I'll start with a disclaimer. This short post is about life, productivity, romance, and stress. Before I started this hopefully-inspiring post, I performed an internet search, and it seems that the metaphor of Swiss Cheese appears in a very dark and different context.
Swiss Cheese is known for the holes. Varieties of Swiss cheese include Emmental, Gruyere, Sbrinz. The latter is not known for its holes.
There are other European cheeses with holes such as Gouda (Dutch), Jarlsberg (Norwegian), Havarti (Danish), Tilsit (German) to name a few.
Apparently, as global hygiene standards improve, the holes in cheeses shrink. The holes are the result of bacteria and whatever carries airborne bacteria into fresh milk, such as hay fragments in the milking barn. The bacteria survive for a while and emit gas bubbles which are set (as holes) inside the cheese.
My philosophy of "Swiss Cheesing" centers on facing an overwhelming task by picking holes in it. It could be a big hole, it could be a tiny hole. The point is to make a start.
There is a time-honored saying in romance writing. You cannot edit a blank page. Therefore, you have to make a start, write a word, a sentence, a paragraph. When getting started, the first words absolutely do not have to be perfect. You may discard them later, anyway. "The Muse" tends to kick in later, when you are in the flow, or the zone.
I saw an article this last week (between power cuts and internet outages) about some research that found that the most prolific and speedy authors tend to also be the best. I want to say it was Margaret's.
Swiss Cheesing also works as a philosophy when you come out of your writing binge (or whatever else has occupied your attention for some time), and realize that your hallway is full of Amazon boxes, your kitchen sink is full of dishes, spiders have been breeding like fun in your recessed ceiling can lights, and the autumn leaves have piled up on your deck.
At this point, my own earworm would be the 1991 Michelob jingle, "Some Days Are Better Than Others", which is a cup-half-full take on a bad day.
Then, you pick a hole in your massive, mental "To Do" list, reject the temptation to play a game on your smart phone or to take a nap (procrastination city!), and do something. Not everything. That would be overwhelming to contemplate. Maybe just wash the spoons.
Happy Swiss Cheesing!
All the best,
Rowena Cherry
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