My husband and I had an agreement, if he was going to volunteer in Iraq, I was going to volunteer in South Africa. Not exactly an equal trade, but it was fair. I spent 6 weeks camping, literally a sleeping bag and two person tent which I did in fact share with another person, in…
Rigatoni with Carrot Sauce
I’m doing a pantry-purge…basically refusing to go to the grocery store until I literally can’t make any other dish with what is in my kitchen. I haven’t stepped inside a grocery store since December. I do still get fresh produce once a week from my CSA, so I can live like this for awhile yet….
Making an Apple Pie in Bahrain
I didn’t have access to a car and while I felt safe enough going out on my own in Bahrain, it’s not a great idea to get in a taxi as a single white woman. Therefore, I would have to just walk the 1.7 miles to the closest market.
Prompted Writing Challenge, part 1
I joined a writer’s workshop today. The challenge was to take a random prompt and write the synopsis of a book in 3 different genres. The prompt I got was “A man is haunted by the victims of a serial killer with his same name” and my genres were chicklit, pulp fiction, and psychological horror. Now I have to…
Recognize Your Needs
Some people have no trouble saying “I need”. Often I find that those who can say this so easily actually mean “I want”. Needs are deeper, harder to recognize, harder to ask for. They are not always harder to obtain though. When you can take a moment to sit with yourself and really think about…
Writing Book #2…when #1 is still a draft
I can devote 1.5 days a week to writing. In that case, I can write a book in about 14 weeks, or within the 4-month time window I have to wait and see if anyone wants to publish the first one.
The Query Letter pitch
Now I have to sum all that up in an enticing 5-10 sentence pitch and make that paragraph #2 of my three paragraph query letter to submit to a book agent. If the pitch isn’t good enough, they will never even look at my manuscript.
Wonderful aroma of Jackfruit
I love Jackfruit. LOVE. Most people seem to have never heard of this delicious creature that tastes like a marriage between a banana and a pineapple that comes in a package that could only be described as an alien egg pod. Okay, so it’s a really weird looking piece of flora. And it does take…
Book Chat: Behold the Dreamers – an immigration and deportation novel
Why must our immigrant friends have to make such sacrifices and decisions to show their dedication to our country?
The jump between 2010 and 2017
In 2010, I had my first real mid-life crisis. My husband had volunteered for a tour in Iraq. I was in a losing battle at work where my boss was making decisions that were taking the company into financial ruin. And I had my 30th birthday.
Anna Contrell 