I just got kicked out of the house for the night. This happens sometimes. Not as the result of marital discord, mind you, but because Robbi finds herself suddenly inspired by that special combination of time crunch and creative inspiration and needs to capitalize on it.

And so, just after dinner, she announced that she would be staying up all night inking the drawings for the next Bobbledy book and that, although I was welcome to remain in our home, I might have a better go of it were I to relocate for the evening. My options being our rather uncomfortable couch or my mother’s house, I opted for the latter.

It was also strongly implied that her work would be aided by an immense infusion of sugar-based calories. And so I went to the Royal Farms and secured Robbi’s cocktail of choice: Coke, Almond Joy, and Peppermint Patties.

Robbi has spent most of the past two weeks creating the drawings for the next Bobbledy title, which is going to be our first-ever mix-and-match book specifically for kids (people have been suggesting, urging, begging us to create one for years).

It’s about a little kid named Benji who creates machines to do all of his dirty work: chores, parent management, bully deterrence, sibling containment, etc. By flipping the panels, kids can create the exact machine they need to solve whatever problem (or problems) might come up in their lives.

Robbi’s task for tonight is the inking, which means to create the final linework by roughly tracing over her sketches using the light table.

I have no idea how she can hold her pen steady while riding the wave of all that sugar, but she is a woman of mystery and genius. Perhaps this is the answer to that age-old riddle of why (and how) she draws such bizarre fingers and boobs. Perhaps they are the product of the sugar shakes?

I’m heading off to bed now. It’s late. I can’t wait to see what’s waiting in my inbox when I wake up in the morning.In this way, Robbi’s all-night drawing sessions are kind of like Christmas. Only, I wake up in a strange bed two blocks down the street.