Tris Talks... August newsletter! (Yep, I know it's September)
Once again, I’m late… I fully blame the end of the month sneaking up on me amidst a haze of a four day weekend after the new semester started where I work (which is always a few weeks ahead of and afterward of chaos).
I allocated time for writing on Sunday (because Saturday we went to the Scottish Games, so that was a complete loss) but between dog walks and drama with the new pizza oven at camp, I somehow lost the entire day.
I can, however, tell you a story about fail, try, fail loops in the context of gluten free pizza dough and a wood-fired pizza oven.
Recently two very cool things (from my perspective) occurred:
1 - We were able to purchase a lightly used wood-fired pizza oven at camp.
2 - I found a recipe that was said to be the best gluten free pizza dough ever (and supposedly easy to make).
Obviously this meant we scheduled a day to make pizza at camp! I was excited to try the new recipe, and hoped it would be the pizza crust I’ve been missing. We picked up the ingredients from home (we hadn’t planned ahead, so I hadn’t packed things) and figured hey, if we get started mid to late afternoon, we’ll be fine for timing.
To spoil the ending: we ate dinner at 8pm that night…
While I started making the dough, spouse started the fire in the oven. The wood was cheerfully burning with proper white smoke, so he moved on to preparing toppings. Meanwhile, I was wrestling with this easy dough…
I made a mistake at the start—I chose too small a bowl, and misread 1 3/4 cups as 1 1/4 cups… this means I poured water into psyllium husk, which turned to gum in chunks before I got to whisk it while I tried to fix my error with a new bowl and more water. I wasn’t sure the dough would even work after that (it did, mostly).
We finally got the dough prepared, but it wouldn’t stretch quite right (I blame my psyllium husk error). At that point we realized the temp on the oven was too low, so spouse threw in more wood.
Cue black smoke. Which is bad—the entire inside of the oven was coated in soot. Pivot time! We fired up the grill with a different pizza stone.
Meanwhile again… the dough had rested and risen, and I flopped the first crust (there were two) onto a well-floured pizza peel (yes, with GF flour) so I could put together the first pizza with toppings. When it was all done and the grill was heated, we tried to slide the pizza from the peel onto the stone.
HAHAHAH. No. It went nowhere, and it broke in the middle. We stared at it. I said, “start the oven,” and he did and we pivoted AGAIN, folding it in half (sort of) in a baking pan, and tossed it in the oven. We decided that y’know, foil was a GREAT thing and made the second pizza on floured foil, then put that right on the stone in the grill.
For the record, the pizza was delicious, and this was the first tender, flexible gluten free crust I’ve had. SO GOOD, and even good in leftovers. Barely needs to be warmed to regain that flexibility, so it suited my craving for cold pizza, too.
Check The Loopy Whisk, if you’re curious about this dough. I don’t get paid, I was just happy with how it came out, despite all the mistakes.
Anyway, I have a point here.
Pretty much everything went wrong, and there were many points where we thought, “should we just make pasta for these toppings to go on?” But we pressed forward and changed direction and came up with something wonderful.
That’s what writing is like.
That’s what my writing is currently like. I keep trying to restart with words, failing, and shifting direction. I haven’t found the right one yet, but I will get there. Eventually.
Things published…
Nothing new has been published recently. I had thoughts about blog posts this weekend, but forgot to write any of them down in the whirlwind I was buried in.
Progress made…
I turned in ITS to Duck Prints Press!
This round of editing has been completed, and it is back in my editor’s hands. They expect for it to be at least a month, possibly more depending on how chaotic their schedule is. This isn’t surprising—ITS is long (yes, I know, all the PHU books are).
I’ve spent the last few weeks simply basking in Not Editing. Go on, laugh. It’s been nice, not worrying about it.
However, somewhere in the back of my brain the editor is still active, and she’s a pain in the butt. Because every time I start writing, she pokes her head up and asks how much trauma this will be to edit in the future.
I’d like her to hush up.
Meanwhile, I have like six different projects I want to work on, including the next PHU and the next 7Lakes books. Plus someone still needs to talk me out of the idea of doing a podcast of a book (hey, if my writing lends itself well to being read aloud, shouldn’t I lean into that?).
This week life starts to return to normal. It’s still camp season, and it’s still the start of the semester, but I almost have a typical daily schedule. Almost.
I’m hoping to use September to redevelop my routine. Fingers crossed.
Next things…
I’ve got my preliminary schedule for Albacon, which is the weekend of September 13th. I’ll admit, I haven’t looked at it yet, but if you’re in the Albany area, stop on in to see me! I have a room on vendor’s row, and will have my books. Duck Prints may be there with me for some of the time, too. Oh, and Albacon also has online memberships available, and attendees see the exact same programming as those who are at the convention in-person. We just can’t send ice cream for the social Friday night—remote attendees must provide their own.
After that, I think things are quiet for the next few months. I’ll be editing ITS again when I get it back, getting ready for the Kickstarter. Maybe I’ll finish a short story or two, or get novels drafting.
I’m not locking myself into specific goals right now, because lately that’s been a great way to say “I have to…” and then do nothing.
My real goal?
Rediscover the joy in writing.
If you’re curious to see snippets as I work, all levels of my Patreon are treated to early chapters of PHU when it is posting, as well as behind-the-scenes looks at works in progress.
And find me on social media if you want to chit-chat or just hear me natter on about life, writing, and fandom. I’m tryslora everywhere!
Thank you for reading Tris Talks...!
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