To Blog or Not to Blog

That is the question.

About this time eleven years ago, I considered starting a blog. I was publishing a lot of book reviews and a few personal essays and I wanted a place to share the links. I hoped to write fiction, and I loved finding things to share about books.
The advice then was that if you were trying to find an agent or an editor, many of them would check to see if you had an online presence. Facebook and Twitter were barely on the horizon. Or at least my horizon.
So off I traveled to Blog City.

My new critique group friend Lee Hilton started SPOON AND INK then, her fabulous food blog.
Fun times in the blogosphere, no? We thought so.

But I don't read too many blogs now, and I wonder if anybody's reading this.
:)

(Hellooooo out there! Anybody home?)

And then today I discovered an author I admire has a really great blog, and reading it inspired me to write this.

When I still worked as a school librarian, Claudia Mills's books were very popular in my school. I remember hearing her on a panel about publishing at the New School when I first thought about writing. I had those notes forever! Probably still do!
Here's the link. I'm going to make it extra large and obvious.
Please visit. You can thank me later.

https://claudiamillsanhouraday.blogspot.com/


Another blogger I try to follow is Caroline Starr Rose.  
She never fails to inspire me, teach me, or make me smile. 
When I clicked over there to get her link, I see she has a lovely photo and a quote I'm going to remember:

Learn to respect the pages the reader will never see.
— Joshua Mohr

I sorry to say I don't know Joshua Mohr, but I sure like that quote. I also love seeing the pictures she shares, mostly of the American Southwest which seems light years and many miles from my own vistas.
Thanks, Caroline!

(Aside: here's a nifty trick! Caroline turned one of her blogposts into a short article you can read in the current WRITERS DIGEST magazine.)

Inspired by Caroline and Claudia, here's my first blog photo of 2019 and a quote from the new Quaker Motto Calendar!

"There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship."  
Thomas Aquinas.

Food, Glorious Food!

I once started an essay for Mississippi Magazine with this sentence:
"I'm not a serious cook but I have a serious cookbook collection."

You can read the piece HERE.

(And apologies to the magazine if that site is using articles without permission.)

I love reading about food. And I admire those of you who write so beautifully about it. And prepare it so well.
For example, my fabulous foodie friend Lee.

Here's her BLOG: SPOON AND INK

Lee and I wrote together in our original New Jersey Writers Group. I can't wait for us to reconvene. (And maybe eat something Lee prepares from the Farmers Market!) 

 (haul from last summer's Farmers' Market!)

 I wish I had gorgeous food pictures to share. Click on over to Lee's blog and you'll see plenty.

• This post was inspired by an essay in The New York Times, about cookbooks of course.
• I also like reading books featuring food. Proof? Here's a blast from the past on the topic.
• And finally, my former ruminations on Pimento Cheese. 

FIGS! Oh joy~

Anybody who knows me knows my fig fetish.
I particularly love eating them when someone like my friend Lee, AKA Kitchen Goddess on her fabulous blog, presents them so beautifully.

Like Lee, I had a grandmother who put up fig preserves.
Our big sprawling fig tree was a perfect spot to hide under and pick the figs right off that tree.

Today's blog from Lee has sent me back to those days.
How I wish I were eating them wrapped in prosciutto and stuffed with cheese right now (my current adoration).

CLICK HERE to read her recipes and remembrances.

I'm so jealous that she has a tree, complete with figs.

To tempt you even more, here's a picture from today's post.
You know you want to read how to make your food look so beautiful.
Go ahead, click away.

Fig Appetizer

 I've written about figs before, in case you hadn't noticed...
You can type FIGS into the search box of this blog or click the link in the previous sentence.
Or just read Lee's post and enjoy. Big time YUM.

Things I Love: Old and New

Can you think of anything better than a Writers Reunion?
My original critique group, sans one important member, happened to be at the same place at the same time yesterday.

So I dusted off (figuratively speaking) two favorite old things, my tomato server and a silver compote. Not to mention a story or two.

They are favorites because they were wedding gifts I've used a lot.
And love a lot.
The tomato server was a gift of my grandmother's lifelong best friend, who shared her "S" initial with me and gave me her engraved server.

The compote came from one of the funniest ladies I've ever known. Annie B. Gipson.
When I was a middle-grader, I worked with her and we laughed all the time.

 Here's the reason we gathered. Our friend Leslie Guccione was in town.
Look at those yummy New Jersey tomatoes!

 Here we all are!
Lee Stokes Hilton, Leslie, and Kay Kaiser.
(Lee's excellent food blog can be found
HERE.)









The GLORY BE M&Ms fall into the realm of new favorite things. Leftover from one of my last school visits.
And the idea came from an amazing Mother Daughter Book Group dinner, a connection made through a teaching colleague many years ago when I worked in Baltimore.
A job I loved.
With people I truly loved (and still do!).

Such good memories.
Now I'll stop strolling down memory lane and get back to the fabulous writing ideas this group generated. 


(You may be interested in this post, about one of my trips back "home" to Baltimore.)

Friday Favorites

Figs.

Love 'em or hate 'em. I love them. A lot.

So of course I had to check out the country's largest fig tree, located in Santa Barbara, California.
Where I just happened to be last week.

Click that link if you'd like to read more.

The tree looks like no other fig tree in my experience.
It's not the southern fig from my grandmother's backyard.

BUT there were figs on it.  They were terrible. 

Okay, yes, I picked a ripe one and opened it up and maybe I even kind of tasted it.

I've written about figs before.
Maybe some would say I've over-written on the topic.

But if you're a Fig Freak also, here are a few things I've said on the topic.

FIGS, on my own blog, here: http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2012/07/figs.html

A FIG recipe, here: http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2012/07/fig-recipe.html

And another FIG recipe, from my friend and food blogger, Lee Hilton.
I'd love to make preserves like this.
If I could get enough figs and if I could keep from eating them right out of the little baskets.
http://spoonandink.blogspot.com/2012/08/preserving-summer.html

And WAY back in 2008 when I first joined a great gang of Southern Writers on A GOOD BLOG IS HARD TO FIND, I wrote this about my Great Fig Fiasco. My failed attempt to break into NPR.
http://southernauthors.blogspot.com/2008/10/great-fig-fiasco-im-writer.html

And if you're still reading? Here's the essay that put the whole Fig Fiasco thing in motion:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0830/p18s02-hfes.html

I'll bet there are still a few figs out there just waiting to be turned into a Fig Garlic Pizza.
So easy and delish. (Recipe's on my Pinterest board.)

Merry Christmas to All

Since it's not quite time to say To All a Goodnight, I'm posting a few random  
Things I Love About the Holidays.

1. Toasting Pecans. At my house, it was always the Salt and Butter option. This morning, my friend Lee's fabulous food blog gave me another option.
My sister-in-law sent pecans. I'm on a hunt to find Lee's spice before the stores close. 
Check out her blog posts for pecans, cookies, gifts, and just fun reading.

Here's the Caramelized Spiced Pecans recipe. 
(Though Lee says you can use any type of nut, I love pecans for the holidays.) 
http://spoonandink.blogspot.com/2012/12/party-nuts-that-arent-your-guests.html

2. KING LEO PEPPERMINT STICKS.  I almost hate to mention this because if you've forgotten about them and now you find them, then there's just that much more competition for me.

I'm on a hunt and I think I may have a lead. After I score some, I  will may share my secret.

3. FACEBOOK. There, I've said it. But I've found my college roommate whom I hadn't seen since we left each other in Mississippi in the 60s. And I learn a lot about books and their writers.
Plus, there's a group of insomniacs waiting to greet you at 3 AM, with Cheetos.
I both love FB and hate it.

Now, a huge stack of books awaits me. And those pecans needing toasting.
I'm off to read, write, eat, and enjoy the end of December.
I hope everyone's doing something special this week.
Merry Christmas, thanks for reading. See you in the New Year!

Cold Curry Soup

A recipe diversion from reading and writing- Perfect for a summer weekend.

Yummy soup I had the nerve to serve to two of my best foodie friends, Ivy and Barbara. I'd enjoyed it at another terrific cook's Annapolis Book Group luncheon for Glory Be this summer. 

So I knew I couldn't miss.

AND then I discover it's featured on my NJ writer friend Lee Hilton's food blog, right here:
http://spoonandink.blogspot.com/2011/02/book-group-soup.html

 (That's Lee, all done up in her chef outfit, from her blog photo.)

This is what my soup looked like. 

The flamingo is an extra added attraction, courtesy of a Birthday Girl.

FYI. My friend Ivy and I have known each other since before we were born.
Our grandparents were friends. Her mama and my daddy grew up down the street from each other.
Have we always enjoyed sharing and talking about delicious food?

My friend Barbara in my Chatham kitchen one winter eve.
We've spent many an evening cooking and talking here.

Aren't friends the best? And isn't sharing a meal something to be savored and remembered?

Here's the recipe.
(At her Book Group lunch, my friend Nancy served it as a first course, in demitasse cups. Perfect!)

For more tips, click on over to the Kitchen Goddess's website.

One-of-Each Soup

(adapted from Gourmet magazine, December 2001. Nancy got it from her aunt, who wasn't so precise with the measurements and it tasted just fine!)

1 large boiling potato (½  lb), peeled and coarsely chopped

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped (½ c)

1 large apple, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 firm-ripe banana, coarsely chopped

1 pt chicken broth

1 c cream

1 rounded tsp curry powder, additional curry may be added, as to taste

1 tsp salt, pepper to taste

Chopped fresh chives for garnish

Simmer vegetables and fruits in broth in a 3-quart heavy saucepan, covered, until very tender. Stir in cream, curry powder, and salt/ pepper and heat just until hot (do not boil). Refrigerate.

Purée soup in a blender until smooth. Serve sprinkled with chives. Makes 4 to 6 main course servings.

Cheese Glorious Cheese!

Each year my sister sends me the most delicious cheddar cheese, straight from the cows at Mississippi State University. Within a couple of weeks, we will have worked our way through this entire block. We started last night with saltines and summer sausage. For breakfast I made cheese toast. And the list goes on.

Perhaps Southern writers are food-obsessed, even those of us who write books for children. Using my handy-dandy Scrivener search tool (have I said enough how I adore writing in Scrivener? Check out the new widget, top right of my blog), I realized this morning that I had no fewer than 6 references to pimento cheese in a middle-grade novel, a book for kids, not about food. I sliced 3 of them right out.

Unlike some of my friends, I'm not a fabulous cook. I don't pretend to throw parties like my friend Ivy's or write about food with the flair of my friend Lee. But it's hard to describer a July 4th picnic or Dinner on the Ground without pimento cheese sandwiches. So happy to have this cheese as inspiration today. Good food for thought and great hors d'oeuvres. Thanks, Sis!

Diner Food...

As we pack up and head south each year, it's always bittersweet. The New Jersey leaves turn a breathtaking bright orange, yellow, red, but the nip of fall in the air and the nights requiring extra blankets remind me how much I do not like winter in any way, shape or form. No snow. No slush. No ice.





Leaving food is another thing. And local color, when it comes to food, is almost as bittersweet as missing the fall leaves. I especially love a good New Jersey diner. (Here's a great book on New Jersey diners. The writer, Peter Genovese once spoke at our local historical society. Terrific topic.)

I'm quite fond of these shiny metal places to eat, even if the food is horrendously bad for me.


(Galaxy Diner, Butler, NJ on a beautiful summer afternoon)







The placemats are always worth keeping.
Master hypnotist,anyone?



Summit, NJ is a neighboring town where I've spent a lot of time. Worked there, wrote there, walked there, did a lot of eating there. But all this while, I never knew this story of the locally revered Summit Diner. Rumor/ urban legend has it that the Hemingway short story "The Killers" used the Diner as setting. A movie was made from the story. I've eaten at the Summit Diner a few times.

But a famous literary diner, in my very midst-
How did I not know this, Leslie, Ann, and Lee???



Related post: New Jersey in my Rear View Mirror

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers

Just last week, esteemed writing coach Leslie Guccione called me on a grammar thing. OK, not really incorrect grammar, but a stylistic error. She pointed out something that marked me as unsophisticated, in a writerly way. Me? No!

She didn't really say it that way, but I'd asked for her help and Leslie is nothing if not honest in her critiques. She was part of my original writing group, along with a small group of other fabulous writers. Recently, a few of us reconvened online and I'd submitted an essay for their consideration. In other words, I should have known better. I asked for it.

I'd committed a mistake the writers of SELF-EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS: How to Edit Yourself Into Print address in Chapter 11 of the second edition of this book--Mistakes they claim show a lack of "Sophistication." And by the way, it's not just a book for fiction writers.

Here's what Leslie pointed out to me, chapter and verse:
"One easy way to make your writing seem more sophisticated is to avoid two stylistic constructions that are common to hack writers," namely:

Pulling off her gloves, she turned to face him.
and
As she pulled off her gloves, she turned to face him.

Nothing my fabulous high school English teachers would object to enough to bring out the red pencil. BUT both examples take a bit of the action and tuck it away into a dependent clause. According to Self-Editing, this makes some of the action seem unimportant.

You also need to beware the -ing and the as thing if it gives "rise to physical impossibilities."

While an occasional use won't wreck your writing, in a 700-word essay (such as what I asked Leslie to critique for me so of course it glared at her when I did that -ing thing...), too many of these constructions will soon jump right off your page. And not in a good way.

An oldie but a goodie, this book. Better yet, call it a classic. My copy was dusty and buried on the shelf, only occasionally opened since I first embarked on this writing thing ten years ago. I knew how to write back then, but Leslie and the rest of the critique group pushed me to improve. Books like SELF-EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS showed me the way. Great book. I'll remember some of the fiction tips as I slog my way through early drafts of my new project.

(Note to self: when introducing new characters, include physical descriptions with concrete, idiomatic details. Chapter 2: Characterization and Exposition.)

Now back to work.

For related posts on craft, search Writing Tips in the search box, or click here or here.

Summer Suppers

One thing I love about living in New Jersey all summer long is our local Farmers Markets. Each little burg has one. I can hit Madison on Thursday, Chatham on Saturday and the biggest of all, Summit on Sunday mornings. Jersey corn and tomatoes, fresh fish from "down the shore" and even chocolate pastries that remind me of Paris, sort of. The good food never stops!

A recent, delightful dinner at the home of my old Baltimore friends inspired me to cook a grilled vegetable, feta and orzo salad a la Barefoot Contessa. That same friend also made a yummy corn salad that night. Her corn was Maryland, possibly Eastern Shore, and was as good as our Silver Queen here in New Jersey.

For even more on our local markets, check out Kitchen Goddess Lee Hilton's Spoon and Ink food blog. She, too, has a terrific corn salad recipe to share.

Serving salads for supper in the summer (wow, check that alliteration) is what my other Kitchen Goddess friend Ivy calls her "cool plates." Except she says Coooool Plates and makes them sound very special. When really it was just too hot to cook! (Which it totally is this summer.)

Then again, anything my friend Ivy or my friend Lee cooks is very special.

So pull out a good book and find a shady spot. Then buy some local produce, make your family a cooool plate, and enjoy the summer!

Cake!

Now this is what I need for my midnight snack/ writing diversion.





I bet my friend Lee could whip up some of her famous cookies decorated with favorite book covers...



Click to see more of these delicious books-
Cake Wrecks! Yum!


(Cake picture from Tiffany H., made by The Whole Cake and Caboodle)

Food Writing or Food/ Writing or Food and Writing?

Today was my turn to post at the Southern Writers Blog: A Good Blog is Hard to Find. I'm in very good company over there, lots of familiar names and frequently published authors. So click on over and read my (tongue-in-cheek, slightly humorous?) post explaining where baking and writing intersect, kind of.

Or you can just skip that part and scroll down to a really easy but very tasty recipe for "Pear Purses."

Or you can just keep going and get to the link for my friend Lee Hilton's real Pear Purse, AKA Rustic Pear Galette recipe.

But this blog and that one are writing blogs. And the point, whether I made it or not, was that baking, like its distant cousin writing, has rules which need to be mastered before you branch out. It's just a random thought, something I wish I'd known and believed a long time ago about writing. Then again, there are all sorts of schools of thought about writing. There's the Pantster (fly by the seat of your pants- get it?) vs. the Plotter school. There are the outliners, the thinkers, the NaNoWriMo-sters. Whatever works for you when it comes to writing.

And I think somebody was trying to tell me something today when I stumbled across this from Darcy Pattison's FICTION NOTES blog.

IF you usually just start in writing, TRY planning each scene. IF you usually plan each scene, TRY just jumping into the writing. Every once in a while, it’s great to break your pattern of working and see what happens. Shake yourself up! (I suggested this once at a national conference and got several notes later that this was the best advice the writers had ever taken, the resulting novel was the best she had written – so try it!) If the results are disappointing, you can always go back to your original methods of writing your novel.

Kind of like a lot of life. You won't know if it works till you try it. And then, if it doesn't, try it another way.


Related posts: NaNoWriMo- Get Me ReWrite!
Revision: Darcy Pattison

Resolved...

All month long, I've been reading everybody else's resolutions. Set smaller attainable goals. Eat less. Write more. Sleep more. Read more. Exercise better. Less TV. Be nicer.

All good. I think I'll just steal a few before January ends. Especially the healthy eating resolution from my friend Lee Hilton. Click on over to Lee's blog for a great recipe for Mexican Shrimp Dip. Supposedly good for you but sounds quite delicious.

I think I'll make it to eat while reading more books and watching more TV. Whoops, less TV...
And then I'll try this trick:

Food Writing

I've been thinking about food- Southern food, to be exact. And I don't mean writing about food specifically, essays about picking blueberries or missing figs. (For those, see my links to essays, on this blog, please.)

I also don't mean the kind of food my fabulous friend and fellow writer Lee Stokes Hilton celebrates on her new blog. Though after reading her recipe, I have been pondering making scones, as soon as it cools off.

But right now I'm mulling over changes, additions, edits of my book for middle grade readers that's been percolating for some time. The first draft had many references to fried chicken, black skillets, pimento cheese. Then I got cold feet and took out some of the Food Talk. A friend who'd published her kids' books with a very astute editor told me he said she had her (Southern) characters eating all the time. OK, but we do like our food, sir! Still, I held back.

Then I read Faith, Hope and Ivy June. And there was food every time I turned around. And I loved it. Mashing up Grandmommie's beans with the back of her spoon. Offering up something from the kitchen to the country doctor who comes to call. Homemade preserves. All the good stuff that came from that mountain kitchen added layers of description for me. I could just picture Mammaw in there cooking for Ivy June and Catherine, the exchange student friend from the city. Those cookies she baked drew me into the brothers' afterschool day.

So I'm adding layers, details to my novel and think at least some will be food. In the South, where my manuscript is set, that's a good piece of what families are all about. Sitting down, enjoying the stories around the dinner table.

Bring on the fried chicken. Gravy made in a black skillet. Corn bread, too. I just can't forget the family eating Sunday dinner, their stories around that table.


Related posts: SCBWI Pt. 2: Phyllis Naylor
Eating Our Way Home

The Weather

If you're writing about the South, the weather will probably be a character. I bet I could pick up any book on my shelf, especially the ones written by southerners, and open it to a weather reference. I'll try that.

James Lee Burke:
"The wind was blowing hard, and the royal palms out on the boulevard thrashed and twisted against a perfect blue sky."
"The sun looked broken and red on the horizon..."

Barbara O'Connor:
"..Randall could see the steamy heat rising up off the street in waves. The asphalt basketball court behind the school would be even hotter."

See, easy as pie. I could go on forever quoting weather descriptions.

So I've been thinking about the heat. And late afternoon thunderstorms. This morning I saw a maybe-10-year-old running calmly, a happy jog, down my street in Florida. I can barely walk down the street, even at 9 AM. So what is it that makes children so much more tolerant of the heat?

When I was growing up in Mississippi, we were required to nap on most summer days. Until we were almost teenagers. That didn't really mean sleep. Just quiet indoor time in the middle of the day. Most dads I knew came home from work for "dinner"- a huge noon meal- then promptly took a siesta before returning to work. Meanwhile, the kids kept quiet, read books, played cards under the ceiling fan. One thing I don't remember is complaining about the heat. I do that a lot now.

My writer friend Lee Hilton recently moved back to Texas. (You may be able to click that link and read some of her essays if you have access to the New York Times archives.) Today she reports in on the weather:
The average number of 100° days in Austin is 11. As of July 7th, 2009, Austin has had twenty-two 100° or hotter days.

Was it just not that hot in my childhood? Has air-conditioning spoiled us all? I can't imagine playing hopscotch outside now, but I know I spent a lot of time at the Fireman's Park in Cleveland, MS, when the slides were so hot they burned your legs. Then again, there was that shady pavilion at the Park. Maybe we just stayed under there, or rested under fig trees to ward off the heat. I know I didn't sit inside with the AC blasting. Kind of makes me want to go outside and find a shady spot to write in. Wait, it's 95 out there. Never mind.

The Art of the Essay

Having spent the week pondering non-fiction, I've now decided that a lot of what I need to know can be found in William Zinsser's book On Writing Well. The date I carefully wrote on the endpapers of my copy is December, 1982, which must be when this slim volume came into my collection. I wish I'd taken better note of the book's advice then.
But it took the encouragement of what I now think of as my Essay Writing critique group before I attempted a personal essay. Thankfully, I had some great writers guiding me through this genre. Just google fellow member Lee Stokes Hilton on the New York Times website and read any one of her essays. I'm partial to her Gumbo piece, gumbo being near to my heart. Plus I participated in her greens ribboning tutorial during one particularly important gumbo afternoon. Not only is Lee an accomplished writer, she's a terrific cook. We don't call her the Kitchen Goddess for nothing.

So now she and I are applyingfor the Writers in Paradise conference in January and, should we both be accepted, we have to come up with longer-than-our-usual essays to workshop. That's why I've pulled Zinsser off the shelf to reread. "Up to 25 pages" sounds intimidating even if the workshop topic is Life Into Words.

I stopped skimming the book and started absorbing every single thought when I came to Chapter 12: Writing About a Place because no matter what I write- fiction, non-fiction, email, letters and even this blog- PLACE is always there.

"People and places are the twin pillars on which most nonfiction is built," says Zinsser.
For me, that reads characters and setting, family and home.
So now I'll get down to the details. Smells, concrete prose- statistics and names and signs, oddities and tackiness. I think I can do this.

Twenty-five pages still seems like a lot.