Sometimes just the sight of something suggests the way it feels. Take a look at this apartment building, for example. There’s no doubt that its facade would feel damp and cold against your hand. Your assignment today: Take one of your visual descriptions and see if you can add a new dimension to it using the sense of touch.
Get up close to your surroundings–literally for a non-fiction piece or with your imagination if you’re writing fiction. It’s obvious you’ll see things differently, but does this change they way things sound? Do you hear things you otherwise might have missed?
Who really thinks of baking a cake at 9:15 p.m. on the first day of NaNoWriMo? Me! I made it to 1,736 words the morning of November 1–which exceeded the necessary daily average word count by 69–so maybe it was no big deal. But considering some days will be too busy to write at all, perhaps it’s a good idea to stock up on words when I have time. But instead, I baked a cake. And then voted–and not even at the last moment! If my NaNoWriMo participation is anything like voting, that means I’ll won’t be cramming too hard to meet the 50,000 word count by November 30–just a little. Probably while baking a cake.
Buckwheat Gâteau Breton with Sea Salt
Adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz
I came across this cake while reading The Sweet Life in Paris, and I’m so glad I tried it. The buckwheat and sea salt add a fun complexity to an otherwise classic cake.
Cake:
7/8 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or other medium-grain, light-tasting sea salt, plus 1/3 teaspoon
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 pound unsalted butter, brought to room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons dark rum
Glaze:
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon milk
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9-inch springform cake pan. Combine both flours, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and the cinnamon in a bowl and whisk together until combined. Set aside. Beat the butter with a stand mixer until light and airy, then beat in the sugar until smooth.
Next, put four egg yolks, one whole egg, vanilla, and rum in a separate bowl and beat with a fork. Turn the mixer on high and slowly pour the eggs into the batter, allowing the batter to take on an airy consistency.
Add the flour mixture to the batter, stirring just until incorporated, then pour the batter into the pan. This batter is stickier and denser than many so it’s a little harder to work with, but do your best to smooth out the top.
Mix the egg yolk and milk for the glaze, then brush it over the top of the cake, using as much as necessary. Run the tines of a fork across the top in a few parallel lines, then rotate a little and repeat, to create an uneven crisscross effect. Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 teaspoon of sea salt evenly over the top. Bake for 45 minutes and let cool in the pan before removing.
Serves 14-16.
Autumn is full of opportunities to explore the five senses–from the feel of wet, fallen leaves in your hands to the taste of pumpkin pie. Today write about the smell of fall in the air and see where it takes you. For example, does it differ where you live now than where you grew up? If so, does that suggest a story, scene, or personal essay?
Perched high above a city street, what does this bird observe below?
Use this prompt as an exercise to open up your imagination, using it to envision a place and what’s happening there in detail–without actually seeing it.
We’ve all been caught in an unflattering pose or expression at some point or another, right? Use that embarrassing moment in your writing today.
Choose a word. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a noun, verb, or adjective, as long as it relates to a story you’re working on. Find a language dictionary online and translate your word to the language of your choice. Without thinking of the meaning of the translated word, spend 10 minutes freewriting about what associations its sound brings to mind. Does this give you any new ideas for your story?
Your character is at a Parisian bar. Alone. Is he waiting for someone? Has the rest of the party left? What’s going through his mind as he sips his beverage of choice? (And as we discussed yesterday, make the details count, whether he orders a whiskey on the rocks, a dirty martini, or a simple glass of ice water.)
Wow, it’s already October 29. Can you believe autumn is already in full swing? The last few weeks have flown by, and NaNoWriMo is coming up more quickly than it should! I first heard about National Novel Writing Month a few years ago, and though I’ve used the concept as an inspiration to increase my writing in the past, I’ve never actually committed to doing it. Until now.
One month.
175 pages.
50,000 words.
An average of 1,667 words a day.
One big commitment.
A new member of my book club recently asked how I’m going to manage our monthly reading and doing NaNoWriMo (my book club reads the classics, and has a tendency to pick the long ones–like Anna Karenina and Les Misérables). I said, “Eesh, good question. Haven’t exactly solved the Life aspect of NaNoWriMo, but I’ll figure it out by trial and error!”
We’ll see how it goes. I’m actually really looking forward to it. I’m anticipating several positive outcomes:
Have you participated in NaNoWriMo in the past? If so, what advice do you have for those of us doing it the first time? If you’re participating this year, what are you hoping to get from the experience?
