What Dating an Older Woman Taught Me About Writing

Food, intuition, and writing

When I was 26, I went on a date with a woman 3 years older than me. I went to her home to watch a movie (or at least that was the plan).

After the "movie," she said, "I'm hungry. Fancy some food?"

I never say no to food.

I thought she was going to grab some snacks, but she disappeared into her kitchen for more than 30 minutes.

What she was doing in that room, I had no idea.

When she came out, she served me the most spectacular vegetable fried rice I had ever seen. The dish was a mouth-watering, picture-perfect work of art.

I was speechless.

What I found even more fascinating was that this woman didn't know what foods I liked or disliked. What if her star-shaped carrot slices would make me vomit?

She had taken a little risk.

Her intuition told her that fried rice with vegetables would work, and all she did was follow that intuition.

I know this because I asked her a minute ago (she's been my partner for 11 years).

You may be afraid that people won't like your creative work, your writing, or your art. You may think that what you write will upset someone, that your stories are boring and unoriginal, that no one will be interested in the book you'd love to write, that you'll get nasty comments on your blog post from some idiot out there.

It's normal to feel like that.

I'm feeling like that right now as I'm thinking the story I’ve just told you is as cheesy as f*ck.

We should acknowledge those worries. And then we should bravely go make some fried rice for the people we seek to serve.

Or for ourselves.

Photo by Kalyani Akella on Unsplash