In Which My House Smells Much Better, Thanks For Asking.

I may have fallen off the blogwagon for a while there, but at least I remained firmly aboard the ABC-wagon. Maybe it was just too hard to stay on two wagons at the same time. Or maybe I'm fishing for excuses. Be that as it may, F had its share of fun and frustration, family, friends, finishing projects, and fondue.

And G is for game, right? So I finally dipped my toe into the world of MMORPGs, which proved, as I suspected, to be a quicksand of the most vicious sort. Sucked me right down, it did. But when you combine pirate-themed adventure with game art reminiscent of my childhood toys... well, let's just say they've got my number.

But G is also for groups, so I tried a writer's group last week. It turned out to be one of those deals where people share things they've written and critique each other's work. I'd never been to a group like that before, and really didn't know what to expect, so I didn't bring anything to share. It was a diverse bunch, with poets and essayists and one other fiction writer, and several of them read things of varying genre and quality, and then everyone talked about what they thought worked and/or didn't. And I sat there thinking, oh duh, I forgot this is what real writers do and still somehow being terribly surprised and even a little put off by the whole thing. Nearly all my writing thus far has been for specific people, professors or gaming buddies or e-mail recipients, and my measure of success has been how well those particular people liked it. But airing my work before a bunch of people whom I don't really know... man. That's serious.

As strange and uncomfortable as that experience was, it would be good for me to have an incentive to write (or dig out and polish) something worth sharing on a regular basis. So I'll go back. But there's another kind of writing group I like better, the kind where you get together with other writers and drink hot things while writing in silence, and then you all take a break and talk about writing, and sometimes you end up talking about other things besides writing, and sometimes you end up doing more talking than writing. All of which is less counterproductive than it sounds. And all of which I did this afternoon.

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One G tune before I go. You have to be careful with this one, because it will stick in your head and you'll find yourself wanting to yowl out the chorus at the most inopportune times.

Gnarls Barkley - Crazy