could not run sleep.exe

Why I believe the coffee is important…but not because it’s been tampered with. The coffee represents exactly how Metatron manipulated Aziraphale to return to heaven.

Let’s take a look back at that painful final episode.

In Nina’s coffee shop, the Metatron makes an interesting remark: “Do people ever ask for death? The name of your establishment is Give me Coffee or Give me Death. I assume they always ask for coffee.” And when Nina replies that they never ask for death, he says “No I don’t suppose they do. So predictable.”

This is an interesting line! And in my experience, interesting lines don’t show up for no reason. My takeaway from this is that it means when given the choice between a mildly pleasant thing (coffee) and an extremely unpleasant one (death), the predictable choice most people will make is to pick coffee. Here’s where things get interesting. The Metatron proceeds to apply this exact logic on Aziraphale.

Let’s fast forward just a little bit, to Aziraphale’s retelling of his talk with the Metatron. After being offered the position of supreme archangel, Aziraphale initially refuses! He says “but I don’t want to go back to heaven. Where would I get my coffee?” In other words, Aziraphle likes earth and is happy here amongst his people and things. To this, the Metatron responds: “As supreme archangel, you would be able to decide who to work with…” and says that he was looking back at his precious exploits and saw his “de facto partnership with the demon Crowley.” And continues “Now if you wanted to work with him again, that might be considered irregular. But it would certainly be within your jurisdiction to restore your friend Crowley to full angelic status.” On my first watching, I didn’t catch the threat — but it absolutely was one! Because here, the Metatron has asked Aziraphale to choose between coffee and death. He’ll have to return to heaven, BUT he’ll be able to be with Crowley! The alternative is the threat of never being able to work with Crowley again. And just as the Metatron has predicted, Aziraphle chooses coffee. Because to Aziraphale, the alternative would be inconceivable.

as i see it, he wanted to manipulate aziraphale into asking crowley to be an angel again and come back to heaven as a way of presenting a false dichotomy that would ultimately tear them apart. crowley becoming an angel again would effectively be like ego death for him. it would take away everything that he is and that he and aziraphale have worked for, so why would he choose that option?

If you have ADHD or ASC or are some other flavor of neurodivergent, the 'rules' many big name authors post about how they've reached success can actually make you feel REALLY BAD because you can't always do the same thing.

Building a positive relationship with writing can make all the difference in getting you writing more.

'Write every day.' - Don't write every day, write when the mood strikes. But you can trick your brain into work mode by trying different things. Put on your shoes when it's time to write. Light a candle. Put on the same playlist every time. After a while, it'll be like a light-switch. When you light the candle, your brain will find writing easier. Just don't force it. When you try to force writing, you build up frustration and resentment if you don't get anything out. Some days just won't be writing days. That's FINE, lots of authors don't write every day (even if they say they do).

'I write 1000 words every day!' - Well, if you WANT to write and are struggling, a goal of 1000 words seems really far away. So do incremental goals. One sentence. One paragraph. 100 words. Usually by then you're in the flow of things and you can write 1000 words pretty easy. And again, celebrate every single one of those goals so you want to keep doing it. If you have to? One sentence, walk away, come back later, add another, GOOD JOB, two whole sentences!

Freeman Pride