December 2024

In some ways, a lot has happened and in others, it’s more of the same old thing. Life, as is its habit, has got in the way of most plans. C’est la vie, etc., etc. We are now in the dark days of winter, heading toward the shortest day* but fear not! Thanks to the orbital mechanics of a big lump of spinning rock whirling around a burning ball of hydrogen it won’t last forever. The warmth and light will return. Axial tilt is the real reason for the season, and a good excuse for a roaring fire, a cheeky mince pie and glass of sherry.

*offer only applies to the Northern hemisphere

Works In Progress
The focus this month has been on the machete edit of Pass The Duchy. It’s called the machete edit for the simple reason that it is a brutal chopping away of text. To put this in context, I’ve already done five edits and thought that I’d cut out all the unnecessary guff and given the end result a good polish. Feedback from the judges at the Cheshire Novel Prize said that it needed more, so I went back to the text with the writerly advice to “murder your darlings” ringing in my ears. I thought all my darlings had long since been done in and buried under the patio, but apparently not. I won’t lie, it has been hard. However, I’ve now got my eye in and can see what the judges meant. It’s hard to put into words and at times I wonder if I’ve gone too far, but I don’t think so.

I had expected the word count to go down after cutting out text, but instead found that it has gone up. The reasons are twofold. The first is that I’ve added some new bits, which with hindsight were needed to fill gaps I hadn’t realised were there. It’s not that there were plot holes or missed key information, it’s that there were periods in the story where time was passing and something—anything—should have been happening. The main character has a conversation over breakfast and then it’s the afternoon and he’s up to something else. What happened in the morning? Did he sit around drinking coffee and not doing much? Well, those gaps have now been filled to continue to build the story. The second reason comes back to the old “show, don’t tell” advice given to writers. As advice goes, it’s good, but can get out of hand if you describe how the main character reaches for the door handle and feels the cool metal on her hand and holds her breath as the door creaks open and blah, blah, blah. Sometimes you just need to open the door. She opened the door. There—door open. In Pass The Duchy’s case it was some of the back story of the origins of the duchy. This has been re-written to be dialogue where the duchy’s murky past is revealed. The old version wasn’t bad, but this way makes for better reading.

The problem I now face is whether it’s getting too long. Rather than dwell on this, I’m pressing on with the machete edit. I can think about if it needs a further scalpel edit to get the length down when I’m done. The last few chapters have been holding steady with as much coming out as has been going in. I knew there was a good reason why these things are called Works In Progress.

The Wildflower Meadow (formerly the Front Lawn)
There’s nothing to report about the Wildflower Meadow this month as it is winter. Nothing is growing. The grass is still there, but the days of a swaying swathe of green with bees and butterflies flitting from flower to flower are long gone. Yellow rattle seeds have been sown along the back, and red clover seeds sprinkled liberally in the middle. The cold weather to come should help with the germination in time for next spring. Time will tell.

Dear Bruised Brawler,
You made three basic errors to arrive in this sorry state. The first was in discussing the start date of the Twelve Days of Scriptmas. This has long been a bone of contention and has resulted in more than bruised [redacted by the editor] in the past. The second mistake was not having gone into the discussion suitably armoured. Your third was in using embrocation. While I can’t help with your first two mistakes, I can with the third. There’s some calamine lotion in the cupboard, which should help with the burning. Beside it is a bottle of horse liniment. Take a good couple of swigs, and make sure you wipe the neck when you put it back. It will make your eyes water again but should take your mind off the pain elsewhere.
Alexa

Mrs Pritchett doesn’t like food going to waste, so if she sees overripe bananas that are going to go off sitting in the fruit bowl, you can be sure that a loaf of banana bread will soon be on its way.

Banana Bread
Serves 10
Prep time: less than 30 mins
Cook time: 45 minutes to an hour
Ready: 1½ hours at most

Ingredients
280g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
110g butter, plus extra for greasing
225g caster sugar
2 eggs
4 ripe bananas (the blacker the better), mashed
85ml buttermilk (or plain yoghurt or normal milk mixed with 1½ tsp lemon juice or vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
1. Add the flour, bicarb and salt to a mixing bowl and stir to combine.

2. In a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. It helps if the butter is at room temperature or has been softened for a few seconds in the microwave. The mixture should be light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs, mashed bananas, buttermilk (or substitute) and vanilla extract. Give it a good stir.

4. Fold in the flour mixture and stir together really well. Pour the banana bread mixture into the greased loaf tin.

5. Place in the oven and bake. Check it after 45 minutes to see how it is doing, but it will most likely need the full hour if not longer. Stick a wooden skewer in it. If it comes out gooey, it needs longer. The loaf is cooked when the loaf is well-risen and browned on top, and the skewer comes out clean.

6. When it is done, remove from the oven and let it cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool properly.

Delicious when still slightly warm and buttered.

Scribes’ Note:
Not everyone has buttermilk to hand. The scribes have found that plain yoghurt or Greek yoghurt works just as well for this recipe. If you don’t have any of that either, mix a little lemon juice or vinegar into regular milk and use that instead. Just let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes first before using it.

Mrs Pritchett sometimes likes to add a handful of chocolate chips and chopped walnuts in step 5 to make the banana bread a bit special. Her sister Dolly sometimes makes it with some sultanas or raisins thrown in as well.