Wednesday's Recipe--Vegetable Soup

All the snowy winter weather makes me want to hibernate with my laptop and comfort food. The laptop part is a good thing since my writing goals for January include finishing a short story, a novella, and The Morphing Subplot. As of this evening, the novella is done and ready for editing and polishing so I can send it off to Cheryl Brooks and Paige Matthews--my cohorts on this project.

Ah, comfort food. I love soups, stews, and breads in the winter. One of my favorites is Vegetable Soup. Serve with some fresh Italian bread for a warm and satisfying meal.

Vegetable Soup

1/3 lb. lean beef (I like to use eye of round)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced
3 medium potatoes, cubed
1 cup fresh, frozen, or canned green beans
1/2 cup fresh, frozen, or canned corn
1/2 cup fresh, frozen, or canned peas
1/2 cup fresh, frozen, or canned lima beans
1/2 small head of cabbage, chopped
1/2 teaspoon unseasoned meat tenderizer
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
salt and pepper to taste
6-8 cups of water

Place the meat in a medium soup pot and sprinkle with tenderizer. Let stand 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Cook over medium heat for 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove meat and allow to cool enough to handle. Shred the meat and return to the soup, mixing well. Makes about 8-10 servings.
*Note--Can also be made in a crockpot. Cook 6-8 hours.

Mellanie Szereto
Romance...With a Kick!

All Caught Up?

Have I finally caught up with life? Probably not, but the holidays are over and I have fewer demands on my time. I can adjust the priorities a little to include blogging again..

Last year was a very good writing year. I wrote a total of 340,307 words, averaging 1004 words a day for the 339 days I wrote. I finished 2 manuscripts, 3 short stories, and 1 novella. Yes, several of the WIPs got neglected, BUT in July at the RWA National Conference, several chapter sisters and I decided to join forces to form The Sextet. We're writing erotic romance short stories and should be submitting our first anthology to an editor very soon. Along the way, three of us discovered we write a bit faster than the others. Our first set of trio novellas was submitted yesterday! Hopefully, this means my goal of a first sale only missed 2010 by a few weeks or so. No agent yet, but to be honest, I've been concentrating much more on writing the past several months. I do have a website under construction, so many of my goals from last year have been accomplished.

The best part of getting caught up was realizing how much I LOVE to write!

Mellanie Szereto
Romance...With a Kick!

May Report

May was a tough month--three birthdays, two holidays, and one family emergency. The bad news...I had only 29,330 words for the month, not quite making my 1000 words a day goal. The good news...my year-to-date total through May 31 is 151,517 words (or just over 1003 words a day average). Not too shabby, huh? I'm already pushing myself harder this month. I plan to make up for May!

Happy Writing!

Mellanie Szereto
Romance...With a Kick!

50K Challenge

No, I am not talking about running. This 50K is a writing challenge issued by RWA PRO Liaison, Cynthia D'Alba. In March, RWA members were invited to take the 50K Challenge--write 50,000 words between April 1 and July 28 (the first day of the RWA National Conference). Participants can post their goals and weekly word counts on a forum message board. We give each other support and applause in our quest to meet the challenge. What a great group of writers!

As of midnight last night, I met my 50K Challenge!!! I'll continue to post my weekly totals and cheer on the rest of the group. For any of those reading my post...

Write, write, write!!!

Mellanie Szereto
Romance...With a Kick!

Update on March

Without those goals I set in January, I never would've written as much as I did in March. Last night I ended with 31,114 words for the month. Whew! And I finished a manuscript!!! Those monthly goals have made a tremendous difference in my output and motivation. The journey toward acquiring an agent and getting published seems shorter. Although I received a rejection on the partial I had out to an agent, I'm ready to query others and will stay hopeful. Off to write!

Mellanie Szereto
Romance...With a Kick!

Goal #2

In making my list of goals, I thought to push myself to finish those WIPs. Who knew it would lead to forcing a resolution to a problem I've been mulling over for a couple months. I saw my hero and heroine's dark moment coming and had thought of one scenario, but hadn't been able to work out how to get them there. Yesterday I had an *Aha* moment! After weeks of working on other manuscripts, I finally made it back to Allie and Mike. And goal #1 is becoming easier to achieve with my new-found inspiration. Last night the words wanted out faster than I could write. I'm still hearing their voices in my head calling for more of that conflict. Hopefully my hands and eyes won't give out before my brain does today :) Maybe I'll be able to cross one story off my to-finish list soon!

Signing off to work on goals 1 & 2,

Mellanie Szereto
Romance...with a Kick

Goals for 2010

Over the last few weeks, I've come across numerous "New Year's Resolutions" suggestions or some variation thereof. My conclusion? I'd rather have a list of goals to achieve in the coming year than change something about myself. Being a writer, most of my goals focus on developing my writing career. So, here goes the list!

Goal #1: Average 1,000 words per day in new writing.
Goal #2: Finish and polish all of my romance manuscripts in progress.
Goal #3: Complete my uterine fibroid project.
Goal #4: Attend the RWA National Conference.
Goal #5: Make a website to promote my writing.
Goal #6: Acquire an agent.
Goal #7: Sell at least one manuscript.
Goal #8: Get back to doing Pilates at least three times a week.

I think they're doable--an important point in goal setting. I'm looking forward to accomplishing them.

Until next time,

Mellanie Szereto
Romance...with a Kick