Welcome to 2013 with Noon and Wilder! I’m so excited and wanted to jump right in, so let’s get started.
What’s on tap for this year:
Okay. Let’s get down to brass tacks. It’s morning, but doo tamned early. Whadoyoodo?
Coffee.
Rinse the pot.
Get fresh beans. We keep ours in the freezer. There is debate on this. Some say don’t freeze, it’s not good for the oils. Others say freeze, otherwise the oils go rancid. Others say refrigerate.
As I was saying, get the beans out of the freezer.
Don’t use ground. Why? Because grinding DOES make it stale. It’s better to grind your own if you can.
Grind your coffee. I fill the grinder lid halfway full, but you’ll get used to how much with practice. You could, gasp, read the manual.
After you have some coffee.
Get fresh water, fill the reservoir, put the grounds in the filter, and PUT THE BOT ON THE PURNER. Don’t forget that part. Leave the pot off and you get a mess. Ask me how I know this.
~shudder~
Don’t ask.
As it’s brewing, and I highly suggest you get an interruptable brew pot, get some Valrhona cocoa. If I’d meant some other kind of cocoa, I’d’ve said some other kind of cocoa. Valrhona is the best.
Get some Raz al Hanout. Sprinkle into your cup.
Get some good, high quality, dark honey. I like Polish pine honey, but there are many many MANY to choose from so go nuts and try different ones. Put about a teaspoon in the mug.
Pour coffee. (Now you see why I told you to get an interruptable pour pot, yes?)
There. That’s better, isn’t it? For one thing, now you can spell.
Coffee. It is necessary.
For some other scrumptious recipes for Tasty Tuesday, visit my buds. Selena’s got something toothsome (I swear, that woman could cook pocket lint and make it to die for) and Nancy shares her special shortbread. ~watering mouth~ Who wants to stage a raid and steal these two ladies? We need something to go with our coffee, after all. And mulled wine! LOFF! ~gets map~
Mulled Wine, by PG Forte
My Grandmother’s Shortbreads, by Nancy Lauzon
Pouding Chomeur by Selena Robins
As we approach the holidays, I wanted to share an excellent basic recipe for cookies that anyone who has made simple drop cookies (like chocolate-chip cookies) can make without much fuss. It does, however, require a cookie cutter; I invite you over to my post at the Torquere Press today for my post, “Christmas Cookies – A Cautionary Tale.”
Here, without further ado, is the recipe:
1/2 C butter (anyone that tells you to use margarine in cookies should be shot) (just sayin’)
1 C sugar
1 egg
1/4 C milk
1/2 t vanilla (do NOT use “Vanillin.” This is an artificial flavor. Buy real vanilla. You’ll thank me.)
2 1/4 C flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground mace or cake spice
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the world’s best cake spice is from The Spice House. Check it out. You won’t be sorry.
Directions
Yield: about 4.5 dozen.
Nancy Lauzon brings us Headless Chicken Soup!
Selena Robins whips up a Fun Fabulous Focaccia Feast!
Yes, I know. Tauruses and food go together like cats and catnip. Would I disappoint? Would I stay up too late and forget to post a recipe for my faithful readers?
Moving right along, then, to share with you my other compatriots’ offerings, who did not stay up too late, who did not forget to type or post, and who are lovely human beings galloping into the void of fast food to bring us real food and real conversation!
Without further ado, then, I bring you… TASTY TUESDAY!
PG Forte rings in the season right with “Pumpkin Martini.” Say, YUM!
Nancy Lauzon brings us something as American as Apple Pie. Or… “Spaghetti Pie.” (Which is extra fun since she’s from Canada. I just adopted her as an honorary countrywoman. Or she adopted me. Or we adopted each other. There was an adoption going on.)
Selena Robins wonders, “So, How Does One Eat a Taco?“
Please stop by and peruse these wonderful choices and be sure to tell ’em, the Tauruses sent ya!
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| Photo from The Ultimate Guide to the Largest Cats on Earth |
TIGER TIGER is coming from Samhain Publishing in July, 2013. We’ve signed the contract and will start edits in January, after the holidays. We decided to share a bit about the process for those of you who are curious.
First, a short blurb: TIGER TIGER is the second in the Chicagoland Shifters series, which started with BURNING BRIGHT. brings us back to the world of animal empath and veterinary surgeon, Doctor Sasha Soskoff. Sasha has found a sense of belonging with Neal Harrison and his small band of Siberian tiger shifters. When a mangled body is found, clearly the victim of a tiger mauling, they must find the rogue tiger before it destroys everything they’ve built and causes a war between the tiger shifters and the jaguar shifters.
Since we’ve already worked with our acquiring editor at Samhain, the submission process involved sending the manuscript directly to her. It still required a synopsis and blurb, like a normal synopsis “over the transom”, but had a little less pressure since we knew she knew it was coming. That didn’t mean she’d accept it, just that she knew to look for it and review it when it came.
The submission process can be scary for any writer, but it’s not the mystery some make it out to be. Publishing is a business, not an art, and the acceptance of a new manuscript isn’t just about whether the editor likes the piece or believes in it. It also involves what other manuscripts the publisher has already accepted, what similarities it has to pieces already in the publisher’s catalog, and the upcoming releases that are scheduled.
Now that we have the contract in place, it’s a matter of starting the editing process. It takes an average of nine months from acceptance to publication and we will start our edits in January. There are two rounds of content edits where we will work with our editor to fine-tune the story and tweak or change elements as she believes it necessary. Once that’s done and everything is as ready as we can make it, it will go to a final read-through with a beta reader. They will look at it from the point of view of a potential customer and see if there are any plot holes or continuity errors that need to be fixed. This is also an opportunity for final line edits. The final step is to review the galleys, which is the final chance to see if there are any minor grammar or spelling errors.
In the middle of this process, the cover art will be given to the author. We get a chance to submit ideas of what we would like it to be, and then the art department does their magic with it. This is also the time to do the marketing paperwork, which includes the blurb. The blurb, or the material that goes on the back cover of the book, is critical to the success of the book. Once we draft our blurb, the Blurb Magicians do their work and it comes out as a finished product.
In the meantime, we’re working on NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month, every year in November, involves writing 50,000 words or more on a draft of a novel. This year, we decided to write the rest of EMERALD KEEP, our sequel to EMERALD FIRE. Of course, what came out of the keyboard is totally different and is a new novel, a science fiction war thriller with a working title of “In the Lane.” It’s been loads of fun and is totally different from anything we’ve done before.
Are you working on NaNo? How is the experience for you? Tell us in the comments. We’d love to know!
Resources
Photo from “Siberian Tigers,” by Alex and Gregory.com, the Ultimate Guide to the Largest Cats on Earth, website URL http://www.alexandgregory.com/siberian_tigers.html Accessed 11/18/2012
I know, I know, what’s a Taurus without food? Sadly, she is me, again this week. My pals do not disappoint, and have cooked up some come-hither comestibles to please even the most discerning of palates. Please stop by and give them some love. Tell ’em the Tauruses sent you!
Pumpkin Spice Cake (yum!!!) by Pg Forte
Pizzeria by Nancy Lauzon
Honey, I Shrunk the Dinner (Love the title) by Selena Robins
Join Noony today as she has two posts on team blogs. Happy reading!
The first is a post at LGBT Fantasy Fans and Writers. Our theme this month is “Where We Come From: the Influence of Our History, Either Immediate or Long-Gone”, and I share a personal take on the idea of history. Our own stories influence the people we are today.
The second is a conversation with the lovely and talented Kimberley Troutte in an interview at the Writer’s Retreat. Kimberley recently finaled not once, not twice, but THREE times in writing contests and I wanted to see what made her compete. Come on by and check it out!
Tell ’em the Tauruses sent you.
I know, I know, Tauruses love food.
They also love sleep, ergo this is aTaurusless Tasty Tuesday – but my compatriots do not disappoint! Check out these awesome entries (and I love the Mars Bars idea, I totally have to try that).
Red Flannel FTW by Pg Forte
Lentil and Sausage Soup by Moira Keith
Men are from Mars Bars by Nancy Lauzon
Dinner a La Leftovers by Selena Robins
“Taking a Chance” is available for purchase on Torquere Books and Rainbow Ebooks today!
“Taking a Chance,” by A. Catherine Noon and Rachel Wilder
Doctor Jacob Davison has outgrown the hookups of his younger days and wants to settle down. When he’s abandoned by the side of the road, a leather-clad stranger stops and offers him a ride. Chance Renton is different from anyone Jay’s ever met. He’s caring and helpful, yet cynical and world-weary.
From the first moment of their shared motorcycle ride, an attraction begins to simmer between them. Between Jay’s ex-boyfriend showing up and the misconceptions they have about each other, does this relationship have a chance?