Jaci Burton’s Muse

I have mad love for this cover. Mad mad love

Nauti and Wild is scheduled to release July, 2010 and contains one of Lora Leigh’s Nauti stories and one of my Wild Riders stories. More info coming up later!

Guess what? I’m an App on iTunes! Okay, not me, per se, but one of my books.

If you go to the iTunes store and type in Jaci Burton in the search box, my 4th Demon Hunters book TAKEN BY SIN will pop up as an App in the iTunes store. How freakin cool is that?

i’ve always wanted to be an iTunes App.

My husband has a cold (he says it’s allergies. I know better.) Anyway, I’m going to make him homemade chicken noodle soup tonight, the kind you make when someone you love has a cold.

A writer friend of mine gave me this recipe many years ago, and I make it every winter. Yes, it’s just fall but oh man are the colds and flu hitting already! So I thought I’d post this because it’s a great chicken soup recipe and it really does make you feel better. I think it’s all the garlic and ginger

MAKES YOU BETTER CHICKEN SOUP RECIPE

Ingredients

1 avg fresh chicken or 6 thighs and 2 breasts–with skin, without a lot of fat (honestly, I just buy one of those rotisserie chickens at the grocery store that’s already cooked…because I’m lazy like that and it works just great in this recipe).

6 Garlic cloves, peeled and halved (Or you can use the jars of minced/crushed garlic from the grocery store, which is what I use because, again, I’m lazy. And if you do just spoon up 3 or 4 heaping spoonfuls)

1 1/2-inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped. (Or you can use the jars of ginger from the grocery store, which is what I use, because again, I’m lazy. And if you do it this way 3 or 4 heaping spoonfuls will do it)

Celery, chopped. However many stalks you want to use. Personal preference

Carrots, chopped. However many you want to use. Personal preference

Salt to taste (I don’t use salt because I make this with almost all chicken broth instead of water and the chicken broth has plenty of salt in it).

Pepper

Chicken Broth - I use 2 of those cartons of chicken broth, and the rest water

Rigatoni Noodles. 1 lb package.

Recipe:

If you use fresh uncooked chicken then cook your chicken first using any method you prefer. Boiling/crockpot/whatever

Pour chicken broth and water into a big pot (I just guestimate soup quantity volume). Add garlic, ginger, celery and carrots. Bring to boil and throw in 1/2 to 3/4 pkg of rigatoni noodles (depending on how much noodle you like in your soup), cook according to package directions. While noodles are cooking, cut up and shred already cooked chicken from rotisserie chicken. and toss in pot. Season with a little pepper and whatever seasonings blow your skirt up. Heat until warm and serve.

It’s a very easy recipe and so yummy and good for what ails you.

Everyone please wash your hands eleventy million times a day and try to stay healthy this cold and flu season.

So they say there are two ways to write a book. One is to plot it within an inch of its life in advance, so the writer knows exactly what’s going to happen from start to finish and everything in between. Another way is what a lot of people call the Panster method, or writing by the seat of one’s pants, where the writer doesn’t know what’s going to happen.

I used to be a plotter. I knew from start to finish what was going to happen in my story, and I knew the ins and outs of every character before I ever wrote one word of the story. To this day and to some extent and only by necessity I still am a plotter. In order to sell a book I often have to provide my publisher with a synopsis of what that book is going to be about. But I have to admit over the past couple years those synopses have been very…loose. They’re ideas and concepts of storyline, not a blow by blow in depth of the story.

But I don’t know the story all that well when I sit down and write it, because somewhere along the way the way I wrote changed. I didn’t want to know the whole storyline when I sat down to start the book, and frankly, even when I did plot the book in advance I deviated like hell from my own plotline, so I figured what was the point of figuring it all out ahead of time?

Though I have to admit some days I have mixed emotions about doing it the way I do it. Because there are days I sit with my fingers poised on the laptop and say self? what comes next? (Yes, I do talk to myself). And self answers: hell if I know. And then self stares at me and I stare at self and we realize neither of us has a freakin’ clue what happens next in the book. And those are the days I’d wish like crazy I had a solid outline of the entire story so I knew what the hell came next. (Note: These aren’t good days. You want to steer clear of me on these kinds of days because I’m all kinds of cranky).

Fortunately, I don’t have a lot of those days. What usually happens is that I really don’t know a damn thing about my characters until I sit down and start writing the book. That’s when I learn who they are, what they’re about, when they become fully formed to me. And that’s when the story begins to flow. Because honestly, until you really know your characters your story can’t come alive.

And then as I’m writing, the story will take twists and turns I could never have imagined if I’d plotted it out in advance. Because I honestly don’t know where the story is going until I write it. Because I don’t know who these people are in the story until I start writing them. And this is where the magic happens for me, when my characters do something or say something that I don’t expect, when the story takes a turn down a road I hadn’t anticipated. And my heart swells and my fingers race across the keyboard so I can get it all down, so I can find out what happens next.

And those are the days I really love my job.

I read this article over the weekend, and got into a Twitter discusison this morning about it.

Basically, the article talks about schools eliminating the teaching of cursive writing to its students because they’re priming students for 21st century schools, i.e. everything via computer, nothing by hand. Really? So writing by hand is being lost? I don’t agree.

My initial reaction was one of shock. And maybe that’s because I’m older and the thought of children not being taught cursive writing means they also won’t be taught to read cursive writing. And the jumping off point of that was allt he historical documents written in cursive. Oh, you know, like this one:

(Courtesy of Archives.gov )

I mean, sure, you can read the printed text of the Declaration of Independence on the computer. But if you’re not taught to write and read cursive, you will never know the thrill of reading the original Declaration of Independence, or scores of other documents of our history that were written back in the day when cursive was all that was used.

It makes me sad to think of the potential loss to our children and grandchildren. Now I’m a big techno geek and I handwrite very little myself these days because I do everything on my laptop. You should see my signature….gah. It’s not pretty. But I do know how to handwrite and I can read in cursive. I will never lose that ability because it was taught to me in school. Our children should at least have the same benefit.

And how the hell will our children be able to sign their names? Will their signatures be printed in the future because it’s the only way they know? Kind of hard to have a unique signatorial identity when all you can do is print your name.

Welcome to Snippet Saturday, where authors share snippets of their work!

Today we’re going to showcase our main character kicking ass. This scene is from RIDING ON INSTINCT, and Shadoe is literally fighting for her life. Hope you enjoy!

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Note: I got halfway through this week in review and figured out today wasn’t Friday. It’s Thursday. That should tell you where my head is. Screw it–I’m doing it anyway.

I know I know my blogging here lately sucks dirty dishwater. But it’s deadline time. And I’ve reworked the storyline ARC and beaten the hell out of my heroine because she was a doormat. Now I’ve got it where I want it, so it’s just a matter of finishing it up. Which means I’m going to be head down and writing my ass off for the next few weeks. Ugh. I promise some semblance of normalcy will return soon. Whatever normal is around here.

Copyedits have arrived for Bound, Branded & Brazen. I’m excited because it’s another step in the process of having the book closer to being finished! Yay! I love these characters and I love this book. And March isn’t so far off. Hopefully soon I’ll have some digital ARCs to give out.

New granddaughter should be arriving in a little over 2 weeks. I’m SO excited! Will keep you all posted. And of course will post pics when she’s here.

I was going to attend Lora Leigh’s Reader Appreciation Weekend and the Novelist’s Inc. conference back to back. But my daughter in law’s doctor said baby was head down and she really could deliver any time within the next couple weeks. The thought of being out of town and her going into labor was just unacceptable, so I cancelled both trips. I’m very sad about missing these two wonderful events, but had to put family first. I don’t want to miss the birth of my granddaughter.

The good news about me missing some awesome conferences is I have much guilt over it which means I’ll probably have to do some book giveaways here. Stay tuned.

Onto television:
New Fall TV Season is underway! Survivor premieres tonight! I’m excited!!!!

Have any of you watched Glee? What do you think? I’m liking it…not sure I’m loving it yet.

I have mad love for Sons of Anarchy. Mad, deep, abiding love. We may marry. (Don’t tell my husband)

The Biggest Loser started up again this week. I love watching this show. Jillian is an evil bitch taskmistress and I love her. Watching the way these overweight and out of shape people work out like firebreathing demons makes me feel like a pathetic slug. If this show doesn’t motivate you to get off your ass I don’t know what will.

What are you doing or reading or watching?

I mourn the loss of Patrick Swayze and offer condolences to his family and friends. He starred in some of my favorite movies like Dirty Dancing, Roadhouse and Ghost and I think the world has lost someone kind, gentle and extremely talented.

I was scrolling through his bio last night after I heard the news, and I’d forgotten he was in The Outsiders. I remember reading that book when I was a kid and being so affected by the war between the greasers and the soc’s (I pronounced it ’socks’ back then. Hey, I was a kid. How was I supposed to know it was ’soshes’, or short for society kids? Heh). Anyway, I was talking to my husband about the movie and he told me he’d never seen The Outsiders.

I was appalled. He grew up in Tulsa. S.E. Hinton is from Tulsa. The Outsiders was filmed in Tulsa. Then he further horrified me by telling me he’d never read the book, either. Duuuuuude! Sometimes I just don’t understand men. But I immediately went to Amazon and ordered the movie, mainly because it’s been years since I’d seen it and now I’m going to force him to watch it with me. Hey, it’s my tribute to Patrick Swayze’s younger years.

And while I absolutely loved Dirty Dancing and owned the movie in VHS form and probably watched it eleventy million times, there’s just something about Roadhouse that’s just so sexy and cerebral at the same time. Maybe it was the character of Dalton, played by Swayze, and the internal war he carried out between his fists and his mind. Love love love that movie. And it didn’t hurt that Sam Elliott was in it, too. Yum.

Or To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar. It takes some kind of man to play a full on drag queen in a movie. And Swayze did it so well. I loved his sweet and heartbreaking portrayal of Miss Vida. And he made a damn fine looking woman, too.

And Ghost. *sigh*. I still cry at the end of that movie. Every. Single. Time. And I don’t mean little sniffles, either. I mean great heaping sobs.

Or North and South, the miniseries? I swooned. Seriously.

What was your favorite Patrick Swayze movie?

Maya Banks is taking over the Writeminded Blog all next week. Starting tomorrow (Monday, Sept 14), she’s going to be giving away ebooks ebooks and nothing but ebooks all week long. So mark your calendars and click here to bookmark the Writeminded Blog, and be there first thing tomorrow and plan to hang out all week long for your chance to win hundreds of ebooks.

Here’s Maya’s post about the E-book Extravaganza, including all the rules.

I hear my entire Samhain backlist will be given way, as well as many many authors’ e-books. You don’t want to miss this!

Welcome to Snippet Saturday, where authors share snippets of their writing!

Today is Worldbuilding, a very important component of any book, whether you’re writing paranormal, futuristic or even contemporary. YOu have to build the world in which your characters live, from the city to the homes they live in to the cars they drive, on in case of a brand new world, its rules. they may be rules you create but you still have to abide by them.

I chose TRUE LIES, my futuristic from Ellora’s Cave. It’s a fun, sexy suspensey book with a kickass human heroine and an alien hero I love dearly.

Enjoy! (Excerpt after the jump due to dirty words. )
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