I celebrated getting Reconstructionist 2 off to the editor this morning by making brownies (as posted on Instagram) and it occurred to me that the recipe calls for a truly ackward measurement of butter – 6 tablespoons. And that most of my butter icing recipes aren’t any better – using 1/3 of cup.
Measure cups, tablespoons, ounces, and grams!
I dug out my handy Butter Measuring Guide, and thought that it might be worth mentioning.
Yes, that’s the refection of my phone taking the picture.
My Dad bought the stainless-steel guide pictured above for me as a Christmas gift many years ago (apparently from Lee Valley). And honestly, it sat in my drawer for awhile unused. I tended to fudge odd measurements when baking, simply using the guide that was printed on the foil wrapper. Then I took a closer look at the butter measuring guide and it’s crazy handy!
So that is my random baking tip.
What obscure kitchen item do you find is more useful than you thought it would be?
For the second [belated] anniversary of his death I would like to once again celebrate his work by hosting a giveaway for a copy of Wintersmith, which was the first book of his that I ever read. I’m slightly peeved that I’m ‘belated’ with this post again. I did have a warning in my calendar. But better late than never!
To celebrate Sir Terry’s life and his work, I would like to buy a copy of Wintersmith for one of you – for kindle, or iBooks, or Kobo, or in paperback. You name the format and I’ll buy it.
Comment below to enter. Tell me your favourite book of Sir Terry’s. Or why you’d like to read Wintersmith specifically. Or if you’ve already read Wintersmith who you’d like to gift it to (and why).
RIP Sir Terry Pratchett. Thank you for the entertainment, the inspiration, and for the strong women and inspiring world you created.
Notes/Rules: OPEN INTERNATIONALLY. Each comment will be assigned an entry number. ONE winning entry will then be selected via random number generator. One entry per person. Please make sure to fill out a valid email address in the comment form. Email addresses are not collected for any purpose other than notifying the contest winner. No purchase necessary.
If you haven’t commented on the blog before, or you comment from a different IP address, the comments are moderated. So don’t worry if you don’t see your entry right away. I will approve it, then assign it an entry number.
Giveaway closes WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2016 at 8 p.m. PDT.
I received story notes from Scott Fitzgerald Gray (aka the editor, aka SFG) on Reconstructionist 2 last night, which means that I’m in editing mode this morning.
To that end, I have accomplished the following before 10:23 am:
“I found another dead teen,” Jasmine said, dragging her bag out through the international arrivals area at Vancouver International Airport. She was wearing a heathered brown merino-wool cardigan that fell around her knees, over a long-sleeved black V-neck T-shirt and skinny-legged black jeans. Her brown leather boots almost perfectly matched the laptop satchel slung across her shoulders.
“Where?” Kett asked, appearing out of the crowd of travelers and the swarm of family and friends currently greeting each other ecstatically.
My cousin flinched, whipping her head around and sending a rampant cascade of dark-blond curls across her shoulders. She hadn’t seen the vampire before he spoke. It was unnerving to have a vampire sneak up on you, even when you were expecting to meet one. I knew. He’d been doing it to me all day.
“Kettil, the executioner and elder of the Conclave,” I said formally and as per protocol, introducing them as I had tried to do when they’d spoken on the phone. “Jasmine Fairchild, tech witch and certified investigator. Also, gourmet cook.”
Jasmine laughed at the gourmet comment. But compared to me, she was a five-star chef. As long as her short attention span didn’t distract her.
Jasmine thrust her hand toward him, smirking sexily. “Well, you’ve done your homework.”
Kett’s smile widened to reveal a hint of white teeth as he shook her hand.
Jasmine laughed again, enjoying the attention. Me, the vampire decided to keep in a heightened state of fear. Jasmine, he decided to flirt with. Perhaps he preferred effervescent, slightly sarcastic personalities. Or perhaps it was Jasmine’s curls and bright-blue eyes. My cousin’s eyes were a lighter blue than Jade Godfrey’s, but a lot of witches shared that coloring — including my entire family.
– Excerpt from Chapter Five of Catching Echoes (Reconstructionist 1)
Jasmine’s bio page from my notebook (I had to white out some potential spoilers!!)
I’m officially ‘releasing’ a rebranded version of one of my very first novels – the standalone fantasy, Spirit Binder – and launching it along with a week long $0.99 sale, starting today.
For this rebranding, Elizabeth Mackey worked her magic on the cover, Pauline did a freshening proofreading pass, and I prettied up the interior with Vellum. The story/plot itself has not been edited/altered.
Book cover art by Elizabeth Mackey
Spirit Binder is a tale of prophecy, destiny, divinity, and romance set a thousand years after spirit (aka magic) has risen to take back the world in an apocalyptic event.
Chapter one: prettified interior for the ebook version.
I took these shots in the wrong season (Dec 31. 2016 and Jan 1, 2017 to be specific) and from a higher floor but I thought you might be interested in seeing the view from Wisteria’s hotel window in Catching Echoes, Reconstructionist 1.
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An excerpt from Catching Echoes, Reconstructionist 1, Chapter Two:
I lapsed back into gazing out at the gorgeous city and toying with my bracelet again. I brushed my fingers over one of the two tiny reconstructions hidden among the platinum house and tree charms.
Effortlessly, I pulled a glimpse of a darkly tanned boy with golden-hazel eyes out from within it.
A sudden gust of wind hammered rain against the lower pane of the window, drawing my attention. And for a moment, through the blurred wash on the glass, I thought I saw a blond, pale figure standing in the rain at the edge of the outdoor pool, four floors down.
A figure that I would have sworn in that instant was Kett, gazing up at my hotel room.
Heart thumping, I threw myself out of my chair, pressing my hands against the rain-spattered window and scanning the wide, adobe-tiled patio below.
The image I’d pulled from the reconstruction winked out.
The area around the well-lit pool and hot tub was empty. The lounge chairs were all folded and tucked away along the edges of the sundeck. A slight haze of steam rolled off the tranquil light-blue water of the pool, and what little I could see of inside the hotel from this angle was devoid of people.
I had just imagined it.
Kett.
I was allowing the tension of the day to make me feel vulnerable, even hunted. And that was a state I knew too much about already. I didn’t need to be randomly manifesting monsters stalking me in the dark.
I sent Reconstructionist 2 off to the editor for his story edit pass yesterday, which means that I have a few days in which to outline Reconstructionist 3. Unfortunately I made the mistake of showering and blow drying my hair this morning before work, so ALL THE STORIES waiting in the wings of my mind started clamouring for attention.
How many stories are waiting to be told?
Allow me to give you a visual:
These are my (current) notebooks, colour coded by series. The collection pictured above represents Reconstructionist 3, Dowser 7, 8, and 9, Necromancer 1, along with two more that I dare not mention by name because one might not happen and the second is rife with spoilers.
Yes. Seven novels. That’s easily two years of work.
Dutiful writer that I am, I distilled all the perfect scenes that had presented themselves to me in the shower (etc) into a few notes in each notebook. [Scenes are always perfect in my mind, it’s only once they hit paper that I get into trouble.] Then I put the notebooks away, leaving only Reconstructionist 3 on my desk.
So, just in case you were wondering, there is a long term plan. And I’m trying to stick to it!!
This box of beauties just showed up in the mail (finally!!).
So … that means it must be time for a giveaway! Yes? YES!
To enter to win this autographed paperback of Catching Echoes (not including the bracelet and candle) all you need to do is comment below and let me know:
your favourite quote from Catching Echoes, Reconstructionist 1 (not including the meme pictured above).
Notes/Rules: OPEN INTERNATIONALLY. Each comment will be assigned an entry number. ONE winning entry will then be selected via random number generator. One entry per person. Comments without a quote WILL NOT be assigned an entry number. Please make sure to fill out a valid email address in the comment form. Email addresses are not collected for any purpose other than notifying the contest winner.
If you haven’t commented on the blog before, or you comment from a different IP address, the comments are moderated. So don’t worry if you don’t see your entry right away. I will approve it, then assign it an entry number.
No purchase necessary.
Contest closes THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016 at 8 p.m. PST.
Don’t want to wait to see if you win? Catching Echoes (Reconstructionist 1) is available on
This pretty thing just showed up in the mail. So … you know what that means? Oh, yes. A Catching Echoes paperback giveaway is coming! Plus, err, the paperback will be available for purchase in the next couple of days. Ha.
In this first book of the Oracle fantasy series, a young woman ages out of a foster-care system only to learn she’s a being of great magical potential.
An orphan from birth, Rochelle Saintpaul has just turned 19. She’s now allowed to leave her Vancouver Residence home and follow her bliss in an RV. Her online business of selling charcoal drawings is successful, but her unknown psychotic disorder (plaguing her since she was 13) produces seizures and visions. The visions—featuring a tall man in a black suit and a blond woman wielding a sparkling green knife—become the subjects of her drawings. While saying goodbye to her social worker, Rochelle receives a jewelry box that belonged to her mother, who died in a car accident. Inside are a gold necklace and “an antique white rock.” Rochelle then buys her RV and heads for Washington state, just as a scraggly local named Hoyt tries once more to befriend her. No sooner does she find a roadside diner across the border than does someone ask her, “What are you?…A witch?” The buff, charismatic stranger, named Beau Jamison, notes her tattoo sleeves and alluring eyes. After buying her some pie, Beau wins Rochelle over and returns with her to the RV. Expanding the world of her Dowser series, Doidge (Catching Echoes, 2016, etc.) merges romance, carnality, and supernatural fantasy to lush effect. Her characterization of Rochelle as someone who’s earned her place in the world is encapsulated by the line “My entire life had been dictated by other people’s tragedies and shortcomings, but now I had a future that was just mine.” Later, Doidge hints at the bond forming between her protagonists when Beau “tucked my hair behind my ear…then caressed down my neck and across my collarbone,” only to moments later shove readers off an erotic cliff. The fantasy elements, including shape-shifters, sorcerers, and Rochelle’s connection to them all, proceed more gradually. The volume ends with a compromise—made for love—that promises dire consequences later in the series.
A gift to the author’s fans and a compelling introduction to her supernatural universe for new readers. – Kirkus Reviews
Sir Terry Pratchett passed away two years ago on March 12, 2015.
