The Chuck Wagon returns!!!

I've had to get the cattle prod out to get the wagon master back on track with the recipes, but here is actually something light and healthy.




Banana/Egg Pancakes




2 eggs
1 ripe banana


Slice banana in thin slices and mash with fork
Add two eggs and whip with a whisk until bananas are dissolved
Spray the pan with pam cooking spray
Drop pancakes to size and brown on each side lightly
Serve with nutella, syrup, peanut butter or eat them plain like me!


Happy eating and happy trails
KIM (And the Wagon Master!)

The Time In Between...

 I am in a place where I never expected to be on several notes. I have spent the last three or more years with my head in one manuscript after another, riding out west with the heroes who have somehow become the voices that speak inside my head. Strange? Probably, but not for a writer. Having only pursued publication since 2012, I never expected to find myself signing a contract for Sawyer's Rose this soon. The funny thing is while I am excited, elated and off the chain about it, some other things I never expected have surfaced. First I have spent all of 2013 and 2014 working toward the goal of submitting to the Virginia Ellis Critique, which both years proved to be invaluable. And then what I learned from these critiques helped me with submitting better writes to the Maggies both years, where just this past fall Sawyer's Rose got an honorable mention. So one of the things I am in limbo about is I do not have a contest to enter. Well, I did put Sawyer's Rose in the Golden Heart. What the heck am I suppose to be doing? Since I signed the contract for Sawyer's Rose with the Wild Rose Press, I am no longer eligible to enter the Gin Ellis critique, which is a good thing, but leaves me whirling with ideas and no where to go. And this time of year, I am usually in hard edits for what I want to place in the Maggies and here I sit, ineligible to do that either. Yes, for good reasons, but what do I do now? My brain has stayed in mode of working up to all the contests for so long. I've submitted what I needed to submit to my editor, but I now am waiting on revisions, which will come some time in April. But here I am needing to use this time wisely since there are no contests for me and Wyatt's story (Sawyer's bounty hunting brother) needs to get written. Yet, while I love this cowboy, he is sitting still and not getting written as fast as I normally write. Something about this time in between first sale and first edits is difficult, almost maddening to quote a friend who knows--and again something I didn't expect as I have never really had writer's block. The good thing is that it has been a month since I signed the contract and I've done a lot of spinning but I think I am starting to get my feet on the ground once again. Wyatt is coming along better the last few days and I now have kimturnerwrites.com website up and running. So I am getting things checked off my list. And since I am a list maker, this means progress. So my advice to the newly published is to expect this time of limbo, and just go with it. This might just be normal. Heavy sigh....breathe in, breathe out and write on!

Good News for Sawyer's Rose--and me!!!

After five rejections last year (2013) and two this past year (2014), The Wild Rose Press is taking Sawyer's Rose for it's Cactus Rose line. I could not be more thrilled or surprised than any of you who have helped and supported me along the way. I kept saying that Sawyer was going places and well, he sure is! Monday I got the email that will change the course of my writing. Published. I sat and looked at the email for a few minutes before it would all compute in this brain of mine. I have said the word in the context of 'when I get published' for so long it seems I am not sure I know how to say I am published or at least about to be. I have spent the first five days in shock but it's starting to sink in. The Wild Rose Press has given me a contract on Sawyer's Rose. Darn near amazing and for someone like me who has dreamed of being published like it was only something to hope for but not something that would ever happen. When I was at M&M and Sawyer's Rose was a finalist in the Maggies, I was really overwhelmed with even that much success, but this just about makes me speechless. I took a look at the list I first posted about where I had been so far with my writing and it's funny that I can remember each step of the way and just how I felt at the time. I only started writing for publication in August of 2011 and so a little over 3 years and it happens and with one of the companies I was most interested in working with since I am a new author. Author. I was told I am not longer a writer but an author. I think that will take time to sink in as well. I wrote Sawyer's Rose nine times if I am counting correctly and three of those writes were major story changes. And now I will be heading into revisions wanted by new editor, so Sawyer's Rose still isn't done but I am excited to see just how it goes and how it will end up. I keep reminding myself that now is not the time to get impatient and hurry. Now is the time to make sure that I revise and edit well and make sure this story is the best it can be before it goes out there. Yes, I am still in shock at just writing this because it is about to really happen and I couldn't be happier. I announced this news at the GRW meeting yesterday and I wish I were brave enough to say more than the basics. I wish my racing pulse and issues with being up in front of everyone didn't close off my brain and voice. I would have said to the unpublished writers that they should take advantage of what GRW offers in the Gin Ellis Critique and the Unpublished Maggie awards. I know the success I have with Sawyer's Rose is that I twice put the story in the Virginia Ellis Critique and the Maggies. Also, if it were not for GRW, I would not have met the critique partners that have helped me tweak Sawyer's Rose over and over. Critique partners and beta readers are the ones who really take the win on this, right along with me and I don't take for granted what it means to have the best. And as I kept hoping, Sawyer Rides again but getting this contract blows the heck out of the 2015 plans I had--see below.

So my plans for 2015:
1) Complete Wyatt's Bounty Full Manuscript (Still working on this)
2) Enter Wyatt's Bounty in the GRW's Gin Ellis Critique for some feedback (Now due to being published I can't)
3) Enter Wyatt's Bounty in the Maggies-even with the upped deadline (Now due to being published I can't)
4) Keep the blog updated at least monthly (Doing good here.)
5) Stay hopeful Sawyer's Rose will get it's chance (DONE!!!!!!!!!!!)
6) Start on Dawson's Haven, once Wyatt's Bounty is complete (This will be on hold until Sawyer's edits are done and I have Wyatt written.)
7) Enter All But the Fall, my contemporary in the Maggies (Now due to being published, can't enter.)
8) Maybe enter Sawyer's Rose in the Golden Heart next time (Done....I got Sawyer off in time but I didn't know it was going to get published.)

2015 Writing goals, hopes and dream...

I am guilty of blog neglect, but what better way to get started again than to think about where I have been with my writing and where I want things to go for 2015. First goal of the year is to do better with this blog in 2015. I will see what I can do, but my writing must come first for the most part.

As I look at me and my writing, it is difficult trying to find the time to write, what with a full time job and a family. The last few months have been full of family medical issues which do not lend to finding the words late at night when I do have time to write, but this too shall pass and I am hoping with the new year things will get back to normal.

Since the height of October's Moonlight and Magnolia's event with SAWYER'S ROSE receiving an honorable mention, a few things have happened. I got the manuscript off to seven different editors and agents, some asking for partials and others for a full. I managed to get them all off in one night of serious determination long before November. The verdict so far? Two rejections, but a couple of promising emails that leave me hopeful for a couple of the others.

Rejections come hard. The height of hope comes crashing down, but I've managed to take a deep breath and pick it up with fresh hope each time. I am reminded of a couple of quotes from writer friends. One is that "it all boils down to the right editor/agent at the right time." The other is that it is "the journey you must remember to enjoy." So what did I do when I absorbed these rejections? Well, I jumped right into the November challenge to complete a book. The result was about 80,000 words into Wyatt's Bounty. :)

I started writing for publication in mid 2011 and I remember being so lost in the characters of that first story that I could hear their voices and sagas in my head all day long. But I remember the joy of coming home from work, handling the children and all the daily chores and then later excited to find myself alone again with my laptop and my story. It was fun, and it still is. I don't want to lose that. Another writer friend has reminded me that writing before publication is sometime when you have the most fun, because there are no pressures and time lines you have to meet. Your story is your own, your time frame is your own and you decide. Maybe she is right as I kind of call my own shots now on how it gets done. But then again, I can push myself harder than anyone else might ask me to do. I don't set hard daily number counts and while I do try to set a goal of when I will complete a rough draft, sometime I meet it and sometimes I don't. Usually when I don't there is a good reason and the writing will win if I give it more time.

So my plans for 2015:
1) Complete Wyatt's Bounty Full Manuscript
2) Enter Wyatt's Bounty in the GRW's Gin Ellis Critique for some feedback
3) Enter Wyatt's Bounty in the Maggies-even with the upped deadline
4) Keep the blog updated at least monthly
5) Stay hopeful Sawyer's Rose will get it's chance
6) Start on Dawson's Haven, once Wyatt's Bounty is complete
7) Enter All But the Fall, my contemporary in the Maggies
8) Maybe enter Sawyer's Rose in the Golden Heart next time

While I set new years goals carefully most of the time, I never have been one that is rigid about them. Life sometimes gets in the way and you have to give yourself a break here and there. And so there you have it, at least for now. Stay tuned to see how things go in 2015.

The Maggie Awards

 


Look! Sawyer's Rose and I make the big screen for a few seconds. It was such an honor to have the story final in this year's Maggie awards for historical romance. Sawyer's Rose got an honorable mention which I do not take lightly and means the world to me. It was so much fun to catch up with my writer friends, listen to lectures and pitch my story to a number of editors who all want a look! I am hopeful once again and when I catch up on sleep and get a few minutes, I plan to send Sawyer out to see just what happens. Stay tuned!

The Chuck Wagon: North GeorgiaTrout

North Georgia trout can be small but pretty tasty. We catch our own and fry them up fresh right at the camp site in a cast iron skillet.


Clean and gut the trout and remove the skin.
Soak the trout in buttermilk and then press into cornmeal with added salt and pepper. Drop the trout into hot oil and fry until golden brown! Yum Yum! For added spice add cayenne pepper to the cornmeal mix.


And for something totally different, coat the trout in regular yellow mustard instead of butter milk and then coat on cornmeal and fry them up. You won't be disappointed.






 Fresh caught by Dakota.
Soak in buttermilk.
Coat inside and out in cornmeal with salt and pepper added.
Serve 'em up hot!


Our trout came from Wildcat Creek Campground in North Ga.

From the Chuck Wagon-Mexican Cornbread

Mexican Cornbread


Buttermilk cornmeal 3 cups
Whole Cultured Buttermilk 2 cups
Eggs 2
Jalapenos-chopped or sliced to taste (We add half a jar of sliced)
Mexican corn mix 1 can drained
Cheese: cheddar or mixed 2 cups


Mix all ingredients together stirring until well mixed or the consistency of cake batter
Pour into greased hot iron skillet (11 inch skillet in picture)
Place in over at 350 degrees until firm in center and lightly browned on top
Butter entire top and serve


If you want to make this a complete meal add a half pound of ground beef cooked, stirring it into the mix before cooking.





P.S. from Kim: Just a reminder southern cornbread does not have added sugar....GRITS: (Girls raised in the south) do not eat sweet cornbread.


So tell us how you do it!