Vegan Summer Fare-Mixed Fruit Pie

By Linda Lovely

Brie Hooker, the heroine of my soon-to-be-released humorous mystery series, is a vegan chef who lives with her Aunt Eva, a cantankerous carnivore, on a goat dairy farm in South Carolina. 

Every other Friday, I hope you'll tune in for a vegan-friendly recipe that I'm convinced would even win a thumbs-up from skeptical Aunt Eva. 

Summer is an ideal time to try adding some vegan dishes to your repertoire, even if you're a die-hard omnivore That's because there are so many delicious fruits and vegetables that make for beautiful entrees and desserts. Here's a recipe for a fruit pie--only nuts and fruits. No eggs or dairy. Everyone I've served this has loved it.

I first found a version of this recipe here: Get Healthy Marshall Texas

Fruit Pie(Vegan)

The “crust”

1 generous cup pitted dates

Heaping 1/3 cup each: Walnuts, cashews, almonds

1 tsp vanilla extract

The Filling

2-3 ripe bananas, sliced lengthwise

1 cup strawberries pureed

Your combination choice of whole/sliced fresh fruits:

Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, mandarin oranges

·       Put all the nuts in the food processor and process till they’re finely chopped, then add dates (I cut them into smaller pieces first) along with vanilla and process to create a sticky goo.

·       Press the crust into a glass pie plate (9-10 inches)

·       For the first filling layer, arrange the bananas slices on the crust and use a fork to smoosh them into a layer.

·       Place sliced strawberries on top of the bananas and pour the pureed strawberries on top.

·       Next arrange all of the whole (or sliced) fruits on the top alternating colors for a pleasing display

·       Cover and refrigerate.

Hints: This is a beautiful (and tasty) summer dessert. The only problem? It doesn’t keep well. Serve this when you expect it to be consumed in one sitting—two at most. I use the roasted cashews rather than raw cashews and I’m generous in measuring my nuts. Too many nuts? Not a possibility. 

My Book Club Improves My Writing--And My Mind

By Linda Lovely

While I’ve always been an avid reader, I didn’t join a book club until after I’d written my first novel. Even then, I joined reluctantly at a local bookstore owner’s urging. I’ve now belonged to he Book Feast Club for several years. I’m absolutely certain my membership has made me a better writer—and maybe even a more rounded individual. And no, I’m not talking about my hips, even though the ladies of Book Feast always combine discussion with dinner.

Our book club has 15 members. Not all were able to make this summer dinner meeting
--and some photos didn't quite turn out so not everyone's pictured on this page. 

Why did I resist joining a book club? My two main reasons are interrelated. The first is time. I didn’t want to spend time reading books someone else picked for me when I didn’t have enough time to read all the novels I really wanted to read. My to-be-read stacks were already teetering with new works from long-time favorites along with manuscripts and novels from new authors I was meeting in organizations like Sisters in Crime and Romance Writers of America. My second reason for reluctance was my impression that book club selections would be dominated by “literary” titles that were presumably good for me but usually depressing and certainly not my mystery/thriller/romantic suspense mainstays.

So what did I discover? This book club’s fiction selections are eclectic. While we all make suggestions and vote, we attempt to balance our annual list with a little of everything--historicals, mystery/thrillers, romance, humor, classics and, yes, thought-provoking literary prize winners.

Do I wind up reading some books I don’t like? Yes, but that’s more than balanced by discovering authors I otherwise might never have read and learning new ways to engage readers (as well as what really turns the readers in Book Feast off). I  should add that our club is not militant. If you don’t like a book, you are not required to slog through to the end just to attend the meeting where it will be discussed. The general rule of thumb is try to read the first fifty pages before you give up.

Of course, I also have to add that I LOVE our members. The wonderful women are just as diverse as our reading selections. Ages range from forties to eighties. Professions (current and former) run the gamut from librarians and professors to nurses, flight attendants, and medical techs. The group includes Southerners and Yankees, liberals and conservatives. Our conversations are always lively—and civil. Politicians could learn a lot from our members.

So why do I say authors should join a book club? Writers tend to spend a lot of time with each other. We talk about point-of-view and plot structure, character arcs and dialogue tags. Do readers know or care about these things? No. It’s interesting and instructional to see what engages readers and what writing flaws they will overlook if the characters are compelling and the storylines keep them hooked. It's just as interesting to see what they can't abide. The club members by and large are a big part of my target audience.

Want to know what the Book Feast has on its calendar for the next 12 months? I’ll include our reading list in my next Once-In-A-While Newsletter. Here’s a link to sign up. Newsletter Sign-Up

Do you belong to a book club? If so, what do you like most about your group?

P.S I love to visit with book clubs—in person if feasible or by Skype or Free Conference Call. Let me know if you’re interested.

A 200-Word Gem—Write It and Cash In

I don’t write short stories. I’d rather write a complete chapter than a 200-word story. My husband will testify that I can’t answer a simple question in less than 200 words.

But I DO appreciate short stories. And, for the last several years, one of my responsibilities as a veteran Writers’ Police Academy (WPA) volunteer has been to line up reader judges for the Golden Donut Short Story contest. Another of my duties is to count the words in each story—to make certain they contain EXACTLY 200 words, including the required title.

Here's a man who knows how to make words count! Craig Johnson,
author of the Longmire series, and this year's contest judge.

The exact word count is a unique contest rule that writers (can you believe it) sometimes fail. Hey, how many of us were math majors or big on following a rule book? Nonetheless there are big rewards for short story authors who can tell a riveting tale in exactly 200 words. The winner of this year’s Golden Donut contest not only receives a nifty trophy and lots of recognition—online and at the WPA banquet—but also gets a FREE registration to a 2018 WPA event. And, guess who's the final judge for this year's Golden Donut contest? Craig Johnson, author of the Longmire series. 

It’s been a pleasure to read the Golden Donut entries in past years. They’ve ranged from funny to spine-tingling, melancholy to horrifying. It’s amazing how a single photo can spark such different tales. The rules of the contest are simple. The contest photo absolutely MUST be the main focus of the story, not just a mere mention within the text. Here’s the inspirational photo for the 2017 contest:

And the good news? There’s still time to enter! The deadline for entries is July 2. Plenty of time to pen 200 words. And you don’t have to be registered to attend the 2017 Writers’ Police Academy to enter. The contest is open to all. Here’s the link to all the details: http://www.writerspoliceacademy.com/short-story-contest/

And don’t forget I’ll be COUNTING on you…

Good luck!

Who Are The Scariest Villains?

By Linda Lovely

October conjures up thoughts of Halloween ghosts, goblins, and all things scary. And that has me thinking about the villains that scare me the most. They are villains who have the ability to charm and distort, and they are relentless is pursuing their visions no matter the cost. Here’s what the villains in my published novels and work-in-progress tend to have in common:

Gender—I seem to believe in equal opportunity when it comes to villains. Females are the primary villains in half of my books/manuscripts. Gender may influence how the villains go about achieving their goals, but the evil women and men share many of the same personality traits.

Appearance—Most of my “major” villains tend to be attractive if not downright handsome/beautiful. Their good looks provide a mask for their frightening personalities and evil intentions. I have had some fun with their villainous sidekicks/henchmen, making their outward appearances a tip off to their frightening predilections.

Personality Traits—Whether male or female, my villains share certain personality traits. They are arrogant, greedy, self-centered, determined, smart, and ruthless.

Motives/Goals—I’ve worked hard to ensure my villains all consider themselves heroes/heroines of their own stories. They have reasons for doing what they do. Of course those reasons may not be rationale or socially acceptable but they’re valid in their minds. Their motives include power, money, promoting an idea/ideology, revenge, lust, and love. That last one “love” may prompt them to do unspeakable things to anyone they perceive as harming or posing a threat to their loved ones.   

Chilling Villains from Novels/Movies—

Here are some of the chilling villains who haunted me long after I read the book or saw the movie.

Hannibal Lecter, The Silence of the Lambs

Annie Wilkes, Misery

Dr. Christian Szell, Marathon Man

Eleanor Iselin, The Manchurian Candidate

Noah Cross, Chinatown

Nurse Ratched, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

Norman Bates, Psycho

Practically the entire cast of Gone Girl (That doesn't mean I enjoyed that book. I only finished it because it was a book club pick. I want to have someone to root for.) 

Which villains give

you the biggest chills?

South Carolina Settings—Novel Atmospheres

While I’m not a native Southerner, I’ve called South Carolina home for decades, living in the Lowcountry for 13 years and the Upstate for 15 years. It’s no surprise that I’ve capitalized on these atmosphere-rich regions as settings for two of my published novels. Two of my works in progress also feature these appealing locales. With Neighbors Like These, a third Marley Clark mystery, returns to Dear Island, while my new humorous mystery series is set on a cheese-goat farm near Clemson.

But don’t bother consulting a map to pinpoint where my heroines and heroes hang their hats. There is no Dear Island—the private barrier island terrorized by a pun-loving murderer in Dear Killer. Nor is there a town of Shelby, home to fictional Blue Ridge University, the troubled campus threatened by home-grown terrorists in Dead Hunt. The private island and the college town are inventions. Here’s why.

I write mysteries, suspense and thrillers. Ergo bad things happen. People die. Killers elude authorities. Developers are sometimes greedy. Public officials may lie or cheat. Deputies are occasionally crooked. University administrators may be clueless. Suffice it to say that unsavory, if not downright despicable, antagonists flourish in my novels.

I need a cast of smart, unscrupulous characters to weave my mysteries and challenge my heroines and heroes. What I don’t need is a lawsuit. Also I don’t want to irk residents of a real community. I’m loath to suggest there might be bad apples among the law enforcement officers in an actual county. And I’m not about to poke fun at administrators serving an accredited university. That’s why I’ve given make-believe names to the institutions, companies, towns and counties populated with such characters.

Yet I still try to faithfully capture each region’s beauty and majesty as well as what can become frightening elements if my protagonists are alone, lost, or being pursued by ruthless villains. I hope this balance works.

Using fictional locations with the local region’s flavor also gives me handy latitude. Since my fictional Dear Island is a composite of several barrier islands, I could play with the geographic puzzle pieces—golf courses, canals, marinas, marshland, and beaches—and anchor them anywhere I wished within the island’s confines. That means they’re ideally situated to serve my plot. I did take care, however, to offer readers a variety of touchstones—references to neighboring Beaufort, Hilton Head and Parris Island—to ground them within the Lowcountry.  

In Dead Hunt my imaginary university’s students reside in Leeds County, another invention. Yet I made certain the campus was a comfortable drive from Greenville, Clemson University, and the Jocassee Gorges mountain wilderness, which serves as an enchanting and scary backdrop for my heroine and hero when terrorists are gunning for them in the dead of night.

I love to set my books in places where I can close my eyes and recall exact moments in time. Paddling a kayak in the calm of an ocean inlet and hearing the cries of seagulls and smelling the acrid aroma of the marsh. Hiking a mountain trail and listening to the gurgle of a rushing stream and inhaling the scent of crushed pine needles in the shadowy twilight of the dense forest.

While my place names may be make believe, my South Carolina settings are as real as my most vivid memories allow. 

Maligned Comfort Food & Fond Memories

By Linda Lovely

I consider almost all foods a comfort. I LOVE food—including items from every section of the food pyramid. Broccoli and Brussel sprouts. Turkey and gravy.  Potatoes au gratin. Chocolate chip cookies. Any flavor of ice cream.

But topping my list of comfort foods are two oft-maligned entrees that grace American (well, at least, Midwest) dinner tables—tuna noodle casserole and meatloaf. Both made frequent appearances on our plates when I was growing up.  These foods are tops because they bring back fond memories . (Okay, I liked how they tasted, too. I don’t have a sophisticated palate.)

Let’s begin with tuna noodle casserole. Cost, simplicity, and the ability to reheat leftovers made this a go-to favorite for my working mother. The fond memories come from all the different recipes and ingredients we tried to add variety. As I recall the starter version had canned tuna, egg noodles, frozen peas, mushroom soup, and breadcrumbs. Later iterations featured potato chips, corn flakes, fried onions, green peppers, corn, carrots, onions, pimentos, and cheese.   The winner? A casserole we baked in a bread pan so it resembled a meatloaf (more on that later) and could slice when cold. Cold was my favorite!

I can’t share an actual recipe as I’m not sure we ever wrote one down. But, if I were to make it today (and I might, despite my husband’s avowed aversion to any form of tuna-noodle casserole), I’d cook and drain a package of elbow macaroni, chop and sauté a an onion and a (sweet) red pepper, drain a couple cans of tuna, and stir all the ingredients together in a big bowl. Then I’d make a thick cheese sauce with milk, flour and a combo of Velveeta and shredded cheddar. Mix and pour into a couple of bread pans, top with buttered bread crumbs and bake.  Yum.

Now it’s time to put meatloaf in the spotlight. When I think of meatloaf, I always recall our annual family vacations. Each summer Mom drove us from Keokuk, Iowa, to Spirit Lake, Iowa, where we visited her brother (my uncle) and his family. Mom liked to start out at five a.m. to avoid some of the heat of the day. She always packed meatloaf sandwiches for our “lunch.” I’m not sure if we ever made it past the Keokuk city limits before my sister and I started asking for meatloaf sandwiches—slathered with ketchup, of course.

Mom was convinced that tomato juice and eggs made meatloaf “tough.” So her version was held together with milk and cracker crumbs, kneaded together by hand. She also used a combo of ground beef, pork and veal (it wasn’t that expensive then). I still make meatloaf three or four times a year, though these days the meat tends to be ground turkey, and I use breadcrumbs and tomato juice/sauce, an egg, chopped green peppers, celery, mushrooms & onions, basil and oregano. No recipe. My cooking is like my plotting. Seat of the pants. I also have experimented with meatless vegan versions and when I decide on a winner. I'll publish it when my new humorous mystery is published. It features a vegan chef and her smart-mouthed aunt, a confirmed carnivore, who often trade barbs about their dietary preferences, 

What comfort foods bring back good memories for you? Do you still cook/eat them?

Time to quit writing, I’m suddenly hungry.

Publishing—Who Has Your Back? Fellow Authors

By Linda Lovely

Like it or not, technology has changed publishing forever. There are three tech enablers: digital books/readers, print-on-demand (POD), and social media. This isn’t news—at least to fellow authors. Anyone who wants to publish a book can do so. The gates have come crashing down.

The latest statistics indicate 800 new books are launched EVERY DAY! 

From an author’s perspective, this is both good and bad news. Removal of the gates has provided new opportunities. It has also posed tough challenges. How can anyone find your new book when 799 others debut the same day?

A number of those 800 books are still published by “traditional” for-profit publishers that pay authors advances (sometimes) and royalties (always), and handle production details including editing, formatting, cover design, printing, distribution, sales and help with varying degrees of promotion. Having worked with traditional publishers, I must say they can make an author’s life much easier and allow you to concentrate on what you love—writing. However, unless you’re a star, the responsibility for promotion still falls squarely on your shoulders.

At the other end of the spectrum, independent authors—indies—publish their own books and personally handle (or hire out) production, sales, distribution, and even promotion chores. This means authors must spend hours tackling non-writing chores they may not enjoy, or spend money contracting for services without any assurance their sales will be sufficient to repay the investment. The upside is total control. Authors know they'll like their covers, because they're the only ones who approve them. They can tell stories and create heroes and heroines that don't fit comfortably in any traditional publishing niche. 

These are but a few of the pros and cons of traditional and indie publishing. Perhaps that’s why many authors now take a hybrid approach: traditionally publishing some titles, independently publishing others.

Recently, a third publishing option—the author cooperative—has arisen. It offers advantages of both traditional and independent publishing. That’s why I just joined nineteen other authors as a member of the author coop, Windtree Press, the publisher of my latest novel, LIES: SECRETS CAN KILL. As soon as I have my digital rights back to two books in my Smart Women, Dumb Luck romantic thriller series, Windtree will publish those books as well.

What does a coop offer its authors? I can’t speak for all coops since I’m sure philosophies and services vary. However, here’s why I joined Windtree Press:

• Brand recognition. Our shared website www.windtreepress.com sells all of our books. Since I know and take pride in the quality of my fellow members' books, I'm thrilled to have Windtree Press play a role in my brand.
• My fellow authors have unique talents and knowledge and are willing to share. For example, one member handles podcasts, another managed the website, another takes charge of our newsletter. That helps each of us achieve our goals. 
• We can cross promote our books on social media to gain new readers/fans.
• We can share the cost of resources such as access to new distribution channels or the savings from joint buying power, such as purchasing one hundred ISBN numbers at a time.
• While we’re committed to publishing at least one book each year with the coop, we retain our options to indie or traditionally publish titles when those options make sense. We lose no control. 

I’ve just begun this venture, but I have high hopes. Let me know what you think of the concept.