I've resorted to posting up recipes

Once again I have my friend Jim Murdoch to thank for this post.

Regular readers of this site (assuming they exist - maybe I should be referring to those who accidentally pop their head in when they're on their way somewhere else) would know about the travails I regular post about, describing how difficult it is to think of new topics to write about each week. How do you say something new and interesting that hasn't been said before? Or, given the near impossibility of the previous sentence, how do you rewrite something for the millionth time in such a way that it looks like it's new and interesting and hasn't been said before?

Luckily, Jim gave me a great idea, which has at least solved my problem for another week. Today I'm going to post up a recipe.

Now to think about what might be a good one to put up here. I used to do a lot of cooking. Hey, I even thought I was rather good at it. At least within the fairly narrow parameters I set for myself which was basically 'do I like this?'. So maybe I wasn't likely to last too long if I tried out for one of those cooking shows, which suited me fine 'cos I don't love those cooking shows at all. And maybe I wasn't inviting too many friends over for dinner parties - which also suited me fine as dinner parties always seem to be way more bother than they're worth. But, as far as I was concerned, I was cooking up a storm most nights, and keeping the most important person in my life happy and well fed.

These days, I don't cook all that often. I  have to admit I've gotten kind of lazy. Which means that thinking up a recipe to post on my site is more than a little tricky.

Hang on, I've got an idea. I might not do a lot of cooking, but one thing I definitely do a lot of is writing. Maybe I could post up some sort of recipe related to writing instead. A list of all the ingredients you need and the techniques to use to create your own story. So here goes:

Ingredients

1. An idea
2. Some characters
3. A setting
4. A plot (don't worry too much about this one - it usually comes out in the cooking).

Method

1. Get writing
2. Write some more
3. Keep writing.

There you go. My first ever recipe. Follow it closely and you will have your very own story. Actually, even if you don't follow it that closely, there's a good chance you'll end up with a story. That's the beauty of it.

Have a great week.