soup’s on: a blog birthday and other delights

August 20, 2013September 30, 2017 ~ jama ~ 46 Comments

Hey Hey!

I’m back! You look different. Have you had some work done? Eating more fruits and veggies, maybe?

Well, something’s changed.

I swear you’re even more good-looking than you were back in July. Tell me, tell me — how is that even possible?

When last we spoke, 6lueberries were taking over the Alphabet Soup kitchen. Well, you’ll be pleased to know we polished off every last one of those indigo beauties and haven’t had any other grocery shopping mishaps — unless you count the time I asked Len to bring home a spaghetti squash.

Me: That’s not a spaghetti squash. It has a pointy end.

Len: Of course it’s a squash.

Me: It looks too small.

Len: Well, I found it next to all the other squashes and there was even a big sign.

Me: Imposter!

Len: Don’t be silly. This. is. a. squash.

Me: Hokay, if you insist . . .

Marinara sauce simmering, smells good.

Two hours later, a scream from the kitchen.

Len: OH NO!!

Frantic, disheveled writer comes running, expecting to see a gaping knife wound and lots of blood.

What?!! What’s wrong?!!

Len: Look! It’s a . . . MELON!

Writer displays admirable restraint.

Me: Is it a muskmelon?

Len: I don’t know.

Me: Well, I tried to tell you. This is just like Aunty Ella and her Chinese soup fiasco. Instead of winter melon, she got watermelon. So much for our low cal alternative. I’ll cook some penne . . .

Turns out the object in question is a canary melon, and it was delicious! I like it better than cantaloupe but not as much as honeydew. Canary melons are also called winter melons, but they’re not the same “winter melons” my aunt wanted for her soup, which are actually winter gourds. These guys are actually fruits eaten as vegetables. I swear it’s all a conspiracy. Squash espionage abounds. Henceforth, my code name is Melon Head. 🙂

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a special giveaway for alphabet soup’s 5th birthday

August 7, 2012September 30, 2017 ~ jama ~ 110 Comments

Hello hello hello!

I’m baaaaaaaaaack — just in time to celebrate five years of Alphabet Soup!

Wow, it’s very hard to believe it’s been that long and that I’m still here after 1400+ posts on 2 different platforms, ~~348~~ 15 pies, ~~569~~ a few cupcakes ☺, 145 book reviews, and many, many days when I asked myself, “Why am I doing this again?”

Who’d have thought a very private, non tech-savvy introvert who’d never even read a single food blog (gasp!), could somehow keep finding something to say week after week?

Wonders never cease.

I named the blog, “Alphabet Soup,” because at the time I was writing my first chapter book about an alphabet collector who acquires a miniature uncle via mail order for the letter U, and included, “soup” because of my first picture book, Dumpling Soup. I was intrigued, and still am, by blogging as an art form, a unique creative outlet that allows me to indulge my love for journaling and creative nonfiction, letter writing, children’s literature, photography, culinary history, typography, food art, food memoirs and baking.

I have learned SO much in five years, only to realize how little I actually know about everything. I have new respect for professional book reviewers, renewed love for teachers and librarians, even have a new appreciation for editors, i.e., “inappropriate submissions.”

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the courage to blog

February 20, 2008 ~ jama ~ 48 Comments

“Writing, when properly managed, (as you may
   be sure I think mine is) is but a different name
   for conversation.” ~ Laurence Sterne

I love blogging.

But seven months ago, I lacked the courage to even try it.

As I searched for information about children’s publishing on the web, I stumbled across one blog, then another.

I was impressed, inspired, and intimidated all at the same time.

I found Cynsations, Fuse #8, Blue Rose Girls, MotherReader, Lisa Yee, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast — and instantly felt connected to a community. I had never met any of these people in person, but I was intrigued by their voices. There were book reviews, accounts of book signings and school visits, interviews with authors and illustrators, and the inside scoop on publishers, agents, and editors.

And I thought, what a grand conversation!

I lurked for months, until one day I finally screwed up enough courage to post my first comment on bloomabilities, the personal blog of Little, Brown, editor, Alvina Ling. My hands shook as I typed. The thought of saying something to a stranger, with a vast, unknown public reading, and no way of ever taking it back, was terrifying. But she had posted about an unpleasant incident in a karaoke bar, where she and her friend were the targets of racist remarks by one of the employees. I was incensed, and couldn’t remain silent. So I forced myself to offer what little sympathy and support I could.

Soon, I was commenting more and more on blogs that I simply couldn’t live without. I grew more confident, but something was missing. The conversation felt one-sided, because no one could visit my blog, and with true blogger courtesy, return the favor of commenting back. I hesitated for a long time. What would I blog about? I didn’t have a new book to promote. I’m a very private person, living a very quiet life. The last thing I’d want to do is bore people to death. And then it hit me — why was I assuming anyone would be reading what I posted in the first place? Who would find me amongst 112 million other blogs?

So on August 4, 2007, I wrote my first public post, and four days later, I received my very first comment, from Kris Bordessa of Paradise Found. Now, a day hasn’t passed that I haven’t learned something new, or been excited about what I’m going to post about next.

Blogging has helped me write faster and focus better. It has prompted me to research, reflect, and ruminate on topics I truly love, and most important, it has enabled me to meet other bloggers and hear their stories and opinions. I think back to when I published my picture books, before blogs existed. I had written them in isolation, and when they were sold, there was no online community to share the good news with, no message boards or personal blogs to promote them, no soft place to fall when a negative review came out.

Blogging is an exciting, new art form. Everyone has the opportunity to create whatever kind of blog they wish, experiment at will, and use the blogging platform to whatever end they desire. There is no right or wrong way to blog.

When I first started, I agonized over what to say. But gradually I realized what a gift I had been given. For much of my writing career, the word I kept hearing from editors was “no.” It was like I needed their permission to speak, for them to say, yes, what you’re saying in this story is worth telling, is worth sharing with a larger audience. They judged everything I wrote. I knew all about not taking anything personally, about persisting despite rejection. But still, there was that deep-seated feeling that unless they said it was okay, I should remain silent.

Until now. I don’t need anyone’s permission to blog. I decide what to say, and how to say it, and take full responsibility for what I post. This is a kind of empowerment I have never experienced before, and it’s heady and addicting. My blog is a place to take a subject or a feeling and run with it, to fully stretch my writing muscle without the pesky editor that plagues my other projects. I am happy to promote other authors and their books, old or new, whenever I can. And I am thrilled to be in the company of so many talented, generous, and supportive people in the kidlit blogging community.

I’m so glad I found my voice.

**For more insight on the blogging experience, be sure to check out “The Beauty of Blogging,” in SisterDivas Magazine, with Live Journal’s Melodye Shore (