Jenyfer Matthews

I’m about half way through the edits on my WIP and hope to have it ready to submit to my editor by the end of the week. New ideas and characters keep popping in to my mind and I want to get started on something new – soon!! There is no name for the syndrome I suffer from but it’s the opposite of ADD. I have a compulsion to COMPLETE a project before starting another. Let’s call it CCD – Compulsive Completion Dysfunction

I think that my current story is the sort you’ll either love or hate. Unlike HERE TO STAY, there is no obvious subplot, no mystery to solve. There aren’t any thorny problems that bring the hero and heroine closer as they work it all out as there is in ONE CRAZY SUMMER. This story is just about … the characters.

The main character Maggie has essentially run away from home – from her unhappy childhood – to prove herself in the larger world. When she’s forced to return home because of a family crisis, she has to work out all of the unfinished business of her childhood, adjust to the life changes that come when you decide to change careers mid-stream, and fall in love all at the same time. It’s not an easy time for her because she’s a worrier so it’s a good thing that her hero Sam is a strong, steady, patient man.

There’s no subplot, but there are themes – family and commitment – and there are circles where things come around again, for the better this time. There are parallel stories with other characters experiencing similar things but in different circumstances. And always there is romance.

I hope that in spite of the absence of mysteries, villains, vampires or werewolves, you’ll still give ALL THE WAY HOME a chance when it is finally published. I’ll let you know when and where to look for it.

I’m about halfway through the edits of my recently finished WIP. I can only do a couple of chapters at a time before I lose my focus. Edits are as much about fixing the little typos and commas as they are about doing re-writes and if I try to work too long I just don’t *see* the mistakes anymore. Also, I start to lose my voice.

The best way I’ve found to edit my work is to read it back to myself out loud. I can catch all sorts of things when I hear it that my eye might just gloss over.

So, I edited three chapters of my book this morning before moving along to the domestic stuff. I turned up my music – loud – and watered the many plants on my balcony. I peeled and cut up some potatoes to make potato salad for dinner. Then I whipped up some banana bread.

Somehow I’ve become known for my banana bread. I started making it because I couldn’t keep up with my bananas – they would get overripe before I could eat them all. Now I just make it because we all like it so much. Thought I’d share the recipe with you in case you wanted to try it yourself.

Banana bread

1 3/4 cups flour **2 tsp. baking powder1/4 tsp. soda1/2 tsp. salt1/2 cup sugar1/2 chopped nuts (optional)2 eggs1 cup mashed banana (2-3)1/2 cup oil

Sift dry ingredients together (add nuts if used). Add unbeaten eggs, mashed bananas and oil. Pour intoprepared pan and bake at 350F/180C for one hour. Cool before slicing.

NOTES:I use 1 cup of all-purpose white flour, and the rest whole wheat with a touch of wheat germ.I reduce the oil a bit, the more banana you use, the less oil required.If you use a muffin tin, reduce baking time to 20-25 minutes.These freeze extremely well!

Enjoy!

It’s done. Finished. End of story.

After writing two chapters in two days – something that rarely happens to me, LOL – I have reached the end of my current story. Phew! I’m kind of wiped out.

It still needs a lot of editing and polishing and I still have to send it to my publisher to see if they like it, but at least it’s all down on paper. Which is a good thing because my mind has already moved on to something new.

In the meantime, I’m going to take a little break. I’m on my own for one more night, but I might order Chinese anyway, just to celebrate.

No date night this week because DH is out of town. No Chinese food either but I do have the TV all to myself, LOL.

It’s been quiet here. The kids have been at school in the mornings and then have had play dates in the afternoon. I admit that I’ve relished the solitude. I haven’t gone out to socialize. I haven’t even made any bread. Instead I’ve put my music on loud and sung along badly while doing the housework and quilting. What is it about music that lifts the spirit so? For me it’s rock that does the trick.

I’ve also been writing. It’s been a pretty good week actually. After struggling though the last bit – the turning point in the book – there’s only one chapter left to go. Of course it’s only the first draft and will require another read through and much editing and tweaking, but the story will be told. It’s always a bittersweet moment, getting to the end of the story and letting the characters you brought to life and gotten to know so well just drift off into the mists.

(I usually get over that feeling after I’ve gone through and re-read the story 16 more times during editing. By that point I’m ready to pack their luggage for them!)

I hope to finish up over the weekend. I have another story growing in my mind that I’d like to tell. I’ve already made a start on it – I think I have about 500 words done.

Date night didn’t go exactly as I had planned.

Things were going pretty well at first. DD was invited to sleep over at a friend’s house so we only had to get one child fed and tucked in before our take-out arrived. And then things started to unravel.

My first mistake was when I decided to multi-task and make rice for the Chinese food we delivered. I get distracted pretty easily while cooking and unless I actually stand there in the kitchen doing other cooking things, bad things happen. You can probably guess where this is going. I burned the rice. Burned it very thoroughly. So thoroughly that the aluminum saucepan is still black with burned on yuck two days later. The house smelled like burned rice until yesterday. Tomorrow I will go and get some tomato paste and mix it with water to cook off the black yuck that resisted the baking soda and vinegar and the green scrubby on the sponge.

(Tip: Tomato sauce is great for cleaning pans – spinach too but tomato paste is cheaper)

So, after I dumped that rice, I made more which came out okay. The next hitch was that DH and I disagreed on what to watch with our meal. He wanted a movie, I wanted to watch one of our favorite TV shows. I let him have his way but then — I admit it — I pouted.

Then he snarled.

I stormed out.

He came to talk to me using a tone normally reserved for the mentally unstable.

I went to bed mad and woke up mad and with a migraine. All in all, it was probably the worst date-night we’ve ever had.

Because we’re adults we did the only thing we could do — we pretended nothing happened and got over it.

I’m pretty sure we have another date on Thursday night.

DD wasn’t due to go back to school until next week but my son’s preschool volunteered to keep her for me – free of charge. She was happy, I’m thrilled to have some quiet time to write – what could be better?

And if that wasn’t good enough, it’s date night too.

It’s tough to find time for romance when you have two kids under ten in the house and it’s not always easy or practical to get a sitter when you want to have some couple time. So my DH and I have a date night. One night a week where we put the kids to bed and then order out for dinner and we sit and watch a movie together. Uninterrupted.

Tonight (and most Thursdays actually) we will order Chinese and then when the food arrives, we’ll set up our plates and settle in the living room with whatever DVD we’re in the mood for. On occasion when we’re really in a romantic mood or it’s a special occasion we’ll break out the candles and wine and sit at the dining room table, but most times we’ll watch a movie.

I suppose it doesn’t sound like much but it’s cozy, companionable and it’s something we both look forward to from week to week. And sometimes that’s enough.

My DH and my DS have returned to work and school after their Easter vacations, it’s just my DD that remains at home. One more week for her. One more week for me…

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. In addition to having small creatures at home all day demanding food and entertainment, we had visitors as well. My DH and I split up – he played tour guide and I did the domestic thing: cooking, cooking and more cooking. So much that I have taken the rest of the month off, LOL. Not really, but if it can’t be prepared in 30 minutes or less then we’re not having it!

I don’t even think I’m going to make any bread this week.

I did make some egg salad though. Ever make egg-salad using all those eggs the kids decorate for easter? I did, and I have funny little bits of aqua blue and pink here and there from where the shell cracked and the dye came through. Makes me think of Lucky Charms…

In spite of all the distractions I’ve managed to make some small amount of progress on my current project. I’m in the home stretch – but it’s a sticky bit. I know how I want it to come across but getting it just right on paper isn’t always so easy. I write, I go away, I re-read, I tweak. My goal is to have the first draft finished by the end of the month. I think it’s doable, but it will be easier once I have my quiet mornings back again.

It’s an exciting thing to finish a story, but in some ways it’s just a little sad too. Like saying goodbye to a good friend. Until you make a new one that is…

What a lovely surprise! Friend and author Nina Nash posted the following review of my book on her blog – and I didn’t even ask her to, LOL.

Nina Nash
ninanash.blogspot.com

If you like your romance on the spicier side, you should check out some of Nina’s many wonderful books. Her first book CAIRO BY MOONLIGHT was an overnight smash and she’s had several more since then. You can read all about her at www.ninanashromance.com

on dinner last night!!

We’ve had visitors for the last week and I’ve been cooking – a lot. Last night it was potato cheese soup, fresh asparagus, beer bread with cheesecake for dessert.

I had made everything but the bread many times before. I don’t normally try a new recipe when I have guests but I reviewed the ingredients and thought how bad could it be?? It not only came out nicely but was the perfect compliment to the rest of the meal. Last night I was queen

Thought I’d post the recipe for anyone who was interested:

A healthful, foolproof recipe for high-fiber beer bread from the book Tailoring Your Taste, by nutritionist Omichinski:

Ingredients:
2 3/4 c all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp each sugar, baking powder
1/4 c ground flaxseed
1 tsp each salt, dried basil, dried rosemary, thyme
1/2 c unsalted sunflower seeds
1 Tbsp cooking oil
12 oz beer, at room temperature

Mix all the dry ingredients. Add oil and beer. Stir until dough is just mixed. Put dough in a greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Bake at 375 F for 45 minutes or until nicely browned. Remove from oven and let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cool some more.

I’ve had more than one person suggest to me that I find some sort of “hook” for my stories – a nice neat niche that I can claim as my own and therefore set myself apart from the rest of the many talented romance authors out there – like the new NASCAR romances that Harlequin has introduced. Or a country music theme like my good friend and fellow Cerridwen author Sonya Kate Childers uses (TIDES OF TIME – you really should read her book!)

It’s not a bad suggestion, it’s just got me stumped. My mind doesn’t really work that way. It’s pretty rare that I can even come up with a tailor made story from a broad suggestion of a theme that publishers often include in a call for submissions.

I’d love to be able to find a way to say “hey, this is my THING” but so far that THING hasn’t presented itself to me. Unless having characters with convoluted internal struggles and past baggage to deal with while they reinvent themselves (and fall in love along the way) counts!

My stories come to me from a scrap of overheard conversation, funny anecdotes, a song, a scent, a color, a sunny day. My muse is a subtle and fickle beast and doesn’t always hand me the story in one lump either. My current WIP came to me on a whiff of freshly cut grass one summer afternoon in Ohio and I had no idea there was so much story to tell when I started out! I’ve been getting it out in 500+ words a day chunks for the last several weeks. Every time I think I’m nearing the end something else happens! It’s fun and frustrating and maybe that explains why I have so much trouble thinking up a story to fit neatly into some predetermined slot.

If I come up with anything though, you’ll be the first to know