Balloon Juice | Authors In Our Midst Archives

Quick Program Note: Me And Carl Down By The School Yard

by Tom Levenson| September 24, 20206:25 pm| 48 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst, Books, Open Threads

Should have put this up earlier, but Carl Zimmer (NYT science columnist and the author of lots, including most recently She Has Her Mother’s Laugh) will be talking TONIGHT about Money for Nothing (virtually) at the MIT Museum.

It starts and 7:30, and details can be found here.

We’ll jabber for half an hour or so, and then the floor will be open. Love to see any and all jackals there.

And for tolerating such relentless self promotion, please enjoy a bonus Tikka-and-Champ pic:

Open thread: talk books, cats, and everything else.

Quick Program Note: Me And Carl Down By The School YardPost + Comments (48)

Recipes, Pets and More!

by TaMara (HFG)| May 24, 20202:30 pm| 113 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst, Books, Open Threads, Recipes

Let’s just jump in with recipes. I know everyone is all about the sourdough starter these days. I’m not a fan, although I understand the appeal and this video didn’t hurt and it’s a great step-by-step instruction on starter and bread making if you need it.

I have been playing with different bread recipes: homemade tortillas, crusty French bread and hamburger buns.

But the potato bread was a revelation.

Someone suggested to me to use potato bread dough next time I made cinnamon rolls. It sounded like an idea, but it also made me really, really want potato bread. I don’t believe I’ve ever made it before. And since I had no plans to make cinnamon rolls anytime soon, potato bread it had to be.

I have to tell you, it was fairly simple, and made the most amazing bread. Silky, moist, flavorful, and firm enough to cut into very thin slices.

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The only drawback of the recipe is you’ll need either a stand mixer or a bread machine. The dough must be kneaded for about 7 minutes on a high speed. It’s a very sticky dough, difficult to knead by hand and it’s really not possible to get the texture without a machine knead.

Otherwise, it’s straightforward.

Potato Bread

This makes one loaf. I would double the recipe, it freezes well. It takes an overnight rise in the refrigerator for best flavor.

1 pkg instant yeast
1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
1/2 to 3/4 cups water, lukewarm*
6 tbsp softened butter
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 egg (room temperature)
1/2 cup mashed potato**
3-1/4 cups (390 g) unbleached flour

*about 90 degrees F. You can use the potato water if you like

** I never peel potatoes, and I found once these had been mashed and kneaded for 7 minutes, there was no remnant of skin visible in the loaf

Add all ingredients to the bowl of the stand mixer. Using the paddle, mix until everything is incorporated, then beat for about 4 minutes. Scraping as needed. It should become smooth and shiny. You may need to add more flour or water as needed. It will be a sticky dough, you don’t want it dry and flaking as it mixes.

Change to the dough hook and knead for 7 minutes, scraping sides, until it forms a silky, smooth ball. It is a very moist, sticky dough.

Remove to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with oiled plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.

Next day, form into a log and place into a lightly oiled loaf pan (I used glass for a great crust). Cover with oiled plastic wrap and a warm, moistened dishtowel. Let rise until double in size.

Because this is cold from the refrigerator, this can take 2 to 4 hours. Near the end of the rise, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake for 25 minutes, turn and cover with tented foil and bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes, until internal temperature is 190 degrees F.

Remove and cool on a rack for about 5 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and continue to cool.

Enjoy!

Okay, now for your pets. It’s always a struggle to figure out who to feature. Everyone is doing well. It’s Miller moth season here, so everything is at risk in my house as cats and dogs team up to rid us of this scourge. Pray for my belongings. Here are the ducks, bribed with treats, all in a row. They are waiting on the rain, it makes them very happy.

And finally the more:

My third book (and second novel) is now available. I used my stay-at-home time well.

You can order here and read chapters one and two here.

This is a general Sunday afternoon open thread. How’s everyone spending their weekend?

Recipes, Pets and More!Post + Comments (113)

Mustang Bobby – and A Virtual Reading of His Play on Sunday at 3pm ET

by WaterGirl| April 30, 20207:00 pm| 80 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst, Guest Posts, Open Threads, Popular Culture

We all love Mustang Bobby. We’ve seen his cars and his flowers; we know that he’s a playwright, what a good guy he is, and that he has one of the greatest nyms of all time. But now we get to see one of his plays being performed, from the comfort of our own homes!

Mustang Bobby has a performance coming up this Sunday afternoon – a virtual reading of his one of his plays – so I asked if he would be willing to share a little more about himself, and about the play.

Before I forget: This Sunday’s Medium Cool with BGinCHI will be devoted to a discussion of the play!

The performance on Silver Tongued Stages starts at 3pm ET, and of course Medium Cool will start at 5pm ET, as always.

Click below to watch the play!

Take it away, Mustang Bobby!

Hi, I’m Philip Middleton Williams, and I’m a playwright.

It’s a bit ironic, but most playwrights don’t really like to talk about themselves at great depth. It’s not that we’re painfully shy; it’s because we would rather our works speak for what we want to say. If you want to get to know me, read my plays. Most of me is in them in some form or another, but here’s the short version. I was born in 1952. I grew up in an upper middle-class suburb of Toledo, and I went to college to get a degree in theatre. I came out as gay when I was twenty-three, I went on to grad school for more degrees, and spent most of my career as a mid-level administrator in a variety of businesses, including public schools. I had a partner named Allen for fifteen years. I’m also a recovering alcoholic, so naturally I became a playwright. It’s cheaper than therapy and doesn’t damage my liver.

I started writing stories in grade school, but I didn’t write my first full-length play until I was in grad school and getting an MFA in playwriting. My master’s thesis was a play a called “The Hunter,” which I hope will never be produced again. That’s when I learned that writing a play is different from a novel or a short story. Like a musical score, it’s a collaborative effort and requires other peoples’ participation – directors, designers, and actors – before it can be seen by an audience. But there’s also more instant gratification with a play. It usually doesn’t take as long to write one – I’ve batted out a ten-minute play in less than an hour – and if you want to hear it, you can gather some friends in your living room – or on Zoom – and get feedback. You can read a play, but it’s truly not done until you hear the words and see the characters come alive.

I’ve written over thirty plays ranging in length from one minute to two hours. I’ve taken them to theatre festivals and conferences all over the country, including the breathtaking shores of Prince William Sound in Alaska, and made friends and learned so much from them by listening to them and hanging out before and after readings that we often joke about hosting a theatre conference without reading a single play. I’ve also had plays produced around the country including one off-off-Broadway production, and even in Australia. I try to see them when I can – I did make the trip to New York – but more often than not I send them out on their own. I trust them to do right by themselves.

“A Tree Grows in Longmont” started out as a monologue which is now at the end of the play. It’s a remembrance of the life I had with Allen, my partner, my lover, and my husband in every way, from our first meeting in 1984 through our life together, our separation in 1999, and his death on June 8, 2018. It didn’t take very long to write it – it’s 33 pages – but it was both a joy and an agony as I wrote it. He gave me immeasurable love and deep pain, as any relationship will. He’s the main character in this play, and he also shows up in a number of my other works. He told me to move on, and I did, but I’m taking him with me. I even took a small urn of his ashes with me to Alaska last summer, knowing he’d want to go, and death being just a minor inconvenience.

The last time I saw Allen (left) when he was passing through Miami, in January 2013.

Me, Allen and Sam when we lived in Petoskey, Michigan in August 1995.

Thank you, WaterGirl for giving me this space, and I hope you all enjoy “A Tree Grows in Longmont”.

We’ll both be there with you.

*****

Note from WaterGirl:

This is Allen’s 1982 high school graduation photo, which Philip still carries with him.

Some love lasts forever. I can’t wait to watch the story unfold at the virtual reading.

This Sunday, May 3, at 3 pm ET, “A Tree Grows in Longmont” will be presented by Silver Tongues Stages of Miami.

This Sunday’s Medium Cool will be devoted to a discussion of the play.

*****

Update on 5/4: the upload took longer than expected, so the play was late starting, and we missed the window for discussing the on Medium Cool yesterday. The play will be the topic for Medium Cool, just a week later, on 5/10.

Click below to watch the play on YouTube!

Mustang Bobby – and A Virtual Reading of His Play on Sunday at 3pm ETPost + Comments (80)

Calling All Authors In Our Midst: Submissions Please, Round Two

by WaterGirl| November 30, 20191:35 pm| 103 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst

In October, we put out a call to our Balloon Juice writers, asking if anyone was interested in having their ~~books~~ work included in our list of published authors. There was quite a bit of interest, and the result is the first draft you will find at the Our Authors link in the footer on the new site.

So much talent here on Balloon Juice!

Dorothy Winsor’s comment about her book in the morning thread reminded me that this is the perfect time to ask for a second round of submissions by our authors. Past time, actually! I had planned to have an updated list in place by December 1, in time for gift-buying season, so I am running out of daylight on this one.

For our published authors, we are asking for Balloon Juice people only, not family members. (The cousin to this list – Our Artists & Artisans – can include spouses and partners. John was waiting for the new site to put out his call for artists and artisans, so I suspect we may see that soon.)

What you need to know before submitting your information:

Up to 3 publications can be listed on Our Published Authors page. (fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, plays, poetry…)
They must be written by Balloon Juice people only, not family members.
Please please please submit your information in the format below.
Please copy the contents of the window below into your comment and fill in the blanks.

Balloon Juice Nym:

Author Name:

Do you want your BJ nym displayed with your entry? (yes or no)

Author URL, if you have one:

Title 1:

Title 1 category/type:

Title 1 URL:

Title 2:

Title 2 category/type:

Title 2 URL:

Title 3:

Title 3 category/type:

Title 3 URL:

We have a better idea of what we are looking for and what the limitations are this time around, so if you supplied information during the first call, please check Our Authors in the footer so we can make any changes or additions to your information.

If you want to make changes or additions to your listing, please use the format above.

Update: If you do not want us to know that “Little Surfer” is actually Diana VanWriter, then please send email to WaterGirl at the balloon juice address. You can copy the format into your email message and fill it in there. I”ll need to know what nym connects with which author, but that will never be published anywhere, so no one else will see it.

Authors Added or Updated 11/30 by 5pm:

Tehanu
Hungry Joe
Laura Koerber
Bud
Munira
La Gata Gris
PhoenixRising
Robmassing
PaulWartenberg
Vicki Delany

Authors Added or Updated 12/1 by noon:

Facebones
Carol Van Natta
btom89
Citizen Alan
WereBear
JoyceH
Lucy Pick
Mark Benbow
mike shupp
Badgetoon
Cliff Wirt
hitchhiker
gwangung
Frankensteinbeck
tokyocali
Alex Olson

Final Update at 8pm on Sunday: I am no longer checking this thread for authors who wish to be added to the Our Authors list. Thanks to all of our authors!

Calling All Authors In Our Midst: Submissions Please, Round TwoPost + Comments (103)

Calling All Authors In Our Midst: Submissions, Please

by TaMara (HFG)| October 6, 20191:55 pm| 87 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst, Writing Group

Watergirl asked me if I thought it was a good idea to put together a list (much like the blog roll) of our published authors. She would link to their book or author’s page. Of course, I thought it was a great idea.

So what she needs from you is: Name of your book, style of the book (NF, F, YA, etc), author’s name, link to your book or author’s page.

That’s it. Add it to the comments below.

And, please, to help Watergirl out, limit it to those comments so she doesn’t have wade through 150 random comments to find what she needs. Unless you have a question about an entry.

Otherwise, I posted an open thread just below this one. Thanks!

Calling All Authors In Our Midst: Submissions, PleasePost + Comments (87)

Authors in Our Midst/Writers Chatting: Chapter 17

by TaMara (HFG)| April 28, 201912:28 pm| 59 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst, Writing Group

Welcome back! We have another guest author and book to highlight. Hope this finds you writing away.

Today we will hear from Frankensteinbeck and he details some harrowing publisher experiences. But not to worry, he’s got a new book out. Rag Dolls

What would you do with an enchanted kingdom of living puppets? Would you look for adventures, or enjoy the sights of a stranger than strange land? Would you rest and make friends in this one safe place, or build new wonders for the next child who needs a refuge?

Would you rule?

Would you smash your toys, because the outside world hurts?

Two girls have come to the land of Here and There, and a little doll named Heartfelt was the first to meet them both. Sandy wants to heal and create, but doubts herself. Heartfelt has to help her believe, because Charity has no doubts at all. In the process, maybe she’ll ask the question no one else has—what do dolls want?

Now his story:

This morning, let’s talk about one of the bad sides of the business, because everyone can use the warning.

I had a publisher. An up and coming small press, who took awhile to figure things out, but eventually did and were solid and heading up. I was living off my royalties, which is a rare honor and joy. Then, very slowly, things went bad. My publisher started being late paying me. At first, they would say my checks had been sent and they had no idea what happened. Then they stopped paying by check, and their explanations why did not make sense.

Why am I telling you this? Because I have found out afterward that this is very, very common. If you deal with a small press, even one that treats you wonderfully, you have to keep an eye out for the symptoms. In the case of my publisher, they spent all their money on an insane scheme to replace Amazon with blockchain. I assure you, it was actually stupider than it sounds. But way too often something goes wrong with a publisher and they start stealing from the authors to try and recover. It doesn’t work. If you see the signs, start looking for a new publisher, fast. You got one, you can get another.

More symptoms. People who used to be very responsive and helpful got slower and slower answering emails, and would evade direct answers. The publisher’s staff, which had been growing, started to shrink. The cover artist quit. For awhile, they would miss payments, but eventually make a payment plan and catch up. When I wouldn’t take bitcoin, they offered PayPal, which I didn’t like but would accept. A check bounced. Towards the end, even the payment plan would be missed.

Public symptoms. Other authors started to complain about paperbacks not coming out on time. The company stopped doing advertising – temporarily, of course. Everything was temporary! A major backup set in publishing new books, because the owner had to do cover art himself. It took a long, long time for anyone to openly complain we weren’t getting paid, but it turns out to have been common. We were just too professionally polite to go public about that.

Eventually, they mysteriously failed to add my book release money to my monthly royalties, and I had to pitch a fit to get them back. So they just didn’t pay the money they admitted they owed me.

With the help of the SFWA, I have gotten some of my money, I am likely to get all of it, and I have my rights back. I still have not gotten audiobook royalties switched to me. I have a new publisher, and a new book coming out, A Rag Doll’s Guide To Here And There. I went through a year and a half of Hell fighting to get my money and watching the career I’d built my life around nosedive.

You need to know this happens, and it happens often. If you get suspicious, don’t stick around because they used to treat you well. There is no un-circling that drain. Get out. Find someone new.

Don’t be me.

Thanks to Frankensteinbeck for sharing his story. Now on to our chat. I got terribly behind this month and am trying to get back in the groove with mixed results. What’s going on in your writing world?

Let’s get to chatting…

Authors in Our Midst/Writers Chatting: Chapter 17Post + Comments (59)

Authors In Our Midst/Writers Chatting Chapter 16

by TaMara (HFG)| March 24, 201912:30 pm| 46 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst, Writing Group

Welcome to another writers chat. Today WereBear was gracious enough to write up her adventures in creating a print version of her book, Way of Cats:

Photo is of cover boy Reverend Jim posing with a proof copy. The book tells his story, too!

I got my paperback out on Amazon. And lived. Yes, it was often that tricky. But the result is excellent, so let me chop off some of that learning curve for you.

As a voracious reader who enjoys ebooks, I was surprised to discover that fully 80% of the market is still paper. Especially for non-fiction, like my cat advice book. The Amazon system does a good-looking trade paperback when it is supplied with the proper inputs.

Fortunately, Mr WereBear is an Art Director (like Marines, they never really leave) and made me an excellent cover. His advice is to download their template and pay close attention to all the margins of the different areas. The online preview software will give an error message if it finds anything amiss, and this let us iron out some bugs.

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Amazon offers cover creator software for free, but my Art Director found them aesthetically offensive. They also all tend to look alike. I find myself avoiding such covers as signs of an amateur approach I’ve found reflected in the writing. In such cases, readers do judge a book by its cover! If you have no such art skills, fellow Jackal jacy is an excellent choice, with reasonable rates. I hired her for a quick, tricky, thing when the Art Director’s chronic illness flared up. She’s so responsive and easy to work with. I also love her covers.

Another hill to climb is the decision to get an ISBN or let Amazon handle it. Be aware that the free one from Amazon is only good within Amazon. We went to Bowker for the official US ISBN for my book, and then paid again to turn it into a bar code. Then paid for another bar code when I screwed up the math and we had to change the price of the book. Amazon does supply the printing costs, and I suggest using a spreadsheet to get the math right. :)

Another issue with printed copies is that someone will need to go through it, in Word or Pages, to create a table of contents. Both of these programs will let you highlight a chapter title, choose the format type “Chapter Title”, and then it will show up in an automatically updating Table of Contents.

Amazon lets you download a template for the inside, too, and I highly recommend it. There’s so many details that pasting chapters into the template will save time, because the margins, page numbers, and various formatting types have been set up for you. My Art Director said people shouldn’t mess with the basics too much.

In other words, don’t get jiggy with those fonts, people. You want the reader to enjoy your words, and not let the formatting get in the way.

Once everything is loaded into the Bookshelf, there’s the option to download a PDF version of the entire book. TAKE IT. It is set up in double page style, looking exactly as it is supposed to print, and I borrowed a different computer to read it like it was the first time, and I found stuff to fix.

You will find stuff to fix. Use PDF markup to track errors to fix in the word processing document. I found that seeing it this way “reset my head” and I was able to fix all kinds of things which had gotten by myself and two other people in previous run-throughs.

At the very end, before releasing it into the wild, there’s the option of ordering a proof copy or two. TAKE IT. We discovered that our photos (black and white and optimized) lost some definition on the cream paper we had chosen. We changed our settings to white paper, with a glossy cover, and it looks great. We’ve gotten compliments!

It’s a mental gear change that doesn’t come up with ebooks, where what we can do is limited by ebooks’ ability to change font, size, and flow on the device, and there’s software that does a lot of things, like Table of Contents, for you. But with readers wanting “something to hold in my hand”, all that extra effort adds up to extra readers.

That’s what we all want.

Some important links: Bowker and Alchemy Book Covers

Thanks, WereBear!

Time to chat.

I’m about ready to add my Havana trip adventures to the second book in my trilogy. I’ve been having a rough time focusing on writing these days. Not exactly writer’s block, more like ennui. I love writing, but right now, I’d rather be outside walking the dogs, or doing almost anything else. I have a desire to slap myself and say “Snap out of it!” à la Cher in Moonlighting and just get back to it. I suspect that might not be the best approach.

How do you handle dissatisfaction and/or a block in your writing? Where is everyone at on their projects? Any questions for WereBear?

Have at it! Be kind.

Authors In Our Midst/Writers Chatting Chapter 16Post + Comments (46)

TS (the original) on Late Night Open Thread (Dec 3, 2020 @ 12:40am)

Dahlia on Late Night Open Thread (Dec 3, 2020 @ 12:40am)

West of the Rockies on Late Night Open Thread (Dec 3, 2020 @ 12:40am)

SFAW on Late Night Open Thread (Dec 3, 2020 @ 12:38am)

West of the Rockies on Late Night Open Thread (Dec 3, 2020 @ 12:38am)

No one could have predicted…

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

I did not have this on my fuck 2020 bingo card.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Lighten up, Francis.

Wetsuit optional.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

We can agree to disagree, but i’m right.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Let there be snark.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Trump is going to draw a dick on that dog with a sharpie, isn’t he?

How do you get liars to care about the truth?

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Tick tock motherfuckers! Tick fucking tock!

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Too inconsequential to be sued

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Almost as fun as hiking the Appalachian Trail

I can’t take this shit today. I just can’t.

Quick Program Note: Me And Carl Down By The School Yard

Recipes, Pets and More!

Mustang Bobby – and A Virtual Reading of His Play on Sunday at 3pm ET

Calling All Authors In Our Midst: Submissions Please, Round Two

Calling All Authors In Our Midst: Submissions, Please

Authors in Our Midst/Writers Chatting: Chapter 17

Authors In Our Midst/Writers Chatting Chapter 16