Sunday, April 29, 2012

ROW 80 update, April 29

A Round of Words in 80 Days Update:

Wednesday Day 24 - Long Day at day job, so I took a break.  Watched half of On The Town, for no other reason than it was available free on Amazon's Prime Videos right now.  (Still humming "...gotta see the whole town, right from Yonkers on down to the bay. In just one day!"  Here's the opening number from YouTube: New York, New York.)

Thursday Day 25 - 124 minutes. Wrote episode two of the Sekrit Projekt -- which now has the official project name: Blogstory Experiment.  (The actual story is called "The Misplaced Hero" though I don't know the larger series name yet.)

I also wrote up some posts on strategies I'm considering with this.  I want this to be a learning experience, and I am excited about the idea of writing this in very short, high-impact episodes.  However, I must remember that the first goal here is to Just Write, and it slowed me down to try and fit the story into an efficient package. I do think that the attempt is giving me better prose, though, so I'm going to try to split the difference between self-expression and self-discipline.

The other thing I did was start in on prepping a logo for The Misplaced Hero.  More on that later.

Friday Day 26 - Tired from work, but I did do yesterday's post about Hopes and Fears.

Saturday Day 27 - 61 minutes.  I spent my early session thinking through my new direction, and I think I've got a real plan in place.  Then I was bad.  I had an inspiration for how to make the kind of faux croissants I want.  I adapted a Chinese recipe for baked bao, and oh my goodness, it was a rousing success.  I made three or four different kinds of rolls with it -- just testing -- and they all came out the way I wanted.

So it was really late before I got started on real work, and even then I kind of coasted on some work I'd already done.

(Also, the whole Get Up, Stand Up Project is finally working in terms of fitness and muscle tone, but it isn't working for weight loss because of things like, you know, faux croissants.)

See you in the funny papers.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

At least the project has you writing. That's the important part. Care to share that recipe? I promise not to eat a ton of them!

The Daring Novelist said...

I'll post more details on the Wednesday update, but for those who already know something about making bread and rolls:

2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 packet quick acting yeast
2 tbl sugar

stir those together in the mixing bowl.

Then put the following in a microave proof bowl (I use a measuring cup), and nuke for 30 seconds.

1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. butter

Set that aside for a minute -- the butter should be mostly melted, but it's fine if there are soft lumps.

Pour that into the mixing bowl, and let your Kitchenaid do its work. (If you don't have a Kitchenaid, you have to mix and knead until it is elastic -- but you don't want to put any more flour into this, so you'd better be good at it.)

Kate said...

It's nice to know that someone else out there likes old musicals as much as I do. I love Gene Kelly in that flick! Of course, I love almost ALL Gene Kelly movies, so...

Sounds like you had a hard work week. Hope you find a chance to get your minutes up where you want them to be.

The Daring Novelist said...

The Wed-Fri stretch is my main work week, so Sunday will always have a lower productivity report.

In the meantime, I think I'll watch Broadway Melody of 1936 tonight. Eleanor Powell, with Jack Benny as a reporter and kind of the antagonist.

Robin M said...

Love musicals and thanks for the faux croissants recipe. Happy Writing!