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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

April

Good luck to everyone starting the A-Z tomorrow. I'm not participating so I'll be taking the next few weeks off blogging. I'll be back at the end of the month with an interview and giveaway you don't want to miss! 

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Passive MC

If you're worried your MC is too passive, try taking the MC out of the novel. Would the plot remain the same? Would everything still happen the way it's written? If so, your MC is merely reacting.

You need a MC that drives the plot. A person the whole novel would fall apart without. Then you've got the character we all want to read about.

Monday, March 16, 2015

story time

Pretty girl (my four year old) was taking a loooong time in the shower the other night so I stepped into the bathroom and asked if she needed any help. Which, as everyone knows, is secret mom code for 'hurry up!'

"But, mom." She replied "I'm telling a story."

That caught me short. My little girl is making up stories in the shower. I get some pretty good ideas in there, too.

Carry on, Writer Girl, carry on.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Pi, or rather PIE!

Saturday is National Pi Day. March 14. 3.14.

Now, we actually have a national pie day (Jan 23), which is celebrated with, well, pie. But since you can't have too much pie that's what we do for Pi day also. It sure beats doing math to celebrate. So, in honor of the day, I'm sharing my award winning peach blueberry pie recipe.

Pie dough
This makes enough for 2-3 pies depending on size. You can half the recipe, add the whole egg and maybe a touch more flour.



4 C flour
1 ½ C shortening
2 tsp salt
2 TBSP sugar
1 egg
½ C water
1 TBSP vinegar

Mix flour, salt and sugar. Cut in butter. In separate bowl mix water, vinegar and egg. Add to dry ingredients.

Persoanlly I mix this by hand with a pastry blender. I know others who use a mixer and it turns out fine, but I like the texture from hand mixing better. It's more flaky and light. 



Peach blueberry pie filling (one pie)


4 C peaches
1 C sugar
¼ C flour
Cinnamon I had a big dash of it, you can add as much or as little as you like.
Handful of blueberries.
I add a 1/2 tsp or so of almond flavoring, but that is not required. (I can't imagine why you wouldn't want to though) 

Happy Pi day!

Monday, March 2, 2015

Book Pile

The other day I came into the playroom and found the kid's bookshelf like this.







My heart stopped for a moment, horrified, because we don't treat books like that, and because we're trying to sell the house and we have to keep it clean, clean, clean. I got over it quickly. Who can be angry  at children who like to read?

Apparently, Mini Engineer had been looking for a specific book. A book he couldn't find because I had pulled several books and toys out and hid them. When we take the three day drive to Denver we'll have things for the kids to play with in the car that they haven't seen in months and hopefully won't get bored with quickly. 

I sat down and read them some stories. After all, my kids are more important than a clean house or painting the last of the trim.

I love that they love to read. I love that they have favorite books that they just HAVE to find. But, I'm sure I'll love it more when they learn to clean up afterwards.