The Cocoa Contest

See that cup of coco right there? Looks tasty doesn’t it? The only trouble is… I don’t know how to make it. My homemade version of hot chocolate is water, a splash of milk and two heaping tablespoons of store bought powder. It’s fine, but it isn’t delicious. It’s okay, but it isn’t blissful. It isn’t divine, scrumptious, delectable or mouthwatering in the slightest. It isn’t what Emmy Dawson would serve to her customers at Sweet Shores Chocolate Store.

Yes, that Emmy… the winner of the Facebook contest that gifted her with a chocolate store to run… yes, that run down and outdated shop she gets to keep forever if she turns a profit by the end of the year. Yes, that Emmy, needs a four star coco recipe to help heat up her business and turn her dreams into reality. Never mind she doesn’t have any business experience. Dismiss the rumor you heard around town that she doesn’t even like chocolate. Okay, maybe do think about those things… and then fork over your recipe… because she needs it bad!!

So what do you say? Can you help out my literary friend? Trust me when I say you will be sweetly rewarded!

I am looking for an incredible hot chocolate recipe. A recipe that chases away the winter chills and warms your soul. Do you have one of those? Maybe from Grandma? Or maybe you finally achieved a creamy cup of chocolate perfection after a hundred mornings of trial and error? Yes, that is the recipe I want.

What will you get in return for sharing your (royalty and copyright free) recipe with me, I mean, Emmy?

The Prizes

• The recipe will be placed in the Appendix of my novella: The Champion Chocolatier, with your name on the by-line. (Hooray, you are now published!) Your recipe will be accompanied by other recipes mentioned in the book.

• I will name a character in the book after you!

• And of course, there will be a chocolate prize delivered directly to you.

To enter:

1. Email me your recipe along with your name. amanda.zieba@yahoo.com

2. Sign up for my free monthly eNewsletter by clicking this link.

3. In the comment section below, write me a quick note to let me know you’ve entered and to be looking for your email.

4. Complete these three steps by Sunday, April 10th at Midnight.

The winner will be announced by the end of April, after I’ve had a chance to taste test all the recipes!

Thank you in advance for helping poor Emmy. Have I mentioned she is a terrible cook and her version of baking involves visiting the refrigerated section at the grocery store? Please hurry, Emmy and Sweet Shores will be sunk unless she can get a winning recipe ASAP!

Red, Write and Blue

Earlier this month I spent a few days in Milwaukee for the state reading convention (WSRA). It is always a high energy, motivating conference filled with highly educated people and incredible resources. This year was nothing less than fantastic. One session I attended was all about how students are more motivated to write if their teachers write along-side them. To take something I love and have it positively affect my students sounded wonderful to me, so I showed up.

Surrounded by other word-nerd educators I explored many every day, real life writing exercises and applications.  Of course, as participants we were asked to do some writing of our own. I scratched out the below short story in about 10 minutes. (Other than re-reading while I typed the hand written version of the work, it hasn’t been edited, so be kind!)

We were given the prompt… “She closed the book, placed it on the table and finally decided to walk through the door.”

… and one minute to think…

Think. Think. Think. The speech from the keynote speaker, an education reformer from Finland, swirled around in my mind as did the news on the previous night’s political debate. The conference in general dominated my thoughts, a place where women easily outnumbered men ten to one.

Think. Think. Think. And write. And here is what came out.

---

She closed the book, placed it on the table and finally decided to walk through the door. She knew they were waiting for her. But this was her show, her time. And despite what they thought, she made the decisions.

And this was a BIG decision. Bigger than big. HUGE! Monumental! Paramount! And not just for her. Last night as she lay awake in bed and vacillated with her options (there were really only two), she made a strong case for each. No matter how she stacked up the evidence though, her heart always tipped the balance of the scale one way.

It would be at that point that she would evaluate her reasons for the decision. Was she being selfless or selfish? Could one decision really be both? Somewhere around two thirty she had finally fallen asleep. When she awoke she felt she had made a choice, and that selfish or selfless, it was one she could live with.

She’d read the book, not to buy time, but to show the men in the other room that she controlled it. Deeming that they had waited long enough, she left her office and walked to the conference room.

When she walked into the room, they stopped talking, stopped drinking their coffee, stopped gesticulating to the results on the TV screen. She fought the urge to smooth the front of her dress ad walked to the center of the room.

“Gentlemen, Let’s do this. This country needs a woman president!”

*** Writer Disclaimer: This was not meant to be a political post. It is purely a piece of fiction. Happy reading! ***