Faithchick: Chocolate, Writing, and the Excuses I Make Up About Both

Chocolate, Writing, and the Excuses I Make Up About Both

Camy here, and yes, I’ve been telling myself little fibs. Like how I need chocolate to write or else I can’t Be Creative.

(Insert melodramatic music)

I have to admit, it certainly seems, sometimes, that I write better when my chocolate cravings are fed.

I never thought I’d ever be one of those temperamental artistes who would rant and rave about how they had to recapture their “muse” and who had rituals and charms to enable them to create. But here I am, demanding chocolate.

Oh, and not just any chocolate. My favorite chocolatier, Vosges Haut Chocolat. This stuff is pricey but waaaaaaaaay good. All unusual. A carnival for the taste buds.

But if it works, it’s justified, right???

I’ve been getting over being sick—at first, for a few days after the ACFW conference in late September, then more lately, another bout of something I caught (probably at church) that laid me up for almost a week. I’m finally feeling better, but I’m desperately trying to catch up on work.

More specifically, on creative work. Coming up with new story ideas, refining ideas I’m developing into proposals, elaborating on ideas for a book I need to finish by December (it’s the sequel to Deadly Intent! Untitled as yet, but releasing around September 2010. I usually have to turn in the manuscript anywhere from 9-12 months before the actual release date.)

Back to chocolate. And writing. And the lies I tell myself.

No, chocolate does not really fuel my creativity. I have to admit that. I could probably be creative without chocolate.

But where’s the fun in that?

And you know, there are degrees of creativity, too. There’s “I am so on a creative high, I could wow your brain with literary genius if you give me another few minutes” creativity, or there’s “Well, I’m not writing absolute dreck but I have seen monkeys write better” creativity.

And if chocolate can facilitate literary genius, isn’t that worth it?

Yes, I know. I’m only making excuses.

Pass the chocolate.

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, are both out now. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.