A Good Bad Thing

I’ve been doing a lot of signings the last few weeks, and am getting seriously fuzzy-brained. Worse, it’s not over yet. Friday we’re leaving for Galena, IL, and Madison, WI. Hope I don’t end up in Nashville, TN, and Wilmington, DE.

But an interesting thing happened on our way to Des Moines and Omaha last weekend. We stopped in Owatonna, MN, for lunch at Cabela’s. Have you ever been in a Cabela’s? Testosterone City. Guns and ammo, hunting and fishing equipment, and a mountain at the back stacked with stuffed game. Everything from polar bears to pheasants in lifelike poses. But they have great lunches – try their walleye fingers. Anyway, we had lunch and on the way out I saw they had some huge candy canes on sale. We’re at that stage of Christmas giving in our family where we mostly give to one another’s favorite charities in one another’s names. I thought it would be kind of fun to attach the card to a candy cane, especially a really big one. So I picked out a bunch of them and went down to the main floor in front pay for them.

Now, lately I’ve been carrying around a little clutch purse, but for the trip I got out this very large purse and put the clutch inside it. When I paid for the canes, I picked up the bag of them, and the clutch purse, and walked out. It was more than two hours down the road that I needed something from the big purse – and discovered it wasn’t in the back seat.

I called Cabela’s and sure enough, they had the big purse. I was sick with disappointment at myself. I’d put a couple of "show ‘n’ tell" items in there for the signings, plus a whole big packet of Thai silk sample flosses I’ve been giving away to people who buy a copy of Thai Die. I kicked myself all the way to Des Moines and again to Omaha.

I finally decided not to stay for supper in Omaha (paid for by A Stitch in Crime bookstore-needlework shop), but start for home so we could stop at Cabela’s and get my big purse. Because of the Christmas season, they were open really late, so made it in good time. We found ourselves at home late Saturday night, tired but in possession of the purse.

And the next morning woke to find the upper midwent cowering under rain, freezing rain and sleet. There were cars in ditches all along I-35. We would have been driving home on that highway if I hadn’t left my purse in Cabela’s.

New topic: I’ve been getting some positive reviews from the Big Guys: Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, etc. Does anyone know if this translates into sales?

How to Get Lucky--Happy St. Patrick's Day!

1. Take risks. Calculated ones. Don’t worry so much about failure. Instead, think in terms of abundance and opportunity. Some of what you do won’t work out. So what? Something’s bound to “stick” if you keep at it. I wrote a book not knowing if it would sell. That was a risk. But if I hadn’t written the book, I wouldn’t have anything to sell, right? So it was a calculated risk I was willing to take.

2. Put yourself “out there.” If you want to get hit by lightning, go stand in an open field during a thunderstorm. Be where people who can help you can find you. For example, by going to Sleuthfest I was able to meet my agent and my editor.

3. Show up. No one is going to come to your front door and ask you to be the next bestselling author or scrapbook designer or rock star. You need to circulate. You need to be around people who are doing what you want to do. That way, when an opportunity comes, you’ll know about it.

4. Meet people and make a good impression. You never know who will be the person the Universe sent to help you. So…be open and friendly. I met Emilie Richards, USA Today bestselling author, at a book festival. I didn’t know she was a BIG name. But I’ve been taught to treat everyone with respect, so we enjoyed each other’s company and have since become friends. Only after we’d “clicked” did I discover she was a mega-author.

5. Ask yourself, “What do I have to give that is uniquely mine?” I often send people four-leaf clovers I’ve found. I make small scrapbooks for friends. I invite people to come along on a tour of the Steinway factory. Those are lovely “things” I have to offer. What do YOU have that’s unique to you?

6. Work harder than anyone else on the planet. I work seven days a week, usually at least 8 hours and often 10 or 12. I am constantly learning. I always ask myself, “What does this mean to me and how can I use what I’ve discovered?”

7. Steal with your eyes. Watch other people carefully. Don’t make the same mistakes they do, but do learn what they do right.

8. Believe in a Universe of abundance and opportunity. You can only receive if you have open hands and an open heart.

9. First be a giver. When you give to others, it comes back to you, many times over.

10. Acknowledge your hard work. Psychologists have found that when women are complimented we often say, “Oh, I was lucky.” Maybe you were, but more likely you worked hard. If you only think you were lucky, you won’t have the courage to tackle new things—the courage that comes from saying to yourself, “Yes, this is daunting but I’ve handled tough situations before and I can figure this out.” So give yourself credit. That will fuel your ability to tackle new challenges.

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Hoppin' John

Stop by our house tomorrow, and you’ll find me cooking a mess of “Hoppin’ John.”

“Hoppin’ John” is an essential part of southern lore, especially honored in the Low Country, South Carolina’s coastal counties. If you stop in an area restaurant around New Year’s Day, no matter what you order, they’ll slip you a small dish of beans and rice—gratis. Eating Hoppin’ John on New Year’s Day is said to give a person good luck all year long.

The dish is believed to be first made by the slaves as a form of pilau. Black eyed peas, rice and ham hocks or bacon are traditional ingredients. The New York Times called the meal “a nutritional marvel, the culinary touchstone of the African diaspora and a hangover remedy without equal.” And the article goes on to say“the first known appearance of ‘hoppin' John’ in print was in 1838, in Caroline Gilman's novel ‘Recollections of a Southern Matron.’"

My version is lowfat, and only 6 Weight Watchers’ points. If you swap out bacon for Bacos, of course that number will change.

Hoppin’ John

1/3 C chopped celery
1 tsp. olive oil
1/3 C chopped onion
1 minced garlic clove
1 bay leaf
1 T Bacos (or bacon)
1 C chicken broth
½ can (1/2 C) black-eyed peas (cooked, from a can)
¼ C chopped lean ham (Okay, if you want to use a ham hock, who am I to stop you?)
1 C brown rice, cooked

Saute first 4 ingredients. Add to other ingredients, mix well. Put in 1 quart casserole dish and bake, covered, in 350 º oven for one hour.

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Do you have a New Year's special recipe? Care to share?