Thank you all for your patience as I try to get through all the Q&A for this month and last. You all ask such great questions, I find it hard to answer them without starting a new series.
In the September Q&A, Charlette asked a question about how large companies manage to preserve products with clay, which I thought was easy-peasy, then I realized I hadn’t really written about clay on the blog and hadn’t shared some formulas I’ve been making for years, so down the rabbit hole I went. It tied into thickening products with clay, then I started reading all about the clay based ingredients they have at TKB Trading for thickening. So naturally I have to order all of them and research all kinds of products in which I could use them, and then it’s eight hours later and I’ve forgotten to eat or do other things that a body needs from time to time.
Don’t get me wrong – I love the process, losing myself to flow, and following from one link to another to see where I end up – but it means that I might only get one question done on a writing day.
This happens with questions from the comments, too. I sit down and open all the posts to look at the comments, and before I reach the fifth one, I’m off on a tangent.
Please know this – I’m not ignoring your comments or questions if I haven’t answered them. I have a master list on which I put the questions from the Q&A section to ensure I get to them, but I am still behind. It isn’t about paying a certain amount of money or not being the right kind of subscriber because it’s not like I check to see if I’m going to answer someone’s question based on their subscription level – it’s about the time I have to do it and how many rabbit holes I fall down!
If you ask me about an ingredient I’ve never used before, I’m looking at at least three hours of researching, reading, and putting together what I find before I start writing the post. My usual routine is to search online and through my textbooks for information on the ingredient, then I go looking for data sheets, bulletins, and sample formulas to see how it’s used. I generally consult EBSCOhost, too, to see if I can find studies or safety reviews. But key to this is that I can’t really do much research when I’m writing from bed, so I have to be pain free enough to sit up so I can have my notebooks scattered everywhere.
I admit it: I just can’t answer a question simply, but that’s why this blog exists. I’m never satisfied with a summary or generic answer, I want to know more and more and more. (And yes, I drove my parents crazy!) I know life would be easier and I’d get more done if I gave you a one or two sentence answer – clay can cause contamination and it’s hard to preserve – but that’s no fun and it’s not me. And I don’t know how to reduce how much work I put into each post and still meet the expectations I have of myself and the posts.
I admit I’m feeling a bit chaotic having a few series on the go, but I’ll try to write them all before I share them in the future as I hate stopping as I find it hard to get going again when distracted by another new shiny thing.
Again, thank you for your patience.