Cooking dinner requires ingredients and time. Ingredients require shopping. Shopping requires work. As the cheapest, sorry, frugal, person on the face of the planet I shop the sales and then I check to make sure I have a coupon for what's on sale. I shop at multiple stores. This one has "buy on get on free," this one accepts competitor's coupons, this one give you gas points and a discount at the gas pump. And yes, I do get a thrill of having coupons for "buy one get one free" stuff and a really big thrill when I can stack a store coupon with a manufacturer's coupon. And if I can do that with "buy on get one free" I'm in a total happy place! Squeee! I know, I'm a freak.
As I was
saying, dinner takes all sorts of planning. Once I know what ingredients are on
sale, then I can begin menu planning. I can make meatloaf, or turkey
tetrazzini, or chicken and rice. And I have to consider that meals need to
stretch for leftovers (if I can get the Little Man to eat leftovers) and
lunches for my husband to take to work. "Honey? Are you traveling this
week? Or do you have customers visiting that you'll take to lunch?" I ask.
"I don't know yet. I don't think so. I'll let you know. What's for
dinner?" he replies. I remind you, I'm the planner and he is more
spontaneous.
Then there
is the time element. Sometimes I don't have time to do my due diligence with
the weekly sales ads. Perhaps we've been working on a project in our fixer-upper
house, or I'm busy knitting scarves for church, or Little Man is in full-swing
terrible two's. Whatever the reason, sometimes dinner is scavenged out of the
freezer and pantry. Tonight we are having hot dogs with macaroni and beef
gravy! Or some such interesting concoction. And other times, dinner is take out
from whatever restaurant is closest and has curbside service (a wonderful
invention).
Writing is
like dinner. To have a story you want to tell is easy but to have all the
ingredients and time to write it down takes planning. And even with planning,
sometimes things get in the way. Sometimes you are able to make your outline,
plan your back stories, list your tensions, and block out your chapters.
Sometimes you are scavenging and just writing by the seat of your pants. Other
times there is no writing and it is just a day to read. Ironically, I write mostly by
the seat of my pants and do my structuring and continuity during revisions. I
do know my characters' back stories and list my tensions. Where the back story
is revealed and when the tensions happen is entirely up to the flow. Hmmm, I'm a spontaneous writer! But tonight we
are having meatloaf.
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