Monday, September 23, 2013

Letting it Soak

I am the queen of letting pots, pans, and sticky bowls soak. I get most of the dishes done, but then I reach the dirtiest pot I decide it will be easier to clean later. Lots of times it is, the hot water pulls the caked on grease off the sides, but sometimes it would have been easy just to wipe it clean right away and more often than not letting it soak makes it harder, especially if you don't cover all of it in hot water.

I feel this way with writing sometimes. I reach a hard part and instead of just writing it, I leave it soak thinking it will be easier when I go back to it. Sometimes it is, but lots of times I've lost momentum and it's a lot harder to get it back.

Tonight I washed all of the dishes, even the caked on pots and it was nice to have a clean kitchen when I went to bed. I think I need to apply this to my writing. Just keep going and don't put it off until tomorrow.

How about you? Do you leave your writing to soak?

9 comments:

H. R. Sinclair said...

OMGoodness, does this ring true for me. I am so guilty of letting scenes soak! Hopefully the more I write the less I'll need to let them soak. Maybe? :)

Heidi Willis said...

I was thinking just this morning about how you are the queen of "life as a metaphor for writing," and here you are at it again!!

This is so true. But I think it's true both ways. Sometimes, letting a pot soak really does make it easier, just like letting a scene sit for a while makes it clearer how to proceed. And sometimes... it just puts off the inevitable hardness of it.

The trick is finding out how to know when one is better than another. I haven't figured that one out yet!

But I agree - it is really nice to go to bed with the kitchen clean... and knowing the hurdle in the book is taken care of. :)

Martin Willoughby said...

I'm a soaker, in the kitchen and in my writing. In the first instance because I don't clean as I go, in the second as it allows me to concentrate on something else so I can come back to it with fresh eyes.

Stina said...

Love the analogy. Yes I do. But that's because I've got several projects on the go now. While one is soaking, I work on something else. :D

Raquel Byrnes said...

Sometimes letting it 'thinkerate' really helps!

Edge of Your Seat Romance

Angela Ackerman said...

Holy cow, this is so me! (with writing and dishes, haha!)

It is hard to keep my butt in the chair when it comes to the hard parts. I just want to procrastinate and hope the problems go away, LOL.

Robyn Campbell said...

I let scenes soak all the time! I've decided to stop all that too. (But with the dishes, that's different.) I like to assign dish washing as a chore. I tell them that it builds character and they need it. Hahahaha. Then I giggle all the way out to the sun room while I stretch out with a good read in my hands. *wink* BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Misha Gerrick said...

I do let my stories soak when something's difficult. Luckily for me, soaking usually makes my writing easier. :-)

Carol Riggs said...

Ha! I'm a dish soaker for sure, and sometimes those pans soak WAY too long. Sometimes a bit of soaking story scenes/ideas is good, but not so long I lose the momentum, as you said you noticed. :)