Happy “last Friday in July” or, as I think of it, Day 132 of Shelter-In-Place.
It’s all how you look at it.
Today marked my first attempt to convert the sourdough starter that I have been carefully tending (Batch #2) into actual bread.
I don’t think I’ll be giving the Boudin Sourdough Bread Company a run for their money any time soon, and I may never clean up all the flour in the kitchen, but it went better than it could have. At least there were no fire extinguishers involved. Always a good thing when baking (don’t get me started on the sticky-bun-caramel-sauce-on-the-heating-element incident).
On the plus side, today’s end result looked roughly like a round of sourdough bread and tasted pretty good. On the not-so-plus side, I practically needed a chainsaw to cut through the crust. I settled for splitting the loaf in half like a wayward coconut and scooping out the softer insides. I guess you could say my sourdough bread, like my current novel, remains a work-in-progress.
I’ll give it a few days and then try again. By then my kitchen scale will have arrived so I’ll have a better chance of putting in the right amount of each ingredient in my batter. I may have cleaned up all of the flour from the kitchen counters by then too.
In the meantime, I’m going to step away from the kitchen and give today’s writing prompt and random words at shot.
Care to join me?
For those of you working away on a story (whether a first draft or a polished version on its way to publication), if you’re not feeling random, we’d love to hear a bit – whether it’s a scene, a paragraph, or even a phrase that you are especially pleased with and would like to share.
If you don’t have a story in progress, or just want to work on something new, I hope either today’s random words or writing prompt will catch your creative fancy.
Ready?
What if: “Your character is making something for the first time?
Feel free to interpret the “What” any way you choose (or ignore it completely) and include any (or all) of the following random words:
divine peach downcast bike
crazy private hothead moth
machine flat serpent aroma
indecent hurdle symbol lullaby
I look forward to seeing your stories in the comments. If you’re not feeling in the writing mood today, or don’t have time, feel free to post suggestions you might have for future “what-if” prompts. Ideas are always welcome.
Happy writing to all!
Eight Ladies Writing 
The vigorous crust on sourdough is something that everyone I know who makes sourdough these days is experiencing. I’m working through a loaf I was given of rye (I think) sourdough, and, indeed, a chain saw is in order. This loaf is not very tall, so I’m slicing it crossways and then toasting it and loading it up with butter and cheese. It’s pretty good, but it’s really a vehicle for butter and cheese, a fact about which I’m not complaining, merely reporting.
In sprint news, this effort is remarkably lame. I could not make these words go together at all. So I did, but…well, it’s just a good thing the sprints don’t have to make sense.
The Marketing Genius
Lullaby McPeach gazed at her sister’s crazy machine and thought, This might just work.
“What’s that aroma?” she asked. “It smells divine. Almost indecent.”
“That’s private,” Sonata said, her eyes downcast on the flat surface of her invention as she tightened a screw. “I’d never tell a hothead like you.”
“You must, if I’m going to market the thing for you.” Lullaby said. “That kind of attitude is the first hurdle.”
“No,” Sonata said.
“I can see using a bike or maybe a unicycle for your company logo,” Lullaby said. “A symbol for freewheeling creativity. People will flock to it like moths to a flame.”
“No,” Sonata said.
“I suppose you want a serpent,” Lullaby said. “A slithery creature.”
“We’d sell millions,” Sonata said. “Go for it, marketing genius.”
Thanks for playing along, Kay. Any completed sprint is a successful sprint in my book. Making sense is such an arbitrary construct. 🙂
One must wonder why Sonata is so close-mouthed about her crazy machine. I wonder just how crazy it is.