Novel Deadlines, Family Reunions, and Berry Chocolate Chip Oat Scones

My apologies for my recent blog neglect. It is all for a good cause, I assure you (or rather, a combination of several good causes).

Firstly, I am in the midst of yet another (but hopefully the last) novel revision. As you may recall, the last revision transformed the novel from a novel-in-stories into a novel told in chronological order from many narrative viewpoints. This seemed to go over rather well and this current round of revision is further refining that transformation and adding a few extra chapters, mostly for character development and resolution (I seem to rather enjoy ending things a bit too in medias res). So as not to drag revisions on too much longer, however, I have saddled myself with a fairly rigorous but entirely self-imposed deadline. Should I succeed in following this deadline to the letter, I will finish all current novel revisions in time to send the book back to my agent by the morning of August 12th. Whether or not this actually happens is yet to be determined, but I am over 2/3rds of the way through the book now and have met every daily deadline I set thus far (Knock on wood).

Secondly, this past weekend led to my attendance of not one but two family reunions, my mother's side and my husband's father's side. My mother's side is very large and boistorous and we all get on rather well for family, especially at parties (We all rather enjoy parties). Not only do we have a full day of reunion, but after dark, there is usually a bonfire after party at which my cousin's husband, my dad, and myself play guitar together and lead the family in much golden oldie singing and merriment. It pretty much kills the weekend of all other possible goings-on and that's just the way I like it. Yeah, my family rocks and I'm not too modest to admit it.

Thirdly, I had not been able to practice the guitar since well before the move into the new house, meaning I had a lot of practicing to do to make sure I remembered any of my usual playlist for the bonfire. I also first had to even find my capo, which ended up being in the first box I looked in, except that I didn't see it until the fourth time I looked in that particular box. Over five hours of practice was squeezed into one week's time and in that same week, I was also struggling to meet novel revision deadlines. It's a wonder I got out alive and playing the entirety of my playlist, plus "The Song of the Lonely Mountain" from the Hobbit, which I learned because I could not get it out of my head.

All of that being said, I hope you can excuse me.

Fourthly, for both reunions, you are supposed to bring a dish to pass. My husband made banana cake for his (at my suggestion because banana cake makes me happy). For my reunion, I made a scone recipe I originally found for the latest office potluck, which was ancestry themed. I'm a big mutt, but my last name is Scottish. Thus, I made oat scones. For the potluck, they had raspberries and semi-sweet chocolate chips in them, and I really thought after making them that they would have tasted better with white chocolate chips instead. For the union, I did that with half raspberries and half blueberries. The second batch ended up having a bit too much oat, but I love these scones and their little triangle shape, which I sadly forgot to photograph in my eagerness to eat them. Both times.

Berry Chocolate Chip Oat Scones

what you need:
1 1/2 cups white wheat flour
2 cups rolled or steel-cut oats
1/4 c sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup berries (any variety). frozen beforehand at least overnight
1 egg, beaten
1 stick butter, melted
1/3 c milk
half a bag of chocolate chips (any variety)

1. Mix flour through berries in a large bowl. Then, make a well in the center and add egg through milk (mixed together in a small bowl) to the well. Mix until dough forms. Add chocolate chips. Mix again. I recommend white chocolate chips and 1/2 c raspberries and 1/2 c blueberries.

2. At this point, you can either make full size or bite size scones. For full size, separate the dough into two equal balls and flat them both onto a greased baking sheet until each is about 1/2 an inch thick, give or take. For bite size (which works well for a party), separate the dough into four equal balls instead and flatten to same thickness.

3. Use a knife to cut each circle of dough into eight equally sized wedges (cut into fourths and then cut each fourth in half), as in the image below:

4. Bake inan oven preheated to 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Scones are done when they have risen slightly and are lightly browned on top.

5. After the scones have cooled, cut then apart at the same lines you created before you baked them and either serve immediately or refrigerate.

They remind me of the raspberry scones I used to buy at my favorite coffee shop (which has since gone out of business) near John Carroll University. Tasty and healthy, full of fiber and fruit. What more could you want?

National Poetry Month, i.e. a kick in the pants for writing productivity

We are now in the midst of April, now known to writer's everywhere as National Poetry Month. As the month began, I subscribed to a service of the Academy of American Poets that emails me a poem a day to keep me in the spirit of things. I haven't written a poem this month, because I've been too busy unpacking. (The part of the house we are living in, as of the end of this past weekend, officially has no boxes located in the living room, kitchen, dinette, or bathroom. I consider it a small victory and rewarded myself with my first viewing of The Dark Knight Rises, which I borrowed from my new local library.) However, my poem a day has keep me feeling the holiday poemy spirit. The first poem emailed to me was, in fact, one written by my old Craft and Theory of Poetry professor. The universe has a way of reminding you where you've been and helping you not forget those who have helped to shape you along the way.

I have not poemed. I have, however started making headway on my novel restructuring. I have the entire thing laid out and I'm fitting the pieces back together one time-frame at a time. It's a slow, tedious process, but it's one I'm hoping will reward my labor at the end. I'm impatient to have the thing done and sent off again, but I also want to make sure I do this thing right. Thus, I'm taking my time with it, but it's getting there. Like the tortoise. Slow and plodding but determined to finish the race.

In the meantime, I have managed to finish Cloud Atlas. I immediately gave it to my husband upon finishing, because this book was brilliant. It's one of those rare finds that live up to the hype you hear people spew about it. At the start, I was like "What is this?" but a few chapters in, I got into the meoldy of it, the nested dreams it reveals and their minor but important connections. And then, the message of hope and of humanity, the vision of destruction and carnage, it's fantastical elements all melded together to give such an apt picture of the world as it stands. Admittedly, some of the accents written in bothered me no end, but I coped and slogged through them, and after doing so, I can tell you: read this book. If for no other reason than to get to the last sentence and feel the weight of its full meaning.

I also read Jasper Fforde's first Thursday Next novel, The Eyre Affair. Considering that in the Craftlit Podcast of which I'm a listener, we are currently reading an audiobook of Jane Eyre, I particularly got into The Eyre Affair, being able to remember clearly what scenes from the book were used and changed. Granted, after reading Cloud Atlas, the first Thursday Next novel can only offer so much in comparison, but it was a fun romp. The originality and playfulness of the prose and the way in which Fforde melded (alternate) history and literature was something that I, as an English major with two masters degrees under my belt, couldn't help but appreciate in the fullest. I only wish we lived in a universe that valued literature even a quarter of the amount that it is appreciated by the characters in the universe constructed by Fforde. It was fun but intelligent and I'll continue to read about Thursday and her literary antics.

Good books. Novel Progress. New House. Plus, my husband came home last night with a present for me: the rototiller we need to create my giant vegetable garden in the backyard. I'm thinking positive and hoping that good things continue to make there way into my life, and I am gratefull for the good that has already come.

Novel-In-Progress Update

When I heard what I needed to do to make my book commercially viable, I admit, I felt overwhelmed. I’ve been grappling with the big job of it, and it just seemed insurmountable. There’s only one thing to do to make something outstanding huge seem manageable: turn it into a series of small jobs. Oddly enough, it’s not that different of a concept than the one used by recovering alcoholics or smokers trying to kick the habit. It’s a “one day at a time” sort of motto. You can say to yourself, “I can’t do this huge thing. It’s too huge and important and I think I’ll just go curl in a ball and weep instead.” Or you can say to yourself, “I can’t do this huge thing all at once, but I can do this series of small things that lead to the big goal.”

For a writer, it amounts to something like: I can write three pages by the end of this day. Or I can write 1000 words by the end of this day. Or I can finish this scene by the end of this day.

 It really does work, because if you do that each day, by the end of the week, you have 21 pages or 7ooo words or seven scenes. The farther you get along the small trail of manageable goals, the more manageable the insurmountable goal becomes. I think that’s where I am now. My last writing-related blog found me with a start to one of two completely new stories, four already existing stories in need of revision with no real plan for how that revision would take place, and a complete chapter reorganization needed to make the chapters seem more unified as a book.

That’s a huge job.

 It seemed too huge as I started out, so I made a list of every day between the current date and the last possible day I would be willing to wait to send the completed novel in to my agent, which in my mind is the end of October but before the mayhem of Halloween (Oct. 29). For each weekday between that first day and the beginning of September, I committed to writing one new page of material. For each weekend of the same time frame, I committed to writing a minimum of two, with a complete date of Ang. 24 and Sept. 3 for each of the two stories, during which any unwritten pages would have to be finished. It worked. I then had a date in mind for when to get the chapters in the hands of readers and when to have plans in place for chapter revisions and novel reorganization.

The results so far are positive. As of today (Sept 12), I have two new story drafts complete that have been read by a peer (and are in the hands of a second who has not had the chance to read them yet) and revision plans are in place. The novel chapters have been reorganized, with a new novel M.S. Word draft saved that reflect the shifts in position of all affected chapters. More than that, I have strict revision tasks in place for each of the existing chapters that required tweaking. If all keeps up at this pace, I may well finish my goal well before the end of October deadline. I’m not ashamed to admit that I am proud of my work ethic.

The rest of the list of novel completion mini-goals feels like a cake-walk compared to what I’ve already finished. Pretty much, it’s down to focused revision. That feels manageable to me, and when that’s done, I’ll have a book in my agent’s hands. Can’t beat that.

While working on the novel, which will be largely third person centric, which a few exceptions, I’ve had to stick with reading material written in a 3^rd POV to stay on track. I started with Revolutionary Road, mostly because I’ve been meaning to read it for quite some time. In fact, I’ve avoided watching the movie because I wanted to read the book first. Then, I allowed myself a sci-fi fantasy fix with Ursula Le Guin’s Malafrena, which seems to be an alternate history/period piece genre blender with a lot of pro-democracy political heft to it. I also am a story away from finishing Jill McCorkle’s Going Away Shoes story collection. All three shaped up to be just the ticket inspiration-wise, fabulous reads all. Go and grab yourself a copy of each and read them this minute, if you haven’t already. Support your local bookstore if you’re able.

On a side note, my apologies for letting new installments of the blog lag a little the past few weeks. Obviously, my writing efforts were otherwise occupied. Hopefully, I can get back on track now with my outside-world commitments and post with more frequency in the coming months.