Trust the Process

I have an egg custard in the oven.

While it’s baking, we’re going to talk about when to take chances and when not to, not just in baking, but in writing.

So, hubby and I have been eating a mostly low carb, sugar-free diet for the last few years. I say mostly because this is an attempt to cut out processed foods, be a tad healthier and keep our weight down, not because either of us are allergic to gluten or suffer from any major health issues, praise the Lord. But, occasionally, there are reasons to take a chance. Today was one of those days.

My brother-in-law gifted us with 3 flats of double-yolked eggs. That’s 90 eggs, folks. Whoo-hoo! So, I decided to cook an egg custard. But I went with an old-fashioned egg custard recipe with sugar and flour in it. Why? Because sugar substitutes are expensive, for one thing, and flour substitutes don’t always bind well in baked goods. I have taken chances with cooking low carb and sugar-free with a few flops and a few successes. But I didn’t want to chance it. Not today. 

Have you taken chances with your writing? Have you branched out into a different genre? Maybe even wrote a character or a plot that pushed you out of your comfort zone?

I can think of several instances where I’ve done that. The villains in my Natchez Trace Novel series were definitely out of my comfort zone. But the time period and the stories demanded that they be very villainous. Some of the other characters dealt with some really hard life struggles. As a matter of fact, the plots for entire series were a bit darker than most of my work, and got darker as the series progressed. Having said that… I might be prejudiced, but I think that series is my best work to date.

On the flip side, several of my novellas were much lighter in tone, but had their own challenges. When I wrote Shanghaied by the Bride (The Oregon Trail Romance Collection, Barbour), I wanted the characters on the wagon train to represent a wide range of immigrants, so that everyone didn’t sound the same. I sprinkled in some characters from Ireland, Holland, Italy, among others. It was a lot of fun to write, but I knew I would quickly lose my readers if I incorporated too many different languages and dialects on the pages. To make sure that didn’t happen, the main characters weren’t immigrants right off the boat. They were simply moving west from east of St. Louis, with the immigrants as secondary characters and fewer speaking parts.

What about genre? Have you moved out of your comfort zone and written in a genre you’ve previously avoided? Written a character that makes you squirm? Sometimes it works, sometimes not so much. Again, the key is knowing when to take a chance and when to stick to the tried and true.

Back to my traditional sugar-laden egg custard. It turned out fantastic, and I’m including the recipe here. This recipe is several years old. I’ve had the cookbook for a long time, and there’s no date in it, so I’m not sure how old exactly. I wasn’t sure if I’d mixed it correctly because the “batter” wasn’t batter at all, but the consistency of a half-melted milkshake. Even though I had my doubts, I trusted the recipe. 

And that’s what we should do with our stories. We should trust our ‘recipe’, trust the process, our instincts, and our gut feelings about how and what to write. If we trust ourselves, our readers will trust us.

Egg Pie

NOTE: I reduced the sugar to 1 1/2 cup, and this pie is still quite sweet. Next time I'll reduce to 1 1/4 cup. And I cooked for 45 minutes, but my oven is old and slow. Check on it after 30 minutes, depending on your oven.

CBA Bestselling author PAM HILLMAN was born and raised on a dairy farm in Mississippi and spent her teenage years perched on the seat of a tractor raking hay. In those days, her daddy couldn't afford two cab tractors with air conditioning and a radio, so Pam drove an Allis Chalmers 110. Even when her daddy asked her if she wanted to bale hay, she told him she didn't mind raking. Raking hay doesn't take much thought so Pam spent her time working on her tan and making up stories in her head. Now, that's the kind of life every girl should dream of. www.pamhillman.com