So I am totally not winning NaNo this year – there’s no way. My weekend looks horrible, then there’s this whole Thanksgiving thing… Anyway, I am doing what I said I wanted to do, which was get back to the keyboard on a regular basis to do something besides play on Twitter.

This one comes to us from the lovely lady with whom I lived for three years of college. Yes! College roomies are totally eligible to enter my contests. Especially considering she knows things I’d rather keep quiet. hehe Kidding. Maybe.

Here is her easy recipe for pumpkin pancakes just in time for the holidays! Thanks, Karla!

Pumpkin Pancakes

2 ½ cup Aunt Jemima

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 egg

1 ¾ cup milk

2 tablespoons oil

1 cup pumpkin

Sift all ingredients together until slightly lumpy. Cook on a hot, greased griddle, using about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Batter is dense so you will need to spread the batter out a bit. Cook until brown on one side; turn and brown the other side. Top with whipped cream or syrup.

The idea behind doing NaNo this year was not to hit 50K – I pretty much don’t have a prayer. However, I’m out of the habit of writing everyday, and I need to get back into the groove of butt-in-chair-hands-on-keyboard. I’ve done pretty well at that goal, even if my total word count is awful

I have plot problems, too. I gave away the killer on page 45, for one. And the writing is awful! But I am resisting the urge to edit. Even though it’s killing me!

Time to start sharing some of our contest entries! This comes from Kelli, and it looks awesome! Thanks, Kelli!

Chicken Dish

oven temp: 400 degrees
bake time: 50-60 minutes
prep time: 15-20 minutes

In an oven safe dish (size will depend on how many chicken breasts you use), place one can of cream of mushroom soup to cover the bottom, place 4-6 chicken breasts on top, add one can of cream of mushroom soup to cover the breasts, sprinkle each breast with cayenne pepper to your liking, place in oven and bake for 50 minutes, top each chicken breast with grated cheese (any type you like) and melt for approximately 10 minutes in the oven. Your chicken should be 180 degrees or higher inside temp.

You can serve with Stove Top stuffing or mashed potatoes and a vegetable.

Hope you enjoy!

Thanks,
Kelli

Finally gotten over my editing and have moved on to writing. Too bad I have no idea what to write about.  But progress should start happening soon. Maybe.

I meant to post my NaNoWriMo total today. I figured it should be pretty good, too, since I am raring to write.  Well, um, you see, a few things got in the way. One was the time change. It always makes me stupid, and now I’m falling into bed about 9:30 half dead. Secondly… well, let’s be honest here. I got in my own way.

I was going to work on Happy Medium again. I was going to throw out everything I’d done and rewrite it from scratch. Then I was going to keep the first page. Okay, the first chapter. Then the second, then…  Well, I got carried away and am now editing. Moron! Why am I editing? If I’m going to keep it, I should edit later, right? Just get the word count now, right? Right!

And yet, I’m still editing. What a yahoo.

So bear with me. I will write soon, and even share. Maybe.

Well, it’s November 1st, which means it’s time for the insanity of NaNoWriMo. And since my word total is currently a giant goose  egg, I need to focus. But my blog has felt very lonely lately, and I need content! So the solution? A contest, of course!

So I’m giving away two prizes this month to two helpful readers!  Just for sharing something fun for the blog. And what can you share? Well, that was another question I had when brewing up this idea. Maggie from Let’s Dish would want to see recipes to add to her collection. But Brin in Another Time Around would want to know that she’s not alone being haunted by her past.

What do you need to do? Share your favorite recipe! OR you can help me extend the Halloween season while the stores put out Christmas, and send me your favorite story of the paranormal, be it hauntings, UFOs, whatever! Just email your contribution to:

cate@catherinewade.com

All entries will be shared on the blog, and the authors of one recipe and one story will be randomly selected to win their choice of a Samhain ebook!

Entries accepted until Novemer 15, with winners drawn on the 16th! And yes, you can enter more than once! Your name will go in as many times as you enter a recipe or story!

So start sharing, folks. Help a girl out during NaNo!

I am spending the week trying to get a book in my head (NaNo starts Sunday) and trying to get the crud out of my sinuses. Still, when my neighbor brought over a huge bag of apples the other day, I had one thought: caramel.  I love caramel-dipped apples, and adore caramel on ice cream, so I thought I would share a little dip I made up last night.

Ingredients:
1/2 stick salted butter
2 cups brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add sugar and stir until moistened by butter. Add milk slowly by thirds, stirring after each addition. Allow to boil for 15 minutes, adjusting heat accordingly and stirring frequently so it does not burn.

Now this step is vital – allow to cool for 1/2 hour. Otherwise your first bite might lead you to the ER. This stuff is hot when it comes out of the pan.

Can be used to dip fruit, put over ice cream, as a cake or pie topping – anywhere you’d use caramel!

I brought a little bit to work with me today, and will heat it for about 30 seconds in the microwave before dipping my apple. Yummy!!

Sorry for being invisible around here for so long – thanks to one heckuva virus, I’ve been sidelined since last Tuesday. The antibiotics are kicking in, though, and I’m climbing my way back out of the hole.

In even better medical news, the husband’s doctor said the magic words – complete remission. There is no trace of the cancer in the hub’s blood work. This is great news! The bad news is to keep him in remission, he still requires chemo, but we can do it at home with a pill. Bonus!

He will still need a stem cell transplant to get off the chemo, but we can take our time, get him back to work for a bit, and get him to build up his strength.

Yep – we’re getting healthier all around!

Any bets as to whether my next post includes the letters H1N1? God forbid!

Years ago when I completed my first “professional” novel, I anxiously scoured the internet to find out how to get it published. I got a lot of advice, from split it into two books to put it on scented paper to get an editor’s attention. Seven years on, I have learned a lot, not the least of which was most of that early advice was wrong. Not just wrong, but ommigodhowcanpeoplebesonaive-wrong.

So today I’m going to start a series that will explore some of the myths out there that new authors fall for – and rightly so, since the source of the “advice” is generally someone who seems to be a seasoned pro. Which I’m not. However, I have learned a few things the hard way, and am willing to share.

First off, let’s talk about manuscript formatting. Oh man, are there a million ideas out there on this one! I was told that if my margins were not just so, if my itaclics were not underlined, and if my mauscript was not at EXACTLY 25 pt, it would never sell. Yeah, whatever. As a general rule, I like to write double-spaced with one-inch margines and in Courier Dark. However, if your manuscript is in Times New Roman, and your italics are underlined, if it’s a good story, it will still sell. The key here is to do your research. For example, Samhain wanted TNR, so I changed the font on my manuscript before I sent it in. If the agent/editor you want to submit to wants it in a specific font or with specific characteristics, follow their rules. It proves you can read and follow directions. However, if they do not specify specifically what they want, basic proffessional formatting is perfectly acceptable, italics and all.  Don’t put it on colored paper, don’t put it on scented paper, and don’t get cutesey. Those are the things that will get your manuscript shoved into the slush pile faster than you can say “I’m the next J.K. Rowling.”

Then there’s the whole, “You have to have an agent before you can sell” myth. While it helps to have an agent first, and sometimes advisable, I am living proof you can sell without one. In fact, I would say there are certain times that selling a book prior to being agented is a good idea, and I believe my situation is one of them. There’s a variation on this one that goes, “You have to enter contests/attend conferences to get a book deal.”  Not that I am anti-contest, by any means, but contest wins, with a few notable exceptions, mean very little to most agents and editors. That doesn’t mean you don’t gather valuable information from feedback recieved from contests, and if you’re into it, go for it! However, don’t feel it’s a requirement. As for conferences, I highly recommend them. You get to know other writers, agents, editors, and even readers in a face-to-face situation. You can make yourself memorable this way – in good ways and in bad, so remember to be a professional. Have fun, but keep it business-like. (And no, do NOT pass your manuscript to an agent or editor under the bathroom stall. Bathroom time is alone time.) However, conferences are not manditory, either. I live in a part of the country where I am far away from most everything. I allow myself a conference every year or two, but life has gotten in the way and I’ve not managed it. Don’t go bankrupt getting to a conference, but do try to attend. Really. Great time and valuable eperience.

Enough lecture for today? Don’t worry, I have more coming soon.