"Why can't we all just be smart?"

Writing might be making me fat. Okay, not the writing exactly, more like the hand stuffing cookies, tiny bits of halloween candy, bites of crackers, and whatever else happens to be nearby while I am writing, editing, rewriting. For the last few weeks, I've been working on a short story for my fiction class. I'll sit at the kitchen table pecking away at it and before I know it, bam, a half boxes of crackers is gonzo. Not to mention the sitting. See that's how you do it, sitting down. I've tried, but you can't write standing up. You can, however, write while eating snacks.

So the writing might be improving as the waistline is expanding. And this month I am staring down 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo. How many extra pounds does that equal?

It reminds me of a conversation I had with another writer friend about all the plastic surgery among women our age. We were wondering how these gals, also busy mothers, possibly had the time to maintain the teeth whitening, the botox, the highlights, the nails. "Why do we have to be pretty?" she lamented, "Can't we all just be smart?"

We can be smart. And our book jacket headshots can always be photoshopped.

Though, I might be getting a little ahead of myself.