2015 Goals
2014 was a year of Holy-Crap-My-Dreams-Are-Coming-True. I survived the book release! I have a book! It’s available in libraries in Wellington, New Zealand and Singapore and everywhere in between! Most every Barnes & Noble in America carries it, and about a dozen airport bookshops, too. How crazy is that?
I do wish I had the chance to write more short fiction this year. I’m down to just a couple stories in circulation–one of those nice problems, as it means everything else sold. It still bugs me, though.
My original post for my 2014 goals can be read over on my LiveJournal. I fulfilled everything but #6, as I did not write a second book.
I’m not sure what 2015 will bring. My two-book contract is fulfilled, with my final edits on The Clockwork Crown turned in just before Christmas. I already have a small Secret Project in the works that I can’t quite discuss in public yet, but I really want to write more novels. So let’s cross fingers and offer burnt butter cookie offerings that good stuff will happen!
Here are my goals for 2015:
1) Meet the deadlines for the three parts of my Secret Project. These are spaced out throughout the year.
2) Prepare comprehensive marketing plan for release of Clockwork Crown in June. This includes regular updates on my personal blog, scheduling interviews and blog posts for other blogs and sites, participation in Novelocity, and seizing other viable opportunities.
a) Don’t have a mental breakdown.
3) Release Clockwork Crown in June.
a) Don’t have a mental breakdown.
4) Participate in Write 1 Sub 1’s Light Ray option and write a new story (fiction or nonfiction) or poem each month, if balanced with novel obligations. Aim to have at least ten works on submission at all times.
5) Write stories to fulfill invitations to anthologies; at least four at this time.
6) Write at least one novel.
7) Continue to participate in 50book challenge, LibraryThing, and Goodreads, reading at least 50 books during 2015 and posting reviews for all.
8) Attend several conventions and book festivals; at this point, I am planning on Tucson Book Festival (March 15th), Phoenix Comicon (May 28-30th), and WorldCon/Sasquan in Spokane, though nothing is set yet.
9) Be honest with myself about my stress and personal limits. Don’t hold it all inside. Reach out to writer friends. Let my agent know what is going on. Take time out for my husband, son, cat, and family. Read. Bake. Go thrift store shopping.
10) Don’t give up. I’ve come a long way in the past year and there’s plenty of mountain left to climb. If tired of climbing, use dynamite.
Bready or Not: Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie
Happy New Year! Let’s celebrate with a cookie.
Just one. It’s about time for those resolutions, right?
Is that big enough? That’s a whole cast iron skillet of cookie, right there.
There are a lot of reasons to make a massive cookie. You could top it off with ice cream scoops and drizzle and dig in with a few people you don’t mind sharing germs with. Or you can look at the clock and realize that this sucker cooks up fast and you don’t have to worry about batches.
Plus, you can do what I did and make the dough the night before. Then when I needed to serve it up for brunch, all I had to do was preheat the oven, plop my dough in the skillet, and bake.
Add whatever chips you want. Add nuts. Mix up the flour–I did this with a mix of wheat and all-purpose (and no one could tell!).
It’s very goopy if you eat it fresh out of the oven. If you want it solid enough to cleanly slice, let it rest about 30 minutes.
Tweaked from Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie from Martha Stewart Everyday Food, October 2013.
Bready or Not: Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie
Ingredients
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature, plus 1 tablespoon for the skillet
- 1/3 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup flour worked well with 1/4 cup wheat and 3/4 cup all-purpose
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- The dough can be made the day before baking. In a large bowl, combine with butter and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla, followed by the dry ingredients. Add the chocolate chips or other additions last. Wrap with plastic wrap to chill in fridge overnight or for several hours, at least.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add a tablespoon of butter to a 10-inch cast iron skillet and set it in the oven for a few minutes.
- On the plastic wrap, form the dough into the rough shape of the skillet. When the butter has melted in the skillet, pull it out and rotate it to cover the base with butter. Carefully add the cookie dough, and using a spatula, press it in to the edges.
- Bake until the cookie is golden brown and just set in the center, about 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, at least, or 30 minutes if you want it set enough to slice.
OM NOM NOM.
Sunday Quote says Happy New Year
Read More“My imagination makes me human and makes me a fool; it gives me all the world and exiles me from it.” ~Ursula K. Le Guin
Bready or Not: Overnight Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! Whether or not you observe the holiday, I offer a breakfast cake recipe that you can throw together tonight and bake in the morning.
It will serve a whole bunch of people. The leftovers are delicious. And heck, it’s CAKE. For breakfast. Actually, it’d be pretty darn good at any time of day.
Sour cream is the secret weapon here. It creates a cake that is moist and luscious without any sour cream taste. Combine that tenderness with the crackled top and the crunch of pecans, and you have a total winner.
Tweaked from Overnight Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake at Relish Magazine.
Bready or Not: Overnight Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sour cream
Streusel:
- 3/4 cup brown sugar firmly packed
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Make the streusel topping first by combining the brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a big bowl, beat the butter and white sugar until light and fluffy; add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Slowly add the flour mix to the eggs and butter. Pause to add in some sour cream, then more flour, going back and forth until it's all blended.
- Apply nonstick spray to a 9x13-inch pan. Pour in the batter and spread to the edges. Sprinkle the streusel all over the top.
- Cover well with plastic wrap and chill overnight, or up to 18 hours.
- Preheat the oven at 350-degrees. Remove the plastic wrap. Bake the cake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.
OM NOM NOM!
