Category: Uncategorized

Sick day

Looks as if this weekend’s festivities proved too much for my delicate constitution.  I woke this morning sick 😦

Stuck in bed with only Mr. Ramses for company, I’m taking advantage of the imposed quiet time to catch up on all the work I’ve been ignoring the last few days.

8 (of 20) research papers remain to be graded for my Ancient Mesoamerica class.  Final grades need calculating.  I may spend some time with the book I received at our holiday party yesterday (“How Soccer Explains the World”).  And, of course, progress on the second draft of ABSENT must be made.

While I’ve been actively pretending the papers in need of grading do not exist, I’ve made good strides on the novel draft.  I’ve revised the first third of the book quite thoroughly and am generally really pleased with the results.  I dive now into the treacherous, ever-shifting ground of the novel’s dreaded middle when the characters find themselves marooned in Ice Age Wyoming.

I’d best get done what I can today, as tomorrow looms the dreaded final exam in my World Prehistory class.  I’ll then have 80 exams to grade and likely little time to write till they’re done.  Then it’s off to Seattle for the holidays with family and then to the Napa Valley for a long overdue vacation with the hubs.

What are you up to as the days of December dwindle?  How will you be spending the last minutes and hours of 2011?

Writer’s Workspace: 12/12

Good morning!  Welcome to this writer’s workspace.  Here’s what’s happening liiiiiiiiiiiiiive at Miranda’s desk:

What I’m working on:  now that the semester is nearly over, I’m beginning to find a bit more time to write.  Two things are on the table at the moment:  the ongoing revisions to the 2nd draft of ABSENT and outlining for my next novel, tentatively titled TROLL UNDER THE BRIDGE.  It’s exciting to be emerging from under the pile of lectures, exams, and papers and starting to refocus on my writing.  Here’s an excerpt from ABSENT for your reading pleasure:

Snippet from the screen: “Nick hunched at his desk.  A half-eaten egg-and-cheese congealed nearby in its wrapper.  It was late on Tuesday afternoon; late enough that the streets outside the precinct would be painted with long, reaching shadows; late enough that Happy Hour couldn’t be far off.  Nick glared at the burned, acid-smelling cup of coffee stagnating in his fist and considered how much better a shot of whiskey would taste.”

On the iTunes: Okay, admitting this is admitting that I (occasionally) watch Glee…but I really like their recent re-imagining of the 80’s classic “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”.  It’s slow and mournful and really like a whole new song.  I’ve been playing it a lot, I confess.

In my mug: Numi Organic Breakfast.

Keeping me company:  Since there is construction going on in the apartment upstairs from ours, Mr. Ramses has spent most of his time hiding in dark corners and shooting truly pitiful looks at anyone who happens to stumble upon him.  So, no company for me today.  The construction is loud and distracting, but the upshot is that the building developer is letting me use an unsold, staged apartment in another building as a hide-out while the work is going on.  It’s cool – kind of like squatting, but in a really fancy house.  Best of all, because the units aren’t sold yet, there’s no internet to distract me.  In fact…I think maybe I’d better head over there right now 😉

A little procrastination never hurt anyone:  before I go, I have two links to share.  First off, the New York Times posted an article yesterday about these amazing photographs by French photographer Cédric Delsaux.  They portray industrial landscapes with a post-apocalyptic feel superimposed with images from Star Wars.  So Cool.  In a more writerly/readerly vein, check out my friend Cath’s list of her favorite books of 2011.

Okay.  Miranda Out.

Food for Thought: Homemade Pizza

Second in my “food for thought” series, I offer a recipe and instructions (that even the most timid cook can follow) to prepare delicious homemade pizza.  For this recipe, the dough (though easy to assemble) takes an hour to rise  —  the perfect amount of time for a quick session of writing or editing!

HOMEMADE PIZZA

serves 2 (recipe can be easily doubled or trebled). allow 2 hours for start to finish preparation

The first thing to do is make your dough.

Everyone seems so intimidated by the idea of making homemade pizza dough, but its honestly incredibly easy.

Step 1: preheat your oven about as high as it will go – 475 is good.  If you have a pizza stone, be sure it’s in the oven heating up too.  You want the oven preheating for at least an hour to get good and hot.

Step 2: get out a nice, large mixing bowl and put 1/2 cup of hot water in it.  Sprinkle 1/2 a package of active dry yeast onto the water and let it sit until dissolved (a few minutes).  Swirl to incorporate the yeast and water.  Then add 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 cup flour, and 1 tbs olive oil.  Using a large, wooden spatula (or other favorite stirring device), stir these ingredients until wet, shiny, and smooth.  Gradually incorporate another 1 cup of flour.  The mixture should grow denser but still remain sticky and pliable.  Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface and kneed 2-3 minutes, adding additional flour as needed to keep the mass of dough soft and stretchy.

Spill a bit more olive oil back into your dirty mixing bowl, drop in the ball of dough, turning to coat, then cover it up with a towel and leave it in a warm spot (perhaps near your preheating oven) for 1 hour to rise.

While the dough is rising, go write!

Step 3: peek at the dough.  It should have doubled in size.  Punch it down and give it a few turns on the floured work surface to get it pliable again.  Get out a sheet of parchment paper, sprinkle it with a little flour, and roll the dough out on top of the parchment.  I like to curl the edges of the dough up a bit so the sauce doesn’t run out.  Easy!  Now you’re ready for toppings. 

Step 4: Sauce.  You can buy pre-made pizza sauce.  It’s fine.  You can also make your own very easily.  Run open a can of tomato sauce and pour it into a saucepot (I like to do this while the dough is rising).  Add some olive oil, salt, a tsp of sugar, and assorted dried herbs: oregano, basil, fennel seeds, and crushed red pepper.  Stir it up over medium heat.  Taste it.  Adjust to your liking.  Boom.  Done.

Spoon sauce onto the rolled dough and spread it around with the back of a spoon.  I like a thin but not pathetic coating.  If you like a lot of sauce, then put on a lot of sauce.  It’s your pizza!

Step 5: Toppings.  Okay, gospel from me to you:  buffalo mozzarella.  Use this stuff.  It’s like a present from god, I swear.  Way better than regular mozzarella (though the later will certainly work if you can’t get your hands on buffalo mozzarella).  Slice off some pieces of the mozzarella (you’ll need about 1 large ball per pizza) and space them out across the dough (they’ll expand a little as they melt).  As for the rest of the toppings, the sky is the limit.

My favorite combination is Speck (smoked prosciutto), little dribs of pesto, and caramelized onions (for the latter, save a bit of the reduced onions from your French Onion Soup preparations).  Artichoke hearts and goat cheese are a nice combination.  So are spicy Italian sausage crumbles and onions (and red pepper!).  When you’ve finished topping the pizza, be sure to grate a layer of fresh Parmesan cheese on top, sprinkle with kosher salt, fresh thyme leaves, and grind with fresh pepper.

Step 6: Baking.  If you’re using a pizza stone, you’ll need a pizza peel to transfer the pizza on parchment into the oven.  These items might seem like expensive, specialty goods…but once you become addicted to making pizza, you’ll want to do it all the time and having a stone & peel will be a good investment. 

While a pizza stone is the best way to end up with a crispy crust, if you don’t own one, you can use a regular pizza pan or cookie sheet just as well.  Carefully slide the parchment onto the pizza pan/sheet and put it in the oven.  You should cook the pizza at a very hot temperature (at least 400, 475 is better) for 14-16 minutes to allow the crust to get crispy and everything on top to get bubbling and awesome.

You can eat the pizza with a salad, but really…pizza stands alone in its awesomeness and needs no accompaniment.

Bon Appetit – and please let me know if you try the recipe!

Where are the brakes on this thing?

Once, when I was little, I was involved in a Go-Cart accident.  We got going too fast and careened unstoppable down a cement driveway towards the bed of a parked pickup truck–one just the right height for decapitating foolish children.  The cart flipped over at the last minute, leaving us bruised and scraped but otherwise with heads still firmly afixed to our bodies.

The tale, of course, has grown over time — grander, more dramatic, gorier — but, in truth, all I really remember was a sense of helplessness as I realized the brakes weren’t working and a bracing, jittery wave of adrenaline sweeping all my fear away.

That’s a pretty good way to describe the last few weeks of the semester, too.  Go-Cart.  No brakes.  A stew of helplessness and adrenaline.

One week of classes remains, including only one more unfinished lecture (thank every god in every pantheon in all the world!).  Then I’ve got 80 final exams and 20 final papers to grade.  And then I can get out the BandAids (aka a big cup of spiked eggnog) and patch up.

It’s been a pretty nutso few months, and my writing (as well as my poor, sad blog) has suffered.  In a way, though, the compression of writing time I’ve experienced this semester has helped my focus.  When I do have a few minutes or (gasp!) an hour to devote to writing, I find I’m really zooming in, working on specific chapters and passages in a very detailed, thoughtful way.  Word count has remained low, but I think what I’m producing is better overall.

Once the semester ends, though, I want to overhaul my writing practices to maximize for both productivity and quality.  I recently read a post from Rachel Aaron’s “Pretentious Title” blog that had a couple of really interesting suggestions for techniques to increase output – ways to work both faster and smarter.

In short, they include brief planning sessions before sitting down to write each day (know what you’re going to write, specifically rather than generally, before you begin), tracking your writing (when, how much, what, where, output) for a few weeks to learn when and how you write best, and finding enthusiasm for everything you write (not just the best bits) by honing in on “boring” sections and excising or transforming them.  I plan to implement her suggestions in a few weeks and will be sure to report back in the new year.

So, that’s what’s going on in Miranda-landia.  What about you, dear Reader?  Busy?  Relaxed?  Productive as an bee in a hive or currently hibernating?  Share your doings in the comments, please!

Miranda’s Holiday Reading Guide

Well, according to our Corporate Overlords, now that Thanksgiving is over it’s time to begin the Annual Holiday Buying of Things We Can’t Afford.  Perhaps a better approach is to buy things we can afford – such as books!  In support of the myriad joys of the written word, I’ve put together my must-have, must-read list.  Whether given as a gift or devoured yourself during whatever leisure time your holidays provide, here are 9 fabulous books that will (hopefully) keep your holidays merry.

In no particular order, consider:

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay.  Under Heaven is lyrical, epic fantasy at its best.  Though, really, Under Heaven is best described not as fantasy, but as historical fiction about a world that just happens to be invented.  Guy Gavriel Kay masterfully tells a sweeping, historical tale through the eyes of the individuals caught up in it’s unfolding.  There’s very little magic and no mythical creatures, just beautiful writing, an intricate plot, and fascinating characters that benefit greatly from the author’s detailed research on the Tang Dynasty.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.  Anna Dressed in Blood is that most delightful of combinations:  a horror/love story.  By turns a thrilling, twisty page turner and a chilling Gothic consideration of what it is to become enamored with death, Anna Dressed in Blood pits Cas, a young man who hunts vengeful spirits, against Anna, a murdered girl turned murderous ghost.  But as the plot unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that Anna isn’t the ghost Cas should really be afraid of.  Set against the backdrop of a Canadian winter, this story of love against all odds is both scary and endearing.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.  Lonesome Dove is a classic tale of the American West and hands-down my favorite book of all time.  If you’ve read it, isn’t it time for a re-read?  And if you haven’t…well, do yourself a favor and rectify that.  Sad, beautiful, and funny, Lonesome Dove also boasts one of the best characters of all time:  the life-loving, philosophical cowboy, Augustus McCrae.

His Good Opinion by Nancy Kelley.  His Good Opinion is definitely one for the Jane Austen fans out there.  It tells the story of Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy’s point of view.  Kelley does a great job of staying true to the mood of the Recency period and hews close to the original story.  It’s quite fun to see the tale turned on its head and follow the many misunderstandings between Elizabeth and Darcy from the latter’s point of view.

The Downside Series by Stacia Kane.  Consisting of 3 books (with a 4th out in March 2012), Unholy Ghosts, Unholy Magic, and City of Ghosts, offer the reader a flawed but loyal heroine, Chess Putman.  An agent of the Church of Real Truth, Chess uses her skills as a ghost hunter to try and make the urban underbelly in which she lives a safer (or at least a less haunted) place.  Complications include her struggle with drug addiction, a love triangle with a gang leader and his rival’s enforcer (rather awesomely named Terrible), and Chess’s attempts to reconcile her calling in the Church of Real Truth with her seedy life in Downside.  This series is well-written and different from most Urban Fantasy fare.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.  Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is probably the most inventive, compelling book I’ve read this year.  My only complaint would be the current lack of a published sequel.  Coming of age.  Monsters.  Heroism.  Difficult choices.  A moody setting.  Great writing – and all inspired by the creepiest, coolest set of old-fashioned photographs I’ve ever seen.

The Breakout Novelist by Donald Maass.  Of all the “craft of writing” books I’ve read and used, The Breakout Novelist is my favorite.  Maass gives you both the big picture and the small, providing overarching commentary on what makes plot, structure, and characters work while also offering exercises you can apply to your own works in progress.  Practical and useful.

So, those are my suggestions…but what about you?  What books would you recommend for holiday readers and shoppers?  What are your favorites from 2011?  What are your favorites of all time?  Share the love, folks!

Giving thanks

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, and taking a cue from a meme going round on the blogs (I’m looking at you, John Scalzi), I thought I’d share a few things for which I am now, and will always be, grateful.

1. Feminism.  Without which I’d have a lot fewer choices.

2. Airbags.  Without which I would have died at the age of 21, on Father’s Day, on I-5, about 30 minutes outside of Seattle.

3. My spectacles.  Without which I would have lost the evolutionary struggle for survival.

4. My family.  Without whom I would be nothing and without which my life would be the poorer.  And a special shout-out to my husband, without whom I would be an unhappily unmarried handful rather than a happily married handful 🙂

That’s my list.

What are you thankful for?

Keep the pages turning

Chuck Wendig, author of the addictive, raunchy blog Terrible Minds wrote recently about story elements that keep the pages turning.  It got me thinking.  When I read, what is the #1 most important thing I look for in a book?  What will keep me engrossed way after it’s time to stop and cook dinner?  What will keep me up late at night, leaning close to the bedside lamp?

Well…there are a number of things that I value in a book.

Really beautiful writing, for instance.  Or maybe a fast, twisty-crazy plot.  Classic genre tropes given new life are a favorite, as are classic genre tropes done really, really well.  Darkness, danger, and protagonist imperilment can hook me, as can books that combine a romping story with a larger message.

But the one thing that will grab me, pull me in, and drag me along – no matter how many of those other elements are lacking – is a compelling character.  I’ll read just about anything that features a great character.  If I care about the protagonist (or the antagonist, or even a prominently featured secondary character), I’ll follow them through a sea of bad writing, cliched plotlines, dragging narration, or message-less brain candy — anywhere, just as long as I can get more of their thoughts, words, actions, and reactions.  Show me the world through the eyes of someone interesting.

Give me Anya Balanchine in all these things i’ve done, Augustus McCrae in Lonesome Dove, Tyrion Lannister in the Songs of Ice & Fire series, Samwise and Gandalf in LOTR, Jane Eyre, or Humbert Humbert from Lolita.  Give me Chess Putnam and Sookie Stackhouse.  Hell, they don’t even have to be human.  Give me Fiver and Hazel in Watership Down.  Give me good characters and I’ll read every last word you have to write about them.  That’s a promise.

So, that’s it for me.  Characters.

How about you?  What element do you find the most compelling when you read?  What do you look for in a good book?  Do tell.  Writers everywhere want to know 🙂

Food for Thought: French Onion Soup

Every labor requires proper sustenance and nourishment.  Writing is no exception.  Cooking and writing, in fact, share many qualities in common:  understanding and breaking rules, developing things (flavor, characters), creativity, inspiration, starting with good ingredients, and the need for practice and time to achieve a quality product.

Before I knew I loved to write, I knew I loved to cook.  The conjuration of something complex and soul-satisfying out of disparate ingredients, and the way food brings people together, nourishing so much more than just our bodies, has always given me a deep, abiding sense of pleasure.

When we write, fueling ourselves mentally and physically is important.  Many, though, are intimidated by the kitchen and it’s mysteries.  In an effort at demystification, I’ve decided to share the occasional recipe (with pictures and instructions) here on the blog.

To kick off my “food for thought” series, I thought I’d start with one of my favorites:  French Onion Soup.  This recipe takes a lot of time, but very little active involvement; the stove does most of the work for you.  As such, it’s a great dish to prepare while you’re attempting a writing marathon on a sleepy weekend afternoon.

FRENCH ONION SOUP (recipe adapted from Thomas Keller’s BOUCHON cookbook)

Serves 4.  Allow 4-6 hours for preparation.

Begin with a bunch of nice, juicy onions.  I usually use 3-4, depending on their size.  Some people swear by red onions, others white.  I like a mix.  Be sure to grab sweet ones if they’re available (Walla Wallas, for instance).  But, really, any nice looking onions will do.

Step 1: Slice your onions.  There are a couple of tricks to keep in mind here.  First, the sharper your knife, the less you’ll cry :).  Cut cleanly and quickly for minimum tears.  Still, this part requires a little fortitude, because if your onions are fresh, they are sure as hell going to make you cry.  I start by cutting off the ends and peeling the onions.  Then slice the onion in half and use the ribs as a cutting guide (cut down along the ribs for slices of even thickness).  This is important when browning (if the slices are all different thicknesses, the onions will brown unevenly).

Once your onions are ready to go, you’ll want to begin the long, slow task of reducing them to a caramely puddle of goodness.

Step 2: melt 4 TBS unsalted butter in a large, heavy skillet along with 1 TBS fresh thyme leaves.  Use medium-low heat.  Add the onions and about 2 TSP kosher salt.  I find tongs helpful for gently tossing the onions with the melted butter, thyme, and salt.  Let this cook uncovered for about 15 minutes.

Prepare a paper lid for the skillet using parchment paper.  Cut a piece of parchment large enough to cover the entire surface of the skillet.  Fold it in half, and then in half again, and snip off the corner.  When unfolded, this will create a small, centrally located hole from which steam can escape.  Place the parchment lid over the onions in the skillet and reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting.

Cook the onions, covered, for 3-4 hours.  Every 20 minutes or so, remove the lid and gently stir the onions, making sure they don’t brown too quickly.  The idea here is make sure that the onions caramelize naturally, reducing down, giving up their liquids, and concentrating their sugars.  Meanwhile, go write.  Let the onions do their thing.

Eventually, they should begin to look something like this:

See, dark and gorgeous.

Be sure to keep cooking them down until they are nice and caramelized — if they reduce into a gooey puddle, so much the better!  The dark color is what’s going to give your soup all that lovely, umani flavor.

Okay, so, now you’ve gotten your onions browned and your house has started to attract the attention of hungry neighbors.  You’re almost there!

Step 3:  Increase the heat on your skillet to medium and sprinkle 1 TBS flour on the onions.  Using your tongs, or a spatula, saute the onions with the flour for about 3-5 minutes (to allow the flour to cook).  Then add 1 cup water to the skillet, scraping up the browned bits from the pan and creating a base broth.  Once you’ve captured all the flavorful morsels from the skillet bottom, begin adding water until your skillet is more or less full (you’ll want about 6-8 cups water total).  At this point you’ll also need to add 3-4 TBS demi glace.

You may notice I’m giving you lots of approximations.  Unless you’re baking, cooking is as much art as science.  Taste.  Look.  Smell.  Use your judgement.  I trust you.  Add as much demi glace as you think you need for a flavorful broth.

Demi glace can be purchased at most grocery stores and is, essentially, reduced stock.  You can use chicken, veal, or beef to equally delicious effect.  I like the “More than Gourmet” brand.

Let the demi glace melt into the liquid and stir gently to incorporate everything together.  Also add 2 TSP fresh thyme and 8 whole peppercorns.  Bring the whole mixture to a boil and then reduce to a gentle simmer.  Let the soup cook for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to marry together.  Season to taste with more salt.  You’ll probably need at least 2-3 TSP, if not more.  Don’t be shy.  Salt enhances the flavors of the other ingredients.  Sort of like magic.  A splash of balsamic vinegar can also be used to bring out a little more sweet, tart flavor in the broth.  Acids, like vinegar, are often an important addition near the end of cooking a savory dish.  Add at your discretion.

Remove the soup from the heat and let sit in the skillet until cool.  As awesome as this soup is when freshly made, it’s actually even better if you can wait a day.  If you have this sort of restraint, go ahead and put the soup in the fridge and chill it overnight.  If not, proceed immediately to Step 4…

Step 4:  Prepare croutons and slice your cheese.  For the croutons, start with a French baguette.  In this case, day old is better than fresh.  Slice it into 3/4 inch rounds and dip each round in olive oil (both sides).  Sprinkle the rounds with salt.  Put them on a cookie sheet and broil them until they are a light golden brown on both sides.  Watch these babies carefully, as it’s easy to forget about them and end up with charcoal and a screaming fire alarm 🙂

For the cheese, you can use the classic, Comte.  This is a lovely, mild, Swiss cheese.  You can also use Gruyere, a stronger flavored cheese that is otherwise quite similar to Comte.  You’ll want good, thick slices of cheese to cover the entire top of the bowl, so be sure to get sufficient cheese.

Slice your cheese about 1/4 inch thick, as seen here:

Step 5:  Gently reheat your onion broth.  When it is warm, but not boiling hot, pour about 1 1/2 – 2 cups into each bowl (you’ll want sturdy, ceramic, oven-safe bowls for this).  Get a 3:1 ratio of broth to onions in each bowl — there’s nothing worse than soup that has too many onions and not enough liquid.  Top each bowl with croutons (try to cover the top completely) and then layer cheese on top of the croutons.  Sprinkle with salt and a few leaves of fresh thyme.

Place your bowls under the broiler and broil until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown.  Again, you must watch carefully, as you don’t want to burn the cheese or any bits of crouton peeking through.

Remove from the oven (careful! this stuff is hot!) and serve with a nice salad (frisee or Boston bibb with bacon & croutons is a nice accompaniment).

Well, alrighty!  I sure hope you like the recipe  — and please be sure to let me know if you have any suggestions, or any favorite recipes of your own to share.

Bon Appetit!

ps. the last time I made this soup, I got 2,255 words written while the onions were browning.  Consider the gauntlet thrown!

Writer’s Workspace: 11/16

Good morning!  Welcome to this writer’s workspace.  Here’s what’s happening liiiiiiiiiiiiiive at Miranda’s desk:

What I’m working on:  I haven’t had a lot of free time lately, so carving out moments to write has been painful, if necessary, work (mid-semester with a new course prep ain’t a pretty row to hoe).  I’m pleased with the results of my efforts, though.  I’ve managed a few hundred words most mornings, whether I’m headed off to campus or not, and some longer hauls on off days (like today).  Thus, the 2nd draft of ABSENT (my archaeological time-travel novel) is being excreted, word by word, paragraph by paragraph.

Snippet from the screen:

Nick listened in silence.  When Emily was done, he sat back in his chair.  “You can’t seriously expect me to believe this.”

Emily crossed thin arms over her chest and regarded him with a grim expression.  The cut on her cheek looked puckered and angry, and though she appeared small, almost lost, inside her baggy black sweater, she most certainly didn’t look like she was joking.

On the iTunes:  I’m not really in a musical mood today.  The world is too grey and hushed.  But the hubby is working from home this morning, so I’m listening to the tapity-tap of his keyboard coming from down the hall.  That’s music enough for me.

In my mug:  Well, regular readers hardly need me to fill this one out.  Nevertheless: Numi Chinese Breakfast.  Just the dregs left now.

Keeping me company:  Though I have a lovely, cozy office space, today I’m out in one of our equally comfy living room chairs, feet up on the coffee table.  Mr. Ramses is passed out on the couch.   It’s what he does.  Pretty cute, eh?

Out the window:  Fall’s grey cape, my friends.  Brooklyn will see rain before the day is out.

A little procrastination never hurt anyone:  Today I fear that if I go hunting for spicy links to share I may never return.  Writing calls.  And I bet it calls you too.  Get to work!

Saturday happiness, with writing and pastries

It’s bright but cold in Brooklyn this morning.  Outside my window denuded branches reach for the faded sky, a few shriveled leaves still clinging to the branches.  It’s a sight that should slip a chill under my skin, but I’m trundled up tight in a sweatshirt and cradling a hot mug of tea – impenetrable and warm.

It’s cozy inside the apartment, and for the first time in weeks I don’t feel an impending sense of doom about my class prep (we’ve got exams next week, so no new lectures to write!  Joy!).

I plan to put on another pot of water to boil, hunt and gather some ridiculously high calorie pastries from the bakery next door (oh, Ladybird Bakery, how I love/hate you!), and settle down to write.

Revisions on my novel ABSENT are lumbering along in fits and starts.  Though, for the last two weeks I have managed to squeeze in a couple hundred words each morning before departing for work.  So progress has been steadier than I imagined possible when the semester first started.  I’m happy, too, with how the changes are coming along.  The novel is getting both darker and (I hope) funnier.  The characters are starting to feel real, their reactions and responses authentic.  I’m happy with it.

So some writing time this morning.  Then, around noon, England faces Spain in a soccer friendly — a hard-to-turned-down opportunity to watch such different football styles clash.  Later I’ll make some French Onion Soup and fill the house with the irresistible aroma of butter and onions and thyme.

I can’t imagine a better way to spend a Saturday.

How is your day shaping up?