Hi friends! I apologize for skipping the Sugar Maple Weekly Update last week. Some weeks, I think that just might happen when I am truly busy and stressed. There have been a few things that have crept up on me since the last update that I am excited to tell you about so let’s dive into all the things.
Recipe book progress
If you have been following me for awhile then you probably know I am working on a recipe book that is due to be release this fall. My manuscript was due on Dec. 31 and about two weeks ago I received that back. I was on deadline for the revisions last week and have been going back and forth with my editor on a few things. I’m thrilled to say the manuscript is off to the copyeditor who will now scour the text for inconsistencies and changes. This process will last the next two weeks so I may be skipping next week’s update. Especially since…
Final photography deadline
My final photography deadline for the book is on Feb. 11. All this week I have been working on recipes I didn’t love the look of and re-shooting them. I four shot and I believe I have about four to go.
Next week, I am also shooting my own cover for the book. I didn’t realize this would be part of the assignment until late last fall. I thought they might take one of the images from inside and use that for the cover. Nope. There is a whole cover concept the design team from my publisher sent along that I will be creating. In order to do that, I am dying a fake table with coffee this week to serve as a background. I’m also finishing some bowls at the pottery studio to use and trying to get my camera gear in order to shoot something that feels fairly complex to me. I can’t really talk about exactly what the cover will look like, but trust me when I say it feels like a lot. It has been the main source of that stress I mentioned above. I just want it to be right and perfect. Plus, I really only get one shot at it.
Because of all of this with the book, I will be slow on blog updates the rest of this week and next. There are a million things I want to do and show and explain about, but I need to get this done first.
Speaking of pottery
If you follow me on instagram {HERE} then you might know that I have been working on becoming a potter in the last year and a half. Nothing formal. I started it just for fun, but I love it. It is almost meditative. We set up a small studio in my barn kitchen and I started going back to the community studio in Grand Rapids last week. My kiln is in the garage and we really cannot use it when the temperature falls below 40. However, it is also not that large so if I want to make anything larger like a serving bowl for the cover of my book, Ii need to go to the community studio downtown. Honestly, it is good for me because if I don’t go, I don’t tend to leave the house much.
Once the book is done, I am hoping to make some of my pottery available to sell here on the website. I love making tableware (serving items) and garden items (birdhouse, toad holes) the best so those will be some of the items I make available later this spring.
Naomi Update
During my last Sugar Maple Weekly Update I mentioned that out donkey Naomi was acting off and seemed to be shaking. Well, right after I hit publish on that post I looked at her on our camera and noticed she was limping. She wasn’t wanting to put any pressure on her front left leg. Any injury to an equine leg is always scary because a simple injury there can turn into so much more. We had an emergency vet visit that night and she had essentially sprained a tendon in her leg just above her foot. She was on stall rest and medication for a week. We’ve started to thaw out here last week so I finally let her back out and she seems like she is doing great. (Naomi is the brown one below. Luna is the white and grey one and they are best friends.)
Books I am reading
Since the last few weeks have just felt like a lot, I haven’t had as much time to read. I did finish the Angels of Elysium series. I enjoyed the series but not as much as I enjoyed the House of Beating Wings. It was good and different, but not something I would necessarily read again.
In the last few weeks a few of my other blogger friends have also come out with their own books.
Beautiful and Easy Case Flower Garden
First, my friend Stacy Ling is out with The Bricks ‘n Blooms Guide to a Beautiful and Easy Care Flower Garden. You can find it {HERE}. I have started flipping through this and it is packed with great information about garden design and gardening tips. It also includes graphs and charts, which I LOVE. Seriously, I believe all garden books should come with these things and sometimes I find that they include a lot of over flowery language without giving me the true how-tos. Stacy’s book seems to really be the thing that I need to help me plan to make our home landscaping beautiful, which is this spring’s focus.
Supper with Love
Next, my friend and blogger Michelle Braxton came out with a cookbook called Supper with Love {HERE}. Since I have also been working on a book this year Michelle and I have been chatting through the processes. She is working with a different publisher and has been working on her book for a year. This fall she flew to California with a few food stylists to photograph it so the photography is simply amazing. It is beautiful and perfect and every recipe looks like sunshine. I truly love Michelle’s style of cooking and how she coveys her love through food since I also tend to do that.
Kid things…
Keira had her first competition and has now has a second one too! She and her whole team did amazing. I snagged this photo of her before they went to compete. When they finished, I started crying when they finished. I guess I’m going to be that mom. I was just so dang proud of her and the other girls. She has come so far this year and so, so far in the last six months since she decided she wanted to do this.
Sugar Maple Weekly Updates – Weekly posts
In cased you missed it, here are the blog posts that I have put up since the last weekly update.
- Chicken Noodle Stew Recipe {HERE}
- DIY Dried Flower Fire Starters {HERE}
- Easy Three Bean Chili Recipe {HERE}
- Raspberry Cheesecake Blondies {HERE}
- Green Olive Pasta {HERE}
- Jalapeno Popper Dip {HERE}
ANY QUESTIONS?
That’s it for this week! Let me know if you have any questions below or if there is anything you would like to know about in next week’s Sugar Maple Weekly Updates. Have a lovely week, friends.
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