My mother-in-law, Cora, turned 89 this week! She’s always been an excellent cook and has a drawer full of hand-written recipes that are tried and true family favorites. But, if anyone else should ever want to make those recipes, they might have difficulties. As it tends to happen with hand-written recipes, there are many that are unclear and abbreviated in a code known only to the writer. Some cards just have a list of ingredients with no instructions!
In honor of Cora’s birthday, I illustrated a book of 22 of her best-loved recipes.
The most difficult part of the process was deciphering the recipes! They were all written in Cora’s “code” – and I had the added disadvantage that I’m not much of a cook! Luckily, I could ask Cora and her two daughters for help. And I had to ask lots of questions! It gave us a good opportunity to talk and laugh and reminisce about the times they’ve gathered to make those recipes. I heard many interesting stories and learned many new things during our discussions.
My favorite part of the whole project was drawing the illustrations. I loved having a personal project to work on. Drawing the illustrations for each recipe was like solving a puzzle. It kept me busy and happy during the whole month of February.
It was really exciting to send the completed files off to Amazon’s self-publishing service and even more exciting to receive the printed softcover book in the mail. It was also quite exciting to see my book available for sale on Amazon’s website!
So, I’ve achieved the self-publication of my first book! I’m really pleased with how it turned out – but the best part was the look of joy and amazement on Cora’s face when she received it. Of course, it’s not going to be a best-seller, but it will always hold a special place in my heart as my first book, the project I accomplished, and the start of something I want to do more of.
