My mom brought me her copy of Julie and Julia, which I read over the weekend. (Min walked in the house while my whole family was sitting in the living room, reading our separate books. My poor husband looked like he’d accidentally transported onto an alien planet, where no one knew about video games.)

I know the book is supposed to be light entertainment, but it got me thinking about obsessions, and their side benefits. This woman’s obsessive cooking got her a food column, a book, and a movie deal!

I don’t think I can follow in her footsteps, though. I could blame the two kids and the grandma currently taking up space in my house and my head. Or I could blame my husband, who would be significantly less understanding of maggots in the dish rack.

Mostly, I think my own lack of obsessiveness would hold me back. Let’s be honest… I wouldn’t have made it through a day of cooking organ meats, let alone twelve months. My exercise goals change weekly, I’m working on three different books at once, and I’m reading one literary novel and one detective mystery. I’m just not the single-minded type.

I AM working on the 10,000 hours of practice, though, as per Malcolm Gladwell’s The Outliers. And maybe that’s where Julie’s obsession took her… in only 365 days.