Kitchen Wall Wisdom

Blogging is an intimidating task. Most articles on "how to succeed as a writer" say, "to be taken seriously, one must blog." But I kept running into the same issue. What could I blog about that hasn't already been blogged? The lack of an idea has been a problem for me.

Another issue I've been dealing with is we don't have a dishwasher. Well, we do. The dishwasher sits at the computer using chapped hands to type this text. You're reading the dishwasher's first blog post while dirty coffee mugs and assorted silverware sit waiting for that perfect mixture of hot water, Dawn, and a bubbly sponge.

Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixababy

I've complained that I needed a dishwasher for years, but we don't have the room. As a person who enjoys everything culinary, there is likely a pile of dirty dishes in my sink at any given moment. You never know when the call to sculpt potato gnocchi will hit. I am typically ready when it does.

It shouldn't be too surprising that I love to cook but hate cleaning up. Sure, I'm a grown-up. But I'm also a fifty-one-year-old that gravitates toward the fun part of life and tries to avoid work. As a post-middle-aged adult, I know the repercussions of letting dishes sit in the sink. So, I do the job and internally complain the entire time.

On another subject entirely, this blog is hosted by my website and online portfolio. When designing it I chose a template, and the carrier suggested adding a quote to my page. The first suggestion Wix offered was from Agatha Christie. "The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes." The words transformed me.

At this time, I was finishing the latest draft of my first novel, and things were moving slowly. Reading this quote was when I decided to embrace the dishes instead of viewing them as a burden. I stopped looking at it as a chore or time to curse my life but as a chance to contemplate creative ideas and give my brain room to explore.

Since then, my first novel has been written and is in the editing phase. I am finishing up a screenplay about a group of unruly female bartenders on the road to perdition, and, once it comes to an end, I'll begin my next novel while finding a way to publish the first. I attribute a great deal of my ability to do all of this to my time washing the dishes.

Still, a person who writes always needs new readers, which is one of the many purposes of a blog. I could feel the pressure to find my voice. All blogs are about something like politics, cooking, or writing. I have my hands full of fiction ideas. But I had difficulty coming up with a blog motif I could call my own.

So, I headed for the dishes and began to clean, hoping to spark some ideas. While my hands moved through the soapy water, I saw a marker board I kept on the wall reserved for something in our home I like to call Kitchen Wall Wisdom.

What is Kitchen Wall Wisdom, you ask? Let me explain.

One day while purging, I came across a dry erase board, tucked away and forgotten. I thought, "This board would be a great place for inspirational quotes."

I love a good quote. There's no shortage of sayings to touch a person in the deepest wells of their soul.

At first, I put a new quote on the board every day because I'm obsessive and tend to get swept with an idea quickly. But it wasn't long before Kitchen Wall Wisdom succumbed to my short attention span.

As I pondered over ideas for a blog theme while drying Corningware, my eyes were, once again, drawn to my beloved wisdom board. I hadn't changed the quote in months, but it roused an idea.

Kitchen Wall Wisdom could be a blog.

I'll feature sayings from other people with a few thoughts of my own. Other than being centered around quotes, Kitchen Wall Wisdom will have no structure.

It seems fitting that I dedicate my first post to the saying that led me here. Christie gave me room to grow from a person who loathes washing dishes and changed my point of view.

Doing the dishes reminds me of rolling silverware when I was a server. Placing a set of flatware into a napkin and rolling it into one tight piece is repetitive, monotonous, and the perfect activity when you want your brain to escape.

So is doing the dishes, folding the laundry, or any of those never-ending daily tasks we curse. These chores are a gift of brain time that has escaped me for decades.