Dawn in London, 6AM Sunday 2 November 2008
It’s been three weeks since my last pie post. I’m traveling non-stop (for what will be a total of 8 weeks) and haven’t been able to focus on writing. (If you were living out of a suitcase and having to wash all your undies by hand, you too might be thinking less about blogging and more about where to find a clothesline.)
I love blogging about pie, but the thing is, once you lose the momentum of blogging it’s overwhelming to know where and how to start again. There’s just so much to write about! No matter where in the world I am (Los Angeles, Saltillo, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bern, London) I find pie stories every single day. It’s become so daunting, in fact, that I have developed a new momentum…of procrastinating.
I tossed and turned in bed last night, beating myself up again for yet another missed day of blogging, until I gently reminded myself of Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. In it she talks of how her father advised her brother, who was crying over how on earth he was going to finish his school report on birds, to simply “take it bird by bird.”
Add to that, I happened to read an article by my journalist friend, David Hochman, about Malcom Gladwell’s new book, Outliers (out November 18). David quotes Gladwell as saying, “Talent is overrated. What really matters is work. Put in the hours and it will happen (wake up before the sun 360 days of the year and you WILL be successful.)”
So today, I got out of bed at 6:00 a.m., turned on my computer, and will now resume my postings, one bird — er, pie — at a time. I’m happy to be back. At least to my virtual home.