Another Project

By Keith N Fisher

I wrote a scene this morning for my Star Crossed book. It’s one of the many stories I’ve been working on. I believe I’ve mentioned my project file before and how full it is. In it, there are ideas and drafts for more books than I can write in my lifetime.

I’ve kept one of those projects on the back burner for a while now, but I’m bringing it forward because a good friend recommended I write a cookbook.

As a former world champion Dutch oven cook, and backyard party enthusiast, I always intended to produce a book with my recipes and advice. As one of the writers for Your LDS Neighborhood .com I blogged about the subject for more than a year. I still contribute to the blog, but with the upheavals in life, I’ve neglected it for a while.

As I said, I always intended to do a cookbook, but my fiction always took precedence. Now, I’m returning and I’m getting new ideas for recipes.

For the last day of school yesterday, my wife and I, cooked lunch for the faculty and staff of an elementary school. We made Dutch oven chicken enchiladas, sourdough bread, three kinds of cobblers, and a pineapple cake. They provided salad and the drinks. This traditional event has become second nature for us. We can be counted on to be in the same place, on the same day, every year.

During a quiet moment, between checking the pots, we reflected on some of the food we’ve cooked over the years for that event. I began to recall dishes I’ve created along the way. Many of which, I never wrote down. I invented a pile of recipes for Dutch oven cook offs that I never put on paper, and I created dinner from anything that happened to be available in the cupboard. In all my recollections I realized my cookbook will be full of crazy ideas that turned into great meals.

It’s been like that since I brought this project forward. Ideas hit me like solutions to plots in my fiction. I write it down and go back to what I was doing. Also, other things have been falling into place. My critique group loves the idea of me bringing a dish to taste for my weekly chapter, but we came up with a promotional idea that will knock your socks off. Not only will it help my cookbook but we will be launching and signing their fiction as well. I’ll give you more info later, but keep August 13 open.

Now with all this talk about cookbooks and recipes, you might be wondering about my fiction. Not to worry, The Hillside has been submitted and I’m waiting to hear back on it. The sequel is finished and edits are just beginning. Star Crossed is half written and I’m plodding along, developing ways of getting to the ending I’ve already written. I also have three other, hot stories on the front burners, waiting patiently for me to get back to them. Not to mention the rejected stories, I need to re-write.

I’m a busy writer and I work nights. Still, I love it when a new character wakes me up to tell me their story. I write it down along with the emotion that came with it, file it away, and pray God will let me live another fifty years so I can write the story.

Good luck with your writing—see you next week.