Month: March 2018

Week 12 prompt: My contest experience: Win, Lose, Get Signed 

Week 13 prompt: What I learned while researching my book. 

NB: I’m combining these two prompts as I really didn’t have enough contest experience to write a full entry for week 12. 

First up, my contest experience. Back before the rise of indie publishing, unpublished writing contests could sometimes be an effective way to get an agent or an editor to look at your work. I only ever entered a few back then, mostly because I never finished a book until 2013 (long after indie publishing became a viable option). I have a vague memory of getting an honorable mention for a merman story but that’s it. Since I indie published, I never really entered any other unpublished contests. I did enter my eligible books for the Romance Writers of America Rita award in 2016 but I didn’t make it to the second round. And that’s about it for my contest experience, sadly.

As for what I learned while researching my book(s), I learn something new every single day. For example, this morning I spent a ridiculous amount of time on Google Maps trying to figure out where to locate a fictional island off the coast of Scotland. Yesterday, I learned about the path to veterinary school in the United States. When writing a contemporary, I tend not to research a great deal before I start a book but will research necessary information as I go along.

When I wrote my dual timeline narrative in The Lost Art of Second Chances, I did an enormous amount of research for Belladonna’s story, including pre-World War II Italy, Italy during WWII, the Monuments Men, and Boston in the 1950s and 60s. I chronicled some of this research in prior blog posts that you may find here:

The Lost Art of Second Chances Soundtrack

Meet Frank from The Lost Art of Second Chances

Visiting Massachusetts

World War II in Italy

Revere Beach

Meet Me Under the Clock

Week 11 Prompt: If I never had to do this one task again…

A domestic goddess I am not. I’d much rather curl up with a book and read or with my keyboard and write than do any household chore. I’m not a fan of cleaning or laundry or cooking. If I were a bazillionaire like some of my heroes, I’d have legions of staff to handle all that for me.

Since I don’t have a legion of staff and the woodland animals around here seem totally uninterested in helping out (thanks for that disappointed expectation, Disney!), I’m more or less stuck keeping Chez Hunt from squalor and ruin (with a bit of an assist from Fox and the Pilot). I will say that listening to audiobooks and podcasts made my new Whole 30 hobby of loading and emptying the dishwasher thirty million times a day that much more fun.

But, if I had to pick a chore that I’d prefer never to do again, I’d pick my biggest nemesis: grocery shopping. I’ve just never liked it. I can never find half of the items on my list and, at least around here, most of the grocery stores are quite crowded most of the time. I’ve been hit with a shopping cart more times than I can count while debating the ripeness of avocados in Wegmans. If my husband goes to the store, our pantry looks like a junk food apocalypse.

So, guess what? I found the solution. I don’t have to do it any longer! I use Instacart. It’s $150 per year service and they bring the groceries right to your front door. They’ll even do the Costco run for you. Just place an order online or in their app, set a delivery time within the next week, and, like magic, the groceries arrive.

I’ve noticed that we’re tending to eat healthier because we no longer have junk food impulse purchases. I also am doing much better at meal planning. Plus, since I don’t have to grocery shop, I’m much more willing to cook.

If you want to give it a try and get $10 off your first order, my affiliate code is: CHUNT2B412F

Just click here and give it a go! Let me know what you think!

This week’s prompt was a tough one. I was stuck for ages. Finally, after reviewing some family stories with my husband and my sister, I narrowed it down to this one for the prompt: “Things only my family would understand.”

When I was growing up, three of my mother’s five sisters lived in the DC area. My Aunt Pam had three kids close in age to me and our parents often traded babysitting time. Once, when I was about 6, I attended a sleepover at my aunt’s house.

The next morning, she asked me how I liked my eggs. I answered, “In a bowl.” She blinked but rallied, “Okay, but how do you want them cooked.” Once again, I said, “in a bowl.” We went through this multiple times and I remember her saying, “You can have it in any bowl in the house. How do you want me to cook the egg?”

Finally, desperate, she handed me scrambled eggs in a cereal bowl. These were not the eggs in a bowl my mother prepared but they were tasty anyway.

When my mom arrived to pick me up, Pam was like “What on earth is an egg in a bowl?”

My mother explained that “egg in a bowl” means a soft-boiled egg.

How about you? Does your family have any special names for food?

Today’s prompt: What would I invent if I were stuck on an island?

I am not an outdoors-y person. I like my outdoors nicely screened off and preferably at a considerable distance. When I go to the beach, I take residence in my beach chair under a nice shady umbrella and read.

So, let’s be real here, in the zombie apocalypse, I’m going first. The only thing I can think of to invent on an island is a nice raft to get me off it. How about you?