Blatant Self Promotion

My cookbook/memoir has been in print a year now, and I decided it's time for what the Sisters in Crime listserv calls blatant self promotion (on the listserv it's strictly forbidden, but hey this is my blog and I can do what I want). Since the number of hits on my blog increases nicely at a good rate, I figured I might have gained some new readers in that year who didn't know about the cookbook, and, golly gee, I should tell them. Besides, the sales people tell me the cover is misleading, as adorable as Jacob is--people think it's a book about teaching kids to cook. So please spread the word--tell all your friends who like to cook and those who read memoirs, that this is not at all a kids book. For one thing, there are a lot of recipes with wine in them. Oh, and please forgive the slightly crooked image--I'm still new at scanning and was actually proud of myself that I was able to scan the cover. I got a new review today on email from a Web site, womensmemoirs.com, and the review, written by Matilda Butler, calls my book "an incredibly charming memoir/cookbook." Apparently Matilda and I have a lot in common such as childhood memories of the "inevitable fried liver" and tongue (I apparently liked it better than she did). But she wrote that we read memoirs in part to evoke memories, and mine connected with her on many points. She concludes by saying that she and I were old friends sharing life stories and recipes, so I hope you--and new readers--feel that way too.

Today was a funny day. I worked all morning, got dressed to go to a luncheon and went by the office, only to discover none of my former office mates were going and they weren't serving lunch--just dessert, which I definitely don't need. So I came home, ate tunafish salad, and reread my mystery for the twenty-twelfth time. Funny thing about writing--sometimes when you write it you think it's awful, but there's that old, tried and true piece of advice--just get the words down on paper. So far I find the first five chapters hold up well. I quit and took a nap when I came to a place in Chapter Six where I need to insert a new incident to increase the tension. It is after all a mystery, and even though it's a cozy, it needs some sense of danger and suspense.

I finished the third Stieg Larsson book and find I need some light reading, after reading the trilogy in fairly rapid succession. It's intense. I have a Pat Conroy novel on my shelf, but I think I'm ready for something lighter right now, maybe that book on the joying of eating at home or the Jim Butcher novel Fred loaned me.