baking

Snapshot #135 | 10 Things for 8 September 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. having… one of those weeks when it feels like I own way too much stuff.
2. wishing… Parker made gel ink refills smaller than .7mm. I love the pen, and love the ink, but it takes up so much space on the page—I just want a finer line. (Yes. This is really bothering me.)
3. trying… to find a place where my pilea gets enough sunlight, but where the cat won’t destroy it.
4. writing… the synopsis for The Black Sun. I’ll still want to perfect it a bit, but… it’s good. Another step closer.
5. troubleshooting… a really annoying email issue. (If anyone’s trying to get in touch with me right now—or has tried recently and hasn’t gotten a response, since apparently this isn’t a new problem, I’m just discovering it now—I’m sorry. I’m trying to fix it. If it’s important, try the contact form.)
6. settling… into a good productivity system. I think. Still fine-tuning it.
7. thinking… about turning ‘likes’ off on the blog. It’s not that I’m against them, really, but too many spammers abuse the feature, and I don’t know that it’s worth it. Any thoughts?
8. hoping… they finish resurfacing my street soon.
9. making… bread for the first time in ages. I finally had a weekend when I could stand the thought of turning on the oven.
10. starting… the new draft of Violet Lane. This is going to be fun.

Snapshot #131 | 10 Things for 14 July 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. eating… all the strawberries.
2. noticing… that I’ve broken a few bad habits, completely unintentionally. An unexpected benefit of that cold, apparently. (Don’t worry: I’ve still got plenty of bad habits. Glad to be rid of those ones, though.)
3. finishing… the office coffee station. I finally found a tray I like! (This is the kind of thing I get excited about.)
4. tackling… that chore that I’ve been putting off since… last summer. Really. But it’s done and I can move forward with the big photo project, and I’m thrilled! (The bus ride wasn’t quite as tedious as expected, but it was close.)
5. hoping… that the new sunscreen I picked up will solve all my (sunscreen-related) problems.
6. looking… for good baked doughnut recipes. I finally broke down and got a pan, and I can’t wait to try it. Just as soon as the humidity breaks and I’m willing to turn on an oven again.
7. troubleshooting… an annoying computer problem. Not sure if I’ve solved it yet. Fingers crossed.
8. taking… care of the balcony plants. Finally. If they die now, it’s because of the oak trees, not my neglect.
9. cleaning… up the files on the ancient MacBook Pro, in the hopes that maybe it can be repaired and used again for less than the cost of a new laptop. I’m not optimistic, but it’d be nice to have something in between the desktop and tablet. (And, yeah: a lot of computer stuff going on lately.)
10. trying… those ruby cocoa KitKat bars. The chocolate is really interesting—I’d love to see it show up in a form that I can experiment with (chips or plain bars, something). I feel like it’d make a really good ice cream.

Snapshot #126 | 10 Things for 5 May 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. nursing… a post-Endgame emotional hangover. (Didn’t cry in the theatre, but it was a near thing.)
2. thinking… about John Singleton. Everyone’s talking about Boyz N the Hood (and rightly so), but Higher Learning (trailer) had a huge impact on me when I was first falling in love with movies. This hurts.
3. making… a real plan for the new running season. I started later than I’d like (stupid rain), but it’s not too bad, and I’ve got plenty of time to reach my goal for the year.
4. baking… this cake. It might be my new favourite (small batch!) chocolate cake recipe: the cake is flavourful and delicate, the frosting is fantastic, and none of it is too complicated.
5. figuring… out a tricky worldbuilding detail in the mysterious next writing project.
6. planning… some changes.
7. starting… to daydream about cold brew season. Yes, two weeks ago I was complaining about how spring—let alone summer—would never get here. I got over it.
8. feeling… motivated. And also sleepy?
9. troubleshooting… the Scrivener export/compile process. I mean… it works, but it’s not exporting a file that looks the way I want it to when I import it into other applications. (I like to deliver the file to beta readers using Google Drive. It solves so many compatibility issues.)
10. looking… for ducklings and goslings every time I’m near the lake… no luck so far.

Snapshot #125 | 10 Things for 21 April 2019

Personal

Happy Easter–or Passover–if you celebrate! If you don’t celebrate either, Happy Cheap-Chocolate-Day Eve!

Currently…

1. finishing… the third(!!) draft of The Black Sun!
2. trying… the iOS version of Scrivener. So far, so good, though it does make it a little difficult to walk away from the story. (It gets weirdly tempting to edit scenes when the cat wakes me up at four o’clock in the morning. Not that she did that twice in the past two weeks or anything.)
3. getting… my tickets for Endgame. (And making sure I’ve got waterproof mascara on hand, because I have a feeling I’m gonna need it.)
4. figuring… out a way to organize Evernote that might actually work for me. Finally.
5. looking… forward to the Veronica Mars revival. Now I just need to figure out how I can watch it in Canada.
6. wondering… why all my library holds suddenly become available at the same time every time. It’s hard to keep up.
7. finding… everything I need for my first big sewing project of the year, and I’m so excited to get started.
8. buying… a new jacket. I wasn’t planning on it, and I’m not happy about the unexpected expense, but my old one finally gave up the ghost and it’s not warm enough for my denim jacket just yet. (At least it was on sale?)
9. making… hot cross buns. I’ve mostly got the recipe down–they taste amazing–but they’re still not very pretty. (Does anyone have advice for working with brioche-style dough? It seems to have a mind of its own, and I can’t convince it to stay in nice round buns.)
10. trying… to remember the difference between em-dashes and en-dashes. I never know which one to use.

Snapshot #122 | 10 Things for 10 March 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. talking… myself out of buying a fantastic red statement couch for the office… to replace the fantastic red statement chair I bought for the office, and deeply regretted approximately two months later.
2. looking… forward to Captain Marvel. (I’m going this evening, and I’m giddy.)
3. loving… some of the photos I’ve been taking this week. It’s been a very good few days.
4. shovelling… snow. Twice in one day. The second time, in the rain.
5. sleeping… in. Sort of. Technically. This is the one day a year that the cat lets me.
6. daydreaming… about travel. I’m having a serious wanderlust moment right now.
7. approaching… the end of this draft of Violet Lane, and I’m really loving it. And I’m on track to meet my end-of-month deadline. (Assuming the final setpiece doesn’t give me as much trouble as the midpoint did… but even if it does, I think I have time to figure it out.)
8. figuring… out how to make all the intense writing sessions I’ve been doing fit into the rest of my schedule.
9. troubleshooting… my sourdough starter. I’ve figured out why it wasn’t working; the next attempt should be a winner.
10. falling… down some really fun research rabbit holes.

Snapshot #121 | 10 Things for 24 February 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. going… a little overboard on the coffee station (I now have a coffee grinder in my office…), but it’s seriously the best thing I’ve ever done for my productivity, so I’m not going to worry about it.
2. thinking… about trying to get my old MacBook Pro up and running again. I’ve got a weird emotional attachment to that thing, and I miss it. I’m not sure if it’s salvageable, though (at least not at a price I can justify).
3. making… another attempt at sourdough starter. (The first try was doing well, until suddenly it wasn’t.) Still not quite there. Sticking with my usual bread recipe for now.
4. trying… to be a little better at Twitter. (Pretty sure I go through a phase like this every six months or so, don’t I?)
5. reevaluating… the office setup. Some of it isn’t working quite as well as I’d hoped.
6. remembering… that the Oscars are tonight. I’ll be staying up. I always do.
7. finishing… my first sewing project of the year (you may have already seen it on Instagram; if not, I’ll show you tomorrow), and starting to plan the next one (which is significantly more complex).
8. feeling… really good about both of my current works-in-progress.
9. starting… my annual search for the perfect pancake recipe. (I’m picky.)
10. getting… used to Scrivener. I think. Maybe.

Snapshot #120 | 10 Things for 10 February 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. thinking… about trying my hand at short stories again. Maybe.
2. stocking… up on sketchbooks.
3. accepting… the fact that I need a new desk chair. Something that at least acknowledges the concept of ergonomics. (Fine. But why do they all look so terrible?)
4. wondering… how I’m going to get through the current stack of library books in three weeks. (Literally all my holds became available at once.)
5. eating… blood oranges. So few foods are truly seasonal anymore, it’s always a bit of a treat to find the things that really are only available for a couple of weeks.
6. making… my sourdough starter. I’ve been threatening to do it for months, and I’ve finally started. I’ll let you know how it goes.
7. standing… around in the most miserable weather of the winter, waiting for a bus that was a full hour late.
8. getting… back to that decluttering project.
9. trying… to find desktop wallpaper that I don’t hate. Still. I’m ridiculously picky about this kind of thing. When I do manage to find something that meets all my criteria—not too bright or too dark (unless it’s for mobile, in which case the darker the better), not too busy, quotes are good if they’re not too twee, I’m not a fan of brush lettering—I end up leaving it up until I’m thoroughly sick of it and desperate for something new, and… well. Here we are.
10. looking… forward to getting my days back this week.

Frosted Window photo by Reghan Skerry

Snapshot #114 | 10 Things for 18 November 2018

Personal

Currently…

1. grumbling… about the cold and the snow. Actual snow. It’s too early.
2. reminding… myself that I spent most of NaNoWriMo behind ‘par’ last year, and I still did just fine in the end.
3. resisting… the temptation to blow my savings on a medium-format camera. (A friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend is selling their old kit. If I was willing to spend that much money on myself this close to Christmas….)
4. testing… a few things.
5. finalizing… my holiday baking plans. I’m scaling things back this year. (I mean it this time! Though I do think there’s going to be a batch of non-Christmas cookies sometime soon, too….)
6. running… just a little bit behind, with pretty much everything.
7. accepting… that it’s time to cut my hair. I keep trying to grow it out, but my frustration always outweighs my desire for a cute messy bun.
8. trying… to decide whether I love or hate the new WordPress.com post editor. Could go either way right now.
9. mourning… William Goldman and Stan Lee. This hasn’t been a great week.
10. remembering… my obsession with taking photos of frosted-over windows.