Hi there, fellow wallowers,

I… may be watching too many baking competitions, lately. I tend to do that when I’m in the middle of projects. Something about watching people go up against the odds, make blunders and struggle, and still get through is really reassuring.

Anyway, I know I’ve been watching too many because I recently dreamed that I was revising my novel for the show Is it Cake? and had to somehow figure out how to fix the plot AND make it cake at the same time.

After waking up, I started to think about the parallels between baking and revision. And that led me to comparing writing and revision to a bunch of other things. I’ve collected some of them here, for your reading pleasure:

• Revision is like making cake pops. You take the crumbs of a thing that was complete it its own right, mix them up with new stuff (buttercream, new words, whatever), and smoosh them into new shapes… maybe with some icing and sprinkles to really bring it all together.

• Revision is like looking at a domino course you built (your draft), realizing there are places where the topple will break, and going in and rebuilding without toppling the whole thing in the process.

• Revision is like accidentally shattering your favorite coffee mug: you use a lot of glue to stick it back together, create some new pieces to fill the gaps, and then sand it all back down until its cohesive.

Monthly Microfiction

WHEN A TREE FALLS

by Courtney Floyd

When a tree falls in the forest its neighbors do their best to catch it, straining branches and reaching roots frantic to prevent its loss.

When a tree falls in the forest the other trees vibrate with its passage, shedding limbs and bark in throes of grief as deep and abiding as tap roots.

When a tree falls in the forest it is heard. It is always heard, regardless of the proximity of whatever ephemeral beings haunt the forest’s roots and brambles.

When a tree falls, the entire forest attends its wake, softening hard places and teasing growth out of dense cells. Mushrooms and saplings and the creeping many-legged folk, functionaries in the funereal rites of flora.

June Recommendations

• P. H. Lowe’s These Deathless Shores is out next month (July 9th). It’s a retelling of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, but it focuses on the origins of Captain Hook. I just started reading and I can already tell it’s going to be fantastic.

• If you’re looking for something with folk horror vibes set on the coast of England, Lucy Foley’s The Midnight Feast just came out and it’s a perfect summer night read, especially if you’re like me and read it while watching fireflies blink in the night woods.

Happy Pride. Happy summer. And happy periodical cicada season to those of you lucky enough to live in one of their brooding areas!

Thanks for wallowing with me,

Courtney