Beth Alvarez - Author of Epic Fantasy

  • Blessings in simplicity

    At the beginning of the year, I wrote something about living in excess and my desire to cut back on the things that fill our home. Learning to cut back has been an interesting experience, and I’ve learned a lot about the things we use and what we really need. And while it’s very much a work in progress, it’s fascinating to sit here, a bit over half a year later, and look at where we are.

    I made it a goal to get rid of one thing every day. I put it on my to-do list, something to remind me every day, something that always needs to be checked off. Some days I can’t find anything to get rid of. Some days I find ten or more things. I don’t know if it’s worked out to one thing a day, but there’s been a steady stream of things moving out of the house, which is progress.

    One of the surprising things it’s taught me is that I can be very selfish. I’d always thought of myself as a giving person, so realizing just how selfish I could be was a bit of a shock. Of course, some people may not even consider it selfishness, but I do. I’ve found things going to waste in my house that filled me with guilt when I looked at them. Not really forgotten, but not necessary. Not things I’d thought of in a long time. A nice laptop that was functioning and just needed an external monitor. Video game consoles we had doubles of after getting married and merging our collections. Clothes and dishes and shoes. Sometimes the things I find are luxuries. Other times, they’re things other people may desperately need.

    This year I’ve filled bags for donation drives and sent boxes to donation centers. I’ve found people with needs among my friends and have helped them or made plans to, as I can. And the really amazing thing is that with every container of excess sent off, we find all sorts of new blessings coming our way.

    There’s little blessings, like how less clutter in the house makes it easier to clean. Blessings like time saved cleaning that can be used for making our house more beautiful. There’s blessings like abundance in other parts of our lives, like a beautiful little veggie garden that shaves dollars off our grocery bill while supplying us with better tasting produce than what you can buy. There’s been blessings of business opportunities for me and possible career advancements for Joe. And of course, the blessing of awareness of how blessed we are, in our comfy, cozy little house in the suburbs of a big city. It may not seem like much, sometimes, but even the simple things are great blessings.

     

  • Persimmon Tree Tea’s French Vanilla Bean tea

    I’ve been writing a lot about tea lately, I know. I had intended to space tea reviews out farther, but I had a week where I tried a lot of different teas for the first time, so I ended up with a big backlog of things to review! I’ll talk about something else next week, I promise.

    I’m a big fan of vanilla, and most of my favorite bagged teas in the past have been some kind of vanilla tea. So, naturally, I had high hopes for this one. It was good, but I have to say I was a little disappointed.

    This is French Vanilla Bean, from Persimmon Tree Tea. It’s a fairly standard black tea, not quite as strong as their Vintage Black tea, but similar in flavor. The major difference is the addition of pieces of vanilla bean.

    With as big of pieces as were present in my sample pack, I expected the vanilla flavor to be very strong. It wasn’t. Not a bad thing if you’re looking for something subtle, but since I had hoped for a rich vanilla taste, it wasn’t quite what I was looking for. I’ve had stronger vanilla flavor from cheap bagged tea, though those didn’t have nearly so nice a base black tea. The quality of the tea itself meant it was still pleasant, but a little extra vanilla would go a long way to making this one score more to my preferences.

    So while I’d drink this one, it’s sort of a middle of the road. I like it, but I don’t love it, so I’d likely reach for the Earl Grey Heaven first.

  • Persimmon Tree Tea’s Green Pomegranate tea

    I’d heard so many good things about green tea. And yet, the only time I’d ever tasted it, it was bitter, biting and completely unpleasant. I don’t remember who made that cup of tea, but obviously, they did it wrong.

    This green pomegranate tea from Persimmon Tree Tea was not only delightful, it was magnificent on its own. Sugar fiend that I am, I tend to sweeten my tea even if it isn’t bitter, just because I like sweets. But this had an interesting enough flavor on its own that my husband and I both drank it straight. Yes, I’m trying to get him started on fancy tea too! It’s nice to share a cup of something you’re both having for the first time, and compare opinions as you drink.

    The flavor of the green tea itself was mild and mellow and not nearly as grassy as I expected it might be. And with bits of pomegranate and raspberry mixed in, it had a delightful fruity kick that wasn’t too sweet and wasn’t too tart, either, making it an excellent accent for the green tea. Of all the teas I’ve sampled from PTT so far, I’d say this was my second favorite, right behind the Earl Grey Heaven I reviewed last week. This one, too, is definitely going on the re-order list.
    Definitely recommended!

  • Persimmon Tree Tea’s Earl Grey Heaven

    I never understood what was so great about Earl Grey tea. A lot of my friends sang its praises, but I was unimpressed with the flavor. But I needed one more tea to finish out my 5-flavor sampler pack, so Earl Grey it was.
    Two words.

    New favorite.

    The packet confused me at first, because on the site it’s labeled “Earl Grey Heaven” and on my sample pack, it said “Earl Grey Creme” – But it’s the same thing, just a different name for whatever reason.

    Earl Grey is my younger sister’s favorite tea, and while she was visiting at the end of June, I had her give this one a try. It became her new favorite, too, the moment she caught a whiff.

    It has an unbelievably smooth flavor, with just a perfect hint of orange and vanilla. It’s the first tea I’ve had where I didn’t need to add anything to it (not even rock sugar!) to make it a perfect cup. It’s mild and refreshing, just as good both hot and cold. And with the dried petals of cornflowers in it, it’s even pretty to look at.

    Of the teas I’ve sampled so far, this is by far the best. If you order nothing else from this company, get this tea. It’s totally worth it.

  • Book Review: The Alchemist

    When people tell me that a book changed their life, I have to admit I’m always a little skeptical. But this time, the words came from a good friend, a friend whose judgment in books I absolutely trust. So when she suggested that I pick it up and give it a read, I decided to give it a chance. Besides, it’s an older book, and it’s tough to argue with something you can pick up off Amazon for a penny.

    The Alchemist is a weird book.
    It’s a whole lot of philosophy and a whole lot of self-help wrapped up in the guise of being fiction. But the characters all speak with the same voice, sharing the same universal wisdom, sharing the same deep insights to help the main character on his path. It struck me as odd, and sometimes bothered me a little (Especially with a very short, very summarized ending) but I remind myself that it’s not so much about the story, it’s about the journey. And not so much the journey the main character is on, but the spiritual journey he faces during its course.

    It’s the kind of book that people either love or hate, but I find myself unsure what to think. I found it very inspirational, but at the same time, it didn’t really teach me anything I didn’t already know, just maybe reminded me of a few things I’d forgotten. It’s rich in metaphor, with observations about daily life that are so poignant they sometimes hit me like a smack in the face. It didn’t take long for me to see what my friend meant when she said the book changed her life, and while I did find it encouraging, myself, I thought it was at times a little repetitive and overblown with the delivery of its message.

    Either way, I can see how valuable it would have been to me several years ago, before I had my feet firmly on the path I knew was right for me, and I passed the book on to one of my younger sisters, who I feel may be able to extract a great deal from it. It’s likely an excellent read for those who are lost in their lives or don’t feel they’re making progress. For me, it served as a good reminder that even though I don’t always feel like I’m moving forward, everything I’m doing is helping to propel me toward my goals. But nothing is easy, nothing is free, and getting what you really want in life means a lot of time, a lot of determination, and a lot of hard work.

  • The next step

    It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since I finished writing the one book I always wanted to write. This month I’m planning to revisit it again, now that I’ve done several rounds of edits and have gotten feedback from a handful of readers. I’m still waiting to hear back from a few, and there’s still a lot to be done, but it’s moving forward.

    It’s the scariest thing ever, moving forward with dreams. There’s just a few things to edit and change now, then it’s time for the parts I’ve always dreaded.
    Writing a synopsis.
    Writing a cover letter.
    Writing queries.
    These things shouldn’t be scary, but I guess they are because they’re for something near and dear to my heart, something I’ve been invested in for over a decade, something I want to see reach full fruition.

    First, second, and fourth drafts of Serpent’s Tears

    I’m also hard at work writing the second book in the series, which my early readers for the first are already begging me for. I’m excited to make progress with it, but the second book will have to wait a little bit longer to be finished. I have to wrap up the first of the trilogy before going much farther, after all! But I hope to finish the second book by the end of the year.

    It’s amazing to look back at all the things that have happened this year already. Starting a new business venture, preparing for the possibility of a move to bigger house or even a different state! And there was our 6th marriage anniversary on Saturday, too. Time flies, and there’s never enough to spare for all the things I want to get done.

    I created checklists and goal sheets for each month, and so far I’ve done pretty well at accomplishing things. July wasn’t perfect, but it was satisfying, and I’m hoping August will be just as successful, or more. Getting Serpent’s Tears ready for querying is a big step, but it’s one I’m glad to be taking, at the same time.

    What comes after that, I’m not sure yet. More writing. Lots of waiting. Representation for my novel, hopefully. If not, more querying and maybe more polish for the writing.
    And coffee.
    Definitely, definitely coffee.

    I hope you all will stick with me, because I’ll be sure to update everyone when queries are actually going out the door! Those nerves will be fun to read about for sure, huh?

  • Moving on

    It wasn’t our first choice.
    When we made the offer on our house, it happened because we were outbid on the house we liked better, driving it up beyond what we could afford. In retrospect, though, perhaps it’s for the best. It was a “forever” kind of house, 4 bedrooms with room for at least 2 others, if that huge space over the garage were finished. It was stunning, the kind of place you’d never want to leave.

    What we ended up with, instead, was perfect for a starter home. Or an ending home, since the previous owners were retirees. But the house had been up for sale for a long time, and while it was listed at just shy of $90k, our realtor advised us to give them what I thought was an insulting lowball of $75,000, and ask them to cover our closing costs and let us keep the fridge. We discussed it and decided he knew what he was doing, so we took his advice. 15 minutes later, he called back and said the sellers had agreed to our terms, and even offered to let us have the keys before closing so I could start cleaning, painting and moving in.

    The house is nothing to sneeze at, mind you. Even the inspector was impressed, saying that in 15 years of doing home inspections, he’d never seen a house in such a perfect state of repair. We were overjoyed to get out of an apartment and into a place that was really our own, where I could do anything I wanted to the walls and have space for a vegetable garden out back. But when you run a business (or two) out of your house, it’s easy for the 3rd bedroom to get eaten up by file cabinets and postal scales. Then when you add a couple pets and a baby to the mix, it doesn’t take long for that 3-bedroom house with the eat-in kitchen to suddenly feel a little… well, small.

    I’m no stranger to moving. From the time I was 10 onward, we moved a lot. We moved for my Dad’s job, we moved to work our way into my parents’ dream house, I moved out on  my own, then I married Joe and moved across the country with him. But there’s still something about leaving your first home together that tugs at the heartstrings. Even so, I know it’s about time.

    Our future? Maybe.

    So where are we headed?
    That, I don’t know yet. Eventually you reach a point in your life where you look down a dozen forks in the road, and sometimes it takes a while to figure out which path is the one you need to take. A lot of it is up to employment opportunities, which is something still being explored. While I’m blessed to be a stay-at-home mother now, and just work on my businesses I run from our tiny 3rd bedroom, it’s important to consider what employment options I might have later on, in addition to what Joe will be working.

    If there’s anything I’ve learned from the Backstreet Boys, it’s that things change, but in some ways, everything stays the same, even when you’re moving on. I’m confident that we’ll end up in a better place, maybe even something like the forever home we almost had.
    Soon.

  • The Little Lost Chameleon

    When I was a kid, I had a lot of cool toys. Some of the toys I started collecting earliest were Littlest Pet Shop animals, which look considerably different today than they did in the 90s. I had quite a few, but my favorite of all was the tiny color-changing chameleon.

    Of course, my older brother liked the chameleon, too. Littlest Pet Shop toys back then weren’t overtly girly like they are now, though a lot of the packaging was pink, and my brother often ‘borrowed’ my chameleon to set on his shelf. I didn’t have a problem with this, until my parents announced we were moving, and my little chameleon never came back.

    I had his habitat, the lid, the name tag, his little cactus platform and his water bottle. I just didn’t have him. My parents assured me he would turn up when we moved.
    He didn’t.

    I was ten at the time, and while I was sad, I didn’t want people to think I was silly for being upset that my toy chameleon never showed up. My brother swore he had nothing to do with it, I must have lost the chameleon in the yard. But he was my favorite, how could I lose him? No, he definitely had disappeared in my brother’s belongings when it came time to move! I tried to find a replacement, but by that point, Littlest Pet Shop toys had been out of production for several years and it simply couldn’t be found. Eventually, I gave up.

    Years went by. I grew up, moved out, got married, moved away. Then, when I was 25, I traveled home for a visit, and my elder brother was visiting, as well.
    “I’ve got a present for you,” he said, walking out to his car to retrieve it. I couldn’t imagine what he was planning to give me. He turned around, stone-faced, and said, “This is by no means an admission of guilt.”

    Then he gave it to me.
    A teeny, tiny, color-changing chameleon.
    And only 15 years late.

  • What I need is a plan

    I am a control freak.
    Okay, maybe not a control freak, but I’m an organization freak. Actually, that’s not a good description, either. Is there a term for someone who just really, really likes plans and lists? Because that is me.

    “Just keep your mind on the job.”

    It’s sort of funny. I hate routines, but I like plans. And lists. And checklists. Every day starts with making a checklist of everything I need to accomplish, and I feel lost without my daily plans. As I get older, I see myself reflected in caricatures of my “type” – The super organized lady who gets really frazzled as soon as things start deviating from the original plan.

    Sometimes my husband teases me for my grandiose lists, and in the back of my head, I always think of Dot’s first line in that ReBoot episode My Two Bobs, the line I used as the title of this post, sans the laugh track that comes immediately after.

    It’s important to be able to laugh at ourselves, but there’s nothing wrong with lists and plans! A lot of people think of plans as rigid, stifling outlines. They’re not. Plans are fluid, always able to adapt and change according to the situation. Plans are important for almost every aspect of my life. I plan my books before I start writing so I know what I’m doing, I plan dinner before I start cooking so I don’t accidentally discover we’re out of vital ingredients for something I intended to make.

    I never realized how much I depend on my plans until I saw myself reflected in a cartoon while my daughter was watching My Little Pony. The episode started with Twilight Sparkle gathering items on a checklist. A checklist of all the things she needed to make a checklist. I laughed. I laughed until it hurt, because that’s me! And at the same time, I’m totally unapologetic, because this is one of my quirks, one of the things that helps me function, and now that we’re in the second half of the year I’m delighted to be working through a checklist of everything I want to do for the rest of 2014.

    I have a lot of goals for writing. Plans for home improvement and plans to maybe travel. Plans to expand business ventures and delve deeper into hobbies. Plans to complete the edit of that big fantasy book I’m most proud of and (eek!) start querying for the first time.
    Will I get it all done?
    Don’t know. Maybe.
    I can plan on it!

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  • A Tale of Two Rock Sugars

    When I went to buy my first ounce of “real” tea, I went to Teavana because it was close and convenient and I could drink it that day, no waiting for shipping. One of the things the salesperson pushed was German rock sugar. No thanks, sales lady, I just want my tea.

    While I typically use raw honey from a local beekeeper for my tea, and just regular sugar if I’m in a pinch, I decided to look this stuff up anyway. It sounded like a gimmick, and I was pretty skeptical at first. The product is claimed to sweeten without making tea taste sugary. I like sweets, but so much nuance is lost in teas when sweetened, so I decided to give it a try. Needless to say, I was impressed! It did exactly what it claimed to. Because the rock sugar is less refined than white sugar, it has a more mild flavor profile, meaning it doesn’t really taste like anything other than sweetness.

    But, as I learned when I picked some up for my brother’s birthday, for him to use with his exotic coffees, not all rock sugars are created equal. Here’s a quick glimpse at what I discovered.

    Persimmon Tree Tea vs. Teavana German rock sugar

     It’s not hard to see the difference in the overhead photo I took of our two jars of rock sugar. On the left is the rock sugar crystals from Teavana. On the right is my partially-used jar from Persimmon Tree Tea. Aside from the difference in color, there’s also a substantial bit of sugar dust in the sugar from Teavana. Persimmon Tree’s jar is relatively dust-free, with the smallest crystals at the bottom of the jar still being larger than typical granulated sugar.

    There’s a pretty big difference in price, too. One pound of German rock sugar costs $8 from Persimmon Tree Tea. A pound from Teavana costs $8.50 online and $9.44 in our local store, but good luck walking out with it at that price, since they’ll overfill the bag and it takes dedication to convince them to whittle down the amount to what you actually asked for.

    Both companies charge extra for a container; Teavana suggests a $7 tin for small amounts or offers 3 pounds in a large screw-top jar for $27 online. For $12, you can get an airtight jar filled with one pound of sugar from Persimmon Tree. This jar works much better for my limited counter space, and I chose to put my brother’s tea into a similar airtight jar I had on hand already because of it.

    So what about the taste? Obviously this is the most important point.
    Both rock sugars deliver on their promise to sweeten tea without altering the flavor. The crystals are nothing but sweetness on your tongue and in your tea, with none of that processed sugar taste to go with it. But of the two, the stuff I got from Persimmon Tree Tea is slightly sweeter, meaning I use less of it in my tea.

    Using less might sound great, but be aware: German rock sugar has higher caloric content than regular processed sugar, so just because it’s sweeter doesn’t mean it’s healthier.

    Persimmon Tree Tea has quickly become my favorite place to get tea goodies from, so you can expect a lot of reviews of their teas in the future. If I’m choosing between the two rock sugars, theirs is definitely what I’m going to spring for. Cheaper, less dust (and so less waste), and lower price.
    Sorry, little brother! I’ll get you the good stuff next time.