Treat yourself to an audiobook this summer - please.

I am a huge crazy fan of audiobooks. I evangelize for them at every opportunity. Please let me take you down my audiobook rabbit hole so you can love them, too.

First, background. I may have occasionally listened to an audiobook as a child, it's probable. We were big library-goers. But I don't specifically remember doing so. Instead, at some point when my son was 6 and my daughter was 4 and I was more-or-less living in my minivan (in the "suburban mom" sense, not in the Chris Farley "I live in a VAN, down by the RIVER!" sense) I realized I needed to do something to keep me from going insane as the mom of two busy and mentally active/taxing children. I had recently come *back* to reading, having not had time to read for pleasure for most of my 20s and early 30s. And I was trying to find a way to get more time for reading. It occurred to me I could listen to books in the car while shuttling children from point A to point B and C and D and E and F and…

Enter, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on audiobook, read by Jim Dale. Ahh. I loved every minute of it, and listened while taking the kids to school and driving home empty-minivan'd. UNTIL. One day I took my daughter (4 at the time) in to her gymnastics class, then went back to the car and stayed in the parking lot with my son (6 at the time) and listened to another hour of HP. When my daughter got back in the car at the end of the class she was AGHAST that we had listened without her. I, for one, was astonished that she was really paying attention. She was FOUR FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. But alas, I learned then a lesson I keep having to learn over and over with this amazing child: do not underestimate her. Also, do not assume she's not paying attention. She sees/hears all. Little antenna, I call her. Tunes in to what is going on and pays attention.

At any rate, we began our family listening right then and there, and I no longer will listen to "our" book when both children aren't in the car. It's led to some funny business, where one or the other will ride with to take their sibling somewhere *just so we can listen some more* to whatever book we're on. And we are always on a book. In a book? Listening to a book. Always.

We've talked about audiobooks on The Prosers before, and we will probably keep talking about them as I'm far from the only fan (Melanie is totally a fan, which is why she vented her frustrations about some audiobook experiences!)

One GREAT way to get into audiobooks this summer is through the SYNC YA Audiobook summer giveaway. For the whole summer (starting a few weeks ago, even!) you can download for FREE one recent audiobook and one classic. FREE. Like for nothing. You can read a bit more about the SYNC program here, but know that they pair the classic and current titles in thematic pairs, and include quite a number of required reading titles from US schools. Great way for your teen to catch up on reading while doing the yard work you surely require of them, right? And in particular, I must insist that you get CODE NAME VERITY via the SYNC program, when it comes available the week of June 12. It is hands-down the best book I've ever read (yes, listening counts) and absolutely destroyed me in the best possible way. The narrators were spectacular. I bought the book in paper immediately after listening to it because I *had to feel the words under my fingers.*

As for some other titles to consider? As Melanie points out her her blog post from January, Middle Grade books seem to translate a bit better to audiobook, at least some of the time. There are also quite a lot of grown-up books that are good in audio, as my family is currently on the last disc of the last book of Brandon Sanderson's epic fantasy series Mistborn. But I'll keep my suggestions to the YA/MG-friendly side just for ease of use as a reading list for families. Not all families would be ready for the heavy themes of class divisions, institutional prostitution and murder, tyranny, abuse, etc. that run somewhat through the Mistborn series (but my 10 and 12 year olds have handled the content well and it's given us many conversation starters as we've worked through the series over the last 6 months.)

• The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander- one of our favorites. Start with The Book of Three. A great book for audio because many of the names are based on Welsh, and can be difficult to parse in text. Plus the narrator makes the various voices so funny.
• ANYTHING AT ALL by Tamora Pierce. In particular, though, start with Wild Magic. Allow some leeway for the so-so narrator (over-enuciator.) We loved this book and it hooked us on all of Tortall. We've listened to almost every book set in this world, my 12 year old son in particular has steamed his way through even the auxiliary series' set in this world like the Beka Cooper books. 
• The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
• Magyk by Angie Sage (the Septimus Heap series)
• Enchanted, by Alethea Kontis - my favorite book of 2013!
• The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen
• Charlie Bone books - by Jenny Nimmo
• Rick Riordan books like Lightening Thief, though I find the more recent titles of his get a little exhausting (maybe I'm just burnt out on the author?) as they are long and very action-packed with little downtime. 
• The Goose Girl (and really anything by Shannon Hale)
• The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman (read by a full cast, one of our favorite ways to listen to books. Many of Shannon Hale's books are done by a full cast, too.) 
• My goodness, this is quite a list already but I know it's very incomplete! I'll work on adding more books to the comments, please add yours too!

Note: I didn't include Code Name Verity in my list above because it's a much more mature book, less kid-friendly, but I can't let it go without a mention. Code Name Verity was the best book I've ever read. Here is my Goodreads review of it.

Time Management or How to Get it All Done

Do you remember those summer days as a kid that seemed to last forever and forever?

These last few months, I've been watching my kiddo do that miraculous kind of time travel. Between dawn and dusk she has an endless supply of minutes for adventuring and play dates and getting into amazing, fabulous summer trouble.

Me? I'm up two hours before her and go to bed three hours after, and there's so much to do, and I. Just. Can't. Find. The. Time.

I've read all that stuff about prioritizing, and making lists and blah, blah, blah. For me, I can do all that, but actually implementation?
Yeah.

Enter Pomodoro.

Isn't it cute?

Okay, you've probably all heard of it.

Pomodoro is a method of working on something for 25 minutes with a timer (preferably one shaped like a tomato since Pomodoro means tomato in Italian). In a pinch, there are about a ton of countdown timers online you can use.

Anyway, after working for 25 minutes, you take a five minute break and then back at it onto your next Pomodoro.

So, a little math. Assuming you sleep for 8 hours (ha!), there are sixteen hours in a day. If you use the Pomodoro method of 25 + 5 minute blocks, you have 32 Pomodoros a day.

What it the world can you do with that?

• Force yourself to focus on writing - you can stay off Facebook or FreeCell for a measly 25 minutes, can't you?

• Clean something (I actually ran into a  similar idea on the fabulous Fly Lady site years ago - clean/sort for 15 minutes then spend 10 putting away what you cleaned/sorted - love FlyLady.)

• Work on a project that's really, really hard for you - in a short 25 minutes it will be over!

• Tabata

• Couch to 5k (Okay, maybe a little over a Pomodoro, but not by much.)

• Write a blog post.

• Cook dinner. Or freeze dinner.

• Have an endless summer moment with your kiddo.

You can't do it all. But you can do some of it.
What would you do with 25 minutes?

~Susan

Summer Eats

Out for this post? Blogging about writing.
In for this post? Blogging about food.

My husband and I recently ran away. Okay, so we ran away to a business conference, but still. Someone else cleaned my room and made my bed and gave me fresh towels. And someone else cooked my meals.

To be honest, it really woke up my taste buds. I think I'd fallen into a rut of, "Oh, look, there's a freezer burned chimichanga, and a couple turkey hot dogs, and some three day old mac and cheese - looks like I won't have to cook! It's leftover night, everyone!" - Again.

So, since coming back, I've been at least somewhat trying to recapture a smidgen of the spirit of cooking. (My family has been overwhelmingly grateful). I thought today I'd share a few of the summer recipes that have gotten the thumbs up. Oh, and in case you don't notice, allrecipes.com is my friend.

Summer Salads

Asian Chicken Salad - Okay, so this is really just Asian Salad. When we were trying to come up with a mock Applebees Asian Chicken Salad, this was the only recipe with lots of good reviews. It doesn't really taste like Applebees, but my family rates it delicious on its own merits. To add the 'chicken' to the Asian Salad, we use whatever is on hand, leftover grilled chicken (great), canned chicken (a little soggy), or even cut up chicken nuggets (surprisingly alright). Oh, and sometimes we use less oil and more soy sauce, otherwise it can be a little greasy.


Mandarin Chicken Pasta Salad - A new favorite along the lines of the one above, but a little more refined. I added more sugar than it calls for because - sugar addict, yeah.

Strawberry Spinach Salad - You really can't have summer without this one, can you?

Main Dishes

Carne Asada Tacos - Oh, yes. Let the meat marinate a nice, long time. Why not try some of these, while you're at it.

Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken - YUM.

Low Country Boil - if you haven't tried this yet, then you're missing out on one of my favorite Southern traditions. Make sure you invite a crowd. Good times, good times.

Desserts

Buster Bar Ice Cream Dessert - Not for the faint of heart, calorie-wise, this really does taste just like the Dairy Queen treat.

Microwave Carmel Popcorn - Everything you're supposed to avoid - sugar, corn syrup and margarine! This is a great treat any time of year. It's made in a brown paper bag, of all things, so clean up is a snap. Make sure you use margarine, even if you're a butter purist, because butter just won't work as well.

Anything you love in the summertime?

~Susan

Fighting for the Computer

...or 5 Tips to Help You Survive Summer Break

Full discloser, I only have one child in school right now. But that child is a seven year old boy, so survive isn't hyperbole.

We are a week into my son's summer break, and in that week, I've written exactly... um how many words are in this blog post?

After a shaky start, I've discovered a few tips, which I hope and pray get me a few uninterrupted time on my computer, before my son kicks me off to play on Disney XD.

Don't try to do everything while writing.

1. Schedule time for yourself.

And let your children see it. Write down when mom's computer time is on something semi-permanent, and refer to it often. 

Don't give up that time. Treat it as sacred, and your children will respect it. In theory anyway. Also, schedule that time for during nap time or after bed time.

 That beautiful brilliant time of the day. 

Isn't that why you write anyway?

2. Schedule time for your kids.

One of the things I learned doing Nanowrimo, is that my children will ignore me, IF I fill their need for attention before I start writing. 15 minutes of Hide and Go Seek, followed by five minutes of tickle time, and reading/cuddling will buy me a full hour of my daughter happily playing with her dollhouse.

 Kids need attention, and if you don't give it to them before, they will demand it during, and that is their right. 

Don't miss out on your kids summer by focusing only on yourself and your fictional world. This one's more important.

This will only happen if you let your kids be bored.

3. Dealing with a case of the "I'm boreds."

Being bored is a gift. Give this gift to your children.

Every single on of my novels/story ideas have come from me entertaining myself when nothing else is happening. Boredom is food for creativity.

 If kids are constantly being entertained by T.V., video games, etc. then they don't get a chance to be creative type people. When my kids say I'm bored, I refer them to the 'I'm Bored' jar, a glass jar with little strips of paper inside that have chores written on them. 

Works for me.

4. Take what they love to do, and reserve it for when you're doing what you love to do.

My son loves video games. We have a standing rule that he can't play, unless Mom has Word open. This is a brilliant beautiful rule that I like to break. Don't be like me. Be consistent. And remember that consistency can start today.

By the way, this is not my son, but it might as well be.

5. Don't waste your own time.

Summer means pool parties, and water fights. Summer means cleaning up Popsicle drips, and playing tag. Summer means having other people's children in your home. 

It's the best time of the year, but also it means there's not as much time for writing, or tooling around on Pintrest or facebook. 

When you get writing time, don't waste it, but don't sacrifice the summer so you can live in a different world. 

This one's pretty darn perfect.