Feb 6th, 2010 by brecluse
So I’ve been slacking in the blogging department, I know. I’ve got a plan though to make this a more regular blog. I know I keep making promises. I really am trying though to make this part of my week at the least and hopefully I can get to the point I’m posting more than once a week.
I will be posting on some projects that I cannot discuss in detail, but that will result in much frustration and hilarity though. I’ll also be posting more when I travel. My first trip of 2010 is coming up, and it’s a good one.
I’m going to Mardi Gras! Yes, in New Orleans! I haven’t been since 2006, and that MG, while wonderful to experience, was not like the joyful and exuberant celebrations that I remember as a former resident of the city.
The other totally awesome and exciting thing is that I’ll be riding in a Krewe! I guess I’m technically now in a Krewe, which is cool. I’ll be riding with Tucks on Saturday February 13th on the traditional Uptown route. It will be so exciting and I’m really going to try to take photos and capture the fun.
So stay tuned for blogging from Mardi Gras…coming soon.
Tags: 2010, mardigras, neworleans, nola, trips, tucks
Posted in life, travel, writing | No Comments »
Dec 1st, 2009 by brecluse
I did it. I wrote a 50,014 word novel in 30 days, and while it is a very, very rough draft it’s something, something I’ve never done before so it’s pretty awesome.
So yeah, I didn’t really journal here did I? It was hard, really hard, the last week especially, so I didn’t have a lot of time for blogging. Plus, my body? It’s really pissed at me now for all that computer time, and typing (it really hated all the typing). So I needed to rest when I could. I probably shouldn’t be typing now because, frankly, it hurts. I have a massage in my future though so it’ll all be fine.
So I’m going to keep writing every day for 10-30 minutes, but I’m going to stick to exercises for the first couple of weeks and then transition into doing some character and setting work before I read the novel and starting revising it in January.
I have no idea how to revise a novel, but I’m just going to give it shot and I have a deadline for finishing (March 15th) so that should help.
I have a ton of stuff to take pictures of, but it’s so cloudy I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance. I’ll try though.
Tags: 2009, fiction, nanwrimo, process, writing
Posted in life, writing | No Comments »
Nov 19th, 2009 by brecluse
So you are probably wondering where I’ve been, right? I’m deeply immersed in the insanity known as NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. Yes, a 50,000 rough draft of a novel written over 30 days. Insane, painful, fun, exciting, liberating, frustrating and very, very cool.
So I’m at about 30K words right now and I a little less than 2 weeks to finish. I think I’ll make it, but some days it’s really hard. I know that whatever happens at the end that I have proven I can write every day if I make time for it. I have sparked my imagination again so ideas are everywhere now. And I think I have hit on a great idea for a series, maybe, I don’t want to be too cocky because it might be a totally stupid idea. Since my Inner Editor is away at camp for the month, it’s hard to judge.
I am really looking forward to crossing the finish line though and am also excited about taking this rough draft and whipping something great out of it, maybe in time for the agent conference? That would be pretty cool, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.
While the last 20K should be downhill, I do worry about pacing, and being able to time the plot correctly. I mean this is my first novel.
I have other updates, mostly the knitting kind and mostly from last month, but it’ll have to wait until later, but I’ll try to check in more. I realize it would have been nice to journal a little here about the writing process and the frustrations and anxieties it brings up. So maybe I’ll try to do that as I head into the home stretch.
Tags: 2009, nanowrimo, novel, writing
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Oct 28th, 2009 by brecluse
So I made gumbo this past weekend for the first time in like 5 years. It was ok, but I had just totally forgotten how I used to do it. I never had a recipe I used, so piecing it back together was a little rough. It was good though and now I’d like to (re)master that recipe so I’ll probably be experimenting with that over the fall and winter.
I will work on getting a better kitchen photo set up too so I can start documenting these kitchen forays a little better.
In other news I’m feeling ready to finally start running again (yes!). I’m going to start the Couch to 5K program next Monday. I’ll be starting NaNoWriMo on Sunday as well so November is going to be hectic for me. Wish me luck, and I’ll try to keep the blog somewhat updated.
I’ll be doing a knitting update later this week!
Tags: 9to5, cooking, running, writing
Posted in 9to5, life, running | No Comments »
Oct 19th, 2009 by brecluse
I’ve been MIA lately, I know. I’ve been sick since like August it seems. Nothing serious, just allergies but it’s getting old, really old. So I’ve done a few baking things and some knitting stuff and even some yard work.
I made croissants. Real croissants. From scratch. They were really good and our neighbor, who’s mother is French, said they were very close to real French croissants (I need to get a full report about what was missing).
So I got this book, Baking, a few weeks ago and it has great step by step instructions for all kinds of baking stuff. I think it could be a baking course on it’s own. Anyway, I’ve been wanting to do something challenging so I decided to try croissants. It’s a lot of work, and a lot of butter, but they turned out great and the instructions were good and easy and had photographs to go with, which I love. Anyway, croissants!
I also made bread a lot lately, including my Rosemary Olive bread and Chocolate Cherry bread, which I got from this book . I’ve been making these breads for a while so nothing new, but nice to have fresh bread. I hope to make bread a lot more as it cools down for fall/winter here.
I’ve been knitting a lot and just finished a sweater (post to come soon) and started a new one. I’ve also started the long process of cleaning up and preparing the yard for fall/spring gardening. I cleaned out my dead tomatoes and can you believe that the basil I planted with them is still alive and is at least 4 feet, yes feet, tall. We’re planning on harvesting it all over the next week or two and making some pesto.
I’m going to try to do the Sweet Potato biscuits tomorrow (for Tuesday’s with Dorie) because they sound yummy and I need to master biscuits. I’ve had bad biscuit mojo the last few years.
Tags: basil, bread, croissnats, tuesdayswithdorie
Posted in baking, garden, knitting, life | No Comments »
Sep 23rd, 2009 by brecluse
Another pair of socks done, and in record time.
Pattern: Eurydice by SpillyJane for the Sock Yarnista Club at Three Irish Girls.
Yarn: Three Irish Girls Beckon Merino in Auspicious colorway
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm) circular using Magic Loop
Notes: This pattern was super easy and went really fast. I think they turned out really great. This was my first time working with the 3IG yarn, I have been a club member off and on for a while, and I really liked it. The colors knit up beautifully I think, and I’m excited to knit up some of my other club scores soon.
However, I think I’m taking a small break from sock knitting, just for October maybe. I really want to get at least one sweater done this fall and one done this winter (before the new year) and sweaters take me a while so I need to focus. So I’ve restarted my February Lady Sweater, and that will be my first one and then I might try to also do the Honeybee Cardigan because that seems like it would be fast and it’s perfect for Austin weather I think.
I’d love to also keep a smaller project on hand, in case I get the wild urge to take my knitting out in the world, but I think I’ll maybe do a scarf. We’ll see.
Tags: cardigan, finished object, knitting, socks
Posted in finished object, knitting, work in progress | No Comments »
Sep 16th, 2009 by brecluse
So last week or maybe 2 weeks ago I mentioned being in a knitting frenzy or maybe just a stashing frenzy. I even said you could be the judge, but then I gave you nothing to base your judgement on. Sneaky of me, no?
So I’ve laid off the stash posts here because I started thinking they were probably really boring and my stash pics already clog up my Flickr to the point that I don’t think anyone looks at it anymore. So yeah, I didn’t want to alienate everyone. But I also think saying “hey look at all this stuff I traded, swapped, bought” (and folks it’s a lot of stuff) maybe made me a little uncomfortable because I might be out of control right now with the yarn. Maybe.
I don’t want to get all blow by blow here but here are some facts. As of June I had bought 11875 yards of yarn for the year. That’s some yarn. I think I’ve purchased almost another 10000 yards in the last 3 months, and I’ve got some stuff still in transit. On the other hand, I have projects lined up for every single thing in my stash (ie, not in transit) and I’ve managed to let go of some things I was really never going to knit. I also wore my Louet & Lacy cardigan for the first time in NYC last week (yay!) and can’t wait to knit some more cardigans.
So for those that care about such things here are some highlights of my recent acquisitions.
I have had my eyes opened to a whole new world of yarns in the past month, including the ever elusive Wollmeise.
I also discovered Squoosh Fiberarts
and Sanguine Gryphon (though no Bugga or Skinny Bugga yet)
and Sundara
and Pigeonroof Studios
and that’s just like half of it, but I won’t bore you. If you really love yarn porn check out my Flickr account.
I’m on a yarn budget. Starting in October. Really.
Posted in knitting, stash | 2 Comments »
Sep 15th, 2009 by brecluse
So remember that whole baking thing? Right. So it’s Tuesday and I realized when I got home that I still have not done a TWD this month and the souffle (which I missed last week) and these turnovers were the two things I wanted to do for September. So I flew by the seat of my pants and made these turnovers today, well tonight.
First, I made soup for dinner, Winter Minestrone. It was good.
Then quickly while the soup simmered I made the dough (I did a half recipe of this) and threw it in the fridge. The dough did not come together for me that easily, it actually seemed a little dry when the recipe said it would be wet. I squashed it into two balls and chilled it for about 20-30 minutes. Did the recipe say an hour? Sure.
Then I pulled it out and rolled it out using the plastic wrap method, which works like a charm I must say. I gotta remember that one. Then I folded it and chilled for about 20 more minutes, while I mixed together the dry ingredients and cut up the apples. I added a dash of curry to the dry stuff for fun.
Did the recipe say chill for 2 hours? Yes it did. I don’t have time like that though. I decided to just go for it and unfolded and rerolled the dough in plastic a couple of times to smooth the creases and then used ramekin as a dough cutter. It did work but the stickiness of the dough made me decide to do one pass through with the ramekin and save the rest of the dough and filling for tomorrow and a proper chilling.
So then I went to put the apples down and fold it all over and…
more like burritos than turnovers.
But I have to say they turned out delicious and that crust is awesome. The Italian said he could eat a whole plate of them.
So lessons for this week are to plan ahead, and get better lighting in my kitchen.
Posted in baking, tuesdayswithdorie | 3 Comments »
Sep 3rd, 2009 by brecluse
I’ve been remiss in posting here. I’ve been remiss in baking for my Tuesday’s With Dorie gig. I promise to get better though. I’m going to try really hard to bake 2 things this month for TWD. I’m also going to try to just write something every few days no matter what. I will not worry if it’s all about knitting. Some of you like knitting, right?
I’m totally obsessed with knitting right now. I go through these phases where I really latch onto things (OCD much?) then gradually it fades and I just have normal feelings towards any one hobby. Right now I’m in a knitting frenzy, or maybe it’s just a yarn stashing frenzy. You be the judge.
I finished a pair of socks for August, so my project a month goal plods along.
Pattern: Pomatomus Socks
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Dusky Aurora (love!)
Needles: US 1 [2.50 mm] circular (Magic Loop methods)
Notes: I resisted these socks for a long time because I thought they looked bulky and I love lace socks. Glad I finally gave in to this pattern. I really like the look of these, but they are slightly big. I probably should’ve used my other 1’s (2.25 mm) needles or maybe 0’s. I’m hoping a soak and block will help, we’ll see. The pattern is great though and the yarn is fantastic! This color is just amazing.
Posted in finished object, knitting | 2 Comments »
Aug 7th, 2009 by brecluse
I spent last week in the lovely town of Alpine attending a Writer’s Retreat. It was great, I’m motivated and I feel creative again. It was also exhausting so I feel like I’ve mostly been catching up on sleep this week.
We saw some fun stuff, like these cute donkeys. We were trying to figure out what donkeys were, and mostly we got it right.
Donkey’s can be interbred, but the offspring are sterile so while I’m not sure of the other two guys I took pictures of, this one is donkey and zebra:
We spent a lot of time on the Sul Ross campus where our class was held, and I saw something really funny there.
So he’s letting me get real close to get a picture and it’s not until I take this one that I understand that it’s a bug and not a pecan he’s got. Then it’s game time.
I saw this at the motel, very cool butterfly that I have been unable to identify so far, I guess a trip to the Life Sciences Library might be in my future.
We did go to Marfa on Friday and have dinner and poke around.
Then we went back to Alpine and stopped to see the lights. We did see them, but I could not get pictures. So small, so far away. I got this instead though.
It was great. I’d love to do it again next year!
Tags: 2009, alpine, marfa, texas, travel, writing
Posted in life, travel | No Comments »
