This is Book Country

OK, I will try really hard to not make unnecessary Hunter S. Thompson references, and will instead focus on the really cool thing that just happened in my world: Bat Book Country. Sorry. It got away from me there. I'll be better.

Anyway, if you a) read or b) write, you have reason to be as excited as I am. Because Book Country is super sweet. Go ahead, check it out. I'll wait here. 

So? Pretty sweet, huh? How cool is this idea? I kinda wish I'd thought of it first, and I'm very excited about getting involved. It's basically a win-win: read other people's books, get them to read yours, get industry information that can help you find an agent (edited for clarity from original post). When worst case scenario is reading more, you can't really go wrong.

I joined yesterday, and I'm working up the nerve to submit my own book. And by "working up the nerve" I mean "glaring dourly at whole chapters that I thought were pretty OK, actually, until I considered someone who hadn't taken vows to love and support me reading them." But I'm getting there. You should too. When and if I finally get the chutzpah to put chapter one up, I'll let you all know. But even if I don't, go take a look at all the great work the good people at Bat Book Country are doing. I'm so sorry. I can't help myself. 

My Work-in-Progress Blog

I'm trying an experiment. And I need your help. See, from the time I learned how to read, I wanted to be a writer. I've loved playing around with the English language my whole life, so much so that I decided (after a few missteps) to study it. When I was five, I wrote a short story. Not a great short story, but Mom sure liked it. I think she still has it, in fact. I know I still have the compulsive habit of converting my every thought, fear, and fantasy into prose of varying quality. Finally, after 25 years of this, it has occurred to me: why do I have a laptop full of short stories, novels, and outlines that no one has ever read?

Zombie Apocalypse Soap

My friend Krystal is a wonderful woman. She's smart, funny, hot, you name it. I'm a little in awe of her. Which is why when she started talking about homemade laundry soap I thought to myself "Oh come on, how much cooler can Krystal get? Homemade laundry soap indeed; what a hipster." Then I looked at our dwindling financial reserves and realized that I'd better get pretty freaking cool pretty freaking quickly if I wanted to maintain my spring freshness. So I asked her for the recipe. I call it Zombie Apocalypse Soap because it strikes me as one of the few useful survival skills I will possess when the dead rise and start eating brains.

Homemade Zombie Apocalypse Laundry Soap:

4 C hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 C Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ C Borax

1. Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
2. Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
3. Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
4. Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate. (Our Price Chopper laundry isle has everything we need to make it)