Saturday, January 18, 2014

Week of Jan. 19, 2014 - Writing Chocolate


By Joan Whetzel

 

Look up Writing Chocolate on the internet and you find a gazillion entries for a liquid form of chocolate that can be squeezed through a pastry tip. It's used to write chocolate messages on cakes, pastries, and candies. But for me, writing chocolate fulfills my chocolate cravings  - and feeds my muses - while I'm writing..

 

There are a lot of theories about why people - a huge majority of them women - crave chocolate. Some say it has to do with the hormones that are out of whack during "that time of the month" and during menopause. Since I am old enough that I am no longer experiencing these hormonal cravings, I can pretty much count these out as causes.


Some say the cravings are due to an addiction to caffeine (a cousin to chocolate). I can't drink that much coffee. it keeps me up and gives me a headache if I drink too much, which I don't get when consuming mass quantities of chocolate.

 

Some say that cravings indicate that the body needs more magnesium, which chocolate provides in spades. Well, that's a possibility I suppose.


Mostly, though, it is believed that chocolate works on the brain's chemistry, increasing serotonin levels that produce a calming effect. Okay, I'll admit I have noticed this effect.

 

For me, though, it also seems to stimulate my imagination and make it easier to write. That's why I keep a bowl of miniature size chocolates in my office. I do, however, have to keep my bowl of writing chocolate far away from my writing desk. Otherwise, I find I have consumed most of the bowl during the writing of 1 or 3 articles. Doling them out a few at a time keeps my writing muses happy, and the words flowing.

 

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