June is here and the surge of football fever within me has already withered and died. I wish Christian Eriksen a full recovery, and I hope everyone close to him gets the love and support they need.
What I'm writing
Gwen struck the hard ground again with her shovel, eyes locked on the point of impact. Anything to avoid Aled's cold, dead eyes.
I took a break from the novel-that's-kicking-my-arse to focus on completing and submitting two very different short stories.
The strength of a tree started life as a very brief note in my Evernote repository of plot ideas:
Someone dumping a body stumbles across another body and enters a moral quandry.
When I jotted this down two years ago, I was imagining a professional fixer or a desperate middle-aged man.
Instead, the story idea was elevated by a mixed-race English nurse who is digging up a field in Pembrokeshire to bury her neighbour.
I hope it finds a home with Honno's Welsh women's anthology.
He is dead set against any man without a profession, your father. You trust that he and stepmother have made a good choice - and yet your stomach is churning, the smell of fresh kesari twisting it into knots.
It's a girl who sits next to you in the cinema, and you beat down the flutter of disappointment. You're here for your nephew, to play the doting aunt. A dress rehearsal for a play that might never open.
For Mslexia's Roots theme, I looked at the two very different ways my grandmothers' met their husbands and how their stories unfolded.
Literary writing and biography are way outside my wheelhouse, but I enjoyed the change of pace.
My parents thought the piece was beautiful, which is the most important thing. A difficult and emotional piece to create, and also to read, particularly for those personally connected to the story.
But I really do need to write this novel. I went back to work at the end of May and my lack of writing energy is definitely connected to the ever-expanding universe that is my day job.
I still long to be able to sit at my laptop and draw together paragraphs, but my phone is probably my best avenue. At present, it is an exercise in overcoming frustration - this newsletter has taken almost a week to put together and I am finishing it off on the laptop with the baby in her crib.
Changing and adapting is the only way this writer survives.
What I'm reading
The good news about my commute is that I have more time for audiobooks!
Midnight at Malabar House by Vaseem Khan - an India on the verge of independence has to come to terms with its past and its future: in the form of its first female police officer. I like that Vaseem is unafraid to write a difficult woman, someone who doesn’t adhere to social niceties and can be downright unlikeable at times. She’s the right character for the job.
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson - a YA crime novel I read for Rebecca Bradley's virtual crime book club that was impossible to put down! I related so hard to the “good girl” while also yelling at her to just tell someone already. I will be seeking out the sequel.
What I'm eating
In summer and, really, most any time, I love a meal with lots of different things. Tapas, mezze, Indian street food - ostensibly for sharing, but actually all for me.
This is my current fave:
Lamb kebabs - shop-bought, but I've also had luck with this recipe
Roasted vegetable rice - based on this delicious dish, but I used baharat on the veg and rice instead of bulgur wheat
Baba ganoush - I roast my aubergines for convenience, cutting them up small if I'm in a hurry
Flatbreads
150g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp cumin,
salt and pepper
150ml yoghurt.
Mix it all up, then leave to rest for a few minutes. Divide into four balls. Flatten each ball with your palm and a little flour. Cook in a dry pan for 1-2 minutes each side.
I mix any leftover yoghurt with lemon juice and mint to make a tangy dip that balances out the strong flavours in the other dishes.
For more hodge-podge recipes from my collection - and some stuff about writing and reading, I guess - you can: