clover j. gardener, word-person

So first off, I fell down a rabbit hole of Zero Waste YouTubers. Some of them offered some handy tips, but others said things I found utterly untenable for myself. One of them was not ever using paper towels. I will go on the record to say I use paper towels. I keep handful of non-plastic disposable goods in specifically my kitchen for the sake of accessibility. I use paper plates, for example, because they're cheaper at the resurant supply store and they really help with cooking meals for myself.

And I use paper towels because my cat Bob is an asshole. He is an asshole and a criminal. The other day he knocked an entire bottle of soy sauce off the counter and immediately tried to slurp up the soy and glass shards. That is not a situation I am willing to address with a jar of small rags that I will then have to rewash and refold. I use paper towels. If someone judges my purchase of paper towels I will duel them with a sword.

I cook a lot. More than what's often considered the norm, I guess. So I have more kitchen towels than any other kind. I am indifferent towards particular styles or color schemes. My priority is more towards the texture (I have some texture sensitivies and some towel materials are poison to me) and absorption. The more decorative towels are often way less functional as towels, which confuses and upsets me. I don't fold my kitchen towels, instead keeping the clean ones in a plastic bin I got at 99 Ranch. It's meant to be to hold rice, but it functions really well as a clean towel bin. I tend to consider a kitchen towel "dirty" slightly sooner than I might need to. But I worked in food service and my wife has a major aversion to contamination when it comes to food. So I tend to play it safe in that regard.

For the bathroom I have a few hand towels that I probably got at like. I don't know. Bi-Mart maybe? Potentially on sale at some big department store? Once again I don't really care about the styles. I think occasionally I like getting bathroom towels in bright orange or yellow, as the former is my wife's favorite color and the latter is mine. But if that's not already an option it's whatever. I try and maintain a small basket with the backup hand towels to change out as needed. I also have a small amount of like - those square, terry cloth towels? We overheat like crazy at times, and it's super helpful to dampen one of them to cool down with.

When I moved in my wife was using kitchen towels as hand towels in the bathroom. This is both technically fine and philosophically incorrect to me. I'm slightly more willing to argue over this. I do not thing a kitchen towel is meant to dry wet, soapy hands as well as a hand towel can.

Can kitchen towels dry your hands? Yes. Is it a crime to dry your hands in things other than specifically a hand towel? I mean, it's not a crime in the sense of the law. Whether or not it would get you sentenced in the Court of Clove is - I mean. It depends on the day, I guess.

I also think that bath sheets are way, way better than conventionally-sized bath towels. I'm willing to defend this. I'm fat, so the bigger towels are generally more convinient. And they're fun to me. They make me smile sometimes when I use them. It's like a blanket for when you're fresh out of the tub.

My clean bath sheets are kept rolled up on a shelf in my laundry room. This is probably weird. I used to keep them in a basket in the bathroom, but I found I kept forgetting that the basket was empty until I was literally going for a shower. When they're stacked in the laundry room I can gague way better if I need to do more laundry.

Thus concludes my Towel Opinions. I actually have a LOT of thoughts on many aspects of household things. I'm only just now seeing how many of my unquestioned beliefs are, in fact, regimented systems I've made up for myself in order to create a sense of control.

Talking about drawing inspiration and where it can be successful or stunt the growth of a project is something I can go on and on about. On a surface level, though, I think it's a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Even if you stumble along the way, you can learn valuable lessons on why a certain creative choice may work for one writer and not for another. And I speak from a place of bias when I say this - but I think artists can greatly benefit from being able to observe and introspect on the details in their own work, and the works they engage with.

Perfectionism is something you express worrying about when telling your stories. I still struggle with that myself. I've found I value a sense of trust between a writer and a reader, and I lament all sorts of faults in my work that I think might betray the faith of anyone engaging with it in the future. It makes me sick to my stomach sometimes. I am more distraught over it than what could ever be considered productive.

Something I try and tell myself is that the fear is often less rational than I might think it is. And at its core, it comes from caring about the experience of the reader. You can tell stories just for yourself. I've written about ten full-length novels that no one else will ever read, and I still consider them very educational experiences for my growth as a writer. But if you have any thoughts about sharing your art with another person, it's understandable to consider how the hypothetical person will take in your work. Whether you want to comfort or disturb them, I think the inclusion of the audience in mind can help a lot when finessing your intent as an artist.

To a point, though. To a point. In my experience, I've realized there's only so much I can do as a writer to value the experience of my readers. I can try my best to make sure I don't waste their time. I can present my themes and general vibe early on so that those who aren't into it will know quickly and find a more fitting way to spend their time.

But I've been on Storygraph lately - have you seen Storygraph? It's like Letterboxd, but for books. You can chart books you've read and reviewed them. And I've learned that there can be a book that is utterly clear in its premise, and readers will still not get the hint. People will read a full book and complain about things that are established on the back cover and within the first page. As a writer, I can try my best to value the experience someone has reading my work. But people are often strange, and I fully cannot account for the ways someone might interact with my writing.

What I can do is make my stories hoping not that they're perfect or totally unique, but that they are effective in getting across what I want them too. That is what I think I have the most control over, at the end of the day.