Cookiepocalypse

10
Dec
2019

Romance Writer’s Weekly: Cookiepocalypse Now!

Hi! You might be arriving from Leslie’s place, or you just jumped in from Romance Writer’s Weekly and I’m your first stop. Welcome to my kitchen. Pull up a chair, because it’s that time again! December, when Liz loses her mind and bakes all the things.  If you’ve been with me a while, you know this is called Cookiepocalypse. If you follow me on Instagram, you get the pictures as I bake.

Now, I finished Blood Bound (my BDSM Vampire novel) Sunday night, so I have time to bake this year. But let’s get real. It’s Christmas time — even if I hadn’t finished the book, I’d be baking!

This is what’s on the Cookiepocalypse list this year:

  • Three Color Cookies
  • Molasses cookies
  • Chocolate Chip cookies
  • Espresso Mocha Chip cookies
  • Carob Chip cookies
  • Peanut Butter Oatmeal
  • Thimble Cookies
  • Some flavor of biscotti
  • Coconut Macaroons
  • Cream Cheese cookies (new this year)

If you’ve known me for a while, then you know I’ve been doing WW since they were Weight Watchers. So, no, I’m not going to be eating all of these. (Some. Not all). Most of these will be given away as teacher gifts, or sent to the office with the Darling Editor (that’s my husband). But that first one on the list? Yeah, most of that is staying home. Because even if I didn’t make any other cookie, I HAVE to make Three Color cookies. It’s not Christmas without them!

These cookies are traditional Italian cookies, and you’ll see them sometimes marketed as Rainbow Cookies (or as Traffic Light cookies.) I make them from scratch, using my mother’s recipe with the only variation being that I make them gluten-free. I usually make them first, because it’s a two day process.

First, you have to make the layers. Make the batter (it’s basically an almond sponge). Separate into three batches and color them (red, yellow and green — I use gel food coloring). Bake them off — until done, my recipe card says. Like I said. Traditional recipe. Done is about half an hour, usually. Once they’re cool, you slather with jelly (traditional is apricot. I use strawberry,) sandwich and squish! The green layer goes on the bottom. Always. No exceptions. Then yellow, and the red layer on top.

Why?

It tastes funny of you do it any other way. Really. It does!

Squishing takes all night, so on day TWO, you take your sandwich out and melt your chocolate. Usually, these have a dark chocolate coating. However, both of the men in my life (Darling Editor and When-did-he-get-that-tall?) are allergic to chocolate. I’m using a white baking chip that has no cocoa butter. (Yes, I know. Palm oil is evil. So are allergic reactions.)

On day two, you take your squished sandwiches and unwrap them, then coat them in melted chocolate. Once they’re coated, you cut them into small squares.

See? Green on the bottom. Perfect! It can be Christmas now.

From here, it looks like you’re heading on to Brenda Magriet’s place. I’m not sure what she’s baking up, but she does have a hot sale right now! Her book Allegro Court is on sale for 99 cents!

Posted by EASchechter in Cookiepocalypse, 0 comments
02
Dec
2019

Works in Progress, Week Sixteen. Blood Bound and Bones of Earth

Blood Bound
Flesh and Blood, Book 1

73701 / 95000 (77.58%)

***

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

47348 / 95000 (49.84%)
Here we are in December. You all know what that means!
COOKIEPOCALYPSE IS COMING!!!!
Cookiepocalypse 2019 will be starting next Sunday with the beginning of three color cookies.  Now, you notice (at least, you notice if you were with me the past two years)  that I’m starting Cookiepocalypse before finishing my Fall book.
Yup. Living dangerously this year. I have until December 14th to finish cookies, and until December 19th to finish Blood Bound. Bones of Earth has no set deadline. It’s done when it’s done, so long as I get my chapters up on Patreon each week.  Blood Bound has slightly more than three and a half chapters left, and one of those is almost entirely written in my head. That equates to just under 12K words.  I can do that. Bones of Earth, on the other hand, is set until after the turn of the year. So I can focus on Blood Bound and bring that book home. Even while baking.
It helps that Blood Bound is still amusing me. Daniel and Hiro are just so much fun to write.  I mean, I do enjoy all of my characters, but these two are just so good!  They come up with some great scenes.
***
Daniel laughed and hung up, then took his cup of coffee out into the living room. “Hiro!” he called. “Clara is here early! She’s on her way up.”
Hiro appeared in the bedroom door. “Is she?” he asked, coming out into the living room. He was mostly dressed in a gray suit, but he had his coat thrown over his arm, and a tie was dangling from one hand. He held it up. “Do you know how to tie this, Daniel?”
“A tie?” Daniel asked. He nodded. “Yeah, I can do that. Need help?”
Hiro laid his coat on the back of the couch and handed the tie to Daniel. “If you would?” he asked.
Daniel smiled and ran the silk through his fingers. He moved over to the couch and perched on the arm, then gestured Hiro closer. Hiro came to stand in front of Daniel, and Daniel draped the tie over his own shoulder before reaching up to fasten the topmost button of Hiro’s shirt. “Do you want fancy, or functional?”
“Functional will do,” Hiro answered. “I will have you show fancy to me later.”
“Sure,” Daniel said as he raised Hiro’s collar and picked up the tie. It was dark blue, with a pattern in silver that made Daniel think of fancy marble tiles. He slid the tie around Hiro’s neck and positioned it, hearing a soft chime. A moment later, Clara’s voice rang out.
“Good morning! I brought bagels and babka. And I brought hot chocolate, Hiro.”
“Just a minute, Clara,” Daniel called back. He checked the lengths of the ends of the tie, then started working, wrapping and tucking, then wrapping and tucking again, winding the silk around itself, then up and tugging the end down through a loop to form a perfect knot. He adjusted it, then smoothed Hiro’s collar. “There you are. All put together.”
Hiro smiled. “You did that well,” he said. “What is it?”
“Full Windsor.”
Hiro nodded. “And what would have the fancy been?”
“Either an Eldredge or a Trinity. I like them both. But they’re better with a solid tie. For a pattern like this, a Full Windsor is better. Or a Victoria.” Daniel grinned at the look on Hiro’s face. “I checked a book out of the library. All sorts of fancy knots for ties. I picked it up when I thought I’d be going in to the prep school. Thought it would be useful.”
“It is extremely useful,” Hiro agreed. His smile softened, and he raised his hands to rest on either side of Daniel’s neck. “I repeat. The rest of the vampires in New York are blind. And I am very lucky.”
“I think I’m the lucky one,” Daniel replied. He reached out and tugged on Hiro’s tie. “I’m going to enjoy taking care of you.”
Hiro leaned down and kissed him, and time seemed to stop. Daniel slid his hands down Hiro’s chest, letting them come to rest on his waist for a moment before hooking his fingers into the belt loops on Hiro’s pants and tugging him closer.
“I have an idea for tomorrow,” he murmured when Hiro let him breathe again.
“You’re thinking,” Hiro grumbled. “I’m doing something wrong.”
“Well, I have clothes on,” Daniel pointed out. “That’s an automatic penalty on the kicker.”
***
That last line made me giggle when I wrote it. (and yes, hot chocolate for Hiro. It’s explained in the story. You have to read it.)
Now, I am still enjoying writing Bones of Earth, too. But those characters are more comfortable.  I can’t share anything about them at the moment. Too many spoilers. Sorry.
And that’s pretty much all. I’m going to be making as many words as I can this week, so that I can make cookies next week.
Posted by EASchechter in 2019 plans, accountability, BDSM Vampires, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Blood Bound, Bones of Earth, Cookiepocalypse, Flesh and Blood, Heir to the Firstborn, progress, Ta-da, the-end-is-near, to-dos, WIP, wordcount, Write Faster!, 0 comments
18
Nov
2019

Works in Progress: Week Fourteen: Blood Bound and Bones of Earth

Blood Bound
Flesh and Blood, Book 1

67613 / 95000 (71.17%)

***

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

44650 / 95000 (47.00%)

Little bit of a slow working week this past week. The Teach in was Tuesday, and I spent most of Monday prepping for it, and most of Wednesday recovering! My day at school started at 8:30, and ran until 4:45!  I spoke to five periods of ELA (6th through 8th grades) and one period of Creative Writing, and it’s a good thing that I brought my new presentation AND last year’s presentation. The Creative Writing Class was mostly kids I’d seen earlier in the day in their respective ELA classes! So I had something else on hand to give to them. (They had Anatomy of a Novel earlier in the day, and Life of a Romance Writer for Creative Writing.) However, they DEMANDED that we do something from the earlier presentation to finish off.

See… I created a Madlib for them as a fun closing — we wrote a book blurb using Madlibs. The best inciting incident? The MC lost his earlobes! It was so much fun that every class wanted to do it twice (no), and the Creative Writing class wanted to do it again because they’d all done it earlier. We had time, so I pulled it up. And then, since they’re all doing Nanowrimo and we had more time, so we did a writing sprint! After that class, I had a few minutes of quiet before I went and helped my son’s Origami club (it made no sense to go home, then come back to pick him up.)

Also last week I had another pass on Hidden Things. They liked the premise… but they passed on the series. Back to square one, and I need to decide if I want to go the query-go-round again or just self-publish. Whichever way I go, it’ll be in 2020.

I really do need to kick my production in to overdrive — Cookiepocalypse is coming, and I need to have Blood Bound finished before I start baking. It’s hard to believe that it’s already almost the end of the year (and it got cold this weekend! In Florida! It’s too early to be in the 50s in Florida!)

Everyone up north is laughing at me. Don’t think I can’t hear you!

Thanksgiving is next week, and I’ll be prepping for that. Then I have to start thinking book wrap up and holidays and baking and school’s out!

Busy writer is BUSY!

So let me go get busy. Catch you next week!

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2019 plans, 2020 plans, accountability, baking, BDSM Vampires, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Blood Bound, Bones of Earth, Cookiepocalypse, Eek!, Flesh and Blood, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, public displays of geekery, publishing, Self-publishing, Swords of Charlemagne, Teach-in, the-end-is-near, to-dos, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, Write Faster!, 0 comments
10
Dec
2018

Cookiepocalypse 2018, day 1

Starting off the annual cookie onslaught with the complicated ones — three color cookies. If you’ve been around me for a while, you know i make these every year. That’s because three color cookies are love.

Ready for the oven. Which means that I have about 20 minutes to wash up. That’s because I am currently without a dishwasher. We’re waiting for a part to come in.

This afternoon, there will be carob chip cookies. See you later!

Posted by EASchechter in baking, Cookiepocalypse, 0 comments
02
Dec
2018

Wrapping the Year

I’m now officially finished  for the rest of 2018.  Ashes and Light went off to the publisher two weeks ago, and I wrapped Written in Water this past Friday. Patreon posts are scheduled out to the end of January, and for the rest of this calendar year, my major work will be prepping to start writing once the Winter Break is over. Item one on the list? I need to finish writing the synopsis for Forged in Fire (Heir to the Firstborn book 2), so that I can get that going. If I start writing the day my son goes back to school, I’ll have two weeks before I run out of Written in Water. 

I’m also going to be printing off a copy of Written in Water so I can start my self-editing, and then hand it off to another editor for a read through and polish. I’m hoping to have the ebook ready to go by the time the story runs out on Patreon, but that might just be a bit too optimistic. Perhaps for Valentines Day? We’ll see.

Cookiepocalypse will be starting soon… as soon as I have a functional dishwasher again. The door latch broke, so we’re waiting for a part to come in so that it can be repaired. I don’t want to have to handwash beater blades by hand if I can help it. Spoiled by modern technology, that’s me.

Finally, here’s wishing everyone in the audio radiance a Happy Hanukkah.

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2018 plans, Adavar, Ashes and Light, baking, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Cookiepocalypse, Elemental Project, Forged in Fire, Heir to the Firstborn, Patreon, Planning, Written in Water, 0 comments
25
Nov
2018

Cookiepocalypse is nigh!!!

Well, it won’t happen this week. I have too much to do this week. But Cookiepocalypse 2018 is coming!

Now, if you’re asking yourself what the heck I am talking about, welcome to the funhouse. You must be new since last December. Allow me to explain.

Cookiepocalypse is what I call my annual holiday baking. I regularly make enough cookies to feel a small army. A good number of them are given away, but for the past couple of years, I have been recording my culinary feats of derring-do under the tag Cookiepocalypse.

This year, the expected goodie list included:

  • Chocolate chip cookies
  • Carob chip cookies (because we have chocolate allergies in the house — the chocolate ones are for gifting)
  • Molasses cookies
  • Italian three-color cookies (a two day process. WORTH IT!!!!)
  • Biscotti (what kind depends on my mood when I go to the pantry. I’m thinking gingerbread this year. Or maybe maple walnut. Or both. Could be both.)
  • Thimble cookies (a shortbread base with some kind of jam in the center.)
  • Almond macaroons (a new recipe for me)
  • Mince cookies

And there might be some kind of surprise cookie thrown in, just because I catch a wild hare on baking day. Oh, and there will be struffuli on Christmas Eve. Because there has to be.

I will still be writing in and around this. Written in Water proceeds apace, and looks to be done sometime in the next six to eight thousand words — call it two to three chapters.  Then I need to do edits and prep the book to go live once the last chapter runs on Patreon, and get the ideas I have for Forged in Fire down on paper.

And in January I start Table of Stone, which will be the last book in Swords of Charlemagne.

And, in other news, I get to go back to the gym this week! I have to go in to the doctor on Friday for more xrays, to see how the toe is healing. At this rate, we won’t need lights on our Christmas tree — I’ll be glowing by the end of the month.

See you all next week!

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2018 plans, 2019 plans, Adavar, baking, Cookiepocalypse, Elemental Project, forthcoming works, Gluten-free, Heir to the Firstborn, Planning, Swords of Charlemagne, Table of Stone, the-end-is-near, Written in Water, 0 comments