Friday Random

Random Progress this Week: I wrote 16, 2350 words exactly this week, spanning three pieces of work. And I edited two point five chapters of DoJ and put them up for review. Considering I have weeks where I write barely 1k, this is very good. For the month I'm averaging about 1,805 words daily. And today I am going to kill my average because it's 5pm and I've written nothing.

Random Exercise of the Week: Trying to get fit, and avoid being the sterotypical suburban mom, I went belly dancing on Wednesday. The teacher is the gorgeous slavic lady who yells "Fitness!" when you aren't using your abs right. I hurt! And I found some more belly dancing lessons online so I can practice during the week. $3 fitness classes and free online are perfect for my budget.

Random Recipe of the Week: Muesila is what my grandmother called it, and I've spent years trying to mimic her off -the-cuff recipe that gave you crunchy, caramel-y, oats with raisins and apples. I've ditched the raisins, but you could add dried cranberries (or raisins) or pears, or whatever. The recipe is adaptable, and the measurements are my best guess.
Breakfast for One
2 tbspns butter (enough to cover the bottom of the pan and leave some pooling)
Oats (uncooked oatmeal) to cover the bottom of the pan
4 tbspns brown sugar (enough to cover the oats... you get the pictures)
1 apple chopped

- Heat the pan, without butter, on medium high heat until it's warm. Add the butter and as soon as the butter melts add the oats.
- Stir
- Sprinkle the brown sugar over the oats and keep stirring, you want to keep going until the oats start clumping and just before things turn brown and burn...... this is meant to be crunchy, so don't overdue the butter........ you could just make this part and mix into a trail mix if you wanted
- Toss oats with chopped apples or pears. You can heat the apples briefly on the skillet if you want.

Like I said, it's adaptable. Toss in chopped pecans or walnuts with oats, try dried cranberries or other fruit in the mix. You can have a huge bowl and serve it as a meal for one (instead of cereal which I hate) or you could serve smaller portions on the side with any eggs, bacon, or some other breakfast-y food. This is an excellent way to use up the half-apple your toddlers don't finish.

Random Reason to Like Harry Potter: I really don't like Harry Potter. I'm not a huge fan of YA. I don't like the child abuse factor. I don't like the whole cast of Mary-Sues. I don't like rampant stupidity as a plot device. But Sparkly Vampire YA Romance is worse! (check here and here for why). So, because HP isn't Twilight.... I like HP for today (warning- link has language acceptable for American public schools which means it's not acceptable for a whole lot of other people). *I'm still giggling*

Random Thing that will Drive me Insane this Weekend: Eldest has a 4 day weekend. It's 5:30... no writing has been done today, and she keeps popping up in my study. "Ice cream, Mom?" "Mom, can I eat?" "Can we sew, Mom?" Her little sister is still napping so the big one is going to drive me insane. Especially since she saw me searching the comics and wants big, pretty, pictures again.

Random Writing Question: How often do you throw out the conventions? Really, how often do you borrow known mythology and slang from the world around us and how often do you totally make up your own universe?

I had this discussion with friends earlier and someone made a very good point. The sci-fi and fantasy books that sell well are the ones that do something completely new. Instead of sounding like Tolkein fan-fiction or a rip off H.G. Wells the books that sell well, are unique. Harry Potter (not my fav but I seem to be a minority of 1) turned the idea of magic in the modern world on it's ear. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files did the same thing. George Lucas took the idea of space ships and aliens and made Star Wars, and we are all envious.

Have you gotten there yet in your writing? Or are you intending to keep the conventions but do them so new and wonderfully that everyone will think Tolkein's writing was a fanfic tribute to you?

Me.... I think my writing's unique. I'm pretty sure no one is doing what I do with sci-fi. My fantasy is a bit more cliched, but that's not my main genre, and I'm trying to improve on that.


So.............What's your random?