Some updates for you. I don’t do a lot of personal blogging here, but in order to catch you up, I need fill you in, because other projects are making it difficult for me to do any food blogging.

First up, the cookbook. What’s 4 Dinner Solutions: Spring Edition is all put together and at MacIan Publishing, with someone who is familiar to anyone who reads the blog regularly, see: Kirk makes an announcement.

Unfortunately, there’s been a bit of delay, but we will keep you informed of the status as it’s known. See: Kirk takes a tumble. You can leave well-wishes in his comments there, I’m sure he’d appreciate it.

When I started talking with Kirk, well over a year ago, about publishing a cookbook based on the menu service that morphed into this blog, it felt too big and time consuming to pursue. When he decided to start a micro-publishing company, it seemed like fate was saying, “time to actually finish up the cookbook” I’d started two years ago. His first recommendation was to split what was a huge book into four seasons, since it was written in a seasonal format originally. That one suggestion made the whole project possible in my mind. As soon as it’s ready, I’ll do an entire post on its contents and what makes it unique.

That’s brings us up to the project I had to put on hold in order to get everything ready for the cookbook (it is actually one of two projects I’m working on, but the second is still in chrysalis form, not ready for sunlight).  This one is fiction, and I’m having a dickens of a time refocusing my attention to it, so I had some insane idea that I’d put the first chapter online and somehow that would help me get my groove back.

I’ve been writing since, well forever.  I used to write my Gram long, newsy letters when I was a kid and lived half a country away from her. Friends got long, humorous ‘diaries’ describing my many adventures as I traveled crossed-country as a young adult. I’ve played with scripts, written a ton of marketing materials for various business and email, facebook and twitter opened up an entire new avenue of short, quick opportunities for humor.

But this is my first time putting a novel together. An idea that rolled around in my head for about a year before I wrote the first chapter. I’m well into it now but, like I said, a little stuck. I’m putting the first chapter online and I hope it gives me a new burst of energy to continue. I’m also going to use the blog to post photos, bon mots, music and ideas I’m playing with for character development.  Kind of like a living, breathing vision board for the book. Mostly for my own personal vision…but…

…I’m hoping you’ll take a look at the first chapter. It’s not for everyone. It falls in the category of books I enjoy, a bit of murder, a bit of mystery with a sassy, strong female lead, and a touch of romance.

Here’s where to start if you’re interested:  Run Aground (in progress)