My part time day job is not that creative and I love it. It uses none of my creative energy. I suspect my boss, who is creative in his job, wonders just how creative I am in my writing life.
But that creative well gets empty. It never runs completely dry, but it must be replenished. I have no idea if everyone feels this way, but I do.
So what do I do to refill the well? Over the years I’ve done cross stitch. I’ve made Christmas ornaments. I’ve even sewed a little. What I always come back to involves food.
Not surprising as I love food. Most of the time I bake. Funny thing is, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth so I don’t eat much of what I bake. I have teenage boy and a tweenage boy so they gratefully eat what I bake.
Today is a rainy Sunday as I am writing this. I made soup.
Butternut Squash Soup to be exact. One of my favorites. I discovered it when I went to a dinner for my department at work. I fell in LOVE with this soup. I scoured recipes and realized just how easy it was to make. My way.
And I think soup is good for the soul anyway. It serves two purposes. My creative well gets refilled and my soul gets soothed. Win. Win!
My recipe:
Half a butternut squash, peeled and chopped.
Chicken broth (better if it is homemade)
Cinnamon
Allspice
Ginger
Clove
Tofu
Use whatever portion of spices you want. Sometimes I even add nutmeg. Throw it all (excerpt the tofu) into a pot and simmer for half an hour. Wait until it cools and either use in immersion blender or a real blender and blend until smooth. Put in some tofu and blend again. This makes it creamy.
Yum!
I have two questions today.
For readers: Do you feel you are creative in some aspect of your life?
For writers: How do you refill the creative well?
I will give away to one lucky poster a Bath and Body Works Vanilla Coconut candle.
Thanks for having me.
Chris Redding lives (and bakes) in New Jersey with her husband, two sons, one dog and three rabbits. When she isn't writing or promoting, she works for her local hospital. Corpse Whisperer is available now on Kindle. Incendiary will be out this Winter in print and electronic version.
8 comments:
Hi, Chris. Thanks for stopping by today! Great blog. I have to say that I am not a creative person. Give me a craft and I'll mess it up, I don't care how easy it is. My lions come out looking like bears! This is true...I decorated a cake..it was supposed to be a lion, however, it looked more like a bear. I have done counted cross stitch before and enjoyed it, but I always, always dropped a stitch. That was frustrating.
My sister is very creative. She does BE-AU-TI-FUL quilts and she made the most georgeous bracelet for me (not a quilt one) for my 50th birtday. I need to take a picture of it and post. She has little frames on it, with maps of every place I've lived in my life. It's wonderful!
I bet if you try harder Anna, you will figure out that you are creative in SOME way. You ARE a writer!cmr
I can do some crafty things with my kids or bake and decorate cakes, not well, but I can do it.
I can't draw or paint.
My true creativity comes from making stuff up.
Sleep or exercise is needed to fill my creative well.
The soup sounds good.
I'm creative when it comes to helping people feel comfortable when they are at a gathering and don't know many people at the event.
lenikaye@yahoo.com
I love to paint or head out with my camera to capture nature at its best. :) Can't wait to try the soup! Thanks for sharing!
I used to do far more creative things, like oil painting, drawing, crafts, gourmet cooking, and writing poetry. Now my creativity involves writing novels (suspense, YA and romance) and marketing. Yes, you have to be very creative to promote books. :-)
Chris, I too love butternut squash soup. My recipe is a bit different. I add an onion, a cup of carrots, a drizzle of honey and curry powder. I use a dash of milk instead of tofu, or no milk at all.
Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
aka Cherish D'Angelo
I used to paint, cross-stitch, make lap blankets, but right now I'm making greeting cards for the church to sell at different functions...they're easy and quick...also, I bake!
Tessy
I am a crafty person, lol; I bake, make Christmas ornaments and wreaths, scrapbook, knit(not much anymore). Earlier in my life I would see an object and think I can make this or that out of it, etc.
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