Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>>Erik: What have you learned memoir writing in penning your book, The Art of Eating In?
>>Cathy: Oh, man. This book was really intimidating to write a memoir. I didn`t really know what
it would be at first when I was shaping the idea for a book based on the idea about not
eating out in New York. Which, is each blog post kind of had some personal anecdotes,
a story, followed by the recipe. So, that`s totally different from writing a memoir. My
literary agent just kind of said think about that form and expanding that into a larger
chapter. Writing about a specific episode in your life, some event, and follow it by
the recipe and talk about the food.
>>Erik: Coming of age story of the New York experience.
>>Cathy: It did! There were a lot of coming of age lessons within those two years.
>>Erik: What were some of those big lessons learned?
>>Cathy: In those two years I spent of not eating out, I was living with a boyfriend
at the time, then we broke up, then I moved into my own apartment, a one bedroom, which
I never had before in New York. I changed jobs three times. I had a grandparent pass
away within that time. There were just a lot of changes up in the air and I think by the
end I had just kind of found my footing about what I`m doing now, which is writing about
food. It takes awhile, it`s a New York story.
>>Erik: Did food prove to be an anchor through those tough times?
>>Cathy: It was. You know, when there was an incident, I always made something that
was fitting for it. In fact, one time my friend had a really bad accident and was hit by a
car, and it was totally scary and totally devastating. I cooked her a lot of food, and
you know you just cook your way through.