Baby animals: Pictures, gifs, videos… It doesn’t matter! Kittens and big cat cubs are a given for me, especially pictures of my own little (not so much anymore – see below) guy, but the carefree innocence of baby animals playing is a sure way to get my mood back to good. Some of my faves are baby elephants, foxes, pandas, and goats (in pajamas!)
Little luxuries: Joy can be as simple as taking a bath. I grew up around the water and it always seems to restore me. Scent is a powerful mood changer and it’s connected heavily to our memories. The right fragrance added to a tub can move me from a lackluster mood to a “let’s do this!” one. Bath foams, bath bombs, herbal infusions, and the like (I’ve even made my own!) are a must for soaking in my self-created ambiance.
Random note: I wanted to say “submerging” above but when I hear that word, I always think of one of my mother’s stories about her swimming teacher who sounded like the late-great Geoffrey Holder. He used to tell her, “Submerrrrgge yourself.” Hearing my mom imitate this is hilarious and always makes me laugh. So I guess I need to add nostalgia to my list of joy-bringers.
Freshly sharpened pencils: I always associate freshly sharpened pencils with getting to down to do some work. The scent of them triggers some deep part of me that jolts me out of a malaise. Maybe it’s from my student years, having two sharp #2 pencils on my desk ready to take a test. (Okay, maybe I had three #2 pencils on my desk, but I digress.)
I also associate that scent with fresh starts and making the best of what you’ve got. Maybe I can’t use a brand new pencil every time I write or make a list, but I can put the sharpest point on the ones I do have. A good metaphor for life.
Because of that, I bought myself one of those old school pencil sharpeners – the ones with the crank-style handle and the handy wood shaving tray for ease of emptying. For some reason, sharpening pencils brings me a ridiculous amount of joy. Right now, all of the pencils in my house are super sharp and ready to take down notes or any pesky vampires that may be lurking.
Creating atmospheres: I write Southern Gothic set in the Gullah-Geechee corridor, or as I’ve recently started calling it, Gullah Gothic. The Gothic subgenre is in large part about creating atmosphere – making a setting that itself becomes a character. But sometimes my mood isn’t conducive to writing or reading or anything. So I listen to ambient noise.
My house doesn’t have an open fire, but I can have the sound of it, which gives me a feeling of cozy warmth. If I’m on my own and I want to feel like I’m not, I play the sounds of a bustling tavern, or if I’m in a mad scientist mood, I choose the sounds of a laboratory (five syllables), full of bubbling potions and clinking beakers.
Kitchening: Story time. Several years ago, I had an awful, terrible day at the office, and I. Was. Done. Not to get into the specifics of what happened on that particular workday, but I was enraged. So, so, sooo angry about it. But I had my D&D game later that night and I wanted to bring the right mindset to the table.
So I baked. People say you should put love into your food, but on this occasion, I put all my anger and frustration from the day into the batter and whipped the sugar honey iced tea out of it. And what I made became known as my “rage cake.” It was a golden Bundt butter pound cake with a drizzle of orange liqueur. It was gorgeous. I took it to the game where it was welcomed and subsequently devoured.
I use the same technique when I’m not feeling at my best. I have a tendency to get up from the page when I’m not progressing as I feel I should and head into the kitchen. That’s what I call my kitchening: cooking something when I hit a low point. Having culinary successes buoy me up and make me feel like I can have successes in the rest of life.
Maybe I’ll follow a recipe for something I’ve never made. Maybe I’ll use my instincts and throw things together from what I have in the house. If I’m feeling really nostalgic, I’ll make a family recipe, like these amazing biscuits. The secret is soft wheat flour, which I’ve managed to find a source for here in the UK.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get something out of the oven.
Eden Royce is a Freshwater Geechee and a Charlestonian now living in the Garden of England. Her short fiction can be found in Apex Magazine, Strange Horizons, Fiyah Literary Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, Fireside Magazine, PodCastle, and elsewhere.
Her upcoming novel, TYING THE DEVIL’S SHOESTRINGS, is a middle grade historical Southern Gothic about twins learning rootwork, protecting themselves from monsters, and finding their place in the world. It’s scheduled for release in Summer 2020 from Walden Pond Press, but you can add it now on Goodreads.
