D.V. Sheppard

The web-log of a duck-herding author.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

For the Love of Cashew Milk and the Nervous, Gulpy, Awkward Face

 Alex J. Cavanaugh's Blog HopI sort of feel like a broken record. Like once a month I spit out all that ails me in a therapy session. But, I swear I'm not making it up. All that emotional upheaval that make January and February hell? Yeah, it was replaced by life and money hell :p It could be worse, but a trip to the ER for my husband, job changes, tax season, blah blah blah. The past couple weeks have been downright exhausting. Everything sort of happened at once. I like to think things are settling down, but I suppose until I get my final papers written for school I can't quite get comfy.

On a much lighter note, I just had some cashew milk ice cream and thought I died and went to heaven. As a milk-a-phobe (I'm not really afraid of milk, it just makes me feel like miserable), I have known better than to have ice cream for several months. It's really not worth it, and though I have accepted living without, every once in awhile I think about it and get tempted to pick up some non-dairy ice cream. Frankly, though, while usually I'm really not picky, I'm just not a fan of coconut or almond milk ice cream enough to pay five bucks a pint and I don't do soy. So I've just gussied up and tried not to complain about the situation. That being said, when I'm hankering for a cold treat, I'll sometimes mosey on by the freezer section of the store to see if a sorbet looks good. This time around I saw the cashew milk ice cream. It's new, at least in my area and was... well sort of on sale... meaning that if that price is on sale I will never pay full price :p You see I'd learned that the right brand of cashew milk actually has the closest flavor to milk without being sickly sweet or tasting like, well.. an almond. I decided to give it a try and was so excited about the result that I texted my husband with the new - and my boss with the news, because he's a non-dairy-er too.

What does this have to do with writing? Absolutely nothing. I'm just that happy about my discovery. As for writing - I've gotten into the joy of revisions and have been really happy with all the changes so far. I even get excited about the progress! I see it written out like so:


Words Revised: 35,570
Words Yet to be Revised:86,686

And I think, "Yay! Progress!"

Then I think of the scenes coming up and the work to do, I get that nervous, gulpy, awkward face that they've mastered in cartoons, and wonder, "Will I keep making progress?"

It's a silly question, because - Heck yeah I'm gonna keep rolling on! None the less, it's a new challenge to be in this place. I feel excited and impatient, but mostly nervous at the prospect that I may just finish a book. A book that I feel is worth something. One that is worthy of sending out to be read. And hope seems so dangerous. But, dangerous or not, no one ever got anywhere with a book by staying safe and not risking it out in the real world.

So I send out a "Hurrah!" to all of you brave writers out there who are or have braved the danger and shared your work with the world!

How about you? Do you have that "knowing nod" to share about getting into a good revision of your book and seeing what's coming up with the realization of how hard it's going to be? What motivated you? What was the best tactic you took to revising?

4 comments:

Hi DV! I think we creative writers can come up with a justification for anything we want to write about, even if it doesn't seem to match the prompt! (Writing prompt ~ that's the teacher in me!). Thanks for the great ice cream tip. I'm going to look for it in my grocery store! I hope things settle down for you like NOW! I'm enjoying all the posts I'm reading today as I hop around as an IWSG host! Have a happy and carefree day, at the very least some cashew milk ice cream!
 
I drink coconut or almond milk. Coconut is my fav. Congrats on your progress.
 
Sorry about the trip to the ER for your husband.
We drink almond milk in our house. It's not bad!
 
Really sorry about the ER for your hubby. Hope he's okay now... I must say, I loved reading this post! You have a great way of getting your point across and having it be fun to read. I will have to try that Cashew Ice Cream. I've never heard of it before. Also, congratulations on your progress! Go D.V.! Lisa, co-host #IWSG, @ http://www.lisabuiecollard.com
 

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