D is for Drinking

4/4/16 Scotch update - I've pretty much switched to Lagavulin. Not cheap at over $100 a bottle, but well worth the indulgence. In my opinion, drink good spirits, or don't drink at all.

4/4/15 My main characters, J. Lindsay Calhoun and Megan MacGregor are obviously of Scottish descent, so it makes sense at least one of them would be a Scotch whisky drinker. Right? Of course, the author would have to do a bit of research before choosing just the right Scotch for them, right? Right?

One would think that could be a pleasant job, save for a tiny little issue. I got horribly sick on Chivas Regal during a college night out. It took me almost 40 years to give this drink another try, and then only at the behest of my hero who simply insisted.

It turns out I have rather a fond taste for smoky liquors and the peaty single malt Scotches from Islay suited me just fine. I soon had a bottle of Laphroaig in my own cabinet. (Although yesterday I tried Ardveg and decided I might like it better.) I also decided the law firm of Calhoun and Sons would serve their clients a Highland single malt Scotch called The Dalmore. I chose it because the stag on the label is very similar to the Calhoun clan crest. I also don't like it, and neither do I like Lindsay's father, Daniel Calhoun, the head of the law firm who favors this Scotch. It gave me one more reason to villainize him.

As to the heroine, she really doesn't much care for Scotch at all, except perhaps Drambuie, an herbal variation made with heather honey, which she uses strictly for medicinal reasons. It's quite lovely in herbal tea. You should give that a try.

Do you go to such research lengths when deciding details for your own characters? I find it's half the fun of writing. What's more to say? Except perhaps Sláinte.

C is for Colorado Country and Cattle

4/3/16 We took a few more trips around the state, and I think I've found an imaginary location north of Denver that might work. We have yet to take a hike through Pawnee Buttes, and after that, I'll decide which of the landscapes most inspire the written descriptions in the novel. I'll probably combine characteristics and maybe even do some paintings to get the visuals clear in my head. Because what's the fun of creativity if you can't turn every project into a grand drama? 

4/3/15 When my protagonists were newly married, they spent their honeymoon traveling across America looking for the perfect place to build Viridian Farms, an intentional community and organic farm that would supply nearby cities with fresh locally-grown produce. Although both Lindsay and Megan had successful careers in major cities, they yearned for a different, more natural and sustainable lifestyle, and they had like-minded friends who were tired of their hectic modern lifestyles as well.

Seeking that perfect, special place to land eventually brought them full-circle back home to Colorado. I knew I would have to explore the state a bit more before settling on a location for them to call home, so I started to explore some options for the setting of this romantic mystery novel. It had to be a place that made sense for my characters who were highly-educated and fairly sophisticated people, with well-established and prosperous lifestyles. They could afford to spend a bit of money on their dreams.

It also had to be  place that provided logical conflicts with believable antagonists, and a landscape that provided not only visual beauty, but a place to hide dead bodies! Mountains nearby would be good, or at least rolling countryside with groves of trees.

So we started to explore areas of Colorado we thought might work - much of it dedicated to cattle production. I didn't realize the extent of that "production" until we headed north toward Greeley where large corporations raise and process hundreds of thousands of beef cattle yearly. (You can read more here.) On my stretch of the eastern plains, herds of cattle are spread out over thousands of acres and lead relatively peaceful and bucolic lives. Not so in this north central sector of Colorado where miles of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) like these are common.

The smell was unbearably eye-watering and throat-clenching, and this on a cold winter day! I can only imagine how toxic the environment in the heat of summer. One thing I did know about my characters without reservation - none of them would willingly move to a place like this!

So my hunt for the perfect location continues, because I believe "place" has as much presence in a novel as the characters inhabiting that setting. If I don't find something just right, I'll probably create an imaginary county and town to suit my needs. A few more tours, and I'll have enough fodder to create a great mash-up. Then I'll be ready to plant my characters in a place where they can really blossom.

And considering the ecological and social themes in my stories, I'll probably make a few prickly comments about cattle feeding operations like these, which I find to be more than a little disgusting. What about you? Please do leave me a comment.

Welcome A-Z Blogging Challenge Pals

4/1/2016 Update. It's surprising to me how quickly time flies, but how some things stay much the same. It's springtime in the Rockies, and though I don't have very many tulips in bloom, I do have the wet and heavy snow that's common this time of year. In a few days it'll be in the 70s. Of course I want to garden. This year, I'm going to try to focus on this huge property one last time. By next year, I might be living on one of the coasts with a much smaller yard. Fingers crossed.

I'm skipping Camp NaNoWriMo as I'm up to my ears in end-of-life issues with several aging family members. I need to edit, and just can't focus on it right now. Sometimes you just have to put the writing aside.

I'm not sure how much new blogging I'll do this month, but I thought it might be fun to revisit some of the old posts from previous A-Z Challenges. Hope to see you here and at the BBT Cafe over at Facebook where others are participating in this mini-challenge.

images.google.com

4/1/13 April is so full of newness to me, even when Old Man Winter hasn't quite left my backyard. I want to garden, and make things beautiful, and start all kinds of new projects!

This year, I'm joining writers at Camp NaNoWriMo to try and crank out the first draft of a mystery novel I've been moodling for quite a long time. I've worked on it in fits and starts, but I'm hoping to get down at least 50,000 words this month.

This blog is part of the social media platform for that writing project, and it's languished along with the book. But there is no better time to get a marketing platform in order, than long before a book is published. That's why I plan to post daily in the A-Z Blogging Challenge. Fingers crossed that I can do it - it's a lot of hard work but so worth it!

I'll post about lots of other things, too, like what's going on in the garden, in the news, in my kitchen (expect a few recipes!), and what I'm reading. I hope you join the conversation.

So Happy April Fool's Day, a curious non-holiday if ever there was one. Are you a fool on Facebook? Let's connect over there. Leave me a comment with your handle, will you?

#FitnessFriday Raw Milk and How To Make Ghee

I am lucky to be able to get raw milk from my friend's Brown Swiss cows.

Raw milk is much healthier than modern processed milk, and even my husband, who is lactose intolerant, can drink it without issue. I confess, neither one of us is a big milk drinker or cold cereal fan, so I find other uses for its many health benefits.

We do drink a lot of smoothies, so I make several quarts of homemade yogurt each week, making sure I don't overheat the milk, which destroys many of the digestive enzymes. You can read more about the raw milk health benefits here.

This week, I decided to make butter for ghee (a.k.a. clarified butter), a lovely and delicious oil useful for many European and ethnic dishes. You can buy ghee, but here's how I do it at home:

I love that we exchange reusable glass gallon jars with the farmer. Ecology first!

I scoop the cream (yes, cream on the top of the milk!) into a blender:

Then I run the blender on high, checking every few minutes to see what's happening, and soon the butterfat separates from the milk, looking like this. Depending on the time of year, the coagulated butter can be colored pale yellow to a deep golden tone. The fat content also depends on the point of lactation. These cows are at the end of a nursing cycle, and will soon be on "vacation" until the next time they are bred. Therefore, we get less cream with lower richness. And soon we won't get any!

I scoop the butter out of the blender with a slotted spoon, and rinse in ice water to get out as much leftover milk as possible. I'm especially careful about this if I'm going to use the butter for toast, as the leftover milk makes the butter go rancid very quickly. You can also add salt at this point, but I prefer the taste of unsalted butter. Added tip: Use the leftover butter from the spoon as a hand balm - it'll make your skin soft as a baby's!

To help keep the butter longer, and for a real cooking treat, make ghee. Over very low heat, melt down the butter, and continue heating until all the milk solids are crispy brown, and you can strain off the remaining oil. It will slightly solidify at room temperature and stay fresh for a long time - though it will probably only last a few days, it's so delicious.

One gallon of milk will yield only half of this very small container! Making this yourself shows what a precious commodity it is. Not only is the flavor very good, but it has a very high heat index making it ideal for very hot cooking. Click here to read about all the health benefits of ghee.

Next week, I'll share other uses for my locavore raw milk bounty. Some of the ideas might surprise you!

Wednesday Wisdom

K is for Kilts

The setting of my novel isn't Scotland, but my protagonist is Scottish-American, and he's a bagpiper of considerable talent. Needless to say, he wears kilts for various functions, and there are different kinds from the most casual for hard labor, to military uniforms, to formal attire complete with a short "Prince Charlie" jacket. He wears them all.

I found many terrific photos online.

I also made a great discovery watching this YouTube video. A man getting dressed is just about as sexy as him getting undressed. Maybe even more so.

  I was inspired enough to work a scene into my novel based on this entertaining and informative video. Best writing prompt ever. Yes, indeed.

J is for Jefferson

When I first began imagineering my main character, I named him James Lindsay Calhoun, which soon shortened to J. Lindsay Calhoun for a professional handle. It sounds sort of lawyer-ly, doesn't it? The James made sense since he was nicknamed Gentleman Jim by his legal colleagues. I envisioned him as excruciatingly polite in manner, while verbally destroying his opponents in court. Even in private, a foul word never passed his lips.

But later, while researching the Calhoun clan online, I came across a descendant who was known as The Black Cock of the West. Instant I can use this! moment. So I decided to lose the Gentleman Jim angle entirely. It was a little too twee anyway.

But I stuck with James, and when I started moodling his future first-born, decided on the name Jameson for junior. Until my husband pointed out that Jameson is a right- proper Irish name - not Scottish at all.

Dang. I'd have to hit the Scottish names list and come up with something else for the kid. Maybe Duncan. Except I think I named the drum horse in my prequel Duncan.

This naming stuff can get complicated.

Just recently I decided James is fairly boring. Jefferson would fit Lindsay better, now that he's showing his libertarian leanings as the story evolves. I could keep the J. Lindsay Calhoun but the Jefferson has more pow factor.

Thank goodness we have Find/Replace in word processing programs to make our lives easier, right? It'll be fairly straightforward replacing James with Jefferson as I don't really mention that name very often - just in the beginning of the story, and during scenes in which he's introduced to someone else.

I've already gone through and changed another character's name from Emily to Emma by searching "em" - and while searching for the name, discovered a few too many uses of the words "embarrass" and "emphatic".  Handy tool, that Find/Replace function.

Now I just need to come up with some good names for the county sheriff who is XX throughout the WIP, and for the mayor, who is ?? because, for some reason, they haven't really identified themselves yet.

Does that ever happen to you? How many times have you changed the name of your characters after starting the story?

F is for Fitness

Rachel McLish - first Ms. Olympia

Physical fitness is an aspect that crept into my novel without much aforethought. I really didn't consciously plan it, but most of my characters seem to make it part of their daily lifestyles. Their friendships often began in places like yoga studios or weightlifting gyms. Here are the three couples you'll meet in the first Morristown Mystery:

• J Lindsay Calhoun - lifts weights and jogs to prepare for Highland games where he competes in the Caber Toss 
• Megan MacGregor - practices yoga daily and loves to dance. She and Lindsay particularly enjoy ballroom dancing
• Nick Wagner - former Olympic gymnast who also practices yoga
• Rachel Wagner - black belt in karate and marathon runner
• Tripper George - bodybuilder
• LeAnn Baker - bodybuilder and daily walker, and a marathon runner before losing a leg in the military

Based on those descriptions, you might think I'm something of an athlete myself. Not so. It's true I walk 3-5 miles daily, practice yoga intermittently, and try to lift light weights several times a week. But that's mostly to control joint pain, and to buy a few more years of comfortable writing time. My most intense exercise is probably at the kitchen sink, where I try to get in 100 sissy squats after washing dishes. Same goes for the bathroom sink, where 50 modified squats is the norm. I'm guessing there are days I get in at least 500 squats, depending on how much housework gets done. 

That said, a few of my characters might be a little more competitive than me. Since I have a short year of bodybuilding effort in my youth, I decided to go back in time and see how that fitness arena has evolved. My stint happened the year before Rachel McLish won the first Ms. Olympia title, so around 1980? Frankly, I found that entire world to be a bit too self-absorbed for me to maintain long-term interest. It hasn't changed all that much, and neither has Rachel McLish who doesn't look any older after all these years. Except now she has very large breasts. Augmentation surgery seems to be the norm in women's bodybuilding these days. And spray-on tans. And tattoos for many of the competitors. Holy moley. (Click on the links to read more about potential risks.)

So much for health and fitness. I think I'm going to turn one of my characters into a hot mess of contradictions. Look at my list above and tell me who you think it should be.

E is for Euphemisms

I'm not particularly fond of euphemisms in fiction, especially to name body parts and sexual interactions. Romance novels are notorious for doing this. The hotter the romance, the more bizarre the colloquialisms become, and sometimes I wonder if the writers even understand the functions of human anatomy.

I've written some fairly steamy scenes for my own characters, and can't bring myself to be anything but straightforward in my descriptions, although I admit the conversations can sometimes seem a little clinical. I think I've found a way around that using some humor.

First I created a main character that is intentionally formal in speech and manners - J. Lindsay Calhoun. It works for him, given his upbringing and career as a high-society attorney.  He hates anything vulgar. That is until he meets the love of his life, who is a bit more relaxed in action and language. To put it mildly. It doesn't take long for them to start debating the best expressions to use in various public and private circumstances. Here's an example:

Lindsay shuddered. "Breasts, Megan, can we call them breasts? I cringe when you talk like that. They are breasts." His tongue lingered for a second on the fluttering pulse at her throat, then continued its downward journey. "Lovely, soft, perfect breasts."

"What's really so bad about tits?" She loved teasing him about his starched manners. Megan suspected his language was a kind of personal armor. It was a way to keep others at arm's length, but that hadn't worked with her from the beginning.

Do you think that works, injecting a bit of humor into a bedroom scene? These two seem to spend a lot of time laughing when they're making love. That's not a bad thing.

I'm not sure how to deal with some of the other characters, though, or even if I'll show their more intimate sides to readers. I've considered an ethnic couple who use foreign words. Or maybe even more exotic concepts like a tantric love scene. Yes. That could work. Worshiping the lingus.

Or does that sound like yet another euphemism? Am I cheating? What do you think?

B is for Babies

Beautiful Megan MacGregor (played by Deborah Ann Woll in my film fantasies) is the heroine in my novel, News From Nowhere. Married to the protagonist, J. Lindsay Calhoun, her focus in life is having their baby.

But it wasn't always so. How quickly life can change! When Megan met Lindsay less than a year earlier, she was a happily single child psychologist with a flourishing career - actually several careers. She worked at a Denver hospital counseling at-risk adolescents, served as a highly respected material witness to legal firms across the country, and had just published her first children's book.

Because her own mother risked her life to have Megan due to a genetic disorder called Marfan Syndrome, Megan decided early on not to have children for fear of passing the gene to her own children, even though it skipped a generation in her.

That is, until she falls in love and marries, and embarks on a shared life and mission with her new husband. Lindsay is building a kingdom for himself and his farm partners, and Megan is clearly his queen. As surely as he understands his role in this story, so, too, does Megan. She is to bear the heir to their dreams.

Unfortunately, she'll suffer a great deal of heartbreak trying, as she is a chronic mis-carrier. I understand these things very well, having lived through the heartache of Marfan Syndrome and multiples miscarriages myself. In the book, the situation will allow me to explore other parallel issues pertinent to the story lines, which will often illustrate social justice issues, ecology, sustainability, and personal growth. Megan's dilemma will touch on themes such as these:

• Over-population burdens
• Natural healing remedies related to infertility
• Adoption
• Self-worth issues
• Envy
• Patience
• And so much more!

But after all is said and done, the main issue for Megan will be her inability to bring a child into the world to share with Lindsay.

I've come to a curious conclusion late in life, especially curious coming from a devout feminist like me. No matter what our professed focus early in life - education or career - on a primal level we're mostly focused on breeding and regenerating the race. It's all about sex, at least before age 40 when we're in our primes. My characters will discover that and other aspects of themselves they really didn't know.

What do you think? 

A-Z Blogging Challenge Begins Today

Awesome is my starting word for this year's challenge, and I offer special thanks to the A-Z Team for creating this calendar for us! Truly, you are all totally AWESOME! Thank you.

And I'm an APRIL FOOL for taking on the challenge the same month that I'm also participating in Camp NaNoWriMo. Daily blog posts, and 50,000 words. Can I do it? There's only one way to find out! Wish me luck.

Working Book Cover

I've been a member of National Novel Writing Month for six years, and manage to get more writing done in November than any other time of year. This year, NaNoWriMo mentioned that having a novel cover greatly increased the chances of completing the contest. So I made a temporary one on PicMonkey, the easiest photo-editing site on the planet. This should inspire me to keep writing. Bring on the pipers!

Wordless Wednesday

April Fool!

You thought there'd be a new post for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, didn't you? First thing at the crack of sparrow's fart. Well, ha ha! April Fool's Day.

So I'm off to a rough start, but that's okay. The key is that we get out of the gate and start the ride. This month, I'll be blogging about all the themes related to my romantic suspense trilogy, which begins with a prequel I'm finishing up this month. Right now, that novella is too hot for readers to handle. My male protagonist took over and likes sex with his heroine. Imagine that! If I don't wrap this book up soon, they'll have to grow new body parts and this will become an erotic sci-fi story. I'll leave it to your imagination.

An interesting twist in this book, and one that was completely unanticipated, is the inclusion of musical themes. I'm not a musician, and never have been, but this year I'm particularly drawn to powerful music and unleashed passion in the voice. So here's an A+ singer - A is for Amanda - who exemplifies exactly what I mean. My heroine can belt out a tune like this. Someday, maybe I'll be able to unleash my inner singer the same way. I think I just need to believe in me.

Today's word count:

C is for Challenge

For the A-Z Blogging Challenge as well as for so many others - I can turn this letter into a World Crisis!

I'd be a lot more challenged if I hadn't gone through the alphabet last month and brainstormed themes for each letter. I have my handy list to refer to and here's what I can choose from today:

• compost
• clocks
• convenience
• chickens
• cold frames
• chocolate
• cats
• cows
• corn
• cedars
• clary sage
• coolness
• children's books

I'll talk about my dreams of becoming the Compost Queen later. Also my neighbors chickens when we get to E for eggs. I don't need the temptation of chocolate since I just gave up sugar... again. I could write about my neighbors cows, but I'd rather tell you about their luscious milk when we get to M. Because having raw, local milk is a very cool thing indeed!

So meet a few of my cats:

This is Sassafrass

Pippin on the Roof

Chai being Bored 

Duchess on Call

On a grander scale, I'm feeling dreadfully challenged by all the environmental issues we face, whether from oil spills, GM contamination, declining bee populations; it seems like our battles are endless, and I often feel we're losing the game, don't you? I suppose we can only take one step at a time and do what we can. Part of my contribution to environmental betterment is through promoting a little publisher named Little Pickle Press. They publish children's books in an environmentally sustainable way. Here's one of my favorite titles by Rana DiOrio.

You can buy the hardcover book here.  It's also available through iTunes and Kindle for you gadgets. Because teaching children how important the environment is, well, it's as important as teaching adults to take care of the only planet we have.

What about you? What's challenging you today? Please leave me a comment.

Chickens and Chocolate Eggs

Dear Juwainyuh,

What a lovely letter you write, and thank you for sharing all your wonderful ideas about gardening and houses! I have to tell you a story about chickens and brown eggs.

I actually get brown eggs from my neighbor a half mile away, who also has Brown Swiss cows. I feel very lucky because, hard as it is to believe, getting local eggs is not easy out in the country. Most local farmers who raise chickens sell the eggs in the city, where they can earn more money for them.

But the brown eggs I get from my neighbor are nothing like the eggs from French Maran chickens. Have you heard of this breed? We first learned of them when we visited Minnesota in October. We stayed at the lovely Deutsche Strasse B & B and one of the other guests was participating in a chicken show at the local fairgrounds. Their French Marans won best of show. And here is a picture of the eggs they lay. Now those are brown eggs! They look like chocolate! You can find more information about this breed here and here, if you are interested.

I loved seeing the plans of the raised bed garden . I have raised beds, too, and I can't imagine being able to grow anything in this hot, dry climate without them. It really makes a big difference in being able to grow food to eat. I had a very good salad garden right outside my back door all summer. Here's an example of how I mixed up the vegetables with the flowers which was very pretty and lush looking!

And here's another picture of a raised bed:

There are four L-shaped raised beds that border the "charmed circle" in the middle (which is just a napping place for the cats).

I'm interested in permaculture, too, and in the new year, I plan to create a sun trap in my middle garden as well as some keyhole beds. Have you heard of those? I have a tremendous amount of brush to process, and this seems like an excellent way to handle that. I just have to find something with which to build the support walls, which is an issue around here, since there isn't a lot of rock. Here's a picture of what I'm talking about:

As to the big binder you left behind in Yemen with all your research and plans... you can create another bigger and better one here, right? Think of the old binder as nothing more than practice for a better set of plans!

Thank you so much for your wonderful letter, little friend!

Love,

Dani