The Ugly Truth

Here’s a dirty little confession: I get jealous sometimes.

I’ve been blessed with great writing friends. They cheer me on when I’m up and support me when I’m down, and I like to think I do the same for them as they struggle in this crazy profession of ours.

But every once in a while, when they experience greater success in their writing than I do, I get jealous.

This isn’t an easy admission. Jealousy is petty. It turns me into a small-minded, mean-spirited version of myself that I really don’t like. And it takes away from others’ success, even if it’s only in my mind.

My closest writing friends and I started at roughly the same place in our writing careers and we worked very hard. They’ve earned every little bit of their success. As have I.

Jealousy–in my case anyway–is like admitting that I believe I’m the better writer and really, should be more successful than they are. They should be jealous of me.

I know, I know. I told you it was a dirty little secret.

I couldn’t handle the feeling, so one day I told one of my friends how I felt.  Instead of recoiling in disgust, she just patted me on the knee. Then she shared her own stories of jealousy and we laughed at ourselves.

How do writing couples deal with this? What happens if one partner has more writing success than the other? Seems to me you need a strong, healthy relationship to deal with the monster together.

I deal with it by admitting it. Whenever I feel that spike of jealousy at a friend’s success, I tell them. Turns out the jealousy monster gets smaller when you shine the light on it. I’m still not proud of feeling jealous, but I am gaining self-knowledge, and maybe a little wisdom.

Here’s what I learned. Don’t let jealousy fester in the dark. Drag it out into the light and let it shrink from shame. Share your feelings with your friends and learn to laugh at yourself. And whatever you do, don’t belittle other writers in any kind of public forum. That only reflects poorly on you.

So… anyone else out there feel like confessing? How do you deal with the ugly feelings that jealousy engenders?

You can find Marcelle here: web | facebook | twitter

One hundred thousand WHAT?!

No, it's not the national Lottery win, I'm afraid, but for the authors at NOT YOUR USUAL SUSPECTS, it's almost as rewarding!!

The Blog passed its 100,000th hit this month!

THANK YOU to all the authors who've contributed, and also the readers who've visited and chatted and supported us since we started in December 2010.

Over 30 months in action -- 466 posts -- 5,100+ comments to date!


In celebration, we'd like to offer you, the visitor, a chance to win a free download from one of our authors. All these have offered into the Prize Draw:

Clare London / Marcelle Dube / Anne Marie Becker / Shelley Munro
Jean Harrington / Cathy Perkins / Shirley Wells / Maureen Miller
Lynne Connolly / Dee J Adams / Julie Moffett / Rita Henuber
Ana Barrons / Patricia Hale / Janis Patterson / J. Wachowski
Kathy Ivan / Carol Stephenson

Comment on this post for a chance to win,
or email me directly at CLARELONDON11 at YAHOO.CO.UK.

We welcome as many entrants as possible!

On THURSDAY JULY 25, we'll make the draw. I'll contact each winner in turn by email, and then it'll be FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED for your choice of author's work. So have your first few choices in mind!!

You can visit all the authors from their links above, and see what fabulous fiction they can offer. This is a chance to get the latest release from a favourite author - or to find a new favourite - or to try a new genre entirely!

The covers below are just SOME of the publications offered by these authors. Browse and enjoy!

Trick or Treat?? We Vote Treat! Recipes & Giveaway

To celebrate All Hallows Eve, NOT YOUR USUAL SUSPECTS are blogging about their favorite homemade Halloween treats. Enjoy!--And we are giving away four books for your delectation. Muwhahaha!!

Pumpkin Soup

Six green onions (Separate the white from the green).

Cook in two cups of chicken broth (approximately 15 minutes).

Add two cups of pumpkin (cook 15 minutes or tender when tested with a fork).

Drain and work through a sieve then combine with three tablespoons of butter, tablespoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 quarter teaspoon of white pepper.

Cook over low heat about ten minutes.

Before serving add two cups of half and half, sliced tomato and sprinkle green onion on top.

 Elise

Scene Stealer

www.elisewarner.blogspot.com

Bread Stick Bones with Blood

1 tube refrigerated bread stick dough

1 Tbs butter

2 Tbs Parmesan cheese

Garlic salt to taste

Unroll bread stick dough. Carefully stretch out and tie ends into knots. Use a scissors to cut a notch in the middle. Place on ungreased cookie sheet then brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with cheese and garlic salt then back at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes until golden.  Serve with red sauce.

Wynter

www.WynterDaniels.com

Cookie ghosts

Take Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies (or similar flat oval shaped cookie (for you furriners: try a lady finger, like you'd use for tiramisu?) and melt some white chocolate. Dip them in chocolate about half way. Lay they on a wax papered cookie sheet. Add some round candies for eyes...like mini M&Ms or sprinkles. Try a dab of black gel icing for an open mouth. Or just set out the decoration possibilities and let the kids go to town! (We always made dark chocolate ones as well, for an integrated ghost neighborhood.<g>)
Frankenheads

Get some big marshmallows, white or dark melted chocolate, your leftover holiday sprinkles, gel icing in different colors and a few toothpicks or small pretzel sticks. Use the marshmallow as the head. Dip one end in chocolate and add green or black jimmies for crazy hair. Use the toothpicks or pretzels to paint on spots of chocolate to attach eyes or draw some wicked looking scars. Set the finished "heads" in mini paper cupcake papers. Another fun kid-artist activity!

Last but not least, I always like to throw a few plastic spiders and eyeballs into some ice cube trays or small tupperware holders. The secret is to use the last of the boiled water in the kettle, which will freeze clear, not cloudy. Drop them in a glass for a surprise at dinner! (Note to the file: this can be a fun April Fool's moment, as well.<g>)

J Wachowski

http://jwachowski.com

Pumpkin & Choc Chip Muffins

Makes: 24

• 415g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• 600g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 500g pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 150ml water
• 170g plain chocolate chips

Preparation method

Prep: 20 mins | Cook: 30 mins

1.Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas 4. Grease two 12-hole muffin tins or line with cases.

2.In a large bowl, stir together flour, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, salt and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, beat together pumpkin, eggs and water. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture; beat until well blended. Fold in chocolate chips.

3.Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until a skewer inserted into centre of a muffin comes out clean. 

 

Clare London

http://www.clarelondon.co.uk
 

 

 

Severed Fingers Halloween Cookie

2 tablespoons red food coloring
30 blanched almonds
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 pinch salt
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1 Heat oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with Silpats (French nonstick baking mats) or parchment paper, and set aside.
2 Place food coloring in a shallow bowl. crack each whole almond into halves. and toss them into the bowl with the food coloring and stir them until the color is evenly distributed. leave them in the bowl and stir them every so often until the color is as dark as you like.
3 Separate 1 egg. Set aside the white. In a small bowl, whisk together yolk, remaining egg, and vanilla. Set aside.
4 In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, confectioners' sugar, granulated sugar, and salt. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add egg mixture, and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the flour, and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic, and chill until firm, 20 to 30 minutes.
5 Divide the dough in half. Work with one piece at a time, keeping remaining dough covered with plastic wrap and chilled. Divide the first half into fifteen pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece back and forth with palms into finger shapes, 3 to 4 inches long. Pinch dough in two places to form knuckles. Score each knuckle lightly with the back of a small knife. Transfer fingers to prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough.
6 When all fingers are formed, brush lightly with egg white. Position almond nails; push into dough to attach.
7 Bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Cool completely.
8 note: To make the knuckles more creepy just shape them big and uneven. To keep them from puffing out too much roll the fingers extra skinny (skinnier than you want them to look if that makes sense). I also try to get them out of the oven before they brown. I sometimes add a bit of almond extract to dough

Read more at: http://www.food.com/recipe/severed-fingers-halloween-cookies-135850?oc=linkback

 

Anne Marie

http://www.annemariebecker.com

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And, because it's Halloween, we are giving away a copy of EDGE OF LIGHT, PROTECTIVE CUSTODY, SEA OF SUSPICION to one lucky commenter, today. Muwhahaha!!

Plus, a rare and special paperback copy of...

 Winners chosen at our discretion. Probably random, possibly Ouija board!

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The Chase for Glory: Sports and Inspiration

As an action junkie, I love watching sports.  I'm not athletically gifted although I did dabble at swim team and took tennis lessons.  However, I've been a primo spectator all my life.  Playing clarinet in the marching band ensured me ring-side seats at football games.  Being on pep club notched seats at basketball.  I've cheered from the stands at everything from car races to tennis matches.  While professional football was my first love, NASCAR is my soul mate.   

Athletes' training, sacrifice, and determination resonates with me.  The speed, the height, the strength, the control they exercise.   I love watching the good, the bad and the ugly.  So long as the athlete is trying, I'll cheer them on.  I enjoy the rush of the nail-biting suspense as the event reaches its critical climax.  Then comes the emotional see-saw of the low's and high's of defeat and victory.  Naturally, my passion for sports does weave its way throughout my writing.

My heroine Nicole Sterling swam laps to reflect in COURTING DANGER while her great-aunt used skeet shooting to eerie effect.  Carling Dent in COURTING DISASTER was a major fan with memorabilia filling her office and sports terms populated her dialogue.  Boxing trivia figured in one scene in HER DARK PROTECTOR.  However, the biggest thrill as an author was my getting to write a NASCAR novella, CHASING THE TRUTH.  The roar of the engines, the blur of cars as they raced around the track.  Sigh, a gear-head's idea of heaven on earth.  Even as I plot the next book, I've got my eye on skiing for a chase scene.  

However, the big sports enchilada is almost upon us: the Olympics.  I've been an avid fan all my life of both the summer and winter games and will be glued to the television.  There are so many memorable moments over my lifetime.  A few of my favs: Carly Patterson's winning of the all-around gold in gymanstics in 2004 despite having back problems and Kerri Strug's performing the vault with an injured ankle.  Then there was the wire-to-wire gold medal win in 2008 by the US Women's rowing team.  I held my heart in my hand as I screamed them on.

Faster, higher, stronger.  Athletes of the world, inspire me.  Let the games begin. 

What's your favorite Summer Olympics event or moment?

:) Carol Stephenson

Carol Stephenson lives in South Florida with her beloved Shih Tsu Maddie and loves to write compelling, heart-pounding stories. You can learn more about her books or visit her: Website; Facebook; Twitter

President Wilson's Ravioli

Did you know that ravioli is the meal associated with Veterans Day?  No?  Well, I’ll come back to that bit of trivia.

The 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month in 1918 saw the official end of World War I.  In the aftermath grateful countries around the world proclaimed ‘memorial’ days that became known as ‘Remembrance Day’, ‘Armistice Day’, or ‘Poppy Day’.  King George V specifically dedicated the day on November 7, 1919; President Woodrow Wilson followed suit on November 11, 1919.

On May 13, 1938 ‘Armistice Day’ became a legal holiday in United States. Following a campaign by a Kansas shoe store owner, President Eisenhower signed into law an act to celebrate all veterans and ‘Armistice Day’ became ‘Veterans Day’.

Why are red poppies associated with this very special holiday?   They became the emblem due to the poem “In Flanders Fields’.  These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I; their brilliant red color symbolized the blood spilled in war.

As we pay homage to our veterans today, I thought it would be appropriate to salute those authors who are veterans as well as people’s favorite books featuring military heroes/heroines.  The following roll call is just a start and I hope folks will share their list so we can all add to our TBR pile.

Moreover, today my fellow NYUS author Rita Henuber is blogging Veterans Day comments over at www.rubyslipperedsisterhood.com.

Oh, what about the ravioli, you ask? For the first ‘Armistice’ celebration, President Wilson invited 2000 soldiers to the White House and helped the staff chefs cook the soldiers ravioli, which had just become a mainstay in the American kitchens due to the rise of commercial canning.  Wilson predicted ravioli would soon be a popular meal. [At least it’s a popular hurricane supply].

So on this Veterans Day, I give thanks to all our veterans and those currently in the military and lift a plate of ravioli in salute to their service and sacrifice.

Carol Stephenson

Her Dark Protector, a Justice Hunter book
coming March 26, 2012 from Carina Press
Follow Carol at:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
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Military Authors
David Bridger [Carina Press, Royal Navy for 10 years]
PC Cast
Cindy Dees
JoAnn Ferguson
Susan Grant
Merline Lovelace
Lindsay McKenna
Tia Nevitt [Carina Press, Air Force, 1984-1988]
Patricia Wood

Books  with Military heroes/heroines

Rita Henuber, Under Fire, featuring a female Coast Guard pilot

Nearly any book by Suzanne Brockman [Tall, Dark & Handsome series; Troubleshooters series]

Catherine Mann’s Wingham Warrior series

Jill Monroe’s SEAL series

Linda Howard’s “MacKenzie” series