The One I Can't Publish Because Somebody's Surely Done This Already, Right?

or, A Recipe for Creative Routines

Ingredients

• 1 box of used watercolor paints, ready to rearrange for maximum utility

• 7 stacks of partially finished paintings, assorted

• 1 cute new basket, or perhaps several, or probably at least one more is needed?

• several lawless bookshelves aching for attention, the more the better really

• 1 or more electronic devices connected to wireless internet

• a strong memory of that time you took your fourth-grade teacher announcing “there are no mistakes in art class!” much too literally

• 5 dried bunches of herbs and flowers from the summer of 2019 that require cataloguing right away

• an unfinished list of synonyms for the word “reciprocal”

• a dog — yours if possible, but random will do, so long as he needs walking

• 1 Wikipedia article about budgerigars

• 1 Wikipedia article about the last Duke of Bourbon

• 1 Wikipedia article about the War of the Polish Succession

• 1 Wikipedia article about the Duchy of oh stop it

• 47 questions about what people were wearing at the Grammys last February

• 1 Spotify app open to that unfinished playlist you were making for concentration music

• 3 emails to friends you haven’t seen since undergrad

• a phone call you’ve been putting off for seven weeks that will take two minutes and 13 seconds while you look at Instagram

• 1 search for how to spell ingene… ingenius… ingeniuos… or what about “clever,” or does that sometimes sound just a teensy bit derogatory? A teensy bit I mean, not a lot, but a bit? In certain contexts?

• 1 new word-choice dilemma to think about while you bake bread all Saturday afternoon instead of writing

Instructions

Combine in a wide bowl. Fold gently, over and over. This is the hardest part, so focus on the movement of your hands. It’s a ritual; it gets easier every time. Use a wooden spoon when you need.

When the mixture becomes stiff and stands away from the sides of the bowl, add a dollop of frustration, and then a whole heap of creativity and perseverance. The right moment for this step can be difficult to judge, but you’ll find you get better at it with practice.

Switch from a spoon to a whisk and pick up the pace. The mixture will be fluid now. Pay attention to your materials; let the joy of working with them become your energy. Keep whisking until most of the perfectionism has been released. This is the moment for the judicious addition of what if’s. What if you tried this? What if you tried that? What if all of this were play, of the most delicious kind?