What to Drink While on Submission

I know what it's like to be on submission with a publisher. I am doing it right now, even though you can't see me. It's like FIGHT CLUB because Rule One is that you are not supposed to talk about it. (Rule Two is to take a soap making class from your local community college, to pass the time.)

No. No, no no. Rule One is to write the next book. I am doing that. I am almost ready for little MOA to go to beta readers. I am happy with MOA and it's given me some distance from my baby, erm, book that is out on its own, sloshing in and out of email inboxes.

It's almost Thanksgiving and almost winter, but seasonal changes don't just mean changing outerwear and finally taking down the Halloween decorations. It means (for me) changing what I am drinking.

Last season's drink of choice was the Dark & Stormy. I was feeling a bit 'lashed to the mast.' But my new submission drink of choice—the drink I will enjoy while trying not to worry—is Penicillin. Here's how you make it, courtesy of Serious Eats.

Photo: Jennifer Hess

Penicillin 

• Ingredients:
• 2 ounces blended Scotch whisky (Famous Grouse works well)
• 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 ounce honey syrup (see note)
• 3 slices fresh ginger
• 1/4 ounce Islay single malt Scotch (such as Laphroaig)

1. 1
   Using a wooden muddler or mixing spoon, muddle the fresh ginger in the bottom of a cocktail shaker until it is well mashed. Add the blended Scotch, lemon juice, and honey syrup, and fill shaker with ice. Shake until well chilled, about 20 seconds.
2. 2
   Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass (you may wish to double-strain through a fine tea strainer to remove the small flecks of ginger), and pour the Islay Scotch over the back of a bar spoon so that it floats atop the drink.

BUT WAIT! are you on submission and a non-drinker? Never fear!
Here's a gorgeous recipe for a Hot Cranberry Orange Wassail which I've tried and is delightful (would be more delightful with scotch, but that's me...)

What do you do when you are querying or on submission or entered in a contest - when your baby is out in the world and you are biting your nails? How do you cope?

I am THISCLOSE to being finished...

with my middle grade fantasy opus. Which is why I have been ignoring you, blog o' my heart.

What I would like is a t-shirt that says 'SHUT UP AND WRITE' which I can wear when I am distracted by other shiny things. And if I'd been wearing that shirt around you, dearest blog, you would have known that I hadn't died, been deported or gone off grid.

I was writing my freaking former-eleven-year-old heart out.

If you thought going back to high school to your teenage self was hard (it is) going back to the edge of puberty is harder. Because you don't know who you are - you're not even sure that you get a say about who you are going to be. You are still wondering what happened to believing in Santa Clause and fairies. I had to do a lot of gentle excavating with a pick axe and a brush to get down to my eleven year old self. But she was there. And she shared her Twizzlers with me.

That's the world I've been living in and it's hard and awesome. My beta-peeps will be getting this draft in December and I will be able to start thinking about my next project.

What have you been up to?