It's Never Done Is It?

I'm beginning to think that a book is never truly done. As evidenced by my current re-working of a cookbook. I had it all self-pubbed, thought it was all wrapped up until I looked at the paperback copy one more time and realized there was a mistake - a big one - with the table of contents.

I hadn't caught it in previous reviews, why I have no idea. I know what I meant for it to have and for some reason read it that way. Lucky, only a few of these got out into the general public.

Here's the good news: I figured out the formatting on my own and due to the kindness of one of my photographers, I'll be getting another section picture to add to the book.

Still reformatting and repaging the file, which takes time. But I'm on vacation...so far I've been cleaning the house in between working on this book. I want it done, like now, because I really, really want to get back to the Jess Barker series. New ideas have popped up over the past few days, all to be fed into the second thru fifth books in the series.

I really need to win a lotto so I can retire from my full time gig and just get to play with my characters and books.

How do you know when it's done?

That's a question I hear a lot when teaching people to bake for the first time. Lately I've been asking myself that question.  Every time I think I have the absolute last recipe for my cookbook, I get stressed out by yet one more thing and end up coming up with some new recipe that I just "have" to included.

My alpha tester all along has been my husband. He's honest when something isn't working and doesn't oversell a recipe that is tasty but not truly outstanding. My beta testers are the crew at a local diner (Red Geranium) and they've been awesome as well.

I've got beta testers to proof out the recipes all lined up and I'm planning on getting them the recipes before the end of the month. I've refined my oldest  recipes, making sure I have the steps and methods outlined correctly. Section titles have been determine, a book title has been selected, and formatting has begun.


So, how do you know when your book is really done? I'm not sure. I'm still new to this self-publishing business. My best guess is to set an absolute, drop dead date for getting the book formatted and ready to be proofed by an editor. Or perhaps it's the fact that I just had another cover shoot for the book - which involves a flurry of baking for models. Either way, I need to wrap up this book soon. Which means I need to quite baking for awhile and find another form of stress relief.

Cancer just sucks!

Cancer is eating up too much of my life of late. I'm fortunate, I'm not the one who's sick, but my sister and a very dear friend are both battling different forms of the disease. My mother already fought and won her battle with it and remains clear to this day. Another dear friend's daughter has done the same and is back to being a sweet, funny, smart vibrant girl.

My dear hubby shaves his head every few days, and sports a pink ribbon tattoo in support of our dear friend battling breast cancer. I'm trying to squeeze time in to sew (working around a big project at work) and throw together some comfy, lightweight pants for my sister who is battling pancreatic cancer and needs "adjustable" pants as the tumor progresses. I'm also putting togethre pink ribbon tote bags to sell via Etsy, with profits going to cancer reseearch.

Chemo makes both my sister and my dear friend crazy. It's not just the nausea, but it's what it does to their heads, both in mood and in the capability to think clearly. While my sister has made the brave decision to stop chemo for her own sanity and quality of life, my friend continues on in her attempt to beat the cancer which is slowly trying to take away her life. She battles it bravely, dealing with the nausea and chemo-brain issues. She is forutnate, her employer is extremely supportive of her, sending gifts, continuing coverage, and being active in every fund raiser.

Even my writing is taking a back burner, except for the rare occasion when my characters bug me to write. Publishing is taking a back seat to life, finding an agent is taking a back seat to life, but my cookbook continues to move slowly forward. After all, this book isn't about trying to get "known" but simply putting together something for my family and friends who've requested my recipes multiple times.

I haven't been blogging lately due to all the demands. Doing the math tells me it's been almost six (6!!!) months since blogging here. How does one find more time in the day without giving up sleep?