Ten Things That Make Me Happy

1. Sunshine. It's out there, people, and I like it.
2. Caramel Syrup. Recipe on demand.
3. Good books. Try "The Chosen One" by Carol Lynch Williams. It's gripping.
4. Nearly-toothless six-year-old boys. Honestly, how does he eat?
5. Relaxing Sundays with yummy food in the company of good friends.
6. Yoga on wii Fit.
7. Homemade bread - made by someone else (thanks, Kim!)
8. Drainage. Dripping. Melting noises. Mmmm.
9. Blue-painted toenails.
10. Knowing by morning what's for dinner.

FAQ

I love when writers post their FAQ. So I'll give you all a little important information. Here are the things I get asked most frequently:

Q: Do I have any clean pants, Mom?

A: Did you put them in a hamper? Because if you did, I washed them. If they were carefully wadded up under your bed, they're still there.

Q: What's for dinner?

A: Check the calendar. I wrote it down.

Q: What do you think I should do?

A: (tearing my hair)

-- Oh - were you expecting writing questions? Those come, too. --

Q: What do you do with all your extra money?

A: (Laughing maniacally) Is there such a thing as extra?

Q: But don't writers make lots of money?

A: Writers who write lots of popular* books make lots of money.

Q: Here's a great idea for a book. Want to write it?

A: Probably not. I've got ideas - that's the easy part. The actual writing is where it gets a little tricky.

Q: What's the best part of being a writer?

A: Daily naps. Second best? Writer friends.

Q: How do you find the time to write?

A: Every day comes filled with twenty-four hours. I choose what I put in those hours (and how long each thing will take) - at least to some extent. I prioritize. I wake up early. I never clean my house if I can help it.** I have 4 kids in school. I minimize other commitments. I don't answer the phone. I do much less PTA than my guilt tells me I should. I hit my daily writing goal and then I move on to something else (like a whole lot of picking up and dropping off of adorable kids).

Q:Your characters sound like you.

A: That is not a question.

Q: Okay, I'll try again. Do you write yourself into your books?

A: There has to be something autobiographical in every writing - even if it's to say: This is what I don't really believe. It's natural to put yourself into your writing, because you come with a certain viewpoint, a set of lenses through which you see the world. It's good to change lenses when you write, but recognize that the lenses are there. Also, um, yeah. I do write myself.

Q: Do you write fiction because you're scared of the Truth?

A: I write fiction because it's my favorite vehicle for Truth. The True parts are what remain after the story is over.

Q: When is your next book coming out?

A: Technically March 4th (I think). Really? Any time. (You can already pre-order on some sites!)

Q: What are you working on now?

A: Something that's starting to take shape after 15,000 useless words. Sometimes I have to write for the sake of writing - flex a muscle every day. That leads to a whole lot of useless c-r-a-p. But maybe eventually the character will emerge and demand her story to be told. That's the magic part.

And there you have it - some of the things people ask me regularly. Want to know anything else? Your socks are under the couch. You're welcome.

*I almost said "good" books, but that isn't necessarily the same thing.

**I'd love for you to think that's a joke.

Sunday Soul Food

Can I talk to you for just a minute about Roast Potatoes?

This is Happy-Making food here at our house. It is the most hands-off sort of thing to put in an oven, and it guarantees pleased children and cleared plates. It's as easy as scrubbing potatoes, chunking them*, dumping them into a baking pan, drizzling with olive oil, dusting with Kosher salt**, stirring it up, and baking at 425. I like to stir now and then, because I want all the edges to crunch. It cooks for nearly an hour when I have nearly an hour, or more like 40 minutes when I have 40 minutes. It goes with anything*** and warms us up from mouth to soul.

So we will come home from Church today to Kate DiCamillo's gorgeous The Magician's Elephant **** and a "roaring" gas fire while we roast our potatoes. I love Sundays. Hope yours is peaceful, too.

*That's a scientific measurement. It results in pieces that are about the size of an olden-days ice cube - remember ice cube trays? Like that. If your potatoes (and your chunks) are the right size, every piece gets crunchy skin on. Mmm.

**I'm not a salt "snob" exactly, even though I have at least 4 kinds of salt in my house at any time. The Kosher salt is crunchy and it doesn't disappear during baking. But also? These potatoes become Sunday Potatoes if you replace the salt with that dry Onion Soup Mix, which you can pay $1.25 for under the name Lipton, or $0.30 as a store brand. You're welcome.

***Okay, not pasta. But YUM with a loaded green salad (like with carrots and cukes and cheese and kidney beans and artichoke hearts and tomatoes and pretty red-and-orange-and-yellow peppers and olives and croutons and three kinds of lettuces and green onions and capers).

****This is my favorite of her two that came out this year. I do love our Mercy Watson, but that one (Something Wonky This Way Comes) was bittersweet, since it's the last in the series. But Magician's Elephant? Striking. Spare. Magical. Family-centric. Hopeful. Lyrical. Lovely.

Mom Memories

I made my mom's carrot casserole for dinner last night. I came close to crying. It's seldom that missing my mom feels so direct. And it almost always surprises me. Like when my youngest (step)brother took pictures of his precious family at my mom's gravestone in Indiana. This sweet brother and his wife, neither of whom ever met my mom, paying tribute to her with their babies, telling them that this is where "Grandma Janet" is buried. And like when I opened a box of sheet music, found "Don't Rain on My Parade" from "Funny Girl," started to sing it to my kids, and got all choked, because that is a Mom Song. Like seeing my sweet dad, still handsome in his sixties, and realizing that the last time he saw my mom, twenty years ago this month, she was not much older than I am now.

So I made the carrot casserole.

It was so pretty, and it smelled so... right. You know how smells will take you right back to a time and place? Yes. That. And it reminded me of so many things I loved about my mom -- her ways in the kitchen, how she always tasted right off the mixing spoon, and how hot breakfast was non-negotiable (even if it was apple crisp, because really, how different is that from apple-cinnamon oatmeal?), and how sugar cereal was for camping trips. My mom had a spagetti sauce that would bring kids from town. I'm not kidding. My friends would fill up cups with it and eat it with spoons. And once, she burned pork chops. In the microwave.* But that carrot casserole. I loved that stuff.

Here's the recipe, if you're so inclined.

2 and 1/2 cups grated carrots

3 eggs

2 Tablespoons melted butter

2 cups cooked rice

1 Tablespoon grated onion**

1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 and 1/2 cups grated cheese (Knowing how I grew up, this probably meant cheddar cheese, medium. But now that I've become a cheese snob, I made it half and half with Gruyere. Mmmm. Gruyere.)

Blanch carrots in 3/4 cup water for 5 minutes. Drain, and save the juice. Combine carrots with eggs, butter, rice, salt, onions and cheese(s). Mix it up.*** Press into a greased 8x8 pan, place that pan into a 9x13 pan with a cup or two of hot water in it. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Next, you make a white sauce, using the carrot juice for half the liquid. Like so: Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy sauce pan. Stir in 4 Tablespoons of flour and stir over medium-high heat for a minute. Salt and pepper to taste. Then add carrot juice and about 3/4 cup of milk, whisking constantly until the sauce has thickened. Don't let it boil. Then you add a cup or 2 of really good-quality frozen peas. If you don't know the difference between good peas and the other kind, give me a call. We'll talk.

Serve casserole with cream sauce over the top. See if it makes you miss my mom, too.

*This may be where I get my aversion to microwave cooking.

**But why stop at 1? I used 2.

***My Kid 3 said at this point, "It looks just like chopped candy corns!"

Just a Suggestion

You know me, I'm always full of it - I think somehow that my opinion is relevant. Hm.

Well, today, I'm just saying, you might want to try this. Here's what I just had for lunch:

Carrot slices (a real, full-sized carrot, remember? Not baby nonsense) and cucumber slices (salted) and brie on triscuits. Little slices of brie melted in the micro-nuker on Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil triscuits. This is the best lunch I've eaten lately where nobody else was involved with cooking for me.

And then, about writing - the book signing was fun. I met lots of nice people who, among other things, write good things and love fine foods and share their cute babies and wear great jewelry. (Not all the same people had all those great qualities, you know. But among the group, all that was represented.)

Husband is working at home today, so he's taking Kid 4 over to the driving range for his lunch break and they're going to hit a few golf balls. Soak up these perfect autumn days, right? I'm going to mow the lawn (eventually - maybe I'll read something fun out on the patio first...). This morning I got some outlining done (in a notebook on my bed, because I was terribly _______ (cold or lazy or maybe industrious, you decide).

Question Blog

Becca, did you do your assignment you (nearly) promised yesterday that you would do? I just did my homework. I wrote about a time I "bonded" with someone. It was a good exercise. I remembered something I haven't thought about in nearly 10 years. Did I write anything in my WIP? Nope. So sue me.*

Becca, what's going on with your book that's in editing? I'm hearing rumors about my new cover. I haven't seen it yet. I hope to, soonly**. I'll show it off as soon as I have permission. And Lovely Editor is working on smoothing everything out, wordwise.

Becca, if you could never publish another novel, would you still write novels? Um, yes. And maybe that little caveat would make them better. Hm.

Becca, do you have a favorite blog post (that you've written)? Oh. That I've written. Yes. But it's not very fun. Good writing, serious emotion. Here it is, again. And also, this one, which is much less serious. Thank you for asking. Do you?

Becca, what are you reading right now? I assume you mean the right now that I'm not typing this post. In that case, UNWIND by N. Shusterman. Shuddery-good. And also SAVVY by Ingrid Law. Funny, sweet, great. Neither have I finished. I'm thinking about reading SAVVY to the Kids for read-aloud fun, but I wonder if I need to finish pre-reading first.

Becca, what are your favorite books that you haven't written? You assume much, grasshopper. In no particular order: THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Shaffer and Burrows, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Mistress Jane Austen, PEACE LIKE A RIVER by Lief Enger, THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak, TODAY I WILL FLY by Mo Willems***, LES MISERABLES by Victor Hugo, and THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver.

Becca, what are you doing to keep yourself busy with Husband out of town? Um, 4 kids on 4 school schedules, writing long blog posts, napping (just kidding, Husband!), not much housecleaning (but it will happen... someday), riding my bike, yoga, watching not-very-trashy chick-flicks, and cooking food. And eating food. And cleaning up the kitchen, hiding evidence of all that food.

Becca, what's going on with that play you teased us about? Oh. Right. Annie Get Your Gun. Kids 1 and 2 and I are "ensemble" cast members, which requires a couple evenings a week, Saturday mornings, and no line memorizing. It's perfect. You know, for small-town community theater. Our Annie is great - she's got such a voice on her. Yowza.

Becca, if we have more burning questions, what should we do? Why, leave them in the comments, certainly. I'll be happy to answer all manner of questions you ask, along with those you don't.

*Except, don't.

**That was a Grandpappy word. He was my dad's dad. And a certifiable Grammar Snob. So it's okay to use it.

***Who is, in case you've maybe been on a different planet for the last 10 years, a GENIUS.