by Laura K. Curtis | Feb 21, 2014 | Stuff!, Writing |
Today I am over at Women of Mystery with a long post on numbers, self-publishing vs. traditional publishing, and some of the inherent difficulties with using sales data to make career decisions.
It was also pointed out to me after I Photoshopped myself a pair of crankypants for my last post that I should, perhaps, take advantage of the Cafe Press store to create some actual crankypants. So I did. And I’ve added a bunch of other things, too, just for your amusement (and mine). So head on over to Laura K. Curtis’s Crazy Author Shop to see what I’ve been doing with my insomnia!
by Laura K. Curtis | Feb 17, 2014 | Books, Stuff! |
If only I could clone myself, the other me would, in her copious free time, create a clothing company called “Cranky Couture” so that we could all wear honest-to-goodness cranky pants when we feel like it.
If you’re part of the publishing world, I’ll just say that my current cranky mood is due to being slammed by a Howey’s report over and over everywhere I’ve looked. If you want to know what I think of that report, I will send you two places:
1) To Sunita’s excellent analysis on Dear Author, wherein she mentions all the things I knew, and several I didn’t, that made me distrust the report.
2) To my own post at Women of Mystery, wherein I talk about some of the things you should consider before making your own choice about how you want to publish your current project.
If you’re not in publishing, that won’t mean anything to you. Be happy. Or put on your cranky pants and let me know what makes you want to wear them!
by Laura K. Curtis | Feb 16, 2014 | Books, Recipes |
As many people know, a while back I developed an allergy to gluten. At first, it was ghastly. But time passed and I have found substitutes for almost everything. The two things I haven’t been really happy with are pizza dough and real bread. Sandwich bread is easy enough, and we’ve found that Jules GF pizza dough is delicious, but it takes a long time to make. (If you’re curious, I am working on a Pinterest board of GF pantry staples, things I’ve taste-tested and approved. If you have things I should add, I’d love to hear about that them!)
But real bread, despite all the things I tried, defeated me. Sure, I could get a pretty good one with eggs and milk and all kinds of things that, IMHO, don’t belong in bread. I could spend weeks or months (I kid you not, depending on what you see online) developing a starter from a minimum of five different types of flour. I love bread, but that wasn’t going to happen.
Then I bought Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread: (Biscuits, Bagels, Buns, and More)
. Now, I haven’t made anything from it yet–I’ll let you know how that goes as I try it. It all looks DELICIOUS. But the recipes call for an ingredient I’ve read about before but never been able to find: Expandex Modified Tapioca Starch. I’ve skipped plenty of recipes in my search for gluten free food because I couldn’t find Expandex. The places that had it online wanted WAY too much in shipping and no one had it locally.
However, in the resource section to the book and on her blog, Nicole recommends Montana’s Gifts of Nature. Their website is fairly tragic, to be brutally honest, and to contact them you have to call them. It was about 5:15 on Sunday night my time when I got to the resource section of the book, but Nicole said that one could call and leave a message and they’d call you back. So I called. And Larry answered.
And let me tell you something…that was a super conversation. It wasn’t anything particular that I can put my finger on. But he discussed everything with me from shelf life to shipping costs so I could make the best decision about how much I wanted. When I hung up, despite having had to call, I was really happy with the decision to choose them rather than one of the other two places I saw online that had the product in stock.
It occurs to me that there are very few companies I can say that about. If I had the time, I’d build them a proper website so their products could get the attention they deserve. For now, I’ll just say that if you’re looking for Expandex, it’s definitely worth making the call. And if you’re selling something, take a lesson from Larry and be as friendly as can be!
by Laura K. Curtis | Feb 15, 2014 | Dogs, Romance, Stuff! |
This is my treacherous dog, Philomena. See all that ice and snow? See that nice path we shoveled and blew for her? Well, she doesn’t care. She wants to jump up on top and run around. Which would be fine, except that at 30 pounds or so, she can go about ten or fifteen feet and then she falls through the ice layer and the snow’s so deep she can’t get out.
So today, while trying to keep her on the path we’d dug for her, I managed to fall on my butt, which sent a lovely shock right up my spine to the already herniated disc in my neck. These are things that heroines NEVER have to contend with. Why, oh why, can I not be a romance novel heroine?
by Laura K. Curtis | Feb 6, 2014 | Books, Crafts, Stuff! |
I love notebooks. Love pens. Love everything related to writing. And when my brain shuts down and I can’t write anymore, I like to crochet. Recently, the fabulous Deb Lacy from Mystery Playground asked me to come up with something crafty that was mystery- and book-related. So, since I’ve been on a Doctor Who glom lately, I decided to create a pattern for a pocket-style case for a notebook.
Deb has the pattern over on Mystery Playground so you can crochet your own if you’re so inclined, but you could also win this one! Just head on over and enter (be sure to click the Rafflecopter to enter, don’t just comment)!
by Laura K. Curtis | Jan 29, 2014 | Books, Romance, Writing |
Just got the cover for my upcoming book, LOST, which comes out May 20!
What do you think?
by Laura K. Curtis | Jan 21, 2014 | Books, Romance, Writing |
I’ve just made my reservation for this year’s RWA conference. (Thieves, don’t worry, my husband will still be at my house and my dogs will be with him!) I love RWA. Not the organization, which has all the flaws and weaknesses inherent in any large group, but the conference. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you have limited funds for promotion/marketing, you should go to a conference. It will be more expensive than any other form of marketing, but it will put you in touch with all the people you need to know.
RWA is my vacation as well as my professional networking conference. It’s when I get to see the people I can only chat with online the rest of the year. It’s the one place everyone understands my obsessions and fears.
If you’re thinking about going and you’re not sure whether you’d fit in at a conference, here’s my post on how to deal with conferences: The Art of the Con. The fact is, most conference attendees are very friendly. It won’t take you long to find a group to hang with. If you’re really nervous, find someone to go with you. Make it a vacation as well as a career item.
Are you going to any conferences this year? I’ll be doing RT, Bouchercon, and, of course, RWA. Will I see you?
by Laura K. Curtis | Jan 8, 2014 | Crafts |
Click to enlarge so you can see the pattern better.
So I know I said I was going to learn to knit this year, and I am. In fact, I have already knitted one project (despite much cursing and pulling out of stitches). I doubt it will ever be natural for me the way crochet is, so I probably won’t ever make any of the really lovely (but complicated) sweaters and things I see patterns for.
And beginner projects are always so very basic that they’re hardly appealing at all.
But often I think the same about crochet. Still, some beginner crochet can look quite accomplished. So here’s a very, very basic pattern that still looks lovely when made up. The only stitches you need are double crochet (DC) and chain (CH) and adding yarn (which I do with a slip stitch for this one).
And the best thing about this scarf is that it is extremely tolerant of mistakes. Most common error: putting six DCs in the shell instead of 5 or forgetting to put the CH where it belongs. You’ll go along to the next row and go “blast, if I count, I have too many DCs below!” but it doesn’t matter. Don’t rip it out. Just skip 3 DCs instead of 2 and make sure your next DC goes in the right place. Forgot to put a chain in? You won’t have *enough* spaces in the row below, but ignore that and just put the chain in on the row you’re working on and then go ahead and DC where you’re supposed to. I promise, it will work out.
That said, those fixes ONLY work if you don’t use a self-striping yarn. I wouldn’t recommend variegated yarn for this project for beginners because that will show mistakes.
This scarf came from several sources–it’s a combination of a scarf pattern I could never make work (I think the author had the numbers wrong, but she didn’t reply to email), along with some shell-stitch wrist warmers that I love the look of and wanted a scarf to go with. But the problem with shell stitch for a scarf is that you have flat on one end. So you make this scarf in two pieces (don’t worry, you don’t have to sew them together or anything complicated). That way you get pretty waves on both ends.
The centerline of the scarf, where two pieces attach
For ease, I’d make this using two skeins/balls of wool. That way you know both your ends will be the same length. Essentially, you’re going to make one side the length you want, then go back and start from the chain end and make the other side. This leaves a center line that’s visible but pretty.
I used Berrocco Flicker for this scarf, which is a worsted weight (#4) yarn. But to make it long enough at this width, I had to use 2.5 skeins. You could probably do just fine with two skeins if you went down to a 46 beginning chain rather than the 54 I have listed. (You can see a chart for this at the bottom of this post.)
Shells and Lattice Scarf:
Chain 54 (basically, the number of chains is dependent on the width of scarf you want. If you only wanted one shell, you would need to begin with 14 chain stitches. Each repeat is 8 stitches, so it goes up by 8 depending on width: 14, 22, 30, 38, 46, 54, 62, 70….all the way up to blanket size!)
Row 1: 1 DC into 6th CH from hook, skip 2 CH, 5 DC into next CH, skip 2 CH, 1 DC into next CH, CH 1, skip 1 CH, 1 DC into next CH, **skip 2 CH, 5 DC into next CH, skip 2 CH, 1 DC into next CH, ch 1. Repeat from ** until end, then turn.
Row 2: Ch 4 (look at the graph; these make up the first DC and the first CH), skip CH, 1 DC into DC, **skip 2 DC, 5 DC into next DC (this will be the 3rd, topmost, DC of the shell, and you’re making the next shell on top of it), skip 2 DC, 1 DC into DC, CH 1, skip CH (so you now have a chain above a chain above a chain–nicely lining up), 1 DC into DC. Repeat from ** until end. Beginner note: At the end, if you’re not used to double crochet, you’ll find you have a sort of loose loopy thing (see graph). For this second row, there will be five. Those five make up the bottom chain stitch of the first row’s pattern, the three that make up the height of the DC, and the chain stitch of the row you are working on. So place your stitch into not the TOP one, but second from the top. In this case, it is the fourth CH out of five, in future rows it will be the third of four.
Row 3: Ch 4 (again, these chains make up the first DC and the first CH), skip CH, 1 DC into DC, skip 2 DC, 5 DC into next DC, skip 2 DC, 1 DC into DC, CH 1, skip CH, 1 DC into DC, ch 1. Repeat from ** until end. When you get to the loopy bit at the end, don’t forget to skip the first chain and crochet into the second.
Future rows are all the same as row 3–just make it until it’s the right length or until you run out of half your yarn!
Now for the second half.
There are several ways to do this, but after a couple of experiments, I found looking for shells was easiest. I want my shells to match up and I know that each shell is made up of 5 DCs and that on each side of a shell I have a pattern of DC, ch, DC. So I attach my new yarn (I like to use a simple slip stitch and weave in ends later, but you can attach however you like. I make 4 chains, because I know that’s what I need to get the height and single chain. Then I don’t bother to try to count the chains. Especially with fuzzy yarn, it’s really hard. I just look for the first DC and DC into that. Now, I know that I have done DC, CH, DC, so it’s time for my shell. Look for the shell and put 5 DCs into the space created by your first shell. Keep going all the way to the end, then just repeat Row 3 to the end of the scarf!
Block if desired or necessary.
The lovely wavy ends of the scarf created by the shells.
by Laura K. Curtis | Jan 3, 2014 | Writing |
Last night I couldn’t sleep and as I stared around at the darkness of my room, I had a thought. So I picked up my iPad and typed up something. Will it ever go anywhere? I have no idea. It’s utterly and completely different from anything else I’ve ever written. But in case you’re interested, here’s what 2am looks like in my head:
•
Fear of the dark is universal, they say. Fire was not discovered because man needed to cook, but because he wished to drive away what hid in the night. The creature under the bed, the monster in the closet, these are familiar terrors. But the things that live in shadow, the hobgoblins and fanged ones and things that go bump in the night, they are but shadows themselves, shadows of the true darkness, the unrelenting and unremitting blackness of the soul.
I do not recall my first exposure to the corruption commonly called evil, but when I was eight it looked out at me from the eyes of an old man while we waited at the bus stop on Lexington and seventieth. He might have been anyone. Just another kindly grandfather going downtown to visit family. But he wasn’t. And in the moment I pulled my mother away and suggested walking rather than riding, I realized that his darkness had seen me, had recognized that within me which even I did not yet know.
It is so many years ago now, that meeting with the old man who became the first entry in my first journal. I am an old woman and death is coming for me. I will not go easy, and my enemies will not be kind, but I have lived well and brought light whenever possible.
And I have children. Four daughters. I loved their fathers, in my way, but none could stick once they realized what I was. They took my children, but we have kept in touch. And while I would not wish my sight, my curse, my blessing, my avocation on any of them, should they find themselves in my position, I hope these journals will prove useful.
No one wants to be forgotten.
by Laura K. Curtis | Jan 2, 2014 | Stuff! |
I am a huge fan of Doctor Who. This year I have undertaken to introduce my husband to the series, and while he’s not a fan, exactly, he likes it better than many other things I watch.
Like many fans of Doctor Who, I have my favorite Doctor. I also have my favorite companion. David Tennant is my Doctor (with Tom Baker coming in second) and Donna is my favorite companion, though I am inordinately fond of Sarah Jane Smith and I grew to really enjoy Amy and Rory. I think Donna’s ending is the most poignant of any in the series to date. And, in fact, that’s what I liked about David Tennant’s time as the Doctor: the writing was emotional and the storylines were delivered by excellent actors.
Before Doctor Who, however, I had no idea who Catherine Tate was. This woman is a comic genius. It doesn’t come across well in the show, except for her timing (which is important in all aspects of acting, not just in comedy), but you can find all sorts of things starring her on You Tube. Below, I have a couple of clips of Tate and Tennant together that I hope amuse you as much as they do me. Enjoy.
First up, “Christmas Present” from Catherine Tate’s version of “A Christmas Carol”
And next, from 2007’s Comic Relief, a classroom skit:
