Well here it is Abe Lincoln’s birthday, a significant day indeed.  I grew up in Vandalia, Illinois, the Land of Lincoln.  Our small town of 5,000 was the first state capitol of Illinois, so in grade school we studied former President Lincoln like he was part of the family.  My great-grandmother, Lydia Mae, lived in our house when I was a child, and her claim to fame was that her grandfather, a member of the Illinois legislature, got an invitation to Lincoln’s funeral in Springfield.  She let me take the invitation to school for show and tell.  The other significant fact today is that it is grandson, Blake’s first birthday.  

TESSA AND CLAUDINE UPDATE: I am revising Chapter 9 at the moment.  Tessa, a high school junior, just received a letter from a boy she’s dating, a college freshman.  My story’s fiction, but I use some  autobiographical tidbits –as is the case with Tessa’s letter from Bill, her college beau.  He writes Tessa and also his parents, but he puts the letters into the wrong envelopes.  Tessa gets the letter intended for his parents, and they get the letter he’s written to her.  Writing this scene took me back to that day when I read the letter my old boyfriend wrote his parents.  It was pretty darn funny.  Little did I know it would one day end up in a novel. 

ECHOES UPDATE:  Our poetry book is doing well.   The Eden Prairie, MN, newspaper had a great article about ECHOES and Rachel Nelson, my granddaughter and 12 year old co-author.  They had a photo of Rachel, who lives in Eden Prairie, information about the poetry book, biography information about both of us, and a couple of our poems. 

Stay warm.  Snow is expected in Savannah tonight, not much, but it’s a big deal here in the South where it hasn’t snowed for many years.  I guess it’s time make one of my soup recipes. 

By the way, I now have a google and yahoo connection to my RSS feed in case you’d like to subscribe to my blog.  Come back for a visit.

Did you ever send the wrong letter to someone?

Lisbeth

My goal this year is to revise my novel, TESSA and CLAUDINE get it on the market.  I finally have a working plan.  As a Virgo, this makes me feel soooo much better. 

Here’s the deal:  I reread a chapter on the computer.  What I’m doing is changing the tense from past to present and also tightening.  As I read, I ask myself — does this scene move the story forward.  If the answer is no, I delete it.   Since I’ve decided to put the whole book in present tense, instead of past, I pay close attention to the verbs and make tense changes.  And then I record the whole chapter on a tape recorder.

I got this idea after reading a newspaper article in which authors were interviewed about writing techiniques.  If I hesitate while reading my words, it tells me that the sentence doesn’t flow well.  I stop and make changes.  I find that while reading, I often automatically change the sentence to something that sounds more natural.  I catch spelling errors working this way and also find words that still the tense change.   Overall, this system of revision has me pretty excited.  Try it.  You might like it.

Have you got any writing tips for me?  Any new writing books you love?  I saw a book advertised by James Alexander Thom, on Writing Historical Fiction that sounded good.  No, he’s not a relative. We just happen to share the same last name.

If you are looking for some good recipes, check out Samantha Matthews website:  www.diggfood.com   She wrote me a note this week, and I loved her recipes. 

Stay warm. The winter weather is upon us.  Lisbeth

2 lbs. cooked chicken, cubed

1 cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon cilantro

2 packages taco mix

2 packages Ranch dressing mix

1 can pinto beans

1 can red kidney beans

1 can black beans

1 can great northern beans

1 can Rotel tomatoes

1 can diced tomatoes

1 small can green chilies

2 8 oz. cans white corn

2 cups V-8 juice

Put chicken in crock pot.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Do not drain liquid from cans.

I usually start the crock pot on high for an hour, then cook on low 4-5 hours.   Serve with tortilla chips and grated cheddar cheese.  You can substitute different beans according to what you like best and also add more V-8 juice or water if it is too thick.  Serve with a small tossed salad.

You can crunch the tortilla chips in bottom of bowl or on top, whichever you prefer. The cheese can be sprinkled on top.

2 # ground beef

2 cups chopped cabbage

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

3 grated carrots

1 16 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 cup chopped celery and leaves

1 cup cauliflower cut in small pieces (or more)

1 zuchinni, cut in small strips

2 cans beef broth

2 soup cans V-8 juice

1/2 cup barley

1 1/2 teas. salt

1/4 teas. pepper

1 t. liquid garlic (minced will do fine)

1 1/2 teas. sugar

1 Tablespoon Worschestershire sauce

Brown meat and drain off fat.  Put in large pot.  Add rest of ingredients.  Simmer uncovered for one hour. Stir occasionally.

Add more liquid, V8 or water, if you feel it is too thick.

You can also make this in a crock pot.   Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 7-8 until vegetables are tender.  Add grated cheese when you serve if you wish.

It’s  high time for another recipe before I catch you up on Tessa and her sister and also happenings with ECHOES.  January has always been my favorite soup month.   Many years ago while traveling with my husband, Al, a good friend shared his recipe for Manhattan Supper Soup and we enjoy it often.  The good news — it is super easy to make.  It’s a form of vegetable soup.  Check out my modified version of Al’s recipe in my recipe section.   I promise you will love it.  Serve it with French bread and a green salad and – get ready for lots of praise.

TESSA AND CLAUDINE:  Tessa is bummed out in chapter three.  She’s in the hospital after a car accident.  Her sister, Claudine, comes to visit, as does her boyfriend, Ben.  Claudine has the nerve to flirt with Ben in Tessa’s hospital room and leaves minutes after Ben makes his exit.  Tessa is sure Claudine’s chasing after him.   Not only is Tessa a bruised, banged up mess.  Now, her sister is after her boyfriend.  Can things get worse?  Count on it.

ECHOES:   The reviews for the poetry book my granddaughter, Rachel, and I collaborated on, are positive.  We are pleased to say the least.  Readers love the concept of our parallel poems.  A teacher friend is using our poetry book as a  teaching tool for her poetry unit.  My sister Deb ordered a copy for her school library, which is great.  I hope to get it in a lot of schools.  I’m out on the marketing trail.  Today I took an ECHOES press release to a local magazine hoping they will publish an article.

It’s rather chilly in Savannah as I know it is in many parts of the country.  It’s time to read some good books, get some exercise, and make some of that yummy soup.

If you try out the soup, let me know if it’s a big hit.

Lisbeth

Happy New Year.    May good things come  your way in 2010

It’s time to introduce you to ECHOES

Here is the blurb I helped write for the catalog description for the American Library Association conference which will be held next June:   “From a grandmother – granddaughter tandem comes a poetry book, ECHOES, authored by Lisbeth Thom and her granddaughter, Rachel Nelson. This collection presents a collaboration of parallel poems, written on similar subjects.  Both spent the summer bouncing poems back and forth, turning their dream of creating a book together into a reality.  Enjoy their poetic banter and differing thoughts on life in this unusual book.”

Rachel and I kept our poetry book a secret  so we could give it as a Christmas gift.  We had such fun over the summer working on our project.  I love writing poetry and now that I am back working on TESSA AND CLAUDINE, I still find time to take a break and work on poems.

I’ve recently written several poems that relate to stay at home moms and plan to continue that trend.   My next poetry book maybe titled STAY AT HOME MOMS.   For years, I kept a journal, and now looking back through those journals gives me ideas.  Sometimes all I have to do is let those memories fall off the shelf.  After all, those days of staying home with small children are still vivid in my mind.  I well remember those days.  I had three little ones under the age of four.  I had to remind myself not to have negative thoughts about things I could not control.  Instead I tried to focus  my energy on the positive present moment.  THAT DID NOT ALWAYS WORK…. sometimes I whined.  I tried to keep a smile on my face or at least stick my face in a book as often as possible.  I kept an open book in every room in the house.  That was my escape.  Like,  go ahead and have a temper tantrum.  I am going to the Trevi fountain with…

I often get reminders of those fun and frustrating days from reading blogs about moms who write.  Kate Hopper, a young mother, teacher, and writer has a great  blog. Check it out at:  www.motherswhowrite.blogspot.com

Let me hear from you other writers, poets, and moms out there.

Happy writing.   Lisbeth

I know, I know.  Everyone is hustling and bustling around this week getting last minute things done in readiness for Christmas.  Me too.  We head to Minneapolis on 12/23 to visit family.  And yes, we have  read the weather reports — a big snow storm is on the way.  I haven’t been dreaming of a white Christmas, but guess what?  I’m getting one anyhow.  I think the grandkids will be building giant snowmen, or is it better  to say snowpeople?   We certainly don’t want to get stuck in an airport.  Just in case, I’ll have my Kindle with me  and a notebook for jotting down people-watching observations and whatever else pops into my head.

I’ve been busy reworking my novel in first person, present tense, and it sounds more natural.  The good news is my characters are happy with me.   I hated that guilty feeling when they were sitting across the room, breathing down my neck.  Now, they come with me to holiday parties, to church, out to dinner, shopping, on walks, into the bathtub.   We ‘re back in synch — they march around in my head giving me tips on what they would like to do or NOT do next.  Tessa, my main character, had the nerve to ask me what I got her for Christmas.   I told her to simmer down.  What I got her was a new lease on life.  I put her back in action, as if that wasn’t enough.  She acts like a goody two-shoes.  But, I can assure you, she is not all perfume and roses.  Like everyone else, she has her devious moments.  Everyone knows her older sister, Claudine, has a bit of the devil in her, but Tessa puts on this nice-girl front.

As many a writing instructor has told me, a character cannot be all good or all bad.  Everyone is made up of a little of both.   That’s always a good thing to remember.  My sister used to be the one who got in the most trouble.  She argued with my mom a lot, which got her in  hot water.  As for me, I often behaved poorly, but didn’t talk back.   Acting innocent saved my skin.  Mouthy Charlotte often got blamed.  (Sorry Charlotte.)

Here’s hoping all of you have a blessed Christmas.  I wish  you peace and joy in the coming New Year.  I’ll check back in with a report after we return from Minnesota.

Do you have sister stories to share?  Did you let your sister take the blame?  Feel like confessing?

Yeah, hurray, I finally have the proverbial tiger by the tail.  This means I have returned to work on my novel, Tessa and Claudine.  My characters are dusted off and back in action.  I wrote  my long-time friend and told him there is no longer any need to wait for hell to freeze over.  In my last e-mail to him, I had suggested this might happen before  I got back to work on my novel.

While taking a shower one recent evening, I got this brainstorm.  Of course, I couldn’t jot anything down.  (Sometimes inspiration hits at the most inopportune time.) I stood in the hot downpour and let the  ideas flow.   By the time I dried off, I’d concocted a whole new concept for my first chapter.  I made some quick notes, and the next day I wrote a new chapter one.  And now, I must revise the whole book, chapter by chapter.   It’s okay though.  I find that I am looking forward to the whole process.   May wonders never cease.

I heard from my writer friend and faithful blog reader, Glenda, today.  She tells me tidbits about events in her life with such marvelous detail.  I always feel like I am on the scene.  Now that is what I call good writing. 

If I can get myself to take a break from revising, I will try to deck the halls this week.  I am sure to run into to someone tomorrow or the next day at the grocery store or wherever who says, “I’ve finished decorating my house and am done Christmas shopping.”  I might  reply, “Well, I just finished revising Chapter three. So there.”

Lisbeth 

By the way, my daughter-in-law, Kara, has a blog geared for for Moms who like to find time for exercise while raising kids.  Her latest blog tells about these new Go Go Sports Girls dolls.  A great idea for young girls.  Check it out at:  http://mamasweat.blogspot.com

Over the river and through the woods – the family from Columbus, GA, is coming to Savannah for turkey day.  Well, they actually come on the paved road, but you catch the drift.  I’ve been piling in the groceries — my daughter and son-in-law have two high school age boys and a 6th grade girl and yes, they love to eat.  And play games which is great because I love to play Boggle, Rummy Cube, Triominoes , Pictionary, Nertz – you name it and we play it.  

I used to play games with my sister, Charlotte.  She didn’t like word games, but she loved card games:  rummy, canasta, poker, nertz.   And she  liked to stay up half the night.  Not me.  She’d tell me I could not go to bed, insisting it would simply spoil the fun.  I’d tease her, saying I needed toothpicks to keep my eyelids open.  I’d stay up just to keep her happy, and she would dance for joy when she beat me.

I’m sort of easing into the writing-marketing subject because I’ve had a bit of writer’s avoidance lately.  I’ve written a few poems, but I must admit I’ve let Tessa and Claudine sit on the shelf.  Every now and then I hear my characters calling out to me as if they wonder what happened.  They hang in limbo.  I admit that I’ve left them high and dry.  I had a note from a  long time, – I mean really long time friend,– this week.   He raked me over the coals.  I told him one of the characters in my new book is based on him, and now he is standing up for the guy, accusing me of deserting him.  The truth is, my friend is dead right.  I am guilty.  I have abandoned my book.  So, you have my confession. 

I told my friend I will not write him another message until I can report progress on my current novel and I hope that hell will not freeze over before that happens.    So it’s the same for this blog.  I intend to have some positive news about Tessa and Claudine in my next post.

By the way, does anyone else out there want to write but feel  themselves avoiding it?  

Bye for now.  I am adding a new soup recipe soon.  Lisbeth

           Thanks for stopping in to check out my blog.   I’m happy to report that life in Savannah is going well.  My son came for a visit this past weekend.  As a birthday gift, he flew to Savannah from Minneapolis and took me out to dinner Friday evening.   His hero wife stayed home with their three little girls and baby son.   We had such a fun visit.  The next day he and his dad played golf together, also a birthday gift.  He gave us the gift of his time.   Wow, what a deal.   I can’t remember the last time we had a chance for such a visit.

            If you’ve been reading my blog, then you know that I have requested some sister stories from my readers.  Well, I’m delighted to report that  Glenda, a fun reader from Illinois, shared great tales of her three sisters.    And, what fun I had reading her stories, which she had over the years published in a column in her town’s newspaper.  Glenda and her sisters had many interesting escapades.  And, by the way, I found out that I’m related to her husband.  His grandmother and my great-grandmother were sisters.    I sent Glenda a copy of my first novel, Row Away From the Rocks, and I feel certain her stories will inspire me as I wrap things up in my second novel, Tessa and Claudine.

            Guess you know what that means.  I am still trying to restructure the first chapter of Tessa and Claudine to get the reader in the story quicker.    I’ve also been nailing down my query letter.  I know, I know.  I’m as slow as molasses.   I’m simply trying to get things done right.

             I read Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture – what a touching story.  What courage.   My heart goes out to his family.   I am now reading The Madonnas of Leningrad.  Just started it.   

              I finished another writing project this summer, but it is a Christmas surprise, so stay tuned.  I can’t wait to tell you about it.  Have fun with the trick or treaters.   I’ll be back in touch soon.    Let me hear from you.

Lisbeth