Following the Recipe

By Connie S. Hall

When I was young, I remember coming home after a hard day at school and smelling something baking in the oven. It was pleasing to have the entire house filled with the scent of chocolate chip cookies. A whiff of chocolate was definitely appealing.

After I had children of my own, and life started to get too hectic, I would take a break and bake something for my family. The act of baking was relaxing, and the delicious aroma soothed my senses. As I performed the tasks of measuring, stirring, kneading and mixing my mind wandered away from my daily worries and left me free to focus on the task. When my husband and children arrived home they loved the mouth-watering smells that filled the house, and I loved all the praise.

With years of practice, I actually turned out to be a good cook. I learned to make a variety of delicious and appealing foods. When given something as simple as a recipe I could do wonders. It was a challenge to me to try new and different ways to fix food. No recipe was too hard for me. Since all the children have flown the nest, I rarely take the time to cook anything complicated.

I wish sending my writing away for publishing could be so easy. It doesn’t help me to follow the correct recipe for submission because I still receive the rejects. Writing is something I love to do, but why oh why can’t I find someone who will publish my works? Sometimes the time spent trying to get something published takes away from the time I have to write, and sometimes it doesn’t seem worthwhile. I would rather spend my time writing. Maybe I’ll just write for fun since following the recipe doesn’t help in this case, or maybe I’ll just bake something.