{"id":2387,"date":"2021-09-28T19:26:34","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T23:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/?p=2387"},"modified":"2022-06-04T19:10:18","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T23:10:18","slug":"beans-vs-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/28\/beans-vs-soup\/","title":{"rendered":"Beans vs. Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p> $\"\"$ It\u2019s been almost a year since I last blogged. This may come as no surprise to many writers who\u2019ve said they, too, felt as though their muse has been hiding under a blanket. In the closet. In that back corner that the light never seems to reach. Behind the boxes of clothes you always plan to donate and never manage to deliver. Yeah. Back there. Writing of any kind in a time like these last two years can feel like digging carrots out of hard clay soil. Technically, you get a harvest, but the result will be stunted, warped, and funky. For me, it was so labor intensive I often avoided it altogether until the voices in my head left me no alternative.\n

Blogging\u2019s even harder because seriously, in a pandemic when many of us are still hesitant to leave our homes even while masked, what have we done that was worth writing about? Or reading about, for that matter? Binge-watching old television shows only carries one so far in this regard. It\u2019s like eating plain beans day after day. It\u2019ll keep you on this side of the garden plot, but it isn\u2019t something you\u2019d write home about.<\/p>\n

Recently, though the Bobinator and I have begun to venture out. Once we went out to dinner. Twice $\"\"$ we\u2019ve gone to play pool and eat fabulous fries at a local pool hall. And this past weekend, I braved the Hampton Roads Writers Conference, their 13th and my 7th (including the virtual one from last year, and not counting the year of the hurricane-that-wasn\u2019t). Everyone wore masks and donned gloves for handling common serving implements at the buffet. The crowds weren\u2019t as thick, and the staff of the conference and the hotel took every precaution they could to keep us all safe, so I felt relatively secure in braving this adventure.<\/p>\n

It was there, in a break-out session on blogging, that the light bulb went on in my head, saying, \u201cHey, why don\u2019t you combine both your blog pages into one resource?\u201d<\/p>\n

To be fair, I thought before that separating my posts on writing into a blog of their own would be the smart thing to do in case that one perfect agent came to review my writing history and resources. My other blog, where I meander through spirituality, social issues, nature expressions, and personal growth, felt off-topic. But a year of no variety beyond the walls of our apartment, the drive to work, and the walls of my office have made it clear to me that these \u201coff-topic\u201d posts could be like salt and pepper for plain beans.<\/p>\n

Additional topics like beliefs, experiences, or world-views may concoct a more savory taste of a writer\u2019s\u00a0life in the same way onions, peppers, garlic, and tomatoes could turn my beans into hearty soup\u2014comfort in a bowl, and much more satisfying than beans alone. A writer\u2019s life away from the desk is as $\"\"$ important as what happens at the keyboard. It\u2019s those non-writing experiences that feed our inspiration, fuel our fires, ripen our ideas.<\/p>\n

So over the next few weeks, I\u2019ll be harvesting posts from my secondary blog (most of which are old, but still relevant to who I am as a person and as a writer), as well as posts from my social media, to blend into the mix here. I hope something will spark a story idea for my fellow writers or offer encouraging fare to others who come to see what writing\u2014and a writer\u2019s life\u2014are all about.<\/p>\n

Oh and, before you go, would you please pass the salt?<\/p>\n

Beans Photo by Tijana Drndarski<\/a> on \u00a0 Unsplash<\/a>
\nSpices Photo by Tamanna Rumee<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0 Unsplash<\/a>
\nSoup Photo by Janine Meuche<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0 Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"