{"id":48,"date":"2026-01-03T21:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T21:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/?p=48"},"modified":"2026-01-04T15:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T15:23:17","slug":"baking-up-a-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/?p=48","title":{"rendered":"Baking Up a Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\u201cApply.\u201d he said.
\u201cYou\u2019ll love that role.\u201d

I sat and stared at my MacBook Air screen
I envisioned a life
Where my hours were filled
With community outreach and advocacy
And creating art to foster interaction.

I was made for this
And yet I\u2019m terrified.
I\u2019ve never made a viral video.
I\u2019ve yet to participate in a TikTok trend.
But the dough of my dreams 
Is already proofing in the warmth
of this emerging sunlight of hope.

I\u2019m baking up a plan
And I don\u2019t even know it.

I begin to type my application responses
In a Word document
And ten pages 
Emerge from my fingers.

\u201cClick submit.\u201d He urges.

My narrative is too deep
Too vulnerable
Too honest
Messy, even.
Will they see the whole of my potential through my passion?

I\u2019m paralyzed.

My mouse hovers, and then clicks.
\u201cYour application has been submitted.\u201d

And now I wait

To see how the warm air
Inflates my aspirations
And whether the flavors of my value 
Pique the palate
Of my would-be employer.

The proof is in the pudding
I am eager for the oven timer
To ding with the verdict.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Baking Up a Plan,” poem 003 in a series of daily poems written in 2026. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-poetry-challenge","category-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions\/50"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}