Hot Cha Cha, What Manly Taters

 Tortuga Thursday

In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

October sunset over the greenhouse

Mid October and the days are still hot on Tortuga Flats Farm. Nights are cooling off and in fact we've had two nights that hit the light freeze mark. But at least the sweet potatoes made it through. Last year, an unexpected freeze before the potatoes were ready for harvest left us with some less than pretty produce. Sweet potatoes are very sensitive

Good sized sweet potatoes

to cold weather. Happily, no freeze damage this year. They're now in their two week cure period which means spread out in the garage, kept warm and dry. Then they'll be wrapped individually in paper and packed in boxes for storage.

Garlic compost

We're waiting for the soil temperature to reach 50 degrees before we plant the garlic. This morning it was still at fifty eight. In a few days we'll begin breaking apart about 480 pounds of garlic for planting.

Over the years I've covered ways to live and have fun with slim funds. We're continuing our exploration.
Frank and I did some scouting in the Tonto Basin area for RV parks. What a beautiful part of Arizona. What we found were inexpensive parks with two lakes close by for Frank to fish. Roosevelt and Apache Lakes have bass which is Frank's favorite catch. Once there, I'll get down to serious business on finishing book three in my Love and Murder series. Right now we're helping Lance with end of season chores, but once the garlic is in the ground and some various end of year clean up is done, we'll try out the area for a few weeks. This may be a tight budget retirement solution (for those who actually retire!) I'll cover that once we get there.

Christie has been canning lots of salsa, chili sauce (really hot cha cha) and spaghetti sauce. She didn't can any straight tomatoes this year. Tomatoes were disappointingly sparse but no worry. We're still working on last years jarred tomatoes that should get us through until next season.

Sadi likes the RV too - especially the bed. For some reason it's her favorite place to play. She drags a stool over to climb up by herself. By the way, she's yet to call me Grandma. Christie is Mom or Mom Mom. Lance is Dada and Frank is Papa which for some reason she always whispers. We've heard her say grandma but not directly to me. But I get lots of hugs and kisses so I can't complain.

BOOK IN A WHAT? by Sydney St. Claire

MUSE MONDAY
Please welcome Sydney St. Claire to Muse Monday. And don't forget to read all the way to the end and enter her contest.

With November right around the corner, it’s nearly time for National Novel Writing Month or NanoWriMo as it’s affectionately called.  This bit of craziness is where writers all over the world dedicate November to writing a Book in a Month or approx.. 55k words I believe. And November is just around the corner. It’s not too early to starting thinking about whether to participate or not. Right?

One year, I told my husband I was going to participate and he looked at me like I’d grown two heads and asked why?

I explained that I needed a push to start writing a new series and that the goal was to “vomit 50-60K words onto paper–to just push yourself to get as much of your story written, no matter how bad a draft. A bad draft is better than no draft, right?

Again, I got that “okkkaayyyy” look followed by another “why?” In his mind, there isn’t a purpose or point to writing something that I couldn’t sell and was just a waste of time and energy.

So I explained that I wouldn’t be tossing those words, that my participation in Nano wasn’t a waste of time. It is a way of getting a rough draft of a book written, and that editing, rewriting and clean-up came after. As I was telling him of this, I was also reminding myself that the purpose of Nano was to get the foundation of my book written.

Normally, I write a chapter or two then go back. And edit, rewrite, edit some more, then I write another chapter or two and once again, I take a couple steps back. I call it Sue’s Staircase To Success (or insanity!) method. Two steps toward that goal of a finished book, then one step back, a few more up, a couple more back.

You see, for me, writing is like taffy pulling. The more you pull, the weaker the center gets. But once you smush it all back together and do a bit of kneading, you can start pulling again. And once more, the center grows thin and bits of stringy goo separate and dangle in thin air. For me, this method keeps me from losing sight of the goals, going down too many dead-end paths etc.

This method of writing makes succeeding in Nano’s Book in a Month very difficult for me yet I sign up nearly every year. Why? Because any amount of words, any push forward on a book is a damn good thing. Even knowing that I most likely won’t get from beginning to end in a month, I’m more than satisfied that I’ll be further along in the story than I would have had I not made a commitment to finish a book. Plus, there is that something extra called a deadline. A deadline means I’ll push myself, strive to put the old way of writing behind me and try my hardest to make my goal of a 50k rough first draft.

Now that this year’s Nano is nearly upon me, I have a new outlook on writing because I have been doing something called Power Writing and this, combined with the mentality behind Nano, might equal success. My last full-length novel was written using Power Writing. I had a complete book in two months with another month devoted to editing. I’ve learned that hard focus on writing equals word count that keeps growing.

The question this year is what to write. I’m writing novellas and still doing some freelance ghost writing for quick and easy income. Both are 30K novellas. I could set a goal to get two done (the ghostwritten ones are fairly light and simple with little major conflict) for a bit of a challenge, although I can often do two books in about six weeks if I push and shove myself.

So do I challenge myself or enjoy a pretty easy achievement of aiming for 55-60k words. I’d love to get another full length, Susan Edwards’s novel started but that might be insane and suicidal to my contracted deadlines. Better to wait for next year and plan and schedule that!

So come November, I’ll put the housework on hold as much as I can, make the animals fend for themselves and the husband as well. In fact, I’ll put much of my life on hold and devote myself to putting words, lots, and lots of words to paper.

Oh wait, baby shower for my first grandchild is in November and there’s all these cute little outfits to sew. Hmm, maybe not all of life will get put aside. My first little granddaughter is pretty important to me!

Come to think of it, I must be delusional if I think participating might not be challenging. I have a book that came out Sept. another due out Oct 31, which means lots of promo and marketing and blogs and guest blogs to write and the 4^th book in the series to write and turn in by end of November and 2-3 ghost books to do before end of November. Whew! Taking a deep breath here. I think there will be a lot to keep me busy and writing!

So how about you? Will you participate? How have you done in the past? What do you love about it? Hate about it? Recommend it to other writers?

Wish me luck and for my fellow writers out there, the best of luck to you as well if you join me in November.

Blurb for Cinderella and Prince Dom

Jaimie Newberry is jobless, her rent is due, and her cat just died. On top of that, she was accused of embezzling before she was fired. When her friend invites her for a weekend of kinky fairytale role-playing, she agrees to go as Cinderella. What has she got to lose when sex with a handsome prince is involved?

CEO Bryce Langston needs to know if Jamie is innocent of embezzlement or just very clever. He arranges for her to be his weekend sub but soon realizes the pretty scullery maid is naïve to the BDSM lifestyle. As her prince and her Dom, he intends to not only learn the truth but to make sure she has a fantasy come true.

Excerpt

“Let’s talk about your sex life. I read the questionnaire you filled out and understand you’re game for a bit of light BDSM.”

“What?” The spit in Jaimie’s mouth dried. “What do you mean by light BDSM?” She was going to kill Lucy. She’d assumed many of the men and women she’d seen earlier were into some kinky stuff, but there’d been others wearing normal costumes. Like her.

“Dominant and submissive role playing.”

“Roles? As in I’m Cinderella and you’re the Prince?”

His lips curved in amusement. “Not quite. I am a Dominant who requires a submissive. I am your Dom and you are my sub. Those are our roles for the weekend.”

Jaimie stood. Yep. Her friend deserved a slow, torturous death. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I’m not into kinky sex or pain. I agreed to a weekend of free food, being waited on, and having sex with my prince charming.”

Trailer:             http://youtu.be/v3w5k5XvkLw

Email:              Sydney@sydneystclaire.com

Website:          http://sydneystclaire.com

Twitter:           https://twitter.com/Sydneystclaire

Facebook:        https://www.facebook.com/sydneystclaire

Blog:               http://sydneystclaire.wordpress.com

Goodreads:     https://www.goodreads.com/sydneystclaire

Pinterest:         http://www.pinterest.com/sydneystclaire/

Wild Rose Press:  http://wilderroses.com

Buy links       

Wild Rose Press  (Amazon link avail)

KINDLE               NOOK                   KOBO                   IBOOKS

Red and Her Big Bad Dom available Oct 31

Contest: Once Upon a Dom Tote Bag and goodies (mug, flash drive & more). See pictures of prizes and details here

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fall is for Chili, Butternut, and Rattlesnake Beans

Tortuga Thursday

In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

Chili for Fall weather

What does fall mean to you? For our family on Tortuga Flats Farm it means butternut, potatoes and planting garlic in the month of October.

But wait - it's October.

This time three years ago, we'd made the decision to move to Paulden and share space and the land with an unmarried Christie and Lance. I had been diagnosed with melanoma and had it removed. I hadn't found a publisher for my romantic suspense series. Frank retired. October 2011, what a month. Fast forward. We're still sharing the land but now with a married Christie and Lance and their child - my precious granddaughter - Sadi. I've been cancer free. My five book series is getting published. And Frank keeps asking me what part of retired don't I understand. Enough reminiscing. I'll wait until the end of the year for a health check on our adventure.

Butternut

So Fall is: Butternut totally harvested, washed in a weak Clorox and water solution, and stored in boxes with paper separating each one. They're in the laundry room, pantry and garage. With our technique, they last nearly a year.

Potatoes are not out of the ground. Maybe another week or two. First the garlic field

Sadi and Christie get a ride

has to be prepared. We bought a used trailer that Lance replaced the wood on for hauling compost. Sadi and Christie got a ride before using it for the intended use. For the last two days, Frank and Lance have spread compost on the tilled rows...eight rows, three hundred feet long each. Day three tomorrow would've completed the task, but the rains came last night. Now we wait for a dry out . Then another tilling, then when the ground temp drops to 50 degrees we'll begin planting. It could take a couple of weeks to get it all in the ground. We're planting ten varieties this first year to see which do the best and which varieties are the most marketable.

The weather has cooled and there's chili in the crock pot. Mainly, I wanted to

Rattlesnake beans dried and shucked

see what the Rattlesnake beans would taste like. At the beginning of the season, we ate them fresh but

Rattlesnake bean fresh

they're more widely used dry. So once the green and purple string beans dry out, the beans are removed. What a great long lasting crop this is. And in case you'd like to know what is in the chili, the casual recipe is below.

One cup dried Rattlesnake Beans
One jar home canned tomatoes
One can organic tomato paste
Water
One bell pepper chopped
One half rocotillo pepper chopped (without seeds unless you want hotter chili)
Chili powder
Cummin
1 1/3 browned organic ground beef

Lance and Frank working in the garlic field

Move Backward to Go Forward by Christy Effinger

MUSE MONDAY
Please join me in welcoming my guest, Christy Effinger, to Muse Monday.
  

Remember that old poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost? The poet describes how “two roads diverged in a yellow wood” and in the end, he chooses “the one less traveled by.” Four months ago I found myself in a similar situation with my WIP. I had reached a fork in the road where my story could move one of two ways. For several days I stood at the fork wishing for a sign, a map, or a Cheshire Cat to point me in the right direction. When none of these appeared, I stepped forward and hoped for the best.

One little problem: I chose the wrong road. I realized this after an intense, two-week writing spree during which I had too much coffee, too little sleep, and limited social interaction. My first response was to lament my misdirected energy and effort. Then I remembered that no amount of time spent writing is ever wasted. I had made a mistake, but it was fixable. Yes, that meant backtracking. And yes, that meant trashing pages (and pages and pages) of work.

Now that I’m on the right path, those two weeks don’t seem like a big deal. But what if I had spent two months traveling in the wrong direction? C.S. Lewis said, “If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.” Making a U-turn is frustrating, but it may be necessary for a project’s success.   

What about you? Have you ever had to move backward before you could move forward again?  

Book Blurb:

When her aunt steps off a grain elevator into the emptiness of a prairie evening, Mira Piper loses her one protector. Chloe, her flighty mother, impulsively drags her daughter to Bramblewood, an isolated spiritualist retreat in northern Michigan, run by the enigmatic Dr. Virgil Simon.

Chloe plans to train as a medium but it's Mira who discovers she can communicate with the dead. When her mother abandons her, Mira discovers a darker aspect to Bramblewood: the seemingly kind doctor has a sinister side and a strange control over his students.

Then one winter's day Troy Farrington arrives, to fulfill his mother's dying wish and deliver her letter to the doctor. But calamity strikes and he finds himself a captive, tended by a sympathetic Mira. Haunted by her dead aunt and desperate to escape Bramblewood, Mira makes a devil's deal with Dr. Simon. But fulfillment comes with a steep cost...betrayal.

Buy Links:

The Wild Rose Press:

http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=242_177_139&products_id=5772

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Say-Nothing-What-You-See-ebook/dp/B00MW5HTZ0/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1409

BN.com

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/say-nothing-of-what-you-see-christy-effinger/1120219553?ean=2940150511323:

Rain, Vet and a Fizzle

 Tortuga Thursday

In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

It hasn't exactly been a stellar week on Tortuga Flats Farm.

Saturday skies

Last Saturday, the farmers' market was windy and it rained. First the wind came and repositioned our tent three feet over, in spite of forty pound weights on each leg. That didn't really drive off the shoppers, but the buckets of water that came moments later pretty much dampened the mood.

The hot water heater is dying yet again. Now it's tripping the breaker besides not heating enough. We have home insurance which we've been in a battle with over the last six months. For the last two and half years, they have allowed fixes only. We could've bought another one by now with the service fees we've paid. The plumber should've been here yesterday. We all were so busy we missed following up on why he didn't make it.

Gabby had a trip to the vet with a gash in her side. Not sure how she did it, but it ended up not being as bad as it looked.

The Indiegogo campaign to expand our pickle business fizzled to a close today. It wasn't a financial success but we did learn a few things. Back to the planning stage. We'll use what little we did raise for some necessary items and continue on. We're dig in and do ourselves people anyway so it's not like it changes our plans. In a couple of weeks, when we receive the final accounting from Indiegogo I'll update everyone on where it went and how we're proceeding.

Nights are colder. Over the next few days we'll harvest butternut and potatoes.

Lance hand tilling for garlic

That will be the end of the outside veggies. It's fall at last!

Face Your Fear by Erin Bevan

FEARLESS FRIDAY
Please join me in welcoming Erin Bevan to Fearless Friday.

I’m not a very brave soul. In fact, I’m probably what one might call a chicken. It took my husband a few days to convince me to go parasailing with him on our last vacation to Florida. Finally, I succumbed to the peer pressure and sent my body hurling what felt like thousands of feet in the air by a giant smiley face balloon. The only thing I could think of was what if a seagull decided to take its claws to the big yellow parachute and cause a hole so big it sent us sailing into the ocean. Then, I rationalized how ridiculous that thought really was and decided to enjoy the view.

Once I got over my fear of falling to a tragic death into the shark infested waters below (okay, there really weren’t any sharks, but it’s the ocean, you can’t rule anything out) I decided we should go parasailing again. So, we did. Not on that vacation, but on our next. And I’m sure each vacation we take in the future, we’ll go again.

It’s amazing when someone faces their fears they realize they didn’t have much to be afraid of after all. We limit ourselves by our fears, not our abilities. I’m hear to tell you, that you have the ability to do whatever it is you set your mind to. A few years ago, I set my mind to becoming a writer and getting published. I’m proud to say that on September 24, The Wild Rose Press helped make that possible with my first debut story, The Ranch Hand. Insert screams here! If I’d let the fear of rejection get in my way (and trust me, I got rejected a lot! Most writers do), then I wouldn’t be writing this post for you now.  Be fearless! What have you got to lose?

Buy Links: Amazon     The Wild Rose Press

Where to find Erin:

Goodreads Page : https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6927178.Erin_Bevan

Twitter: @ErinBevan

Facebook: www.facebook.com/erinbevanwrites

website: www.erinbevan.com

email: erinbevanwrites@gmail.com 

Bio: 

Erin Bevan was born and raised in Southwest Arkansas. She spent her teenage years working for her aunt at the local gas station flipping burgers and making milkshakes dreaming of the day when something better would come her way.

Fast forward ten years later, she found herself stuck inside an apartment in South Korea while her daughter went to preschool and her husband went to work. Alone and unable to speak the local language she turned to books for a friend. After reading a few hundred in such a short time, she decided to try her hand at writing one.

That first one sucked, but by the fifth and sixth book, Erin started to get the hang of this writing thing. Getting the first contract in her inbox was a dream come true. Now, with three babies at home, she squeezes in stories one word at a time, one sentence at a time, one day at a time.  She’s a full time mom, a full time wife, with a little writer sprinkled in whenever she can get the chance.