Kathleen Rowland's Blog, page 22
March 10, 2015
Eat– for Good Health
Did I tell you I’m on a mission to lose six pounds in three weeks? My black dress is a little tight. ��It doesn’t slip right off and drop to the floor like it did before! ��Yes, friends, I’m doing 900 calories a day, but my husband likes steak. ��Tonight I’m making Bobby Flay’s Grilled New York Strip Steak, and the sauce is made with yogurt. (I will only consume half of the allotted steak portion.)
INGREDIENTS for Grilled New York Strip Steak
Sauce
1�� tbsp canola oil
1 medium Spanish onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup FAGE Total 0%*
2 tbsp prepared horseradish, drained
Steak
4 New York strip steaks, (1�� ��� 2 inches thick)
Canola oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD:
Sauce
Heat the oil in a medium saut�� pan over medium heat. Add the onions, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper. Cook for about 12 ��� 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and caramelized. Cool for 15 minutes.
Mix the yogurt, horseradish, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Next, fold the onions into the mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 8 hours to allow the flavors to meld. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.
I’ve got my eyes on my goal!
March 9, 2015
Places– of Charm
Don’t all of us love Earth’s seasons!�� Now as winter is ending, and spring begins at the March 20th equinox, we get “spring fever.”�� Our daughter Janice went to the beach yesterday and came back looking like a lobster.�� Dieters buy a bikini a size too small and crash diet which often leads to over-eating.�� Take it easy.�� Live through spring fever with moderation.
The Vernal Equinox is a special moment when the sun crosses the celestial equator going from south to north. In the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is rising earlier now, and nightfall comes later. Plants are sprouting. Winds are softening. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, people are enjoying the warmer days of spring.�� In SoCal oranges are 88 cents a pound.
March 8, 2015
Eat– for Good Health
This divided bowl from��ZAK.com��forces portion control. Today I ordered 4.�� For years, Traci Mann, Ph.D., conducted one study after another that confirmed traditional diets eat away at our willpower, making it harder to cut back as time goes on.�� When Mann opened her own University of Minnesota lab, she set up studies in many places– cafeterias, state fairs, and even the International Space Station.�� Small changes led to big effects.
Here is one of the outcomes– this is an example of a magic plate for dieters.�� Put the pasta in the smaller side, and the salad in the bigger side.�� Or, hot cereal in the smaller section, and fruit in the larger.�� Where do the meat and potatoes go?�� The smaller side of course with vegetables in the bigger section.�� Kari Inuale lost 150 pounds this way!
March 4, 2015
Wordsmith– I also volunteer
As a writer we need to protect writing time, but writing is solitary. No man or woman should be an island. Knowing that volunteering has a meaningful, positive impact on my local chapter of Romance Writers of America, OCCRWA, I signed up as Secretary/membership chair.�� It’s time consuming to count cash, checks, and paypal receipts and update members for this year’s roster, using Excel.�� There’s follow-up involved, but the group is so nice that they don’t mind being reminded to renew.
I like being part of the OCCRWA community and board.�� Volunteering is about helping others, but the organization helped and continues to help me.�� What better way is there to give back to a giving organization?�� If you are a romance writer, benefits are enormous on every second Saturday of the month. OCCRWA’s motto is one hand reaching forward with the other reaching back.
March 3, 2015
Wordsmith– I also write books
On Saturday March 21st I’m hosting a brunch and writers workshop at my house.�� Guests are alums from my sorority, but if anyone is interested in a free ebook, use the coupon MY99G, at checkout for HOW TO WRITE POINT OF VIEW.
March 2, 2015
People Appreciation
Our grandson, D’mitri, is running in the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday, March 15.�� I switched my schedule around in order to be there.��The course takes runners from the Dodger Stadium all the way across Los Angeles (26 miles!) and finishes in the scenic area just steps from the Santa Monica Pier. D’mitri with other participants have been coached since September for this race.�� Just finishing is remarkable.�� There will be fully staffed aid stations along the route with Water and Gatorade beginning at mile 2 and ending at mile 25.�� Whew.
Here is a photo taken by our son, Johnny, about a week ago.�� Back row, D’mitri and our son, Teddy.�� Front row, granddaughter Roxanne, daughter-in-law Jan, me, and daughter, Janice.
February 4, 2015
Eat– for Good Health
Writing deep point of view means delving into all the senses a character sees and feels, but it also includes what they do.�� My heroine Amy Kintyre is a sportswear designer who hikes and eats healthy.�� Something she would make is Vegetarian Zucchini Moussaka:
Ingredients:�� 2�� zucchini, 1 small onion, 1.5 T. olive oil, 1 cup dry bulgur, 4 cups tomatoes (canned, crushed) 1 oz. water, 4 oz. lowfat cottage cheese, 1 T. parmesan cheese grated, 1 cup chopped parsley, fresh, and 1 large egg, raw.
1/2 cup mashed potatoes.
Directions for 4 servings:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Wash zucchini, peel onion, chop both and saut��.
In another pan mix olive oil and bulgur and saut�� over medium heat until brown. Add the remaining ingredients, turn heat low so that bulgur soaks up the liquid.
Lightly beat the egg.�� Mix in cottage cheese and fresh parsley.�� Assemble all together into an oven-proof dish.�� Top with a dollop of mashed potatoes. Bake for thirty minutes.�� Serve with pepper.
Wordsmith– I also write books
Yesterday, I wrote, “The End”, after finishing a romantic suspense, DEADLY ALLIANCE, and submitted it to the attention of Candace Havens at Entangled Press for their IGNITE line.�� What happens next?�� I write the next book of my Alliance Series.�� Attraction is sizzling, and action is high adrenaline. My hero, Fin Donahue,��is a hard-bitten former Army Ranger. My heroine, Amy Kintyre, trusts the wrong people too much which gets her into big trouble.
My series takes place in Lake Arrowhead, a mountain-lake community in California.
January 23, 2015
People appreciation
Today writer Jessie Clever is spotlighting me on her blog!�� Thank you Jessie.�� Here it is–
January 23, 2015 �� 6:00 am
��� Jump to Comments
Friday Fast 5 with Kathleen Rowland
Today I welcome romantic suspense writer Kathleen Rowland to the Friday Fast 5!
Who do you credit with being your biggest influence as a writer?
My dad, a psychiatrist, told many stories about patients but never used their real names. I knew all the Urban Legends and some family sagas of our own.
Do you cast people to play the characters in your stories?
Often, I do. My black hero, Marchand LaFond, in my INTERVENUS series��� A BRAND NEW ADDRESS, has the warm, humorous good-guy personality of Michael Ealy who played Dorian in the Almost Human TV series.
What is on the top of your to be read pile?
I enjoy reading across many heat levels of romantic suspense. I recently finished reading LUSH by Beth Yarnall and A KISS TO DIE FOR by Gail Barrett. I just bought book 1 of the Spy Series, INEVITABLY A DUCHESS by Jessie Clever.�� (Thanks, Kathleen!)
If they were to make a movie about you, who would play you and why?
Helen Mirren when she played the no-nonsense police detective in the British series PRIME SUSPECT. Not only do we resemble each other physically, but she works hard to prove herself and drives herself to battle frustrating circumstances.
What time of day is your best writing time? Up early with the birds or wake up in the middle of the night with an inspiration and have to go write it down?
Morning is best for me because my unconscious works wonders for my work-in-progress. I wake up with a new idea! I���m up at 6 a.m. and begin writing as soon as I have coffee. I take a break at 8 to swim laps for 45 minutes, but then I���m back at the computer. I do housework here and there and stop at 3:30 p.m. to walk the dogs and then shop/cook a healthy dinner.
What advice would you give new authors?
I advise new authors to keep a journal and take classes. Journaling gives us originality. Taking classes gives us fresh perspectives. I also give a class on point of view with the next one scheduled for March 21st, 2015. I enjoy helping others as they help me.
Don���t Miss A Brand New Address
A meteor bombardment throws Earth into a 2nd Ice Age. Yardley Van Dyke promised her dying mother she���d care for their family by growing food in their greenhouse. With changing family dynamics, Yardley joins a shuttle going to the planet Venus. These new adults have diverse personalities, and in their own way fight against the uglier aspects of human nature. Will she get along with the show-off captain, Marchand LaFond?
Where to Find A Brand New Address
More About Kathleen Rowland
Kathleen Rowland writes under her real name. Her genre is Romantic Suspense, running the gamete from sweet to sensuous. She grew up in Iowa where she caught lightning bugs, ran barefoot, and raced her sailboat on Lake Okoboji. Now she wears flip-flops and sails a Harbor 20 with her husband, Gerry, but wishes there were lightning bugs in California.
With an M.S. in Computer Science, her writing style in ���Planner���. After musing up a story, Kathleen outlines and cork-boards in Scrivener. With a hard focus on clarity, she rewrites many times to capture goal, motivation, and conflict.
Kathleen and her husband, Gerry, are proud of their five children who have flown the coop, and now she has the luxury of time to write. With hard work, dreams do come true. Her latest release, A Brand New Address, from her futuristic new adult INTERVENUS series, is available in eBook and paperback.
January 9, 2015
People craft– getting along
On Wednesday I brought a home cooked salmon dinner and purple orchid to a��friend who lost her husband to cancer.
Losing a spouse is devastating. It brings pain and loneliness, but it also presents practical challenges that are difficult to prepare for. When someone we love has been recently widowed, we want to be able to help. However, we often don’t know how. Here are some ways to reach out to widows and widowers in their times of need.
L.��had been suffering from an avalanche of challenges. Sleep deprived while she slept in her husband’s hospital room, the rollaway is not easy on the back. L. and B. were a loving but childless couple, and she was the only one at these overnight bedsides.
When her husband passed, the cumulative effect left her shocked. She is having a hard time taking care of her basic needs and surroundings.�� I asked basic questions– sleeping, eating, transportation, cleaning.�� L. is finding these things therapeutic, so she said.�� I think phoning, emailing, and bringing meals is important and shows we care.
