Gluten-Free Baking Month!

Gluten-free baking month, a self-imposed title, is gone. And I'm kind of bummed about it to be honest. Gluten-free baking is something that is not as hard as you might think. The month of July encompassed me making five (the goal was six, fail) desserts that were gluten-free. Gluten-free cooking/baking is nothing new, but like most things has received wider attention because of access to the worldwide web and the information available from the medical side. Those who suffer from severe reaction to gluten in terms of digestion and absorption of nutrients have celiac disease. A friend of mine informed me she was diagnosed with it late last year. And it completely changes your way of living/eating. There are many distractors and gluten, like dairy, is everywhere!

At Book Expo this past May one of the cookbooks I scored was Gluten-Free Cookies by Luane Kohnke. And what type of Baker would I be if I didn't indulge in all types of baking? A bad one? Indeed.

I haven't had many, if any, gluten-free items outside of flourless chocolate cake or other. But here was my chance to indulge and I have to say the results were pretty darn good. Anyone who may hesitate at the thought of gluten-free should think again. Of course, anything can be bad. Gluten-filled, gluten-free, vegan or other. But it takes skill, period, to make something taste good no-matter-what. So I have to say that Ms. Kohnke did a great job with her recipes because I enjoyed them all for the most part. And once I got beyond texture it was golden!

Now, the basis for most of Luane's recipes that contain wheat flour substitute(s) are as follows: brown rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, xantham gum, and almond flour (often added at the end of sifting the first four ingredients). Now these aren't the only flour(s) you can use but these were the ones referenced most in her recipes so I stuck to the book. As Luane lists in the frontmatter of her book you can also get gluten-free flour, cornmeal, guar gum, hazelnut flour. She provides flour blend measurements in the front which is quite helpful to get a sense of balance.

Note: The one downside to gluten-free baking with these specific flour mixtures was pricing. I spent about $30+ on flour alone. A half pound of xantham gum cost more than $10 and one of the flour substitutes was equally pricey. The others like brown rice flour came in around $4+ at 2 lbs. So when doing gluten-free baking on a budget definitely do your research to see if you can easily switch out an item or two or have to really restructure a whole recipe. There are many ready-made gluten-free mixes but it's nice to make stuff from scratch every so often so you know exactly what's in your food.

I am in awe of the time and care bakers put into creating specialized cookbooks while making sure the end result tastes good.  Good job, Luane!

First up, Jam Thumbprints (actually jelly because I didn't feel like buying jam just for this recipe).

Well these are just magical cookies! Magic, I say! They are buttery (1.5 sticks to be exact) and chewy yet crispy if that's even possible.

Note: Something I noticed about gluten-free baking, at least with these recipes, is that the transport of said cookies meant you were carrying precious cargo. They were brittle, not always to the touch but not able to take shuffling, even the lightest bit, and when biting into them would crumble.

I believe the almond flour/meal I got was the element that added a granular texture to the cookies I made. And it was most apparent in these because it was my first recipe (a) and because of the fact that the cookie was butter, basically plain (b). But  none of this took away from the taste!

Next on the list, Macadamia Nut Blondies. These blondies also had white chocolate bits (gluten-free!). I had to say that the texture was quite dense. But all I tasted was sugar. And for me even that was a bit much. It was like a shot of sugar, though my co-workers did not complain. Not bad, just too sweet for my taste and that is saying something. 

Note: When baking with flour for cookies I found that I had to pre-make the dough and then chill it for at least an hour or overnight. This resulted in me searching for some quick recipes and the blondies were one of them.

Onward to Sweet Cinnamon Snickerdoodles! Again, the transport factor weighed heavily on these cause I had to transport them to Brooklyn and gave some to a friend. After stuffing said cookies in her purse (in ziplock) they became dust. Tasty dust as I was told.

For me the cinnamon permeated in these cookies. More so than in the snickerdoodles I've made using the Sweet Melissa recipe (a fave of friends). Not bad, just too cinnamony for me. But enough butter inside and tastiness that I'd make again and that guests went through the cookies in minutes. Minutes! 

And then we have Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies. I wanted to make sure to do at least one flourless recipe and ended up making these since I love peanut butter. The issue in the baking is knowing when these are done enough so that they're not too chewy but don't get burnt and firm up too much. I found a balance after the first batch and even if a recipe says wait until edges are brown that isn't necessarily par for the course. It depends on your oven and your methods. But these came out tasty. I added chocolate chips (gluten-free!) also because I just love the taste of both. The peanut butter was overwhelming in these, not a bad thing. When I make peanut butter cookies with flour there's a slight dilution of the peanut butter because of gluten and plus you don't need as much. But when they are flourless the peanut butter takes center stage and you have a mouthful of it. I barely taste the chocolate chips I put in because peanut butter had to be a diva.

And lastly we have Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. These were the pièce de résistance. Chocolate cookies with a dollop of peanut butter mixture in the middle. Much like a Reese's peanut butter cup. Everyone loved these. Chocolate and peanut butter can do no wrong. Ever! 

Two stages to this one since you pre-make and chill the dough and then right before putting the cookies in the oven you make the peanut butter mixture to put inside it. Leftover peanut butter mixture makes a nice, light flourless peanut butter cookie that I liked a bit better than the Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie recipe I used because it was not as heavy on the peanut butter and had egg whites in it which helped with density.

The chocolate powder in the cookie mix isn't too overwhelming with the chocolate and neither is the light peanut butter mixture so it's a perfect balance I think. And they come in a petite size (or were supposed to as I'm heavy handed) and are a nice treat to pop in your mouth. Good times.

Even though Gluten-Free Baking Month is over in my household I still have many of the flours left over to make more items. I'm think I may try her Chocolate Cookie Cake next.

So that was Gluten-Free Baking Month. Delicious desserts with no loss in flavor at all! I'd highly suggest using and/or testing Luane's recipes for yourself. But as noted earlier in this post if you're going to invest you might as well go full on and do so for your own Gluten-Free Baking Month! I still have leftover xantham gum if you need any.

There are many resources you can find for gluten-free baking such as Gluten Free Baking, Lauren McMillan's website, Gluten Free Baking 101, Luane's website, and a host of other sites you can find via any search engine and also on sites such as Epicurious and Food Network.

Happy Baking!

Goodreads Bookclub Slideshow Story Contest (My entry: "Where Dads Go") - Updated

Update as of August 3rd: So, I ended up winning the Goodreads Bookclub Slideshow Story Contest. Go figure on that! Jennifer Egan announced the winners yesterday evening during a live chat on Goodreads.com.  (The winners are announced towards the end of the video around the 54:00 mark.) Runner up was a slide show story that I also really enjoyed "Criminal Consultation." And another I liked a lot and voted for was in the top 5 also: "Frowning on the Inside."

I have to say I'm quite surprised and thrilled by this. The aim was to make the top 5 mainly, but to know that people were touched by the piece I wrote was fulfilling in itself. To hear women say that the slideshow made them cry was endearing to me as a writer because you always want your work to resonate and mean something to readers and knowing that it did meant a lot, still does. And to see that about 4,000 people viewed the slideshow story and a couple commented positively on it blows my mind. Add in the fact that Jennifer Egan found it a "complex" piece and said it had a "big reach." Wow.  So major thanks to everyone for the comments and well wishes and votes! They mean everything and definitely reinvigorate me to keep pushing along.

Original Post from July 25th: 

Hello! Just an FYI that my story "Where Dads Go: a story for my unborn child" is in competition for the Goodreads Bookclub Slideshow Story contest.

You can view my and other great entries here: www.goodreads.com/bookclub/slideshow. But you must be a member of Goodreads to vote. (Registration is free and if you're a fellow book lover it's fun to track what you and others read and write reviews.)

The contest was inspired by a chapter in the Pulitzer prize winning book by Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad. She wrote one chapter in Powerpoint and it is just phenomenal. Even Jennifer said that her agent kind of raised an eyebrow when she said she wanted to do this. But it works great in her book. So it's a lot to live up to.

It took me awhile to get an idea for a story that may fit as a powerpoint (PPT) presentation, but when I did it it just clicked! I figured how interesting would it be for a mom to write to her unborn child about the men, or lack thereof, in her life and how it runs in the family. Personally, the men in my family weren't very prominent in my childhood and that of my cousins so it definitely struck a chord. And my husband has even had an absence from his father where they are recently reconnecting. It's an interesting premise I think a lot of people can relate to and I thought it'd be interesting to delve into that visually.

I have to give Jennifer Egan credit for creating an emotional story within PPT and it's not easy to really capture as much as you'd like in a truncated yet visual form, especially for those of us who manipulate words for a living (or passion). But in the end I am very proud of what I created within 10 days time. (Yes 10 days! Lots of starts and stops people.) And while I know there are probably more edits to be made I hope that it resonates with many when they read it.

When logging into Goodreads you can see this contest as part of the monthly poll on the bottom right-hand side of your main page. So feel free to view and vote! I believe the deadline to vote is July 31st. Stories in the top 5 will be sent to Jennifer Egan for judging to pick a winner and runner-up! Keep your fingers crossed for me and the other authors!

If you're not part of Goodreads but would like to see my entry anyways feel free to view it here on SlideShare:

Where Dads Go: A story for my unborn child (fiction)

View more presentations from Jenn Baker-Henry

Interview with Adam "ALev" Levine (compositionist, instrumentalist, fellow foodie, and deep mamma-jamma)

Adam and I work at the same company, but bonded over our love & passion of the arts and also for food, glorious food! He's introduced me to some staples: bahn mi, namely and we're in the same foodie group, Ramen & Friends. We're also dessert snobs. Of course the similarities didn't end there. Turns out when we first met I was writing a novel with a character from Herefordshire in the UK. Adam's band is named Mappa Mundi. The Hereford Mappa Mundi is the largest medieval map known to exist and is housed in Hereford Cathedral, where I went to research my book. Craziness? Indeed!

Adam founded Mappa Mundi and is the lead singer, composer, lyricist, and all-around glue for this extraordinary, hidden treasure of a local NYC band. Their sound is classified as Chamber Pop and it can make you sway, jump, and, yes, tear up by the beautiful harmonies and words that have become distinctly MM (Let's call them MM shall we?).

MM has two upcoming shows in NYC this summer, one on July 22nd at The Way Station and another on August 27th at Pete's Candy Store. Definitely make a point to come to one or both so you can hear what I'm talking about and make sure to check out their website(s) and band pages!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JBH: Something that interested me about the art you pursue is that you didn't major in music in college. I believe your major was English. Do you feel that the two mediums, music and the written word, are quite different or pretty interchangeable in the way you want to express yourself? For instance, with a song like "Oscillate" (my fave, by the way) do you think it'd be as effective without the musical arrangement accompanying it?  

ALev: I did study music in college, actually, and throughout childhood. In addition to trumpet, I studied composition, theory, and improvisation. But I majored in English. I was torn between going to conservatory and studying English. I chose to study literature and writing, but eventually, against my better judgment, I realized I was in love with music all along. I simply had no choice in the matter.

I wouldn’t say that music and writing are interchangeable at all. They’re quite different media, but that difference is what I call ‘songwriting,’ as opposed to strict composition. I have always written stories and poetry, and I just love the added dimension that music allows.

I like writers who play with the explicit versus the implicit; the said and unsaid. What I love about songwriting is that the music becomes the implicit subtext, the emotional context for the lyrics. Or it can become an ironic counterpoint to the narrative. Finding the exact right words to fit to a line of music, or vice versa, is the fun of it. “Oscillate” is actually a good example of that because the lyrics are about dichotomies: on/off, the peaks/valleys in a sound wave, being ‘in synch’ or ‘out’ of it. “Oscillate,” more than any other song is about a feeling or state that I could never describe with words alone. In fact, that’s what I love about music, and my stricter compositions often pursue that idea of subverbal (or superverbal narrative). In some ways music can be more honest than words. You can tell a story as it were, an emotional, psychological, or sensory narrative, that words simply belie. Sure, music is artificial in the way that all art is, but, to me, it often feels more “true” (or, perhaps more visceral) than words alone do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JBH: You're adept at a few instruments. What was the first one you learned and what is your favorite to play? (You do play a mean ukulele when necessary.)

ALev: I can’t pick a favorite! I just love making sounds and am always interested in learning how to make new ones. Piano was my first, chronologically, and I still think in terms of the piano keyboard. But the trumpet is actually my first instrument, in terms of focus. It’s the one I’ve studied officially the longest and is definitely the one to which I’m the closest. I love singing, playing ukulele, guitar, piano, etc., as well, but trumpet is my first love. That’s what I like about Chamber Pop. It encourages you to be a bit of a magpie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JBH: What are some of your influences? And by that I mean in any medium, not just music? I know visual art has become even more of an inspiration for me these days and I think we play off other artists' work because each can have its own way of promoting a muse within. Would you agree?

ALev: Yes! I certainly take inspiration from all sorts of media. I don’t believe an artist should try to create in a vacuum. Obviously you have to develop your own voice. But that happens after – and often in reaction to – inspiration. When I was studying jazz they told us to listen, listen, listen, and then create. All artists should be voracious consumers of art, across the spectrum, whatever interests you. If you do that (honestly, of course), eventually your own voice emerges. It’s a dialectic. A conversation.

A good example of this would be my recently posted song, “A Blunt Object, Oh Robert,” which is a response to John Adams’ opera, Dr. Atomic, about Oppenheimer, and the Manhattan Project. I love to write from inside the head of a character, and he’s such an interesting one, that I had to do my take on it. So, there’s an element of homage to John Adams, a personal hero, for sure, but it has all these other influences as well.

Musically, my influences would take too long to name. I’ve been told that Mappa Mundi needs a bibliography or at least a suggested reading list, since so many of our songs are inspired by what I’ve read, heard, or seen. I’ll skip the obligatory ones and just say that if you follow my blog, I talk a lot about my influences and inspirations from literature, art, film, and music.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JBH: You've traveled a bit around the world. Of all the places you've visited (or perhaps want to visit) where would you like to live?

ALev: That’s so hard to answer. I love Brooklyn. Every time I think I might want to leave, I discover some new corner or facet of the city and fall in love with it all over again. And I think a lot of my stuff has been inspired by life in NYC (for better or worse). New York has a way of forcing you to confront the cruelties, absurdities, and joys of life, face-to-face.

I really love Detroit. I have this fantasy about moving there. I also love Scotland. I’ve spent some time in Edinburgh which is a great city and Glasgow seems cool. And I just got back from Rio which I found totally inspiring musically. There’s just so much interesting music out there, how can I pick one place?! Maybe New York is the city for people who can’t decide where they want to live.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JBH: You've been a big influence in me getting more into the cheap a** food scene. Do you think living in the tri-state area as well as in the LES and Brooklyn has influenced your eating habits as an adult? Or do you think you had a more discerning pallet while you were away at college or because of certain foods you ate as a kid?

ALev: I was a fairly picky eater as a kid, but I did grow up in the tri-state area so I was exposed to lots of different things early. NYC has broadened my horizons but also made me more picky. It’s a double-edged sword, I guess. I feel the same way about food that I do about music. Plurality is life. There’s so much interesting, good stuff out there to try! Having it all, right at your fingertips, is one of my favorite things about NYC!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JBH:  Beyond your website: http://www.mappamundiband.com, are there other media outlets where people can get in touch with you and your work online that you’d like to share?

ALev: But, of course! The website is a musical blog you can follow where I discuss music, songwriting, and recording, and also post a new DIY track every fortnight. You can also follow us on:

http://twitter.com/mappamundi

https://www.facebook.com/mappamundi

http://soundcloud.com/mappa-mundi

And you can join our mailing list to find out about shows and other events here:

http://mappamundi.fanbridge.com/

And buy our album here:

http://mappamundi.bandcamp.com/

Thanks, Adam for sharing your work and influences and providing such great background work music!

Remember: Catch MM at The Way Station on July 22nd and Pete's Candy Store on August 27th.

And catch a new song posted on Mappa Mundi's website, part of the 'Song of a Fortnight' series! (A new jam every two weeks!) This fortnight's song is "A Blunt Object, Oh Robert" just posted today!

Artist Residency Withdrawal: Re-entering society after living the dream

As I've stated many times on this blog and for those who know me in-person,  heck random people on the street may have also been informed, that last month I returned from one of the greatest experiences of my life at the Jentel Artist Program Residency. June 13th marked the one month mark that I've been home and attempted to re-enter my everyday life in New York City. A couple weeks ago I met up with some writer friends who have and were about to embark on a residency. For Ennis his current time in Upstate New York serves as the longest that he's been away from the home he's made in Harlem. He asked my friend Kim and I for any advice as to how it is to be with other artists (and only other artists) as well as what he may look forward to (sarcasm!) when he returns.

Kim is a veteran in regards to residencies. She was the one who implored that I apply for them. She mentioned it was hard for her to re-immerse herself into life at work, especially when she returned during a really hectic time in the office.

Another friend of mine returned from her residency this year a few weeks before I left for mine. At present time she is still having a rough time of being back at work as a teacher and working on her novel preparing to send it out to agents. She's re-evaluating life after her residency and I'm sure is antsy to do another one.

Me, I just applied to another residency program for the beginning of 2012 and am lining up applications for more come the last quarter of this year. I believe the week of June 5th, a week before my LIU Summer Writers Lab workshop,  I just got back to life and the productivity level I was at before I headed off to Jentel.

Let me try and summarize the first four weeks back:

Week 1: Reeling, and I mean reeling, from being home. I was picked up from the airport and I was glad to enter a clean apartment. Went food shopping and I got to eat some old faves, Chipotle & Dani's Pizza, before mentally preparing to return to work on Monday.

Returning to work entailed me having to deal with rush hour and wondering why I work in the first place. I kept comparing my surroundings to what I'd just left and found them extremely lackluster, especially my apartment which does not compare in scope to the large bathroom I had to myself at Jentel and the huge room, lovely open kitchen, and spaciousness, spaciousness, spaciousness.

In dealing with co-workers I was met with many who were happy about my return and excited about my experience. I also experienced a few who asked some arcane questions that I'm sure many artists in general cringe at. Ones like "If you're a writer, why do you work here?" "Oh, you're a writer what books have you published." "Oh, if you're a writer that means you've been published in The New Yorker?" And so on and so forth.

Week 2: Sorting through photos, updating the blog on my experience, and just sleeping and being lazy for the most part. I was not ready to be social with friends and pushed off many invitations to see people upon my return. I was lethargic and didn't cook, only re-heated, and didn't bake a lick. My usual routine of baking for people's birthdays in the office was non-existent and I just went from bakery to bakery to purchase goods I thought they'd like.

The upswing to this week was Book Expo which lead to attaining a lot of books, attending some book events, and standing a lot. But it was a good time!

Week 3: A friend's wedding and another work week. Mind you in these weeks that I'd been home I didn't do a lick of writing outside of e-mails and updating my blog. I wrote an article for Book Expo for AroundHarlem.com. I started reading a very good book that gave me a great amount of inspiration (see Goodreads list). I barely cleaned, leaving someone else to kindly pick up the slack when it came to sweeping and scrubbing the bathroom regularly. I hadn't done a full overhaul of the kitchen, usually my domain to clean, but couldn't muster the will to do so. I did start hanging out with friends more regularly, but still begged off some events and now had to worry about money since I wasn't saving as much by simply writing and staying in. I actually had to go out, look at my checkbook, and pay bills as well as for groceries and household needs again.

Week 4: Slowly getting back in the swing of things. I actually sat for a whole five+ hours to read and review all the stories I revised while away and started to make edits during my free time in the office. I attained some freelance work and did this as well. I made self-imposed deadlines for myself as well as submitting an application for a residency. I decided to enter some contests due at month's end and submit a YA piece for consideration. I'm also looking into revising pieces for a friend's anthology which is due by month's end. In addition to this I am starting other residency applications due in September, making contacts for references, and researching places to submit my more complete flash fiction pieces as well as compiling a list of places to hopefully submit a piece from my collection at the end of this year.

What helped during this time is having friends who've been through this. Fellow Jentelian Heidi Durrow was kind in asking how I was dealing with my return on Twitter and said she related but to give it time. This seemed to be the main piece of steady advice: just give yourself time to get back into the swing of things.

It took three weeks for this to happen but it did. During the fourth week I no longer looked at those on the subways as my enemies but as my equals just as I had prior to my leaving. I didn't look at work as a prison anymore, but a means to an end. I didn't think badly of those ignorant comments, though they still irritate me, of how I could be an artist when it wasn't how I was making my living. I got back into my routine and even tried to be more of a stickler to my craft by denying invites during the weekend so that I could stay home and focus and work. Whether it be on my own projects or ones assigned. I got back into cooking and just baked some blondies for a friend and the LIU SWL group.

At the Summer Writers Lab Akashic Publisher Johnny Temple said he was irritated with the thought that we should "just write." "With everything going on in the world" why would anyone feel a sense of "entitlement" at just writing. He was right. That's how I felt upon my return. That I was entitled to just be an artist and not have to work a full-time job or do freelance or do the work to make myself successful and support myself so that I could focus on my art. The dream is to make a living solely on our work because we enjoy doing it enough without pay, so how much more awesome would it be if we were getting paid. Well, that's not a reality for a crapload of artists.

I've come to terms with what I've been doing and look forward to the light at the end of the tunnel. It doesn't pain me to wake up and not see the vibrant colors of Neltje's decorated home. I'm up early and to bed early and slowly getting back into the swing of exercising regularly. I'm being kept awake by my work and have been blocking off time to work on it. It's been good these past few weeks and in giving myself the time to get there I feel reinvigorated to pursue my work.

Inaugural Summer Writers Lab @ Long Island University

It's always nice to be a part of the first of something, especially when it comes to creative endeavors or anything that results in something good and positive. This year I was honored to be included in the first group of attendees for the Summer Writers Lab (SWL) hosted at Long Island University's Brooklyn campus and directed by author and LIU MFA professor Jessica Hagedorn, with instructors/authors Gabriel Cohen, Jennifer Egan, and Marlon James. I was lucky enough to get into, what appeared to be by the amount in attendance, the popular Jennifer Egan workshop. Now, my definition of workshop is one in which you write, you submit, others read & critique it. This was not the same framework for LIU's three-day seminar. It was that, a seminar. While we wrote short in-class or at-home exercises and read these in class time, especially with the twenty or so people in attendence for her class alone, mainly permitted us to comment on what caught our ears and provided great visuals. What struck us immediately to help the author know what to continue to do or leap off from moving forward. Turns out that this is how Jennifer Egan's reviewers handle critiquing each others work primarily. Intriguing, and something to learn from seeing how much Jennifer had a keen ear.

Jennifer is lithe, easy-going, kind, supportive, likes baked goodies, and is a great listener. Learning from someone like this who has achieved so much in her career is something that always sets the emerging writer's mind at ease.

Three days and twenty-one students means there may be a high expectation to achieve a lot in nine hours time total. And while I think a smaller group may have helped delve into Jennifer's agenda more fully, the wealth of sincerity and intrigue and kindness and creativity and support in this room was some of the most satifying I have experienced in 3 days than in 4 years of undergraduate studies in Creative Writing and two years as an MFA student. In three days Jennifer went over Characterization, Dialogue, and Voice and gave as much help and advice as she could as the minutes ticked by.

In the first day we spent about two hours introducing ourselves and asking each other questions to get to know each other better. Jennifer was adamant about this and in the end proved herself quite capable in remember details about us and all our names in the matter of a couple of hours! The exercise itself lent itself to the overall theme of the day "characterization" but was also a way for us to get to know each other better as writers and as people.

One of the other workshop participants, Julie, said it best "I could listen to her for hours." And it's true. Jennifer speaks in such a way that you feel like you're equals. She never references her prizes or how much her books have been lauded. She even has a self-depricating humor at times when it comes to her process and how many of her books have started out. When placing an author on such a high pedestal to know that there's no clear-cut process, no "a-ha!" that hits them in one week flat to create, that they're not completely sure of their work at all initially can help you to breathe so deeply in relief at the realization of no one having all the answers and allowing the process itself to take over, trust those around you, and believe in yourself to persevere. It's something that can't be learned, but hearing it from someone who's just won the Pulitzer helps tremendously.

In the midst of my workshop with Jennifer I heard nothing but praise for Marlon James' workshop, which has a smaller number of participants who enjoyed more one-on-one specific critiques of work.

At the first night's evening event with a reading by all three instructors and Jessica attendees were enlightened and introduced to some powerful prose. The standout of the evening was Marlon James' reading from the new novel he's been writing about seven young men who attempted to kill Bob Marley. It was written in Patois and Mr. James' being of Jamaican descent was able to give the prose full force in his reading. Everyone was blown away and I'm sure he added several dozen new fans to his work and social media pages. The next evening brought a lively discussion from authors Wesley Stace and Rick Moody where many learned about their process as writers.

Saturday afternoon's Q&A panel with representatives from the publishing world that authors often need in their corner was incredibly insightful for those who are used to these types of discussions or who are new to them and need to get thinking on what the publishing world is like and where it's heading as the millenium moves along. Faith Childs, Rakesh Satyal, Johnny Temple, and Harold Augenbraum were extremely kind and generous in their time, (2 hours!) as well as answering additional questions we had. Learning that Faith, as an agent, invests in careers not one-off works; that Rakesh, as an editor, admits that writers should be the most enthusiastic about their work amidst so much competition; and Johnny, publisher of Akashic Books, bringing awareness that us as artists shouldn't pity ourselves because we can't just be artists, but be glad that we can afford the luxury at all even if it is in spare time or time we make at any hour of the day available. And Harold thinks we should not look down on the dinner party in terms of writing or readers. (You had to be there.)

Throughout these three days we were immersed in a community, one you're aware of, but may not be privy to always be around. Like Jentel being surrounded by artists who understand what you're going through in your angst, insecurity, and unfailing ability to procrastinate are there to support and listen. That's what a community is. From the day I walked through the English department and introduced myself to one of my workshop mates I felt the connection. From the moment I looked around at attendees and was approached by Jessica who eagerly wanted to know who I was I felt it. From the smiles I received from those each morning and evening at every event, on our way to and from the bathroom during break, on Twitter, on the street, getting a round of applause from workshop mates because I made blondies, I felt it again and again.

I felt a slight sense of remorse when I left the Greenlight Bookstore yesterday as the SWL reading confirmed the end of the first year of  this new fiction immersion program. I would miss the encouraging smiles and words and hearing Jennifer admit that no one knows it all but that you keep going. I'll miss hearing Jennifer compliment my workshop mates and myself on things it took us minutes to write and I'm sure many of us weren't overly confident in. Something I wrote on the subway was structurally sound? No freaking way! I'll miss seeing a familiar face from graduate school and catching up on what we've both been through as we've plodding along on our work over the years. But in the midst of missing this I know that there's another community I got to know, from another convention/conference what-have-you and that there'll continue to be people you'll meet who'll help you and believe in you. And that this is what these types of conventions are created for. They want to bring people together and in this case SWL was successful.