Bonsai Monk, Tomato Models, and Three Chickens and a Goat

I am writing this on Saturday morning (instead of my usual Sunday) because I am on my way to 24 hours of silence at a monastery about an hour away.  I am going there to do yet another edit of my manuscript, Food for My Daughters, which is still on target to be released August 15.  I've gone there before to work on a different book project (about a year I spent knocking things off my Life List, called Tribbles, Twain and Too Many Bodies in the Bucket: see Chapter 7: Wholly Ordered to Contemplation), and so I know pretty much what to expect:

* I know that 24 hours of silence is very hard, but sort of a relief once I get into it;

* I know that the fact that Bonsai Monk dot com is headquartered there is horribly appealing to me, and the desire to hang out with the bonsai masters will be a large distraction;

* And I know that the new green burial grounds will be calling to me to tour them the entire time I'm there.  

Perhaps I'll take work breaks for these two pursuits.  I know for sure that I'll be up and out for the 4 AM chanting--finally, people on my early-morning schedule!  Trappist monks!  Oh, and did I mention my teen is coming with me? She has her own project on which she is working, and it'll be nice to have the (silent) company.

There is a flurry of activity going on regarding the production of my book, by the way, and I am loving every minute of it.  First of all, as I shared once before (read that and you'll understand more fully why I am so happy my teen is coming with me), I hired Amazon's CreateSpace to publish the book.  I also hired their design team to take my cover to the next level (and make sure it prints correctly and has the right ISBN information in the right place!) and to design the interior.  I worked for years in corporate marketing communications (see here) and used to direct designers every day.  I hadn't realized how much I missed it, and I have found CreateSpace to be extremely professional and responsive.  

As for how "successful" this book has a chance of being when it is published this way, I guess that has to do with what my goal is.  It has become even more clear to me over the last couple months that, first and foremost, Food for My Daughters is for my daughters.  It is, frankly, the most important piece of work of my life.  It is my legacy.  Good, bad, indifferent, it's what I have to offer.  If you also find value in it (and I do think you will), that is really a terrifically touching boat of gravy to me. 

So the pieces of this are coming together, including: 

* A funny tomato photo shoot (including spritzing water on the tomatoes like a moron) followed by my younger daughter eating all the tomatoes when I wasn't around ("You ate my models?!!!" I said, incredulously);

* My-self-portrait for my bio picture (which involved no less than 67 takes, and a very strained arm). Here is the lettuce-coming-out-of-my-ears photo, the crouch-and-smirk photo, the hey-let's-put-the-models-in-a-bowl photo, and the one I chose to use, in which the garlic that I reached down and picked right before shooting ends up ultimately getting cropped out (and I always laugh when cropping photos because they are usually photos of crops--no one in my house finds that funny but me);

* The cover art (which is undergoing one more round of revisions);

* And a 350-page document to which I've been referring as "the monster," which is currently being reviewed by a few of my friends and family members (and which is what I'll be reading at the monastery).  

I am enjoying this process so much that I have a new book in mind already.  In fact, I've already written a little intro copy for it on a dedicated blog (of course).  It's called Three Chickens and a Goat: what one mom did to feed her family legal, local eggs and fresh, homemade cheese (and what you can do, too) *warning: it means speaking out at City Hall, straining your marriage, and splitting your neighborhood 

I think I need to get to the monastery, and fast.

Bonsai Monk, Tomato Models, and Three Chickens and a Goat