Peg Kehret Blog

Today I baked Valentine brownies for my grandkids. My idea was to frost the brownies and then, before the frosting hardened, press a Valentine candy heart  (the kind with love-related sayings on them) into the top of each piece. I chopped the walnuts, cracked the eggs, measured and stirred. While the brownies baked, I sorted through the bag of Valentine hearts and chose the sayings I liked best (U Rock; Puppy Love; Call Me) so they’d be ready for quick placement. I also started melting the butter and chocolate for the frosting.

I tested the brownies with a toothpick (twice, since they weren’t quite done the first time) and then, when they were baked to perfection, I removed them from the oven - and dropped the pan on the floor! It landed face down and bounced, leaving hot brownie crumbles strewn across the kitchen floor. I stared in disbelief at the mess. The 9 X 13 glass pan had simply slipped out of my hands before I could set it on the cooling rack.

Lucy rushed to the kitchen to see what had happened so I had to clean things up quickly before she ate any chocolate. I used a large spatula to scoop the crumbles into a garbage bag.  About a third of the brownies had remained stuck in the pan. Those will eventually be a dessert served in bowls with ice cream.

I washed the floor. I looked at the melted chocolate and butter in the frosting pan. I re-read the sayings on the candy hearts. And then I did what every writer does when a first draft is a disaster: I started over. I chopped more nuts, cracked more eggs, and sprayed the bottom of my other 9 X 13 pan. I baked another batch of brownies and this time I was extra cautious when I moved the pan from the oven to the cooling rack. They’re frosted now, and the colorful candy hearts with their Valentine sayings look festive and fun. I can hardly wait to give them to the kids.

Earlier this week I posted a notice on my Facebook Fan Page that I would send a signed bookplate to any of my Facebook fans who requested one. I expected to hear mostly from kids, but it turns out I have a lot of adult fans who wanted an autographed bookplate.

One of my favorite requests came from a couple in Colorado who told me that they have always had “storytime” where they take turns reading aloud in bed before they go to sleep. When their kids were growing up, this was a family storytime. Now, when their adult offspring come home to visit, they still want to be included in storytime. Currently this couple is reading The Stranger Next Door, and having a good time doing Pete the Cat’s parts out loud.

A friend’s healthy one-year-old dog died yesterday after eating sugar-free gum that contained xylitol. The vet said this is a common ingredient in sugar-free products (it’s also in some toothpaste) and that it is extremely toxic to dogs. Please be cautious about what you leave where a curious, or greedy, dog can find it.

When I talked to my neighbor, Chris, this morning, she told me that her peacocks were curious about all the noise coming from my place. My house is usually quiet but the roofers are here, banging and pounding, and Chris said the peacocks kept trying to peek through the trees to see what was going on. About an hour later, after Chris had left for work, here came the peacocks. They marched single file through the trees - four males, one female, and one guinea hen. They rarely come into my yard but they went straight toward my house as if they came to call every day. Then they stood and stared up at the roof. They watched for a few minutes before they circled the yard, stared at the roof awhile longer, and then went home. The roofing crew loved the visitors.

It always makes me smile to watch the curiosity of animals, maybe because curiosity is an essential quality for a writer. Writers pay attention. They notice what’s going on around them; they are sensitive to the reactions and feelings of other people. You notice I said we writers are curious, not snoopy. It has a more professional sound. Many a good book idea has developed because I got curious and sought information. I doubt if the peacocks are writing a book but, who knows? Nobody would have guessed that Pete, an unwanted kitten at an animal shelter, would be a talented writer - and look what he’s accomplished.

I installed Microsoft Office Home and Student because I want to learn PowerPoint. This caused the spellcheck feature in my e-mail to change from English to French. It also converted all of my Word documents to Word 2007, which I didn’t want. I Googled the French problem and discovered many other people with the same complaint. I spent far too much time exploring my options for correcting the difficulty.

The roofers will be here early Monday morning to start ripping off my old roof and putting on a new one. They warned me to take anything off the walls that might fall as a result of all the pounding. Oh, my. I have a wall of book awards that includes a crystal vase, etched glass plaques, and other breakables. Antique stained glass hangs in several windows. A collection of small ceramic dogs live in a “doggie condo” in my bedroom. There are precious family photos and paintings. There’s the 1954 TIME magazine cover signed by Jonas Salk. There are dishes with sentimental value on top of my kitchen cupboards, and there are framed dust jackets from my books covering one whole wall. It was a huge job to remove everything and store it in a safe place. One good thing - I dusted each piece as I removed it so when they all go back up at the end of the roofing job, my house will be cleaner than it’s been in a long time.

I spent one evening autographing posters to give away at a conference in March. I will miss the first day of the conference, so I’m sending posters for those who attend that day. Next I start signing several hundred bookplates.

I took Lucy to the vet because she kept shaking her head and scratching at her ear. She had her ears cleaned and I came home with a bottle of ear cleaner. The very next day she developed an eye problem. I’m treating it with drops that I already had, and hoping to avoid another trip to the vet.

Anne and Kevin came yesterday. Kevin cleared my nature trail of all the trees that had fallen during this month’s wind storms, and Anne washed my windows for me. We managed to sit and chat for awhile, too. I am grateful for all of their help.

Oh, yes, I started organizing all my 2009 receipts. While the roof pounding goes on next week, I plan to add up all the numbers and get everything ready to take to my accountant for income taxes. I know I won’t be able to concentrate on writing (for one thing, I’ll probably have to hold Lucy to keep her calm) so I might as well get a dreaded chore out of the way.

I’ve always scoffed at people who tell me that they’d like to write a book if only they could find the time. This week, I have a bit more sympathy for them.

In 2009, there were 1454 new cases of polio worldwide. The largest number, 685, were in India, followed by Nigeria with 383.

Two countries that are often in the U.S. news because of wars are also still battling polio. Pakistan had 76 cases last year and Afghanistan had 24 cases.

Rotary, International’s Stop Polio Now campaign continues to distribute vaccine to the world’s poorest citizens. When I watch news clips from Afghanistan, I realize what a challenge it is to get the vaccine, which must be refrigerated, to the people who need it. A generous grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is helping in this effort.

Most people who contribute to or work for this cause talk about doing it to help the children. If you have read my memoir, Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio, you know that polio can cause pain, paralysis, and even death, so eradicating this disease WILL help thousands of children.

It will also help senior citizens, such as me. Children who never get polio will also never have post-polio syndrome, the problem that has had such a negative impact on my life. 

I fervently hope that one year soon I will be able to report that there were no new cases of polio anywhere in the world that year.

Seattle’s University Book Store will celebrate 110 years in business on Sat., 1/10. They asked a group of authors, including me, to each write a piece for a commemorative book. We could write whatever we wanted, as long as it was exactly 110 words long.

This was a fun challenge and I am eager to see what the other authors wrote.  The book will be available at the birthday celebration this Sat., 1/10, from noon until five. I’ll be there from 1-3.  Anyone who purchases a book by one of the participating authors will also receive the special book of 110-word writings.

In 2009, I read 168 books. They made me think, laugh, and cry. My favorites were:

Dog On It by Spencer Quinn

Narrow Dog to Indian River by Terry Darlington

Walter: The Story of a Rat by Barbara Wersba

These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

I rarely read during the day; I save that pleasure for evening, and I always read for awhile (sometimes quite awhile!) after I go to bed. Many of the 168 books came from the library, but when I read a book I like, I buy it so that I can share it with like-minded friends. I also give books as gifts. I’ve pre-ordered the second book in Spencer Quinn’s series, and I impatiently await the next title from Julia Spencer-Fleming, who didn’t publish a book last year.

Thanks to all of you who have written to tell me that I am your favorite author. What an honor that is! Happy new year, and happy reading.

I am thoroughly enjoying the holidays. I spent Christmas with Anne & Kevin, Brett & Eric. And Otter, their dog.  Brett’s been staying with me for a couple of days with many games of Bananagrams, some after-Christmas-sale shopping, and my first ever meal at a Sonic Drive-in.  Today Anne, Brett, and I are going to The Nutcracker in Seattle.  New Year’s Eve will find me in Richland with Bob, Pam, Chelsea, and Mark. And their dogs, Freddie and Fergus.  So far nobody in the family has followed in my writing footsteps, but they are all animal lovers.

 No writing over the holidays. Well, that isn’t really true. Even when I’m not adding words to the current book-in-progress, my mind continues to write as I listen to conversations, size up potential characters and situations, and evaluate opinions.

1. Listening to a violin solo of “O Holy Night,” seeing my friend, Mark, in a tux, and hearing Halie play “In the Deep Midwinter” on her grand piano - all at a party for AMICA, my player-piano group.

2. Camel cookies with Jenny and Jerry. Who could resist a two-hump camel sugar cookie with frosting? Not me!

3.  News that Stolen Children is nominated for the 2011 Mark Twain Award.

4.  A white elephant gift exchange where I ended up with a stuffed penguin that plays the saxophone.

5. Updates from old friends. I use e-mail for most correspondence, but I still love to receive Christmas cards and newsletters.

6.  A quiet evening with both Lucy and Molly on my lap, watching the deer outside.

A fellow writer reminded me today that we need to check Wikipedia now and then, to see if what’s being reported about us is true. I’ve done this occasionally in the past, and usually found errors. Today was no exception. The current bio on me states that my first book, I’m Not Who You Think I Am, was published in 1979.  Wrong.  That’s the right year, but not the correct title. My first book was Vows of Love and Marriage. I’m Not Who You Think I Am was my 32nd book, published in 1999.

For years, Amazon has incorrectly listed a co-author for some of my books. At first I tried to correct these errors but nothing ever happened. Now I ignore the mistakes. Unfortunately, Amazon is frequently used as a source of information about authors, so I often see these mistakes reported elsewhere as facts. Sometimes the “co-author” who’s named was actually the book’s editor. A publisher’s former publicist is listed as co-author of one title; another lists the man who painted the cover art. One book lists as my co-author someone I’ve never heard of.

Not all of my books are included in Amazon’s list of my titles, but they do give me credit for being the author of Humans, a book I did not write and have never read.

I’m not trying to pick on Amazon here. Possibly the wrong information was given to them by the publishers.  I use them as an example only because they are well known, widely used, and most readers assume their information is accurate.

My dad used to tell me, “Just because you read it in the newspaper, doesn’t mean it’s true.” He was right, and same goes for anything you read on line.