I’ve been working on a very exciting project. Can’t say too much yet…
…Oh, OK, then. In a few quick points:
It’s a follow-up to I Quit Sugar: a sweet 8-week program.
It’s an e-cookbook of super simple sugar-free recipes.
It features a number of incredible contributions from some famous chefs and food folk I know you love, plus some e-tricks that will make the experience quite a bit of fun to read.
It will land on virtual “shelves” in a few weeks; you won’t miss it. But if you’d like advance notification, and to receive an introductory offer, sign up here (I promise we won’t be emailing you about anything else if you do!).
There is one other thing I’d like to share for now….about the making of the book…the way it’s just flowed into place. It went a little like this…
For the past year I’ve been experimenting with sugar-free dishes and ideas…really just because it’s been fun to do so…
Around the time I realised I was ready to write another ebook, I also realised I had enough great recipes to share with everyone. Also around this time I met two great women: Faustina and Marija Ivkovic. I’d e-met Faustina (Fuzzy) on Twitter ages back…she and Marija were visiting Byron and looked me up…they cooked gluten-free dumplings for me…and we chatted about how we loved working on projects with good energy…and I mentioned my nascent cookbook idea…and they said, “We want to help you”…and…I resisted at first because I’m not used to such generous offers…but…
Draw breath.
I trusted. And booked a flight to Melbourne.
It all came together. And beautifully so. We shot the book last week at Marija’s Rokeby Studio in Collingwood (above). Fuzzy filmed video of the shoot and Marija shot the whole thing. And Lee Blaylock styled things. She is the best damn “plonker” of food I’ve ever come across.
We didn’t fuss. We played.
We didn’t plan too much. We let it evolve. Although Lee set us up with enough prop options to shoot an encyclopedia. And the “story” unfolded.
I have a history of “forcing” things. Over-planning and generally jamming stuff into slots, even if they’re not the right size or shape…I find ways.
But all this jamming of square pegs into round holes has tired me. And abrased my edges.
Of late, though, I’ve been choosing to sit back more and let things find their way to their slot…I just provide a nice current from behind.
Direction and intention.
I’m sitting back to see what happens when I don’t chase, and let life find me.
I tell you, things work out better this way. The right people join the current from random rivulets to the left and right because the river looks so inviting and smooth. Smooth attracts smooth. You just get the river flowing, that’s all you’ve got to do. And trust that the smoothness will unfold as it needs to.
The project’s been a lesson for me. It was a bit of an experiment in this “new” way of letting life find me. I’m experimenting EVERY day with it, even when it terrifies me and I just want to grip life harder.
We’d lined up another stylist earlier on. I had a bad feeling about it. But I sat with it. A week later, she pulled from the project herself, for personal reasons, making way for Lee. Who was perfect. And has an AI. And “gets” what I’m trying to do.
Marija works this way naturally. She’s stepped into the river over and over in her life. She is possibly the best example of an artist who gives her art without thought to whether she’ll be paid or rewarded, a theme I explored here last week. She tries things, then sees what happens. And slowly, slowly her creations and projects have turned into successes. Like her inflatable photobooth. Which she invented (seriously) because she was curious. TheCoolHunter saw it, plugged it on his site (he can spot original creative energy when he sees it)…and now the damn thing has taken off. She didn’t force. She allowed life to find it. Curiously.
I’m curious to see how this next ebook goes. Stay tuned, and let me know your thoughts…and let me know your thoughts on this “letting life find you” thing…
