Trader Joe's Teaches Writing (and Life)

          My life was fine ten or fifteen years ago. On my rare trips to Berkeley, California, I'd get my Trader Joe's fix. I'd load my suitcase up, and pine away for the next year or two (since I gobbled down my goodies in a matter of minutes) until my next trip to Berkeley. But then, they built two Trader Joe's in St. Louis... and now, the temptation is just a thirty minute drive away...

           Since for me, it's all about the food, 'bout the food, 'bout the food--no lyin'... I figured I'd weave a little bit about writing into this fanfare about a few edible things.  



Less is more.

                    These mints are divine. And although if you eat a whole bag on the way home a few, they're still not good for you, but they're not as bad as some other candies... 'cause they're made from only three ingredients: mint, honey and chocolate liquer.

                And sometimes less is more when it comes to our writing. Does the reader really need to know "My crusty-heeled feet, ending in yellowing thick raptor-like nails, sank into the dark salmon-colored carpeting--with miniscule flecks of moss-green and glints of gold--which was quite comfortable, with a sumptuous pad underneath"? Sometimes we don't mean to, but we nonetheless occasionally overload our readers' senses with way too many details... details our readers often don't care about. 

               Keeping it simple works most of the time. Say it the way you mean it. Don't spend a bunch of words prettying it up. Pure things are way more valuable than imitations or wannabes.


Do it when you can.

              Sadly, Trader Joe's discontinued one of my favorite treats: milk chocolate cocoa almonds. They still carry the dark chocolate ones, but the other ones were the bomb.

                    If you're in a store like Trader Joe's (or their cousin, Aldi's) and you see a product you like, you'd better buy it... because it might be gone for good the next time you're cruising down the aisles.

               We should write when we can. If we have 15 minutes before we have to head to work... couldn't we spend that time writing? Shouldn't we? And shouldn't I practice what I'm pretending to preach. (Of course I should.)


Know what you're made of.

                   
               This nectar-from-the-gods comes from just one thing: honey crisp apples. It doesn't pretend to be a juice "cocktail" or a blend. It's plain ol' juice from honey crisp apples. It's simple and unpretentious.

                What are we? If we say we're a writer, we shouldn't spend all our time creating excuses about why we don't have time to write. If we say we're working on a novel, dadgummit, we should be doing serious work on our manuscript. 

                Writers write. It's as simple as that.

  
What tidbit about writing (or life) can you connect to a food item? Carb-loving minds want to know...

                

Seven Things You Won't Be Able to Unthink

       Yesterday I was surprised. Upon checking out Cathy C. Hall's post, I saw I had received an award. It involves lots of money. Lots of photo opportunities. Lots of whirlwind press tours. I cannot wait.

        In the meantime, here is the lowdown:

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award rules are:
• Display the award on your blog
• Link back to the person who nominated you
• State 7 things about yourself
• Nominate 15 bloggers, link to them, and notify them about their nominations.

First, here are the 15 handful of bloggers I am nominating. (Hey, Cathy didn't follow the rules. I am going to maverick it up just like she did and be a follow-the-trailblazer.)

Val--She has a small but fierce following. Seinfeld's show was about nothing. Her blog posts are also about nothing... and the hilarity is real and it's spectacular.

Shay--All you have to do is check out her poetry, and you know why people follow her with their mouths all frothed up...

Pat--Her posts about her dog and her cat always make me smile... or make me go "awww."

Mama Zen--MZ does more with less. She writes powerful poetry in just a few words.

And here are the 7 things about me:

* I really love high heels, but my family forces me to wear Crocs. (Okay, I love the look of high heels... on other people... while I sit there smugly, wearing my comfortable Crocs. And my family doesn't force me to wear them. Instead, they beg me to ditch the Crocs. Not gonna happen...)

* I'm an expert donkey basketball player. Actually, I've only played it once, but it was a huge hoot. Everyone sits on a donkey (instead of acting like a donkey, which I sometimes do). It's done in a high school gym. The donkeys stand there, completely still, which makes you get all cocky, until the trainer walks by and smacks the donkey on the rear. Then, the donkey goes from standing still to 53 mph in 4 seconds... and while you're careening around the gym, you're also supposed to try and make baskets. (This was done as a fundraiser for the school district I used to teach in.)

* One of my all-time favorite books is Too Late the Phalarope by Alan Paton. If you want to read a heartbreaking novel about what apartheid did to one family, this is the book for you.

* I've been skydiving three times. All tandem jumps. Someday, I'll do a solo jump.

* I was a tomboy growing up. I wore overalls every day my junior and senior year of high school, played tackle football when I was a pre-teen, and never even wore lipstick until I was in my 40's. Seriously. (And you all thought I was a Glam Queen...)

* In reality, I look just like Halle Berry--at least once a week, someone stops me and wants to get their picture taken with me--but I frump myself up so everyone around me doesn't feel like they're in my shadow. Okay, in actuality, people see me and without me even telling them, they know I'm a teacher. Maybe it's the BUS (butt-ugly shoes)? Maybe it's the Samsonites under my eyes? Maybe it's the downtrodden spirit I (sometimes) stink of? Who knows... 

* I belong to the best writing critique group there is. The WWWPs--there's five of us--and we laugh so much, it sometimes tests the absorbency of our pantyliners.

There you have it. If you don't have to gouge out your mind's eye after envisioning me riding a donkey with my Crocs on and my frumpy hairstyle all in a swirl... well, you've got a stronger constitution than most...

When Poetry and Prose Intersect

       I am currently reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I'm a little more than a hundred pages into it. As its central characters, the novel has a blind girl living in France and an orphan boy living in Germany. The boy is being groomed by the Nazis because of his genius when it comes to radios and anything else his mind grasps. Somehow the two are going to connect... I'm not sure how.


       It's slow reading because I'm savoring the lines. Doerr writes prose like a poet. The images, the lines--they're so well crafted, and if the reader rushes, some gems will be overlooked.


       Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine is like that as well. I could just imagine Bradbury--like a diamond cutter--turning each phrase this way and that way, chipping away bits until the brilliance of his words was allowed to shine. Don't we all want that as writers and what we all hope for as readers? Don't we all love when the words just drip off the page and flash their brilliance?


      What is a fine line or phrase you've encountered (or crafted) recently? A writerly mind wants to know...  

By Walking

       A couple of years ago I finished NaNoWriMo successfully. I had written 50,000+ words. I felt marvelous. I felt victorious. I felt like I was finished with a major first step.


       However, when I honestly examined it--after the euphoria had worn off-- and after five beta readers had gotten it and suffered through it I realized that it was a steaming pile of poop.


       I started from scratch... from zero... from the very beginning--again.     


      Over the weekend, I saw an author on a book talk show. They quoted Maya Angelou as saying, "We find our way by walking." And it hit me.


       I am walking my way--slowly--as I find my way through this WIP. I've gotten 46,000-something words down (or is it 47 now?) and every couple of hundred words that get put down on paper is a few more steps along the way.


       And also, like all people, I have a path of family "issues" that I'm picking my way along. The trail is rocky, sometimes hilly, and occasionally the road has been washed away and I have to navigate without any markings...

       ... but I'm still walking.


       How else do we find our way--besides walking?


 * And I'm thrilled. Two of my friends--one teaching colleague and one writing friend (Lynn Obermoeller) have made it to the audition phase for St. Louis' Listen to Your Mother show. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed. (Both of their stories are great. One is funny and one is poignant.)


 


      

Keepers

        There are certain things I keep that have great sentimental value. I have a bracelet that was made from my grandparents' and great-grandparents' cufflinks and old watches and cameos. It's irreplaceable.

       I have the first rejection letter I received from a publisher. It wasn't a form letter, it was long and it was personal. It's framed, to remind me of when I started on this writerly journey.

      

This is my Valentine from my granddaughter.
It's definitely a keeper.

      I have a copy of the only book my husband and I both fell in love with--George R. R. Martin's Fevre Dream.  (He's proud to let everyone know he's read two other books. One is crappy--according to me--and the other title he doesn't remember.)  Special books hold a special place in my heart.

 

 

      What are some things you've kept? Sentimental minds wants to know...

 

Book Cluuub! Book Cluuuub! Get Your Red-Hot Book Club Here!

       Okay, to be completely honest, the only reason why any of my friends last night could be called "red hot" is due to menopausal hot flashes. All of us are in our fifties and sixties. Some of us are generously padded. Our hair is naturally gray or silver.But the discussion did get spirited...

       We were there to finally discuss Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr. This is an epic novel that I've recommended to perfect strangers in airports--it's that good of a book. I've given away two copies of my own and had to hit the Amazon and the Half Price Books gods for replacements. Rarely is there an epic novel. This is one, and it covers a period of history (right after the end of the Civil War) and from a perspective (an escaped slave) that is rarely told... and rarely told with such wonderful craftsmanship.

       Delicious food (I brought BLT soup) was part of the evening, along with great conversation and marvelous company. We are now tossing ideas back and forth as we decide what our next book will be.

       These are my suggestions for the group:

I've read this. In my opinion, it's Hosseini's best, especially if you're
looking for a woman's story.

This is another one I've already read. It's typical of Picoult. Lots of
research was involved in the writing, and there are some twists and
turns. It's a novel about the holocaust which will leave the reader in a quandary...

  

This is one I have not read yet. I bought a copy, intending to read it
(gently and carefully, abstaining from eating chocolate ice cream or taking a bath
or eating chocolate ice cream in the bathtub while reading it) so I could give it
as a gift to a writing friend, but ended up sending it without reading it. Shay--a rabid fan
of Emily Dickinson--loved it, so it comes with a high recommendation...

This was recommended by Shay as well. It begins with a couple of great lines.
"In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are."
I've read several of Hannah's books--because of Shay--and enjoyed them. This one
is about two sisters in France during the war.

I saw this on Amazon. It looks good. Has anyone out there (who is reading this post) read it?

One of the women (a newbie in our group) suggested a Nora Roberts book. Who is this Nora Roberts? Egads! Doesn't she know Sioux don't do no romance-type novels? I did mention to her that I have a writing friend who has a romance book (the first in a set of triplets) that I'm going to read in May... but only because it's by Lisa Ricard Claro. Nora Roberts? No way.

Are there any other recommendations for our book club?

And if you're in the mood for some BLT soup, here are the ingredients, since I don't really follow a recipe. My husband makes it--he's added some of the secret ingredients--and he follows a recipe that he's created. Me? Not so much... Take the ingredients and adjust according to your tastes.

• fire-roasted tomatoes (made by Hunts, but you can also find them at Aldi's now)--at least 5 or 6 cans
•        chicken stock/chicken bouillon (we like "Better Than Bouillon" brand)
•     bacon--fry it til it's crisp and done, and then cut or tear or crumble it       into small pieces

•     romaine hearts lettuce

•     liquid smoke

•     grated parmesan cheese (this is a secret ingredient)

•   (sssh. Don't tell anyone about this secret ingredient) seasoning (I love a blend called          "seasoning for greens." I imagine you can get it at most spice shops.  I use it on just about everything, from scrambled eggs to mashed      potatoes to chicken and soups.)

The cheese is put in towards the end--to thicken it. Amazingly, parts of the lettuce stays crunchy even though it simmers in the soup.

It is not an attractive-to-look-at soup, but it is tasty. In fact, one of the women last night took her portion, blended it in the blender, and the end result: a scrumptious cream soup.