What I’m Doing Now #4
Kitchen Experiments
This month I’ve been experimenting with fermentation, including making sourdough, kefir, and pickles. The sourdough starter turned out well; I was feeding and discarding each day… But the loaf of sourdough bread didn’t really work out. I made tasty crackers and mediocre pancakes from the discard, though. And homemade pickles always taste best, and because they’re properly fermented (not just pickled), they’re good for the gut too.
Writing
I’ve been plucking away at the writing, but I realised I need to slow down because I was attempting to post every week, and I found my posts becoming shorter, and myself feeling pressed for time. So I’m going to just focus on writing what I want to the best of my abilities instead of pressuring myself to get something done within a week.
Projects
Regarding drawing, I discovered that my systemic thinking style isn’t all that compatible with the abstract rapid-capture methods employed in gesture drawing. I’ve tried myriad times for years to better my understanding of drawing the human body through gesture drawing, but it just doesn’t work out; I kept telling myself that it was probably my fault and that I wasn’t doing enough, but now I realise it’s simply not suited to my learning style. Therefore, I’m going to experiment with construction and high-volume copying instead.
I’ve been on and off designing graphic novels for the better portion of my life now—I usually become distracted or otherwise drawn away from my projects—so I decided to try again. But this time, there’s a purpose: I want to try doing things I enjoyed as a kid in an attempt to learn how to rest properly. I also decided to scrap all old ideas and just world-build from scratch. I think I desperately need a hobby that I do just because or just for fun, rather than because I should, ought to, or I am trying to Make Progress™.
As for the blog, I had been tweaking and styling some elements until I realised that I was creating more work for myself, so I’m going to leave the theme and setup as is and see how it goes.
Reading
I had been reading about a personal topic, but after burning out on it from completing several books, I pivoted to cooking and nutrition. I might share some thoughts if the mood strikes me, but these aren’t typically topics I choose to write about. Furthermore, I’m intending to do some deep reading on specific aspects of history when I’m done with my current book.
Physical Status
Yet again, ill. Yet again, it's my fault. I will learn. I’m on strict rest orders from the spouse still, and I think I’m getting better at not compulsively doing everything. Mostly because my current illness is creating heavy fatigue, which doesn’t allow me to do much beyond reading and drawing.