Do you miss me?

I thought so…but don’t feel bad if you don’t. I get it. I hardly notice when I’m gone myself. But in case you were worried, I have been fine. Great actually. I’ve been writing more than I have in decades which is fun for me. I’ve also been learning about this social media stuff which is interesting and sorta kinda fun, but not always. I have this annoying inner compass that tells me not to like a photo if I don’t actually like it and not to post if I have nothing to say or don’t feel like it. It is not easy to train an old dog like me.

But back to me. I don’t want to lose you before I get to the actual news that requires your attention so here it is in a nutshell. I have a new website and I can’t take all your emails with me so you probably will not get my blog updates unless you re-subscribe in my new blog signup on my site www.smilingwatergroup.com. Please, please, please come with me! And while you are there, you can also follow me on Instagram @smilingwatergroup or on twitter @smilingwatergrp (but I’m not a twitter fan so my tweets are just my automatic posts from Instagram.) I can only do so much.

The reason for the new website and social media blather is that I wrote a book. Long story is that I had a theme and plot for a novel of sorts based very loosely on my blog. I went to a writer’s conference to explore my ideas and get help with the writing of said book. At the conference, I found myself in an independent publishing seminar and suddenly the OTHER idea I had for a book (that had only popped into my brain a month earlier) seemed like a great idea. Let’s hope it is a great idea because it is happening!

The book is a nonfiction guidebook (not a cookbook although it has a small recipe section) which is the result of my experience eating Paleo for the past three years. Paleo, a way of eating that is more lifestyle than diet, was so exciting and interesting to me that I researched and talked about it all the time that first year, to the point where I started getting messages weekly from people asking questions about Paleo. Why eat this and not that? What if I don’t like red meat? Does it actually help with stomach issues? Can I still eat sriracha? These things are important to people and the answers are not always easy to locate in the thousands of Paleo websites.

There are also thousands of Paleo books, mostly cookbooks, but the few informational books I found made me wish I had taken more science classes in college. I don’t want to say everyone who eats Paleo is a nerd. But most of the people writing the books about eating Paleo are some serious science nerds. Nice nerds. Super smart nerds. They lost me at leaky gut.

I wrote my book to bring the information about Paleo to the masses…people like me who just want to eat well and feel well. I want it to be understandable and inspiring to those of us who don’t work in medicine, didn’t excel in high school Chemistry, aren’t extreme athletes, or are maybe a bit slow when it comes to nutrient density. I want people to see what eliminating processed food can do for your health and happiness. I want sick people to feel better and healthy people to stay healthy. The book is titled How To Eat Paleo (when you don’t live in a cave) and I hope you all will read it. Trust me, it will be easy to read.

The book is written and is currently being illustrated by a smart, talented, and beautiful young woman named Joya. How perfect is that? (She is not related to me but I am as proud of her work as if she were my daughter.) The book is going to be creative and fun and filled with clever graphics. If there is one thing I knew for sure at the beginning of this process it was that if I was publishing a book, it was going to be visually inspiring. If people are going to read about things like leaky gut and nutrient density, they should have some interesting graphics to keep them turning the pages. Thankfully, Joya came into my life and is filling it with beauty.

So that is what I’ve been up to. I’d love to hear what you think about my project. I post on Instagram about the upcoming book and other Paleo stuff @howtoeatpaleo so please follow me there too and like things if you want to. And now you will hear from me again on my blog. But only when I have something to say.