Experiment 4: Cooking up inspiration

The good news is that I haven't exactly been blocked lately. My characters were talking to each other while I was in the shower the other day. This is what I call progress.

Still, I'm not one to live in the moment and enjoy things. Momentum needs a constant push.

So I decided to cook up a new experiment. Literally. I kept coming across these mystery series books centered around some kind of sumptuous food. The only one I can think of at the moment is Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton, but there are plenty of others with play-on word titles. You know, "Death and Donuts," only better than that.

Anyway, I can imagine these authors finding inspiration at restaurants and coffee shops and from trying out new recipes. I'm sure they glean ideas from all kinds of exciting culinary pursuits. It all sounded so romantic, like an Amanda Hesser book. I wanted in.

While I don't write mysteries, and I'm not a food critic, I thought maybe bringing some food into my book couldn't hurt. Taste is the sense I tend to forget about. So when I found my characters ready to nosh on elotes en vaso (corn in a cup), I decided to jump into action.

{If you've never had corn in a cup, it combines roasted corn, spices, cream, lime juice and crumbly Mexican cheese, all eaten together in a styrofoam cup with a plastic spoon.}

We were having company over anyway, so why not try a new recipe on them and get inspired to write the next chapter in my novel at the same time, right? Wrong. Do not try this at home. Unless, that is, you have some skill in the kitchen. Is there a translation for green thumb for the culinary world? Let's just say if you're the type of person who waits for her husband to get home so he can boil the noodles for the spaghetti, maybe this isn't the approach for you.

My elotes en vaso looked good, but tasted awful. Basically like sour limeade with chunks of corn in it. Nothing like the real thing, even though I used a recipe. My guests were gracious.

I drone on. The point is, proceed with caution. My characters are now eating this delicious dish as we speak and I can't remember for the life of me how it's supposed to taste.

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Writer's road block: The war is on

It just hit me. I'm not blocked. Rather, I'm being blocked. Let's call it writer's road block instead.

I took a day off of work, kept my son in daycare, sat down and wrote. No husbands or children. Revise that. I meant no husband or child. I wasn't blocked. I was productive.

Now, it's Saturday and as I write this, my son is sobbing about wanting to go to the park even though he hasn't been on his best behavior today. And the other night, my husband demanded I stop writing so we could watch Avatar together. Do you know how long that movie is?

The characters in my life are stronger than the characters in my novel. So they should be, but they aren't exactly helping me along my writing journey here. They are blocking me. You can't fit inspiration between making someone a sandwich, doing the laundry and shutting up barking dogs, can you?

This means war. I need a new strategy... Uh, oh... More sobbing from the 3 year old and my husband is calling on the cell phone so I'll have to think about it later.

P.S. No book dedications for those two.

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