I have a new theory on Life: birthday cake can solve all problems.

I have this requested rewrite that I've been stalling on all week, partly because of the inherent pressure of the situation (if only I can do this well enough, such Good Things might happen!), and partly because, well, it just felt really hard. But then Patrick had his birthday yesterday and we made chocolate birthday cake. As I mixed flour and cocoa and sugar together and Patrick melted butter and measured liquids, my mind started doing its now familiar hamster wheel trick of running through the problem areas in the story and not managing to solve any of them. We went out and had a lovely time in town, saw "Return of the King" in the theater again, bought some Indian takeaway, took it home for dinner, broke out the cake....

Ohhhh, I love birthday cake. Chocolate melted through my tongue and mouth and filled my throat, and my head began to work.

I ate a lot more today. And guess what? I just finished the first rewrite. It's nowhere near Finished, but it's actually feeling fun, like an interesting challenge instead of a Paralyzing Dilemma. And I think it's even turning into a better and stronger story. Who knew?

Birthday cake. It's all about the chocolate. :)