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2012 Wrap-up: Nifty Finds and Favorite Things

OK, so we’re a few days into 2013, but I still want to share some of the nifty things I found over the course of 2012 in the hopes that someone else may find them useful.

So here it is; my list of nifty finds and favorite things.

Writing Books & Tools:

  • Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success – This book by K.M Weiland has become somewhat of my pre-writing Bible. I fell so much in love with it and talked about it so much, my sister ended up buying a copy. Don’t let the “Outlining” part of the title fool you; this book has so much more. It covers brainstorming your ideas, developing your characters, setting, conflict and story premise and how to turn all of that work into one big story map. And yeah, it covers outlining too.
  • Evernote – This free and nifty tool was my introduction to Cloud Storage. I have it on my computer, my tablet and my phone and use it on all three. It allows you to store photos, scanned images, PDFs, collaborate with others through “shared” notebooks, and store your favorite websites with the click of a button or swipe of a finger. My sister and I are currently using it to collaborate on a project. One note about the shared folders: you can share a folder and allow a person (or persons) to view the notes within, but if you want him or her to modify those notes, that requires the “Sharer” to have the premium version of Evernote.
  • yWriter – Another free tool that became an obsession this year is Spacejock’s “yWriter.” It’s a word-processing program designed specifically for fiction writers by novelist and computer programmer, Simon Haynes. It acts as a digital story bible that keeps track of all the pertinent details of your Character Sketches, Setting Sketches, Plot Sketches, Summaries and, of course, your story itself. If you’re interested in taking a peek at it, you can find it here: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html

Favorite Writing Blogs:

  • Terribleminds – Chuck Wendig –  Ok, this one needs a slight disclaimer. It contains some foul language. If you find the “f-bomb” offensive, you may want to pass over this one. But don’t let it scare you if you can stomach a little “colorful metaphor” mixed in with top-notch writing advice. According to his bio, Chuck Wendig has done a little bit of everything: Screenwriting, fiction, game design, zombie hunting… Ok, I added the Zombie hunting myself. But I can totally see him doing it. Catch the action at: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/
  • Make a Living Writing – Carol Tice – Carol Tice is a successful freelance writer and she started “Make a Living Writing” as a way to pay it forward. Her site and blog are full of years worth of experience in how to make it was a freelance writer. She’s not shy about sharing the secrets of her success with other aspiring and professional freelance writers. I stumbled on her blog (from another blog) over Christmas 2011 and have been a faithful reader since. Read all of the great advice at: http://www.makealivingwriting.com/ 
  • Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors – K.M. Weiland –  Wordplay is author K.M. Weiland’s blog. The same, in my opinion, genius, that brought us the “Outlining Your Novel” book mentioned above. ‘Nuff said! You can find her blog at: http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com

Gluten-Free Goodness:

  • This first favorite is a combo Gluten-Free blog and Cookbook find. Gluten-Free on a Shoestring is the brain child of ex-attorney and mom of a Celiac child, Nicole Hunn. She has this crazy notion that gluten free food should be a) affordable and b) not taste like flip-flops with a coating of beach sand. After sampling some of the recipes on her blog, and loving them, I found both of her cookbooks under the Anniversary Tree (thank you, Husband!)

That’s it for now; some of the things I’ve stumbled on over the year. Thank you for reading and feel free to all “Sound of Music” on me in the comments below and share a few of your favorite things!

Disclaimer: I’m nearly positive that none of the people I mention above know that I exist. These reviews were not solicited by any of them. I share these things because I either found them incredibly cool or incredibly useful. Though, if any of the above mentioned folks do know that I exist, that would border on nearly cosmically cool. Also, those boxes are Amazon affiliate links. If you happen to click and buy, it will NOT raise the price of the product for you.

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Check Out My Article on Easy Eats Magazine!

Picture of some of Judi B's gluten free bread.

That heartburn-inducing article I mentioned working on in “Kicking my Writing Fears in the Teeth” has been published! You can find it on the Easy Eats Magazine website titled “Judi B’s Gluten Free.”

Needless to say, I’m so excited I could do girlie squeals, which would have the three males in the house looking at me strangely.

Oh, who cares. I’ve had my first article published! I’m going to girlie squeal!

Then, I’m going to pull myself off of Cloud 9 and focus on the mundane stuff I have to get done today. Like oodles of laundry…

Check back later this week. I’m going to talk about two of the new (to me) tools I’ve discovered that make my writing tasks so much easier!

Photo Credit: Karen Bristow

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Gluten Free Globe Trotting – Three Lessons Learned

My “Food” posts usually appear on Fridays. Since that got Kiboshed this past Friday, I’m sharing it today. Hopefully, I’ll be back on my normal schedule by this Friday.

Big Ben - Copyright Karen Bristow
Big Ben

While I love to travel, I haven’t had occasion in my life to actually be much of a traveler.

Then I married a British man and a month later, we’re spending the Christmas holidays in England with his family.

It was great. Beautiful. Fun. And most impressive, tasty. The British have it down pat when it comes to gluten free goodies. I enjoyed some actual dessert for the first time since October while visiting my extended family.

Now, if only I’d planned ahead a bit for the trip itself, I could have enjoyed getting there and back almost as much. We did the right thing in alerting the airline of my dietary restrictions, but I totally dropped the ball on keeping myself fed on the journey to the airport.

In an effort to spare other Gluten Free Globe Trotting Newbies, here are three of the lessons I learned.

Snack Up!

We had a four hour drive from our home to the airport (and then another 4 hour wait once we got to the airport). I discovered that there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to find suitable snacks en-route. I didn’t think about packing my own until we were barreling down Interstate 10.

We stopped at rest stations but I wasn’t able to reach in (obviously) and read the ingredients before purchasing. Gas stations weren’t much better though I did find some “Apple Chips” and a banana.

Also, even if you alert the airline, there’s no guarantee that your gluten free meal is … good. You could end up with anything from half cooked rice and a stale rice cake to a totally delectable Indian Curry. It just depends on the caterer that flight is using.

So, Lesson 1 is: Pack your snacks. Make sure you’re prepared for your road trip and any waiting you may do. Thanks to my mother-in-law, I had plenty of gluten free snacks to get me through the journey home.

Restaurant Reconn

You’re in a foreign city and you’re itchin’ to act like a total tourist. You grab your camera, your money, your kids and run out the door to spend the morning doing touristy stuff.

Then it’s time for lunch. Where are you going to eat?

If I were stateside, I could whip out my phone and look up area restaurant gluten free menus while I stood on a street corner. Unfortunately, the cell phone didn’t work over there (unless I happened to hitch an Internet ride on Starbuck’s free wireless).

Lesson 2 is: Don’t leave home (or hotel) without hitting Google first. Do a search for gluten free friendly restaurants and check out their menus before you do the tourist thing. Have a list of suitable restaurants with you as you tour.

X Marks the Spot

Take lesson 2 one step further and know exactly where those restaurants are located. Or at least have a general idea. There’s nothing like coming out of the Tower of London, starving, and not knowing quite where your gluten safe eating place is.

Lesson 3 is: If you know what attractions you’ll be touring that day, take a moment to scope out the area on Google and note the address(es) on your restaurant list.

A few extra minutes of preparation could have prevented a few hungry moments on my part. Live, learn and share those lessons!

I’d love to hear from other savvy (or even not so savvy) travelers. Whether gluten free or not, what kind of tips do you have to share with us globe trotting newbies?

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New Culinary Love

I’m part Italian. I love pasta and when asked about my all-time favorite food, I still say “my grandmother’s homemade meatballs.”

Needless to say, giving up pasta dishes was probably one of the hardest things about going gluten free.

Whole grain pasta dishes made up at least a third of my diet. If I’d had a sucktastic day and was too tired to cook what I’d planned on for that night, out came the Barilla Penne. The whole “no wheat, rye, barley, semolina…” thing kicked my go-to dishes out the proverbial kitchen window.

I had to find a new go-to dish, pronto.

Enter brown basmati rice and the rich flavors of India.

I have to credit my husband for my first taste of the goodness that is Indian cuisine. He loves Indian food and I’d always been afraid to try it due to my twitchy stomach. So for one of our first dates two years ago, he took me to this great little hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant here in town. There I got my first, gentle introduction to Chicken Tikka Masala. I still order that same dish every time we eat there.

What was once an occasional culinary treat is my new last minute meal savior. Now when I need a quick meal, I break out my brown basmati rice, a thing of chicken breast, some veggies and a couple packets of Sukhi’s Vindaloo or Tikka Masala sauce.

Dinner is served in less than 45 minutes.

I still miss pasta and someday, I’ll find a brand of gluten free pasta that I like.

But for now, I’ve found a new culinary love: Indian food.

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Snack Attack

Once upon a time, the downstairs vending machine acted as my mid-day superhero.

You see, on top of being gluten free, I’m also hypoglycemic. If I don’t eat every few hours I turn into a shaky, lightheaded, snarly mess. Mankind, my family and my coworkers need me to snack regularly.

Gluten free or not, I always try to pack enough of my own food to get me through the workday. But you know how some mornings are.

The coffee machine spews on your alarm clock rendering it comatose and you’re rushing the kids out the door half an hour late with your lunch in the youngest’s backpack.

Pre-gluten free, those days weren’t a problem. I’d make an emergency mid-afternoon run downstairs to the vending machine and grab a granola bar or some trail mix (or, OK, a Twix).

Now though, my new dietary restrictions have turned my metallic, goodie dispensing superhero into a big, useless hunk of metal. If I forget my sack of healthy, gluten free snacks, my emergency options are limited to Fritos or fruit snacks. Neither option is very healthy or helpful.

Two months ago, I willingly paid a dollar to buy some Grandma’s Peanut butter cookies in a snack attack emergency. I’m equally willing now to shell out the same amount for some Blue Diamond nut chips. (Vending machine companies, are you paying attention? Potential goldmine to tap here!)

For now though, I guess I’ll just have to make sure I grab the right bag of food in the morning and not accidentally send my salad and nut chips with the youngest boy for lunch.

I’m sure he’d appreciate that too.

Just for fun, I’ll list some of my favorite gluten free mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks below. Share some of your favorite snacks, gluten free or otherwise, in the comments!

  • Apple slices and peanut butter
  • Chobani Champions honey banana yogurt
  • Blue Diamond Almond Nutchips with Brie
  • Cinnamon applesauce