Moving a Mountain
- At March 19, 2010
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Roxanne Writes On
- 0
Moving a Mountain
Do you want to see what I’ve been working on this past year? Actually, it’s been more like seven years, which is how long we’ve been in this house, but I only got serious about it a year ago. We have a large yard, but it’s built into a rocky slope, covered with loose fill that is the perfect medium for thistle and blackberry brambles. After I discovered that the coyotes had actually made themselves a blind amongst the weeds, from which to stalk our pets, I said THAT’S IT. Time to landscape.
See? Even the snow can’t cover the weeds. It’s very private, and jam-packed with potential… mostly unrealized. My husband estimated that it would cost somewhere between 30 and 60 K to do what we want. (It used to be that any project I wanted to do would cost $700. He just pulls numbers out of his, um, hat, mostly to shut me up.) So I kept imagining how awesome it could look… and quit talking about it.
Until last fall, when I lost it and attacked it myself. With a pick-ax.
Hubby had been largely AWOL, finishing his MBA, and I needed to destroy something. Can’t spend the money to landscape the yard? Fine. I’ll do it myself. Stand back, MBA guy. I’ve got tools and I’m not afraid to use ’em.
I started digging, just far enough to a) realize what a herculean task I’d undertaken and b) make it look actually worse than before, forcing me to finish the job.
Frank, the gentleman who’s helping me reach the finish line, is a Rock Star. See all those large, nicely cut hunks of stone? He hauled them all up there by hand. He cut the beautiful stone steps into the slope and he built the rock wall just below the first evergreen. So now I’m into the incredibly fun part – arranging the plants. Well, I’ve got a lot of grunt-work left; rocks to arrange, landscape fabric to cover, bark mulch to haul and spread… but it’ll be worth it.
What does moving a mountain have to do with writing? Besides the obvious benefit of creative procrastination?
Anyone who’s ever tried to write a book will understand the metaphor immediately. It’s so hard, and once you get to a certain point, you simply have to do the grunt-work to get it done. You can’t believe you started something that is so obviously past your ability to complete. You’re embarrassed because so many people keep asking how it’s going and you have to lie and say you’re almost done, just a few more revisions now, just a tweak here and there and it’ll be ready for submission. Or you start into a hideous, self-deprecating explanation of how your self-esteem has been in the toilet and you doubt the idea was any good in the first place, and your shoulders are seized up so you can’t type, and your publishing house went bankrupt, and your editor is a mean, mean man who doesn’t understand you and THAT’S why the book isn’t done yet.
Or you keep all that stuff for your journal, write the damn book, then go outside and work on your dirt farm.
I’ll let you know when the book comes out. I’m almost done, just the final scene to write, some character layering, a few plot points to fix…
Until then, doesn’t my yard look GREAT??
Roxanne Bakes Cookies
- At March 18, 2010
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Roxanne Writes On
- 0
Roxanne Bakes Cookies
Yup, you guessed it. I was procrastinating the other day, stuck on an editing point, and got hungry. I’m five pounds away from my goal weight, so of course, I decided to bake cookies.
But instead of the usual decadent chocolate chip recipe on the back of the bag, I decided to switch things up. I do this all the time, but usually, I forget to write down what I’ve done, so if it works out, I can’t repeat it. Well, this time, I remembered – and they turned out to be awesome cookies! Plus, they are sugar-free and wheat-free, if that’s a thing for you.
Dry ingredients:
1 cup brown rice flour, 1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal, 1 cup trail mix (no fruit), 1/2 cup coconut, 1/4 cup ground almonds, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp. cinnamon.
Moist ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup natural peanut butter, 1/2 cup honey, 2 eggs
Grind the oatmeal and trail mix coarsely. Combine with rice flour, coconut and almond meal. Add the rest of the dry ingredients. In mixer, blend butter and peanut butter. Add eggs, then honey and mix until smooth. Mix dry and moist ingredients until blended.
Okay. At this point, you can get creative. (As if this isn’t creative enough already!) I added 1 1/2 cups dark raisins and 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips. Alright, alright, yes, there’s sugar in the chocolate chips. Don’t add them if you want to be a purist. Add chopped apricots or dried cherries instead. Dates would be good. I love dates.
Drop by spoonfuls onto buttered baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes, or until golden.
Try them. Let me know what you think.
March Madness
- At March 01, 2010
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Roxanne Writes On
- 0
March Madness
So this month, I’m working on the first draft I wrote in November… of 2008. Yup, NaNoWriMo ’08. What can I say? It’s been a writers-block kind of year. But I’ve recently discovered National Novel Editing Month – NaNoEdMo to us word-geeks. And in an interesting display of synchronicity, I learned of EdMo right after signing up for an editing class at Simon Fraser University. And since the second Shelby James book is already on an editor’s desk, I guess it’s time to get the third one polished.
Or at least, finished.
Sigh.