Thanksgiving recipes!

I always try to cook something for Thanksgiving. We always go to family’s on the day of, and I like to contribute, even if its only a dessert.

This year, what with a new baby (who insists on being held at all times), I’m limiting myself to just a pie. What pie, do you ask? Why, my sister in law’s decadent chocolate mousse pie!

I had a hard time finding this recipe–apparently mousse is usually made with whipped egg whites, not heavy cream. But I wanted the heavy stuff. Plus it’s really easy to make.

Then hubby came home from the store saying they were out of pre made Oreo pie crusts. HORRORS! Wait, can you make those from scratch?

Yes you can!

So, if the store is still out, I can make my own delicious chocolate cookie crust. I’d rather just buy it–new baby and all–but desperate times and desperate measures. 🙂

Storm Chase goes live!

Storm Chase is finally live! This is the obligatory “OMG I SELF PUBLISHED A BOOK” post, so feel free to skip if you like.

Buy now on Amazon for .99!

Carda is the Strider of Chronos. But figuring out what that means may cost him his life.

Struggling through high school in Phoenix, Arizona was hard enough, but now Carda’s hands are burning with magical fire and lightning. Worse, they affect time and space. Now all kinds of people want Carda dead, from a killer angel to the head of the extra-world Council.

Fortunately he has allies—his twin sister Michelle manipulates gravity with dance. His rival Indal is secretly a time mage—until Carda accidentally turns him into a werewolf. There’s Ben, a black time-traveling lizard. And Xironi, a gorgeous catgirl with a growing crush on Carda.

Together they face the most horrifying enemy of all—an inept mage with far too much power. This power unleashes a chaotic subspace storm that consumes worlds—and Earth is next on the menu.

Young Adult fantasy, 12+

It’s still a work in progress. I’ve got it sent out to a bunch of beta readers, and I’ll do an update on the book once they weigh back in. Self publishing is just a fancy way of saying “putting it online with a price tag attached”. So the writing had better be darned good. Fortunately Amazon lets you tweak the file as much as you like.

That said, it’s sure a relief to have this book out there. I feel like the way is clear for me to work on books 2 and 3.

Newest addition to the Carroll Clan!

A thankful post

It’s November and I haven’t done any Thankful posts! Usually I’d try to do a few leading up to Thanksgiving, but I forgot this year. Without further ado, I’m thankful for:

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My wonderful hard working husband. He’s so sweet and kind, and I’m so blessed to have him.

My crazy, goofy kids.

For my son, and his enthusiasm for Pokemon. We’re all on a Pokemon craze right now. We were walking through the grocery store yesterday, having an in depth discussion about battle strategy, and I wondered if passersby thought we were totally nerds. 🙂

For my oldest daughter and her whimsy. She floats in a world of mermaids, dragons and magic, and I’m constantly amazed at her imagination.

For my youngest daughter and her cheerful nature. She’s always a little spot of sunshine. She does need a playmate, since she gets left out of playing with the other two. This new baby is coming along at just the right time.

For my boring, uneventful pregnancy. Boring is good! Hoping for a boring, uneventful labor, too.

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For my loving parents, who give me emotional support when I need it.

For all my siblings, who I don’t think I’ll ever stop missing.

For my gracious parents in law, who are getting a crash course in dealing with a young family.

For God, who answers my prayers and questions so quickly and precisely. His latest encouragement was my favorite verse from Philippians, about forgetting about what lies behind, and straining toward that which lies ahead. 🙂

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What are you thankful for?

The Countdown begins

I’m racing the clock–new baby is due this week or next, and I’m trying to get Storm Chase self published.

You’d think that self publishing would be as simple as dumping the file to Amazon and calling it good. But I’m chewing through layers of revisions, brainstorming cover art (fortunately my brother adores typography), and researching Kindle formatting. All the things a publisher would do.

It’s also like giving birth. A lot of work, but very rewarding.

Storm Chase is that dreaded Book 1, with Book 1-itis. It has to establish the world and characters and magic system and make all of the above interesting to read. I’ve rewritten it from scratch at least eight times, and rewritten large portions after that. I’m to the point where I love it and hate it.

But there comes a point when a writer has to move on, and stop redoing book 1. I’m currently writing book 4, and books 2 and 3 are crying out for revisions.

I regret not having an editor to push the story over the top. But I can’t afford one right now, and I don’t feel it’s as marketable as later books. (This is the only book without a strong romantic subplot.) There’s action and adventure and snark galore, though.

So I’ll give this a shot and see how it goes. I’m not expecting huge sales, and with the baby coming so soon, I won’t be able to market it much. But the book isn’t going away and I can gently market books for years. No Twitter and Facebook spam, though. That’s so annoying.

Wednesday random

It’s November and 78 degrees. Hello, Arizona!

Great way to entertain a two year old: a squirt bottle filled with water. She’s been completely entertained for an hour now and going strong.

I’m down to the last couple of weeks of pregnancy, and boy am I ready to have this kid. I think she’s bored in there, because whenever the other munchkins play really noisily around me, the baby gets excited. Future sports champ, I think.

Everything’s just about set up for the baby. My biggest worry is actually clothes. I got rid of all my baby stuff when we moved, not knowing I was pregnant. I thought I had a bag somewhere that I’d saved, but I guess not. Goodwill always has tons of used clothes, though, and it won’t hurt the munchkin to go around in a diaper and blankets. Babies always stay wrapped up anyway, and its not exactly cold out here!

I’ve been reading about the health benefits of kale. I’m always anemic and it’s high in iron and all that stuff. But I have a mental block about assembling salads out of strange leaves. Then I read about putting it in a smoothie. So today I crammed a foot-long kale leaf, a chopped apple, and lemon juice into my blender. It tasted like grass. Desperate, I threw in a banana, which salvaged the flavor nicely.

And it was so green, the kids wouldn’t touch it. Score! Well, Holly did, but she didn’t exactly demand her own glassful.

So that’s what’s been happening in my corner lately. 🙂