I did it the hard way. First, gather the recipes. Sounds easy. Everyone wants a family cookbook, and they want you to do it, but you would be surprised at what it took JUST to get the recipes. Then, you have to publish. I was naive and I just started typing in Word. Then, I learned that Word does NOT like long documents, so then we (I) broke everything down into chapters. Then, page numbers. They have to be automatic to be efficient, and I have about 15 chapters. That's when I learned about table of content and index entries. (Yes, go back to every single recipe and input the data.) I could go on and on... I wanted to have a theme *and* a title, so I finally decided on Honeysuckles and Huckleberries. There were 3 things that were consistent. First, every recipe was from a family member; that's a given. Then, and because of the title and theme (and because I love Mark Twain), at the beginning of every chapter there was a quote and illustration of his, and then on the back of every page I had a funny food quote -- most of the time accompanied by a family member's picture and a written memory I had of them telling the reader about the person. The first cookbook was published in 1990. Then, I did an upgrade maybe in 1998 or so. Then, I did it again in 2005 with lots of family pictures, stories that brought the recipes home, etc. We started in a 1-inch binder with room to spare, and now I'm we're over 2-1/2", printed on both sides. I've had so many people ask me for a cookbook... not even knowing what that meant. It's a very labor-intensive and expensive process. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! It's all about memories! Memories are associated with the food, and if no one writes that down, then it's lost forever, and that would be a shame. FWIW, at the end of the cookbook, I sign my name as "keeper of the cookbook" and that's what I am. I try to keep things real, and at the end of the day you just have to go forward on faith that someone in the future will care and they will pick up where you left off. It's a labor of love! Rhonda This is so cool. You should publish it and sell it! I'd buy it!