I decided yesterday to make homemade buttermilk with some heavy cream that I had in the fridge for a certain recipe I wanted to make. I put the cream in a large jar and shook it for a long time. It was only supposed to take ten minutes, but it was more like twenty or more. Eventually the liquid and butter mass separated leaving me with the desired ingredient. I poured it out of the container leaving a mass of butter. Then I had to knead the butter under cold water to rinse away the buttermilk. And voila! It was done.

Writing is so much like this same process. A writer has so many wonderful ideas floating around. But then he scrambles them and cooks up a storm in his mind to figure out what he could make out of the throng. This can take a longer time than one might think, After figuring out what works and what doesn’t, he pours out all the unnecessary ideas leaving a mass of goo to flesh out. He writes a first draft, but then there’s the whole process of cutting out unnecessary parts and adding in essentials and details that will support the story even more. And once he’s done, he gets a book or article (edible butter). Sweet success can then be tasted!