Betsy Bailey

Cool site for writers: 750 Words

I am on an 18 day streak of writing at least 750 words per day at… 750words.com. As of today, that means I have churned out over 14,000 words. (!) The more days in a row I rack up, the more obsessed I become about not sabotaging it. Now, I’m not going to profess that these 14,000 words are anything more than junk most days. That’s rather the point – to just let the words flow in a completely private setting. The online aspect offers silly little rewards, like badges for your various accomplishments that are being tracked, that are surprisingly motivating, but the entries are not publishable; they are completely private (though you can export them to your harddrive a month at a time – nice).

The wonderful thing about this daily exercise, however, is I can feel myself loosening up, ideas flowing, maybe the end of an artistic block that I have been suffering for a few years now. I vent, whine, pour out all the anxieties I have piled up in my neurotic little heart onto the empty page. 750 words is a lot of daily detoxing!

I have also started compiling all my favorite writing resources as I find them. You’ll find them on my creative writing resources page.

Why writing scares the hell out of me

Not all of the entries are an agony purge. A couple days I have played with poetry. I’ve played with fiction prompts and character freewriting. Nothing that wants to become anything special at this point, but it’s all good for practice. I do have faith in the process, so long as I persist in it.

I’m also trying some of the exercises in the book, Writing Creative Nonfiction, which I picked up this past weekend at ASU’s Desert Nights, Rising Stars writers conference (an incredibly motivating/inspiring experience for me). Chapter 1 of the book is an essay about “Why I write.” The exercise at the end of the chapter is the rather obvious directive to explain why I write.

For most of my career, I have written to make a living! Since the odds of actually making a living writing fiction and poetry are pretty low, that answer doesn’t apply to me at the moment. I’m not saying I don’t want to make a living writing fiction, but I’m realistic, too. I have a lot of work to do (and no little luck to fall into) before that is a reasonable expectation.

And, even so, money and fame are not the motivation for this dream. Not at this particular time. I write because I love storytelling. I love reading stories, hearing stories and sharing stories of my own. But I have a love/hate relationship with writing.  I found this in the first paragraph of the third chapter of Writing Creative Nonfiction, and WOW can I relate:

Writing has always — and always will, I’m sure — scared the hell out of me. I’ll do just about anything to get out of it, and have been known to spend whole afternoons circling my desk like a dog, wary, unwilling to commit to writing a single word. What is so frightening about it? I still don’t know. Perhaps it’s the horrible knowledge that no matter how well you write, the resultant product will never correlate exactly to the truth, will never arrive with quite the melodious voice you hear in the acoustic cavity of your mind.

Why I write anyway

This past weekend I was chatting with one of the other writers in my Master Class workshopping session and we were talking about insecurities. One of mine is that I know I talk too much. It is one of my failings. I’ve been hearing it since my earliest report cards: “Betsy talks too much in class.” I bubble over with enthusiasm and excitement to share. To share, well, what I like, what I don’t like, what I know, what I wonder about, what I watch on TV, books I like, favorite things on the Web and so on and on and on. I seem to have not ever grown out of this excitable quality – it’s a key part of my nature, I daresay. I always swear I will do better – and sometimes I hope I do – but I often, in hindsight, have that sinking pit-of-my-stomach sensation that I failed to zip it up nearly enough.

So during this conversation about insecurities, I mentioned to this fellow conference participant that I am always anxious after practically any social gathering that I talked too much. “Well,” she said wryly, “You do have a lot to say.” (!!)

Aaaaiiiiiiiii. That did not help my neurosis. At ALL!

But, it did give me the most fundamental answer to the question. Why do I write? Because I have a lot to say. (Dammit.)

It really is just that simple. And precisely that not noble. It’s exactly the reason why I talk, too, but perhaps I can present myself as slightly less obnoxious in my writing than I can in person. Or not – and I almost don’t care if some or many people find me obnoxious. I’m gradually learning to not be paralyzed by insecurity if not everyone likes me and/or approves of me. My lovely (and brashly outspoken) husband has taught me a lot about that.

If you’re a writer, why do you write?

It all started with my brother-in-law, who brought bread to our Thanksgiving feast this year. (When Andrea said, Jay will bake bread for the meal, I was like, “really? Jay bakes bread??”)

It was a delicious loaf of white bread with molasses. And he told me I needed to try it for myself – he sent me an email right that moment with a link to the recipe for a simple crusty bread that requires no kneading and no lengthy rising times. (Adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day). I watched this video, and couldn’t get over the simplicity!

And so began my obsession.

That gorgeous loaf on the right was my third batch of dough, where I sprinkled some rosemary into the dough while mixing it up. These loaves turn out so beautifully, my kids gather around the cooling rack to admire the freshly-baked  bread whenever it comes out of the oven. It’s almost like a shrine!

It pleases me that even as a VERY busy working and otherwise multitasking mom I can bake bread for my family nearly every day. Especially when they react so favorably, as if it is the greatest gift that MOM! Bakes bread! For us!!

Finally, a food I make that they can truly appreciate.

If that’s not revolutionary…

The method
The dough you mix up with this no-knead bread method has a high yeast and high water content (it’s also called “high moisture dough”). The extra yeast aids a faster rise (saving time!). The high moisture content breaks down the gluten in the wheat flour – a task normally accomplished with kneading.

My first time
I was so excited to put this bread in the oven and watch it bloom and bake. The whole house smelled just amazing. Bailey and I were in raptures (she thinks homemade bread every day is quite luxurious).

I can’t get over just how easy this is! I messed it up my first batch in a couple ways and it still turned out PERFECTLY. I used bleached flour before realizing that was a no no. Besides adding chemicals, bleaching removes some of the protein and that throws off the recipe because the dough will be too wet.

I read that AFTER I mixed up my first batch of dough with bleached flour and of course I fretted about it all night.

However, it turned out PERFECTLY. My future loaves might be better with other flours, but this was still quite amazing. The crackly crust is divine.

I made four loaves of bread with bleached flour they were tasty!

The texture with the unbleached is definitely different (not quite as dense), but everyone was still in raptures about the bread I made with bleached flour.

I’ve read elsewhere online that this recipe is incredibly forgiving and found that to be true!

I also did a crappy job portioning out those first loaves and forming them (see photo above), but I already feel much more practiced about that.

Like sourdough?
One of the cool things about this dough is that you make a large batch (enough for 4 one pound loaves) and refrigerate it for UP TO 2 WEEKS! The longer it’s refrigerated, the more it ferments and the more if achieves sour dough tang (without any starter maintenance!). You don’t stir it, knead it nor mix anything further into it.

One of the tips they have in the book to get even more sourdough-y goodness is to NOT wash your dough container when you make a fresh batch. Just scrape it down and incorporate the aged dough remnants into the fresh dough mixture. They call it the lazy sourdough shortcut. How inspired is that?

Oh, and I’ve read some people mention that between day 10 and 14 it does start to lose it’s rising ability. Tired yeasties. That’s when it’s a good time to roll it out into pizza dough!

I’m trying to imagine this dough lasting anything like 2 weeks around here, though. I might have to make bigger batches at one time!

Challah fun

Make sure to also spend some time on the authors’ website. After browsing the many recipes and variations in the book, I found myself anxious to try a different bread. The next dough I mixed up was the challah.

I found this recipe on the authors’ website: Braided challah filled with spinach, feta and pine nuts

It was amazing – Scott is becoming more seriously impressed with this method.

Since making the challah I’ve also made the Broa (Portuguese cornbread), the Vermont cheddar bread (will use more cheddar next time), the chocolate bread, which I then made into chocolate bread pudding (which has a super chocolate-y custard – divine!) and onion pletzel (don’t forget to sprinkle with kosher salt – that makes it!).

I feel like I’m cheating to make such easy bread and have it look/taste so awesome!

Tips and hints
For more analysis, discussion and variations with the 5 minute bread method, don’t miss this cool interview with the book’s authors.

There is much discussion there about how to get higher, airier loaves of bread, and the positive impact of longer rising times during the second-rise stage. The longer rise has definitely improved my breads.

Also, using parchment paper to transfer bread to the baking stone has greatly simplified the process (as if it was ever complicated!). I set the bread out to rise on a cookie sheet covered with a piece of parchment paper. When its time to put the bread in the oven, I slip the loaf onto the pre-heated baking stone, parchment paper and all. After about 15-20 minutes – when the crust is good and firm – I slip the parchment paper out so the bottom crust can bake directly against the stone. This is a particularly superior method for transferring pizza and pletzel and other flatbreads to the baking stone.

I was just porting this old entry about parents taking their young kids into rated-R movies (Knocked Up, in this case) over from my archives and I had to laugh at the irony. Particularly the part where I said:

Sex, drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, profanity – you name it, it was in there. I can’t sit through quite a number of PG-13 movies with my teenage stepson. When so many PG-13 movies are so much on that edge of being too uncomfortable to watch with your kids, what are people THINKING taking an under-13-year-old to a rated R movie????

Not that the following incident was nearly so heinous, but… still.

First, some background. We are a family that caught on to the Dr. Who craze just this year. We started by Netflixing the first disk in the Season 1 set. Immediately, we were hooked. The kids like watching and re-watching the episodes, so Scott went online and purchased Seasons 1-4. And we devoured them in less than six months with no self-control whatsoever – all 140+ episodes and the DVD extras.

We were all a little melancholy a couple weeks ago as we watched the final episode of Season 4 (especially when we learned that Season 5 is all a mess. Three Dr. Who specials in 2009, but no full season until 2010!).

But we consoled ourselves with the plan of watching various Dr. Who spin-offs, like the Sarah Jane Adventures. And Torchwood. Maybe check out some of the old Dr. Who episodes from the 80s that Scott remembers with fondness.

It was with this in mind that Scott purchased the Torchwood Season 1 DVD and presented it to me as a gift on Christmas Eve. The kids were so excited! Dr. Who has really captured their imaginations – they talk about the episodes obsessively. The read about them online. They write fan fiction. Even my 16 month old toddles around the house singsonging the Dr. Who theme. True story.

So it was with much anticipation that we settled down to see the story of Captain Jack Harkness resumed in our lives. Boy were we in for a surprise.

(This is what happens when you don’t vet your children’s programming!!)

Where Dr. Who is sunny and bright – with a lot of day time scenes, I realize in hindsight – this first episode of Torchwood was dark and gloomy – a lot of nighttime, a lot of drenching rain. Where Dr. Who stops short of gruesome violence, Torchwood let’s the blood spurt (vividly). Where Dr. Who is rated G for language, Torchwood dropped the F bomb at least a dozen times.

Not that my kids have never heard the F word in real life, goodness knows. But I guess we’ve sheltered them adequately, because they are NOT used to it on TV. They aren’t even allowed to watch most PG-13 movies until they are 13. So they were visibly flinching with every instance of profanity.

So, yeah, obviously kids are not the intended audience here. We were chagrined. Bailey and HM were berating me for letting them watch such a horrible show: “Maaahhhhm. We are not OLD ENOUGH for this yet!”

I wasn’t planning to let them watch any more of it for several more years. But they caught the preview for the next episode. Whoa, there goes Captain Jack running NAKED across the screen. The girls erupted with squealing. So I don’t think they heard the part about how the aliens in that episode are somehow activated by the sexual act.

Yep, okay, this is NOT Dr. Who. No mistake about it. Oops.

The episode was great, though. Scott and I really enjoyed it (and the girls enjoyed the storyline, too, actually) and are looking forward to watching the rest. It’s just not gonna be family TV night is all.

The Sarah Jane Adventures it is. (After we watch the first episode ourselves and read up a little on the reviews first, just in case.)