If I did a Cupcake/Dessert Crawl in NYC, this is how it'd go...

Back in May I wrote about a cupcake crawl my friend Kim and I went on that was ... lackluster, let me be honest, it was lackluster. I kind of had a field day on Twitter in October when people keep suggesting Magnolia Bakery in terms of the must go to bakery in NYC. As in this is the "must" bakery to get for friends outside of the city. It has the "best' cupcakes. That is when I shook my head and tsk tsk tsk'd, my friends. There is so much more to NYC than Magnolia, but thanks for that Sex in the City. 

I'm not saying Magnolia is bad. Food, like art, is a subjective thing. What I am saying is that there's a whole lot out there, especially in a place as large and populous as NYC. So I'd suggest broadening your horizons in terms of the cupcake offerings here and what you may have heard is the "best" when in fact there are hidden gems throughout NYC. Many I have yet to try myself and many I have had the pleasure of consuming. So, if I did a cupcake/dessert crawl here's where I'd lead my group. And also, you're welcome.

• First Stop: Silk Cakes (Queens, LES): I adore the Asian-inspired cupcakes and delectables offered at this bakery. The yuzu cupcake with green tea truffle and smooth as silk (see what I did there?) icing is my favorite thing there along with the new limited edition pumpkin roll and their variety of milk cakes. It's such a treat to have them available in Queens.
• Next up, Fay Da Bakery (Queens, Chinatown): I'm a fan of sponge cakes, there's a pillow-like quality to them that is really good but also pretty dangerous because it means you can consume them like crazy. Fay Da offers not only cupcakes, but cake rolls, strawberry shortcake with whipped cream, and some savory items as well as every day bread along with tea. They're a solid chain and you can rest up, eat up, and simply relax.
• After that is, Sugar Sweet Sunshine (LES): They have the pumpkin cupcake year-round so that was my biggest positive with Triple S. But there's also the friendly staff, the steady good taste of their cupcakes, along with their offering of puddings and trifles that adds to the sugar overload. And perhaps because it's a one -off with no other locations makes it even more of a treat because you know there's only one Triple S.
• And then, Lady M Confections (UES, Midtown West): This is the high-roller stop for some light and creamy crepe cake! This is also the place to feel pretty darn fancy whilst hoarding your dollars to have cake and drink tea with a pinky up.
• Penultimate stop, Ivy Bakery (now available at Root Hill Cafe in Brooklyn): Cupcakes, scones, and butter gooies? Yes, please. Daniellan's homemade goods have a new home in Brooklyn, which is great because I missed her SoHo location. So now there's a sit-down place to get your cupcakes and gooies and some coffee in a warm spot this winter and beyond.
• All aboard, last stop! Butter & Scotch (Brooklyn): I'm so glad Allison and Keavy are opening up their dessert/cocktail location next year. I can get my alcohol and my pies in one spot. Fantastic! I'm sure the spot, once open to the public, will be a cool, comfortable place for you to enjoy your sweets and lounge around over drinks post-dinner, lunch, or just cause.

So there you have it. Some you may have heard of, some not. But all are delicious and this is from a name you can trust. :-)

The #SupportWNDB Campaign! It's All the Rage These Days

Yes, yes, yes. I have been delinquent in posting. Almost a month! My apologies. One of the things that have kept me busy (beyond end-of-the-year deadlines) is the We Need Diverse Books Indiegogo campaign that started October 24th. As a team member and social media person I've been helping on that end and it's been go, go, go!

It's also been fantastic to witness the support online as well as in dollars and donations that people have been providing for their belief that We Need Diverse Books (WNDB)! Being part of the WNDB team has been so great. Everyone is very committed to the belief and pitches in. It's a family as much as it is a team and I am very honored to have been asked to be a part of it after SCBWI. (Thanks, Ilene!)

So what is #SupportWNDB? Where is the money for this campaign going? Well lots of initiatives but focusing on providing grants to emerging writers as well as established diverse writers (there are other diversity grants via SCBWI--which I won last year--and Lee & Low [New Visions & New Voices Awards] as well as the Speculative Literature Foundation) but We Need Diverse Books wants to add to that and not relegate the sole aspects of diversity to people of color.

There's also diversifying classrooms via partnerships with An Open Book Foundation, NEA, and First Book to bring diverse authors for school visits at disadvantaged schools; educational kits for librarians and educators on how to diversify literature offered and dispensed to young readers; in addition to funding the 2016 Diversity Festival we plan to have in Washington, DC! So many things and plans ahead to promote diversity and changing the course of thought for what is considering "mainstream."

As a writer of color this is something I believe in not only in terms of being an emerging diverse artist but being a reader who would've loved to see more diversity in what I read as a kid and clamor for it as an adult no matter what the genre. I very much believe and am happy to give my time and money in #SupportWNDB and I'd urge others to also.

So that's one reason I've been busy and if you'd like to find me I'm more than likely behind the @diversebooks account on Twitter. :o)

#ArtistTherapy: Cheating on One Work with Another

"I haven't been working on that project for awhile. I fell in love with another idea."  If you've seen the someecards image of someone saying that a woman (or a writer's) mind is like having a couple thousand tabs on a website browser open then that'd be a good description of not just myself but other artists as well.

Some writers can only work on one thing at a time, especially a large project. Others initiate work on several ideas that may hit them out of the blue. I've had friends and/or overheard other artists say how they were plugging away on one thing to get struck, as if by lightning, by something else and now that new idea is the shiny penny they want to focus their efforts on.

Unlike the "Falling out of Love" with your work post from a few months back, this is more about a balancing act. When jumping from one work to another requires a complete mental shift along with solving the puzzle of more than one work.

When I work on my Collection (my long-term gestating baby) I not only have to be in different POVs for each character but rely on the link of what keeps it together as a linked anthology. But then there's the young adult thriller I'm working on and the essays I'm drafting, not to mention restaurant reviews, blog posts, and flash fiction I'm revising. Each project requires me to shift gears sometimes drastically and it means that while I may be working on one project a fix may hit me for another. It means that while I am forcing myself to sit down and draft an essay where every word feels painful and dull I may be thinking about that work that feels more exciting to me at the time causing a lack of focus for what is in front of me. It's not unlike having a fantasy of a celebrity while on a blind date. You may not be totally uninterested in the person in front of you but you're certainly not completely focused at the moment.

Tackling multiple projects can be synonymous in this way. Each day brings a different mindset and progress may seem slower on one project than another simply because the enthusiasm and excitement has waned. Is it dead in the water? Not at all. It's really attributed elsewhere for the time being.

I haven't felt like I was "cheating" on my Collection in a long time, if ever. My mind is one that doesn't shutdown, even when it needs rest. I cannot focus on one story, which is why my longer projects, novels in particular, tend to have multiple POVs. I like the challenge of thinking outside the box and also of reshuffling my focus to be able to tackle more than one thing. It can create a seemingly never-ending list of writing. One that feels daunting rather than thrilling. But for whatever may or may not work there's always the understanding that the challenge of writing is what stimulates and keeps you going.

If you have one work you feel you're neglecting--and this could very well be because it's a pain in your a** at the moment--don't freak out. Don't feel that you're cheating on it with something more appealing, easier (or not), something that feels fresh and destined for print while the other project you may have lived with longer may be something that is losing its luster. I've felt the same way. There are days when I've wanted to forget my Collection and focus on the essay that feels like it'll be complete sooner or the flash fiction that is oh-so-close. At times my Collection is a monster and it's okay that I may need a break from it every once in awhile. The work will be there, it won't finish itself, but forcing myself to do it when I'm thinking myself distant from it doesn't always work. The space I've needed in real live relationships is one I've also needed with my work. "I simply cannot deal with you right now. I love you. See you later."

It's not a good-bye. It's simply a break.

The Diversity Debate

There’s been a lot of discussion about the lack of diversity in art. In my world this pertains to books specifically. The discussion has risen and will not be curbing any time soon thanks to We Need Diverse Books^TM and also other entities focusing specifically on bringing more attention to diversity in books--meaning that there should and could be more non-majority main characters (not sidekicks) as well as more diverse writers. Last week Publishers Weekly revealed their 2014 salary survey for the publishing industry that included the option for those who participated to note their race. The results were staggering. Not only in the fact that many people approached did not respond but that of the several hundred who did the reflection of people of color was under 10% total, which seemed to set the online world on fire.

My friend Bev Rivero and I created the podcast Minorities in Publishing (MiP) because with our 20+ years in publishing we had always felt the lack of diversity in publishing. Working in it you cannot help but see it and it’s interesting to me that once the numbers were represented, be it a small portion of those approached in the industry, that more awareness came to light about why there may not be more diverse books being acquired, promoted, and sold. If there aren’t enough people of color (POC), LGBTQI, or disabled helping on the back end of bringing these books into a publishing house, developing a plan, and going on to find readers for this type of material (those without a true understanding of what it may be to be of the non-majority) how can we expect anyone to best stand by these books (and writers) to make work for a larger audience?

Being a team member of We Need Diverse Books^TM, co-creator of MiP, and also a female writer of color I have an investment not only for others in this industry and seeking to be a part of the industry but for myself as an emerging artist. Getting more minorities involved can be beneficial to those of us struggling to tell and sell our stories and if more diversity and representation matches the world we live in why can it not also be reflected this way in art? It’s a long and ongoing discussion with many sides and perspectives. The truth of the matter is there is a lack of diversity and for those who may not see it or may want to brush the lack of diversity off as being because there's not enough “good candidates” or “good material” is a very narrow way to look at it. The onus can’t be only on the person creating or applying. Affirmative action is not meant to get unqualified candidates a job and the request for equality is not intended to inhibit one group over another.

The diversity debate isn’t so much a debate but more a request for others who hadn’t noticed the disparity to take a moment and see what others do. How many books with POCs, LGBTQI, and/or disabled characters in a primary role are on bookshelves? How many are on best-seller lists? How many are reviewed in the outlets that still do review books? How many stories by and about minorities are publishing in literary magazines? How many are promoted outside of the one aspect of it being diverse and not so much attempted to find a broader fan base but focus on the issue of race, sexuality, and/or disability without looking at the person as able to carry a story for them being them?

The “debate” isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Because of so many advocates and allies and resources available there cannot be any further room for the discussion to be considered moot. It’s not simple to dismiss and it may not even be easy to rectify in the long run either. The addition of more diverse materials still need to be quality materials and applicants for publishing job should be qualified. Yet, there’s no doubt that on both sides this is available and perhaps needs the nurturing that it is not getting. “People want to see themselves in books” has been quoted many times over and will continue to be said. We want to see ourselves in what we read and watch, and we want to see ourselves as not “other” but as part of the norm.

Wine & Cheese Pairing w/ @KerrygoldUSA

On Wednesday night over a dozen bloggers in the New York City area convened at a food blogger's paradise in midtown: Sur La Table.

Kerrygold USA hosted a wine and cheese pairing as a treat to those in the Kerrygold Food Blogger Network. I have to say that Kerrygold has been quite generous to us food bloggers being a consistent sponsor for Pie Party Live and also hosting regular events and contests to win their coveted cheeses and butters. Anyone who bakes/cooks with Kerrygold knows that their product is top notch. Their butter especially when it comes to making crusts and oh-so-crisp cookies. There's a quality to Kerrygold's butter especially that transcends whatever you get on sale and really does bring up your dessert and savory game when added to any recipe. So invest in the product.

Terlato Wines and Rutherford Hill in Napa Valley supplied the perfect complements to the various cheeses Kerrygold supplied with tastes that helped enhance rather than overpower.

On display were several Kerrygold favorites such as Skellig, Dubliner, Cashel Blue, and Dubliner with Irish Stout that was sweeter than the singular Dubliner and was so delectable it didn't need wine. We continued to eat the crumbles with our fingers before and during the pairing.

Apricot Shallot Chutney and water crackers were displayed as a precursor to our formal pairing. We got to chat and in the case of some of us we caught up! It was so nice to see many of the other local food bloggers whom I haven't seen since Pie Party or even before.

And then things got started with us bloggers being educated by a representative of Terlato Wines about tasting the Dubliner with Irish Stout and a nice Chardonnay and even the Skellig and Merlot and the proper balance of tastes coming together to enhance sweetness or saltiness rather than the liquid overwhelming a lighter cheese. This guidance was helpful and made the event that much lighter fare for us to know what to do in the case of taking a good wine and fine cheese and hosting our own event to have our guests enjoy the spread.

Kerrygold and Sur La Table were also generous enough to serve appetizers from Chef Gamoran and staff such as Bacon-wrapped Dates stuffed with Cashel blue cheese. One of the Sur La Table staff suggested having this with the Merlot and the subdued Merlot and the natural sweetness of the dates mixed in a really fine way.

There were Kerrygold Irish Mac and Cheese Bites that were buttery, crunchy, cheesy (in a good way) with parmigiano-reggiano and Kerrygold Aged Reserve, Swiss, and Dubliner. In addition to Sriracha Glazed Chicken Skewers in a salsa verde that was hot but the heat didn't linger too long on your tongue. And another addiction were the cranberry tarts with a crust made from the go-to Kerrygold unsalted butter to get that fine crispness and sweetness that you can eat a couple dozen. I tried.

In the end there was more wine, additional bites for snacking--and we did snack--as well as goody bags for those in attendance with more generosity from Kerrygold in providing various cheeses, butters, and their cookbook so we can attempt to make these fantastic & filling dishes in our own homes.

Thanks again Megan and everyone at Kerrygold, Chef Gamoran and staff and everyone at Sur La Table for making us feel welcoming and stuffing us with such deliciousness I didn't want to leave. With cookbook in hand I know what my plans will be this weekend.