In which I bake. . . a lot.

Something about being snowed in makes me want donuts or cinnamon rolls. Maybe since that's what my mom and the neighbor kids' mom always served up on sledding days. Who knows. I've baked entirely too much these last three days. (And a huge brisket is going in the oven shortly.)

Sure, chocolate cupcakes and cinnamon rolls have helped me get over missing the Austin SCBWI conference with rockstar speakers NATHAN BRANSFORD and CHERYL KLEIN. And my much anticipated critique with Sara Lewis Holmes of OPERATION YES fame. I can follow on Twitter (#AustinSCBWI) and chalk it up as a lesson learned in planning trips a la winter. The upside is, the director is mailing my critique, so it's not a total loss. Yay for that, right?

Back to snow days and baking. This here book, PEACE LIKE a RIVER by Leif Enger, stayed with me for months after I finished.

The prose is breath-taking, and it put me on a serious hunt for the nation's greatest cinnamon rolls. Enger's description of 11 year-old Reuben Land's sister Swede's rolls will have your mouth watering. I'd never thought to add a tablespoon or two of coffee into the glaze.

The story itself revolves around Reuben, an asthmatic boy from Minnesota who has good reason to believe in miracles. "Here's what I saw," Rube warns his readers. "Here's how it went. Make of it what you will." And Rube sees plenty. His brother is, after all, on the run from the law.

And miracle of all snow day miracles, I have found the perfect cinnamon roll. Hearty thanks to the fabulous Pioneer Woman. (All her recipes are fabulous.)

Note: I cut this recipe in half and still cut way back on the butter and sugar. Also I use half whole grain flour. It makes me feel better. But you do what you want. ;) Just be prepared for melt in your mouth goodness.

Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

• 1 quart Whole Milk
• 1 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 packages Active Dry Yeast
• 8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
• 1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
• Plenty Of Melted Butter
• 2 cups Sugar
• Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon
• _____
• MAPLE FROSTING:
• 1 bag Powdered Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
• ½ cups Milk
• ¼ cups Melted Butter
• ¼ cups Brewed Coffee
• ⅛ teaspoons Salt

Preparation Instructions

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. “Scald” the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don’t skimp on the frosting.

A Timely Award!

Kristin @ Kristin Creative bestowed this blog award on me. Thank you, Kristin (who spells her name the correct way. ;))

I have to say it came at the right moment, because two of my critique buddies and I (Hi, Karen! Hi, Mandy!) are iced in. Translation: We cannot attend the most fabulous conference of the year. Watch me pout. It looks something like this:

(Although without the worms.)

So, on to the award.

Rules: Answer the following questions with Single Word answers then pass this along to 5 other bloggers!

Your Cell Phone? handmedown
Your Hair? Colored
Your Mother? reader
Your Father? reader

Your Favorite Food? cupcake
Your Dream Last Night? forgot
Your Favorite Drink? milkshake
Your Dream/Goal? Author/illustrator
What Room Are You In? Kitchen

Your Hobby? Reading
Your Fear? Loss

Where Do You See Yourself In Six Years? Mom

Where Were You Last Night? celebrating
Something That You Aren't? survivalist (I've seen Bear Grylls)
Muffins? cupcakes
Wish List Item? Time

Where Did You Grow Up? South
Last Thing You Did? homework (not mine)
What Are You Wearing? jeans
Your TV? XBox
Your Pets? Lucy
Friends? keepmesane
Your Life? Blessed
Your Mood? antsy
Missing Someone? Yep (My grandfather's been gone 10 years today)
Vehicle? gas-guzzler
Something You Aren't Wearing? lipgloss
Your Favorite Store? Anthropologie
Your Favorite Color? Pink
When Was The Last Time You Laughed? today
Last Time You Cried? today
Your Best Friend? husband
One Place You Go To Over And Over Again? grocers
Facebook? Sometimes
Favorite Place To Eat? varies

I hereby bequeath this award to:
Rachel @ Home Girl
Natalie @ Natalie Bahm
Audra @ Inspired Nutmeg
Tess @ Tess Hilmo
Laura @ My Side of the Rainbow

Congratulations, ladies!

Andrew Clements

Prolific author Andrew Clements (Frindle, Room One) is a hero of mine. His upcoming middle grade adventure series, Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School, sounds like a whole lot of fun. Isn't the cover, illustrated by Adam Stower, great?

The first book, We The Children, is slated to release this spring. Read the first chapter here. Here's the teaser trailer:

Tuesday Teaser

Garrett stormed back down the walk, leaving Mrs. Hegg's gate wide open. He marched over to Mirabelle and wished for the hundredth time in his eleventh year he was two inches taller. At least then he'd be eye to eye with her. Looking up to girls stunk.

And Miserable Mirabelle was stinkier than the average girl.

Attention Children's Writers:

If you aren't reading Macmillan Children's Blog. You should.

As well as the official SCBWI TEAM BLOG for the NYC conference. The first pre-conference post is up, an interview with Allyn Johnston of Beach Lane Books! Virtual tour included. (Insert beach-dreaming, glorious picture book loving sighs here.)

Alice in Wonderland, the Film

I've already blogged a bit about Alice. But this film looks amazing. Talk about world building. March 5, 2010, cannot come fast enough.* Tim Burton goes epic.

Johnny Depp's acting is phenomenal (and borderline creepy). What versatility. Next year he's back to being Jack Sparrow again. How does he turn off one character and become the other?

How do authors silence one voice and begin writing the next? How do they flip a switch from one character to the next? I scribble notes in one of two spirals. In fact, I nearly lost one once, and my husband can attest, I was in TPM (Total Panic Mode). A few years' worth of ideas - misplaced with the cookbooks for a night - had me in a tizzy.

*Alas, checked our calendar. Family conflict opening night. So, March 6th, we have a date. If you are lucky enough to see it before me, don't rub it in too much.

What Editors Want/Need (Who Wants What Where)

This alphabetized list is compiled by award-winning author Ellen Jackson. Oh my goodness, her website is a treasure trove of information for writers and procrastinators. Wait, did I just say that?

Check it out! Here are the first three in her list, to give you a feel of the utter awesomeness. (Code for stalkerish obsession. (And I know nothing about that either.)):

ANASTASIA CORTEZ-HarperCollins. YA novels. Prefers urban fantasy (vampires and werewolf mostly-no elves.), post apocalyptic sci fi, chick lit, humor, and action/​adventure. Would love a graphic novel submission.


ALEXANDRA COOPER is an editor at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Simon & Schuster Books publishes for a general audience of children from preschool to teen. Ms. Cooper works on hardcover trade picture books, middle-grade fiction, non-fiction, and young adult novels. For almost four years, she worked under David Gale, with whom she was privileged to edit such YA authors as Rachel Cohn, Ellen Wittlinger, Sonya Sones, Pete Hautman, and Alex Sanchez. Some of her own titles include Escaping into the Night by Dina Friedman, Huge by Sasha Paley, and Bear of My Heart by Joanne Ryder, illustrated by Margie Moore. She enjoys funny picture books and voice-driven fiction.


NANCY CONESCU- Little Brown. Nancy Consecu, Little Brown-PB, Rhyming books, Board Books, Easy Reader/​Chapter Books, Middle Grade, YA, Non fiction (very selective), Historical fiction, Fantasy, Edgy. Intrigued by dark humor, satire, the supernatural and projects that test the creative boundaries of their genre. Looking for literary and commercial mg fiction, edgy ya and inventive and nontraditional pb. She’s especially looking for a different take on familiar subjects, like Vampirates. She divulged that she looks at Etsy.com and other artistic websites to find illustrators. She also mentioned edgier YA.

Help Me Out: A Pick Me Up

I don't know about you, but when two o' clock rolls around, I'm sunk. Drained. Worthless. Ready to nap, right next to the two year old. When the house grows quiet, my head starts to bob.

I learned in nursing school that some diabetics carry tubes of icing with them. If their blood sugar falls, they have a quick antidote. That's not so bad an idea. I might keep a tube or two* in my purse, to get me through carpool. Or this next scene.

I'm stalled. Stuck. Don't know what's next; but I'm so close to finishing a first draft, it's maddening. Some new picture books are half-baked. A nap seems to give me perspective, yet I don't have elves that write (or fold laundry) while I'm asleep.

Help me out here. What do you do to get through the afternoon slump? (Please tell me I'm not the only one!) And if your grocer is suddenly out of frosting, the butter cream kind, don't look at me (or in my purse).

*Butter cream, people. What is this translucent gel stuff?

My first Tuesday Teaser

This is from my recent middle grade:

Garrett thought about hiding in the pantry but picked up the cookbooks he’d knocked to the floor instead. Like that made a dent in the great scheme of things. It looked like a giant blueberry had exploded smack in his mother’s kitchen.

Mrs. Thomas flew into the room. Her short curly hair was wild on the right but smashed against her head on the left. The perfect picture of bed head. She drew a sharp breath and froze.

“Garrett Wylie Thomas! What have you done now?” she blurted.

“An experiment?” he offered in a small voice, still clutching Anyone Can Cook.

Congratulations to Rebecca Stead

(@rebstead) for When You Reach Me winning the 2010 Newbery! (Squee!!!)

(This autograph wouldn't have happened were it not for the consideration of a my friend Clara Gillow Clark.)

Posted via email from Another Gray Day

Hope for Haiti

It has been hard to process the footage streaming on the Internet and the major networks this week. A devastation of such magnitude. It is simply heart breaking, and I cannot wrap my mind around it.

A friend suggested I read this blog today about the Livesay family that moved their big, beautiful family to Haiti several years ago. The mother (Tara, I believe) and father (Troy) are posting updates about Port au Prince and have links to the ministries they partner with. Click here for Troy's flickr page.

There are several websites for purchasing T-shirts to help support Haiti relief. Try here and here.

My boys have a jar of coins they'd been saving (it's not much), but we're going to count it together in the morning. (My seven year old needs the practice anyway.) Then we'll all decide which organization to donate the amount. I want them to experience giving as well, even on a small scale.

Another friend has joined the Hope for Haiti blog. These women are offering their services and goodies in a raffle-type drawing, with each dollar going towards relief efforts via the Red Cross and Compassion International. You can grab your own Hope for Haiti button here.

Here's a peek at some of the offerings:

It has been awesome to see our country, in its own economic crisis, rush to aid our Haitian friends. I feel helpless, here in my safe house with electricity and fresh, running water. But I can pray for the Haitians, for their government, and for their resources, and I can donate to one of the many great relief organizations out there.

It just seems petty for me to be blogging about anything else today. Thank you for understanding, and I'd urge you to donate something if you haven't already.

Tenacity

We can learn a lot from our children.

tenacious |təˈnā sh əs|adjectivenot readily letting go of, giving up, or separated from an object that oneholds, a position, or a principle : a tenacious grip | he was the most tenacious politician in South Korea.• not easily dispelled or discouraged; persisting in existence or in acourse of action : a tenacious local legend | you're tenacious and you get at the truth.DERIVATIVEStenaciously adverbtenaciousness nountenacity |-ˈnasitē| noun

ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from Latin tenax, tenac- (from tenere ‘to hold’ ) + -ious .

My son (8) received this Lego set for Christmas. Five days later he was still fitting pieces together because his younger siblings had disassembled the truck twice. I'm happy to report it is now complete and has remained intact. (Nothing short of a miracle.)

A Study on Voice

And sight.

I highly recommend this book.

It was in my top three of amazing reads of 2009. Frankly, it changed the way I view the world.

Rumor has it movie in the works.

It's for grown-ups.

And it's follow-up was released before Christmas: What Difference Do it Make?

Storyboarding for Picture Books

Anastasia Suen stressed the importance of storyboarding for writers in her intensive picture book workshop. I heard her speak last Spring, and she had those of us in attendance, storyboard Harry the Dirty Dog (which my three year old calls "Dirty Harry") in 32 thumbnail sketches.

Storyboarding helps pace your picture book and plan those all important page turns.

Kim Norman, author of Crocodaddy and Jack of All Tails, has a complementary storyboard available for download on her website full of helpful tips for writers. She has even split it into the three story arcs - beginning/ middle/ resolution.

For a sneak peak at an illustrator's thumbnail sketches, hop over to Anna Alter's blog Painting Bunnies to see work on her newest book, Disappearing Desmond.

You don't have to be an artist though, to storyboard. Stick figures will do. It's all about pacing text, conflict, interactions, and flow of story into 32 pages.

Slap Your Mama Marshmallows

Courtesy of one of my favorite people on the planet, Audra. This gal not only is a great photographer, but she can cook up a storm in no time flat, all from scratch, with 5 little ones underfoot.

Your family will love you for checking out her blog and whipping up some of her delicious bites - the biscuits would be a great start.

So if your kids are snowed in today or tomorrow, check out her step by step marshmallow making instructions. The pictures alone will have you wishing for a mug of cocoa or handful of gooey S'mores.

Speaking of S'mores, I went camping. Yes, it's a pic of Audra and I camping in the wild with our families. This is the day I learned I loved pimento cheese - if it's homemade. None of that processed stuff. This might be the only pic you'll ever see of me in the woods with no make up. But, hey, I remembered my earrings.

Paris Bookstore, Plus an Author Interview

Click here for a fabulous interview with Johanna Wright, Illustrator and Author of children's books, in which she talks about her writing and painting process. Her most recent work is The Secret Circus (Roaring Brook Press, March 31, 2009).

I love this book, own it, and was lucky enough to see it in person on the shelf in Paris' Left Bank Shakespeare and Company bookshop. (To put it mildly, I was giddy.)

Heaven on earth I tell you. Look at the stack 0' books! It puts my leaning tower to shame!

I'll take this room with a view.

The only way my husband convinced me to leave was bribery with my other vice (um, not the art supplies one, the sugary one) - ice cream. Don't judge. We'd just had a 12 hour plane ride.

Posted via email from Another Gray Day