I’m still trying to come up with something to write about for Saturday’s writing group to the prompt, COOKING. I finally decided that the reason I’m struggling so much is because I don’t really enjoy cooking. Not only that, but for the life of me, I can’t come up with any childhood or other tender memories where cooking is at the center. Cooking, for me, is something I do because I have to—kind of like blow drying my hair in the morning. I don’t particularly enjoy it, but it has to be done.
During the years when I was working, cooking was a hurried thing tacked on to the end of a busy day. When I retired I went through a fairly long season of enjoying planning and preparing our evening meal. I got creative with recipes. We ate better—and healthier—than we had in years. The novelty has since worn off.
There are so many other things I’d rather be doing than cooking. Preparing for the dinner hour interrupts other, more important, activities like writing, reading, and pretty much anything else. I don’t like having to come up with ideas every. Single. Day. Honestly, I’m over it. Give me a writing prompt of CANNING, and I’m right there. But COOKING? Not so much.
I’ve either got writer’s block or I’ve just dug my heels in. It can’t be the former because I write every day, so I guess it’s myself getting in the way of myself. The countdown is on and it’s getting louder every day. Think, Linda. Think.
I’m right with you on the cooking front: there are many things I’d rather do instead too. This is a beautifully written piece – could this suffice for what you need? Or at least be the intro? I’m sure you could add another few paragraphs giving the detail of what you don’t like about it!
One of my personal joys is reading your blog and seeing a piece of life through your eyes. As per usual, you have hit upon a profound truth. Some seasons we don’t enjoy or connect with the everyday life giving necessities that just are. “Cooking’ represents what we need- like it or not, what we’ve known and what we hope will return…someday. Honestly, somedays we don’t care if it returns at all! And that is precisely where we as a society find ourselves. The necessary, sustaining, practical, delicious, creative and miraculous reality of community feels like it’s a joy of the past and so much hassle we don’t care if it returns. We might struggle to find warm childhood memories around it, we’ve tacked it on to the end of hurried days, we’ve loved it, we’ve all but abandoned it…but it still remains a vital necessity that just is. Thank you for continuing to gather real ingredients and create nourishment for your loyal group of readers. I push away from your table satisfied once again.
Does it have to be a literal piece, or can you use cooking as a metaphor?