Friday Speak Out!: I Don’t Write in the Kitchen!

by Claudia Mundell

Food…an issue for writers who are wives and mothers too. Does James Patterson have to set a timer so he doesn’t forget to tend scalloped potatoes in the oven while he writes? Does Nora Roberts tie a string on her pointer finger as a reminder to boil the spaghetti? Every writer knows how muddled her mind becomes during interrupted inspiration and creation, how the house could burn down as she thinks the smoke is just from her blazing hot love scene on the computer screen.

Food at my house is a complex issue due to diabetes and Crohn’s disease. Since certain foods are prohibited, prepared food can have an abundance of both sugar and salt, and throwing a sandwich on the table every day is not permissible, I have to plan ahead for meals. That means having a well-stocked kitchen, allowing a stretch of day for chopping, dicing, cooking, and plating….oh, and cleaning up! All that takes time and when a scene is racing through my head, I can’t always stop and get it written down. The nature of intense and roiling ideas isn’t always to wait for me!

This winter I am trying a new plan. I take one day to ignore writing completely and devote it to cooking and make enough for leftovers to last the week. Thankfully, hubby isn’t too discriminating and doesn’t object to repeated foods…for a week at a time. A huge pot of soup on Sunday will last until the next weekend. Soup with crackers, soup with cheese sticks, or then the last of the soup vegetables ladled over rice. A large old fashioned meatloaf added to an oven full of baked potatoes with serve again as rewarmed meat and chopped baked potatoes pan fried. At the end of the week, a meat loaf sandwich is so good. Even baked oatmeal with fruit can be warmed in a microwave getting one or two extra easy meals. Cooks and writers get the idea.

The idea is to have food that can be thrown on the table, eaten and the mess picked up fast. Knowing ahead that the meals are at least semi-prepared allows my mind to concentrate on stories and poems the other days. My day isn’t chewed up by cooking chores or the resentment of doing them. I have some extra minutes, even hours, built into my week.

When the writing goes well, maybe a story is not only finished but submitted, I treat both myself and hubby for his patience. We leave kitchen and office behind and step out for a meal. If I’m lucky, even enough leftovers will remain to bring home in Styrofoam boxes…the beginning for tomorrow’s meal. He thinks dining out is for treat or reward. Only I know it is writing research: people-watching and eavesdropping to gather sights and sounds for a whole new story idea!

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Claudia Mundell loved words when she first met them. Reading and writing were keys to the world outside of Southeastern Kansas. She started collecting snippets of great thoughts as early as third grade, was writing poetry by fourth grade, and never stopped putting thoughts to paper.
Writing is both work and hobby. It is satisfying to work hard on a piece, to bring it to creative completion. Once into a story, it is hard to leave and come back to the real world cooking and cleaning. Her other hobbies are knitting, reading, collecting Blue Willow dishes, and drinking good tea. 

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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!
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7 comments chores, Claudia Mundell, food and writing, Friday Speak Out, the writing life

Friday Speak Out!: The Addictions of Potables and Writing

by Claudia Mundell

Many writers rely on the crutch of some addiction while writing or as solace after the writing experience. The creative works of many great American authors are linked to some strong beverage they imbibed.

Hemingway may have invented the Bloody Mary while F. Scott Fitzgerald relied on gin, with liquor often appearing on the pages of his tales. Faulkner leaned on whiskey, and Truman Capote loved pills and drink, his favorite swallow being a Screwdriver made of vodka and orange juice. Then there was Carson McCullers who often had beer after breakfast. At the typewriter she nursed a handy thermos full of hot tea with a splash of sherry. She called this concoction Sonnie Boy.

I am a drinker too, but my addiction of choice is straight, freshly brewed tea. Inspiration forms while the malty fragrance of unfolding leaves develops. While the pot or pitcher might vary throughout the day, a cup or glass of some kind is at my elbow constantly nurturing my creativity. The day begins with a strong breakfast blend that brews into a dark color, strong enough to walk on it seems. I might vary it from English, Irish or Scottish, but they all provide the shot of caffeine that stokes early morning fires in my mind. In the winter, I tote a tea pot covered in a quilted cozy to my desk with maybe a nice bone china cup to give a delicate dash to my day. In the summer, I arrange a tea tray with my classic white pot and a sturdy but colorful mug to carry to the deck. Nothing like early morning air and chirping birds to sing you into a story.

In late morning, I arise from the keyboard, stretch, and take a break from creating characters and dialogue. I head for the kitchen and choose a blend of black and green tea mixed with passion fruit or maybe a cinnamon orange with spicy kick. I pour it all over lots of ice cubes for a refreshing lift and grab a couple of cookies for some substance to hold me until lunch. After all, I need to update submissions and check email for editors’ responses before stopping work.

Evening time brings an easing back on writing. Sunset is time to reread what I have written in the morning and do a little editing. It also sets the scene for where I will go to work first thing the next morning. A nice blueberry herbal tea helps the day unwind or maybe a pot of amber shaded chamomile to induce sleep makes an agreeable ending to the day. My addiction for a robust drink while living the writing life is as strong as Hemingway’s and Capote’s, but tea is definitely my own potable of choice.

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Claudia is from the Midwest and loves the prairies along with the Santa Fe, New Mexico area. She grew up in the southeastern corner of Kansas and now lives in the southwestern corner of Missouri. A retired teacher who writes fiction and poetry, she recently complicated her own life with a shepherd/border collie mix rescue dog that seems to have a case of ADD. Visit her at http://claudiapage-bookie.blogspot.com/ for thoughts on tea, books, writing and living a dog’s life.

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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!

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12 comments beverages, Claudia Mundell, Drinking and Writing, Friday Speak Out, writing habits

Friday Speak Out!: Writing Is Hazardous to My Health, Guest Post by Claudia Mundell

Writing Is Hazardous to My Health

by Claudia Mundell

Do you ever think too much about writing? Do you ever forget what you’re doing, become lost in your imaginary world? Are you ever driving, overlook where you are going, and forget YOU are the one at the wheel? Is thinking in scenes while driving as dangerous as texting while driving?

I have to be cautious to not work on a story right before dashing to the grocery store. If I am not careful, I am pinching rutabagas while pondering the right word to describe a passionate embrace and moaning in vicarious pleasure while other shoppers look on. Or I might plan some murderous deed while clutching the steering wheel in a death grip and not realize the bumper up ahead is just that--a mere bumper and not a target to annihilate.

I remember that May Sarton often left poems on her desk unfinished for months while seeking the exact word. Sometimes I wiggle sentences and juggle words knowing a poem has some ragged edges yet. I realize the work needs to be honed a bit, sharpened like a kitchen knife that won’t slice a tomato clean and precise. So I mull over words, sticking in and taking out, trying to find the optimum one. It is like having a ring of keys in your hand and knowing one will fit the lock if you can just find it.

Women are multi-taskers and jugglers, always having several balls in the air. So I often try doing household tasks between running trips to the computer. Put a load of laundry in, write a line; brown chops, write a love scene; dash off two paragraphs and remake the bed with clean linens. It usually works well but can lead to disaster. I was writing one day when sounds of gunfire echoed through the house. I thought, “Oh, the dastardly criminals are loose again.” But wait a minute, there are no guns in my story! Bam, another pop and I sniffed a sulfur smell. Eggs!

I went to the kitchen to find a pan of eggs had boiled dry of any water and were in the process of exploding all over my kitchen. Yes, I had set a timer, but its gentle ding was lost somewhere in the 1800’s as a pioneer woman tried to parley with a Comanche for the safety of her daughter.

A cell phone can be put in my purse; a computer can be put in sleep mode. But my mind, what there is left of it, is hard to turn off. It races on all the time. So if the police scanner broadcasts a hit and run accident, it might be me tooling down the street thinking the fender I just hit was a log in river while I was padding for Lewis and Clark. Then again, I have been known to step off the curb in front of traffic while my head was in the clouds. Writing can be hazardous to my heath!


Claudia McKinney Mundell is mother of two sons and grandmother to Mason. She lives with her recently retired husband in Carthage, Missouri. Claudia finds it so satisfying to work hard on a piece and bring it to a creative completion. Once she starts writing a story, it is hard to leave it and come back to the real world for ordinary things like cooking and cleaning. Other hobbies are knitting, reading, collecting Blue Willow dishes, and drinking good tea.

Visit her blog at: http://claudiapage-bookie.blogspot.com/

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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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2 comments Claudia Mundell, Friday Speak Out