What I’ve been up to . . .
What have you been up to?
Have a great weekend, everyone!
A beautiful day and the perfect muffin recipe
It was so beautiful out today–sunny, warm, spring-like in every way–that I completely lost my head and forgot to come by here. So here I am now. A bit late. But with a house full of tired kids who are already dreaming the night away.
Spring makes me so happy after a winter spent mostly inside. Even a very mild winter like we’ve had. It’s just not possible to spend an entire day outside like it is during the spring, summer, and fall. While I love snuggling down in a warm house during winter, curling up with cocoa and a good book, we do get to a point where my kids *need* to get outside and run around. We’re at that point now (actually we were at that point a few weeks ago) and we are fully taking advantage of our lovely weather.
And it is *lovely.* I’m totally in full spring mode now. (Though I have to keep reminding myself that it is only March.)
Totally unrelated to our fabulously springy days this week, I created the perfect muffin recipe today and I’m so excited by it that I simply have to share it with you.
It’s absolutely bad for you, but also good for you. So, you know, things even out. I use part whole wheat flour (as I do with almost everything) and I added chia seeds which are chock full of goodness (plus they add this slight little crispy-crunch to each bite that I totally enjoy). So even while these are full of fat and sugar, you’re almost doing yourself a favor by eating them because of the added omega-3’s, fiber, protein, essential minerals, and whole grain goodness. (At least that’s what I tell myself.) (Plus, I figure that if we’re going to indulge once in a while in sweet treats, they might as well also have some nutritional benefit to them so at least we’re getting a lot of good with the bad.)
For those of you who’d like it, here’s the recipe. For the rest, skip on down to the bottom of the post to catch a glimpse of incredible beauty.
Perfect Muffins
2 c. flour (1 c. unbleached, 1 c. whole wheat)
1 c. sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 Tbsp chia seeds or ground flax seeds (optional, but highly recommended!)
1/4 c. wheat germ (optional, but seriously, toss it in–it adds so much goodness)
2 beaten eggs
3/4 c. milk
1/2 c. melted butter or oil (butter! go with the butter!!)
1 c. additions: fresh or thawed fruit (raspberries, diced strawberries, blueberries, raisins, chopped nuts, cinnamon chips, chocolate chips, etc.)
Mix dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients together, then add to dry ingred. Fold in fruit, nuts, or chips. Fill muffin cups to the top. Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes.
Mmmmmm. (Okay. I may actually have to go make more right now.)
Now that you have the perfect muffin, grab a cup of coffee or tea and spend a few minutes watching this. Ten minutes of unbelievable beauty. You will not be sorry. (And you will be awed.) (Guaranteed.)
Have a great day, everyone!
Evolution of a fleur-de-lis design & Giveaway
Since I’m in the mood to give away more bookmarks and tattoos, I thought I’d show you the evolution of the tattoo design. In Intangible, three characters are marked with a fleur-de-lis. It’s a Mark of belonging and protection. I chose this symbol because there was a time when the seventh son of a seventh son was branded (yowch!) with a fleur-de-lis. (I am not making that up.)
So I searched for fleur-de-lis tattoo designs online, found several designs I really liked (there was a Celtic one that was beautiful!), settled on one that seemed the best fit for my story and started drawing. I wanted to come up with a design that was my own and was infused with elements from the story.
This was not an easy task. I am not a designer. Some of the rejects were just too girly—you know, I needed it to be a design a guy would wear, too. Here are a few of my favorites.
I loved the vines wrapping around. I thought it looked so cool.
This incorporated both the spiral and the eye symbols that Sera and Luke wear, but it felt a little too girly. Plus, I am not capable of drawing a mirror image on the other side, so I would have had to try to copy the side flourishes, flip them over, and attach them to the other side on the computer. I’m not sure my photo editing skills were up to the task . . . since I really don’t have any photo editing skills to speak of. It’s all trail and error for me . . . with a lot of error.
See how much I liked those twisting vines? I tried *really* hard to get them on the tattoo. But alas, it was not to be. In the end—with design suggestions from Steve, as well as some pats on the back as I tearfully told him I couldn’t do it, I was not a designer, I could not come up with a tattoo design, I sucked at it, and all my book plans were completely foiled—this is what we came up with. The spiral and the eye, funky nicked blades, and even the yin-yang symbol worked in. I *love* it.
The original pencil drawing and the digital, photo-edited version.
(Though I do miss those twisty vines . . . )
But, seriously, how cool is this?
Would you like one? And a bookmark too? If you have purchased Intangible or do so this week, then I’ll send them to you! You can pick up an ecopy at Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or a paperback here at Amazon.
If you’ve already bought it, you’re all set. If you haven’t yet, you have until the end of the day on Friday March 16, 2012, to buy it and let me know. Send me an email that contains:
Your name
Mailing address
Order # and where you bought it
(If you’d like the bookmark signed, please let me know. Otherwise I’ll send it unsigned.)
Email me at j (at) jmeyersbooks (dot) com.
Have a great day, everyone!
the remains of the day
What I’ve been up to . . .
(Nothing like a little baking to sweeten up math and geography, you know?)
What have you been up to?
Have a great weekend, everyone!
“It’s about creating a life of possibility.”*
A friend of mine sent this to me a couple of days ago. It’s a TED talk by Peter Diamandis on optimism for the future. He shows that we have the technology *today* to solve many of the world’s problems. And that if we don’t have the technology yet for some issues, we will have it soon.
Want to feel positive about our future on this Earth? The future for all people? Then watch this.
(It’s 16 minutes long, but well worth the time . . . as is every single TED talk I’ve ever watched.)
We live at an incredible time in history, you know? Thanks to Jim for the link.
Hope your week is going well, everyone!
*Post title is a quote from Peter’s talk.
Seeking Balance
As I’m in the midst of trying to spread the word about Intangible and getting started on book two, I find that I’m really struggling with balance. Balancing my work with my family, figuring out some sort of schedule (I’m so not good with schedules) for when I will work during the day/evening and when I will focus on my kids and husband.
It’s difficult, I have to say, for me to find that balance. And perhaps harder as I work from home in the midst of my family because I get so focused on writing/book work that I can’t pull myself out of it very easily. Or I just don’t think to. You know? It’s not even that I love the work so much that I get lost in it (though sometimes that is the case, but not always). It’s really that I throw my everything into it—I’m an all or nothing kinda person in many ways.
Perhaps it’s more of a struggle because I don’t have a schedule. I don’t have set times for work—I just grab the time when I can get it either during the day (which occurs rarely with these four fabulous kids of mine) or in the evenings (which means I’m neglecting my husband).
So, tell me. How do you balance your life with your life? For that’s how it feels to me. My family is my life. But now writing is my life, too. These two lives that demand a lot from me, that I want to put my all into, but I don’t actually have two lives worth of me, energy, or attention.
So I’m struggling to figure this out right now before I really get going with the next book. When I am likely to get all wrapped up in my work far too much of the time. I need to find some balance.
How do you find it?
Have a great day, everyone.
the remains of the day
What I’ve been up to . . .
(Funky piece of wood courtesy of Ebba, who found it outside and wanted to put it on my table.)
What have you been up to?
Have a great weekend, everyone!
It takes a lot of paper to make a book
The books arrived this week! How amazing does this look?
So winners of the Goodreads Giveaway and bloggers to whom I’ve promised a paperback, I’ll be mailing your books out soon! :-)
Check this out. So, I’ve mentioned before that I edit/revise on paper, not on computer. I write on computer, but I print out each draft to work on it. This book was polished up in a mere 8 1/2 drafts. (I wanted it perfect, okay?) This is what that looks like:
Another way of looking at it:
That’s a LOT of paper. I don’t remember how many reams I went through. Probably close to ten, maybe eleven. (Yikes! Sorry trees! I recycle everything, I swear. And I buy recycled and earth-friendly products whenever I can.) (And I promise to plant lots of trees for every book I write.)
Sigh. Every book. I like the sound of that.
Have a great day, everyone!
Reading Time!
I haven’t been to the library in months because I’ve been too busy working on the book. I needed to spend my time writing, not reading, and THIS is what happens when I go to the library.
Some of these I’d heard about and was dying to read and some I was delighted to discover for the first time. As the kids browsed, I filled my bag. When it got to the point where I could not actually fit another book in the bag, I made the kids drag me out of there lest I fill up their arms too.
We checked out with 15 books for me, and 10 books between the 4 of them. (Usually they come out with a huge pile themselves, but they got distracted reading the books they’d already picked out, so they didn’t end up with as many. I, being a much more seasoned library goer, am not so easily distracted from the purpose at hand: finding as many fabulous books as I possibly can.) (Plus, as I may have mentioned, I was totally hogging the bag space. May have to bring two bags next time …)
Here’s the list, in case you’re interested and don’t want to squint at the picture:
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (I *love* her writing! Can’t wait.)
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick (I was a little meh about the first one in the series, so not sure I’ll end up reading this all the way through. If I get meh about this one too, then I won’t waste my time.)
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Sapphique by Catherine Fisher (Really liked the first book, though it took me a while to get into.)
The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson (Loved the first book, excited to read this.)
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor (Did I mention how much I LOVE Laini Taylor?)
Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot (Actually, I’d thought the title was Paris on Fire, which is why I picked it up. Just now as I typed it in did I realize it was Pants on Fire. But anything by Meg Cabot is good.)
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (Looks like a funny read.)
Airhead by Meg Cabot
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (Fell in LOVE with his first, Hugo Cabret. Didn’t know he had another one out. Cannot WAIT to read it!)
100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson (Never heard of it, looks like a great MG book.)
So B. It by Sarah Weeks (Another I’d never heard of, but looks amazingly good.)
The Book of Time by Guillaume Prévost (Never heard of it, but looks really good. Another MG I think.)
Flight of the Phoenix (Nathanial Fludd, Beastologist) by R.L. LaFevers (I actually picked up this MG book with Riley and Torin in mind, figuring they’d love to read it, but I’m going to read it too because it looks really good. I haven’t read anything by LaFevers yet, but I’ve heard great things about her.)
Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix (This just looked really good–the excerpt on the back totally sucked me in even though it isn’t what I’d usually read. It’s a fictionalized account of the fire at the Triangle Waist Company in NYC, which killed 146 young immigrants in 1911.)
Okay, now the problem is . . . which do I choose first?
Hope your week is filled with good books. (Oh, and do tell if you’ve read anything great lately. I’m always up for reading recommendations!) Have a great day, everyone!
Today
Today, in the middle of February in New York, it was sunny, beautiful, and 53 degrees F. We were pining for snow and freezing days so we could strap on our skates (that some of us got for Christmas and haven’t been able to use yet—and it’s not looking likely that we will get to use them this year to our bitter, bitter disappointment) and head down the road to the neighbor’s pond. But instead, what did we do?
This.
And, uh, this.
A little of this. And that.
And maybe this too. (Because when you find a big stick…)
Today my littlest rode a bike for the first time. With a little practice she understood how to pedal and was off, ecstatic, following after her brothers on their bikes. To be honest, my throat tightened a little. It’s all so bittersweet, this parenting thing, you know? Every new step is cause for celebration, but it’s so hard to say goodbye to what came before. And saying goodbye to these steps and stages for the very last time sometimes makes my vision blur, my throat constrict.
Bittersweet. No one ever tells you that. But I suppose until you’re experiencing it for yourself, you have no way of comprehending its depths.
Today, and every day, I do.
How could I not? Look at that. She’s growing too quickly. They all are, no matter how many times I ask them not to. ;-)
Hope you’re having a great week, everyone!