What Do Writing and Baking Bread Have in Common?

Both are a long, slow process.

Baking bread from scratch is nothing like using those instant quick bread mixes you buy at the grocery store.  Not that there's anything wrong with using those mixes.  (I confess, I sometimes use them myself).  However there is a whole lot more to baking real, genuine homemade bread, from scratch.  First you have to dissolve the yeast.  Then you have to measure the flour, sift it and measure it again. Once that's done you mix and knead all the ingredients together, which is very hard work unless you have a KitchenAid mixer with a hook attachment.  (Lucky for me I've got the KitchenAid.)  But even after that task is complete you don't immediately put the dough in the oven.  You have to let it rise, punch it down, let it rise again, and punch it down again.  You may have to repeat those steps over and over again over the course of several hours before the dough is properly prepared enough to go into the oven.  Yes, it's a long slow process, but in the end your patience pays off because there is nothing quite like the taste of real home-baked bread, made from scratch, hot from the oven.

Writing is a whole lot like baking bread but with one exception--there is no instant quick bread mix for writing.  Writing is always a slow process, just like baking bread from scratch.

I'm sure my book readers, as well as my commercial writing clients, probably think I just sit down behind my computer and while I'm typing all these brilliant words come flying out all at once, and that ten minutes later I'm done and can spend the rest of my day resting on my laurels.  If you all only knew!

A lot of forethought goes into writing my prose.  Whether it's an idea for the next chapter for one of my books, or writing copy for a client, I spend a lot of time formulating what I'm going to write long before I put pen in hand, or fingers to keyboard.  I write, I tweak, and then, just like I have to let that dough rise, I have to step away for awhile and let the words gel.  Later on I come back, edit, rewrite, and edit again.  Just like that bread dough, I have to let it "rise" again.   I may have to repeat this process several times before I'm satisfied enough with what I've written to let the client, or the editor, read it.

I've had clients, and prospective clients, sometimes question why I charge the fees I charge for my writing services.  They have to understand that writing is a long, slow process, but once I'm done, they're going to get something just as flavorful, and just as savory, as that hot, home-baked bread.

My thought for the day.

GM