Katie's Blog

New feed! Please update your subscriptions!

2009-01-26T22:07:00.001-08:00

Hi, loyal subscribers...

I've changed blogging platforms, from Blogger to Wordpress, and my RSS feed has updated.

Please note the new location: New feed address

If for some reason that address isn't working, please drop by the blog at KatieAlender.com and let me know! (And have a look at the redesign while you're at it!)

The Blogger archives will remain up for a short time; however, all previous posts have been migrated to the new platform, so all of the old content and comments are still around!

Happy surfing!

k.

(If you clicked through from the feed to this post, don't worry--Blogger assigns each post a permalink and that's what you're seeing. There's new content over at KatieAlender.com.)

Judging a book by its cover

2009-01-20T07:32:00.000-08:00

Winston wants you to visit me at the Debutante Ball today, because I'm blogging about my cover.

Winston also wants you to have a wonderful day!!

Rekindling a lost love (* not about the Amazon Kindle)

2009-01-18T09:54:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make:

I don't really like movies.

I know this is horrible. I went to film school, for heaven's sake. There was a time in college when the pre-husb and I had seen every single film playing at the Tallahassee AMC 20 theatre. If Hollywood had scraped a piece of gum off the back of their shoe and released it in theatres, we would have paid the $3.75 student price to see it.

That continued after we moved to LA, too. We lived all scrunched into the same apartment building with our friends (it was really a lot like Friends, actually) and on any given weekend day, someone would pop in and say, "Beverly Hills Cop 29 starts in twenty-five minutes... want to go?" and we'd all pile into a car and bust on over to the AMC 12, placing our slightly-rickety student IDs on the counter and paying the $7.50 student rate.

But at some point, something changed. I think it's because I had a job that was so all-consuming that I began to horde my weekends. When you work until 8:30 pm every night, you come to treat your free hours as precious little jewels. I didn't want to go to a movie. When you consider that it's 100 minutes of movie, plus 10 minutes of standing in line and 45 minutes in the car, that suddenly seems like a big commitment.

These days, we see movies sparingly. It has to be the perfect combination of actors, directors, movie theatre, and my good mood before I'll agree to leave home and spend two hours doing something that doesn't involve eating or wine.

But lately, thanks to TiVo, I'm sorta kinda climbing back on the movie wagon. But not the Die Hard at the Senior Center movie wagon.

Oh, no, I'm going way back.

I've been TiVoing and recording classic movies on TCM, AMC, and the Fox movie channel.

In the past few weeks alone, I've watched The Devil and Miss Jones, Gentlemen's Agreement, We're Not Married, Brigadoon, and To Sir With Love. I started National Velvet this morning. And yesterday I scrolled through the next few weeks' worth of lineups and picked out another four or five films in the coming weeks.

It's not that every movie made in the 1930s through 1960s was brilliant. It's not even that everything still airing is brilliant. It's just that something inside of me loves the classics. In high school, I used to wake up early on the weekends and watch whatever was playing on AMC.

It helps that we just got the TiVo that can hold enough standard-def programming to keep you watching for eight weeks straight. But even if we didn't, I'm sure I would find myself going through my season passes, unchecking the marks next to the easy-to-stare-at reality shows to make room for Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly...

It takes me aback, a little, that I'd forgotten how much I love watching the classic films. It makes me wonder what else I've let escape me over the years.

And you never know, maybe in thirty years, they'll be airing Indiana Jones Goes to the Mall of America on TCM. Right after the oldie-but-goodie where the guy scrapes the gum off his shoe.

What are your past loves? Is there anything you've let go that you want to get back to?

I did it.

2009-01-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

I am sending this post from my car in the parking lot at work. I just
have to share that after 3 months, I finally figured out how to get
the icons showing every seafood and Thai restaurant OFF the map screen.

What an amazing way to start a weekend.

You'd think I didn't have eight piles of laundry upstairs.

2009-01-16T08:17:00.001-08:00

...But I found this "I was arrested for" meme over at Sharon Loves Books and Cats and I couldn't help myself.

Type in "[your name] needs" in the Google search.
"KATIE NEEDS HULA LESSONS!"
Well, do I ever.

Type in "[your name] looks like" in Google search.
"Katie looks like an oompa-loompa"
Nice, real nice.
"Katie's looks like she's 6 months pregnant..."
Not since I started working out, I don't!

Type in "[your name] says" in Google search.
"For some reason, Katie says “Iron” in a funny way."
Yeah, I say "eye-ron". (Just kidding, no I don't.)

Type in "[your name] wants" in Google search.
(Ignoring the lyrics for the song "Katie Wants a Fast One"...)
"KATIE WANTS OUT - AND NOW WE KNOW WHY"

Type in "[your name] does" in Google search.
"Katie does a pull-up."
...Uh, not so much.

Type in "[your name] hates" in Google search.
"Katie Hates Her Hair" -- this is the title of a blog
"Katie hates here sandwich and Victor cant feel his hair" [sic]
That wins the surrealism award

Type in "[your name] asks" in Google search.
"Katie asks... WWJD?"

Type in "[your name] likes " in Google search.
"Katie Likes Her Binkie"
What can I say, it's a tough world without a binkie.

Type in "[your name] eats " in Google search.
"Katie eats an innocent chick, clicks her mouth with satisfaction, then finishes with the newspaper."
???!!! This is on Youtube. No way am I clicking that link.

Type in "[your name] wears " in Google search.
"Brr! Katie Wears Short Shorts"
"Tom Cruise and Katie wears the same jeans" [sic]
Apparently Katie Holmes is the dominant factor in "Katie wears" web searches

Type in "[your name] was arrested for" in Google Search.
(Most of the results I got were instances of someone doing this meme and using a line about peeing in public on New Year's Eve)
"Katie was arrested for underage drinking last month, just days before her 21st birthday."
21st birthday, yeah, that's the ticket. I'm 20. Totally. Totally 20.

Type in "[your name] loves" in Google Search.
There's a band called "Katie Loves Pain," which is not true.
"Katie Loves the Kittens" is a children's book about a dog who loves her owner's new kittens so much that she is overbearing and terrifying when she tries to be their friend. See, that's more like it.

(Consider yourself tagged if you want to play!)

And here... as a counterpoint to my last post, here's a picture that proves Winston's life isn't all wine and roses:

Happy Friday, everyone! Hurray, it's the weekend!

Sawing logs

2009-01-13T06:32:00.001-08:00

Winston's snoring is getting out of control. I'm afraid most of the problem stems from the fact that he sleeps on his back between the husb and me. But he wakes me up four or five times a night. I try to rub his throat and nose to relax them, but it doesn't work for long.

Something tells me the little guy is going to be sleeping in his own bed for a while. He's still in the bedroom with us, but not in the bed.

Poor dog. But he'll get over it.

Anyway, that's on my mind today because it kept me up all night.

(I'm sure his argument would be that he wouldn't have to sleep on is back if we would just move over and make room. Case in point:)

So I'm blogging over at the Debutante Ball today, about guilty pleasures. Thanks to all who entered last week's contest! One of these times one of my blogfriends will win. And we'll be that much closer to world domination!

In the meantime, I'm off to tread the mill for a few minutes.

Happy Tuesday!

5 Things I Am Not Allowed to Buy

2009-01-12T14:46:00.000-08:00

...until I use up what I have.

1. Q-Tips
2. Fabric (well, duh)
3. 100-calorie packs
4. Hair products
5. Lotion

Just dashing off a post today because the contest over at the Debutante Ball is over and I want to get that post off the main page. All of the calmness I anticipated in my life after the holidays is still eluding me. How is this happening?

On the plus side, I seem to be getting a lot of reading done lately. I don't know how or when. I just listened to the audiobook Predictably Irrational, which was great. I love case studies and these accounts were fascinating and fun. I also read Deb Meredith Cole's Posed For Murder and am just starting Deb Eve Brown-Waite's First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria, which I'm really excited about because Eve is hilarious and therefore anything she writes about her own life must also be hilarious.

After that, I'm going to go buy What Would Emma Do? by Eileen Cook.

And then at some point I might consider stopping to take a breath!

I can't believe Bad Girls Don't Die comes out in just over three months! Now that's crazy.

Watch for a website redesign soon. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by. :-)

What's first up on your to-read list for 2009?

Win a signed-by-author copy of Tiffany Baker's debut!

2009-01-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

It's super easy to enter... all you have to do is comment on any post this week at The Debutante Ball. Tiffany's novel, The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, is a really vividly written and affecting book. It's also the first debut from our 2009 class of debutantes, so we're all pretty excited about it.

You can enter once per day, by commenting on each Deb's post...

How about starting with mine? Click here!

Ugh, lost a day!

2009-01-04T22:36:00.000-08:00

So the dog show is completely nuts and I had to work most of the day yesterday, which means that today was my day to try to get the house and life in general in order (since I haven't devoted more than probably 2 hours total since before I went down to Long Beach on December 11). I accomplished many wonderful things, such as throwing away hair products for hair that I no longer have, and discovering evidence of termites in the master bath (ah, home ownership).

Anyhoo, as I sat down on the couch with my chips and salsa, I thought, "What a day! At least it's only Saturday."

Which is, of course, WRONG.

So wrong.

So sad.

Ugh.

Win something fantabulous, courtesy of the Debs.

2008-12-28T07:22:00.000-08:00

Hey, all! Over at The Debutante Ball, we're having a Fabulous Holiday Contest! The winner gets a tee-shirt from our Debutante Ball Cafepress store (which even features stuff men can wear).

Hope you have a chance to drop by and turn in an entry! Always fun to get free things.

So check it out!

These are the good times.

2008-12-21T21:25:00.000-08:00

As the holidays unfold, may I?

May I remind you that if you can wake up, sit up, get out of bed, walk to the kitchen, look out the window, see the rain or sun or clouds...

If you can take a shower, brush your teeth, put in your contacts, wrestle with a bad hair day, stub your toe and hop around the room...

If you can look through your closet, find something to wear, put it on, find it's a little too tight, take it off, put something else on...

If you can grab a drink of water and a quick bite to eat, pop a multivitamin, feed your pets, feed your children, hug a person or animal you love and walk yourself out the door...

If you can get in your car, get stuck in traffic on the way to work, stew at your desk because you couldn't find a parking spot, swear at the copier, laugh over the water cooler, say hi to the mailman...

If you can walk down the street, speak your mind, worship (or not) as you choose, read angry blogs, hold a picket sign, buy whatever book you like, go home to food on your table and clothes on your back and a roof over your head...

These are the good times. These are better times than are had by most of the world on any given day.

We all have days that suck. We all have moments that punch us in the metaphorical gut. We all have troubles. We all get weary. We all want to lighten our loads.

But these are the good times.

Please count your blessings this week.

I know I am counting mine.

God bless,
k.

Please excuse...

2008-12-15T15:41:00.000-08:00

The madness of the dog show and a little bit of madness in life are keeping me from the blog for a bit. Thanks for all the comments on my Britney post and sorry I'm not getting around to see everybody.

:-)

k.

The saner side of Britney...

2008-12-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

Sunday night, MTV premiered "Britney: For the Record," a fairly no-frills documentary about Britney Spears. It features several plain-talk, intimately-set interviews with her at a hotel, and follows her through 60 days of her life, culminating in her surprise appearance at Madonna's Los Angeles concert, which I remember well because it was part of a series of things that royally screwed up my commute. (Thanks a lot, Madge!)

In general, I don't feel very strongly about Brit one way or the other, except that she and Paris and all those girls have kind of horrified me with their antics in the past. I have compassion for her the way you have compassion for the monkeys at the zoo who would obviously rather be riding the merry-go-round and jovially flinging their poop at each other than begging you to swing the peanut cup at them.

The documentary was interesting. In a lot of ways, it felt like a slow exhale. There are funny bits, uncomfortable bits, and touching bits (such as when Britney breaks into tears and says simply, "I'm sad"). You get a very clear sense of how literally trapped she is, for all her money and fame. She can't leave her house without being followed by fifty (five-zero) carsful of paparazzi. She gets out of her car to cross a sidewalk, only to be forced back inside by the crushing mob of photographers, many of whom literally don't care whether they hurt or scare her, as long as they get "the shot." There's a great moment where (a terrifyingly Botoxed) Madonna talks to the camera about how her experience and Britney's are similar, and how they're different.

Yes, Britney carved her own canoe, but as she points out, she was young. It was fun, at first. And now she's paying the price, although she refuses to see herself as a victim.

So anyway, regardless of how you feel about Britney, if you happen to catch this documentary, give it a chance. It doesn't ask you to like her music or her performance style.

Ultimately, what it does is humanize a girl who's been largely dehumanized.

And in this day and age, where we package bright, ambitious young women as commodities, encourage them to sell their souls and bodies, and then throw stones and insults at them, every bit of reclaimed humanity counts as progress.

Let the holidaze begin.

2008-12-02T06:47:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted for a few days. I've been completely crazed for some reason, and I suspect many of you have as well.

I hope all the NaNo'ers had a successful run of it!

Anyhoo, today I'm blogging over at the Debutante Ball about a book that changed my life. Stop by and see me!

Here's Winston, showing off his Palm Springs 'tude:

Overheard: my living room.

2008-11-26T08:18:00.001-08:00

HUSB: Look, lightning!

ME: I guess the rain is coming. Hey, will you take the dog out now, before it starts raining? He gets so filthy and smelly when he gets wet.

HUSB: In a few minutes.

(A few minutes later.)

ME: Will you take him out now?

HUSB: Very soon.

(Very soon, rain begins pounding on the roof.)

ME: Omigod! I can't believe you didn't take him out when I asked you. Now he's going to be dirty and stinky!

HUSB: Geez, what's the point of telling me this NOW? It's too late!

ME: *

Winston's Lament: a Tuesday Redirect

2008-11-25T06:10:00.000-08:00

I'm at The Debutante Ball today, blogging about my favorite lines. Please stop by and see me! But first...

"AS THE FABRIC FRAYS": a dramatic play in one act

(with added bonus: "sewing theme," for Laura!)

CHARACTERS:

WINSTON, a smashingly handsome and temporarily good-smelling Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
MOTHER, his mother--an average sort, excepting her very fashionable galoshes

(WINSTON saunters into the sewing room.)

WINSTON: La la la la la, what shall I find in here to destroy this fine morning? (Gasps.) What on God's green earth is that?

MOTHER: Oh, do you like them? They're my new squares. At some point I will probably put them together into a very colorful quilt.

WINSTON: I believe you mean, "into a very hideous quilt."

MOTHER: Indeed I do not! Why, just look at how nicely they all line up:

WINSTON: Good heavens, woman! What do you take me for? I may be "just" a dog, but I can count. That's only 80 squares. Where are the rest of them?

(Mother pretends not to hear)

WINSTON: Mother! Where are the other 340 squares?

MOTHER: Oh, fine, they're right over here.

WINSTON: I'm not moving from this spot until you agree that this is a bad idea. And my vibrating chihuahua agrees with me, in case you were wondering.

MOTHER: Oh, what does he know? He's not even a real dog toy!

WINSTON: Mother, please! He'll hear you! Now, listen to me. You remember what happened last time you decided to cut 400+ pieces of fabric and sew them all together randomly, don't you?

MOTHER: I wouldn't say it was totally random--

WINSTON: Oh, no? Then what do you call this?

MOTHER: Well, I'd--I'd call it "artistic."

WINSTON: What can I do to make you listen to reason?

MOTHER: Oh, Winston. You know I love you--

WINSTON: And Vibrating Chihuahua?

MOTHER: That's more of what I would call "esteem."

WINSTON: Never mind, Mother. Say no more.

MOTHER: Winston, I want you to be happy--

WINSTON: No, Mother. I shall bear the pain as best I can. I could never forgive myself if I made a liar out of you.

MOTHER: Oh, Winston.

WINSTON: Although now that I think about it, your definition of "neutered" was pretty borderline, missy.

[Conveniently-placed link to Debutante Ball]

Thoughts on the coming storm (not a metaphorical storm)

2008-11-24T14:41:00.000-08:00

Out here in LA, we have a lot of days where it looks like it might rain. But conventional wisdom says that, no matter how much it looks like it might rain, if it's not the rainy season, it's not going to. (Becoming ingrained in this mode of thinking will really get you into trouble when you go home to visit places like Florida and Georgia, where, it turns out, often when it looks like rain, it is actually going to rain.)

But here we are, back in the rainy season! With an actual storm on the horizon. One with actual water predicted to fall from its belly. There's a weird sense of anticipation in this city when a storm is coming. The local weathermen just about go out of their minds with glee. Everyone else just seems slightly unsettled.

And the vacant lot up the street is once again drooping into the gutters and bringing about the necessity of the rest of the neighbors going and shoveling hundreds of pounds of dirt out of the way, to keep the drainage distributed between both sides of the street. If we don't, the north side of the street will have no water, and our side (the downhill side) will have all of the water, which isn't really fair, is it?

We don't use sandbags. We might, if we had some, but they have a tendency to explode and leave piles of gravel all over the place. Instead, we use a very sophisticated and attractive system of buckets, 2x6s and tarps to keep the water from actually coming down the front stairs and pouring through the house. Even in the worst of times, we've never actually seen it close enough for real worry, but now that a storm is coming, I've made plans to leave work with enough daylight to get home and start shoveling

It sure would be easier if the guy who owned the vacant lot would take care of his property, but considering he never got around to clearing his brush, even in the height of brush fire season, I somehow doubt he's going to show up to heroically look after the rest of us.

It's all right. I don't mind the work. I'm pretty handy with a shovel. And I look totally hip in my new rainboots.

Quilty goodness... "Julia," a baby quilt

2008-11-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

It's been such a long time since I quilt-blogged! My post last week over at The Debutante Ball reminded me that I had a completed quilt to chat about.

This is a baby quilt for a very nice Swiss baby named Julia:

The funny thing about Julia is that, when we got the birth announcement, it was in Swiss-German or German or something, and it said, "Gebert Julia Lastname". And we thought, "Gebert! What a strange name for a baby. Oh, those nutty Swiss." Then I got suspicious and found an online translator that cleared up the matter by translating "Gebert" to "Birth." But I think if the baby lived close by, I would have to call her Gebert. Which I'm sure her parents would love.

Gebert was geberted around the New Year, and I actually finished this quilt over the summer. But it took me a couple of months to master the logistics of international shipping, so it was only delivered a week or two ago.

It is very humbling to have to declare the value of a handmade quilt on a customs form. "Oh, counting materials, about ten dollars, I guess."

Here's a detailed look:

It's hard to see, but I quilted it with a zig-zag stitch in a pink thread that matches the cherry fabric. By the way, the tulip fabric and the cherry fabric are just about my favorite fabrics ever. Anyone who sews knows how hard it is sometimes to actually break down and cut your favorite pieces. But for a baby, it's very worth it. Babies need things made by hand--I'm a firm believer of that.

And hopefully little Gebert considers it worth the wait... And hopefully by the time I finish the quilt for Amber's baby, that will also be considered worth the wait.

And we can't forget the obligatory "Winston sitting on the finished quilt" photo (don't worry, I wash all human quilts after Winston sits on them):

It's Tuesday... you know what that means!

2008-11-18T05:30:00.000-08:00

(Or... don't you? Either answer is acceptable.)

I'm blogging at The Debutante Ball today! This week's theme is astrology.

Speaking of evil twins...

(This picture is a representation of Winston as a Gemini, although he is actually a Taurus.)

Hope to see you there!

Sorry, ladies, he's taken!

2008-11-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm sorry to say, Winston is off the market.

He has a girlfriend.

We'll call her "Sally," although that isn't her real name. She's one of the lovely women who works the front desk at the vet's office. (So as you can imagine, we see a lot of her.)

I think it all started one day after Winston had had a pretty rough series of visits to the vet. Everything they'd done hurt and confused him, and he basically hyperventilated for 45 minutes after we left. The next time we were there, I formed a strategy.

"Give him treats," I said to any staff member who came within treating distance. "As many as you can stuff into his mouth."

Needless to say, this tactic instantly erased any apprehensions Winston had about the vet's office. Now, it's a place where they sometimes do things that are painful/confusing/annoying, but more importantly, THEY GIVE YOU FOOD. From the time I open the car door in the parking lot, a little twinkle lights up in Winston's eye, and you can tell his one-track mind has checked the box marked, THEY GIVE YOU FOOD.

Now, where Sally comes in. Sally is probably the one who gave Winston his first treat at the vet's office. She also has a lovely melodious voice, with which she says all sorts of nice things while she is handing out food.

So at some point, Winston fell in luv with Sally.

The second we walk in the door, he is pulling me toward the desk so he can be near her. We can be tucked away in an exam room, and if she speaks in the lobby, Winston will go wait anxiously at the door. When we get out of the exam, he wants to run to her and hang out with her and profess his love for her.

We call her his girlfriend and she calls him her boyfriend. So yes, they are basically engaged to be married. (If the wedding ever takes place, we are going to need a bigger crate.)

Sorry, bachelorettes. I know some of you were holding out hope that Winston might be your man. But between his stuffed green girlfriend and his real-life sweet-voiced girlfriend, there's no room for another woman.

Ladies, start your sighing. This is him waiting for Sally (he used to sit nervously on my lap in the waiting room, but not anymore):

PS - Thanks to Laughingwolf for my Lemonade award!

I'm going to break the award rules and just promise to do one of my custom-made awards soon... :-)

PPS - New York Times bestselling author (and all-around nice and fascinating guy) John Elder Robison is guest posting at the Debutante Ball today. Click here to read his post! (And comment--you might win something!)

Happy weekend, everybody!

Come see me at the Debs!

2008-11-11T04:59:00.000-08:00

I'm blogging at The Debutante Ball today!

The subject is "the writing routine." I sideswiped it and made it a little crafty and a little rock n' roll. Okay, just crafty. Not rock n' roll. But Winston is plenty rock n' roll for all of us, don't you think?

See you there!

The good (minus the bad and the ugly).

2008-11-07T11:06:00.000-08:00

A while back, Amber mentioned Good Medicine, a crafty project headed up by a very nice woman named Shelly Tucker. The basic idea is that she wants to hand out little charm bags to kids at a camp for children with cancer and their siblings. Shelly is looking for more bags and more charms, so please check out that link for more info. If you visit her Flickr group, you can even see the bags I made.

Anyway, I've kept up with Shelly's blog since then, and today I saw that she has a weekly theme post called Only the Good Friday, and she urged her readers to spread the love.

So I thought I would do so, just a little. It's been a while since I made a Joy List, so let's have a go.

(1) I have a new car. It's a green Prius, and I dig it. My nightmarish LA commute is exactly the commute the makers of this car had in mind. I go about 10 miles per hour, stopping and starting. It's a lot more fun to go 10 miles an hour when your little mileage readout says, "99.9 mpg" the whole time. Winston likes the new car, too. Except the beeping sound it makes when you reverse. But he'll get over that.

(2) A while back, a good friend gave us a treadmill she got from another friend but never used. In a fit of "what were we thinking?", we moved it outside in June. Then in July we started working out, and have been sort of regretting putting the poor treadmill outside. So we finally moved it back in and had it tuned up. Now I can work out without going to the grody, crowded gym! This is important, because I have to fit into my suit by the time our big show rolls around, December 13. I'm about 5 pounds away... but as we all know, 5 pounds might as well be 50 when you're not wearing stretch fabrics.

(3) We have started putting Winston in his crate when we eat. It makes it much more relaxing to eat, because having a puppy sticking his head under your arm and trying to eat the food off your fork makes dinnertime a little more suspenseful than I care for. He has taken to it very well, and it is completely adorable how he knows what it means when I say, "Kennel up!"

(4) I don't know if it's the exercise/endorphins or what, but I am just a bouncing ball of happy today. Part of it might be that I'm back at work. I love my job.

And to wrap it all up, my favorite dance number from this past season of So You Think You Can Dance.

Election Day at the Debs

2008-11-04T03:49:00.000-08:00

I'm talking about (what else?) voting over at The Debutante Ball.

To catch up on any of my posts that you may have missed, click here!

PS -

Advice we can all stand behind.

2008-11-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

Regardless of your political party... Natalie Portman and Rashida Jones have a sensible solution to what ails us!

See more Natalie Portman videos at Funny or Die

Taking the blinders off.

2008-10-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

I think this post of J.P. Kurzitza's is really worth checking out. And it can apply to a lot of things in life besides just writing!

But especially writing. The temptation, for writers, is to push through, because we like to think a book is somehow bigger than ourselves. A few months ago when I was working feverishly on the first draft of Project X, I would spend mornings, nights, and weekends locked to the computer. At the time, I felt entirely justified in abandoning my workouts, my healthy eatings, my husband, and my social life.

But when the draft is done, you realize... I could have taken a little more time and shared a little of that energy with other things in my life. And then I might not have stressed out my husband and gained five pounds and ended up missing my friends.

Writing is important to a writer--it has to be. But without a little bit of a life, what are you going to write about? And how are you going to write it authentically?

Spouses, parents, significant others, children, friends--these are the people whose minute behaviors we end up, er, "borrowing" and writing into our books. So don't those people deserve a little bit of our time and attention?