Mandy Mikulencak's Blog, page 2

A Long Time Coming in the Blink of an Eye

It’s less than two weeks to the release of THE LAST SUPPERS on December 26. That’s 12 days, 12 hours and change. The whole journey to publication has been mind-boggling – and lengthy. Which makes 12 days seem like a blink of the eye.

I started writing the book in September 2013. I just looked back at one of the first Word files I saved. The first page of chapter one is almost word for word what the printed book features, except that the draft was in first person and the finished product is i...

‘YAY’ is the Word of the Day EVERY DAY

My fabulous agent, JL Stermer, emailed me the photo of the YAY cats after some particularly great book news. The image made me laugh out loud. With the release date only 22 days away, there’s been a lot of promotion by my publisher, but the book is getting buzz all over. Library Journal gave it a starred review. Barnes & Noble noted it as Best  New Fiction in December 2017. TheEveryGirl.com listed it among 10 Highly Anticipated Books Coming Out This Winter. But there is more quiet publishing...

Savory or Sweet: Spoonbread is Southern Love

In a recent interview, I was asked about the recipe appendix in my upcoming novel, THE LAST SUPPERS. Most of the recipes come from two cookbooks published in the 1930s. What rich source material! (Thanks to my cousin Kathy who found them at estate sales in Virginia.) The interviewer asked if I’d made all the recipes myself. I plan to, but so far, I’ve made three. One of those recipes — for spoonbread — is one I’ve had in my own recipe box for years. It’s one of my all-time favorite comfort fo...