Survey results: How many novels did you write before selling one?

I answered this survey and the results are in. Quite interesting.

Damn, I am sorry, I should have pointed more people to it while he was collecting answers. Still, he did get 150 responses.

I am someone who sold the first novel she wrote. But I did sell some short fiction first.

Today's lunch

I've mentioned how much I love my Laptop Lunchbox, haven't I? Once I started using it, I couldn't believe how many years I subsisted on the boredom of frozen lunches heated up in the microwave. I'd never go back now. Today's lunch (don't have the means to load a picture here at work, sorry), which took me about fifteen minutes to assemble: spanakopita (leftovers from kiramartin, mmm), spring mix salad topped with pomegranate seeds, dried cranberries, pecans, and Newman's Own Light Vinaigrette; a sliced orange; and butternut squash simmered in apple cider. According to my SparkPeople nutrition tracker, it totals 485 calories:

Spanakopita (Spinach&Cheese), 150 grams (304 calories)
Butternut Squash, 71 grams (28 calories)
Orange, 120 grams (56 calories)
Pomegranates, 23 grams (16 calories)
Pecans, 7 grams (48 calories)
Spring Mix Salad, 1 cup (10 calories)
Newman's Own Light Balsalmic Vinaigrette Dressing, 1 tbsp (23 calories)

( Nutritional breakdown so far today )

Did you pack your own lunch? What are you having for lunch today? Do you think your lunches are pretty healthy for the most part?

P.S. So far, I've gotten 49 people to sign up at SparkPeople. Anyone want to up my total to an even fifty? Click here:



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For those of you on my friends list who HAVE signed up, how has SparkPeople been working for you? Leave a comment to let me know what kind of success you have had.

Follow up on Jane Austen's birthday

papersky, in response to my reminder that Saturday was Miss Jane Austen's birthday, posted the poem that she wrote in 1999 after visiting her grave. MUST READ.

(I wish Kipling had had the chance to read it.)

Edited to add: I fixed the link. Sorry!

truepenny mulls over definitions

truepenny is thinking aloud:

Let's talk about sex.

More specifically, let's talk about slash and why it is offensive and heteronormatizing to equate it with homosexual relationships. Read more . .

The comments are extremely interesting, and I think a number of people on my friends list would be very interested in joining in. (I see The Wild Swans has come up in the discussion.)

Best Holiday Letter Evah

The holiday letter I always always always look forward the most to receiving each year is sent out by my college buddies, Jon and Lisa Lewis. Lisa was the matron of honor at my wedding. They are very good friends and screamingly funny people. Here is the first paragraph of this year's letter:

The question is, when you tell the story about the dead body on the beach in Costa Rica, do you lead with the dead body, get the horrified gasps, and then the requests for additional detail? Or do you start slow? Do you first talk about the hermit crab in the shower and the decision to release him into the wild? Then do you follow with the walk to the beach early in the morning, the rocks exposed by the ebbing tide? You can then introduce a note of suspense by mentioning the large object on the rocks and the speculation about whether it was a seal, and then segue into an extensive discussion of whether they even have seals in Costa Rica. Then, when their eyes are glazing over with boredom, you wallop them with the body--metaphorically speaking, of course. Walloping them with the actual body would be difficult, especially given the condition it was in. At first, we favored the slow approach, and embellished substantially on the details. Now we just say, "Vacation was great. We found a dead body on the beach." Been there, done that. No one has been able to top it, however, which is the mark of a great vacation story. No matter how nice the hotel, how great the meal, how friendly the natives, someone else has always had it better. Or even worse, when you tell your tale of woe, someone has always suffered more. "Yes, I remember the trip we took to Paris. We were set upon by pygmies, tied up, smeared with honey, and forced to watch the Indy 500 while listening to a kazoo band." Kind of takes the wind out of your sails when all you have is the story of your lost luggage, a lumpy mattress, and some mimes.

And that is just the first paragraph.

Accomplished tonight

Done tonight after getting home from work:

Reviewed mail and e-mail.

Made and served dinner.

Did the dishes. For over a half hour. Rob's dishes, dammit.

Went to church to rehearse song I'm doing during communion on Sunday morning [Note to self: must nag Fiona to practice violin; she's performing, too.]

Came home, made four pans of peppermint bark to give as gifts, with Delia's help. This was something we've never tried before but it was a lot of fun. We played Christmas music as we worked. I melted and spread the chocolate and white chocolate as Delia crushed the peppermint.

Read to the girls another chapter from The Mislaid Magician by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (1crowdedhour).

Wrapped gifts to ship out to grandparents tomorrow. Dug out recent portraits to include with the packages [Note to self: ask the girls in the morning where their school pictures got put so those can be included, too.]

Bagged the cooled peppermint bark: five bags to give to attorneys tomorrow, the rest for teachers and neighbors. We will have to make more tomorrow.

Addressed more Christmas cards.

*Yawn* Must get to bed. Have been burning the candle at both ends lately.