Last night, working on my novel, I came to a scene where the characters are standing in front of a bin full of pomegranates, and I realized I really needed to have a pomegranate in front of me for the scene to continue. I need one in my hand.

Some call it research, some call it a sudden onset of writer’s procrastination, but I stopped right there and went for a walk to the local grocery store.

The sky outside still held an afterglow from the sunset, the last gasp of light from the day. The color mesmerized me. A very deep blue-purple (would that be called burple?) and bands of clouds like lines, so I walked in a daze. By the time I reached the store, a mere two blocks away, it had faded to black and it was full-on evening.

Inside I passed temptation after temptation. Beer, chips, candy, cookies … passed them all, intent on my mission. I must find a pomegranate.

The characters, you see, are discussing the seeds that Hades tricked Persephone into eating, thus binding her to the underworld and causing winter every year. It’s an important scene because the pomegranate seeds play an important role in my story.

Alas, as fate would have it, there were no pomegranates in the store!

Miffed, I picked up some bananas instead, and then consoled myself with a dozen flavored yogurts (need them for breakfast, anyway), and picked up a bottle of wine, and a jar of peanut butter, and some cookies, and a couple bags of chips… By the time I got up to the front register I had an entire basket full of stuff, things I’d put in the cart without even thinking of it because my mind was still on the novel. Fortunately I came to my senses before I actually entered the checkout line … I had come on foot! There was no empty trunk of a car waiting for all this stuff in the parking lot.

And then, standing there, blind spots appeared in my vision, and my heart sank. The sign of an oncoming migraine.

I abandoned the cart and walked quickly home, took meds, saved my files and shut down the computer, and went to bed.

This evening … as long as the migraine doesn’t make a return appearance … my quest for a pomegranate will continue.