M.J. Scott's Blog, page 23

Sunday snippet – The Shattered Court #2

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TV rave: Call the Midwife

One of my surprise favourite TV shows over the last few years has been Call the Midwife. Now, I’ve always watched a lot of British TV (when I was young, for quite some time the only TV channels we got in the country town where I lived were ABC (Australia’s national broadcaster) and a local channel and the ABC has always shown a lot of BBC programs) and I’ve always read a lot of English books (particularly older books, starting with my grandparents and school librarian feeding me classics like Enid Blyton and Noel Streatfield and E.Nesbit and Lucy M. Boston along with Peter Pan and others from a young age. So there’s I like British TV and I’ve always found British period pieces oddly comforting. But on the surface a story about midwives living with nuns in the East End of London doesn’t sound riveting.

But it is. And it’s often heartstring tugging as well. Which makes my writer brain stop and wonder why. The awesome Anne Gracie has often talked about achieving emotional depth/punch in a story through the “Keep it simple, go deep,” theory. And I think that’s what Call the Midwife does. There aren’t splashy effects and the costumes aren’t really spectacular like an earlier historical period would be and the stories focus on a small cast of people with the “babies of the week” factor for variety. But it takes time to build rounded characters and let them be real and flawed and struggle with things that crop up in pursuing their chosen career and their relationships. Plus a great group of strong female characters to boot. It takes time to let you get involved. And, yay for British TV that seems to give shows room to be this way (and doesn’t cancel things at the drop of a hat like the US networks can do). (Not to mention the show making one profoundly grateful for the advances in obstetric and paedeatric medicine since the fifties).

So two thumbs up to Call The Midwife from both a writer and watcher viewpoint. Who’s a fan?

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Beating a breakfast rut with baked oatmeal

Baked oatmeal? It’s not really a thing here in Australia (well, if it’s a thing, I have missed the news). But it’s something I had heard mentioned a few times by people of the US variety but had never really thought about it. I tend to get into breakfast ruts. At the day job I tend to have greek yoghurt and muesli or porridge, at home I have those or green smoothies or the odd bit of toast. Maybe eggs or pancakes if I’m highly motivated. But sometimes you just want something that feels a bit more treat-y (and that takes no effort). Muffins are nice but generally not the healthiest. So when I was browsing Pinterest the other day and stumbled across these Blueberry Baked Oatmeal Singles, I was intrigued. They sounded easy and yummy and reasonably healthy and, best of all, I figured I could freeze them for speedy breakfasts.

Now, I do not think we have the intriguing sounding Icelandic yoghurt she refers to here so I did my usual recipe tweaking. I used 170g low fat greek yoghurt and bumped up the brown sugar slightly to 85g. And being me, added cinnamon. And used frozen blueberries as that was what I had. They are yummy! Though they do stick to the pan, so best made in those patty pan/muffin cup things. Two of them is a surprisingly filling breakfast. And they freeze fine. And don’t dry out when zapped back to life in the microwave.

I made another batch with fresh apple (about 1 1/4 apples peeled and chopped fairly finely) and cinnamon in the paper cups. Definitely thumbs up to the paper cups.

Delicious. I think I might drop the sugar a little bit further. And maybe even experiment with tossing a little protein powder in. The mix is quite wet and they come out quite moist but that’s good if you’re going to freeze them. If not, you might want a little less milk. Am definitely keeping these in the breakfast rotation and will try some other fruit varieties. I like the idea of apricot ones….

Got a favourite quick and easy breakfast?

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Monday tunes: move your butt music

Anyone here need move your butt music to make exercise more fun?

I don’t know whether it’s because I like music generally or because I started ballet when I was five and therefore my body associates music with moving around but I definitely find music is one of the things that makes exercise more enjoyable. Sometimes I’ll do podcasts or an audiobook but if I’m having trouble getting started out come the exercise playlists on the old iPhone. And given that one of my goals this year is moving more for both general happier Mel and less cranky knee reasons, lately the playlists have been getting a workout and some new additions.

One of my fave songs is this one. Just something about the beat gets me moving and in the mood. Plus I have a suspicion it’s a song that belongs to my next book, so the muse likes it too.

The vast majority of my playlists is pop music ranging from old skool (ABBA) to new (see above). More pop songs seem to fit my rhythm plus pop music makes me happy. Anyone exercise to music? What are some of your favourite tunes?

PS: For additional exercise inspiration watch this vid, it’s awesome!

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Sunday snippet – Lawless in Leather #2

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Art adventures – Sketchbook Skool

One of the online art classes I’ve been taking over the last year to help with my watercolours is Sketchbook Skool.

I’ve done all three semesters they’ve run so far (and am currently behind on the fourth due to cunningly scheduling two classes at once). Each semester runs for six weeks with six different teachers who are well known urban sketchers, illustrators, mixed media artists, watercolourists, art journallers, reportage artists, just to name a few. All of who give you different things to try (materials, techniques, ideas). It’s a great way to be exposed to a wide variety of artists and learn from them for a reasonable price.

Each week you get a series of videos from the teacher about them, about their art, doing demonstrations and then setting homework assignments. Then you go away and do the assignment and come back and share (if you want to) online.

 

I can’t say I’ve loved every assignment but most of them are fascinating. And I’ve often had ones I thought I would hate or that wouldn’t interest me that I ended up really enjoying. It’s another way to experiment, to learn along with beginners and experienced students and artists around the world and lots of fun. Though, fair warning, it can lead to a rapidly increasing wish list of art materials and books to acquire.

Here’s a few samples of my assignments from the class (Sorry, some of the photos are not fantastic, I’ve gotten better at taking pics of art since I started SBS.)

Coloured pencil apple study

Watercolour botanicals

 

Pencil selfie

Watercolour, ink, coloured pencil – drawing details slowly

Lots of fun! I recommend it to anyone who’s interested in learning or broadening their art skills.

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Type type type

I took the first couple of weeks of January pretty easy writing wise and then, of course, got two sets of page proofs to do by the end of the month, so spent a lot of time going over these with a fine tooth comb.

Since then it’s been back to Playing Hard, getting my head back into the game (ha, sports analogy!). The good thing about the proofs being done is that it means that I have nothing more to do on either of those books except promo stuff so for the first time in about two years, I can just write one book and not get interrupted by edits. Novelty! I wonder if I’ll end up wanting to play with something else to break it up. My writing process seems to change slightly with every book, so anything could happen. So it’s writing, writing for the next little , with a few fun things planned to make sure I don’t turn into complete writer hermit.

And that’s all the writing news that’s fit to print!

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January reflections

It’s February which means that January is already done 2015 is zooming by just as fast as 2014 did. Being a virgo, I always like the start of the year and making plans and setting goals etc. I had a extra long break from the day job over late December and January which means that I had lots of time to think about what I want to do this year.

Last year in January I did Apartment Therapy’s January Cure in a big way and spent a month decluttering and buying some new furniture and putting up new art and reorganising my house which was great. This year I’m doing it again but not so hard core and some of it will continue this month but it’s still a nice way to start the year by cleaning out some of the clutter of the old year and making room for new things. And to remind myself to do little things that make me happy. Like buying carnations.

And splashing paint around.

One of the things I’m doing differently this year, to help keep track on my goals is checking in regularly with a couple of friends on some of the things I’m trying to do. I think it’s good to talk about what’s working or not working or when you might need some ideas on. So far so good. The little things I’m trying to change are working and stuff is (mostly getting done). Hopefully the trend will continue as the year continues and life gets busy busy again. Remembering the plan. And to buy flowers.

How was January for everyone?

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Sunday snippet – The Shattered Court #1

More info and pre-order links here.

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Bookworm thoughts – Captive Prince

Lately I have mostly been reading RITA books. (The RITAs for those who may not know are Romance Writers of America’s big published author awards). One is not allowed to talk about RITA books one is reading. So I thought instead I’d talk about one of my favourite books of last year. Namely this bad boy (and its second volume companion).

Round here Captive Prince is known as the crack. I blame Anne Gracie for hooking me on the crack. And thank her. These books are exactly Mel catnip when it comes to fantasy. Twisty politics, plots within plots within twists within schemes, very smart heroes (note I said heroes, because this book is m/m) and a great slow burn romance. Soooo good. Like I finished book one at 3am in the morning and immediately bought book two and kept reading. Like if I had a time machine, one of the first things I would do might just be travel forward in time to when book three is out so I can read it. Book three is not out. Just a warning if you are tempted by the crack and hate waiting. CS Pacat is a genius. And a lovely gal. She starting writing the Captive Prince books and putting chapters up on her blog. Gained a huge following because they are great. Self-published. Then got discovered by an agent and sold to Penguin who are putting out the first two books in paper sometime this year. The kind of publishing story that is not the norm at all but yay for goodness at one’s craft being rewarded. They remind me a bit of Jacqueline Carey and a bit of Megan Whalen Turner (now there’s an interesting combination) and are just flat out good. Many thumbs up. Go read them.

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