Cookbook Giveaway - You Can Be A Winner!

Well even though I was a total loser yesterday for messing up my own recipe, you can have the chance to feel like a winner!  And nothing makes me feel better than offering a gift to someone else. 

That's right!  I'm giving away ONE FREE COPY of my cookbook since I just received a few extra copies in the mail yesterday. 

Look below, I even have my first celebrity endorsement for it - Alvin the Chipmunk and Brittany the Chipette! 






Below are the rules on how you can enter to win.
(Note: Even if you've already purchased my cookbook or if you're a friend of mine and I gave you a copy, you're still eligible to enter and win.  You could always give it away as a Christmas gift!)

To enter: 1. *Mandatory Entry* You must leave a comment on this blog post with your name and tell me why you want the cookbook.  And you must either leave me your email address in the comment so I can contact you if you win or send me your contact information directly at this address - learn.laugh.cook@gmail.com

2. *Bonus Entry* Become a public follower of this blog through Google Friend Connect and leave me a separate comment to let me know that you now follow. Current followers are eligible as well, just leave me a comment reminding me that you are already a follower.

3. *Bonus Entry* Blog about this contest and my cookbook. Make sure that you let me know what you did and send me a link to it in a separate comment below.  Be sure you share the link where patrons can purchase my book if they like - http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/learn-laugh-cook/13629562

4. *Bonus Entry* Spread the word via Facebook about this contest and my cookbook.  Put it as your status for 24 hours talking about how funny and clever and wonderful my cookbook is!  Make sure that you let me know what you did and send me a link to it in a separate comment below.  Be sure you share the link where patrons can purchase my book if they like - http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/learn-laugh-cook/13629562

5. *Bonus Entry* Become a fan of Learn, Laugh, Cook on Facebook.  Here is the link - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Learn-Laugh-Cook/153687728009223.  All you have to do is "like" us. Then leave a comment below that you're now keeping up with us there now too. 

6. *Bonus Entry* Spread the word via Twitter about this contest and my cookbook. Make sure that you let me know what you did in a separate comment below.  Be sure you share the link where patrons can purchase my book if they like - http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/learn-laugh-cook/13629562

7. *Bonus Entry* Email your friends and family about this contest and my cookbook.  Copy my email address in your mass mailout - learn.laugh.cook@gmail.com.  Make sure that you let me know what you did in a separate comment below.  Be sure you share the link where patrons can purchase my book if they like - http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/learn-laugh-cook/13629562

There you have it!  You can increase your chances to win by doing any or all of the above seven methods.  But you MUST at the very least leave a comment here on this blog! 


Other Rules:  This contest is open to US and Canadian residents only, and runs until December 6, 2010 at midnight.  I will use a random number generator to select the cookbook recipient.  The winner will be notified by e-mail and will have 24 hours to respond (so be sure you either leave your email address in the comment or send me a separate email to learn.laugh.cook@gmail.com so I can tell you if you're the lucky winner).

Good luck!


And if you don't win this contest, don't worry!  Other chances to win a cookbook are coming up soon!  I have three colleagues who have told me that they will be doing giveaways of the cookbook as well.  I'll forward news on that once those contests are up and running! 

Have a great weekend everyone!  I'll be back Sunday night with my meal plan for next week.

Purchase My Cookbook!

It's arrived!  The cookbook is here! 


Purchase Your Copy Here!


Today is definitely one of the top fives days of my entire life - up there with my wedding day and the birth of my daughter! 

I wrote a book from start to finish.  I completed a goal, a lifelong dream of mine! 

It feels really great!  I'm hoping to go out and celebrate with my family tonight!

If you purchase a copy, please let me know!  I'd like to send you a personal thank you note along with a few bonus recipes and poems I wrote!  Send me an email at learn.laugh.cook@gmail.com to let me know about the purchase. 

Also, please become a fan of "Learn, Laugh, Cook" on facebook where I will lead discussions on cooking and share great recipes, my culinary disasters and other findings that are newsworthy! 

Thanks!  Let's toast to a successful book and to one girl reaching her dreams!  :-) 

The Story Behind My Cover Photo

I've been receiving a lot of compliments on the cover photo used on my book.  Of course, the praise is coming from people who know me and like me so they are a little biased.  Still I thought I'd share the truth behind my "close-up".  So you can see that I'm just an ordinary person on a mission.





Here's the truth - I took the above photo of myself all by myself.  I used a ten-second timer on my digital Cannon camera and would literally run into place and hold up that bowl and whisk in what I believed was the "center" of the lens. 

My husband wasn't around.  I didn't even have a friend over to assist me.  It was just me with Vivian or my dog occasionally trying to jump into the shot while I shoved them away.

To achieve that picture you'll see on the cover, I had to stack my camera on top of a wine rack and several of my cookbooks (I used the Five Dollar Dinner Mom and The Crockpot Lady's books for inspiration).  I stood in front of the only clean and bare wall in my entire house.  This was after failed attempts at taking "action" shots in my kitchen which contains too much clutter and not enough lighting for a decent photo.

At first to warm up to the silliness of taking an actual cover photo, I put on a viking hat and posed in goofy manners.  I even sent those pictures to a few friends who all promptly told me, "Don't use that for your cover!"   You gotta love their honesty! 

So you see, there is no glamourous nature behind my cover.  Just me and my own camera and my own determination that I could somehow manage to do it myself.  And I did. 

When I look at the photo, I cringe a bit.  Although it's engaging and fun, I see my roots, my gray hairs coming in, my wrinkles, how one eye is squinting more than the other and all the other imperfections on my face and body. 

But hey, that's me.  I have to embrace who I am.  I'm just your average person.  And I'm telling my stories and sharing my recipes.  I want them to be as "real" as possible.  So I also wanted my cover to be the "real" me too.  I achieved that.  Even though I don't look like a pin-up model, I'm happy overall with the end results.

There you have it folks.  The real story behind my simple cover photo.

However, I think the real credit should go to my friend Carrie who took my original cover design that looked like this (simple, plain and BOR-ING!):




But she turned it into this:




The vibrant colors and final "airbrush" touches are thanks to her.  Carrie, thank you for making little 'ol me look even better!  You're the best.  I hope my readers will like it too!  

And also a big thank you and shout-out to my very good friend Jen who personally hand-stitched that apron just for me!  She worked quickly to design the apron just for me so I could wear it and place it on my cover!  I love my apron.  Thanks Jen for making it for me!  I love it! 


Do you wear aprons in the kitchen?  Do you have aspirations of writing a cookbook or any kind of book?

Determined To Do It Myself

From the start of this cookbook, I have wanted to do everything myself.  I spent hours looking up sites that will design your book for you.  I could have had a team of consultants working with me to give me "expert" writing advice (at a price, of course).  But I didn't take on anyone's words of wisdom or consulting fees. 

I wanted full control of every word, every text box and every image inside my book.  When it came down to it, I said: "I can do this myself.  That's the only way it's going to come out the way I want it to be." 

So I did.  I painfully sat at my computer for hours and hours typing up every single recipe, inserting every page number, taking all of the photos included in the book, not to mention cropping and resizing them too.  I wrote my own dedication, my own copyright page, the acknowledgment page, the introduction, the closing and everything you see in between.  I even created my own index.  I spent three days jotting down all the main ingredients and compiling them into an "encyclopedia" for my cookbook.   I wanted the power to do it all.  (Raises fist in air in only a way that Lady Gaga would approve!)

 

I even took the cover photo myself.  I will share the funny story and truth behind that photo in an upcoming blog post, by the way.   I'm not a good photographer but I had my mind set to take my own picture anyway.  Every "cook's note" and "tip" that you'll see in the book is mine.  The way everything is aligned or distored is my handiwork.  Good or bad, professional or amateur-looking, the book contents are all of my doing.

I was obsessed over doing it completely on my terms.  And that's what I did.  I had friends help me proofread it but I only used the people who offered to help me.  I didn't want to bother anyone with my work, my vision and my dream.  (Can you say stubborn? I know I am!)

Now that the end is near and the process is almost over, I'm not sure it was the wisest decision.  But it has been the most humbling and rewarding.  I have a whole new appreciation for authors, agents (even though I don't have one) and frankly anyone who's ever been involved in the aspect of writing, editing, designing and publishing a book.  It takes a huge amount of time, effort and dedication to make it all come together.  Then you put it out there for the world (even though my world is a small one) to see. 

It's an incedible feeling.  Much like a new mother birthing a baby.  I'm about to give birth to my first book.  Let's see how it turns out.  I think she's going to be a fighter!

Coming Soon: My Cookbook!

I put the final touches on my cookbook manuscript today.  After renumbering pages, adjusting the margins,  embedding the fonts and graphics and uploading the entire PDF document for the twelfth time, I think I'm done.  I hope that I'm done. 

After several headaches and loud groans this morning, I nearly wanted to give up.  Yet I realize that most of the "technical difficulties" I was encountering are all my fault.  I didn't read the fine print about formatting. 

Do yourself a favor if you ever self-publish: read all the rules carefully beforehand!!!  Then read them again!  You'll save yourself the time and hassle of having to insert new pages and renumber your entire ten-page index that took you three days to create like I did. 

I have spent four to five hours nearly every day for the past month making these finishing edits, rewrites and notes.  As of now, I don't think I can make it any better than what it is. 

The next step is waiting for my wonderful friend Carrie to finish the cover design for me.  She is sprucing up my photo and adding in some vibrant colors to really grab attention.  After that, I make my manuscript into a "print ready file" and hit the "publish" button.  I'm going to order a copy for myself first and test the efficiency of the publisher's ordering and shipping process.  If I don't like it, I will find another site and distributor.

I've been so completely consumed by this book and writing it for over the past month (although the work behind it took a year to compile -- i.e., the recipes, stories, etc).  What will I do when it's all over with?  What will I obsess over then?

Soon will come the waiting.... that may be the hardest part just like Tom Petty says.  But the end is near.  The glorious light is at the end of the tunnel.

I've done it.  I've actually written a book and am going to publish it.  Even though it's a self-publish, I did it.  I've achieved a lifelong dream of mine.  I am overjoyed and thrilled!  The best is yet to come!  And it's coming soon.  Stay tuned....