I’ve baked lots of things that taste better than they look. But about a week ago I baked something that looked better than it tasted.

It was my first meringue pie, and it did look very nice. I was so proud.

But it wasn’t quite as sweet or spiced as I hoped. It was a tad too bland, I think. And the cream was overwhelming.

I feel deflated.

I didn’t have any trouble with the mechanics of baking the pie (for once!). It was honestly pretty easy to make the crust, the cream filling, and the meringue. Nothing burned, turned, or curdled.

But when they were all combined, the result was just…blah.

Sometimes we write stories like that. The mechanics are there. There aren’t any grammatical errors. There are characters, some kind of an arc, and an ending.

But without that salivating something that adds the irresistible flavor, the something that sends you out of bed for just one more slice… it’s disappointing.

That’s OK.

Not everything we bake or write will be perfect.

But each time we practice, we learn to master the basic elements so we can focus our creative energy on adding more flavor. Something unique that will set it apart. That perfect combination of sweetness and spice that makes each bite unforgettable and each page utterly turnable.

So I’ll try again. I’ll add more spice. Maybe a tad more sugar. Something unique – maybe something not even in the recipe that I love! Something to make it stand out. And I’ll add that into my story, too.

(I’m enjoying learning about making pies from Kate McDermott’s books Pie Camp and the Art of the Pie. They are a fun read even if you don’t want to make pie with useful life lessons, too!)

P.S. – if you’re stuck on a story, I highly recommend trying to make cream on the stove top. Cream requires constant stirring so I find myself forced into meditative thinking. It’s mesmerizing and helped me imagine a new start to an old story.

How to Come Up with Character Names

Ask an Author with Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan

Many writers want to know more about how to revise a manuscript. There are lots of ways to tackle this important but often difficult part of writing.

I spent a lot of time revising my book The Science and Technology of Leonardo da Vinci. As you can read in the interview, one of the toughest spots was revising the hands-on activities for readers.

I’m so grateful to Shay Fan, the author of the blog From First Draft to Final Book for inviting me to share my revision story!

I’m thrilled to announce that I have signed with the incredible Miranda Paul as my agent and that I have a book deal with Chicago Review Press! Stay tuned for details as I work on this exciting project!

I really love a good board game. One of my favorites right now is Mariposas by Elizabeth Hargrave (aka The Board Game Genius).

Mariposas is based on the generational migration of monarch butterflies from Michoacán to Canada and back. There are only three seasons and each season has a limited number of turns. It’s fast, fun, gorgeous and challenging!

There aren’t a ton of pieces either, which makes the game easy to set up and start playing. The goal is simple: collect food from flowers so you can get fourth generation butterflies back to their wintering place in Michoacán. You earn points for a variety of other achievements, like collecting one of each flower type, or having one butterfly on each of three color hexagons at the end of a season.

The flowers are real flowers, too. The board game doesn’t include the names, but thanks to BoardGameGeek we know they are:

Big cities that have way stations offer special bonuses. Waystations are real – they are intentionally created to help monarchs on their migration.

My husband and I willingly play several games in a row. He’s proposed a variation where we flip over the waystation tokens at the start of the game so we know what’s hidden there. I’m all for trying it out. Let me know if you have this game and if you try the waystation reveal variation!

I’m excited about a new project for 2021: Ask An Author.

When I was a kid, I wrote all the time. I wrote stories in notebooks. I typed stories on my grandfather’s old typewriter. I sent letters to friends and family that were a mix of fact and fiction. I read and wrote, wrote and read. I thought about how great it would be to write books myself.

I always wanted to be a writer. But I also wanted to help other people who wanted to be writers, too. I started a literary journal for our school when I was in seventh grade. We had some great stories and poems from kids in all grades.

Now I’m a professional writer. But I always was a real writer because I wrote whenever I could. I’m still amazed I’m a writer today – and I’m also still interested in helping other people become writers. That’s why I’m introducing Ask An Author.

Ask An Author is a chance for young writers to ask me, a real author, any questions they have. I’ll answer the questions in a YouTube video. I can include names and ages if you want, but I can also keep things anonymous.

You can email me questions, post them here, send them on Twitter – however you want to ask them. I’ll answer honestly and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll say that, too. And I’ll find someone who might know!

So let those young readers know they have a chance to Ask An Author questions about being a writer, being an author, writing books, magazines, fiction, nonfiction, critique, revision and everything in between!

What’s the best part of writing conferences?

Is it the chance to pitch? Is it insider information? Is it awards or the free food?

I think it’s the people. The connections. That’s what I miss most about going to conferences. The last big one I went to was the SCBWI Winter Conference in New York in Feb 2019. I can’t believe it’s almost been a year. I’m still thinking about the wonderful lunch I had with people from my region. Everyone was nice and funny and so generous with their time.

I met people in workshops who I’ve stayed in touch with on Twitter. I was able to celebrate when they signed with agents or gotten great reviews on books. I’ve tried to be there with supportive words during the past year.

I met writers who became teachers and mentors. I connected with them again in online classes. I’ve learned so much from – they’ve made me laugh and think deeply about important questions.

In person conferences are wonderful, but I’ve also met incredible people through online classes, too. I have a brand new nonfiction critique group thanks to an online workshop from the Highlights Foundation. It’s priceless.

I had a chance to meet my (future) agent, Miranda Paul, in New York. And I had a chance to interact with her online this summer and fall. I’m grateful for her, and her hard work.

It’s the people. I’m so grateful for each person I’ve met at writing conferences. This gratitude is a gift.

You may of heard there are two kinds of writers, pantsers, who write by the seat of their pants. They let the creativity flow and discover the story as they go.

Plotters plan it all out in advance. They know the ending before they write “once upon a time.”

I’ve done a bit of both. But at this stage in my career, I am now solidly a plotter.

This is thanks to an excellent workshop hosted by novelist Maggie Stiefvater. The workshop is available via Etsy. I’ve learned a lot about writing, but the biggest thing I think I’ve learned is to know exactly what kind of book I want to write before I write a single word.

Maggie stresses that writing is about deciding what kind of book you want to write before you write. And then sticking with that as you write. This means you need to be mindful while writing. You can’t just wander off down any path. You need to be present and active and paying attention to what you write.

Or well, at least, I need to be present and mindful and focused when I write.

Making the decisions in advance, knowing the mood, setting, characters, plot, and resolution all in advance makes the story so much more intuitive. It frees you from worry and helps you focus on all the fun parts – dialogue, action, word choice – the sprinkles on a perfectly baked and frosted cookie.

That baking metaphor is intentional, just like my writing. I started thinking about a story a year ago, in the summer of 2019. I thought and thought. I didn’t realize it but I was making decisions. Then I signed up for a novel workshop course that had a homework assignment: plot your novel before writing it.

I decided to do the homework. I came up with a very tasty plot, a sweet problem, and a satisfying conclusion. Yes, it’s a story about baking. I wrote this novel in a few short weeks, probably about 6 (but I didn’t work on it every single day). And it’s one of the best things I’ve written. Because it was PLOTTED. I was mindful all the way through about what kind of book I was writing. And don’t worry, the creativity flowed.

In 2021, I plan to make decisions and be mindful in my writing. Team Plotter all the way.