Carrying On Calmly and Otherwise

It's been quite a while, dear readers. Like everyone else in the USA and most of the world, this year has been rough. In addition to the well-reported crises, we've had our share of family sadness and scares. The worst part is that the stressors are ongoing. The constant thrum of background stress is impacting my productivity something fierce. I was getting very little done on my creative works. And I've been abysmally slow line editing Jon's novel. Thus, blogging about my life and work didn't seem prudent for a long while. I always feel guilty when not writing anything creative. I also don't like spreading negativity during this extraordinarily negative time. I prefer readers come to my worlds (even the real one) and enjoy their time without care. This was the state of affairs until several weeks ago. Mind, the stressors were still percolating in the background. But I changed my tact and began doing research for a novel I was trying to outline. But first –

Month of Fun COVID Edition

See Photos Below

In trying to keep Jon from foraging hither and yon searching for provisions, I began to heavily rely on delivery services like Instacart [instacart.com] and Pavilions for day to day heavy groceries. But I was running out of pantry staples that I could only get at Mitsuwa Marketplace. I also wanted to order some prime seafood in small amounts. There aren't many shops I'd trust ordering seafood online. Going in person was not possible at the time. I am a high risk for Covid-19.

One day, I chanced upon a website/app in the barrage of ads Social Media sites throw at me throughout the day. Mercado.com is a delivery service that covers specialty stores that don't carry enough variety for mainstream delivery services. Among the shops Mercado serves are many at Farmer's Market LA. I was delighted. My favorite butcher and fishmonger are there. It's funny. I never hear anyone use the term fishmonger save for on What We Do in the Shadows. But I digress. There would be delicious treats for the MoF 2020. WooHoo!

My first order through Mercado.com included plump, firm sea scallops, and a dozen Pacific Oysters. Over the next week, these tidbits were happily devoured. I seared the scallops and dressed them in brown butter alongside a fruit salad. The oysters were served raw with a mignonette sauce.

The beverages were different this year. A friend from Canada suggested a French Rose wine called Fabre en Provence. Fortunately, the local Bevmo had it in stock and on sale. I hadn't tried Rose wine since my early 20s. It had a snazzy ad, as I recall. It was really cheap and awful. The Fabre was light and delicate and refreshing. Delicious! By sheer coincidence, Jon brought home a Rose Chandon bubbly for the scallops. I really disliked pink champagne in my youth (I had to learn to stop buying wine from TV ads), but considering how good the Fabre was, I thought it was worth a try. Sparkling Rose bubbly is now my favorite. This pairs perfectly with my favorite treat of the entire MoF.

Cousins Main Lobster Truck had the best Facebook ad to ever interrupt my scrolling. That was because it had lobster rolls and would be situated ten minutes from my house at a time when Jon could stop by and pick up an order. The prices were reasonable, and the reviews were stellar. I found out later that the company founders had made quite an impression on Shark Tank. The reviews are well deserved. That sandwich was a feast for the senses. The lobster was tender, the bun was perfectly toasted and buttered. I inhaled that, a bowl of lobster bisque and a bowl of clam chowder. It was disgraceful. I can't wait to do it again!

Finding Traction

I've always been self-motivated as a writer. I'm typically able to juggle two writing projects while outlining a third. And I always wrote quickly once a story is outlined. This has not been the case since November 2019. The weirdness that is 2020 exacerbated the disconnect from my work. Since I'd never experienced anything like this before, I was unsure how to fix it.

Thankfully, I chanced upon a huge slate of videos that caused my mind to conjure some fascinating directions for upcoming titles. I've been watching a lot of Singapore TV True-Crime shows because, of course, I am. Singapore is a close analog to one of the regions in my Ensnared series. I've watched many travel documentaries about the country(Bourdain's was fascinating). That led me to historical and cultural documentaries. Next, I found the 24-hour news channel, CNA, has excellent coverage of Asia in general. I think that was when YouTube's algorithm decided I'd likely enjoy some True-Crime (and I always do). Crimewatch gave me insight into just how illogical humans can be when it comes to our baser natures. Who would risk committing crimes in a country known for its draconian enforcement of order? Apparently, a lot of people – enough to have 34 seasons of Crimewatch. Bourdain mentioned being weirded out by the many signs strongly advising against committing crimes or pushing citizens to report everything they see. Most people in the West have heard about the caning that can be part of a criminal sentence. It makes no sense to risk freedom and/or the skin on one's backside pursuing an illegal diversion when the country has so many legal ones. That gave me the central theme to the next Ensnared.

I've also found some wonderful documentaries on the Regency Era in England. I'm about to subvert the very literary romances of that period. The most helpful series for my research has been Regency House Party. A Very British Romance and Elegance and Decadence – The Age of the Regency with the fabulous Lucy Worsley were essential in helping with my world-building. Viewing these shows was also a great pleasure. I've been inspired to great mischief! I am now busily writing and plan to have some teasers up on my Author page very soon.

In other news, I finally got fed up with my laptop's sluggishness and upgraded its RAM. Now, I'm efficiently finishing the artwork I need for a marketing push of my erotica titles. I'm even learning to animate! Flash animation, not Miyazaki. I'm not going to give a timeline for when the marketing will see the light of day. Let's just say that it's coming along nicely.

I am far from stress-free. However, I am writing and drawing again. The great Holiday Bake is coming, and I'm making plans. I'm getting through this. I hope you all are as well.

Stay tuned.

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Year of Fun, Rats, and Holiday Truths

I've always loved the holiday season – even when I worked in retail. I love the food prep and the gift giving. No matter the mayhem in my life, we celebrate Christmases and the New Year. I just saw a lovely documentary from Lucy Worsely that affirmed my belief in celebrating the full 12 Days of Christmas. Happy 12^th Night, y'all (I began this blog on January 6th)!

Despite that great love for the season, it is linked now and forever to my cancer diagnosis and the first surgery. Ten years ago, this past December, I nearly departed this world. But there were many holiday miracles that December. My primary care doctor was one of a handful of docs that could recognize my symptoms, There was a cracking surgeon on call when I presented at the ER. Somehow, Temple University ended up in a bowl game (I was really convinced that news was the morphine talking, but it was true). I couldn't eat Thanksgiving dinner, and Christmas dinner tasted like metal from the hellacious antibiotic. I was okay about the food tasting that way, but I was offended that the champagne tasted like metal. I drank it anyway.

Since my diagnosis was in December, my yearly probing, blood draws and chest-smashing are scheduled during that same time. While I'm having fun with the usual rituals and the new recipes or ingredients, I find that I have to drop everything and sit in waiting rooms. As I head into a New Year, I'm waiting for test results. It's quite a dichotomy. Most years, I'm baking and enjoying Alastair Sim (the only Scrooge on film who matters) and imbibing calorie rich libations while worrying about test results. This year, I was doing all those things while worrying about how I'd be financially able to be treated if something comes back or something new comes up. I was also hit with a major downer over the yearly survey of my overall health and state of mind. The former is worse than it was ten years ago in many ways due to the profound side effects of the cancer treatment, and the latter has been in a spiraling depression because of all that I can't do or do as easily as before Chemo.

I scared my Doc with the answers to that survey. I had not intended to do that. The questions didn't have answers that reflect my gratitude for being alive. I had to assure her that my answers did not indicate despondency. I was still cooking, and baking, and following rituals. Most importantly, I'm still writing naughty holiday stories (albeit way, way too slowly). Everything I like doing seems to take a lot more time than the year before. That fact really bugs me, but I keep plugging.

Enough of that. There is another thing about 2020 that I am very excited about. I had hoped to be excited about silver jumpsuits and jet packs, but this is a lot of fun as well. This year, I reach a venerable milestone on my birthday. Thus, it's another Year of Fun (#YoF2020)! Also, the Lunar New Year heralds The Year of the Rat, which is my birth year. That means, I am doubly obligated to celebrate. Thus, there will be hijinx and shananigans. I plan to have dishes I've never tried and a fancy cocktail now and then along with my wine (much more champagne than usual). And there will be travel. There will be!

Speaking of new foods, I have some recipes on my immediate to-do list. One is a Nigerian dish called MoiMoi or Moin Moin. It's made with black-eyed peas, bell peppers, onions, and hot peppers blended and steamed into a pudding-like consistency. Jon used it in his new novel, so I have to try it out. Yes, I will be testing recipes from my fiction. I've also been experimenting with British baking ingredients like Muscovado dark brown sugar (a richer brown sugar that tastes like molasses) and Mixed Spice (a much zestier pumpkin pie spice). They've made a marked difference in my baked goodies this year. Nigella Lawson is responsible for this. Her Christmas yummies looked so amazing that I had to try to replicate them as closely as possible. This isn't British, but I'm also excited about getting a hold of Ruby Cocoa and Ruby Chocolatebaking morsels. They taste like chocolate and berries at the same time. The fudge is amazing. Praise Amazon Prime for making the world an accessible pantry.

I don't make resolutions anymore. However, I aim to treat myself better during the YoF2020 and beyond. I've been working on a consistent skincare routine to add to my natural hair care regimen. You wouldn't believe how many YouTube tutorials it took to get a handle on the skin and the hair. On the plus side, I now know way more than I ever expected to about beauty influencers. It may seem like a waste of time, but the reviews and recs save viewers a lot of time and money. It's especially nice to have advice from women who are my exact shade or hair texture. And bless the professional artists online who know how to makeup women of a 'certain age.' In short, I'm doing the self-care thing.

Writing Updates – I will finish the current story. I've got a couple of new novels in the concept stage while I am continuing with my popular titles. My plate is full, but that's fine. It's full of my favorite kind of characters. I'm also learning a lot about illustrating my work. This New Year/New Decade is very exciting. I am eager to take it on.

Stay tuned!

Writer's Quirks, Strange Research and a New Venture

I live with a writer (he's on the left). We've been together many, many years. I can't deny that such creative cohabitation has great benefits. Jon and I are each other's sounding board. We fill in the gaps for each other. We proofread for each other. This symbiosis was especially important early in our relationship. I was not trained in screenwriting, and Jon was not a writer of prose fiction. In theory, the arrangement should have been simple. I do characters. Jon does visuals. We both work on the concept and the outline. Easy peasy lemon squeezy – it is not.

The big issue is that Jon hates doing re-writes. Who doesn't, right? I am quite famous for reacting so badly to the term 'notes' that my production partners warn the note-makers in advance that they best have complete confidence in their schooling, experience, and taste (depending on my mood) or Deb is really going to hurt your feelings. And I'm known as the nice one. Oh, there were many meetings I was glad Jon wasn't a part of such is his dislike for re-writes. That said, I do know that re-writes are inevitable for various reasons that involve anything from money (remind me to tell you about the animatronic cow we wanted for our Vampire film, Demon Under Glass) to logistics, creative input from the cast and/or crew, and audience reaction. Only Paddy Chayefsky got away with not changing one word of a script, and I'm fairly certain that only happened once.

Somehow, we've made our personal styles mesh well enough to write scripts in a timely fashion with little household tension. I found that I've picked up a lot of Jon's methods for outlining and figuring out what is wrong when I hit a wall while writing fiction. And he's been learning about writing fiction from me. He experimented with all kinds of styles when writing some chapters of the insanely long fanfic saga. Jon was so good at mimicking my voice that very few readers spotted the difference between my chapters and his. For the most part, the Logs were written quickly to respond to episodes and irk the writers for the show. They were also writing experiments.

And then came Life on the Periphery, Jon's collection of short fiction. First off, I must emphatically state that the book is brilliant. That made coping with 'he who shall not re-write' worth the considerable consternation. The protracted research process featured questions about such disparate topics as teenaged girls in the Dust Bowl era, abandoned spouses in olde timey Arabia, personality quirks of the jinn, security protocols at Auschwitz, and courting rituals of young men in 1920s Ohio. The questions tended to pop up randomly and in no particular order. Life was quite interesting during that time. He kept this gal on her toes.

 The range of the collection is breathtaking. He has a truly unique perspective and expresses that with keen insight, great wit, and delightful whimsy. I freely admit that it was so good that I was annoyed. It was his first collection. Who hits a grand slam the first time at bat? When I think about it, I'm glad the collection turned out so well. 

The current book is a novel, but it still involves a wide range of research. Jon has two expert consultants working with him, but the questions keep coming. How do you eat French onion soup (chew, then sip); what do you know about Noh Theater (next to nothing); if you get soaked in the rain, should the clothes come off as soon as possible (yes). Over the past several weeks, he's been through the Concept Stage, the Outline, and the Detailed Outline. He's five chapters into the writing now. The first thing Jon's discovered is that characters are harder to control over a longer arc. That was quickly followed by the revelation that no matter how careful the outline, a plot can be stubbornly wayward.

What do Jon's adventures with writing have to do with mine? Isn't it a distraction? It does seem so when I write it down like this, but I find his drive encourages me when I am wallowing in rough waters with my own work. That said, Jon has derailed me while writing love scenes here and there with the sheer weirdness of some of the questions. That is rare though. It's encouraging to have another writer in the house. Keeps our eyes on the prize, so to speak. And pulling me out of the deep malaise I was in was no easy feat.

Updates

I'm basically finished writing the short story that's taken forever. Its title is Pedestal. I'm working on a few illustrations before going back to proofread and tweak. As I've said before, the story will be free to download. I'll also post it on my Yaoi Blog page. This my gift to the readers for their patience and understanding. I've written an outline for the next Ensnared book while working on the short story. I wasn't planning on that, but a certain character loves hogging attention. Other novels and shorts are in the works. I worked on the next Vampire Rent Boy when I got stuck with the current short story.

Speaking of keeping our eyes on the prize, I was seriously stressed over the thought of having to take on freelance work to keep our heads above water during this situation with the Feds. Before my diagnosis, I worked jobs that didn't drain my mental energy. That way, I could write quite a bit while I was off. The gigs I'm looking at now require a lot of mental and/or creative energy.

I think the worry was evident in my last Author Page post. Several lovely readers strongly suggested that I consider starting a Patreon account. I've considered this before, but I couldn't figure out what perks I could give that anyone would want. The latest person to suggest a Patreon sent links to other authors who had an account. I was surprised at the average minimum ($3.00) and at how simple and easy the perks could be. So – I'm gonna create a Patreon account! It will be a few weeks before I roll it out. First, I must publish Pedestal, Second, I want to plan it carefully and get a jump on the crafting the perks. Thank you to those who suggested the notion.

This is both exciting and terrifying.

An excerpt from Pedestal will be available tomorrow!

Stay tuned!

Muses, Inspirations, and...Jon

It's been a while since my last blog. I thought I'd warm up with a writer's blog. The question I'm answering from my readers is 'Where do my ideas come from?'

I suppose if a casual reader looked at my body of erotica works, the variety of themes that have no relation to one another must look odd. No two settings are alike. The titles that are in the works will likely cause more confusion than clarity. Let's see, there is a new title set in the Regency era of England and another that is in the corporate world of Manhattan and rarefied world of the Hamptons. These will join the other series that span realms that have magical elves and dragons to a New Jersey town where the children of the night hang out in dive bars. My head is often a rollicking, boisterous place.

But how does this happen? The short answer is it's Jon fault. I'll explain that in a little while. Let's do a mini countdown, shall we?

3. I was going to write fanfic because I loved/hated the original then decided to do new work.

The Surrender books originated with my mad love for Lord of the Rings fanfic. There were some works that were so amazing that I was convinced the writers were closeted professionals. I adored

their takes on the characters and how they immersed readers in those realms. So, I wanted to try my hand. I was already an infamous fanfic writer with a few series going. Then, I was chatting with an Industry friend who argued that I should spend all of that creative energy on something that could provide an income. That was true. Fanfic never kept me from writing scripts or doing Producer things, but I was hungry for some professional creativity that didn't involve budgets and fighting with my own department heads.

The Surrender books set out to be a typical fantasy romance. It really did. But as Jon often says, I can't resist subverting tropes and then making that twisted version seem reasonable. That is what makes me a very dangerous Domme when I have a mind to be. Thus, the story of a royal princess who is forced to marry in order to save her kingdom becomes a tale of subtle Dominance and submission. I even tried to beat the record for the longest first sex scene that is still held by the amazing Thea Devine (her real name) at over 100 pages. My first love scene didn't get that far, but it was still a hoot. My only regret with those books even though I really loved writing them is that I held back on the fantasy elements, and I haven't written the third book. Well, I'm fixing that with some major re-writes (I'm going for that record adding the magic) and the newest volume!

Let's move on to the titles that inspired me via blind, boiling rage and hatred. The first was the Ensnared series. Yes, this epic series full of fun characters and hot loving was one of the titles born of rage. I'm not going to get into a debate about pop culture influencing bad behavior. These are my own reactions to tropes that have impacted me or someone I know in profoundly negative ways. BDSM is wildly misunderstood by the general public thanks in large part to ridiculous depictions in various forms of media. This is especially true in Yaoi. I was new to the sub-genre when I first ran across Ai no Kusabi. While it wasn't the worst non-con I'd ever seen, it was the one with the prettiest characters and the most compelling voice performances. Thus, it was popular and often held up as representative of the entire genre. This was a problem for me because I was trying to expand the market for Yaoi fiction beyond straight women to include gay men. They rightfully had a problem with the tropes in that title and many others. What to do? When Jon runs across a book or film he doesn't like, he takes similar concepts and weaves a better tale. It is a long tradition in literature. Hemingway did it in Torrents of Spring. Joe Haldeman did it with The Forever War. I set out to turn the all-powerful Seme and the powerless uke love story on its head with a romance that made sense while indulging in lots of BDSM sexy time. Ensnared became way more than I expected, but I am enjoying the ride too much to give it up entirely.

The other title that fits in this category and the next is my response to a film that thankfully had limited distribution called The Pet though it also works as a response to the equally vile 50 Shades books and films. See below for a brief mention of The Proposal.

2. Continuations of my own themes.

Thus far, there is only one title in this category though there is a second in the works that began as a script. The first is the Soldiers Series. This series is an extension of the novelization of our film, Demon Under Glass. Vincent and Rik are the end results of experimentation that began in that film. At the time I wrote A Soldier's Choice, I was much enamored with Conqueror of Shambala so my protagonists vaguely resembled those men, but the entire mythos for the series is ours. Why yes, I did notice that the theme resembles the new series The Passage. I noticed enough to have a hard look at when those books were written and by whom. Ours predate his novel by a few years. I suppose Vampire super soldiers come up in more than one head. And just as the Passage is neither Demon Under Glass or the Soldiers series, my titles are not Conqueror of Shambala. Inspiration comes from many places. The Soldiers series will continue with a fourth book and the script we wrote will become a webcomic.

The Proposal script never got past the treatment stage. My cancer diagnosis derailed it for a while. The success of 50 Shades made me rethink trying to make a controversial film first. I'm serializing a novel right now that I will release in installments as ebooks followed by a combined print book. If the series catches the right eyes, I still want to do a film.

1. It's Jon's fault.

Somewhere during our many years together, Jon became my muse. He didn't do it on purpose. He just has this way of summing up something in a few words that make for a great starting point. In the Industry, it's called The High Concept (Miami Vice's High Concept pitch was MTV Cops, for example). He's directly responsible for Vampire Rent Boy. That happened while we were looking at a stock image website for art to go with The Companion. We came across the image of a pale face beauty in a top hat and vaguely Victorian clothing, and Jon said 'Vampire Rent Boy.' And I was off to the races. By the way, I really did hang out in a bar like Muttley's in Hoboken when I worked in Manhattan ages ago. A few doors down was the bakery that would be run by the Cake Boss years later. But I digress.

Another time, we were chatting about how any job can become a chore (even filmmaking). Jon wondered if sex bot builders would continue to masturbate after working in such a place. That comment resulted in a short story that is least like me – sexy but darker than dark and depressing. I wrote Product Development for an anthology years ago and will publish it soon as an ebook novella. More recently, he became obsessed with a Reese Witherspoon TV ad that featured a bizarrely designed decanter. That led me to comment that Mykos would think that design was the real reason a civilization fell. And I was off and running with the next Ensnared. I'd been grasping for a beginning for weeks. Jon is also responsible for my writing a Yaoi romance by way of Regency Era England. Well, Jon and Midsomer Murders.

This is my process – such that it is. To find all of my available titles, you can visit my Amazon Author page here: https://www.amazon.com/D.L.-Warner/e/B002BREP2O

Next Blog – Who are my characters based on? Where DOES that dialog come from?

Stay tuned!

Wedding Cakes, Sugar Lace, and Jane Austen

Jon and I didn't have a wedding cake. We had Elvis, singing Klingons and a really great seafood buffet, but I just couldn't arrange a reasonably priced cake in Las Vegas for our wedding. The hotel where we had our reception (in that we ate the seafood buffet that was already there) wanted a cake cutting fee of $10 a slice! Um, no. Thus, for our 20^th anniversary (geez, really?!), we want a proper wedding cake. That means making our own. I thought we'd make some small cakes in various flavors and styles and see which one we like best. I also suggested that Jon take some of the cakes to his job to share so our apartment wouldn't be full of cake all summer. You'd think I'd suggested he gut the office cats. I suppose that means there will be a lot of cake in the house. Maybe we'll get visitors. Special visitors.

Sugar lace and its mold.

Aside from a wedding cake, I'm not sure how else we'll mark the occasion. We'd love to go to Philly if only for a few days. That is something we're looking at closely. If we stay here, it's a conundrum. Our place is way too small for a party. There is still time to figure something out. Right now, we this cake to figure out.  I'm going to learn a few new skills. There is such a thing as sugar lace, and it can be made at home – allegedly. Fortunately, we live steps away from a lovely Cake and Candy supply shop called Gloria's https://www.gloriascakeandcandy.com/. Thus, we can easily ask a lot of questions and shop for everything required.

Ours will not have the chocolate on top.

Our first candidate will be a Tiramisu-layer-cake https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/tiramisu-layer-cake-3612574. We've had such a cake from the local supermarket and liked it. However, I'd need a frosting that could stand up to decorating. The recipe I found on the Foodnetwork has a buttercream frosting made with mascarpone cheese. I could decorate that. Don't worry. There will likely be photos. There may even be a video!

Personal Updates

Since the Month of Fun, I've been busy running around to the quarterly medical appointments. There isn't anything dire afoot. However, my docs are finally looking into two painful problems that have bedeviled me for a few years now. I don't understand why all of these places I need to visit are as spread out as they are. But I'm glad to finally have these issues addressed. I'm not complaining. These physical limitations have made me somewhat frustrated that I can't do as much cooking in one go as I'd like. I still have a list of dishes from the Southern cookbooks that I want to try. And my friends keep sending me new cookbooks to look at with many tempting things. So many mouth-watering goodies. Some of them will even appeal to Jon. Sigh. Still, I am determined to get to them all. This may take a while. Yes, there will be photos. I really have to get better about showing the stages. These problems have also made long-distance travel challenging. And I have many places (and people) all over the world I'd love to visit or re-visit. I shall not be deterred!

Writing Updates

I feel like I'm back in high school. My essay for Jane Eyre is overdue, and I'm hip deep in Jane Austen research. Though vexed at my tardiness, I am enjoying the work with these texts from days of yore and researching the lifestyles of the real people from that era. The documentaries can get to be a distraction, but I think it is having a positive influence on the pieces I'm writing. The artwork has had a vast improvement with the latest version of Photoshop. It has a feature that literally will not let you draw a shaky line. I've been able to do the line work on my sketches in minutes. Whoa! That is quite a breakthrough. All in all, I can say that all of my planned works for this year are progressing though not as quickly as I would like. My apologies for being so vague. It is difficult to talk about my work and have it free of spoilers. More details to come. Stay tuned!

Month of Fun 2018 Plans, Schemes, and Recipes

Mint Julep(center) Meyer Lemonade and
Sweet Tea.

There is something about a mint Julep that makes a body feel good. I can only have one of them though. Those things pack a punch. I still don't get how those people at the Derby can drink cup after cup. I'd be out cold until the following Wednesday. One was enough to spur me on to make a small batch of fried chicken for the occasion. Jon thinks I made it rather than order it (KFC delivers through Grub Hub don't you know) is to use this nifty product I saw on a Japanese cooking show. It hardons pots of hot grease into a disposable disc. That merely was a happy accident. And it was freaking awesome! I don't have a before shot so just picture a big pan of hot Crisco that was clear. After the magic power, it doesn't even jiggle. Simple pleasures! For anyone interested, I found it online using the search phrase Japanese oil hardener. Don't judge me! (See Photos at the end of the blog).

Right Books at the Right Time

I was watching an episode of CSB this Morning Saturday when a chef named Scott Peacock was being interviewed about his work and his collaboration with a well known Southern chef named Edna Lewis for a book called  The Gift of Southern Cooking. The dishes on the table looked so delicious, I had to look up her cookbooks. In those books, I found many wonderful recipes for foods I'd heard of growing up but had never eaten. I also saw recipes for foods I remembered my grandmother serving me as a child. Many of those recipes were vegetables. This is very hand as Jon is not easy to cook for where healthy things are concerned. I have to admit that I was growing bored with the limited selection. I shall go forth to the next farmer's market with renewed excitement and inspiration. Several recipes for indulgent snacks that go well with wine or cocktails will turn up during the Month of Fun 2018. I am still thinking about what kind of cake to bake for the birthday itself though I do know what the rest of the day's menu shall be. I've been waiting to make this for a whole year! Of course, everything will be documented. One awesome by-product of this new interest in old Southern recipes that actually began with my interest in Vivian Howard (A Chef's Life and the book Deep Run Roots) are some fantastic chats with my father about his vegetable garden and how he uses the veggies.

MoF2018 Adventures

Alas, I will not be in France this month. I remain bitter each May that I fail to be in France. However, I plan some outings beyond the new pool at the YMCA. Of course, there be movies like Deadpool 2 and Solo: A Star Wars Story to see. Deadpool is our special date movie. I also plan to make a trip to the new Cat Cafe Lounge and get some long needed cat cuddles. I'm also hoping to get some company to go to the Original Farmer's Market near the Grove Shopping center. While there, I want to visit the French Patisserie and the World Market. The former is personal pleasure while the latter is a reconnaissance mission for Holiday gifts. That is, I searching out nifty jars for special homemade gifts I found in a Nigella Larson Christmas cookbook. As always, I plan to go to Penzey's Spices in Santa Monica. Since there is now a train that can get me there incredibly quickly, it's rather disgraceful that I don't visit that gorgeous town more often. I'm also leaving room for unplanned adventures. We'll see!

Writing Updates

I am one of the few writers I know that isn't having trouble with ideas. I have enough story ideas for two years worth of titles publishing at one a quarter or more often. The problem has been in execution. Sadly, most of that problem is physical. My 'New Normal' is very delicate and ridiculously easy to derail. Currently, I'm working with a stiff neck and headache that has been with me for nearly two weeks. The doc says it's neck strain that seems to have started with a protracted and uncomfortable dentist appointment. Sigh. The other issues arise from creative curve balls. Those are to be expected. The surprises happening while writing the latest Rent Boy have been a lot of fun and quite satisfying. The characters are evolving in surprising ways and the crazy storylines are making thematic sense. That's been lovely. Better still, I'm almost finished with this sucker. The next new series will be a surprise to my readers though its origins are very much how my writing happens – Jon makes a witty observation about something we're watching and I find that I have to run with it no matter how incongruent it seems. I'm also developing a way of both continuing and promoting my ongoing works more effectively than social media has been of late. Neither Amazon nor Facebook's evil algorithms with thwart this writer! I also think my regular followers will love all of it! An aside to my readers and followers – thank you for all the incredibly kind notes and steadfast support. It really does keep me going during the bleakest of times.

Stay tuned!

Photos

Hardened Grease and Japanese
Grease Hardener

Corn Pudding from Edna Lewis' Book

Solo - A Star Wars Story

Month of Fun 2017, Finding Girliness, and Strange Research

It's been a long time since my last blog. While I really missed writing them, I found I couldn't take time from my books to do one. I was feeling guilty enough about being behind in my fiction writing. Before I knew it, not only was the Month of Fun 2017 over but somehow it was also mid-October! Crazy! Well, let's get to it.

Month of Fun 2017

Strangely, one of the cornerstones of the Month of Fun in any year is making sure that – if I do nothing else – I make sure I have a 'damned fine cup of coffee.' * Why is that strange? I hadn't made myself what would be considered a decent cup of coffee in a number of years. I found trying to make a carafe of coffee from our Mr. Coffee wasteful. I only seem to drink one cup of coffee per day unless I'm working in an office. I'm not sure why a cubicle makes me a three cup a day gal, but it does.

Anyway, a couple of weeks before the MoF 2017 began, I was watching an NHK (Japanese Network TV that runs on PBS in LA) Show called Japanology Plus. The subject was cafes that serve Japanese Coffee and the history of coffee drinking in that country. I was dumbstruck when I watched the careful procedure for making the perfect single cup of coffee in Japan because it was so similar to how I made it decades earlier in the first apartment I lived in on my own. I once had a carafe/funnel combo and was rather tickled that this method was not just popular in Japan, it had also become big among the Hipsters here. I recalled that coffee was quite strong and delicious. In the TV show, the cafe workers used a ceramic funnel over top a gorgeous cup. I popped onto Amazon and bought myself a plastic Mellita funnel and filter starter kit. Within two days, I was back to making myself a single cup of sublime coffee. I am doing that to this day. I enjoy Japanology Plus anytime I watch it, but this episode brought back a little nicety that I had long neglected.

There was quite a bit of decadent food for this MoF. I always enjoy Eggs Benedict on special occasions like any given Wednesday. This year, I found Bruno Albouze, a zany French chef on Youtube who had the craziest video I've ever seen of this recipe https://youtu.be/WM_oTv5EAhY. He also had an actual foolproof method of poaching eggs that worked for me! I had my dish with smoked salmon and English muffins, as usual. I also enjoyed just the toasted English muffins with the smoked salmon and Hollandaise sauce as a late night snack a couple of times later in the week. For the Big Day, I made a new recipe from the same chef – a Triple Chocolate Mousse Cakehttps://youtu.be/MhUB4Us8BIo . I didn't have ring molds, so I had to adjust the ingredients for a small, springform cake pan. We enjoyed the heck out of that cake. I was also excited about the appearance of King's Hawaiian hot dog and hamburger buns http://www.kingshawaiian.com. The hot dog buns were split on the top which meant I could finally have a proper lobster roll. Well, when the lobster tails were reasonably priced, the hot dog buns were sold out. One day, there was a cook half lobster on a Manager's Special. I made the roll on the hamburger bun. It was so good, I was dancing in my seat! Be sure to toast the interior of the bun with butter in a frying pan first. Decadent!!! Incidentally, those King Hawaiian buns are wonderful for hamburgers and hot dogs.

On Being Girly

Food was not my only MoF indulgence this year. I decided to finally get back to the level of basic polish in my appearance I had prior to my diagnosis. I've never been much for glamour – save for in the 1980s when everyone was really painted and flouffed – but I have always maintained a level of polish that allowed me to put myself together for an Industry meeting or event on short notice. That meant getting a mani-pedi at least once a month, keeping the hair relaxed and conditioned, and keeping my skin care regiment up. All of that went out the window while grappling with my illness. It was when doing research for the current book that I realized it had been so long since I bought new makeup, I didn't even know what current trends were. I certainly didn't know how to make a face that has matured and been through a physical nightmare look its best.

I made the jump to natural hair (no chemical relaxers) a couple of years ago when I realized I didn't have the energy required to thoroughly rinse the chemicals out in one attempt. You can leave that stuff sitting on the hair for rest intervals. The chemicals would burn the hair and probably the scalp. Let me state for the record that natural hair care is neither less expensive nor less effort. That is so far from the truth that I want to punch anyone who says that (and it's usually men) in the face for saying it is. The one good thing about all the products involved in 'natural hair care' (special shampoos and conditioners, coconut oil, conditioning creams, and styling gel) is that they last a long time. Still, routine hair care under this regimen involves five products and at least six involved steps. Oy!

Fortunately, Youtube had all my beauty and skin care info in copious detail. I found experts who were my exact skin share, type, and age. I found advice for making up my hooded/monolid eyes. I found experts who know all the best drugstore brands and which ones can compete with the most expensive products. I was appalled and impressed by how much these folks earn from their videos, but I was glad I found them. Interesting note – the best makeup instructions seem to come from guys. I think it's because they're assuming that the other guys watching don't automatically know the terminology. I had to rebuild my makeup, skin care, and nail care kits. That process started during the MoF. It took a while to figure out the best value for my limited bucks. And by slowly acquiring products, I gave myself time to develop the habit of using them. If anyone is interested in links to my Youtube beauty playlist or what is in my various kits, let me know. I haven't glammed up yet, but the changes have been noted by Jon and others I run across. That's been nice.

Research Purposes Only

My writing involves a great deal of research. Even my Sci-fi fantasies are grounded in reality. The writing flows better for me if I'm writing something that is based on real life. The problem for me is that when I am researching something interesting, I'll follow links to videos and articles to information that has no bearing on my writing whatsoever. I'm curious by nature. Thus, it can be a struggle not to fall down an informational rabbit hole and spend hours distracted. However, I have found some wonderful information for my fiction from people like Hair Archaeologist Janet Stephens whose work helped me with character descriptions. I was surprised to find out how many prominent male belly dancers there are in the world. A few of the dancers influenced a major passage in the book. Meanwhile, amazing present day wonders like the Marina Bay Sands Hotel/Casio in Singapore look like they are from hundreds of years into the future. The documentaries on how this amazing place was built  https://youtu.be/wHx9Af2Uxyg and how it keeps guests and employees fed https://youtu.be/GRfQw5SLVLM were really inspiring for my fiction. And after I finished the draft, I began binging (that word looks weird) on everything I couldn't watch while I was still working. My Youtube feed is bizarre.

What's Next

While the proofreaders beat the draft into shape, I'm finishing details on the cover drawing. I'd worked out the pose earlier. I'm now adding rings, sandals, and other accessories to the characters before painting the thing. In the meantime, I'm working on a test painting to refine my blending skills.

Stay tuned!

*Agent Cooper - Twin Peaks

Photo Gallery

Kentucky Derby Day Eats (Homemade pulled pork sandwich) and a Mint Julep.

Birthday Bubbly and Soft Pretzel Snack.

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake.

Midnight Snack!

Wall Street Journal article on Janet Stephens and the Vestal Virgin Hair Challenge.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324900204578286272195339456