Feeding the beast
The art of deadline chow
When I moved to Montana in 2005, with a single published short story to my name and a decades-long dream of being a novelist, I picked up a cookbook at Missoula’s Fact and Fiction Books called Eat Our Words: Montana Writers’ Cookbook.
Maybe part of being a writer was eating like one?
If the book was any indication, eating well was certainly part of the deal. See: James Lee Burke’s Crawfish Etoufe, Jamie Harrison’s Pork Roast with Garlic and Herb Crust, and Fred Haefele’s Shrimp with Feta (with its irresistible instruction to “garnish with ouzo”).
It also features more humble, hearty fare – Neil McMahon’s Lonely Boy Pot Roast, Dave Thomas’s wonderfully named Slumgullion, and Kim and Janet Zupan’s smorna pa zosa (“this recipe will feed about 8 to 10 hungry Slovenes, 12 normal humans, and possibly 14 polite WASPS”). These will power you through the rigors of a Montana winter – or a book deadline.
I learned the importance of the latter when my first novel was published eight years after I arrived in Montana and I discovered the reality of book deadlines. I’m sure some people handle them well. For me, they’re akin to finals week at college –when what seemed like a well-ordered writing, revising and proofreading schedule turns feral and deadline looms with somehow far too much work remaining and zero time for details like sleeping and eating. Hence: deadline chow.
My requirements are minimal: lots of something filling made with zero fuss that tastes good hot or cold, so as to be eaten straight from the Tupperware while standing at the counter before getting back to work.
For years, my deadline go-to was a simple version of my grandmother’s pasta e fagiole. Often, I was lucky enough to spend those final weeks at retreats that supplied the necessary solitude for workdays stretching past midnight. I’d bring a huge pot and the ingredients and set up shop. Write, eat, sleep, rinse, repeat until done.
This year, as the deadline for my 14th (!) novel bore down, I was unable to finagle a retreat, which meant I was stuck at home, with all its tempting distractions (ie, my husband, who wisely adopted a policy of radical avoidance). But I also had a fully stocked pantry and fridge.
Time to expand my repertoire. Two recipes that met my requirements fortuitously hit my inbox during that time. First up, Melissa Clark’s Cold Peanut Ginger Noodles. I love her recipes, I love cold peanut noodles and I love ginger, plus I had all the ingredients on hand. Win-win-win-win. Those got me through Week One.
Week Two presented a recipe for jollof rice, something I first ate in Montana courtesy of Ghanaian friend Cyril Afeavo and have loved ever since.
Once again, I had the ingredients, with the addition of some of South Jersey’s finest Hank Sauce for even more of a kick. That took me to the end of Week Two, when I pressed the “send” button on the manuscript at four minutes to midnight, put the last empty Tupperware container in the dishwasher and crawled into bed.
Back to Eat Our Words: Although I don’t rely on it for my own deadline chow, I’ve made a number of its recipes over the years. Far more important, during my too-short 17 years in Montana, I met many of my writing heroes whose dishes were featured in the book. They remain dear friends, something even more nourishing than their terrific recipes.
Book news: Summertime sales
Some great $2.99 e-book deals are floating around:
A Senior Citizen’s Guide to Life on the Run, which recently won the Edgar Awards’ Lilian Jackson Braun prize
Under the Shadows, the fifth and final in my Lola Wicks series set in the American West
The second third and fourth books in my Nora Best amateur sleuth series: Best Kept Secrets, Best Practices, Best Be Prepared
And, to get you started on that series, there’s a super 99-cent deal on the e-book for Best Laid Plans
Happy reading!
Bake of the month: What, more food?
Duh - because New Jersey’s too-short, so-sweet blueberry season must not be wasted, deadlines be damned. In keeping with my deadline chow mantra, Chez Panisse’s blueberry cobbler is gratifyingly simple and it’s not too sweet, which I really appreciate. About a million years ago, I had lunch at Alice Waters’s famed Berkeley restaurant – a dining high point.
What I’m reading: Guilty pleasures
My resolve not to read anything other than my own work while on deadline quickly turned into “If you revise/proofread X number of pages, you can read at bedtime.” Despite falling asleep late night after even later night with book in hand, I managed to sneak three in three great reads.
Ann Patchett turns out one wonderful book after another, but I think Whistler might be her best yet. As with many of her others, it focuses on familial love. I broke my wait-until-bedtime rule for this one.
Mark Stevens’s compulsive page-turner Two Truths and a Lie follows his No Lie Lasts Forever, featuring TV journalist Flynn Martin. It ends with a helluva cliffhanger, which means we have to wait months for the final in the trilogy – my only complaint.
I’ll read anything recommended by Cherie Newman – former host of Montana Public Radio’s The Write Question – and her take on The Ending Writes Itself made it sound like the perfect summer read. Authors V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke, writing as Evelyn Clarke, had great fun skewering the publishing industry as they crafted their mystery.
Appearances: Delaware Spring Author Fair
This was my first time participating in my home state’s spring author fair, co-sponsored by Wilmington’s Huxley & Hiro bookstore, and I hope it won’t be the last. It was heartening to see the crowds mobbing the booths - and walking away with so many books - and to meet readers and reconnect with fellow writers. Among the latter, former Missoulian colleague P. Finian Reilly (Ice’s End), Linda Fritz (Answering Alaska’s Call) and former Bucks County Courier Times colleague Kathryn Canavan (Killer in the House), who generously captured the photo of my booth.
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I love talking with groups about books or writing in general, either in person or via the magic of Zoom. I also give writing workshops, perfect for libraries and writing groups. Interested? You can contact me via my website or by messaging me here.
Both the noodles and the rice dish look great! Congrats on hitting that send button.
Food, writing, and books: Components of the BEST (very puny) life 😄