Easy, tasty pancake recipe

Posted on July 21, 2010 by James Ashman

Small recipe, can be expanded as needed. Simple, no sugar, tastes good, very fluffy, and doesn’t require you to have a set pancake size. My favorite is to use a very hot cast iron pan, about 12 inches, and make 2 large pancakes with it. The pan should be so hot before placing the batter on it, that the butter used to prep the pan for the cooking should practically evaporate when dropped onto the pan. Enough butter needs to be used to coat the entire surface to cool it down slightly, so about a tablespoon. This is just my preference, since I like cooking things fast.

Ingredients

2 cups flour (I prefer whole wheat unbleached)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 egg
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons vanilla

Prep:
Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix egg, milk, vanilla, and melted butter. Add to flour mixture, mix until smooth. Cook on a very hot and buttered or greased griddle (cast iron preferred, but I know many people done have one, so any griddle will do), use ANY amount of batter for each pancake, depending on preference. 3/4 cup for about 2 pancakes, 1/4 cup if looking for regular size pancakes, which comes out to about 8 or 9 total. Cook until brown on one side and around edge – you should be able to tell without flipping if the top of the batter forms small bubbles. Also, the entire pancake will be firm enough to turn with a spatula without dripping or breaking apart. Turn and brown the other side – which should take half the time of the first side. This normally serves 4.

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An overabundance of evil characters

Posted on July 19, 2010 by James Ashman

In writing the sequel to The Lupine Prince, I’ve been making my characters encounter quite a few bad people in succession, and it worried me for a while. I wondered why they weren’t meeting more good people. Granted, it makes for more conflict and drive in the story, but still, it seems like good people don’t abound.

I’ve taken a step back and realized a couple things. One, it’s just how the story was supposed to go. Second, they did encounter good people, but those people play no part in the story for the most part. Those that do are helping the MC fend off the bad people. Is it biased? A little. I wanted to show that there was good and bad in each country, and by the next story arc the MC would begin thinking of that in particular.

Third is real life. I read the news again, and was reminded for the billionth time that there are a lot of nasty people. There are also a lot of decent people that have let anger, hatred, and bitterness take them over, often without them realizing it. Even if they consider themselves just, it can happen.

Its realistic. My characters will just have to deal with it. And it does give good matrlerial to work with. It is a very fictional, fantastic, adventure, after all.

235 words I could have used in a novel.

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We’re street performers

Posted on July 15, 2010 by James Ashman

Walk down the streets of a big city or a place with tourism. I’m close to San Franciso where you can walk around and see people doing acts and playing songs. I know some may do it for fun, but they can also make a decent profit if in a good area. Did you know that in New York, there are spots in front of a certain famous museum that cost around 30k a month in “rent” to sell hot dogs? Plain old hot dog stands. Bringing in tens of thousands of dollars.

Musicians on the street, getting tips. People painted in the cliched robot silver, pretending to be robots. Aren’t there major hot dog brands? Major music labels and bands? People with real talents selling them in stores via a major distributer? Of course. But the street sellers and performers still are noticed and appreciated and get tips, when good.

They are in front of the crowd, front center. When they are, the crowd doesn’t care that they are pros or officially sanctioned by anyone. The crowd only cares about whether they like it or not.

Thus, I relegate self-publishing to the same stage. We’re all just street performers, doing what we want, trying to get a tip from the passing crowd. The difference? We’re just not front and center, right in front of the people who matter. That takes some effort.

But still, it’s the same business in many ways.

251 words I could have used in a novel.

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Perceived free time versus actual free time

Posted on July 9, 2010 by James Ashman

I call many people in my dayjob. Many times, these people are professionals that have other things going on, and they graciously take some time out of their day to talk to me. I noticed that many times, someone will be so busy they say they only have a minute to talk, but will actually speak at length at thier own insistence. In fact, sometimes I’m the one to rush when these same people continue on. It makes me think about time: how much we really have, and how much we percieve we have.

As a writer with a dayjob, this is extremely important. I cannot spend 8 or 9 hours a day on writing. I spend a night here or there, doing 4000 in one go instead of 500 a day. It works well enough, but could be better. So how much free time do I have? How to figure that out, to time it, while remembering to time it, is an interesting question, with a great answer. Video games to the rescue.

I’ve played several RPGs (the snes, genesis, ps1 and ps2 kinds) in my school days, and still enjoy them from time to time. Admittedly, I actually don’t play many video games that often. Mostly because I now read, watch things, and write. But video games can be art in certain areas, especially the one I chose. I had one that I knew would take a while, was filled with idea-inspiring adventures, and I hadn’t ever played all the way through before. Not only would it count each minute I played, but it was an adventure filled with several quests. Since my actual books are similar to the video games I’ve played in the past, it was a treasure-trove of great ideas. And so, I played it whenever I had any free time. I started it with the intention of only playing the game for fun, but the next day I recognized that I could use it for a time experiment to see what I can really devote to projects in a given time-frame. That’s why I devoted all spare time to it. I wouldn’t have if I were just going to play it casually.

In two weeks I had clocked around 45 hours on it, give or take! Now, I did spend some time doing other things, some readigs and watchings and a bit of writing. Even with everything else I did, I still managed to find 40+/- hours of free time (in general, at least) in 2 weeks.

Now that I’m done with that, I can devote my time to writing and other things. But knowing that I have that many hours free to simply read and write is a sobering thought. I thought I had full days with only a couple hours free to relax each day. That’s wrong. I have a mountain of time.

The most important thing, though, is the attention devoted. With the game, it’s easy to devote time and attention. I never felt like putting it down to go watch something else. It was pure engagement, which is probably the most important part of this experiment.

Writing takes far more disciple. Remember the adage that it takes 10 years or 10000 hours to master something. With a full time job, 80 hours a month is doable, for me. That’s 10.5 years to mastery. That’s a lot of time. But now I know, though a simple experiment, that I have it.

How much actual free time do you have?

584 words I could have used in a novel.

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Long weekends equal much reading

Posted on July 6, 2010 by James Ashman

I think I’ve finished reading and watching and playing four different long-term shows, books, and or video games this weekend. Our company gave us the fifth off due to the fourth of July.

And though nothing really got “done,” plenty of things were finished. I love these extra-day weekends because they feel different, and take the edge off the weekends that always seem so busy. That’s right, I’m normally filled up on weekends, a huge difference from most people having them off entirely. Though Saturday is still the most open day, it too has a few things that always need to be done.

And thus comes the wonder of the extra Monday off! A great time to sit and do nothing. A time to work, but not hard because you’re just going to go back to work tomorrow. A day you could spend writing, but don’t. Instead, I’ve finished a few shows and books I’ve been reading for a while, and now instead of watching or reading those after work, I can devote some afternoons to my novels!

In truth, I’ve been taking a week or two break from the last cut-off point in my novel. It’s finished one arc, and about to start another, so to speak, thus the ideas have been stirring around. I now have a much more vivid picture of what I’m going to do. I find it interesting that even though some scenes are mostly the same ideas as they were several months ago during the last bout of brainstorming, some new things have popped up. Some that set up the next novel. Bits of dialog that will add flavor. And many things that were thought of in the midst of a tired mind trying to fall asleep at midnight that were never written down and may never be remembered, but will still have an incredible impact on how the story does end up playing out.

It was a good break. Now to get back to work.

339 words I could have used in a novel.

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