Hey there friends!

Sometimes when I walk through my kitchen, my eye is drawn to the shelf where an old, green metal box made to hold index cards sits. I guess they still make these, but for reference I included a photo below. This ordinary box just happens to be filled with treasures.

When we were cleaning out Mom’s house to get it ready to sell, I grabbed this box because I knew it had some history in it. You see, the box holds many of my mom’s collected recipes. And recipes oftentimes have backstories, don’t they?

I’m working to create some resources for folks who want to gather their family’s recipe history into collections to share digitally or have them printed. I hope to have lots to share about this project soon.

But for today, I'm sharing a story prompt from my book A Simple Guide to Writing Family Stories. And it’s a delicious one. I’ve included it here today to trigger some memories of dishes your family created that others envied.

This week it’s also time to take a closer look at Step 5 in my Build An Ebook system - Layout and Design.

Got Labor Day plans? I’m looking forward to a rainy, holiday weekend here in NW Arkansas with cooler temps. Cuddled up with a book? Yes! But I do hope the rain holds off for Saturday afternoon's gender reveal party for my sister's next grandchild. 🎀 or 🧢?

I'm thrilled to also be welcoming the lovely month of September this weekend! Please go away, Summer.

Happy weekend!

I bet you have one of these metal index card boxes filled with recipes in your family, too. This one sits next to one of my Dad's many mugs he collected from his travels with Mom. I keep it out because it reminds me of him and also one of my favorite places in this world - the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Secret Family Recipes

(Enjoy this excerpt from The Simple Guide to Writing Family Stories.)

“We can’t tell you how it’s made. It’s a secret family recipe!”

I’m willing to bet that each of you, at one time or another, have had a delicious meal or dessert at someone’s home and heard those words when you hinted that you would love to have the recipe.

I don’t recall my mother ever saying those words, although she did have some meals and treats she made for her family and guests that were pretty special. What about your family?

STORY SPARK

Write a story about a “secret family recipe” that has been passed down through your family. Don’t have one? Then write about a special dish or dessert that you associate with your mother, grandmother, aunt, etc. that you want to share with your descendants. Make it possible for that recipe to live on within your family history.

ENHANCE YOUR STORY

If you have the actual “secret” recipe that you can write out, add it to the story. Type it in, take a photo or scan and insert it, or do both! This will enrich the story and make your reader hungry at the same time. Better yet, make up a batch of the recipe and take a photo to share with the story.

Let’s take a look at Step 5 in the Build An Ebook system. Once you’ve completed the editing and revising needed for Step 4, you’re going to have a pretty good idea of the layout that will work best for your book. And that’s where Step 5 comes in - Layout & Design.

Simply said, layout and design determine how your ebook looks. Layout and design refer to both how you will be ordering your pages as well as how you will place your written and graphic content on the pages. Many of your pages could be only text, but you may also be including photos and/or graphics on some pages.

Available on Amazon for Kindle and as a paperback.

Things that inpsire and delight me this week ✨

I like to tell people that I keep my "delight bar" pretty low, so it doesn't really take much to bring joy and excitement to my daily life. But the changing of seasons - ever so subtle - always delights me. And right now that's a mix of the color starting to arrive in the maple trees to the beauty of my petunias and verbenas that have bravely survived a summer of brutal heat.

✨What is inspiring and delighting you these days?

#delightedandinspired

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I'd love to have you follow my social feeds. I promise to not be boring but will most likely be cheesy now and again. 😉