World Book Day

On World Book Day, March 5th, I was one of three writers from Bardstown Writers Group, who went along to Myton School to talk to Year 7 pupils about Creative Writing. We were asked to talk to these pupils, age 11-12, about our writing journey, and what made us start writing. All three of us were as nervous as if we were about to meet the Queen. And our fears grew when we learnt that instead of the initial number of about 12-20 pupils, for 20 mins, there was now going to be 60 pupils for one hour, along with the English teachers, the Librarians, and the Deputy Head. But we were brave. We accepted the challenge, even though none of us had ever done an author talk at a school before.

When we got there, the staff tried to put us at our ease, and offered us tea and a selection of home made cakes! But alas, we were too nervous even to eat cake! However, as soon as we got started, we realised that this very large group of pupils were keen to learn from us, and really listened to what we had to say to them about writing. I was amazed at their responsiveness and interaction. They had no fears about participating in the little imaginative exercises we gave them. They had no problem generating a plot from the one sentence. 

We did some readings of flash fiction, poetry, and from my novel, which they applauded. So I was pleased they weren't too bored. They seemed a bright lot, who are very interested in Creative Writing, and write their own stories in different genres - Fantasy, Young Adult, Science Fiction, and more serious topics, such as racism. I gave them a handout of my Top Tips for Writing, and some Writing Magazines.

The school later got in touch with positive feedback. The pupils enjoyed our visit, and the school hopes to invite us back next year. I say that hour spent there was well worth it, and I hope that our visit creates a positive memory for them. I would not be surprised if one of two of them turn out to take up writing seriously. Seriously! I was impressed.

PARSNIP AND CHESTNUT ROAST/STUFFING

PARSNIP AND CHESTNUT ROAST OR STUFING

 

 
 

This is a very tasty recipe which is versatile both for meat eaters as well as vegetarians. I did this at Christmas this year, when I needed to alter my usual Chestnut Stuffing, to one which was suitable for vegetarians, but still retaining the wonderful rich flavour at Christmas. I made this for the Christmas meal at church for 60, and the vegetarians could not believe it was really for vegetarians! I suspect that meant it was a hit. I also made it at our family Christmas lunch.





Apart from anything, this is a nice winter recipe. We had it twice in December, and as soon as my family have forgotten about it, I will be doing it again.

As a Stuffing, this recipe will serve 8-10 people.
As a Main course, it will serve 4-6 people. 
It will keep in the fridge for a week, or will freeze.

Ingredients

12oz (unpeeled) parsnips. Peeled and chopped in small cubes.
12 breadcrumbs
2 eggs beaten
200g chestnut puree
5 sprigs fresh sage - chopped finely  - small handful
5 sprigs fresh rosemary - chopped finely -  small handful
1 tsp salt
black pepper
4 oz butter
2 medium onions, chopped small
2 cloves garlic, chopped small
2 tbl spoons olive oil

(optional - pine nuts or softened dried cranberries)

Method

- Use a large frying pan and melt butter.
- Add olive oil.
- Add parsnips and onions and cook for 10 min or till soft.
- Add garlic
- Using a large mixing bowl, put in breadcrumbs
- Add rest of ingredients, including the contents of the frying pan.
- Mix evenly with a wooden spoon or using your hand.
- Use an oblong or square oven proof dish, and grease it with butter.
- put all the mixture into the dish and spread it evenly.
- Cover with tin foil.

(This can be kept in the fridge overnight if necessary. But remove it from the fridge for a few hours to bring to room temperature so as not to break the dish when putting it into a hot oven.)

- Heat the oven to 200C, and put into the oven for 20 mins.
- Remove tin foil, and leave in oven for 5 mins.
- Remove from oven, and cut into portions.

Serve with roast potatoes and steamed vegetables.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The date makes no difference, but it can. New Year Resolutions help us think about where we need to refocus our lives.

For me, I realise I need to keep up with my blog more often. So I am sorry to all my visitors from various parts of the world. You amaze me though. Thank You! I intend to do better this year.

Like all other years, I have many intentions to do better this year than last year, where I am concerned. But at the end of each year I realise that all I have done towards my goals is possibly the opposite, or just the same as the previous year. So either I am doing something very wrong, or I am doing what I do best. On balance, I think I put other people's needs before mine. Not through choice always, but though habit. I realise though, that that in itself is also a choice!

This year my family have had many positives, and that means for me, it has been a very good year. The few negative things also need acknowledgment and assistance in making changes wherever possible. But in the end, we must do what is do-able. Not everyone can be helped. Not everything can be done. We must bear that in mind, and turn to what is achievable.

So far as my blog is concerned, I did put it on hold for a few months the end of last year. But that will change!

HAPPY 2016!

I intend to post more of what appears to be popular - My recipes in particular. According to the stats, the Christmas ones have had the most viewings. I do have a few new Christmas recipes but I won't put up those yet. But I do have a very nice Vegetarian Stuffing recipe which is an excellent one for winter and maybe I will start with that one first.

I have had a request from my future son-in-law, who "would like to spend some time with me in the kitchen" (quite a charmer, and lovely young man), who has requested help to cook casseroles, and cooking with less fat or oil. So various low fat casseroles will feature during the next few months, which are both healthy and very tasty, as I do have a healthy set of Trinidad tastebuds, even though these are not strictly authentic Trinidadian recipes - they are mine.

So my next blog post will be Parsnip and Chestnut Roast/Stuffing, which will do as a very nice main meal for vegetarians, or a wonderful accompaniment for roast chicken, turkey, or pork.

Keep a look out for the new 2016 posts, and I will look out for any questions you might have.

Cheers!

Marilyn x

THE LAST YEAR OF CHILDHOOD, is complete

At last! The LAST YEAR OF CHILDHOOD is finally complete at 111,688 words, redrafted, and edited 5 times, and about 20 smaller edits.

It has been an epic journey for me as a writer as it is the 3rd novel completed, so the learning curve was steep. I learnt from them all, but this one the most. I feel confident that I am doing something right, because this January, the novel was long listed for the Exeter Novel Prize - for unpublished novels.

But it is my characters who have made it come to life. It is they who told me what they thought, felt, did, and wanted to do. It is their voices who were written. I had little planned, though notebooks full, A3 sheets with plotting maps and timelines around the study, and notes pinned up to my walls and shelves over my desk. Authors say if you're not plotting you're Pantsing. But with all my efforts to plot, and even when I had the end truly pinned down hard to the board, it changed by the final edit. Why? Because the characters shouted out to me.

I had never envisaged that it is the characters who would be writing this book. The end was up to them. And I wrote it according to their wishes. Ok, there were times I had to stop them in their tracks and say, hold on a second, that is a tangent I cannot handle. So we worked together. So much so, that I took them to bed with me in turn. Truly I did. I only mentioned this once to my husband. My 12 year old Latchmin was a joy to snuggle with in bed, and she told me her heart - her fears and her joys. The handsome 17 year old Rajnath, whose temper could get the better of him had to be told at times, to think before he reacted. And the 14 year old Sumati, ran sometimes too fast for me to catch up with her wild and wilful ways. But she has a heart of pure passion, which was often mistaken for badness - a worry for her poor mother.

The novel is set in a difficult and restricted Colonial world, in 1917 Trinidad, when labourers had been brought from India, China, Syria, and Portugal, to work in the plantations, after African labourers would no longer slave for free, or even cheaply.

To my readers, I believe much of the plight of the characters, the emotion, and human need to see justice done, will resonate with you all. This novel is not just about a historical time and culture. It's global. It's about what makes us who we are today and what we expect from the country we live in, our needs, our wants, our desires, our dearest hopes, and for our children to  achieve and fulfil their dreams. It is about those who have money vs those who don't. And those who have education, and what happens to those who skip school or don't have the opportunity. It is about realising that both money and education have purchasing power, and have advantages over those who don't, in different ways. It is about striving and struggling for a better future.

The novel is about ...

Latchmin aged 12, Sumati, 14, and Rajnath 17, are all involved in each other's lives in their fight for the freedom to choose.  

The girls struggle in different ways against arranged marriage - an Indian tradition. Latchmin is well off, but desperately wants an education in order to pursue her dream to become a teacher. Sumati, a poor girl, disappears from the village, causing upheaval and repercussions beyond control. Rajnath, a plantation labourer, feels guilty and partly to blame, so seeks to make things right. But in doing so, he risks his life to confront the corruption of the prostitution business, jeopardising his own livelihood and freedom. It is only because of the conflict and consequences they suffer, do they all learn where freedom begins. It is not about what is available to take, but about what you are actually willing to sacrifice.  


If you think you would like to see this novel published, or find it interesting, please leave me a comment.  

Thanks!

Love you loads!

Marilyn x

Trout fillet - baked and healthy

Baked Trout, with mixed vegetables, and Crispy Baked Potatoes

The full plate above is a very healthy fish recipe that is also low in fat, calories, and with no more than 8 pro points. I'll let you know how I did the fish below. It is quick and easy, and cooks in a
180C fan oven for about 30mins

Ingredients for One portion of the Trout recipe 

You can multiply the ingredients depending on how many you are cooking for. Please note, I have used large fillets. If you use smaller 120 gram ones, that cuts your WW pro points immensely, and your calories. You can therefore have 2 fillets each!

1 large fillet trout approx. 200 grams
1 slice of tomatoe, and 1 slice chopped up
sea salt flakes
1 large stuffed olive, cut horizontally in half
a small shake of onion salt
two or three leaves fresh parsley, chopped up
half clove of garlic, chopped up
black pepper (from a pepper grinder)
2 tsp lemon juice
2 oz water

Method

1. Use a metal or oven proof dish large enough to take the amount of fish you are cooking, and put on oven at 180 C to heat.

2. Prepare fish by scraping off the scales from the skin with a knife. Use a pair of tweezers and pull out every bone if possible, so that your meal is not one where you spit out every other mouthful. This is not that hard and it is so worth the time. And trim off any pieces of bony, fatty edges.
Rinse fish in cold water.

3. Place fish in tin, skin side down.

4. On the top of the fish, rub on sea salt, onion salt, parsley, garlic, pepper,

5. Place slice of tomato in the middle of fish

6. Place halves of olives on either side of tomato slice

7. Sprinkle on the chopped tomato around the rest of fish

8. Drizzle on the lemon juice and pat it in

9. sprinkle on another few flakes of sea salt on to tomato topping.

10. pour in water carefully around side of pan so as not to disturb fish

11. Cover the pan completely with tin foil and tuck around sides so as to keep in the moisture.

12. Place in the heated oven and cook for around 25-30 mins

13. Remove foil, and baste on some of the water on to the fish carefully

14. Leave open and replace in oven for 5 mins.

Serve with any vegetables, potatoes or couscous



Hope you enjoy this. If you do, please leave me a comment. If you have any questions, please leave me a question. 

Enjoy! And Thank you, Saffron, Linda, and others from Warwick Weight Watchers, for asking me for this recipe! I hope it meets your expectation!

It has got me back to paying some attention to my blog!

Watch out for more recipes. I've also been asked for the Crispy Baked Potatoes.











 

AN EXOTIC NOVEL - THE LAST YEAR OF CHILDHOOD

EXOTIC
TANTALIZES THE TASTBUDS

 EXOTIC IS FULL OF BRIGHT COLOURS

EXOTIC IS A MIRIAD OF MULITCULTURAL FLAVOURS





Exotic settings are easy to escape into! Whatever the genre. They are warm, interesting, exciting, and usually informative. I am thinking of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Both one and two, were brilliant. The setting made it extra special. No doubt about it. And the cinemas are heaving with people going to see them. And what about Pirates of the Caribbean? All box office sell outs.

My novel THE LAST YEAR OF CHILDHOOD, is set in the exotic countryside of 1917 Trinidad, where much of the land was still rainforest.

TEN things EXOTIC about THE LAST YEAR OF CHILDHOOD

1. The setting is in a village deep in the countryside where much of the land is still rainforest, cool and warm at the same time.

2. The climate is tropical, which means that it is always sleeveless weather even at night.

3. Fruits are juicy and abundant. Birds are colourful. Blossom and flowers are bold. 

4. Tropical landscape are full of clearly defined greens, reds, oranges, yellows, pinks, blues

5. The food is multiculturally tantalizing - Indian curries, Spanish flavours, Creole pepper pot, Chinese fried rice.

6. People are always welcome. Food and drink are always offered. It is good manners to accept something, or offence could be taken. 

7. Language and dialect add to the exotic experience.

8. The pastime is full of merrymaking, and music from Indian drums and African songs, combine. 

9. Everyone is invited to ceremonies and celebrations - Weddings, Hindu prayers, funerals.

10. All celebrations are a elaborate affair. Generosity by the host is always evident.

GENERATING IDEAS and UNDOING WRITER'S BLOCK

We can all have an off day. That's normal life. But if as a writer, it carries on for longer, we can easily fall into a dark hole that can be called Writer's Block. The key is to keep writing, but how to do that with a blank in our head?

Generating ideas is not all that difficult. Most experienced writers are never really short of ideas, they just get a little bogged down in other things of life, or a state of mind, and forget what to do. A new writer generally has to learn what to do.

Continuing to laze in Writer's Block land can be detrimental to our writing life. So it is good to remember that ideas exist in everything around us every single day, whether we are sitting at home watching the TV, reading a book, looking out of the window, out at work, or shopping in the supermarket. 

Here are a few things to look out for that can turn into ideas for your plot -

- Something strikes you as odd. What is it?

- how we feel about someone lying about us

- how much gossip is enjoyable and where does it become detrimental

- Someone strikes you as unreasonable

- You overhear a phone conversation

- one person exerting control on another

- You hear the expression of a voice

- A parent shouting at a screaming child

- The body language of someone on the train in their own world

- An argument

- a boss who goes back on his word

- a joke

- a happy occasion

- An upsetting meeting

- A family gathering

- A wedding

- How we feel about our will power after eating a cream cake

- a debate or discussion. Does it become personal, or remain objective

- Hearing about an accident

- Seeing a parent on TV make a plea for kidnappers to return their child

- Someone misinterprets what you or someone else says

- a person who cannot be wrong

- A personality that is detrimental to another

- A person who has a way with words that calms a storm

- A difficult or demanding teenager

- A parent who has a particularly trying time

- An illness which takes its toll on the sufferer and the family

These are just a few examples to look out for in our daily lives. When we decide on using an idea, we just need to be careful how we use those when they involve actual people or incidents, because we wouldn't want to be sued. It's easily overcome by changing the setting, the time, the names, gender, and the relationships.

If any of the ideas come from our own experience, we can write with confidence about "what we know". Except, sometimes it can be too emotional. But it helps to write from the heart and which brings an authentic flavour to the writing.

So in order to undo Writer's Block, check out ideas from any part of our day and or any part of our life.