I’ll be traveling home today, and the weather looks good for air flight.  I had a great time with extended family, but I’m ready to be home.  What am I looking forward to most besides my own bed?  Our yearly viewing of The Christmas Story, yes, the one with the leg lamp.  (laugh)

I’m going to take a few days off for the Christmas break, so I’m going to leave you with a hearty wish from Guy, Thing One, Thing, Two, the puppies, and myself for a safe, serene holiday for you and yours.  The days are getting longer from here on out.  Enjoy!

–Kim

Here’s my family recipe for Chess Cakes, which are not really cakes at all, but little sugar bomb tarts.  I only make these around the holiday season because they are kind of tedious and high in bad stuff, but they are probably one of my favorite things to eat.

Shells: one standard pie crust recipe.  I usually wad the crust up into a cylinder, then cut discs off the log and roll them out one by one, forming them over a water glass before dropping them into well-greased cupcake tins.  If you use the disposable tins, you can get them out easier, because they get sticky.  Prick the shells with a fork and bake for 8-10 minutes at 475 F, and let cool.  Makes about 12-15

Cream sugar and butter, beat in the eggs until foamy.  Add raisins.  Spoon into the baked shells, and bake at 400 F until a light, brown crust forms.  It will still be runny inside.  I like eating them when they are still hot.

Mmmmm.  This is an old recipe that I got from my little grandma. (Great grandmother on my dad’s side)  She was born in Germany, so I’m expecting that it originated there.  She was a very cool woman and I played crazy eights with her when I was growing up.  This is one of the ways I keep her close to me in my mind. 

–Kim

Er, sorry about the exclamation points, but I’m glad it’s Monday.  I had an interesting weekend with family/snow/airtraffic, and though I won’t be writing today, you can be sure the writer in me is not shutting up, and I’m seeing ghosts of new books _everywhere._    The frustration of not being able to work (play) with these new characters (toys) is driving me slightly nuts.  But it’s a good thing, and the steam I’m building up now will carry me through the hard-to-write spots.

Made chess cakes this weekend.  Made them twice, actually.  Baker’s note–eggbeaters do not make a good substitute in chess cakes.  Guy dug the mess out of the shells, and I rebaked them using real eggs.  Mmmmm, good stuff.

–Kim

We might get snow by the end of today, but it’s more likely going to be a nasty mix of ice and rain.  And that’s what you get when you wish for snow in the Carolinas.    It’s going to be around long enough to make my travel today miserable, and then melt.  However, there is a second chance on Thursday to get another batch, and that would be uber nice, seeing as I won’t have to be in it.  Not like today.  Sigh.

 I hope to get some baking in this weekend/next week.  Yesterday it was bread from scratch, which was a downright excuse to procrastinate, but it was good with soup for dinner.  Maybe . . . chess cakes.  (grin)  Sticky goodness in a little tart shell.

Have a great weekend, and see you on Monday!  –Kim

If we have seen the 12 Days of Pixy Christmas, then it’s time for one of my favorites to be taken from storage, dusted off, and set proudly on the mantel for the season.  Enjoy!

Today I have the official cover for Black Magic Sanction for you.  It’s very much like the one that has been around for a while on Amazon and other sites, but there were issues with showing her face, and we had to add some shadow and fog to get the right look.  I liked seeing her face, but I’m equally as happy with the fog and mist.  That is a running theme with most of the covers, and I like the glow.  I’ll have both pictures up at the website at some point for you to compare and contrast, but for now, here’s the one we’re going with. 

Yesterday, I watched a sharp-shinned hawk stoop on a squirrel.  He missed, but when the squirrel ran up a tree to escape, he stopped about four feet up, turned, and started crabbing at the hawk, still on the ground.  It gave me time to get my binoculars, and when I focused on them, the hawk jumped for the squirrel, chased him around the tree two times, caught him, and dropped back down to the ground to choke the life out of the animal.  Wow.  I feel bad for the squirrel, obviously, but I am thrilled that there is enough resources in the area to support a hawk like this, and I feel lucky to have seen it.  Here’s a picture to give you an idea of their size.  Not a big bird at all, and I though it was a huge mourning dove when I first spotted it.  (Since that’s what’s out there 90 percent of the time.)

I promised some of you readers to finish the pixy-modified carol, The 12 Days of Pixy Christmas, that I started in White Witch, Black Curse, so here it is in its entirety, just in time for your caroling parties.  Uh, I wouldn’t advice singing it, though.  It loses much of its charm when you’re not four inches tall.  -grin-  Enjoy!

Jeez, I feel so dirty . . .  -grin-

Just a little.  I could use being snowed in right about now.  Snow is peaceful, even when you have to shovel it.  There is  that same peace to be found while you’re shoveling snow that you get when you’re digging in the garden. 

Why am I pining for snow?  This morning, I saw a post with a little spot of white on top, which turned out to be a peeling tag, but it looked like snow–a little spot of light in an otherwise dreary day.   I wouldn’t mind being snowed in at all right now.  Just for a day.

I spent half the weekend revamping the website and preparing to switch over to the colors in the new cover of BLACK MAGIC SANCTION, which I should get permission to post this week.  The new cover is up on Amazon at the pre-order spot, which means it’s just a matter of time.  (grin)  I’ve got to do some tweaking on the navigation colors on the home page, and then make a new banner for here, but other than that, I think the website is good to go for another year.  I went back and made new banners for the earlier books, and that was fun, even if the only place you can see them is at the book’s individual pages.

My posts might be a tad shorter this week as I try to jam as much in before the holidays as I can, so for today, I wish it would snow.

–Kim

I’ve had a stressful week, fabulous, but stressful, and as I finish it out today with hopefully a solid day’s writing, I’ve got something kind of fun for you.  There are no prizes, no awards–and no answers, either!–but I’ve numbered the panels from the graphic novel page I showed you a few days ago, and now it’s time to put words to them!

It’s all in fun, and there are no right or wrong answers, so have fun!  Just one hint.  That is a whistle in Rachel’s hand.

–Kim

It has been a wild week, what with edit letters coming in, (Third Madison book), good news from NY, (Best Paranormal Fantasy Novel of the Decade.  Wow.), graphic novel sketches coming in, (happy dance!), and a film crew spending the afternoon with me, (No writing today.  It’s all PR.)  I’m going to decompress this weekend like nobody’s business.  (grin)

And a good piece of news for you came in late last night.  I now have the official venues for the Black Magic 2010 tour.  (Insert happy dance here) They aren’t up at the website yet, but I wanted to let you know because there are a few additions in June.   Before you ask me to add your city, I don’t pick the stores.  They are chosen by my publisher based upon how author friendly and willing to promote they are, if they are large enough to do events, if they are a reporting store, and if they sold books when I was there last time.  (You can usually bring in books purchased other places, but they appreciate you buying something while you are there to offset the cost of having me there.  In other words, if they don’t sell books, they won’t ask me back, and who knows when I’ll get another shot there, so if you want me to come back, bring your friends and buy something!  (laugh)  

As you can see by the list, I will be getting out to Portland for a public library conference, but I may be stuck on conference grounds, so no promises.  And I’ll try once more to get to the Virgina Festival of the Book this year.  I apologize for last year.  (A close family member passed, the third of four this past year.  It’s been . . . an adventure.)

–Kim