I meant to post this earlier, but I’m sleep deprived and behind my schedule.
Last night Gordon had trouble falling asleep. Normally when that happens, he turns on TV, usually something like Ancient Aliens. We listen to the magic aliens who used a vimana to fly to Antarctica and build secret pyramids, and it puts us right to sleep. I swear, that show has never encountered an ancient civilization whose achievements they didn’t belittle.
Ancient Aliens wasn’t on the table because we have watched it ad nauseum, so Gordon put on a paranormal show. Something something, weird things caught on video. Normally it’s like, “Ooo, look at this blurry footage of a bear, I mean Bigfoot. Big scary Bigfoot.” Unfortunately, last night, it was the footage of a Chinese truck exploding. It was a massive explosion, way out of proportion to any normal load.
So they show the footage 5 times, and then they start theorize about what the truck could be hauling. It could be nitroglycerin. Let’s have our expert drip some nitroglycerin onto this little pad and hit it with a hammer. Oh, look, it went boom. Let’s examine the footage again. No, doesn’t look like nitroglycerin. It could be paint fumes. Let’s get some paint fumes into a jar and set that on fire.
I am a very sound sleeper, but I am a very light falling-asleeper. Every time I drifted off, they blew something else up.
So I woke up tired, overslept, went into the kitchen, and got stuck. I don’t know if it ever happens to you, but sometimes you go into the kitchen with a simple mission of starting bread in the bread machine and unfreezing and marinading some pork tenderloin, and then somehow you have done the dishes, and washed the sink, and made muffins.
I’ve made the gluten free, dairy-free, super healthy blueberry muffins for an acquaintance who might have Crohn’s disease, and they were a spectacular fail. They didn’t rise properly, but contrary to all expectations, they are very soft. They don’t taste bad, but they are not great either. They taste a little… gritty? I’m betting on the dairy-free yogurt as the culprit. I am going to try that again, not today, and this time with a bit of vinegar. This will take some fiddling.
Then I made the regular muffins, because when I asked Kid 1’s opinion regarding whether I should put blueberries or chocolate chips into vegan muffins, she said blueberries. My husband had apparently voiced his preference for chocolate chips with a brutal yell from the study, which I didn’t hear, and then he was sad, so I made a batch of regular muffins with chocolate chips.
Before you ask, the chocolate chip recipe came from here. I made one substitution. I had a little jar of sour cream that I needed to use before it went bad, so I mixed about 1/2 cup sour cream with milk to make roughly 1 cup of liquid, added a tablespoon of white vinegar, and used that instead of buttermilk.
The fail muffins came from here. As you can see, my results are questionable. Yours might be better.
I need caffeine in the worst way.
We received so many comments from you on Regina’s story. We are so glad you liked it.
Why was it cut?
Other than having a reason to bring Michael into the fight, is it necessary to have Regina’s family history in this scene with her cousin? Consider cutting this scene completely?
Editorial note
As you can see above, the scene just kind of sat there unattached to anything. I hesitated to discuss this. I’ve been trying to less of writing process posts, because as Grandma Frida says, nobody enjoys seeing how the sausage is made and I don’t want to ruin the joy of reading for anyone, but since we had many people ask us about it, here goes.
This scene is a subplot, meaning a minor story running parallel to the main story. Typically, subplots need to start in the first 1/3 or first 1/2 of the story, so they can be properly developed. This subplot just kind of popped up close to the finale. We would have to go back and artificially try to build to it somehow, and Ruby Fever has a very large cast already.
In addition, Regina has very firm boundaries. She doesn’t get involved in House Baylor business, and we needed to maintain that separation. We can’t draw lines in the sand and then hop over them when it’s convenient.
I love Regina and Michael to pieces and would love to write a novella about House Latimer at some point, so hopefully this is not a goodbye.
In general, if cutting a scene in a novel doesn’t force you to do drastic rewrites, that scene shouldn’t be there in the first place. We dropped that scene and basically nothing changed.
Will you ever release a collection of Hidden Legacy deleted scenes and the little extras from the website?
Eh. Well, first, the scenes were deleted for a reason.
Second, this is probably ill-advised, but I am sleep deprived, so here is what would happen if we released this hypothetical collection, even if it was at 99 cent price point. ::eyes Mod R to see if she is watching::
“I have followed these authors for years, but this is just an obvious money grab. These are not even complete stories, these are deleted scenes. They must really hard up for money that they would scam people this way. I know the description said that these were deleted scenes, but I didn’t read it because I was excited that a new book was available, and now I feel betrayed. I’ve lost all respect for them.”
And so on, and so on. At some point, Penguin Random House rereleased Kate Daniels novellas as e-specials, and we got so much hate because they were previously published in anthologies. It scarred me for life.
There is no way to make that collection available without writing a novella or some kind of new content to make it worthwhile, and right now, there is just no room in the schedule for it.
Someone above recommended America’s Test Kitchen, and they are pretty good for GF stuff (although not usually dairy free).
Even better are the GF cookbooks are by Becky Excell: https://glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk/
She lives in the UK, so some of the recipes might need to be translated into American ingredients, but the stuff I have baked of hers is amazing and always works. She holds that you need to be very very exact with the ingredients for GF baking (it’s best to use a digital scale). All her recipes have lactose-free alternatives.
For dairy-free yoghurt/soured cream/milk I often use coconut milk with a squeeze of lemon in it and that works amazingly well.
Also I would be careful of Bob’s Red Mill – some of their GF flours have a very beany taste. You have to get the ones specifically for cakes. I think King Arthur’s Mill is much better. My favourite is the UK-based Dove’s Farm GF flour.
Yes, please scam your ever-loving-BDH with the edited-scenes-book ????! Pretty Please?!?
Greets from Switzerland
(And in much need of an excuse to read a „better than my life-story“!!!)
Thank you kindly!
Inga
Yeah, it’s like readers expect authors to write for free and we’re offended that they need to make a living
I really want a muffin now…
I appreciate the deleted scene. It was a nice IA snack that was devoured and then I spent too much time pondering Michael’s transformer car. It will continue to make me chuckle for days. Thank you for that!
House Latimer novella would be totes amazeballs.
Everything I have made from this baking book so far has turned out really well and I am not half the accomplished baker you are.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Best-Vegan-Baking-Recipes/dp/1569757143
Having Crohn desease isn’t always related to being lactose and gluten intolerant. Each person will have (or not, it is different for everyone) a kind of food that should be avoided during a flare (or is it crisis the right word?). You may have tried this vegan recipe for nothing ???? And good luck to your friend, this desease sucks (but now we have meds to reduce the flares occurrence???? even if we can’t avoid them completely )
I would never want any hate coming your way and after your experience I don’t blame you for your position.
But, just to illustrate the other side, I LOVED Jeaniene Frost’s Outtakes from the Grave, her deleted scenes from the Bones & Cat series.
I loved it more than any individual book in the series because it provided such a rich perspective and enriching details that were sacrificed on the alter of pacing. And I loved the alternative plot lines. It allows the imagination to run wild, long after the official story is finished. Worth every penny!
Your world building and character development are so engaging, any extra insight or exploration is such a delight. You post most of them for free on the site so I think any claims of money grubbing are disingenuous. No one is force to buy it.
But for me to have it on the kindle in a concise location when I need an escape is worth $7.99 or whatever the going rate is for a book of similar size.
I would buy it and appreciate it!
You have so many interesting characters in parallel plotlines you clearly have to live forever so you can write them all. Michael Latimer was one of your biggest teases. I’ve been waiting for his story – I’ll take a deleted scene in the meantime…
I make gluten free on a pretty regular basis for my sister with Celiac’s. She is also lactose intolerant and while the Lactaid pill exists, I can usually substitute Lactaid milk and it’s fine. The problem is if a recipe requires anything else dairy based that isn’t just milk like cream cheese, butter, yogurt etc. I know there is vegan butter, I’ve seen it in the grocery store but I’ll have to keep an eye out for dairy free products like cream cheese etc. and do my research because as I’ve come to learn with gluten free flour, not all gluten free/dairy free products are created the same unfortunately.
I enjoyed the deleted scene yesterday, always interesting to see how the writing process works.
Interesting as always. Thanks! Go Michael and Regina novella (someday). Yes, I completely understand the let’s not let the buying public hate on us because they can’t be bothered to read. I’ve seen that in the reviews more than once. Sheesh.
And sorry for the fail. I’m so happy to not be gluten free, I just can’t tell you how much. Altho there are more and more decent products out there these days. I even bought a GF baguette the other day for a friend. It did NOT have the baguette texture, but frankly, it wasn’t bad. Made very decent subs.
It makes sense why it wouldn’t be as involved given how separate they hold their lives. It was an absolute treat and if that novella ever did get written I would read it over and over again!
That is kitchen fidgeting for me. My husband fidgets in the morning, and I fidget at night. Works out pretty well in the long run! May your baking endeavors go well!
I just finished listening to the Graphic Audio for Clean Sweep and I am so excited to see more of these in the future! It was an absolute delight to listen to!
I hope you both get a decent night’s sleep tonight.
It’s lovely to get the background on Regina and Michael, but I quite see it would side track readers into the weeds, even though they would be pretty weeds 🙂 , so thank you for sharing it all with us.
Thank you for a) writing the scene and b) sharing it with us anyway
Just so you know I love your behind the scenes process work. It helps. My daughter is 11 and she writes a lot and she asks my opinion. A lot. Sometimes, I can help her and sometimes I send her to your blogs on the writing process. It helps her develop her characters and just helps in general. Plus, I use some of what you say to help her. I’ve just sometimes had to simplify it when she was younger.
I love when they republish works that were in anthologies. I do buy anthologies, but I can say I catch them all.
I loved the deleted scene/chapter and will voraciously read anything you share. I get pure enjoyment from everything you write. To quote “some simger” -“Haters gonna hate”.
I bake only gluten free and it’s hit or miss. Depends on the flour and the amount of liquid and if the moon is in retrograde and if I used the magic spatula.
The magic spatula is always a factor!
Please ignore any haters (karma will hopefully bite them). I would happily buy all of your deleted scenes… can’t promise more respect because you are already at the apex. If at some point it interests you to release a compilation, with or without expansion, it will be very welcome!
From the picture of your ‘muffin fail’ I have to say that they look like very yummy scones:) Also, I didn’t know ‘non-dairy yogurt’ was a real thing. Sounds very alien!
Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the post and snippet.
Sorry to hear about the fail muffins. Been there done that when I was learning to bake cookies for lactose intolerant nephew. I am gluten free. It took some experimentation.
A Latimer novella would be cool.
Re gluten and dairy free muffin recipes, Cathy Fisher, Straight Up Food has really good muffin recipes. They are vegan which would be even better for your friend.
https://www.straightupfood.com/blog/?s=Muffins
I use a soy yoghurt – I make it myself with probiotics and soy milk which is just water and soy beans. In the US, I think the brand
Westsoy is supposed to be very good. Keep the yoghurt in the fridge until you are ready to use it and I find the muffins come out fluffy. Getting them to rise is my challenge but they always taste good!
Jill Dalton, The Wholefood Plant Based Cooking Show, has some really good muffin and other baking recipes. https://plantbasedcookingshow.com/?s=Muffins
Westsoy unsweetened soy milk is our staple, though Trader Joe’s,soymilk is good too. Non milk yogurt requires a special starter if anyone wants to try it, the instapot is great for that.
I am mad at others who make you feel bad for rereleasing collections or deleted scenes. As a fanatical (erm, dedicated?) reader, I would gladly pay for any/all deleted scenes in a collection. Because I go back and read them on the blog and love them – and then my anxiety-driven self starts wondering what happens if your blog ever disappears…. It all goes downhill from there. ????. Seriously, thank you for sharing your process and deleted scenes – we love them. (And I would definitely still pay for them!)
Some people’s comments don’t pass the idiot test and I would be so very happy to discuss it with them.
“You admit that you didn’t bother to read the description, even though it was clearly and obviously stated, because you were “excited.”How odd. I was unaware that “excitement” impaired one’s ability to read. So rather than admit you did a dumb thing you’d rather go online and make nasty comments about the authors whose work you were so very “excited” to read. Why yes, that makes perfect sense. ????♀️????♀️????♀️
And, unfortunately dear author, I can’t even tell you not to let it bother you, because in your place, I’m sure my feelings would be hurt as well. Ugh!
I also wish to have dinner with Patricia and oggle at the army.
I also have an almond pumpkin muffin calling my name.
It wasn’t because the muffins were vegan. I make many, many muffins and they rise and taste “normal”.
Gluten Free goods have a different texture and flavor, depending on what is substituting for flour. I only bake gluten free for my brother when he visits.
For a vegan rising agent a typical batch of vegan muffins use 1.5 tsp or 2 tsp baking powder, 0.5 tsp baking soda and 0.5 tsp of salt. Mix the dry and wet separately and combine them at the end. Rising reaction can start when liquids hit the mix.
To bind the recipe it can either be mashed bananas, applesauce, oil or ground flax seeds, depends on the recipe.
A couple of vegan muffin fave recipes:
https://healthylivingmarket.com/recipe/vegan-cranberry-orange-muffins/
https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/vegan-blueberry-muffins/
I hope one day for a House Lattimer novella. ????
Hope you both sleep well tonight ????
My paperback copy of Fated Blades was delivered today!
I’ll give it a third read this weekend!
I have all Ilona Andrews books on Kindle and in print.
❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
Love them!
You could definitely do a Regina and Michael story but make sure to include Patricia:).
If you are using a non dairy yogurt the cashew milk ones seem closest to the milk ones that I have seen. It could also be the flour substitute that made it gritty, nut flours especially are tough to get to the right consistency ( it is where having a Mock mill comes in handy).
Thanks for the explanation about side stories and how they work, I filed them for future reference:)
Random voice here. Although I am not a writer, I do enjoy your posts about “how the sausage is made”.
I would read anything you wrote and published. Why respond with hate when you published your e-specials? As I said, I would read anything you wrote and while I would buy an anthology to read YOUR story, it would be even better to just buy YOUR story. So if it ever came to a vote, you know which box I would tick. And thank you so much for Regina’s story. It may not the crucial to the book but it’ll give us a deeper understanding of the characters and their motivations.
But if readers follow your blog, we get awesome yummiest along the way, so I’m good with this. I love deleted scenes. I don’t need them in book format.
I love the process posts! But also, I want to try the honey muffins from the Kate Daniels books. The descriptions make my mouth water every time.
Almost buying books a second time because they were reissued with new covers and years later has taught me to double check issue dates and titles. Same goes for novellas. My book collections (with a few exceptions) are complete. Sometimes I have to search a little because the novellas are in a book with multiple authors and I can’t remember who I filed it under. But I check…I search….I look at descriptions. I’m sorry you have had bad experiences with obsessive fans. You guys are great. Your books are so entertaining, so interesting, so funny. They keep me coming back for more. Your BLOG has been wonderful. Again, so interesting, so entertaining, so funny. And I know you worked on making it light and entertaining because of where the world is. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to entertain us. Be kind to yourselves when you can. You make the world a better place…with your writing….with your caring.
I love the deleted scenes! And I also love hearing about the process of writing. I have spent a sizeable chunk of my professional life writing dry, professional stuff, and now that I’m in a different career I have no interest in writing anything ever again. But I love hearing about the process from you.
It’s like watching David Goldhagen work. David is a professional glass artist, and when I am in his neck of the woods I can (and do) watch him create extraordinary art from sand and fire. I don’t want to do it myself, but the process is fascinating.
Fated Blades finally arrived this afternoon. What a page-turner!
Have you tried Bob Ross for insomnia? He was so soothing.
Still, enjoying the knowledge of Regina’s family, thank you for sharing this deleted section. As I always say, even your secondary characters are interesting, kudos for your in-depth writing. A personal note on baking healthy, I did try in the past to go healthy, but butter, butter, butter is good with everything, or maybe bacon grease too…. Who wants to live forever….
Those haters…. Ugh! I loved your novellas and extras. If I had it already, I didn’t buy it. People can read the index first…. Y’all don’t cash grab. And I love everything you put out there. I know I am not the only one. Those haters can just move along and stir up trouble elsewhere and leave our GREAT authors ALONE!!!! I am also going to place this on the Facebook group comments as well.
My husband has gut issues, Crohns is on the suspected list as a possible cause, and we’ve been Low-Fodmap for awhile. He is also egg allergic and lactose intolerant. Baking without eggs AND without gluten is challenging because eggs and gluten are both binders and risers. I see they relied on a large amount of baking powder for rise which sometimes works, but not always. I am seriously side eyeing that recipe though. The thing wheat, blueberries and bananas all have in common? They are all fructans. (Fructans are a FODMAP). Monash University which chemically tests foods is the leading authority on FODMAPs and according to them 1/3 of a medium ripe banana is a safe serve. A heaping 1/4 Australian cup of blueberries is a safe serve. I don’t know about wheat flour because my husbands issue with fructans is enough that it’s not worth it. I would use a powdered egg replacer (Ener-G is Fodmap and allergen friendly) over a banana if I was also using blueberries. Also converting a regular flour recipe to gluten free flour always works better when measuring by weight. Gluten free is finicky with how it reacts to moisture absorption. I am American enough to stubbornly use imperial for everything but baking gluten free. I will absolutely convert a measurement of all purpose flour from cups to grams and then use that amount of gluten free. It’s just that much more reliable. I have found that with having a good knowledge of what is and isn’t a Fodmap (and the Monash App) that using a vegan or egg-free recipe with a Gluten free flour substitute (like Bob’s red Mill 1 to 1 or King Arthur’s measure for measure) often gives me better results than making a gluten free recipe egg allergen friendly. If you are not well versed in fodmaps, then this site has fantastic recipes that are well tested and often gives an egg free option in the notes: https://funwithoutfodmaps.com/low-fodmap-blueberry-muffins/
Great info!!!
Missy– look for my reply late in the feed. There are several interesting published medical studies for Crohns that support:
Vitamin D3
High Fiber
? SVD (Semi-Vegetarian Diet)
? Coconut
It might be interesting to try some of them; let me know if you’d like a link to the slide deck!
Hi Patricia, I’m sending you an email right now!
Honestly, I blame doorways. Those stupid things just seem to be memory/purpose vacuums (there’s actually research that shows going through doorways do cause you to forget things).
That being said, now I want muffins, and to smack complaining people who ruin things on the head with a newspaper. Or an e-reader, since it’s getting harder to find newspapers nowadays.
Nooooo, don’t stop (or slow down) writing the writing process posts! I LOVE them. They are fascinating, and I always learn stuff. I want to know all about the butchering and stump-whoopin’ and cooking and stuff (ok, ok, I’m describing chitlins instead of sausage but same difference, right?).
I loved the cut. It’s fascinating. I enjoyed reading it thanks for posting it.
You know the BDH is going to be frothing at the mouth at just that tiny inkling of hope for a possible House Latimer story with the luscious 6ft5 sharp-dressed Michael Latimer, right…?
And I’ll be first in line hehe
Personally, I enjoy seeing how the sauce is made, at least when it comes to writing, especially if it means I get extra snippets!
Just here to say, I actually really enjoy the writing posts! It’s kind of like knowing you used nearly (but not) bad sour cream in the chocolate chip muffins you made. It’s an intriguing fact that takes not one whit away from the obvious deliciousness of the final muffins. In fact, it makes hearing about the muffins more interesting. (To be clear, in this analogy sour cream = bts writing info and muffins = final enthralling novel ????)
Gosh, people can be contrary. If you bought a collection without reading the synopsis, you’ve got no one to blame but you. ????
I really enjoy the “sausage making” posts. I have a lot more appreciation for the work that goes into a book. Knowing the “process” I’m much more patient 🙂
HA,
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for writing powerful and talented black people into your amazing urban fantasy novels!! Lenora Jordan—I feel seen.
Love,
A black prosecutor
I love deleted scenes it’s why I love blue ray verses downloads as no extras.
I very enjoyed the Michael Latimer backstory ever since he offered to save our original heroine.
Thanks for the explanation and recipes? Super helpful! Hope you get some sleep
Hello!
It could be the flour.
Try a flour blend that uses multiple types of gluten free flour and that may solve the grittiness.
Also, apple sauce helps
You can also use “just egg”. It is a fantastic egg substitute and it works great when baking.
I’m not sure if anyone else made gluten free, dairy free, egg free suggestions, as i haven’t read thru all the comments.
Oh! And the time in the oven has to be very exact!
Hugs!!!!
May the odds be ever in your favor!
From a dairy intolerant, celiac with a whey allergy and with children allergic to eggs!