Writer’s Block

Hello and welcome to the 2020 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge! I’m writing one new meet-cute per day as part of my “Sacramento Love” theme. Read along as couples find themselves falling for folks in lucky locations across California’s capital city. In this time of social distancing, there’s no need to fear a little fictional fun, so get your romance fix here and enjoy!

P.S. Today’s story was inspired by Writer’s Block Coffee, who really are donating 100% of their sales today to Feeding America! They’re aiming to raise $1,000 for the hunger charity, so if you need to stock up on coffee (or just want to try something new), today’s the day.

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Winnie was on a deadline, and she wasn’t going to make it. She wasn’t happy about it, but she figured it was better to admit defeat than attempt to make any more promises she couldn’t keep. She’d emailed her editor, who was not exactly happy about it, either, but accepted that the delay was unavoidable. After all, it was a pandemic. Work and life were simply not moving forward as usual.

Winnie didn’t want to admit it to Carla (her very understanding, very long-suffering editor), but she’d had writer’s block ever since the stay-at-home orders had been issued back in March. Having been stuck at home for over a month, she was beginning to worry she’d never write again.

“Calm down, you’re just catastrophizing,” she whispered to herself, sitting in front of the computer and staring at the blinking cursor.

“What you really need is a good cup of coffee!” came a robotic voice from Winnie’s speakers. She’d set up her email to read all the subject lines as incoming mail hit her inbox, and this one was from Writer’s Block Coffee. She clicked through to read the note, which informed her that TODAY ONLY–Monday, April 27, 2020!–the company would be donating 100% of its profits to Feeding America.

“Hey, that’s a great idea!” She clicked over to the website, chose “whole beans” from the dropdown menu, typed in her address, and ordered the largest bag available. Five whole pounds ought to do the trick.

“Thank you for your order!” the robot voice announced, as the follow-up email hit her inbox.

“No, thank you,” Winnie said, dreaming of the ridiculously smooth Ethiopian coffee that would soon be arriving in her mailbox.

She got up, set her coffeemaker to brew up a fresh batch of java, then sat back down at her desk with a new plot twist for her cozy mystery, Coffee, Killers, and Qu’est-ce Que C’est?

Don’t miss a magical moment!

Preorder your copy of Sacramento Love: The Book for just 99¢!