Sunday, August 27, 2017

Cattails: Nature's supermarket

About 10 minutes from my home is the Montour Trail which has flat, paved paths for bikes and those who enjoy an easy jog or somewhere to walk their pets in nature. It spans 45 miles and connects to the Great Allegheny Passage which can take you all the way to Washington, D.C.  I usually take Kaylee to the trail on the weekend since we're not pressed for time, but she NEVER wants to stay on the paved trail. As soon as she sees a trail going off into the woods, she looks back at me with this excited face to see if we can go.
Kaylee loves the road less traveled.
Yesterday I'd taken her to a new part of the trail, and she soon found a new path to explore. It ended up leading us to marsh land in the middle of the forest--acres upon acres of muddy, soggy, beautiful land. 

Finding a path to walk through was a challenge.
The creek was only a few feet away so I wasn't surprised that the soil was moist, but this land felt so untouched and unexplored (except by those with some sort of ATV-the only way to get through without being waist-deep in mud!)


After almost getting stuck in ankle-deep mud a few times, I decided it was time to turn around and get to the main path, but there's one good thing that came out of the experience: I noticed that the area had an abundance of cattails.

There were large bunches like this strewn throughout the marsh.
In Braving the Storm, Chloe is thrilled to come across this plant as along the creek near the cabin, and with good reason! Cattails are one of the most versatile and blissfully plentiful wild plants that I've learned about thus far. If there is shallow water, there is a very good chance you're going to find cattails! 

There isn't a part of this plant that isn't useful in many different ways: it's edible, it's medicinal, it can be used to make roofs and mats, it can be used as a slow-burning torch, it can be used as stuffing in clothes, it purifies water...what's not to love?

Usually I only post one or two articles for each plant I profile, but cattails have so many uses that there's no way to only post one link. Instead, I scoured the internet for the best informational articles on each of its uses, and I found many articles with step-by-step instructions:

1. General information: http://www.backwoodshome.com/the-incredible-cattail/ and https://survivallife.com/cattails-survival-uses/

2. Cattails as a food: http://tacticalintelligence.net/blog/how-to-eat-cattail.htm and http://www.eattheweeds.com/cattails-a-survival-dinner/

3. Cattails as a medicine: https://www.thepracticalherbalist.com/holistic-medicine-library/cattail-pocket-herbal/

4. Cattails as stuffing: http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/cattail-plants-zmaz80jazraw  

5. Cattails for basket/mat weaving: https://www.wickerwoman.com/articles/processing-cattail-leaves 

6. Cattails as cordage: http://easylivingthehardway.blogspot.com/2013/02/cattail-cordage.html and http://www.nativetech.org/cordage/

7. Cattails as a water purifier: https://www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/inexpensive-arsenic-filtration-system-based-on-cattails-could-help-clean-up-the-drinking-water-of-57-million-people.html

Cattails and additional plants that can also be used to purify water: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/plants-clean-contaminated-pond-water-47124.html

Next time you see this plant, maybe you will look at it with excitement and awe like I do :)

Bonus challenge: Can you spot the cattails, jewelweed, and Joe Pye Weed in this picture?


**Make sure cattails are harvested from areas with clean water as they absorb what's in the water (as seen above). As always, use precaution when consuming anything new, make 100% sure you have identified a plant correctly, and consult a physician before starting any new medicinal routine.**

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Yarrow, Queen Anne's Lace, and Chicory


For the past few years, I have been trying to make my property more self-sufficient, transplanting edible and medicinal plants when I can. In Braving the Storm, those at the cabin do the same thing by transplanting thorny brush around the tree line as a nearly invisible barrier against intruders...and good thing they did...

**As always, be 100% sure you have identified a plant correctly before consuming it in any way and consult a physician before introducing any new medicines, herbal or otherwise.**

Yarrow

Today, I was fortunate enough to transplant some yarrow into my flower bed. Yarrow has many medicinal benefits including healing wounds and anti-inflammatory properties. Bryan would be super excited to stock his medicine bag with this handy little plant!

Learn more about yarrow here: https://www.thepracticalherbalist.com/holistic-medicine-library/yarrow-the-wound-healer/?option=com_content&view=section&id=8&Itemid=55

And here: https://whisperingearth.co.uk/2011/09/28/the-multiple-benefits-and-uses-of-yarrow/

A yarrow plant in full bloom. It is not only beautiful but has a lovely aroma!

Queen Anne's Lace

You probably see this flower all the time on the side of the road and never gave it another thought, but did you know that Queen Anne's Lace is an edible and medicinal wild flower related to carrots? If you pull up the plant and scratch the root, it actually smells like carrots! You can also use the leaves to ward off infections. Bryan will be looking forward to the leaves in the summer, and I can already smell the delicious aroma of the stew Steve could make with some of the roots, wild chives, and fresh deer or rabbit!

Learn more about Queen Anne's Lace here: http://www.motherearthliving.com/gardening/herb-to-know-queen-annes-lace


**Make sure that the area in which this plant is harvested has not been sprayed with any chemicals!**

Queen Anne's Lace is known for the small, red or purple spot in the center of the flower.

The flower will grow in bunches. You will see Queen Anne's Lace and Chicory growing together everywhere in the summer!

Chicory

In Braving the Storm, Chloe suggested that they stretch out their coffee supply by adding chicory root, a common practice in some parts of Louisiana and in other parts of the world. This common plant has several edible and medicinal properties. Check out more about this plant here:  https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/herbs-and-spices/health-benefits-of-chicory.html

*Please note that this plant has some warnings for pregnant and breastfeeding women as well as those prone to gallstones and some flower allergies.*

I was lucky enough to find purple and blue chicory flowers growing side by side.
These are both young plants. Chicory can grow to be several feet tall in the wild.
I hope you enjoyed a couple of my finds :) I had already posted these on my facebook page a while back, but I'm trying to get everything moved over to here. I have another post of just springtime plants while I will have to post soon as well.

Sunday, August 20, 2017

How The Storm Series came to be


*Warning: this will contain a few spoilers because sometimes I fangirl about my characters like they're real people...*

For some authors, their idea for stories aren't always as clear-cut as "I like stories about x, so I'm going to write a story about x." I am, indeed, a huge fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, but this isn't what got me writing The Storm Series.

My divorce is actually what got me started down the path.

My novels rely heavily on realistic scenarios (or at least as close as I can get). Before my divorce, I could've never written this series with a realistic approach as I knew nothing about growing, canning, or foraging my own food. It was out of necessity that I learned these things.

After moving out and getting my own place, I was up to my eyeballs in debt. I got a second job working at a grocery store, but even with working 70-80 hours a week between the second job and working full time (plus overtime) at my primary job, it just wasn't enough to have enough money to pay my bills, put gas in my car, and eat. I had to scrounge change together to put gas in my car to get to my second job. It was scary there for a while.

Even with a store discount and a minor coupon obsession (not quite extreme couponing...I'd say I've gotten to Jedi Knight level but not quite Master), buying healthy food on a limited budget was extremely difficult. I decided to try canning my own fruit as a way to both save money and keep eating healthily. I waited until fresh peaches went on sale super cheap at my second job, looked up a canning recipe that wouldn't require sugar, found canning supplies cheap online, and got some glass jars at the thrift store.

Once that was successful, I started looking up all the recipes I could to can my own tomatoes, pickles, oranges, and applesauce. Then I started trying to figure out how to grow my own food so that I could can it and save even more money. I lived in a small apartment at the time, so I had to improvise by using the container garden method.
Lars "watching over" my garden that first year.
I didn't have much success with growing that first year; I now realize that I didn't have enough sunlight where I was located. I also didn't know anything about fertilizer and ended up scorching most of my plants (oops!). I did get two delicious tomatoes out of it, though, from which I harvested seeds and am still growing their descendants six years later. The second year I had a millipede infestation and learned about diatomaceous earth as I started growing my vegetables organically after the fertilizer incident.

That second summer I also learned about foraging. I was walking in a wildlife reserve and discovered its trails were lined with blackberries and raspberries, and I was pretty excited. Then I came across a mulberry tree during peak season and ended up collecting a few cups of the delicious fruit from its branches. Coincidentally, mulberries are also in season right when blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries are super cheap at the grocery store, so I ended up making my own mixed berry jam. YUM!! I then got onto a foraging kick...harvesting food with zero effort in its production? Sign me up!

Between looking up growing methods, canning recipes, and foraging tips, I started visiting a lot of prepper/homesteading/survivalist websites. There are so many great, information-laden sites out there with all sorts of ways to be more self-sufficient, and it fascinated me greatly. I had discovered a world I never knew existed: fishing without a pole, tanning your own leather, making your own cleaning products, using plants as medicine, filtering water with sand and charcoal? I was hooked. I started drinking in all the information I could, printing out everything I found to have handy in case the web links ever stopped working and/or if the power ever went out. I am still adding to it five years later and will probably be doing so for a long time.


I need a bigger binder.
One thing about prepper sites is that, obviously, they are preparing for the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI). Many of them are not fond of the government as a basis for what they think will cause TEOTWAWKI. Keep in mind, as well, that much of my research was done throughout Obama's administration, and many of these prepper sites are laden with ultra-conservative folks. Most of the time, political views didn't matter to me on these sites; if society crumbles, who we voted for in the last election is essentially a moot point. I don't want to get too political, but I consider myself a moderate, left-of-center. Some of these sites, I noticed, assumed that only christian, conservative, heterosexual, caucasians would be left. I had gotten into a few forum arguments with some of them, trying to stress upon them that straight white males are not the only people who will survive a disaster and that turning down a doctor because of the color of his skin or his religion in a TEOTWAWKI situation would be ridiculous. It never got anywhere, of course; I was impeding on their turf, and I was vastly outnumbered. I just avoid those sites now as there are plenty of other places to get my information.

Then Hurricane Sandy happened.

At first, Pittsburgh was told we would be getting the edges of the storm and to prepare for power outages, bad winds, flooding, etc. My now-husband (we had only been dating for a few months at this point) and I prepared for the worst, using the everything I learned as well his own personal experience as he lost his home in the floods from Hurricane Ivan.The shelves in our grocery store were pretty barren, a common occurrence any time a storm* is mentioned in the weather, so thankfully I had already stocked up on food the last time stuff went on sale and I had a couple extra bucks.

I personally go for the canned food, but to each their own...


As we were getting my apartment ready, I started thinking about the 2003 power outage in NYC and how easily one little circumstance could affect so many people. It didn't have to be an EMP, a nuclear attack, or hyperinflation as so many prepper sites caution: it could just be one really bad storm.

And so the concept for The Storm Series was born.

At first, the story was just going to be about a bad power outage from which Meghan and Steve had to bug out and survive in the wilderness with his hunting skills and her growing/foraging skills. I had gotten the first chapter written, but then the story went stagnant. It was missing something, and I couldn't put my finger on it for a very long time. Then I started reading the Dragonlance books--a series based on a Dungeons and Dragons campaign (which I have been playing for over a decade)--and I realized what I needed for the story: a group of adventurers with different skills and backgrounds. The characters in my book are actually based off of D&D characters: Harry and Steve are fighters, Bryan is a cleric, Tori and Chloe are druids, Meghan is a ranger, and Taylor...well, she's not done yet, so who knows what she'll end up being...is "badass" a class? ;) I think she'll end up being a rogue, actually; she's super sneaky when she's walking around in the woods. Bobby couldn't even tell she was right next to him when he got to the cabin for lessons.


Fun fact: I also used D&D to map out the final battle in Facing the Storm.
Another fun fact: Tori and Chloe were borrowed from another unpublished novel of mine called Avoiding the Norm that I wrote back in 2006-2007. Synopsis: Tori--a spoiled, rich brat--gets paired with Chloe during a debate assignment, they end up falling in love while studying together, Tori comes out of the closet, her parents kicked her out, and she moves in to Chloe's mother's attic. Dealing with her parents' abandonment as well as a lot of shit from her peers in school, she gets emancipated and starts rebuilding her life. I could geek out about Chloe and Tori all day as they are closest to my heart out of all the characters (except Taylor, who is growing on me pretty hard) because they've lived in my head the longest. I think three people in total have read that manuscript. One of these days I'll finish editing it. I also borrowed them as a way to further demonstrate to those who think like some prepper sites do that all kinds of different people are going to be ready when the shit hits the fan--plus Tori has had her world turned upside down already and had to rebuild, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that it would've had an impact on the way she pictures the permanence of any situation.

The scene in Braving the Storm where Bryan walks home right after the Blackout is also based off of what my stepmother went through the morning of 9/11. She worked in downtown Pittsburgh, and getting home after the Towers were hit took over 6 hours. She ended up having to walk out of town and have my dad meet her halfway home. Cellphones weren't as common back then, either, so it was a scary situation for her as getting a hold of my dad was difficult due to phone lines being tied up. The pain in his legs the next day is also based off the pain I felt walking up and down hills back to my old apartment after work one day when I couldn't get a ride home. I walk a lot more these days thanks to Kaylee, but back then I was pretty sedentary so I was ill-prepared for such a walk.

Now that I'm done geeking out about my characters...

The story itself has evolved so much since its inception. It was originally only going to be one book, but that's clearly changed as there are going to be at least four books in this series. I spent many an evening with friends discussing everything that would happen if the eastern grid went out--the stock exchange, the food supply, currency, other countries, and so on. There was a friend's party I had attended one night, and her front porch was filled with a group of people who were geeking out with me for most of the night over all the things they could think of that could be affected by a blackout of that magnitude, and it was a blast. The more I write the books, the more scenarios pop up. I've actually had to start expanding my knowledge on the Great Depression for book 3; I want to make sure I know what happened during the first one so that the government can learn from their mistakes for the Second Great Depression. I also have to start studying more on the Wild West as that will essentially be the theme of those living in the Blackout Zone, but factual information about anything other than the gunmen of the time is much harder to find online. I'm going to have to try and find books on the subject so that book 3 doesn't sound like some cliched John-Wayne-esque movie.

I once got a 3-star review for Braving the Storm saying it was more like a survival guide than an actual story. While I'll be the first one to admit that the first book is a bit slow--I had to build the world, and realistically society isn't going to completely crumble into a world of savages overnight--I take the aforementioned review as a huge compliment. I want people to read the book and learn something while also being entertained. I enjoy that my readers place themselves into the scenarios presented within The Storm Series and think what they would do. To me, that means I did my job. I personally think it's exciting when you can be entertained and also learn something in the process.

To wrap things up, I don't have the financial woes that I used to (thank goodness), but I have become so accustomed to growing and canning my own food that I don't think I'd ever go back to buying canned tomatoes and peaches in a grocery store unless I had to. This is a good thing for the novels, because every good and bad experience I have with being self-sufficient just ends up being great source material for the books. For example, expect an appearance from this little jerk in Book 3 because he won't stop breaking into my garden to eat my green beans:


Mr. Groundhog: #1 on Jen's Most Wanted list
Now that my green bean plants are 6.5 feet tall, tough, Mr. Groundhog just can't keep up.
This is what has grown in the week I was gone. Take that, groundhog!
I foresee some canning in my near future! :)

Until next time!

*The storm link is both an interesting read and a delightful collection of amusing memes for those who know about impending snowstorm milk and bread hysteria.

Friday, August 18, 2017

Being in the desert

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been away from home on a day-job-related business trip. I'm currently in El Paso, TX for one more night. This desert town is a far cry from the lush, green, humid city I call home: Pittsburgh, PA. Not only is the landscape entirely different, so is the culture. Most of the local residents are latin as El Paso is only minutes away from the Mexican border, so my not being able to speak Spanish is a hindrance here. Plus everything has green chillies in it, and I'm a total pansy when it comes to spice. At least I have steak and BBQ to keep me (mostly) safe.

That sky, though!



I'll simply never get this view at home.
The good thing about coming to a place so different from home is being able to think about how this area would handle The Blackout in The Storm Series. As an amateur forager, I make sure to check out the local vegetation to see what grows and if any of it is edible/medicinal. I can name around a dozen plants off the top of my head at home (which has taken years of study), but here? All I can think of is yucca and how it can be used as soap:

General information about its use as soap: http://www.motherearthnews.com/natural-health/yucca-soap-yucca-shampoo-zmaz81mjzraw

Step-by-step instructions for preparing soap with pictures: http://sensiblesurvival.blogspot.com/2011/12/making-soap-from-yucca-leaves.html?m=1

I'd be absolutely lost here if I got stuck here and had to forage. This isn't one of your cacti-laden deserts; it's mostly just brush (though I got to see a real-life tumbleweed as a result, which I got way too excited about).

Mountains, plateaus, and brush = the desert around El Paso.
The soil and growing conditions are so very different from home that I'm not even sure what I could grow and when. I'd figure it out eventually, but what if I didn't have that option? I don't have my books with me, and let's say there's no internet. What if I find myself in a neighborhood where English is not the predominant language. What then?

Now, in a scenario such as one in The Storm Series, El Paso would still have power as they are part of the Western Grid, so at least I'd have that going for me. But that will only get me so far in that scenario; I'd have to fend for myself until Ration Stations were set up.

I dunno if I'd make it, and that's a little nerve-wracking.

I guess with this story living and evolving in my head for over two years now (it was originally only going to be one novel, but that's a story for another post), the scenarios therein are always in the back of my mind. This isn't always helpful, especially in places with huge crowds. All I can think during those times are, "in the event of crisis, most of us would be trampled." With the current socio political climate, that sense of "stay the eff at home" is turned up to 11, but I can't always hide in the comfort of my home, especially when work beckons.

But I digress.

 I'll be returning back home tomorrow to the land of green vegetation and my garden full of veggies, and I'll probably do research on desert plants just for funzies in case I come back (which is a possibility). It's always helpful to have a reminder that there's still so much for me to learn, and I'm sure El Paso will probably end up having a small part in one of the upcoming novels as a result.


Thursday, August 17, 2017

Author success: Target

Every couple days I Google myself (giggity?) just to see if anyone is talking about the books and to share what I find. Usually it's the same links to online bookstores: Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Scribd, and a few other overseas stores, all of which are really amazing to see selling something I created. Sometimes I'll find one of my books on a list of recommended books, and I'll humbly thank whomever made the list if I can find a way to contact them.

Today I found something crazy: my book is being sold through Target. While not in stores, it still blows my mind that one of my novels are gracing the virtual shelves of a store you can find in pretty much every town in America.
Sure, B&Ns are everywhere, too, but their speciality is books. But to have Target, a store which carries an array of goods...a household name...selling MY book? I'm in shock. I've just been sitting here staring at my screen trying to comprehend it. I'm shaking with excitement.

I'm sure they sell other indie novels as well, but that doesn't make it any less exciting that they decided my book should be included in their stock. It's also doubly thrilling to see it now as I'm away from home on a (day-job-related) business trip, so my husband and I were on the phone when I found it. He got to hear me squee once it finally hit me that I need to share this news ASAP everywhere I possibly can.

Thank goodness I stepped up my social media game recently!!

It's always good to be able to enjoy a success as an author. I think this is a huge one!!

Thursday, August 10, 2017

The "joys" of being an introvert in a world of extroverts

I will say this over and over again: writing a book is the easiest part to being an author, especially an indie author. At least with traditional publishers (or so I'm told), you have a team to do most of the leg work for you and handle the business side of things. For an indie author, though, it's all up to me. I have to do my marketing, my promoting, my deadlines, my research, my networking, and every other business-related activity one can think of. I've come a long way since last July when I knew NOTHING of what I could expect as an indie author, but I know that I have so much further to go until I'm on par with my peers.

Until last week, I barely had any sort of internet presence. My books are all over the place, sure, but I didn't really have any sort of outlet for the author behind the books. I avoid social media like the plague for the most part as being exposed to the world makes me a bit jittery. My social media accounts almost never have any actual goings on from my actual offline life; it's mostly just nerdy memes, food porn, bad puns, and pictures of cute animals. I didn't even have a smartphone until two and a half years ago because I didn't like being tethered to everything every moment of my life. I'm a pretty private person in real life, too, with only a few friends that I've had for a better part of two decades or more. I can't fathom having hundreds (or thousands) of people looking at my personal Facebook page like I see that some people have. There just aren't that many people I want to know the inner workings of my life.

But with every step I take deeper into the writing community, the more I'm told that I need to make myself a brand, that the more people recognize my name and can put a real person to it, the better. For someone like me who treasures my privacy and doesn't like to draw attention to herself, that can be quite difficult. We all know the internet can be a scary place at times; the anonymity of it all can bring out the worst in people, which I've learned through some of my book reviews. There are those out there with sadness and pain in their lives that redirect it onto others to ease their own suffering. So why put my face out there? Why feed the trolls?

But to be an author, eventually you're going to have to put yourself out there. You're going to have to go to book signings and smile for (hopefully, someday) a line of people anxiously waiting to speak to you for a few moments. You're going to have to get asked questions by someone who wants to interview you. You're going to have to walk up to a stranger and tell them about your book with total confidence in your work. It's just a part of the industry, and for me it's the most difficult part. Yet I'm working on building my brand: I am trying to learn more about Twitter (@BravingStormPgh), I have my own official author website now (jenniferlbrooks.com), and of course I started blogging. There are days that are easier than others; I've talked on live Facebook feeds, talked to people during author events, and even spoken to a few local bookstores.

When my first book came out, I wanted to hit up all of the local bookstores to get my book on actual shelves. The thought of walking into a bookstore and speaking to someone in charge. though, was absolutely terrifying, though. What if they said no? What if they told me to GTFO before I even stood a chance? What if I made a complete ass out of myself and somehow tarnished my reputation before it even had a chance to grow? Talk about a panic attack!

It took a while--and my best friend coming with me as moral support--but eventually I walked into White Whale Bookstore and asked them if they'd carry my book. I gave a brief synopsis of the story, and before I knew it I was going out to the trunk of my car to get more copies. The same thing happened at Rickert & Beagle Books as well. There were a few more places I'd gone to and was denied, but it wasn't so bad because my book was already in another store. I'm going to have to do it all over again for the second book now that it's out, but I've been dragging my feet for all of the reasons above all over again.

Will I ever be a chatty cathy? Probably not...but I'm making progress everyday. It's a struggle, but it's worth it.

Monday, August 7, 2017

My furry minions

Yesterday, I touched a bit on one of my favorite hobbies, plant identification. I also mentioned how many of the plant photos I take are while walking my pup. Many of my hobbies overlap like this, especially when it comes to the books. Any experience I have that I feel might pertain to my stories goes either into a mental note or into an actual note on my phone.

I figured I'd introduce you to my fur family as many of my shenanigans revolve around them :) I have two and a half pets: Lars, Kaylee, and Buddy. (I'll explain the half thing in a minute.)
My cat, Lars, "helping" me work.

My doggo, Kaylee, "helping" me with laundry.
Lars and his BFF, Buddy.
Buddy is a feral cat who lives on my porch, hence the "half" bit. Two autumns ago, he started sleeping on a cardboard box that was laying on my porch. As it got colder, I ended up lining a cardboard box with another cardboard box, then putting a towel in it for him to sleep on. He spent a good amount of the winter in that box. Lars and Buddy became friends pretty quickly, and they started eating their meals together on the porch. Buddy sometimes scratches/meows at the door for Lars to come outside to play, and Lars will knock on the window for me to bring them food. I feel like one of those moms who make sandwiches for all the neighborhood kids.

This past autumn, Buddy's house got upgraded to a heated, waterproof, padded kitty home:
He might be the most spoiled feral kitty ever.
Kaylee (yes, she's named after the character from Firefly) is a rescue pup. We've had her since last July, and she's made a ton of progress. She was rescued from a very abusive situation, so when we got her she was terrified of absolutely everything: being anywhere near a car, other dogs, and most people (especially men). It took a few months and lots of love and walks, but she finally started getting comfortable in her new life.

Lars and Buddy walking together in our neighborhood...it greatly amuses the neighbors.
A few months ago she started warming up to people, then I started taking her in the car (in a carrier so she felt safe) to nature trails. Now, not only does she say hello to everyone she meets, she gets mad at me when I don't take her in the car with me. :) A few weeks ago, she started wanting to play with other dogs as well. It's just been awesome to see her transition, and I'm very lucky to have her in my life.

Now she pretty much demands to be taken on walks, especially on trails so she can go bye byes in the car. There are a few trails I take her on, and it's always a blast for her, especially when she gets to play in creeks. 

She loves splashing around!
 For me, it's an opportunity to get some fresh air and keep my plant identification skills up-to-date. It's actually helped me greatly as I've been able to watch the natural transition from spring flowers to summer flowers, and I now have a basic timetable of when my characters can expect supplements to their food supply as I've started writing book 3 (which takes place in the spring and summer). Not only that, being out in nature is just a great muse since so much of my stories take place in the woods. No better place to be inspired than next to a creek or on a trail in the forest.

Our walks are now adventures in writing :)
Lars loves being outside, but he usually hangs out in the woods by my house or sleeps on the porch...or on my car...or in the yard...or on a random pile of sticks...

Lars getting in touch with nature...or he just REALLY loves sticks.
Now that I've totally done the fur mom thing and pushed pictures of my kids upon anyone willing to listen...I must take my leave for now.

Until next time :)

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Jewelweed, Burdock, and Joe Pye Weed


One of my hobbies is wild plant identification, which you'll see throughout my books. I started doing research on growing, canning, and foraging my own food about five years ago. When you see my characters doing something with plants, whether eating or using medicinally, there's a lot of my own personal research behind it.

This past weekend, I attended a Late Summer Wildflower Walk in a nearby wildflower reserve. The ranger took us through while identifying plants and letting us know their edible/medicinal uses. It was so much fun, but I'm really glad I brought my walking stick because it was super muddy!

Anywho, I wanted to share a few of the plants I've been doing research on. All the pictures I took by myself, but I'll include links for each of them from other blogs/sites that I think are the most informational.

**Please note that this is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. A physician should be consulted before any plant is consumed, and you should be 100% sure the plant is identified correctly.**

Jewelweed

I found a huge bush of jewelweed along a trail while walking my pup, and it was also one of the plants identified on the wildflower walk. If you ever get poison ivy, hurry up and look for this plant!


Jewelweed up close

Side view of Jewelweed
Burdock

I fount this plant along another trail while walking my dog (can you tell I enjoy identifying plants at any opportunity?). It's everywhere right now! Burdock has many medicinal properties such as purifying blood, easing skin irritations, and helping with diabetes.

You can read more about burdock here: https://draxe.com/burdock-root/ 

Burdock plant

Burdock up close

Joe Pye Weed

Last but not least for tonight, this beautiful flower isn't just a butterfly magnet. Joe Pye Weed (also called Gravel Root because of the root's appearance) is used for cleansing urinary tracts, reducing chest congestion, and reducing arthritic and rheumatic pains.

Learn more about Joe Pye Weed here: http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_gravelroot.htm 
and here: http://commonsensehome.com/joe-pye-weed/ 

Joe Pye Weed up close
There was an entire field of Joe Pye!

The leaves on Joe Pye Weed
Hope you had fun learning about a few plants today! There's plenty more where that came from! I have been posting them on my facebook page since the spring, but I'll work on getting them all on here as well.

The adventure begins

Hello to anyone reading this! I usually don't talk much about myself, especially online, but I think it might be interesting for other new and upcoming indie authors to see the inner workings of an author in the beginning of her career as such.

A little background: I'm an indie author who published her first book last July. I've been writing my entire life, since I was a little girl. I've written poems, short stories, and novel-length stories for as long as I was able to form sentences. I have manuscripts of other novels sitting around my house--there's one that's been under my coffee table through two separate moves--but Braving the Storm was the first story I wrote that I felt was good enough to actually publish.

Submitting the book was TERRIFYING, probably the scariest thing I've ever done. Waiting for the sales numbers to come seemed to take forever; Amazon, B&N, and most other online retailers take a full 90-120 days until my distributor, Bookbaby, gets sales figures. That's a long time to sit and wait to see how I'm doing out there.

On top of waiting for sales, there were reviews to wait on, which I'm learning a year in is a struggle to get from both famous and small-time authors alike. And we all know people on the internet can be very mean. At first, the cruel commentary was a bit rough for me. I'm more than a little neurotic, so I was ready to throw in the towel.

Thankfully, some good comments came in--and from complete strangers, not just friends and family. Of course friends and family tell you that your work is great, that it's perfect just the way it is. You expect that from them, of course, because they know how hard you've worked and how much of your soul has gone into this work. But when strangers tell you it's good...there's no reason for them to do so, so it's easier to believe them.

The best thing that ever happened was when someone in Ontario, Canada sent me a message on Facebook:


The fact that I made someone late for work in a completely different country absolutely blew my mind. Then I got a few other good reviews from others in Canada as well: 


Once the sales finally came in, I actually sold way more than expected, so I was really excited. I didn't expect to sell more than 100 copies, period, over the lifetime of the book, but the first month I told 640 copies! While that may not seem like much, to me it was a huge deal! The number's gotten bigger since then, which is exciting, but I still have a long way to go.

I published my second book, Facing the Storm, in late April. I still haven't gotten my sale figures back, but this time I'm better prepared. I will weather the bad reviews and lack of reviews, and I will push on. I will keep researching and keep writing because it's what I love to do. Hopefully you'll adventure along with me. If you're worried about self-publishing, just know you're not the only one unsure of what to do!

Talk to you again soon!