Saturday, December 24, 2011

Weekend Recipes and Fatima Paperback Release News

I want to say thank you to my followers, there's three of you now (says four on the sidebar but one of those is me so I can track my comments without being on blogger all the time), and thank you to all of the people who view my blog each time I update. I appreciate it!

Gonna start out the weekend with a recipe that I used on Wednesday:  CLAM CHOWDER!

Here's the recipe: 
3 (6.5 ounce) cans minced clams
1 cup minced onion
1 cup diced celery
2 cups cubed potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 quart half-and-half cream
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1. Drain juice from clams into a large skillet over the onions, celery, potatoes and carrots. Add water to cover, and cook over medium heat until tender.
2. Meanwhile, in a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Whisk in cream and stir constantly until thick and smooth. Stir in vegetables and clam juice. Heat through, but do not boil.
3. Stir in clams just before serving. If they cook too much they get tough. When clams are heated through, stir in vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 501 | Total Fat: 32.7g | Cholesterol: 137mgPowered by ESHA Nutrient Database


I really liked the end result, but I have to admit I tweaked it a bit. I didn't use the carrots or the vinegar, and I added just a bit more butter, also used a roux because it did not thicken like I'd hoped. It makes A LOT of soup, so consider sharing with a friend's family when you make it. 



And now for some exciting book-related news: 
Fatima is almost finished being formatted for paperback sales, and once I finish my guest blog post for my cousin Jessie's blog I will begin working on Fatima 2 Electric Boogaloo (actual title: Nikki's choice). The two will be available in the same paperback, but seperate in e-book form, with Fatima being 99 cents and Nikki's Choice being $1.99.

Happy Chanukah, Joyous Kwanzaa, and Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. I will see you tomorrow with more weekend recipes and more exciting stuff!

Friday, December 23, 2011

And Sunday Comes Afterward

So, I dun goofed yesterday, thinking it was Friday and not Thursday. So, since I got started on Friday Links early, I'll do a Thursday Poll today!
Since I don't know how to actually add a poll yet, I will just ask a question, and then you can (anon or not) reply with your answer. (It's multiple choice.)

Which name do you like more?

Andrew
Terry
Marcus
Robert

Thursday, December 22, 2011

It's the Holiday Season...

And man, it sure is weird to go through this holiday season without my Mom. It's weird to wake up and not hear her clicking away on her computer or loving on one of the cats. It's really weird to wake up on my own, not to her hollering, "EMMA, GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BED!"
She died on a Saturday morning, November 26th of 2011. Ever since it's been a whirlwind of activity around here, family members pulling me and my dad off to their houses. It's not natural. It's actually rather confusing.
I will be rather glad when the holidays are over and everything can go back to some semblance of normal.
That's my mom on halloween one year. Don't worry, those aren't her real boobies.

Anyway, it's time for Friday Links, so for this Friday's links, I'm updating the "pages" tab on the sidebar, to include a links page. On that page will be all the current links to all of my current books and to my mark. cosmetics e-boutique. 
That's all for now.
Happy Holidays.
Cherish the time you have on this
Earth with your loved ones. You 
never know when they'll be called 
back to God.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Flurries and Hot Chocolate

I'm all cozy in bed with my laptop, working on chapter 2 of "Jessie." It's supposed to snow on and of all day and night today, so that's cool. I ended up getting my Christmas shopping done last night. Got my dad a phone card. He's really hard to shop for, so I opted for practical.
I'm going to open this blog up to guest bloggers, so if you're interested, I will post guest blog entries on Fridays, along with the normal Friday entries. Comment if you are interested.
I'm also thinking of doing themed days on this blog, so it doesn't get stale. Like Monday Book Review, Tuesday Excerpts, Wednesday Book Covers, Thursday Polls, Friday Links, and Weekend Recipes. Is there anything you'd like to see on my blog? Let me know!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

New Layout, New Goals, New Projects, and a Good Cause!

The following three novels will be finished before anything else is published, and then the three will be released at the same time:  My Sister's Keeper, Jessie, and Living Will.  There will be a big facebook event when they are released, and a BIG giveaway, even bigger than the other one (which is still going on, so please, CLICK HERE to enter. There's hardly anything you need to do to enter, so I think you should check it out, dear reader)!
You read that right, the next three releases are all going to be novels, which means they're going to be at least quintuple the length of my current releases. I'm going after this in the most serious way possible. Chasing my dreams. Going big or going home, and I don't want to go home. ;)
But now since I'm doing this, I will need your help!  I am in quite real need of beta readers and editors. For now, until I find a happy medium in book sales, I can't pay the standard editing price (which seems to be like 5cents per word, totally unfair to us broke people!) but I can still pay EDITORS. Beta readers will be paid in paperback copies of my books. If you're interested, CLICK HERE to shoot me an email.
I just changed the layout of this blog for the second time ever, and I'm still getting the hang of the blogger design editor thing, so there will be tweaks (and maybe a banner! Oooo, banners!) over the next few weeks and months.
Also, it is now my goal to post something relevant in this blog each and every day. Whether that be a post with links to giveaways by my favorite self-published or indie authors, a music video from youtube that fits the mood from one of my books, or a post like this talking about all the stuff I am doing for you, my readers, my wonderful readers.
Every paperback that I publish from now on (clearly exlcuding Paper Dolls) will also include three (count them, THREE!) coupon codes for free books on smashwords.com (That is, they're books that cost money on smashwords, but you get them free with the coupon codes). Some will be my books, some will be other Destruction Productions authors' books, and some will be other authors' books.

And now for something I feel very strongly about.  Last month, on November 26th, my Mom drew her last breath. She died from complications with a surgery that was meant to undo some of the damage that cancer had done to her body. She just couldn't handle the anesthesia.
Two months before that, in September, complications from cancer (specifically, a stroke) claimed the life of my Grandpa just shortly after his 80th birthday.
Because of the loss of these two people who have had such a huge impact on my life, I have vowed to help make a difference.  So, from now until January 1st of 2012, all of my royalties from all of my book sales will be donated to the Cancer Society of America. There will also be a month of charity for the same cause in June, September, and November of 2012. And if that's not enough incentive to buy for some good? I will match all donations up to $1,000 each of the months that I offer this incentive.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Just a quick update

I really should get back into the ol' blogging habit. I was a very diligent blogger back in the early 00's, but then the site I really liked using died and I just lost interest.
Anyway, this is just an update to tell what's coming up. I'm working on Living Will right now, and that will be released when it is finished (could be two days, could be a year). I'm also working on a book about my experiences as a new Muslim, and that will be released as soon as that is done, too.
Elizabeth Hayes is being retooled and I should be starting to work on actually writing it here in January or February.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway, need 9 more entries in order to declare a winner. It's pretty much the coolest giveaway I've ever done for anything, not even gonna lie.