Words and Technology

The Word Nerd Complies with GDPR Standards

Posted on by Julia Tomiak / 0 Comment

This morning I’ve spent over two hours (that I would have preferred to spend  writing) making sure that Diary of a Word Nerd is compliant with GDPR requirements.  I’ve added a privacy policy and updated some features so that you know that this site uses cookies and you give permission for this site to use and store your personal information.  Since I’m not selling anything (yet!  Hopefully books someday), the only thing I keep is your name and email, and I use those to contact you about new posts if you subscribe.  I may also use your email to respond to a comment you leave.  That’s it!

If you have a blog or website too and are curious about GDPR requirements, I highly recommend two things:

  • Do your research.  I found the following articles very helpful.  And yes, even if you don’t sell anything, if you collect emails or use cookies to save information to make commenting easier, you collect personal information and you need to take GDPR seriously.
  • Look around on your blog settings and tools  Since GDPR was enacted, the platform I use, Word Press, and the theme I use, Graphy, have added several features to make it easier to comply with GDPR, including a comment privacy checkbox and a widget with a cookie notification.  I spent a lot of time looking at plug ins before I realized some features were already built into my blog and I just needed to activate them!  Do yourself a favor and poke around.

Also, I did some general housekeeping, deleted bag plug ins, etc, on the blog, and as a result, you may have lost your subscription.  Please use the subscription box in the right sidebar to make sure you will always be notified when I post something new.

If you have other suggestions for updating blogs and websites to be GDPR compliant, please share them below!  I am not a coder or a software developer, so plain English is appreciated.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Favorite Authors/How to encourage reading/Recommended kid lit

Summer Reading Giveaway Winner!

Posted on by Julia Tomiak / 0 Comment

Thanks to all who commented and shared my posts about The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair, the fabulous new middle grade novel by Amy Makechnie that released this week.

The winner of the giveaway is Linda Moon.  Linda, would you please email me at julia dot tomiak at gmail dot com so we can figure out the best way to get Guinevere to you?

Thanks everyone, and look for Amy’s book!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Improving vocabulary

Why Is It Called Devil’s Food Cake?

Posted on by Julia Tomiak / 9 Comments

Husband celebrated a birthday this weekend, and per his request, I baked a Devil’s Food Cake for him.  As we enjoyed the delicious chocolate cake, with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, of course, my 11-year-old asked, “Why is it called ‘Devil’s Food’?”

Why indeed?  The Word Nerd investigated the origin of the Devil’s Food cake, and here’s what I found:

No one really knows.

Some think it was named the opposite of “Angel Food Cake”, as it is opposite in flavor and texture.  Some think it’s called Devil’s Food because it is full of sinful chocolate.  Some suggest that the more indulgent a dessert sounds, the more we like it, so that’s why it’s got the Devil in its name. (See this Huffington Post article)

Photo credit Hungry Dudes via flickr CC-BY

Devil’s Food Cake is a dark, dense cake that was originally mild, but people made it more “sinful” by adding more chocolate.  It’s richer than regular chocolate cake.  It usually has a reddish color caused by a chemical reaction between the cocoa powder and baking soda used in traditional recipes.  (If you really want to be nerdy, you should know that cocoa in an acid environment looks brown, but cocoa in an alkaline environment has a mahogany color; Dutch cocoa is highly alkaline, and when used makes the cake look even more red.)

It’s similar to red velvet cake, except red velvet uses a white frosting, while Devil’s Food has a chocolate frosting.  (I used chocolate fudge on husband’s).

According to Cooksinfo.com, Devil’s Food Cake originated in the southern United States.  The first printed recipe appeared in 1902, in Sarah Tyson Rorer’s book, Mrs. Rorer’s New Cook Book.  This original recipe used melted chocolate and baking powder, unlike the modern version, which calls for cocoa and baking soda.

I used this recipe, found via Pinterest, and the family loved the result: Issac’s Fabulous Devil’s Food Cake.

Do you have a chocolate cake recipe you love?  Or, do you know anything about the origin of Devil’s Food Cake? 

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!

Favorite Authors/Recommended kid lit

Summer Reading Giveaway!

Posted on by Julia Tomiak / 5 Comments

It’s finally summer, and you need something great to read. I have the perfect book: The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair, a fabulous novel about a curious young girl investigating the disappearance of her neighbor in the tiny town of Crow, Idaho.

My friend Amy Makechnie wrote this wonderful book, but I promise I wouldn’t gush unless I truly love it. And I do! It has fascinating characters and wonderful themes of loss and acceptance. See my full review of Guinevere St. Clair here. It’s a middle grade novel, meant for readers aged 8-12, but I think any teen or adult would enjoy it too.

 

To celebrate the release of The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair on June 12, 2018, I’m giving away a copy to someone who posts a comment. Just leave your thoughts by June 14, 2018, and I’ll announce the winner on June 15. Good luck!

Author Interview

Author Amy Makechnie. Her debut novel The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair releases June 12, 2018.

I “met” Amy years ago when we were young bloggers trying to figure out the best way to format our posts and share them to social media. She, like me, is a mom of four who likes to run and write. We are accountability partners, checking in each Monday on our writing progress, and I am so grateful for her support. I also think she’s a fabulous writer. You can catch her thoughts on motherhood, reading, technology, and funny things her kids say at her blog, MaisyMak. Amy has stopped by Diary of a Word Nerd today to discuss her book with us.  Welcome Amy!

WN: Vienna is the main character’s mother in Guinevere, and she suffers from memory loss and other issues. Can you explain Vienna’s health condition and why you chose to use it in your story?

Amy: The character of Vienna was inspired by a young mother I knew when I was growing up. She lost consciousness and her heart stopped, shutting off oxygen for a dangerously long time. She came out of a coma four months later, but she did not remember anything after the age of 13 – not even her husband or two small children. It rattled me, broke my heart, stayed with me. I knew I wanted to write about it, but because it was so sad, I made it more of a back story, rather than the central plot. As a side note: a couple of kids have read advance copies of this novel, and interestingly, the first thing they’ve asked me is: Does Vienna get better? It bothers all of us to think of being forgotten.

WN: Where did you get inspiration for all the distinct characters in your story?

Amy: Quirky, interesting people are EVERYWHERE. Sometimes I don’t think I have a very good imagination – I just take the writing mantra, “everything is copy” and go with it. Having said that, real people inspired all of my book characters, but then they took on a life of their own.

WN: Tell us about Willowdale Princess Deon Dawn

Amy: Willowdale is Guinevere’s pet cow. Willowdale Princess Deon Dawn isn’t something I had to make up either. She was the real name of my father’s cow in Bear Lake, Idaho, where he grew up on a farm. My dad says, “I never considered a cow a pet – it was a farm animal!” My dad thinks it’s hilarious Willowdale is in the book.

WN: I love the quote at the front of the book by Montaigne. How did you find that? Why did you choose it?

Amy: I can’t remember where I first read it – it was many many years ago. But as soon as I did, I knew it was perfect for Guinevere. Children play games that adults often think are silly and/or inconsequential, when in actuality, they are everything – shaping us into the people we will become. Guinevere is a very imaginative child, and the games she plays with her friends are anything but childish or insignificant.

Aren’t these great thoughts?  Makes you want to read the book, doesn’t it?  I can help.  Leave your comment below to win a copy of The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair, and please spread the word about this wonderful piece of kid lit!

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!

 

 

 

 

 

Book reviews/Recommended kid lit

Why You Must Read Guinevere St. Clair

Posted on by Julia Tomiak / 5 Comments

Summer is almost here, which means more time for reading! If you like kid lit with a bit of mystery and a plucky protagonist, then I’ve got a great suggestion for you. The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair, by Amy Makechnie, is To Kill a Mockingbird, middle school style, and an excellent read for your upcoming summer vacation.

Guinevere St. Clair has a knack for digging up information, which is good, since she is an aspiring lawyer. She also knows a lot about the human brain because, well, her mother’s brain doesn’t work so well anymore. Vienna, Gwyn’s mother, is mentally stuck at age 13, and she doesn’t remember that Gwyn is her daughter. Gwyn and her family have returned to Crow, Idaho, the small town of Vienna’s childhood, with hopes that familiar places will revive old connections between neurons and bring Vienna back to them.

What I liked

Guinevere St. Clair is full of quirky, authentic characters. There’s Gaysie Cutter, huge in body and personality, who lives in a giant farmhouse painted the color of a clementine and who has a rep for burying things in her backyard and speaking her mind. And Gwyn’s Nana, who reminds Gwyn of “a perfectly tied bow… a woman who always buttoned her top button.” You can’t help but love Gwyn’s friend Micah, who likes to wear sparkly shoe laces and purple capes, and who, as a result, earns the unwanted attention of mean kids from school. And then there’s Jed, Gwyn’s father, who is devoted to his wife and determined to help her. Says Gwyn of her father, “He was not a quitter; he was a man who fixed things.”

Guinevere leads this entertaining cast, searching for clues of a farmer’s mysterious disappearance, as well as for any sign that her mother knows and loves her. I related to Gwyn immediately, as my mother suffered from a neurological disease, and I have spent much of my life gathering clues about what she was like when she was healthy. Gwyn evokes empathy with her candid and poignant descriptions of what it’s like to live with a mother who doesn’t remember her daughter. When speaking about her Nana, Gwyn says,

“I once overheard my father say that Vienna’s condition was the great tragedy of Nana’s life. But from where I sat, Nana should be happiest of all of us; she had at least had the best of Vienna.”

Wow.

And when Gwyn runs into people in the small town of Crow who ask about her mom, “Everyone was curious about Vienna, but few were comfortable talking about her.” As a current resident of a small town, I say this is spot on!

And this line brought tears to my eyes, I could relate to it so well:

“I held the handmade book tightly, suddenly feeling a great wave of homesickness for a person I hardly knew.”

I knew my mother much better than Gwyn knows hers, however, I understand the need to cling to physical representations of people we have lost in a desperate attempt to bring them closer.

Amy Makechnie explores several themes in The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair, including loss, being true to oneself, and acceptance. By the end of the book, Gwyn learns to accept her mother’s condition, but she isn’t without hope. And into all of this, the characters and the themes, Makechnie weaves a mystery, with suspense that kept me turning pages long after I should have turned off my bedside light.

What I didn’t like

Some of the pieces of the mystery didn’t play out well for me, but I loved the characters and the themes so much that I didn’t care.

Recommendation

If you enjoy middle grade books with lots of character and some mystery, you will enjoy The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair. I highly recommend it for lovers of kid lit!  It will release in hardback June 12, 2018.  You can read more about it at Goodreads and Amazon.

Word Nerd Note:  The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is the debut novel by Amy Makechnie, and although she is my friend and writing buddy, I wouldn’t recommend her book if I didn’t truly believe it was good.

And it’s great!

Can you share other kid lit titles that have plucky protagonists or a great mystery? Stay tuned to Diary of a Word Nerd. Soon I will feature an interview with Amy and a giveaway of Guinevere. I want to help readers get their hands on this wonderful novel.

Happy reading!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who I Am

Holding It Together for Graduation

Posted on by Julia Tomiak / 4 Comments

About 13 years ago, I pulled my Honda Odyssey up to the back door of a red brick school building. My oldest child hopped out of the van and walked toward the doorway, his back pack bouncing on his shoulders. I waited, maybe hoped, for one last look from him, a wave, a “bye Mom”. It never came. Without hesitation, he disappeared into the shadows of the kindergarten hall.

For a few seconds, this lack of acknowledgment stung. He’d already forgotten about me, the woman who had created him, carried him, nursed him. But then I realized I didn’t want him to look back and see the swell of emotions spilling onto my cheeks. And, more importantly, I understood that he didn’t look back because he was excited about the day ahead, and wondering if he’d get a spot in the reading bathtub his kindergarten teacher had parked in the corner of her classroom. And that’s exactly what he needed to be thinking about, not his overwhelmed mother, sniffing her way out of the elementary school parking lot.

Thirteen years later, I’m preparing to watch this same son take another important walk, across a stage to receive his high school diploma. It’s a tumultuous time for my heart, with excitement and joy and worry all competing for first place in the pageant of my emotions. I’ve succumbed to a few tearful moments, and there will be more, and the Word Nerd is struggling to find the right adjective to describe this swelling of pride and nostalgia that brings tears to my eyes. It’s not sadness. How can I be sad that my son is successfully launching off to a school that he desperately wants and needs to attend? Perhaps it’s trepidation about the future. I’ve never been good with change, or the unknown. Perhaps it’s because this is the child who rubs my back when he knows I’m tense.

The verb “to graduate” comes from the Latin gradus, meaning step or degree. One definition of graduate is “to pass from one stage of experience, proficiency, or prestige to a usually higher one.” (Merriam-Webster). Passing to a higher one. My son is going on to better experiences and higher proficiency. He is taking steps toward becoming an independent adult, one who is thoughtful and curious and able to help the world with his talents. The goal of parenthood is to launch, and my son is ready to fly. That’s what I must focus on and celebrate when the tears rise to my eyes, and I tremble at the thought of my boy moving hours away from home. He’s going on to something better.

I’ve received various snippets of advice from wiser mothers who have been through this dance already. One told me to start praying years ago, so that when the time came, I’d be ready. My prayer, often the words of Jeremiah 29:11, has, and will continue to, soothe my soul. One friend told me that things are different when your child goes off to college, but different doesn’t mean bad. I’ve internalized that mantra: different doesn’t mean bad. Another has watched her son thrive in a college setting, and although she misses him, her sadness is outweighed by gratitude for his  happiness.

I’ve also learned from wiser friends that the mothering doesn’t stop just because we send them off to school. This is a lifelong job, and every stage has its joys and challenges. Babies are adorable, but require so much physical care. Toddlers are fun, but tantrums and sippy cups get old. Teenagers are thoughtful and hilarious, but they suck the emotional energy right out of you. I can’t wait to figure out what I will love and what I must endure about being the mother of a college student.

With this knowledge tucked inside my heart, and a tissue pack tucked inside my purse, I prepare myself for the ceremony tonight, as well as for the months ahead when I will help my child pack up his essentials and move to a place where he can pass to a new, and hopefully better, stage of experience.

And I hope he won’t look back.

Do you have any tips for surviving big life events like graduation?  What’s a good word to describe the emotions?

Thanks for getting sentimental with me,