Mpls Surveys

I completed two City of Minneapolis surveys today. One of them seemed concerned about the state of my health, health insurance, and whether I could afford to do things like eat and pay rent. The other was worried about whether I chose bottled water over tap. Silly City of Minneapolis, with your conflicting worries*!

* Though it's nice that you care. I like you, too.

Writing Logs, Mostly Links

I've been working on a day job project for full-time+ for the last week (no weekend for me, alas), so I haven't gotten much writing stuff done. Except no work today. Blissful productive freedom! Scary beginning projects! Lots of writing stuff (hopefully--except I already spent the morning paying bills).

07/12/10, Monday
* Assembled ("wrote" doesn't feel like the right verb) "Magic Blue Pill For Cure Cancer." Yes, it's the spam headlines story. Thanks to everybody who shared their spam!
* Writing and a Faith Perspective: http://www.apexbookcompany.com/blog/2010/07/on-faith-and-friction/

07/11/10, Sunday
* Attended MinnSpec writing workshops.

07/08/10, Thursday
* Posted writing log, freewriting.
* Re-read Tree of Life in preparation for writing on it again. Ulp.
* What 81% of Agents Expect on the First Page (funny): http://stiryourtea.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-81-of-agents-expect-on-first-page.html
* Why Smart Characters Make Dumb Mistakes: http://www.plottopunctuation.com/blog/show/why-smart-characters-make-dumb-mistakes
* Writing Realistic Injuries: www.users.totalise.co.uk/~leiafee/ramblings/realistic_injuries.htm

Recipe: Oz Cake

Oz Cake

I'm calling this Oz Cake because it's golden and green and magically delicious, and making it involves whirling things around like a tornado. I don't usually like fennel's licorice taste, but in this cake, it doesn't really have that flavor. This makes a sweet, moist, dense cake.

Ingredients:
2 c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 c. yogurt
1/4-1/2 c. milk
2 overripe bananas
1 fennel, bulb and fronds
3 Tbsp. lime juice
3 tsp. vanilla
powdered sugar for dusting on top

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 13x9 metal baking pan.

In food processor, blend fennel, bananas, yogurt, and milk.

In large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In small bowl, mix sugar, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and lime juice. Add this to the dry ingredients, along with the blended fennel/banana mixture. Beat until well-blended.

Bake cake until top is golden and tester comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Dust top with powdered sugar.

Notes:
* This is good with a lemony cream cheese frosting, but works just fine on it's own, too.
* Sometimes you can substitute celery and fennel seed for fennel bulb and fronds. This is not one of those times. Trying that made the cake way too moist and thick.



Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons lemon juice (possibly decrease to 1 1/2 Tbsp.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, add more if you want it thicker

Directions

Beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice, and vanilla together until smooth and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar. Beat until creamy. Add more icing sugar or water as needed for easy spreading. Makes more than is needed for the cake recipe--probably 1/2 recipe would be a bit on the thin side.

Aswiebe's Market List Update 2010-07

http://www.aswiebe.com/writing/markets.html

The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be after 08/15/2010.
Permanent link to this newsletter in the archives: http://www.aswiebe.com/writing/archive.html#071610

Editor's Note
It's...done. Vicesteed, the steampunk mystery novel that I've been working on for way longer than I care to think about, is for-real, until-a-publisher-tells-me-otherwise, final-polishing-complete finished.

What do I do now?

For months and months, all my writing time has gone to editing this beast, and the short stories I've written have been squeezed in around the edges. It's a very strange feeling to try and get back in the butt-in-chair, producing at least a set number of words mindset. It's not writer's block, because I know what I need to do next. I have another novel barely started (from my idiot phase when I thought I could edit Vicesteed in a couple of hours on Saturdays). I have an outline. I know what needs to be written next.

It's like the sign taped up over my writing desk says, "There is no stress, there is only do."
( Read more... )