+ & -

Positive: The Book Bench blog on the New Yorker website.

I have love/hate feelings about The New Yorker. Some of their stuff is just so rad and life-changing and then the rest of it is peddled, over-edited garbage written by people who probably want to be Henry James but haven't quite achieved his level of mind-numbing blandness. Don't worry, though, they're working hard.

The Book Bench, however, is fantastic. I love it. I want to marry it/be it. They find these crazy articles and snippets of web-news and disseminate it to the masses and they give you quick hits about books and publishing and snotty literature gossip.

God knew what he was about when he made you, Book Bench.

Negative: People who make "tsk tsk" noises. The "what a shame" noises. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Positive: Good short and long conversations with various friends who are all involved with different writing projects.

I need peer pressure to function productively as a writer. Deadlines don't cut it -- especially for my personal writing which has no deadline right now except for death which doesn't count as a deadline since I have no idea when it's going to hit. Also, once it happens and I turn in my project and resign my body to the earth, I won't get paid.

Basically, I need to know other people I love/respect are out there accomplishing writerly stuff and if I don't hustle, I'm going to be left behind...know that I, in fact, am already far, far behind and I need to start sprinting seriously or find another life purpose. If I were any good with numbers, I could weave. Unfortunately, numbers and I get on like Hannibal and the Alps: elephants are forever dying in the mountain passes and nobody's very happy.

Negative: Other people.

Positive: At least you'll never have to be them.