Let's talk a bit about fonts since I'm working on another book design and ... also, I love talking about fonts!

If you ever decide to self-publish, you will have at least some say in the font of the book. It is what your reader will stare at for the entire time so remember that it has to be above all readable. Secondly, it should suit the tone and voice of your book.

If it's a serious topic, forget about those 'groovy' fonts we all tend to love. While serif (it has the little 'feet' on the bottom) fonts are usually deemed to be best for print, you can get away with sans serif if you're 'careful'. I know, caution is for wimps, but you do really need to exercise some willpower when choosing fonts.

Here are some other tips/guidelines:

• Do not set the vast majority of fonts in all caps. It's just ... ugly.
• Please, please do not set script fonts in all caps. Ever. Otherwise, I may have to hunt you down and torture you. That is all.
• Do not use every font you own on a project. Yes, we know you love fonts, but less is more!
• Do not underline fonts. It's so ... yesterday. Yes, I know I just did it, but do as I say, not as I do! Use italics or bold for emphasis. Apart from underlining looking repulsive, you also tend to cut off letters with descenders (like gs and ys).
• Think about what you're trying to say and pick a font that creates that 'mood'. Yep, heaven help us, fonts have moods too.
• If you cannot tell the difference between an m and an n or an l and a 1 in a font, seriously consider ditching it.
• I cannot believe I'm going to say this, but if you have to choose between a beautiful font and a readable font, go for the readable one.
• Do some research. Find a few tomes by some of the best publishing houses. Study them. They usually have the font used on the imprint page so if you get stuck, you can always do a bit of creative copying.
• Finally, have fun! You've taken the time to create a book. Now is your chance to make it shine visually as well.

Good luck! There's a wide world of fonts out there and, truly, one for everyone and every project. Oh and one final word of advice: avoid using Times New Roman, if at all possible. It's like being trapped in conversation with a boring person at a party: seemingly unavoidable, but also able to make you snooze at ten paces.

Please note that the ingredient quantities have been ‘fudged', especially in the spices department, as I rarely measure. Just be creative!

Ingredients

• 3 roughly chopped potatoes
• 2 carrots cut into rounds
• 1/2 cup diced sweet potatoes
• 1 cup sliced green beans
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1 tsp to 1 Tbsp of various dried spices (suggestions: white pepper, black pepper, turmeric, paprika, cumin and coriander)
• 4 Tbsp parsley
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms
• 2 x 400 gram cans of Nova organic lentils
• 1 x 400 gram can of Ardmona diced tomatoes
• 6 sliced grape tomatoes

 Method

1. Steam the potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and green beans for approximately 15 to 25 minutes or until just tender.
2. Sauté the dried spices and parsley in the olive oil for about a minute.
3. Add the mushrooms and sauté until soft and then add the garlic last to prevent it from burning.
4. Add the steamed veggies to the pan (I use a wok).
5. Drain and rinse the lentils before adding them to the mixture, which should be quite fragrant and lovely already.
6. Add the entire can of diced tomatoes (with about half a can of water) along with the fresh tomatoes for a bit of extra tartness and ‘life'.
7. Mix well, cover and simmer on low to medium heat.
8. While your curry tantalises you with the delicious scent, put your rice on. I use basmati (1 cup of rice to 1 ½ cups of water) and cook it in the microwave, but you can feel free to use a rice cooker or the stove top. By the time the rice cooks, in approximately 10 minutes, your veggie and lentil curry should be ready to serve!
9. Enjoy and please do email me (renee@risingstardesigns.com.au) to let me know how you went. A photo would be great too!

from The Hobbit (which is quite possibly my favourite book) by the inestimable JRR Tolkien, p 1

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor  yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort.

Parenting Advice from Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett, pp 92/93

 Nanny Ogg never used her washhouse, since all her washing was done by the daughters-in-law, a tribe of grey-faced, subdued women whose names she never bothered to remember. It had become, therefore, a storage place for dried-up old bulbs, burnt-out cauldrons and fermenting jars of wasp jam. No fire had been lit under the copper for ten years. Its bricks were crumbling, and rare ferns grew around the firebox. The water under the lid was inky black and, according to rumour, bottomless; the Ogg grand-children were encouraged to believe that monsters from the dawn of time dwelt in its depths, since Nanny believed that a bit of thrilling and pointless terror was an essential ingredient of the magic of childhood.

Relationship Advice from Nanny Ogg's Cookbook by Terry Pratchett, p 21

Nanny Ogg's Philosophy of Cookery

THEY SAY THAT the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, which just goes to show they're as confused about anatomy as they gen'rally are about everything else, unless they're talking about instructions on how to stab him, in which case a better way is up and under the ribcage.

Anyway, we do not live in a perfect world and it is foresighted and useful for a young woman to become proficient at those arts which will keep a weak-willed man from straying. Learning to cook is also useful (just my little joke, no offense meant!)

 

There will be more to come!

 

Always ...

• have a pen and paper handy.
• keep your iPod charged.
• keep a light source handy: candles, flashlights and people who fill you with joy ... Oh and while we're at it, open those candles you've been saving for a ‘rainy day'.

This reminds me of what Erma Bombeck wrote when she found out she had a fatal disease.

If I Had My Life To Live Over
by Erma Bombeck

If I had my life to live over, I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love you's". More "I'm sorrys" ...

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute ... look at it and really see it ... live it ... and never give it back.

Erma was absolutely right.

Here are some more things I learned from the power outage:

• A crayola pen (purple of course!) can bring a smile to your day in any circumstance.
• Losing work time isn't the end of the world. In fact, it might be the world telling you to stop and enjoy yourself. Why not listen?

 

I was really inspired by reading a Twitter post today by the lovely @jadecraven. In her guest blog post, she opened her ‘wound'/soul to the world and I have to say I've rarely been as impressed as I was by her absolute bravery to share her struggle with depression and anxiety.

Her amazing story reminded me of Chiron in astrological terms. It's basically a wounded part of your psyche that you have to heal not only to lead a fully, happy life, but it also gives you the opportunity to share your struggle with the world and help others who are experiencing similar pain.

To give you a bit of background, astrologers often call Chiron, a planetoid orbiting the outer realms of our Solar System, the Wounded Healer. This celestial body takes its name from a Centaur from Greek mythology who, after being abandoned by his parents (one of whom was Zeus so Chiron was immortal) matured into a wise and giving healer and teacher.

During his life, he overcame personal issues and used the lessons learned to help and heal others. Examples of the Chironic influence are Christopher Reeve with his work toward a cure for paralysis and Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong's fundraising efforts for cancer research.

In short, the greatest pain or burden one bears (usually from childhood) and eventually overcomes is the source of great wisdom and healing power. Where Chiron is located in your chart is an indication of lessons you must learn and the lessons you may one day be able to teach.

It is so important to me that we all learn to harness our personal pain to help others that I'll look up your Chiron Sign free of charge. Simply email me on renee@risingstardesigns.com.au with your full birthday (including year), the time of your birth (including am or pm) and your birthplace (city and country) and I'll email the results to you.

Be well

Ms Rising Star

 

I was just in the kitchen 'making' (and I use the term loosely as I'm suffering from the flu) some soup by opening a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup and adding black pepper and parsley to it. I dunno if it's my fevered state or divine inspiration, but I started thinking about what kinds of cooks there are.

What do I mean?

Well, canned soup aside, I consider myself to be a creative cook. Even if I'm having Maggi noodles (which I don't do often, mind you), I cannot rest without adding something to it. Also, I typically don't use recipes, preferring to let my mood, intuition and experience guide me. Mind you, I don't use this approach in baking as that's just asking for trouble!

I also know some (and I hope this doesn't sound pejorative) cook by numbers cooks who find a recipe they like and set out to buy the exact ingredients down to the last drop of rare Chateau La Mondotte Saint-Emilion. At the other end of the scale, I've been known to substitute water for almost any alcoholic drink. If I don't have it, well, I just have to be creative!

Then there are cooks that I think of as cooks that fly with co-pilots. These co-pilots might be a cooking show, Mum, a friend or a cherished older neighbour who could make an old shoe taste good. These cooks are the most physically agile of them all. Picture this: phone under ear, arms covered in flour and a bit of a 'deer in headlights' look. But they get there in the end!

Actually, that old shoe gambit reminds me of one of my favourite episodes of The Storyteller. It's called Stone Soup. It's brilliant so check it out!

OK, back to the cooks ...

The final cook I'll describe is one who buys a variety of ready-made ingredients and creates an absolutely beautiful meal. What shall I call them? I think I'll call them 007/stealth cooks because they're masters at finding great ingredients and stealthily combining them into a masterpiece! I'm definitely not disparaging this sort of cook because I have elements of this cook inside me too. On some things, like dolmades, bread or feta cheese, there is often no need (or time) to reinvent the cheese wheel, so to speak.

Whatever type of cook you are, it's all about finding the best ingredients and recipes to create an enjoyable dance on the palate (or ‘a plate' as I like to call it) for you and your guests.

My advice to all cooks, especially the nervous ones, is to experiment and live a little. Walking on the creative side of cooking is a wild ride, but you'll enjoy every bite!

PS  If you think of other 'types' of cooks, feel free to send a tweet or DM to me on Twitter or email me on renee@risingstardesigns.com.au.

I doubt if I'll ever claim to be a poet, for that would be mere puffery since the passion to write does not wholly consume me. With that said, I find that when I'm reviewing poetry, I do read aloud so I wonder if 'real' poets do so as a matter of course.

For me, hearing the words helps me to follow the reason, the rhyme and the metre. When your voice falters, there is usually something there, a misstep, akin to a loose tooth when you bite into an apple. When this ... pause ... occurs, you know that the core (to extend a probably overwrought metaphor) of the poem needs some work.

For me, poetry and music lyrics are the forms of storytelling that can best bypass the logic circuits and go straight to the soul.

I'm not a poet, but I wish I was.

Now, first of all, I'm not picking on the Macquarie Dictionary per se, but the definition I just read for astrology both made me smile bemusedly and then laugh.

Here goes:

astrology
astrologer, astrologist, noun. astrological /astruh'lojikuhl/, astrologic, adjective. astrologically, adverb.
/uhs'troluhjee/.
noun
1. a study which assumes, and professes to interpret, the influence of the heavenly bodies on human affairs.
2. Obsolete astronomy.
[Middle English, from Latin astrologia, from Greek. See astro-, -logy]
 

Assumes? Professes to interpret? Wow, talk about a judgement call!

I just had to share this one and will be on the lookout for any further definitions that profess to be impartial!

I just finished a book called SheMarketing: the science of marketing to women by Amanda Stevens. I bought it several months ago, but saw it on my shelf two nights ago and decided I should actually read it!

It's quite funny that because I'm a woman and a marketer, I probably thought at least subconsciously, ‘What can this book teach me?', but reading it helped me slow down and think about the mental processes involved in marketing. That served to give me a fresh outlook.

What I found most interesting about the book is it explored the neurological aspects of the differences between men and women. It also provided segmentation information based on lifestyle stages and provided concrete examples of the do's and don'ts of marketing to women. It also keenly reminded me of the information I greedily absorbed during my Consumer Behaviour studies. From what I remember though, they definitely need to revise the sections on psychographics to include some of the techniques mentioned in this book, but that's a topic for another post!

It made me smile when Amanda indicated that some marketers (presumably male) still think of women as a niche. How on earth can more than half of the population be a niche, especially when they purportedly at least influence 80% of purchase decisions? That kind of thinking is probably on the don't list!

SO, in summary, this book will definitely remain on my marketing bookshelf as a reference, both for its inherent usefulness, but also simply because it encouraged me to ‘think pink'.

PS  I've just noticed that the cover is, indeed, pink, but Amanda does caution companies against thinking that turning a product pink will automatically endear them to women.

What is a poet? An unhappy person who conceals profound anguish in his heart but whose lips are so formed that as sighs and cries pass over them they sound like beautiful music.
Soren Kierkegaard