Update on Recipe Testing (You All Are Awesome!)

Let’s talk for a minute about how awesome you all are. Seriously.

So this is what happened: I turned in my manuscript about a week ago, and since I no longer had this big huge pile of pages to occupy my every thought, I had all this new-found mental space and energy to dream things up and problem-solve and drive my publisher insane with questions and ideas.

One of the things I was nervous about was recipe testing—I really want to know that every recipe in Bread & Wine is delicious and easy to make. So I cooked up this idea to beg & plead for 27 loyal blog readers to help me out and test recipes. There are 27 recipes in the book, by the way—that’s where the number comes from. I ran the idea by Brannon, because I’m terrible with things like spreadsheets and details, and I knew keeping the 27 people and the 27 recipes all straight would require her expertise.

She thought there would be a great response, while I thought we’d be twisting people’s arms, and that it would end up being my mom, my cousin, and my neighbor, really.

And then more than 400 of you asked to test recipes.

Whaaaat?

You’re the coolest people ever. Seriously. Thank you.

So we put our little heads together and decided that it would actually be super-smart to test each recipe four times, and we sent out emails to the first 108 people who sent in emails.

But what to do with the rest of you? Here’s the deal: as a way of saying thank you SO much for being willing to recipe test, we selected five of you at random to receive signed advance copies of Bread & Wine.

The five winners are:

Brett Elizabeth Wilson

Marina Berryman

Shay Paulson

Emily Mathews

Kayti Christian

Winners, you don’t have to do a thing. Brannon will reply to the email you sent us to get your mailing addresses, and when the first printed copies are available, you’ll get a signed one in the mail.

And this means that we don't need any more emails about testing--you all are so sweet and lovely and your willingness has made my week, but we're all set for now.

Again, thanks SO much for being excited about this with me. There will be lots of chances for you to help with the release, and I’ll be posting all sorts of opportunities throughout the fall and winter.

You all are stars. Seriously. Big sparkly twinkly stars that make my job really, really fun. XO