She tossed her head as his eyes roamed her body

Imagine the horror to his poor roaming eyes as she tossed her head. Where did she toss it? And did she first holler, “Catch!”?

Roaming eyes and tossed heads – otherwise known as wandering body parts. Keep those parts attached to the body and the image won’t be quite as grotesque as a tossed head or worse. And yes, there are worse.

I’ve been writing now for… a long time… and those wandering body parts still tend to show up in my work. On first draft. A fresh phrase isn’t always easy to find, especially when you’re on a roll with story details you didn’t realize you knew. Yes… that happens. Scene basics and dialogue sometimes spew forth from my fingertips to the keyboard to the page so quickly the precise wording has not yet been uncovered. It’s when polishing time comes that those nasty little things are noticed – hopefully. Nasties, such as wandering body parts.

Just before I came here to blog today – in fact it’s the reason I’m here blogging about this very thing – I proofed a scene that I’d just written. It’s the opening scene of my final chapter. A chapter long in coming. My heroine has been through a lot.

A. Lot.

Poor thing.

But she’s been made stronger because of it. All of it. However, this scene brought on her breaking point. It was hard for me to write… or to start. I knew the emotional investment would be high. The heavy scenes wear me out. This one was heavier than expected for some reason. Maybe because I’ve become friends with my heroine and have decided she’s someone I’d like to finally see happy. But to get there, as I mentioned in another post, she’d have to suffer through the tough times in order to make her happily ever after that much more rewarding.

Well, I proofed the scene so I could finally consider it done and move on, when much to my amusement, my heroine did something totally unexpected. She lifted her face to the ceiling. Now, I don’t know about you, but… first of all, I’m not 8 feet tall, so lifting my face to the ceiling would be tough for me without a ladder. Second, did she take her face off and hold it there against the ceiling or did she just kind of, stand on her toes and press it to the plaster? Hmm? And why… please tell me why… would she lift her face to the ceiling in the first place?

In defense of my heroine, she is rather distraught. But while she might have thought (because I told her) that she lifted her face to the ceiling, what she actually did was simply tip her face up toward it. Ah, see? No wandering body parts, no horror-scene flashes. Just a little effort on phrasing and my heroine is once again a normal human being instead of some shape-shifting creature who can stretch her neck to insane lengths or remove parts of her body at will.

Indian Cuisine – Shrimp and Chicken Curry

Whether you like mild or smoke-pouring-from-your-pores spicy, Indian cuisine is a taste bud’s fantasy food. All types of meats – from the exotic to the more common, various vegetables – okra, spinach, lentils and more, delectable long-grain rice and sauces of every imaginable flavor, await the palate of those willing to try something new.

Ethnic foods are common in my neck of the woods. We’ve tried just about all there is to try here – Turkish, Jamaican, Thai, Italian, Mexican, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Moroccan and so much more. But our favorite indulgence of all is Indian.

Indian food has a reputation for being extra rich and spicy. It can be – and often is. However, I’ve modified some of our favorite dishes so taste buds are not seared off and guilt of dining on them at home is reduced to its lowest form. If you love Indian food – or even if you’re just curious – try this. Seriously. Make the effort to cook this simple (and low-fat) dish and then come back here and let me know what you and your family thought of it.

Shrimp and Chicken Curry – Debbie’s Way.

Ingredients:

1 large onion – quartered

1/2 tablespoon ground ginger

1 1/2 tablespoons sweet shredded coconut

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons curry powder

dash chili powder (or more to taste)

1 12-ounce can evaporated skim (or low-fat) milk

1 tablespoon lime juice

3 chicken breasts – boned and halved or 1 lb medium shrimp – shelled and deveined

olive oil 

 

Directions:

Place onion, ginger, coconut and salt in food processor. Pulse until onion is chopped and ingredients are well blended.

Heat oil in skillet. Add onion mixture and cook over moderate heat until onion starts to brown – about 5-6 minutes.

Add curry powder and chili powder. Cook and stir approximately 1 minute.

Reduce heat to very low.

Stir in evaporated milk and lime juice. Slightly raise heat so evaporated milk cooks very slowly (or it will curdle). Cook on this medium/low heat for 7-8 minutes or until mixture thickens.

Add shrimp or chicken to sauce and simmer, stirring occasionally, until meat is just cooked through – about 3 minutes for shrimp, about 5 for chicken (depending on thickness of chicken breasts).

Serve over rice – my preference is Basmati Rice. If you’ve never had Basmati rice, I suggest you try it with this dish. It’s fragrant and firm, and can be served plain or with butter and salt. At another time, I’ll post a recipe for a delectable basmati rice recipe that can be served as a side or main dish.

NOTE: As an option, you might want to find (at an Indian market) Paneer. It’s a firm salt-free cheese that can be cubed and tossed into the sauce along with the shrimp or chicken. It will remain firm (not melt) and adds extra texture (and protein) to this dish. I add it when I have it in the house but love this dish either way.

The mid-winter blahs?

It’s inevitable – for me at least. The cold winter months linger, the holidays and visiting end, and the days become shorter, less sunny, less inviting. Here in New York, we can count on nasty weather from here until at least the end of March. It’s only about 10 weeks, but what a long, drawn-out ten weeks they can be.

During the warmer months, it was nice to take my laptop or notebook and sit in the park to work. Daughter would play basketball or run. I’d join her on a bike ride and maybe we’d sit at the marina for a quick alfresco lunch. Wonderful.

Now that the temperature hovers around freezing out there, with beautiful white snow reduced to city slush, the last thing I want to do is spend unnecessary time outside. And yet, a house can feel oppressive after a while – cabin fever and all that.

So how do you beat those winter blues?

I read somewhere that one way to do it is to pick a closet, any closet, and empty it. I can hear you now – “Huh?!” Well, after you empty it, sort through it all. Dump what you don’t use and give away the rest. GIVE AWAY the rest. It’s that act of clearing out, purging, and giving to those without that helps clear the winter blues in ways we don’t expect.

You know how when you write a great block of prose, you can’t resist reading it again? Think of how it makes you feel. Then think about how the house looks immediately after you (or someone else) has tidied and cleaned it. You WANT to look at it. You WANT to show it off.

It’s that same way with that closet. Or cupboard. Or drawer. Take one small task you’ve been avoiding and push yourself to start it – because most times, starting is the hardest part. Once you’ve finished, chances are you’ll itch to do more – even if only for the reward of having it DONE.

Keep pushing yourself to start. Choose one task per day – or week – or whatever. Just do it. You’ll not only have a less-cluttered living space, you’ll also limit the time you have to dwell on the winter blahs.

Just do it.

The Plot Thickens

I have reached Chapter 14 in my newest story and must say, I am quite worried for my characters. I’ve done all I can to prepare them for what’s to come, indeed for what they’ve already faced. And yet they still hesitate, as if worried they haven’t the ability to survive. My words to them, if I could speak directly to them – and have them actually listen to me for once – would be that my idea of a satisfying romance includes a happily ever after ending. That bit of information would, if they’d care to hear it, comfort them and give them that sense of ability they seem to lack at this moment of no return.

Ah… but then again, if they knew this, if they’d taken the time to read my notes as I have, they might not feel the anguish they need to feel in order to make that happily ever after ending a reward they’ve earned and deserve.

I will confess… I have tortured these poor characters more than any other characters I’ve created. I’ve given one of them a harrowing past filled with fear, grief and confusion. I’ve given the other a past wrought with responsibility beyond his means, his age. They’ve survived those pasts and have become strong, independent characters because of it. They should thank me, don’t you think?

Instead, they fight me. They keep secrets from me. My hero, for instance, informed me – well into Chapter 12 – that he speaks Spanish. Well golly-gee. Shouldn’t he have told me that sooner? Like before I’d written a scene where the villain was speaking Spanish and none of the ‘good guys’ were supposed to understand him? Sheesh. Fortunately, that scene didn’t include the hero, so no harm, no foul. Still… it would have been nice to know.

I suppose what’s fair is fair. I mean, after all, I’m not really giving them the heads up on what challenges they’ll have to face. I’m merely asking them – expecting them – to trust me and know they can indeed get themselves past those obstacles. What good is a happily ever after ending without the tension of possibly not reaching it?

A friend of mine is reading this story as I write it. She’s just returned Chapter 13 to me with these words: “This plot is so thick, I don’t think you can stir it anymore.” That made me laugh aloud. I love the sound of it, though I do hope, with just a little extra effort, I will indeed be able to stir this plot just a little bit more… like maybe three chapters and an epilogue more.

Wowie. Where has the time gone?

The last time I was here, I was wishing everyone a wonderful holiday and here we are, well into the new year. The wreaths are down and all red and green decor stowed away until next year. There are no more candles in windows or gifts yet to open. And while some might see only cold winter days ahead, my hope is that some of the holiday warmth we all love so much has stayed with us somewhere, somehow.

If I’m to be honest, I’ll say it’s that way for me.

I was sick during the holidays. I don’t know how I got up each morning to bake or put on the Christmas Carols. But I did. I coughed so much no one wanted to share my space, and who could blame them. No matter how much concealer I dabbed on, my circles remained blue/black and my nose stayed an irritated red. Christmas day was wonderful despite all that – how could Christmas day be any other way? The day after, I crashed, slept nearly all day. There had to be  a way to fight off this cold/flu/allergy/whatever, and it seemed rest was it.

By New Year’s Eve, I was feeling better but not quite myself. My fear was if I didn’t get better immediately, I’d bring whatever germ I had to Colorado… to my mom. And that was not an option. I self-medicated, rested, drank plenty of fluids and washed my hands a million times. All this so when we flew out to Colorado for my mom’s FINAL chemo treatment, I wouldn’t be the one to stress or test her chemo-compromised immune system.

And so, in the wee hours of the new year, we boarded a flight at JFK and headed out there with hope in our hearts.

The first day was wonderful. My mom had one more day of Chemo, the next day, and then she would be done. With luck, they’d say her leukemia was in remission and she’d go on going on. We celebrated, rested, caught up on ’stuff’ and otherwise had a wonderful time.

And then Sunday morning came.

My father, who has not missed a day of work in nearly three decades – and then it was only because he’d nearly died of blood poisoning from a severe allergic reaction to poison ivy – called in sick. Food poisoning, we all thought. Had to be. Anything else would be something my mom could catch, and that was simply not an option.

He was sick all day and we did what we could to keep him comfortable and my mother safe. Daughter, meanwhile, started coughing like I’d been just a week before.

Monday, Sister and I take mom for follow-up blood work. It’s not good, but that’s to be expected right after chemo. Her immune system is practically non-existent and will not bounce back for about a week. She has to be careful – wash her hands constantly, stay home, not go shopping or out to dinner or anything else that might put her in contact with germs she cannot fight off.

And so we go home.

And I start to feel queasy. Tired. Dizzy.

Father, meanwhile, has stumbled out of bed for the first time in 24 hours and has plain broth and white rice. I merely look at it and… I’m done. Food poisoning, it is not.

Houston, we have a problem.

The dreaded stomach virus.

All I could think as I wretched up my last meals was how this would effect my mom since she would be unable to fight it off. And then I thought of my grandmother – at 94, how would the stomach virus affect her?

Hubby, meanwhile, was skiing, because if you’re in Colorado and there’s snow in the mountains… what else are you supposed to do with yourself?

To sum things up… I spent the next 30+ hours in bed, unable to move or eat. Let me tell you, if there’s anything good to come out of having the stomach virus, it’s being able to lose those last 5 pounds so quickly… though not so effortlessly. :-/

The next day my sister calls. She’s got it now. By that night, I’m up but unable to eat. I scrub everything, washed hands, sheets and pillow cases. Everything I could think to do to keep mom from getting this, I did, she did, we all did.

Except hubby who went skiing again.

By Wednesday we think the worst is over. Daughter is sick with a cold but not the virus. Grandma is downstairs safe in her own living space, Dad is back to work, Sister is able to get out of bed, I’m eating again, Brother-in-law is feeling just fine and Hubby… is out skiing for day #3.

He’s no fool, out there in the fresh, stomach-virus-free air.

By Thursday morning, mom’s not feeling so good. We’re supposed to leave for home the next day at noon. By Thursday, noon, it’s clear she’s got it, too. And now panic sets in. She’s gone through four months of chemo without getting sick. We’re here, now, at the end, and she suffers this setback. What should we do?

I call the emergency number and try to calmly express my concerns. To my great relief I’m told this: The stomach virus is just that, a virus. It will have to run it’s course. If it were food poisoning or some other bacterial issue, THAT would be a major concern. This virus will have to run its course.

Hard to believe anyone would be happy they ‘only’ had a virus.

The next day, Hubby goes home alone. Why? Because he has events to photograph that weekend so he cannot stay. I cannot leave because mom’s still recovering. I also cannot leave because Grandma woke feeling nauseous. And Daughter? Well… she can’t leave because now she’s got it, too.

The next day proves even skiing and flying hundreds of miles away is not enough to insure freedom from such a wayward and determined bug. Hubby now has it, too. And Sunday? Brother-in-law is also out for the count.

And so… the moral of my story is thus… share and share alike. What goes around comes around. There’s no escape. If anything can go wrong it will. And any other Murphy-esque law you can thing of.

We’re all okay now and life has gone back to… normal (whatever that is). I’ve gotten back to my story… YAY! …daughter has gotten back to her schooling and activities, mom’s immune system is slowly rebounding, and the rest of the family is otherwise healthy and doing their thing.

Some more good news after all the bad?

My mom’s CLL is indeed in remission, and so, all that anxiety, all that fear and diligence has paid off. It might be for only a year, it might be for ten. However long it is, my hope is science will use that time to find a cure for this and other cancers.

Well, that’s my long, drawn-out story. I’m glad to be back. I’ve missed all my blogging friends and I WILL be visiting your blogs regularly again. <<hugs>>

Oh… and one more thing…

Happy New Year.