November 13, 2009

Yeah! We have found a publisher for my next book! The Health Shuffle.

Boo! Now I have to write the thing.

I know that every writer (guess I am one of those now too, for real) has their own process but I'd bet they all find it as isolating as I do. Don't get me wrong, I love to be alone, I spend a lot of time in my own head and need that space to create and come out refreshed and ready to put out.  Its just that when its just you and the keyboard for days, weeks, months on end, you can go kind of squirly.

I have set aside 2 or 3 days of each week (including weekends if that's the only opportunity) to write/create a recipe and take photograph.  Not every cookbook has photos and certainly not every every cookbook author wants or is able to take their own photos but I can and do! Given that that is a combo health/cook book, there is so much that goes in to each chapter.

Here is what a perfect writing day looks like(minus all of the mother/wife/sister/friend/dog owner/other business bits) :

6 am: start research on today's topic-having pulled together personal library/borrowed library, interviews with experts, internet study search...

12 noon: Have enough to write what I want to write convincingly and with sound back up. Write first draft for 2-3 hours while eating lunch.

3-4 pm decide upon what recipe will go with this chapter trying to use ingredients that I already have on hand, because if I do, then my reader might too. Plus a trip to the grocery store can be such a pain!

4-6 pm make recipe for the first time hoping  it turns out at least well enough to force it upon my family.  We have had some pretty weird stuff this month that may be better off eaten blindfolded, I mean, I have enough experience that nothing is really burned or tastes bad, it often just looks like a 10 year old made it. Rounds 2 and 3 are usually improvements. It is rare that I have to give up the idea completely and find something else.

6-8 pm set up photograph. Ideally I want a shot of the final product  but, since I have lost my daylight and don't have a full on photographer's studio with light kits and such, sometimes I have to settle for a photo of one of the most beautiful ingredients.  But that's only if the whole thing was a flop or the ingredients was exceptionally beautiful.

8-9 pm plan to pick up any missing pieces for tomorrow to fix what I didn't do today or move on to the next chapter.

Not much of this involves seeing, talking to or communicating with anything but my food. Food does talk to me, not in the mentally ill sort of way, but in the inspiration sort of way. I can see that this is going to be a long road that will leave me seeking conversation and human contact like never before. So, please forgive me if I talk your ear off and know that I am not drinking, just isolated and very, very happy to see a human.

Labels/Tags: Theresa Albert, Mummy Eats, Health, The Health Shuffle, Cookbook, Health Book, Simple Health tips,

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