W is for WILDBERRIES ATOP ICE CREAM IS . . . well . . . the Berries #AtoZ

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

My daily #AtoZ posts combine two concepts in under-300-words per day:

an appealing food choice along with thoughts that spring to mind.

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Children love berries: especially ones they can pick straight from the vine, whether blue- or rasp- or huckle-berry. Sprinkle a few over a scoop of honest-to-real Wisconsin ice cream, and even old folks act like kids.

Growing up in the country meant harvesting wildberries during June and July. Raiding the relatives’ backyard gardens wasn’t frowned upon, once they'd grown weary of berry-filled jam, syrup, muffins, and pancakes. I did learn early not to mishandle berries or they'd stain my clothes. And  thorns on blackberry branches always made me think twice before helping myself to a quick snack.

When writing a story, I sometimes compare choosing my words to picking berries. Each choice is made judiciously. Like sprinkling only a smattering of berries atop a scoop of ice cream, one learns to be frugal with colorful words sprinkled into a story, making sure every word has purpose.

Words are there for the picking, but a mishandled word can stain your entire story.

Repetition is another prickly point to watch for in writing. When people hear the same words over and over, they become weary like they feel after too many helpings of raspberry muffins and blueberry pancakes. Sometimes words used to often begin to feel like thorns in the reader's side, and that could get an author into an even worse jam.

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R is for ROOT BEER FLOATS AND SUNDAES #AtoZChallenge,

 

For this year's challenge, my theme is The Fun in Writing. Each of my 26 posts for April is aimed at
illustrating fun parts of an author's day. A writer doesn't only write.
Creating a story or an essay requires research, revision, editing, and lots and lots of coffee and chocolate.

R is for Root Beer Floats and Sundaes 

 

 

 

My early childhood is best remembered as drives through the countryside on Sunday afternoons, with stops to visit relatives along the way. This was followed by a trip to the Custard Stand, on the east side of town, for root beer floats or ice cream sundaes. I’m talking real pop (that’s Wisconsin-speak for soda) and honest-to-goodness real dairy-fresh ice cream.

 

The visits often included a stop to see an aunt's three solid acres of gladiolas, which she planted in a wild array of colors. As I stared at those long-stemmed flowers, my young mind didn’t understand how she must have taken great pleasure in planting each gladiola bulb in spring, then watched the green leaves sprout and rejoiced with the eventual budding of the perfect petals. If that was the case, her joy would have matched my own juvenile excitement at the first taste of a root beer float or chocolate-topped sundae. 

 

 

Yes, Ithaca, New York . . . Two Rivers, Wisconsin is the birthplace of the original ice cream sundae! 

 

Which food or other non-guilty pleasure did you enjoy, sparingly, in your youth?
 

Link to site that shares the history of Root Beer:

http://whoonew.com/2013/07/root-beers-made-in-wisconsin/

SECOND THOUGHTS ERODE MY CONFIDENCE

It's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group blog posting. IWSG was created by the awesome ninja captain Alex J. Cavanaugh, and you can find a list of all the other members of the group here.

 

 

After writing and self-publishing three novels in my planned Pepper Bibeau mystery series, I allowed “second thoughts” to erode my confidence in writing a fourth. My marketing for the third novel never really got off the ground. I lost faith in my writing, in the worth of the stories, and in myself as a writer. It was easier to promote authors more imaginative than me and novels containing more important characters than mine. 

A lot of soul-searching followed the publication of my third novel. 

* Why had I chosen to set my stories in the near past (beginning with the late 60s and early 70s) after reading that such novels didn’t sell? Maybe it would be better to write stories occurring in the present. 

* Why was my protagonist a female with a backstory of service as a nurse in the Vietnam War? I had never been in the military, and current bestselling novels focused on action in Afghanistan or other parts of the Middle East. 

* Why did I think the life of an insurance investigator would play well in the Mystery genre? Such a career could never carry a series. 

Once I formed concrete questions to get a handle on my concerns, I considered answers to possible solutions. In November 2013, I used NaNoWriMo to test the theory of boosting my confidence by setting stories in present time. I wrote 50K words of a novel set in 2012. My main character’s backstory and career differed from my original protagonist. The surge of excitement I felt while writing the story compared to eating a new flavor of ice cream or wearing a new red silk dress. The macadamia nut chocolate swirl ice cream delighted my taste buds. The color and feel of the new dress affected most of my other senses. 

What the ice cream and dress didn’t do, and what the new protagonist didn’t do, was to satisfy my core wants and needs. My first love is vanilla ice cream: French vanilla, Country vanilla, Simply vanilla. Ready-to-wear clothes in tranquil colors suit me best. I relish the research required in developing a character whose story spans the years missed while I was “too busy living.” 

This insight resolved my concerns about why to write something “they” say won’t sell. 

For me, appreciation of a good mystery set in a familiar location generates motivation. My goal is to write mysteries that evolve in personally meaningful settings, for the enjoyment and entertainment of readers with similar interests. Book Four is now underway and I am more eager than ever to write the next Pepper Bibeau mystery.

 

 

Cherries Jubilee Book Blog Tour Day 2

Cherries Jubilee is a dessert with cherries and liqueur (typically Kirschwasser, a clear colorless fruit brandy), flambéed and served as a sauce over vanilla ice cream. The original recipe is credited to Auguste Escoffier, who prepared the dish for one of Queen Victoria's Jubilee celebrations, either for the Golden Jubilee of 1887 or the Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Anything paired with ice cream works for me!

On Day 2 of my Cherries Jubilee/Celebration, I want to share my book blog tour schedule of the next few days and tell you about the book give-away of FOR EVERY ACTION There Are Consequences that I am arranging on Goodreads. On the day of each event, I will post the corresponding event link on my blog site (here: http://gail-baugniet.blogspot.com).

Mon. Oct. 3 ~ Interview with Albert Robbins III at Reviews & Interviews
Tues. Oct. 4 ~ Book Review by Coral Robbins at Alchemy of Scrawl
Wed. Oct. 5 ~ Interview with A.F. Stewart on her Interview blog site
Thurs. Oct. 6 ~ Genealogy blog post
Fri. Oct. 7 ~ Interview/Review on Goodreads (Sorry, Andre, no treasure hunt!)

My Cherries Jubilee book give-away runs through October 22, 2011. Beginning next week, you can enter for a chance to win a signed trade book copy of my mystery novel, FOR EVERY ACTION There Are Consequences .

The wonderful people at Goodreads are handling all the details for the book give-away and will also select the winners. As soon as I am notified, I will announce the winners' names on this site:
http://gail-baugniet.blogspot.com
and will immediately mail out the books to the winners.

I will post the Goodreads contest entry link early next week. Meanwhile, you can visit Goodreads by clicking this link: Goodreads