The Very Last 2014

People always ask me what I'm doing for New Year's Eve. Usually, my answer is the same: nothing. This isn't because I have the energy of an old lady, and like to go to bed at 10pm. More so, it's knowing that New Year's Eve is THE ultimate party night: counting down to 2015 in a room full of strangers does not sound appealing, especially when you're sure to run into a few traffic accidents on the way home (with no alternate routes. That's why I'm complaining).

Tonight is the perfect night to reflect on 2014 - that year full of big changes and surprises. The year that seemed as if it'd never end.

A few things happened on the way to 2015 that I hadn't been able to blog about until now. This is the perfect time to share them with you.

Doing Author Things

In 2014, the best news I could have ever hoped for arrived: my debut novel is being published!!! Even though I have indeed blogged about The Call, as well as posting the occasional smattering of photos on Instagram and Twitter, I haven't written about it much on this blog. Probably because the rounds of revisions, edits, and top-secret decisions I made regarding Love Fortunes and Other Disasters have kept me busy.

Facebook reminded me of some key 2014 moments, including one of the best moments (because boy does it ever feel good to finish a manuscript, first draft or fifth draft, haha!):

Not long after, I submitted my manuscript to Swoon Reads... and the rest is history!

Over the summer, I took a trip to see family in New York, and stopped by Swoon Headquarters to meet Jean Feiwel, my editor, Holly West, and the rest of the amazing staff over at Swoon Reads. It was an awe-inspiring experience, and I was shaking with nerves and excitement after taking the elevator to Swoon's floor. The second I saw the books, though, I felt at home. As you might expect from Macmillan, there were stacks and shelves of books everywhere, along with huge posters of beautiful covers. I felt like Charlie in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. 

Then it was time to get to work.

Holly wrote about the experience from her point of view here - which is pretty cool to look back on, since in some ways, the trip to Swoon was a delightful blur. I loved getting to talk with Holly about my edit letter, and plan together how I would tackle the first round of edits. Totally worth it. I wish I could beam myself over for meetings. Alas. Maybe someone will create a teleporter in 2015.

With Love Fortunes in interior design, and a few more months before it hits bookstores, I had thought it would be too early for any authorly things to happen. But I was wrong. My coworkers always find new and creative ways to see if I happen to have a copy hidden up my sleeve (nope), and I'm starting to have a tagline when I'm introduced to new people ("And this is Kim, she's the author."). Once, when me and the 'rents were visiting my brother in Tallahassee, we took a trip to Thomasville, Georgia and I stepped into an adorable bookshop... and then things happened and this photo was taken:

I will never get used to it - it's just too magical! Bring it on, 2015!

Meeting Robert Irvine

I wasn't able to attend 2014's Disney's Food & Wine Festival. My disappointment only grew after realizing that I couldn't write a blog post about it this year. Even though the festival was extended, those weekends in the fall had been stuffed with dog-sitting, errands, and holding down the fort as we weathered a few big changes. By the time I made it to Disney, the booths had already been packed up. I almost cried when I saw them missing (because, yeah, I really thought I had booked that trip within the festival dates. Darn).

Despite that, a dream did still come true during the festival. My mom and I got to meet Robert Irvine.

We hadn't seen Robert since he last came to Disney World for the festival in 2011. So when it was announced that he would be there this year, I hoped that we could make it to see him. The stars aligned (it really felt that way, the way fall was going for us) and we were free to go! Mom and I got up early and drove to Epcot. The sky was dark, threatening rain, but it couldn't dampen our spirits (or Robert's cookbook that I kept in a Ziploc bag, mwahaha).

We went straight to the festival center and found out that the crowd for Robert was so large that Disney decided to hand out wristbands to the first hundred or so people, and no one else would be allowed to wait in line to meet him. The wristbands? Of course there were no more left.

Dejected, we grabbed some lunch before Robert was scheduled to give his demonstration. While dunking my french fries in barbecue sauce and staring out the window at the Electric Umbrella, an idea came to me.  I tweeted Robert about the situation... and then fangirled about ten minutes later when I saw his response:

After finishing lunch, we ran back to the festival center in the rain. We brought an umbrella with us, but Florida's famous sideways rain ignored the umbrella and soaked us anyway. 

The demonstration was so much fun to watch, especially since Robert's charisma shone through from the moment he stepped onto the stage. Since he wasn't under the pressure of turning around a failing restaurant or cooking by the clock, he cracked jokes, danced, and got the audience engaged in what he was cooking. His wife and one of his daughters were there to support him - very cool! Before we knew it, the hour was over, but Robert still stayed behind to answer questions before heading over to the signing area. 

Mom and I knew that getting to meet Robert would be near impossible due to the wristbands, but we decided to try anyway. A nice cast member roped off the wristband line and let us wait behind the rope, just in case Robert finished all the wristband people before his hour was up. That alone gave us hope. So we waited. Flipped through Robert's cookbook. And waited some more. Near the end of the hour, another cast member announced that they would now open the line up for the non-wristbanders, because Robert didn't want his fans to feel like he didn't want to see them (awww, right?).

So we waited a little more, and then this happened: 

Lemme tell you, meeting Robert Irvine was right up there on my top 2014 moments. I mean, usually I get nervous when meeting celebrities, or even Disney characters (don't even get me started about being tongue-tied around Prince Caspian, haha), but the minute it was our turn to see Robert, I felt at ease. Maybe because he's more awesome in person than on TV, if you can believe that, but also because he knew exactly who I was before I could say more than, "We made it!"

He recognized me from my Twitter profile photo. And, even more magical, remembered us from when we saw him at the festival center back in 2011! "You were standing in the same spot," he said, while signing the cookbook, "right over there."

If that's not magic, I don't know what is.

Being A Guest "Player Hater:"

Since I'm admittedly scared of playing horror games - especially survivor horror games, where you're not allowed to take a swing that the hideous things chasing you - I've been watching a ton of Let's Play videos by various braver gamers. My favorite being theRadBrad, since he's manages to be funny without eclipsing the story lines (I really, really appreciate being given the chance to ponder a plot twist and read the picked up notes while watching, thank you).

That said, my brother Bill decided to try his hand at Let's Play by starting his own channel, lovably named the Player Haters. And, since he was coming home for the holidays, he thought that having is big sister play some games with him would be a fun.

And so we did.

We both have a long history with SkiFree, and quite frankly, I think we were both at our best before ye old holiday mass eating happened and we got sleepy.

I have to admit that getting a cartoon icon of my face was pretty epic. Do you think it looks like me? Enjoy the video (and if you haven't played SkiFree yet, maybe you should add that to your 2015 goals)!

1. Write more books.

2. Read everything unread on my bookshelves (and donate the books I don't want to keep)

3. Replay at least one Final Fantasy game

4. Schedule more trips to Jellyrolls, the dueling piano bar

5. Make more time for social things, like hanging out with friends

6. Keep up with exercising and healthy eating

7. Cook something without the aid of a microwave

8. Be braver. 

What are your goals for 2015? 

Like One of Those Victorian Fainting Women

There was nothing romantic about this February. Usually I enjoy writing V-Day posts, usually cataloging all the fun, single things I do in order to make the most out of the lace-and-chocolate holiday, but this year was different.

On February 14th, I was writhing in agony on the couch, suffering from food poisoning turned stomach virus. I had to call in sick, miss the conference panel I was supposed to be on, and ate nothing but saltines and toast. I couldn't even read!

Me, calling into work at 5:00 am: 

"Hey _______, it's me again. I'm still not better. In fact, I've somehow taken on a fever overnight and the stomach pains are getting worse. Clearly, I have no shame talking about this. But I'll make it quick. If I were to come into work today, I'd either slump into a pile of goo on the floor, like one of those Victorian fainting women, or excuse myself multiple times each hour. Don't worry, though. I'm going to the doctor today..." 

Through the haze of pain, I daydreamed about the travel writing panel I was missing and the stack of handouts that were now all but useless since no one could hear me speak about my experiences in England and my travel writing tips. Booooooo. I also wished for many things: a new stomach made of steel and stocked with an ancient Greek army, chocolate cake, a book that wouldn't make me woozy while trying to read, and a nap.

"No naps," my intestines said, contorting into the shape of a rubber band ball. "Sleep is for the healthy."

The awesome poster in question.

But it's been about a week since then and I'm almost recovered. It is so good to be back at school, to say hello, laugh, and look at a computer screen without feeling faint. I have great friends in the program too, including the incredibly talented and frilly Namie of the blog "Good Morning Lovely." (We're BFF office mates at school, haha). She gave me, like, the best get well soon present ever when I returned to school: a Doctor Who poster that has a very witty saying on it that makes me think - well heck, maybe time traveling would have been a better cure for me than antibiotics.

Grad school takes no prisoners and my thesis is no exception. I'll be working on my last set of revisions this weekend before starting another ream of paperwork and getting the poor thing formatted. In other story news, I've been starting to get chunks of free time that, thankfully, have allowed me to write more of the current Figment stories I have up. I want to continue posting chapters in a timely fashion and I feel as if my characters, long dormant under the wild Thesis Sea, are starting to rise again to the surface.

A tiny story of mine called "Her Body Was Map" has recently been published at Lightning Cake, a brand-new lit journal started by Figment's very own, Linna Lee. Linna even illustrates the stories that get published and I can't convey how ecstatic I am with the one Linna made for my story. It. Is. Brilliant.

So happy belated V-Day. As I sit here, sifting through the chocolate that had to wait, I guess I can't complain. It feels amazing to be well again - or, at least, to be able to dash up a staircase, eat a whole sandwich, and laugh until it hurts while watching crazy-fantastic Food Network shows.

How has your February been?

A Scene from my April Daydreams

We're sitting outside an old French cafe under wide-brimmed umbrellas. We aren't in France but in Tampa, staring out at the parking lot and listening to the traffic from the congested street only a few feet away from us. The old French couple, who had moved to Florida many years ago, put extra sugar in our fruit salads. The sun is bright and burns our eyes. The umbrellas paint our skin pastel colors and make our food look contaminated by confetti cake mix. I push cut strawberries around with my fork and squint at him; he's smiling at me, but not looking at me - instead, he's busy wiping the sweat off his glass of water.

"What are you thinking?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "I'm imagining you're not here right now."

"Ouch."

He laughs. "What I mean is that you don't seem to really be here. You're mind is somewhere else."

I smirk. "Okay. Maybe you're right. But if I'm daydreaming about us right now, and you think that I'm somewhere else, then what does it all mean? Am I daydreaming within a daydream?"

"I don't think so," he says. I can tell he's thinking hard about this because he bites his lip.

"Where do you think my mind is?"

"Let's start from the beginning," he says, grinning. "In reality, you're actually in bed with your eyes squeezed tight. You've kicked off the sheets because even with the ceiling fan on, you're still sweating. Your head aches from a stress cold and, even though your dog has woken you up three times this morning, you're still fighting to stay in bed. So you're daydreaming about me because you think I can make you feel better. And you do feel better."

I chew on a chunk of apple and sigh. "Ooh. You're good."

"Of course I am. You're the one putting words in my mouth."

"Go on."

"So, even though you're in this imaginary day with me, trying to avoid really waking up, you can't help but remember what you have to do for your last week of school. Right now, you're thinking about the pile of papers sitting in your office. You're trying to figure out how long it will take you to grade them."

He's beautiful as he says this. Really. If I wasn't plugging in the words, I'd probably be lost in the way his lips form the words, how his bangs brush against his forehead. His hand is soaked with glass-water sweat. He's wearing a faded blue t-shirt that looks purple under the umbrella light.

And I know he's right. Or I know I'm right. Even in my imagination, I can't completely escape reality. I haven't thought of personifying responsibility, but I'm sure it looks like a cranky old librarian. Gold-rimmed glasses. Grim smile. A stack full of work and silence. Responsibility.

From far away, I can hear my mother at the sink. She hums a tune as she washes away the breakfast crumbs from her glass and plate. Fiber cereal and grapes, I guess. That's what she's been eating for the past few days. She'll probably peek into my room in a few minutes and nag me for having kicked my covers and sheets to the floor. I can feel morning seep into my bones.

He sips his water and looks at me steadily. "So you're going?" he asks.

I nod.

He's still drinking.

I frown and say, "Aren't you going to kiss me?"

He smiles boyishly and shakes his head. "No way. You're got work to do."

Photo from We Heart It

Tea and Finger Sandwiches (Fingers Not Included)

This post is more or less about food. Food blogging is popular, isn't it? It's one of those extremely fruitful blogging trends, much like the ever-popular fashion blogs. At least, that's what my peek at Bloglovin' has revealed. It's disheartening to see that the most blogs under "literature" have an average of three followers. That's where I am - huzzah! Representin' in the lit category, haha.

I can understand why food is so popular. I actually watch way too much of the Food Network. Whenever a competition or some behind-the-scenes food history show comes on, I just can't look away. It's so fascinating. It must be the joyful atmosphere that naturally comes when people flock together to enjoy a good ice cream sundae that is so attractive.

I've been drinking a lot of tea lately. We have way too many in the closet, so my mom's plan is to make giant glasses of them to stick in the fridge. She's even been combining different teas to make some rather pleasant concoctions. The last one was a raspberry and chamomile tea combo. Delicious.

This is very important. My top three favorite flavors of tea:

Cinnamon Plum

Almond

Strawberry

My mom and I had some cinnamon plum tea the other day. We sat together, drinking from our very plain blue mugs in silence. Well, she was. I was grading and staring longingly at my steaming cup. She had asked me what I was waiting for, and I merely shrugged and said, "Well, I might as well finish one more paper. It's probably still too hot for me."

"But it's been sitting there for fifteen minutes already."

"I can't drink hot stuff too well. I always burn my tongue," I said. I jabbed my finger in her direction. "It still surprises me that you can just drink it right away. It's way too hot. I bet you could drink fire if you wanted to."

And I strongly believe she could. I can picture her as a female Dustfinger from Funke's Inkheart, playing with fire like no one's business. I comfort myself my knowing that I can down very, very cold drinks with a lot more enthusiasm that she can.

I've been ruminating on tea. It's a beautiful type of drink, for many reasons. It prompts thoughtfulness and relaxation. I found some great quotes I wanted to share that capture that softer spirit:

The mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose. ~George Gissing, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecrof

We had a kettle; we let it leak: Our not repairing made it worse. We haven't had any tea for a week... The bottom is out of the Universe. ~Rudyard Kipling

Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on. ~Billy Connolly

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me. ~C.S. Lewis

And, of course, where would we be without special cups to drink tea out of? There are so many, and it's hard to say which ones are the best. For no reason other than being proud to have the knowledge, I want to be able to memorize popular brands of tea cups like Wedgewood of Ginori (hahaha, not Corelle). I feel like the knowledge might come in handy someday. And how? Well, I don't know. But it's got to be exciting. Here are some cups I wish I had to drink my tea out of (from We Heart It, again):

Pretty, eh? And they have humor to them. I confess I don't have any fancy tea cups. I just have some plain mugs I grab from the cabinets. I just dunk a tea bag in water and heat it up in the microwave. Hardly romantic, but at least I admit it. And have to have sugar. A lot of it, haha.

What teas do you like? How do you enjoy it? I haven't had a tea party in a while, I could go for some chicken salad sandwiches on a croissant, or cucumbers with cream cheese. Yum! Sounds like a plan.