If you’ve read my bio, you know that I'm a foodie, so here are six tips for writing a better recipe. Yum!

1. Put in all the ingredients. I remember once hearing about a cook who, any time they were asked for the recipe for one of their dishes, would give it , but leave out one ingredient. That might have made the original dish taste better than the future iterations and made the cook look good, but it did little to spread good eating.

2. Use evocative descriptors. Would you rather eat an avocado or a creamy tree-ripened avocado? (Here's one spot to throw in some adjectives and adverbs) You might say it a distinction without a difference, but in our modern culture we’ve been programmed to salivate at the ringing of the descriptor bell.

3. Give a clear progression of steps. Do the onions go in first or is it the green peppers? While this sounds like common-sense, cooking is more than just throwing ingredients in a pan and adding heat. Walk your reader through the process of taking the raw ingredients and sculpting them into a masterpiece.

4. Throw in hints and stories to make it more personal. Never underestimate the power of the personal connection. If you love a certain food because it was a staple at every family reunion, let your readers know. If you can put a sidebar about the history of a certain ingredient, you are adding pizazz to the recipe’s narrative. Do you have a special trick for peeling that stubborn boiled egg? Give your readers exclusive insight onto your work process. They’ll love the extra details!

5. Get Beta Testers to Give You Feedback. Find people who are willing to cook through your recipe. Consider throwing a cooking party and have friends work through your recipe and instructions. Ask them to be forthcoming in the feedback, both for what works and what doesn’t. One plus to this approach is you will be able to see how people interpret your instructions firsthand. 

6. Include a mouthwatering picture of the final result.We are wired for a multi-media approach to recipes and cookbooks. I tend to avoid cookbooks with a lot of black and white text, and instead gravitate to bold, brilliant pictures where the food has been meticulously presented for my visual enjoyment.

These six tips will help you to create masterpiece recipes to pass on to your family and friends.

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We all have our unique way of working. Some people enjoying writing in longhand (sorry, that would kill me), some buy software that helps them outline and remember bits of research, or some have a favorite place they like to write. I too have a crutch!

***Before for I go any further, let me offer this disclaimer. Nobody anywhere at any time for any reason is paying me a red cent to say this.***

My favorite writing crutch is a proofreading program called Grammarly.  Grammarly is web-based, but can be installed into Microsoft Word (and other word processing programs) if you like.

The interface is clean and user friendly and seems to catch a decent amount of my typing errors. I’d be lying if I said it was perfect, but I’m not looking for perfect, I’m looking for help.

Here’s how Grammarly works. You upload or paste a text file into the program and it combs through it for typographical and grammatical errors.  On the right hand side it has a bar where any errors or anomalies are displayed for your review while a number on the bottom grades your work for the number of found errors. As is normal, 100 is the target score.

As you deal with the errors on the side bar, the grade level adjust accordingly. Comma usage is a big one for me! Other features you can turn on is a vocabulary enhancer that will suggest better, more targeted words and a plagiarism feature to double check your manuscript. The second item does little for me since I write fiction, but cool none the less.
One last feature I appreciate about the program is you are sent a weekly status update showing usage and word count as well as several other cool statics.

This is not magic, but for someone like me who typos a lot, this is a terrific tool to add to the kit! The cost ranges depending on the promotion they’re running, but you can test drive it for free. For me, this is money well spent.

In another post I alluded to being a fan of the Hardy Boys in various iterations when I was growing up. I’m amazed by the number of thriller writers admitting to having read and/or enjoyed the Hardy Boys. Dan Brown, Brad Thor, Stephen King, John Grisham, and Ted Bell all belong on that list as do many more, I’m sure.

I have a similar childhood experience. I remember going often to the local used bookstore called The Bookmark, and hunting down various mystery series books including Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Three Investigators. Hardy boys and Three Investigators were by far my favorites. Sherlock Holmes mounted that pinnacle as I grew older. Then later joined by others such as Jeri Massi, Edgar Allan Poe and the Robert Ludlum.

There’s a comfortable familiarity in returning to series characters that you’ve shared an extended journey. They become something more than just words on a page, they become family. You get to feel their joys and pains, learn their quirks and foibles. Contrary to what is sometimes expressed , some of these series mysteries had deep, complicated plots and relatable, empathetic characters that are still burned in my mind years later.

The Hardy Boys and the slightly lesser known Three Investigators were that for me. All the signature joys of a modern thriller; fast paced action, exotic locals, and breathtaking twists and turns, albeit in a slimmer packaging.

Truth be told, I’m still a fan of these series mysteries (though it’s been a long while since I read one), because for me it was the gateway to my love of storytelling, both reading and writing. My reads may be longer and more complex, but my fondness for these books has not faded away.  Whenever I see those old, blue Hardy Boys covers, my heart still skips half a beat.