Coming back to the writer's cook stove after nine months off writing a weekly column, it seemed a good idea to go back and read some of my old columns, dust off the cookbooks so to speak, review the old recipes, look for the ones marked "good", remember what I didn't like about the ones marked "yucky". It's time to restock the cupboard with staples, get out the favorite sauce pans, experiment with savory and sweet, roll up my sleeves and put on my apron in preparation for cooking up some new food for thought.
As soon as I started reading the old columns, I was reminded of something I heard years ago at the Write On the River writers' conference held in Wenatchee. John Daniel was the keynote speaker that year. He is a gifted descriptive writer, the author of a book which is currently one of my favorites, Rogue River Journal. His talk that day was an extended metaphor called "Write Like a River." I enjoyed listening to the ebb and flow of the words as he spoke, but one particular idea he mentioned has stuck in my head ever since. The simple suggestion to revisit and rewrite pieces already published.
What brought Daniel's suggestion to mind was this. When I go back and read the old pieces, it really is a little like thumbing through my old cookbooks. I'd read a piece, and as I was reading, I couldn't help thinking, "this piece would have been good with a little cilantro", knowing full well I hadn't cooked with cilantro yet then, so I didn't know that was the flavor that was missing. Or even, "eeuuww, that doesn't taste good". Why did I ever cook that one up?
On my cookbook shelf I have a three ring binder, recipes I've been collecting for over thirty years. In there are the classic recipes, like the one for English fruitcake, perfected by others over centuries. Then there are also recipes, the ones featuring ingredients that have not stood the test of time. For instance, Monterey Bread. It consists of french bread split down the middle, slathered with butter, mayonnaise, onion, and cheese, sprinkled with paprika, then put under the broiler. Delicious yes. Something I'd serve to people I love in good conscience, now that I know better? Probably not.
I find that revisiting my own writing is a little like reading those recipes in my "recipes from the past" binder. Some stand the test of time, others do not. And I think this is what John Daniel was saying. It is never too late to adjust the recipe. Reduce the butter of maudlin reflection, use more of the light mayonaise of humor, leave in the good parts, like the flavorful onion of universal human experiences, and sprinkle the whole thing with the seasoning of life's latest lessons.
In his address to a rapt audience, Daniel cited famous authors who have rewritten published, even hugely successful, works. I was surprised to hear this. But I shouldn't be. What makes good writers is writing, improvement is a natural byproduct, just like what makes good cooks is cooking.
As I prepare to write again, I feel like a cook firing up the cookstove after a brief hiatus. The ingredients I'm choosing today are different than the ones used a decade ago, or even a year ago. Publishing is a bit like baking a cake. In one way, you can not go back and bake that particular cake. But there is always another cake to be made, based on the experience of all the cakes that came before. And in another way, for writers, we can go back and rebake our cakes if we want. Having our cake and eating it too in a way.
Bon Appetit!
© M.E. Rollins
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