Meet The Writers' Block Crew #4: @tinypaleokitchen

It’s time to put the next victim up on the Block. Next up on Meet the Blockheads. Ze komt naar ons vanuit Belgium. It’s @tinypaleokitchen.

She might be tiny, but man can she write. She can write in two languages, maybe three and sings too. In real life she works shifts and is in the medical field. You can find her on Discord in many of the different channels helping, always helping--at night or during the day. She does, fiction, non-fiction, poetry and music. I’m sure she has more up her sleeve.

She has a wealth of writing knowledge and is always willing to help. Let's get to know her.

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When did you first start writing? What made you start?

I’m not sure… I’ve always had a need for any sort of creative outlet. I always loved writing like essays and stories in school as a child, but it sort of got forgotten when I went to high school and studied art there.

At age 19 I had my artsy burnout and refused to touch a brush or a pencil. I started cooking until my mum decided to make me stop. Everyone was putting on weight. It was quite funny. Anyway, people kept asking me for my recipes so many times that it just got easier to put them in a blog. I think that Blogger account still exists. Hmmm...

Fiction, though? My first story was written in August this year.

What’s easier to write in Dutch or English?

OK. Whose question is this??? Punctuation matters, people!

(watch me avoid that question, mwuhahaha)

When did you realise you wanted to write / was there something, a book, a person, something specific, that made you realise it?

Please don’t make me pick one…

Seriously. I couldn’t. I’ve been addicted to reading ever since I learned my first letter. I remember coming home from school and pulling the letter book out of my backpack. I’d practice the ones we learned that day, and then I’d run up to Mum and turn to the next page and ask her to tell me what it said. And then the next page. Until Mum got tired of it basically. Then I’d move on to my sister and pester her.

When I was about eight, I got Matilda for my birthday. I was lost to the world, and I must add that that happened during the birthday party, and finished the book two hours later. Maybe I should look up my friends on Fakebook and apologise for my strange, antisocial behaviour.

I just always loved to lose myself in these other worlds. What cooler thing could you think of than to get to create one of those worlds? Heck. Why stop at one?

What time of the day do you prefer writing?

My days are so full that I’ll just take any sort of time I can get. I’m likely to even forego sleep in favour of writing or editing. Yes. I’m that crazy.

Who is the writer you look up to most?

Again, I can’t name any one person. Charles Darwin and others like him, who persisted in writing and attempting to publish their work, going against social conventions and religious beliefs. They raised their voice when it was far easier to be quiet.

Who else? Stephenie Meyer.

Please tell me you didn’t believe that.

Here comes the real answer: I look up to all of you guys. The members of The Writers’ Block who work their asses off to get better at this amazing thing called writing. The amount of work you all put in--the amount of evolution I have the privilege of witnessing on an almost daily basis is simply awe-inspiring.

What story you wrote are you the most proud of, why?

Domme Hond, een Regenboogverhaal.

The thing is, everyone thinks I’m just a weirdo for wanting to--needing to write. Well. Except all of you of course. But I mean, like my family and things. Every time I talk about writing, I get these funny looks from them.

My Mum, though. She’s the exception. She’s always been proud of me. She’s my biggest fan, even though she can’t read a word of the stuff I write in English.

She kept asking me to write her something in Dutch. Only for some stupid reason I was terrified of writing in Dutch. It didn’t matter that it’s my native language. It didn’t matter that I could blog in Dutch without problems. Dutch fiction terrified me. Until I met @nobyeni and we started up the Dutch workshop in The Writers’ Block.

Domme Hond is a Dutch rewrite of A Clueless Collie. The story itself doesn’t matter that much. I’m proud of every single story I’ve written. But this will be the first story I can show my Mum.

Is there a way you come up with your stories?

My head is filled with perpetual chaos. Sometimes things fall out of it.

If you could move to one place in the world (without any practical problems) - where would you love to move to?

Weren’t we going to buy an island once we all got rich off our bestsellers? I vote for someplace warm. And with plenty of room for my dogs and horses.

What do you like the most, singing, poetry, or fiction?

You guys forgot painting and drawing. Please don’t make me choose...

How did you come to be on Steemit?

I have no clue. I just… arrived here. By accident. I’m digitally challenged, you know. I don’t know how I’ve done what I’ve done more than half the time.

If you’re stuck on a small island in the mid-1980s as your current self, would you rather be stranded with Patrick Swayze or Kurt Russell?

I assume this is me at my current age. Not me the age I was in the mid-1980s…

Definitely Patrick Swayze. Never underestimate the attraction of a man who can dance. Didn’t even have to think about that one.

What’s your favorite mead recipe you’ve brewed?

Hands down, Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead. Tastes great chilled in summer, at room temp all year long, or mulled with extra spices in winter. That reminds me. I should start another batch of that.

Better yet what is your favorite Beer Waffle recipe?

I’ve never made Beer Waffles… Sorry. But I’ll give you a better beer recipe.
Get a 33cc bottle of Leffe or Guinness (Don’t ever drink Leffe like that. It’s too damn sweet to be worth it. It’s great for desserts though.) and it up in a little saucepan. Don’t let it come to the boil. Add 600g of dark dark chocolate and stir until it’s nice and melted.

This chocolate sauce is… Better than… Wait. Is Surfie reading this? Shit. This chocolate sauce is better than the feeling you get when you remove your shoes after walking around in excruciating but pretty high heels all day. Yes. That’s it.

Want to turn the to-die-for chocolate sauce into even more lethal chocolate mousse? Whip up 500ml of heavy cream and carefully mix it with the chocolate sauce. Portion everything into little bowls (pretty bowls always work better) and allow it to set for two to three hours.

What literary pilgrimages have you gone on? Or if you have not what would you do for a literary pilgrimage?

I’d love to visit Mr. Darcy’s house. Swoons. Seriously. There are so many places I’ve read about. It would take me many lifetimes to visit them all. And I hate flying, so chances are that I won’t make it anyway.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Why the hell are you so obsessed with those damned italics?

Have you ever written characters from the opposite sex?

May I remind you of Peter Muxton? The guy who juggled two girlfriends and fell on his … Fell on his face. Yes. He fell on his face trying.

Do you view writing as a kind of spiritual practice?

Sometimes. Writing actually began as a form of therapy for me. The first story I wrote was about a rather traumatic experience I went through together with a friend. My entire Minnie series are therapeutic writing, really.

The rest of it? Tons of fun is what it is to me.

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That’s our @tinypaleokitchen. Thanks for being a good sport and for all that you do on the Block.

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