Friday Fare, Internet Articles, Process, Random

Friday Fare: Links from the around the ‘Net

FridayFareI was a little early heralding the arrival of spring – we got nine inches of snow dumped on southeast Minnesota Sunday night (March 22nd).  My friend Jerry warned me, but I was too busy basking in the sun to pay heed to what I should remember about winter in the Midwest – March is a harsh mistress (or as Jerry put it:  “… that raucous, heartless wench.”

What have I been reading lately on the interwebs?

Anyway … New York Times’ Sunday Routine is one of the series that I follow faithfully in my newspaper reading.  This one with Tim Gunn was spectacular.  Not sure if it was Mr. Gunn, what he does for his Sunday Routine, or what it was about this one in particular, but I liked it.

This article regarding coffee and how it can negatively i impact a person’s productivity is bunk and I refuse to believe it.

I found a couple decadent recipes on the Interwebs this week:  Inspire(d) Magazine is a periodical out of my homeland of Northeast Iowa and the Crockpot Chicken Tikka Masala is going to happen this weekend.  And then a friend of mine posted a recipe for Elvis Cheesecake – and it features a Nutter Butter crust.  I have an unhealthy love for Nutter Butter cookies that I can largely dismiss unless I hear the product name.  But while I fixate on the NB, this cheesecake features peanut butter, banana, and bacon bits.  While I do not think I’m going to make this, I would gladly order this off of a menu.  Or if my friend Jenny goes into the baking/delivery business – I would be happy to have this show up at my doorstep.

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Listening to: Every once in awhile I try to educate my sons in the “finer” music in life (beyond my usual folk fixation and their love of anything Sesame Street or secular Veggie Tales.)  This song got some heavy rotation this morning.

Reading:  I kind of abandoned Skellig.  Which means I should likely put it back on my “to be read” list for another day when I have the focus to finish it.  In the meantime, Sheyna Galyan is a member of the Twin Cities Sisters in Crime group that I belong to and we met over a morning involving firearms training.  I’m currently making my way through her debut novel “Destined to Choose” and I’m enjoying it – Galyan is a Jewish author and in her words, her books are written to “answer Big Questions.”  The former religion minor geek in my psyche is enjoying this in depth look at the Jewish faith.  And her story is well constructed, so bonus!

Fiction update: Editing.  And it’s going well.  There are some good things that are happening on the page and I’m getting ready to release my baby out to the beta readers soon!

Happy Friday, dear friends!

Random

Prepared …

I’m heading to Chicago tomorrow to meet some coworkers and assist on a presentation.  While I will miss my children, while I do not like to fly, and while I’d rather be at home in my yoga pants instead of at a rent-an-office in my new flashy duds, I’m going to do what I did when I went to Denver last summer … bring AL with me.  Flights tend to inspire me.

Last Saturday, I joined some of the members of my writer’s guild in attending a book signing by William Kent Krueger.  A couple of thoughts:  1) The man is a dynamic speaker.  This is the second time I’ve seen him speak and he’s just warm and engaging.  A great lesson for anyone who wants to make a living at this writing business. 2) He’s warm and engaging.  (Yeah – I just said that, but hear me out.)  He signed a book for my mother-in-law after his signing and I took the opportunity to ask him about some various writers conferences in the Midwest.  His response was gracious and informed.  I really enjoyed the opportunity to ask him a “craft” question.

After Krueger’s talk, the Guild retreated to The Staghead – a new “gastropub” in Red Wing.  And while I enjoyed some Lake Superior Oatmeal Stout, I ended my afternoon with a cup of coffee.  And was presented with this:

20150221_160409I drink my coffee black, but if I’m confronted with a situation where I think the coffee is going to be shit (or basically, if I haven’t made it) I request cream and sugar.  This was pretty damn cute and even though the coffee was excellent, I couldn’t help but doctor my coffee accordingly.

Random

VOTE

Vote!I meant to write about NaNoWriMo today (or more accurately, why I’m not participating this year.)  But work and edits got in the way!  However, a more important post is to remind my American readers that today is the day to get out and VOTE!  My coffee cups and I did our civic duty today and were #42 at the local poll.

In the fiction world – edits keep crankin’ along.  I’m also going to head north tonight for the Twin Cities Sisters in Crime meeting!