Amie Stuart ~ On the Back Porch

The talented Carolyn Jewel is our guest blogger at SFC Today! I hope you’ll stop by!

Interesting conversation with small children on Saturday. We dropped the dog at the groomers and hit Borders. It was my b’day weekend and I wanted some new books. I’m standing in the romance section and #2 child makes fun of…the romances. I send him away and then he comes back a few minutes later with #1 child and they start up again. I send them away again. Finally, I’m getting ready to check out and I look at both my kids and say, “Those romances you were making fun of? They paid for the braces in your mouths.”

*headdesk*

Was digging through an old wip the other day. Can anyone tell me what’s wrong with this sentence and would you like to guess just how old this WIP is?

I wander the aisles with my headphones and CD walkman on, hoping no one will talk to me.  

On the happy side, I discovered this manuscript is actually in pretty good shape. The opening chapter needs work (as does the synopsis), but I think it’s something my agent can totally shop.  And somewhere I have the opening few pages of the second book (it’s a two-book project).

Thanks to everyone who came by! You can have your choice of any Aphrodisia novel–including Make U Sweat–I should have author copies any day now!

Linda Winfree

Jess

Margay

Kaitlyn

Please email me at amie at amiestuart.com with your snail mail addresses and book choice.

Apologies again for the gross delay in getting this last lesson out. Life intervened in a big way. Due in part to character problems. Which is why I wanted to chat about what to do when you get stuck.

Currently I’m writing two heroines in two novellas who are night and day. Somewhere along the way with the first heroine I lost track. Funny enough I know exactly what I did. With a hero who’s a hired killer, I spent a LOT of time making sure he was likeable, that you could see his growth etc…and the heroine fell by the wayside.

I got an email from my CP that basically said, “I’m not connecting with her anymore.” Of course, at the same time, I was emailing her with, “OMG I’m stuck. I took a wrong turn somewhere. I just can’t nail this ending. hEPL!” LOL

OTOH the second heroine is rich and spoiled and well, has no conflict. Obviously this is a problem. Now I have to go back and weed in some conflict, which luckily was easily found.

And often, as writers, we can’t see the forest for the trees so here are some helpful suggestions:

1) Trust your instinct. Nine times out of ten if something feels off with one of your characters, that’s because it is. At the same time, I’ll be the first to admit I’m my own worst critic, but I’ve learned over the years to trust my gut.

2) Go whine to your critique partners. They will probably see something you don’t. Even if you don’t quite know what’s off, another brain always helps. And even if they don’t see the problems that YOU see, their observations could help you figure out where you went wrong. And help talk you off the ledge.

3) Print your manuscript. There are things that you will see on paper that you’d never find on a computer screen. Don’t whine about the trees or the cost of printer cartridges. Go invest in a cheap HP Laser printer. It’s well worth the cost, and a tax deduction. Jackie Barbosa (who is not only my editor at Cobblestone but my CP) is the ONLY person I know who can get away with not printing a hardcopy and editing.

4) READ your manuscript. Maybe this one goes without saying. Not only does it remind you that, hey it really doesn’t suck, it’s another way to help pinpoint a problem.

5) Walk away. Sometimes the best thing you can do is just take a break from the work so that you can go back and look at it with fresh eyes. Go read a book or walk or *gulp* clean or something.

Now……..back to the WIP I hope ya’ll enjoyed this and got something out of it. Again, feel free to post questions and please feel free to post some of your own character-making misery so we can commiserate. I’ll pick five winners on…Monday…from all the commenters last week and from today’s post who can have their choice of Aphrodisia titles.

Is coming. Stay tuned!

I give UP! I’ve tried and tried but it’s life interuptus around here. Will get it ready this evening and post first thing in the morning. I’ll be going back to basics and talking about what to do when your organic characterization needs a shot of fertilizer!

In the mean time, if you have any characterization-related questions, hollar.

This is Puerto Rican Chicken Fricassee and it’s TO DIE FOR but labor intensive.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound chicken drumsticks
• 1 tablespoon adobo seasoning
• 1/2 (.18 ounce) packet sazon seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 large red potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 fresh or dried bay leaves

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash the chicken and pat dry; place into a large bowl. Season with adobo seasoning, sazon seasoning, and salt. Place the legs into a slow cooker, and cover with the potato slices.
2. Puree the red pepper, green pepper, onion, garlic, cilantro, olive oil, wine, cumin, and oregano in a blender. Pour over the chicken and add the bay leaves.
3. Cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours, until the chicken is easily removed from the bone.

NOTE: I could not find Adobo or Sazon so I used Cholula spices found my grocers spice aisle. I also used thighs and drumsticks. I didn’t have a crock pot at the time so I cooked at 275 for like 3 hours in a 9 x 13 dish.

And I used all RED bell peppers because I hate the taste of cooked Green bell peppers.

For the wine, I actually buy those little four-packs of small wine bottles from the grocery store for cooking because I don’t drink red wine. I used the whole bottle–hey they’re SMALL! LOL