The end of September was not as productive as I’d hoped.
Monday through Wednesday I was busy working on my two Local Reporter articles, one on September’s big town council meeting, one a listicle of Carrboro nonprofits. It shouldn’t have taken three days but I was still tired from last week. Plus Trixie’s incontinence continued into this week, off and on. Plus I took her to a vet appointment Tuesday, then my flu and covid shots Wednesday became the excuse for a larger series of errands: library, cat food, dog drugs. Plus some paperwork that needed doing only the relevant website refused to cooperate. I have no idea if it’s malfunctioning or badly designed.
It doesn’t help that Trixie’s decided she wants to get up earlier. If she gets up just as I’m starting my day, it throws me way off. I lose the one to two dog-free hours I normally enjoy in the morning and coping with her as well as the cats makes it surprisingly hard to focus. But I’ll never say no to her.
Could you? And it’s not like it’s her fault or anything, even when snuggled next to me, she peed on my pants in her sleep.
Thursday, though, I got back in the swing of things. A lot of little tasks related to Become the Sky. Some groundwork for my next Local Reporter articles. And I began replotting Let No Man Put Asunder by thinking about the character arcs. While there’s a lot I like about the second draft, Paul and Mandy need much more emotional stress. And the whole novel needs a stronger arc: the threat level really doesn’t grow enough. It’s run-from-the-bad-guys, find temporary safety, run some more … it doesn’t ratchet up until maybe the last fifth of the book. But that’s fixable.
That’s not a lot to get done but just the fact I was really focused felt good. Especially with Trixie’s problems distracting me.
Oh, my friend and fellow Durham Writers Group member Lucy Adams has a chestnut tree and it recently shed a bunch of nuts. She gave me some and I tried roasting a few; when that proved successful I roasted more of them.
If I put a small X in the shell, the steam from roasting open up the shell, making it easy to peel. I made them into mushrooom-chestnut soup last weekend, and very tasty it was.
Late in December, I tried again and followed the recipe. The results were good but again, did not have the slim elegance of the classic baguette.
If anything it looked more misshapen. No big — I care more about taste than looks and it’s not like I’m baking for public consumption — but still slightly annoying.
It’s a very tasty, firm bread, though not hugely superior to some of my favorite non-sourdough recipes. Still, the sour tang does make it different so I’m going to try a couple more sourdoughs from some of my other bread books.
I’ve fallen behind on the Hellboy series but I’ve begun catching up, starting with YOUNG HELLBOY: Assault on Castle Death by Mike Mignola, Tom Sniegoski and Craig Rousseau is a lightweight story set right after the BPRD moved from its base in New Mexico to Connecticut. Hellboy’s been laid low by a fever and suffering dreams in which the Lobster summons him to battle against an evil force. Little does Hellboy know that he’s in the crosshairs of a fanatic out to destroy him.
recent fan letter for her Regency romance LORD SAYER’S GHOST so naturally I reread it (I have all her books). Female lead Prudence and her aunt, who talks to dead people, have moved into their distant, deceased relative Lord Sayer’s mansion: his ghost has driven every other relative out but if they can last the year, they get the house. Except it turns out Sayer’s alive and well, hoping that posing as a ghost will enable him to smoke out his would-be murderer. Trouble is, he’s driven them all away instead. Prudence, however, helps him hatch a plan to try again, even if she does find him tempting her to be very unprudent. This was a fun, charming romp with one or two outstanding lines (“Even her dress knew better than to rustle in her presence.”).
made for someone my age. The crime cartel F.E.A.R. are plotting to control an alien monstrosity reaching towards Earth, with Dr. Zinn as their in-house scientist; against them we have Dr. Quest and the rest of the Quest team alongside Birdman and Devi, his new handler. At least that’s how it starts: before long we’ve also got the Impossibles, Space Ghost, Mighty Mytor, Jezebel Jade and Frankenstein Junior in the mix (and that’s not even the complete list). This twelve issue series (two TPBs) was tremendous fun.
