The Pink Washes off

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You know the pink that shows up on your potatoes after you cut or peel them?

It washes off.

I didn't know that!!  What is it?!  Why does it wash off?  In the past, I've always repeeled if that has happened.  Then yesteday, I diced the potatoes so small, there way no was I'd be able to fix it.  When I didn't use all the potatoes, I put the rest into a bowl of water. And voila! The water turned pink, so I drained it, filled it and drained it again.

No pink. Gross. What is that stuff?

If you stopped over at Passionate Critters yesterday to read my story, THANKS! I love the support and I hope you liked it. We're four short days to Christmas now and life--as expected--has had its ups and downs. The holidays create stress, but I've got my husband home to talk to and help make things better.

My prayers go out to all the families who are separated this Christmas.
With Love,
Bethanne

FREE SHORT STORY

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Monday's miracle was not going completely INSANE as I measured the Christmas values... measured, weighed and considered. I really hate this part of Christmas... who got what? how many things does each kid have to open up? What's going in the stockings? ARE WE READY?!


Every year this moment comes upon me and I wish, wish, wish that our Christmas was not about Santa, even secondarily.  :(  I love the holiday. The traditions. The decorations. The family gatherings... I just have to get over this hump and stop worrying about who gets what and how happy everyone is going to be. That's the bottom line for me. Will my kids be disappointed? *sigh* How can I make them happy?

If you need a break on Tuesday from the stress of Christmas, follow me over to Passionate Critters and read my short story, Letters from Home. Is it possible to fall in love through a stack of letters? When deployment is on the line and separation is inevitable, sometimes letters are the only way to the heart.

Merry Christmas, Friends.
Enjoy the rest of this week.
With Love,
Bethanne

http://www.bethannestrasser.blogspot.com

Trip to the PX postponed

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So, i showered, got ready to go to the PX and then looked at the teary, whiny, leg-clinging baby at my feet and decided she needed a nap or I might as well shoot myself.

I'm actually sitting here editing one of my manuscripts, a novella length romantic suspense, while she sleeps. And it really hit me how I've never taken advantage of my time. What do I mean? Well, many writers will tell you, write the story then put it aside for a while. Take a break... weeks, months, you decide.

I don't usually do that. I like to push through to the end in one fell swoop.

But as I go through this manuscript again for the oh...tenth time or more, I really am seeing it with new eyes! It hit me at one point that my MC coming out with a statement about losing his sight is way too out-of-the-blue. I never saw that before, but that's probably because I was in his head enough to hear his thoughts about it... I know that sounds crazy. And really, I do NOT let my characters write their own stories, but I do listen to them.

Anyway, it's a fresh start and I'm glad for it. :D What about you? You take the time to shove your story in the corner before taking it through revisions?

BTW, best decision ever to not hit the PX first thing. It'll be nice to get out just before lunch and then splurge--in the minor[ist] of fashions--on lunch for me and the baby. It would be really nice to meet up with my hubby, too...but that's way hit or miss. :D

Have a great weekend, the last before CHRISTMAS!
With love,
Bethanne

In Vodka Veritas

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This is definitely one of my favorites on our short story line up this year at Passionate Critters. Nina Croft has a true talent, a gift for story telling. I'm lucky to be able to get first peek at her manuscripts before she sends them off to the publisher. :) So please, make a quick five minute hop over to PC and enjoy!

Enjoy the day, my friends. It's not long before I gather around my tree and celebrate the birth of my Lord, Jesus. I love this time of year!


Tina Vaughn

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Passionate Critter member Tina Vaughn is sharing a Christmas story with us on our blog. http://www.passionatecritters.org Today is Day one of our count down to Christmas.

Enjoy a short story.
Drink some coffee or cocoa.
Anything to pass the days until Christmas when we can finally celebrate the birth of Jesus.

wait, wait, wait. I've had five kids so I totally get the waiting game!

A Business Plan

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I'm a writer with a purpose. Maybe I started out just putting down a few stories, but I've gotten to the point where I have a lot of stories down and maybe a business plan is in order. According to Debra Riley-Magnus, a business plan should come first. Well, mine's coming midway.

I'm not going to completely bore you with the step by step, which you can find on your own by typing writer's business plan into the Google search bar. But I will highlight what I perceive as important.

1. Identify your customer: Almost sounds too easy, yet it's not enough to throw a book up at BN or Amazon and label or tag it in hopes that your reader will find it because they are likely to scroll through pages upon pages of other people's books before yours in the list marked, romance. If I step back even further from the "selling" perspective, I can see that by identifying my target audience, I'll be able to create something the audience is willing to pass on. For example, I would hope that my family members might pick up my book. If I wrote a horror novel or an erotic novel, I can be pretty sure, no one in my family or close circle of friends would recommend it to their family and friends. Understanding that, and accepting it, is part of the business plan and it helps me produce a book that will sell.

[aside] If I were a horror story writer, my plan would include the acceptance of that truth--don't plan on sales to family. And I would not necessarily change my writing preferences in order to please my family. On the other hand, I write romance... I can write it strictly mainstream and include lots of open door sex [which SELLS!] or I can form a plan to sell just as much, maintaining my own integrity.

That's how I see a business plan working. And that leads me to another point that struck me...

2. What makes your product special: There are thousands of writers out there. I take that back, there are thousands of ROMANCE writers out there. When the artist in most of us wants to create [uninhibitively][she says with a flourishing wave of her hand], it would be smart to create something that stands out from the crowd. That actually takes work. So when I can sit and write to my heart's content, I need the plan to help me focus my writing on the goal at hand. Otherwise, I run the risk of being just like everyone else [only better *wink*]. :D Then, making a connection, knowing what makes my product so special also helps me identify my customer.

I think a big part of this point in the business plan is taking confidence to a new level. Humility is highly valued, yet if you can't walk up to someone and say, My book is good. You want to know why?, well, then all your work is built on a pretty flimsy foundation. There are times to put aside the urge to be humble and lead with honesty instead.

But, let's face it, the bottom line is Money. Lesson Number One: don't let people make you feel bad for wanting to make money off your craft.
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Well, off I go to put together a plan.
It's a good start...no, a good way to end 2011.
With Love,
Bethanne

Banana Bread Day

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It's unofficial, of course...
or, it's officially MY banana bread day.

Skinny side of the month, do you have one of those?
We do. I tend to bake more during that time. Which is good!
We all love, love, love mom's baked goods.
Cookies, breads...great filler foods.

What's your favorite, go-to snack food when your cupboards are starting to look bare and your kids are starting to question your sanity about waiting to go to the store?

Do you have a Line?
I do. It's my husband, when he starts fruitlessly opening and shutting cabinets in an effort to find something to eat, I know I have to bite the bullet and make a store run. LOL :D What can I say, I'll eat anything. But not everyone will!

Banana Bread, you are comfort food and you taste awesome warmed up on a cold day.
:D I can't wait to eat you.

With love,
Bethanne

The Books I Love

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First and foremost.... above all else, I love suspense/mystery.
Trixie Belden was my all-time favorite growing up. I devoured her books.
I touched on a bit of Nancy Drew, finally hitting Agatha Christie in my teens.
In my teens, I read inspirational mostly, enjoying authors such as Thoene, Phillips and ....oh shoot, who was that other one I'm thinking of????  Dang it. It's been so long, but there were lots. At that point in time I steered cleared of historicals for the most part. The inspirational variety of historicals never did appeal to me. They tended to be very slow and corny. :P

After I got married, I happened to pick up a book called Nobody's Baby but Mine. A book by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. That was it. There was no going back. I LOVED THAT BOOK! It wasn't until I started reading romance that I could get through an historical. I like early American, but will pick up a Regency [I think]. I have to admit, I"m not very good at catagorizing historicals. REgency...victorian. I know there's a difference, just can't always identify it. :)  Elizabeth Lowell has a few good historicals.  Heather Graham has a couple of awesome series from the Civil War. Marsha Canham totally caught my attention with The Iron Rose. Pirates! Loved that one, too. Dorothy Garlock. Oh! Dodd has a great series, Regency, I think. And Brenda Joyce, too. Joyce has a series about the Bragg family. I think i'm going to have to download that series and reread them. As you can see, I have hardly even touched the deep reaches of the historical genre. The books I have read are almost all backlists of writers who now publish romantic suspense.

Like most readers, though. I'll try anything. I look forward to reading Winter Fire by Jo Beverly, which I won recently [like today] on Bookworm2bookworm, Melanie's blog. :D Yippee! Right now, I'm reading a book called In Name Only, which is historical AND inspirational. Yikes. I'm really stepping out now, aren't I? :D

Have a great weekend Friends.
With Love,
Bethanne

TGIF

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Loooong WEEK!
Can't say I haven't enjoyed it, though. School cake projects, doctor appointment, grocery shopping, writing, critiquing...
I almost finished Chapter Three in Sand Bay Secrets. Whooot!
I researched publishers for Catholic Fiction... Guess what?!

BIG FAT NOTHING.

Fine. I'm not concerned. My research is not over, anyway. I need to actually read some of it. THAT, my friends, that is the pudding. Unfortunately, my hopes are not that high. Maybe I should be more optimistic. Maybe I should be reading it with a different mind set...

I just want a good book, though.
Maybe I have to write it. :/ I'll keep you posted.
Perhaps a writer's review over the next month or so???
Wouldn't that be fun? Not something solely from a reader's standpoint.
More of a reflection on what's out there and how it compares to what I already know I love to read.

Is that unfair? Well that's the catch, isn't it? It's only unfair if I don't like it. :)
Should be an interesting month.
Now...

To go find something FICTION from a market that is almost non existent.
Take care my friends!
With Love,
Bethanne


Remember Whensday

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On a bit of a tangent, do you remember your dreams?

Last night I had a doozy! At a different age, I might have considered it a nightmare, but it didn't really scare me just left me feeling tense. But what I love about those kind of dreams is the atmosphere they create. Like a movie I can't stop watching, right?

My dream last night had a dark atmosphere and a creepy guy in a wheelchair who thought he and I were an item. Kind of awkward when my husband showed up! Then the creepy guy got freaky and mad. He lived in a three story house, his room on the very top floor. An attic with dormers. In my dream I kept checking the windows up there to see if he was looking. Low and behold, we [cuz Matt's with me now] find out Creepy Guy has a daughter. He's killed her. [I know! Crazy dreams.]

Next thing I know we're on the[a] frozen lake where the sport is bike riding on the water. But the bike riding is happening in a rectangular hole cut from the ice. The wheels of the bikes are paddles. We don't sit in any type of stand, though. We're actually ON the edge of the ice, our feet hanging in the water [like at a pool]. But the edge starts to break and we're floundering in the water. I'm calling to Virginia [DD] to grab Sean [DS] and I'm holding the baby up out of the water, calling to my husband.

And I wake up because Sean is calling my name. He woke up. It's 5:40am and he's hungry!

It's fun to take those feelings and put them to paper even if I can't use the actual circumstances.
Do you do that?

Miracle Monday, with a little cheese on the side

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Do you ever consider that just meeting someone is a miracle?

That happens to me! I'm going to get so lucky in my life[yes, I say lucky. It's the Irish in me.], because I meet people all the time. I can't count on my hands the number of times I've moved and been blessed by new people. From childhood, and the many friends who have supported and loved me, through adulthood, as I move around with my husband, there have been numerous people who have touched my life, been friends or even just disappeared. Each one has made me the person I am. They've instigated growth, even when I don't want to grow.

They are God to me; changing me, reforming me, loving me. How great is that? I don't have any doubt that Jesus is present. You are my proof.

Enjoy the Christmas Season. Eggnog. Lights. Jimmy Stewart. Bing Crosby. Hot chocolate and whipped cream. Jammies with reindeer on them. Snow [if you're lucky enough]. Nativity. Candles. Choirs of Angels. Bells.