Emily in France 🇫🇷 Am I A Workaholic?
'Why do you write like you're running out of time?'
The quote up top comes from Hamilton, which I listened to a conservative 9,412 times during the first lockdown (sorry, neighbors!) It is, perhaps, my favorite quote from the musical. I actually have it emblazoned on a t-shirt: a reminder to seize the time to write and to write with reckless abandon.
(I'm not saying all the words I write are good, but I write them.)
While it's motivating, most of the time, to have that encouragement to write and write and write and write... as lockdowns begin to lessen and folks (including this once-Pfizer-vaxxed individual) begin to emerge from their hidey-holes, it's also one that plagues me a bit. Because when people ask me to do things, I feel like I'm constantly saying the same thing:
"Sorry, I can't, I'm working."
Now let's be clear, here. When I say "people ask me to do things," I don't mean not-fun things. I mean friends – people I very much like and enjoy the company of – suggesting we meet up to get drinks or grab coffee, go for a walk along the canal or hop on a video call. (OK. I usually don't find that last one fun, with a few select exceptions.) But you get my drift. I'm not choosing work over things like helping someone move a couch up four flights of stairs. I'm choosing work over nice stuff. Fun stuff.
And so, I couldn't help but wonder... (yeah, I'm a Carrie. I don't like it, but I'll own it.)
Am I a workaholic?
Maybe I am. I work marathon days, writing for hours on end. Some folks count the number of words they write a day; to do so, for me, would be untenable. And while sometimes, yeah, it does feel like work... I feel like I have to draw a line between the work that is a bit mind-numbing and the work that gets me out of bed in the morning with a smile on my face: not just my fiction writing, but the incredible privilege I have to tell the stories, for example, of the cheesemaker making the last real camembert in the village of Camembert, or the amateur gardener who's growing 1,008 varieties of tomatoes. Yes, I get paid to write those stories, but they set my soul ablaze as much as my fiction does. And I'm not sorry to say no to something fun when the alternative I'm choosing is that.
And so I'm going to make a semantic differentiation, in the future. Sometimes, I will indeed have to "work," the way we all do: on stories that are a bit mindless; on tasks that are kind of mind-numbing. In those cases, I am "sorry" to have to refuse something more exciting in order to, instead, research different kinds of non-stick coatings or suss out the exact composition of the frying oil used by McDonald's or (ick) send invoices. But more often than not, I get to write. I choose to write.
And so when I refuse a fun pursuit in favor of this mind-opening, soul inspiring one, I will no longer say, "Sorry, I can't, I'm working."
Instead, I'll say, "No, thanks. I'm writing :)"
What I'm Eating
Strawberry tartlets are everywhere in Paris, right now, including at Le Petit Grain, a teeny tiny bakery located on the street-art-bedecked rue Denoyez (which you can see in the image up top, behind that luscious cinnamon roll). It's one of my most frequently visited bakeries, and for good reason! Discover these treats and more on the blog this week. (And for more of my foodie finds, follow me on Instagram @emily_in_france.)
What I'm Writing
1. Chicken wings get the Michelin treatment at Chicago's EL Ideas. Discover the inspiration – and the recipe – in my interview with Chef Phillip Foss for the Inside Hook.
2. Calorie counting is so not cool these days, but according to Jillian Michaels, it's the only sustainable way to lose weight and maintain weight loss. Find out more in my interview for Organic Authority.
3. Costco may seem like it has the best prices out there, but not all of the deals from this big box store are created alike. Find out which ones are worth it in this piece for AllRecipes.
What I'm Reading
1. Two very different small islands are at the heart of this classic British novel from Andrea Levy. My thoughts on the blog.
2. The rise of plant-based dining options is all well and good, but the move towards more vegan offerings has led to a troubling dearth of one of my favorite vegetarian foods. (Spoiler: it's cheese.) In the Guardian.
3. Double agents and secret missions may seem like fodder for television, but as this story shows, they were very real worries in the IRA. In the Atlantic.
A bientôt !