R.L. Syme's Blog, page 19

Signing Books and Hearing Reviews

Saturday was my very first book-signing event. We’d held a release party at my house in January, so I had a little experience having to talk about my book, but it was in the comfort of my own home, and not really open to the public.

The Country Bookshelf, where the event was held, is a local bookstore, owned by a local book lover, and famous for being sort of a Shop-Around-the-Corner place, holding out against the massive discount stores and online sales. It smells like history and hope. A two-story rectangle with nooks and corners, it is the public equivalent of your favorite reading chair. I love it there. I wrote about it in my book.

In the reading, I read the section about the Country Bookshelf, where my hero (who enters in a wheelchair) comes to find a book called “Poop in the Park” as a gift. This is also a real book. The section I read is full of real places. The Bozeman Angler, Vargo’s, Tracy Avenue, Sweet Pea, Lindley Park. Everything about the book tries to employ not only the “real” Montana, but the “real” life of people who have been hurt by religion.

Sean has not only a difficult past with his father (a highly religious, highly abusive man), but had a catastrophic accident he feels was such a fluke, it had to be a punishment from God. It was interesting to discuss this with the crowd, because of course, it’s been almost four years since I conceived of this book.

But perhaps the most interesting part was to discuss the book with people I hadn’t met, or to overhear the discussions of the book by people who happened to be in the bookstore while we were having the signing. I learned a few things about the book from this experience.

1. It seems like a book club book. Several of the people who came because of either the Country Bookshelf announcement or the information in the paper were there on behalf of book clubs.

2. The most likely demographic to pick up the book based on its cover are men. (This surprised me the most.) Additionally, when they talk about the book with people who have read it (mostly the staff were those I overheard), the fact that it’s got “real Bozeman” stuff in it was a big seller. Both of the people who picked it up after having spoken to a staff person seemed to show interest about it being a “Bozeman” novel.

3. Men don’t balk at it being called a “romance novel” because, according to them, the cover doesn’t make it look like a romance novel. That part interested me the most, especially because our title quest went on for so long because we couldn’t all agree on a title that felt enough like a romance novel until “His Wounded Heart.” But the title doesn’t appear to throw them off.

4. After speaking to a few men who have read the book, they didn’t feel like it was a “chick” book. One of the women who read it called it “gender neutral” as we discussed the focus of the book.

The gender-related comments were so interesting to me because when I wrote the book, I wasn’t intentionally trying to honor a male point of view. Just include it. I did have to admit that the reason I wrote the book was because Sean’s character was so interesting to me. However, I never connected these things.

It’s given me some food for thought as I work on the next two books. Very interesting food for thought. I will likely write about this again.

All in all, it was a great experience. It was great to see everyone, and my sister surprised me by flying in from San Diego, which was fantastic. I look forward to hearing more about how others handled their first book signings.

What about you? Have you been to a book signing? Or hosted one of your own? What was it like for you? What did you enjoy and not enjoy? What stood out to you? Did you enjoy the author and his/her presentation?

New West Test Kitchen: Wedding Punch

We’ve all had this punch, right? The kind you watch someone putting together and you think… did they just buy a bunch of crap at the grocery store and pour it into a big bowl, yet it tastes awesome? This wedding punch we’ve all had is sort of the beverage equivalent of Dump Cake (which we’ll also be doing).

This time, both of us modified the recipe before making it because Tistylee’s recipe was punch for FIFTY people. That’s just too much. So Kristy made a modified version, but we’ll include the original recipe, just in case you need to make wedding punch for fifty.

Y’know, in your spare time.

Wedding Punch For Fifty (Tistylee)

1 (6 oz) can frozen lemonade concentrate

1 (6 oz) can frozen orange juice concentrate

1 (6 oz) can frozen pineapple concentrate or 1 lg. can pineapple juice

2 (46 oz) cans Hawaiian Punch

1 pkg. strawberry Kool-Aid

2 qt water

Add just before serving:

2 btl. Ginger ale

1 bt. Sparkling soda

I set out to make this recipe weeks ago and had to try three different stores in order to get all the ingredients!  Back in the day, Hawaiian Punch must have been more popular, because that was the hardest one for me to find!  Hard to believe, right?  In the end, I found a six pack of 10 oz bottles.  I couldn’t find the strawberry Kool-aid either, and had to settle for mixed berry.  I assumed that the “bottles” of Ginger Ale and soda were 1 liter bottles.

Anyways, once you have all the ingredients, it’s a pretty simple recipe.

Because I don’t have a HUGE juice container, I decided to quarter the recipe.  First, I empty a fourth of the juice concentrates into my jar.  Just a couple tablespoons of each kind of concentrate.

Next, I put in approximately I 10 oz bottle of Hawaiian punch into the jar.

At this point, looking at the amount of liquid sitting at the bottom of my container, I realize that I can make half a recipe instead.  So I go back and add more concentrate, so half of each kind is included, as well as another bottle of Hawaiian punch.  From here on, I am making half the recipe above.

After that, I emptied the Kool-Aid into a measuring cup and poured approximately half into the growing drink concoction.  And then I added 1 qt of water, 1 liter of Ginger ale, and half a liter of Sparkling soda.  The only direction in the recipe says to add the ale and soda water just before serving, but since we were just enjoying the punch for the day, I did it all at once.  Sitting in the fridge didn’t seem to affect the fizzyness of those sodas at all.  It tasted the same every time I poured another glass.

We drank it most of the day, me more than the kids.  I think the kids might have found it too sweet.  For me, it was a trip down memory lane.  I grew up going to reunions, anniversary parties and church functions where this was always offered.  I doubt I will make this often, though.  I’m sure there is a way to make it without all the concentrates and fake drinks, that would still taste good… and the kids would enjoy more.

New West Wedding Punch (Beckatron)

Well, Kris, as it turns out, there is a way to make it without all the concentrates and fake drinks, and it tastes incredible (yet somehow also tastes like the original version).

My goal in doing this was to use only fresh food, which is why I call it the New West way. No concentrates, no pre-made products. I even (thanks to my Soda Stream) made my own ginger-flavored carbonated water.

However, I have to admit, it was better with the bottled ginger ale that I almost always kept around the house at the time.

So here’s how I made mine. I looked at all the fake ingredients in the punch and found a way to make them all fresh. Here’s what I did:

Juice of three lemons

Juice of three oranges

Juice of one lime

Macerated raspberries

Macerated strawberries

Macerated cherries

Ginger simple syrup

Carbonated water

The product was: an incredible tasting juicy, fizzy drink that tasted an awful lot like that great wedding punch, only less sweet and with a super gingery taste.

I was able to change that by changing up the ginger syrup/carbonated water combo with either a ginger beer (which was very gingery and needed sugar, in the end) or some ginger ale. WIth the ginger ale, other than being less sweet, it tasted SO similar to the original version. The thing I liked the best was that when you squeeze/macerate/pound the berries,  you get some juice and some pulp. I pressed some of the bigger berries (strawberries & cherries) through the juice squeezer, and that worked nicely. Then I added some of the pulp because it looked pretty.

The raspberries worked the best when I put them in a strainer with very tiny holes and pressed the juice out, then kept some of the pulp.

dsAdditionally, to help people who want it a little sweeter (or if you do decide to add alcohol), I took a little of the leftover pulp and put it in the bottom of each one of the individual serving cups, just to add some texture to the drink (and some pretty). The regular punch tasted great, but something about the extra fruit in the bottom of the cup really made it fun. It would make an awesome party drink in individual wine glasses (mine were stemless).

It was fantastic.

I highly suggest this as a party drink. It would also be a great base for some kind of alcoholic drink if you like that. But as far as a fresh version of the old-timey recipe that we all remember? SCORE!

What do you think? How would you update the original wedding punch or party punch concept?

Tune in next week for….. uh-oh…. sheet cake.

The View From Here: Sprinting

As part of Project: Re-Brand, the early-week post here at rlsyme.com will be called “The View From Here” and will mostly be about my writing life and what’s going on at my desk.

This week, because I’ve just completed a particularly interesting project, I’m going to talk about sprinting.

Not running.

Sprinting, to writers, means something very different than it does to runners. I know this because my sister is a runner, and if you say “sprinting” to her, she has memories of high school track or her morning 10K. (Have I mentioned lately how much I wish I was a runner? I think running is cool. I just don’t do it.)

Writing sprints are a similar concept. You want to go as fast as you possibly can. Writing, all-out, no stopping. There are many versions of these sprints on Facebook, Twitter, and yahoo loops or MyRWA or critique groups worldwide. My favorites are the #1k1hr and the 15-minute sprints.

The purpose of timed sprints is both to write a certain word count, and write for a certain period of time. So the #1k1hr sprint is designed to get you to write for an hour and to try to write 1000 words in that hour. (As Guy Bergstrom pointed out, wisely, a true fast-drafter should be able to write many more words than that, but sometimes, you have to stop and think or do some research or check your notes for a particular thing and yes, I almost always write much more than 1K in 1hr, but the point is to aim for writing a certain amount of time and accomplishing an accomplishable goal in that time. The particular hashtag we use was Patrick Alan’s brainchild, but now we’ve also moved on to 15-minute wind sprints. Mostly because as Nora famously said, you can’t edit a blank page.

Well, we all certainly have words to edit.

At the height of the #1k1hr craze, Roxanne St. Claire wrote a pretty controversial post about how she didn’t like the idea of fast-drafting, or sprinting. She has, since, recanted that view in part due to a particularly brilliant analogy her husband gave. And now that sprinting’s most famous (or infamous?) critic has reversed her position, it seems to be all the rage again.

In fact, so much the rage, that the #1k1hr group on Facebook sometimes gets new members every day, and you can always meet someone new on the #1k1hr hashtag on Twitter, ready to try out their sprinting chops.

Why do I bring up sprinting? Because I’ve been doing it, on some level, for many years now, but I’ve never considered fast-drafting before. Before, I always had a day job, so I would maybe get in one or two sprints a week. I averaged about 5K in writing per week, which is typically about three sprints. But now that I’m writing full-time, I started wondering how it would work for me to try fast-drafting.

One of my RWA chapters does something called BIAW, or “Book in a Week”. It’s become (outside of NaNo) mostly a place for us to sprint and encourage, sprint and encourage, but you have to set your goals at the beginning and then check in every day with your word counts, so I decided last week would be a good one to try out this fast drafting.

So I tried it. For one week, all I did was write. No researching, no plotting, no researching, very little email, almost no blog posting, no editing, and no censoring. Just writing.

I ended up writing just over 45K in one week. And then not wanting to write another word for the rest of my life. No, I’m kidding. But I definitely took a day off when I was done. It was an intense week.

But now, I’ll have to go back and edit that book I wrote. I haven’t opened it again, and I’m a little afraid to do so. Like Roxanne St. Claire said, now that the “frame” is up, you have to go in and add an awful lot. It’s not just prettying the place up. There are still structural pieces missing. And there are still a couple of floors that need to be squeezed in. There’s also probably a floor or two that will be completely destroyed from the current version. Or maybe edited beyond recognition.

Part of the reason I wanted to write about this experience was because when I was sprinting a little bit at a time, I was able to do a little more editing as I go, so I had a little better of a product when I finished. But the product I have today is really little more than a structure. It just went too fast for me to think too much about how to make it pretty while I was building. I hit the major W plots and some of the major character development arc points, but if I’m honest, that’s all I really did. Most of the rest of it may or may not stay. And I think I’m okay with that. The big deal is having the structure up.

Turns out Nora was right.

Now that I have the structure up, my brain is bursting with ways to change it, add to it, tear parts of it down, and restructures other parts. Of course, I’ll still send it to readers and an editor, but at least I feel like I have more than a blank slate to work with.

I think the helpful part of the fast draft process is the not thinking too much. I did a bit of plotting and character work before I started, but I mostly let the story go where it would after I got through the first chapter (which I’d plotted out a bit at least). I hope that this will make the character’s actions seem more realistic in the long run.

Here’s how this is different from my former process.

First of all, until I realized that everyone needs to edit (extensively), I was happy with what has commonly come to be known as “clean drafting.” It’s the process of editing yourself as you go. When you’re finished, for the most part, you have a clean draft. What most people would turn in to their editor.

I completely understand that editing-as-you-go produces clean drafts, and for some people (I used to consider myself in this group… now I’m not sure this group should exist at all), because we plot as we go, also, “clean drafting” can produce a workable draft. However, after going through some of Margie Lawson’s editing workshops, I’ve realized that even my best “clean drafts” need some serious editing, and not just for word choice. I’m convinced, after having read published books by friends who also are “clean drafters”, that we all suffer from the same problem.

When we “clean draft”, our writing is good enough. We have strong enough voices that our editors will enjoy the story, and even get caught up in it. But the bottom line is, everyone needs to edit, and taking a “clean draft” into the editing process can produce a great draft. I say this to say, I think everyone would benefit from deep editing. Even those whose first drafts are good and whose edited first drafts are pretty good.

Second of all, I often have a difficult time finishing drafts because I get a better idea a week into the process. Well, if I were to be able to finish a draft in a week, that wouldn’t be an issue. I’d simply start researching for a new draft. I think this might be possible, if I continue to only need to work part-time at the theatre, and not need to find an 8-5 somewhere. Fingers crossed.

All in all, the week of sprinting was good for me. I’ve gone back to my normal pace of writing 1K or so a day, and spending most of my time editing. But we’ll see how it goes. I may keep up this practice of fast drafting. If I do, I will certainly take Roxanne St. Claire’s advice and take Candace Havens’ workshop on fast drafting. While I enjoyed the process, I want to make sure to find out if there are ways I could be more efficient or effective during the process, and I find workshops can often help with that.

We shall see.

What about you? Do you sprint regularly? Do you fast draft? What are your tips if you do? As a reader, can you tell when someone has “clean draft”ed? Have you ever walked away from a book wishing the author had done more editing?

New West Test Kitchen: Tater Tot Hotdish

Who among us doesn’t remember the gluey lunchroom hotdish specialties of our public school days? (I will admit, my Lustre compatriots know nothing of it, because they had hand-made restaurant-quality lunches their whole life. I know because I had them too when I went to school there. We did not have tater-tot hotdish at Lustre.)

Nevertheless, and while I did not particularly care for it as a child, it was a staple of my culinary landscape, growing up. So naturally, when considering what kinds of dishes would be tested in the New West Test Kitchen, tater tot hotdish had to be among them.

Tater Tot Hotdish (Tistylee)

As a mom, I adore dishes like this, as they are easy to make and eat and clean up.  However, I’ve discovered that my family doesn’t always react kindly to something new on the menu, so I’ve learned to downsize the recipe. This was the first time I’ve made tater tot hotdish for my kids, so I definitely wanted to keep the outcome small, just in case. In fact, when trying something new, I try to make just a bit more than my husband and I can eat in one sitting, plus one lunch leftover. Hard math to do, but if they don’t like it, I don’t want to be stuck eating the same meal for a week! And if they do, we can always have salad to fill out our dinner.

Here’s the original recipe:

1 bag Tater Tots

1 ½ lbs hamburger

Onion (chopped fine)

1 can green beans (drained)

Salt and pepper to taste

Cheese slices

1 can Cream of mushroom or chicken soup

As I previously stated, I did half a recipe. First, I browned the meat with the onions and seasoned with pepper. Didn’t use any salt, as the cheese and soup will provide more than enough. Then I drained off the meat and let it cool a bit. Second, I mixed the burger with the cream of mushroom soup and green beans. Even though I was trying to make half a recipe, I did use the whole can of soup. It worked out okay. Third, after greasing my pan (original recipe calls for 9×13, but I used a glass bread pan), I layered some tater tots on the bottom. Then I put the soup/meat/bean mixture in the middle, threw some cheese slices on top of that, and then finished with a layer of tots on the top. Finally, I baked it at 375 F for 45 minutes.

YUM! It was terrific! Just I like I remember. The top tots were crispy and wonderful. The middle layer was meaty and beany and delicious. The cheese lent a sharpness while the soup sauce jazzed it up just enough to add some flavor. Despite the warmth outside, I could have just come in from the snow. Definitely nostalgic. My kids deemed it edible and ate more than their share. Will be a keeper, but I think I’ll save it for the winter time, after they come in from the snow.

 

Tater Tot Hotdish Updated (Beckatron)

As you can see, Kristy’s version was a success for her family, and a quick meal to make. I wanted to try out several things on this recipe (mostly because I despise tater tots, but also because I thought the method of preparation would allow for easy experimentation), so I didn’t cook the potatoes at all before I made the “hotdish”. Additionally, I used all fresh ingredients in my version. No cans, no bottles. So I had a little more freedom to change the preparation. Also, because I used four individual casserole ramekins, I could do four different iterations, but not have to make the recipe four times. All in all, it worked out very well. I will likely make it again to change a few more things, but all in all, I loved the way it worked out.

First, the ingredients I used:

hamburger

onion

potato

green beans

cream

flour

butter

baby bella mushrooms

Awhile ago, I’d purchased a set of Rachael Ray’s individual casserole dishes, which turned out to be 100% the right pick for this dish because I was able to do a little experimenting with how to put these together.

First of all, I sprayed them with different kinds of oil on the bottom. I have a Misto spray bottle, so I was able to put in some garlic olive oil and spray two of the bottoms. One, I rubbed with butter, and one, I sprayed with canola oil Pam. It turned out to be worth it to have the Misto spray bottle, because I could completely taste the difference.

Also, on some of the casseroles, I salted each layer, and on some, I didn’t. in the end, I think that salting the sauce and salting the meat was enough. The ones where I salted each layer turned out to be too salty, and it ended up being the potatoes and the meat that needed the salt, anyway.

I put the green beans on the bottom without cooking them. Excellent idea. They turned out to be al dente when cooked, and weren’t soggy. They added a nice crunch to the base of the casserole. Additionally, I didn’t cook the hamburger all the way through, because it was going to cook through in the oven. I did, however, cook it about halfway through, with the onions. And I suggest salting this, while it’s in the pan, cooking.

I made the mushroom sauce by hand, by making a roux (2 T butter and 1 T flour) and then adding cream. Be careful when you do this because it doesn’t seem to thicken when you add the flour to the butter, but once you add the cream, it gets thick fast. So I suggest to go easy on the flour when you have the butter in the pan, and then adding the cream until it’s thin enough. Then, add the mushrooms. You can cook them before or after, but I chose to cook them first, then add them (along with their juices) into the sauce. Don’t overcook the roux, but definitely cook it long enough to get the floury taste out. Otherwise, the sauce will taste more like flour and less like mushrooms. There are other mushroom sauce options, of course. And that’s what I plan to experiment with next time.

The roux would be able to be cooked longer if you can use clarified butter. Or bacon fat. I know, I know, but just try it.

Now, for the topping. Like I said, I’m not a tater tot fan. So I used three different kinds of potatoes. One was shredded. I used a cheese grater–it worked great. One was thin-slices on the mandolin. The other was half-inch slices (I used the cheese grater for this, as well). I think the half-inch slices would have been the best, if I’d cooked them a bit first. As it was, I couldn’t leave them in the oven long enough to cook those through. Perhaps if it had been all together in one big pan. But the individual ones weren’t holding up to the heat as well, and needed to be removed after about 45 minutes at 350. Even foil-covered.

I covered them in foil, and then cooked them at the end for about 10 extra minutes without the foil. Made the tops nice and crispy on the shredded potatoes, which made for a nice texture.

I would consider a little thinner sauce next time, because I think it would mix better. But these tasted exactly like the original version, only fresher. They were on the salty side, so I only ate about a bite of each one and had to throw them all away. Like I said, not a good idea to salt each layer. But the one layer I would make sure to salt is the potato layer. Maybe I would have cut back a bit on the earlier layers and then salted the top. Potatoes always need more salt than we think.

All in all, I would highly suggest the updated version. Lots of fun. Check out later NWTK episodes for updates on the testing.

What about you? What would you have done differently on either version? And if you do try one of the recipes, please let us know!

Tune in next week for: WEDDING PUNCH.

Review: Divergent

DIVERGENT

by Veronica Roth (website)

YA Romance (Dystopian)

(How to read my book reviews can be found: here.)

Synopsis: ”In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.” from Veronica Roth Books

Heat Level:

Not quite vanilla, but basically vanilla. They dance around physical attraction, but most of the relationship is based on emotional viability, which I like in YA.

Eye-Roll Factor: 9/10

If I’m working only off this book, and not the sequels, then the eye-roll factor is relatively low. There are a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of places where there is potential for annoyance to overtake the reading experience. But for the most part, it’s all good. My tiny eye rolls all happened around Tris’ inner turmoil. I want her to come of age more quickly than she does, I guess. But I liked the way her relationship with Four developed, and I felt like her responses were realistic.

The Cosmo Factor: 24/25

As a sixteen year-old girl, Tris wouldn’t completely annoy me to be around. At least not at first. She’s smart, she’s interesting, she’s brave. She has her moments of being at least relatively worth it. She even has tendencies toward humility in this book, which I appreciated. I think I would enjoy hanging out with her for a day.

The Dining Room to Bedroom Factor: 25/25

Say what you will about the ick factor of liking an 18 year old when you’re 30. And if Four were a real person, I would not at all be “chasing” after him. But for a romance hero, the guy just brings it. He’s got his stoic moments, his brave ones, his romantic ones. He feels deeply and expresses himself once in awhile. He’s like the perfect fictional man. I think he may be a little skinny for my tastes, but Tris is tiny (see picture). So I can live with it. If I, as the reader, am supposed to be Tris, then it works.

The Braveheart Factor: 5/10

While this isn’t a historical book, there are internal worldbuilding elements that aren’t lining up for me. I have the unfortunate advantage of having read the second book, so I know that at least one of my issues is answered there, but not all of them. The third book comes out in October, so we’ll see if the rest of the issues are addressed. But I basically got 2/3 of the way through the book and suddenly felt like the world didn’t make any sense. There are unexplained things that don’t appear to have an answer that would fit in with the way that Roth’s world works, and there are giant holes in some of the fundamental aspects of the way the world is built. The only reason I gave it a five and not a zero is that it really did take me about 2/3 of the way through the book to realize the holes. She does at least a marginally good job of hiding them for most of the beginning and through the middle.

The Nostalgia Re-Read Factor: 6/10

I doubt I will read this again, and I probably won’t see the movie. I’m not sure they’re going to be able to fill the holes that bugged me without creating worse ones. And I’m definitely not looking forward to seeing live a couple of the scenes that really got to me. I don’t want to spoil anything, but one of my favorite characters dies, and I’d rather not see that on screen. It was definitely worth the money to buy and read, but I won’t be reading it again.

The Skim Factor: 10/10

Couldn’t skim, because I was listening to the book on tape. But I think that I probably wouldn’t have skimmed anyway. It engaged me through the whole book (even if part of the engagement was… wait… what about X thing that can’t happen or why wouldn’t they just Y or why doesn’t Tris just Z… still engaging. lol)

The Little People Factor: 10/10

Oh, the minor characters! They may have been the best part of this book. As I said, one of my favorites dies, so that was disappointing, but I really enjoyed the minor characters. And she’s definitely not afraid to kill people that you get attached to (it happens more than once). She’s like a YA version of George R.R. Martin. Still, the fact that I care if they die says a lot.

Overall Evaluation: 89/100

This was a solid book. The score reflects my frustration with world-building more than anything else. But the book itself was good, the writing was solid, and I really enjoyed the minor characters and the hero. This is the perfect book for someone who is really only looking for romantic elements, and wants instead to have a fulfilling and exciting story. Definitely take the time to read the book instead of see the movie. It’ll be worth it.

Tune in next Saturday for the Divergent sequel, Insurgent.

My Montana: Road Trips

As part of Project: Rebrand, our Wednesdays here at rlsyme.com will be dedicated to something called “My Montana.” These posts will be our attempt to help you find things to do in the real Montana, both where I live and where my books are set.

We’ll do a combination of different things. Some will be “our secret” places–to give you the insider’s guide to a particular city or area. Some will be “our suggestions” that are either more generic or more well-known. All will help you find new and exciting things to do in My Montana.

To Begin: Road Trips!

Montana is huge. Let me show you.

(from Wikipedia’s page on I-90–which is the road in red) If you were to drive from the Idaho border on that red road and take the blue road in the middle toward North Dakota, you would be in Montana for just about 11 hours. That’s over 600 miles of driving (and that’s on the Interstate!). Just to give you an idea, if you were to start in Washington DC and drive the equivalent mileage of Interstate, you would be in Bangor, ME to the North, and Brunswick, GA (almost to Florida) to the South. Granted, it would take you twice as long to drive that, because of traffic, but just to give you an idea of the mileage.

In one drive across Montana, you could go from DC, through five states, heading south, and from DC, through ten states, heading north. That’s a heckuva roadtrip, eh?

One of the best things about Montana is that, because it’s the 4th largest state in the Union, there are thousands of miles of roads to drive. There are entire books just dedicated to road trips in Montana. And the best time to drive in Montana is the early Fall. It’s beautiful, it’s still warm enough to enjoy the outdoors, but cool enough to enjoy the traveling. The fields of wheat are absolutely breathtaking, and the haybale-polka-dotted pastures make for beautiful pictures.

So, September is going to be Road Trip Month on the My Montana day. I’ll tell you about some of the most beautiful road trips that I’ve been on, and some tips about when and where to stop. I will say, while the Interstate is wonderful, you can see the Interstate on your way through. If you really want the Montana experience, you need to get into the wild. The two-lane roads. The backroads. That’s Montana.

I’m going to start with maybe the most famous road trip in Montana.

The Going-to-the-Sun Highway

Gorgeous, right? This picture is taken on the highway, and of the highway (on the mountain to the left). You climb up a two-lane road in Glacier National Park, and it really does feel like you’re driving toward the sun. One side of the road is nearly always a sheer drop-off, which provides an incredible view. If you’re afraid of heights, you do the driving, and let everyone else gawp, because it’s worth seeing.

Of course, with all that beauty comes a couple of issues.

* It is a very narrow road. Not suggested for wide trucks, and anything wider than 8 feet is actually prohibited, so be careful what you use to drive. What I’ve heard suggested (as the best possible experience) is to go by motorcycle.
* Bikes are allowed, which can slow traffic. They’re not allowed on the whole highway, and during high-traffic months, there are sections of the road they can’t use at all, but be careful.
* It’s not open all year. Make sure you check the plowing page to find out what’s open and what’s closed.
* You have to pay park entrance fees to get into Glacier.

But if you can make it, and have the right vehicle, and a great camera, it can truly be one of the most beautiful experiences of your life. Plus, you’ll be in Glacier, so you can see tons of the Montana Wilderness.

Here are the benefits of the trip:

* There are options for people who don’t want to do the really scary pieces.
* You will see wildlife. What kind depends on the time of year, but GTSH is famous for Bighorn sheep sightings, which always fascinate me.
* You will see a glacier. And mountains, of course. But if you’ve never seen a glacier before, this is a breathtaking way to see your first one.
* It’s 50 miles from side to side, but takes about 2 hours to drive, so you really get to take in all of the sites.
* There are plenty of turnouts/parking areas, so if you really want to stop or hike, you’ll be able to do so. Just don’t forget to hydrate if you do.
* Because it’s maintained by the National Park Service, there are updates constantly on their website about road conditions, weather, camping availability, traffic, and any danger or warnings that might exist.
* Because you pay to get into the park, you’ll have either a day or multiple days to explore and enjoy this beautiful piece of God’s world. He is one creative dude, and this is a great place to experience that.

So that’s my first recommendation. Check out the Park website. Make a date to go there today. Especially those of us who have been Montana residents for years, but never get out of our bubble to experience what’s around the state. An informal survey of many of my outdoor friends told me that way too high a percentage of people who live here have never seen the real beauty our state has to offer.

How’s that for mathy? That just happened, that math right there.

What about you? Have you done Going to the Sun? What do you think? Is it worth the number one ranking on my road trip list? What are your tips for those who still need to go on this great trip?

Tune in next week for Road Trips 2.

New West Test Kitchen (NWTK): Indoor S’mores

As part of Project: Rebrand, we here at rlsyme.com are developing a few new things. Fridays (although I’m late for last week–September 6) will now be recipe days. Or, as we’re calling the spot, New West Test Kitchens. You can read about why it’s called that here. For now, let’s get on to the first test.

Indoor S’mores (Beckatron)

When flipping through the old home cookbooks, one of the things that stood out to me as a Fall food was the section of outdoor/campfire food. And right at the end, there was a recipe for Indoor S’mores. I decided this would be my first test kitchen because there were so many different ways I could think of to make Indoor S’mores, and I wanted to try them all. The basic part of the recipe was to heat packets of things in the stove. I thought… wouldn’t it be easier to try it on the grill? So the original recipe for all of the following Becca items was varying times at 350 in the oven. But I adapted it for the grill.

The original recipe was to take actual graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows, wrap them in foil, and bake them in the oven. I tried that on the grill and it was marginally effective. But, by far, the best tests came out in the cookie arena.

The second “recreation” was to take two graham-like cookies with some sort of chocolate covering, put a marshmallow between them, wrap them in foil, and put them on the grill. This was, in my opinion, the best outcome.

What I learned, quickly, was not to cook them for too long. The first time, I cooked them for 5 minutes at about 500 degrees. The marshmallows melted essentially into nothing, some of the cookies burnt, and it was a disaster. The second time, I cooked them for about 1 minute at 600 degrees. These turned out perfect.

I tried several different cookies. Pinwheels (which already have Marshmallows) were sort of a bust. Chocolate covered grahams were tasty, but had too much chocolate on the outside, and got messy. There was a special Belgian dark chocolate cookie which had the best cookie experience, but the chocolate didn’t melt well (even in five minutes). And then, there was, in my opinion, the most successful of all the cookies which was the:

Fudge Stripe Cookie version.

 

With the Fudge Stripe Cookies, only about 30% of the outside of the cookie was chocolate covered, so these provided the least outer mess. Plus, the inside is fully chocolate covered, so the marshmallow/chocolate ratio on the inside was good. In 1 minute, the marshmallow was soft, but not totally melty, so not super messy. All in all, I give Indoor S’mores about a B.

Overall recommendation: I would definitely try these on a cold Fall day, as a surprise for the kids, or yourself, for dessert. Especially if you’re looking longingly up at the mountains (like we do in Bozeman sometimes in the Fall), knowing it’s too cold for family camping, but still nice enough outside to maybe be grilling. Definitely use the Fudge Stripes. They’ll be a super quick, tasty dessert.

And now, to the second version of Indoor S’mores.

Indoor S’mores Bars (Tistylee)

As a little girl, going to the farm was my favorite part of the summer.  My grandma was the best at treat making and this was one of my favorites!

Here is her original recipe:

2/3 c. light corn syrup

2 T. margarine

1 pkg. (2 c) chocolate chips

1 tsp. vanilla

1 pkg Golden Grahams Cereal (small box)

3 c. mini marshmallows

Butter a 9×13 pan.  Heat corn syrup, margarine, and chocolate chips to boiling in a 3 qt saucepan, stirring constantly.  Remove from stove and add vanilla.

Put cereal into a large bowl.  Pour hot mixture over cereal.  Toss quickly until coated with chocolate syrup.  Fold in marshmallows, 1 cup at a time.  Press mixture into pan evenly with butter spoon (or greased hand!).  Let stand for 1 hour before cutting into bars.

LATER…

disaster!  what a mess!

okay.  not really, it turned out okay and tastes amazing!  but it was very messy!

There are several ways to update this recipe, as far as i’m concerned.  You could toss out the cereal and try to make it with regular graham crackers.  I remember having a version of that in elementary school.  The grahams were crushed to bits and used as a crust layer, with chocolate and marshmallows melted over the top.  It was good and s’mores-ish.  However, I am trying to make a “rice krispie” version of s’mores, so I won’t do that this time.

Instead, i’m going to eliminate the corn syrup and a lot of the chocolate chips.  Don’t worry, there will still be plenty of chocolate in there, just not 2 cups worth!

Here’s the recipe I ended up with:

3 T. margarine

1 pkg (10.5 oz) marshmallows, divided

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 pkg Golden Grahams cereal (small box)

Grease 9×13 pan.  Empty dry cereal into a big bowl.  Add 1 cup marshmallows and chocolate chips to that cereal.  Melt margarine, add remaining marshmallows and melt all together.  Pour melted marshmallows over the cereal and mix.  Press mixture into pan and let sit.

The biggest problem I ran into was getting the cereal into the pan.  I ended up with a LOT of the cereal/marshmallow mix on my hands.  The chocolate chips and extra marshmallows ended up melting in with the hot mixture.  I had wanted a few whole mini marshmallows in the bars for decoration, so next time I might add them last, after the mixing is almost done.  But I did like how the chocolate melted in somewhat, spreading it’s goodness around.  Could use chopped candy bars too if you prefer.

YUM!  Very S’mores-y!

Give it a try.  Let us know what you think.

So, here’s the NWTK question of the day: How might you remake one of these recipes? What would you change, or what have you changed, and how did it turn out?

Stay tuned for NEXT WEEK’s New West Test Kitchen: Tater Tot Hotdish! September 13th!

Project: Re-brand

As you may have noticed, things are changing around here. What is an absolutely gorgeous design by the Killion Group (for a foodie romance brand) is going to be changing into another gorgeous design (hopefully also by the Killion Group) that will be more in line with the kinds of books I am currently writing.

In other words, Romancing the Palate will go on the backburner. On the front burner will now be: Big Hopes, Big Heroes, in the Big Sky. I’m also taking on a marketing director, Miss Kristy (who will be known also as Tistylee), a publicist (in Gliterary Girl Media), and a brand manager (Miss Chris). Can you tell I teach kids? LOL. Anyway, my hope is that rlsyme.com will be more focused, more fun, and more helpful.

So, what is Big Hopes, Big Heroes, in the Big Sky? Well, that’s my brand. I write about the New West–the West of Longmire and Bridger Bowl and A River Runs Through It. Not so much the West of Nora Roberts (although that West does exist, too… I just live in a slightly different version of it). My goal is that all of my books will portray this new west. The Pioneer West, sure, but the edgy West. The small town, the western city.

You see, the West is a big place, and it’s definitely got its share of cowboys and Sheriffs and Texas Rangers. But it also has fly fishermen and smokejumpers; ski instructors, teachers, poets, baristas, University professors, pastors, entrepreneurs, engineers, and farmers. With the cowboy, they share an independent spirit. They may not ride a horse, but they like the wild, nonetheless. They value economy and generosity, honesty and honor. They are everything that was great about the Old West, only in the New West. Those are the big heroes.

As far as the big hopes go, it’s important to know that the Pioneer Spirit never really died out here. Sure, the population may be bigger (in some places) or vanished (in others), but there’s still a lot of open land here, and open land calls to a person. The New West is a place where dreams are discovered and hopes are real. Not only is hope real, but it’s always on the horizon. No matter how dark the hour, there’s always a big hope in the Big Sky. In more ways than one, of course.

And of course, we all know the Big Sky. It’s clearer, crisper, and, yes, bigger here. The vastness of the state is hard to comprehend for some people who grew up with cities every 30 minutes that have grown together into a metropolis. It’s hard to comprehend the size of the sky when yours is crowded by beautiful skyscrapers. But that is the sky that calls me, as a writer. The New West has a particular bigness that can only exist here, where there’s new ground to develop and new things to discover and new love to find.

So that’s the new brand.

With the new brand comes some new segments to the blog. Here’s the current plan.

Mondays: The View From Here

Wednesdays: My Montana

Fridays: New West Test Kitchen

Weekends: Reviews and At Random

The View From Here

These are my writing posts. I still want to talk about things like social media strategy for writers, blogs that I’m reading, interesting things going on in the writing world, or what I’m working on today. The View From Here is probably going to be the only part of the blog that will be mainly about me. My hope is that the rest of the blog will be about where I get my inspiration: My Home.

My Montana

My Montana posts are meant to give you a taste of the New West. What do I mean when I say that something has a “New West” feel? I hope to tell you about that here. My plan is to let you see Montana (Bozeman, especially, but as much of the state as I can cover with my camera and pen) through the eyes of a local. Also, I’d like to give you a taste of what it’s like to be here, and what you can do for fun that the locals do, if you come here. A lot of these posts will be a “guide to My Montana” type of feel. Miss Kristy and I came up with a list of thirty or so things to try out. I’ve done a few of them and hope to do many more this Fall. But I also hope to take suggestions from those of you who live here. I want to cover things that are fun and interesting, and give you an insight of Montana you might not have seen before. Also, if you sign up for my newsletter (coming soon), you’ll get a special printable guide of recommended restaurants and things to do in one of the six major cities in Montana, complete with my personal thoughts and recommendations on each one.

New West Test Kitchen

This is the area that Miss Kristy and I are the most excited about. I don’t know if you remember the old community cookbooks. Every church seemed to have one. I have several stacks of them, and had been lamenting for so long that some of these recipes were just un-make-able today. And yet, the taste experience is so nostalgic for us. We grew up eating the recipes at potlucks, weddings, parties, and tables. They are our culinary DNA. But some of them need a little updating.

So each week, Miss Kristy (Tistylee) and I (Beckatron) are going to tackle one recipe from our old cookbooks. We’re using mostly the Syme Smorgasboard cookbook (because it’s bigger–yes, size matters) and the Our Daily Bread cookbook from St. Joseph’s in my hometown. But I found the same recipes in cookbooks from Westby, Medicine Lake, Butte, Scobey, Livingston, Minton, Radville, Lustre, Baker, and Outlook. So they have to be common everywhere. If not the same, then similar.

We’ve picked some of our favorites, some we’ve always wanted to make, some we remembered from childhood, and some we wanted to update. Most of the weeks will include an “original” recipe version, either one that’s been passed down to us orally, or one that we found in a community cookbook. We’re hoping to do something with all of the re-make recipes, so we may end up doing a FAILED NWTK remix post once in awhile. (We’re not even through our first month of recipes, and we both have a re-make already.) We also want to hear about your memories of the food, and your opinions about the remixes and what you might have done differently. SO make sure to speak up!

Weekends

I still have to do quite a bit of reading myself, and reading other blogs, and marketing. So I hope to spend the weekends reviewing. Either books that I’ve read, blogs I follow, articles I’m reviewing, or classes I’ve taken. Most will likely be books, because I have a big reading list for the year, but I hope to try to hit most of the major reviews that I need to get through on only one of the weekend days.

SO there it is. Project: Rebrand. There will be other facets to it. This is technically my “View From Here” post for the week, and next week, I plan to cover more of the re-brand, especially if you are an author considering a re-brand. Between having a brand manager and going through a re-brand, I can tell you SO much about the branding process… it’s going to be lots of fun. So stay tuned. Watch my Facebook Author page for the feed. Once the website redux is done, I’ll also be putting out a newsletter every month, with all new content. So stay tuned for that, as well.

Meanwhile… thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoy the Big Hopes, Big Heroes, and my view of the Big Sky.

~ Becca (R.L. Syme)

What Is the New West Test Kitchen?

I don’t know if you remember the old community cookbooks. Every church seemed to have one. I have several stacks of them, and had been lamenting for so long that some of these recipes were just un-make-able today. And yet, the taste experience is so nostalgic for us. We grew up eating the recipes at potlucks, weddings, parties, and tables. They are our culinary DNA. But some of them need a little updating.

So each week on rlsyme.com (Fridays, to be specific), Miss Kristy (Tistylee) and I (Beckatron) are going to tackle one recipe from our old cookbooks. We’re using mostly the Syme Smorgasboard cookbook (because it’s bigger–yes, size matters) and the Our Daily Bread cookbook from St. Joseph’s in my hometown. But I found the same recipes in cookbooks from Westby, Medicine Lake, Butte, Scobey, Livingston, Minton, Radville, Lustre, Baker, and Outlook. So they have to be common everywhere. If not the same, then similar.

We’ve picked some of our favorites, some we’ve always wanted to make, some we remembered from childhood, and some we wanted to update. Most of the weeks will include an “original” recipe version, either one that’s been passed down to us orally, or one that we found in a community cookbook. We’re hoping to do something with all of the re-make recipes, so we may end up doing a FAILED NWTK remix post once in awhile. (We’re not even through our first month of recipes, and we both have a re-make already.) We also want to hear about your memories of the food, and your opinions about the remixes and what you might have done differently. SO make sure to speak up!

To learn more about the new brand, click here.

To see our first NWTK post (Indoor S’Mores), click here. Tune in for our second NWTK Post on September 13th. We’ll be doing that old classic. TATER TOT HOTDISH!

Otherwise, feel free to leave us feedback! Thanks for stopping by.

~ Becca (R.L. Syme)