What meal would you whip up in a cabin with only some canned
and boxed goods?
In Dangerous Christmas Memories, Luc has to come up
with something tasty from some cans of black beans, mixed veggies, barbeque sauce
packets, and elbow macaroni. Priscilla and Luc find the results quite tasty—even
the bad guy has a second helping!
I decided that to see if the dish was as delicious on paper
as it was in person. I whipped up a double batch of Luc’s Black Bean Pasta Bowl,
and boy was it a hit! Even my kids had second helpings. We added fresh parmesan
cheese and sour cream, a luxury not available to Luc and Priscilla, which made
the dish even tastier.
In the future, I would probably add some ground beef or
turkey, or perhaps kielbasa or other sausage to add a little bit more zing.
However, it’s quite good as a vegetarian dish.
Enjoy!
Luc’s Black Bean Pasta Bowl
Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
2 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-ounce can of mixed veggies, drained
¼ cup barbecue sauce
1 cup water
13 ounces elbow noodles
Mix beans, veggies, water and barbecue sauce in a sauce pan. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes. Cook pasta according to the directions in a separate pot. Drain the noodles, then add the noodles to the bean mixture. Stir and serve hot. Add freshly shredded Parmesan cheese and a dollop of sour cream if you’d like! Hot sauce can also spice things up.
Writing and publishing a book is often compared to giving
birth. In my case, my first book and my fourth baby had the same birthday.
Like many books, mine started with a germ of an idea about
helping women decide on a work-from-home business or at-home employment. I
wrote up a proposal and three sample chapters, sending it off with high hopes.
A year of rejections from numerous publishers and agents (albeit with several
nice notes expressing regret that my book didn’t fit their current line-up)
followed my initial foray into publishing. Then I stumbled upon a small press
in California
that expressed interest in my book.
Nearly twelve months of back and forth emails resulted in a
signed contract and a six-month deadline to complete the manuscript. I was
elated yet panicked because I had a three-month-old baby, two preschoolers at home—and
no extra money for childcare. With my husband’s support, I plowed ahead,
knowing it would take determination to research and write a 55,000-word book
practically from scratch.
Adding to the challenge, I had to locate and interview women
who worked from home to liven up the drier facts and instructional aspect.
Thankfully, I already knew several women who had at-home employment. Posting on
a few relevant listservs pushed my total number of interviews to fifty.
Researching the book was like a scavenger hunt to uncover
the most up-to-date data, and the actual writing was the biggest hurdle of all—not
so much the stringing-together-of-sentences part, but the
carving-out-time-to-sit-in-front-of-the-computer part. I became adept at
snatching every spare moment I had, writing furiously in fifteen- to thirty-minute
stretches, which was often the longest period of time I could find during the
day. I sandwiched in phone interviews as my children napped. I edited pages sitting
on a park bench while my youngsters played on the jungle gym.
Finally, I sent the book off to the publisher for the long
wait until publication. Meanwhile, I found out we were expecting baby number
four.
The publication date kept getting pushed back until it was
smack up against my due date. On June 23, our fourth baby arrived, and when my
husband went home from the hospital, he found a box of books on our doorstep—Hired@Home had arrived on the same day
as our son.
I felt like the proud parent of two newborns, not just one. Having
both events happen at the same time brought me more joy than one can imagine.
Along the journey to publication, I learned that it takes
more than writing skills to make an author. It takes time management because
there are never enough hours in the day in which to write. It takes perseverance
because there will be numerous setbacks. It takes optimism that you can write,
even when current circumstances make it seem impossible.
Today when people ask me as a mother of four children
between the ages of three and nine how I find time to write, I usually say that
I can’t not write, that to me, writing is as necessary as eating and breathing.
I can’t fathom never picking up a pen and writing down my thoughts, my ideas
and my stories.
Granted, there are times when life intervenes and my writing
has to be put on the back burner for a while. But I’ve found that you can
usually squeeze in a few minutes each day, each week or each month to
write—even if it turns out to be only five minutes here or fifteen minutes
there.
Like the pregnancy of a first child or a fourth, birthing a
book involves careful forethought, followed by patience, and the expectation
that the outcome will become all the hopes and dreams that went into its
conception.
So far on my writing path, I’ve been “mother” to one
published book, and the experience has made me look forward to future publishing
“pregnancies.” An “only child” is a blessing in itself, but this parent wants a
growing family.
This story originally appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers.
Lillian
writes
the types of books she loves to read—fast-paced romantic suspense and mystery
that demonstrates God’s love for us. After more than 30 years working as a speech pathologist for children, she believes in the power of words to transform
lives, especially God’s Word.
Where do you get the inspiration for your plots? Lillian: From all sorts of places. Sometimes, I come
up with a premise, such as what would happen if a big city lawyer fell in love
with a farmer? (Pursued) Sometimes a scene just pops in my head from nowhere like
when a woman receives a phone call from a young girl asking for her aunt and
she knows it can’t be for her because she doesn’t have a niece. Or does she? (Deception).
Sometimes a story comes about because
of characters from another story. My Deadly Communications series happened when
my writing life crashed into my other life as a speech pathologist. The series
features a speech pathologist who gets way too involved with her clients!
So, like I said my story ideas can come from anywhere at any time. Game On is no exception. I got it from watching a TV talk show of all things. Of course, all I got from the show was a germ of an idea, the rest was up to me!
How do you pick the location/setting of your romantic
suspense novels? Lillian: Since I live in Ohio, most of my stories start out in Ohio,
either in a real location like Cleveland or a fictitious one like Serenity
Springs. But my characters are usually running from someone or chasing someone
so the story usually moves to somewhere I’ve traveled before, like the Bahamas
or Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Game On is an exception. It starts out in Washington,
D.C., a place I’ve visited numerous times, and then moves on to Florida and
North Carolina. I lived in Florida for a short time when I was younger as well
as visited it several times and my husband and I were spending a month in North
Carolina as I wrote Game On.
If the character ends up in a location I’m not familiar with
such as San Francisco in Deception, I’ll do a lot of research on the
Internet as well as ask questions on my writer loops.
Current book: Trapped Nikki Kent uncovers other people’s
secrets, but lives with one of her own. When former boyfriend Lucas McMann needs,
her faith pushes her to accept.
Tanya Stowe is an author of Christian Fiction with an
unexpected edge. She fills her stories with the unusual… mysteries and exotic adventures,
even a murder or two. No matter where Tanya takes you… on a trip to foreign
lands or a suspenseful journey filled with danger… be prepared for the
extraordinary.
Why do you like writing romantic suspense? Tanya: I love writing action and suspense leads to writing some
awesome action scenes. I love stories where I learn something new or have to
solve the puzzle so writing suspense with action scenes and “who-done-it” is
perfect for me.
What’s the weirdest way someone has died or been killed
in your novels? Tanya: The weirdest death was in the book I just finished called Killer
Harvest. It doesn’t come out until March. The killer is like a terminator
and seems impossible to stop so I had to come up with an unusual way to stop
him. I’m not giving away any secrets as to how it happens though! LOL!
Where do you get the inspiration for your plots? Tanya: My husband and I are full-time RV’ers—we live in our RV and
travel year-round. Everywhere I go I find inspiration whether it’s a beautiful cliff
and peak, a roaring river or a dense swamp-like area on the side of the road.
Then my mind just takes off wondering how people settled the land, how would one
survive if they ended up floating down the river? What was life like without a
GPS? LOL!
What did you want to be as a child (and did that dream
come true? Tanya: I wrote my first book when I was 11 years old so yes, I’ve
always wanted to be a writer and yes, my dream came true. But there was a LOT
of hard work and sacrifice in between!
How do you ensure your books are accurate? Tanya: Lots and lots of research, including travel to the area to
see, smell and just feel the air. It really makes a difference. Plus my publisher
has multiple editors who comb over the story and question everything to make
sure I’m accurate. It’s sometimes painful but I’m always thankful in the end.
Current book: Fatal Memories Border patrol agent Jocelyn Walker has no memory of why a gang is trying to kill her. DEA agent Dylan Murphy guards—and suspects—her.
Like most families, mine is, well, a bit unusual. True, I
have a father and a mother, who have been married for more than fifty years. But
I have had more than forty siblings.
When I was child, I had two sisters and a brother who were
many years older than me—fifteen, thirteen, and eleven years older, to be
exact. So in grade school, I was an only child of sorts, who had older siblings
drop by once in a while.
Soon after my twelfth birthday, my parents decided to fill
our great, big house with more children in a rather unconventional way: as
foster parents. Through the years, my mom and dad showed love to many children
of all ages, whom they treated as part of the family. As for me, I gained numerous
brothers and sisters—both older and younger.
There was Hope, who joined our family as a 16-year-old and
ended up staying for two years. A few years after she left our house, she asked
my father to walk her down the aisle at her wedding, a testimony to the special
relationship she developed with my parents. Sandy, an eight-year-old with
emotional problems, attached herself to me and sometimes would refuse to go to
court-ordered counseling sessions unless I accompanied her.
There were newborn babies, like Mark and Stephen, whose
smiles and coos are some of my happiest memories of those days. Then there were
the twins, a brother and sister who were five months old when they arrived.
They, like many foster children before them, ended up staying with us for more
than two years and then becoming eligible for adoption. By this time, my
parents already had raised four children and were grandparents, but they ended
up adopting Jenny and James.
Much has been said about the importance—and necessity—of foster
parenting, but being a sibling to foster brothers and sisters brought its own
rewards. I reveled in being a big sister to countless children. However, it
wasn’t always laughter and lightness. I had to share “my” things and “my”
parents with other children, many of whom had no concept of family life.
Yes, there were times when I hated having strange kids in my
house playing with my toys and interrupting my schedule. But my parents taught
me that these relatively small sacrifices made a big difference in the lives of
these neglected and abused kids. I had a real chance to make a difference, to
show sisterly love and affection to children whose own families had not shown
much love. With my parents’ encouragement, I could play a small role in helping
to ease their pain and to show them that someone cared about them.
I also knew the love that my parents showered on these
children in no way took away from their love and care for me. I never felt
neglected or overlooked, no matter how packed the house became or how often I had
to sacrifice my wants to their needs.
My parents raised foster children for three decades.
Amazingly, many of those foster children who passed through our house—whether
for a few months or a few years—kept in contact with my parents after they
left. Some send annual Christmas cards, some call my parents regularly, and a
few occasionally even visit—all a testimony to the love and impact my parents
had on their lives.
Today, as I raise four young children of my own, I look forward
to a time when me and my husband might reach out to other children in need of a
temporary haven. I hope one day that I can pass along some of the things learned
by watching my parents foster children and teach them about love and life.
This story originally appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul: All in the Family.