Guest Spot Sunday: Why Writers Need Coffee by Saoirse O’Mara

If you’re friends with a writer, or follow a writer on Twitter or Facebook, you’ve likely noticed that most writers seem to have a weird relationship with coffee. We claim that we need coffee to get going in the morning, or to appease our muse, or to be creative at all. Honestly, we must come across as a whole bunch of weird, freaky coffee addicts (and some of us sure are). But have you ever wondered what really makes us cherish, yeah, almost worship, this caffeinated beverage so much?

Coffee gives us an excuse. No, really, I mean it. We can’t seem to get our creative juices flowing? Maybe we haven’t had enough coffee yet. Time to get up and make some, right? Oh, and while we’re waiting for it, we can just check Facebook and see what our writer friends are doing. Oh, cat pictures, cute! Fast forward an hour…. Oh gosh, the coffee! Guess we have to reheat it (or just make new coffee, you know, it is best if it’s fresh). More waiting time….

On the other hand, there are days where we just can’t focus on anything and our ADD kicks in really bad. We’re procrastinating like the world champion in Procrastination for Pros, jumping from Facebook to Twitter to emails to cat pictures and back all day long without actually doing anything. But of course, it’s not our fault. No, it must be the overdose of coffee we had, which we only got because coffee didn’t kick in fast enough and we drank another cup.

Then, if we’re actually writing but every sentence turns out to be utmost garbage, that’s not our fault, either. Surely our muse didn’t have her coffee yet. Quick, get up and make some to appease her! Oh yeah, the waiting time again…no sense in actually trying to write more before the coffee is done, right? So we can just as well check….

Yeah, you get it. I mean, hey, we actually do get stuff done. Seriously. But every now and then we need an excuse to feel less guilty about an unproductive day, and coffee is just the perfect scapegoat for everything. Besides, it’s just comfort food (or rather drink, I guess).

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This guest post is brought to you by Saoirse O’Mara, children’s and YA writer and admitted coffee addict, under the influence of some really good coffee at two in the morning. Her latest release is Trouble in the Mage Guild, part II of her YA fantasy/mystery series A Rogue’s Tale.