My name is Prue Batten and I am a chocoholic…

Earlier this month I was interviewed by Shéa Macleod and one of the questions she posed was ‘Chocolate or parma ham?’

Shea isn’t the only one who mentions chocolate… the more I wander amongst my favourite blogs, the more I find that chocolate is an absolute essential for the writer. I even found this http://bit.ly/fjaCn5 on a new blog today.

Certainly in my own case, it’s an addiction. An obsession. So much so that my hairdresser made me the most stunning cupcakes when A Thousand Glass Flowers was released.

Now you could assume by what I’m saying that I sit with an open block of choccie next to me as I journey across the page with the protagonists. Not true at all. Imagine! I’d be the size of a house because writing is such a sedentary occupation. But at the end of a fraught time or even at the end of a gung-ho session, I will sit at night with a hot cup of tea, my embroidery and something chocolate-y. Not every night, but quite a lot.

I love chocolate. And I’ve noticed that things I crave are generally bad for me. I love berries… of any sort, adore them. I grow seven different sorts. But if I have too many I break out in rosacea. Too much chocolate and the same thing happens… or I get headaches or sinus, or can’t sleep.

But they say that chocolate makes one happier, that it can reduce blood pressure. And that it can actually help attention span, create an alert state of mind and enable one to problem solve. All good reasons to consume without guilt knowing that it is creating just the right kind of environment for the happy writer.