Friday, March 26, 2010

Friday Free for All

What's Cooking? I finally found where they keep philo dough at the grocery store (in the frozen section with the pie crusts, in case you were wondering). So, we're having philo dough spinach-ricotta pockets made with more toufu than ricotta, because I often replace my ricotta with toufu and it works out very well.

While we're on the subject of food, thanks for all the comments yesterday ... they have indeed given me food for thought.

My children are all either napping or out to the store with their daddy, so I need to get stop blogging and keep writing my novel. But I just wanted to tell you it's officially spring break at our house since this 11a.m. when my hubby got home from conferences. I'm not sure if that will mean more writing time for me (because my hubby's a teacher, so he's home too) or less (you know, out playing in the gorgeous sunshine). Hopefully a good balance of both.

Meanwhile, my mother's in Israel and my sister's in Napal for their spring breaks. My dad is home alone in Hong Kong, but he'll stay busy enough. He's finishing edits of his book. I'll be critiquing it when he's done with this round.

Besides that, check out this competition on Beth Revis' blog (Note: I had a friend in China named Ruth Bevis, so Beth Revis' name always makes me do a double take!). She's celebrating because her book found a publisher. And she has an awful lot of cool things to give away to a very lucky writer OR reader, so please click on the link above and check it out.

In other very fun news, the darling hubby said we can look into me attending the LA SCBWI summer conference this year! Our baby will be almost two ... so maybe he can handle things around here without me for a few day. I'm almost speechless with excitement. Better start clipping more coupons and saving my pennies! Is anyone else thinking of going?

Have a wonderful Friday, everyone. I'm off to write while the house is silent.

8 comments:

  1. You have a global family! What fun.

    I'm not going to the conference, but am looking forward to reading what you have to say about it.

    Helen
    Straight From Hel

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  2. Not going to SCBWI LA, but I may - big emphasis on the may - be going to the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference in Sandy, UT, in June. It used to be affiliated with my alma mater, which is how I first discovered it, and my sister's already volunteered to babysit. We'll have to see...

    Happy spring break, and glad you found a few silent minutes to write!

    Oh, and to satiate your curiosity: #29:)

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  3. I wish that I were going! How cool is that?

    And your dinner sounds amazing!

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  4. Really? Beth Revis and Ruth Bevis? What are the chances of that? I'm so happy for Beth's good news, btw. And, hooray for possible SCBWI conference. I've been to that one in years past and it's always so inspiring :)

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  5. Oh, and I wanted to mention I liked V-DAY's first 25, your entry on MSFV. It clearly defines Thia's motivation, which is what I thought was missing before.

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  6. Hey, thanks for all the comments!

    I clearly was half-asleep when I wrote this yesterday (or else was overly excited about possibly going to the SCBWI conference), but my mother's actually in Israel, not India. She went to India on her last trip. :) I fixed it now.

    Helen, I will definitely post about the conference if I make it. Probably a whole series of posts!

    Krista, Your conference sounds like a great idea. If I can't swing the summer conference in LA, I'll probably look into something more regional. But I'm still dreaming big at this point. And thanks for your thoughts on my first 25. :) I went right to yours when you told me the number and it was one I HADN'T commented on. I couldn't believe it! I liked it a lot. I thought the Apple line was funny. Do you know why some people say not to open with dialogue? I have never heard that before.

    Tess, Thanks for your comment! I am so excited. This will be my very first conference, but you can probably tell that by how silly I am about it.

    And other person with a Chinese name -- ni hao! I'm glad you think what I shared was important and thanks for stopping by.

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  7. Amy, I think opening with dialogue is generally frowned upon because it doesn't really ground the reader in the scene.

    I thought it might be okay in this situation because the dialogue signals the setting and situation, but we'll see. I was playing around with the opening last night - and getting frustrated - until my husband finally said, "You know, I think I like the old beginning better, anyway." So I'm thinking about leaving the line of dialogue and then incorporating a bit more information into the follow-up paragraph.

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  8. Krista, Okay, that makes sense. Good luck as you tinker with that opening!!

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