I Bake Every Sunday. Why Don’t I Write, Too?

Every Sunday, I bake. Today, I made pumpkin biscotti. Last week, I made apple cider donuts. Clearly, I have a thing for fall baking.

First and foremost, baking helps me relax. Especially on a Sunday, my baking ritual helps me to unwind and prepare for the week ahead. For me, baking is simultaneously joyfully creative and satisfyingly precise. Additionally, baking is a great way for me to connect with people I care about — friends, family, neighbors, etc.

Writing isn’t so different from this. When you find the right flow, writing can be quite calming. Of course, writing can be creative, and excellence comes through iteration and revision. Theoretically, if I were to embrace writing as a hobby / side project, it could serve as a meaningful connection point with others.

Interestingly, I have written about baking in the past. My general application essay for college was all about baking. I wrote about my annual ambitious holiday cookie project, which I’ve been doing with my family since I can remember. Each year, we make over 1000 cookies to distribute to friends, family, and neighbors. Most years, I’ve also led an effort to distribute cookies to local families in need. For quite the flashback photo, see here.

Up until this point, my writing has been sporadic at best. I hope to change that. I hope to write like I bake — every Sunday.

A mentor of mine recently wrote the article Do you buy groceries every week?. As a matter of fact, I do. I buy groceries every week, some of which I use to bake on Sundays. The article encourages readers to discipline themselves to “merely do the work” like they would with, say, buying groceries.

So, if I go to the effort every week to plan out a baking project, go to the store and buy the ingredients, bake the damn thing, and then clean up the mess, why don’t I make time for other similarly fulfilling activities, like writing?

I think the answer is because I don’t have a clear goal in mind for my writing.

I know why I bake. See above.

I don’t yet know why I write. I’m going to try to figure that out. I have ideas regarding what exactly I want to write about, but don’t get too excited, you’ll have to wait until next Sunday for that kind of content.

My mom is a professor and researcher, and she’s always pushing her students to answer the “why” question. She’s so well known for this, that her students 3d printed her a thought bubble that says “Why?” for her desk. Usually, when she starts to push me on the “why”, I resort to an eye roll and a slightly annoyed “I don’t know, mom.”

But, I sort of get it. It’s hard to feel invested in something if you don’t know why you’re doing it. To play devil’s avocado though (in my experience, the slightly more friendly version of a devil’s advocate), sometimes you just have to start doing something before you can figure out why you’re doing it. “Just buy the groceries”, more or less.

As a chef, I might consider this a bit of a chicken and egg problem. As a developer, I see it as a circular dependency issue. The good news is, the solution here is just to start.

So, in order to figure out the why, I’m going to write more. I’m going to write every Sunday.

Who knows, maybe I’ll even write about baking.