Kirk Wheeler – Page 12

Steal This Idea Number One

I have many ideas that pop into my head and I can’t let go of them until I get them down in some fixed form or another.
I had this one last week.

And I know that I will do nothing with it, and maybe there is already something out there just like it ( If there is please let me know), but if not and you happen to be a developer then maybe this will spark something for you. Or just feel free to steal the idea outright and create something great.

What I am thinking of is a meal planning system that is agnostic to any one brand or way of eating.

It could be a website or an app or both and you would be able to create an entire meal plan based on who you are and what you like. So if you are vegetarian or paleo or whatever you can tailor the plan to your way of eating.

Then you could have modules or plugins or in app purchases that give you content from one of the brands you are into and they would fill in all of the details for you. This could be from places like Food Network ( I think they have something along these lines but I am thinking more comprehensive) or from blogs (like Pioneer Woman or Tim Ferris) or from recipes that your grandmother passed down to you from her grandmother. Maybe with pictures of both your MiMi and your MiMa.

It would also have a filter so that you could put in all of the foods that you like or that you don’t like or foods that your kids will or won’t eat.( Broccoli or liver or whatever you or your small ones see fit to put on the yucky list) Then it could give you basic menu choices based on these options and from there you could create your meal plan.

It should foster discovery like Pinterest and create lists of ingredients and send them to something like Evernote. or something that you already use to sync up your life.

And then you would have your shopping list.

That might describe it pretty well. A meal planning system that combines the look and discovery of Pinterest with the functionality of Evernote.

And of course when the pantry and refrigerator of the future are here they will tell you what you have an what you need and it will interface with this program.

All in all I think you get the idea. So go on and take it.

There is something about human nature that makes people want to tell you all of the reasons why something can’t be done. And I just don’t get it. Because all we need is for one person to tell us that it can be done. And then suddenly it is possible.

I have to be honest and say that I have not read very many books about the craft of writing. I know there are many good ones out there and I even looked up a few lists before I wrote this post to jog my memory but for better or worse I have not taken the time to read most of them. To tell you the truth, I don’t think you need to read books about writing in order to become a good writer. I just think that you need to write. But I do have one book like this that I keep close.

A few years ago on a trip to Barnes and Noble I picked up The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop by Stephen Koch. Right away I started marking up the copy with a highlighter because I thought there were so many good ideas in it. But a part of the book that really stuck out for me was a story he told about his early teaching career. He that felt he needed to be honest with his students and so once a semester he would give a speech about how hard it was going to be to become a writer and how much they would struggle. Then after one of those speeches a student came up to him and said that they already knew how hard it was going to be. Everybody had been telling them their whole lives that failure was the most likely outcome. Their mothers or their fathers. Their aunts or uncles or friends. Everyone. But all they needed to hear was that one person who said it was possible.

And it is possible. The proof is all around us. Everything that has been created by mankind was created by someone just like you and I. Someone was willing to do what someone else said was not possible. But it was possible. It is possible. And it will always be possible.

And now the reason for the title of the post. Josh Ritter. Animal Years is my favorite record of his but the lines below are from the song Lantern on the So the World Runs Away record. What has always stuck with me from this song is the line: “If there’s a book of jubilations, We’ll have to write it for ourselves”.

“So throw away those lamentations
We both know them all too well
If there’s a book of jubilations
We’ll have to write it for ourselves
So come and lie beside me darling
And let’s write it while we still got time”

– Josh Ritter