“Two For Tuesday” is a blog meme that I just made up last night when I was trying to fall asleep.

What is it? Post two of anything: book reviews, pictures, quotes, poems, songs, videos, rants, shout outs, whatever floats your boat. Just connect them somehow. That’s it.

Today, I have two pictures that inspire me. The first has to do with my writing, the second definitely doesn’t.

You might remember that I recently started rewriting Incubus completely from scratch. It is proving harder to write than anything else I have ever tackled (including earlier drafts of the same book). I have added some elements that make it a much deeper, more emotional novel than it was before. When I find myself struggling with the writing (which is near constantly these days), I just think about the bird necklace, and it helps me push on.

In Incubus, both Kyle and Jayne have a necklace much like this one. The necklaces hold a special place in each girl’s heart, and both girls cling to the necklaces as a sort of symbol for hope.  I won’t go into detail as to why, but now you know why the necklace is motivating to me. It is woven into the story and helps me remember the importance of the story I am trying to tell.

After I worked the necklace element into the story, I realized that–holy cow!–I have a very similar necklace of my own. I had forgotten all about it (though I imagine deep down I remembered, or I wouldn’t have described such a similar one in the book). So now, when I am feeling particularly stuck in writing Incubus, I put on my own bird necklace and make myself get back to work.

Okay, moving on…

My second bit of inspiration is this:

I was just asked (um…maybe 4 hours ago) if I would make a princess castle cake for a friend’s daughter’s 6th birthday. Of course!

Now, I will be honest: my cake won’t be this nice (um…this cake comes from a bakery with a minimum price of $250–we just aren’t $250 cake kind of people). My cake will probably have two round layers and turrets made out of ice cream cones. Much simpler.

But this one sure is nice to look at!

I have been excited about my Halloween cake for well over a month now. So, I will be brief: this cake is awesome. I mean, not to toot my own horn or anything, but it pretty much rocks.

BRAZILIAN CAKE*

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs

Mix** together dry ingredients. Add oil and eggs. Mix** slightly and add 1 3/4 CUPS BOILING WATER. Mix** well. Bake in two 9-inch pans at 375 degrees until done (check with a toothpick–ovens are all so different).

DELIGHTFUL CHOCOLATE FROSTING

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 4-5 cups powdered sugar
• 8-10 tablespoons cocoa
• 4-5 tablespoons milk

Cream sugar and butter. Mix in cocoa. Add milk and mix until smooth.

The white frosting is just your basic, every day white frosting. I don’t have a recipe for it. I needed to get it done quick, and didn’t want to wait to soften more butter, so it consists of a little Crisco, some butter flavoring, vanilla, powdered sugar, and milk. I just added stuff and mixed it until it was a good consistency and flavor. Frosting is not rocket science!

The bats are just sugar cookies, with some black dye (really, the dough was much darker before baking) added to the dough. I didn’t have bat cookie cutters, so I cut the little guys out with a butter knife.

Overall, this cake was quick and easy. But still super cute and tasty!

*I got this recipe from a friend when he was living in Brazil. It is my fail-safe cake. Whenever I have a decorating idea, but don’t have a specific cake flavor in mind, I use this one. I love it that much.

**Mix this cake by HAND. Part of what makes it so good is its texture–a texture that is lost when an electric mixer is used.

Our recipe this month comes courtesy of Mary DeMuth. When she shared it on her Twitter account last month, I immediately knew I would have to try it out. I was not disappointed; this cake is awesome. It was the hit of the party. Thanks, Mary, for another great recipe to add to my collection.

TWITTER CAKE

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups flour

Mix all ingredients in order listed. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar on greased bundt pan. Add half of the batter. Top with 1 cup chocolate chips and more cinnamon-sugar. Add rest of the batter. Top with more cinnamon-sugar.

Bake at 350 for 55 minutes.

SOUR CREAM GLAZE

• sour cream
• vanilla
• powdered sugar

Heat sour cream (a large dollop) in a small saucepan, over medium-low heat, until fluid. Add teaspoon of vanilla. Stir in powdered sugar (oh, about a cup or so to start–add more as you go) until desired consistency is reached. I do this part by taste; when it tastes how you want it, you are done! If you want more glaze, add more sour cream and powdered sugar.

Let glaze cool a bit to thicken before drizzling it over cake. Before you drizzle, place the cake over a cookie sheet–this will get messy otherwise.

This is a really simple, quick cake to make. I recommend it for any occasion that calls for a cake in a jiffy.

In my church, the first Sunday of (almost) every month is fast Sunday. For two meals (or ideally 24 hours-if you remember the day before…), we fast. Each month, my old ward has a “Break Fast” potluck in the afternoon. Bubba and I still go, even though the ward is technically for the young NON-married kiddos. Really, the Bishop is one of my best friends, and who can turn down free food?

My favorite part about break fast is that it gives me an opportunity every month to try out a new recipe. So, without further ado, here is the recipe of the month:

turned out okay for such a quick decorating job...

SUPER AWESOME WHITE CAKE

• 2 1/4 cup cake flour
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoon white vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup buttermilk (add the vanilla to this)

• 5 egg whites
• 1/3 cup sugar

Cream shortening and butter. Mix all dry ingredients together and add to creamed butter/shortening. Add the buttermilk (with vanilla) and mix until smooth.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they turn white; add the sugar and beat until meringue-like.

Fold meringue into batter until evenly mixed.

Bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean (ovens are all too different to be timed).

BEST EVER BUTTERCREAM

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon white vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 8 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons meringue powder

Cream together shortening, butter, vanilla, butter flavoring, almond extract, and milk until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar and meringue powder. If it’s too stiff, add more milk; if it’s too thin, add powdered sugar until you reach a comfortable consistency.

Now, there is good news and there is bad news. Which do you want first? The bad? I thought so.

Bad news: I broke. I was determined to finish my current work-in-progress longhand. I was doing a great job. Everything was going well. Until today. Today, my mind got overloaded with the story. My brain kept trying to put more and more on the page, but my poor little cramped hand just couldn’t keep up.

Good news: I really think the writing by hand exercise has been effective. I am thinking more about the words I write, so my draft is in better form than previous first drafts were.

Bad news: Now that I am back to typing my first draft, I might also slip back to typing out the first thing that comes to mind. That is not a terrible thing-edits and rewrites exist for a reason-but I am enjoying cleaner prose.

Good news: I type much faster than I write longhand. Typing, I will be able to finish this draft way faster than using the good old pen. Which is good, ’cause I want to be done by the end of October. I fully intent to participate in NaNoWriMo this year.

Bad news: I will no longer have notebooks full of scribbles to put on the shelf labeled “First draft”. I suppose I will have to relinquish the Jo March title also.

Good news: With faster writing, I will have more time to spend on my other passion: