Summer is for ice cream!

Oklahoma has only 2 seasons...winter and summer.  It seems there is no middle ground.  The other day, my body was telling me it was hot and time to get my first ice cream of the season.  I ignored it for days until it grew into a huge craving encompassing my every thought.  I was out running errands and decided that when I finished I'd reward myself with a visit to Oklahoma's own iconic ice cream establishment, Braum's.  Errands were done, and I was getting so excited I could hardly wait to get there. I hurry in, step up to the counter and place my order, "One chocolate cherry on a waffle cone, please."  The lady replies, "Is that one scoop or two?" and before I could even contemplate the question, I blurted out, "TWO!" I even surprised myself and looked around thinking, "Did I say that?" I anxiously watch her fill the cone and she just keeps adding more and more ice cream.  By the time she finished, it looked like a  bouquet of tennis balls on a cone.  I knew I was in trouble when it immediately started to run down the side of the cone.  I rush to pay, grab a handful of napkins and go to work as fast as I can.  The ice cream was a little faster that me.  I was a bit angry at myself for doing such a dumb thing, but decided I would be victorious!  I went to work as fast as I could go devouring the monstrosity!  First attack from the top, then the side, back to the top until finally it was finished!  I was ready to go home, but the entire evening I was in sugar OD mode.  I didn't think I'd ever want another ice cream cone.  Then one week later, Emily was out with me and suggests Braum's.  Yes, I was ready again...single dip this time.

Mother's Day

A day to celebrate mothers everywhere. At church this morning, all mothers were recognized.  I wasn't the oldest mother, youngest mother or the mother with the most children,  but I wouldn't change anything even if I could.  It was a great, relaxing day at the Lawson home with beautiful flowers and family. I think we should have Mother's Day once a month!

First Editing

I got the official word today that my book has moved into step one of production (copy editing).  It will move to the next step in June. This is my first book I am  amazed at how lengthy the process is.  The book may not be available in stores until Nov/Dec, 2011. I am still super excited about it all!

Cupcakes, Cheesecakes and Cookies!

I guess I become a little obsessed with things.  Most of what I do is self taught.  Last summer, I had a cookie from the bakery.  Then I began to wonder how they made their cookies so large and thick and all a uniform size.  So the quest was on to bake the perfect cookie.  I did a lot of research online and started with my all time favorite cookbook (Hersey's Recipe Collection).  I must have baked dozens of cookies and although they were not perfect (since I am a bit of a perfectionist, the perfect cookie could never be achieved) I did turn out some really good cookies.  After that, I turned my thoughts to cheesecake.  At one time, I had three different cheesecakes in my refrigerator.  I don't know how many varieties of cheesecake I made before I was satisfied that I could make a decent one.  Now months later, I have to admit I've joined the cupcake craze.  I am working on gourmet cupcakes.  I have even gotten my daughter Emily on the bandwagon!  We've made devils food cake with raspberry filling and raspberry cream cheese frosting.  Then French vanilla cake with orange cream cheese filling and orange buttercream frosting.  And white cake with strawberry filling and strawberry cream cheese frosting. Emily's favorite and she actually made this one on her own...banana butterscotch cake with brown sugar frosting. We've so far made about 5 different types of cupcakes.  Remarkably, they have all been pretty good.  As Emily says, the presentation is everything so we've been working on the appearance as well as the taste. Thanks to all the folks who gladly test our creations...my coworkers, Tony's coworkers, Emily's college friends, and our church congregation!

The Inspiration for the book

The inspiration for The Best Baker in the World came from a couple of places.  First, I love to bake!  I bake all kinds of things.  Am I the best baker in the world?  Certainly not even close, but I have turned out a few good things.  Secondly, I used to have a home based embroidery business.  If anyone has ever owned a home based business, you know where this is going.  There are no business hours.  You can work until midnight or as long as it takes to finish the job.   There are no holidays.  People call you at dinner time with, "I really need it tomorrow."  My husband's philosophy is "your failure to plan does not constitute an emergency on my part."  I'm much easier than that and would jump through hoops to get things done in a jiffy and many times even deliver  the finished product.  After several years, I finally had to say, ENOUGH!"  I loathe that embroidery machine now.  No more embroidery for me.  I will eventually enjoy doing fun projects again, but it will take some time. The character in my book has a similar experience.   She loves to bake and is talked into selling her baked goods.  I guess you can never really take a hobby and turn it into a job!  Some people do, but I am not disciplined enough to set boundaries and keep it all in check.

How my book came to be

I've always enjoyed writing.  Even in high school, when we were assigned an English paper and everyone was moaning and groaning, I kind of enjoyed it. Through the years, being a wife, homemaker and working mom didn't leave much time for my extracurricular activities, so I didn't get to write much other than the yearly Christmas letter. After Emily went away to college, I started putting some stories on paper.  Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a public speaker...but to write things on paper, that's more my style.  So I had several stories ready to go, but where do you find a publisher?  I sent one to New York City with the reply date supposed to be 6-9 months.  I put it on my calendar and the day came and went with no reply from the publishing company.  After that, I put my stories back in the folder and forgot about publishing.  Almost 2 years passed and I was still writing. I ran across the name Tate Publishing and thought I'd give it another shot.  I picked a random story and sent it in.  The response time was supposed to be 6-9 weeks.  I marked the calendar for spring break week and then forgot about it.  Then after only 1 1/2 weeks, the reply came.  They actually wanted to publish my story!  We were shocked and skeptical.   We didn't want to tell anyone until a decision was made. We prayed about it and consulted a couple of close friends. Nearly 2 weeks passed before I signed the contract and UPS overnighted it back to them.   It was like we were amazed and  in disbelief that this was really happening.  The big question was why did the acceptance come so quickly?  After talking to acquistions, the answer was the Oklahoma bad weather.  We had really bad weather and the publishing company was closed for a few days.  When they reopened, they had manuscripts piled up and instead of taking from the bottom of the pile, they picked up the one on top and there was "The Best Baker in the World".  
We are learning about what it takes to get a book published.  I'm on the production schedule to begin in May.  It will go through a couple of separate editings, then illustrations, etc.  All total, about 6 months.  I am very excited  and  will keep you all posted on the progress.

Under Construction

This is a work in progress. I am excited to learn something new so please check back soon and hopefully my blog will be in full swing!