Tag Archive for: Marilyn Meredith

A Few of my Thanksgiving Favorites

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Because my youngest daughter has invited all of us to travel to Camarillo to have Thanksgiving with her family and told me not to bring anything, I won’t be having two of my traditional Thanksgiving dishes, sweet potatoes and green beans with mushrooms.

My Aunt Flossie always made these and brought them to Thanksgiving dinner when we lived in Oxnard and then after we moved to Springville and continued to have Thanksgiving at our house with all of our relatives–my whole family and my sister’s family.

When my sis moved to Las Vegas along with all of her children, Auntie and my cousin and family went there for Thanksgiving. (I guess Las Vegas was a bigger draw than little Springville.) We still had plenty of guests for Thanksgiving dinner right here–but with I had to take over the cooking of the sweet potatoes and green beans along with cooking the turkey, dressing, and gravy. Fortunately, the guests contributed salads and desserts.

I’d like to share these two recipes. I’m a dash of this and a dash of that cook, so you aren’t going to get exact ingredients. I also like to find the easiest ways of doing things–so both these recipes are simple as well as yummy.

My auntie always used fresh green beans but I made life simpler by using frozen green beans. How many bags depends upon how many people you’re going to serve and whether you want left-overs or not. I cooked the green beans sort of by the package directions but I added cut-up pieces of bacon–so they really are over-cooked to make sure the bacon got done and really flavor the beans. Again, how many fresh mushrooms you want to use depends upon how many people–and how well you like mushrooms. Slice the mushrooms and stir into the beans–you can cook on low for awhile. Actually, this dish gets better the longer it is cooked. (Probably there aren’t many vitamins left–but it’s really good.) You could make this the day before and reheat on Thanksgiving.

For the sweet potatoes–I buy the yellow sweet potatoes, not the orange yams. Put them in a big pan with water and cook until you can pierce them easily with a fork. (Be careful though, you don’t want to cook them into mush.) Allow them to cool, then peel off the skins. Slice in half.
Put in a pan along with lots of butter and about a cup of brown sugar. Cook slowly to melt the butter, stir gently. Or…you can do this the day before and put the sliced sweet potatoes, chunks of butter and the brown sugar into a casserole to cook on Thanksgiving. Yummy! I like these so much better than the yam recipes. (But I also like baked sweet potatoes with butter.)

And for the dessert, these cookies are a pain to make, but oh are they good. My mom made them during WWII when sugar was rationed, and we only got one small bar to eat each evening.

Congo Cookies (This is a bar cookie)

Sift 2 3/4 flour with 2 ½ tsp. baking power and ½ tsp salt. Mix in 2/3 C shortening with 2 1/4 C brown sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla with 3 beaten eggs, mix altogether with 1 C of chopped nuts and a 7 or 8 oz. package of chocolate chips. Pour it all into a greased oblong baking pan, bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the middle of the cookies comes out clean. When they’re done you can cut them into whatever size chunks you please.

And that’s my contribution to our Thanksgiving favorites.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Mystery Conventions and Rules

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Because they’ve been talking about Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime on DorothyL and the rules that can keep authors who aren’t published by MWA approved publishers off panels, I thought I’d put out my two cents worth here.

The people who run these things can certainly make whatever rules they want. Bouchercon committee voted down what LCC is using to allow people to appear on panels.

Also, they’ve discussed the fact that some authors are just too pushy with their books. You know what, I’ve gone to all sorts of cons and I’ve never run into a pushy author. I’ve run into a few who are a bit on the “stuck on themselves” side, but that’s all.

Usually most authors have been absolutely delightful to chat with. Recently I had the opportunity to dine with and introduce David Morrell, author of all those wonderful thrillers including First Blood of Rambo fame. A most unassuming and delightful person.

I’ve been a member of MWA for years, but have decided that the discrimination against small press authors just goes against my grain too much. I won’t be renewing that membership.

And back to mystery cons–I’ll be sticking to those who only care about good books, not who published them.

Discrimination is discrimination no matter how you look at it.

This is my opinion and I’m sticking to it.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Some Useful Tips for Writers

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This weekend I was at the Wizards of Words Conference in Scottsdale AZ. I was a presenter, but like at any conference I attend, I learned quite a bit.

David Morrell (First Blood, the introduction of Rambo and many other thrillers) was the keynote speaker for the dinner and he had some gems to share. He said that writers that go the distance are those who you can’t mistake with anyone else. There are two questions that a writer needs to ask herself: 1. Why do you want to be a writer? 2. Why must you be a writer? You should dig into yourself. Pay attention to your day dreams and write about them. Being a successful writer depends upon talent, discipline, determination, and luck–and he added, don’t understimate the luck. He ended with, “You can write the book you were meant to write or with what you want to write.”

Jerry Simmons was the luncheon keynote speaker and probably the most important thing he had to say was, “The worst thing an author can do is rely on the publisher to make good decisions about the book.” Interesting, but of course his emphasis was on the writer taking charge of the promotion.

He also described how the New York publishing scene is all out of whack. The whole publishing business runs contrary to supply and demand. Every author needs to learn to market effectively to get the word out about his or her book.

The whole conference was great–learned a lot and met many interesting people. This is true no matter how many writing conferences I attend, I always learn new information–probably because the publishing industry is changing so much.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

What I’ve Been Up To

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None of this has much to do with writing–just what’s been happening the last week.

I was supposed to have a booksigning in Ventura, but heard from the owner that it had to be cancelled. We had planned to visit the Reagan Library while we were there and decided to go anyway. We had daughters who live in the area so we always like to visit.

The Reagan Library is fantastic. We happened to go during an Abraham Lincoln exhibit with the Emancapation Proclomation on display. That was worth the price of the ticket. But there was much more to see: the Oval Office exactly as it looked when Reagan was president, Nancy’s wardrobe including a note telling when she wore each outfit or gown, a replica of the White House Rose Garden and lawn and Reagan’s burial site.

The highlight of the trip, though, was Air Force One. It is displayed on a pedastal in a huge area with a window wall looking like it’s coming in for a landing. Everyone can walk through it and it looks like it did when Reagan used it, including the black box. Fascinating! The helicopter (or one like it) that flew the president from the White House to Andrews AFB is also on display, along with his limosine and LA escort police cars.

There’s lots more to see–we were there from 10:30 a.m. until 4. After that, we had dinner at our youngest daughter’s home along with her family and our eldest daughter and hubby who’d taken us to the Reagan Library.

Saturday, hubby and I attended a lovely party. We don’t go to many parties these days, so this was a treat. It was held outside–it rained all morning so wasn’t sure whether the party would still happen–in a beautiful garden. Tables and chairs were set up on the lawn with a wonderful spread of food and desserts in the patio.

The inside of the house was decorated with all sorts of scarecrows.

We didn’t really know many of the guests. The hostess is one of my biggest fans and asked me to bring a copy of Kindred Spirits for her to buy–which I did of course.

Up to this point I hadn’t found a place to launch Kindred Spirits in my home town. While sitting at a table with a local shop owner, Jenuine Junque, we got to talking and she is willing to clear out one of her rooms so I can have a book signing there. So, it does help to chit-chat with folks.

We did have a good time and solved a problem.

Next I’m off to the Wizards of Words conference in Scottsdale AZ.

Marilyn

Calling the Dead! Calling the Winners!

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The winners of the autographed copies of Marilyn Meredith’s mystery, Calling the Dead, are: Susan Draco and Helen. Both have been contacted off line and should receive their books next week.

Calling the Dead is the sixth in Marilyn’s Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. For the latest novel featuring Tempe, check out Marilyn’s “just released,” Kindred Spirits.

Thanks to all who left comments or sent emails!

The Stiletto Gang

In Honor of Kindred Spirits

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I will give away an autographed copy of Calling the Dead, the sixth in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series to two people who leave a comment on this post or email me privately (mmeredith@ocsnet.net). All names will be put into a hat, or like container, and two drawn out for the books. I will not do the drawing until Wednesday, September 24. Good luck!

Marilyn

Oh, My Goodness!

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No matter how hard you go over edits or galleys, mistakes creep into our books. I don’t even have the copies of my latest, Kindred Spirits yet and I’ve found a glaring error!

No, it’s not in the content of the book–this is worse. The person who actually gave me the first seed of an idea for the story is the one to whom I dedicated the book, Junie Mattice. Unfortunately, in the dedication, her name is printed as Junie Mahoney.

Of course I didn’t notice it when I went over the edits–because it wasn’t in them. What it was in, and I should have noticed then, was the dedication page in the galley.

Where did the name Mahoney come from? It’s the last name of one of the main characters in the Crescent City part of the book–one that was inspired by Junie. Junie has such a multi-faceted personality, I actually based two major characters on her. All I can think of is the spell-checker changed the name from Mattice and Mahoney. Of course I’m the one who is at fault for not noticing it.

In my defense, I was hard-pressed for time because I have to receive the copies of the book this week in order to have them to cart with us when we leave for Crescent City this week. I went over the content of the book carefully and obviously overlooked the dedication page.

What am I going to do about it? I’ve already apologized via email to Junie. I’ll hand correct the copies that I sell in Crescent City. It’ll certainly give me something else to talk about as I speak about Kindred Spirits–something I’d rather not have.

Do I have advice for other authors because of this? Sure, check out your dedication page when doing edits and going over the galley. Certainly from now on that’ll be the first place I check. Too late for 200 copies of this book. Hopefully it’ll be corrected for anymore that are sent out.

Will other mistakes slip by me and other authors? Unfortunately, that’s part of the process. Our eyes seem to correct mistakes and we don’t even notice them.

I hope Junie will forgive me–my intentions were to honor her. I have tremendous respect for this strong Tolowa woman who has for years stood up for what she believes in and continues to fight for the Tolowa people.

Kindred Spirits is available for order at http://www.mundania.com/books-kindredspirits.html

Marilyn

Movies, Casino, Camping, Festival, Oh My

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While my eldest daughter and hubby were here visiting (the tail end of a long trip for them) we went to the movies twice. We saw Swing Vote which we loved and Mama Mia which we also enjoyed. At the end of the movie while the music still played, both my daughters danced down the aisle.

We also went to Eagle Mountain Casino which is on the Tule River Indian Reservation near where we live–and the one that appears in my later Tempe Crabtree mysteries. Though I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the rez, I’d never been inside the casino and I wanted to make sure what I’ve written is accurate. Amazingly it is. Everyone played the machines but me, it isn’t something I enjoyed.

After our company left we headed for the Angelus National Forest (the mountains above La Canada where Mt. Wilson Observatory is located) and a church camp that we haven’t been to for years. Because my cousin and their children and grandchildren attend and a lot of people we’ve known from long ago, my sis and hubby and three grandkids were talked into going. We slept on hard beds in the nurse’s cabin which fortunately had a bathroom down the hall. Everyone else had to use a communal bathhouse which is a walk from nearly everywhere.

Meals were great though it was about 1/2 mile up and down hills to the dining hall. We visited and laughed a lot and sat under a great shade tree with a cool breeze, I read a mystery all the way through, and played cards with a lively bunch of folks from 11 to my age–hubby and I were the oldest campers.

From there we headed to San Luis Obispo and the Women’s Creative Arts Festival. During our emailing about the festival I asked if I need to bring anything and was told no. As soon as we arrived I knew I was in trouble when I saw people putting up tents and setting up tables. Fortunately, I spotted one of my friends in the Central Coast Chapter of Sisters in Crime and she had someone bring me a card table. My assigned spot was under a shade tree so that took care of the problem of no tent.

I actually made a lot of sales–as usual, the only way to do this is to stand and talk to everyone who passes by. I noticed not many of the vendors did this. Most sat behind their wares or visited with others in the booth or with other vendors. One of my sales was made to a woman who said she bought from me because I was the friendliest of all the vendors.

Despite the snafu about equipment (which I had a home) I did very well at this sale.

Now the “oh my” part. A good friend is planning a wonderful book launching for Kindred Spirits, the next in my Deputy Crabtree mystery series. It’s going to be a luncheon at a Bed and Breakfast in Crescent City, CA. She was talking about the event at the historical society and a controversy was spoken about–one that is in the book but I had not been given all the facts by my resource person. Needless to say, it has to be fixed. I’ve alerted my publisher and since I don’t have the edits yet, I can make the necessary changes. It could have been a horrific problem.

Last week was full, perhaps a bit too full, fun, exciting, surprising and a bit on the challenging side.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Blogging, Promoting, Random Thoughts

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I’m writing this blog on Saturday because I know I’ll be busy next week and may forget. Things have been wild around here. First, the bathroom is finally done, but next we want to do some remodeling in the two bedrooms next to the refurbished John, which means moving lots of stuff around. When you move things, cleaning follows.

We’re expecting our eldest daughter and her hubby on Monday. They’ve been traveling all around in their motor home–to Kansas to a family reunion, South Dakota for sight seeing, back to Omaha for the Jr. Olympics because a granddaughter was competing, more sightseeing on the way to our house. I want to spend as much time with our visitors as possible. When they leave on Wednesday, we’re heading to the Angeles National Forest to a church camp where we’ll be spending time with my sister and my cousins and various other relatives until Friday noon. We’ve been to this camp before and it’s notorious for its bear visits.

From there we’re headed to San Luis Obispo for a Creative Women all day event on Saturday in the Mission Plaza where I’ll be selling my books. Also the members of the Central Coast Sisters in Crime will have a booth there and so I know I’ll be seeing a lot of my SinC sisters there. The whole point to this is I need to do my blogs ahead of time because I’ll be away from my computer. I will have my Blackberry so will be able to read my email. (I love my Blackberry. I used to have to look for computers in hotels where I could rent computer time.)

I have one other book selling event this month but will spend most of this month promoting on the Net. I’m gearing up for September when I’ll be doing one event after another because I’ll have a new Deputy Tempe Crabtree out.

My promotion begins with a talk at the San Joaquin chapter of Sister in Crime. I love this chapter and am one of the founding members.

I’ve only planned three booksignings at book stores and these are at independents, and at two of them I’ll be giving talks–which I believe works the best. I will be having a blog tour in September also. I’ll be presenting at two writers’ conferences–something I really enjoy.

As for my random thoughts, I’ve had a great time with the promoting part of being a writer. My husband and I have traveled to so many places we’d never have seen in order to attend mystery cons and other writing conferences–from Maui to Florida and lots of places in-between. On my own I’ve visited Alaska twice, and went to the Edgars in New York with a good writing friend–great experience. We’ve made wonderful friends all along the way. All-in-all, it’s been a most rewarding experience and I’m looking forward to even more.

Marilyn Meredith
http://fictionforyou.com

Alas, No Ghostly Visitation

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Hubby and I chose to stay in Room 17 of the Bella Maggiore Bed and Breakfast in Ventura CA because the room is supposed to be haunted. We did not have a ghostly visitor. My daughter looked up the ghost and said it was because the ghost, a prostitute in her former life, only visited men who stayed in the room by themselves. Guess I ruined it.

However, we did have a rather intimate romantic encounter with a real live young man. Room 17 opens on a balcony shared with another larger room. There are no windows in these rooms, only doors that open to the balcony with no screen door and a transom. We were sitting in our room with the door open, when this darling young man popped in to inform us he was having a surprise party for his girlfriend’s birthday at 10 p.m. on our shared balcony complete with music, a Spanish harp and guitar along with a singer. We were invited.

Both of us were tired, but assured our visitor we’d enjoy the music. Of course we had to shut the door and the drapes in order to go to bed, because the chairs and table were only a few feet from our room. At 10 p.m. the music began. It was lovely and very romantic. It was over by 11.

The next day, after we’d had our wonderful breakfast and hubby was transporting our bags to the car, I was sitting on the bed with door open and in pops the young lover. He wanted to know if we’d enjoyed the music, I assured I’m had. I said, “I hope your fiancee appreciates you, not many men are as romantic.” She came out and I met her (cute young thing) and told her that her boyfriend was definitely a keeper. He said, “Thank you.”

From there we went to the Premiere Author event at the Crowne Plaza hotel. Though it was nice, we didn’t have much traffic. The talks about writing and poetry reading were scheduled back-to-back with no time in-between for the attendees to step into the book room. I sold two books and I don’t think anyone else sold more than one. Of course, the organizers realized they’d made a mistake. But it was wonderful to see and smell the ocean air.

From there, we headed to the Bank of Books (bookstore in a former bank) and set up for a talk about mystery writing. This was planned spur of the moment, so didn’t expect much of a turn-out and I was right. Three people came to hear me and we all had fun. We will plan another event, with a bigger lead-in time for the fall.

No matter what, we had a good time. We spent Saturday night in our youngest daughter’s new home, beautiful and huge. Five bathrooms! Can’t imagine having to clean them all. Of course she says my grandchildren are responsible for their own. (They’re grown or nearly grown, so it is possible this might happen.)

After a great breakfast, we left the cool temperatures by the ocean and headed back to the hot temperatures of the San Joaquin Valley.

This week I’m helping out at Vacation Bible School. Actually had fun with the fifth and sixth graders that I had to keep track of.

Marilyn