How're the Carrots

It’s Time to Eat

Writing and publishing work on a schedule is like preparing a meal. There are a lot of decisions to make and a lot of steps along the way. There are several variables at play but when meal time comes, you need to have something ready to serve.

Sometimes the Carrots are Crunchy

My typical writing process is similar to preparing a meal in the crock pot. I like to get some ideas together, throw them in my mental crock pot, and let them simmer. I check in a few times, but I don’t like to rush the process. It usually takes a few days to produce a piece of writing I feel comfortable sharing. I am very intentional about writing and publishing on a schedule. Sometimes, however, the ideas don’t flow smoothly as I would like, and I begin to feel rushed and uneasy about the final product. I feel like a cook taking the carrots out of the crock pot too soon. Sure the carrots are edible, but a little too crunchy to really enjoy.

Last Week’s Carrots

I had a pretty good meal plan last week. I went in with some solid ideas and felt confident the crock pot system would do its job. However as Thursday neared, I began considering the choice I must ultimately make. Do I publish work that needs time to simmer or do I stick to the schedule? Whenever I have to choose, I typically err on the side of releasing the work on schedule. Last week, the meal was placed on the table. It was okay but a little more time in the crock pot would have done the carrots some good.

The Critical Cook

How many times have you been about to eat a meal and the cook starts to tell you everything that’s wrong with the food. They know they’ve prepared better meals and dishes. They know they can do better. They wish it had turned out a little differently.

So here I am, the critical cook. This is normally a dialogue I have in my head, but this week I thought I’d give you a little peek into the kitchen of my mind. Last week meal time was approaching and I decided to just go with it. At some point, the post goes out, and the meal is placed before the family. Besides, meal time is really about spending time together and enjoying the process. This gives us something to talk about and sometimes something to laugh about. So I guess I don’t need to be too critical as a cook.

How’re the Carrots?

Hope you like them. I’m sure they could be better, but maybe this meal’s not so bad. Maybe it’ll be better next week. Maybe not. Regardless, I like cooking these weekly meals so we can spend a little time together.

There are lots of cooks out there.

Thanks for spending a little time here at the table with me.

I hope you enjoy the meal.

And I hope you enjoy the day!