every year was easy, mind you. 2009, was the year I wrote Badlands for NaNo. Only… it was a very different book. And it sucked ass so hard that I knew I was shelving it as soon as I got my 50k. I didn’t want anything to do with it, and I would have quit that year. Except… that was the first year they offered “prizes.” Now, to anyone other than a cheapskate writer, getting a nifty piece of writing software at half-off might not seem like much of a prize, but I’d gotten a taste of working with Scrivener and I wanted it. So I forced myself to finish 50k worth of a horrid space western, and then I shoved it into the deepest, darkest corner of my hard-drive.

Until a submission call came out for steampunk, and I thought to myself, “Hey, what if…” and I pulled out that horrible space western and re-vamped everything—except the heroine. Badlands became my first sale. (The sequel, Clockwork Mafia, comes out in April, by the way.)

And that book I’d written the year before? I sold that under a different pen-name (Pretty Souls was YA, so I wanted some separation.) I also sold the one I wrote in 2010 (Kiss of Death). The only one I haven’t sold yet (other than the debacle of the first year) is the one I wrote last year, and I like to think that’s only because I haven’t tried yet. This time around? I’m working on Kiss of Life, which is already on the tentative release schedule at my publisher for next summer.

So… why do I do NaNo every year? Because every year it not only reminds me that there are hundreds of thousands of people out there doing the same thing I am (which is just fucking cool if you ponder it for a little while), but it also reminds me of what I can do. I can write 50,000 words in a month. I can draft an entire book in two months. (I’ve actually managed to draft a full-length in one month before—it just wasn’t November.) And I can draft words of what will someday be published in that time.

NaNoWriMo reminds me to write more consistently. And it reminds me (as I look back on Badlands especially) that I can fix anything but a blank page. It reminds me that to be an author, I need to put my butt in the chair and my hands on the keyboard and just get the words out. And at the end of the day, it reminds me that I have one of the best jobs in the entire world. I get to create and play God in the lives of my characters, and then I get to share them with the world.

Damn. I love November.

Seleste started on her career path as a young child. Stories of talking animals soon gave way to a love of superheroes and science fiction. Her first foray into the world of romance came at age twelve when she envisioned a sweeping epic love story of two people thrust together and torn apart again and again by fate. As she recalls, the plan was for them to admit their love on his deathbed. But, as is often the case with pre-teen girls, a story of that depth gave way to other pursuits, and sadly it is completely lost other than vague memories.

After that, she occupied herself with short stories for a while, and then poetry until after she had earned a degree in chemistry, spent time as a high school teacher, and became a mother of two. Then she delved into writing fiction once more.

She never lost her love of the fantastic, and her stories now always reach into other realms. The worlds and people she creates occupy as much of her time as the real world, and she is most fortunate to have a family that understands her idiosyncrasies and loves her anyway.

My sincerest thanks, Authors After Dark

I have received notification that I will no longer be in attendance at Authors After Dark in Savannah, GA.

My previous affiliation with this event has been both a professional and personal joy. I would like to give Stella Price, the volunteer staff and the wonderful readers my sincerest thanks and wish them continued success for 2013 and future events.