Writing Before Sundown




January sundown, La Jolla, California

 
WRITING TIP



Gentleman Friend and I had just spent a much-too-short week in La Jolla, just north of San Diego. The weather was so sunny and warm there, even the locals were giddy.


Thank goodness for the message from Sarah asking if this blog had become a victim of the cold weather. Between my holiday and California afterglow, I had not realized how many weeks had passed without a posting from me.


Donna sent a message that she feels like hibernating.


If you are feeling a little too comfortable with snuggling somewhere warm, beach or sofa with bankie, join me in vowing not to let the (sorry, I apologize for what's coming) sun go down on another week without producing some writing.


Here's the thing:  Gentleman Friend and I timed the sunsets. From the time the bottom rim of the sun touched the horizon until the sun totally disappeared was barely more than five minutes. Time's a movin', folks. We better make use of it.


In the next few weeks I will be updating the Write Your Life Story in Eight Weeks Workbook. Also, Becky asked when there would be a Second Edition of  The Prayerful Writer: A Daily Devotional That You Create so I will be working on that too. Because I have the attention span of a gnat, I have created several pages of yellow legal pad lists breaking these two projects into small tasks. The lists are scribbled and go in all directions, but the steps are listed and prioritized. If you have ever been in one of my classes, you know I believe in thinking as little as possible. Thinking only gets you bogged down.

Oh relax, you know I'm partly joking about not thinking. I do plenty of thinking, just as you do, just as all writers do. When I make those lists, I am thinking so hard I have to fortify frequently with chocolate. But when the day starts, I don't think; I check my list. It might say Make list, but at least I have an immediate plan of action.

You can use my method if it appeals to you; if it doesn't, let me know what method works for you in attacking a large project.


WRITING PROMPT


I bask in . . .  What do you bask in? Of course, the first thing we think of is sunshine, but there could be many other things. I think I would bask in having the kitchen counter free of stacks of mail. It's never happened so I can't be sure. Right now chocolate comes to mind so look below for a chocolate recipe. And before the sun sets at the end of this week, write about what you bask in (or in what you bask).


CHOCOLATE INKWELL


Let's think ahead to Valentine's Day. Wouldn't it be nice to have a millionaire in your life on Valentine's Day? Voila! Done. Here is a recipe for Millionaires. It's from my favorite cookbook, Southern Living, Our Best Recipes, Vol. Three, 1987.


Millionaires


1 (14-ounce) package caramels
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
2 cups pecan pieces
butter or margarine
1/4 (4-ounce) bar paraffin
1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate morsels


Melt caramels in milk over low heat; add pecans. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto buttered waxed paper. Chill. Melt paraffin and chocolate morsels in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Dip candy into chocolate, and return to waxed paper. Chill. Yield: 3 1/2 dozen.

Find more writing tips, prompts, resources, questions and answers at http://www.angelinyourinkwell.com/.

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Quick Fix for Blah Writing and Chocolate Crackle-Top Minis

ETC.


Tallgrass, a novel by Sandra Dallas, was lent to me by Stella. The novel's narrator is a thirteen-year-old girl in a small town in Colorado where the government opens a Japanese internment camp during World War II. That would cause enough turmoil in a small town, but then a young girl is murdered. This book gives a balanced portrayal of prejudice and fear through the eyes of compelling characters and vivid details of the 1940s. Notice how the small everyday details of how everyday life was lived bring the story to life. Useful whether you are writing life story, general nonfiction or fiction.




WRITING TIP


Quick fix for blah writing. Go to Hutchinson Dictionary of Difficult Words  I love this place. Here is how they explain it. “Do you aim to become a member of the literati, or do you wish to be a savant? Do you want to avoid being verbigerative and be succinct instead? Search the Hutchinson Dictionary of Difficult Words' A-Z index of over 13,900 difficult words to increase your vocabulary or just find out what those words really mean!”



2010 Johnson County Master Gardeners Tour



While we don't want our writing to be as overblown as this lady's "hairdo,"  we can add richness, depth, and texture to our writing by expanding our vocabulary. You may not even use the word itself. Explore the subtlety of meaning. Use those shades in your own writing.

Find more resources such as this at www.angelinyourinkwell.com/resources.

WRITING PROMPT

Write about the worst hairdo or haircut you ever had. Years ago I moved to a new city. Soon I needed a hair cut. When I emerged from the salon, my bangs were about one inch in length -- if that long. Or they seemed that way to me. Guess I was too young to realize hair grows. I cried for an hour and couldn't stand to look at myself in the mirror for weeks. Write for ten minutes about hair, what it means, how you relate to it, what you have done in the name of beauty. Let the writing rest for a few days. Revise and rewrite. Add it to your life story book or -- shape it into an essay or story and send it out for publication.


CHOCOLATE INKWELL


This recipe is lifted directly from Peggy Trowbridge Filippone's recipes on About.com.  I'm not crazy about peanut butter, but the photo that was in Peggy's newsletter looked super yummy. She writes, "The peanut butter topping crackles to reveal dark chocolate base in these delicious mini-muffins. They begin with a boxed cake mix, so they are simple to make.  These little morsels are not overly sweet as you might expect. If you want that extra sugar kick, dust the mini-muffins with powdered sugar just before serving."  © 2010 Peggy Trowbridge Filippone, licensed to About.com, Inc. Thanks, Peggy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crackle-top Minis


Bottom Layer:


1 package (about 18.4 ounces) devil's food cake mix
1/2 cup (1 stick or 8 Tablespoons) butter, melted but cool
1 Tablespoon water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


Top Layer:


1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
6 ounces (3/4 of a large block) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 egg
Powdered sugar for dusting, optional


Preparation:


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line mini-muffin tins with papers.
In a large bowl, combine cake mix, butter, water, and eggs. Mix just until combined. Batter will be thick. Fold in chocolate chips.
In a small bowl, cream peanut butter, confectioners' sugar, and cream cheese until smooth. Add egg and mix just until incorporated.
Fill each mini-muffin paper with about 1 Tablespoon of the chocolate mix. Top with about 1 teaspoon of the peanut butter mix.


Bake for about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on racks. Just before serving, dust mini-cups with powdered sugar.
Yield: about 60 mini-muffins


Find Writing Resources, Life Story Writing How-to, Fun Stuff for Writers, Calendar and other interesting stuff at website Angel In Your Inkwell .

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Think Tomato for Interesting Characters and Chocolate Tartuffo

ETC.

Have you noticed the list of favorite books in the column to the right? Look now because those books will be going away and a new list will start with the next post.

Also, a new Beginning Life Story Writing Class starts Sept. 7, 2010, the day after Labor Day.

If you can't take a class, just click here for lots of answers to frequently asked questions about life story writing. 

Scroll to the bottom of this post for a new bit of Chocolate Trivia.

WRITING TIP

One of the best ways to make your story interesting, whether you are writing life story, other nonfiction, or fiction, is to develop characters who can help you tell the story. Other characters in the story present challenges to life writers: how to capture the quality of an admirable person and how to portray people you would just as soon forget. The solution is as simple as picking a tomato.

This morning I spotted a beautiful little tomato on my patio tomato plant. I admired it from the kitchen, anticipating it's rich juicy ripeness. The sun reflected gold on its red skin so it almost glowed.

But when it came off in my hand, I saw the bottom was black and ugly. One way the tomato looked perfect; another way it looked totally ruined.

Then as I turned it in my hand, I saw there was a third angle -- almost perfect, but with a small blemish.

And that's how the characters in your story should be -- neither perfect nor totally ruined. Isn't that what we all are? We have our good side; we have our bad side. We are slightly flawed. Reveal the struggles and small flaws of your good characters. Tell some good about your bad characters. Your characters will be believable, and your story will be interesting.


WRITING PROMPT


Think of a family member who is not your favorite. Put that person's name at the top of a page. Make two columns under the name. Good Qualities. Bad Qualities.  List their qualities. Then do the same for a family member you dearly love. It may take some time to think of good qualities of the unfavorite person or bad qualities of the favorite person, but spend some time thinking about it. Write a paragraph narrative about an intereaction you have had with the unfavorite person, and write a paragraph about an interaction with the favorite person.


CHOCOLATE INKWELL


This is an Italian dessert recipe from Jasper Mirabile, chef-owner of Jasper's restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri. He prepared this recipe for Hen House Supermarket. Find more info at http://www.henhouse.com/.


Jasper's Bing Cherry Tartuffo


1 pound grated chocolate or finely minced chocolate biscotti
16 bing cherries (pitted)
1 pint vanilla bean ice cream
chocoalte syrup


Remove pits and stems from cherries. Scoop 4-oz. portions of ice cream and form into balls using your hands. Make a hold in the middle and place 3-4 cherries inside, cover with ice cream and place on a baking sheet. Continue forming hand-made balls with the remaining ice cream. Roll ice cream balls in the grated chocolate or biscotti and drizzle with chocolate syrup. Place in freezer. Serve with whipped topping.



Find Writing Resources, Life Story Writing How-to, Fun Stuff for Writers, Calendar and other interesting stuff at website http://www.angelinyourinkwell.com/.

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Feel the Smile and "Remember When" Pot Luck with nutty sandwich

WRITING TIP

I was just reading the online newsletter of a fellow teacher of life story writing. I'm not going to mention his name because I totally disagree with what he has to say in his newsletter today. I disagree with him that writing about one's life is hard, arduous, psychologically painful, delayed gratification, and generally very difficult and unpleasant. According to his theory, we are all hunkered behind the flowers of our life like the woman in the picture. (Who is that woman, anyway?)

Here's a little experiment. Think of a favorite meal your mother made for you when you were a child. Think of your first bike or skates or sleepover.

Now, do a face-check. Are you smiling? Probably so.

Sit with a group of peers and say, "Remember when . . ." and mention something from the past. For example, "Remember when ladies wore white gloves and hats?  Remember when we slept outside in summer? Remember when we got a new movie theatre in town?"  Is everyone smiling? Are people talking?

Quit hunkering in fear. Step out. Pick up your pen or sit at your keyboard and write exactly what you were thinking or saying. There you have it. You have begun writing your life story. (Oh look, the woman in the picture is smiling.She's no longer in hiding.)


Okay, I admit, I am simplifying -- but not much. Recently I have shared here about writing about some unhappy and uncomfortable experiences from my own life. So I know we all have memories that are miserable, and we all have endured pain, heartache, betrayal, and illness. "Remember when  . . . Dad got drunk and crushed your favorite toy?" That is part of our story too.

How did you survive those times? What sustained you? Who held your hand, held your head, or held your heart? "Remember when . . . years later when you were an adult, your mom bought you a toy just like the one your dad destroyed as her way of saying 'I remember, and I'm sorry.'"? Write about that and you cannot help but feel strong and joyous, and somewhere, somehow, some part of you will smile.


WRITING PROMPT


Make a list of "remember whens." Remember when -- women went to the beauty shop every week, we wore can-can slips, men wore neckties and tie clips,  we played music on turntables and then the smaller 45 records were the newest thing, we used typewriters and they weren't electric, you got your first microwave oven, first cordless phone. Remember when Sally Field made her You-really-like-me Oscar acceptance speech or the time Kanye West took the microphone from Taylor Swift when she received a VMA award?


Make a more specific list of "remember whens" -- things that apply to you personally. Remember when your parents agreed you could have ballet lessons? Remember when you got your ears pierced?


There you have enough topics to have fun with for weeks. Pick one, write ten minutes or longer, put it away, re-write, polish, add to your notebook.


And -- keep smiling.


CHOCOLATE INKWELL 

Have a Remember When pot luck. Bring a dish from your past. Here is something yummy from Ronnie's past that she  brought to the summer gathering of the Advanced Life Story Writing Group. (Thanks, Ronnie.)


First a little history of Chock Full o'Nuts, the source of Ronnie's recipe. (No, the recipe doesn't include coffee.) According to Wikipedia, the Chock Full o'Nuts chain was founded by William Black (1903-1983), a Russian immigrant who sold nuts in Times Square to theater-goers. In 1926, he opened a store on Broadway and 43rd Street, and began selling coffee and sandwiches. By the 1960s, the chain had approximately 80 restaurants in the New York City area. Hygiene was a selling point, with the sandwiches advertised as "untouched by human hands". Cooks used tongs to assemble them.


Their signature "nutted cheese" sandwich, made of cream cheese and chopped nuts on dark raisin bread, cost a nickel with a cup of coffee when the company was founded.

By the time Ronnie, as a young girl in NYC, was enjoying the sandwiches, the price had risen to thirty-five cents, still a bargain. Here is how Ronnie made the sandwiches she brought to our gathering.

Chock Full O' Nuts Sandwich

Mix softened cream cheese with honey to taste.
Stir in coarsely chopped walnuts.
Spread liberaly between slices of raisin bread.
Cut sandwiches into four triangles.

Since our goal here is all things chocolate, I think it would be delish also to stir in some mini chocolate chips. Enjoy your sandwiches with a cup of Chock Full o'Nuts coffee which is availabe in some local supermarkets.

Find Writing Resources, Life Story Writing How-to, Fun Stuff for Writers, Calendar and other interesting stuff at website Angel In Your Inkwell .



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Books and Stella's Earthquake Chocolate Cake

WRITING TIP

Howdy Y'all.  As you know, reading is important to being a writer so today's post will be a roundup of books I have recently read, skimmed, or rejected, and where I got them and how I read them.

Fourth of July Pre-Rodeo Parade, Estes Park, Colorado

Most of the books were obtained from my local public library. Recently a friend, an avid reader, asked me if our little local branch library had improved since the building had been enlarged and renovated. "They don't have much on the shelves," she said.

Smart reader though she is, she is like many who do not realize you are not limited to the books on the shelves in a particular branch. You can go online and request any book. The library system, in my case, the Johnson County (Ks.) Library, (http://www.jocolibrary.org/) will find the book and deliver it to your local branch library, usually in a day or two. You then will be notified by email or phone that your book is in. You go to your branch, find your book on the Requested Book shelves, and check it out yourself. It is a fabulous service. Your city probably has this service too. You may have to visit the library to establish your password, but after that, you're all set.


Do you think of yourself as a "book person"? You love and collect books? You love the experience of holding and owning books? Me too. However, I have to confess, I have gone over to the dark side. I now own a Kindle, and I love it. Never would I have chosen to use an e-reader, but I wanted to purchase a particular book that was only available online as an e-book. I ordered it. Had to download an Adobe e-reader onto my computer. It was so easy to use, I immediately began rethinking. Then, Gentleman Friend and I had an anniversary, and I "allowed" him the pleasure of making a guy-friendly gift purchase -- something electronic -- a Kindle from http://www.amazon.com./. 

I received an email saying the Kindle had shipped and was on its way to me. Meanwhile, I selected Isabelle Allende's new book, Island Beneath the Sea: and ordered it. When the Kindle arrived, there was the book, already on it, 500+ pages, ready to easily carry on vacation. Definitions of selected words appear at page bottom, notes can be made, highlights, pages bookmarked; and, yes, you can read several books at a time. Plus, you can get individual issues or subscriptions to magazines and newspapers. While on vacation, I ordered book review section of The New York Times, and within minutes, there it was on the Kindle. With his gift, GF included a black leather cover so it feels as if I am holding a book. So immersed was I in the reading experience, that I reached up several times to turn the "page." And, yes, even for a non-techie such as I am, it is very easy to use. A Novel


Now, for some books. The Happiness Project by Rubin Gretchen. Gretchen grew up in Kansas City, attended Yale Law School, clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and now lives in NYC.  Undertaking a project a month, she spends a year in the pursuit of happiness and learning to live in the moment. Because the author is a good writer with honesty and a sense of humor, this book is much better than it sounds. She has a blog I continue to follow: http://www.thehappinessproject.com/.


Island Beneath the Sea, a novel by Isabelle Allende, follows a young girl in slavery in 1700s Haiti to New Orleans after the Louisiana Purchase. An epic, with war, cruelty, love, heartbreak, forgiveness, redenption, history and politics as only Allende can write. Fiction.


The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard relates how our obsession with stuff is trashing our planet, communities, and our health -- and presents a vision for change. I skipped around and read parts of this book. Overwhelming, but good information presented with some solutions. Nonfiction.


The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear is a Maisie Dobbs mystery, set after WWI. A cartographer's body is found years after his death, and the search is on by private investigator Maisie Dobbs  for his cause of death, family, and nurse who was his love. Mystery fiction.

Moonflowers on the Fence by local poet and friend Judith Bader Jones takes us to the heart of life and loss in images that are both vivid and melancholy. Because I know Judith, I imagine I know the subtext of some of the poems, but even to a reader who picks up the book at random, the poems touch a universal response to shifting time. Available from http://www.finishinglinepress.com/.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton spans several generations and relates the story of a child abandoned on a ship of turn-of-the-century immigrants to the US. Novel.

See more books listed in the Favorite Books Column to the right. Oh -- almost forgot -- thank you to those of you who have let me know you are reading the books on the Favorites list.

WRITING PROMPT


Bookshelf. One of my grandmothers had a small three-shelf mahogany bookshelf beside her bed. I wasn't really allowed in her bedroom, but the few times I was there, I tried to see what the books were. In my memory now, they were all about the size and color of hymnals, black or dark blue. The edges of the pages were yellowed and looked brittle. What were the books about? Were there pictures? I didn't dare remove a book and look. Although, now that I think back, I realize how much she loved reading so I think she would have been fine with showing me her books. In fact, it was she who first introduced me to the public library, my very favorite place when I was a child. What thoughts come to your mind when you think of the word bookshelf.


Write for ten minutes or so. Put your writing away for a few days. Come back and continue writing and see if you can complete a story or essay. Put it away again for a few days. Return, edit, rewrite, polish and add it to your body of work.

CHOCOLATE INKWELL

Stella twice has brought this super-yummy cake to gatherings of the Advanced Life Story Writing Group. She got the recipe from her sister, Martha. I don't know why it's called Earthquake Cake. I kept calling it Tornado Cake because every time Stella brought it, I went into a whirling eating frenzy. Or, it could be called German Chocolate Upside Down Cake.

Earthquake Cake

1 cup chopped nuts
1 (3.5) ounce can flaked coconut
1 box German Chocolate cake mix batter, prepared according to directions
1/2 cup margarine
8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
1 (one pound) box confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 x 12-inch cake pan. Cover bottom of pan with nuts and coconut. Pour the cake batter on top. Melt margarine in a bowl, add cream cheese and confectioners sugar. Stir to blend. Spoon over unbaked batter.  Bake 45 to 50 minutes.

Stella's Note: You cannot test for doneness with a cake tester, as the cake will appear sticky even when it is done. The icing sinks.


Find Writing Resources, Life Story Writing How-to, Fun Stuff for Writers, Calendar and other interesting stuff at website Angel In Your Inkwell .



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