How to hard boil a book
Sometimes it’s hard to remember to keep things simple.
I’ve had a little trouble hard boiling eggs over the past few months. That should be simple, right? Not that it’s a daily pastiime or anything, but once I just didn’t cook them long enough. ‘Nuff said. Once I probably cooked them too long because the shells were stuck on with some kind of eggy super glue.
Last night, they were perfect.
I boiled the water to a roll, gently plunked in the eggs, covered the pot, took it off the heat and walked away.
I picked up my daughter, ran an errand, made a salad, checked my email and fixed the rest of dinner.
I lifted the lid and crossed my fingers. I dipped in a slotted spoon and drew out the eggs one by one.
Perfection. No goop. No sticky shell.
Sometimes you have to walk away from something that should be easy – because the more you overthink it and the more you try – the more it Just. Doesn’t. Work.
That happens with writing sometimes. Try to tweak that one sentence. Find that right word. Slam dunk that first graf. It should be easy, but it’s not. You boil it too long and the words stick to the page – or the screen – and won’t move around or do what you want. Or, maybe you’re impatient and your thoughts ooze all over and it’s a mess — and not what you intended.
Sometimes the best thing to do is put the lid on it and walk away. Do something else, write something else. Watch TV. Sing a song. Do the laundry (HA).
When you come back, chances are, everything will fall into place. You’ll sit down, take the lid off, and the answers will be clear, or at least they’l flow. And the abilitiy to do this will have happened while you were busy doing something else.
It’s something so simple – but sometimes hard to remember.
And there never was any better advice about writing! It is SO true!! An excellent analogy!
So true. It’s all just simmering there on the back burner while you’re away from it, words & thoughts slowly cooking.
You’re so right. Sometimes you just have to walk away. I find that sleep and showers often bring me the right words!
12 minutes… that’s how long it takes to boil the eggs. My issue always comes at the withdraw of the eggs. I always drop them back into the water and they crash against the pot and crack.
Damn I love boiled eggs though.
And yes, I always write my best blog posts when I walk away from the computer for a while, relax and let everything set in.
I have had that problem with peeling the eggs. Maybe I’ll try your method next time.
You hit it spot on. I forget all the time that I need to walk away from my writing when I’m having a rough moment. That distance somehow brings the necessary “clarity” that I need.
How true! This made me want to search for the writing metaphor in all the mindless grazing I was doing today. A late breakfast ran into lunch with friends, quickly followed by chocolate nibbling, which rolled into popcorn, which is now running into dinner-prep. Is it maybe that I spend all day dithering on email and Twitter and then I’m finally ready to write something “substantial?” Or is it simply that I’m pig who eats the day away when it’s cold outside?
How true! This made me want to search for the writing metaphor in all the mindless grazing I was doing today. A late breakfast ran into lunch with friends, quickly followed by chocolate nibbling, which rolled into popcorn, which is now running into dinner-prep. Is it maybe that I spend all day dithering on email and Twitter and then I’m finally ready to write something “substantial?” Or is it simply that I’m a pig who eats the day away when it’s cold outside?