I promise this post is about books (eventually). Be patient with me.
One of my earliest memories—I was two, I think—is helping my grandmother make a cake. I should probably say “helping,” because I doubt I was all that useful, but the event was important enough to me that it stuck in my head. My grandmother was a wonderful baker. I remember her cheese knishes with particular fondness. When she passed away over 20 years ago, I inherited her KitchenAid mixer. It’s still going strong in frequent use, and I think about her when I use it.
When I was a teenager my mother ran a bread bakery out of our house. She started baking bread due to my siblings’ food allergies, but her bread became so popular that she ended up making it in bulk in our little suburban kitchen and selling it through several local groceries. Our house was always filled with the sound of mixers and the perfectly wonderful aroma of baking bread.
My older daughter, who’s 23, also loves to bake. It’s a form of stress release for her. When she lived with us we called her the Midnight Baker because it wasn’t unusual for me and my husband to wake up and discover something delicious in the kitchen (and dirty dishes in the sink).
I bake too. Almost all of the household bread, plus occasional sweets. It’s important to me, partly because of that family connection. Partly because I like to eat my creations. And also—largely—because baking is magic. You can take the very simplest ingredients and, with some effort, time, and heat, create something completely different and absolutely delicious. The most basic breads require just flour, water, yeast, and salt (and I learned this summer that Tuscan bread doesn’t even include the salt). Mix those things correctly, allow the dough to rise, bake it, and you get a miracle.
So… books. Books have the same links for me that baking does. I come from a family of readers. When I’m reading—or writing—I feel as if I’m part of a long tradition.
And just like baking, writing is magic. You take some words, which aren’t all that interesting by themselves, you mix them properly and subject them to some heat—i.e., editing!—and you get something new and miraculous. And maybe even delicious.
Here’s to the joy of everyday magic!
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Kim Fielding is the bestselling author of numerous m/m romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning genres such as contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and historical. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in 15th century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, housekeepers, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.
After having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls the boring part of California home. She lives there with her family and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explain why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.
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A complete list of Kim’s books: http://www.kfieldingwrites.com/books/