FASHION WITH TESSA - CLOTHES FOR YOUR MAN

Today we have a special fashion guest. Robert Reeve from Stylepilot offers some advice for dressing the man in your life. Stylepilot is an online start-up designed specifically for men to navigate fashion online and provide mens fashion tips. -- AP

How to Buy Clothes for Men: The Essential Guide

Buying clothes for a man can be a stressful experience, especially if you have a husband or a close male relative who you find yourself having to dress because of his own awful taste in style. You may be one of the lucky ones, who only has to buy when it is in the form of a gift – although even then you can cause yourself many a headache trying to pick out the very best style selections.

With that in mind, we put together an essential guide to help you ensure you always dress your man well.

Understanding Him

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Source: Amazon.com

In order to dress your man well, it is imperative that you understand his unique list of needs.

Don’t worry, this isn’t a bad as it probably sounds, rather it means you need to know what is best suited to him. Unfortunately, clothing retailers are looking to sell to you come what may, they don’t extend themselves to the trouble of saying “these are best suited to skinny guys” and other pieces of what would be extremely helpful advice.

You can work most of that out just by looking at him, thankfully, so get yourself to a blog or style website that breaks down the different elements of style that are unique to men of all shapes, sizes, hair colours, and skin complexions.

Sobering Up

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Source: Topman.com

Whenever you are picking out clothes for your man you should have a clear focus on making him look mature and sophisticated. If he has a love for baggy jeans, hoodies and loud, graphic t-shirts, it is up to you to tone this down.

Toning down doesn’t, however, mean that he is going to be any less stylish. On the contrary, in fact – he will look even better!

Therefore, ensure that you swap the baggy denims for tapered chinos, the graphic t-shirts for classic, well-fitted polo shirts, and the hoodie for a stylish knitted sweater or cardigan.

When it comes to picking out clothes for men, it doesn’t just stop at the common wardrobe items.

Accessorize Him

While buying your man a well cut polo, a great looking cardigan and a pair of stylish chinos is a step in the right direction, it isn’t the be all and end all of his individual style.

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Source: Mrporter.com

Accessories are just as important to a man’s overall look as they are to women, and it is important for you to recognise this. Treat him to an expensive watch, stylish sunglasses or a seasonal scarf in order to add depth and variety to his appearance.

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - THE CHOCOLATE DIET?

Have you ever heard of the Chocolate Diet? No, eating chocolate all day won’t help you shed the pounds (unfortunately!) However, a recent study out of the University of California in San Diego found that people who regularly ate chocolate weighed 5-7 pounds less than people who didn’t eat chocolate. No one knows why, and there will be further studies to try to figure that out. However, we now know we shouldn’t feel guilty treating ourselves to a daily nibble. We already know that dark chocolate is packed with heart-healthy antioxidants, and now we don’t have to worry about packing on the pounds when we indulge our sweet tooth. Just do so in moderation.

COOKING WITH CLORIS - CHERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP ZUCCHINI BREAD

I’ve mentioned previously how disappointing the zucchini crop was this year, but Cloris recently found a huge zucchini hiding under a tomato plant when she went to pull the dead plants in her garden. She scooped out the seeds, grated the zucchini, and froze it in two cup portions in plastic freezer bags to use for baking and in soups and spaghetti sauce over the winter. Here’s one of her yummy zucchini bread recipes. -- AP

Cherry Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

makes 2 loves

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 eggs

2 cups grated zucchini (seeded, skin on)

3/4 cups vegetable oil

3 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup dried cherries

1 cup chocolate chips

Soak cherries in water while preparing batter.

Mix eggs, oil, vanilla, and zucchini together.

Reserve 2 tablespoons flour. Mix remaining dry ingredients together. Sift together with wire whisk.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mixing well.

Place remaining flour in a plastic Ziploc bag. Add drained cherries and chocolate chips. Seal bag and shake to coat cherries and chips. Fold cherries, chips, and any remaining flour into batter.

Pour evenly divided into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees 50-60 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

THE NEXT BIG THING

And now for something a little different...

I’m turning over today’s blog post to author Lois Winston, she who writes the books about moi. Lois was invited by fellow Midnight Ink author Sheila Boneham (Drop Dead on Recall) to play The Next Big Thing game. Authors answer ten questions about their next book, then tag other authors to be “it” the following week. Sheila tagged Lois for this week. You can read the answers to Sheila's questions here. See below for the authors Lois has tagged for next week’s game.

So here are Lois’s answers to the ten questions, and you know I’m certainly hoping her book is the next big thing, since it’s all about yours truly. – AP

Lois Winston’s Answers to the Ten Questions for the Next Big Thing:

1. What is your working title of your book?

Revenge of the Crafty Corpse

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

This is the third book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries series. The idea for the plot in this book came about as a result of situations that occur in Book 2, Death By Killer Mop Doll and a newspaper article I read about a murder that occurred in a nursing home.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

humorous amateur sleuth mystery

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Anastasia – Sandra Bullock

Mama – Ellen Burstyn

Lucille – the ideal actress would be the late Nancy Marchand, who played Tony Soprano’s mother in The Sopranos. Anyone know how to raise the dead?

Zack – Patrick Dempsey

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

When Anastasia Pollack’s cantankerous, communist mother-in-law is accused of killing her convalescent home roommate, Anastasia digs into the victim’s scandalous past in hopes of finding clues to the real killer.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

agency represented and published by Midnight Ink

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

approximately 5 months

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the series

Death By Killer Mop Doll, the second book in the series

Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. Kirkus Reviews dubbed Anastasia, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.”

And if we’re talking TV shows, Publisher’s Weekly called Anastasia “as droll as Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon.”

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

It was my agent who first suggested I try writing a crafting mystery series because of my background as a crafts designer. Anastasia was born out of my own experiences working as a designer and editor for craft kit manufacturers, magazines, and craft book publishers. Lucille, her communist mother-in-law, was inspired by my own communist mother-in-law who didn’t live to see herself in print. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. The rest of the characters sprang solely from my imagination, but the stories in the series are often inspired by actual events.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

When she’s not stumbling over dead bodies, Anastasia deals with all the issues that confront many women these days as they try to juggle the demands of a career, life as a single parent, and the stresses of dealing with elderly parents. But Anastasia handles her situation with a quirky sense of humor that I hope will give readers an escape, if only for a short time, from their own problems. After all, how can you not get a good laugh out of a commie mother-in-law and a self-proclaimed Russian princess mother forced to share the same bedroom? And did I mention there’s a Shakespeare quoting parrot?

Revenge of the Crafty Corpse will be available January 2013.

Thanks again to author Sheila Boneham for inviting Lois to take part in the Next Big Thing game. Lois will now pass the torch to other authors she thinks you should get to know better. Please visit their blogs the week of October 15th when they’ll be answering the Ten Next Big Thing questions.

Jill Archer (author of Dark Light of Day)

Shelley Freydont/Shelley Noble (author of Foul Play at the Fair and Beach Colors)

Ada Madison/Camille Minichino (author of the Professor Sophie Knowles Mysteries)

Caridad Pineiro (author of the Sin Hunters series)

~~~
Message for the tagged authors and interested others:

Rules of the Next Big Thing

***Use this format for your post

***Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)

***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:

What is your working title of your book?

Where did the idea come from for the book?

What genre does your book fall under?

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?


Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged.

Be sure to line up your five people in advance.

Blogger wasn't playing nicely earlier today, so this is quite a bit late. I wanted to thank Alexa Bourne for being our Book Club Friday guest this week and offering a copy of Her Highland Champion to one of our readers who posted a comment. The winner is NoraA. Please send your mailing address to anastasiapollack@gmail.com so that I can pass it along to Alexa. And thanks, everyone, for stopping by this past week!

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY - GUEST AUTHOR ALEXA BOURNE

Today’s Book Club Friday guest is Alexa Bourne, teacher by day and romantic suspense writer by nights, weekends, and all school holidays. When she's not concocting sinister plots and steamy love scenes or traveling and exploring new cultures, Alexa spends her time reading, watching brainless TV and thinking about exercising. Visit her at her website or blog. 

Alexa is offering a copy of Her Highland Champion to one of our readers who posts a comment to the blog. -- AP

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Great Britain. If I could move tomorrow I'd go without reservations. I love the food, the beer, the culture and especially the accent. Whenever I hear a British man speaking, I get all gooey inside. I swear even hearing a Brit read the phone book would make my knees weak. Of course I don't judge him COMPLETELY on his accent, but that is definitely a starter.

Speaking of accents...can I tell you a secret? Promise you won't tell? When I read a book set in Great Britain, I hear the accent in my head. It makes for a more interesting story for me to “hear” it. I'm also one of those people who loves to have the words and phrases of the culture in the book because it puts me right in the center of the action. It helps to make me feel like I'm there in the story with the characters. Some people, I know, don't like a lot of the “different language” in their reading. Maybe it makes the reading harder when the reader has to stop and figure out what the characters mean by the strange words. With Britain, I’m familiar with deciphering the language since I have relatives there. Huh. Maybe that’s another reason I love to “hear the accent” as I read.

Not only do I hear the accent when I read, I actually hear it when I write, too. Now, many industry professionals will tell writers not to bog down the story with words and phrases of a different culture. They request we put in just enough to give the readers a feel for that setting or that character. As a writer, I follow that bit of advice, but not right away. When I'm writing my rough draft, I usually toss in A LOT more of the British terminology. As I go through each draft, I throw out more of the complicated words and phrases and revise the story for the majority of readers. Hearing the accent in my head even while I’m writing makes me love the process even more.

So, what about you? Do you hear accents in your head when you read a book with a character from a country different than your own? Or am I alone in this? Leave a comment here and be in the running for a copy of my contemporary Scottish romantic suspense, Her Highland Champion. (Then you can “hear” the accent as you read my book!)

Buy link for Her Highland Champion

Thanks for joining us today, Alexa! Readers, let’s hear from you if you want a chance to win a copy of Her Highland Champion. Don't forget to either include your email address in your comment or check back on Sunday to see if you've won. We can't get your books to you if we can't contact you. -- AP

PARTYING IN CLEVELAND

All the American Woman editors have stowed away in author Lois Winston's luggage and are headed to Cleveland for Bouchercon. If you're lucky enough to be joining us at B'con Lois Winston will be taking part in a panel called Those Crafty Sleuths at 9am Friday. Joining her on the panel will be fellow authors Joanna Campbell Slan, Mollie Cox Bryan, Penny Warner, and Kylie Logan. There will be prizes!

Also, stop by the craft room Friday at 3pm or Saturday at 1pm for a crafting party where Lois and I will be teach you how to make a fabric yo-yo greeting card. For those of you who won't be joining us in Cleveland, stop back on Monday for the craft directions. -- AP