the SIMMER blog

resolved

2012 is coming out of the gate fast and furious! If you're still hunting about for a New Year's resolution, or at least a goal for the year, I've got one big recommendation in my latest piece on Intrepid Media. It's a resolution that can apply to any writer at any stage of your career -- and it's my resolution for the year too.

Click here to read the most important resolution for writers.

new year, more words

Happy New Year! Kicking off 2012 with the usual flurry of words and food, but haven't been taking a lot of pictures, so today let's focus on the words.

I've got a new post up at Writer Unboxed about finding the lines -- between arrogance and confidence, between caution and fear, and between lots of other things that are essential to succeeding as a writer. (It applies pretty well to regular life, too.) Click here to read.

Also, I often get questions about how to break into food writing, and now there's a post that sums up advice and suggestions better than I ever could -- it's by Necee Regis on Beyond the Margins. Check this one out if you've ever thought about writing about food.

the kitchen daughter now in paperback!

Yep, today's the day! The Kitchen Daughter is now available in paperback. So you can get it for a holiday gift in hardcover, paperback, or e-book, as you choose!

Like the hardcover, the paperback is available at Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, at Amazon, and through many independent bookstores, as well as a new addition -- Target! So if you happen to be Christmas shopping this week... keep your eye out for this lovely cover!

(Does it ever hurt to have the word "OPRAH" on the cover? I think not. Yay!)

t minus one!

Sorry it's been quiet around here lately -- ironically, it's because there's too much happening! Tomorrow is a big day here, with The Kitchen Daughter coming out in paperback and my e-short story Croquembouche also launching. And having just moved Chez Simmer to a new home, I can now turn my attention back to all matters delicious.

First things first. I made some cookies.

Russian Teacakes are one of the must-do McHenry Christmas cookies every year. They're a wonderful nutty shortbread, rolled in powdered sugar while they're still warm to form a sweet, sweet coating. If you've seen Mexican Wedding Cakes, they're very similar, but because the Betty Crocker Cooky Book calls them Russian Teacakes, that's what we call them around here.

And they're delicious. Messy to eat, but delicious.

(If somewhat imperfectly captured by my iPhone camera. Hey, everything's in boxes. It's a small miracle I could even find the baking sheets!)

Books Are Great Gifts

Fun activity for a good cause taking place tonight on Twitter -- LitChat is hosting the Books Are Great Gifts auction as a literacy fundraiser. So you can bid on great books, and then give them as gifts. (Or, of course, you can also keep them for yourself!)

A signed hardcover of The Kitchen Daughter is among the prizes, and bidding starts at 8pm tonight. If you're not on Twitter but you're interested in bidding, there are instructions on the LitChat website on how to make that happen.

Happy holidays! And books really are great gifts, aren't they? I've got some on my own wishlist and picked out for friends and family. (Shh, don't tell them...)

Check out the auction catalog and website here.

 

me, around the web

Hello, blog readers! It's a pretty hectic December here -- more on that soon -- but I wanted to point you to a couple of pieces of writing that are new on the web this week:

40 weeks of a new life, part thoughtful reflection and part big announcement, over on Intrepid Media;

and Out in the E-World, talking about the importance of e-books and the new e-short story I've got coming out later this month, on Writer Unboxed.

Hope you enjoy these pieces, and see you back here soon!

ate, wrote, retreated

So I recently spent three days in Ashevile, North Carolina, and I came back STUFFED. Ahhh, what incredible food. And I should have expected it -- I was there with the Eat Write Retreat folks, and knowing how very very full I was after their event last May, I should've known we'd be indulging in the same way for this event too.

Oh, how we indulged.

This was a butternut squash "cannelloni" stuffed with goat cheese, part of an extensive chef's tasting we enjoyed at Biltmore Estate as our very first event. We then took a quick tour through the Tiffany exhibit on the grounds, and headed back to the Bistro for dinner. So we started out with overindulgence, and continued straight on through the weekend in the same way.

Next morning, we met up at Early Girl Eatery for breakfast and a discussion of good photography principles -- but don't judge the workshop based on my results here. I was experimenting with my brand-new iPhone camera. Point and click with very little nuance, here.

But man, those were some seriously good pancakes.

I also got to meet individually with each blogger in attendance -- I'd evaluated their blogs in advance and given them each a printout of what I considered the strengths and weaknesses of their writing, as well as a writing assignment for the weekend. They were all receptive and interested in stretching their skills. What a great group.

Then, we actually went to see some things that weren't food! Yet.

 

la cucina degli ingredienti magici

Today's the day! The first of the foreign translations of The Kitchen Daughter is coming out, and given the importance of Italian food in the storyline, it seems very fitting that the very first one should be Italian.

They've given the book a new title -- La Cucina Degli Ingredienti Magici, which translates to The Kitchen of Magical Ingredients -- and a gorgeous new cover. Every time I look at it, I see new layers of gorgeous. Bellissima!

So very excited to get my hands on this beautiful book in person!

the kitchen daughter paperback cover!

Ooh, I do love a big reveal... and here's one for today!

We have an official cover for the upcoming paperback edition of The Kitchen Daughter:

Very different from the hardcover, clearly -- it's a much warmer feeling, and the image is obviously more literal. I love the intriguing ambiguity of the hardcover image, but I also love that this cover draws on a story within the story. So I'll be just as excited to see this one on the shelves as I was the last one.

(And of course that fabulous quote on the cover doesn't hurt either! There will be more quotes and blurbs in the first few pages of the book itself, and a Reading Group Guide in the back.)

first drafts and great escapes

Busy week this week! I'm preparing for the awesome Eat Write Retreat Destination Learning event in Asheville, which starts Friday. And since it's the beginning of the month, I've got a couple of new pieces up at my usual haunts:

First, at Intrepid Media, I'm talking about the value of bad first drafts in novel-writing. (For one thing, a bad draft is way better than no draft at all!)

Click to read five great things about bad first drafts.

And today at Writer Unboxed, I talk about writers' retreats, the different flavors they come in, and how breaking your routine can help boost your creativity.

Click to read Retreat To Go Forward.