First and most importantly: I have finally tasted the Madagascar chocolate bar* and it is mmmmmm, good! Unfortunately, we'd already finished off the Cuban bar, so we can't make any direct comparisons...but then again, for the purposes of scientific accuracy, maybe we really ought to buy another Cuban bar so that we can decide which one is the absolute best...

In almost-as-good news, I wrote over 1800 words of Kat this morning, which, for me, is incredible. I haven't written that much of a novel in one sitting since...well, since the last time I was writing a novel climax! So far, the metaphorical crocodiles have been joined by sharks and snakes, with no escape route in sight, but I have hope that by tomorrow's writing session, Kat and I will have thought of something desperately clever to combat them. The more chocolate I eat, the more optimistic I feel about it!

And I just read a wonderful blog post by Laini Taylor on the ugly stage of writing novels, the techniques she uses to convince herself to persist through the sloppy first-draft each time 'round, and the uselessness of comparing yourself to other, more efficient or confident writers. Needless to say, this was my favorite part:

You have to work with the brain you have. Like, it's an unruly pet, say. We adore our dog Leroy. He's the sweetest dog that ever lived. Just don't bring another dog into the room or he turns into a savage. No amount of training ever managed to change that. So we just work with it. So too with our complicated brains. Don't try to treat your brain like it's somebody else's well-behaved dog. Know it. Love it for its own quirks and even its savagery. Because let's face it, other people's well-behaved dogs are some kind of freakish robots, aren't they?

(You can read the whole blog entry here.)


*note: I can't believe I found a link to buy the Madagascar chocolate bar on Amazon! That company really is taking over the world.