BOO! or Boo...

BOO and Happy Halloween bloggers, writers and readers!

I'm finally writing the end chapter to my current wip. I knew roughly what would happen and how I needed to end the story of Clara and Luc (the book doesn't have a title yet) but it wasn't until my walk this morning that the details became clear.
My conclusion - active body=active brain cells!
Once I write The End, I'll go back to the beginning and smooth over the messy bits, add more flavor, tie up any dangly bits and begin the dreaded synopsis so I can begin the query process.

I was hoping to finish this book weeks ago but two weeks of sick kidlets threw a serious wrench in my creative process. My boys are needy (and that's putting it kindly) when they're feeling icky (*cough* much like their father *cough-cough*) but that's okay... it's part of the job description. BUT - and this is where I actually get to the point - the messed up time-line makes it impossible for me to do NaNo. And maybe that's a good thing. Maybe next year, when Sweetness (aka youngest son) starts school full-time and I'll have hours to spend at the computer rather than minutes -- and I'll feel less guilt. (thanks for that mom)

Are you NaNo-ing? How do you juggle it all? What sort of schedule will you adhere to (if at all) and what are you writing?

Wylie's Fail Tags

1. So THEY are now saying that a huge percentage of reported H1N1 cases (they stopped the blood tests awhile ago and go by symptoms only) are not actually H1N1. Me smells a pharma-rat. #swinefail

2. I'm in the home stretch of the novel-in-progress. But everytime I've said that in the past I've found some way to add 10 - 15 K to the total. Hmmm #trendspottingfail

3. Four Christmas pressies bought. I'm a month and a half ahead of schedule! #franticshopperfail

4. I've eaten half the treats I bought for Halloween and still have days to go. #dietfail

5. Recently returned from a FABULOUS writer's retreat where as much laughing was done as writing. I thought I had nothing to brainstorm with the group until I returned home and realized that my book has neither a title or ending. #brainstormfail

6. Yay me for kicking my severe coffee dependence. Boo me for replacing it with fingernail biting. #compulsivedisorderfail

7. I live for Wednesday's GLEE. #getalifefail

H1N1 is in the building!

My youngest son, aka Sweetness, has the H1N1 virus. It's the mild form, thank goodness, but he's been put on medication to ensure his lungs don't get a secondary infection because this virus is expecially hard on the respitory system.

I've been reading MUCH about this virus and the vaccination that's meant to be coming out in the next few weeks. If you're Canadian, and you can get your hands on the MacLeans magazine that came out this week, they tackle the topic with thorough, unbiased approach.

Then I came across this article from the Canadian Press that made me chuckle.
The full article is here: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/091022/world/us_cda_flu_vaccine
But this is the part that slayed me. It concerns the short fall of vaccine supplies in the U.S.:

Canada's abundant supply of H1N1, meantime, was noted with envy on Wednesday during a Congressional hearing into the swine flu crisis on Capitol Hill. Sen. Joe Lieberman told a Senate committee that the American shortfall of swine-flu vaccine is a result, in part, of countries like Canada choosing to make their own populations a priority. Ottawa pressured Canadian manufacturers to take care of the needs of the Canadian population before they could make vaccine available to the U.S., Lieberman said.
"It's exactly what we would do with an American producer, and it just puts an exclamation point on the importance of developing domestic capacity for production of vaccine in these cases," he said. "I'm not blaming Canada, but I suppose in some sense you could say that the ... shortage of the vaccine today, beneath what we would want it to be, is attributable to foreign countries telling their local manufacturers, 'Hey, you've got to fill our needs before you fill anybody else's."'
But one American who badly wants the vaccine - 29-year-old Katie Hentges of Jefferson City, Mo. - says the blame lies with U.S. officials who failed to anticipate the scope of the H1N1 crisis.
"I'm not miffed at all at Canada," said Hentges, an asthmatic who fears the flu could hit her hard if she catches it. "It's not their fault that Americans are short-sighted and have the dumbest health-care system on the planet."

Goodness -- I'm not even sure what to say about this, except: Senator Lieberman... REALLY?? LOL

Personal Message to M. - nothing mysterious about the raccoon... it made camp on my front porch last spring and it's cute and I have no book covers to advertise. That's it!

Ralph Lauren FAIL

File this under Extreme WTFuckery...

Ralph Lauren photoshops a model to unhealthy proportions, gets called on it, then fires the girl for being too large!

Dear Ralph Lauren,



Not that I drop a large amount of money on your products anyway... but I'm now going to actively go out of my way to purge the house of anything with your moniker on it. And don't expect to ever see my credit card number on your books again.

Sincerely,

The Kinsons

Read here how she was photoshopped into anorexia: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/06/the-criticism-that-r.html



And here for how she was subsequently fired for being too large!!! She's 5'10" and 120 pounds. Good grief!! http://ca.lifestyle.yahoo.com/fashion-beauty/articles/trends/cp/home_family%20model_in_altered_ralph_lauren_ad_says_she_was_fired_for_being_too_large_

SQUEE for GLEE!!

I'm unashamedly hooked on the television show GLEE.

The cast is brilliant and though I love Lea Michele's character Rachel, Cory Monteith as Fin and the adorable Matthew Morrison as the Glee Club director Will Schuester, it's Jane Lynch's cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester who completely steals the show. And she doesn't even sing!

You might not recognize her name, but her imdb credits are well over 100 long so you'd probably recognize her. For me, it was her role as Paula, the electronics store manager in The 40 Year Old Virgin that made her memorable...

A program like Glee -- about the nerds, losers, misfits who make up the school's show choir -- has to settle onto a wire thin tightrope of balance between drama, humor and song. They do it brilliantly, with just enough campiness to not take itself to seriously. And that's important!

But ignore everything I just said and watch Glee because it will make you feel... Gleeful :)

The Best Part of the Holidays? LEFTOVERS!

Up until last night we were still enjoying leftovers from out Thanksgiving dinner. In the spirit of giving (and thanking!) I thought I'd share our favorite dish that works for both Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts.

Sweet Potato Casserole

5-6 cups sweet potato, cubed
1/2 cup white sugar (I sometime use less sugar and it tastes just as fine)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup evaporated milk (you can subsitute regular 2% milk)
1 tsp vanilla

topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 c cup chopped pecans

directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 C). Boil sweet potatoes in a medium pot until tender, drain and mash.
In a large bowl, mix together sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla - add sweet potato mash and mix until smooth. Transfer into a 9x13 baking dish (or large casserole works well too)
In a medium bowl, mix the sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse (like crumble topping). Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potatoes.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the topping is nice and brown.

Total prep time: approx 30 minutes
Total cooking time: approx 30 minutes.
Makes enough for 12-14 servings

And most importantly, it tastes even better the second and third day.
Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving a couple of days ago and naturally, it got me thinking about all that I'm thankful for. I could easily list a hundred but you'd get bored so here are a few...

• My family; Mr. Wylie, Sweetness and Light (aka my 2 sons)
• Our health
• My mother who will celebrate her 90th birthday in 2010
• Our house, and it's abundance of closets
• My friends, too numerous to name
• My readers. All 3 of you ;)
• Red
• My TRW buddies who keep me sane and laughing (and waving pom poms)
• Food ('nuff said)
• My cats - who always seem to know when I need a furry loving cuddle
• Good books

Hope you all have things to be thankful for and may the coming year provide you with bounty for the body and soul.

Time for leftovers :)

Light: The Interview

Last Spring I did an interview with Sweetness, my youngest child. I decided to let the oldest, the Light of my life, have a go. Here's what my 9 year old had to say:


1. WHAT IS SOMETHING MOM ALWAYS SAYS TO YOU? Go to bed

2. WHAT MAKES MOM HAPPY? Chocolate

3. WHAT MAKES MOM SAD? Whenever I do something stupid

4. HOW DOES YOUR MOM MAKE YOU LAUGH? Tickling me

5. WHAT WAS YOUR MOM LIKE AS A CHILD? I have no clue

6. HOW OLD IS YOUR MOM? 42 (ed note: liar!)

7. HOW TALL IS YOUR MOM? About five feet (lies, more lies!!)

8. WHAT IS YOUR MOM’S FAVORITE THING TO DO? I totally don't know

9. WHAT DOES YOUR MOM DO WHEN YOU’RE NOT AROUND? Write

10. IF YOUR MOM BECOMES FAMOUS, WHAT WILL IT BE FOR? Writing a famous book

11. WHAT is YOUR MOM REALLY GOOD AT? Language

12. WHAT IS YOUR MOM NOT VERY GOOD AT? Math (okay, the lies have stopped...)

13. WHAT DOES YOUR MOM DO FOR HER JOB? Writes

14. WHAT IS YOUR MOM’S FAVORITE FOOD? Chocolate

15. WHAT MAKES YOUR MOM PROUD OF YOU? Whenever I do something good (ah... it IS sinking in!)

16. IF YOUR MOM WERE A CARTOON CHARACTER, WHO WOULD SHE BE? Sandy Cheeks (from Spongebob)

17. WHAT DO YOU AND YOUR MOM DO TOGETHER? watch tv, cuddle in bed, read

18. HOW ARE YOU AND YOUR MOM THE SAME? We both like reading, we both like Mighty B, we like going to the movies

19. HOW ARE YOU AND YOUR MOM DIFFERENT? gender, she's good at language and I'm good at math, age, she owns the house

20. HOW DO YOU KNOW YOUR MOM LOVES YOU? Because she shows it by hugs and kisses and she likes to cuddle me

21. WHERE IS YOUR MOM’S FAVORITE PLACE TO GO? to visit her mom

22. HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE YOUR MOM? 99 out of 100 because sometimes she's mean to me but mostly she's nice

Wylie's Watching...

I've been sucked pretty hard into television this season. I vowed not to add any shows to the must-watch list, but much like the diet, I succumbed to temptation.
Here's what I'm excited about:

FlashForward - I was hooked as soon as I saw the cast. Joseph Fiennes (that's Ralph's brother - remember him from Shakespeare in Love?), whom i adore even with the phony American accent, a few cast members from LOST, a brief appearance by Alex Kingston (Elizabeth from ER) and other familiar faces...
It's based on a Robert Sawyer book about a strange phenomenon whereby everyone in the world blacks out at exactly same time and foresees a moment in their future.

Glee - I absolutely ADORE it! It makes me feel good!! Song, dance, great cast. It should be called SQUEE!

Those I'm loyal to from years past:
Fringe - fills the void the X-Files left all those years ago.
Bones - especially since I'm now caught up on past seasons so finally feel like I know what's going on...
Castle - Nathan Fillion. That's all I'm sayin'.
House and Lie To Me - because I seem to enjoy totally obnoxious, know-it-all men?? Hmm... both are British actors. As is Joe Fiennes from FlashForward. I'm sensing a trend...

Shows that didn't hook me (after 2 or more episodes):
Vampire Diaries: Too angsty and, does no one in highschool have parents? The dialogue is soap-operaish (and I should know, having had that one line in Y&R all those years ago - *snort*)
Eastwick: meh. But I'll say this: Rebecca Romijn is gorgeous.

And I'm not doing ANY reality shows this year. NONE. This year, I'm going scripted :)

What new shows have your fire burning, kids?
Better yet, what have dumped or refused to watch?
Tell, tell, tell!!!

Writer in Residence at Toronto Public Libraries

If you get a moment...

Fellow TRW member Deborah Cooke is currently the Writer-in-Residence at the Toronto Public Libraries. Deborah is the FIRST romance writer in this position which is very exciting!
Writing since the early 90's, Deb(who also writes as Claire Cross and Claire Delacroix) is a font of knowledge when it comes to the publishing industry, so please, check out her blog posts while she's 'representin' us HEA writers :)

http://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/deborahcooke

Hockey Night in Canada

I had the pleasure of going to see an NHL game last weekend. It was so exciting to be part of the fan crazy - and believe me, there was tons of fan crazy! The Toronto Maple Leaf fans are known for it. And despite the rant I'm about to go on, I loved it. Every tense second. I'd jump at the chance to go to another... if only the tickets weren't so prohibitively expensive.

BUT...

The fights. Ridiculous! Gloves flying off, grown men beating on each other like schoolyard bullies... what's up with that?
No less than three major fights broke out, one even caused some blood on the ice (okay, that totally turned my on, but that's a whole 'nuther show, people).

What did they get? 2 minute penalties for roughing, 5 minutes for fighting or charging. Puh-lease. And they got to sit in a little box on the other side of the ice from their team mates. Hardly a deterrent.

I say - increase the penalty to no less than 10 minutes and make them sit with the other team. Ha! See if you can big boys can deal with that.

Where else is this crap allowed? You don't see Tiger beating down on Vijay. Selena doesn't jump the net and put her sister in a headlock!

It's called sportsmanship. It should be part of the rules.

Here's my other solution -- Fire the refs, let some MOMS out there. Here's how it would go down:

"What did you say to me? He started it? Really? Because that's not what I saw.... and don't you lie to me, I have eyes in the back of my damn head.

Now stop your whining and go stand in the corner.

No, not the penalty box where you can still watch the game. You stand in the corner, on your tip toes and you THINK about what you did, young man. Ten minutes. You heard me! And if you don't watch your lip, you'll be licking the soap."

Incase you're interested, Leafs beat the Flyers 5 - 4 in overtime.