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The Soup Solution to a Gray Day
Dreary days call for hot, hearty meals. Here's one I cooked up the other day with fall veggies from my CSA share from Vermont Valley Community Farm. I highly recommend the recipe if your appetite and attitude need a little warming up.
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Big Book News
Waiting to announce a book deal reminds me of the initial weeks of pregnancy, when you’re waiting until a certain time to share your good news. Perhaps it’s out of caution–maybe it hasn’t been an easy road and you want to wait until something “official”– a doctor’s visit, maybe, or the end of the first trimester. All the while, you’re glowing, dizzy, maybe even nauseous. Well it’s official, as far as my books go! I’m thrilled to announce that my debut novel, Vintage, will be published by the William Morrow imprint of HarperCollins in 2014, to be followed by a second book in 2015. Here’s the official deal announcement, from Publishers…
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Vintage for the Wee Ones
I'm a sucker for a kid in a classic sailor suit or shortalls.
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Literary Matchmaking
A lot of writers have compared the process of finding a literary agent to online dating. Sending out a query letter about your novel is like creating that perfect online profile–with just enough information to pique people’s interest and leave them wanting to find out more, but not so much information that you come across as desperate, egotistical, or just plain crazy. All the while, you’re waiting for someone to fall in love… with your writing. One blog, Cupid’s Literary Connection, takes the dating/querying analogy literally. Cupid, the mythical creature behind the blog, is an anonymous, agented author who has dedicated her entire web space to contests, agent and publisher…
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Back to School Style for Grown-Ups
The hot hot summer has begun to cool and soon it’s time for back to school. Since I’m not a teacher and no longer a student, and since my son is still in diapers, I can think about the first day of school without panic. (Though I do still have that recurring dream about not knowing where any of my classes are…) Memories of the first day of school are heavy with nostalgia for me and, I imagine, for many of you. I was a nerd kid, and I used to lay out all of my school supplies on the carpet just to look at them in the weeks before…
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Art in Unexpected Places
For my first article for Edible Madison magazine in fall 2010 (which was, in fact, my first published piece of food writing), I visited Fountain Prairie Inn and Farms. I had a lovely time meeting and interviewing John and Dorothy Priske about their herd of Highland Cattle, which they raise for grass-fed beef on their sustainable farm. You can imagine my surprise and delight, then, when I went to drop off a package at the post office in downtown Madison and saw an art installation featuring pictures of the long, curly horns of the Priskes’ cattle, in very Georgia O’Keefe-like style. I love finding art in unexpected places, especially when it…
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Moonrise Kingdom: A Study in Styling and Storytelling
Over the weekend, I went to see the new Wes Anderson movie, Moonrise Kingdom. It was delightful in every way–a study in styling and storytelling. First, there’s the story itself. There’s nothing unusual about the plot, and I mean that as a compliment. The story is a straightforward one, of friendship and family. Of community and outsiders. Of innocence and coming-of-age. But, in its very simplicity, the story is extraordinary because of the way it is told. Wes Anderson is a master of setting. Moonrise Kingdom takes place in the summer of 1965 on a fictional island called New Penzance. And, from the opening to the closing credits, every detail…
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The “YES” (in other words, agented!)
I have a quote, framed and printed on a letterpress card, next to my desk. It’s a reminder to help me through all the “nos” and the “maybe ifs” that come with being a writer and putting my work out into the world. Today, I’m here to attest that it’s true. That after the final no, there really is a yes. And sometimes, in the midst of all the work and the worry, there is more than one yes. And then you get to be the one to say yes. YES! Today I accepted an offer of representation from a literary agent for my novel, Gently Used. And not just…
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The Flavors of Summer
The summer issue of Edible Madison magazine is out, both in print and online. For this issue, I met with the fun and fabulous ladies behind NessAlla Kombucha. I didn’t know a whole lot about kombucha before interviewing them for the article, so I learned a ton, including how to home-brew kombucha. You can get a recipe and read all about it here.
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Summer Wardrobe Syndrome
I have a recurring problem that pops up every year around this time. My husband has come to anticipate it. The sequence goes a little something like this: First, I stand inside my closet with my hands on my hips and declare that “I have no summer clothes.” Then I remember that they’ve been packed away in a huge Rubbermaid tub since September. I retrieve said tub and promptly throw half its contents into a bags destined for Goodwill, ReThreads (my favorite secondhand store), or an upcoming swap party. A garment gets tossed in a bag if it meets any of the following descriptions: (a) I can’t zip it or can only zip it…
a blog on fiction, fashion, food + family