How I Write: The Secret Lives of Authors

I work in a library. This can be dangerous, because I am also a book person. Once in a while (although if I'm not careful it can happen five or six times a day) I will pick up a book that makes me want to put everything else down, curl up in one of the chairs in the corner of the library, and just read. Yesterday, that book was How I Write: The Secret Lives of Authors. The book features pages and pages and pages of different authors talking about their talismans, the things they keep with them when they write. For Douglas Coupland, it is chocolate chips. Apparently they speed the release of endorphins when you exercise. I have no idea if this is true, but I hope it is, and I think I'm going to try it. (Why this makes a difference with writing, I have no idea, but apparently it cured his writer's block.)

I wish I could reread my favourite Douglas Coupland novels for the first time. My picks: Microserfs and Girlfriend in a Coma.

p.s. I saved the book for my break, don't worry. I won't get fired. Hopefully.