Welcome to Sunday Poetry.  If this is your first visit you can read about the purpose and inspiration of my Sunday blogs here.

I had to smile when The Printer’s Error by Aaron Fogel showed up in my mailbox from Poetry 180 this week.  How can any novelist not love this one, particularly a novelist who just returned from a conference that focused on epubbing–which involves no printers at all?  Right now, as I’m completing a manuscript to send to my editor, the poem particularly strikes a chord. 

The Printer’s Error also reminds me that this week I received an email from a reader pointing out an error in The Parting Glass, the second of my Whiskey Island duo.  Somehow (chance, protest, God?) the Cleveland Browns football team is noted in the novel as wearing orange and black uniforms.  I lived there for twelve years, and the team is, after all, called the BROWNS.   So how did this happen?  After reading The Printer’s Error, I’ll mull over the reason, and all the interesting things that could come from it.

Remember there are no quizzes here, no right ways to read or contemplate the poem we share.  Absolutely no dissecting allowed.  Just come along for the “read.”  What line, word or thought will you carry with you this week?  If you’d like to tell us where the poem took you?  We’ll listen.

Last week’s Novelists Inc. conference was fabulous. I came home with so much information, but unfortunately no suntan to go with it.  I was inside the hotel at workshops madly scribbling notes almost the entire time.  When I wasn’t, I was investigating Sarasota with friends, which might well turn out to be our Florida home someday.  The photo is my husband and I at the amazing Ringling Museum.  We only saw the outside, but inside beckons for the next trip.

So what did I learn?   And what might you find surprising?  Some teasers:

1. Tweet (which I do) between 1 and 20 (!) times a day (which I don’t.)
2. YouTube is my friend and a video a week is not too much.  (Not too much for whom?)
3. Join Linked-In (so people I don’t know can connect for reasons I don’t yet understand.)
4. Consider tweeting for a character.  (Can you imagine what Wanda might say?)
5. “Publishers are the bouncers at the pearly gates.” (Mark Coker, epublisher of Smashwords, talking about traditional publishing.)
6. “Publishers purchase today what was popular yesterday to publish in 18 months.”  (Mark again.)
7. “Amazon is eating publishers for lunch.”  (See 5 and 6)
8. Amazon sells 105 ebooks for every 100 print books. 
9. Ebook pluses: changeable fonts, portable, compact, convenient sampling and purchasing. (Plus ereaders are getting cheaper.)
10. Nothing you can do to promote yourself will help unless you write a good book.

It was fun to learn new ways to  find readers and keep my faithful ones happy, too, but everyone there agreed that the last item, writing a good book, has to be the most important.   The trick in coming years, when writers will take more and more of publishing into their own hands, will be to make certain that good books rise, like cream, to the top of the bookselling world.

And speaking of that?  Back to One Mountain Away!

My hometown, Gulfport, Florida, has a wonderful Cuban restaurant, Habana Cafe.  Last year when I attended the Novelist’s Inc. conference on St. Pete Beach, a group of us visited the restaurant for a delicious, reasonably priced dinner.  I ordered the lechon asada, which is a fabulously roasted pork topped with grilled onions.   I was hooked.

I was sad to miss Habana this weekend when I attended NINC’s 2011 conference, but instead, friends took us to the historic Columbia restaurant at St. Armand’s Circle in Sarasota, where we ate Cuban food on the covered patio.  Life is good.

When I plotted Sunset Bridge, my July 2011 novel, I gave Maggie, a new character for the series, a former lover who was a Cuban-American cop, and of course, a wonderful cook.  I had a hidden agenda.  I was then required to learn everything about Cuban cooking, not an onerous task. 

My first stop was the Internet, where I happened on Three Guys From Miami, a smile-inducing website with all things Cuban, including sample recipes from two bestselling cookbooks.  Of course if Felo was cooking Cuban, I had to do the same.  I settled on frijoles negros (black beans) and went shopping.  The beans were beyond delicious–although be sure to use 6 cups of water, not 9, unless you want soup. 

The Three Guys recipe is now our go-to.  I can’t recommend it highly enough.  We eat these black beans with rice, and although tortillas are not part of Cuban cuisine, we eat them with tortillas, too.   The beans also freeze beautifully.  Last night we had them with roasted vegetables, and the sweet potato in the veggies combined so well with the flavor of the beans, we know we’ve hit on something we’ll look forward to in the future, too.

Visit Three Guys for Cuban culture and cooking.

In the spirit of Cookbook Hoarders United, after discovering one fabulous Cuban recipe, I needed more.  Memories of a Cuban Kitchen was recommended to me by my doctor, a Cuban-American who cooks.  He promised I’d love it, and honestly, talking about food instead of my reason for being in his examining room, was SO much more fun I put it right on my list.  I have my eye on a chicken dish, and I’ll report back.

Remember, you still have a week to try a new recipe and enter October’s giveaway.   Try something new, tell us about it, and enter for a chance to win an autographed novel and a silly kitchen gadget (Mr. Potato Peeler.)  Also this month, try something new from an Internet recipe site.  That counts, too.

What’s your favorite ethnic dish?  Afraid it’s beyond your skills?  Come on, choose something simple, give a new recipe a try, and tell us all about it.  Our mouths are watering.

Welcome to Sunday Poetry.  If this is your first visit you can read about the purpose and inspiration of my Sunday blogs here.

At a time when jobs, professions and class warfare are very much in the headlines all over the world, and Occupied DC is only fifteen minutes from my front door, Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper seemed particularly appropriate.  I found the story Martin Espada told here both moving and provocative.  I hope you will, as well. So few words and such a powerful statement. 

Remember there are no quizzes here, no right ways to read or contemplate the poem we share.  No dissecting allowed.  Just come along for the “read,” and enjoy the experience.    What line, word or thought will you carry with you this week?  If you’d like to tell us where the poem took you?  We’ll listen.

I’m at the Novelist’s Inc. conference on St. Pete Beach this week, with old friends and new.  I attended last year and learned more in a day than I’ve learned in all the previous conferences I’d ever attended.  So back I went.

Ever wonder what writer’s talk about when we’re together? (And I don’t mean over umbrella drinks at the bar.)  Here are some of the titles of our workshops.

The Empowered Author: Publishing Math in an Age of Content Abundance.

Transmedia Storytelling.

Copyright 101

Writing in Multiple Genres: Craft and Strategy.

Since NINC requires two published novels before joining,we’ve left behind topics like “how to write a synopsis” and “building better characters” and moved on to the business of writing.  And, of course, ebooks and self-publishing will be discussed until we can’t squeeze another ounce of information out of our speakers and our friends.

I’ll be back next Friday, hopefully with great new things to tell you.  Meantime, don’t be surprised if I return with a suntan.

I don’t know about you, but in addition to a LOT of cookbooks, I also have a LOT of links to cooking blogs and recipe sites.  This month, in hopes that you do, too, if you make a new recipe from an online site, you can comment here or on any Cookbook Hoarders United blog from the past, tell us what you made, where you found it (the link would be great) and how you liked it.  Then you’ll be entered in this month’s CHU giveaway. 

As usual you can also use a recipe from a cookbook you haven’t opened in ages, or a new one you haven’t opened at all.  And don’t forget Mr. Potato Peeler is this month’s silly kitchen utensil for the giveaway.

Tonight for dinner, I plan to try a brand new dish.  Last week I happened by the Thai section at my grocery store and found Thai Kitchen’s “Stir Fry Rice Noodles.”  I’m a sucker for rice noodles.  They went right into my cart.  At home I looked up the company online and found lots of good recipes for them. including one for Thai Sesame Noodles.   We love sesame and this looked yummy.  When asparagus jumped into my cart the next time I shopped, I knew I was in business.  I can’t imagine this won’t be delicious.

Company websites are treasure troves of recipes.  If you like to bake, King Arthur Flour has wonderful recipes and so does Bob’s Red Mill.  Boboli Pizza has innovative ways to use their pizza shells that also work well if you make your own dough.  Hershey’s will feed your sweet tooth.

Recipe collection sites are great, as well.  Allrecipes features recipes from ordinary cooks, and the reviews will tell you if the ones you’re interested in really work.  I love to read who did what, why and how they did it.  You can save your choices in your very own recipe box.  Mine is so full that if everyone reading this made one of those recipes a week, in a decade we’d be finished–and on Weight Watchers together. 

Epicurious is similar, except that the professional recipes have been previously published in magazines like Bon Appetit, Gourmet, and Self.  Again you have your own personal recipe box and lots of reviews to read.

My very favorites, though, are recipe blogs.  I love the stories that go with the food.  There are so many that I hesitate to play favorites.  But just to get you started, here are a few I particularly enjoy.

The Perfect Pantry features recipes using 250 ingredients of everyday cooking.  Lydia Walshin writes about and photographs recipes made from her own pantry, and sometimes she’ll give us a tour of other people’s pantries, too.  Lydia, honey, stay out of mine!  Unfortunately it resembles my desk, disorganized and badly in need of  sorting.

Simply Recipes publishes recipes that the founder Elise Bauer, tests with the help of family and friends.  I like this one because of the casual, friendly style, and the uncomplicated recipes.  Like The Perfect Pantry, Elise’s recipes are user-friendly with ingredients you probably already have. 

Once Upon A Chef is another “simple recipe” blog.  Although new recipes are added slowly, they always sound promising.  Plus there are often giveaways.  In late September Jennifer, a former professional chef, gave away muffin tins, a cooling rack, and lots more goodies to go along with a recipe for doughnut muffins.  What’s not to like about that?

Baked Perfection was brand new to me until I went looking for a recipe for “Wanda’s Wonderful” Elvis Surprise pie, which is featured in Fortunate Harbor.  I thought I’d find something I could tweak, but when I found this one, I knew it was the real thing.  Risa (who turns out to live not too far from me) was happy to let me use the recipe on my new Facebook Welcome Page as a bonus for anyone who “likes” me.  (I feel so Sally Field every time I say that.)  The Elvis Surprise–known on her site as Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Pie–is a great treat for anyone brave enough to make it.  And wow, all those other fabulous desserts to try.

What are some of your favorite food sites?  Aren’t  you in the mood to try a new recipe this month?  Fall’s in the air and the eating’s good.  Start your ovens.

Welcome to Sunday Poetry.  If this is your first visit you can read about the purpose and inspiration of my Sunday blogs here.

Today’s poem, Song for Autumn by Mary Oliver seems perfect for mid-October, when the anticipation of winter is always with us, even on days when summer seems to be asserting itself, although briefly.

The leaves in our neighborhood are beginning to turn.  I describe them in detail to my husband, who is color blind, and he tells me what he sees and doesn’t.  It’s a different view of the same thing, much like the way each of us looks at national events as another presidential election rounds the corner. 

I am ambivalent about autumn, having grown up in Florida, then lived many years in colder climes when autumn made me fear what was to come.

What does autumn mean to you?  If you’ve celebrated a marriage or birth or lost a loved one this season, perhaps it brings back that memory.  Perhaps you look forward to quieter months when leaving home isn’t worth the trouble and a warm fire beckons you to stay?  Does your firewood shift a little, longing to be on its way?  Do you?

Remember there are no quizzes here, no right ways to read or contemplate the poem we share.  Just come along for the “read,” and enjoy the experience.    What line, word or thought will you carry along with you this week?  And if you’d like to tell us where the poem took you?  We’ll listen.

I have a problem.  I hate to throw out books.  You may think this is a non-issue, since it’s easy enough to donate them to church or library sales, throw them on a card table at a garage sale, give them to friends.  But the truth is, I have books most people I know can’t read. 

I have books in Italian, like this truly gorgeous version of Fortunate Harbor.

I have books in Lithuanian (that took me quite a while to figure out) like the lovely version of Endless Chain below right.  And, most startling of all, I have Fox River in Swedish, a two-for-one bargain with Nora Roberts–let’s face it, that can’t hurt sales, right?  In fact I received an entire box of the Swedish Fox River.  Nora and me, sitting in the middle of my study, just waiting to be pitched into my recycling bin.

Only I just can’t quite do it.

Oddly enough this summer I received a small box of my Swedish books at my summer address.  No sooner had I gotten the courage to toss them than I met a woman who was (you can’t make this stuff up) an organizer of a Scandinavian Folk Festival in Jamestown, NY and badly needed door prizes.  How this came up in conversation, I can’t remember, but she was one step ahead of garbage pickup.

So maybe someone will tell me they need a novel to help practice their Italian.  Or quite possibly a Lithuanian family will move into my neighborhood and I’ll have a built-in welcome gift.  Heck, maybe I’ll just drag that entire box of Fox River back to NY for next year’s Scandinavian Festival, where the books will be richly appreciated.

Meantime, while I’m waiting for another miracle, don’t worry if you don’t hear from me for a while.  It’s nothing serious.  I just can’t cross the floor to get to my computer.

Just for fun, can you guess the English title of the cover on the right?  I only know which book it is because I recognize the names of the characters, which thankfully weren’t changed.  But without that clue, care to try?   The title in French is: Le temps d’un été. 

So, do you know what kind of “eater” you are?  Or have you ever even wondered.  Maybe you grew up with fried-green tomatoes, ham biscuits and red eye gravy.  Maybe you grew up with brown rice, tofu and bean sprouts.  Or maybe your family was eclectic and ate a little of this and a little of that.  Chances are, though, that there were only two real categories.  Vegetarian or ‘real food.”  The rest was immaterial.  And if you were a vegetarian, you’d better plan to eat a lot of macaroni and cheese, because wherever you went, that was the dish people made for you.

These days categories have expanded greatly.  We have “pescatarians” who are vegetarians who also eat fish. ”Lacto-ovo” vegetarians who eat no flesh but do eat eggs and dairy products.  We have “vegans” who eat nothing associated with animals, including gelatin (remember Janya’s reaction to the gelatin in Wanda’s grapefruit pie?)  “Raw food vegans” who eat–no surprise here–only raw food. And the newest addition and my personal favorite “flexitarian,” which allows any foods but heavily emphasizes vegetables. 

I’ll confess I’m not, like Aggie and Ed in my mystery series, a vegetarian.  I’m a flexitarian.  And what a relief to finally have a word to describe my eating habits.  I rarely cook red meat.  The closest I’ve come this year was a chuck roast I divided into small pieces for soup stock.  We occasionally buy an organic chicken and use it sparingly, broth, taco filling, stir fry, pizza.  Turkey sausage makes its way into jambalaya and gumbo, and we eat lots of seafood along with at least twice as many vegetables as we once did.  I order whatever sounds good when we go out, but more and more find that beef and pork’s not high on my list, and I always avoid veal and lamb.

We slipped into eating this way when we began to look for healthy recipes.  As we became more and more interested in vegetarian alternatives, I began to look for cookbooks.  When I saw The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen was highly recommended, I asked for it for my birthday.  Then it sat.  Sound familiar?  That’s the CHU motto.  Buy a new cookbook to decorate your bookshelf.

This week I decided to pull out MVK and try a recipe for my CHUsday blog.  First, though, I’d thought about making my favorite Turkish red lentil soup from The Sultan’s Kitchen, but I only had green lentils, so I looked for a new lentil soup to try.  And am I glad I did.  The Turkish version is fabulous, but Egyptian Lentil Soup from MVK is exceptional, too.  Different, with cumin and fennel seeds sauteed with vegetables before the lentils are added, but equally good.

I’ll confess when I realized I now owned a “vegan” cookbook, I wasn’t overly excited.  Vegan?  Didn’t that require all kinds of odd meat substitutes?  I mean, I adore tofu, but ”fake” meat doesn’t appeal to me.  The good news?  Nothing in this cookbook is fake.  Just fabulous ingredients combined in new and delicious ways.  If this recipe is in any way representative of what I have to look forward to, I can’t wait to use it again.

Do you know what kind of eater you are?  Let us know.  We’re interested.

Don’t forget, CHUers.  Make a new recipe from an old or unused cookbook OR this month, make one you’ve found online and wanted to try.  Then comment here or on any of my Cookbook Hoarders United blogs and let us know what you made and how you liked it (plus where it came from) and you’ll be eligible for this month’s giveaway.  Details here.

Welcome to Sunday Poetry.  If this is your first visit you can read about the purpose and inspiration of my Sunday blogs here.

Last week’s poem, Movies, by Billy Collins, was in honor of all the movies I seem to be watching now that the weather’s changing.  Additionally, I’m closing in on the deadline of my next book, and evenings with Netflix are a great way to put one story aside and relax with another.

Today’s poem, The Uninvited, by Lawrence Raab, references a movie by the same name from 1944 starring Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey.  I was immediately drawn to the poem since the Jewish high holy days, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, are always a poignant reminder that forgiving and letting go of mistakes and failures–mine and others–is vital to my spiritual growth.   The poem explores this and seems to ask if we’ve outgrown the need for messages that simple and precise.  (more…)