Oregon photos accepted by stock photo site!

Before Sweetie and I took a trip back home to Oregon this fall, he bought me a new Nikon digital SLR, which I just love to pieces. I came home with many photos I still haven't gotten around to putting on a CD so sweetie can upload them. (Unlike some people who will go unnamed -- okay, that would be Sweetie -- I actually cull my pics so I don't have a gazillion photos of the same thing.)

Anyway, over Christmas, on a whim, I decided to upload a few to a stock photo place I've bought photos from in the past for various book trailer videos. (Control freak that I am, if I can't use a photo I took myself, I at least want to choose the photos Circle of Seven video productions uses.) While waiting to see if any would be accepted, I remembered how I felt when I was first waiting to get published.

Well, I learned yesterday that BigStockphoto.com accepted three! The first one, at the top of this page, is a shot of the Heceta Head lightkeeper's house. It's also the photo NAL used as a model for the cover of The Homecoming, although as you can see, they changed the position of the house. Also, the trees are gone, replaced by flowers, which I think are pretty. (Oh, you can double click on any of the photos to see them full-sized.)



Another photo they chose was one of a sea lion in Astoria:



And the third was the fog rolling into Newport from the ocean:



Just as in the book business, I did have some rejections. Here are two I took at the same time I took the fog rolling into Newport, which I really like, but they said they have too many fog photos. (Go figure.)





And here's one they rejected for because apparently, if you've a super magnifying glass, you can see the trawler's license number. So, I'm going to see if I can photoshop over that and try again. I also think I'll crop that other trawler out. Stay tuned.



This upcoming Friday's fun video, to recognize Oregon's appearance in the Rose Bowl, will feature a news report on their Duck mascot's infamous takedown of a Cougars mascot, which earned him a one game suspension. Although it's hard to say, being married to an Oregon State Beavers fan, since we've gotta go with the PAC 10, "Go Ducks!"

Wishing everyone a fantabulous new year!

Christmas Tree Massacre Kitty Memories

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
~ Charles Dickens


Every year, when I put up our Christmas tree (which friend Eve Mardis calls the green standy thing with cat toys), I think of Beastie. Beastie was a kitten our son adopted while in college. She was obviously a stray and showed up at his door during a terrible storm. (Yes, Virginia, despite what the song lyrics say, it actually does rain in California.)

She was hugely loyal, greeting him whenever he got back from class, waiting in the window for him (well, probably basking in some California sunshine, as well), and of course there was no way he could leave her alone over the Christmas holidays, so he drove her back to Arizona for Christmas with us.

Well. . . now, you have to understand the tree I had back in the days when I was in my Martha Stewart mode. It was about 12' tall, and proportionally wide at the bottom. It had a gazillion lights (okay, that might be an exaggeration), many strands of silver ribbon, and 2,000 Victorian style ornaments. I know that because one year after someone asked during a party, I counted them as a took them down. I was such a fantabulous tree, I even created a 24" miniature of it for the foyer table.

The minute Beastie entered the house, Kitty Scarlett -- our high-strung Siamese -- darted beneath the tree and stayed there, hidden behind the packages, for nearly the entire holiday. Our dog first bristled at the intruder, then realizing that for some unfathomable reason we actually wanted another cat in our home, proceeded to ignore it.

Beastie wasn't in the house more than three minutes when she spotted the dazzling, lit tree. And began to attack it. She'd knock off a glass decoration, then pounce on it to make sure it was truly shattered and dead. Then she'd take on another one. And another.

The great Christmas tree massacre went on for nearly an hour, until, showing great leaping ability, one ornament at a time, she'd cleared about the bottom four feet of the tree. Many of those ornaments had been purchased during our travels, so they held sentimental value, but the crazed leaping and crashing was so funny, my sweetie, son Patrick, and I just all sat there and laughed and laughed. To this day that remains one of my favorite Christmas memories.

Since Friday is Christmas and I'm sure many people will have better things to do than read blogs, I'm including the Friday Fun video in this post. This kitty isn't as crazed as Beastie, but you've got to give her huge points for determination!



Enjoy, and merry, merry to all, whatever you're celebrating this season!

Friday Fun video -- Santa Meets Sousa

First of all, I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED! everyone's holiday stories! Since we're missing having the grandkidlets for Christmas this year, all the memories helped add some joy to our own holiday season! A couple even made me cry. But in a good way. Winners, chosen at random, are Sue Hussein and Yvonne, so if you'll email us your snail mail addresses (link's on the website), and which book you'd like, we'll get those out to you.

Sax Douchett, the hero of the my upcoming The Homecoming, is the black sheep of his family. Not just because he's a former high school bad boy, but he's a Navy SEAL.

Now, you'd think that would be a good thing. And it is. But if you grow up in a family of Marines, well. . .

In The Homecoming, readers will meet Cole Douchett, one of Sax's two Marine brothers, who's engaged to be married. In the still untitled second Shelter Bay book, which I'm working on now, Gabriel St. James is a loner Marine who, in an act of Semper Fi loyalty, has reluctantly arrived in Shelter Bay for Cole's wedding. Since I'm superstitious and must drink my coffee and tea from mugs relating to whatever book I'm working on, these days my mug sports a gorgeous design of a bald eagle and the words Semper Fi and my car mug has a Marine Corps emblem.

Last December, I blogged this LOL video of the Marine Forces Reserve Band's 2008 Santa Meets Sousa tour (which raised a bunch of money for Toys for Tots) I received from a reader, Carolyn Smith. This year I decided it's worth sharing again. Carolyn's son is in the band, though not in this video, and she's justifiably proud of him. Did you know that Marine band members are "REAL" Marines. . . as in they don't just play instruments, but they're also, like every other Marine, trained riflemen? As is my fictional Gabe (who doesn't seem fictional to me!), who served as a war photojournalist in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Carolyn's son was in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm and the whole band at Camp Lejeune was in Iraq for 8 months in 2006. The band's mission is to provide security for Headquarters Battalion. So, thankfully, they shoot better than they plan their song selection. (Just kidding!)

Truly, it's a fun video. Enjoy and merry, merry. Oh, and if you're looking for a Christmas charity to give to this year, check out the Marine Graduation Foundation, which helps families who might not otherwise be able to afford it, to attend their Marines' graduation. Their motto is "So no new Marine stands alone" and they're one of my personal favorite charities. Even if you've already given to other groups this year, the video on their website is definitely worth watching!

Christmas Tree Memories

We usually begin setting up our Christmas tree -- which takes five days to put up and decorate -- Thanksgiving weekend. But this year, because we've been away from home until Sunday night, we're going to finally get started today.

Growing up in Oregon's Cascade Mountains, I loved going out in the woods every December to cut trees. Along with getting a tree for our living room, we'd also get a one for every bedroom, my classroom, and for the roof, which my dad, who's pictured here carrying a tree down a mountain, said was a Scandinavian custom he picked up while living in Minnesota. He claimed it meant welcome.

Because it often took all day to find the perfect living room one, my mother would pack a lunch and a huge thermos of hot cocoa and we'd make a snow day of it. Usually the best trees would be at the top of the mountain and hugely tall; Daddy would cut them down and, trudging through knee-deep snow, we'd take the top 7-8 feet home. Any thin spots, he'd drill holes and insert spare branches into them. I later taught my sweetie to do the same thing, though when we were living in Phoenix, we bought our trees, which were, ironically, shipped from Oregon.

When I was in the 3rd grade, I stole a Christmas tree. There was a poor boy, Benny, in our class, who, for some reason we kids didn't know, lived with his grandmother -- which, along with longer home-trimmed hair and patched clothes -- made him a target for bullies.

I was shocked when I learned that he'd never had a Christmas tree because his grandmother said they couldn't afford one. So, since we had so many at our house, I took him home at lunch on a day I knew my mother had my baby sisters at the pediatrician for their checkup and his grandmother wouldn't be home. Somehow Benny and I carried/dragged our tree and decorations three blocks to his tiny house leaving a trail of tinsel behind us.

His smile, when we lit it up, was brighter than the tree.

We were late getting back to school, which resulted in us both having to sit in the principal's office for a while. When my mother got home, she first thought our tree had been stolen, which was unheard of in a town and time when no one we knew ever locked their doors. I was scolded for taking the tree without asking permission, but fortunately my parents decided my gift was in the spirit of the holiday, so I avoided any dire punishment.

Benny's grandmother was initially shocked and probably embarrassed, but when my parents insisted she keep the tree, she returned the heirloom blown glass ornaments and baked us some cookies. That remains one of my best Christmas memories.

This is NOT a picture of Benny, but one I found of my sweetie in his Rudolph T-shirt while I was looking for my dad and tree photo. I'd just turned fifteen when I met and fell immediately in love with this boy. But if I'd seen him, looking so seriously cute, I would've fallen this day.

So, what's your favorite holiday memory? Two people who share will win a backlist book of their choice (subject to availability), along with a The Homecoming magnet and chocolate bar. Winners will be announced on this blog on Friday as well as on my newly designed website.

Friday Fun video -- Agony and Ecstasy of Revisions

I occasionally receive questions from readers about the revision process. I've had over a dozen editors, at a bunch of different publishers over the years, and the process is always different with every editor. And often every book.

Fortunately, my fantabulous NAL editor, Laura Cifelli, "gets" my stories, so she never wants major plot changes. But while I can often get lost in the trees, she has an editor's talented eye that sees the entire forest. Which means she often spots things I haven't explained well enough, or that I actually knew, but forgot to share with readers. (What, y'all can't read my mind?) I love her to pieces -- and not just because she makes my books better -- and believe we make a perfect team.

Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Here's a fun video of author Lara Zielin's agony and ecstasy of editing her debut novel, Donut Days. Enjoy!

Contest winners & Turkey Tetrazzini recipe

When most of us start thinking of Thanksgiving, we're really looking forward to the traditional turkey dinner. Personally, I've always believed the side dishes are the best part. Next to turkey sandwiches with cranberries on them. Since about our third year of marriage, when I found this recipe, we've ended our Thanksgiving weekend with turkey tetrazzini. This is so not a healthy meal, but hey, what about Thanksgiving is?



Researching is one of my favorite parts of writing, so of course, I had to look up where the name actually came from. Seems that Luisa Tetrazzini was considered the greatest coloratura soprano of her time. The brilliant diva delighted San Francisco when she made her American debut there in the early 1900s. When she gave a memorable Christmas Eve concert on a street corner to the massive audience who'd gathered to hear her (and anyone who's spent Christmas in that city knows how cold it can be!), she inspired the chef of the Palace Hotel to create a dish in her honor. The original Chicken Tetrazzini was made with -- duh -- chicken, but along with turkey, you can also use shellfish with equal bravura.

Just in case you're doing the turkey thing again for Christmas, or want to save this for next year, here's our final turkey leftover recipe:

Ingredients:

6 Tablespoons butter or margarine (I WARNED you it's not exactly heart healthy!)
5 Tablespoons of flour
2 1/2 cups of chicken or turkey broth (I use homemade stock, but canned works fine.)
1 1/4 cup half-and-half (light cream)
1/2 cup dry white wine (I use the same wine I'm drinking, but make about 1/4-1/3 of that 1/2 cup marsala for extra richness)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 pound mushrooms, sliced (I just use regular white for this recipe.)
12 ounces spaghetti (I use linguini)
3-4 cups cooked turkey, cut into 1/2 in cubes (this is a great way to get rid of dark meat from the legs by mixing it with breast meat.)
Salt and white pepper (If you've only black, that'll do, too.)

Melt 3 Tablespoons of the butter over medium heat in a 2 quart pan.
Mix in flour and cook, stirring, until bubbly.
Remove pan from heat and stir in broth, half-and-half, and wine.
Return to head and cook, stirring, until sauce is smooth and thickened.
Stir in Parmesan.
Measure out 1 cup of the sauce, then reserve both portions.

Melt remaining 3 TB butter in a wide frying pan over medium-high heat.
Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until juices mostly evaporate and mushrooms are browned.

Following package directions, cook pasta in a large kettle of boiling salted water until al dente.
Drain.
Combine Spaghetti with larger portion of sauce, turkey, and mushrooms. (Save some mushrooms for garnish.)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Turn into greased or foiled 2 qt casserole dish.
Spoon the remaining 1 cup of reserved sauce evenly over the surface and top with reserved mushrooms.

Bake, covered, in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes (1 hr if you made it ahead and refrigerated.) Remove cover and broil for a few minutes to brown the top lightly.


Enjoy and make plans to exercise later.

Winners of last week's blog contest, chosen at random, are: Kara C, Mitzi, and Amber Leigh! Just choose a book from the book page on my new website, and email your mailing address to joann@joannross.com and we'll get those out to you!