Bonus Saved By Cake Challenge

I have decided to challenge myself to bake a different cake/biscuit from Marian Keyes' book, Saved By Cake, each month, between March and December. I am a beginner at baking and use the same recipes over and over again so it'll be nice to try something new. I will take photos and post them on here each month - the good, the bad and the ugly.

Before I started my challenge, I made a list of the cakes I wanted to bake over the months, to make sure I tried a bit of everything and didn't wimp out by making the 'easy' cakes each month.

 

Consistently Reliable Cupcakes

This month I'd chosen to make Millionaire's Shortbread (eek) but then it turned out I needed to make some cupcakes for the Jubilee party at my daughter's Brownies. So I turned to my Saved By Cake book and chose the Consistently Reliable Cupcakes. When it came to decorating them I used red, white and blue sprinkles (anything can be made 'Jubilee' by adding red, white and blue sprinkles - we had Jubilee Ice Creams this way too).

The buttercream in this recipe was so much nicer than the recipe I usually use. So much so, I chucked the old one away (it was scribbled on a piece of paper - I didn't hurl a cookbook in the bin or anything).

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Vicky over on Books, Biscuit and Tea is also baking her way through Saved By Cake. She's made the Sweet and Simple Strawberry Cupcakes and they look delicious.

Retro Review - Kiss Him Goodbye by Victoria Routledge

I love re-reading books and find it comforting revisiting characters and stories I already know. A bit like watching You've Got Mail 10,000 times (or is that just me?)

For the past few weeks I have been re-reading books from my bookcase and first up was Kiss Him Goodbye by Victoria Routledge:



Kate Craig has many pet hates but top of the list is London. She's managed to steer clear for twenty-one years until her boyfriend, Giles, convinces her to visit his palatial Chelsea home. Kate's week of indulgence is idyllic until Giles drops his bombshell: he's off to Chicago on a four-month training course. Kate is challenged - either she retreats back North or she stays and takes on London.

Feeling dazed and confused, Kate discovers herself cleaning the cupboards in the first flat she sees. Filthy cupboards Kate can cope with but in this case, there are flatmates that come with them.


Kate Craig has never had the desire to visit London but ends up living there to prove a point when her boyfriend leaves for Chicago. She ends up sharing a grotty flat with Dant, a troubled young man who doesn't appear to care about anything or anyone and his sweet best friend, Harry. She somehow wrangles herself a job at publishing house Eclipse, counting down the days until Giles returns to London and sweeps her away to start their new life together.

Kate's plan is to sit out the sixteen weeks, keeping to herself until she can escape but she finds herself integrating with Harry and Dant and their friends and socialising with Dant's sister, Cress. She gets to know her small part of London and slots into her new role at Eclipse. Will she be the same Kate that Giles left behind? And will they be able to pick up where they left off?

I bought Kiss Him Goodbye when I was 17 - it was one of the first chick lit books I read - and I find myself picking it up again every few years. I love sinking back into the life of Kate and her watching her grow again and it doesn't matter that I know how it's all going to end. I love the quirkiness of Eclipse and the squalor of her flat and its residents.

Kiss Him Goodbye is probably my most re-read book on my shelf and I think it will continue to be read again and again over the years.

Book 2 - Finally Shrinking Word Count

This draft seems to be flying by now. Can't believe I've reached 61% but I hope the pace continues.

Last week I was worried about the size of the word count as it didn't seem to be shrinking. This week I have the opposite problem - I've cut huge chunks out at a time this week, sometimes up to 2,000 words at a time. If I carry on like this I'll end up with half a novel.

The total word count at the minute is 85,000 words so it's fine but I suspect I've got more cutting coming up. Let's hope it isn't too severe!

Before I started this draft I expected to hate Every Single Second of it as I did with the 2nd Draft of Book 1 but that hasn't happened (yet). And not because it hasn't been hard work. So far I've cut around 19,000 words (I really can write crap) but only lost 8,000 from the word count. I've had to add a prominent character, which means tinkering with the majority of scenes and I know I'm going to have to add quite a few new scenes very soon and completely change the ending.

But I'm enjoying it and actually look forward to starting a new chapter each evening - well, some evenings I'd rather relax in front of the telly (I'm not a saint) but once I've started I'm fine. I don't dread working on this draft and hope I don't in the next few weeks.

Insecure Writer's Support Group - June

The idea of the Insecure Writers Support Group is for writers to blog on the first Wednesday of the month about their fears, struggles and triumphs they have experienced with their writing.


Before I started submitting Book 1, I made a list of suitable agency that represented my genre and had similar types of books in their list. I've been submitting to the agencies in my list one or two at a time (mainly because I'm too much of a wimp to receive millions of rejections all at once).

Now I only have a few more agents to submit to and have reached over 50% of the second draft of Book 2. Do I widen the net of agencies for Book 1, which I would do if Book 2 wasn't anywhere near being finished? Or, once I've submitted to all the agencies on the list, do I concentrate on submitting Book 2?

I'm not sure how my poor little brain would cope with juggling submitting Books 1 & 2 and writing Book 3. But then am I ready to 'give up' on Book 1 (for now at least)?

I'm really not sure. It's something to think about over the next few weeks while I finish Book 2, I suppose. But any advice would be greatly appreciated :-D

Jubilee

I hope you've all had a great (very long) Jubilee weekend.

Apart from the not-so-good weather, we've had a great time. On Saturday there was a Jubilee celebration at our local park with animals, rides, food, stalls and face painting and crafts as well as a live band playing everything from Oasis to Tom Jones.

The park is only a 5-10 minute walk away so it was ideal for us to pop over and have a wander round. Part way through the afternoon, a fire engine arrived and the children could have their photo taken on it. The kids had a great time and it didn't start raining until we were back on our street!

On Sunday we went to the party that The Jellyfish's Brownies and church were holding. Everyone took some food to make a huge buffet so - any excuse to bake - I made some Jubilee Cupcakes. I used one of the cupcakes recipes from Marian Keyes' Saved by Cake but used red, white and blue sprinkles to make them 'jubilee'.





About Last Night by Adele Parks

In this compelling novel of friendship, family and trust, Sunday Times bestselling author Adele Parks asks: how far would you go to save your best friend?'I need you to say that I was with you.' For thirty years, best friends Steph and Pip have been through thick and thin. There's nothing they would not do for one another. Until these simple words change everything. Steph, eternally solid and dependable, is begging her friend to lie to the police as she's desperately trying to conceal not one but two scandalous secrets to protect her family. Pip, self-consigned to the role of scatty hot-head, is overwhelmed; she's normally the one asking for help in a crisis. It's a big ask. So what would you do?

About Last Night is set over five days but, despite the short time frame, we get to delve into the lives of best friends, Steph and Pip. The women grew up together but their lives have taken completely different paths; Steph lives in a large house with her successful husband and their three sons and never has to worry about money while Pip is a struggling single parent who relies heavily on her best friend.

At the beginning of the book, Pip's life is starting to take a turn for the better with a revival of a career and the possibility of a love life on the horizon while Steph's idylic world is starting to crumble.

One night something terrible happens and Steph asks her friend to lie to the police and provide her with an alibi.

What is Steph hiding? And will Pip lie for her?

There is a bit of a mystery in About Last Night but I think the book is more about friendship, loyalty and trust. Steph and Pip have been best friends for thirty years but their friendship is put to the test when Steph asks Pip to lie for her. Pip begins to question Steph and what she is capable of so can their friendship survive her lack of faith?

My favourite character in the book was Kirsten. I probably shouldn't have liked her but her trains of thought were so amusing that I looked forward to the chapters centred around her. As a person, she is incredibly self-centred, dismissive and 'a bit thick' but being in her head was fantastic.

About Last Night is an enjoyable read that makes you question how far you would go to protect your friend - and your friendship.



Sunshine Award

I've been spoiled with awards this week - first the Versatile Blog Award and now a Sunshine Award!

Huge, sunny thanks to Kate from Me, My Books and I for giving me the award. Me, My Books and I is a lovely blog full of wonderful reviews and Kate genrously shares posts from fellow bloggers via twitter.

The rules of the award are:

Write five things about yourself

Include the award’s logo in a post

Nominate five other bloggers

Link to your nominees

Link the person who nominated you

Now for my five facts:

1. I once touched Simon Cowell's car. A group of us had tickets to watch the auditions for Britain's Got Talent in Manchester but we didn't get in (they give out far more tickets than they have room for to ensure all seats are taken - bastards :-P ). Simon's car was outside so I touched it and bring it up every time it's shown on BGT or X Factor (it's probably a different car by now but meh).
2. I'm a rubbish swimmer. Even my 9 year old is better than me and on Sunday, she kindly offered to help me practice swimming on my back.
3. My first job was working in a filthy cafe in my town's indoor market. It still makes me itch thinking about it.
4. I've never seen the Mary Poppins film all the way through but have seen the stage show on Broadway.
5. I don't like Pringles.

I would like to pass on the Sunshine Award to:

Talli Roland - a blog full of fun and writery things. Talli is friendly, both on blogs and twitter

Rebecca Leith - another aspiring writer, who is also lovely on twitter too

Debs Carr - aspiring writer and book reviewer whose shed I am extremely jealous of

The Romaniacs - a group of writers who share their love of writing and cake

Teresa Morgan - another aspiring writer sharing journey to publication