Sarah Nicolas's Blog, page 11

QQQ: Romance Author Denise Williams and Comparison Being the Thief of Joy

Romance novelist Denise Williams joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss waiting for it to be your turn, debuting during a pandemic, your worst fears coming true (and it being okay), not reading your reviews, and no trade review ever being as harsh as her young son’s feedback.

Denise: Query Text | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Amazon | Bookshop: How to Fail at Flirting | The Fastest Way to Fall | Libro.fm

QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon

Search “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app to listen or listen on YouTube.

QQQ: Sci-fi author Michael Mammay & Diving In Head First

Science Fiction author Michael Mammay joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss diving in too soon, the book that saved his writing, the power of a one-sentence compliment, and the single quality that will guarantee a writer’s success.

Michael: Query Text | Website | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon | Bookshop: Planetside | Spaceside | Colonyside

QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon

Search “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app to listen or listen on YouTube.

QQQ: Historical Fantasy Author Cass Morris and The Perils of the Acquisitions Board

Cass Morris works as a writer and educator in central Virginia. She holds a Master of Letters from Mary Baldwin University and a BA in English with a minor in history from the College of William and Mary. She reads voraciously, wears corsets voluntarily, and will beat you at MarioKart. Her debut series, The Aven Cycle, is Roman-flavored historical fantasy released by DAW Books.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Patreon | Worldbuilding for Masochists podcast | Amazon | Bookshop: From Unseen Fire | Give Way to Night

Query Text

Listen below or search for “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app.

Announcing: Queries, Qualms, & Quirks

I’m launching a new weekly podcast on April 8th!

Queries, Qualms, & Quirks asks published authors to share their successful query letter and discuss their journey from first spark to day of publication. Author Sarah Nicolas interviews authors of all genres about how they got started writing, their writing process, getting their book deal, and their experiences with publication.

It will be on all major podcast platforms as well as on my YouTube channel. You can find all of those links on the podcast’s website. Please subscribe on your platform of choice and check out the trailer. Patreon supporters can get a sneak peek at the first episode tomorrow!

If you are a traditionally published author who would like to share your story, please check out the podcast’s website for the contact form.

I look forward to chatting with authors of all stripes about their journeys to publication and sharing those stories with you!

Recipe Review: Lace Cookies

I had a baking urge, so I flipped (virtually) through my recipes tonight to see if there was a recipe I hadn’t tried yet that I had all the ingredients for, and saw these lace cookies. They’re notoriously difficult to bake exactly right so I was interested in the challenge. I love the look of these and can see them stacked up against each other on a platter at a nice party.

I don’t know where I originally got this exact recipe so I’ll post it at the end of this post.

Observations:

It took a bit longer than the recipe stated to get it cooked, but I’ve mentioned before my oven is finicky. The second batch was much more evenly cooked because I rotated them more often, so I recommend that. Keep a close eye on them.

I thought the ones that were light with golden brown edges would be the best, (I love underbaked cookies) but I actually really liked the ones that were pretty much all golden brown. The former are more chewy and the latter are crispy.

These are very very sweet, so I like the dark chocolate drizzle to temper the sweetness. I look forward to trying other versions with chunks of nuts, even dried fruit.

I tried dipping them face down but it didn’t really work (wasn’t pretty); I think I didn’t melt the chocolate enough and I was impatient. I put the chocolate in a piping back to get this nice delicate drizzle.

To get the chocolate to set faster, so you can store them, stick them in the fridge or freezer for a couple minutes.

You want the parchment paper to be completely flat on the pan so the cookies can spread without hinderance. I have no idea how to get them circular like all the bloggers, but this will prevent them from having straight lines of un-laced cookie at least.

I measured my ingredients instead of weighing them purely out of laziness.

The one on the right in the foreground was perfection.

Things I Might Change:

I think adding a little vanilla would be nice. I’d add it probably right before taking the dough off the heat.

Swapping out for brown sugar might give it some nice caramelization.

Like I said, I would like to try more complicated versions of these cookies, now that I know how to make the basic version. They are delightful when they’re crispy.

Rating:

4.5/5

I like them, but I think they’re slightly too sweet. Plus, I don’t know if it’s my oven, but these probably took closer to 10-12 minutes to cook.

Blanching Almonds:

This recipe calls for blanched almonds. If you have regular almonds, it’s super easy to blanch them! Here’s how:

Bring a small pot of water to a boilToss the almonds in and let them boil for a minute.Drain them and run cool water over them to stop them from cooking.Pinch each almond to remove the skin. (Cup your hands over them because they can come flying out of the skins fast!)Dry on a towel.

Recipe:

Lace Cookies

⅔ cup (85g) blanched almonds
¼ cup unsalted butter
½ cup (100g) sugar
4 tsp (10g) all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
4 tsp (20g) milk

Preheat oven to 350.

Pulse almonds in a food processor until their texture resembles coarse cornmeal. If you process them too much, they’ll start forming into a paste (not desirable).

Slice the butter and melt in a small skillet over low heat. Add the sugar, flour, and salt. Stir just until the ingredients are completely incorporated. Add the almonds and milk, continuing to stir until everything is combined and the mixture thickens a bit, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool for 1-2 minutes. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper while the batter cools.

Drop a teaspoon of batter onto the baking sheet. Space each cookie at least three inches apart.

Bake 6-8 minutes until golden brown, rotating the sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking. Let them cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, until they firm up enough to be lifted without distorting their shape. Use a thin metal spatula to transfer them to a cooking rack.

The cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

Enjoy! Let me know if you try this recipe and your thoughts on it!

Recipe Review: Nutella Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

I had some leftover canned pumpkin puree from the Pumpkin Roll I made for Christmas and recently figured out that Publix’s version of Nutella doesn’t have soy in it – so the stars aligned for me to make this Nutella Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread from My Baking Addiction.

Observations:

This recipe is pretty straight forward and easy, so not a lot to warn about here.

The first step should be to melt the butter, so you remember to let it cool! I stuck mine in the fridge because I waited until I needed it.

I cut the parchment paper so that it fit without touching the short sides of the pan, because I hate trying to make the corners work with parchment paper. I used a perfect release baking spray on the sides and it came out clean so you may be able to use that on the whole plan if you don’t have the parchment paper.

I have a soy allergy, so I was only able to make this after finding the soy-free Nutella alternative. I also use soy-free chocolate chips, which are very available at some stores and non-existent at others.

Impatient, I cut a slice off while it was still warm and it fell apart. It was much easier to work with after it cooled off.

I used unsalted butter, because that’s what I buy (you can always add salt — can’t take it out!), but I think it wouldn’t matter too much as I don’t think this would suffer from additional salt.

At 60 minutes, a toothpick came out thickly coated in batter, but at 70 minutes it was perfectly done. This, of course, will vary based on your oven.

Adding a little extra Nutella probably couldn’t hurt.

Book Giveaway in Celebration of Juneteenth!

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In celebration of Juneteenth, Brenda Drake and I are giving away one book each to ten randomly-selected winners! Winners can choose any book by any of these authors:

Kellye Garrett
Tomi Adeyemi
Nikki Dolson
Kim Johnson
Brittney Morris
Melissa Erin Jackson
Nicole Glover
Roseanne A. Brown
Alexa Martin

You must enter via the rafflecopter link below by the end of June 24th (11:59pm Eastern). This is open to anyone in the US and anyone who can receive books via Book Depository. We will ship books via bookshop.org, Book Depository, or bn.com.

Please note: some books are pre-orders or on back order on some sites. You can see what is available via bookshop by clicking here.

 

—ENTER HERE—

 

 

PubTalk Live Replays Available as a Podcast

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Due to the generosity of my supporters on patreon, PubTalk Live replays will now be available as a podcast!



I started with the first episode and a new episode will be added each day until the entire history is available. (There are currently 8 on there.) After that, each episode’s audio will be uploaded within a week of the original broadcast.


As always, you can find out more about the show and see updates at pubtalk.live.




Thank y’all so much for making this possible for me


Google | Spotify | Stitcher | Breaker | RadioPublic | Apple & IHeart Radio coming soon

Young Adult #pitchwars 2019 stats

This is the 2nd in my Pitch Wars stats series. I’m releasing them as I have the time to do categories. See the Middle Grade stats here.

Please don’t reproduce this information anywhere else. This work takes a long time so I would appreciate if you would instead link to my post. If you’d like to show your appreciation for this work you can buy me a coffee, paypal me, or donate to Pitch Wars but it’s definitely not necessary or expected!

We have 1484 Young Adult submissions. With YA having 45 slots for mentees and ignoring the fact that some YA mentors took NA submissions (there were only 120 of those),  3.03% of YA applicants were able to obtain a mentor.

The average word count was 83,466 and the median word count was 82,000. Word counts of submissions ranged from 1000 to 423,000. (!!)

Applicants can submit to up to 4 mentors. Sometimes they choose to submit to fewer than that (I’m not sure why — it doesn’t hurt you to submit to someone who may be a stretch, but people have their reasons).

1.1% of MG applicants submitted to 3 mentors, 0.2% to 2 mentors, and 0.5% to 1 mentor. 98.2% of MG applicants maxed out their 4 mentor selections. 0 applicants who selected fewer than 4 mentors were chosen as a mentee, but since the percentages are so low, that’s not necessarily statistically significant.

Just 2 submissions or 0.13% were graphic novels.

Applicants can indicate if they want to allow “swapping” on their work. What that means is a mentor who is submitted to is allowed to send the submission package to a mentor who was not submitted to if they think it is a good fit for the mentor. 99.7% of YA applicants gave permission for mentors to “swap” their submission, whereas 0.3% declined.

Swapping is very restricted internally, and mentors have to submit a short application to request each and every swap. For example, there were only nine swap requests approved in YA. This is 0.15% of received submissions.

Submissions were open from September 25 to September 27, but we opened up two hours early on September 24th.

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8.2% of YA applicants submitted in those two hours on the 24th (my birthday!). 42.6% of applicants submitted on the 25th, 21.8% submitted on the 26th, and 27.4% submitted on the 27th.

8% of YA applicants submitted in the last two hours of the submission period. I’m always amazed by the number of people who wait until the last minute to submit. (Don’t do this, if you can at all help it. If you have a computer or internet issue, we do NOT allow late submissions under any circumstances.)

I’m aware that most people care about genre breakdown, so that’s why I saved it for last.

Middle Grade #pitchwars 2019 Stats

Hello!

Since there seems to still be interest in the Pitch Wars submission stats from the 2019 season, I’ll be slowly working on these in the next few weeks and releasing by Category. I did MG first because it’s the smallest category, but I’ll be working on YA, NA, and Adult soon. Then I might do a post comparing the different categories if there is interest.

Please don’t reproduce this information anywhere else. This work takes a long time so I would appreciate if you would instead link to my post. If you’d like to show your appreciation for this work you can buy me a coffee, paypal me, or donate to Pitch Wars but it’s definitely not necessary or expected!

We received 472 Middle Grade submissions. With 20 MG mentors, this means 4.42% of MG applicants were able to obtain a mentor.

The average word count was 50,735 and the median word count was 49,000. Word counts of submissions ranged from 2504 to 130,000.

Applicants can submit to up to 4 mentors. Sometimes they choose to submit to fewer than that (I’m not sure why — it doesn’t hurt you to submit to someone who may be a stretch, but people have their reasons).

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2.8% of MG applicants submitted to 3 mentors, 1.5% to 2 mentors, and 1.3% to 1 mentor. 94.5% of MG applicants maxed out their 4 mentor selections. 0 applicants who selected fewer than 4 mentors were chosen as a mentee, but since the percentages are so low, that’s not necessarily statistically significant.

5 submissions, or 1.1% were Graphic Novels.

Applicants can indicate if they want to allow “swapping” on their work. What that means is a mentor who is submitted to is allowed to send the submission package to a mentor who was not submitted to if they think it is a good fit for the mentor. 98.7% of MG applicants gave permission for mentors to “swap” their submission, whereas 1.3% declined.

Swapping is very restricted internally, and mentors have to submit a short application to request each and every swap. For example, there were only five swap requests approved in MG.

Submissions were open from September 25 to September 27, but we opened up two hours early on September 24th.

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6.6% of MG applicants submitted in those two hours on the 24th (my birthday!). 45.1% of applicants submitted on the 25th, 26.9% submitted on the 26th, and 21.4% submitted on the 27th.

4.7% of MG applicants submitted in the last two hours of the submission period. I’m always amazed by the number of people who wait until the last minute to submit. (Don’t do this, if you can at all help it. If you have a computer or internet issue, we do NOT allow late submissions under any circumstances.)

As far as inbox crossover, the mentors with the most submissions in common were K.C. Held and Sean Easley.

I’m aware that most people care about genre breakdown, so that’s why I saved it for last.