August 15, 2019
4 PM PDT | 5 PM MDT | 6 PM CDT | 7 PM EDT

Beth Ricanati

Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs

Over a decade ago, as an overwhelmed physician and mother of three young children, I made challah one Friday morning at the recommendation of a friend. I had never made homemade bread. The experience was the beginning of a life-transformative behavior. Making challah every Friday has changed my life. Having learned so many life lessons through this weekly meaningful ritual, I began to write what has become Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs about 6 years ago. I realized that I wanted to share what I had learned – after all, I couldn’t be been the only stressed out mom on the block!

I was actually trying to write another book at the time, and had contacted a book coach. As a practicing physician, I had done some medical writing but had never tried to write a book. In some of our initial conversations, she was able to quickly surmise that the story in me was not that one, but rather this one! We worked together for a year as I wrote my manuscript. Much like a braided challah, the book has three strands as well: it is part memoir, part cookbook and part self-help/how to. It is my story of how I learned to slow down and reconnect with myself in this busy, fast-paced world of ours.

From this conversation, members will learn:

• The importance of having a meaningful ritual in our lives
• How a memoir can also be more than a memoir, in this case also a cookbook and self-help/how to book
• The importance of working with an expert, in my case a writing coach; especially important if you have no background as an author
• The joy of sharing your story with others, and what happens when you do!