Or Maybe Not . . .

Got so excited at my progress on the new book that I thought maybe I'd get back to normal with the blog. But --- maybe not. Because I've not started writing the next chapter yet, and my mental benchmark was "Starting writing the next chapter and then you're allowed back at the blog."

But here's something unrelated to that: the kitchen is really, truly finally finished. We moved back into it last Friday. Want to see the final product? Photos at Shutterfly. The first "album"--- "Before and After" ---  is the quick-and-easy tour of before and after. (The rest of the albums there are more detailed and I posted those so the family could follow along.)

So. Back to work. Be back soon.

A Possible Return to Normalcy?

Maybe. Maybe not. But hey! I'm feeling like I'm over the Major Hump of the new book.

Or, okay, that at least I've got a serious and firm grip on the rest of its content. Still tons of work to be done, but I've made major progress since January.

And I'd like to get this blog back to normal after my research/writing hiatus: There's lots going on in the meat world. Indeed, it seems that every day I read about yet another controversy about this, that, and the other in the world of meat. I'd love to be commenting on it (and, yes, I am patting self on back for restraining myself these past three months and keeping my face buried in my work instead of shooting my mouth off about other stuff).

We shall see. In any case, I survived the winter, I survived our remodeling project (which officially ends tomorrow) (*1), and I survived that ugly bleak mid-point that every writer must crawl through when writing a book. Ugh.

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*1: Well, the remodeling is sort of officially over: the people who are going to put a couple of top coats on the new floor can't do so until next Friday (the 30th) and then, sigh, the floor has to sit and "cure" for another week. So here I am, staring at my amazing new kitchen --- and I can't use it yet! Oh, the agony.

What's Goin' On?; or My Plan For 2010 ("Sticky" Post)

Note:  I originally wrote this post in late January by way of explaining why I've (intentionally) slowed my otherwise fanatical pace of blogging. I've decided to keep it up front as a "sticky" post. Other recent posts are below (as are about a bajillion older posts.)

The  Gaye/Cleveland/Benson song has been  running through my head lately. Apparently it's the soundtrack to my goal, such as it is, for 2010.

Which is: I'm hell-bent on finishing the book this year. I'm only half-way through the research and writing, and right now I'm feeling a bit hamster-wheelish, but  . . . (No, the song doesn't have much to do with my goal or my work, but a soundtrack is good, right?)

I know, I know: You're wondering: "What the HELL has she been doing? Why isn't she finished?" Rightly so. I've been working on this book since early 2007 --- minus the 18 months I lost to trying to regain the use of my right arm. (Jesus. When I look at it that way, I feel like I'm working at the speed of light.)

But as I've noted before, I do all my own research and writing and I have a "life" beyond my work --- and so it takes me a long time to write a book.

So, determined to finish the book this year, I've got to stay as focused as possible. (I had lunch with two friends yesterday and felt guilty about not being at home working. Sigh.)

I'm also giving myself a crash course in the politics of contemporary food: I'm a historian, so I can tell you what happened a century ago, but I'm not clear where we Americans are now.  And I've gotta figure that out so I can speak coherently to meat, both past and present. (Which I did this week when I talked to two reporters about meat in modern America.)

So on any given day, I'm engaged in two projects that consume most of my brain power. Which means: something's gotta give, and what's "giving" is my blogging time. Which means the blog is more-or-less on hiatus until (I hope) April. I'm still here, but . . . I'm not, if you know what I mean. (*1)

I'm using Twitter to keep myself connected to the larger world (especially the politics of food as we know it in the U.S.) So: I'll be in and out of the blog and more regularly at Twitter (hey! whaddya waiting for? get a Twitter account!). (*2)

Should you miss me (I wish), there's plenty here to keep you occupied. (Click the "other projects" link at the top of the page.) (Yes, since you ask, I am a wordy, ruminative soul.)

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*1: If I weren't such a wordy, long-winded woman, I'dve done what most people in my situation do: Just post a single blog entry announcing that I'm on hiatus for five months. But --- something interesting might come along! And I'd feel compelled to provide my two cents worth! And then where would I be?

*2: I remember when I first heard about Twitter that many pundit types asserted that Twitter meant the end of blogging. I can see why they thought that: god knows Twitter is MUCH faster/easier than actually writing a series of sentences and paragraphs. Instant gratification in a way that blogging is not. Still, I love the blogging format and the intellectual rewards it provides. But I'm not kidding myself that I've got time to write the new book AND blog 5 or 6 times a week.

Yet Another Rant About Bad History

Oh, good grief. Check out this statement in a piece about grass-fed beef in today's New York Times:

Today all cattle are typically raised on grass in the early months of their lives. But in the 1950s, cattle raisers hoping to cut costs and improve efficiency of beef production began to ship the animals to feed lots, where they could be fattened more quickly on inexpensive and high-calorie grains.

Sort of true. Kind of. IF we change "1950s" to, oh, I dunno, 1820s? 1780s? How about 1720s? (The use of "feed lots" dates at least to the 1840s, if not earlier. Feeding corn for fattening, however, goes back at least a century earlier.) And, more to the point, if we delete the word "Today" and instead note that Americans have "started" beef on grass since, oh, the 1820s. (The first great utilization of the prairies and plains was grazing cattle on its grasses.) In fact, as these two sentences read they a) don't make much sense (since we don't know at what point the "cattle raisers" allegedly began shipping the animals to feed lots; and b) is riddled with inaccuracies. Flip snarkiness aside, a minimum acquaintance with facts would have been useful, especially since the piece is about a  fundamental --- and contentious --- subject: food. As a result, what we got with this bit is yet another hunk of misinformation with which to cloud the debate about food. Just sayin'.

The Great Remodel of 2010

I should probably mention that the other Big Distraction in my life at the moment (as if writing a book weren't enough) is the remodeling project that has engulfed much of our house.

We began planning this project in April 2009 and in January 2010, the work finally began.

Yesterday the guy doing most of the work (emphasis on "most of" and "work") asked if I'd posted photos in a public forum. I had put them on Facebook, but that's easily accessible to people who aren't on FB, so I created a site at Shutterfly and posted the photos there, too.

So if you're interested, you can see them here.

The work is being done by the amazing people at Silent Rivers Design/Build. You can find out  more about them here. I can't say enough good things about this outfit. Because of everyone there, especially Tyson Leyendecker, the architect, and Christian Anderson, the carpenter, the project has been stress free. Indeed, it's been fun. I almost (but not quite) hate to see it winding to a close. (It'll take another month.)

Ridin' Dirty to Bite-Size Edits

Okay, bad title. But wanted to surface for a moment to say hello to those stopping by either because of the Ridin' Dirty interview or the Bite-Size Edits launch (for that, see here or here). (*1) (The Bite-Size thing, by the way, is, um, addictive, as I discovered when I gave it a whirl. Just what we all need, right? Another internet addiction!)

As I noted in my "hiatus" post, ordinarily I blog at a maniac pace, but I'm currently taking a blog-break so I can finish writing my new book. (Because, yes, I finally realize that I'm not Super Woman. Which is okay because her costume is definitely not to my taste.) But as I also noted in the hiatus post, there's a whole lotta reading material here.

If, for example, you're hunting for more of my opinionated opinions on the subject of drinking, click on "Rational Drinking" in the categories on the left, or click on the "Other Projects" button at the top. Now go! Read!

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*1: To emphasize a point about the Bite-Size Edits excerpt: The text I'm offering at the site is from a rough draft of the manuscript, with emphasis on the word "rough." Think of it was crap flowing from my brain to the keyboard, uneditd. In no way, shape, or form should it be construed as polished prose.