March, 2010
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Please help the Matènwa Community Learning Center. Send aid straight to a remote part of Haiti that still has not been reached by the big aid responses after the earthquake. Even one dollar can help. Learn more… |
Help is Still Needed! Cowgirl Call to Action!| If you enjoy this newsletter and the Write 'em Cowgirls website, please tell your other writing friends about them. |
Dear Cowgirls and Friends,
March is a month of contrasts, muck underfoot balanced out by increasingly blue skies, spells of gentler air, growing color in nature, the return of green. March is a fickle month. It can turn on a dime in northern Idaho, mild as pudding one minute, blowing a blizzard the next, capricious as a kite taking to spring skies.
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| Daffodil Road by DT Mizokawa |
Sudden Turns
Still, nature is waking, budding, heading into the spring stretch. Crocus and glory-of-the-snow pop up. Fat green buds open into yellow trumpets playing glory to the newborn Spring. On fair, warming days, breezes carry the scent of fertility, a promise of growth and renewal. The morning and evening birdsong chorus swells with new arrivals, singing their search for mates and nesting spots—when they're not huddling forlorn in a late snowfall. It's a restless, uncertain time in nature. Just when you think you know what the weather is going to do, it does something else.
Sometimes life is like that, too. Just when we think we know what's happening, where we're headed, something beyond our control kicks everything in a new direction. Think about times of sudden forced turns in your life, and consider inviting one of them for a turning point write.
Here are some words to inspire March freewrites:
mud lion windy spring jig soggy capricious migrate green blow lamb renew buds fish Irish migration equinox wakening leprechaun daffodil raw fresh stuck mad robin wet nest shamrock angry flood fresh change snap gold swelling slam slog cabbage hills fish shamrock sweep |
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| Umbrella by Janice Fried |
| Umbrellas, wind, and busy streets are a great combination for blowing people into each other or creating other interesting moments. |
Take one or two or a few for a capricious write. Then consider seasonal complications and conflicts. What can go wrong on a spring break trip? March winds can wreak all sorts of havoc. What can they blow down or over, or whom can they blow into whose arms? Getting stuck in mud is bad. How can you make it worse? Miles from nowhere? Rising water? Someone hurt or in labor? A dangerous predator (human or otherwise)? A tie-in phobia? Being offered assistance from someone way outside one's comfort zone? Getting stuck in the middle of an argument about the last turn? If you are strictly a nonfiction writer or memoirist, think of complications in your own experience that occurred in early spring or involved mud. Pile up a couple of complications, take a sprinkle of words, and write the March winds wild.
Marinade Magic
I regret that I have had to drop my plans for the From a Writer's Kitchen page. When I dreamed up the website, I didn't know I was going to be invited to join the Solar Cookers International executive board or that certain people in my family would get even more sick/disabled. If Josh ever gets a chance, we may have a page that organizes and archives all the recipes from the newsletter, but for now this newsletter or the newsletter archive is the only way to get my recipes and the odd kitchen tip or two.
The good news is that I am giving you the special recipe I was saving to headline Writer's Kitchen, a marinade for freezing boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The marinade soaks in as they freeze and thaw and helps protect the chicken from freezer burn, and the chicken is seasoned and ready to grill or broil when thawed. I have never had chicken breast frozen in this marinade go tough or stringy when cooked. I have used this with pork, and it would be good with turkey, too, but it is super with chicken.
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| Retro Diner Chicken by Studio Voltaire |
| Fried chicken is delicious, but can stick to your arteries and hips as well as your ribs. Skinned chicken breast in a delicious marinade can be a healthy, tasty, and satisfying alternative. |
Speaking of kitchen tips, freezing meat and poultry in marinades or sauces is a great idea. Marinades tenderize and add flavor without adding too much fat, and they do a lot to prevent freezer burn. I've had some good success with steak and pork frozen in marinades, too. You can make your own marinades or use commercial ones. I've had good results with "Soy Vay" products, which come in great flavors and use all-natural ingredients. My favorite though, derived from a Debbie's marinade, is… (drum-roll, please)…
| Super Chicken Marinade |
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3/4 cup soy sauce (light or reduced salt will work fine, or substitute Bragg Liquid Aminos for part of the soy sauce to cut more sodium) 1/2 cup white wine (or white grape or apple juice or chicken broth or even ginger ale) 1/2 cup red wine or balsamic vinegar 1/2 cup oil (olive is best and healthiest) 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1 teaspoon salt free seasoning, like Mrs. Dash original or chicken, or lemon pepper 1 teaspoon salt (use less if you are salt restricted) 4–8 cloves garlic, minced or pressed 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes 1/4–1/2 teaspoon pepper dash hot pepper sauce (optional) 2 tablespoons dry mustard |
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Combine all ingredients. I do this in a 4-cup measuring cup, adding the liquid ingredients first, then whisking in the dry ones. Let it sit and mingle while you trim boneless, skinless chicken breasts to nice halves, saving trimmings (see Notes). Put chicken breast halves into freezer zip-close bags—fold back tops and prop in bowls so they don't fall over while filling—or rigid freezer containers, in single-meal amounts for your family (or add one or two extra for a chef's salad or sandwiches the next day). Stir marinade well—the oil rises and the garlic tends to sink, so you have to stir throughout the process—and put some marinade in each of the chicken packages. Use enough to coat the chicken pieces well if you mix or squish them around a little, with a little extra, but you don't need to give them a deep bath. Seal tightly, squeezing out as much air as you can, and freeze. This makes about 2-3/4 cups marinade, and I've done fifteen or twenty pounds of chicken breast with this much. If you have any marinade left after you do your chicken, refrigerate it in a tightly closed glass jar and it will keep until the next time chicken is on sale. You can also make it ahead and refrigerate it, so you don't have to do all the mixing and all the trimming at one time. To use, thaw and grill or broil, usually 7–9 minutes per side, depending on your broiler or grill, until chicken tests done. Add easy sides and you have supper. One of our favorite simple menus with these chicken breasts includes Jasmine rice, baked winter squash, and a salad or green vegetable, like frozen broccoli or peas or green beans, but it's good with all sorts of things—even just salad and a baked potato or good bread—and it always comes out juicy, often fork tender. I have never had chicken breast from this marinade go stringy on me. Notes: I wait for good sales on boneless, skinless chicken breast, then process a bunch. Usually, for nice pieces to broil and serve, some trimming is involved. A sharp knife helps. Freeze small bits in a little marinade and use for stir-fries. The larger trimmings (a size called "tenders" in the USA) are very good frozen in teriyaki sauce (I use "Soy Vay"). Thaw and grill, broil, bake, or even solar-cook. With the chicken tenders, pineapple slices grilled or broiled or sautéed with a little butter and brown sugar, and hot dog or hoagie buns, you have the makings for some fine chicken teriyaki sandwiches. To gild the lily, grill, broil, or sauté some red or green bell pepper, too, and add some sliced green onions. Then invite me over for supper. |
Irish Comfort
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I searched Imagekind for an Irish cottage to go with the next recipe and found this. Travel in your imagination back to a time when this little house was whole. What would it have been like to cook, clean, care for loved ones in this small house of stone on its small, rocky patch of ground? How many homey loaves were baked on the hearth? How many people breathed their first—or their last—in this stone refuge? What joys and heartaches were shared? Take a time travel write—or if you don't like looking back, think about some future or alternate reality in which someone might live in such a house and start your write in that direction.
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Now, a nod to St. Patrick's Day…. Irish soda bread is one my favorite quick breads. It is delicious, versatile, easy to make, and keeps well. It will slice thin or thick (once thoroughly cooled and wrapped for a bit), and you can eat it toasted or untoasted, with butter, jam, cheese… whatever you like… alongside a meal or with soups (great with corned beef, cabbage, and potato soup or just about any hearty peasant soup) or for a healthy snack. If you have kids who come home from school hungry, it's handy to have around.
If you live alone, make two smaller loaves and freeze one, or cut the big loaf in hunks and freeze some, and you will have a wholesome snack or meal component that is quick to grab and much better for you than commercial snack foods. The raisins add fiber, natural sweetness, and important nutrients, and caraway seeds add a lovely flavor (more subtle than you might think), and they are good for your digestion. In season I bake this in my solar ovens, but it works fine in a regular oven indoors, too. This recipe has roots in County Kerry in the early 1900's.
| Sharon's Irish Soda Bread |
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3 cups unbleached flour 3/4 cup whole wheat flour 1/4 cup oat bran (or wheat germ or additional whole wheat flour) 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 cup raw, organic, or white sugar 6 tablespoons (3 oz. or 3/4 of a stick) butter, melted 1 cup raisins 1 tablespoon caraway seeds 1 1/3 cups buttermilk 1 egg, beaten 1/2 teaspoon baking soda |
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a large round pan (10–12 inch), cookie sheet, or two smaller round pans (8 or 9 inch). Combine the first six ingredients in a bowl that leaves room for mixing. Drizzle in most of the butter and mix well. Stir in raisins and caraway. Make a well in the center. In a separate bowl or deep-enough measuring cup, mix buttermilk, egg, and baking soda. Pour into the well you made in dry ingredients and mix well. Turn out onto a lightly floured board or counter; knead very briefly to pull it all together, using as little additional flour as possible. Form into one large, round loaf or two smaller ones, flouring hands or loaf lightly as needed. Put into the pan(s) and cut the traditional cross-shaped slash into the top with a floured, sharp knife. Brush with the last of the butter, and bake for about an hour (less for smaller loaves), until firm and golden brown and a toothpick comes out without any dough clinging to it. (Check at about half an hour. If it seems to be browning too quickly turn the oven down a bit. Every oven and every batch is different.) Cool on a rack (under a clean towel if there are flies or dust about or the air in your house is dry). Wrap or bag tightly when thoroughly cooled. It is good warm or cold, but is much easier to slice once it has thoroughly cooled and stored tightly wrapped for a bit, especially if you want thin slices. It also helps to have a thin, sharp bread knife if you want thin slices.
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| Spring Blanket by Alison Meyer |
| Here's a view of welcome green to celebrate St. Patrick's day, the start of Spring, and the end of winter. Soon the view from my house will look like this. |
Site News
A new page on the website, About Sharon's Picks, gives information about my connection to many of the business and commercial resources and links on my site. Learn why I picked them to feature, why I trust them (to the extent I do… there are some cautions, too), and how they help me and might help you, depending on what you need in your life or your writing progress. (Or not. I never want you to buy something you don't need for your own life just because you read about it on my website.) If—as was the case with me at one point—you wear glasses and are having a difficult time finding frames that you like where you live, do learn about Frames Direct. They really brightened my outlook on life! And any of you who might have digitized art or photography to market as well as words should read about Imagekind.
The next big site focus will be the long-awaited Writing for Dollars—no magic wands or fairy dust, but some good tips and resources for those who are willing to put in the time and want to do it efficiently and with some hope of eventual success. I also have a novel in revision and many things to do for SCI in the upcoming weeks, and my California trip is looming—being there is great, but getting out of here is usually a nightmare. Someday I will get something up for a bio/about page for me, too. I know there are people on this list who don't know me from my local life or IWWG conferences or Forward Motion (or from a hill of beans, for that matter), and I keep meaning to get something up to tell you more about who I am, where I come from, and where I hope I'm heading, but I guess I want to put up things that might help your writing even more than I want to blow my horn. I will have something up there by the time I start my agent hunt! ;)
Weekly Take-A-Write Prompts
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Josh has been enormously helpful in adding a new resource to Write 'em Cowgirls. Each week, we will showcase a free sample prompt from Sharon's Deluxe Take-a-Write Prompts, with a new one replacing it each Sunday. As an added attraction, you can write along with me on many of them, because there will be a link to a freewrite I will do with that same prompt whenever I can squeeze it in. How cool is that? Do write your own before you look at mine, just as you would do in a freewriting group. We are setting up a rotation of sheets, so each week the prompt will come from a different one. Since there are 216 prompts all told, if you want to spend about four years collecting, you will eventually get them all if you remember to check in each week.
On the other hand, if they help you and you don't want to wait, you can help support the Write 'em Cowgirls website and newsletter by treating yourself to a sheet or a set. To make it even easier, we are having a Spring Sale on prompt sheet downloads. Single sheets of 24 prompts are going down to $1.50, and the price for three-sheet sets will be $4.00.
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| Bending Through the Aspens by Tiffanie Gillen |
| For company on the trail, you can now take a free write with me every week. |
We are working on a way for purchasers to access my existing freewrites from the sheet(s) they have purchased, in a private e-portfolio. Once my write is done, purchasers will have access to the write on a permanent (as long as I can keep Cowgirls running, at least) basis, as opposed to the one-week-only on the public page. If I meet my goal of staying ahead of schedule, purchasers will often have writes before the public does. It is taking too long to figure out and set up though, and holding up sending this newsletter. Anyone who purchases prompt sheets in the meantime will get an email with information on accessing the private portfolio as soon as we get it up and running.
Remember, if you practice freewriting with enough regularity to get good at keeping that pen or those fingers moving, and then use the line-per-scene plot card method from Create A Plot Clinic to organize your novel, you may find that you can lay down novel rough drafts with amazing speed. You can just take that 'line' that says something about what happens—what moves—in that scene and go. But even if that combination doesn't work for you, there are so many good reasons to freewrite that I hope you will join me in writing these great prompts.
Haiti: Help Still Needed!
There will be updates to the Help Matenwa, Lagonave, Haiti page, where I plan to add information about the recent breakfast fundraiser in Moscow, Idaho. The good folks at the Matenwa Community Learning Center and members of Famn Kouraj continue to do their best to meet the extra challenges of the earthquake aftermath. Everything is stretched very thin, and they can still use any help you can send, through the links on my page or through the MCLC and Famn Kouraj site links. So far my friend Nancy's effort—which includes me and all my writing connections who have donated to Famn Kouraj through the VP Foundation—has raised more than fifteen thousand dollars, which has been and will be a big help in dealing with disaster aftermath in this remote place, where the big relief efforts have yet to bear useable fruit. A trickle of big aid has made it to port towns on LaGonave, but two months after the earthquake the interior is mostly surviving on small efforts such as this one, which are helping to keep some food and supplies trickling in to the interior of the island.
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| In Moscow, Idaho, on February 21, 2010, pancakes, applesauce, scrambled eggs, and community goodwill raised (last I heard) almost six thousand dollars in one yummy, sociable swoop, to help Famn Kouraj with earthquake recovery and ongoing work that benefits the learning center, the entire community, and beyond. |
Thank you so much to any of you who have made donations to these good folks. It is time to start planting, but many people have had to eat things like bean seeds saved for planting to keep from starving, so some of the ongoing donations will be used to replenish seed stocks and keep the island heading in the direction of greater food-sufficiency. Please give what you can, even if it is just one dollar, because as you can see, it all adds up. You can donate to Famn Courage and gardening efforts around Matenwa through the VP Foundation or use the link on the Famn Kouraj web page.
Writing Compelling Fiction
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There is a new button for Holly's e-book, How To Write Page-Turning Scenes, on the Fiction page. Now that I have spent more time working my way through it, I have a much better understanding of and approach to that whole complex subject of conflict—which really has more to do with change, than it does with, say, bickering or fighting—as it plays out its crucial role in the construction of compelling fiction. I know it costs more than Create A Plot Clinic, which I still recommend you purchase first, if you cannot get both e-books at once, but I think it is well worth the cost, especially if you have a hard time with conflict or reader engagement. I will put in a slight caution about the example in italics in the section on Internal Conflict if you are very squeamish, but you can get what she means in that section without reading that part in detail. As always, I find Holly's writing clear and easy to understand and her examples very helpful. My revision will be much stronger from incorporating ideas from How to Write Page-Turning Scenes.
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| rainbow by KT designer |
| Irish legends that filter into my culture frequently mention treasures, found at the end of rainbows or revealed by captured leprechauns. Often the treasure is spoken of as a pot of gold, but maybe that is a metaphor. What treasure would you most like to discover? What might point the way? Go for a treasure-hunt write. |
Literary Treasures
I found a great little treasure trove online, following a pointer from Holly's writing newsletter; I recommend you sign up for it if you're not already on it. She had a link to Russell Galen, who was her first agent (parts of his fiction list left me gasping for air), and he has four essays on his pages that present solid food for fiction-writing thought. Some of them were written years ago, much earlier in his successful career, but the ideas, information, and conjectures in them are relevant today, even if names and affiliations of publishing houses might be a bit out of date.
I really liked "Do You Need an Agent?" I already knew I needed an agent (or at least that I will soon), but Mr. Galen made me want one so badly it hurts. Oh, how I could use a good "consigliere." I hope my new story comes out of revision looking good enough that I can finally begin the search.
There is an index to Mr. Galen's essays here. His thoughts on the topic of "hyperreality" really resonated with me. I wish he would do a sequel essay on what he thinks has taken place regarding the use of "hyperreal" elements in literature in the years since he wrote that essay. Don't miss the "Astral Projection" piece for some useful thoughts on the topic of reader engagement. My best advice is read 'em all.
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I am proud to have two publication notices for list members this month. The first is for Mingmei Yip, who is a good friend from IWWG conferences, and who joined the list very early-on. Her new novel, Petals from the Sky, is now out, complete with exquisite cover and suggestions at the end for book discussion groups. I loved Mingmei's first novel, Peach Blossom Pavilion. I was really looking forward to this new Buddhist, interracial love story, in such exotic-to-me-settings.
Mingmei delivered. I loved the way she pulled me right into a main character with a life, outlook, and context so different from my own, where the simplest of everyday expressions are transformed by idiomatic magic, and metaphors wander exotic pathways, each destination a delightful surprise. This is a great story, well told, driven by another strong female character. Order it through a local independent bookstore if you can, but you can also get it from Powell's Books or other online venues. If money's tight, request it from your library. That is a great way to help more readers have a chance to enjoy this warm and exotic tale that bridges cultures, continents, and the gulfs of the human heart with such charm and grace.
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Carren Strock is another friend from my years of IWWG conferences. Carren is also the first IWWG member with whom I ever made individual contact, because of an article she had in the first/sample copy of the Guild newsletter I received. Carren's new book, A Writer's Journey: What to Know Before, During, and After Writing a Book, was born of the workshop she has been teaching at the IWWG conferences for some years, "The Smart Writer's Guide: What to Know Before, During and After Writing a Book." Carren says, "From the nuts and bolts of how to discipline yourself and how to organize your space, to the simple suggestions and exercises that will help you improve your writing, find an agent, get your book published, and market it once you have, it's all here." I haven't read it yet, but I hope to get it soon. You can purchase the book directly from Carren's website, or order it from Powell's Books or from other online venues. Carren is the author of the ground-breaking Married Women Who Love Other Women, now in its second edition.
Alien Engagement
My front-burner novel is coming along, running a little behind, but running. I got sick in February, which didn't help anything on top of the Haiti stress, but I am trying to catch up. Sometimes life slows me down despite my best efforts, but I try not to let it stop me. Cowgirls get back on the horse as soon as they can and keep riding.
I am about to format my draft to print it for revision once this newsletter leaves my desktop, and I still have hopes of polished draft coming out the other side of the process by the time I come home from California in late April, even if the whole type-in isn't done. By the time I have the first three revised and polished chapters in hand, I should know if I will be starting to look for an agent long-about summer or early fall or so, because if I can't hook 'em in from the outset and hold 'em for three chapters, it's back to the drawing board. If anyone has recommendations for agents or agencies that are strong on innovative, character-driven science fiction, please feel free to send them to me.
It didn't entirely penetrate to me as I pounded out the rough draft, it felt so natural going down, but on some levels what I have done is radical. There are almost no humans—defined as genetic descendents of earthlings like ourselves—in this story or future stories for this series at all. The main character isn't human, and humans don't amount to even ten percent of the eight-race population. I didn't really stop to think about how different that is until I got to the end and began moving towards revision. I can't think of very many books with alien protagonists, let alone an almost-all-alien cast. (Feel free to recommend some to me besides SL Viehl's, if you know of others you admire.)
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Martin Davey's aliens are funny and engaging. My aliens aren't quite so fantastical. They aren't "toons" or clichéd ultra-cute ETs or space-monsters, but they are not human. I need to remember the ice cream. In Martin's picture, it serves as a connector. Most people like some form of frozen treat, so we relate to the creatures so obviously enjoying it. One of the things I use this way is stew, on both my planets (the other planet is mostly human but diverse in cultural background). It doesn't matter what manner of folk I'm writing, most of them like a good stew of one kind or another… and so do most readers. So—symbolically speaking and using whatever will help you make the connection that leads to engagement in your story—when you are seeking to make your characters more engaging and relatable, serve up a stew now and then— and remember the ice cream.
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All the races on the planet are folks that humans can relate to, whatever their form and color, whether or not they have more predilection towards family (or different family structures) or business or farming or hunting or crafting or mysticism or mining or whatever, and whatever type of badness they tend towards if they go bad, but will that be enough? There is only one secondary "Ooman" character of any importance in the whole book, and he's mostly at the beginning and a little at the end. Can I pull a human reader deep into a story of an outback mixed-race "alien" society without a context of humans, but in a framework humans can relate to enough so they really care about the character(s) enough to become fully engaged?
This story and its world are an odd blend of the fantastic and the familiar. The process is often exhilarating, sometimes a little scary. I'll say one thing about it. In it's entirety, this is a story or series that only I would ever think of or try to write. Many elements are familiar, but the combination is completely original. The questions now involve—once it has had some revision and polish and tightening—how well it will engage readers and what readers it will appeal to. I should have a much better answer to that in just a couple of months, maybe even sooner.
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| Hole in the Cliff by Gretchen Smith |
Views from the Edge
I hope your writing is taking you to places that are exhilarating… and a little scary. It should be exhilarating sometimes or what's the point? And it should be scary sometimes, because one way we grow is by pushing past the edge of the known. That can be a scary process, but it's the only way to explore new places, and you'll see views from the edge you won't get any other way.
I'll be in Sunnyvale, California for much of April (contact me if you are close enough to Sunnyvale CA to want to get together while I am there!). I'm not sure what my trip and travel prep are going to do to my April newsletter, but I'll do my best to give you something useful. Until then, keep writing on, enjoy a free write with me each week, and don't be afraid to write some high, sharp ridges and push some edges. Your vision is depending on you.
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Best Regards, Sharon |
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P.S. My creativity kudos this month go out to Brian Jacques, for his Redwall novels. Of all the stories I've read in which animals are given speech and culture, the Redwall books are my favorites. From the good creatures of Redwall Abbey to the small but mighty warrior mice and yes, even the evil rats, weasels, stoats and other "vermin," I love them all. And the food! My goodness, I get so hungry reading about all the summercream puddings, woodland stews, strawberry cordials, Mrs. Bankvole's six-layer trifle, Sister Rose's sweetmeadow custard with honeyglazed pears, salads of every description, giant herb-flavored cheeses, the Abbot's Cake, and so much more. Mmm. I would run straight down to the Abbey for supper, if only I knew the way. Thank you, Mr. Jacques, for so many exciting and delicious adventures in the land of imagination.