What to Do When You are Sick of Writing (or any other brain-sucking activity)

Just ask Caroline Carlson, who wrote The Door at the End of the World, a book I won (by the luck of the draw) for commenting on L. Marie’s website. Woo Hoo!

 

Here is Caroline’s solution to too much sitting at the computer and thinking, thinking, thinking.

She says, “I love to bake because baking feels like the exact opposite of writing a book: you just follow the instructions in the recipe, and a few hours later, you have a finished product. Books don’t work that way at all,” a fact verified on my last post!

Taking a clue from Caroline, I followed the nudge. It wouldn’t be a cake. Instead, I’d create an entrée salad for an evening meal!

  1. Opening the fridge, I found:2. Adding to the chopped celery: tomato, almonds and walnuts

 

3. I plucked herbs from the bathroom window sill: basil and mint pots (#2 and #5)

4. Spices; cinnamon, black pepper, turmeric. And a squeeze of lemon and I was DONE!

 

My mother’s oft-heard advice on following recipes “Just add what you think!” applied here. However, whimsy certainly wouldn’t work for a cake where proportions count, as I’m sure Ms. Carlson would agree!

The dressing? I prefer balsamic vinaigrette, but the finishing touch is your choice!

***

What some writers think about cooking:

“Writing’s a lot like cooking. Sometimes the cake won’t rise, no matter what you do, and every now and again the cake tastes better than you ever could have dreamed it would.”

― Neil Gaiman, Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders

“A writing cook and a cooking writer must be bold at the desk as well as the stove.”
― M.F.K. Fisher

Writing is work and cooking is relaxing .    — Diane Mott Davidson

Your salad-making tips?

Your solution to balancing brain-taxing tasks?

Other quotes to add?

Benefits of eating light at night?