Fruitcake. . . . Or, How the Bubble Finally Popped.

Fruitcake was always a mystery to me. I mean, how could a dessert, that was so varied in its appearances, so long-lived in the history of cooking, have gotten such a bad rap? My great-grandmother on my father's side spent years perfecting her fruitcake recipe. Her hand-written cookery journal holds at least five different versions. And of the hundreds of cookbooks I've read over the years, I've seen as many different recipes.

So what's the deal? Surely, a sweet bread holding all this attention was worth the effort? Who cares if it needs to be carefully sawed through with a serrated blade?

How did it happen that ducking neighborly deliveries of fruitcake became a household joke around the holidays? Was commercial-mass production really to blame, as historians say?

Having grown up in a rather rural, mountainous area, I never quite grew to understand that spirited animosity. Partly I suppose, because unlike Urban/Suburbanites, we simply didn't have all that many neighbors. And partly I suppose, because thanks to a grandmother and mother who like to bake, I grew up liking fruitcake.

Yes, I grew up liking fruitcake. Eating fruitcake.

Devouring it, at the holidays, I'll admit. Just like this last one.

I'd forgotten my fondness for this dessert, actually. Having dismissed fruitcake as a dessert not worth making, thanks to popular opinion, I never bothered; and TIME, that tricky enigma, shuffled such memories to the darkest, deepest depths of my mind.

But thanks to Mom, who always has a way of doing something extra-special--who took the time to dig out Grandma's recipes and get to work long before the holidays began--those memories came flooding back this Christmas.

My grandmother, when she was living, made a great fruitcake. She'd send it out to us from Minnesota, along with her Norwegian lefse and a dozen or so cookies that she called rocks. The rocks, I didn't much care for, but the lefse and fruitcake . . . they were my favorites.

Funny, how I never quite connected THAT fruitcake -- the one my grandmother made -- with the other one -- the one everyone else seemed to hate, or pretended to hate when the holidays rolled around. Such is childhood. The bubble-world of every child's universe.

... I, for one, am so glad it finally popped. Because this year -- 12 months from now, I intend on jumping into the world of fruitcake preparation. Yep. I do.

So, neighbors and friends, watch out! I certainly hope that you'll rediscover, like I did, that fruitcake is so much worth it's every last ounce in gold, and then some.

I guess that's one New Year's resolution I'll work to keep: learn to make fruitcake.

Happy New Year!

Enchanted

Last weekend I had a choice. . . . Drop the kids at the theatre with their friends and go shopping, or see the movie with them and forget shopping. Hmmmmm. Big Decision.

Movie, . . . or shopping.

Time with kids at movie, . . . or time with self while shopping, errrr, I mean, most likely beating self up in trying to make perfect purchases.

Silly movie . . . one that might make me laugh, . . . or shopping in a harried, rushed, most frustrating way.

(I'm not a shopper--can you tell? Although lately, I've been hoping to somehow transform into some sort of Born-Again Super-Hero Shopper, something along the lines of Wonder Woman, so that I can at least get this year's Christmas list done. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.)

As it turned out, I saw the movie. ENCHANTED, it was, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Silly, yes. Comical, yes. Enjoyable, yes, although reasons for all of those who attended varied.

My 9-year-old son and his friend liked the action of the evil witch and the chipmunk shooting out an unmentionable quite entertaining, though the King Kong theatrics at the end really drew them in. Funny, I didn't catch a King Kong reference until they mentioned it, but as my daughter said, it had a little bit of everything -- Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella . . . and King Kong! Who woulda thunk. I was expecting the movie to stick to only true-blue fairy tales.

My 7-year-old son had the cutest synop of the experience. He said, "All they [the characters] did was talk about love, and sing about love, and act about love. . . . It was all about love!" But nevertheless, even with all that love stuff going on, he said he still liked it. Which really, in the end, is what I LOVED the most.

All in all, the movie was quite Enchanting, for everyone, with only the briefest of jaunts into shopping--after all, a girl's gotta find some way to get dressed for a ball in Manhattan, doesn't she? And not only that, but she even made it look fun. Hmmmm. Maybe I just found my newest role model. Grisella of Andalasia. Dream on. :)

15 TIPS FROM AUTHORS AND EDITORS FOR WRITERS

Hi all,

A couple weekends ago I went to a fantastic writers conference in Eden, Utah, where the presenters shared all sorts of information geared toward helping us define and sharpen our careers. And it got me thinking . . . about all the great conferences I’ve been to in the past, and all the words of wisdom that I’ve heard along the way, and after a while I decided to dig out those old conference notes to see what I might have forgotten and relive moments that might be worth reliving.

Out of that pleasant exercise, I’ve come up with 15 TIPS FROM AUTHORS AND EDITORS FOR WRITERS.

15. Never under-estimate the power of gestation time. . . . And to quote Earnest Hemingway, Don’t leave your typewriter until you know what you’ll write the next day.
– David Sheffield, comedy film screenwriter

14. Revision ==> Re-vision.
– Ann Cannon, author, Charlotte's Rose

13. Don’t be afraid to throw out what you’ve done and try a new approach.
—Deborah Hopkinson, author, Fannie in the Kitchen,, Up Before Daybreak, Apples to Oregon

12. Write in Scenes. Show the character develop through what happens.
– Linda Sue Park, author, A Single Shard, Seesaw Girl

11. In a picture book, every word must sing.
– Julie Strauss-Gabel, Associate Editorial Director, Dutton

10. When I can imagine myself in the character’s skin, then I begin to write.
– Kathleen Duey, author, The Unicorn's Secret, The Faeries' Promise

9. Hook readers on the first page through tension, character, or voice. Show what makes that day different from any other.
– Susan Kochan, Editor, Putnam

8. Passion finds a way.
– Cameron Steve Wright, author, Letters for Emily

7. A novel is about the way things have to change in order to survive.
– Richard Peck, author, Here Lies the Librarian, The Last Safe Place on Earth

6. Understand what your character values, and what risk of losing that really means.
– Kim W. Justesen, author, My Brother, The Dog

5. To quote Richard Peck again, . . . “I noticed, while I was growing every minute at the typewriter, mysteriously, my readers remained the same age.”
So out of that, you can trust these words . . . “Know your audience, and write for them.”
-- Kay Lockner of AuthorMBA.com

4. Spend your words like money. Make sure there are no extras.
– Carol Lynch Williams, author, The True Colors of Caitlynne Jackson, If I Forget, You Remember

3. The rhythms in your writing mirror the rhythms in your life – the sound of an oscillating fan, the buzz of traffic, the gurgle of a mountain stream. Get at the heart of those rhythms – whether they be past or present – and you’ll get at the heart of what drives your narrative voice.
– Ken Brewer, poet, sum of accidents

2. Quite often, your instincts in your first draft are good. Use the editing process to get at the rhythms within and best word choice.
– Ken Brewer

And 1. . . . which is not gleaned from a conference, but are my favorite words to write by:

When you have gone so far that you can not manage one more step, then you’ve gone just half the distance you’re capable of.
– Greenland proverb


So there you have it. A small collection of useful tidbits sent floating out you. But because I’m only one person hitting conferences here and there, please feel free to share and post your own here.

Happy writing!

Shaunda