Writing Without the Me #4

Exercise #5 A Place Altered By Moods

If this is one of your first times on my website, you should know that this is part of an ongoing weekly series through which I attempt to make myself a better writer.

Today’s exercise was to “describe a place that you know well” (describe it neutrally, I assume, though the author, Joselow, doesn’t explicitly say so). The only instruction we’re given is to limit it to three paragraphs. She then asks us to describe it again while “communicating a mood through your description.” She provides examples of places (and even gives us permission to use a person, instead, if we wish) and a list of tones to choose from.  I chose “kitchen” and. . . I’ll tell you the mood after you read it. Might be fun if you (even if “you” is only me in the future) see if you can guess what it is. But first, the neutral one:

The Kitchen

Our kitchen is at one end of what we call “The Big Room,” a vaguely eye-shaped communal space, taking up about a third of it. Most of the things that define it as a kitchen are in a line along one wall. Refrigerator, small counter space above a stack of drawers, an oven and stove combo, larger counter space above a dishwasher, a sink with storage space underneath, and another small counter, this one with cupboards underneath. Over all of that is a row of six cabinets of various sizes. The fridge is a tall white rectangle, notable, if at all, for the fact that the freezer is on the bottom. It is covered in magnets (sometimes functional, sometimes decorative, rarely both) and pictures and papers and a whiteboard (along with magnetic whiteboard markers), and shopping lists. Nothing particularly weird or unusual— a happy mess that means something to us but probably not a whole lot to anyone else. The top of the fridge is used for storage and is on the edge of looking cluttered, unlike the countertops, which are so cluttered as to be almost unusable for anything else. At least it’s an understandable clutter. The flat surfaces of the kitchen hold kitchen items that won’t fit into the drawers and cupboards available to us. Coffee maker, coffee mugs, large utensils, and a small rack covered in a towel whose main purpose is to allow clean things to dry a bit before being put away. Even the stovetop performs double duty; along its back are kept our glasses. 

If you’re facing all of this, to your right is the beginning of the long wall that curves all the way behind you and to the other side of the room. Just behind you is the kitchen table, and above that is the fan and light. Now, turning to the wall, you see the two big windows of the kitchen. Or most of them. They are blocked, in part, by, in short, our stuff. In front of one we have a microwave stand and microwave. In front of the other window we have what is called a baker’s rack, which is filled with all kinds of things, none of which we use for baking.

mmm… baked goods

And now the moody one

Uh, well, this is the kitchen— where I spend a lot of my time. Probably too much time, really. But I don't know. This here is the fridge. I try to keep it clean, but, well, you know. That's why there's so many pictures and papers on there, to cover it all up! And of course the whiteboard. Trying to keep up with the homeschooling but it's hard! Don't really know if I'm doing that right, haha, but you asked about the kitchen, right? We do have a freezer of course, and an ice machine but it does not work. It used to! It was nice. Felt like a rich person for a little while there, which we are obviously not. 

Then here are the counters and stove. Don't mind the stove looking like it does. Feels like I just replaced those dish thingies under the burners but they look like we need to get new ones. Maybe I'll try running them through the dishwasher. Oh, the dishwasher! We have a dishwasher. Probably shouldnt run it as much as we do. We have to basically wash the dishes before we put them in there anyway! Haha actully I just give em a quick rinse and don't think about it too much. They usually come out clean. Clean enough for us at least. 

Got the coffee machine there. I love coffee. Don't talk to me until you've had your coffee, right? I mean my coffee. Nevermind. This cupboard has out plates- this one has a chip on it, as you can see. And above that it's all our used plastic containers. We could afford new ones but like, why not use the ones our food comes in if they still work, right? And up above the sink we have the food cupboard. Usually it's not so many snacks, of course. Try to have the kids eat healthy. Healthfully? Whatever. 

This was already a day late when my mom broke her ankle, which translated into a lot of extra work. I don’t want to use that as an excuse not to do it, or put it off for tomorrow (which still wouldn’t be guaranteed) but I will use it as a reason to not do it very well, and cut it all a little short. Leave it with an abrupt ending. Plus, sometimes writing is more directly affected by the world around us, and there’s no reason I shouldn’t incorporate those lessons into these exercises. 

And for those of you still wondering, the tone was “anxious.” And now, fittingly enough, I had to stop pretending to be anxious to deal with actual anxiety.