State of the Union

Me during the State of the Union:

Stare at the first paragraph of chapter five of the WIP (Work-In-Progress). Decide I need inspiration from fellow writers. Open up Maureen Johnson's blog.

Read Maureen Johnson's hilarious account of John Green's reaction to his Printz Honor, wherein he spills cat litter in Union Square and wants to buy a monkey to fetch his pencils.

Decide I want a monkey. Google-search monkeys. Find a list of famous monkeys throughout history.


Envy monkeys for their accomplishments. If only I were a monkey, and I had a typewriter, I could have written Hamlet by now...


Return to chapter five. Decide the first paragraph is fine. Begin twiddling with the second paragraph. Wonder if SWAT team is "SWAT" or "S.W.A.T." Return to Google.

Learn that the movie S.W.A.T. has periods. I never saw the movie. Wikipedia spells it without periods. Decide to trust Wikipedia.

Return to chapter five, which involves a dancing bear. Wonder if "dancing bear" is in Wikipedia.

It isn't.

Return to chapter five.

Hear applause from the TV. Wonder if there's some poor intern stuck holding up an Applause sign.


Wish that I had an Applause sign. My husband could turn it on every time I did something clever.

Decide that could be hard on the ego.

Return to chapter five. Wonder if I can finish chapter five before Bush finishes his speech. Decide to race him.


Pause to eat Raisinets. Wonder why that's not spelled Raisinettes. Too close to Rockettes? Picture the California Raisins doing a kickline. Wonder what happened to the California Raisins.


Hear applause from TV. Resist Google-searching the California Raisins.

Finish chapter five.

The state of my current draft is good. The state of my sanity, in question.