Dawdling with Google

The biggest danger to the writer is not self-doubt, writer’s block, or a cat walking over the keyboard and writing more interesting scenes than you do, but the Google search, and the time you spend following curious links rather than working.

I had decided that the main character in A Memory of Ice would spend a night in the open. I had a vague notion she could burrow into leaves to stay warm, but was that correct? Truth in writing demands that I find exactly how much insulation leaves provide, and whether or not they itch.

So, searching for blanket of leaves lets me learn that

1) Michael Jackson’s son is named “Blanket”

2) You can find Linus’s blanket on Great Pumpkin Island by blowing away a pile of leaves

3) There’s a “Marijuana potleaf mink blanket” (queen-sized!) for sale on eBay

And

4) Three to four feet of leaves will protect you down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit. No information on itching, and I’m not going to experiment. There’s a limit to truth in writing. That’s why it’s called fiction …