My Weekend Inspiration

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“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”

—Lucille Ball

Happy Valentine’s Day!

If you follow me on Goodreads you know that I’ve had a few books on my “Currently Reading” shelf for more than a year. Two of them are The Artist’s Way Every Day and Simple Abundance I started both of these “daybooks” last year and stopped reading when life changed dramatically: Lily switched schools, I started my MFA program, and I really got serious about publishing Stealing the Ruby Slippers.   

Last year I was trying to be really strict about reading them. It was something for my To-Do list and if I missed a few days I made myself go back and get caught up, entirely defeating the purpose of short bursts of inspiration.

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This year, I’m doing things differently, and I’m loving it.

I’m missing days.

I’m purposefully skipping days.

I’m stopping in the middle of reading to journal or create.

And it’s WONDERFUL.

Yesterday, this Lucille Ball quote stood out to me in Simple Abundance, so I sat down and made myself a Valentine.

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Lily loves Valentine’s Day (hearts, pink, it’s her thing) and it’s the anniversary of the first “real” date Chris and I went on. I have plans for special things for the kids and special things for Chris today. So, it was perfect, yesterday, to be reminded to do something special for myself too.

Selflessness has been put on a pedestal as the highest virtue, while narcissism is condemned. Often, the verse where Jesus says to “Love your neighbor as yourself” is quoted as a reminder to put other people first. Here’s the thing, though. We’re forgetting the last part of what he said. “As yourself.” Which means that it’s okay to love yourself. In fact, YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO SHOW LOVE TO YOURSELF BEFORE YOU CAN SHOW LOVE TO SOMEONE ELSE. Like the airlines say, “In the event of a loss of cabin pressure, an oxygen mask will automatically appear in front of you.Place it firmly over your nose and mouth, secure the elastic band behind your head, and breathe normally. If you see someone who requires assistance, secure your mask on first, and then assist the other person.”

Because we’ll all pass out if we’re so busy trying to put a mask on someone else we can’t breathe ourselves.

Thursday Recipe: Avgolemono Soup

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Avgolemono soup, also known as “That greek lemon chicken soup that I can’t pronounce the name of” is seriously one of my favorite foods of all time.

I don’t remember when I first tried it, but I now go to the really overpriced Greek restaurant in Uptown just to get a $6 cereal bowl of its goodness.

Which is silly because (with this version) it’s seriously one of the easiest recipes in the world.

The traditional recipe takes dedication. Considering I keep a stock of frozen chickens in my freezer and never, ever remember to get one out ahead of when I want to use it, the three-and-a-half hours quoted here turns into four or five. And you really have to watch it. You can’t come back two hours later and try to skim. It doesn’t work. However, there is an easier way.

Remember those chickens I keep in my freezer? I usually throw them in the crockpot in the morning and then pick the chicken off the bone in the afternoon/evening for whatever recipe I needed the meat for. I then return the chicken bones and skin to the crockpot with whatever carrot, celery and onion discards I have laying around (is there any chicken recipe that doesn’t also call for these things?) fill the crock pot up with water and let it cook on low overnight. In the morning I strain it and bottle the broth in old apple juice jars. Viola. Free chicken broth.

But you don’t have to make your own chicken broth to make this soup. It’s just fun to say you did.

Ingredients

  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup brown rice (white works just as well, I just prefer brown all the time.)
  • 1 cup cooked, shredded chicken (remember that one that was in the crockpot? This is like one breast from it.)
  • 6 eggs
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice

How-to

  • In a medium sauce pan, bring the broth to a boil.
  • Add rice and chicken. Simmer for 30 min or until rice is tender.
  • Meanwhile, whisk eggs and lemon juice together in a large mixing bowl.
  • When the rice is done, remove pan from heat.
  • Using an electric beater on medium, mix in the hot broth mix one cup at a time. (Seriously. If you add too much, the eggs will cook and curdle. It’s not dangerous and doesn’t taste too bad, but it looks awful.)
  • When it’s fully incorporated, you’ll have a cloudy-white, creamy, dreamy soup.

 

Book of the Week: Carry On Warrior

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Book of the Week for February 9 – February 15

Carry On, Warrior

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Why it’s interesting:

Oh my goodness. This book. If I could, I would buy it for EVERY WOMAN I KNOW. Especially those with small children. Especially those that are Christian, and immersed in Christian subculture. I have not struggled with the things Glennon struggled with. I don’t know what it’s like to get wasted, get arrested, or wake up and realize I’m pregnant and an addict. But here’s the thing: the way Glennon writes—I relate with almost everything she says. As a mother of small children, as a woman trying to figure out how to be a wife, as a writer trying to figure out how to get the right words on the page, as a Christian who is often straight-up angry at the church and the way *we* treat people.

I heard Glennon speak at the Storyline Conference and, honestly, didn’t relate a whole lot to what she was saying, at least not for my own life. I did immediately know I needed to send this to one of my friends, though, and I did, from the handy dandy cell phone in my hand. But then I started reading her blog and decided to use one of my audible credits to get the book for myself. I listened to it mostly while walking the dog and more than once came running in the house, straight to my computer, to see if I could find the blog post that had become the essay in the book (the book is based off her blog, but it’s not verbatim) then shouted for my husband.

I have a bunch of favorite quotes, but I’m going to hold off sharing. I want to know if you read it, or her blog, what do you think?

The blurb:

Glennon Doyle Melton’s hilarious and poignant reflections on our universal (yet often secret) experiences have inspired a social movement by reminding women that they’re not alone. In Carry On, Warrior, she shares her personal story in moving, refreshing, and laugh-out-loud-funny new essays and some of the best-loved material from Momastery.com. Her writing invites us to believe in ourselves, to be brave and kind, to let go of the idea of perfection, and to stop making motherhood, marriage, and friendship harder by pretending they’re not hard. In this one woman’s trying to love herself and others, readers will find a wise and witty friend who shows that we can build better lives in our hearts, homes, and communities.

If you like this, you might also like:

Momastery

 

This is Glennon’s blog. And rather than try to find a comparable book, I’m just going to point you there. Your welcome.

Back in business!

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Happy Monday!

One of my goals for last year was to revive my jewelry business. I really enjoy making, but I haven’t been great at the marketing (hmmm…problem in other areas of life too???) I’m afraid to put myself out there.

There is this super cute boutique down the street from my house and when we first moved here I thought it would be so cool if I could sell my jewelry there. But I was afraid to ask. But after being in there last fall, I decided to just do it. I sent a Facebook message and…was rejected.

Sort of.

The store was already stocked for the holidays, but she asked me to check back in the new year.

Rather than discourage me, it kind of re-ignited my desire and I started looking for shows. I did one (on the same day as Deer Hunting Opener, which is also known as Minnesota Craft Day…either you’re hunting or your going to/participating in craft shows the first Saturday in November in this state) and did better than my last two shows combined. Then, at the end of January, I sent a message to the store again and this time they had room.

I dropped my stuff off about a week and a half ago now.

And that really got me going. My etsy store is finally back up, as is my Jewelry page on this site, and I’ve contacted 6 other stores. I’ve heard back from one—they’ll have space in the spring. And, most exciting, I’m creating new designs again.

I have to sit down sometime this month and do some strategizing/goal setting for this side of my business in the coming year. I’m excited to dive back into it again. It’s one of those things that you don’t realize how much you missed until you actually start again.

Check out the etsy store (I’m adding listings daily right now) and let me know what you like, what you hate, and what you want to see in the comments here.

Book of the Week: An Untamed State

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Book of the Week for February 3 – February 9

An Untamed State

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Why it’s interesting:

Told in alternating perspectives from a woman who has been kidnapped by Haitian rebels and her father and husband working (or not) to free her, this is not a story of good triumphing over evil or a person digging deep within herself to fight the bad guys. It is raw and, often, incredibly hard to read. Which makes it impossible to put down.

The blurb:

Roxane Gay is a powerful new literary voice whose short stories and essays have already earned her an enthusiastic audience. In An Untamed State, she delivers an assured debut about a woman kidnapped for ransom, her captivity as her father refuses to pay and her husband fights for her release over thirteen days, and her struggle to come to terms with the ordeal in its aftermath.

Mireille Duval Jameson is living a fairy tale. The strong-willed youngest daughter of one of Haiti’s richest sons, she has an adoring husband, a precocious infant son, by all appearances a perfect life. The fairy tale ends one day when Mireille is kidnapped in broad daylight by a gang of heavily armed men, in front of her father’s Port au Prince estate. Held captive by a man who calls himself The Commander, Mireille waits for her father to pay her ransom. As it becomes clear her father intends to resist the kidnappers, Mireille must endure the torments of a man who resents everything she represents.

An Untamed State is a novel of privilege in the face of crushing poverty, and of the lawless anger that corrupt governments produce. It is the story of a willful woman attempting to find her way back to the person she once was, and of how redemption is found in the most unexpected of places. An Untamed State establishes Roxane Gay as a writer of prodigious, arresting talent.

If you like this, you might also like:

The Fever

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A Book of the Week pick back in November, The Fever has that same “real” feeling that An Untamed State does. And, of course, incredibly writing.

Month in Review- January

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Are you on my email list? If not, you should be. So go sign up. Or, go to NoiseTrade and download one of my books and get on it that way. Either way. Sign up. Love me. (Also, I only send you one or two emails a month, and I don’t recycle blog posts, so it’s totally worth the tiny amount of your time and makes me feel warm and fuzzy. And like you love me.) Anyway, in my January newsletter I reviewed 2014 accomplishments and 2015 dreams. One thing I’m really making an effort to do (and, two months in, so far, so good!) is to revisit and review my dreams each month to make sure I’m still on track. So…here’s where I’m at:

Dream

Progress as of 1/31/15
Publish another book Book has gone through beta readers, is with one last reviewer, and I’m looking for final editor and cover designer.
“Do” two short stories a month (one drafted, one completed) 2 stories went through reading group, although, full disclosure, both were written earlier and I haven’t done any new shorts at all.
Publish at least four short stories see above
Draft two more novels I finished the first draft of Clouded and started (thinking about) the outline for another.
Read at least 96 books I read 8!
Complete 12 new paintings One done, one started, theme established.
Get Spiraling Forward Jewelry into 3-5 boutiques You can now buy Spiraling Forward at Doodle Bird!
Have/be in an art show No progress other than painting
15-20 gym visits/month 14 🙁
4+ yoga/Pilates classes/month 4! Plus I took Chris!
One vegetarian day/week Didn’t do it.
Speak at 2 conferences 1 Scheduled.
Continue to reduce clutter This goal is not written in a measurable way, but I’d say it’s going well.
1 artist date Sort of did but sort of didn’t.
Attend 2 book/writing events Went to 2, but one was already over.
1 real date with hubby More than 1!
1 art event Doubled w/ artist date

I also made some changes to the planner pages, if you want, you can grab a new set here.

How was your January? Are you still working on goals?

All the posts that I didn’t post this week

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Hey guys! How’s it going? Wasn’t I doing so awesome on my blog schedule up until this week?

Yeah, I know.

But, I have a good excuse. I finished the umpteeth first draft of Clouded…at a pace of 5,000+ words a day. I had nothing left in my brain. Plus, I would have probably blogged in the voice of my main character (although that could have been interesting!)

I will be back next week with a recipe and book to share. Today, though, I’ll leave you with this…

Weekend Inspiration

(I need to pick a name for this series and stick to it.)

Have you heard of Highbrow yet?

“It’s your personal knowledge hacking tool. Highbrow expands your mind in just five minutes a day via bite-sized courses delivered to your email inbox every morning. It’s never been so easy to broaden a mind. Use the link below to sign up and learn more. Link to website: http://gohighbrow.com/”

(I don’t get any sort of kickback from this, btw, it’s just awesome.) I’ve done Ted-Ed for Writers and am now going through the Most Famous Works of Art course. They’ve got everything—these are the categories:

Weekend Resource & Book Review

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Weekend Resource: The Book Designer

My weekend resource this week may be a little niche, but I feel like its often got information that can be used beyond just the publishing world, like general design information that can be used for all kinds of marketing. But the site really does focus on self and indie publishing, and it’s full of great information for writers at all levels. So, pursue the site, take a look at all the free resources, and start to look at every book cover and interior with a designer’s eye.

Book Review:

3 out of 5 Stars

The people over at TheBookDesigner were kind enough to give me a copy of the new book Joel wrote along with Betty Kelly Sargent, The Self-Publisher’s Ultimate Resource Guide: Every Indie Author’s Essential Directory-To Help You Prepare, Publish, and Promote Professional Looking Books.

This book is exactly what it says it is: a list of everything you should need to get your book polished, published and promoted. It’s broken in three sections: Prepare, Publish and Promote. In the Prepare section you’ll find listings for the people that will help you polish your work, like editors and designers, in addition to resources to make you a better writer, like professional associations and books to read. Publishing covers exactly what you would think it would: printers and distributers. Besides web designers and social media experts, the promotion section also includes contests, resources like blogs that will review your book, and sites that will let you list it.

Overall, I gave this book three of five stars for two reasons:

1) Everything in here can be found online with a Google search and, inevitably, the material in here was outdated the moment it was taken off-line and put in a static format. That said, THIS WILL SAVE YOU A TON OF TIME. You could spend hours or days researching this stuff on your own. Having it all here is awesome. At the beginning they ask for updated information to be submitted, so I’m curious how that will be communicated to people who have purchased the book, or if this will be like the Writer’s Digest Market Books that you need to re-buy every year (or buy a subscription to the website) to have up-to-date information.

2) I wanted there to be a lot more information about each of the categories listed. When I published my first book, I didn’t realize I needed separate content and copy editors. Based on my work with NoiseTrade, I know a lot of self-published authors don’t really understand the different ebook formats, or the difference between a print-on-demand publisher and a vanity press. Again, all this can be found online, but if you’re going to look it up, you might as well be looking up the services too.

I’ve had a really hard time deciding whether I’d recommend people purchase this book or not, and this is what I’ve decided: if you are fairly experienced in self-publishing, this will save you time and is totally worth the eight bucks. You know what you need, and this will give you a nice, quick way to find it. If you’re new to self-publishing, you really need to be spending the time researching all this stuff yourself. It’ll save you A LOT of money in the long run, even if it eats up your nights and weekends. Then come back in two or three years and buy the current version.

**Review copy was provided to me at no cost by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

Recipe of the week: The Special

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This was one of the first recipes I ever made up all by myself. It was based off a pasta with vodka sauce recipe that I found somewhere, and a dish that one of our friends in Nashville made us for dinner once (I’ve never gotten my chicken to taste as good as Emily’s did, though.)

  • 4-4 oz Boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
  • 1/8 tsp Salt
  • 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 small Onion, minced
  • 1 Garlic Clove, minced
  • 1 1/2 cups fat-free, low-sodium Chicken Broth
  • 2-7 oz jars Sun Dried Tomatoes in olive oil
  • 4 cups Fresh Spinach, chopped or shredded
  • 1T Basil
  • 4 Cups Penne Pasta
  • 1/4 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese
  • 1/4 Cup crumbled Feta Cheese
  1. Cook pasta according to box directions. Meanwhile…
  2. Cut chicken in 1-inch pieces, sprinkle with salt and pepper
  3. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, onion and garlic.
  4. Sauté 5-minutes, stirring frequently.
  5. Drain most of the oil from the tomatoes but do not rinse them.
  6. Stir broth and tomatoes into skillet.
  7. Bring to boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
  8. Add 2 cups of spinach, cook 2 minutes or until wilted.
  9. Divide remaining spinach among 4 plates.
  10. Serve pasta over spinach, topped with chicken.
  11. Sprinkle with Parmesan and Feta cheese.

Book of the Week: Help, Thanks, Wow

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Book of the Week for January 18 -January 24

Help, Thanks, Wow

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Why it’s interesting:

Anne has always been refreshingly honest about her faith, even when that honesty is about the lack-thereof. In this book, she points out the obvious that so many of fail to see: there are only three necessary prayers: “Help”, “Thanks”, “Wow.” And, really, that is what it all comes down to, isn’t it? Written in her amazingly honest and blunt voice (which I LOVE) this is a quick and totally worth-it read.

The blurb:

New York Times-bestselling author Anne Lamott writes about the three simple prayers essential to coming through tough times, difficult days and the hardships of daily life.

Readers of all ages have followed and cherished Anne Lamott’s funny and perceptive writing about her own faith through decades of trial and error. And in her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow, she has coalesced everything she knows about prayer to these fundamentals.

It is these three prayers – asking for assistance from a higher power, appreciating what we have that is good, and feeling awe at the world around us – that can get us through the day and can show us the way forward. In Help, Thanks, Wow, Lamott recounts how she came to these insights, explains what they mean to her and how they have helped, and explores how others have embraced these same ideas.

Insightful and honest as only Anne Lamott can be, Help, Thanks, Wow is the everyday faith book that new Lamott readers will love and longtime Lamott fans will treasure.

If you like this, you might also like:

Bird by Bird

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Bird by Bird is one of those books that “all writers should read” but I really think it’s a book that anyone who is alive can get something out of. Because, yes, writers need to be reminded it’s okay to do shitty first drafts, but isn’t a lot of life like that? We know what we want to accomplish, we try and it sucks, but we can tweak it. (It’s not just me, is it?)