As a somewhat reclusive writer-type, I enjoy the fact that my Wii Fit lets me exercise quietly, in the privacy of my own home. Instead of dealing with sweat-coated strength equipment and the cat calls of creatine-filled muscle men, I can exercise at my own pace with no one around but my pets.

My only complaint is that the difficulty on some of the activities isn’t what I had hoped for. I may have to invest in the Wii Dance Dance Revolution to get a faster, more intense workout. Have you tried it?

Even though I’ve gotten better at writing on command in recent years (deadlines will do that to you), I still find myself postponing things I shouldn’t from time to time. Below, my favorite methods for avoiding the writing project of the moment.

-Playing xbox 360 - If only Halo would allow you to customize the guys you’re shooting at, then I could make the little men look like all my least favorite people…

-Cleaning the House - It’s funny. Writing is one of my favorite things, and yet somehow, I find myself trying to avoid it more than most things. I think most writers do the same thing, though, so I don’t feel too bad.

-Catching up on phone calls. When it’s time to write, I’ll suddenly remember that I need to update my phone number with all my credit cards, or call my cousin that I haven’t talked to in weeks, or make an appointment to get the cats groomed, and so on…

How do you procrastinate?

My Beautiful Mommy is a new book designed to help educate little kids about their parents’ plastic surgery decisions. I expect to hear a lot about this book in the next few weeks, because it’s definitely the kind of book that PR people and journalists love.

The unusual book did make me think, though. Here’s a list I came up with of other kid-friendly, modern-day titles:

-A is for Amplifier - An illustrated children’s guide to the alphabet, complete with entries like H is for HDMI splitters and R is for router.

-The People We Meet on the Internet - Like one of those children’s books that labels all the people you’d meet in a school or at a grocery store, this book would cover Internet favorites like cybersex predators, women that are really men, and webcam attention whores.

-The Internet Meme Flipbook Series - With all the favorites like Star Wars Kid, Lemon Babies, and 2 Girls 1 Cup.

Because I like books, my family and friends tend to make a lot of assumptions about other things in my life. This post is intended to clear up a few of those misconceptions.

-As cool as cat furniture may be, I don’t need to receive cat furniture and toys for every holiday.

-Liking some books doesn’t mean that I’ll like all books, and it definitely doesn’t mean that I’ve read every book you care to mention.

-Liking books does not mean that I like coffee. I don’t.

-Ditto for hanging out in cafes with laptops and writing poetry.

Surely, you readers have some other pet peeves and false assumptions that come to mind. Share!

Apparently, the latest hotness in reading education is something called Literacy Dog. A teacher has been bringing his dog in and letting kids read to the dog instead of their peers, which is supposed to help them be less self-conscious.

My thoughts? It’s just not the same if your classmates aren’t laughing when you mess up. It toughens you up. Of course, my major problem with the article is the complete lack of a picture. So - I’m open to suggestions. Nominate your choices for Literacy Dog.

In case you were curious, the real book premise from my previous post was Premise #2. The book is called “The Mating Season: A Novel” by Alex Brunkhorst. I’ve gotta say, I really hate it when they at “A Novel” to a title - like they’re too good for a simple “Fiction” logo on the side, back, or inside cover.

I’ll admit, I haven’t read it. I don’t go for BWAs - Books with Attitude, of course. If the outside of the book can’t tell me what’s going on inside without resorting to craziness like “A Novel”, really long subtitles, or 500 testimonials, I have a hard time getting past that. Anyone else?

Sometimes you read a book summary and the premise is so ridiculous that you wonder how they ever managed to pitch it and get a call back. I’ve included three ridiculous book premises, but only one is real. See if you know which one:

-A young woman in the suburbs is captured by a serial killer. Instead of killing her, he makes her his “death secretary”. She is forced to pay his bills, keep track of his future victims, and file away his body parts in rubbermaid-style totes from the container store.

-A man is obsessed with the year 1959. A woman is obsessed with animals. Together, they try to repair their respective personality flaws. Oh yeah, and the houses talk and characters can time travel.

-A girl picks up a hitchhiker one night on her way home from work. He turns out to be her father, and he has been following her for years. He doesn’t clue her in on this. All the same, her life will be changed forever.

I’ll post the answer in a day or two, but for now I’m open to guesses. Have fun!