[chrose]

David welcome to Cheftalk, it is an honor to have you here, we do appreciate it! I read your bio that was posted, you have quite a history going and I would love to hear anything you have to offer about the field of writing. I, like so many others am somewhat of a wannabe writer and anything you have to say about beginning to write ie: suggested classes, practice etc. would be read and studied quite closely. But I do understand that you would want to talk about your latest book, so I will be the first to profess my ignorance of it and offer my apologies for that ignorance, but can you tell us a bit about what you would like us to know about the book?
Thanks

[David Joachim]

Dear Chrose,
One of the best ways to limber up for writing is to free-write.

Just pick a topic, then jot down whatever comes to mind. Don't edit yourself. Don't hesitate. Don't even think. Just let your mind work--almost unconsiously, where some of the best thinking is done--and let your hands jot down what comes into your mind. Some writers perform this exercise by writing the typical paragraphs. But it's faster to write in bubbles.

Jot down an idea in the center of a piece of paper and circle it. As soon as another thought occurs, draw a line out to it from the center bubble and jot down that idea. Circle it and jot down the next idea. Just keep jotting and circling until the page is full, at which point you should be far off the center point.

Read what you've written and try to determine what the threads between the ideas are. At that point, you should find some related ideas that can be strung together to form a few coherent paragraphs--about one idea per paragraph.

Once you do this free-writing exercise, it's easier to write down your thoughts without hesitation because many more neural and linguistic pathways will have been forged and ready to plumb.

Discussion boards are also a great forum for writing.

About the book...The Food Substitutions Bible is my 27th cookbook and it represents the culmination of many late nights of research and long days of experimenting and testing for about 3 years. I tinkered with ingredients of every sort...tamarind paste, pomegranate molasses, Maggi Seasoning, odd produce like angled loofah, plus equipment like convection ovens, grills, slow cookers, steamers, and techniques like broiling, steaming...I could go on...essentially the book is an A-Z reference book that shares everything I could pack into 620 pages, including more than 5,000 substititutions, and 1,500 entries, each of which begins with a short intro on the ingredient or equipment, followed by useful conversion tables (1 lb apples = 3 cups sliced), then substitutes with precise measurements for accurate, reliable replacements. As I explain in the intro, not every substitute is meant to replicate the original. In fact, every substitute is different in some way from the original and will affect the final results, which is why I included directions for adjusting the recipe whenever possible.

I could go on about the book (or if anyone's interested, I could post an excerpt from the introduction), but I'm more interested in what's important to you all, such as Chrose's interest in developing the skill of writing.

Keep the questions coming,

[Nentony]

Sorry, I'll post again

[chrose]

Originally Posted by David Joachim

, but I'm more interested in what's important to you all, such as Chrose's interest in developing the skill of writing.

Keep the questions coming,

David, thanks for the extensive answer. I will try that exercise, perhaps you should do a book on writing "cooking" books (as opposed to "cook" books.)

One other thing I would like to ask as it pertains to the actual mechanics of writing itself. My typing is self taught so it's on the slow side, though I can get to a good clip if my mind is flowing. However after a few paragraphs my fingers get tongue tied and spastic and the typing slows to a ridiculous rate. I have a microphone headset and the Windows program has a voice recognition program. Since the words on the paper come from my head anyway, do you have any thoughts on using this sort of program as opposed to slow, plodding, typing?

[David Joachim]

The writing process has always been improved by technology (paper, pens, typewriters, keyboards, voice activation, etc.). I would choose whatever technology gets your thoughts into communicable form the quickest and most effectively.

As for your book suggestion, I've thought about writing a book about how to write cookbooks. How would a book on writing "cooking" books differ? Would it be a book on how to write about food rather than how to write recipes?

[chrose]

I would imagine things like how to approach technical aspects of cooking and research. I guess when you make me think about it, it would really be the same as teaching how to write about any given subject. So in that respect I guess what I was thinking would be a pretty generic type book. On the other hand a book about how to write a cookbook would be outstanding. I imagine you would make a lot of agents and editors both happy and mad. There would likely be some winners, and a ton of really, really bad queries. That would be a book right there! "The Do's and Dont's of Queries"!
So when you're ready I'll tell you my great idea for a book!

[David Joachim]

I'd be happy to hear your book idea. Feel free to contact me through my website if you prefer.