If you cook and you write, you could write your own cookbook. How? Well, it could help to take the course Writing (and Selling) the Cookbook Only You Could Write, taught by MB's Norman Kolpas, who has written more than 40 books on food, including the recently published The Quick Grill Artist and Practically Useless Information: Food & Drink; Pottery Barn's Style Recipes: Cocktails. Here are a few tips from Norman to get you going:

Upscale French (and snooty non-French) chefs sometimes offer guests tiny, flavorful bites of food soon after they're seated and before they've even ordered anything. Called "amuse-gueles," literally "gullet amusements," these are meant to excite the appetite, teasing diners with just a hint of the culinary creativity to come.

Let me, then, offer here a few small, teasing tastes to get you excited about the rich banquet of information I'll be providing in my Cookbook Writing 101 seminar at Media Bistro.

* Make yourself an expert. The difference between amateur, wannabe cookbook writers and those who succeed lies in gaining expertise in the world of cookbooks and cookbook publishing. We'll talk in greater depth about how to go about doing that.

* Shop for possible publishers in a bookstore. You can find most of what you need to know about where to send your book idea, and to whom, just by doing some intensive browsing. I'll explain what you need to do.

* Write a recipe like a screenplay. This tip goes over big in Hollywood. Once I explain what I mean (for example, don't have a character fire a gun-or put a sauté pan on the stove-without first establishing its presence), you'll be better equipped to write effective recipes.

* Discover a whole new world of tax deductions. Yes, recipe testing can be a legitimate business expense!

* Think of acquiring editors as Uncle Scrooge McDuck. I'm going to leave you scratching your head over this one until the moment I explain it in class.