Soft Shell Shrimp, Lance Nacio, Anna Marie Shrimp

But the thing is, I have been stuck!

You know, no matter how much you plan, sometimes things don’t follow the yellow brick road.

A few months ago, I had planned (by this time early December) to have the MS finished and the recipe development underway so the material could rest.

Then in mid-February I would execute (read slash all unnecessary words—think very, that, back—words I abuse religiously) a second edit then send the MS to the editor in April. I plan to release Shrimp From Market To Plate mid-Sept 2017 to celebrate National Seafood Month in October.

But by mid-October though, I was off schedule and then got dangerously ill. Don’t worry, modern medicine prevails and I am good now.

Anyway, all this not getting my MS done amounts to writer’s block for many writers. Personally, I don’t like that term—it makes me think of being constipated. And that is something I don’t like to think about at all.

However, if you fancy yourself a writer, then you know there are days when every word you write, every thought you type, you know deep in your marrow, those words will go nowhere—no blog posts, no Medium articles, no social media updates. Certainly, no magazine or agent queries.

You also know if you are serious about your craft, and you continue to write trash, things will work out. They always do. But the day-to-day of not knowing where all your words and ideas and thoughts are going is hard to swallow.

Getting stuck is the nature of writing. Accept it and you’re golden. Deny it and you are destined to be frustrated. Or worse—live in writer’s purgatory, that awful place somewhere between unfinished MS and publishing.

So today on this cold, gray sky, Kentucky December morning, after five minutes of meditation and forty minutes of yoga, drum roll, please…

I became unstuck!

I can’t give you the details of my revelation, but I feel SO good about this next book.

And I have purpose. Which equals motivation. Plus I always work well under pressure.

So, my friends, I am working hard to create an amazing cookbook, Shrimp From Market To Plate.

And when I get back in the kitchen later this month, I am using the above photo of Soft Shell Shrimp courtesy of my friend Lance Nacio of Anna Marie Shrimp where I buy my Louisiana white shrimp. Because Lance’s Louisiana whites are a special item, just like my books.

If you lose your way on the yellow brick road, consider meditation. Namaste.

Lastly friends, please remember, #KnowYourFishermen and know where your seafood comes from. For our future.

• Read my recent review from Publishers Weekly on Salmon From Market To Plate.
• If you enjoyed this post, would you mind to share it with your friends and the sustainable seafood lovers in your life, please?
• Want to support my work? Buy a book!