The Art of Cooking

Since Elbow dedicated this lesson to “cooking” when writing, I decided to think about my experience with actual cooking and what I like and don’t like about it. I like finding recipes and getting the ingredients set up for them. I love when cooking is nearing that end process, when the final ingredients are being mixed in and the (hopefully) sweet aroma is overpowering my kitchen. I like reaping the benefits of my efforts by enjoying a tasty meal.

I don’t like slicing, chopping, or cleaning up messes.

I found it interesting that these likes and dislikes line up so well with how I “cook” when I write. Elbow’s summary of what he deems “internal cooking” and “external cooking” led me to realize that I am an internal cook (68). It’s not that I believe that everything I write has a “magic” to it, or that things are always “going well;” however, my style of writing always seems to involve a lot of inspiration going on at once. It occurs in a continuous flow- ‘where once there was nothing now flows a stream’ kind of thing. As in my actual cooking, the cooking I perform while writing seems very goal-focused and produces as little mess for me to deal with as possible.

I can honestly say that I’ve never really tried much of what Elbow discusses in his description of external cooking. “Using lots of paper” and “producing a lot which you know isn’t good which you know you will have to throw away” are not steps that come naturally to me….just like when I’m in my real kitchen trying desperately to figure out how to chop up eggplants and onions to get the most out of my vegetables while creating the least amount of waste.

But even as an internal cook, I employ Elbow’s method of inviting conflict into my writing (50-1). I may write in inspired bursts, which I always go with while in the moment, but afterwards, I step back from what I’ve written, give myself time to detach from it, and approach it later with a critical eye. I try to read the words from the point of view of someone who is removed from them. More often than not, I do have someone else read my assignments and provide criticism for me to work off of before I hand them in. I think receiving constructive criticism and learning how to accept and apply it is a very important step for those who want to succeed in writing.

I had a little more reserve regarding Elbow’s suggestion to try different modes of writing as a form of cooking. He states, “Allow your writing to fall into poetry and then back into prose; from informal to formal; from personal to impersonal; first-person to third-person; fiction, nonfiction; empirical, a priori” (54). My question is, for what particular assignments or writing goals does he feel this method would be useful? Is he suggesting it could be applied in all situations? Personally, I think if I am working on a research paper and feeling stuck and confused, it may confuse me more to switch genres into poetry and such. I think I would either find myself wandering too far off topic to the point where I was distracted and not making progress on my assignment that needs to be turned in, or I would be led into further frustration if I wasn’t able to get my thoughts out any clearer in a poem or informal writing.

Has anyone tried this method of cooking? Did you find it to be successful? How did you discipline yourself or manage to organize all your thoughts and papers to achieve your initial goal?