You are not what you do. You are not a failure if you fail. You are not a success if you succeed. You are a success if you live, if you love, if you bless.
Love,
the scribbler
Category Archives: Journal
Tea and Crumpets: Have a Ficlet
THE TEA
Base:
Fill an oversized mug halfway full of favorite milk. Boil enough water to top it off. Stir the two together in the mug until the base is piping hot, but not near to boiling.
Brew:
Add two tea bags of Maté Factor's Dark Roast. Allow to steep for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove tea bags before drinking.
THE CRUMPETS
Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to a small bowl. Stir in 1 – 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil until all powder is thoroughly dissolved and the mixture is a dark, rich brown. Spread over favorite bread and toast as usual. Cut in small triangles before serving.
THE FICLET
Story Title: The Way to a Girl's Heart
Fandom: X-Men Movieverse
Summary: St. John Allerdyce discovers the way to his girl's heart quite by accident. A kyro ficlet.
Kitty eyed the spread suspiciously.
"Goodness, Kitty. I can cook!" St. John Allerdyce glared at his girlfriend as he brought his teapot over to the table.
She sniffed at him. She did. The girl who could down their enemies with a single taste of her infamous blueberry muffins. The girl who scared off bad guys with her special, cannot-ever-cook superpowers and kindly-intentioned sense of hospitality.
He shook his head and scowled, but he did not allow himself to be distracted from his role as proper host. St. John had learned to cook from an overworked hotel maid he'd met on arrival in America who didn't mind feeding him if he kept the house clean and maintained. It was sheer survival. She taught him her entire repertoire (ten dishes and three beverages) and each only once. If he didn't get it, he didn't eat and that was that.
"Tea." He poured into the perfect little teacup on its perfect little saucer that Storm had generously allowed him to use. Kitty could eat safely enough. It was a warm, rich brew: his favorite chicory blend with a pinch of ginger, a dash of cinnamon, and a hefty dose of rooibos he'd bought fresh at a local market, all of it steeped in milk.
Finally, Kitty showed a little appreciationg. "This looks good," she admitted.
"It should," he replied and filled her plate with a selection of different crumpets: a tiny cinnamon apple sandwich, strawberries spread on rye, a ginger snap, and three of her favorite shortbreads.
"Did you make these all yourself?" she asked, still half-cautious to go with her half-salivating.
He nodded, sat, and helped himself, but his attention was fixed on her taste-testing each item with a tiny nibble. Her eyebrows swung upward. "This is really good." She took a tiny sip of the tea and those eyebrows went even higher. "Where'd you learn to make this?"
St. John chuckled at her then.
Kitty went on enjoying the repast, stealing little looks at him out of the corner of her eye while he pretended not to notice. He may have been romantic enough to make and serve her an evening meal, but he wasn't yet to the point where he wanted to spill his heart to her or commit himself more than necessary.
Nevertheless, he nearly spilled his tea when a he felt a small hand make its way into his under the table then hold on tightly. He opened his mouth to say something, stared at Kitty, who was doing an admirable job of pretending there was nothing more interesting in the world than her teacup and the Monét painting on the wall above the table, then closed his mouth again.
He glanced down at his own plate, then back at Kitty. She caught his look from the corner of her eye, smiled shyly, then focused back in on her cup.
Without saying a word, St. John Allerdyce ran his thumb over the back of her hand and squeezed back.
#
Posted in Fandom, Journal
Tagged fandom: x-men movieverse, favorite things, recipe, tea time
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Theme in Fiction: How do you take it?
My characters are beverage drinkers. From Clark Gabrin with his "fine decantation of valuable stimulants and nutrients" designed to taste like an Earl Grey to the national Vardin beverage, sluscheta; to Shelley Huntington's addiction to all things coffee, tea and coffee seems to show up all over in my fiction.
Myself, I am a bit of a tea connoisseur. The family cupboard has always been stuffed to the brim with assorted teas, mostly supplemental or Celestial Seasonings, and my father's pantry contained even more exotic varieties, including coffee alternatives, such as Roma and Pero. When I opened up shop in my own pantry, I included hefty doses of tea for both healing and flavor. An introduction to a local tea room owner led me to fall in love with rooibos as well. So, when my characters began showing personality through their choice of beverage, not only did it not really take me by surprise, but it made for a delightful round table of who likes what and what that says about them.
Posted in Fiction, Journal
Tagged aliette de bodard, favorite things, lithiumlaughter, mca hogarth, Snippet, storyworld: alliance, storyworld: vardin, tea time
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Fires, Weird Updates, Etc.
You might have noticed I'm a Colorado gal; you might not have. If you're a praying body, please pray for me and my family. We're all in cities under extreme fire danger right now, and my sister wasn't even sure if she could safely go to work this morning.
Additionally, if you've seen weird updates appearing, I have a lot of linked accounts and couldn't figure out how to unlink them while I was overhauling my website, so I haven't caught everything to delete it.
Won't be making any new updates for a few days. Blessings, everybody. Hope you're well.
Defining the Creative Life
The act of creation is, ultimately, a personal thing. We may sweat and labor and share with others the experience borne out within ourselves, or we may share the final creation that others might enjoy the fruit of our labors, but in fine, we must ourselves first create and experience beforehand.
There was a tipping point (there usually is, you know), last week, when I realized that creation neither occurs in a vacuum nor on display, that the act itself is intimate and private because it occurs in the places and spaces within my own mind. The act of creation is so far removed from the act of sharing that creation that I should never have conflated the two.
Sunday memery while I procrastinate on writing whipsy's story.
Oops! I said it out loud. Ah, well. These are from arliddian. Comment if you want your own.
1. What is your favourite sweet treat?
Cheesecake. Bar none. With kiwis on top.
2. There's a fire in your house! What are the first five things you try to rescue?
My family. My writings. My PDA and backup hard drive. Oh, and underwear/change of clothes.
3. A time machine is malfunctioning and is going to deposit you in the past, with no way to return to your own time! You have just enough seconds to set the time period of your choice. Which would you choose and why?
Five years ago. I'd get back to where I am a whole lot faster and be able to finally have two of me. Answer to prayers, y'all.
4. What is your favourite thing to do in summer?
Write. What else?
5. What kind of music do you listen to when you need inspiration?
Celtic. Christian contemporary, mostly pop and acoustic, none of this rock and roll stuff they're calling CCM anymore. More celtic.
6. What are your top five tips about writing original fiction?
Focus on stories. Forget the writing; the writing will take care of itself. Focus on what inspires you. Read. Live through your character's eyes. Know what makes people tick. Know the stories you love and how to get from point a to point b with as many complications as you can throw on there. It's about stories, people.
Fuel selectively. If you fall in love with something (I'm looking at you angsty ships!), it will come out in your stories. Pay attention to the things that unleash your inner fangirl. Fangirl your own fiction. Make it yours. Explain it. Juggle it around until you're satisfied. Love AU (hereby go to original) but make their lousy, crazy canon nonlogic into real logic without changing anything from canon at all—if you can. Learn how to feed your own muse.
Never assume anything. Know your characters, the rules of your world, and a handful of outside factors to fling at them. The rest will be unpredictable—even to you, but inevitable.
Know the difference between voice and tone. Your voice is your writing. Your tone is your story. And for goodness sake, don't read out of tone when you're working. Keep the reading and the writing separate if you're tone-hopping.
No matter what you do in writing, what choice you make, it's fine. As long as you do it consistently.
7. How much do you think you have changed in the past two years?
Goodness. Much. And nothing. Some days, I know. Some days, I don't. I try to stay in the present, know what I want to change and where I'm heading. I'm not a journey person. It's about the destination, and that's where my eyes are fixed.
Random Updateyness...
I am now the proud possessor of Insurgent. Will give reading report next week.
They'll know next week if Awake is cancelled or renewed. Leonard Chang answered me himself. :crosses fingers:
I highly recommend Shattered and M.C.A. Hogarth for some excellent short stories.
I have three Tumblr blogs now. Well, four, but that one's private. Worldbuilding and personal, fandom, and Vardin. I'm officially nuts.
I've got another fic for my Safe reading list, but nothing for the original novels. :headdesk: Will post reading lists soon.
Speaking of which, I'm not reading Insurgent this week.
:headdesk:
Posted in Journal
Tagged leonard chang, mca hogarth, rabia gale, reading, recommended, veronica roth
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Check-In: Where have I been and why have I been there?
So.
Y'all might have noticed that with the exception of the Insurgent countdown, I've been pretty much absent without leave. But as always, there are reasons, and I'm going to cover them in brief before resuming a semi-regular posting schedule.
Posted in Journal, Writing
Tagged music, plans, rabia gale, robin cornett
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Reading This Week
1. Spots the Space Marine by M.C.A. Hogarth
I've held off on talking about the amazing fiction I've been sucked into and reading like my life depended on it, simply because I seem to suck royally at motivating myself to do so. Well, this one broke that block.
I have loved her tragic, but transcendent The Worth of a Shell; I have adored her stories about Jahir and Vasih'th, the xenopsychiatrists; I have faithfully slurped up every possible smidgen of Black Blossom she could throw at me: it's like Emma with male aliens instead of female humans. It's a fantasy of manners, and I want her to write a zillion more. And then there's Spots.
I tried this book as an e-book first. Could. not. get into it. My paperback came from when I backed it on Kickstarter, and I pushed through the first four chapters and that was it. Hooked. The narrative zings along and you cannot put the book down without grumbling terribly at the requirement of doing so.
A 32-year-old mother is called up from the reserves and sent to supposedly in-the-middle-of-nowhere depot, which just happens to turn out to be practically on top of a crab breeding facility. I don't know even how to describe this book. This is a family, a Marine family, in space fighting crab-like aliens that look eerily like their allies, the violinists. It's a roller coaster, but it doesn't feel like one; it's that smooth and well-put-together.
2. The art business book by M.C.A. Hogarth
The woman's earning a living doing what I want to be doing. Enough said. Please consider funding this book through IndieGoGo.
Tris and the Insurgent Character Arc
So...
I've read where Veronica Roth says that by the end of Insurgent, Tris will not be the same girl she was at the end of Divergent. I think this is necessary, and Roth has never shirked from necessary choices. Tris can't be the same. At the end of Divergent, she had discovered her own strength and yet, she had also found her own invincibility. Her choices have been clear. Yes, she killed Will. Yes, she did not forgive Al. Yes, she let her mother die. Why? Because she could see that these choices were necessary, whether or not she could articulate the reasons.
But this is war. In Insurgent, we are promised that faction lines will cease to be the defining factor of good and evil, that those who seem good or evil will turn out to be otherwise, that reality will screw them all over as reality is wont to do, and this is something Roth has never flinched away from. I expect the Tris at the end of Insurgent to be different: she won't be a girl, but a woman. She won't be an optimist, but a realist. She won't be invincible, but she sure as anything won't be vulnerable.
Actually, I'm quite looking forward to it.
Posted in Fandom, Journal
Tagged fandom: divergent trilogy, reading, veronica roth
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