LydMc

Birthday Book Brownie! This  year's birthday cake was extra special because I got to share it with another awesome character... Dewey! I love a good book and this guy's no exception. I drew the little dude as part of my Leadership class project (a do nation station benefiting the local library) , and then made the cake in honor of Dewey's official debut. So what kind of cake do you bake for such a celebration of literacy? So we meet again... A book cake, of course! Or in this case, a book brownie. In the interest of fewer crumbs in the library (and because I make a killer brownie), I opted for a brownie cake instead of the usual.  Books & Brownies? Yes, please! A good tip for showstopping brownies? Doctor up a boxed mix with tasty extras like cinnamon, vanilla and chocolate chips. I also swap out half the oil for applesauce, as it's less oily and you can't tell the difference. Isn't he cute?? When it came time to decorate...

Celebrate Good News! If you're wondering why the LydMc blog updates have been a bit on the slow side recently, the causes are many-fold. Some are good, some are bad, and some are awesome. One of the awesome reasons is my latest job (nearly 8 months in now!) at Zoom.  Zoom, a newspaper/magazine hybrid with all sorts of great things going for it, is a community publication that showcases and celebrates the good that goes on in our local areas. Fundraisers, marathons, scout projects, you name it. If it's positive, Zoom is likely to cover it. As Associate Editor at Zoom, I get to process a lot of these events and even write a few of the articles. It's always exciting to hear why people are so passionate about the various causes they support, and it makes me grateful to have a job where I can help share their stories and spread their positive inspiration with others. So instead of a typical blog this week, here are links to a few of the features I've written for...

Flyer courtesy of NaNoWriMo You think writing blogs is fun? Try writing a novel. Like, seriously, try writing a novel! It is National Novel Writing Month after all. If you haven't heard of it before, the goal of National Novel Writing Month (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo ) is to sit down and finally finish that novel that's been swimming around in your head for years. Or alternatively, to start a new idea and chase it to the end. The challenge itself: write 50,000 words in one month, which is approximately 1667 words a day. Difficult? Yes. Ridiculous? Sometimes. Worth it? Um, YES! Writers, start your engines! It's true, 50,000 words in a month is quite the challenge, and the first two times I attempted NaNoWriMo, I barely made it halfway through. Still, I was 20-30K more words along than I would have been in an average month of writing. And, like they say, third time's the charm. Since I like to start NaNoWriMo with no plan at all (as I get to discover a whole ne...