The Imperfect Writer- Coffee CrAzE

Most of us writers don’t have the luxury of being able to sit at home and write all day. Instead we have to fit our passion into the nooks and crannies of life. Five minutes here while waiting at the doctor’s office, ten minutes there in between classes, as well as late nights and early mornings when life is at rest for a few hours.

That being said, coffee is my greatest ally. I prefer early mornings to late nights, and sometimes the only thing that is going to drag me out of bed is a nice warm cup of Joe.

Heaven's light shining down on Reepicheep, my loyal writing companion.

Coffee is my one indulgence while I’m working hard on a novel, so I’m always looking for excuses for why I must drink it and how it’s useful for the writer.

One day I was in the nano forums and another writer wrote that the reason writers always need something in their mouths (be it coffee, snacks, or pens) is that when your mouth is working it increases the creativity levels in your brain. Yes! Coffee drinking, snack eating, and pen chewing all in the name of creativity! Then to my demise, I couldn’t find any type of research what-so-ever to back it up. Darn.

Then I was reading Family Life magazine and stumbled across this very important research-

Drinking coffee not only provides healthy antioxidants, but also makes you positive, helps you on tests, and helps you catch grammatical errors.

Viola! I needed to drink coffee for the sake of editing! Yes… for editing!

One cup down, one chapter down. Two cups down, two chapters down. Three cups down, three chapters down. Four cups down, um, bathroom break. Five cups down, and the jitters set in.

Suddenly I felt like I was at the fair in the fun house on one of those moving floors. I chose to step on that vibrating floor, and I wasn’t getting off of it anytime soon. I Googled how to counteract the coffee shakes and someone suggested protein, so I wolfed down leftover chicken. Several minutes later I was still shaking, so I added nuts, cheese, and peanut butter.

Did it work? Nope. I spent the entire day with my brain whirling in circles and my feet wearing down the floors of my house. Work on my novel was very unproductive.

Lesson from the imperfect writer- coffee is not the magic editing potion, especially in large amounts.