coffee,  desserts,  fiction,  food,  wine,  writing

Treats for the Soul and Stomach

Tonight I have Critique Group. I am lucky to be a part of a group of five fabulous women writers who get together every other week to weigh in on one another’s projects. We are bold: we blog and send our work out into the world for publication. We are brave: we read one another’s manuscripts without the shine of extensive revision (we put the “rough” in rough draft). And we are hungry: hungry for a place in the literary world, yes, but also physically hungry.

We show up, exhausted and starving, after our various day job in the worlds of law, motherhood, sales, and office administration. Often one or more of us shows up with treats in hand. I’ve noticed that we tend to bring something special–freshly-baked bread, a bottle of wine, a plate of homemade brownies. We are not rich–writers generally aren’t. But we are already sharing our words with one another, so it only seems right that we share culinary treasures, too. Below are just a few of the goodies our generous writers have brought to past meetings. I hope it makes you hungry, not just for good food, but to get out there and do something creative, whether it be cooking, singing, painting, or whatever makes your inner spirit soar.

Last time we snacked on goat cheese from Fantome Farm, like this French-style chevre. That gray stuff on the outside of the cheese is ash–don’t judge unless you’ve tried it.

David Bacco chocolates are works of art as well as delicious. This one is called Caribbean Fire, and has flavors of ancho and chipotle pepper, nutmeg, and allspice.

Once we snacked on cardamom cookies from the beautiful Macha Tea House. My naughty hound dog snuck one from the coffee table when no one was looking.

What are you hungry for?

9 Comments

  • Susan

    If you move to Madison, Annie, you are more than welcome to join! I met 2 of the women at Writers’ Institute (a writing conference) and one of them in an evening class on novel writing at the university. The fifth is a friend of mine from a different writing group we used to go to.

  • style maniac

    Oh, i just love this.

    It made me think of my Blogstress group, and I can see it made Barbara, above, think of us as well. (hi Barb!) Glad I was able to connect the two of you, Barb & Susan. Virtual support is pretty darn nice to come by as well.

  • Barbara

    Sounds like a great group! We have a small group, 3 of us, who all blog and we call ourselves the Blogstresses. It’s always helpful to have support.
    Thanks for stopping by my place!