Christmas Column

I have been naughty. I haven't posted at all during the month of December!
I guess I've been taking a little break from writing . . .  but not entirely.

I thought I'd share with you my kid's column for Two-Lane Livin' for the month of December.

Celebrate With Cookies

     What does a gingerbread man put on his bed? A cookie sheet!

     Cookies have been with us for many centuries. But, the first cookies were created by accident. Sometimes accidents are a good thing. Early ovens never had thermostats, so cooks dropped small amounts of cake batter on baking pans to test the oven temperature.

     Cookies came to America in the 1600s. And, most cookies in early America were baked as special treats. In a 1796 cookbook titled, American Cookery, there were only two recipes for cookies. In some early American cookbooks, cookies were given no space of their own but were listed at the end of the cake chapter. They were called by such names as "Jumbles," "Plunkets," and "Cry Babies."

     Now we have cookbooks filled only with cookie recipes. We have bar cookies, drop cookies, molded cookies, no bake cookies, pressed cookies, refrigerator cookies, rolled and sandwich cookies! No matter what kind of cookies they are – soft, chewy or crisp, large or small, fancy or plain – cookies are a treat most of us want to munch, nibble and snack on with a tall glass of milk.

     In 1937, a very special cookie was invented: the chocolate chip cookie. The recipe is on the package of Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips. Your cookies can be special, too. Use the recipe on their package, but add a special or secret ingredient to the cookie dough. Some ideas are: M & M’s, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, mint chips, your favorite nuts, sprinkles or crushed candy canes.

     For chocolate chip cookie lovers with a big appetite, a 102-foot-wide cookie was baked that weighed 40,000 pounds in Flat Rock, NC in 2003! The ingredients in this world’s largest cookie included 6000 pounds of chocolate chips.

     Here is an easy recipe to make cinnamon dough ornaments to hang on your Christmas tree:

     Mix in a bowl one cup of cinnamon, ¾ cup applesauce and 2 T. white glue.

     Work the ingredients together with your hands into a ball, cover with plastic and let set for ½ hour.  Put out onto wax paper; lay a piece of wax paper on top of the mixture and roll with a rolling pin until 1/8 or ¼ inch thickness.  Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. I use star, heart and snowflake shapes. Insert a straw near the top of the cookies to punch a hole for hanging. Carefully lift the cookies and place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 200 degrees for ½ hour, and then reduce the temperature to 175 degrees. I bake them for a total of 2 1/2 hours and turn them every ½ hour.  Let dry naturally for 2-3 days and turn them a couple of times each day.

     Do not eat! Insert a thin ribbon and hang the spicy smelling ornaments on your tree. After Christmas, store them in a plastic bag and bring them out every year to decorate your tree.

You can go here to see more instructions and pictures on how I make my cinnamon dough ornaments.

I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas!

I am eager for the start of the coming year.

I have stories to write and stories to submit!

Posted byJanet Smart  on Creative Writing in the Blackberry Patch.

Happy Halloween and Pumpkin Surprise!

Riddle: Which ghost is the best dancer? The Boogie Man!

For the October issue of Two-Lane Livin' I wrote Pumpkin Surprise!
Hope you enjoy reading this on Halloween.

  Pumpkin Surprise!

     “It’s Halloween,” said Sadie to her cat. “We need to carve jack-o-lanterns!”

     “Meow.” Pippin strolled back and forth and then pounced up on the window ledge, stretched her front legs and arched her back.  

     Sadie plopped her hat on her head. “Let’s gather pumpkins from my patch,” she said.

     She walked out the door of the cottage pulling Pippin behind her in a little red wagon. She shuffled through the frost covered gold and red leaves scattered upon the ground. The rustling noise alerted the critters that someone was near.

     The squirrels scampered up the tall oak trees. The mice scurried and hid beneath the brush pile. The crows, never afraid of anyone, sat upon the scarecrow’s arms and stared at the old lady and her cat.

     She looked at them and said, “Where are my pumpkins? Did you see who took them?”

     The shiny black crows shook their heads. “Caw! Caw!” Their voices floated through the crisp autumn air.

     “How will I greet the children on Halloween if I don’t have jack-o-lanterns, filled with flickering flames, on my front porch?”

     She searched and searched. The empty vines crawled over the ground and between the dried up cornstalks. At last she spied small ones, in the far corner of the field, hidden beneath the fallen leaves.

     “These will not do. They are not big enough to make jack-o-lanterns.”

     She sighed and picked them anyway. She placed them one by one in her wagon.

     “Meow.” Pippen pounced on top of the pile of pumpkins and rode back to the cottage.

     Sadie placed her finger on her pointy chin. “I have an idea,” she said.  

     The old lady gathered sugar and spices, eggs and vanilla, and everything tasty. Mouthwatering smells floated all through her kitchen.

     That evening they heard shouts of “Trick or treat! Trick or treat!”

     Sadie opened the door and Pippen ran out to greet the ghosts and goblins.

      “Happy Halloween!” they shouted. “We decided to treat you this year.  We picked and carved your pumpkins for you.”

     Her eyes sparkled when the costumed children greeted her with the jack-o-lanterns.  “Come in. Come in,” she said. “I made a treat for you, too. Pumpkin pies for everyone!”

Do you have a favorite Halloween story?

 

Posted byJanet Smart on Creative Writing in the Blackberry Patch.

 

2012 Writing Accomplishments

I am sitting here trying to think of what I have accomplished with my writing in 2012.
Below is my short list (in no particular order)

 ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

I wrote a children's column each month for Two-Lane Livin' Magazine.
I joined an online PB critique group in March.
One of my stories that I submitted on the Rate Your Story site rated a #2!
 I attended the WVWriter's Conference in June.
One of my MG manuscripts came in 2nd HM in their annual writing contest in the children's category.
 I had an article published in our local newspaper, The Jackson Herald.
I participated in Cynthea Liu's Red Light Green Light. I actually received a green light a couple of times.
 I got brave and attended Open Mic sessions at our local library.
I won first place in our Library's Appalachian Writing contest last fall.
I participated in PiBoIdMo in November and came up with 30 picture book ideas.

I started and finished writing my second MG manuscript!

GOALS FOR NEXT YEAR:

Get more organized.
Have a publisher pick up one of my PBs or my MG novel!
Research how to do an e-book. I have written an informative book that I want to put in e-book form.
Improve my craft and . . .
write more manuscripts!

How about you? Want to tell us about your accomplishments or goals?

Posted by Janet F. Smart on Creative Writing in the Blackberry Patch.
 

Books and More

I stopped at a couple of thrift stores today. After buying an old ivory colored USA cereal bowl, a Mirro aluminum fluted mold and an old plastic three sectioned bill and letter holder that you hang on the wall, I headed for the book section.

I love Garfield. And, I love Little Golden Books. With all the Little Golden Books I have, this is my first Garfield one.  The other book is a 1950 book filled with 15 short stories.


I'm not very good at writing short stories, so I thought this might be a good book to buy. Maybe reading these famous authors' short stories will help me learn how to write a good one. There are short stories by Thomas Hardy, Stephen Crane, Ernest Hemingway, Dylan Thomas, Anton Chekhov, William Sansom, Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Joyce, Guy De Maupassant, Kay Boyle, Sarah Orne Jewett, Alun Lewis, D.  H. Lawrence and Eudora Welty.

We picked up the May Two-Lane Livin' magazines in Mineral Wells while we were running around. Aren't those baby birds on the front cover just the cutest?

My article is on page 16.

 And, I was surprised to see on the reader's page a poem sent in by my neighbor. I told his wife that she was living with a poet and didn't know it. (Sorry, but I just had to say that).

And, I am happy to say that my online PB critique group is up and running. There are 7 of us and I am enjoying critiquing and getting critiqued! It is a very learning experience.

Have you bought any good books lately? Or been critiquing any manuscripts?

 Posted by Janet Smart at Creative Writing in the Blackberry Patch.

©Janet F. Smart

Too Many Pots on the Stove

I am  still editing! I am getting there, but still have a ways to go.
I am learning how to flesh out a story.
I think my husband should become my writing partner, he knows how to stretch out a story, if you know what I mean. He is an expert at making a one minute telling into a fifteen minute story.
I could do the plot and he could add all the details. I do not know why I didn't think of it before.

The local library had a writer's event on Tuesday. I attended a portion of it.
In a way it was a little bit disheartening. They are all published, some with many books, but have little sales. Most of the ones I got to listen to were either self published or used Print on Demand.

They kept saying how you have to keep up with the marketing. If not, you end up with a lot of money put out and a lot of books sitting in boxes in your garage.
Of course, I already knew this.

From listening to a few of them, it seems like POD is better and cheaper than self publishing.

I am still trying  to get a regular publisher. But, some day may have to go on the self publishing or POD route.

I am getting manuscripts polished to enter into the WVWriter's Contest. And in addition to my children's stories I would like to some day publish a cook book. One that includes stories along with the recipes. And, maybe a recipe/craft/article book for kids, incorporating some of the articles,  recipes, crafts etc. from my Two-Lane Livin' children's columns.

I have a lot of pots on the stove. All of them unfinished at the time and not ready to put on the table.

But I am working at it and that is one reason I do not blog as much as I would  like. I am constantly trying to get one of my 'pots' finished and out the door.

Do you sometimes feel you have too many pots on your stove, too?

I am From . . .

Sherri over at Sherri Tales had a blog post about 'I am from' poems.
I liked it so much that I wrote one, and I plan to write more.

Now, first of all, I am not a poet. I like to write poems and have written many, but most of mine are rhyming poems, which seem to be out of favor now a days. I wrote this poem yesterday and took it to our writer's group meeting last night. We have two members who are very good poets. Max, one of the poets, told me this was a "keeper." This meant a lot to me coming from someone who is very good at writing poetry.

I Am From Appalachia
by Janet F. Smart

I am from Appalachia,
from hills and hollows
and Grandma's front porch
with quilt covered gliders
cotton soft and squeaky.

I am from dirt roads
rutted from cars
that rumble past and
leave billowing clouds of dust
to scatter in the breeze.

I am from summer vegetable gardens
plowed in early spring
with Uncle Romey's horses,
whose long manes and straight rows
flow behind them.

I am from thorny blackberry patches
spread over hillsides
and gnarled grapevines hanging from trees
waiting for eager young hands
to grab hold and swing.

I am from close knit families
living in houses built by
strong hands and loving hearts
and cousins playing in yards perfumed
with the scent of roses and lilac bushes.

I am from time gone by
when fireflies dotted
dark country skies and
families left their doors open
for a visit from a night breeze.

I am from Appalachia
and I dwell in the shadows
of the rugged hills
where I walk in footsteps
left by my ancestors.

Well, that's it.

I've come to a decision as to what I am going to do in the near future.
I am going to continue writing my column for Two - Lane Livin' magazine (I love doing this) and I am going to send out my picture books to publishers. While I am waiting for an answer from the publishers, I am going to work on writing our family history. I think I will write these type of poems about different aspects of my family and include them in the family history manuscript.

Writing my family history is one of the things that got me started writing. I have learned a lot in the past two years and I want to continue where I left off.

Two Lane Livin'

If you have not yet noticed, I've got a link to a regional monthly magazine called Two Lane Livin' on the side bar. It is available in print and online.

The magazine, which just celebrated their 2nd anniversary, has a 16 county coverage region.
It is a free magazine if picked up at one of their 500 distribution locations, or can be subscribed to for $29 a year. They currently print and distribute 15,000 copies.

Starting with the October issue I will have a children's column in the magazine! It will be called Fun Facts for Kids.

I am very excited! It does not pay, but I feel this will be a great experience for me and help me in my pursuit of becoming a published children's writer. I will have to come up with ideas and meet a deadline every month.

Wish me luck!

Go to the site and look around, it is a very good local magazine.

For those of you who live in WV, go here for the distribution locations throughout the state.