S is for Sunset Vegetarian Cookbook

 

The real title of today's keeper selection is: Sunset Menus & Recipes for Vegetarian Cooking; Entertaining Specialties, International Favorites. But to keep life simple, I just call  it the "Sunset Vegetarian Book."

It's the only cookbook I own, and I've had it for years and years. I don't think there's a recipe  in it that I haven't changed, altered, substituted, rewritten . . . whatever works, right? After all, you can't really go wrong with vegetables! 

But the real reason I've kept the book so long is for a recipe that isn't even part of the book. Instead, it's one I've handwritten onto the inside front cover, and its a recipe I do follow (pretty much) to the letter. And that is for:

THE COLONEL'S MUESLI!

This is a recipe I got from my late father-in-law, a larger-than-life character straight from the pages of any runaway bestseller of a novel. Heck, they could make an entire mini-series from his life: hunting tigers in India for his 21st birthday (yes, yes--it was a different world back then); fighting with distinction in the second World War and being highly honored for his service; continuing to serve in Libya and Malaysia (where he took my husband and his siblings into the Malaysian jungle to meet with headhunters) . . . 

Eventually he moved to New Zealand where he became a strict vegetarian, one of the reasons he could go on yearly European skiing vacations well into his eighties. (He was also very kind to cats of all shapes and sizes.)

One of his daily rituals was to eat a bowl of his own homemade muesli every morning. He gave me the recipe when he was staying with my husband and me in California one year, and I wasn't able to find ANY kind of muesli for him to eat. I could find Fruit Loops, Coco Pops, cornflakes--but noooo muesli. 

After searching every store in my area, I realized I was going to need help and just make some myself, hence the need for a recipe. The Colonel scribbled one down for me, and guess what? It was so good, I've continued making it to this day:

The Colonel’s Muesli

4 cups of oatmeal

3 cups of bran

3 cups of wheatgerm

1½ cups coconut

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup sesame seed

1 cup stoneground wheat flour

2/3 cup honey

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Melt the oil and honey together in a saucepan over low heat. 

Mix the remaining ingredients in a deep oven-proof casserole dish. 

Add the honey and oil. Stir well.

Bake at 350 degrees for half an hour, checking occasionally, 

stirring to rotate the ingredients.  

When cool, place into a large lidded container.

 Lastly, add 1-2 bags of your favorite trail mix. (You have to open the lid for this.)

Note: be careful not to overcook. This isn't granola

so you don't want it too dark or crunchy.

"Lightly-toasted" is what you're going for.

And there you are! Now just keep an eye out for those tigers . . . 

R is for River Bones

Mary Deal is one of my favorite authors. I own four of her books, all keepers, but the only one that starts with "R" is River Bones, so that's the title I'm featuring today. River Bones is an exciting page-turner of a mystery set in California's Sacramento River Delta area.

It has a bone-chilling book trailer:

And I want to re-read it RIGHT NOW! Except I can't. I'm at work.

One of the main reasons I enjoy Mary's work so much is her voice. When I read (and re-read) her books, it's hard to remember I'm reading about fictional characters. Instead, all of her story people feel like real people to me--people I'd like to invite to dinner one day--well, the good guys, at least! Mary is an expert at portraying villains, and I would never want to know any of them in person.

Exactly four years ago (almost to the day, where does the time go??) I wrote a post about Mary's book, The Tropics. Since then, Mary has come out with a completely new version of that book, titled Legacy of the Tropics, available on Kindle. Whichever version you read, though, I think that first post sums up my thoughts on River Bones, too.

Mary also teaches writing, and she has a great website full of excellent tips for writers at all stages of their careers. For more on Mary and her books, plus invaluable writing info, please check out writeanygenre.com. 

In the meantime, I hope your week is off to a great start and you've been inspired to start searching through all your own bookshelves, discovering which are keepers and what titles you might want to pass on to friends of the library. See you tomorrow with the letter "S"!

Q is for Quick & Clever Drawing

Street Scene, Barcelona

Participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge has been fun, no two ways about it--but it's also been very, very time consuming. I've had to give up a few of my daily routines and practices, and one of these has been sitting down to draw or paint every day. Which is why it's good to have a nifty keeper book like Quick & Clever Drawing by Michael Sanders.

I haven't owned the book for more than a year, but it's been a handy reference guide for when I'm feeling lost and falling behind in my artwork, like right now. Originally, I purchased the book to help me gain some pointers with my travel journal and sketchbook when I went to Barcelona last summer (oh, no, not Barcelona again, I can hear you thinking. Apologies for bringing it up so often, but it's a very interesting place!).

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

But back to Quick & Creative Drawing. Basically, the book encourages artists at all levels to just go for it. My favorite quote from page 5 is: "Drawing is simply making marks on paper." Yay! That's the spirit!

Sanders encourages his readers to keep those initial "marks on paper" simple and uncluttered, in other words, be quick; be clever--e.g., if you need to use a cardboard template to get the angle of a roof right, don't be shy, go get the scissors. And be very willing and open to "make mistakes" while you're experimenting. As he also states, rather than tell yourself, "I can't draw," say, "I can LEARN to draw."

Good advice--and what we all need to keep in mind about every creative endeavor we pursue, whether it's painting, writing, or learning to sew. And because it's the weekend and we get Sunday off from the challenge, I'm setting aside everything else in my life to grab my paper and pencils and go learn some more drawing tips. See you on Monday, and have a wonderful weekend. Eat chocolate!

P is for Past Recall

Happy Friday! Today's keeper book is Past Recall, When Love and Wisdom Transcend Time, a time-traveling, paranormal romance set in the south of France by author Nita Hughes:

Past Recall was published as an indie book before it was cool to publish an indie book, and has always been an inspiring and fascinating book for me to read. I met Nita through my writer’s group back in Carrollton, Georgia, and the most exciting thing I remember from that meeting was Nita’s deep love and dedication to her theme and subject of the Cathars, a small but powerful movement throughout southern Europe; people who were considered heretics by the Catholic Church. The Cathars were the victims of the only Crusade into Europe, with thousands of people killed and tortured as a result, culminating in the final destruction of the sect.

When Nita was ready to publish her book, I had the privilege of writing a short blurb for the back cover. I wrote: “A haunting blend of metaphysics and historical romance at its best. Past Recall is filled with rich characterization and a great sense of style.” Still rings true for me today!

Nita is a wonderful writer, with a special gift for bringing her characters and settings to life. Her high-tension storytelling combined with spirituality and historical information is particularly impressive. I thoroughly enjoyed Past Recall when it was published, and I enjoy it to this day. A sequel, The Cathar Legacy, is equally compelling, and it shares keeper shelf-space right next to PR.  

A few years ago I asked Nita some questions for my blog just before she was about to leave for France to teach a writing workshop in Cathar country: 

Q. When did you first decide to become a writer?
A. I always loved to write since age 4, holding a pencil. And to speak-- communicating, stirring passions and prompting thought via words seemed miraculous.

Q. How did you become interested in the Cathars?
A. Cathar interest hit me out of the blue, literally, as I sat in the corner on a stool in a Melbourne bookstore, perusing books to buy. A book fell above me, landing in my lap, and opened to Cathars. Never heard of them and from that moment felt duty bound to bring them back to life.

Q. Do you have a writing schedule and if so, what is it?
A. 3 hours-between breakfast and lunch.

Q. What is your favorite book?
A. Many, but loved Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera (heavy on passions and magic realism).

Q. Any writing advice to share?
A. Write from your passion(s) –whether fiction or non-fiction.

Nita’s advice is invaluable. Are you writing from your passion?  

Altogether Nita has published three books, with Safe Haven, a romantic thriller set in the Philippines, being her most recent. To learn more about Nita and her books, please visit NitaHughes.com. See you tomorrow!

O is for Overtaken--and a Free Giveaway

My recent novel, Overtaken, is a keeper because--I wrote it! Better yet, I want you to have a copy too! 

From now until the end of the 2014 A-Z Challenge on April 30, all you have to do is leave a comment on any of my posts and you'll be entered into a random drawing on May 1, 2014 to win your very own copy. This goes for everyone who's already commented on earlier posts as well. And if you're a follower of my blog who leaves a comment, it gets even better--I'll throw in a bonus prize! This is to thank all of you wonderful people for taking the time to visit, comment, and join. "O" is for overjoyed to meet you!

In the meantime, here's a little more about the book: Published in 2012, Overtaken is a literary Gothic fairy tale centering on Sara Elliott Bergsen, a portrait artist living in London. You can watch the book trailer here, and get some idea of the story settings from my Pinterest board here. 

I started writing the book as part of an exercise in a workshop I took at the International Women's Writing Guild Summer Conference at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. We were meant to try a visualization process to invite a story in that we could write about. We closed our eyes, sat in deep silence and meditation, and asked a character to visit us. That's when Sara appeared, climbing the stone steps to a mysterious mansion, on her way to being . . . Overtaken. I was equally overtaken, and for the next several years I wrote every day in my spare time to find out what happened to Sara and why she was at the mansion in the first place. I was as surprised at what I found as she was.

Now Sara and her story are so much a part of my life I can't think of what my world would be without her. One of the strangest things about writing, to me, is how our characters become real--imaginary friends that change our lives as much as we create theirs. What is real, what is illusion?, the exact dilemma Sara faces throughout the book, and questions I still love to explore.

How about you? Looking forward to hearing from you so we can discuss these questions together! See you tomorrow with the letter "P."

N is for The Natural House Book

It's been one of those days: up out of bed as early as possible, speed shower, quick trip to a French bakery to buy a pastry and latte, get to work to be greeted with a stack of typing, rush to Home Depot to buy paint for the bathroom so my husband can paint the bathroom tonight, followed by a trip to the post office--which turns out to be closed--then home for a late lunch, back to the post office, now open, but I have so many foreign parcels to mail that when I get to the counter the people in the line behind me are sighing and groaning and tapping their feet, off to the grocery store because I haven't been in two weeks and we are living on pastry and latte, get home with badly packed groceries, and there is a giant cockroach in the middle of my living room. 

And of course I haven't blogged yet.  I'd rather be reading.

Which is why The Natural House Book, Creating a Healthy, Harmonious, and Ecologically Sound Home Environment by David Pearson is a little oasis of sanity in a busy, hectic, crazy world. My copy is a bit on the old side, 1989, and there have been more recent editions published, but I'm happy with the one I have. The book was gifted to me in the mid-90s by a lovely friend on the eve of her move to Maui when she was clearing the last of her own bookshelves. I was delighted to receive it, especially as my husband and I were in the middle of building a tiny little house and workspace in the Georgia countryside, and we needed all the help we could get.

The Natural House book has stayed with me ever since we built that house, lived in it very happily, added on to it, sold it, and then moved to Albuquerque where we have since moved three more times already. What I love about it in particular is it's sincere naturalness. All the photos are of real houses for real people with sweet, uncluttered rooms of airy grace and personal idiosyncrasy--exactly the type of house I try to create for myself. The book belongs to a time and mindset where people didn't enter a home and wail, "No granite countertops?? I can't LIVE without stainless steel! Oh, my God, CARPET! Tear it out before I vomit!"

Instead, the book illustrates and suggests ways to make your home fresh and charming on the smallest of budgets: white curtains, house plants, baskets, minimal inexpensive furniture, and lots of open windows to let the breeze in and the day's woes out. If there's any kind of "message" in the text, it's simply this: seven bathrooms and an industrial kitchen do not a home make. A happy home can be as small as a yert and as plain as a white-washed room. It really is the thought that counts.

So on that thought I'm off to put up my feet, have a glass of white wine, and finish reading Daughter of Smoke & Bone. Oh, and if you're wondering about the cockroach, I captured him with a piece of cardboard and put him in the back yard. I'm sure he has a home to go to somewhere.
 

 

M is for Masquerade in Venice

My favorite romance novel, Masquerade in Venice, written by Velda Johnston, copyright 1973,  is a keeper because it inspired me to join up and write my first NaNoWriMo manuscript. I still have that draft, and one day I might even clean it up and submit it somewhere, but for now it's fine "resting" in my filing cabinet. I'm not a romance writer, but it's nice to dream.

I first came across this sweet and lovely book one winter when I had the flu but was just well enough to go to the library for some much-needed reading material. I'd been in bed for days and had been too sick to read anyway, but I was at the point where the only thing I had energy for was reading, so off to the library I went. Except when I got there, nothing appealed to me. 

Rows and rows of new books and all I could say was, "Bleh." Then I saw an old-fashioned, plain blue "library bound" copy of Masquerade in Venice and knew this was exactly what I wanted. I took it home, read it, and loved every word. Then I had to give it back. (The big problem with library books, in my opinion!) A few months later, I wanted to read it again, and when I went to the library--it wasn't there! No one knew what had happened to it--it was gone. Stolen, lost, vanished into the ether. It no longer existed. Time passed and something worse happened: I forgot both the name of the author as well as the title, so I couldn't even buy a copy. I gave up.

Then one fortuitous day at a writer's group meeting, the group was holding a second-hand book sale, and bingo, there it was in paperback: Masquerade in Venice. My book! Mine, mine, mine. The original price printed on the cover was $1.25 and I got it for .25 cents. Good deal? You bet.

It had been a few years since I'd read it, and it was a joy to re-read. Then a good friend suggested we sign up for NaNoWriMo and I thought, if I could write a book like Masquerade in Venice, that would be time well-spent. And it was, even if the one thing I learned was that I'm not a romance writer. Which is okay. We can't write in every genre, but it's good to explore, learn, and discover what is, and is not, our true calling. The key is to have the courage to take the journey: nothing ventured, nothing gained. Seeing Masquerade in Venice on my keeper shelf reminds me of that maxim every day. 

How about you? What book(s) keep you on the journey? Let me know, and I'll see you tomorrow with the letter "N."

L is for The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun

The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun by Sebastien Japrisot is an exciting book. Newsweek described it as: "A chilling, baffling psychological fooler. . . Sparkles with all the juicy terror that can attack the heart and body." Le Monde said: "Sebastien Japrisot is a magician who gives voice to silence and lays out truth naked on the page." My goodness. Who wouldn't keep this book forever and ever? Except I'd dearly love to give it away.

My sole reason for hanging on, tooth and nail, to this "fooler" is that I want my husband to read it. And I can tell you, forcing someone else to read a book is not an easy task. I have placed it nicely by his bedside. Packed it in his carry-on luggage for long flights. Set it out by the mini-bar in foreign hotels. Put it on top of How to Build a High-Performance Mazda Miata MX-5. I even bought two very attractive bookmarks which I placed inside the cover: one from the Picasso museum in Barcelona (where of course the book was waiting to be read back at the hotel), the other a 3-D scene of the African veldt with moving lions, zebras, giraffes, and a baby rhino! I mean, how hard is to NOT read this book?? It's not like it's cold spinach  with slugs.

Here's the opening:

"I have never seen the sea.

The black-and-white tiled floor sways like water a few inches from my eyes.

It hurts so much I could die.

I am not dead."

At this point you may be asking why I put all this effort into a single book. The answer is simple: my husband will like it. Once he starts reading, he will LOVE IT! I know this with every fiber of my being. I refuse to part with this book it is read cover to cover by DH. And if he doesn't hurry up I just might read it again myself. After all, it's a very good book. Maybe you'd like to read it too?

K is for Knitting in Vogue

Knitting in Vogue by Christina Probert, a collection of vintage knitting patterns from 1932 to 1979, is a keeper for a single reason: I live in hope.

In all the years I've owned the book, purchasing it in San Francisco and hauling it from one side of the country to the other more than once, I have only knitted one garment from the entire text. And that was a very easy 1950s ski sweater that didn't even have long sleeves. But I have plans, I tell you, plans.

One day when I'm not writing/painting/cooking/reading/sleeping,  I will make:

Thick Tri-colour Windjammer

Diagonal Pattern Shirt Blouse

Twisted Rib Sweater and Scarf (sounds a bit painful)

Shetland Honeycomb Pattern Sweater

And my absolute favorite: 

Butterfly and Moss Stitch Jacket

That's just for starters. I've got the book, I've got the needles, now all I need is the time. Anybody got some extra to spare? No, I didn't think so. Oh, well. See you on Monday with the letter "L." Happy weekend!

J is for (Modern) Japanese Stories

Today's keeper book doesn't exactly start with the letter "J" but it's close enough. The only other "J"book I have is Holly Schindler's The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky, which I've recently posted about here. (It's a good post--Holly shared her top 12 tips for writing Middle Grade fiction. Please visit!) So in order to not repeat myself,  Modern Japanese Stories, an Anthology edited by Ivan Morris and illustrated with 25 full-page woodcuts will have to fill-in today.

I bought the book in Southern California at a tiny Japanese mall where I had lunch one afternoon. The bookstore next to the restaurant was a cool, dark space decorated with fluttering cotton flags and carrying rows and rows of books printed in Japanese. The books themselves intrigued me with their rice paper pages, plain but colorful fabric-textured covers, and the way they fit into my hands with a lovely, balanced weight. Holding one was like handling a scented melon, warm and satisfying between my palms. Unfortunately, I couldn't read a single word of any of the text! The shop owner could sense my dilemma, and kindly pointed me toward a small shelf of books in English. Modern Japanese Stories caught my eye. Just like the rest of the books in the store, it had that same weight and size I found so appealing. I bought the book right away and started to read it that night.

I wasn't disappointed. Over the years I've read it many, many times and have developed quite a fascination with all things Japanese. I've since read a large number of both modern and early Japanese novels; watched Japanese films whenever possible; studied Japanese ceramics, which have been a huge influence on my own ceramic work; and last year for National Poetry Month I went so far as to write and illustrate a Japanese-inspired art journal I titled "30 Days of Kimono." I wrote a blog post about it here, and created a Pinterest board for the project as well. The journal/sketchbook turned out to be so interesting I'm still adding to it, this time exploring the world of the Geisha.

One day I hope to go to Japan. My husband has been there five (!) times for business, but I was never able to accompany him. He assures me that downtown Tokyo is nothing like my romantic vision of a quiet mountain inn complete with our own private tea garden and a view of cherry blossoms in the snow. I don't care--I want to see Tokyo too! Both places are on my bucket list. In the meantime, I'm happy to re-read Modern Japanese Stories and dream.

I is for Isadora Duncan

Isadora Duncan became my I-is-for-Idol when I was ten years old and read a Reader's Digest condensed version of her biography that summer in Anaheim, California. I was staying at my grandmother's house for a month, and we were so close to Disneyland I could see the Matterhorn from the end of her street. 

My grandmother also had a swimming pool, and every day I pretty much followed the same routine: cinnamon toast for breakfast, swim, baloney and mustard sandwiches for lunch, read, swim, dinner (usually tacos or burgers), read, swim, read. I was in heaven! (I also hadn't become a vegetarian yet.) I lived in my bathing suit and read and ate outside next to the pool. I also remember some bad sunburn because my grandmother's favorite suntan lotion was olive oil, LOL! We were cooked to bruschetta on a daily basis.

However, it was Isadora Duncan who really stood out for me in between swimming sessions. I'm sure I didn't understand very much at the time about her complicated love life, or how truly innovative her contribution to the art and dance world was. But I did know she was different and interesting, and I continued my fascination with her life well into adulthood. Which is why my husband surprised me one Christmas with a book so beautiful it's really a piece of art rather than reading material.

Isadora Duncan with Art Deco Sculptures by Chiparus, Preiss, and Others published by Franco Maria Ricci with text by Alberto Savinio is so special that rather than a dust jacket, it rests in its own black silk-covered box. The oversize pale indigo-blue pages are of handmade paper from Milan, and the Art Deco photographs of rare and decorative dance sculptures are first-class. My copy is one of a limited edition, and half the time I don't read it because I'm afraid of ruining it somehow.

And that's a shame because it's a book worth reading whenever possible. Unlike most biographies, the section on Duncan's life history is written in a literary and poetic style. The sections describing the artwork are equally entertaining, making this a very special and unique keeper. Best of all, it inspired one of the characters in my current WIP, The Abyssal Plain. Now to just be able to afford some of those Art Deco sculptures for my living room.

H is for House of Leaves

Today’s post should really be titled, "H is for Hello, I'm very, very tired." A-Z blogging is, well, um, challenging! Put that with the staying up all night because I went to the Laini Taylor booksigning/launch for Dreams of Gods and Monsters here in Albuquerque, and when I got home I couldn't sleep. At all. Which may be a good way to describe my love for  Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves: it, too, leaves me sleepless. 

House of Leaves is a keeper because it’s so darn weird. WEIRD. I mean, how many novels have indexes? Or contain so many footnotes you forget whether you’re reading the core story, or the footnotes to the footnotes' story, or—hey, does it really matter? It's all entertainment.

 The book was first recommended to me by a cheerful woman who explained that she was, at that particular moment in her life, mentally ill, and the only book she could read or understand was House of Leaves because, in her words, it was "where her mind was." She thought I would enjoy it too.

Rather than wondering if she had perhaps noticed something about me that I had failed to see, I took her advice and bought a copy. She was right--it's an amazing book no matter where your head is. 

Here’s a direct quote and the full text of page 221 of the Remastered Full Color Edition: 

“after”

If you thought that was unusual, just wait till you see what's on page 223. 

And f you want to know what it all means--plus have the most exciting (and puzzling) reading adventure of your life--you’ll have to read the book. Personally I need a nap. See you tomorrow with the letter “I.”

P.S. The Laini Taylor event was fabulous. Thanks to our local Albuquerque indie store, Bookworks, we had cake and punch, sketchbooks, a giant puppet, games, henna, masks. . . . Laini was a wonderful and gracious speaker, and she signed three books for me! It might not start with the letter "H" but #DOGAM (along with the rest of her books) is definitely going straight to my keeper shelf.

G is for Gaudete

Before I signed up for the April A-Z Blogging Challenge, April was always associated in my mind with National Poetry Month. It still is, just now with a little twist. So in order to honor one of my favorite months and subjects, I’m dedicating the letter G to the next of my keeper books: Gaudete by Ted Hughes. 

Gaudete was another purchase from Foyle’s of London, and to be honest when I bought it all I knew about Hughes was that he had been married to Sylvia Plath. I had no idea what his work would be like, but the cover, a creepy pen-and-ink drawing of a giant screaming head by Leonard Baskin, caught my imagination and wouldn't let go. When I read the back cover, I was fascinated to learn that the text had originally been written as a film scenario, and that may be one of the reasons I ended up reading it over and over.

When I was a child, one of my favorite things to do when no one was looking was to watch English black-and-white horror movies, especially the ones set in sinister villages where it turns out the headmaster of the local school is leading a coven of witches, or the neighbors regularly sacrifice newcomers on Midsummer’s Eve. I loved the way the hoity-toity villagers sped around in open-top sports cars, the gentlemens' ties flying in the wind, or the ladies' silk scarves protecting those beehive hairdos. When they met for afternoon tea to plot their next evil deed, my main thought was not "how awful," but, "Wow--just look at that Royal Doulton. And that Tudor oak wainscoting. I HAVE to go there one day!"

Gaudete is straight out of this traditional very British and very proper horror vein, with plenty of humor directed toward the genre to make it even whackier. A dark and, yes, philosophical, tale of changelings and elementals and overgrown hedgerows, it’s a real page turner, and some of the best and most accessible poetry you’ll ever read. It's a keeper!

F is for Frommer's Barcelona Day by Day

Welcome to Week 2 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. If you’re a new reader to my site, my theme for the month is “keeper books,” the books I can’t live without. Today’s selection is Frommer’s Barcelona, Day by Day, 21 Smart Ways to See the City. It’s one of my newer books—I haven’t even owned it a full twelve months. The reason it’s a keeper is that I used it last year on my trip to Barcelona, and I had so much fun I’m definitely going back! 

The book is small but loaded, much like the handbag I used to schlep the book over every square centimeter of Barcelona during my two-week summer vacation. And in many ways, that handbag was just as important as the book, maybe more so. Before I tell you why, I first want to apologize to the Barcelona tourist board for what may be perceived as a negative report, but it was their very own site that alerted me to the fact that Barcelona is swarming with pick-pockets. Yuk. At first I didn’t want to believe it—I’ve been in big cities, thank you, I can look after myself. Then I read the warnings again on numerous travel blogs, on my chosen hotel’s website, and finally in Frommer’s Barcelona Day by Day. Travelers beware: thieves abound.

I was worried. I’ve never been a paranoid traveler and I wasn't about to start. All the same, I decided I had to have the safest bag ever made to foil those pesky purse-snatchers. I wanted it to be stylish, small-ish, and something that didn’t scream “American tourist on the loose!” 

My solution was to go to a weapons site. Yes. Pacifist, timid me started scanning websites with names like “Gun-Toting Mamas” and “Guns-to-Go.” It was an education, mainly because it drew my attention to the reality that many women are a) armed and b) have good reason to be. Police officers, security guards, private detectives, women who live in dangerous American cities—all need to protect themselves and others, like it or not. And thanks to these resourceful sites, I found the perfect purse: tan leather, lots and lots of zippered pockets for things like passports and make-up, a slash-proof handle (very important), and a secret gun compartment (!). Once I removed the Velcro holster from the compartment, it was the exact size to hold Frommer’s Barcelona along with my travel journal and pencil case. Talk about turning swords to plowshares. 

Best of all, I could wear the bag cross-body, the recommended way those scary blog warnings insisted I do. They were right—on my last night in the city, while being seated at a very fancy and beautiful restaurant, a young woman was robbed. It broke my heart to see her sobbing helplessly while her family tried to comfort her as they called banks and embassies to block her credit cards and personal information. 

It was an eye-opener to realize the world isn’t as safe as it was in the past when I’d breezily ride the London tube home alone at midnight after attending a concert or play. It also got old to constantly clutch my cross-body weaponless-weapon bag like a cherished infant every minute of the day and night, but that’s the world we live in. It won’t stop me returning to Barcelona, or anywhere else for that matter. Besides, I have a secret weapon of my own: the purse itself. Filled with my pens, books, journals, camera, wallet, water, the thing weighs a ton. I’m sure it could knock out a grown man cold. The travel journal really is mightier than the sword. 

P.S. If you'd like to read my post about my wonderful and happy trip to beautiful Barcelona, just click here. Thanks for visiting.

E is for Electric Kiln Ceramics

Note to self: Never, ever lose Electric Kiln Ceramics, a Potter’s Guide to Clays and Glazes by Richard Zakin.

This former library book is stamped on the inside back cover with the damning instructions: DISCARD, DISCARD, probably due to the fact it is quite literally falling apart at the seams. All the more reason for me to cherish it these last fifteen years and do my best to give it a good home.

My husband found the book for me when we were at the Carrollton Library’s annual Friends of the Library sale back in Georgia. I had just started working in clay, and I was eager to gather all the information I could on the subject, especially for the grand price of a dollar!

Unlike writing, pottery is something I fell into by accident. I was taking drawing lessons that turned into watercolor experiments that somehow turned into pottery class. My first effort on that first day was a frog that fell apart and never made it into the kiln. C’est la vie. The advice I received that same day was much more valuable than any knick-knack: 1) Pretend you’re making a tortilla. 2) Never make your clay tortilla thicker than ¼ inch. 3) It’s just mud.

That was my teacher talking, but here’s some more great advice, this time from the opening lines of Electric Kiln Ceramics, Chapter Two:

“Clay is a special material with unique properties. It is in itself formless, but can be shaped into many forms. Although it is soft and pliable, it can be hardened by heat into one of the hardest materials known. To understand the nature of ceramics, the potter must understand the nature of clay.”

Kind of sums up the whole of life and creativity, don’t you think?

Electric Kiln Ceramics has remained next to my clay table year and after year, inspiring me with both its words and photographs. More important, though, it is a constant reminder of a little town in Georgia where I learned to make mud pies and how to let go of frogs. Not bad for a dollar.

D is for Dying, in Other Words

Dying, in Other Words by British author Maggie Gee has been a keeper since 1984 when I attended a two-week writing seminar in London hosted by Northeastern University. Our instructors included Gary Goshgarian, Stephen King, Tabitha King, P.D. James, Robert B. Parker, William Martin, and the imcomparable Maggie Gee. Dying, in Other Words was Maggie Gee's first published novel, and it is my first signed book: "For Valerie, All best wishes for your own writing. Maggie."

I've read that inscription many times. It's carried me through the worst of rejections, the panic of acceptance, and it's become a sincere wish I've done my best to impart to other writers, especially when I've been asked to sign my own published work.

Some of my strongest memories from that conference include Stephen King jumping out of a dark hallway shouting "Boo!", scaring me and a fellow student out of our wits; Tabitha King breaking the heel off her shoe right before class (yes, famous people have those days too!); and having coffee with Maggie Gee. What an afternoon that was. She was wonderful, patiently answering all my eager and innocent questions about agents and writing schedules and Angela Carter (it turned out they knew each other). But best of all, she encouraged me to write, to never give up, to make my dreams real.

Every day that I sit down to write I can't help but think of that glorious conference, thirty years ago this summer, and how much Maggie's words and style have influenced and inspired me. I'm also reminded how important it is for professional writers and artists to remain generous, to pass on the baton whenever possible: You can do it.

One last thing: Besides being a keeper for the reasons above, Dying in Other Words is a REALLY GOOD BOOK! A surreal and edgy murder mystery, it gets 5 stars from me--read it!