a maker of things
idle hands and all that
dear reader,
how have you been?
i have been rediscovering the things my hands can do besides writing. there has been some writing, yes, some tinkering with words and trying not to get too heady about it all. but i have also been making things.
cooking Hainanese chicken rice. baking almond, peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. making a batter for barramundi with chips and mushy peas. mixing buckwheat and potato flour to make bread. combining ingredients for jollof and Ghanaian coleslaw.
my hands have been busy creating tangible things. there has been a sense of achievement i haven’t felt in a long, long time. it’s different to feeling productive because there is a completeness to it. and having something to show for hours of work feels good. the cooking got me started, and then i went to a woodworking class with my partner, as a gift for her birthday. it was incredible.
i carved a spoon out of a block of wood and now i think i can do anything. four hours of moulding and shaving and smoothing out grooves to create a wooden spoon that would help me with my next stew. i did not know i was this kind of person.
i have always known how to cook, how to feed myself relatively well and usually with the help of a recipe. but growing up, the kitchen was off limits until i was invited into it to do the very specific task of chopping vegetables. i was never told what we were making, never got to see the before and after steps of chopping, the bit where the rest of the meal is put together. i was not privy; i was a time-limited soux chef and that was that. i got to eat the food, but the full process was a mystery.
i had to teach myself what it meant to be comfortable in the kitchen much later, as an adult, and it’s something i am still learning about myself. but lately, i have stumbled across the joy of it. and it is doing something to me as a writer, even if i can’t quite articulate what that is just yet.
i have felt useful for the first time in weeks. i have been able to get out of my own head and find a way to be present. i have had enough time away from the page for my characters to start speaking to me again. so i will be doing more with my hands than the writing from now on, because it’s making space for something much bigger to come. i can feel it.
so dear reader, what else are your hands doing besides writing?
MB x
Before you go…
i recently joined the lovely Writing New South Wales to become one of their mentors. if you live in the NSW area in Australia and you need guidance on shaping, developing or refining your completed manuscript, consider becoming a member to sign up to one of my mentoring slots. find out more here.
i have a few slots open for Manuscript Assessments from next month (May) with Kill Your Darlings. you’ll get full editorial notes and feedback on your manuscript, and a one to one before and after i’ve read your work. find out more here and submit as my spots keep filling up fast!
if you just need a little writery check in, or you want to pick my brain for an hour about something you’re working on or developing, i have reopened some slots via my website for new and emerging authors. check them out and contact me directly if you have questions before you book.
and in other news, THE REST OF YOU was longlisted for the Jhalak Prose Prize! AAAAHHHHH.
that’s it from me. go do something (good) with your hands.