Red apron recipe #1
Ready in hours, days or weeks
I realize that when we hear the word “recipe” we visualize a list of ingredients. Much the same happens when we hear the words “writing” or “book”. We visualize words on a page. We image an old Dickensian desk lit by a candle. Hunched into that candle light an old bastard scribbles something onto the top piece of a pile of papers.
But neither the list of ingredients nor the words on a page actually have their start on the page. Or the pen in hand. Or laptop. Just as eating begins in the garden, writing begins in the mind. So, my first Red Apron Recipe begins in the tool shed. The one where you keep the basic tools needed to work the mind garden from which your writing, or any creative endeavor, has the best chance to take root and grow your own unique story.
In order to prepare your mind to write or create, work must be done. If you want to eat, the same holds true.
At least for me. I had lots and lots of work to be done. I was starting with an arid rocky, weedy plot of land. I needed every tool in my shed. Below, are a list of tools attached to possible uses for them.
Big shovel yoga
Smaller shovel meditation
Gloves walks in the park, neighborhood
Trowel exercises such as cross training, running
Compost pile dreams
Rake journaling
Buckets, flower pots sauna, whirlpool, poolside
Weed tool intentional distractions such as drives in the country
Since I plan on posting only a recipe a month, it will give you time to find your own tools and apply whatever task you see fit to that tool. It is your shed, your garden and will be your recipes. In this coming month if you get into your shed and you use a tool or two, just notice how you feel afterwards. And if you feel like it, then write down whatever has come to mind.
