what i'm reading and cooking (when i'm not writing)

plus two delicious poems

I once interviewed a celebrity CEO type about his ‘wellness routine’ and when I asked how often he exercised he said, “I exercise everyday — except the days I don’t and that’s okay.”

It’s a good rule, I think. So good I’ve applied it to other aspects of my own life, specifically writing and cooking.

I write and cook everyday — except the days I don’t and that’s okay.

It’s actually a symbiotic thing. I write everyday but on the days when I don’t, I usually cook. I find cooking very soothing. It takes time but I know that by cooking when I’m not writing I am also giving my future self the gift of more writing time on those days (and there are many) when I don’t feel like cooking. Or can’t because of a deadline.

Tonight I’m hosting poetry club at my house — the first chapter meeting on Wakeman Road in a couple of years since my life spontaneously combusted. I can’t remember when it was that I last hosted one except that I made Greek food and my neighbour Tracey came and I cried a bit when someone played Van Morrison’s version of one of the poems set to music. Seamus Heaney I think it was.