Food-Inspired Art by Raynetta Stocks

Hi Folks!  Happy Monday!!  I hope you all have a fabo Father's Day weekend here in the States and enjoyed the balmy weather we experienced here on the East Coast.  We have a bonus inspiration week post from a wonderful authoress - Raynetta Stocks.

Some of you may recall almost exactly one year ago, this blog reviewed Raynetta's book The Grim and gave it 4 1/2 Blogairy Notebooks.  Raynetta is now gracing our blog again with this colorfully beautiful post on how food and writing go hand-in-hand.

Sit back and enjoy the last post of NoteBook Blogairy's first ever Writerly Inspiraton Week posts!

~ NoteBook Blogairy

I'm on a mission.  For the last two years, I've been drilled on the importance of food as it pertains to good, healthy habits (due primarily to my congestive heart falure and having to lose weight).  The only pastime I love more than reading and writing is eating.  A beautiful plate sitting in front of me brings forth the most magnificent prose I've ever heard in my life, especially if the food tastes amazing!  I have what I call my happy food dance, and only flavorful, yummy goodness gets that honor.

My love affair with food has had to be altered dramatically since my diagnosis (no red meat and pork, low sodium, low fat, high fiber, whole grains, etc.).  And, while those stipulations sound limiting and relatively daunting, I have to admit, the challenge has done nothing but make me love food more.  Cooking, particularly cooking healthy, has forced me to be more creative.  I have to be inventive and spontaneous.  If a recipe calls for sour cream or butter, I have to find tasty alternatives.  I don't believe food -- healthy food especially -- should be lacking in flavor.  And neither, by any means, should one's writing.

By learning to cook to suit my dietary needs, I've been inspired to better my craft as a writer because everything I love about food, I love in good storytelling as well.  I like flavor changes and variety (I mean really, who wants the same old chicken??); bright colors make a plate more enticing, and a little spice never hurt nobody!  The same is true for a well-written story.  I don't limit myself to one genre because I like many different genres and want the opportunity to tell the story that moves me.  Adding bright color to my storytelling can be as simple as inserting an intriguing back story of the character the reader hates most, fanciful plot twists, or anything else that is surprising and completely unexpected.  And spice, well...a saucy romance, or fiendish villain can add heat in any story.  I want my readers to feed on my words the way a starving vagrant feeds on kitchen leftovers, and if what I have to say isn't well-presented, or well-written, then my work will fall flat.  A flat story is as limp and unappealing as rotten veggies.

Just as cooking takes practice for perfection, so too does the art of writing.  I am so proud when I place my son's plate in front of him, and on the first bite, I get the happy food dance.  It means I've done my job!  I've served him something appealing and nourishing.  I have the same job as a writer -- I want the happy food dance from my readers on everything I write.  The spontaneity I've learned at my stove has carried over to my creativity in front of a keyboard, and both are more appetizing than ever!

About this guest poster:

Raynetta Stocks is the author of "The Grim", a spychological suspense thriller released in May 2012.  Writing since early childhood, Raynetta has composed a countless number of prose and short stories which she plans to make available on her new subscription page.  Raynetta's early love of books inspired her latest series "The Lava Chronicles", the first installment which is due in the Fall of 2013.  She resides in northern Maryland with her son.