There are two general types of people. Those that follow recipes, and those that make them up as they go along! Those that look at a picture of the toy/shelves/bed frame and work out where all the pieces go and those that start at the beginning of the instruction manual and follow it through. I am an instruction follower. I really do read the manual, follow recipes and look at maps. I am not particularly adventurous, I would fully admit to that, but having struggled with anxiety, one of the ways of coping was to cover as many of the possibilities as I could. Even on the warmest day I will have a cardigan tucked away somewhere.
So, I do like to know where I’m going, know that I have most of the ingredients to hand and the right number of screws for the job etc. My daughter-in-law is the opposite and I have to say that she is an amazing cook, construction engineer and is so much more adventurous, and I’m not saying that one is better than the other, though I do think that one might be more freeing. Just seeing how things work out, and not worrying when you have a bolt left over! Making something from what you happen to have left in the fridge rather than having to go out to buy more specific ingredients and making a sandpit from the left over wood in the shed. Now sometimes not following the instructions means that you take more time because things don’t quite work out, but often, it is quicker and certainly there is less washing up!
So from now on I’m going to try and be less rigid in how I do things, less meticulous, perhaps leave something out of the recipe, or more adventurously put something in. Go a bit fuzzy around the edges. I think it will do me good, but don’t worry I won’t be throwing away my recipe books, maps etc any time soon.
More importantly this week I signed the contract for the new book, sorted out the structural edits, talked a little about the third book, and decided on some large rewrites for it. It feels as if everything is moving forward quite nicely. And tomorrow I am going to make a chocolate mousse with orange juice instead of pineapple juice, just to see what happens!
