How brewing kombucha can help you become a stronger writer. (Part 1 of 2).

I love fermented foods.  Wine, pickles, kimchi, vinegar, mead, yogurt, sauerkraut, etc.  Mmmm, that tart zing that clears a path on its way down.  Let's hear it for gut flora!

I used to spend a small fortune on kombucha until I finally got my first kit from a Madison-based, woman-owned company, NessAlla. 

Kombucha is a fermented, effervescent beverage/functional food made from black tea, distilled water, sugar, a "mother culture" (also called a SCOBY -- as in symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast... yum!) and whatever flavors you choose to add.  It's loaded with enzymes, probiotics, B-vitamins, and for me, memories.

Anything canned or fermented will always remind me of my sorely missed Grandad, who demystified all kind of life-mysteries... including the fermentation process.

Even as a child I related to being broken down for a higher purpose.  The grapes my Grandad grew on trellises would give up their sweetness to become something else.  They were agitated to the point of having their essence changed.
Well, now that I've been actively brewing kombucha gallon after gallon, week after week, I keep seeing patterns that relate to writing.  Here's the first:

Decide.

Deciding what you will make/write is the first step out of inertia.  What's the story or message you're burning to tell?  What's the best vehicle to carry that story or message?

• a blog post?
• a digital book?
• a letter?
• a magazine article?
• a poem?
• a prayer?
• a screenplay?
• a song?
• a tweet?
• an audio book?
• an essay?
• an opera?
• something else?

Ultimately you might choose several of these expressive forms, but you'll have to start with one.  Decide which it will be.  Then enjoy the ease of movement that happens once you've decided what the heck it is you are making.  Elimination is a huge part of creation.

In the next post we'll look at what happens after you've decided, and created, your first iteration.