Maids of Honour (Recipe) by Juliet Greenwood

These are old-fashioned cakes that I found in a 1914 cookbook. I thought I’d never tried them before, but after I’d made them and look a bite they were strangely familiar. I think my mum or my aunts must have made them when I was a child. They are delicious and easy to make – especially with frozen pastry to cheat!

Just after I’d tried mine, I stumbled across Jamie Oliver attempting to revive them on ‘Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast’. They had far more variety and tried more modern versions – ones I definitely want to have an attempt! I like the sound of chocolate, apricot, strawberry and brandy & vanilla. Yum!

I used to live near Richmond, but sadly I don’t think I ever discovered this wonderful bakery, ‘The Original Maids of Honour’ , where you can find out more about the history. (Henry VIII is supposed to have named them ‘Maids of Honour’ – they are THAT traditional) and even sample some of Jamie Oliver’s creations. I fancy Apricot myself …

Elin’s Maids of Honour from ‘We That are Left’

Ingredients

Eight teaspoonsful of sugar,

One egg

2 oz (60g) ground almonds

Pinch of baking powder

Packet of frozen puff pastry

Raspberry jam

Method

Beat the sugar and the egg together, then stir in the almonds. Put the baking powder last. Have some patty-pans/muffin tins lined with puff-paste (frozen is fine), lay a teaspoon of raspberry jam at the bottom of each, and cover with a teaspoon of the mixture. (I decorated them with toasted almond flakes, which worked well.)

Bake in a moderate oven - 200C (180C if fan assisted) Gas Mark 6 for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Post-its and Publication by Johanna Grassick

I attend writing courses for two reasons: because they’re an opportunity to get feedback on my work, and because they always give my writing a boost, generating ideas and inspiration. In those respects, this year’s Advanced Romance Writing course with Kate Walker was no exception, but what was different this time was that almost all the group had attended last year. This meant we knew each other (always good in the bar!) and Kate knew us, so she was able to tailor the course specifically to our needs.

Post-it plotting!

This year in Fishguard we did a lot of work on character and how these can really drive the story. We examined the core emotions in our stories and used coloured post-its to make it visual (there was much excitement over the post-its, which Kate generously provided!)

We also discussed our opening chapters, both in one-to-one sessions with Kate and in a group discussion (fuelled by wine – well it was Saturday night!). I found this feedback invaluable, especially as the chapter I brought is a new genre for me: I’ve moved from writing category romance to a relationship novel, and with new territory comes uncertainty.

And there were special celebrations this year because one of the group, Rachael Thomas, has sold her first book to Harlequin Mills & Boon. Kate Walker has seen many of her pupils ‘graduate’ to be published authors, so she knows what she’s talking about when she advises to; “Write the story you really want to tell. Don’t imitate, don’t be afraid – write from the heart.”

So that’s what I’ll be doing – perhaps with the aid of a post-it or two!

Johanna Grassick

Kate is running several more courses this year. Details are on her website:

http://www.kate-walker.com/index.html

Writers Holidays run the weekend in Fishguard as well as other courses: http://writersholiday.net/

I Heart Pinterest by Louise Marley

I know what you’re thinking: ‘That Louise Marley has never met a social networking site she didn’t like’. Well, that’s not strictly true. I’ve never been able to get on with Goodreads. I know how much a one star review stings, so why would I inflict it on another author? My Tumblr account consists of reposts from my Instagram account, and my Instagram account consists of photos of cake. I do, however, love Pinterest.

Ooh 'secret' boards!

What is Pinterest? I think of it as a giant, interactive mood board. You create an account and then you create a ‘board’ for a subject that interests you - books/fashion/whatever. You can create more than one board and you can also have ‘secret’ boards so no one can see what you’re up to. 

Then you add your photos, or ‘pins’. These can be re-pinned from other users or you can upload your own. (If you do upload your own photos, I would recommend adding a link back to your blog/website).

Mashable have a great Beginners Guide here.

Now you know what Pinterest is, why would you use it? What’s in it for you?

I use it as a reader. If I want to know what the character of a book looks like, or the house they live in, I check out the author’s Pinterest account.

I also use it as a writer. Each of my books has its own board with the photos of the people and places which inspired it.

Thirdly, and this is the best of all, Pinterest can be used as a research tool. If you’re looking for a hero (aren’t we all), or a location - a house, a restaurant, a city - you’ll find them all on Pinterest. If you’re writing a scene set in a thunderstorm, a spooky forest or on a sandy beach, you’ll find photographs to help inspire you. Do you get the idea? Also, Pinterest is not just about pretty pictures - many of the pins are linked to the original pinners’ websites and blogs. If you click on a pin of Paris, for example, it could take you to a travel blog about the city.

There are apps which allow you to use Pinterest on your phone or tablet, which mean you can pin in any odd moments of free time, rather than get sucked in. Like Twitter, you don’t have to follow people back if you don’t want to, or you can just follow a board rather than a person.

So there you go, what are you waiting for? Start pinning!

You can check out my own Pinterest boards here. I promise, there are no pictures of cake!

Sorry, no cake!