Tomato Recipe #1

Tomatoes!

Good god, there's still lemons.

    The tomatoes are here! These are small ones yet, but there are more on the way. In the meantime, I think I have most of the ingredients for my favorite recipes. I still have lemons on the tree from winter. I didn't plant any corn this year, but otherwise, I think I'm ready to go.
    So, if you, too, have a tomatoes, lemons, corn, green onions and a few other ingredients, I highly recommend that you throw together a a tomato corn pie. This is my favorite summer recipe. I'd recommend following the directions, including peeling the tomatoes and getting rid of the seeds and juicy parts. Yes, they are very flavorful, but there is so much flavor in the pie, you won't miss it.
     This pie tastes like summer to me -- tart from the lemon, sweet from the corn, and the tomatoes! Oh, it's so good! I'm making this Sunday for dinner. You should, too!

Nice Work If You Can Get It

La Manzanilla, Mexico, 2007.

   I'm sitting on the patio writing. This is what I want to do full time. Unfortunately, there is the small matter of health insurance, mortgage, and oh, yes, student loans. I'm not quitting the day job any time soon. But for now, I'm going to enjoy the view of my garden while sitting in the backyard, sipping an iced coffee, and telling stories. In terms of a relaxing weekend, it doesn't get much better than this for me.
  

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

    Driving between courthouses, I noticed several groups of women walking toward the office buildings, carrying bags of fruit and vegetables and cut flowers. It was a sure sign that there was a farmer's market nearby.
    I found it a block off my route, found a parking space three blocks away from the market, and jogged back (as much as one cares to jog in 94 degree weather while wearing a suit). It didn't take me long to find what I was looking for. I passed up the rest of the fruits, vegetables, jars of locally harvested honey, olive oils, and bundles of lavender to get to the table loaded down with cherries.
    I made it to my next appearance, fingers a little sticky, but on time. Some of my bounty even made it home. Spring and summer in California is really delicious.

A Good Day Shopping

Perfect for a casual outdoor wedding.

     Writing:  Yes, I have been. This morning, I remembered a story that a coworker told me years ago. It was something that happened to her -- something weird and eerie and which was left unexplained. Unfortunately, I remembered the story while driving, so I couldn't write it down. When I got to work, I was distracted by email, voicemail, coworkers, and the usual, and an hour later was scratching my head. What was that idea I wanted to write down as soon as I got to the office? Thankfully, it came to me later and I wrote myself a brief note so I wouldn't forget again. When I got home, I turned that paragraph into 3,000 words, which I was filed away under Ideas I Will Get To Later (Hopefully).
     And then I came home and had new shoes waiting for me. Interesting story inspiration, productive writing session, and cute new shoes? Now that is a good day.

Resolution — May Update

    Finally! Some progress toward my writing goals. The spring has been tough for me, but in May* I wrote 9,794 words. Yay! This is better than April (4,124 words) and even better than May 2011 (8,104 words). My total for the year is now 61,238 words. Holy crap! That’s a lot!
    Most of the last month’s work was on the main novel I’d like to finish soon. I wrote 7,485 words on that. The rest was either the novella or some miscellaneous notes on future projects that I wrote down to keep the plot bunnies at bay.
    I only wrote 12 days last month, but considering my workload last month, that’s OK with me. The highest daily word count was 1,841 words, which I wrote in the car while my husband drove to our mountain getaway.
    Best of all, I feel like things are clicking into place. I wasn’t seeing my heroine’s strengths coming through, so I decided to put more pressure on her — financial, career, romantic. Seems to be working. I like her better when she’s being tortured.
    Next month I hope to be able to report even better word counts, and one that includes the two most important words — The End.

* Because of how my spreadsheet is structured, May includes some extra days — April 30, June 1-3. Yes, that’s five full weeks in May. This is a homemade calendar/spreadsheet and it’s just how it worked out. Here’s a screen shot of the spreadsheet I use to track my writing progress.