Monday, February 4, 2013

I need your help

Roof picnic

Dear Readers:

Now that it is in the layout and design stage, my publishers tell me that we may need to cut 16 pages from the book over all, for it to fit within budget and size. Welcome to the fun side of publishing. I am so close to this project that I'd welcome more objective feedback than my ego's. So here's your chance to be editors for a day (er...that's if some of you are not already editors).

To recap: each chapter of 66 Square Feet - a Delicious Life, is a month. And each month is divided into three parts, for instance:

New York in August (parks, farmers' markets, the seasons on the street, foraging, the odd picnic), The Terrace and Roof Farm in August (gardening, as well as a picnic on the roof, perhaps, or on the terrace), My Kitchen in August (a menu for the month with recipes).

Here are two possible options and I would really appreciate your opinions. As potential readers, what would prefer:

1. To cut a piece of the introduction to each month, which means losing some New York scenes and stories about parks and the seasons on the street.

or

2. To cut out some picnics with their respective recipes. These are scattered through the Terrace and New York sections. Roof picnics, terrace picnics, park picnics, indoor picnics.

So. Lose some New York City background, or lose picnics and recipes?

Picnics?

New York?

Picnics?

New York?

I have put a poll in the sidebar to make it easy to vote. I do not promise to follow your advice, but I would really like to have a sense of what you, as potential readers, value more. Feel free to explain your vote in the comments.

And my thanks in advance. Without wonderful readers, there would be no book.

(Is it too early for a drink?)

92 comments:

  1. lose the New York City background, I love your recipes, but don't cut out all NYC pictures

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  2. I would rather you cut the recipes than the pictures and stories about NYC.

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  3. In your own heart, is it a book about you living in NY (both gardening and cooking and also exploring the city and all it has to offer) or is it "simply" your own cookbook?
    I'd leave out some NY stuff...your cooking and what and how you write about it are just so original and unique

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  4. Eesh Marie - how painful to have to cut something out of what you have dreamed into existence and carefully crafted. And Sixteen Pages at that! Awful.
    I can't decide - sorry to be of no help!

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  5. I recommend leaving out some of the NY background. I also thought you might want to consider two alternative approaches in case you really don't want to lose these pages:

    1. Start a Kickstarter campaign to provide the supplemental funding to publish all the pages as you intend

    2. Provide it as a supplement to the digital version (if you intend to publish a digital version)

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    1. Natalie - you are an intriguing woman! I laughed out loud. I wonder how my very mainstream publishers would feel about being Kickstarted? I'm still laughing. It's a very provocative suggestion.

      Delete
    2. ...(if it wasn't clear, I like it)

      Delete
  6. A virtual tie in my mind but if I had to choose I'd say cut the NYC shots & descriptions (trusting that you'll still have plenty of the city in there). Cannot wait for the real book ! love from the gang at Black Street

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  7. I voted to cut the intros for two reasons:

    1) Your recipes are really important, and

    2) While others don't see NYC as you do, and don't show it exactly the way you would or with the tie in, but ... others do do and have done NYC. What's unique is Marie.

    Breaks my heart that you have to do this. Good luck.

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  8. Oh Marie, how tough. Am arm or a leg,right?

    I would probably keep the recipes.

    But it's not my blood, sweat and tears.

    I know whatever decision you make it will be the right one.

    xo Jane

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    1. I have not always made the right decisions, you know...Arm, leg, arm leg?

      Toes? Do I need toes, really?

      Delete
  9. I would leave in more of the personal, if you can...the how-to-live-a-beautiful life. For really, if one has love and good food, that life can be anywhere.

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    1. Thank you, Sheryl...I agree. It's a big 'if', though, isn't it? :-)

      Delete
  10. The bright side is that you have a wonderful blog! You're more than just a cookbook! You can direct readers to your blog for more recipes. As a reader of your blog I am most excited about the PHOTOS in your book. I would do whatever you can to keep as many photos in the book as possible.

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  11. This is cruel! I really can't say New York or Picnic as they are both what make your blog so special. OK - drop a little bit of NY (if you must)

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  12. I have to say that I don't agree with most comments here. As not such a great cook - recipes are recipes. What brings them to life are the stories. I'd rather have an in depth tour of NYC from you then extra recipes with no stories attached. I think the picnics make a nice second book (as someone else suggested) while the cut NYC bits will have no other home but the proverbial cutting room floor. And 66 sq ft is about being slow. Let's savor and enjoy!

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    1. Thank you very much, Marielle. All recipes do have stories attached though, in their intros and in the context of the New York picnic.

      Delete
  13. I just wrote you a lengthy block of suggestions and had it delete itself. Oh dear, what did I say? It was something about weighing the blocks of intent in the book--are you trying to give people lots of new recipes, or display the different seaonal delights of living in and around NYC? Or gardening on the roof (and cooking the harvest)? It seemed to me that it would be easier to extract the block of Picnic pages (39 pigeon holes) in order to achieve what would still be a broad enough experience of tiny terrace/tiny kitchen/delightful eating ideas. Then, I was thinking of Claudia Roden's "Everything Tastes Better Outdoors", perhaps not her most successful book but nontheless valuable. I can't think why your friends and posters want you to to scrap the NYC stuff--as you describe it on your FB page and blog it really seems to be the very definitive concept of your worldview.

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    1. Thank you very much Betsy. I listen when Harvard speaks :-)

      To clarify, the whole of the NYC section would not be scrapped. It would be edited. Say, 2 pages instead of 3.

      Not easy, though.

      Delete
  14. What a difficult position to be in.

    It's called 66 Square Feet - a Delicious Life (a Delicious life) so I'd hate to see recipes and picnics rooftop or not be cut. It's not called New York- a Delicious Life...am I wrong? Isn't it about you and about your rooftop and how you live the exquisite life you live? Don't leave out the markets and how you get the goodies you use to cook with etc., but maybe we don't need too much seasons on the streets? Or just do another book all about foraging and then you will solve this problem instantly.

    Don't leave out the stuff that makes it YOURS. 16 pages seems like a lot. Good luck my friend!

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    1. Ah, the title!

      Sometimes one overlooks the obvious. Thank you, Mary.

      Delete
  15. Marie, I think Sheryl is on the right track. Instead of opting to trim New York scenes or recipes, maybe you could trim a little of both -- and keep the best material that is uniquely you.

    So what is uniquely you? As a daily reader of your blog, here's what stands out to me:

    1. You have a remarkable ability to live a beautiful life anywhere, whether that be New York, South Africa, etc. Indeed, 66 Square Feet doesn't feel like a New York-centric blog to me. Your joie de vivre transcends location.

    2. There are few authors who weave together foraging, gardening and cooking as well as you do. I love reading about the interplay of these three activities and seeing the results on the plate.

    In my humble opinion, 1. and 2. above are your biggest selling points. They could operate as overall themes for your book.

    If you agree, then trimming pages would be a matter of figuring out what works best with these themes. For example, you may consider:

    1. Illustrating New York through foraging. Instead of including separate foraging scenes and street scenes, can you favor the scenes that do double duty and trim the others? Maybe you have foraged on a street in a particular season...

    2. Evaluating the recipes by their back stories. Do some of these recipes have stories that do not fit into your overall themes? If so, you could cut them.

    Artfully trimming the manuscript in this fashion would result in a stronger, more cohesive book. And you could dress up those trimmings for your blog, so nothing is wasted.

    Anyway, that's the best advice I can give (from a food writer turned farmer). Hope it helps -- and can't wait to read the book!

    Good luck,
    Joan

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    1. Joan, if you had not added your last line my first line was going to be, Are you a writer?

      Thank you. Also, you have made me cry.

      What valuable and well thought out advice. I am very grateful.

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    2. Marie, you are very welcome!

      *Thank you* for this blog. Your vignettes make me nostalgic for my college days in New York, as well as my years spent writing farm-to-table stories in California.

      Now that I'm in rural Hawaii, there's so much to write about -- but far too little time. Practical dilemmas demand my attention: Can we harvest the coffee before the thieves steal our crop? Do we have enough marketing information for the sales trip to Japan? And don't get me started on COGS and overhead costs...

      Reading your blog reminds me to occasionally escape the whirlwind of running a business. I think of you when we forage for purple lilikoi, or cut bunches of bananas with a machete.

      We break bread with our cattle rancher (and enjoy her Spencer steaks). The fishermen deliver the day's catch to our door. What's good: no fast food for 60 miles. What's even better: a short walk to watch sea turtles snooze on a black-sand beach. It's a beautiful spot for a picnic. :)

      Delete
    3. Wow.

      I understand the Time thing very well. And have no farm to run. But what a wonderful blog your life would make. And a book.

      Delete
    4. Someday, Marie, someday... I'll let you know when it finally happens!

      In the meantime, I'll continue to send you good wishes for your book. I'm sure you'll tell us when we can pre-order? :)

      Delete
  16. Yay, Joan, above! YES foraging, gardening, cooking, with as many or FEW photos as necessary. Yes foraging in NY or where-ever, but since the winter months may be meager, perhaps the content is leaner then, on that topic. I do love NYC, but the content relating to city markets generally, city parks generically (although you know i love the specific posts you have written about parks) can be intertwined with those topics she teased apart.. as Joan says, go for the theme. Those Amelanchier berries in the pie; go native! Native foraging in the parks that happen to be in NYC. The economy: small spaces, local foods and gardening practices.. those are special qualities and topics you share with us.

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    1. Amelanchier pie is there :-) Thank you, Sara -

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  17. I can't vote on the official pole because my choice isn't there. I'd trim a little from each category. The picnics are too delicious to eliminate, but maybe you only need one per month. And NYC is an essential part in 66 Square Feet...a living character, one might say. Without the city, your blog (and probably the book) would be so very different. I feel your pain.

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    1. What an awful choice. That said, I agree with Ellen. Your 66 Square Feet are not just anywhere. They are in NYC. So I would also vote for trimming a bit of each category.

      And for what it's worth, from my perspective, the picnics, as charming as they are, are the least important of the things you write about. The plants and the recipes are the most important for me.

      Karen F

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  18. What a dilemma!
    But if cut you must, then I personally would prefer more recipes, fewer picnics.

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  19. I'm surprised they would ask you to cut 16 pages. I am a book designer, and that is only one signature, something that would not break a book budget. We are often able to go up one sig without having to significantly change the price or book specifications.

    If you HAVE to, I would say, cut in the NY descriptions, not the recipes or photos. Ask them to set the backmatter and index really small! (you can save a few pgs there...index pgs are often overestimated...)

    Good luck!

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    1. Thank you, Gretchen. The book was going to be smaller, and now is 8 x 10. Could that account for the 16 page cut, in terms of $'s?

      Helpful insight...

      Delete
  20. As an almost daily reader from provincial Australia, I love the stories and photos of NY, as well as those of your garden. Recipes are great, especially if they make use of garden produce, but they are easy to find on the web, whereas your stories and pics are unique. Vicki

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  21. Whatever you choose to include, I'll still be looking forward to it.

    To answer your question, though, what interests me most is food I'm not yet familiar with, and recipes which I couldn't figure out on my own or wouldn't think to try. I love it when you tell us about foods you've foraged, where and when to find them and what your results were in preparing them. I also love it when you tell us about unusual and/or exotic foods you've found for sale, how you prepared them and what your results were like. And I've absolutely adored most of your more involved recipes -- your chicken paprikash and the cherry clafoutis both stand out as ones I'll be revisiting again and again.

    The posts of yours which I tend to scroll past are the ones about how pretty and interesting New York is, about flowers and other plants that aren't edible, or about day trips you've taken or places you've visited. Some of your picnics I tend to scroll past as well, if the food wasn't very involved (I'm glad you enjoyed your prosciutto sandwich in the park, but I already know how to make a sandwich).

    Again, the blog as a whole is very readable and I've really enjoyed it. I do sometimes read your posts about pretty flowers and fun places you've been, etc, because they're very enjoyable; but if it were me doing this and I absolutely had to cut something, I'd cut things not directly related to food.

    Best of luck! I really hope you can find a way to do this thing which leaves you feeling satisfied with the final product.

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    1. Thank you soukup. I promise, no recipes for sandwiches are in the book...:-)

      More like Southeast Asian meatballs and ginger custards and transportable tenderloins and apricots cakes and...

      It's also really interesting to know who reads what. Thanks!

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  22. Ugh, what a terrible choice to have to make. I always love to read about New York (or anywhere) through your eyes, and I know the intros would be fantastic, but it's your gift for beautiful food and its consumption that is so magic to me. And your picnics are sublime. You could do a whole book just on the art of the picnic.

    That's my two cents worth. Oh, except, Canada is no longer dealing with pennies. So, there's my nickel's worth.

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    1. ...now i'm obsessed with the pennies. So, is change rounded up or down? Or, have prices been adjusted to always be in fives?!

      Thank you, G.

      Delete
  23. I vote to cut the NY background ... as much as I love reading your blogs on the subject, I could immediately envision myself holding and reading your book (can't wait!), and skipping over most everything to get to your recipes and menu suggestions ... I'd look at and admire your photos only after that.

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    1. Marie, I will not skip over anything!!! (I voted to cut some picnics/recipes.)

      Delete
  24. The thing that keeps me coming back to your blog are the wonderful photographs and elegant writing that depicts the beauty you bring to every meal, whether it is breakfast, dinner or a picnic. Being a gardener, I'm also interested in what you do on your terrace and roof garden, and bringing your harvest to the table. BUT, for me it is the food and the care and creativity you bring to every meal and your ability to communicate the beauty of all that to your readers that keeps me reading. So I guess it is obvious that I would vote for the picnics and recipes (and pictures of both) over NYC.

    Nancy McC

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    1. Thank you, Nancy. I had no idea how valuable this would be I mean, the hard decision is hard, but knowing what people like and why, when they read 66 Square Feet is really very revealing. It allows me to step back a bit.

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  25. What more can I add that hasn't already been said above. Your ebullient writing will carry the book.

    But what is any place without your picnic? Less personal, unknown even. Your picnic makes those spaces your spaces and then you invite others to make them theirs. That's what I like about your 24 sq ft blanket, it's not exclusionary, it invites anyone, everyone, to try it on their own. And a picnic is like a garden, or the terrace; it's the center from which all else extends, it is the ancient Paradise. The picnic is what we all aspire to, we just had no idea, until you showed us.

    So I vote for picnics.

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    1. Aw, Frank. Guess I'm feeling a bit weepy.

      She laughed! She cried!

      Delete
  26. As someone who does not live in NY I read your blog to get a realistic view of life in the city as opposed to the one you see on TV and movies. I would be sad if you had to cut the insightful info on NY as that is what draws me here. I like recipes,but don't ever use them so for me it would be the recipes that could be shortened and your lifestyle more endorsed. I have never wanted to come to the USA and it was never on my bucket list, but now thanks to you I feel the need to make my way there one day.

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    1. Thank you, Bella. Funny, before I came here to study I had no desire to visit either, but it is a very big country, and much of it jawdroppingly beautiful. Hope you make it.

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  27. That's tough question. I read you blog for so many reasons and I do love the snippets about NYC. I guess if pushed I'd drop NYC, but your publishers are wrong either way!

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  28. Your New York pictures are the best anywhere!!! Number 1 on my bucket list is to stay in the room your Mother stayed in with the view of the Statue of Liberty. Less picnics, more New York through your eyes!

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    1. Thank you. The good thing is that the Ritz Carlton has many rooms with that lovely view. Choose spring or fall to visit.

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  29. I'm sure you already know this - depends on who you're selling to. Books have to sell in ridiculous numbers to be financially interesting. Do what your target market will love. If it's a hit, you'll get a chance to make your second and third and fourth book just how you like them.

    Loads of NY background initially may make some feel that the book isn't relevant to them. Cutting the NY stuff might make the book more widely appealing? And I would guess that most people would be more likely to get excited about unique (local) concepts, but that could apply to them anywhere in the world. Tessa Kiros manages that local flavour vs. transferable ideas brilliantly. Might be worth a browse?

    That said, I'd happily read a book about the non-restaurant NY foodie scene with only a handful of great recipes. So if the recipes aren't truly new and amazing, personally I'd rather have the pics/background.


    So also not much help really... How do you react to the alternative suggestions? Sometimes that's a great way to settle how you really feel.

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    1. Good point, Donovan (market). Thank you. It's being sold primarily as food book, so food is the focus. Regardless of what I do in terms cutting I think the food will come through. I don't pretend to cook anything "truly new and amazing" :-) That's a tall order and belongs firmly in Ferran Adria camp of cooking, but the food is me, and belongs, I think, in its place and time.

      The new and amazing is, I think, the point of view (intimate NYC) has not been published before, knowledge.

      Place. Hm.

      I like Tessa Kiros; actually discussed aspects of her book about Venice with the designer, pre-layout.

      Delete
  30. Firstly, its never too early for a drink. Remember, its five o'clock somewhere.

    Secondly, I echo Joan's #1 comment. And, being a non US resident, it was (and is) the unique and compelling essence of New York that first drew me to your writing, and that keeps me coming back daily for more : )
    The picnics must not be lost totally, but I would say leave in the NYC please x

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  31. Your unique recipes with your South African roots is a unique flavor, but I love your photography. As the internet is changing publishing and you wish to publish a book, I think the pictorial nature of the internet needs to be a guide to your book. Don't cut pictures, don't cut recipes, try to keep all your rooftop pics. Provide links to your blog. I love some of your little side excursions to markets and foraging, maybe more than picnic spreads. Good luck Marie!

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  32. I am so glad so many others have responded to your call...I would find it impossible to exclude one over the other because I want you to include everything!

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  33. I love the kickstarter idea, Natalie!! (seriously). But if one must vote, trim a bit of everything; so we can have a sampling of all the reasons we read your blog in the first place. Pictures would be the last thing I'd cut though if I had to prioritize! Good luck.

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    1. Thank you Mrs Vargas - I'd hate to cut pictures, too.

      Delete
  34. What a conundrum! I love the recipes and photos, but I REALLY love just reading about the life you live within 66Square Feet- the travels, the city, the cat, the frenchman. I'm looking forward to your BOOK- not just to COOK. Either way- I'm in.
    PS-I think it's so cool that you've asked your readers to chime in.

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    1. I was a bit worried about opening the lid on the process of publishing, which is so mysterious in so many ways - but I am now very, very happy that I did. I mean, who better to ask than the people who actually know the material? Occasional readers won't answer, but people who read 66 Square Feet for a reason, might...

      Thank you.

      Delete
    2. I'm sure I speak for all when I say,"Your Welcome!" I'm am so looking forward to being a part of your student group at The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens foraging class May 19. Keep us all up to date on that one- like you don't have anything else to do. Hahaha

      Delete
  35. I voted, but reading the comments above I can understand why people want to keep NY in--and since you do little pieces of NY, not the tourist places, I am in a bit of a quandary to advise. Ultimately I probably would have to do a page by page review. Sorry. Maybe a certain black cat can assist. Of course he might say any page that does not have him prominently displayed should be deleted.

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    1. Estorbo is drumming his little black toes on the kilim, waiting to know when his book will be published. He likes the way you think.

      Delete
  36. What a shame you have to take out anything. Must be like picking a favorite child. Is is possible to just edit a teeny bit of each? Because the two aspects of your book seem to be so vital to each other. Your words are like pictures and your pictures are worth a thousand words. I haven't really been any help at all, have I? Good luck, Marie. We loyal followers will love it no matter what you do.

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  37. It's too bad that you have to take anything out, but (as a published author, I know, unfortunately) that these kinds of edits always happen. Alas. I'd take out the recipes. Recipes are readily available; readers can use their imaginations and learn to improvise, which is what cooking is about. What is not readily available is your view on NY and everything else. Looking forward to your book!!

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  38. What an awful choice. I want it all. I'll pay extra to have everything. But, since it looks like something has to go, I voted for New York. The last thing I'd want to lose are the pictures, and your picnics are so beautiful. Can't wait for the book.

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  39. Might be more prudent to make the book accessible to most by focusing on YOU - because that's what we want to experiment being, as we cook your your food, attempt your gardens, transfer what we can from your life as you live it to out lives as we live them. Somewhere in these comments was something quite wise about target markets and freedoms inherent in successive publishing. And so that's why I vote -> Keep picnics, trim New York <- this first time at the plate. Can't wait to see/experience/live through what you've made!

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  40. I consulted my partner, who worked in publishing for many years, and he said that it is a rare book that cannot be trimmed here and there without losing any of its substantive value. I find this view persuasive. So the solution may be, as others have suggested, to reduce both categories, rather than concentrate on cutting one of them. Besides, assuming that your book's strength is like that of this blog, its attraction will lie in your take on the many things you talk about (New York, picnics, cooking, gardening, ... life in general). I would be willing to bet that you have the ability to convey the essence of your unique perspectives through less content on both New York and picnics, and do so very well. That said, if, for some reason, you must choose one or the other, I'd say to retain more on New York. The book will contain plenty of recipes, and probably will not suffer from containing fewer for picnic dishes.

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  41. As other above have said, I'm all for thinking out of the box (trimming both a bit vs. trimming one a lot, etc.) but if you force me into the choice above: cut New York stories or cut picnics with only what i know about you and your blog (and why I stop by frequently), I'd say cut picnics/keep NY stories. For me, your perspective on your NYC (not the 'typical NY' or the 'design community NY' is what makes the blog compelling. The every day surprises, insights and changes as you move through the year in your world with your eyes. That can't be replicated.

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  42. Hi Marie -- I have been enjoying your blog almost daily and I am looking forward to your book. My two-cents is this: would you be writing this book if you lived anywhere else in the world? I think you know which way I will vote. Good luck on your decision -- it is a very tough one!! Best regards, Gail

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  43. Hi, Marie—
    You may need to trim from both, but it's difficult to make suggestions without actually seeing the layouts (although I did vote to trim picnics). Are there any short pages? Aim to cut those first. Are the recipes as tight as they can be? What have the editor and copy editor recommended? They are experienced at doing this. In any case, rest assured: The soul of your book won't be trimmed away! And although the cut material won't end up in this book, it won't just disappear. You should be able to put it to use somewhere else! Good luck! And if you don't have a drink, I'll have a little cognac for you.

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    1. My editor says that the whole book will go into layout first, and then she will make suggestions for cuts. As I read over things, now I am looking more critically at what could do with trim and shave :-)

      Delete
  44. i do love the idea that if you did cut picnics or recipes, you'd have the material for your followup book already started; and once you have a publisher and published book to your name, i'd say book 2 is just a matter of logistics. silver lining if you end up cutting a whole category instead of bits here and there. cheers-a daily reader.

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    1. Indeed, I don't believe any category will land up on the cutting floor, and there are always more picnics to come if we edit a couple.

      Delete
  45. Hi Marie, I'm Jenny from Wollongong, 1hr south of Sydney, Australia. I'm very new to this blog world thing but have been a very consistent silent reader of your blog for quite awhile, I found you thru the black cads blog. I have never commented on any blog previously but felt compelled to do so this time. For what it's worth, I LOVE your blog just how it is, if I want recipes I go next door. If the book is similar, I can't wait, it's kinda like peeking into someone else's life. The stories about NYC I love, the seasons, your foraging, your travels, your gardening, your views on what's happening there. PS, we are onto our second month of the black cads calendar and just loving it (don't tell him though, he's got a big enough head as it is)PPS BTW if your ever stuck and can't find any one else (as if) to sit the cat I'm available, I'm a couple, I smoke but I love puss cats (I have two) love to garden and would love to visit NY, sorry just saying. Try not to worry too much, I'm sure you will make the right decision. Lots of love from Jenny in Aus.

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    1. Wow, Jenny - you bought Estorbo's cat calendar all the way from Australia? Thank you! I won't tell him. Fat head, as you say.

      And thank you for cat your sitting offer! We like Australians. Not smoke, though :-)

      Delete
    2. I promise I wouldn't smoke in or around your apartment, I would have to go up and down the three bloody flights of stairs (good idea, might make me give up). Re the cats calendar, a little bit hard trying to explain to my two grandchildren what the cat is saying in January he he he.

      Delete
  46. Aller, je me lance ! Mon anglais ne serait pas assez pertinent, alors c'est dans mon français natal que je m'exprimerais. Je suis vos billets depuis une petite année, et c'est toujours un émerveillement que de découvrir ce petit coin de paradis perché en haut d'un immeuble !!! je suis impatiente de découvrir cet ouvrage sur lequel vous travaillez, et s'il faut couper quelques pages, alors je dirais "pique-nique" (peut-être l'objet d'un prochain livre ?. Pour moi qui vit tout près de Paris, découvrir New York à travers vos photos et vos impression, c'est le début d'un voyage ! je pourrais continuer ainsi plus longuement, mais je ne suis pas sûre que vous puissiez me lire sans l'aide du French Man !!! (quoique, si peut_être après tout !). Merci Marie ! Stéphanie. stephalain.escarieux@hotmail.fr

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  47. I love it all! Could you take out just a bit of both, and then begin on book 2? :)

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