That about covers it 😛
Wait….there’s no meat in it? On being the token Yank: Christmas Edition
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So I’m an American living in Singapore. Have been for the past year and a half-ish.
I haven’t encountered many Americans while living the expat life; plenty of Brits and Aussies though. So my husband and I actually hang out with a lot of English people, which is pretty awesome. Since we’re living in a foreign Asian country, that makes us all relatively similar. Kind of weird, right? And since we’ve been friends for quite a while now, a lot of the usual random questions we’ve had about each others’ countries have been covered. (One of their questions: do you really have yellow school buses? One of our questions: how do you have so many accents on such a small island?) We’ve gone through the usual vocabulary differences and I’ve added some surprising words to my British English lexicon, which is huge!!! (Aubergine=egg plant, that one that surprised me recently)
I can proudly say I can recognize the difference between the slightly north of middle all the way to a Northern English accent from a Southern English accent and a posh accent. …And now when talking to new English people, I categorize their accents by comparing them to my friends, lol. I.e. Oh, they sound like Bob, they must be from around Manchester. Or Game of Thrones. I use that, too 😛
Anyway, we were recently at a friend’s Christmas party sipping some mulled wine (which was awesome) when my friend brought around a plate of mince pies (which I also know to be minceMEAT pies).
(not my photo)
Important side note, American friends: mince is used in place of ground, so like minced beef instead of ground beef, which added to my presumed meat connotation in connection to mince, as that’s what they call it in Singapore, too). My husband loves meat pies, so he was quite excited (see, not just me!).
So we took a bite…
And there was dried fruit in it.
It was, what we polite Midwesterners would say, interesting…. It tasted kind of sweet and sour and dry and fruity I guess? No meat. The flavor kind of reminded me of maybe a fruit cake? Anyway, we shared our experience with some of our other English friends, and they thought it was pretty amusing. Apparently there is a little bit of beef suet (fat) in it though, so there’s that. I looked up the recipe. Dangggg those things are hard to make! Recipe calls for like 20 ingredients that are minced then left to sit for at least 3 days! I have a whole new appreciation for mince pies now.
After I wrapped my brain around it, I did like it though 😀 My husband, not so much. Shhhhh don’t tell my friend! Obviously, every culture has their own unique holiday foods with which they have strong, fond associations. Us Americans, we have pumpkin pie 😛
Have you ever had any interesting holiday food experiences?
New Release: Fractured Immortal by E.L. Wicker
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The first in a new series aimed at New Adults, Fractured Immortal is the tale of Ilia Rose, a vampire and a tortured soul and Nathaniel Dayton, a vampire with secrets that will force them together. For a chance to win a digital copy of Fractured Immortal see the end of this post.
After a terrifying vampire attack in 1810, Ilia Rose spends the next two centuries hunting Sol, the man responsible for turning her and her friends into vampires.When Ilia discovers he’s run to the one place she’s running from, she’s forced to face her most painful memories back in her hometown, Bearwood.
There, Ilia finds herself face to face with Nathaniel, an insanely hot vampire, and despite the evidence he’s working for her enemy, Ilia can’t fight her attraction to him, especially when he seems to show up whenever she needs him most.
But Nathaniel is keeping secrets and as they begin to unravel, instead of running away from him, Ilia finds herself falling for him. When his last secret is revealed Ilia’s past comes together in a way she never imagined and she’s left with only one option: trust Nathaniel to help her kill Sol, or risk relinquishing her new found strength thus causing catastrophic and devastating consequences for her and everyone she loves.
Ilia begins a gut-wrenching battle to save her life and the lives of her friends, a battle which not everyone will survive.
A vampire tale like none other, love, pain, devastation and revenge, all weave together to create the first in a dark and unmissable new adult series.
Due to sexual content, this book is intended for readers age 18+
E.L. Wicker lives in England with her husband and two children. A connoisseur of not having the foggiest about anything and an intrepid dreamer, writing became the obvious choice. After ditching a pursuit of a professional career in psychology, E.L. Wicker chose to immerse herself in her own little world where bullying characters vie for attention, demanding she put them on a page. So she did.
Connect with E.L. Wicker on her Blog or Facebook or Twitter.
Enter here to win a digital copy of Fractured Immortal. Open to everyone and running from 21st December 2014 to 7th January 2015
Holiday Not-Enough-Time Syndrome (for writers)
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I love Christmas; it’s my favorite holiday. But if I’m in the middle of something big in my writing, I inevitably feel this pull to my WIP that grows more nagging with each passing day.
I do my best to ignore, but sometimes I just gotta make time for it.
Writer friends, who feels me?
Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Happy soon-to-be New Year!
Post inspired by @GloWolf143 😛 PS: If you have any thoughts on what non-writers don’t understand, leave me a comment and I’ll try to make a meme in your honor!
Non-writers just don’t understand: Good critique partners are PRICELESS
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Lately I’ve been feeling blessed. Blessed because, over the past few months, I’ve hooked up with some amazing and skilled critique partners. I already had a number from the Singapore Writers Group, but my newer crit partner friends are fellow YA/MG writers, which is so helpful. I’ve met my new friends through contests to get mentorship from published or soon-to-be published authors, such as PitchWars and Nightmare on Query Street. I’ve also met some critique partners through Twitter pitching contests such as PitMad and PitchMAS, where you’re throwing out tweet-length pitches about your novel and hoping agents are intrigued by them. Regardless what happens in these contests, I’ve met loads of amazing writers who are very active on Twitter. Found so many people willing to look at first pages and query letters and Twitter pitches. I’ve gotten into a new critique group. I’ve connected with several talented YA writers and we’re exchanging materials. It’s amazing how supportive the writing community is on Twitter (and in general). Seriously, if you’re a writer and you’re not on Twitter, get on there! I can honestly say I would still be stuck trying to sort out my first chapters in one of my WIPs had I not met my new friends.
I’ve also been reflecting on what makes a great CP. It’s exciting/nerve-wracking to let people read our WIPs and, especially if we’re new to writing, it can be hard to find people to even read it period.
Starting with a new critique partner can kind of feel like this:
But not all readers are created equal. Critiquing is a skill, and when we find a great one, it’s a bit more like this:
And if you get an amazing critique group:
In my very humble opinion, here are a few things that make some of my CPs so great:
- They get excited about my WIP.
- They tell me both what’s working and what’s not working.
- They tell me what they think, even if they are worried that I won’t like it. While also offering constructive suggestions on ways to improve.
- They look at the big picture, overall plot and characterization, as well as the small picture, how individual passages flow.
- They call me out on things like cliches, repetitive word use, excessive verbiage, etc. And using colors too much, cuz I apparently throw colors around like woah.
- They ask questions about where I see things going and offer suggestions on how to get there.
- As we work together, they pick up on my strengths and struggles as a writer and help me address my weaknesses.
And there’s so many more things, which is why good CPs are worth their weight in gold. If I had to pinpoint what’s pushed me to be the writer I am today, a big part of it was hooking up with (and listening to) crit partners.
What do you think makes a good critique partner?
Post your Twitter handle below and I will follow you!
Sarah J. Carlson 