Sarah Wilson

The best advice to creatives ever: you have to go through a volume of work

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When I lived in Byron (writing my first book) I used to drive to my friend Annie’s house in the hills for dinner on Sundays. I timed it to listen to Ira Glass on This American Life. I’d time it so I could pull over in the really mind-expanding, precipace-thinking bits. Not listened to one of Ira’s meandering, whimsical interviews about life? You should.

Image via Skipholt.
Image via Skipholt.

I love Ira. And I don’t think I’ve come across better advice than this for anyone who hurts, frets, doubts doing creative work. Which is most of us, really.

The gist is this:

1. Creatives know they have taste. They know they have a vision, an idea that could be special. It burns in them.

2. But when they start out in their respective realms, their output doesn’t match up to their vision. There’s a gap. They know their work isn’t special enough… and so…

3. Creatives hurt, fret and doubt… and then often quit.

But Ira shares:

4. This is normal.

5. The most important thing you can do is… more work. The only way to close the gap is to “go through a volume of work”.

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Sonder

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The best words are the ones with no English equivalent. They invariably describe moments in the human experience that we find exotically ungraspable. Unpindownable. Fleeting. Ephemeral. Often they’re concepts that Anglo culture has – simply – failed to grasp. Some of my favourites include hygge, haimish, mamihlapinatapai and suadade.

Image via tumblr
Image via tumblr

Today I present you with sonder.

sonder, n. the realisation that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.

This is a translation that comes from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows and appears to derive from some very old French word.

My new e-mate Hazel alerted me to such a dictionary. She gets my affinity with melancholy. Thanks Hazel.

So, to experience sonder…it happens when you’re in a crowd and people are streaming toward you (perhaps in a train station), or perhaps you’re on a plane and have the opportunity to stare up close at the people sitting nearby (as I am just now as I write this on a plane to Melbourne).

This stream of faces, or opportunity to pause intimately and be with humanity, drags you from your own myopic, clustery thinking

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Is resistant starch the cure for chronic constipation?

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Gut health makes the world go around. This is where the wellness movement is at right now. And crucial to good gut health is sturdy, regular poo action. For many, especially those of us with an autoimmune disease, regular poo action is but a pipe dream (which sounds like an ablution entendre; so many things do!).

sack of potatoes
Does ablution have to be so arduous? Image via Flickr

I’ve written about constipation quite a bit (you can catch up here). And I am on a committed journey to finding a safe, natural, gentle solution to my own periodic struggles with stuckness. The latest theme to emerge is resistant starch. And with it comes a very simple, cheap fix that I’m about to guinea pig for you.

Please note: This post has been updated with the results of my resistant starch experiment. I reckon you’ll want to read on. The results were very positive!

What is this resistant starch when it’s not sounding so recalcitrant?

Resistant starch (RS) is a type of food starch – contained in legumes, green bananas and cooked (and cooled) potatoes – that remains whole through the stomach and small intestine, and, unlike most foods, reaches the large intestine intact. Thus, it resists digestion. For many years it was believed that all starch was completely digested and absorbed in the small intestine. But a study published in the 1980s showed that certain starches reach the large intestine as malabsorbed, fermentable guff.

What does this mean? Well, when it reaches the large intestine (colon), good bacteria attaches to it and the digestion/fermentation process begins down here. Which produces a range of side effects, mostly good…

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Why my battle to tame my wandering is a good one

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A thought. I was reading the follow-up to a wellbeing study I’d heard about ages ago that uses a phone app to track real-time moments in happiness.

Image from serialthriller.com
Image from serialthriller.com

Psychologist Matthew Killingsworth who put the project together tracked daydreaming as well. And found this:

Daydreaming is not good for well-being.

Which surprised me, and it might you. But Matt drilled down:

Minds tend to wander to dark, not whimsical, places.

This stopped me for a bit. It’s true. The majority of my meanderings aren’t rosy, unless I consciously steer them that way. This is kind of sad, but I’m sure there’s an evolutionary (or otherwise) reason for it (spending spare mental time nutting out strategies for difficult situations can keep us prepared and vigilant).

The app study covered more than 650,000 real-time reports from more than 15,000 people. Big and broad. It also found people

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Am I a hypocrite?

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There’s a horrible feeling that grips at me from behind the neck at times. It’s like a sucky monster that latches on when I do something seemingly counter to my (often vocal) ethical stance on something. And it whispers in my ear, ”Sarah, you’re a double-standard, Pollyanna-ish flake”.

Image via off-with-the-faeries.tumblr.com
Image via off-with-the-faeries.tumblr.com

Does he hang about your dowager’s hump too?

Anyway, I figured it’s a topic worth exploring…the contemporary angst that emanates from trying to keep up with modern life while retaining basic values – environmental, humanitarian, ethical and so on.

Here are a few of mine, some of which I’ve resolved via a bit of research. Some of which I’ve seductively rationalized to myself.

Perhaps you have a few solutions you can share for the others, or – better! – moments of your own in double standard Pollyanna flakishiness.

* I get my hair coloured to hide my frothing of grey hairs…but I claim to avoid cosmetic toxins (read my posts on why I ditched foundation and how to buy toxin-free cosmetics) I, frankly, don’t have a watertight solution for this. I’m getting very grey and my base colour is dark and I have to present on TV and I’m still in the dating game and trying to cling to some youthful looks so as to not come over all Mrs Robinson and….

For now, I keep things toxin-free where I can. A bit of an 80:20 thing going on.

* I get parking tickets pretty much whenever I drive a car (thankfully, not too often)…but claim to be frugal. This one was presented to me by someone on Instagram once. I have to say I have a rational answer for this. I’m into conserving

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My note to restaurant owners about doggy bags

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Dearest Restaurateur,

A while back I did a post imploring readers to ask for doggy bags at restaurants. (If you’ve been reading this blog for a bit, you’ll know how I feel about food waste. And if not, you can catch up here.)

A lady I met in Vienna a few years back, with her al-foil doggy bag.
A lady I met in Vienna a few years back, with her al-foil doggy bag.

It would seem most people out there really want to take home their leftovers. But what emerged was that wait staff are telling them that they can’t/won’t cooperate because doggy bags are illegal.

If I can kindly point out: It’s legal to ask for, and take home, doggy bags in Australia. And in most of the world, in fact. (Read my previous post on the topic if you want to nerd up on this.)

And subtly remind us all: Food wastage contributes more CO2 emissions than cars and factories.

And implore you: to encourage your staff to do doggy bags.

Many readers shared ways their favourite restaurants are making it easier – for both restaurants and patrons  – to make doggy bags more acceptable. Perhaps you’d like to give some of them a crack?

1. Offer leftovers to save patrons the (perceived) embarrassment of asking. Don’t like the term”‘doggy bag”? Try “Would you like

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The time I did something mildly generous and it kept going…

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Today I share a lovely story that unfolded over the past two weeks, culminating in a triple donation (and dominoing) of a piece of artwork I auctioned last week.

It went like this. This letter below arrived in the mail on February 4 from someone called Hazel. With no last name, return address or email.

xxx
Hazel’s letter. February 2015.

I couldn’t reply to her direct, so I posted the letter on my social media in the hope it might reach her and just because it was such a sunny, funny letter. A number of people linked me to Hazel on Facebook and Instagram (good on you Cosi!) sharing their heart-felt fondness for the girl, illustrating just how good social media can be (which, in conjunction with a similar experience I had yesterday, makes me think social media is slowly becoming a true force for kindness).

We connected over email a few days later and marveled at…the connections. I hope she doesn’t mind

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I’ve been parodied.

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This post has been updated. It’s become quite a story. Read to the bottom.

I was recently alerted to this Youtube clip by Kate McCartney and Kate McLennon – a two-chick comedy cooking spoof ensemble. It’s friggen funny. And only made more funnier for me because it squarely takes the piss out of me, without being snarky. This is an art rarely exhibited today. My brothers have perfected the art of this over decades, so I know how to spot it when done well.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UZJRR8OHhY&index=3&list=PLZFXeozdia12APH8n9xsVNhd5qallmrz2[/youtube]

Since this is my blog and I get to have at least a second last say, a few corrections for the two Kates:

* My “rich girl hair” (my God, it’s true!) was smoothed and glossed by TV makeup artists over an exorbitant amount of time. Just to be clear. I wasn’t born with it. Nor a silver spoon (my chip on my shoulder needed to add this one). The photos you use on your shrine to me are from a TV show I did a while back called (have fun with this one!) Eat Yourself Sexy.

* My saccharin smile shits me too. But I find displaying it on publicity shoots maketh for a fast shoot.

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Which fermenting starter is best: salt v whey

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I’ve been making my own ferments for a while now. It started a few years back with pickled daikon and sauerkraut and has developed into a passionate hobby. I’ve recently added fermented turmeric tonic,  kombucha, ginger-ade soda, cream cheese, beet and turmeric kvass. My next book is going to take things to even mouldier levels!

turmeric fermentation
Three generations of turmeric experimenting… A bug, fermented tonic and then the leftovers puréed to become a cooking paste. And a hoola dancer!

I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll say it again. Fermenting your vegetables is THE BEST thing you can do for restoring and maintaining the health of your gut. And the stuff is a boon for autoimmune folk like me. I’ve shared before how the process all works, the magic ingredient being a starter culture.

When I first started out, I used whey – a protein derived from dairy products (I make my own) – as a starter culture to get the fermenting process moving along.  Whey acts as an inoculant, reducing the time needed for sufficient lactic acid to be produced to ensure preservation of the food.

Using salt, or brine, is the more traditional method of lacto-fermentation. Before the invention of refrigeration, salt was used to preserve foods. Most bacteria need a warm, wet environment to thrive. Salt draws out the moisture in food, denying such a watery

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I’m going to start auctioning lovely things for good food folk…

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This is a new idea. Not complex. So let’s see how it goes. You may remember this wonderful painting (below) I shared on New Years Day. My mate Paul from The Art Park in Byron Bay painted it. Paul is a talent. He used to do the poster art for 80s outfits (an 80s word?) like Beastie Boys and the like. We got talking one day about art and disadvantage – worldly things we’re both passionate about – and decided, off the back of this chat, to auction this piece and donate the cash to a charity committed to balancing the life ledger.

by Paul McNeil
Ink on watercolour, by Paul McNeil. Now up for auction. See below.

And so it was I stumbled upon The Inside Out Organic Soup Kitchen. Based in Sydney, IOOSK – as they’re affectionately known – has been running since 2010. Their mission is to provide wholesome organic foods to those who need it most. They provide free organic meals each Wednesday night at St Canice’s Kitchen in Kings Cross. But now, IOOSK is about to launch their IOOSK School for Young Mums with Red Cross – a program that teaches disadvantaged young mums the benefits of cooking good, wholesome food, and they are raising money to ensure that they can get it up and running. Which is where we step in.

If you would like to donate money to the program you can transfer money to the following account:

Account Name: St Canice’s Kitchen
The BSB is 062 784. Account number: 535 5005
Please write in description – for Organic Soup Kitchen

This week I will be holding an Instagram auction to sell “Happy Everything” and donate the proceeds to the School for Young Mums.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • The piece of art is 300 x 320 mm.
  • It’s ink on watercolour paper.
  • RRP $400.
  • Bidding will start at $300.

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