Week of Woes, Window Greenery and Updates

I mentioned a Maserati in my last blog and was soon being followed by a dealership on my social media accounts. Who knows where that may lead? In the hopes of tapping into luxuries through my blog, I will now mention the places I want to visit or things I really want to possess. For places, I'll take (in no particular order but with deluxe travel and accommodations): Paris, Provence, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Rome, Tuscany, Tokyo, Kyoto, Madrid, Barcelona and Washington, D.C. For things I'd like a house with a serious kitchen and a nice sized yard, a second car (Maseratis aren't a good idea for Costco), any cooking implement and foodstuff I desire. That should cover it for now. I'll let you know if the Google gods fill my wish list.

Spring may be off to a slow start in most of the US, but it has sprung in my apartment. The window box herbs are growing like crazy. The tomato plants are getting big, but are just now producing. It's kind of nice to have all this going on in the tiny apartment. I got to use the thyme in my soup stocks this week. I'm also experimenting with pizzas. I'll be pickling the tomatoes this weekend to make another sweet sauce for the soup dumplings. Speaking of pickles, I made a very successful jar of garlic dill pickles. I can't call them Kosher dills, because my kitchen isn't Kosher. But they are really yummy!

You can check out the photos from the last couple of weeks here: http://dlwarner.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_27.html

Mopy Monday

Last week was probably one of the worst I've had since my diagnosis. Monday began with terrible news from some of the members of my cancer support group. And then a dear friend with an entirely different kind of cancer got some disheartening news about her annual tests. All of this happened before I could make breakfast, and I had gotten up at 6am with Jon. And then, I read the article: My Amazon Bestseller Made Me Nothing http://www.salon.com/2013/03/15/hey_amazon_wheres_my_money/ sent me into a horrible depressive tailspin. There is nothing like more evidence that everything you're doing creatively is likely a waste of time. That actually happens to me fairly often. Most times, I shake it off and move on. I've tried what we call the 'civilian life.' No offense, but I would end up with headaches each afternoon and thinking bizarre and destructive thoughts. Most days though, I didn't have a breast biopsy waiting for me. I was left feeling raw. I'm usually able to focus on the positives (and there are a lot of those). But it was almost too much to cope with.

Woeful Wednesday

But I showed up bright and early Wednesday with what I hoped was a positive attitude. The one thing I had hoped to leave with that day was some answers. I had reports from other patients who'd had biopsies that I should know something that same day. I really can't stand being in limbo. I especially can't stand it when I have so many other things to stress me out in life. This blog is seeing a fraction of the goings on behind the scenes with me. Today, I thought I'd stick with the stuff that has me in or near tears most often of late. The nice administrator who went over my consent form dashed all hope of leaving limbo. She said that I wouldn't get results until my next oncology appointment – in June. I assume that she noticed how distraught that bit of news made me, because she quickly explained that the areas they were investigating were of 'low suspicion' and this was all simply a precaution. This may have been all well and good for most patients, but this one is still trying to recover from the damage inflicted upon me by precautions. I had few problems after the HIPEC surgery. My current pain and mobility issues stem from chemo damage. Needless to say I remain leery of precautions.

My tech for the biopsy was the same as from the mammogram. That was heartening. I liked her and found

her to be very professional. Still, I was given more reason for being off put when I saw the machine, I noticed there was a set of plates for more breast smashing. I wasn't sure how that was supposed to with the needles. And then I almost fell off the stairs meant to make getting on the table easier. I nearly fell through the various openings in the table. I had to grossly contort my neck and one leg to get in the best position for the imaging to show clearly. I had to hold that position for over an hour. It was painful and made me panic when it became difficult to breathe. But what makes this even more special is that I have to do it again in two weeks. They only did one side. The radiologist explained that patients often can't handle doing both sides at one appointment. You think? I had not been told that at all when the biopsy was initially scheduled. I also wasn't told how long I could be out of commission afterward. I was wrapped tightly in a pair of wide tenser bandages that made movement difficult. And the restrictions covered everything that I'm able to do save for reading and writing. I was down physically for two days. Emotionally, this has felt like a tailspin. Needless to say, I'll be really glad when this set of tests are over though I was told that I should expect more frequent mammograms and/or biopsies for years to come. I'm not ungrateful to have thorough medical care, but I'm really getting while some patients get very tired of it all.

Writing Updates

I'm still editing manga and working on a couple of film projects. As for fiction, I've actually gotten into a good rhythm with the next Soldiers book. I'm planning on publishing that in May or June. I'm also going to do some short fiction based on my Yaoi characters that will be posted on the yaoi blog. I'm experimenting with illustrating those pieces to see if I can broaden my audience. Meanwhile, I have some other works that have sprung up from who knows where. I'll share more about those later.

Stay tuned.

Herbs and Stress and the Maserati

When I started writing this blog two weekends back, the really big news was the new window box garden and the Maserati. There was a Maserati in the parking lot of the garden center. I'm not sure if they had the space for boxes of plants and large sacks of soil or fertilizer. I'm pretty sure the place delivers. We were surprised that the car was there. Not that people in the area couldn't afford a six figure sports car. We were a five minute walk from the yacht club were boats have helipads. The wealthy people are usually in the marina or in the insanely priced condos. I suppose it could have come from one of the many McMansions that populate the area. All that was certain was that Jon and I were walking our purchases home in our four wheeled granny cart. No worries about soil stains. I spent a couple hours after that transferring the plants into the window boxes. I was pleased to see that the two tomato plants already had flowers about to bloom. I'm happy to report that tomatoes are already growing. The weekend was to be laid back as I had an arduous week of medical tests. Not that the tests are hard. It's just a lot of commuting and lack of sleep, because I'm an Olympic class worrier. My plan was to be well rested and as calm as possible.

More photos from this blog can be found on this link:  http://dlwarner.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_11.html .

Maserati

Yet by mid-day that Sunday, Jon and I were in the ER at UCLA Santa Monica. It wasn't me this time. It was Jon who was in sudden an excruciating pain. I was silly thinking that I could write the blogs while I was there. It was impossible to focus on anything other than the Skymall magazine inexplicably in the waiting room. I really love those things. I look at them every time I fly though I'd never actually buy anything from them. We were lucky that despite the very crowed ER, that Jon got seen fairly quickly and they soon knew what the issue was. It was a kidney stone. Jon had had one before. We were back home within six hours. To say it was a relief is beyond understatement. I was certain that pain that severe meant surgery was in the offing. I was thinking all sorts of dire things including dragging IV poles down a hospital corridor together. I said I was a big worrier. I also felt guilty that perhaps being my caregiver had been too much stress for him physically. Being a caregiver takes a toll. I had been trying to get Jon to have a physical for a while to make sure he was okay. I was very guilty about not having pushed hard enough. I feel guilty about Jon just about every other day. This was the worst ever. I think the relief left me exhausted for most of the week. However, my work load does not allow for any lazying about.

Blog Blogs Blogs

I've become a serial blogger. Despite my very deep misgivings, there is now a blog for almost every aspect of my life. There will NOT be one for the food thing. I'm not planning on going pro on that, so I don't need anyone doing internet searches for me and food. That is the reason there is a separate blog for each professional thing I do. It makes it easy for people interested in the books or the films to find me on a dedicated blog with a title for that industry. Those other blogs rarely shed any light on my personal life. They are all business. I keep them all funny, but they are all business. And I am obligated to write them at predictable intervals. The Demonspawn blog is now a perk for those who donated to the film funding campaign. The Yaoi blog is part of the reason why I was hired as an editor at Digital Manga. They were looking for people with a presence in Yaoi related social networks. Blogging about the manga is as important as editing the manga. On top of all of that, I have a Facebook page that is a news agregator for all things Yaoi. I have to update it every day at least three times a day. That's why it seems like I'm always on Facebook. I am of late. But it's business. That's how my poor flagship blog got pushed to one side. Have I mentioned that my schedule got trampled in this mess of the past two weeks? I'm not giving up though. No way. There is a way to make these facets of my life play nicely together. I will find it!

Updates

This sounds crazy with all that I have on my plate. I will concede that. However, even though I'm just now getting back on track with my latest Soldiers novel and a long overdue short story, I have been pulled by little snippets of story that I can't see being part of a novel. These snippets involve characters from the Soldiers universe and the Ensnared universe. I've decided to start writing and illustrating the snippets to post on the yaoi blog. I'd forgotten that I used to write such things – generally fanfiction – when I had a block on my novels or scripts. Strangely, they may help me write the longer pieces faster. I think the snippets may attract new readers as well. And I can compile them and sell them at some point.

Stay tuned.

Crazy Busy, Major Film Update & Crazy Good Eats

At A-Frame, a hot spot in our neighborhood. See Below.

It's been a while since the last blog. Part of the reason why is my crazy life. Part of the reason is I wanted to make sure everyone read the last one: http://dlwarner.blogspot.com/2013/02/recipe-fusion-collard-pot-liquor.html . I'm happy to say that it's the most widely read one I've had! But I am crazy busy. I have to have a schedule once again. I haven't had once since I was on chemotherapy. Then, I had at least two major medical appointments a week along with a few minor procedures or administrative things. I still have a date book for the sprinkling of appointments I have now. But it isn't nearly as filled up and complicated as it was years ago.

Now, I am juggling a lot of projects with various deadlines and different time lines that are part of building my career. On top of that, there are things that I'd like to do or need to do for reasons other than money like cooking and learning Japanese and recently drawing. I find that if I set up a schedule that I will make a real effort to get something significant done in a given day in each category. The schedule is brand spanking new, but I'm already feeling better about what I am or am not getting done. What does that mean? I would often feel crestfallen at the end of a day, because I had not accomplished one goal. Somehow, I would ignore all the things that I had managed to do in the same amount of time. It's silly, I know. It seems like a big pile demanding attention. Anyway, the schedule forces me to note what has been done and where I am in the overall time line. Having a handle on the big picture makes me relax about the days when I just have to veg and just read (the reading is now on the schedule). I'm still having some physical.

Unscheduled Break

I was sidelined from the blog and a lot of what I was trying to get done yesterday by a whole lot of unexpected pain. It's called break trough pain in that it breaks trough the regular meds. This felt worse than a typical break through. I did not have a good Wednesday. Thursday found me considering a trip to the closest ER. That was horribly depressing. A few calls to the various specialist that interact with me found an answer. I felt well enough to make a big leap in progress with the Secret Cancer Documentary today. I even got a few things on my schedule done. It was a bit more distressing than a hiccup in my life, but I managed to shove things back on track. So, I do believe that I'll be able to finish a good bit of what was on my plate for this week. That said, I know I won't get any more of this blog written before the weekend. Note: It is now Sunday, so that prediction was really on the money.

Measuring Progress

The biggest thing I needed to get done this week was the proof of concept trailer for The Secret Cancer. I filmed it in November. Admittedly, that was not a great time of year. I had one major convention behind me and another one ahead. I had a pile of manga to edit. Then, there were the holidays and all the baking and general craziness. It seems that I blinked and it was February. We had been working on the video here and there. We had a major audio problem. The entire audio file was corrupted and thus useless. The camera sound had a lot of pops and other noises in it. I debated for a long time about how to salvage everything. Jon processed the camera sound until it was much more useable. I decided to cut the interview down to just the story about Audrey Hepburn's diagnosis and the aftermath. It was so powerful in that quiet, cultured voice. I used some images from the book about Ms Hepburn's life and her passing, Audrey Hepburn: An Elegant Spirit. I plan to use more with the family's permission. Here is the rough cut. If you comment, please keep in mind that we are almost painfully aware of the technical difficulties. http://youtu.be/VLygvc5Flpg

The next thing I needed to make progress on that had been bothering me for months was the wall I had hit on my current Soldiers book, A Soldier's Destiny. It wasn't even anything like a writer's block. I was just getting busier and busier with other kinds of creative work. There were and are essays and short stories and editing. There is the blogging and writing reviews. I don't regret any of the extra activity, but I missed my Soldiers, and there were and are readers waiting for it. Thus, my number one must do on each day of my new schedule is work on that Solder's book. I am not only six pages from where I was, the spark of life in the characters has returned. They made me laugh the other day. I was so happy to have found my way back to those characters. I really appreciate the very patient fans who have hung in there and occasionally prodded me along.

Food Geek Out

I don't know if you all look at my food reviews on Yelp.com, but this was a mini blog of sorts about a famous restaurant in our neighborhood. The chef is not only famous, he is an author on Anthony Bourdain's new imprint. And now, for reasons I do not understand, we are friends on the internet. I don't just mean I follow his posts. He follows mine and has corresponded with me!!! Check out Roy Choi: http://www.foodandwine.com/best_new_chefs/roy-choi

Here's my crazy review of his restaurant : A-Frame:

I am lucky enough to be a neighbor of this restaurant. I literally pass it once a week running errands. I finally had a chance to stop in to celebrate with a friend. I was immediately impressed by the stripped down but stylish decor. The bar was filled with bottles of fresh squeezed juices. The bartender was shaking two drinks at once. How could I not have a fancy cocktail? The Southern sour was delicious and not too strong or heavy. We all went for the buttermilk fried chicken and the table pickles. The first time super hot chef,  Roy Choi, popped over to our table, I thought he knew I was back engineering the incredibly crunchy and savory crust on that super moist chicken. The second time, I think he knew I was also trying to figure out what was in the dipping sauce for those insanely good pickles. How can lightly pickled veggies taste that good? I was having a foodie geek out, because I so admire Choi for his fusion of food cultures that I had begun making my own high fusion concept recipes. Could it be that he knew of my blog about collard pot liquor soup dumplings? My lunch partners brought me down to earth quickly with an eye roll and a sigh. The place was slammed. He was likely just making sure everyone was happy with the food and service. Then, I got all jazzed about that as well. I thought the hot, happening chef caring about his guests enough to check on them himself was the stuff of food TV. The upshot is that the food and cocktails and beer were everything I had been told they'd be, and the service was stellar.

I am so getting that recipe blog to him!

Stay tuned!

Recipe Fusion -- Collard Pot Liquor Dumplings

This is my version of a Soup Dumpling with Pot Liquor

When last we met, I was hard at work on a complex recipe that was a fusion of Chinese dim sum and a staple of southern food. Nothing in this dish can be called Asian cuisine. It is the method that is the fusion.

The joy of a Xiaolongbao or soupdumpling is that when it is eaten, delicious, hot soup floods the mouth along with the filling. The stock is very slowly cooked from bones so that it is gelatinous when chilled. The filling along with a cube of gelled stock is placed on the dumpling dough and gently wrapped with it. When the dumpling is steamed, the stock melts and mingles with the filling. Additionally there is a sauce that further enhances the eating experience.

Properly gelatinous pot liquor.

I had decided that a well made spoonful of greens with the pot liquor and a sliver of the smoked turkey wing it was cooked with would be a great single spoonful example of how I cook. I realized while Anthony Bourdain was having a foodgasm over a soup dumpling while visiting Taipei that I could wrap that spoonful of food in a dumpling and that would be awesome. Further, that dumpling would be made from the same rolled dough recipe from Southern Chicken and Dumplings. That way, the dish is entirely Southern with an international spin.

It's been taking me a while to get to the point of assembling everything, because of my physical limitations. I also had to shop for some equipment and supplies over a period of time. I've done a photo blog of sorts with the three major steps of putting together the dumplings. One step I didn't bother with detailing since I used an existing recipe save for one extra ingredient. I have a link to each of the photo blog at the top of each section.

Part One – Poultry Stock

http://dlwarner.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_7.html Photo Blog Part One

I say poultry stock because it can be either chicken or turkey or both, as I did here. I used raw turkey wings (as opposed to smoked) and chicken feet. Chicken feet makes for a very gelatinous stock even though the little feet do freak me out a little. The rest of the ingredients are vegetables like onions, carrots, celery and garlic along with thyme, peppercorns and bay leaf. After roasting the poultry for about 45 minutes to an hour (skin should be golden), chuck them into a big, deep stock pot with the vegetables and other stuff. Cover everything with water. Use a plate to make sure all the ingredients stay submerged. Cover and bring to just before a boil. Turn down to a low simmer and let it go for 4 to 6 hours. Cool to room temperature then strain. The stock can be used at that point or refrigerated. Freeze if it is going to be sitting around for more than three days.

Part Two – Collard Greens

http://dlwarner.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_7478.html  Photo Blog Part Two – Braised Collards

It's hard to give amounts, because the bunches are different sizes depending upon whether or not the leaves are baby or big. I generally do 3 to 4 bunches to one smoked turkey wing. I did two wings to have more smoked meat for the filling. First you trim the leaves of big stems (if they are big leaves). Then, slice them into thin-ish strips. I like them thin to eat and they are better for the filling. Then, soaked them in a deep sink or gigantic bowl of cold water. Rinse and drain them. While they drain, slice the large onion into thin slices. Saute the onion in a large, heavy pot in a couple tablespoons of oil. I use olive oil, but vegetable oil works. Add the garlic. I use a whole head of roasted garlic. If it's raw, use three cloves that are mince finely. When the onion softens a little, add two cups of stock and the turkey wing(s). Simmer in the pot with a lid on it for 30 minutes. Add the greens. I simmer them until they are very, very tender – about 90 minutes. That's me. I like them that way, and they work for the filling. Separate the greens from the liquid and the wings. Put them in containers and refrigerate. If the pot liquor is successful, it can be cut into cubes.

Part Three – Dumpling Dough

I wanted this dish to be truly Southern, so the dough recipe is from a chicken and dumpling dough. That goes very well with the poultry based pot liquor. I Googled rolled chicken and dumplings. The recipes were pretty much the same. The only thing I did differently was add two teaspoons of thyme to the dough, because the chicken and dumplings I had as a child contained thyme. I rested the dough for 30 minutes before rolling it out. I rolled the dough to 1/8 of an inch or thinner and cut them into squares. I didn't have a biscuit cutter, and I am not good at making dumpling pleats. I chilled the squares for 30 minutes before assembling. Wonton wrappers will work fine instead of dumplings.

Part Four – Assembling

http://dlwarner.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_8245.html – Photo Blog Assembly

Stage the ingredients as the photos show. Keep the dough squares chilled until you are ready to assemble everything. The it's turkey first. I used smoked turkey breast I bought online as well as the turkey wings I cooked with the greens. Use only about a teaspoon. I think shredding will work better than the block I used. Next, is a teaspoon of greens. Finally, a two teaspoon block of pot liquor. It must be chilled to work! Quickly wet the edges of the dough with a brush or a finger and pinch the edges together. I placed the finished dumpling on squares of parchment paper in the steamer. Steam for 10 minutes.

Sauce

The idea for the sauce came from my father. He liked hot pickled peppers and a little of the pickling liquid in his greens. He's also sometimes slice tomatoes into his greens. So, I did a pickled hot pepper sauce and a Japanese pickled tomato with rice wine vinegar that was sweet. Just Google Quick pickled peppers and quick pickled cherry tomatoes repectively for recipes. They are all similar.

The Result

The pot liquor melts during the steaming, so there is a lovely mouthful of that with the greens and the smoked turkey. The dumpling with the vinegar sauce makes it taste like a whole bowl of comfort food in one bite. It is extraordinary! So far, the dumplings still steam beautifully after two days of hanging out in the fridge. I really want to entertain with them to get some other opinions.

My first, completely original idea for a dish! I am beyond jazzed.

More updates on my writing and other things next time.

Stay Tuned.

Happy Hours, Bites of Life and Updates

It's been almost a year since I desperately needed a break from the four walls of my apartment and sought out the Culver City Farmers Market. It was a spur of the moment decision that has had enormous impact on our lives. I can say that most of our produce is not purchased at that farmers market or another. I've been serving a lot more fresh fruit and cooking a lot more veggies. I am certain that those changes are why I had dropped a nice bit of weight before my last visit to the oncologist. The weight loss was a delightful surprise, because I did not practice moderation of any sort during the holidays. Oh my, no. I was eating everything in sight that was bad. But the good food and the walking staved off a weight gain and helped me lose some. I've really enjoyed just getting out around people and watching the children at the market. The outings got even better when Marie began joining me. I had been missing my friends during my very long recovery. While I am very grateful to have networks like Facebook to keep in some contact with civilization, there is nothing like a face to face conversation. I'm certain that aside from strengthening a great friendship, the Farmers Market outings helped jump start Sybaritic Press. The martinis may have had a small role in that as well. We each have stressful lives. It is lovely to get together and shop and let our wonderful bartender and the staff at the Culver Hotel pamper us for a couple of hours. I really miss the uber cute porter who used to kneel to serve us, but what can you do. He may be on his way to being a movie star. Yes, he was that uber cute.

Life in a Bite – Part One

I was very excited to see two of my favorite food related celebs, Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson, were in a new show together. The Taste  is a competition show in which the contestants must make the perfect single bite of a dish. I'd seen similar challenges in other competition shows like Chopped or the Next Iron Chef where it is asked that the chef demonstrate their cooking philosophy in a single bite of food. I will say right now that I am not interested in a food competition of any kind. I am wide eyed and hopeful or arrogant enough to believe that I can get to cook for those chefs I admire without the trauma and potential humiliation of a competition. Still, I became obsessed with my cooking philosophy (do I have one) and whether it could be expressed in a single bite. Jon had an eating philosophy of a bit of croissant with butter and honey on a spoon. I thought of something that would have a bit of complexity. It would be a recipe that I had mutated and fused with other cooking cultures I've explored. It should be something that means a lot to me personally.

I had an idea that would work reasonably well, but it seemed to be too simple. And then, I saw Bourdain on an episode of his newer travel show, The Layover. And there I found the missing elements. I figured out an original recipe that was very much from my roots while reflecting all of the methods of cooking I'd learned from other cultures. I even involved my father in its creation. He's been very much pro-cultural fusion in cooking since I gave him beef short ribs Boeuf Bourguignon style. And he helped me with that final element that really shows some creativity. I am mid-way through executing the recipe for the first time, so I can't reveal much more. I hate to be a tease, but I want to pull this off before I really start crowing about how clever I may be. What I wanted to talk about today is how absolutely giddy I felt figuring out an original recipe. There are many recipes that I've put a spin on, but this one is made of groupings of ingredients and procedures that are my own. It is writing of a sort. Chefs have said over an over that cooking can be storytelling. One element of this epic bite of food is collard greens. Each time I make them, I think about my grand uncle KC and how he taught me how to cut the leaves. Of course, thinking about him involves tomes of some highly entertaining Warner family history. Or I think about how my version of collards was a direct result of my Mother's stroke at age 46. In the aftermath, I took my immediate family through a tectonic shift in how the traditional foods were prepared. I started using olive oil, garlic and smoked turkey to flavor veg like collards or black eyed peas. This dish is definitely the story of a world traveler who has wandered mostly through foods of different places and peoples. This excitement is the same as that of writing a story when it's going very well. I wanted to share. The next blog will have full documentation of how I made the dish and how it turned out. There may even be a video. It's my plan to make sure that the chefs I kibitz with on Facebook and twitter have a read.

Updates

Jon and I begin our marathon journey this weekend. Remember, we take any donation. It's for the entire walk as a unit – not per mile. Donations go directly to the organization. https://www.justgiving.com/Deborah-Warner . I should have the interview with Sean Hepburn Ferrer done by next weekend. I'll also have a couple of cooking videos aside from the one bite up next weekend. And I am really, really hoping for the safety of everyone near me that I can find the time to write some fiction.

Stay tuned.

Artsy Bread, True Fiction and a Long Walk

I had a lot planned for last week. Most of those plans didn't get done. However, a whole lot of different things were accomplished. All of this was happening while I was really under the weather. It wasn't the flu. It was some sort of stomach/intestinal thing. All of the lovely food I made last Sunday was no longer a good plan (high fiber and spice). I had to make a vat of chicken stock and revert back to one of my post hospital diets for a while. The nice thing about that was that I had made a big batch of brioche dough. I use a method from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day www.artisanbreadinfive.com/ . The recipes require no kneading and can be kept in the fridge for up to a week. The five minutes comes from the amount of time it takes to prepare the dough for baking. It's really nice to have fresh bread to go with that soup. And toward the end of the week, I had enough of this sweet, rich dough to make some decadent cinnamon rolls. That kind of recuperative menu almost made up for the near debilitating fatigue. I spent a lot of time zonked out on the sofa. Thus, I had to cancel the shoot for Cook Like a Uke, and I barely got done any editing Sean Hepburn Ferrer's interview for The Secret Cancer. When I did get out for the Farmers Market and Happy Hour at the Culver Hotel, I ended up drinking green tea. Admittedly, I did have martinis but nowhere near what I usually have. And I paid for the ones I had. But I digress. A lot of stuff got done despite this set back. Basic details will be in the Update section. For complete details, I'll be referring you to the other blogs. Sorry.

By the way, for more photos from this week's happenings, go to this link: http://dlwarner.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_20.html .

Verisimilitude

I had some very nice comments on my work this week. On the site, All Romance, where I am a bestseller (yes, I like saying that), a reader wrote that she enjoyed all of my work. On a different site, a reader said 'just read all of her work.' That was mighty nice. Yet the most fascinating and fun comments have been about the realism I've managed to put into my books. A reader who went to see Zero Dark Thirty said that the Seal Team Six in that film reminded her of Falcon Squad from the Soldiers' books. I had done some research on special forces units in general. We worked with one on Demon Under Glass. He came to our attention after commenting that it took longer to strangle a man than we shot in one scene. This formidable crew guy found film far more peaceful than the military (geez, he must have had a hard time as a soldier to think that). Yet, he was really affable, laid back and funny in a very twisted way. The actor who played Rik in the short film version of the Soldiers book actually was in such a unit as well. Why do they drift toward film. Beyond that, I interview others who were in a unit or were close to people who were. The freedom about hairstyles and operating outside of protocol were not made from whole cloth. I was very pleased that someone saw my guys in characters that were even closer to the real thing. I was asked if the menu I go into loving detail about in Ensnared is real. The answer is yes. All food I mention in my books are dishes I've had. Often times, I've made them as well. Food is an excellent way to ground even the most far flung of fantasies in reality. I am still working on a cookbook 'written' by Vincent Greven. The current release date is in time for the Writers Romance and Rainbows 2013 Book Fair. Yes, it has a blog now. We'll see.

I'm Walkin' (Yes, Indeed)

I am very pleased and honored to be associated with the lovely people who run Pseudomyxoma Survivor https://www.justgiving.com/pseudomyxomasurvivor , a charity founded by an incredibly brave survivor of PMP. On Saturday, I was invited to join a fund raising effort on behalf of that group that is tied to the London Marathon. No, I'm not flying to London to do a Marathon. If I were flying to London, it would be to go on an epic pub crawl. And I am in no shape to run a marathon other than in a cab. The challenge is to walk or run or crawl the distance of a marathon by the date of the London Marathon on April 21, 2013. We'll raise money as well as support the people running in the marathon for PMP Survivors. Our team, PMP Los Angeles is Jon, me and Craig (who is also our coach) so far. I'm hoping to have more of my peeps here join us. And you don't have to be in LA to join our team! You can walk or run anywhere. We'll be putting up a schedule in a few days of when and how much we plan to walk. We hope you will contribute to our cause. Any amount will do. The funds go directly to PMP survivors. Here is our page: http://www.justgiving.com/teams/pmpmarathonchallenge . Let's raise some bucks and awareness for this cause. Today is the 20 year anniversary of Audrey Hepburn's death and still very few know about this illness. It is often tragically misdiagnosed. That nearly did me in. This is a cause that is extremely important to me. Those who join who aren't in LA will be treated to a motivational speech by coach Craig via the interwebs.

Updates

The Demonspawn fund raising campaign is over. We fell well short of our optimum goal, but that does not mean that there won't be a web series. For details on where everything stands, check out the blog later today (evening-ish) on this link: http://http://demonspawntales.blogspot.com/ . Meanwhile, things are poppin' in the yaoi world. My news page on Facebook has had it's first exclusive interview and is growing by the hundreds each day. The writing is going well, too. I'm back on track with A Soldier's Destiny and making headway on one of my most hard core yaoi pieces for Full Metal Orgasm E-zine. You can catch on all of this later tonight or tomorrow at http://sybpressyaoi.com .

Stay tuned.

Blahs, Bestsellers and Book Fairs

This has always been a blah time of year for me. I've always loved the Christmas-New Year season. January was a bit of a let down, especially when it is spent on the east coast in the winter. It's not gray or bleak in California, but January is still a bit of a downer. The holiday season is the Super Bowl for cooking. There isn't much on the horizon until Easter. Well, there is the Super Bowl, but we aren't having any company for that. I'll have to figure out something fun to cook though. I simply must use the sweet knife set up Jon installed for me. January also represents the beginning of the medical tests to make sure that I remain cancer free. From this week until sometime in the middle of March, I'll be making many trips to LA County USC to take a test or to see a doctor. Most likely, everything is fine and I am still in remission. That doesn't mean that I haven't been thinking about it and worrying about it. It's what I do.

Speaking of food, here's a link to what I've been up to lately http://tinyurl.com/aenrvax. The first group of photos are the pull apart dinner rolls I'd been having problems with. After that is the Tiramisu Mousse and lastly is the home made Brioche and Brioche French Toast.

Huge News

Aside from becoming a professional short story writer and essayist, I became a bestselling Ebook author last year (I still am!). I had been bemoaning my lowly status as an author to a fellow writer, Kimberly Hunter. She suggested that I try this romance Ebook site. I put up all four of my yaoi books. Before the end of the month, they were all bestsellers! Here is a link to the site. http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=DL+Warner The two Ensnared titles also got lovely reviews. That can make a gal really happy even if I won't see any actual cash from the place for a while. The review and the sale pulled me out quite an emotional slump. I am the type of writer that really enjoys writing for its own sake, but it is nice to find that it is appreciated.

But that isn't the only big news on the writing/publishing front. Kimberly and I were lamenting the lack of venues for authors of homoerotic fiction to sell their books and discuss their works like there is for writers of straight romances. This is a real disadvantage, because these are opportunities to network with authors, publishers, reviewers and readers that are beyond monetary value. These connections fuel the creative energy and satisfy emotional needs of an artist. I can't tell you how great it made me feel to meet people who were following my work. I get very little feedback about my work. It is very difficult to find venues where I can talk to other writers like me. Events like this also make news in publishing media. News brings more readers and reviewers to an author's work. We were missing out from a lot of this. And while I enjoyed the last West Hollywood Book Fair, we were a tiny sliver of an event with a whole lot of agendas that were different from ours. Kimberly and I thought it would be nice to have just a one day book fair that was dedicated to our genre. We bounced around some ideas before I approached the guys from Bent-con for advice on how to proceed. To our surprise and complete delight, they suggested a joint venture. We could have a track of programing and vendor space at the next Bent-con! Of course, we thought that was an awesome plan. We have readers that would love to get a look at gay themed comic and such comic fans may enjoy our books. Thus, Writers, Romance and Rainbows was born! Fight now, we're only on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WritersRomanceRaindows?ref=hl . Anyone can join the page by clicking the 'Like' button. We'll have a page on the same site where this blog is based in a few days. I'll share that link as soon as it is ready. Along with three days of publishers and authors peddling their wares, there will be a cover model contest and a formal dance. We want it to be a rollicking fun time for everyone who attends. Yes, I already have a lot on my plate. I have too much on my plate. However, I just couldn't pass up this opportunity while bemoaning my situation. After all, When I took matters in hand, I became a bestseller!

Updates

There are many coming soon. Stay tuned! 

Christmas, New Year and Questions Answered

I'm thinking of having Jon wait until next weekend to take down the tree and the lights. I have really been enjoying how pretty everything looked in the wee small hours of the morning just before Jon gets up. I'm reminded of how happy I was with the Christmas decorations Jon put up after my first surgery. They are the simplest we've ever had, but somehow they are the prettiest. I had been so surprised to be home for Christmas three years ago that I found Jon's humble decorations magical. I still do. The moments sitting in the room lit only by the twinkling lights while I sip coffee makes me feel so happy and content. I'd love to keep that feeling for just a few more days. There is so much on my plate in the next few weeks, I need some magic. Side Note: it is a very nice bit of magic when up at 4:30 in the morning with another bout of acid reflux. It is very nice, indeed.

Hustle and Bustle

Last year was not a good one for getting Jon presents. He is very difficult to buy for in general. The one option that I had was not in stock when I had the money to get it. I was forced to improvise by making a treat that he was having trouble finding of late. Thus, Deb's Roasty-Toasty Peanuts were born. I make them every few months since last year. Honey roasted nuts are welcome any time of the year. He loved the treats and the new video game when it finally arrived. However, this year, I wanted to get him something really nice. My very own laptop helped me find the gifts at a really great price. I have Google everything on my laptop. Advertisements follow me every where I go when I'm online. Usually that is an annoying and often creepy phenomena. This time, it worked. I did need an office chair for Jon. His was falling apart. So was his windbreaker. Google remembered that I had comparison shopped for these items more than once. It was happy to point out that a deeply discounted office chair was available with free shipping on cyber Monday. Likewise, JCP (JC Penny for us older folks) had a great sale on men's windbreakers with free shipping. Jon was out of the way in short order, but there was still a lot to do.

We're already having a far rainier in Los Angeles than it has in three years. I'd gotten tired of cleaning the rug over and over. I needed to get a welcome mat and an area near the door where we could take off our shoes like Japanese homes have. Jon came up with a great idea of using a desk mat. It fit the area in front of the door perfectly. We now have a pretty good Genkan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genkan and hopefully a much cleaner floor. I also needed to pick up some gift bags for the baked goods we were giving out locally. All of these items meant trips to malls and major shopping districts during the busiest buying season of the year. The retail veteran in me was really dreading this. I was expecting a heavy press of crowds, lots of noise and lots of really unhappy people. I was shocked to find all of the items without any real problems. The crowds weren't bad at all. I found no long lines. I think I was a little resentful that none of the staffs I ran into had that hollow eyed stare that I often had a few days before Christmas. Even my unscheduled trip to Costco was less of a hassle than it would be on a regular week day. I have to say that I enjoyed the mild hustle and bustle along with the Christmas music and children laughing. I was particularly tickled by a young father teaching his toddler daughter how to swing dance while waiting for Santa. It was the first time in many years that I felt like I was part of the holiday season. However, the shopping trips did take a lot out of me physically. I wasn't left with much energy for the rest of my tasks. But fatigue seems to always part of the holidays season, and stuff was getting done.

We used to have an open house at Christmas every year in Philly. The hubs and I had our first hook-up during one 19 years ago. Nineteen!!! We haven't had one since moving into our tiny apartment. And then, there was my illness not making things very festive. I even did the very scary thing of sending out a general invite on Facebook. That could have made life extremely entertaining. In the end, we had pretty much my extended film family in attendance. That was very nice. The food turned out fairly well despite a few minor disasters. I even held up fairly well despite running around and cooking for the open house and for Christmas dinner. That bodes very well for the treatment I'm on to battle the damage done by chemotherapy. I was glad to see Phil and Jack and Sunshine and Ralph and Marguerite and young Mister Shelton. I used to see them routinely for large stretches of time out here. It felt so strange to have drifted. I hope this gathering means that there will be many more to come. We also had a bright spot in our home on Christmas Even and Christmas Day. Sunshine Lliteras was in the house for two days and nights sharing the holiday programs and our favorite Christmas movies. You should know those by now. I harp upon them every year. Really quickly they are Tokyo Godfathers and A Christmas Carol (1952 version with Alistair Sim). We haven't had an overnight guest for any holiday since the days back in Playa del Rey. Happily, Sunshine is a super easy going guest who is a lot of fun to have around. She even put on a Santa hat to delivery cookies with us to the police on duty down the street. And she kept the same odd hours as I do. Good times! View all my Christmas photos here: https://plus.google.com/photos/115054950092873560149/albums/5828120788318857745?authkey=CM3ioNjU8qT9Mw.

Q and A

And now to answer those questions raised in the blog preview.

• Apparently, those giant car bows seen in TV ads are really expensive. Really. And the dealership is loathe to give them away without a vehicle attached to them. They also really abide by that time is money stance and can be quite short in ending a discussion that doesn't involve driving a car off the lot. Really. I had an old lady shopping cart with me, and I'm pretty sure the bus top I came from was visible through the picture window to anyone paying attention. Odds of my buying a car was remote. And when I can afford one, I'm not going to a place that was so rude.
• Too many of my male friends are willing to hide in our closets indefinitely for a chance at surprising Jon. I had two such offers to help me out together his new office chair. I considered shoving Craig and an actor friend in their just to see what mayhem would arise. I thought better of it later. Jon enjoyed putting together the chair himself.
• Apparently, I am attractive enough for dapper elderly gentlemen to speculate about my fidelity in public places. I had on no ring when they started pointing out all the mistletoe hanging about. The situation was more cute than creepy though I think I'll return home for my ring if I forget it again.
• I'm getting good enough at cooking on the fly that I can whip up an appetizer, main course and dessert in under an hour with a weird set of ingredients. One of my cutie pie guests at the open house had an allergy to olive oil. The next thing I know, I'm whipping up buffet alternatives. My pantry and my skills have come into their own! Can you say Chopped ?
• I'll tell you more about the question that resulted in a whole lot of work when the details are finalized. But it was fairly amusing and quite exciting.

Year in Review – Briefly

2012 was a very good year overall. I became a published short story author at long last. I also became a published essayist. I directed actors and ran shoots on my own this year. We have a web series well under way. The first interviews for my documentary on Appendix Cancer is in the can. I also came into my own as a manga editor and a spokesperson of sorts for the yaoi industry in the US. Writing and editing have brought some wonderfully creative and fascinating people into my life from around the world. And despite some deeply perplexing and at times horribly disheartening developments in publishing (I won't go into it too deeply here as I have ranted on the topic a few times. In short, two authors writing in arenas where I have made my home over the last 15 years achieved fame, fortune and even critical acclaim in one case while I toil in obscurity. One of them can barely put words into sentences), I have figured out a path for raising my profile as an author and perhaps even following suit. No, it doesn't involve taking anyone out literally or figuratively. I have had a difficult time physically and emotionally from the damage my cancer treatments have caused, but I face 2013 with tremendous gratitude for all the lovely people in my life who have helped make it better. And I am incredibly optimistic that I am on the right path for creative fulfillment and – hopefully – success.

Stay tuned! And Happy New Year!

Holiday Madness

As I stood in the kitchen for ten minutes wondering what I was supposed to be doing next, it dawned on me that I should write the blog when my head isn't spinning. Besides, more and more happens to blog about. For instance:

• Car dealerships are not that interested in selling or giving away those giant car ribbons.
• Why it isn't a good plan to put together furniture when you aren't good at assembly.
• Why it's always wise to wear a weeding ring in the season of mistletoe.
• How an idle question can turn into a whole lot of work.
• And so much more!

Look for a new blog and our official Seasons Greeting around Tuesday.

Stay tuned!

Hipsters, Cookie Bombs and Star Trek vs Metafiction

We really lucked out when we moved to this neighborhood with it's incredibly convenient shopping that is vast in variety and terrific transit access by bus or car. We find more reasons that this true with almost every errand we run. Last week, it was the reasonably priced, fully equipped garden center. Today, we found an old-timey tailor ad few doors away from a hardware store we've frequented for years. After we realized that he was a tailor, we stopped in to price having new buttons sewn on Jon's great coat. It was a good price. He even told us of a place where we could get a set of matching buttons for the coat. Our neighborhood is full of wonders. Apparently, we aren't the only ones to realize this. Hipsters have infiltrated the neighborhood. They've even seeped into our apartment building. There are far too many pork pie hats and over sized eye glasses. 

We should have expected this to happen. In June, the neighborhood reached saturation point with farmers markets. There are three. We don't just have sushi bars, we have full blown izakayas. This area is the home base of the chef who invented the gourmet food truck in Los Angeles. He has two restaurants here. One of them, the A-Frame,  has even been visited by Anthony Bourdain. I'm so annoyed that I missed that. The A-Frame is steps from my favorite 99 Cents Only store. We even have an ironic cake supply store. Hipsters love all things ironic. Why is the cake supply store ironic? Gloria's Cake and Candy Supply has everything imaginable for light and airy confections covered in pastel roses while it's main sales clerk looks like he came straight from a megadeath heavy metal concert tour. Things have become very hip indeed. We can cope with hipsters. Despite the last episode of the Simpsons, there are far worse things a neighborhood can be. However, if someone sees me in a pork pie hat, slap me.

Baking Frenzy

It is truly that time of year when every spare spot of space in our modest apartment is piled with bags and containers of baked goods. The freezer is nearly bursting with doughs in pre-cookie form. I have introduced three new treats in recent years. Two are brand new this year. I am making two vegan treats though I was not deliberately catering to vegans. The sugar plum (a ball of ground dried fruits, roasted nuts and spices mixed with honey) and mochi (a Japanese candy made of sweet rice flour and flavored with green tea and sugar) just happen to be vegan. The other new treat is a fruitcake cookie. Many of my friends have expressed interest in the fruitcakes I made to ship back east. Alas, I only make one batch of those. It's hard to explain. This year, I got sent a cookie recipe for a fruitcake cookie. It had all the brandy doused dried fruit as the cake I make just in cookie form. I decided to try those for our local cookie gifts. I do give different baked goods to the folks back east than I do the locals. No one gets shortchanged though. The locals get some of the more delicate and elaborate treats that won't ship well. In this way, everyone gets something special. I never want these gifts to be assembly line though there is a bit of that during the packaging and shipping part. The house does smell wonderful for many days, and there are always cookies to check for Quality Assurance. Jon is really good at that. Ideally, everything would ship out tomorrow. We'll have to wait as see if that works out.

My shopping, baking and shipping are a bit off for a couple of reasons. I have long been coping with a great deal of physical pain. I have quite a bit of post chemo nerve damage and thus nerve pain. The meds prescribed by my oncology docs were blunting the pain by less than half. I had been finding it harder and harder to do anything with this pain. Finally, I had a referral with a pain management doc who specialized in post chemo nerve damage. I think the biggest relief was that I was not being a hypochondriac. A treatment was a very close second. The pain doc told me not to be hard on the oncologists. Their options for meds were limited to those that are carried at a public hospital where almost all of their patients fill their prescriptions. Those options there are limited to generics that don't require insurance. Thankfully, I am now covered for most anything. The doc and the pharmacist warned me that the new regimen may slow me down for a while. I did not realize they meant slow as in spontaneous naps or sitting and staring at things for long periods of time. So, I'm not sure when packages will get shipped or even if there will be a dinner on time, but I am feeling a lot better. It all evens out in the end. I just keep in perspective that three years ago I had a belly covered in big surgical staples and was facing a lot of uncertainty. Everything is much better now.

Metafiction vs Star Trek

Metafiction is basically fiction in which the writer reveals the various artifices of writing to the reader. Here is a longer definition that doesn't make me want to hit someone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metafiction I hate this sort of writing with a passion. Metafiction was all the rage when I was in grad school. Thus, I hated grad school. The process of writing is only interesting to people who teach writing. Actual writers find creating stories with compelling characters takes up too much of their time to worry about revealing artifices and otherwise staring at their own navels. Tell me a story or stop wasting my time, is my writing philosophy. As much as I hate metafiction, Craig hates it even more. I distinctly remember him threatening physical violence to visiting authors of such fiction when we worked at Borders.

I was thus shocked when Craig recommended a work of metafiction for me to read. He highly recommended it. He badgered me until I borrowed it from the library. Redshirts by Jonh Scalzi was worth the badgering. It seems that if you mix metafiction with something that looks vaguely like Star Trek and a very twisted sense of humor, something brilliant happens. Here is the synopsis:

Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.

Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces, (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations, and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.
Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.


I was enjoying the general hilarity of how absurd Trek away missions and the refreshing change of characters noticing that the absurdity when someone comes out of a bulkhead and cryptically tells Dahl to avoid the narrative. The reader is then taking on a surreal and screamingly funny adventure that breaks the fourth wall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_wall, travels through time and ends up in a Studio Lot in Burbank. The central issue was not how writing impacts a character, but how a writer has a moral obligation to write intelligently and treat their characters fairly. The Intrepid's crew had endured inanities like blood thirsty land worms and ice sharks (?!) and diseases that liquify bones. The last of which did not kill a character from the main cast. Dahl noticed a day later that he didn't look like he'd melted at all. However, said character – the Chekov character, Kerensky – was permanently squirrely because of all the trauma that routinely befell him. Ultimately, Redshirts thoroughly skewers metafiction as much as it skewers badly written sci-fi TV. I loved ever paragraph. 
 
Admittedly, Redshirts did cause me some introspection about how morally I treated my characters. A review found that I write an awful lot of arrogant men who think I'm not spending enough time writing about them. The one character I thought I wronged was Armans of Ritvala in the Gift of Surrender. I wrote The Price of Surrender to correct that. He's pretty happy though he'd also like another adventure. Yes, I'm aware that sounds insane. I'm a writer.



Updates
I am working on Soldier's Destiny at a slow but steady pace. And though I will be a bit distracted with my favorite Christmas gift of the season – Jon is off for a week and a half! We get to hang out for more than just doing chores and running errands. But I'll still be writing.

Stay tuned.

On Mom and Cooking and the Holiday Frenzy

Jon and I do a lot of prep for the baking season, including dry runs throughout the year. We like to keep our skills sharp. This kind of prep does not extend to actual Christmas shopping. I am just now compiling a list for Jon to choose from. I found myself very tickled when I finished as almost all of the items involved cooking in some fashion. What was so funny, you might ask. I was thinking about my Mother. I am a lot like her in many ways. I look like her. I certainly have her sense of humor. However, we vastly diverge where my interest in all things cooking. This was especially true where Christmas presents were concerned. It was made very clear, that any present related to household chores would be view with great disdain. There would be consequences for such a gift that could be very uncomfortable. I remember the one year that someone thought it would be a great idea to give Mom a new set of cookware for Christmas since the set we had was damaged. Things were extra frosty until February, and not because of Philly winters. If anyone had purchased the trio of imported sea salts that I adore for her, said gifter would have found themself sleeping on the patio. We didn't have an enclosed patio.

I am very different from Mom in that regard. Not that I don't enjoy girlie gifts. I love jewelry and clothes and all of that. But I really love anything related to cooking from cookbooks to the tiniest gadget. I use my crepe pan every week, because it is the perfect pan to make regular pancakes. I clean it carefully with oil and course salt after use before wrapping it in a special cloth before putting it away. I love that pan! Thus, I have a list of items that I have yet to acquire and really want. It's a very exciting list to me, but I am leaving one item off. I do want a chef's coat. No apron can protect me from getting covered in whatever I”m cooking. However, I want to wait on that item. It's a bit pricey. Mom still wouldn't be impressed. What am I getting for Jon? That's all taken care of. The last one was delivered today. I only chose them on Monday, so that's really impressive of these online shops. Still, I may have to venture into the mall for one or two things for very, very special people. I will choose a weekday and early in the day. That should keep the crazy to a minimum. We'll be doing the garland on the window with the lights again this year. The piney scent is really nice. Soon, the scents of baked goods will be in the air. That will be lovely. The only potential difficulty is our usual problem coming up with an idea for our official Christmas card. Every year I say we should think of something during the summer. Every year we're coming up with something mid-December. Will this be the year that we repeat a card? Who knows!

Updates

I am actually working on a book! I have taken up the latest Soldiers book where it left off. It's like coming home if home were filled with hot and frequently naked guys. I'd love to project all the fiction that I plan to do in the weeks that I am between manga assignments, but I will enjoy the moment. Everything else will happen in its own time. Meanwhile, there is a lot of baking and cooking to do.

Stay tuned.

Stress, Lardons and Japanese at Harley Davidson

This blog has been my most difficult in the last few years. I cannot say that I have ever resented writing it or not enjoyed it. But there have been several things that have happened in the last few months that have made me wonder about the point of doing anything. I have not been in such of state of white hot fury in a very long time. Some of it I'll talk about here. Most of it is something that has to be said in person. And I do have to own some of the reasons why I find myself so vehemently angry in recent days. For far too long, I have ignored slights that were both very big and very, very small. If you are now wondering whether or not you've slighted me, chances are that you haven't. Those prone to these sorts of slight seldom give it any sort of thought. At any rate, one of the changes that cancer patients make is to let things that upset us go. I have found that to be a useful practice in general. However, some people can take that philosophy to mean that I am a doormat or that I will accept being treated shabbily. I suppose the argument could be made that shabby treatment is better than those who've simply disappeared from my life after I fell ill. I view them as the same transgression. I will not tolerate either anymore.

And while I'm in the mood to be snarky, let me say this very clearly. I am an artist. Despite appearances to the contrary, that makes me a sensitive and sometimes fragile soul. To me, being ignored is as bad as being criticized. I know how many people read this blog every week. It's a lot of people. And that does make me happy. But I hardly ever hear from 99% of them. It's the same with my books. I get very few comments, reviews or even 'likes' for my pages. This does not help me sell books which was the original intent of this blog. I don't ask much. I just ask that when I post links to things I'm working on, click on them and then click 'like' or leave a comment. Buying would be great, but it's not necessary. The 'likes' and comments help me make sales. Let's practice. Here is the link to my Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/DL-Warner/e/B002BREP2O/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1 . Go there and 'like' the page. It would be extra wonderful if you liked a few of the titles as well, but I won't push.

Speaking of things I need to have people pay attention to, Jon and I have launched a fundraiser to make a web series based on Demon Under Glass. We need traffic as much as we need donors. Traffic gets us featured on the entire site, exposing the campaign to millions of people. The link to the Demonspawn Campaign is here: http://igg.me/p/282567/x/126025 . The trailer that we have worked on for months is there for your viewing pleasure. Go and have a look. Seriously.

Holiday Musings

Thanksgiving being so early in the month has really thrown me off. I actually had a mild panic attack over the holiday baking. I was convinced for a short time that I was too far behind schedule to get everything in the mail. Typically, the week after Thanksgiving, this place is full of baking supplies, and we're figuring out the logistics of mailing it all. I was remembering that the week after Thanksgiving last year, I had enough cookies in production to bring goodie bags to Bent-con. It took a while to realize that though the holiday fell on the proper Thursday of the month, the date was a lot earlier than usual. Everything was a week earlier, date wise. I wasn't already behind. That was stress that I didn't need. I have had a very stressful week. I was even forced to buy something decidedly Christmas in the month of November. I hate doing that. The giant, mutant poinsettia I like to have instead of a live tree went on sale really early at Costco this year. I didn't want to buy it so early, but they ran out of them last year. More stress. Costco is a special kind of insane in the days after Thanksgiving.

Luckily there was lots of good food that I could enjoy most of the time. We really enjoyed the Thanksgiving leftovers this year. The turkey was humongous. And unlike most people we know, we actually enjoy the leftovers as they are. There is no need to get all Iron Chef to transmute such a tasty meal. And then there were the turkey sandwiches. They were just sublime. We had enough turkey that Jon had sandwiches for lunch all the next week. However, I had a hankering for something else. I really wanted to back engineer the sublime cream of potato soup Marie and I had at the Crème de la Crepe a few weeks ago. It was very close to vichyssoise which is leek and potatoes. I was fairly sure I could back engineer it. I figured that since the company founders were from more country parts of France, chances were that lardons figured into the soup. It did have bacon as one of the garnishes. So, I sliced two pieces of slab bacon and cooked them until crispy. I cooked the leeks and other veg in the rendered fat. There was also some good, homemade stock on hand. It was really close. I think I needed a smokier cut of bacon to really nail it. Though my effort was quite tasty. I made the croutons by tossing cubed baguette bread with olive oil and toasting them on a sheet pan. I was really stoked. I've never had a back engineering effort work so well.

Deb vs Japanese at Harley Davidson

On Friday, I was heading home from some errands in Marina del Rey when I passed the monolithic Harley Davidson Dealership. AS I got closer to the main entrance, I realized that a mini tour bus full of Japanese men were leaving the showroom to get back on the bus. They had black leather jackets and hats and big smiles. The line was also blocking my path. I was tired, so I didn't mind pausing. The men acknowledged this patient gesture with smiles and demi-bows. I remembered a sentence I had learned a while back that I never thought I'd actually use. So I said as the rain came down with my best accent, 'Good afternoon. The weather is bad, isn't it?' They were very startled. They smiled and really bowed at me. One said something I recognized as 'you are speaking well.' I remembered the reply for that as I practice it a lot. “No, I'm really not good yet.' While that statement is very true, it is also the absolutely best and most polite reply to such a compliment. I got some great bows then. This boosted my confidence. I had been lamenting the slowness of my progress.

Updates

My last manga in the pipeline for the year will be done this week. I get back to my novels full-time for several weeks! The baking season begins as do new cooking videos.

Stay tuned.