Hilary Van Hoose
@hilaryvh
TV Writer for Nickelodeon, TeamTO & a couple still under NDA 📖Freelance Journalist 📜Disability Belongs Fellow 🏆NBC fellowship SF 🦄Children’s Media Assoc. volunteer 🎓TV/Film MFA from USC
Came up with a new idea to give my casseroles a different flavor: topping them with stir fry and cheese.
Picked up a great tip about querying magazine articles from a writing class and wanted to share: Make the opening hook of the query match that of the intended article, and base the style on the publication’s existing articles. Seems obvious once someone tells you, right?
Baked a pan of chocolate chip rolls (basically cinnamon rolls, but with cocoa/chocolate chip filling and chocolate icing). They are ULTRA chocolatey!
I took a free Introduction to Picture Books workshop course through UCLA Extension and highly recommend it for other people who know basically nothing but want to get rolling. After 3 hours I had written a very short manuscript and even got it critiqued!
Got to the actual science part of the science fiction story I’m writing and realized I had to pick and choose how much detail to go into to still be exploring a cool idea but not losing the reader by lecturing or bringing the story to a halt just so I could go over the mechanics of each aspect.
Decided to try my hand at monkey bread. This recipe was slightly chewier than I was hoping for, but still delicious.
My next thought was that he’s not only a gadabout and a flâneur through the paths of history, but also a storyteller & mentor. I drew from some favorite story framers from shows like Papa Beaver’s Story Time, Little Bear, and Stillwater; and thought about how they made me feel as their audience. 2/3
Sharing some of my thought process about developing my feline protagonist for The Cat of Versailles (the chapter book I’m querying). First, I instantly knew he’d partly be an homage to the flamboyant speaking style and charming/charismatic characters embodied by French actor Maurice Chevalier. 1/3
Been looking back at what inspired the #KidLit chapter book I #AmQuerying this year, and realized it’s more than a decade since the story began to take shape during a study abroad program. Here’s the first pic I took in the gardens at the palace of Versailles, where much of the book takes place.
Successful banana yeast bread made in a bread machine. Interestingly, it starts tasting more like honey bread after a day or so. 🍌🍞
Steam rising off one of the apple pies I made for Father’s Day yesterday.
Baked a pumpkin pie with olive oil crust for Father’s Day. Working on apple next…
Made some custom chocolate Easter bunnies filled with crushed cookies, sprinkles, and nuts.
Forgot to post a pic of the orange zest cake I baked a couple of weeks ago. I tried out a flower piping tip for the first time, but I made the frosting a little too soft so the shapes didn’t hold. Still not bad looking for a test run though, if I do say so myself.
Excited to be a Children’s Media Association mentor for the first time! After being a mentee and a volunteer in past years, it’ll be fun to help a newcomer grow as a kids’ screenwriter! Thanks to CMA for inviting me!
Happy Valentine’s Day, all! 💕🍰 You know how much I love to bake, so I made a traditional Waldorf red velvet cake with ermine frosting for the occasion.