Rhys's New Year's Resolution: Decluttering

RHYS BOWEN: Hank asked us last week about our New Year's Resolutions.
I have a special note book and every New Year's Day I sit down and write the highlights of the last year, my plans and dreams for the upcoming year. Then I check off last year's plans and dreams and check the ones I accomplished. Also checked off items on my bucket list.
Recently my expectations have more to do with enjoying life, staying healthy, spending more time with friends and less being stressed about my writing. Yes, I'm moving into a Zen-like state.

One of my decisions for the new year was to de-clutter. I love coming to our condo in Arizona because it was new when we bought it. I furnished it with light Skandanavian-style furniture( okay, I confess, Ikea) and we keep a minimum amount of clothing and books here. It's easy to clean and looks uncluttered. In contrast to our home in CA that has accumulated thirty years of family living, far too many book cases of books, as well as boxes of vinyl records and cassette tapes that will never be played, clothes that will never again be worn, photos that will never get put into albums.

So I'm started a serious clean-up campaign. I've been weeding out clothes that are still good, still timeless--like those dark suits kept only for New York visits--and yet are rarely worn. Or the bright jacket with palm trees on it worn only on trips to Hawaii. Or shoes that are good but actually hurt me after twenty minutes.

I've been through my toiletries and ousted lipsticks and mascara that must now be too old, bath products I've been given but really aren't my scent, medicines that are past their sell-by date.  And books. I'm being sensible about books. Even if I loved it, I'll probably never re-read it (the exception to this is Agatha Christie. She's my go-to comfort read. As is "Our Hearts Were Young And Gay.") And if I do decide to re-read there are libraries and Kindle.  And do we really need my forty-year-old daughter's high school English paper comparing the Heart of Darkness with Lord of the Flies, even if it did get an A?

But the serious de-cluttering is being done on my computer. I get at least 100 emails a day. And most of them I didn't want, didn't ask for and don't need. All the on-line stores at which I bought one Christmas present, charities I donated to at Christmas, and now think they can send me weekly updates.  Every cruise line in the world because we took a cruise last year. All the publishing-related sites like Shelf Awareness that are actually interesting but I simply don't have time to read. Yahoo groups to which I've belonged for years but again are neither helpful or relevant. Jokes that friends think I'd like to read. Snippets from the BBC and English newspapers that my husband thinks I should know about.

So I've been going through ruthlessly with the UNSUBSCRIBE button and hope to end up with about twenty important and relevant emails per day.

And ruthlessly eliminating apps I never use on my iPad and phone too.

So how about you, Reds? How do you handle electronic cluttering?

HALLIE EPHRON: I did all my holiday shopping online, but once the packages were delivered I UNSUBSCRIBEd, so my email doesn't need to be de-cluttered. I do go in occasionally and delete email folders I no longer need, or move them a layer down so I don't see them every day. But I've done it often enough that I'm afraid to do too much deleting for fear I'll lose something I really need.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I do the e-de-cluttering for both my laptop and for Ross's computer, so I tend to make it a regular task. (Unless anyone mistake me for a Highly Organized Person, I will say this is probably the ONLY decluttering I do regularly.) Like everyone else, I also get a gazillion unwanted emails, which usually filter into the trash, so all I have to do is empty it on occasion. I tend to save most of my non-commercial email, unless it's something that's otherwise saved online, like newsletter subscriptions or our Jungle Red listserv. I have my mail program set up to automatically delete attachments when I delete the original email, and that saves a lot of time and space.

The part that continues to overwhelm me are my kids' pictures and music files. Having never taken photos with film, they've never learned to carefully set up one or two shots and take them; instead they snap away on their phones and cameras like professional papparazi and upload EVERYTHING. Begging them to sit down and edit their files has been...less than successful. So when I can, I try to slip in and delete most of the blur-of-motion, finger-over-lens and feet pictures. Not my favorite chore by far.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: You are such an inspiration! I have just spent a joyous half hour unsubscribing. It's funny--every morning I check my computer, and spend several minutes just deleting stuff, unread, and being annoyed. Why didn't I think of unsubscribing? It's fabulous. Thank you.

I am such a clutterbug, and am working so hard to stop. I made a nice basket to put all the to-do bills and stuff in. So I could be organized and pretty.  The basket filled to overflowing. So much for THAT idea. But suddenly I am madly throwing stuff away. I don;t know what got into me. When the mail comes, Jonathan looks at each piece, and then just puts it down. Recently I started (sweetly) requesting that he *deal* with each one instead: Action file, storage file, or toss. Gotta start somewhere right, so might as well be with him.  :-) 

RHYS: While I'm ruthlessly eliminating I've been searching sites for useful decluttering apps and one of my favorites is EVERNOTE. This is what is said about it. I find it amazingly useful:

Evernote - Decluttering + Organization

Also during the search, you may find a lot of papers in various locations. Whether it's important documents, warranties for appliances, or recipes handed out in grocery stores, these all add up to one giant mess. Enter Evernote, which has the capability to scan these papers into a into digital form which can then be accessed anywhere the internet reaches. Evernote is also handy for making lists, reminders, calendar events, documents, and more to make the ultimate home binder. Free - Available for iOS / Android / Windows Phone

And if you have reached the desperate stage in real lie decluttering need then this is the app for you:

up a bit, the homestead now has a lot of new possibilities. Rebirth that living room by shifting the layout around, but save your energy with a little digital ingenuity. MagicPlan takes your room's dimensions with your smartphone camera and creates a flattened room layout to play with. Add in furniture and move it around to see what can go where. Free - Available for iOS/ Android

Unfilth Your Habitat - Maintaining Cleanliness

Once everything is done, maintain cleanliness and order with rigorous discipline. Some of us excel in this department, while others weren't born with Martha Stewart instincts when it comes to household maintenance. Enter Unfilth Your Habitat, a tough love app that when used correctly guides users towards less obvious chores around the house. Select a random one that takes either 5, 10, or 20 minutes, use the pomodoro timer to get productive (20 minutes of work, 10 minutes of rest), or create a list of tasks to accomplish. $2 - Available for iOS /Android

So, dear Reds and Readers: what decluttering tips can you share with us? Any more brilliant apps?

Cookbook Nostalgia

LUCY BURDETTE: The other day I realized how much my search for recipes for favorite or new foods has changed. These days I almost always find them online-either I run across recipes on the web that sound yummy, like those from my pals on Mystery Lovers Kitchen, or I search sites like Epicurious. Of course I often look up basic stuff in the JOY OF COOKING. And I know plenty of folks rely on TV cooking shows and celebrity recipes.

And that made me nostalgic for the old days, when my first go-to cooking bible was THE MOOSEWOOD COOKBOOK. My first copy is dog-eared and stained; I remember eating tons of food like mushroom strudel (1/2 pound butter plus cream cheese plus sour cream), Vericheesy Casserole (soybeans and brown rice), and Sour Cream-Orange Cake (soaked in Grand Marnier, which I served to my dissertation committee after they'd accepted my opus--the cake, not the booze). Molly Katzen came out with sequels and the new, improved lower-fat version, but I loved the first one the best.

Do you have an old favorite cookbook that's fallen out of favor? Where do you go when you need guidance these days?

HALLIE EPHRON: Here are my two favorite cookbooks: "The Joy of Cooking" and "Michael Fields Cooking School." Both belonged to my mother. "Joy" taught me the basics. But the most recipes that I still make regularly for very special company are from Michael Fields. His curried chicken (made with an apple) and his broiled butterflied boneless leg of lamb with egg lemon sauce are sublime.

These days I go to Epicurious for recipes. It's not just the recipes but the reader comments that give you a real sense of whether the recipes work (or don't).

RHYS BOWEN: Oh my goodness, I grew up with Mrs. Beaton--you know, recipe for oxtail soup is "first take your ox."  Everything has at least half a pound of butter and is made in about ten stages. But it was what my mother used. I also had a binder of recipes my mother-in-law sent me. And these were mostly from the war--terribly economical. As I learned to cook I branched out to Julia Child (I even served souffles as a starter once. I was so ambitious in those days). But when I married John I had to learn to cook curries and Asian food as he'd spent so much time in Asia and then became sales manager of Air India.

More recently I buy cook books for the pretty pictures and for nostalgia. One day I'll go through the wad of magazine clippings in my kitchen drawer.

LUCY: I love that Rhys--first take your ox! And I have a drawer stuffed with clippings too...

JAN BROGAN - Lucy, I have the Moosewood Cookbook, too, although I have to confess I haven't used it as much as you did.  I love the Joy of Cooking, the Silver Palette, The New York Time's Sixty Minute Gourmet,  and I still use Giada de Laurentiis's Giada's Family dinners.  

But you a right Roberta, they get a lot less use these days. I love calling up five different recipes for the same thing online and patching them together for my own version.

ROSEMARY HARRIS: I did a serious cookbook purge a few years ago. My husband used to work for Random House (think Clarkson Potter)and then Workman Publishing so I had tons of cookbooks - many of them beautiful but never used. I grew to love SOAR (Searchable Online Access to Recipes), but I think that morphed into something else, so I just google whatever I want and voila, it pops up. Usually it's on the Food Channel or All Recipes site
http://allrecipes.com/

Some of the books I had to keep, even if I only love one recipe from the book and by rights, should know it by heart by now. Joy of Cooking - eggnog recipe, Cooking from Quilt Country - Onion pie, the charmingly named Desperate Measures, 90 Unintimidating Recipes for the Domestically Inept - Patsy Cline's chili and gorognzola scallion cornbread

The one I still use most often, drum roll... Martha Stewart's Entertaining. I'm on my third copy, but have kept the first. Old, sticky, and has my handwritten notes "like use the dark, brown sugar."

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Lucy, I still have my Moosewood books, but I've kept them for the illustrations.  I don't think I ever actually made a single recipe from either of them!

The books I loved, and still use, are Laurel's Kitchen, Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book (second or third copies of both, as they wore out), The Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread Book by my friend and past JR guest Crescent Dragonwagon, and Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking and More Home Cooking. My mother was a big Adele Davis fan, so many of my basic cooking techniques came from that.

Current faves?  Lots of Jamie Oliver.  I adore Jamie, and have never made a recipe I didn't like.  Some Gordon Ramsay, the simple stuff.  And my very latest, Robin Ellis's Delicious Dishes for Diabetics.  I'm not diabetic, but from the previous list you can see I'm a life-long whole foods nut, and love Mediterranean-style food, so I'm really enjoying this book.  (And besides, Robin is adorable.

And, I use the online recipes, too, but am not giving up my cookbooks.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yes, I have a lot of cookbooks, too. And I actually used to cook. :-)  You know what was the absolutely pivotal transcendent constantly useful and still-relevant one? The Blue Strawberry Cookbook, by James Haller. I'm telling you--it--taught me how to cook. It doesn't have reciptes. It just has--chemistry. WHY things work. That for a roux, you need an oily thing, and an oniony thing, and a thickener, and a liquid. (It could be water, or wine, or chicken broth.) That for pesto, you need a oily thing, and a cheese, and a nut, and a green thing. (But it could be basil or arugula or spinach.) Because--when you know WHY it works, you can make dinner out of anything.
Oh, life-changing.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Still have, and use, THE JOY OF COOKING. I think my mother gave that and the mid-eighties BETTY CROCKER COOKBOOK to me when I got married. I went through a big foodie period with THE SILVER PALATE COOKBOOK and THE SILVER PALATE GOOD TIMES cookbook. Then I went to law school, and the kids started arriving, and for a few years, my idea of cooking consisted of Kraft Mac n Cheese and take out pizza. Like Ro, I also purged a lot of cookbooks a few years ago: I decided even though there were some great, great recipes, it didn't make sense for me to keep my shelf loaded up with books I didn't use.

My current every night fave is DESPERATION DINNERS by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross. The best book for cooking fast, without relying on lots of processed foods. For fancier fare, I like RECIPES FROM A VERY SMALL ISLAND by Martha Greenlaw. The recipes rely heavily on Maine foods; it has the most amazing blueberry section. Also? Gingerbread to die for.

LUCY: Oh Julia, we must have a gingerbread bake-off. The recipe in the Moosewood Enchanted Broccoli Forest is killer too--lots of fresh ginger! Now your turn: cookbooks you love? where do your recipes come from?

ETON MESS

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I was so inspired by Rosemary's Strawberry Cake last Sunday that I decided to throw in the quintessential English summer desert. And I'd be willing to bet that none of the Reds except Rhys have any idea what an Eton Mess is. Believe me, it tastes much better than it sounds.

This no-cook berry pudding was first created sometime in the 1800s at Eton College, one of Britain's most distinguished public schools. It's served with great fanfare every year at the school's June 4 celebration picnic, which is held on the playing fields following a cricket game against the students of neighboring Winchester College.

Although historians believe it was first served with bananas, strawberries became de rigueur over the years, as did the addition of crumbled meringue cookies. Think of it as an inside-out pavlova — creamy, crispy, fruity, and sticky. For the five-ingredient recipe, read more.

ETON MESS

(From Martha Stewart Living)

Ingredients:

1 pound strawberries, hulled and quartered

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

3 cups coarsely crumbled pink or white meringue cookies (about 4 ounces)



Directions:


Gently stir together strawberries and granulated sugar in a large bowl. Cover, and let stand at room temperature until juices are released, at least 30 minutes (or refrigerate overnight).

Coarsely crush berries using a potato masher. Whisk together cream and confectioners sugar in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Gently fold in cookies and berries (with juices) until almost combined but ribbons of juice remain. Serve immediately.

Serves 6.

I LOVE this, and I know a lovely pub called The Jolly Gardeners in Putney (London) that does a fab Eton Mess. It should be eaten after a Sunday lunch and a good Pimm's.

In fact, I'm now so inspired that I may have to go to Whole Foods Market tomorrow and buy meringues so I can whip up a batch of Eton Mess of my own. (Yes, I know I could make the meringues, but we have a no-bake rule going in our kitchen at the moment. And I'm lazy.)

Give it a whirl, JR readers, and let us know what you think. Happy Sunday!

Strawberries = Summer

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Okay, Julia asked me for the Strawberry/Blueberry cream cake recipe and I thought some of you might like it too. This cake is amazing and ridiculously easy to make. It will raise you to the level of domestic goddess in the eyes of your friends and family.

I made it once for a July 4th party and got in the habit of sprinkling blueberries on the top too otherwise it's a Martha Stewart recipe. I've also added blackberries or whatever berries looked good in the market that day. One tip..in between the layers..it looks nice if all of the strawberry tips are pointing out. Toothpicks or bamboo skewers help to get the berries exactly where you want them. Also the weight of the top layer will squish the cream out which looks good but not when too much comes out. Neurotic..?


Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
1 pound strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4-ounce envelope)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter bottom of an 8-inch round cake pan, and line with parchment paper. Butter and flour paper and sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2.Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture in 3 parts and milk in 2, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined. Spread batter in prepared pan.

3.Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack to cool completely. Using a serrated knife, split cake in half horizontally; place bottom half, cut side up, on a serving plate.

4.Make topping: In a large bowl, combine strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar; set aside. Place 2 tablespoons cold water in a small saucepan, and sprinkle with gelatin; let soften 5 minutes. Place saucepan over very low heat, and stir until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat; let cool.

5.Using an electric mixer, beat cream and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a large bowl until very soft peaks form. Continue to beat, and gradually add gelatin mixture; beat until soft peaks form.

6.Arrange half of strawberries over bottom cake layer; top with half of whipped cream, leaving a 1-inch border. Cover with top half of cake, cut side down. Top cake with remaining whipped cream, leaving a 1-inch border. Refrigerate cake and remaining strawberries separately, at least 1 hour (or up to 1 day). Just before serving, spoon strawberries over cake.

Enjoy!

Shut Eye, Forty Winks, Dreamland, Slumber Party

HANK: I sit here, staring at the computer screen, my brain fuzzy and essentially sludge. What do I need to get back in the, um, well,I'm trying to think of a word that means: quick-witted, thoughtful, flexible, interested, capable, imaginative. But only one word comes to mind right now.


Tired.

I could really use some sleep.

When I give speeches to organizations and book groups, and they say--wow, how do you have a full-time job as a reporter and a full-time job as an author and then all these appearances and you have a husband, if course--how do you do that?

And I laugh, and I say, oh, sleep was the first to go! Who needs sleep?

I do. I do. I do.

There's not a moment of the day I'm not working. (Writing this counts, right?) And I go home at night, and work more and write more and then fix dinner and then have dinner and then work or read-for-work and then go to sleep about--12:30? And get up at 7, if I'm lucky, and then start over.

That's six and a half hours (isn't it? bad at math, too sleepy..), and most experts say, that's not enough. Duh. Although I do know some people can go on less. Supposedly Leonardo Da Vinci would sleep just 15 minutes of every four hours. Whoa. Sleeping AND math. Very Leonardo.

Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister, was famous for getting by on
only four hours a night. Thomas Edison slept 3-4 hours at night, regarding sleep as a waste of time.



And, surprise surprise, Martha Stewart says: “There’s not enough time in the day.” As a result, she alleges she needs no more than four hours’ sleep a night. (It must be the high thread count Egyptian cotton color-coordinated sheets.)

My waking dream? To have the prescribed-as-normal textbook eight hours sleep a night. Oh, I wonder how the bags under my eyes would fare if I did. I'd love to find out. I'd love to find out in a cool breezy room, with fluttering crisp white curtains and the fragrance of salt water and, yes, beautiful sheets and fluffy pillows.





Sigh. Oh, sorry, I yawned. How much sleep do you need?

ROSEMARY: More than I'm getting! On a regular basis I seem to get six hours, out by midnight and up by 6am, although when it's crunchtime I easily stay up until 3 or 4 until all or most of the things on my list are accomplished. (Then I drag my sorry butt around the next day.)

But the work is never finished. I was busy before I started writing - I did a lot more volunteering than I do now and for a time I was going to Africa once a year to check on the library. And my garden was in its early stages so I did a lot more planting. Some days I just take the day off - my husband laughs because all that means is that I'm working at something other than writing or promoting.

JAN: Those four-hour-a-night-sleep people have different DNA than the rest of us. Or maybe they are aliens sent to spy on us because that's just not human. Last week, I did a story for the Globe and talked to the pre-eminent sleep researcher in the country. He said you need one hour of sleep to process, sort, file and "deal with" every two hours you are awake. Sleep is the body's filtering and filing system and when you don't get it (unless you are an alien), you can't properly deal with your emotions and the weird little traumas of every day life.

This is just a long-winded defense where I call in a Harvard researcher to validate my absolute need for eight hours every single night. If I somehow get shorted one night, its NINE hours the next. I am a complete and total sleep WIMP.

HALLIE: I'm with you, Jan. Eight hours a night. MINIMUM. I'm so glad Harvard says that's a good thing.

I consider myself a champion sleeper. Usually I'm out within a minute or two of my head hitting the pillow. I sleep especially well with the baseball game on the TV. Or during that last fifteen minutes of Masterpiece Mystery. On the rare occasion when I can't sleep I get my husband to talk to me and that does the trick.

HANK: Oh, that's hilarious! We won't tell him...

HALLIE: And confession: I like to take a short nap mid-afternoon, too. Just twenty minutes out and I'm good to go. Yes, that's on top of my 8 hours.

Such a wimp.

ROBERTA: Hallie, I'm so envious of you falling to sleep like that. My hub is the same way--he's off to dreamland and I lie there thinking about a thousand things that should be done. Not good at sleeping through the night either...oh for those younger days when I was a champion sleeper too! And Deb, I'm not at all a night person. Not a 6 am girl either. John teases that my peak hours are 9 to 11 am. Could be:).

Hank, I've never noticed any bags--you always look better than the rest of us.

HANK: May I find your glasses for you? :-)

RHYS: I'm just getting over two years of real sleep problems--some nights with no sleep at all. It's bliss to be able to fall asleep right away, but I can only do it if I grab the window of opportunity which is between 9:30-10:30. If I stay up past that, or I'm watching a stimulating show on TV, I can be staring at the ceiling at three. And I do need my eight hours too. The problem is that I wake by seven however late I fall asleep.
And something else that's strange--I sleep really well away from home in hotels. If I wake at home I'm lying there writing the next chapter or remembering something I should have mailed. Away from home I sleep. Maybe I should be on the road all year.
Oh, and I love naps too, but they have to be less than ten minutes or I feel like a zombie.

DEBS: Oh, I'm so glad someone else confesses to naps! And that you are not all aliens who only need four hours sleep. I need eight, although I usually don't get quite that much. And then I need a nap mid-to-late afternoon, after which I write like a maniac and could keep going post midnight if I didn't have to do things like fix dinner and clean up . . .

I can't write when I'm tired. My brain just doesn't fire. But even after so many years of practical experience with this, I'm still amazed at the difference enough rest makes. I am also a night person, and the more I can accommodate my body clock, the better I do.

As for those bags under the eyes, Hank, I am SHOCKED, just SHOCKED by how much difference rest makes in the way I look as I get, um, more "mature." At least I don't have to be on TV when I've had a bad night :-)

ROSEMARY: I do think naps are wonderful - such a treat. And then you've got a whole new day!

HANK: Oh, gosh, I can't nap. When I do, I wake up and want scrambled eggs. No matter what time it is. It scrambles my brain, I guess.


So Reds, how much sleep do you need? Or, just as interesting, how much sleep do you get? Naps? Or no naps?

Are you a Martha Stewart or a, um, Hank? And--just thought of this--did you ever have slumber parties?

And hey, because it's Monday and why not--I have a signed copy of Lisa Scottoline's brand new SAVE ME to give away to one lucky commenter!

WHAT PUBLISHERS DO TO MARKET YOUR BOOK (..and how you can help them)

If you weren't lucky enough to attend the New England Crimebake in person last year, here's a taste of the Bruce Harris marketing seminar that you missed. Bruce will be available to answer questions on Jungle Red for the rest of the week so come back and pick his brain.

While traveling with Rosemary, I’ve heard many writers wonder aloud “What do publishing companies really do to help market books? What happens at all those meetings they’re always attending? Why isn’t my book getting more attention?”

I’ve had a 40 year career in publishing and maybe I can answer some of these questions.
Most publishing professionals are smart, dedicated people who work long hours without huge salaries or expense accounts.
Traditional ways of marketing and selling a book are giving way to new digital paradigms but at the same time print on paper books are by far the biggest revenue producers for almost every publishing house so everyone is concerned with increasing market visibility for each and every title.
What happens after your agent finds an editor who loves your book? It’s a lot like learning you’re about to have a baby.

FIRST TRIMESTER (9-7 months before pub. date)
The editor and publisher structure a deal to put your book on an upcoming list. Most publishers now have 3 lists: Spring : generally May-August; Fall: September-January and Winter: Feb-April . (There are many variables - Random House may do it differently from Macmillan or Little Brown and, just to complicate things, other publishers have only two seasons.) Find out what your publisher does.
Once a book is on the list, the marketing process begins. Most publishers have a launch meeting where the editor presents your book to people from publicity, sales and marketing. The editor is your voice. It really helps if you have provided some ammunition he/she can use to make this book stand apart from the other 30 or 100 books being presented at the same meeting.
It can be a great quote or tagline, the fact that you know Oprah, or that you have 100,000 friends on Facebook - anything that will make them remember you and want to read your manuscript.
Many publishers send out author questionnaires. Take this seriously. They’re are asking these questions to elicit who and what you know and how to pitch you to buyers.
Some houses (like Penguin..) have created digital marketing guides helpful to both new and established authors just getting their feet wet with blogs and websites. Ask if they have one.
If you haven’t already, at this time the author or publisher should register the domain name for the title.

SECOND TRIMESTER (6-4 months before pub. date)
The art director is creating the perfect jacket for your book – give them ideas. They probably won’t have had the time to read your book so anything you can offer will likely be appreciated.
A preliminary budget and first print quantity have probably been set. By now, there may be a galley or advance reading copy (ARC) of your book. Now is a good time to have a frank and productive talk with your editor about realistic but optimistic expectations. Your cheerful enthusiasm and energy is a plus that can make a huge difference in-house.
Sales people will be selling your book to bookstores three to six months before publication date. Find out who your local sales rep is and try to meet them.
At this time, you should be working with your publicist on your book tour (or blog tour.) Most publishers don’t compensate for tours but bookstores and libraries still want authors and these are worth doing even if you only travel within a 50 mile radius of your house. It’s likely there won’t be any advertising for your book so publicity will be the main marketing engine to generate sales.

THIRD TRIMESTER (3 months-pub. date)
Get media coaching and do some role playing before you speak in public about your book. It will help you refine your pitch. Try it out on your editor and publicist (and friends) to get feedback.
Your book will usually ship 4-6 weeks before the publication date to allow for reviews and get books into stores across the country.
Now, your book is ready to be born and make its way into a difficult world. You and your publisher have a common interest; you both want your book to succeed and thrive. Keep your editor and marketing team up to date with all the things you’re doing. Don’t hesitate to ask for advice and help but realize the pressure your publishing friends are under and try to be considerate of their time too.
I’ve had some wonderful adventures in the world of books and publishing and I hope that you’ll all keep writing and reading books in the years to come.

Bruce Harris

(Bruce Harris has worked at Random House, Crown Publishers and Workman Publishing and has been involved in the marketing of dozens of bestsellers from Martha Stewart to Maya Angelou and from Ram Dass to Ruth Rendell. He is currently retired but, consulting for small presses and individual authors.)

Food Glorious Food

"Food, glorious food,
We're anxious to try it.
Three banquets a day,
Our favorite diet." from Oliver, the musical

ROBERTA: Don't you just love the food of summer? I'm in heaven because Jake the Corn Man should be setting up shop down the road a bit by the weekend. He has the best corn and it's worth going to his truck just to hear his sales pitch. He'll run through every item in his truck if you let him.

"Have you tried my plums (or cherries or peaches?) They're so delicious they'll make the juice run right down your chin." And so on...

The crops are starting to come in down in our garden patch too. We've been eating chard, lettuce, and spinach for a while, but I picked the first handful of green beans today--summer is definitely here! I wanted to take a photo of our first blueberries of the season, but John and I ate them before I got around to it.

Today I made this lime sponge cake. It's light and tart--perfect for a hot night. How about you guys, what are your favorite foods of summer?

HALLIE: I was just thinking how much I hate the heat and humidity and how much I LOVE the food. Our community supported farm (Brookwood Farm) just had its first week of produce -- tender carrots, onions, scapes (the green curly tops of garlic), basil (a huge bunch), cilantro, parsley, little turnips, salad greens, peas, sugar snap peas... I am officially in heaven. The southern peaches from the supermarket have been fabulous. Just got our first cherries. Local corn not yet but soon, and of course it's awhile before we'll have the first vine ripened tomatoes. Anyone have anything great (and unusual) to do with collard greens? Roberta, any chance you'll share that recipe?

ROBERTA: Absolutely! I cut the recipe out of the New Haven Register years ago, but this looks like exactly the same thing. Though I've never garnished with slices of lime:). http://www.mom-mom.com/lime_spongecake.htm

RO: Smoothies! I miss them in the winter. Nectarines! Watermelon! Martha's strawberry cream cake recipe which makes the baker look like a domestic goddess even if she isn't. Salads for dinner. But if I had to live off the harvest from my vegetable garden I'd starve. Hallie, do you grow collards?

HANK: You all can have my collards, okay? Peaches and blueberries, charcoal-grilled peaches with blue cheese, corn on the cob (also grilled) with lime butter. Lobster! Strawberries with brown sugar. We make a drink called a Palmyra--its vodka, and simple syrup, and fresh lime juice, all shaken madly with a bunch of fresh mint leaves, then poured into a martini glass. Oh, it's fantastic.

RHYS: See, I knew Hank was my kind of gal. The other Jungle Red babes discuss collard greens and garlic tops and Hank makes cocktails! We have a local farmers market and a pick-your-own strawberry patch nearby. The peaches, plums and strawberries taste completely different from those shipped from miles away. Every year I want to grow things, but then I find I'm away for half the summer. so I have to settle for those heirloom tomatoes at the farmers market.
And in a couple of weeks I'll be in the South of France, wandering the market with a basket over my arm, playing a French housewife and buying everything fresh. Can't wait!

JAN: fresh tuna, swordfish and scallops bought from the fishmarket in Edgartown or New Bedford and cooked with fresh herbs from my garden. I can't eat supermarket fish or tomatoes anymore. Actually I only eat tomatoes in august when they are local.

I have to admit though. By mid august I'm sick of anything grilled and start longing for cold weather and stews.

ROBERTA: Now I'm really drooling...time for our annual Jungle Red summer banquet! What will you bring?

Meet Bruce Harris

I didn't have to go too far to find today's Jungle Red guest. Hank suggested him and since I believe that Hank is practically perfect and right about almost everything, I thought why not?

During his years in book publishing, Bruce Harris has been the founder of Harmony Books, Director of Publishing at Crown, President of Sales and Marketing at Random House Trade Group, and President and COO of Workman. He's now an independant consultant for both authors and publishers. (And, yes...he's also my husband.)

RH: That's a pretty impressive resume. Are there any books or authors you've worked with who have a special place in your heart?

BH: That's a hard question because I've enjoyed working on many types of books from Be Here Now to 1,000 Places to See Before You Die - which I guess is a little like Be Somewhere Else.

RH: And from The Joy of Sex to What to Expect When You're Expecting...which also has a certain symmetry, doncha think?

BH: Certainly two of my favorite authors were Martha Stewart and Douglas Adams. I also really enjoyed touring with General Colin Powell - who I really hoped would run for president. They were three of the hardest working authors I've ever encountered.

Gen. Powell was, of course, already famous when his book was released, but Martha wasn't known outside of a small circle of people in Westport, CT when she catered a book party where she rather serendipitiously met Alan Mirken, one of the owners of Clarkson Potter (Crown), the company that was to publish her first book, Entertaining. They are still her publisher, by the way.

RH: So what did she do when she was first starting out?

BH: Everything! She was just as eager to do an event at a Junior League in Nashville as she was to do The Today Show. It was all about building her platform. Gen. Powell also took a very military approach to getting the job done. He would frequently have lines of over three thousand people, and he would stay until every last book was signed.

Of course, marketing non-fiction is very different from marketing fiction. It's much harder to promote a novelist (assuming they're not already famous) because there aren't as many hooks for the media.

RH: So how do we "hookless" novelists get attention for ourselves? Can you give us a taste of what your Free Marketing Seminar at New England Crimebake will be like?

BH: Well, you'll be addressing what the authors themselves can do. I'll be focusing on a Nine Month Countdown to Publication - what goes on at your publishing house and when. I'll also be giving tips on how to work with your publisher.

RH:...without getting in their hair?

BH: Absolutely! They want to do a good job on your book and the more ammunition you can give them, the better.

RH: Like what...give us an example.

BH: Don't bemoan your lack of publicity. Give your publicist story ideas, don't expect her to think of them herself. Send pix. And think "off the book page."

RH: Bruce will be around to answer questions, and as mentioned he and I will be giving a free Marketing Seminar at the New England Crimebake this November. Check out http://www.crimebake.org/.

Celebrate!

RO: Whatever else you're eating or doing these two recipes will turn your Fourth into a party.

It comes from the divine Martha and is deceptively easy. Your friends - especially the ones who bring Costco cakes to bbq's and picnics, not that there's anything wrong with that ;-) - will think you are a domestic goddess.

Strawberry Cream Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

1 pound strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced

1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4-ounce envelope)

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter bottom of an 8-inch round cake pan, and line with parchment paper. Butter and flour paper and sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture in 3 parts and milk in 2, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined. Spread batter in prepared pan.

3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack to cool completely. Using a serrated knife, split cake in half horizontally; place bottom half, cut side up, on a serving plate.

4. Make topping: In a large bowl, combine strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar; set aside. Place 2 tablespoons cold water in a small saucepan, and sprinkle with gelatin; let soften 5 minutes. Place saucepan over very low heat, and stir until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat; let cool.

5. Using an electric mixer, beat cream and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a large bowl until very soft peaks form. Continue to beat, and gradually add gelatin mixture; beat until soft peaks form. 6. Arrange half of strawberries over bottom cake layer; top with half of whipped cream, leaving a 1-inch border. Cover with top half of cake, cut side down. Top cake with remaining whipped cream, leaving a 1-inch border. Refrigerate cake and remaining strawberries separately, at least 1 hour (or up to 1 day). Just before serving, spoon strawberries over cake.

7. My addition to Martha's recipe..sprinkle a handful of blueberries on top for a red, white and blue treat.

But man cannot live by cake alone (more's the pity.) This is from my pal Dan's wife, Linda..

White wine sangria

2 (750ml) bottles of dry white wine

6 ox Triple sec or Cointreau

6 oz fresh orange juice

3 oz fresh lemon or lime juice

3 oz brandy, optional

about 1/2 c sugar (superfine is best)

16 oz cold club soda or citrus flavored mineral water

1 orange, sliced

1 lemon, sliced

Pour first 4 ingredients into a punch bowl. Sweeten to taste with sugar, stirring well to dissolve. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Just before serving stir in club soda or mineral water. Add a block of ice and fruit slices. Enjoy.

Boomers Among Us

HALLIE: When Teri Flatley turned fifty, she took a self-imposed sabbatical to think about what she really really really wanted to do with the rest of her life. Her solution was to make the most of it and to help her fellow Baby Boomers do the same.

Her creation, Boom This!, is a web site loaded with great information on health, fitness, money, lifestyle, food, and more.

Where else can you learn about a Florida retiree’s invention, pickleball—a cross between ping-pong and tennis. The game’s even got its own association and official rules.

So Teri, what’s a Baby Boomer?

TERI: When I am asked to explain who is a Baby Boomer (and I get that a lot since I have spent six years writing about us), I know what to expect. What’s the age span for Boomers, they will ask, you know, just what years are we talking about here? When I tell them that Baby Boomers were born during an 18-year span, they are generally OK with the beginning year -- 1946 -- since that was what they already had in mind (i.e., the end of WWII). But many are mildly shocked when they hear the later end of the span -- 1964. Not me, they cry. I am way too young to be lumped in with those boomers.

HALLIE: Sounds famliar.

TERI: To that I say, ha! Who wouldn’t want to be one of us? We are youthful and fun-loving people. Just ask and we will confirm it, telling you all about ourselves, more than you ever needed to know. For the most part, we are always keen for an adventure, but we know how to work hard and expect a lot from the world, sometimes having to tamp down our “me” generation qualities just a tad.

No rocking chairs on porches for this crowd. Boomers would rather be jumping out of airplanes than sitting around on the couch or planning a volunteer vacation to Africa than hoarding plastic bags in their kitchens.

Boomers like to spend time together, but they are also very interested in what the other generations have to say, especially their children’s. Admittedly, we are completely enamored with our children, which can be a drawback sometimes (though we might never see it), but this is not likely to change any time soon.
HALLIE: So who are the glitterati among the Boomers?

TERI: Hollywood is rife with Baby Boomers, of course. Can you figure out which celebrities on this list are Baby Boomers and which are Wannabes? You may be surprised!

1. Goldie Hawn
2. Kim Basinger
3. Treat Williams
4. Jeff Bridges
5. Martha Stewart
6. Tom Cruise
7. Ben Stiller
8. Brooke Shields
9. Susan Sarandon
10. Tim Robbins
11. George Lucas
12. Al Pacino
13. George Clooney
14. Charlie Sheen
15. Steve Martin
16. Diane Keaton
17. Farrah Fawcett
18. Elton John
19. Tom Selleck
20. Jo-Beth Williams
(Answers: 1 No, 2 Yes, 3 Yes, 4 Yes, 5 No, 6 Yes, 7 No, 8 No, 9 Yes, 10 Yes, 11 No, 12 No, 13 Yes, 14 No, 15 No, 16 Yes, 17 Yes, 18 Yes, 19 No, 20 Yes)

HALLIE: Okay, I confess, I missed a few of those.
Here’s Quiz II – which of these mystery writers are Boomers?
1. Sue Grafton
2. Janet Evanovich
3, Michael Connelly
4. Tess Gerritsen
5. Lisa Scottoline
6. Kate Atkinson
7. Rex Stout
8. Lawrence Block
9. Elmore Leonard
10. Sara Paretsky
11. P. D. James
12. Mary Higgins Clark
13. Laura Lippman
14. Dennis Lehane
15. Carl Hiaassen
16. Patricia Cornwell
17. Linda Fairstein
18. Elizabeth George
19. Walter Mosley
20. Robert Crais
(ANSWERS: 1 No, 2 No, 3 Yes, 4 Yes, 5 Yes, 6 Yes, 7 No, 8 No, 9 No, 10 Yes, 11 No, 12 No, 13 Yes, 14 No, 15 Yes, 16 Yes, 17 Yes, 18 Yes, 19 Yes, 20 Yes

And no, we are not interested in guesses as to which Jungle Red Writes are Boomers and which are not...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Martha's (and Ro's) Cranberry Nut Tart

By popular demand...the cranberry tart recipe that I've been raving about on a couple of lists and right here on Jungle Red. It's from Martha Stewart's Entertaining - a terrific book, btw, with lots of her best recipes. People will think you're a domestic goddess and it's not even that hard to make.

Perfect Nut Crust

10 oz. finely chopped walnuts or almonds

1/2 lb. unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar3 cups flour

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix together all the ingredients until well-blended, using an electric mixer or wooden spoon. This will make crusts for two tarts. (You can freeze the other.)

Divide in half. Press one half into 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom (or springform.)

Chill for 30 minutes before baking for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Cranberry filling (for one tart)

1 envelope softened gelatin

3 cups fresh cranberries

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup red currant jelly

Soften gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water.

In a saucepan, combine the cranberries, sugar and jelly. Cook for 10 minutes over low heat. (Don't overcook or the cranberries will get mushy. Better to slightly undercook than overcook otherwise you'll have cranberry sauce.) Cool slightly and stir in the gelatin. Cool thoroughly; pour into crust. (I keep a few toothpicks handy to help arrange the cranberries. It looks best if you push any squished cranberries to the bottom or the middle and keep the most perfect ones around the edges.) Chill. Eat.

This tart is great for dessert but is pretty darn good for breakfast, too. Assuming there's any left.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Rosemary

PS And come back soon (as in very soon) for a major announcement of regal proportions from the women of Jungle Red!!

On Thanksgiving dinner

ROBERTA: It's hard to concentrate on writing right now because Thanksgiving dinner will be at my place next week. We'll be eleven. And so as hard as I try to focus on my new novel's synopsis, my mind wanders off to the menu. My husband's siblings will all contribute (the sweet potato casserole, the mashed potatoes and turnips, the brussel sprouts), leaving me with the turkey, the gravy, the stuffing, and the pies. Pies are easy--I'll bake a delicious pumpkin-maple pie and a chocolate cream pie, which is nontraditional but universally adored. But I agonize over the stuffing. It has to be homemade--no Pepperidge Farm bread cubes for me. One year when I lived in the South, I produced an oyster stuffing, which was expensive and labor-intensive. And no one has ever requested a repeat. Last year I tried a cornbread and sausage affair that horrified the vegetarians. I'll be happy to take suggestions from the floor. And what's your Thanksgiving dinner routine? Does the earth shake if you don't stick to the traditional menu?

Ro: Every Thanksgiving is different for me...from what we eat, to where we eat, who is there, and what day it is. (For years we had Thanksgiving on the Friday after T'day.) With three stepsons, assorted partners, ex-wives, new husbands and children from previous alliances...I just go where I'm told or ask for a head count (if I'm cooking.) I love everything on Roberta's menu so she doesn't know it, but I will be showing up at her place on Thursday.

When I have some say in the matter - aside from the turkey - I always make a cranberry tart. It's an old Martha Stewart recipe from the book Entertaining, which my husband published 26 years ago. It's foolproof, looks gorgeous and I could eat it everyday. If I'm cooking I like to watch videos in the kitchen while I'm preparing...Love, Actually, Miracle on 34th Street, and um...sometimes...Gladiator. ;-)


HANK: Ro, I just burst out laughing. (I have that cookbook. I'm going to look up that recipe this instant.)
Anyway. My little brother Chip, who is an environmental attorney in Colorado, was the one who always needed to have Thanksgiving be just the same every year. Long long ago, like, 35 years ago? My mother would make a jello mold (yup) black cherry jello with black cherries suspended in it. Decades later, when Jello-anything was far from our consciousness but we still all had Thanksgiving together, Chip was bummed because there was no cherry jello. It just meant Thanksgiving to him.

In other Thanksgiving news---when we were growing up, we had huge Thanksgiving dinners. So big, Mom would make two turkeys. Each year, she carefully made oyster dressing AND plain dressing. That way, one turkey could be delicious and pristine for us kids, and the other, filled with yucky disgusting slimy oyster dressing, could be reserved for the adults.

Fast forward again. I'm maybe 25. And in the kitchen watching Mom make the two turkeys. Without hesitation, she put oysters in the bowl of stuffing. And then proceeded to put oyster stuffing in BOTH turkeys. Mom Mom, I cried. Wait! You're putting oyster stuffing in both turkeys!

She gave me that Mom look. Of course I am, she said. I've been doing it every year of your life. I just told you kids there was plain stuffing so you would eat it.

ROBERTA: So do you make the oyster stuffing these days Hank? And Ro, we'd love to have you. Dinner's at 3. Bring the hubby and the dog--and the tart! What about the rest of you, Thanksgiving specialties anyone?
(Photo credits: dinner by orphanjones, cranberry pecan tart by bucklave, oyster by adactio)

On Perfectionism

Both the artist and the lover know that perfection is not loveable. It is the clumsiness of a fault that makes a person loveable.


Joseph Campbell



JAN: All I can say, is THANK GOD, because perfection is so far from my personality type, it's never, ever been an objective.I used to worry about that because achievement is about exceeding expections. Without only the highest expectations, how can you achieve excellence? Then I worked with an editor who was a sweetheart, but a perfectionist. He actually wrecked pretty much every article he got his hands on because he wanted it to be perfect. In the news biz, that meant answering every question. When I moved to a larger newspaper and I worked with a new editor for the first time, he said to me: "Jeez, I've never actually said this to a reporter before, but you have too many facts in here. Too much information."

You see, when an article tries to answer every question it becomes dense and unreadable. In fact, it loses its focus.

This provided three lessons that I found valuable in fiction writing. The first was: readers can only absorb so much information at once. Throw too much into a paragraph and no one gets anything from it. The second was that if you strive for perfection, you may not see the forest from the trees. And the third was that if you try to please every reader, you will please no one.

Personally, I haven't so much as struggled with perfection, as discovered my justification in not being a perfectionist. But I'm wondering, have any of you struggled with perfectionism? And what have you learned from the battle? Or do you have a completely different take on its value?

RO: I certainly don't strive for perfection in my writing. I'm hoping to be entertaining, pure and simple. In other, smaller areas, I sometimes try. I'm frequently disappointed but I keep trying. Examples? The perfect flower arrangement..I can happily try 8 or 9 vases before settling on the right one. I have been known to move cooked cranberries or blueberries with a toothpick to make the perfect arrangement in a tart. I've just about stopped making tart tatin because I can never get the apple slices to fan out perfectly.Roberta, have I just revealed a deep neurosis to the entire blogosphere?

ROBERTA: Ro, yes. But they probably already had that figured out:). I would so not move fruit with a toothpick in a tart. But I would worry about choosing the perfect words, all while knowing that isn't possible either! I think I've learned a lot from being in a writers' group. On the nights when I've sent chapters to be read ahead of time, I remind myself that I'm just going to listen to all the comments, take notes, ask questions, and otherwise keep my yap shut.

I think there's such a continuum of perfectionism--my family thinks I'm a nut about the house. Whereas I can practically see my neighbor's eyes bulge out when she stops over--dog hair everywhere, piles of shoes, stacks of mail...

Did anyone read the Science Times article on perfectionism this week? Interesting stuff: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/health/04mind.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

JAN: Yes, it says perfectionism is at the root of many mental illnesses, including depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. So I'm feeling much better about being a slacker

HALLIE: I am so NOT a perfectionist, but I do know how to cut corners. Back in the day when I crocheted, I started an afghan and it ended up being a perfectly adorable pocketbook. I once watched Martha Stewart, the Princess of Perfection, ice a wedding cake and got inspired to try a recipe for a 12-layer dobos torte (12 thin cake layers, each baked on the BACK of a cake pan; mocha butter cream filling; a glaze of cramelized sugar on top.) Mine ended up with only 5, albeit delicious layers. It doesn't have to be perfect--adorable and delicious is good enough.

HANK: Yes, I'm the last to add. And it's just about deadline moment. And I was asking myself why I had waited til the last minute to post. Well, I wanted to think of the perfect thing to say, I replied.

And this internal dialogue happened with no sense of the irony involved.

Perfectionism is a truly complicated need. I'm a TV reporter of course. So I have worked for the past 30 years knowing I can NEVER make a mistake. Never be one minute late. Actually, not one SECOND late. Never choose the wrong word, never call someone by the wrong name, never make a math error, never have a bad hair day. You try that, and see if it doesn't make you a little crazy. And of course, to have chosen a profession where perfection is required, also may put me in some DSM-4 category that we will leave un-named.

But it does certainly carry over into my regular life. My holiday presents are wrapped beautifully. Moving a cranberry in a tart, as Rosemary described? Of course. I have discarded out-going mail envelopes because I put the stamps on crooked, or if I decided someone might think I was making some sort of a statement by my choice of stamps.

I could go on here, but I see you all shaking your heads. And hey,I can let go. It does not carry over into all realms. Don't even look in my dresser drawers. Or kitchen drawers. (I, too, have stacks. Of magazines. What's the 'perfect' thing to do with the ones you haven't read but might?)

But as I get happier, my need for perfection diminishes. (What can we learn from this?)

And when it comes to writing. You know, the sense of "perfection" is kind of--different. I's a sense of "right"-ness. For me, not for others. When it feels right, you know it. And that's a fun journey, not a struggle for perfection.

How do you know if you're pushing too hard?

JAN: I think we've nailed this topic, PERFECTLY, so to speak. And now that you all know I don't struggle with perfectionism, check in on Friday, when I reveal that I struggle with caramelism. Yes that's making home-made caramels for the holidays --at the last minute of course. A mental illness all its own.