B is for Brewing

I love brewing. I started home brewing beer and mead about eight years ago after buying a starter kit for $100 and The Joy of Homebrewing (THE brewing book) on Amazon. Having no clue what I was doing, I threw a bunch of ingredients together and voila--I had 50 bottles of a Not-So Bad Nut Brown. Amazing. I've been hooked every since.

Brewing is actually really easy--much easier than I thought it would be. Not only is it enjoyable, but with the rising price of beer and mead, fairly economical as well. Most five gallon batches run about $35-$60 for ingredients and yield around 50 bottles of beer.  Of course--economy isn't the reason I do it. What I love is creating recipes and learning the how and why of what makes certain beers taste certain ways. Other homebrewers I've met love the chemistry of it--making as clear a beer as possible.

Just like most hobbies--there is this whole subculture of homebrewers. There are organizations and websites and competitions and blogs. And suddenly you find yourself at parties discussing hops and wort chillers for two hours.

Any other brewers out there? What have you got cookin'?

And so it begins---A is for authentic

What does authentic really mean? I've been debating this lately as I've been coming back into blogging. I became rather tired of blogging because I didn't feel like my blog really reflected me--my own personality and spirit of character. I mean seriously--why can't I design a blog without flowers all over it? I'm not a very flowery person in real life. Flowers are cool, and I plant them every year, but I've never felt the need to bedeck myself with flowers like I do to blog pages.

So what does it mean to be an authentic blogger? Creating a blog is like creating a voice for a novel--focusing on those fabulous details that breathe life into a character. A blog is also about the details--the way that titles are created, the information in the sidebars, the overall look of the thing.

I don't feel like my blog represents me. I'd say I'm more 60% 'the real deal'. So my goal for A-Z is to redesign myself--day by day. And at the end, I hope that when I look at my pages, I see more of myself in them.

Does your blog reflect who you are?

Road Trip Wednesday is a blog carnival where YA Highway's readers post answers to weekly questions.

This week's question: What was the best book you read in February?

I beta read two novels and am working on finishing two more--so I didn't do a lot of other reading for the month.

However, I was completely swept away by one novel, taking me away from all that I was supposed to be doing....

I so loved The Dark and Hallow Places--the third in Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth Series. While I enjoyed the others--this is the one that swallowed me whole. 

Goodreads summary

Have you read it? What did you think?