Month: June 2008

Seems I’m Not the Only One…

…concerned about the weather.

CBC news story from about a week ago:

B.C. has endured weeks of unseasonable drizzle and grey skies this spring with temperatures touching record lows in the months of May and June, and growers are worried about mildew killing the seedlings.

And…

The economic value of B.C.’s illegal marijuana industry is difficult to determine, but over the years experts have estimated it exceeds a billion dollars a year.

Gee, poor pot growers. (For those who don’t know, “B.C.” = British Columbia). (The western-most province of Canada, right above Washington state, for those who really don’t know! 😉 ).

To read the full account of the “dilemma,” click here.

Well, I’m happy to report that it is raining less than it was a week ago. In fact, we’ve had more than two days in a row with bursts of sun! Yeehaw. I’m happy, but don’t you pity those poor pot growers? Whatever shall they do?

Ding A Dong, Dong, Dong

The Ding Dong lives! I’m ecstatic to discover this. For years, I wondered, “Whatever happened to the Ding Dong?” Dare I confess that for decades I worried I made the name up?

My kids love a chocolate-covered, chocolatey-cakey, white-cream-filled concoction called a King Don (okay, so do I). Every time I buy a package, they gobble them up. However, lately we’ve been arguing over whether they’re supposed to be called Ding Dongs or King Dons. I mean, really, King Dons? Sounds like you should be genuflecting before some fat royal guy named Don (and let’s not get into genuflecting before Don King).

When I was a teenager, The Queen of Sheba (a.k.a my mom) introduced our family to Ding Dongs. For some reason we never had Twinkies in the house, but Ding Dongs were consumed by the barrel-full. One day I opened the Ding Dong cupboard and discovered the name on the package had changed overnight to King Don. WTF? Why take a perfectly wonderfully cupcakey name like Ding Dong and mutilate it like that? 

Thanks to Wikipedia, I now know that I didn’t make up Ding Dongs. They do so exist! Under that name! However, apparently the Ding Dong name is only in use in the U.S. now. Yep, up here in the Great White North, we still have to call them King Dons. But at one time, YES, indeedy, at one time, the Canadian packaging did say Ding Dong. Now when my two teenagers tell me that “ding dong” isn’t a name for a cakey treat, but rather slang for male naughty bits, I feel quite vindicated that they’re wrong and I’m right.

Guess what else I discovered? Ding Dong recipes. Who’da thunk it?

Here’s one called Ding Dong Mousse, by April Vandecamp:

Ding Dong Mousse

Cool, huh? Click here for instructions how to assemble. And let me know how it turns out. Because I’m not making Ding Dong recipes for my kids. Not when they insist on calling them King Dons.

Have any Ding Dong recipes you want to share? Twinkie recipes? Uses for a Twinkie? Naughty uses for a Twinkie? Just please—no, no!—no naughty uses for my Ding Dongs.

Getting the Word Out

From HelenKay Dimon’s blog:

Dear Friends,

One of our own, author Jo Leigh (aka Jolie Kramer) lost her husband on June 13 after he courageously battled cancer. If you don’t know their story, which is the stuff romance novels are made of, you can read it here and see their wedding picture here.

In addition to being a fabulous friend to so many and a multi-RITA nominated author who has written for Harlequin Blaze, Temptation, Intrigue, Special Projects, Silhouette Intimate Moments and Meteor Kismet, Jo is known across the country for the amazing writing classes she teaches, including one on plotting that is incomparable. She has been incredibly generous to so many in sharing her knowledge and expertise.

Unfortunately, Jo has been left with a lot of medical expenses she will be struggling to cover as they had no health insurance, and we would like to help her out by holding several fundraising auctions. If you have items to donate – books or book baskets/collections, critiques, ARCs of upcoming releases, mentoring opportunities, web or promotional material design work etc., please email the item description to the following email address: forjoleigh AT gmail.com This is the address we’re using to organize the items.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Alison Kent, HelenKay Dimon, Larissa Ione, Stephanie Tyler.

Tell Me Tuesday

Phew, Motherhood Madness is almost over! In fact, I’m over the biggest hump and can now put most of my focus toward writing again. All last week, when I was able to sit at the computer, I was headed off on the wrong tangent on my WIP. I implored Elle Muse for an answer. Finally, and quite suddenly (while I was driving, of course, and didn’t have a notepad handy—bad writer), the answer came to me. I was writing the wrong damn scene. As soon as I admitted such, ideas for the scene I should have been trying to draft came flooding in. I didn’t get a chance to fast-draft the scene until yesterday, however, I’m already onto revisions (I’m a revise-as-I-go writer). Praise be to Elle!

Anyone else? Is your writing going smoothly? Hardly (as in hardly at all)? Or some variation of the two?

Oh, and before I forget, editor Deb Werksman of Sourcebooks is taking questions at the Casablanca authors blog today. Deb is very approachable, so if you’re interested in Sourcebooks, hop over and have a gander at the sub-genres she’s acquiring, ask a question if you’re so inspired.

Now I must get back to those scene revisions. Tally-ho!

By the way, if anyone knows how to use the Visual editor for WordPress 2.5.1 to insert links, please tell me. What was once so simple in 2.3.2 (or whatever I was using before—that’s close enough) is now impossible in WP 2.5.1. I keep having to go to the HTML editor to insert my links (yes, I’m lazy).

Okay, now I’m really leaving.

More than Magic Results!

I’m very excited to announce that BORROWING ALEX took second place in the Romantic Comedy category of the More Than Magic contest. This is the contest where I was up against Vicki Lewis Thompson in the finals with her single title, OVER HEXED. ‘Natch, Vicki won. Congratulations, Vicki! I fully expected to beat your pants off. Yes, yes, I did. Uh-huh. We all believe me. 😉

Maybe next time. Watch out! (heh, heh).

I’m Still Here!

I love Friday the 13th. For years I thought I was born on Friday the 13th, hence my fondness for the day. When I was 13, I learned I was really born on a Wednesday—how woeful! But it hasn’t stopped me from loving Friday the 13th.

Youngest Son graduates high school today. Hence the quick and dirty blog post. Oh, I have a lot of drafts of good posts I could post-date and put up, however, in the event that my blog upgrade does not go well, I’m saving them.

Have a great weekend, bloggers. Enjoy your Friday the 13th.

Update 11:30 a.m. – My WordPress upgrade went off without a hitch! Next week it’s back to blogging as usual (well, I still have computer issues to address, so there’s a possibility I still might disappear, but I hope not).

Early Happy Father’s Day to all you wonderful dads out there. It looks like it’s gearing up to be a bee-oo-tiful day for Y.S.’s high school grad. Over and out!