Foodie Fridays: Nano Win Reward – Daddy’s Donuts Kenmore “one of everything”

December 4, 2015 by rachelauthorbarnard in Foodie Fridays, For the Love of Donuts, Local Eats, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard and tagged Daddy's Donuts, Donuts, Kenmore, Rewards | 2 Comments

Nano Stats coming Monday – but I decided to reward myself with an immediate donut foray for accomplishing all my goals in November for NaNoWriMo and a challenge/reward to come in 2016 (stay tuned for what it is on Monday).

My first reward for finishing both first drafts of my For the Love of Donuts Book 2’s was to buy “one of everything” from my new favorite donut vendor and local business Daddy’s Donuts in Kenmore.

I chose today as the big day and headed over when they open (8AM) but had to wait for their new machine to be setup, and Daddy himself (Eduardo) gave me a complementary mocha (how nice!) to enjoy while I waited.

See how excited I am as I wait to ask for “one of everything.”

Check out the ‘tip’ jar.

And the donuts start coming out!

Thanks Daddy’s!

The guys at the office loved ’em!

About my series, For the Love of Donuts, and the two books I wrote first drafts of this November:

The Optimist Sees the Donut (For the Love of Donuts Book 2) & The Pessimist Sees the Hole (For the Love of Donuts Book 2)

Author: Rachel Barnard

Genre: Young Adult

Synopsis

Their friendship has been the one unbreakable thing, the one certainty in their lives, but Nichole Adams and Vanessa Smith are developing into their own persons and their individual life dramas distract them from each other.

Vanessa has never had many friends in her life and even though she wanted to stay friends with Nichole, she met new people in college and is moving on. She has school, she has social activities, and a new group of friends even though she can’t seem to find the right guy.

Nichole is jealous of Vanessa’s ease of everything in the real world. Nessa has no trouble with jobs, money, school, or getting and going places. Nichole, on the other hand was preemptively kicked out of her mom’s house after graduating high school and has been floundering ever since. The only thing she has easy in her life is flirting and getting dates, or at least a guy that will let her crash at his house. Nichole doesn’t always have the best of luck with men.

Forever hopeful that things will change, Nichole still clings to the hope that Vanessa will come back to their friendship and be the best friend from high school that Nichole misses. When guy after guy doesn’t work out for her, Vanessa changes more and more of her personality to attract the right guy, drifting farther and farther from who she really is. Something’s gotta give and this story of how friendships get off track, lies become reality, and bad luck tails bad choices will bring you in and around the little town of Sarasota, Florida that you grew to love in book one of the series – Donuts in an Empty Field.

Nano November: Week four in Review – Word count: 94,039

November 30, 2015 by rachelauthorbarnard in For the Love of Donuts, Local Authors, Local Events, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard

Total time spent: 8 hours and 50 minutes (530 minutes)

Total word count: 94,039 (30,262 in week 1 & 25,520 in week 2 &16,143 in week 3)

WIP Word Count Progress Reports:

The Optimist Sees the Donut – 43,591 words

The Pessimist Sees the Hole – 50,017 words

Café Connections (Aster & Tilde Book 1) – 64,136

Day 22: 11/22/15, Sunday

Location(s): NA

Noteworthy: I worked on Cafe Connections today. Will work on Donuts when I finish the first draft of this romance novel.

Money Spent: $0

Total time spent: 0 minutes

Total word count: 0 words

Day 23: 11/23/15, Monday

Location(s):

Noteworthy: I worked on Cafe Connections today. Will work on Donuts when I finish the first draft of this romance novel.

Money Spent: $0

Total time spent: 0 minutes

Total word count: 0 words

Day 24: 11/24/15, Tuesday

Location(s):

Noteworthy: I worked on Cafe Connections today. Will work on Donuts when I finish the first draft of this romance novel.

Money Spent: $0

Total time spent: 0 minutes

Total word count: 0 words

Day 25: 11/25/15, Wednesday

Location(s):

○ Early at work 7:30AM-8AM, 2063 words

○ After work 5PM-5:20PM, 1195 words

○ AFK in Renton 6:00PM-7:30PM. 4810 words

Noteworthy: Even though I’d spent a week off from writing this book, I was able to pick it right back up fresh in the morning

Money Spent: $16.14 on Sell Out Sliders and a wonderful artisan tea at the AFK

Total time spent: 2 hours and 20 minutes

Total word count: 8,068 words

Day 26: 11/26/15, Thursday

Location(s):

○ At home 10:15AM-12:00PM, 4133 words

Total time spent: 1 hour and 45 minutes

Total word count: 4,133 words

Day 27: 11/27/15, Friday

Location(s):

○ At home 9:45PM-10:00PM, 600 words

Total time spent: 15 minutes

Total word count: 600 words

Day 28: 11/28/15, Saturday

Location(s):

○ At home 10AM-10:15AM, 600 words

○ Neverending Bookstore 12:15PM-3PM, 3600 words

○ At home 4:20PM-4:50PM, 2566 words

○ St James Espresso 6:40PM-7:40PM, 2548 words

Noteworthy: I was pushing to finish the Pessimist Sees the Hole and worked hard to get to 50k in that book.

Money Spent: $3.23 for the special pumpkin white chocolate mocha from Brew in downtown Bothell and $3 ish for tea from St. James

Total time spent: 4 hours and 30 minutes

Total word count: 9,314 words

Nano November: Week three in Review – Word count:

November 23, 2015 by rachelauthorbarnard in For the Love of Donuts, Local Authors, Local Events, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard | 4 Comments

Total time spent: 7 hours and 40 minutes (460 minutes)

Total word count: 71,924 (30,262 in week 1 & 25,520 in week 2) for 16,143 new words in week 3

WIP Word Count Progress Reports:

The Optimist Sees the Donut – 43,591 words

The Pessimist Sees the Hole – 27,955 words

Café Connections (Aster & Tilde Book 1) – 46,000 (14,472 words week 2, 8,640 words week 1 of Nano and 12k in October)

Day 15: 11/15/15, Sunday
Location(s):
○ Daddy’s Donuts 8:20AM-9:10AM, 1762 words
○ CountrySide Donut House 9:30AM-10:45AM, 2547 words
○ Factory Donuts11AM-12:15PM, 1672 words
○ Neverending Bookstore 1:15PM-3PM, 2180 words
○ Top Pot – Bellevue 3:30PM-4:30PM, 2160 words
Total time spent: 6 hours and 5 minutes
Total word count: 10,322 words

Day 16: 11/16/15, Monday
Location(s):
○ Work 7:35AM -7:55AM, 1066 words
○ Work 12:40PM -12:50PM, 530 words
○ Spinderella before class 5:45P-5:55PM, 643 words
Total time spent: 40 minutes
Total word count: 2239 words

Day 17: 11/17/15, Tuesday
Location(s):
○ Work 7:35-8:15AM, 2484 words
○ Work during lunch 12:20 – 12:35, 1098 words
Total time spent: 1 hour 5 minutes
Total word count: 3582words

Day 18: 11/18/15, Wednesday
Location(s):
Noteworthy: I chose to spend today working on my romance novel after getting critiques yesterday from my group on an earlier chapter.
Total time spent: 0 time
Total word count: 0 words

Day 19: 11/19/15, Thursday
Location(s):
Noteworthy: I worked on my romance novel again! Doing super well on that novel and can’t “put it down.”
Total time spent: 0 time
Total word count: 0 words

Day 20: 11/20/15, Friday
Location(s):
Location(s):
Noteworthy: I worked on my romance novel again! Doing super well on that novel and can’t “put it down.”
Total time spent: 0 time
Total word count: 0 words

Day 21: 11/21/15, Saturday
Location(s):
Location(s):
Noteworthy: I worked on my romance novel again. I’ve decided to finish this book and then go back to donuts
Total time spent: 0 time
Total word count: 0 words

Rachel’s Wish List 2015-2016

November 22, 2015 by rachelauthorbarnard in At One's Beast, Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams, Rachel Barnard

A quirky author’s wish list…. Does this look familiar?

Indie Book recommendations
Kindle/Amazon gift cards
Tea bags (without cinnamon)
Purchases of my books and reviews for my books (Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams link) (At One’s Beast link)
Prepper food (such as the Alpine Aire diced apples) or Prepper items

Nano November: Week two in Review – Word count: 55,782

November 16, 2015 by rachelauthorbarnard in For the Love of Donuts, Local Authors, Local Events, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard

Total time spent: 14 hours and 20 minutes (860 minutes)

Total word count: 55,782 (30,262 in week 1) for 25,520 new words in week 2

To get to 50k words: 26 hours and 5 minutes or 1565 minutes at 32WPM

WIP Word Count Progress Reports:

The Optimist Sees the Donut – 43,591 words

The Pessimist Sees the Hole – 12,362 words

Café Connections (Aster & Tilde Book 1) – 35,112 (8,640 words week 1 of Nano and 12k in October) for 14,472 new words!

Day 8: 11/08/15, Sunday
Location(s):
○ At home 10AM – 10:45AM, 2097 words
○ Verne and Wells 12PM -1PM, 1550 words
○ At home 4PM – 4:20PM, 1200 words
Total time spent: 2 hours and 5 minutes
Total word count: 4847 words

Day 9: 11/09/15, Monday
Location(s):
○ At work early 7:25AM – 8AM, 1650 words
○ At home 8PM-9:45PM, 3400 words
Total time spent: 2 hour and 20 minutes
Total word count: 5050 words

Day 10: 11/10/15, Tuesday
Location(s):
○ Early at work 7:30AM – 8AM, 1250 words
○ Panera Issaquah 6PM – 7Pm, 945 words
Money Spent: Soba chicken noodle bowl and a bagel at Panera $11.25
Total time spent: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total word count: 2195 words

20151110_173352

Day 11: 11/11/15, Wednesday
Location(s):
○ Early at home 8:55AM – 9:30AM, 1787 words
○ St James 1:50PM- 3:30PM, 2804 words
○ Never Ending Bookstore write-in 4PM – 5:15PM, 2069 words
Noteworthy: I miscalculated my word count somewhere and was about 1000 words under what I had put online and had write like mad to get to 50k today.
Money Spent: St. James breakfast burrito and mocha $11.89
Total time spent: 3 hours 30 minutes
Total word count: 6660 words

20151111_135629

Day 12: 11/12/15, Thursday
Location(s):
○ Early at work 7:15AM – 8AM, 2145 words
○ During work lunch 12-12:10PM, 548 words
○ Work 5:10PM – 5:25 PM, 949 words
Total time spent: 1 hour and 10 minutes
Total word count: 3642 words

Day 13: 11/13/15, Friday
Location(s):
○ Early at work 7:45AM – 8:00AM, 840 words
○ Fall City Roadhouse Write-in 5:30PM-9PM, 1186 words
Noteworthy: Won a game challenge (4″ funky mirror disco ball) where I had to write in a specific set of words in a short amount of time, the Stayin’ Alive Game
Money Spent: Fall City Roadhouse $45 for two: pulled pork sandwich, fish and chips, coke, hot chocolate
Total time spent: 3 hours and 45 minutes
Total word count: 2026 words

unnamed unnamed (2)

Day 14: 11/14/15, Saturday
Location(s):
○ Home
○ Neverending Bookstore Write in
Noteworthy: Instead of starting in on Pessimist, I changed gears and worked on Café Connections (Aster & Tilde Book 1) my romance story and wrote 9k words today at home and at the Neverending Bookstore write in.
Total time spent: NA
Total word count: NA

Nano November: Day of Donuts Halfway Hustle – 10,321 new words!

November 16, 2015 by rachelauthorbarnard in For the Love of Donuts, Local Eats, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard and tagged Countryside Donut, Daddy's Donuts, Donuts, Factory Donuts, Sunrise Donuts, Top Pot Bellevue, Westernco Donuts

Here are my spoils left at the end of the day:

20151115_174901

Daddy’s Donuts – open 8am – 7pm Sunday November 15th

Address: 7018 NE Bothell Way, Kenmore Wa 98028

Writing Time: 8:20AM – 9:10AM

Words written: 1,762

20151115_081706

Daddy’s is a small little place with a plethora of donut signs indicating the little house actually sells donuts. They specialize in mini donuts that rival Pike’s Place mini donut vendor. They are fresh and not bogged down in oil. Unlike Pike’s, I could eat a dozen of these babies without feeling sick. They are like cake and I loved every bite of them. Prices are decent, but don’t come if you want a donut as big as your fist. They are mini, they are lovely, and the employees are bright and helpful.

20151115_081918

Sampled/Money spent: $9.32 for the straw-bella and the plain and $1.64 for a 8 oz. hot chocolate

CountrySide Donut House – open 5:30am – 3pm Sunday November 15th

Address: 10032 Main St, Bothell, WA 98011

Writing Time: 9:30AM – 10:45AM

Words written: 2,547

20151115_092525

It’s cold in here, the double doors let out any heat that comes from the back, if there is any. The donuts are displayed prominently, proudly in a large display that you see as soon as you step inside. The most popular is the maple bar, hands down but I was more intrigued by the cinnamon roll. They only take cash and checks (who still takes checks? Who would write a check for donuts?) The worker was short and snappy behind the counter, making sure he moved the customers along and that no line developed. There’s almost no standing room.

20151115_092502

Sampled/Money Spent: $2.20 for a french cruller (one of my favorites) and a cinnamon roll donut.

Factory Donuts – open 5AM-2PM Sunday November 15th

Address: 12505 NE 144th St., Kirkland, WA 98034

Writing Time: 11AM – 12:15PM

Words written: 1672

20151115_105701

Why are donut houses so cold? I’ve been here before. You can’t go wrong with a croissant and as much as I like odnuts I was glad for the change. It was very delicious and I ate it up! The lady behind the counter is hilarious with a great sense of humor.

20151115_105719

Sampled/Money spent: Apple fritter and ham & Cheese croissant $4.11

Sunrise Donuts & Espresso – open 6AM – 2PM Sunday November 15th

Address: 7299 West Lake Sammamish Pkwy NE, Redmond, WA 98052

Writing Time: 12:30 – 1:45PM planned, showed up at 12:15PM to see the closed sign

Words written:

20151115_121634

Better get here early because by noon ish they were closed for lack of inventory.

Money Spent/Sampled: none

Westernco – Bellevue – open 4AM – 5:30PM Sunday November 15th

Address: 1412 156th Ave NE., Bellevue, WA 98007

Writing Time: x, got my donuts and left because I was tired of being cold

Words written: 0

20151115_123547

Sampled/Money spent: $2.00 on a jelly donut and a custard donut.

I Decided I wanted a warmer writing place and hopped North to join my new favorite bookstore’s write in at Neverending Bookstore in Bothell.

Words written at the Neverending Bookstore with my apples: 2181

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Top Pot – Bellevue – open 7AM – 5:30PM Sunday November 15th

Address: 10600 NE 9th Place, Bellevue, WA 98004

Writing Time: 3:30PM – 4:30PM

Words written: 2160

20151115_152829

Money spent/Sampled: $2.18+3.82 for a regular old fashioned and a raspberry old fashioned.

20151115_152847

Decidedly the most open/most space/most expensive/least exciting donuts of the bunch. It’s hard to go wrong in Bellevue though and I was glad Sheri joined me!

Total donuts consumed: 13 mini donuts at Daddy’s, 1/2 French Cruller at CountrySide Donut House, 1 croissant ham n cheese sandwich at Factory Donuts, 3/4 Old Fashioned at Top Pot. Total words: 10,321. Total time: 7:30AM – 5:30PM from leaving my house to getting back to my house.

Foodie Fridays: Want to Eat Donuts and Write with Me?? Sunday 11/15 Day of Donuts Halfway Hustle WA

November 13, 2015 by rachelauthorbarnard in For the Love of Donuts, Local Authors, Local Eats, Local Events, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard

Join me in my halfway hustle nano journey from Bothell to Bellevue this Sunday!

crest-05e1a637392425b4d5225780797e5a76 Untitled picture

Here’s my schedule:

Daddy’s Donuts – open 8am – 7pm

Address: 7018 NE Bothell Way, Kenmore Wa 98028

Writing Time: 8AM – 9:15AM

CountrySide Donut House – open 5:30am – 3pm

Address: 10032 Main St, Bothell, WA 98011

Writing Time: 9:30AM – 10:45AM

Factory Donuts – open 5AM-2PM

Address: 12505 NE 144th St., Kirkland, WA 98034

Writing Time: 11AM – 12:15PM

Sunrise Donuts & Espresso – open 6AM – 2PM

Address: 7299 West Lake Sammamish Pkwy NE, Redmond, WA 98052

Writing Time: 12:30 – 1:45PM

Westernco – Bellevue – open 4AM – 5:30PM

Address: 1412 156th Ave NE., Bellevue, WA 98007

Writing Time: 2PM – 3:15PM

Top Pot – Bellevue – open 7AM – 5:30PM

Address: 10600 NE 9th Place, Bellevue, WA 98004

Writing Time: 3:30PM – 5PM

What are your Nano plans for the halfway mark?

Nano November: Week one in Review – Nano Word count: 30,262

November 9, 2015 by rachelauthorbarnard in For the Love of Donuts, Local Authors, Local Events, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard | 4 Comments

Total time spent: 16 hours and 40 minutes (1000 minutes)

Total word count: 30,262

Words per minute: 30.26 WPM

What a busy first week!

WIP Word Count Progress Reports:

The Optimist Sees the Donut – 18,721 words

The Pessimist Sees the Hole – 11,265 words

Café Connections (Aster & Tilde Book 1) – 20,640 words (12k of this written in October)

Day 1: 11/01/15, Sunday
Location(s):
• Seattle Region Kickoff St. James Espresso in Kirkland 10PM-11PM Oct 31st,
• At Home – morning (2773 words from 8:30AM – 10AM), evening and night (5:30PM -8PM for 4271 words)
• North Bend/Snoqualmie Region re-Kickoff Time Warp Write-in at Fall City Roadhouse 11:30AM-1PM, for 1520 words
• Seattle Region Verne and Wells 2:30PM-3:30PM for 1441 words
Noteworthy: Food poisoning had me abandoning the Seattle kickoff party early, but with the time change I was off to an early jumpstart the next morning and with multiple write-ins was able to round out my word count for the day.
Money spent: AFK: $17.20 for Bruschetta Cucco Panini and tots, Roadhouse: $18.44 for ricotta pancakes and OJ
Total time spent: 6 hours, 30 minutes
Total word count: 10,005

Day 2: 11/02/15, Monday
Location(s):
• Early at work 7:30AM – 8AM, 1k words
• At home 8PM – 8:45PM, 1004 words
Total time spent: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Total word count: 2104 words

Day 3: 11/03/15, Tuesday
Location(s):
• Early at work 7:20AM – 7:50AM, 1546 words
• Lunchtime at work 11:45AM-12:15PM, 983 words
• At Costco waiting for my new tires to be put on 7PM-7:45PM, 1425 words
Total time spent: 1 hour 45 minutes
Total word count: 3954 words

Day 4: 11/04/15, Wednesday
Location(s):
• Early at work 7:30AM – 8AM, 1391 words
• Neverending Bookstore write in 5PM – 5:40PM, 1500 words
Total time spent: 1 hour 10 minutes
Total word count: 2891 words

Day 5: 11/05/15, Thursday
Location(s):
• Early at work 7:20AM -7:50AM, 1148 words
• Spotted Cow 6:15PM – 7:45PM, 1683 words
Money spent: Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Gelato $3.50 from the Spotted Cow
Total time spent: 2 hours
Total word count: 2831 words

Day 6: 11/06/15, Friday
Location(s):
• Early at work 7:50AM -8AM, 698 words
• At home 7:40PM – 8:30PM, 2507 words
Total time spent: 1 hour
Total word count: 3205 words

Day 7: 11/07/15, Saturday
Location(s):
• Never ending bookstore write in 1-3PM, 3264 words
• St. James Espresso write in 6:30PM – 7:30PM, 1998 words
Money spent: Brew in Bothell peach and raspberry smoothie for $3.56 12 oz. and St. James chai tea latte for $4.25
Total time spent: 3 hours
Total word count: 5262 words

Nano November: How Do You Outline?

October 26, 2015 by rachelauthorbarnard in For the Love of Donuts, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard and tagged Donuts in an Empty Field, The Optimist Sees the Donut, The Pessimist Sees the Hole | 3 Comments

I’m planning on writing two novels during this year’s NaNoWriMo Challenge because a. why not? b. I like a good challenge, and c. I already promised on my website the publication dates for the three novels in my For the Love of Donuts Series and I’ve only written one book so far.

I didn’t outline Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1) because I had planned up until the first day of nano to write “The Geocache Killer” but felt I was not ready (I’ve never written a thriller or mystery and I didn’t properly outline or plan that novel). I’ve always wanted to write about my life and I had great ideas for a fictionalized version of my best high school moments with my then best friend and the Donuts Series was born.

This nano is different. I need to plan. I need to outline. I’ve written approximately 6,500 words of outline for both novels and my story summary has come along quite nicely as well.

Here is how I outline…

I start with my basic story premise or my longer than it should be elevator pitch with the basic meat of the story and then I work up the main elements of the story from there. I then fill this type of chart out like so for each chapter. To have two stories running parallel, when I started the second outline I did a lot of referencing to the other book’s outline:

Chapter: 1, the Optimist Sees the Donut – Nichole’s Story
Characters: Nichole, Nichole’s roomies
Location: Nichole’s shared home just outside the Sarasota ghetto (off of Central Ave, near their old high school – Booker)
Tension/Problem: Nichole is kicked out of her living space because she can’t pay rent.
Description: Nichole is short on rent this month (again) and her roomies have a community meeting where they have to kick her out if she can’t come up with the money that day. She claims she will get the money.
Don’t forget:
Ideas: flashback to Nichole getting kicked out of her mother’s home and why this happened, show her positivity and hope for striking out on her own and showing her mother and Vanessa that she can be independent and live her life the way she wants.

How do you outline?

Seattle Specific Saturdays: My Favorite Local Coffee Shop is Selling Great Books! St. James Espresso in Kirkland, WA

October 24, 2015 by rachelauthorbarnard in Free Valley Publishing, Local Authors, Local Eats, Rachel Barnard, Seattle Specific Saturdays and tagged Dawn of Steam, Dear Miklos, Jeffrey Cook, Likeness, Sheri J. Kennedy, Vanessa's Book of Awesome Things, Victoria Bastedo | 5 Comments

Support local!!! St. James Espresso has a duo of fantastic owners who give back to their community in many ways. Currently they are supporting multiple authors. You should check out the books and grab a cup of coffee or one of their to-die-for breakfast burritos (I’m serious, it was so good I’m giving up lunch and dinner forever). They are so much so my favorite coffee shop that I’m setting my next (after nanowrimo) novel in the Kirkland area and heavily featuring St. James in the story. Stay tuned for more info on that….

I really want you to check out the cafe and buy a book. Please, please! See our display?

If you are a Nanower, please feel free to exchange your duck at the “take a duck – leave a duck” basket that I’ve set up on the main table. The four fiction novels featured in our display were all nano novels and if you are a fellow writer, I encourage you to support other authors. There is also the lovely FreeValley Publishing anthology and a fun short book of challenges. See below for more information.