I Finished My Baba Book

1111,000 words over 18 months. I did it. My Goat Prefer Naked: Ukrainian Soul Food with Stories From the Village is done. I even have material left over for Volume II.

The last recipe, Honey Poppyseed Dressing, centers around the superstition, Don't hang diapers on the line after dark. I learned that one from Professor Natalie Konenenko's University of Alberta website. The department of Ukrainian studies there is one of the world's foremost, and Dr. Konenenko has generously posted volumes of valuable cultural material.

Baba says the diaper superstition guarantees you will be indoors, safe from predators and cooking from scratch :-D

My Goat Prefer Naked covers the holidays of Rizdvo/Sviat Vechir (Winter Solstice/Christmas), Maslenitsya (Mardi Gras), Velek Den (Easter) and Ivana Kupala (Spring fertility). There are plenty of stories and recipes to enhance your sex life as well as a Ukrainian childbirth ritual. Volume II will have Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve, and food for weddings and funerals. Oh, and a chapter on baking real dark rye, whole grain bread and dinner buns, "Not this white cotton Wonderbra bread Canadian think is real food."

The advice and encouragement I've gotten from people, some whom I barely know, is incredible. I am so looking forward to meeting those I only know online and by phone. The warm reception I got from the North Shore Writers Group yesterday was the last push I needed to finish the book. Writing can be a lonely business; these folks let me know in no uncertain terms there is an audience for the book.

It's funny. Obama's Yes We Can kept resounding in my head this week. What a powerful mantra.

I feel faint. I need sleep. Tomorrow begins a new phase: writing a marketing proposal and approaching my chosen agent. Don't worry, you'll hear me back to whinging before long :-D

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