NaBloPoMo 19 of 30

Do you know, really know, how milk is homogenized?

I do.

How about when and why Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) were created?

Or how to set up a valid, double-blind taste test which guards for bias?

Now you know how I have been spending my time lately. I’ve been working on a project – a pretty good-sized project – for a client which creates middle school curricula. I’ve been compiling, researching, and developing curriculum materials on Food Science Technology. I’ve learned more than I ever expected to about this area of study, and while it’s been (mostly) interesting, I admit to being happy that I am just about done with the project.

It’s the biggest freelance project I’ve tackled to date, and I have discovered that my attention span lends itself better to shorter projects. But I am glad I did it, now I have a better idea of what is really involved in writing a book (this project ran about 25,000 words, as compared to 80,000 – 120,000 which is normally considered the average for a novel.) And that knowledge – which surprised me, in a good way, when I figured it out – may be what I needed to actually start writing. Because, as my 11 year old said to me this summer, “You know, Mom, if you are going to write a book, you actually have to write.”