Although the weekend has been less than stellar (I had to work Saturday and, although the assignment was fun, and I got a good story out of it, and there will be OT pay, it was work), it has not been unproductive.
For one thing, I finally moved off the dime a bit on Chapter 15 of Hearts and Moons - by realizing first that it was far too long at this point, when I hadn't nearly gotten to the end, to be anything but unwieldy as a chapter. (Does anyone else have the problem in multi-chapter fics of writing progressively longer and more densely-packed chapters, generally as they get to know their story, characters and environment better? Just me?)
So I split it at what seemed to the be opportune place, and realized with a certain amount of relief that doing so gave me enough room at the end of the new, shortened Chapter 15 to reintroduce one character who I needed to bring up to date. I realized that, of course, by going back over my timeline chart. I was horrified to realize I had gotten so involved in one character's subplot that I'd left another one roughly 12 hours behind the times. Hence my post of a couple of days ago. Now, I only have to fix the other three or nine plot points I realized I'd left dangling.
Still, progress is progress.
The cake of the title is an apple harvest cake I made very late in the evening. It's one of my mother's and Nana's, and it is clearly a wartime cake (oil, not butter, which is usually the tip-off in my family's recipes) adjusted and sweetened to a post-war nicety with Too Much Sugar and Four! Count 'em! Four! eggs. I played a little with the ingredients this time around and it made for a very nice pound-cakey texture, although I'm generally fond of the sort of mealy texture that oil cakes usually have.
I did discover, a little to my surprise, that I found it too sweet. I think that's because last time I made it wasa couple of years ago, before my eating habits had changed. The next time I make it, I'll try cutting it to 3 eggs and perhaps cutting it to 1.25 cups of sugar instead of two cups. (Gack!)
Since it is now past midnight, I should call it more than a day, and prepare for the crazed week to come. Perhaps at another time I should talk about the editorial new mandates our new publisher has introduced and how they have ... intensified ... the work environment.
And I will let you know what I thought of the movie, I promise.
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