Still many miles until the finish line

I am feeling pretty reflective tonight.  I have been working on the cookbook, writing the introduction, little stories or annotations that accompany the recipes, thinking about this journey.  It is tiring I have to admit trying to be this creative!  I find it strange, watching myself, I tend to sit and write down one reflection on a recipe and then I have to jump up and walk around some, thinking about the next one and what it means to me.  Being creative is surprisingly physical; I think I have walked eight miles tonight.  I may lose weight just writing a cookbook, who knew, could be a new diet craze.  Just have everyone write a cookbook, spend a lot of time thinking about food, walking around dreaming about it but not actually eating any.  Not sure this diet will catch on.  But making progress so that is what is important.  The end is out there but there are still many hours and lots of work to be completed in between today and the finish line.  

Another productive day

Finally a chance to stop and breath.  It has been one full day.  I got up early, tired but still pulled myself to the shower and got the day started. This morning I did all the things to keep the house running: talked on the phone with my mother while doing the ironing, cooked dinners for the week, paid the bills, you know the usual keep your life running stuff.  Around lunch time, my guy was getting ready to leave for the new house to do some work and I have to admit I was struck by an attack of the guilts!  So I put on my shoes, gave him a tonne of reassurances and out the door I went to help.  I feel guilty not helping on the house, so I spent a few hours today filling putting into nail holes along the crown moulding, swept and cleaned up the house some and then mid afternoon I came home to work on the book.  And the break did me some good.  I felt better about the house and about being an equal partner and when I got home I was overwhelmed by a great big rush of creativity.  I sat down and wrote for an hour and a half straight, all these reflections pouring out of me and onto the page, must what I wanted to add to the cookbook.  Once I felt drained of it, I headed to the kitchen, prepped for dinner and then jumped back in the car to head over to the house.  When I got there, two dear friends were over lending a hand painting and applying putty.  I joined in the work and soon they were on their way and we were cleaning up to head back here to the condo.  So thankful we have good friends who will help us with the house.  We just had a great dinner and a bit of candlelight to slow us down and now I am just going to work for a few more hours and the day will be done.  Ready to face a big week of work in the office and work on my cookbook.  Yes I am getting a bit tired but feeling pretty motivated that I am making progress and that this will all be worth it in the end!  

Compiled the cookbook for the first time today

This has been one long day, and like the mailman, my work is not done and still I go on, steadily, resolutely, doggedly through the night, for neither rain, nor sleet nor snow at night, neither dogs nor cats nor errant children, neither sore fingers, tired backs, strained eyes, blurring vision, rumbling stomach or lazy spirits will prevent me from reaching my appointed goals for today!  Actually, in spite of the above melodrama, it has been a pretty productive day.  I transcribe the last of the outstanding recipes that were remaining to complete so I know have a complete catalogue of recipes I want to include in the cookbook.  I then assembled all the recipes for the first time into one compilation.  It is one incredibly satisfying feeling to finally see them all together in one place, nestled side by side.  I have a tremendous amount of editing to do now, arranging them in the right orders to complement one another, arranging them by theme and occasion, editing for spelling and grammar and generally seeing if they fit together to create a cohesive whole, a whole package of like-minded tastes and dishes.  But today the first milestone has been passed. There is for the first time something resembling a book!  Woo hooo

Last night I spoke with Todd and he is more than happy to help lay out the book in InDesign and distill the PDFs for the printer which is big load off my mind.  I will still worry right up until we have the PDFs done but he is really good layout and design and so I have every confidence in him.  I can hardly believe I am at the point that I can actually start thinking about layout.  Tomorrow and all next week I have to complete the reflections I am going to include in the cookbook for each recipe and finish the editing but if I can keep up this pace, we just might make our deadline!  Oh sure I still have to get my copyright and ISBN number, upload and create my accounts at the publisher and then of course check the proofs, launch the website, figure out advertising, sales, commercials, oh so much work left, but the first and most important step is becoming a reality.  There is actually going to be a cookbook!  It feels almost surreal to me; I haven’t really had time yet to let this amazing fact sink in.  Time enough for that later.  I am going to take a break from work and go prepare a bit of dinner for my guy and me.  Poor guy, he has been at our new house all day working without me, painting crown moulding and priming walls in the bedrooms for painting.  I feel bad leaving him to do it; I will have to think of some way to thank him.  Maybe a free copy of my cookbook!  Off to prepare some food and then back later tonight for more work.  

Registered my very own business today

Whew, you are catching me coming down off a marathon session of transcribing recipes, sometimes having to squint to even read my own handwriting or editing the recipes on the fly knowing I always make some subtle changes to the recipe as I prepare it.  It has just been a crazy week but I am still on track and making good progress. Things are not looking too bleak.  Yesterday I emailed back and forth with Lesley and like the dependable trooper she is, she was able to roll with my craziness and it looks like we will have our photos for the cover.  I talked with Adela here in the office yesterday and she helped with me the sizing for the photo for the cover.  Today I emailed Todd to see if he can still help with the layout in InDesign.  If not, I will have to quickly find plan B.  I have spent hours last night and today transcribing recipes. 

I also set up my own business this morning.  George Henry Press is born!  My very own publishing company, named simply, after the street I live on.  How exciting I now own my very own publishing company; Martha Steward Living watch out.  Oh sure, my company has no assets, lots of debt, no published product yet, has paid no taxes, employs no staff, doesn’t even have a logo.  But it is all mine!  I also talked with the publisher again today and got some more questions answered.  So many balls in the air I feel like a one arm juggler in a Russian circus, keep ten balls in the air with one hand and out of breath, but fearful if I fail I will be assigned the job of cleaning up the poop from the dancing bears!  Hey, can you tell I am getting punchy?  Still running, and running hard, no rest yet, and I can’t let myself ease up thinking I am getting ahead.  Sore eyes, tired fingers and aching back will just have to be tolerated until the book is at the publisher.  After that, I may collapse for three days on my couch with a tub of ice cream!  And not ice cream I will have made by hand, creamy store bought ready to be eaten grocery store given ice cream!  Better run to get back at it, more work awaits!

The cover photo has been chosen

Yesterday was a fun day.  I worked with Lesley, my photographer extraordinaire, and whittled down the photos that could be possible for the cookbook cover to four.  Then I hijacked my lunch hour at work and printed out the photos.  I numbered them and then created a little cheat sheet for myself with three questions:  which photo do you like the best, which photo makes you feel the happiest, and which photo most resembles your own life and own experiences in your own kitchen?  Armed with my cheat sheet and questions, and the print outs of the four possible photos, I conducted an informal focus group with the women in my office.  It turned out to be such fun.  I would approach someone, ask if they wanted to participate and then I would lay out the photos and ask them the three questions, recording their responses. Seriously, once people started to understand what I was doing, everyone wanted a turn.  And I had to keep them separated so they would not bias each other’s answers.  But you should have seen the arguments.  People arguing that their favourite was better than someone else’s or that such and such was wrong with this photo and not another.  Or that the men in the photo were hot or not, or they didn’t like this woman in the photo’s hair or lips.  So funny.  But as always, the marketing science always pays off, and soon there emerged a clear front runner.  The laughable thing was all afternoon people would come to my desk to see if their favourite was the front runner.  Everyone was cheering for their favourite and getting pretty competitive to win or feeling sullen if their choice lost. I had a blast and so did everyone else. The best thing is I now know which photo most appeals to most people which I hope once it is on the cover of the cookbook will also translate to more people in public liking the cover and finding it appealing and so choose my cookbook over others.  I was good again last night and spent three hours working on the insides of the cookbook and with some progress the last few nights, I am feeling motivated to keep going.  I have to admit it was at times a bit of a hard slug but I would get up and walk around a bit or go make some popcorn but always forced myself to sit back down.  I can’t believe how lazy I can be or so willing to bargain with myself why I can leave something till tomorrow or put it off.  I am quite happy to run away from pain or hard work!  But I pushed through and am feeling better for it.  Still lots of work ahead of me but going back at it today!

Still plodding along

I had such a productive day yesterday.  Seriously I am feeling pumped about how much work I got done on the cookbook.  Nothing like an impending deadline to focus the mind!  Flashbacks to late nights at university aside, I made great progress yesterday.  I have made myself a plan to get the cookbook done and I am sticking to it, come what may.  And I had my first proud moment last night.   I worked for three hours after dinner and completed everything I was supposed to complete. Now if only I was that productive at work!  It is going to be a tonne of work in the next little but I am committed.  And if I am not committed now, I will need to be committed by the time I am finished!  Today more of the same, transcribing and formatting.  Doesn’t really make for a very interesting entry today but this is definitely the mundane, repetitive, ordinary part of the work!  Nothing glamorous, just hard work.  I had a thesis supervisor at university who once said it is not necessarily the smartest people that achieve, but those who do the work.  Well, I am short on the smarts in this case so I better rely on the work!  Heading back to it, keep poking me will ya to keep me working!

Back from vacation and jumping back into work

Back home again and what a vacation!  We had just the best time.  It was beautiful weather the whole time we were away in the Dominican Republic, hot sunny days, no clouds, clear night skies filled with stars, warm ocean breezes blowing in the evenings.  We ate way too much, enjoyed teas in the lobby and cocktails before dinner, talked, laughed and best of all took lots of naps. I spent literally days in the sea, body surfing on the waves, paddling around in the turquoise waters, smiling and swimming with my guy.  We left the resort for a little shopping and mostly just relaxed.  I found that I was much more stressed than I had realized and enjoyed the time to unwind and get refreshed.  I even found some time to journal a bit about the cookbook and do some planning.  

And a good thing that I did.  Yesterday I sent a note to the publisher of my cookbook and found out that they have a 4-6 lag time between receiving the final version of the book and the time when it will be available on Amazon and other sellers.  So in order to hit a spring release date, I have to have the cookbook finished for March 11!  I only have three weeks left to finish it in order to hit the target release date that they have established.  Yikes!  I have still have so much left to do.  Last night I was a bit overwhelmed but I have started to figure out exactly what is left to do and how many hours I have to spend each day working on the cookbook (when I am not at work, cooking, cleaning etc, never mind just spending time with my guy) in order to have it completed on time.  I will have to call Lesley to see where she is at with the pictures and Todd to see when he is available to help me with the layout.  I still have to register the business, get my copyrights and ISBN numbers, set up bank accounts, oh the work is ahead of me.  But I am determined to get it done!

Add to this work on the cookbook the fact that we have our house now and spent Sunday and yesterday working on it, taking down ceilings, stripping off walls, getting ready to paint and generally starting to work on the house!  My guy has a shopping list his arm long of things to buy for the renovations and decorating but it looks like this weekend I will have to devote the whole two days to working on the cookbook, 8 or 10 hours each day!  He is pretty understanding about the cookbook and I think he secretly likes that I will be preoccupied with the cookbook; keeps me from bossing him around with ideas about the house!  It will be a busy three weeks, jump aboard with me, let’s see if I can do it!

We got our new home; now off on a vacation

I am so happy, indescribably content, over the moon.  I feel like a robin in the spring, flying around, twigs in my mouth, building my nest!  We picked up our keys and drove over to our house, unashamedly texting everyone we knew that we had picked up our keys and were heading to our first house.  I will never forget walking up the path and putting my first key in the door and swinging it open to our new life.  My guy of course took a picture of everything.  We had a great surprise waiting for us when we walked in.  On the breakfast bar in the kitchen, our agent had left a bouquet of flowers, Brie, crackers, grapes, nuts, chocolate and more champagne!  I unpacked our champagne, strawberries, camembert, chocolate, crackers and cookies to supplement and we began celebrating. We wandered around the house, champagne in our hands, talking and looking at each room, my hands rubbing down the walls to assure myself that it was true.  I must have tread up and down those two flights of stairs fifty times, learning the way, letting my feet trust and remember each riser on the staircase, each turn in the wall.  It was echoed, was alternately dark and light and always wonderful.  Paint colours, furniture position and carpet details were interrupted by soft kisses and lingering looks between us.  We have our home.  Later we sat in candlelight and ate pad thai and spring rolls, sipped champagne and gobbled down the remaining fruit.  Our first meal in our first house, an empty house waiting anxiously to be filled with our memories, a blank canvas on which we can paint our life.  It seemed such a shame to leave when we did to go back to the condo but I left part of my heart there and there it remains waiting for us to come back after our vacation.

Later today we leave for the Dominican Republic for our week’s vacation in the sun.  And we both really need it.  We are both fighting off the start of colds, colds I am convinced have been brought on by stress, exhaustion from work and all that is going on right now.  I am so looking forward to warm breezes sitting under a palm writing in my journal or reading, the feel of cool water against my skin under a baking sun, delicious meals, afternoon naps, cocktails in the evening, laughing at evening entertainments and moonlit walks on the beach back to our room when the day is done.  We have a tradition of a midnight swim in the pool of the resort on the first night we arrive anywhere down south.  I will know we will have arrived when I am slipping into the water this evening.  We are gone a week so I won’t be able to write while we are away but I will be thinking of you and saving up lots of thoughts and memories to share.  Have a great week and I will see you when we get back.  

A dream of an 80s yuppie lawyer, so fantastic

I am super excited.  This afternoon, I left work and met my guy to go to the lawyer’s office to sign the final paperwork to get our house tomorrow.  And wow, what a pile!  We met with Jennifer who was quite nice but honestly with her oversized, frosted blonde hair, long purple painted nails, shining lip gloss and tight but faded black skirt, she reminded me of a lawyer from a movie from the 80s, all hip and fast and budding yuppie. Only in her case, it is more than 30 years later and she still has the swing and faded black pumps to show for it.  I fell in love with her. She was sassy, flippant, funny and speedy, like a clerk in a Michael Douglas movie and when I finally shook her bony hand in thanks to say goodbye, I felt like Molly Ringwold should be standing in the lobby, smacking her gum and straightening her leg warmers.  It was fantastic.  But even more fantastic was walking out the door of that non-descript strip plaza in a forgotten corner of the city with my guy, knowing we were together and that tomorrow we would get possession of our first home as a married couple.  And now it is so funny.  We have come home and immediately starting packing the car with things to take over tomorrow night when we finally have the keys: sponges, cleaning products, tea cups, cases of pop, brooms.  And champagne.  We have had a bottle of Veuve Cliquout in the fridge for a week now chilling.  Honestly, what I really looking forward to tomorrow night is sitting on the floor in my new living room, in an empty echoing house, with a dusty old ghetto blaster plugged into the wall churning out tunes, and eating pad thai from a Styrofoam container and sipping cold champagne from a plastic mug with my guy.  I can feel the happiness and the tears already and can’t wait for the first feeling of finally being home, looking around at those dirty beige walls, the chipped counter tops waiting for attention, the dishwasher that needs bleaching and the bare spots where we need to put up some crown moulding and knowing that this is the house we will make our own, where we will make our home.  

What a surprise

What a roller coaster this week has been!  So today at work I found out that I had won Achievement Club this year, a program at my work for employees who have contributed significantly over the past year.  And I found out I am to be included in that group this year and, in April, we are off for a week in Cabo San Lucas in Mexico at a very posh resort.  I am so excited, actually I can’t tell if I or my guy are more excited.  It is going to be great and honestly it is so nice to be recognized for all the hard work you do at work!  It’s a pretty special time right now, our first house is closing on Friday, Saturday we leave for the Dominican Republic for a week in the sun and now this surprise at work.  I am feeling pretty blessed right now and sitting down tonight to work on press release emails doesn’t seem like a chore at all!

I'm in a terrible mood

Yesterday was a terrible day, today equally horrible.  I am not sure what it was but I was in a foul mood yesterday, ready to snap at anyone, unable to concentrate, spoiling for a fight.  And today I have been a similar mood, except today I just did my job, nothing more, nothing less.  I am sure it is just everything that is going on right now, what with the house closing (yeah but stressful), our trip on Saturday (yeah but not ready), the cookbook (yeah but too much work left ahead of me) and the sinking feeling that I don’t have enough hours in the day!  A common complaint but one I am feeling keenly.  And it is affecting my sleep which I am certain is not helping the situation any.  But yesterday and now again tonight, I am focusing on what I love, picking off small pieces to achieve and leaving the rest till tomorrow.  I can only get so much done and I am still loving the work for the cookbook even if it has become insanely busy, if I feel like I am overwhelmed, and despite the feeling that I may never finish.  But everything I do each day gets me closer and some day I will look back at this and wonder why it all felt so rushed and so hard.  Oh, I can’t wait for that day.  Off to be in a bad mood, transcribing emails!

Feeling good about the future

We had such a nice time yesterday.  My nephew’s second birthday was so cute.  I swear he had no idea what was going one and was just happy to run around talking to everyone.  He liked having a gift but wasn’t particularly interested in opening them, except to pull the big candy sucker off the top of one and walk around talking to it.  But he did love the books he was given, sat right down and started talking to himself as though discussing with himself the contents.  My sister told me today that he wanted them read to him over and over before bed and cried when story time was over.  I am glad he loves to read; he must take after me!  Then we stopped for dinner at my brother and sister-in laws and enjoyed a great baked brie with a glass of wine before dinner and everyone enjoyed my rhubarb cake.  It was a hit!

Today I am feeling really productive.  I have spent at least four hours today transcribing more email addresses for the press releases and I finally feel like I am making some progress.  There is nothing like watching the list grow and grow.  The problem of course is that I keep thinking up new places to search for more address or different media to expand into in the search for more contacts.  But I am trying to keep myself to my original intention and if I have time afterwards I can always add to the list. I really know now that there is a tonne of work ahead of me in the next two months but I feel more settled about attacking it.  One step at a time and I will get there.  Now I just hope I can apply the same energy to getting the inside of the book finished, especially while I am lying on a beach!  I have a good friend leaving tomorrow for Cuba for a week of sun and relaxation.  I would be jealous if we weren’t leaving for the sun in a week.  But first the house will close and we will get our keys.  Our first home together, outside of the condo, a place for us to build the next phase of our life.  Feeling pretty good about the future right now!

Rhubarb, my promise of spring

I had the most wonderful surprise this morning.  Last night my guy was watching how I transcribe the emails for my press release strategy.  I have to admit I was complaining a little bit about how boring it is, okay maybe I was complaining a lot.  The first thing he did was find an easier way to copy them over.  He will often say I am bit rammy, which is his way of saying I can be impatient and I have to admit once I saw how he was doing it, I readily could admit it was much simpler.  And then this morning I woke up to discover that he spent a couple of hours last night while I was sleeping copying more over for me.  As a consequence, I finished the United Kingdom this morning!  I have an email address for every editor at every newspaper in the United Kingdom, Scotland, Ireland and England, big or small, local or national that was available on the Internet!  You should see the list.  It is a great feeling having that little bit of work done; I have the best husband in the world.  And so now this morning I can start on the United States!  I hope I have more nocturnal helpers.

I just finished making an upside down rhubarb cake to take to dinner tonight at my brother and sister-in-laws.  It smells so good baking right now.  I just love rhubarb and as I was making it this morning with chopped frozen homegrown rhubarb that I took out of the freezer, I was thinking about how many associations I have with it.  This cake I am baking is one of my favourites, moist, flavourful, with crunchy, sweet topping, great with vanilla ice cream.  My mother used to make rhubarb sauce in the spring for us, boiled down rhubarb sweetened with sugar and served in a bowl or over ice cream.  I remember pulling it my the stock from the ground and biting into that sour, stringy stalk and running to the door to plead for a small bowl of sugar to dip it into and sitting on the front stoop dipping and chewing and thinking it was the best treat.  But more than all, it is that first rhubarb pie of the spring that makes my mouth water, the tender green and pinkish rhubarb, mixed with sugar, thickening in the pie, and boiling over, dripping and hissing in the oven, the pastry flaking and browning and ending up covered in that delicious sweet sticky, almost toffee textured glaze atop the pie.  I love that first bite out of the first pie of the season, the grass still greening, the leaves just unfolding and daffodils in the garden.  It is a taste of spring, the last bite of winter, the promise of things to come.  The first pie is always the best, no matter how tasty the others that follow are.  It is always a taste of a promise fulfilled, that the snow will leave and summer is just around the doorstep.  Today’s cake is baked in hope of that first pie and the end of this snow.  Tonight eating it with family no one else will know what hopes I baked into this cake but I will know and, looking around at loved ones, I will know what I have hoped for all of them.  

Italian grilled cheese sandwiches

Wow was that ever good!  Today I had something I have never had before for lunch, mozzarella en carozza which was basically Italian grilled cheese sandwiches.  It is two thick pieces of whole wheat bread with cheese in between and then covered in “carozza” and baked or deep fried.  As far as I could determine the “carozza” is either bread crumbs or cornmeal.  Either way, they served it hot, covered it in tomato sauce and of course topped it with parmesan cheese. It was delicious and a nice change from the ordinary.  Try it if you get the chance.  Today, unfortunately, nothing new, just back at the transcribing.  I made really good progress last night finishing more than I had expected; today I start at “M”.  I am now developing a new anxiety about losing these lists; it is too much work to replace them.  This weekend will be filled with work with the fun exception of my nephew’s second birthday party on Saturday. It is always fun and a great way to spend an afternoon! I should get back to the work soon. I have made a great, first-hand discovery; when you are doing something that is your passion it doesn’t seem like work at all.  Although I find this transcribing mindless I have endless energy for it because it is something for myself, for my cookbook, something which will help make my passion come alive.  And for that I can work and work.  Apparently, all those interviews of celebrities saying their work is not work at all but play is true.  Now if only I received their salary!

A luxurious bath for me

This is perhaps the most tedious thing I have ever done.  Seriously, transcribing these emails addresses is boring, like massively boring, stupendously boring, boring like watching paint dry or grass grow, like make your teeth ache boring! But I am happy to say I am making progress.  I have found a great website that lists every newspaper that is published in the United Kingdom and has them listed by tab in alphabetical order.  I am finished up to “H”, tonight I intend to do “I” and “J”!  And the list is really coming along so all this boring effort is paying off.  Once I finish with the UK, it is on to the United States. I started mistakenly thinking that the newspapers in the UK would be easy and quick to finish; I cannot imagine what it is going to be like having to do the US.  I found a similar website which lists them in the same way so at least I know what I am getting myself into, trouble and more boring pain for sure.  But since I decided to start this journey and do it all myself, no one promised me that it would be all sunshine and roses.  I also sent an email to Lesley to tell her I haven’t forgotten about her; I still need to go through all the photos and decide which ones I need her to touch up so they are publication ready.  And now that I have started on the press release list, I have started to think of all sorts of other things to do: where can I get contact information for magazines, television programs, how to use the net better to advertise, can I get someone to have me on their show to talk about the cookbook, do I need to do email campaigns, commercials, YouTube videos?  So many things to do and frankly it is distracting me from actually putting the cookbook together.  I have told myself to work on these types of activities until Feb 11 when we leave for our vacation in the Dominican Republic.  Oh, did I remember to tell you we are going away for a week of sun, beach, all you can eat (always bad for me, since I want to put myself on a diet and in training for a charity cycling race in June for the Heart and Stroke foundation, oh more news to share) and general relaxation.  I know we are spoiled with all this travel but I am going to take a notebook so I can work on the cookbook and record my thoughts while we are away.  But between returning from the holiday and the end of the first week of March, no work on this kind of work and only focus on completely the inside of the cookbook.  Without it, all this other work is kind of pointless.  So tonight I am tackling the next two letters in the alphabet and then treating myself to a long luxurious bath and an early bed.  

Endless emails and blurry vision

Well, home from my training with more new ideas to apply to my own adventure!  Feeling pretty tired tonight and not thinking about a lot.  I think tonight I am just going to mindlessly transcribe email addresses for newspapers for my press releases.  Mindless and easy to do for an hour or so before I completely collapse in bed.  I hope you are enjoying a good television show, a delicious dinner, chats with friends or time with your guy.  For me, it is typing, typing, typing!

Haul out the snow shoes and soup ladles; the snow storm is coming

What a day.  I am just getting in from work now.  I have been in training all day off site from our office in a hotel.  More training again tomorrow.  It has been mostly interesting but I am amazed at myself sometimes.  I am sitting on an uncomfortable chair in an overheated hotel meeting room, listening to a presenter explain things to me that in any other life I would walk out of the room from boredom but instead I find myself filtering everything I hear to determine how I can use it to my advantage in getting this cookbook completed and launched.  If only work knew that their expensive training may never be used at work but may come in very handy in my personal pursuits.  Thanks very much!  Well, that and today everyone kept talking about the snow storm on its way, a “near paralyzing” snow storm, horrific, wild; I laugh at all the adjectives the news uses these days.  It is winter; it is not like snow is a surprise!  Anyway everyone was making plans on what to do tomorrow morning, how early to leave, drive or subway, should we start late.  I say let it happen and if I awake tomorrow morning and can’t open my door to go to work, well, that sounds like the perfect excuse to make a big pot of homemade soup!