Friday, November 12, 2010

brain overload, cooking, and good food

My brain is overloaded tonight with all that I'm trying to read and learn about self-promotion on the internet. Tried and tried today to register with a list called HARO--Help a Reporter--where you can list areas of knowledge that you might be interviewed about. Never could get the link to work and yet now they're sending me messages, so they must think I'm registered. And, can't get my Twitter password to work--though I have a plain record ofwhat it is. Problems now that I'll put off until tomorrow. One positive thing accomplished: I made contact with a service (one person, I'm sure) who scans books much more cheaply than Kinko's, and after exchanging e-mails and reviewing her independent contractor agreement, I'm ready to send her a copy of Mattie, my 1988 title from Doubleday that won a Spur Award. So inch by inch I'm making progress in this brave new world of publishing. I'm really leaning toward self-publishing my mystery, but the logistics of promotion still scare me. I have been a guest on several blogs lately, and I think bit by bit I'm increasing my internet platform. As one friend said, it's a lot to wrap your mind around.
I was also quite domestic today--besides the mundane chore of doing a wash, I started baking for the holidays. Made 42 mini muffins with a Weight Watchers recipe that mixes 1 box chocolate cake mix, 1 can pure pumpkin, and a half cup mini chocolate chips. If you bake it in regular muffin cups, it makes 18 and they are only 2 points each. Then I made the dough for gingersnaps--will bake them tomorrow, and Sunday's project will be chocolate chip squares.
Had lunch with Sue, my former neighbor, today at Carshon's and splurged (in terms of calories) on lox and cream cheese. A bad thing to do since some new acquaintances took me to dinner tonight at Bonnell's, an upscale, chef-driven restaurant. I love the appetizers at Bonnell's so I had the venison carpaccio, with a side of blue cheese grits. Brought most of the grits home for breakfast.
My hosts tonight were Jean and Charlie Tipps. She is vice-president for advancement at the osteopathic college, and he edited the 40-years history of the school to which I contributed and which is still not published. But, as we worked together, I found he had a background in pubishing and had been at  UT Press in Austin in the '70s. So we had a high old time telling publishing stories. Good food and wine, and very good company.
Truly a pleasant day, one in which I both enjoyed myself and feel like I made a slight dent in the tasks ahead of me.

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