White Peony Master Grade White Tea

Welcome to this month’s Freelance Article Round-Up! And a belated Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans and others who celebrate the holiday. I hope your travels were safe and smooth, and you enjoyed platefuls of delicious food and good company.

November turned out to be quite exciting, so I’ll start off with the new venture that launched a couple weeks ago.

DIY MFA

This month I joined the staff of DIY MFA for their new column Theme: A Story’s Soul. The ongoing series will explore the importance and wide variety of themes in literature, and how readers and writers alike can think about theme more consciously. Click here to read the column’s introductory article, “What Is Theme and Why Is It Important?”

Tea Time at Reverie (Tea Reviews)

Two more tea reviews went live at A Bibliophile’s Reverie this past month. Here are the links again, in case you missed them:

What’s Coming in December

Currently I’m drafting my next article for DIY MFA, which will cover how to identify a novel’s possible themes by studying the book’s title and jacket copy. My next tea review for A Bibliophile’s Reverie should be online in the next week or so. It’s on a bold, complex black tea that’s wonderful for this time of year. I’ve also picked out my next tea to review, an invigorating herbal / floral blend.

Other Happenings

The fantasy WIP passed 100,000 yesterday! (YIKES.) Now I’m due to write the next Chronicling The Craft – and since this one celebrates another 25,000-word milestone, it means another reveal from the story. 😉 As for the novel itself, I’m definitely going to overshoot my word count goal of 115,000… so I’ll just continue following my outline until it’s done. Here’s hoping January or February will be the golden month!

What else for the blog? I’ll have a new author interview here during the first week of December (yay!), and I’ve yet to start a review of Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina. And since 2014 is almost over, I also need to get cracking on my end-of-year lists for music and possibly one for books. So, I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me this month.

Offline and apart from creative projects, November has been absolutely nutty. Lots of holiday preparations, Christmas shopping (I have to do a lot of it early due to December birthdays and out-of-state gift-giving), and simply trying to stay on top of everything else. I’ll be relieved once the end of the December has come and I can relax a little.

Since New Years Eve will be a busy night, I’ll post the next Freelance Article Round-Up on Tuesday, December 30^th. Lots will be going on here between now and then, so I hope to see you here again! 🙂

I’ve found a gem of an unflavored white tea! With notes of flowers, almond, and caramel, Yezi Tea’s Master Grade White Peony (Bai Mu Dan) White Tea is light and refined, a cup of liquid harmony. But of course, you’d like the longer version, right? Then I encourage you to check out my latest tea review at A Bibliophile’s Reverie!

A Bibliophile's Reverie

After some brisk and flavorful brews for the past few Tea Times, it’s time for something more delicate. So, I went through my Yezi Tea samples and decided on their White Peony Master Grade White Tea. This brand of White Peony (also known as Bai Mu Dan) is grown in the Jian’ou County of China’s Fujian province and harvested during the spring. The young leaves are then gently dried in the sun on bamboo trays. No doubt this process – plus the fact that white tea isn’t oxidized like black, oolong, and green teas are – gives this tea its celebrated delicate aroma and flavor. The Master Grade level also indicates the highest possible quality for a White Peony tea. So, let’s have a cup or two (or three) of White Peony together, shall we?

The Basics