So here’s a little author secret. The longer I’m sitting at my desk writing, the more snacks I feel I need. I’m not normally a snacker. Also, I don’t really keep junk-y stuff in the house. We set a good example with the kids and eat pretty healthily and blah, blah, blah. But all bets are off when I am drafting a novel.
It’s just the drafting part for some reason. I need to be chewing or something while I’m creating the words on the page. I don’t feel this need while I’m revising or editing or reading over my work. It’s just for that initial draft. And I find, interestingly, that I get drawn to a particular choice of food and beverage for each different novel. For Caminar, it was pretzels and Coke. (I rarely drink caffeine, so this was a big deal.) To Stay Alive (the Donner Party novel that is due out next fall) was written with lots and lots of beef jerky. And yes, I get the irony of that. I drafted a contemporary novel last fall (that is still a hot mess, ready for revision) in which I consumed gallons and gallons of tea–hot, cool, and otherwise.
I sat down at the beginning of the summer to start a new novel, not really sure what would be the magic bullet for this one. So I went to Target and filled up the cart with possibilities.
(This is an excellent illustration of why my husband does the grocery shopping in our house. I cannot be trusted down the sweets aisle.)
So yes, I made my way through that entire stash in…let’s call it the first week. (Because the first 48 hours would sound insane, wouldn’t it?) And I’m happy to report that the BarkThins pumpkin seed/chocolates at the bottom of the picture have stuck. I’m on bag four. I think. Truthfully, I’m trying not to count.
Clearly if I wrote more than one book a year I’d end up with diabetes.