I’ll be out of town traveling next week. My old college roommate is about to have her first child, and I have to find her a gift and head out west to put in my best wishes for the happy occasion. I’ve been checking out their registry, but it seems like everything on the list is crazy expensive - a Stokke Tripp Trapp, strollers, fancy Lilly Pulitzer baby outfits - I may just have to get a gift card instead. I’d buy diapers, but she’s going all cloth and organic, so I’m afraid anything I’d buy wouldn’t be good enough.

Have you ever had a friend like that? It drives me nuts…

Plenty of writers have died in cool ways - interesting suicides, gory accidents, and tragic illnesses abound. After happening upon a book of endings, I started thinking about dumb ways for successful authors to die. Among my thoughts:

-Phentermine overdose
-Drowned in bathtub with rubber ducky
-Inhalation of flea powder (necessitated by owning too many cats)
-Choked on pudding

Any others that you can think of? I’m sure a list could go on forever…

I do love a good sale. Even better, I make my own super sales by matching up coupons with sale prices to get the best prices possible. It’s just one way I make the most of my income, despite the fact that the government likes to take an enormous chunk because I’m self-employed. That part sucks.

Anyone else out there self-employed? What do you do to combat the tax burden? Any savings tips are much appreciated, along with any tax benefits you’re taking advantage of.

Sometimes, it really sucks being a broke writer. Yes, I get to spend my days and nights being creative, but it comes at a price. When I need to go to the doctor, well, I just suck it up and don’t go. When I need to fix my car, I start walking. When I need new laptop memory, I just laugh and remember to be glad I have one at all.

For now, though, it’s worth it. I love what I do, but if it stays like this forever, something will have to give.

You know what would be a cool book? Market research for writers. I constantly find that editors are asking me to do market research for big article or book ideas, and this kills me. I feel like they should have some entry-level business grad on staff to do things like that, rather than relying on me, the person who knows nothing about business.

Of course, if someone who knew a little about both would write a guide for those of us who didn’t take 90 credit hours in the b-school, my problems would be solved.

…but the one thing I’d really like to add to my place is a set of theater seating. Even though I don’t do a lot of television watching, it would still be nice to have a civilized place for guests to sit when they come over. I’m tired of pointing to spots on the floor and watching people squirm.

Maybe that’s why no one ever comes over…

It’s all starting to seem very clear…maybe I should just buy ANY furniture.

My place is stacked high with moving boxes. Am I moving? No. Have I moved recently. Again, no. Actually, I just have a lot of stuff that I can’t really use until I buy a house. It’s just easier to keep it in boxes instead of messing up my relatively small place with it laying all over the place.

It makes perfect sense to me, but everyone who visits my house seems to think it’s a sure sign of insanity. Am I completely crazy? Does this make sense to anyone else, or am I just more eccentric than I thought I was…?