Sometimes writing is like cabbage. Yes, cabbage. I’m about to explain the odd connection, and how two seemingly unrelated things can be so alike.
1) Some people love cabbage. Some people don’t. Maybe they want to like it because of the health benefits, but will eat cabbage only if they are super hungry. When they do try it, they sorta like it, but cabbage will never be their go-to dish. Even my cabbage, the dish I know is delicious, is just not their thing. They prefer something completely different. Same goes for my writing. Everyone will not like my writing every day. And that’s okay.
2.) Some days I don’t even like cabbage. Some days it stinks up the whole house. No matter how much time I spend or how much care I take adding the right combination of spices and flavors, the dish simply doesn’t taste right even to me, a lover of vegetables, a lover of cabbage. This typically happens on a recipe I felt certain would be primo. These dishes keep me honest and grounded and serve as a reminder that sometimes my cooking isn’t all that good. Failure happens. Sometimes my writing isn’t all that good either. Writing takes practice, just like cooking, like anything worth doing. Writing and cooking are both unpredictable endeavors.
3.) Other days I quickly chop the head of cabbage, toss it in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper and it turns out perfectly, invoking the smells of Momma’s kitchen and a simpler time. The cabbage sings. Everyone clamors for it, even though it was an afterthought. When this happens with a piece of writing, people relate, feel what I feel, engage with me.
Certain stories hit the mark. I can’t predict or plot or write to the occasion. My best plan is keeping it simple and being myself.
See this cabbage picture?
This picture surprisingly hit the mark when I posted it on my Grace Grits and Gardening Facebook page less twelve days ago. As of today, the photo has reached an audience of 40,400 people and received 2.2K likes, comments and shares. Who would have thunk it?
Apparently people relate to cabbage? And sometimes, when I’m really lucky, my writing.
Roasted Cabbage Steak Recipe
Thinly slice a head of cabbage.
Drizzle with olive oil.
Sprinkle cayenne, sea salt and pepper.
Roast @400 degrees for 15 minutes of so.
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
Instead of a musical pairing, here’s an excerpt from the sitcom Mike & Molly. If you don’t watch this show, you are missing hilarious, old-fashioned entertainment. In Season 4, Molly decides to leave her thirty year teaching job to write a book…(I can relate.)
What Molly Hath Wrought
(Late at night, Molly sits at the kitchen table reviewing her manuscript.)
Molly: Oh, God. (Sighs) Oh, God, why did I think I could write a book? Ooh! This is bad. Ooh, this is really bad. Oh. Ooh, that sucks. (Turning page of manuscript.) That sucks. (Turning next page.) Oh it still sucks. (Next page.) Still sucks! You know what? (Marking out sections with great fanfare.) I’ll do that and that. Yeah! Yeah!
Mike: What are you doing up so late?
Molly: I’m working on my book. (She sets it on fire.)
Mike: Okay. I take it you’re not happy with it.
Molly: Is that why you’re a cop? ‘Cause nothing fools you. Ooh.
Mike: Can’t be that bad.
Molly: It’s horrible, and I did everything, exactly what the guy told me to do in the How to Write Your Book book.
