Kate Collins's Blog, page 241

Are You Super Bowling?

by Leann

Okay, since the team I root for is NEVER in the Super Bowl, I watch for the commercials. But this year, it seems there is a whole lot of controversy over several already previewed ads. Seems some people all up in arms about the use of a Jamaican accent--but the Jamaicans aren't. They say, "Don't worry, be happy!" And they're right! Really, political correctness watchdogs? Is this what you want to talk about? Apparently there's a kiss that's too "kissy" and a few more "problems" that I've heard about.

There is a cure for all this. DO. NOT. WATCH. I understand that advertisers are pushing the envelope since the whole idea behind a very expensive commercial is to get people's attention. Good attention, bad attention. It doesn't matter to them! If you end up talking about it, you are spreading the word, and thus it's all gold. It's sort of like your two-year-old saying bad words. He or she may get a "time out" but the kid got what s/he wanted. Your undivided attention.

The Super Bowl is entertainment, not politics. But wait. Have politics become entertainment? Hmm. Maybe that's what's wrong with Congress. They don't understand their job anymore. They make headlines. They stomp their feet like toddlers. And like teenagers, they spend lots of money that ends up making their folks (that would be US!) angry. Yes! That's it. It is truly a television and media culture now. I wish I could turn the Congress off.

Remember, there will be Clydesdales. Don't you love them? Beyonce will sing LIVE. (After the lip-syncing horror!!!) Just enjoy getting together with your friends or family this afternoon. Laugh. Yell for your team. And don't take commercials seriously.

SERIOUSLY!

Curses! *!^%*^

By Heather
I don’t swear much. I used to—back before I had kids and didn’t really have to set an example for anyone. But as my kids grew up, I grew out of the habit of swearing.
That’s not to say one doesn’t slip out a time or two...some instances just call for it. Especially when I’m driving—enough said (but never in front of the kids, even though they’re all practically grown).
This is also not to say that life doesn’t hand us many things to curse about. It does. From stubbing a toe to dropping a plate to getting the shaft...sometimes I just want to cuss aloud a blue streak.
I don’t. But lots of times I’ll use another word, a substitute of sorts. You know the kind (oh, fudge!). Me? I have two fallbacks. One comes from Spongebob Squarepants (don’t judge). It’s simply barnacles.
The other...well, quite a few years back Mr. W and I were watching a movie on TV that had originally been in theaters. Instead of muting the curse words, creative substitutes were made. For this film, the mother of all swears was changed to Melon Farmer. So yes, whenever the situation calls for it, we use melon farmer. It comes in handy—and usually makes us laugh, too.
Do you have any creative substitutes for swears? 

Getting ready for launch day!

by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett

[image error] Three more days until the 3rd Victoria Square Mystery, ONE HOT MURDER, is released.

Here we are in the dead of winter, and what is my book all about?  A heatwave--in July.  Not only that, but Katie Bonner and the vendors and merchants on Victoria Square are celebrating Christmas!

What, you say?  Sure, you've heard of Christmas in July, right?  But this time it's true.  People who work retail (especially their own businesses) often don't have time to celebrate the holidays on the actual holiday, and that's the case in this book. 

But there's a lot more going on that just a big party complete with decorated Christmas tree and cut-out cookies.


At the height of the heat wave, a tragic fire strikes Victoria Square. Wood U, a small store selling wooden gifts and small furniture, is destroyed. But the fire may just be a smokescreen—for murder. Because a body is found among the charred wreckage—and the victim didn’t die from smoke inhalation. He was shot. Now Katie Bonnier is determined to smoke out a cold-hearted killer…
 
To order your copy, click one of the following links:
Barnes & Noble ~ Nook
Amazon ~ Kindle
Books A Million
Indigo / Chapters
Book Depository (Free shipping worldwide!)
iTunes
IndieBound

I hope you'll give One Hot Murder a try!

Out for Dinner

by Lucy Arlington

Five more days until the release of Every Trick in the Book!! I'm excited and can't wait for you to read it. (You can preorder it here:

Barnes and Noble ~ Nook 
Amazon ~ Kindle
Indiebound)





Recently we were invited to a friend's house for dinner. I love sharing a meal with other people, combining good food with good company, conversation and laughter. (Oh, and good wine too!) "I'm making Pad Thai," my friend, Jane, said when she extended the invitation. "I hope you like that." Like it? We love it! But usually we order it in a restaurant. Making it ourselves just seemed too daunting.

When we arrived at her house, she had all her mis en place waiting on the counter: bowls and dishes filled with chopped vegetables, tofu, shrimp, the sauce already made up. I exclaimed enthusiastically, commending her chef-like approach. "Oh, it's easy," she said. "Just chopping vegetables. And I got Rick busy with the knife too." And when I asked if she'd mind that I share her recipe on this blog, "Of course you can. I love sharing recipes." A woman after my own heart! She told me that while she found the original Pad Thai recipe in a cookbook, she's made enough changes to call it her own.

Just before it was time to eat, she heated her wok and threw the rice noodles in the boiling water. While the rice noodles cooked, she stir-fried the vegetables and proteins. I had fun participating in the production of this meal. (Well, I stood and watched and yakked while Jane tossed things into the wok and stirred.) The end result was delicious.

I am happy to tell you that it was not difficult to make at all! I plan on incorporating this Pad Thai recipe into my repertoire of meals. I bet if you try it, you will too. 

Jane's Pad Thai
8 oz uncooked rice noodles
3 Tbsp lime juice
3 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup diced red onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup firm tofu, diced
1 red pepper sliced
1 cup snow peas
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
8 oz small cooked shrimp
1/4 cup chopped peanuts

1. Cook noodles in boiling water for 3 minutes, or until tender. Drain. Rinse with cold water and drain again. Set aside.
2. Make sauce: combine lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, ginger, sesame oil, and crushed red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a large non-stick wok or skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook and stir until onions are tender, about 3 minutes. Add sauce and bring to a boil. 
4. Add tofu, red pepper, snow peas, carrots, green onions, and cilantro. Cook for about 2 minutes. 
5. Add noodles and shrimp and stir until they are heated through. 
6. Add peanuts. Serve and enjoy!

Basement, Part One

by Julie

We've been cleaning the basement for the past year or so in anticipation of turning it into a room we might actually use for more than just a dumping ground. Our original plan was to put up a little drywall and put down a little carpet. Warm up the space, you understand.

You've heard of scope creep, right? That's where a job keeps getting bigger (and more expensive) because you keep thinking of more that should be done now, because it would be more efficient to do so. Well, let me tell you, our scope didn't just creep, it exploded.

I'll post a few pictures as we put the basement back together now that it's finished, but first I thought it might be fun to show you where we started from.

Yep, this is what it looked like, even after the first few trips to Goodwill. What a mess! We moved in here fifteen years ago and as you can see, that gave us plenty of time to accumulate.

One of the most important things we needed to do first was to make sure we had a working sump pump with a battery backup. We also had to make sure all the seepage cracks in the walls were sealed.

The contractor who was fixing our walls told us that they'd be chiseling out some concrete and they suggested we put up plastic to prevent the dust from flying all over the rest of the house. Great idea. But, couple that with my need to bleach the walls and floors in case of mold, and you have the perfect setting for a Dexter episode, don't you think?

In any case, we were ready to start purging for real. Getting rid of some of our old stuff was easy. Paperwork from 1985? Gone! Why had we kept any of that in the first place? Maternity clothes? Gone! I don't plan to wear them again and no one I know would want to borrow those dated frocks (great word, frocks). We donated those.

When it came to other treasures, however, decisions got tougher. I confess that we probably saved far more than what we really need, but it did my heart good to keep my dad's old paints, and his briefcase. My mom's pictures, her collection of greeting cards she'd saved. Her aprons.

One of my favorite boxes is labeled "Pictures of people we don't know." I kid you not. These are old, old studio photos. Mostly weddings, circa 1920. An occasional funeral (yeah, seriously). Whoever these people were, they were - at one time - important to my grandparents so I can't get rid of them. And it's just one box...

I know it's silly and it makes no sense to keep these photos, but it's impossible for me to part with them.

Do you have anything like that?

Tax Filing Season Officially Begins Today

by Deb Baker/Hannah Reed

For all you lucky ducks out there who already know you are getting refunds, today is the first day you can file for them. 
Go, you, go!
But for most of us, refund duckies or owing ouchies, we don't even have our W2s or 1099s or whatever yet. Regardless, since some of us are self-employed, it's time to gather up all those scraps of paper and try to make sense of them.

So if you haven't started getting all your ducks in a rowGet crackin'

Gone Cruising

by Maggie Sefton




When you read this post on Tuesday, January 29th, I'll be cruising in the Caribbean on a one-week cruise leaving Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Saturday January 26 and returning Saturday, February 2nd.  We'll be visiting Grand Turk, Turks, & Caicos; St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; and Colonial San Juan, Puerto Rico.


This is my first cruise, and I'm really looking forward to it.  Usually I prefer to actually visit foreign countries for longer periods and walk around, travel, and get a feel for the locale.  But, this particular cruise intrigued me, so I decided it was time to give it a try.

I'll report back to all of you next week and let you know how I enjoyed it.  :)  Meanwhile, why don't you share some of your favorite cruise vacations.  

How to Almost Ruin a Vacation

by Kate Collins

It's too bad so many vacations must be sandwiched between days that involve any kind of air travel, because traveling by plane these days can really get you off to a bad or good start and can leave a bitter taste in your  mouth at the end.

I just spent a terrific week in Key West with my two kids. Unfortunately, their trips down to the keys were fraught with problems.  At the Indianapolis airport, my son was told he had traces of explosives on his hands and spent a stressful 15 minutes in the Homeland Security office being patted down and having his things gone through with a fine toothed comb. And at the end, they apologized and sent him on his (late) way. Nice job.

I, too, was pulled aside at O'Hare so my hands could be tested. What the heck could have been on our hands to make security react that way? I hadn't even used hand lotion that morning. Just soap.

My daughter got to the airport on time when traveling to Key West and learned her AA plane was late. When she finally boarded, she sat on the tarmac for over an hour, and then was deplaned because of mechanical problems. She then sat for 2 hours until a new plane could be found. She missed her connecting flight and the one after that, and 12 hours later, arrived in Key West for a trip that should have taken 6.

On our return trip, my daughter was treated rudely by a stewardess because she had on her headphones and was listening to music and playing a game and didn't notice that the stewardess had come around peddling drinks. When my daughter noticed, the stewardess came back over and said, "You were ignoring me before," in a snippy voice. She was rude to my daughter throughout the trip.  Had I been sitting next to my daughter, I would have asked for the stewardess's name and reported her. There was no call for that behavior. It couldn't have been the first time she's ever had to wait on someone wearing headphones and not paying attention.

As many of you know, this isn't my first go-around with American Airlines. When I visited their Facebook page, I wasn't surprised to see a very long line of complaints that were logged in just today alone. Is it any wonder that people are switching to companies like Southwest? I keep hearing great things about their service and record for being on time. Maybe that's the way to go next time.

It's a good thing our in-between days were so much fun. And I even rode a jet ski for the first time (in choppy waters and have the bloody thumbs to prove it). I don't get to spend much time with my adult children anymore, so this week was priceless. What a shame that it started and ended on bad notes, though.

What airline do you use? Which ones do you avoid? Have you ever been pulled out of line for explosives?

My Brain and My Book

by Leann

The stages of writing a novel involve what I call "brain switching." First, when I create a plot, I am working very hard. This stage pulls on all aspects of my thought process. I have to be logical, but creative. It's probably one of the more difficult aspects of writing and yet for me, I need a blueprint, an outline, a synopsis. Whatever you want to call it, I need it. It is a "whole brain" activity.

The fun starts next. This, for me, is all my right brain at work--the beginning of making something out of nothing. Chapter one! I love chapter one. But there are starts and stops because as I am submerged in my fantasy world, suddenly I run smack dab into reality. I hit a bump that switches me to my left brain and completely stops the creative process. I have written a scene that includes something I know little or nothing about. Example: a character needs a lawyer and cannot afford one. You'd think they'd get a public defender, right? If the book is set in Harris County, Texas, however, this would not be true. They have a different set-up. There is no public defender's office. It's research time and, for me, I cannot move forward until I know I've gotten it right. This also means that to switch back to my creative right brain isn't so easy. Eventually, I can move forward again, thought there will be more starts and stops.

Once a book is finished, it's time to rewrite. Also very fun for me. I get a chance to make it better, enrich the scenery and the characters. This is all right brain. Same with the rewrite suggestions I receive from my editor. Sometimes these are challenging but I really enjoy this part of the process. But once my editor has sent the manuscript on for copy edits, the fun comes to screeching halt. It's not creative and takes intense concentration to go over all the mistakes and inconsistencies--and there are always mistakes and inconsistencies. I am now making the book  TECHNICALLY better. But it's not creative. It's very left brain.

The worst part of finishing, for me, are what are called page proofs. I receive a copy of my book as it will is formatted to appear on the page (in a PDF file, however). The problem with page proofs is that somebody--a human being I do not know--has re-typed my book. And often, they have made mistakes in re-typing. They may have also typed some mistakes of my own that the copy editor and I previously did not pick up on. This is so far into my left brain I almost want to jump out of my skin. I intensely dislike this part of the process while knowing it is necessary. Unfortunately with my current book, the page proofs contained changes in style that I did not like and had not approved.

This is a new bump in the road for me. Never happened before. By this time in the process I am so ready to let go of the book, to send it out into the world, and now, I am having trouble letting go. Even though the argument about style is over and the book is going to production, I'm still troubled and upset by having to fight for tiny changes that should be no big deal. Where does that feeling belong? Left brain? Right brain? I don't know. What it tells me, though, is that this book means a lot to me, maybe more than others. I guess those are the books we want to be perfect--and there is no such thing.

Does your job involve "brain switching?" Can you relate? Or have I totally confused everyone?

Are Cozy Mysteries Seasonal?

By Ellery Adams

When Lucy Arlington (also known as the writing team of yours truly and Sylvia May), discovered that the second installment in the Novel Idea mystery series wouldn't be released in November as we originally thought, but in February, she got a little worried.

Okay, I got a little worried. I mean, look at the title. It's Every Trick in the Book . That was supposed to be a clever word play calling to mind trick-or-treating. Why? Because the novel is set between Halloween and Thanksgiving. The cover was supposed to depict fall foliage and a charming, but slightly spooky atmosphere.

But things change in the world of publishing and authors need to learn to be flexible. Sylvia and I liked the title too much to change it. Besides, it really fit with the novel's plot. We asked the art department to tone down the autumnal details and make the cover less season specific. I think they did a wonderful job.

So here's my question to you. Are you a seasonal reader? Is the book on your nightstand set in winter? Do you actually prefer reading books set in an opposite season (for example, you want to pretend you're at the beach right now, so you might be plowing through a Books By the Bay mystery instead - LOL!)


Or does the time of year matter not at all? Will you read a Christmas book in July, for example? Or a fall book like Every Trick in the Book in say, February? Here's the blurb:


The national bestselling Novel Idea Mysteries return with Lila Wilkins, who has just been promoted to full-time literary agent. But great new writers aren’t the only people she’s trying to catch… Lila Wilkins has it all: the home of her dreams in the charming town of Inspiration Valley, North Carolina; a perfect police officer boyfriend; and a new job she absolutely loves. At the Book and Author Festival, which is sponsored by the Novel Idea Literary Agency, Lila expects to discover some talented new authors, but what she finds instead is the body of an editor to whom she bears an eerie resemblance.

Trouble is, the editor’s death isn’t the only literary murder taking place. Soon a blossoming author is also killed, and Lila has a gut feeling that the two murders are linked. Now she must hunt down the dark figure who killed these women—and to her surprise, she just might find the clues hidden in a manuscript…

Lucy Arlington hopes you'll love her latest Novel Idea mystery! To preorder, click on one of these links:
Barnes and Noble ~ Nook
Amazon ~ Kindle

Indiebound