This was my Thursday last week: At 8:30 a.m., I was in the kitchen still wearing the same sweaty outfit from a spin class before sunrise. Hoping to be possessed by Martha Stewart, I stared at the open pages of my daughter’s Dragonology book and searched for inspiration to decorate a dragon cake. I did it to myself. I volunteered to enter a cake decorating contest at the medieval-themed carnival at my older daughter’s school. This was after I had already volunteered to make hot lunch and snack for my younger daughter’s preschool and supervise 4 and 5-year olds during their rehearsal and concert that evening. So how’s a self-respectin’ attorney-turned-stay-at-home-mom-slash-yoga-teacher-who-came-of-age-in-the-early-80’s to cope? Put on some Michael Jackson, of course! While I cut the shape of the dragon out of 2 sponge cakes, I boogied my behind off to Off The Wall (When the world is on your shoulder/Gotta straighten up your act and boogie down) and Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (Keep on with the force don't stop/Don’t stop ‘til you get enough). The answer to all life’s problems from this era was to ‘boogie.’ When you think about it, it’s a damn good philosophy.
What does any of this have to do with writing? Cake decorating is creative enough to be fun but not so creative to be completely absorbing. I thought about character development and plot while shaping chocolate frosting into scales. Also, did I mention I’m the non-writer in this writing group and a master procrastinator? I once joked we should call ourselves “3 writers and a reader” because while my prolific companions cranked out novels like fettucine through a pasta machine, I read anything and everything. Recently, however, I’ve turned a corner (I hope)…stay tuned.
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