I Have Some Exciting News - Meet "The Artisan Heart"

So I've been sitting on some news for quite a while now. I've been steadily working away for the past year or so on a brand new novel. Now, thanks to the amazing team at Central Avenue Publishing in Vancouver, Canada, I'm able to share the news that later this year, that new novel will be released to the world. 

Rather than recount the news in full here, I'd like to invite you to click through to Central Avenue Publishing's official blog and read the sneak peek Michelle Halket and the team have shared there.

Of course, I can't help but share the amazing cover art that has been put together by Michelle. We nutted this design out over a few email back and forths and we had some late, breaking inspiration from my 8 year old daughter who, in her enthusiasm for Daddy's new project, was inspired to try her hand at some artwork of her own. Her inclusion of the railway tracks in her design ended up transitioning across to the final design. I think you'll agree it's a beautiful addition.

The Artisan Heart - final.

Concept Art by Lucy Mayes - aged 8.

I'm excited to tell you so much more about this novel but I'll hold off for now and share some more insights with you as the clock ticks down to September this year. For now though, let me know what you think in the comments and, if you're keen, sign up for my exclusive newsletter updates as we roll forward towards the Southern Spring/Northern Fall. 

DFA. 

Walhalla - Immersing Myself into a Setting.

Back in September, I took a much needed trip back to my home town in Gippsland, Victoria to visit family and celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday. Nana has been a huge influence in my life and has been one of my biggest champions of my writing career, so I was really pleased to be able to share in her birthday celebration. 

While I was in Victoria, I took the opportunity to visit a place that is very special to me. It is also the setting for my new work in progress, a romantic fiction novel that carries the working title "Walhalla". 

Walhalla - the township - is a picturesque little mountain hamlet, situated roughly a 2 hour drive east of Melbourne. It's origins go back to the Victorian gold rush of the 1850's when, in 1862, prospectors exploring the mountains in that region happened upon a natural valley and creek flat that was, not only, suitable for settling, it was also the site of a rich gold deposit. So rich was this deposit that the resulting township became one of the richest mining towns in Australia. By the 1880's, Walhalla supported a population of thousands and was considered a regional center, rivaling that of Ballarat to the west of Melbourne and yielding gold hauls that were unprecedented.

(Walhalla c. 1897)

By the 1910's however, Walhalla's gold rush was in a stark decline and the narrow gauge railway the township had fought for decades to get, arrived just in time to hasten the exodus from the town. However the town itself refused to die, despite dire predictions for it's future. For decades it languished in obscurity, with a permanent population that fluctuated in the dozens. However in the 1990's, a group of locals came together with a dream to resurrect the town's narrow gauge railway in the hopes of kick-starting a tourism renaissance. Their efforts paid off and a section of the line was rebuilt, from Walhalla to the Thomson River a little over 4 kilometers away. 

Today, Walhalla is experiencing something of a tourist boom, with people visiting from all over the world to take in the gorgeous mountain town with its rich mining and railway history, its beautifully preserved architecture and its seductive romance. 

(Walhalla c. 2015)

For me, I have had a life long fascination with this little town which has refused to die and I'm really excited to be setting my next novel there. In the context of the story, Walhalla serves as a place of healing. A young doctor returns there in the aftermath of his wife's infidelity and reconnects with a cast of characters who influenced him during his childhood. At the same time a young mother, escaping a violent past, seeks to resurrect the township's long dormant Bakery in the hope of making a new life for herself and her daughter who is profoundly deaf. 

I spent a morning in Walhalla, taking a series of photographs and video footage as well as talking with some locals, to reacquaint myself with the "feel" of the township so I can translate that faithfully to the page, albeit in a fictional setting. I want to immerse myself, not only in the physical appearance of the township, but the smells of the place, the flora and fauna, the sounds of the mountains, the trickle of the creek that meanders its way through the township. And I also wanted to experience the people in-situ - to get a feel for their daily lives so that I can infuse some of that into the cast I have created for this new story. 

So here's a little sampling of my visit there.

Elliot's Bakery.

Walhalla Lodge Hotel.

Town Center with Post Office & Mechanics Institute Building.

Magnolias in bloom.

Spring in the Mountains.

Windsor House.

Mechanics Institute & Free Library.

Trembath's Corner Stores.

A working breakfast.

Trembath's Corner Stores.

Spring Blooms.

Spring Blooms.

Post Office in frame.

Feel free to hit me up in the comments if you'd like to know more about the specific buildings featured herein. Of course, I'm reluctant to divulge too much about the story I'm writing - for obvious reasons. Know this though - it will be a return to my romantic roots which fans of The Hambledown Dream will enjoy.

DFA.

Breaking Bread.

Recently, I have come to the realization that I have an obsession with bread making. I pour over the mixture of a dough in the same way Walter White pours over an ice recipe in his meth lab. It's all-consuming. 

In many ways, bread making as akin to the writing process. It requires planning - sometimes detailed, other times not so much, the introduction of elements/ingredients and a balancing of those to achieve a workable structure and it requires refinement, editing and checking.

And of course, like writing, bread making conjures a whole gamut of emotions. From the exhilarating highs when I open the lid of my Panasonic SD-250 bread maker at the end of a 4 hour cycle and find the most perfectly formed dome of my lovingly concocted loaf. To the utter despair of finding a catastrophically collapsed, genetic aberration that has suffered from bad yeast or too much water.

Panasonic SD-250 Bread maker. 

Home bread making is a fraught passion - and I am hopelessly addicted to it. 

I have refined the genr... I mean a particular recipe - a german grain/white hybrid to the point now where I can put together the ingredients with my eyes shut. 1.25 table spoons yeast, 2.5 cups Laucke brand german grain flour, 1 cup Laucke plain bread flour, 390mls of filtered water - (it must be filtered water because, hey - I live in Adelaide after all). Set the machine for a four hour cycle and let the magic happen. 

And after several months of following this idiot proof recipe, I'm ready to expand my repertoire and start tackling more ambitious concoctions. Being the shameless self promoter that I am, I would like to receive praise in another endeavor and my family can only stroke my ego so much. 

The Laucke Flour Mill Company is a South Australian company - nay, an institution in this state and they are my go-to for quality flour. Their bread flours are highly regarded and used by both professional bakers and home enthusiasts. They also have a great website that has a growing repository of recipes from the company itself as well as contributors. I'm keen to try them all of course but, for the moment, one in particular, has caught my notice  - an almond and dried fig loaf. It looks divine and I think I have the confidence now to try it. 

Image Copyright © Laucke Flour Mills. Laucke's wholemeal almond and fig loaf. 

One of the issues I have encountered in my bread making journey is that of storage. Up until recently, I was storing my loaves either in a plastic shopping bag or a freezer bag on the kitchen bench so that it is always in easy reach. This however, is not the ideal storage medium for a loaf. Laucke bread flour contains no preservative agents therefore they recommend consuming baked loaves within 24 hours. My aim is to keep my loaves fresh for as much as several days - so they can be used for school lunches, breakfasts and meal accompaniments. Also, home bread making can be a costly exercise if one is constantly churning out loaves. 

What I have found though, is that after the first 24 hours, there's a significant degradation in the freshness of a loaf - even stored as air tightly as possible. As the days pass, this degradation accelerates and I have even noticed the beginnings of mold after day five or six. Laucke recommends storage in calico bag or a bread box. 

Where longer storage is required, Laucke recommends cutting the bread into slices and storing in the freezer. I've never been a fan of freezer storage for bread, even for short periods. There's just something about the artificial environment of a freezer that I can't quite accept. We're dealing with a delicate food item here. I've gotten a hold of a calico bag and I'm going to try that this week. I'm hoping that will enhance the preservation of my loaf but I'm open to suggestions if you have them.

What have your storage experiences been with home cooked bread? What kind of flour do you prefer? Have you found a fail safe method of storage and how long have you been able to maintain the freshness of your loaves? I'd love to read your comments and experiences.

I am a hopeless devotee of bread making. Like writing, bread making requires a skillful hand, some imagination, a constant tweaking of ingredients in order to achieve a cohesive structure and a little faith in yourself. 

The ultimate story is yet to be told...

DFA.