Advice, Tips, Writing

Perhaps I am a loaf of bread

“I am raining down in pieces. I am scattering like light.”

That quote is from Suzanne Vega’s song “Small Blue Thing” which I rediscovered while sorting my CDs. And it perfectly describes my current state of mind. I don’t seem to be able to concentrate on anything. The least thing distracts me. I am scattered in pieces.

bread This is a state of emptiness, I think. A time to refill, to soak in, to expand and solidify. This feeling reminds me of a familiar process. Usually, three times a week, I make bread. I mix the flours, water, salt, yeast, and oil and I knead it, let it rise, punch it down, let it rise again, form it into a loaf, let it rise once more, and then bake. When that loaf is eaten, I start the process over.

You can try to hurry the bread-making process—knead it less, skip a rising—but you won’t get the beautiful loaf you expect. Right now, I am scattered. I am in the ingredients stage. I need to be patient and let the “magic” happen.

20 thoughts on “Perhaps I am a loaf of bread”

  1. Homemade bread sounds SO DELICIOUS right now. It makes me want to bake some, too! Oh, wait…that would probably distract me from today’s goals of writing and working out. Still, it’s tempting! I’ve been scattering like light this week, too – yesterday, I couldn’t focus for the life of me. Today’s been better, though. Enjoy the process, and you’re right, you can’t force the magic. That was a timely reminder for me this morning, thank you!

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  2. I’m easily distracted too. I can’t seem to focus on some pretty important things right now. I’m dragged off to other realms at the drop of a hat and I just can’t seem to make myself …

    … Oh look! I just got an email!

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    1. Ah, yes, email. Some days I force myself to turn it off … for a while. But now, I’m waiting for that glorious email from an agent requesting a partial … or what the heck, a full! Oh, look I have several white roses in bloom. Maybe I’ll go outside into the sunshine.

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  3. I like your description or I should say your metaphore about the bread and the processus of writing. I feel exactly like this at the moment. When I start a new novel, I am doing a lot a search for the story I whant to write. This make me travel around a lot of different world and culture. I just try to feel the essentiel part of the theme I whant to develop…

    Sometimes, My mind is totaly lost in tranlation… To many new idea at the sametimes. I think its just a state of mine that will past when the bread… the story will be clear in my head and on the paper.

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