I’m so grateful for your support I want to give something back to readers who have given me so much. We’ve had such a wonderful time on this page.  We’ve shared stories of cookie exchanges, and the warm feeling that donating home-baked cookies provides.  We’ve shared cookie recipes, pictures from cookie exchanges and friends. We had a terrific cookie contest and I got to bake one of the winner’s recipes for my cookie party and all the winners’ recipes were published in the paperback of the Christmas Cookie Club.

Amazing things have happened as The Christmas Cookie Club made its way around the world and we heard from hospices and Australia, as well as the homeless in Chicago.  You’ve been almost as excited as me when you saw a new cover from Croatia, China, Brazil!  And moved when, because of the publicity from my book, one of my friends was reunited with her sister! It’s been great fun, and I’ve been so grateful for your support, and sharing your holiday experiences and recipes.  You have made the holiday season extra special and added to all the excitement of publishing my first novel.

But it hasn’t simply been about The Christmas Cookie Club. You celebrated with me when I finished that half triathalon last summer (Yep, I’m going to do it again this year!), joked about my being besieged by the deer and wild turkeys (saw a fox scamper across this year and the deer herd is now 9 and I swear there’s a male wild turkey who thinks he’s part of it!).

Now, I have another novel out, A Gift for My Sister, and it’s already getting great reviews: Poignant and hear-racing. Don’t worry, it has some of the same characters you loved in The Christmas Cookie Club, and yummy recipes!  I also have a new author page www.facebook.com/annpearlman . Now I want to give something to you, my readers and fans, who have been part of the celebration and fun! So I’m giving away an autographed copy of my new book. You can go to my new fan page and register and I hope you win.  See you there!

I still move around while I write, though it’s seasonal.  During most of the year, I write at my desktop, the spacious counter cluttered with handwritten ideas, books, a frame of revolving digital photos of my family, and a vertical file crammed with important pending items many of which are long over due, and a horizontal file with stamps, scale, catalogues, old stories. Behind me, books are piled two, sometimes three deep.

As soon as it gets warm, I move my laptop into my unheated screened porch. It juts out over the forest so oak and aspen trees surround it.   In fact, spring, summer and fall, I pretty much live in this one room.

On sunny mornings, the light slanting through the trees inspires an awe that quickens the writing. I stare at the birds; the wind waves the branches at me, my fingertips write down the images in my mind that play out on the leaves.

In Michigan winters, clouds hang a bleak grey that can be socked in for weeks.  This last winter, I escaped for a beach in California and wrote sitting by the sea.

Regardless of the place, my routine is always the same.  The sun wakes me. I grab espresso coffee, and sit before my computer.  I write at least five days a week. If I’m lucky, regardless of where I am, images and dialogue  are played out before me as though I’m taking dictation when in actuality it all occurs in my own mind.  But every morning, regardless of whether the words flow or drip like an annoying faucet, I work until noon.  Of course I take breaks for breakfast, to feed my cat, to move. And regardless of whether the words flow faster than I can type or like molasses, the day is meaningful because I tried.

This blog first appeared on My Shelf Confessions where  April said, “I’m particularly pleased to share her post with you because like me she’s from Michigan and I may just be a bit prejudiced but I think this is probably my favorite Where You Write that we’ve gotten yet! So enjoy and welcome Ann!” Thank you, April.

Somewhere during the revision process, my editor emailed me two covers.  Luckily, the one I preferred was also the one my editor, her assistants, and my agent favored. I suggested they pop the cover with orange print. Soon, it was in galleys, which is a pdf file of the text.  More line edits were done. Repetitive line edits assure perfection in terms of consistency, spelling, and grammar.  But line edits, and typos seem infinite.

Shortly before Christmas, I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy,  the book with a paper cover that the publisher sends out for reviews.  Meanwhile, line editors combed through the prose once again. I received a copy of the final cover the end of January. Nothing for several months. Somewhere my book was printed, headbands sewn on the signatures of text, and fly leafs glued to the cover, but I had no idea when these momentous events occurred. Then, I had a reading to do the next week, but no book.  I held my breath, watched my mailbox.  A reporter interviewed me who received the book, but had not brought it with him. I asked him if it looked good, and he assured me my unseen baby was beautiful. I contacted my editor who overnighted several copies.

It was breathtaking. Greater than the sum of its parts.   The shiny orange print against the almost suede cover was more beautiful than I imagined. Like with a newborn baby, I slowly peeled away the wrapping, (the receiving blanket,) to view the naked book, unveiling the luscious teal cover with a black spine. Juxtaposed against the matt black was the copper foil title, my name, and publisher.

I went to buy orange nail polish to wear to my first reading. And today, it’s out. Officially born.  I drove to the closest bookstore closest to see it displayed in window, next to its older sibling.

My book is born, and already out in the world, because this is the part that speeds up. With books, once you give birth, you can blog, you can do readings, and interviews.  But A Gift for My Sister is where it will be. It is out in the world for all the readers to enjoy. Hopefully well launched with wings to help it soar.

Read more on my website or Buy now!

One of the great joys of family life is cooking together and then devouring all the yummy food you’ve made.  Creating as a family, encouraging the input and imagination of your loved ones, and then sitting down to eat, imparts a festive atmosphere to any meal.  Yes, some of us have specialties of things we love to do.  My grandson loves cutting up strawberries!  My granddaughter thinks my fancy apron is right up there with princess dresses, stands on my little stool and stirs away. My daughter is the champion vegie roaster.

Perhaps it’s the sense of team that develops when the family joins together to produce for each other.  A team that enjoys a fun activity, and it’s delicious reward can carry over to less delicious activities: cleaning up, gardening, putting toys away, etc. Most of us have definite ideas of which items are tasty together.  I don’t agree with all of my family’s suggestions, but in the spirit of fun and encouragement, I’ll try almost anything.

A few months ago, I did a poll on Facebook asking whether my fans preferred to follow recipes or improvise. The great majority preferred a combination of both.  Unless there’s a question of chemistry (making preserves, bread, cookies, etc.) when I follow the proportions of the ingredients, I always experiment. Each dish is a one time event.

This recipe from A Gift for My Sister commemorates real life: making a stew for a brownie potluck with my daughter.

It really was the best stew EVER!!  Hope you have fun making a variation of this with your family.

 Marnie, Sky, and Tara’s Girl Scout Stew

Tara joined the Brownies when she was in second grade and they had a final potluck dinner at the end of the first year.  She generously signed Marnie up to bring a main course, not thinking that Marnie needed to be consulted. Tara came home thrilled that they were going to make the entree.

“Do I have to come?” Sky rolled her eyes.

Tara glanced at her shoes and then watched Marnie’s face.

“No, you don’t have to.  But that’ll be our dinner tomorrow night and we all can make the stew tonight.  It’ll be better the second day.”

So Marnie seasoned three pounds of stew chunks with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Sky cut up 3 big onions in chunks.  Marnie browned three gloves of garlic in a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and added the meat, browning the cubes on all sides.  When brown, she put the chunks in the largest casserole dish she had.

She turned the oven to 300.

Then, she added the onions to brown.  She gave Tara a colander and told her to put a pound of mushrooms in it and wash them well. The onions were browned so they went into the casserole, while Tara watched the mushrooms sautee.

Marnie put in a packet of beef onion soup mix, parsley, and a bay leaf in the casserole. Then the mushrooms. She added some water (if this wasn’t for kids, she would have added wine) and scrapped the brown bits of meat, onions, mushrooms from the bottom of the pan.  That went into the casserole, too.

“Okay, what else for our stew?”

“Ketchup!” Tara loved it and squeezed some in.

“Yeah!” Sky said. “And mustard.”

“Fine.”

Sky put in a heaping tablespoon.

This is going to be some stew, Marnie thought.  She had never done that before.

“How ‘bout some molasses?” Sky suggested.

Marnie poured a bit of that in, stirred it all up, added some water.  And then got a spoon to see how they thought it tasted.

“More ketchup.”

Marnie put in more ketchup.

“Carrots,” Sky said. “And potatoes.”

So they took three large carrots, scrapped them, cut them in chunks and threw them in, too.
“We’ll put the potatoes later.”

“How ‘bout some honey and soy sauce?” Tara asked and that went in, too.

They put it in the oven and let it bake for an hour and then added small red skinned potatoes and let it bake for another hour.  That night, after the kids were asleep, Marnie tasted it and thought it was the best stew she ever made.  Partly because it was so much fun for each of them to add whatever they thought would taste yummy. But mostly because their ideas made a wonderful blend.  There’s no exact way to make a stew.

The Brownies and their families loved it, too.

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Last Updated: August 24, 2009

Sisters

I was not raised with a sister, but my father had five and my mother had three.  These aunts, along with my mother’s lifelong best friend who married my father’s only brother, imparted flocks of family love and closeness. The sisters cooking together, raising children together, playing scrabble and bridge together, talking about ideas together, that joyous family stew of shared passion, history and love is what I remember as a child. As I grew older, I became conscious of the shadows of competition, triangles, and resentments that also played between sisters.

But as a child, it seemed only joy and fun with all my cousins gathering to play as we grew.  Maybe it was especially precious to me because we moved away for five years and then returned to the welcoming, loving fold which I had not realized I missed.

I wanted a bigger family. I wanted a sister.  Now, I have a perfectly fine and wonderful brother whom I love dearly, and share many interests and fun.  In fact, he called me yesterday to tell me of a book he just finished that I absolutely had to read! But I wanted a bigger family.  More people to love.  A sister seemed like a good start, and after all I didn’t have one.

Alas it was not to be.  Instead, my cousin, the daughter of my uncle and my mom’s best friend, became my best friend.  Through the years, other girlfriends have held the place in my heart  for sister.  All this may be why I’ve written one novel about girlfriends, and another about two apparently different sisters.

I can’t tell you how much fun it was to write A Gift For My Sister and feel the pleasures and pitfalls of sisterhood vicariously through Tara and Sky. Because I wrote in both of their voices, it was like having two sisters!  I also have the pleasure of witnessing the love and friendship my two daughters have for each other. A miracle resulted from the publicity fromThe Christmas Cookie Club; one of my dear friends found her sister!  

All these thoughts swirled as A Gift For My Sister is coming to term. Too often we take our family and friends for granted.  Rituals of recognition, appreciation, and gratitude can firm bonds and seal frayed edges. I thought of having #Sisterday Fridays.  Each Friday, I’ll suggest a different way to appreciate your sister. You get to define sister, if, like me you don’t have one. Thank you for joining.  And thank you for telling me about your sister!

I promise we’ll have scads of fun on the new page. I have lots of exciting and delicious plans. So please like my new author page.  Then I will be able to send a few of you copies of the new book!

See you there.