Angie Pedersen's The Blog of ME

REVIEW: Write, Publish, & Sell Your Crafty Ebook

If you're at all familiar with the online crafting community, you've probably heard of Diane Gilleland (aka SisterDiane). She is the creator/founder/editor of a veritable treasure trove of informative and inspiring stuff, like her CraftyPod podcast, her blog, and her online classes & ebooks. I took her Crafty Ebook class earlier this year, so when she asked me to review the ebook version, I was happy to do so.

Write, Publish & Sell Your Crafty Ebook is exactly what it sounds like - an in-depth tutorial on compiling, formatting, and marketing an ebook especially for the craft market. The book is divided into four chapters, each diving into the specific aspects needed to bring an ebook to market.

• Chapter 1: Things to Think About Before You Make an Ebook
• Chapter 2: How to Make a PDF Ebook
• Chapter 3: The Dreaded Technical Parts
• Chapter 4: Marketing Your Ebook
• (see the full Table of Contents on the book sales page)

Diane draws upon her years of experience in the online crafting community to offer a tutorial that's rich in detail and resources. It's full of crafty links and examples that will not only help educate you; it will also help inspire you to produce an equally professional product. The book is visually engaging with gorgeous photos and images, and moves through a buttload of information at a good pace. This is a reference book that you will turn to again and again.

You'll find this book is valuable whether you're a techie newbie or have already published an ebook or two. I have a couple of ebooks available (Launch Your New Scrapbooking Product and Build Buzz with a Virtual Book Tour), and I learned a lot about different software to use for layout design, and particularly found the marketing section helpful, since it is geared toward a crafty audience. She also goes into considerations on ISBN's, pricing, file hosting, and digital copyright issues that I hadn't considered.

The one thing I wish she had covered more was making ebooks interactive - she didn't really cover how to include links, either navigating to content within the ebook or linking to outside web resources. I understand that creating links really depends on the software you use, whether Adobe Acrobat or Pages, or whatever, so it's hard to address that issue when people are using different software. But that was something I was specifically looking for in the content, and didn't get.

As far as I can tell, this is the same content she offers in her online course. The only thing different is the group interaction. In the online course, there is a group message board and several real-time chats. I really enjoyed the interaction, getting to know other crafters and learning about their intended crafty ebooks. It was actually during this class that I met Shayne Rioux, editor of GeekCrafts, and we struck up a conversation that led to me writing for the GC blog, which led to my fourth book deal! Crafty connections abound in the class! I also found it very helpful to have Diane available for questions that came up as I was going through the class material. Diane doesn't offer the class all the time, so be sure to sign up for her newsletter for updates on when she'll offer it again. (Find the subscription box on the left sidebar of her homepage.)

I would highly recommend this ebook to anyone considering writing their own ebook - it's a thorough exploration of ebooks in general, with special attention to the crafting audience. Two thumbs up!

New Book Cover for Angst by David Pedersen

My husband (@got_angst) recently worked with an artist he found on DeviantArt to create a new cover for his first fantasy-adventure book, Angst. We love how it turned out!

Don't tell my husband, but I love the little bald spot on the main character on the cover. Also, even though I read the book several times while editing it, I never envisioned the sword (aka "Chryslaenor") that big, so this new cover helped me imagine it correctly.

In case you hadn't heard of Angst before now, you're in for a treat. :) Angst is the story of a "mid-life crisis during medieval times". Be sure to read my completely unbiased review of it for the full scoop. Then whisk yourself over to Amazon to pick up a copy: Angst by David Pedersen at Amazon.

What do you think? And what are some of your favorite book covers? How much does the cover influence whether you buy the book?

 

Recipe: Sausage & Sweet Potatoes (gluten-free/dairy-free/paleo)

My family went NUTS over this recipe last night, and kept praising it for a couple hours after we'd finished eating. Bonus: it's paleo-friendly and naturally gluten-free!

I found this at PaleoBlocks, who modified it from Gluten-Free Goddess. It's originally a stuffed cabbage recipe, but I didn't mess with the cabbage - we just ate the "filling". My modified version below.

Sausage & Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, diced
• 1 red onion, peeled, diced
• 1 large tart apple, such as Granny Smith, peeled, diced [I think I used Gala or Pink Lady]
• 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 sausages- these can be sweet Italian, chicken apple, turkey, buffalo, cut into chunks [I used Al Fresco Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage]
• Extra virgin olive oil, as needed
• 1 cup organic 100% apple juice
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
• Sprinkle of sea salt, cinnamon, nutmeg [I used pumpkin pie spice]

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Throw the vegetables, apple, and sausage into a roasting pan and drizzle with a little olive oil. 
3. Add the apple juice, maple syrup, salt and spices and toss well to coat. 
4. Roast in the oven till soft- about 40 to 50 minutes. Stir a few times during roasting to distribute the sauce and seasoning.
5. Serve & sit back and wait for the accolades.

Going Paleo & Cleaning My Plate

[photo credit: Jose C Silva]

At the beginning of the year, I decided to cut out artificial sweeteners and processed foods.

I started with my 1-a-day diet soda - I tried to switch from Fresca to Zevia, a stevia-sweetened soda. I tried Lemon Lime, Grapefruit, Cream, and Cola, but haven't found a flavor that I actually like. 

I also stopped drinking my morning coffee. I generally like my coffee pretty sweet and milky, so I used to add 2 packets of Vanilla Splenda, Torani sugar-free Vanilla syrup, and skim milk. But with no artificial sweetners, that had to go. So for a hot morning beverage now I drink about 3c green tea with mint - a bag Bigelow Green Tea with Mint, and 2 bags Celestial Seasonings Spearmint. I've found I like it chilled just as well as warm.

In mid-January, a friend of my husband's decided to complete a 30-day Paleo challenge, wherein she ate only "paleo-friendly" foods (PDF) - lean meats/protein, fruits, and vegetables. It was really interesting to read her posts and status updates, so I started researching it.

Like other healthy eating options, it's a "lifestyle change" - Paleo is about rewiring how you think about food and what you need to feed your body. It's about breaking yourself of unhealthy addictions that are gumming up your system and causing all sorts of health issues. Here are some helpful FAQ pages to learn more:

Loren Cordain's Paleo FAQs

Robb Wolf's Paleo FAQs

For the past month or so I've been following a mostly-paleo diet, with some elements of a Green Smoothie diet and Raw diet thrown in. I haven't been stritcly paleo - I'll have an occasional glass of milk, a cup of yogurt, sweet potatoes, corn, or peas. I just don't think those choices are going to derail my healthy eating success.

Along with artificial sweeteners, I've cut out most baked goods/gluten and processed foods. No more fruit snacks, chips, muffins, ice cream, or frozen diet lunches. I mostly eat fresh foods, or foods that are "whole" from the source (e.g. frozen green beans, nothing added).

I feel fuller and more satisfied after eating than I ever have before. I'm eating so much less - though this could be a mind trick I'm playing on myself. I started tracking my food on PaleoTrack today, so we'll see what my food log proves.

I have many other thoughts to share about all this, but I'll close for now with a few questions. Have you heard of the Paleo diet? Do you know anyone who has tried it? How has it worked for them? Any recipe links or suggestions?

 

Writers' Group Prompt: When it was nice outside...

This prompt was to begin writing with the phrase, "When it was nice outside...", and to free-write for 10 minutes.

My results:

When it was nice outside, I would walk home with my friend Vanessa. Sometimes her mom would drive us, in their aging station wagon with the wood panels and the rear-facing back seat. But since her mom never let us sit back there anyway, we figured we might as well walk. That way we could tell our stories -- the stories that just kept building on each other. Our brains just worked good together, I guess, each feeding on the imaginings of the other. Our feet knew the walk so well that our minds were left free to leap and create -- the most wonderful stories. Where there were dragons and damsels and absolutely NO little brothers.

There wasn't any fighting either, unless it was a grand hero with a jeweled sword. Nessa had enough fighting at home, that we were careful to avoid it, though not by any spoken agreement.

Most often, we didn't even pay attention to our surroundings - the way from PS 192 to our apartment building was straight enough, you could stick your arms out like a zombie, shut your eyes and just walk and you'd get there. (We knew that cuz we tried it once. Till old Mr McNeely at the butcher shop yelled at us to watch where he was spraying the sidewalk.)

So we kept our eyes open, but our heads down, as we continued in story mode. Our story that day took us to the dunes of an African desert, where it was so hot, we imagined our feet were singed by the sand. It was while we were hopping around in our imagined torture that we first saw it. Everything was always so the same on our walks, so that same that we almost missed it. 

It was an ordinary thing. We must have seen 50 of them that day, at least, maybe 100. Fat, thin, tall, short, covered, naked, you just don't think anything of it. Till you trip over one on your way through a scorching desert. As Nessa did. And when she did, she stumbled, and whirled around to give the offender an earful. But her words died a little in her throat, her deeply in-drawn breath puffing up in her chest, then choking up against the words.

Her hand rose to her mouth just as I jumped up behind, ready to rib her for her fall. She turned to me, her face the strangest color I've ever seen, even stranger than when she had the chicken pox and a 4-day fever. She opened her mouth to tell me, to warn me, to somehow share the burden of her discovery, but nothing came out. Nessa, my friend with the golden storytelling tongue, was struck dumb.

For how do you tell a story that isn't yours to tell? Certainly there was a story here. Just as certainly it wasn't of our making.

Writers' Group Prompt: The Alley

PROMPT: Describe an alley. Write for 5 minutes.

My results:

It was dark - the kind of dark that you just knew was unfriendly and unwelcoming. Hardly a place to linger if your business led you somewhere else. A streetlight across the street shone indistinct light across its mouth, casting shadowy teeth over the moist walls. Crumpled bits of newspaper blew down the passage, then disappeared in the dank darkness that seemed to swallow up all sound - sucking in everything near, like a black hole. Even the street people walked past quickly, seemingly afraid to even hazard a sideways glance. A couple of bony mutts trotted down the sidewalk, sniffing at doorways and passersby, but quickened their pace as they skittered past the dark alley.

Photo credit: Bertron8

Writers' Group Prompt: Images

This Writers' Group Prompt was interesting - it wasn't a single prompt, but rather a selection of words from which to choose to form a piece.  Here's the list we used, then did free-writing for 10 minutes:

• overalls
• silk
• High School Prom
• a scream from the next apartment
• wedding
• house slippers
• clothes drying on the line
• a crib
• 3rd grade
• honey

Here are my results:

He wore overalls every day of his life, from the very day he first wore clothes. It's what they all did. It was better that way - you always knew what to wear, you looked like everyone else, and you always knew where to find your hammer and gloves. No tellin' when you might need one or t'other. Fences worked loose and calves got stuck in the mud. Shoot - don't even think about tryin' to pull a calf out of the mud without your gloves. That's just pure stupid. Might as well try to catch a pig loose in a pit of honey.

A man knew where he stood when he wore overalls - knew what was expected of him. Knew it was time to be about your work, long as the sun was up, and sometimes a bit after it went down. A man knew his family counted on him to get up and get the work done and to do it again the next day. It was just the way things were and it worked just fine for him.

But this. This was not working for him. Partly because he wasn't working - he was waiting. And he didn't wait so good. Not when there was work to be done. Which there always was. But not today, Thelma had told him. Today was the wedding and they were all going. It rubbed him raw, much like the collar currently chafing his neck. He didn't see why his niece couldn't just wait for the preacher to come through town, have him over for coffee and to say a few words and be done with it all. Just like everyone else.

Photo credit: mshutch Michael Hutchinson

Writers' Group Prompt: The Box

Here's another piece from a recent writing group session. 

The prompt: Free write about "The Box", as a symbol, for 10 minutes.

My results:

She knew better than to open the Box. Hadn't she seen for herself what it could do? Hadn't her mother told her their family's sacred duty and trust? The power that only the women of her line could hold and contain? And only within the walls of the Box?

It was such an ordinary looking box, with its rough-hewn seams and coarse cuts made by tools from another time. The Box alone was not enticing, or even remarkable. It sat quite unassuming on the mantle. But the weight of its presence was so very heavy -- it seemed to draw all the energy from the room -- sucking the very will to move from its occupants. She was always, always, aware of its presence, could always see it out of the corner of her eye. Though that was to be expected, as she was rarely out of this main room in the simple house. They took their meals here, repaired ripped clothing, and told stories in front of the fire. And of course someone always had to stay -- it wasn't like the Box could be left unattended. The one time it has been - the one time in all those long, lonely, dutiful years...well, she couldn't think about that.

The memories of that night still shrouded her thoughts, looking for any opportunity or excuse to crowd in, to surge against her carefully constructed walls, bringing with them waves of grief and shame and guilt. Because of that night, and all that they had lost - that all of them had lost - she should have known better than to open the Box.

But she was yet young, and there was still hope in her heart. Hope that she would be the One that could reign it in and wield the Power.

Photo credit: bballchico

Writers' Group Prompt: The Wicker Love Seat

Earlier this year, I was invited to join a writers' group that meets monthly. Feeling neglectful of writing for myself, I dove right in. I've attended several meetings, and have really enjoyed it. We chat about writing related activities, give impromptu reviews of events and books, and write to several prompts. I've been really pleased with nearly all of the writing generated from the prompts, so I thought I would start sharing some here.

For this first piece, we were supposed to start with the following sentence, and free-write for 10 minutes:

"We saw it on Friday on the road to Thompsonville, the wicker love seat, right out there, straddling the center line."

Here are my results:

We saw it on Friday on the road to Thompsonville, the wicker love seat, right out there, straddling the center line. It seemed so odd to see it sitting there, in the middle of a dead town, where leaves scuttled down the empty boardwalks and any sounds were drowned out by the endless scream of the cicadas in the trees bracketing the street. We stopped out car in front of the love seat and just looked at it. It was worn, the white overwash flaking off on the arms, obviously a well-loved piece of furniture at one time.

Who could count the number of hands to have caressed the arms, to have found a moment's rest and the peace of comfort in visiting a friend? The seat belongs on a wrap-around porch somewhere, or maybe a screened-in sunroom.

The fabrics were cheery once upon a time, too - a red bandana print on the cushions, now fraying at the seams and piping. The yellow polka-dot pillows were still plump, if faded from too many hours in the sun.

The seat was obviously home to countless stories, though we only wondered about the one. How did it come to rest here, in the middle of Main Street, at the crossroads of Nowhere and Not-Yet-There? We weren't even really shure where we were going ourselves, only that we needed to not be where we were.

Thoughts on Warrior Dash Kansas City

My husband (above, left) and his good friend ran the Kansas City Warrior Dash today. What a grueling event! And I hear it was hard for the race participants, too! :)

Some thoughts from today's race, in case you're looking for Warrior Dash tips:

• Parking is $10 cash. You can buy food there - BBQ sandwiches, giant turkey legs, water, lemonade, beer. Water/lemonade is $2 a bottle. 


• Shuttles leave the parking area every few minutes, so you shouldn't have to wait long. The ride took 15-20 min.


• Hopefully you have at least one person coming to root you on - they will be handy for holding your stuff while you're dashing. I kept my husband's phone, ID, race tee & his Viking helmet in my backpack.


• If you have cheerleaders/stuff-watchers coming, suggest they bring lawn chairs. There is no seating available - I sat in the hot itchy grass for about 45 min.


• Also bring an umbrella - there is NO shade. Waiting in that sun was brutal. WEAR SUNSCREEN.


• If you don't have a stuff-watcher, you can check stuff at one of the tables, but word was the line was about a 45 min wait.


• The race is 3 miles long. My brother ran it in 54 minutes, my husband in 1h:18min.


• After the race, there is a giant water truck with a fire hose that sprays people off in a crowd. It rinses most of your top half, but people still had pretty muddy legs & feet. 


• Some people wore two layers of shirts, so they could pull the top muddy layer off and have reasonably dry clothes ready to go.


• Bring stuff to protect your car seats on the ride home - like plastic trash bags & old towels.


• You might also want to bring some wet wipes to wipe down with. Leave them in the car so you can clean up for the drive home. 


• You also might bring a spare pair of shoes - the shoes you run in will be toast. There's even a charity table at the end where you can donate your shoes.

Good luck, Warriors!

Low-fat menu planning with E-Mealz

And I really do {heart} them!  I just downloaded another great (low-fat!) menu from E-Mealz for this week. Here's the lineup:

• Smoky Orange Chicken with steamed rice
• Lemon Parsley Turkey with Angel Hair Pasta
• Bacon Mushroom Quiche
• Sweet & Tangy Dogs
• Spicy Honey Chicken with Lemon Roasted Potatoes
• Grilled Pork Medallions with Baked Sweet Potatoes
• Fiesta Chicken with Cilantro Rice

I'll be trying several of these recipes!

I've been using E-Mealz menu planning program for about 3 months and so many of the recipes have been picky-eater-approved and added to our rotation! I have been really surprised by how accepted they have been - usually I have to give the disclaimer, "Now, this is an experiment...", which is usually met with very wary and skeptical looks from my family. I still give a disclaimer, but can now instead say, "This is a new recipe from E-Mealz", and everyone digs in. I think every one I have tried has been approved. That's really saying a lot at my house.

A selection of approved recipes:

• Orange Teriyaki Beef Noodle Bowl
• Crock-pot French Dip Sandwiches
• Skillet Chicken with Tomatoes & Spinach
• Crock-pot Italian Beef Subs
• Creamy Roast Beef Pitas with horseradish cream sauce

Another disclaimer: The E-Mealz links above are affiliate links - I get a 25% commission if anyone clicks the link and signs up for their service. But I wouldn't write such a glowing review if I hadn't tried it myself or didn't believe in the program. Give them a try! You really can't beat $1.25 a week for someone else to do all your menu planning for you!

Book Review: The Lost Diary of Don Juan

The Lost Diary of Don Juan by Douglas Carlton Banks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book, and found myself chuckling out loud as I listened to it. The narrator had a great Hispanic accent that lent authentic flavor to the story. The story had some great fight scenes and generally good pacing throughout.

CAUTION: this book is quite graphic. For the character of Don Juan, you might expect some pretty racy romance scenes, and you would be right. But what surprised me were the graphic torture scenes, as the story takes place during the Spanish Inquisition. Those scenes were pretty gruesome, and unfortunately with an audio book, it's hard to fast forward through them without missing other parts of the story. With a printed book, at least you could scan forward to skip any parts that aren't to your liking. (Yes, the parts were that bad, hence my rating of 4 stars, instead of the full 5.)

But overall, I enjoyed the book, and may pick it back up again to re-read in the future.

View all my reviews

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EZ Meal Planning with E-Mealz

I just signed up for the E-Mealz meal-planning service - for $5 a month, someone else plans my meals for me! Sweet! They also offer a gluten-free menu option!

I signed up for the Low-Fat meal plan, at "any" store (as opposed to Wal-Mart, Kroger, Publix, or Aldi). I figure low-fat is good, since I'm on Weight Watchers, and I can shop whereever - I usually hit Hy-Vee because it's closest to me.

Right after I registered, I got access to this week's menu and last week's. This week's menu included:

• Chicken Pesto with Angel Hair Pasta
• Orange Teriyaki Beef & Noodle Bowl
• Crustless Spinach Quiche
• Swiss Chicken
• Peel & Eat Shrimp
• Lemony Chicken Kebobs
• Crockpot French Dip Sandwiches

I probably won't make all those recipes, since my family tends to be picky, but I'm going to try most of them. I spend way too much time planning the menu and making the grocery list every week, so I want to make the most of this service.

If you use E-Mealz, or any other menu-planning service, I'd love to hear what you think about it!

DISCLAIMER: The above links are affiliate links, where I get a small referral fee for new registrations.

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