Monday, December 30, 2013

New Year's Resolutions 2014

Every year, people come up with New Year's Resolutions, and I admit that I am often among those who come up with ideas and follow through for approximately 17.5 hours (statistic from the Bureau of I Made It Up But It's Still Mostly True Facts), at which time I promptly settle back into my comfy existence just as it was.

Well, it's a lot harder to do that when your resolutions are on display for the whole world to see, so here I am.

Over the past year, a lot has happened to me and surprisingly, I actually have carried out several of my resolutions. I got married, moved, and got a kitten. That's enough to make anyone's head spin. But I also learned to use social media - and kept up with it! - and lost 10 pounds. So it's not impossible to change, and make those changes stick.

Thus, without further ado, I present my list of proposed changes for 2014:

-More social media. Regular blog posts, including posts in some new, themed blogs I intend to create. I will blog, tweet, and write until my head spins because damn it, I am a writer, and this is the year I am going to prove it!

Isn't this chart neat? The trick will be remembering all the passwords...

-Published novels! I have three in progress and THIS IS THE YEAR. The year of the novel. You see how that was all in bold? That is because I am going to be bold! Not only are all of my novels going to be completed, they're going to be scrubbed until they shine like the top of the Chrysler Building, edited by scalpel, chisel, and axe if necessary, and they are going to have the most rocking cover art a (mostly broke) writer can buy.

Too true, sir. Too true.

-Lose 10 pounds. Always.

-Eat more healthfully. As in, diet not consisting solely of pasta, wraps, and chocolate. It's not easy eating green, but it must be done.

-Stay more positive. This is a tough one for me sometimes, especially in winter. I bought myself a present with some of my holiday money: The Quotable Walt Disney. Not only is it uplifting, it's inspiring to me as a writer. It reminds me of just what you can achieve if you believe in your imagination.

It's a picture of social media stuff, but it also likes all
of my New Year's Resolutions. You see what I did there?

So that it, blogosphere. I'll be checking in throughout the year with news of how it's going. And this year, I'll be checking in regularly. :)

Happy and healthy New Year, all! See you in 2014!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Cinnamon-Cocoa Cookies

In a break from the recent NaNoWriMo posts, as I've currently stalled at 61,000 (moving and getting a hyperactive kitten might have had something to do with that), I'm posting my recipe for cinnamon-cocoa cookies. I made this up myself, from a hybrid of other recipes, and I'm still perfecting it, but they taste pretty darn good as is. Enjoy!

Cinnamon-Cocoa Cookie Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix:

1 cup butter (plus 1/4 of next stick for extra fluffiness)
1 1/2 cups white sugar

Stir In:

1 egg
1 1/2 tablespoons molasses
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa (less, to keep the cookies thinner)

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.


Yum. Just pure Yum.



Anyway, a variant of this recipe did actually make it into the finals of a Huffington Post chocolate chip cookie contest, so try it out if you like. I can't promise anything, but everyone who tried them liked them, so take that for what it's worth. :)