Today is the First Day of the Rest of My Something-or-Other

unday afternoon, I kept catching myself in the act of indulging in my usual Sunday anxiety. “Oh no, it’s 4 p.m. already — how am I ever going to all the things that need to get done this weekend? Oh, wait, I don’t have work tomorrow. That’s right. I’m a full time writer now.”

But as I sit here on my computer at 8:12 a.m., I’m feeling deliciously naughty. Like I’m somehow skipping out on work. It feels weird not to be there. It feels weird not to be sitting down at my cubicle, saying hi to my coworkers, etc.

Sailor Boy keeps asking what my schedule is going to be, saying that I need to accomplish a certain number of things per day to really feel as if I’m progressing anywhere. Another friend said I should take the first day off and just revel in it. But I’m afraid I’m not really hard wired for that sort of indulgence. This time last year I had 80 pages of SSG. I do not have 80 pages of SSG2. (And it just goes to show how much this blog has changed in the past year that I feel uncomfortable telling you all that.)

In short, there are many things that need to be done by me this month, in writing, in revising, in promotion, in everything. So I wont’ be sitting around, this week or any other.

So, question for the day (I learn so much from you guys whenever I ask a question on this blog — cf. last Friday — that I think I’m going to have to make it a regular feature): What makes a good title? How do you find titles? Do you break out your thesaurus, or search for poems or quotations on bartleby.com, or do they just come to you, fully formed, like Athena from the head of Zeus? Do you prefer short titles or long titles? Or do you not think much about titles at all, knowing that your editor will change them anyway?

Discuss amongst yourselves. I’ll be back when I’ve accomplished something.