Writing

How to Become a More Productive Book Author

May 17, 2022 by diannejacob 14 Comments

If you think landing a book deal is difficult, try writing a manuscript within today’s tight timelines. Some multi-year projects still exist, but many authors count book schedules in months, not years. How does a writer navigate all the tasks that must be completed to become a productive book author, while juggling life, a partner, children, work, exercise and more?

A few strategies I used turned out to be useful. When employed diligently, they unlock abilities you may not believe you have. I found this when I wrote two books during the pandemic in 2021. Three of my books will launch this year, and I am on track to publish two more in 2023. How? I credit these five productivity tips.

Here’s what to do to become a productive book author:

1. Build up your confidence.

Take long, reflective power-walks. Remind yourself how far you’ve come in life by visiting a childhood neighborhood or friend.Talk to mood-and-ego-boosting friends. Run while listening to aggressive metal music. Do whatever it takes, but get yourself in a confident headspace.

Why? Confidence leads to a strong inner voice. And that voice is going to [Read more…] about How to Become a More Productive Book Author

Q&A: John Birdsall on Writing a Profile of James Beard

March 2, 2021 by diannejacob 4 Comments

Recently I had the pleasure of reading The Man Who Ate Too Much, by John Birdsall, a two-time James Beard Award-winning author and a writer I’ve admired since his early days as a critic. John combined scholarly research with the skills of a novelist to create this nuanced portrait of the famous cookbook author and personality. I wanted to find out about his process and methods of writing a profile about James Beard, especially since profiles are rare in the food world. Here is our interview:

Q. Why did you want to write a profile of James Beard?

A. When I was a chef, back in the late 1980s, I cooked at a restaurant in San Francisco with a focus on regional American cooking. I became familiar with Beard’s 1972 masterpiece, James Beard’s American Cookery. That book has a particular language—the recipes, the sketches, the way it’s designed. It intrigued me.

Later, in 2013, I wrote an essay for Lucky Peach magazine titled “America, Your Food Is So Gay,” about the influence on American cooking of three closeted cookbook authors of the mid- to late-20th century: Richard Olney, Craig Claiborne, and Beard. That piece had a big impact—I won a James Beard Award for it, and many readers, chefs and others, reached out.

Beard lingered in my imagination for a few years. He seemed the most interesting of the three, someone who [Read more…] about Q&A: John Birdsall on Writing a Profile of James Beard

10 Food Writing Prompts to Try

April 14, 2020 by diannejacob 4 Comments

image for post on food writing prompts. Now that you have more spare time, how about a fun writing exercise? Think of it as a break from making sourdough bread, or searching for toilet paper.

People love food writing prompts. Readers give me good feedback about my food writing exercises in each chapter of Will Write for Food. And when I give out a prompt during
[Read more…] about 10 Food Writing Prompts to Try

Submit Your Writing to a New Food Writing Anthology

December 10, 2019 by diannejacob 2 Comments

image for submitting your writing to an anthology There’s a big new game in town, and you can play. Before, Best Food Writing, an anthology compiled by freelance writer Holly Hughes, came out every year. You would submit your writing, and she decided what to accept. That run ended in 2017.

It’s probably because a new The Best American Food Writing debuted in 2018, published by [Read more…] about Submit Your Writing to a New Food Writing Anthology

7 Ways to Deal with Negative Feedback on Your Writing

October 1, 2019 by diannejacob 2 Comments

image for post on how to deal with negative feedback Negative feedback on your writing is hard, even when someone delivers it with sensitivity. I got negative feedback regularly from my writing group, but it was rarely as bad as it sounds.

Most of the time, the members were complimentary. When I got negative feedback, I tried to see it from their point of view. Because sometimes I get so [Read more…] about 7 Ways to Deal with Negative Feedback on Your Writing

Want to Write Cookbook Reviews? Here are 5 Tips

May 28, 2019 by diannejacob 6 Comments

A guest post by Martha Lorden

I love cookbooks, so it’s only natural that I hunger for a way to share my interest and enthusiasm. As a result, I write cookbook reviews for Publishers Weekly (PW), a professional trade magazine designed for the folks who purchase books for libraries and bookstores.

PW reviews the latest and hottest cookbooks in 220-word reviews. It’s no easy feat to craft a succinct review of that size that is accurate and fair. In fact, it is maddeningly challenging.

If You Want to Write a Biography About a Famous Person or Two…

April 16, 2019 by diannejacob 11 Comments

image for story on writing a biography At a conference I attended recently, a panel focused on two kinds of projects: writing a memoir and writing a biography. Moderated by Cara De Silva, the panelists were memoirists Elissa Altman, Mark Russ Federman, Madhur Jaffrey; and biographers Laura Shapiro and Anne Mendelson.

I zeroed in on Anne, author of Stand By the Stove: The Story of the Women Who Gave America the Joy of Cooking. She clutched her typewritten address and read it to the crowd. It was an insightful and wry essay about her experience.

Anne was the biographer of the [Read more…] about If You Want to Write a Biography About a Famous Person or Two…