I love to BBQ. I don’t do it much for a variety of reasons (the main one being that I hate insects, and it’s very hard to be outside without there being insects around), but I try to power up the ol’ ‘cue at least a few times a month. Ribs has been a tricky thing… they’re best when finished on the grill, but not very good when they’re cooked all the way through on the grill.
I’m sure there are people who will disagree. And, hey, you can technically smoke ribs in a good BBQ for sure, but honestly? Wet cooking tends to do them better most of the time, and then a nice glaze to finish them off on the BBQ. In my experience, at least.
What does that have to do with writing? Well, nothing directly… I am a man of many talents, and I enjoy a lot of very diverse interests. Japanese Fencing, working out, running, biking, cooking, baking, painting… I’m all over the place, really.
But in a different way, it is kinda like writing. A good story isn’t finished in the same way that it’s cooked… er… written. Heck, even starting a story is a radically different process (for me) that writing it, and the editing process is again a totally different thing. It’s like… having to know how to bake so you can make a good crust, but then knowing how to cook so that you can make a really tasty meat filling to put in the crust, and then knowing how to decorate the finished meat pie?
It’s a stretch, but I think you get the idea. I’m going to go upstairs in a few minutes to turn on the oven, assemble a spice-rub, and then toss in a couple of racks of ribs for a few hours. While they cook I am going to finish another chapter or two on the novel. Then I’m going to turn on the BBQ to medium, brush on some sauce on those ribs, and toss them in for a couple minutes per side while I think about how to make sure the “sudden but inevitable” twist happens in my story exactly when I want it to, and not before that.
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!