I've just recently finished reading a book called The Cuckoo's Egg, a New York Times Best Seller. I can understand why. It's a damn good book. It would have been even more enjoyable, however, had I not read the back cover before I started it.

A back cover blurb should entice the reader to open the book and start reading. If it gives away the entire book, what's my motivation to read it? After all, there are plenty of other books I could read that I don't know the end of. But that's just the start of it.

It's even worse when the people in marketing, in an over zealous attempt to sell a book, pick on some minor point and embellish it to make it seem like the book you're buying is about an event or going to contain something that never comes up. I spend the entire time reading the book waiting for what I read about on the back cover to happen. When it doesn't, I feel cheated as a reader. I'm sure I can't be the only one who feels this way.

The back cover of The Cuckoo's Egg mentions events that don't come into play until page 363. The book only has 399 pages, so I'd say right there, whoever wrote the back cover blurb has failed me as a reader. Why bother reading 90% of a book, only to get to something mentioned on the back cover. That's simply bad marketing. But then to embellish it, to make it seem that was what the book was about, is unconscionable. The book would have been so much better if I'd simply ignored the blurb altogether.

What would it be like to live a life without regrets? To remember the past, but not feel it intensely? To see the folly of your ways without being embarrassed that they were yours?

Some people are too hard on themselves. You hear it a lot, but what does it really mean and why does it happen? As one of those people, I think I might try to answer this question, not for your benefit, but for my own.

In my heart, I believe myself to be a good person. Of course, many people I would consider to be “bad”, would probably feel the same way. Yet, within the context of the society I live in, I believe most people would not see me as bad. I am basically law-abiding, kind, friendly, and often generous with both time, and money (when I happen to have some). That said, I'm not entirely devoid of faults.

For one thing, I am quick to anger, and I don't suffer fools easily. That said, I've also seen this as a defect (both these things) and have put time and effort into correcting this. I no longer get angry as fast as I once did, and I never particularly stayed angry for long. Also, I've never been one to hold grudges.

Yet as I look back, I can see the pain and suffering my anger has caused others and, sometimes, I feel as if I can never atone for the pain I've caused. The situation was driven home to me recently, when speaking to my stepdaughter from my second marriage.

The publishing industry, traditionally, is a slow moving industry. This is even truer from the writer's point of view. Writing takes time, editing more time and selling a piece an astronomical amount of time. Sometimes it doesn't happen at all. Then you submit, and wait for a rejection before you submit again, the same piece to another publisher. Publishers usually discourage simultaneous submissions.

But the world is changing. We live life faster, cram more into each day, get our news in snippets from the Internet. In depth reporting has given way to sound bites. Cable channels like MTV have filed away the attention span of an entire generation. People read less, and read long books even less. Much reading is done on the Internet.

You used to have to go home to get a phone call, but now everyone has a cell phone. Remember when one hour photo developing first came out? You don't need it anymore, just bring your memory chip into your local store and print the photos you want, yourself. Memory sticks which I can buy in my supermarket I might add. We used to all gather around the table for a home cooked meal. Once it was a daily business, then it moved to Sunday. These days, we'll grab take out on the way home, or pop something in the microwave when we get there. My kitchen table is almost as obsolete as my turntable.

One of the downsides to being a writer (there are many) is that when you send emails, or chat with people, they expect your spelling and punctuation to be perfect. After all, you're a writer.

This is true, but my books have errors in them, corrected by editors. It is notoriously hard to edit your own work, no matter how many times you go through it and frankly, editing being the chore it is, I tend not to edit emails or personal messages. If my friends can't deal with the occasional typo, I need new friends.

Which brings me to blogging. To me, a blog should be a direct insight into my mind. Sure, if I notice a spelling error I'll correct it. But today, Allie (who owns Novelspot), mentioned some of the sentences in my last blog might be rearranged, but she was too tired at the moment to figure out which. I am sure she is probably correct. I am just as sure I won't be changing it.

For me, a blog is a form of direct, personal communication. I can reach readers, readers can reach me, and I don't have to run it by anyone but my conscience (which happens to be on sabbatical till next year). This gives me a lot of freedom. If I had to think about what I was saying, you'd probably get something less meandering, but possibly also something less valuable as well.

The English language is a work in progress. It evolves over the years. Words exist today that didn't exist a hundred years ago. Words will exist in ten years that don't exist today. As our society evolves, language evolves with it. For some reason, certain words fall out of favor with the general populous. At the same time, a number of words are misused so often, they change meaning, at least in common usage. A perfect example of this is awesome.

Today, the word awesome is taken to mean something that is really good. What it really means is something which inspires awe. This might seem logical, but it's not always a good thing. If you were, for example, a knight about to charge an awesome dragon, you might not think it was awesome, even though it would be an awesome sight. Language evolves. Usage changes.

I used to be a smart guy. I have, or had, a high IQ. I found clever solutions to problems that most people couldn't see. I was not only a logical thinker, but thought laterally and intuitively as well. I'm not bragging, I'm stating what I believe to be true based not only on experience, but on tests I've taken. It could also be that I was just a great test taker.

The last paragraph is written in the past tense for a reason. My mind, what's left of it, is not as sharp as it had been when I had taken those tests and had those ideas. Let's face it. I'm not the world's strongest man, in the physical sense. I'm no GQ model either. What I'd had going for me is a sense of humor, and a pragmatic intelligence that helped me along when everything else had failed. I should probably add I've also had my share of good fortune.

No matter what I place into my mouth to control various physical symptoms, dogs are still the best medicine. If you have anxiety, petting a dog can lower your heart rate. If you have depression, a dog can cheer you up. If you have diabetes, a dog will make you walk (and sometimes run). All in all, dogs are really good for you.

If you haven't already guessed, I am a dog person. We have two...Kitty and Kaoz. Kitty was named because I wanted to take her to the park, call out, "Here, kitty, kitty!" and watch people's reactions as they see this medium-sized dog running in response. I do (and say) a lot of things just to see how people react.

I started writing a very long time ago. My first poem was published in the school poetry magazine when I was in second grade. I began my first short story in third grade. I wrote my first full length novel in high school (and rewrote it a dozen or so times, before it was finally decent enough to submit). Back in those days, I had an almost inexhaustible supply of energy. I could stay up all night, playing Doublestar (a roleplaying game of my own creation) with friends, still go to work the next day, then come home and write something. Times have changed.

I'm forty-six years old, and have my share of health problems, many of which are handled by medicines. Without getting into a debate about the whole drug culture issue, my energy levels are seriously affected not only by my conditions, but by the prescription medicines that help me function. There are times I'm tired so suddenly, I can barely make it to the bed. I have fallen asleep at my desk. There are times when I'm in so much pain that I can't sleep at all. There are bouts of anxiety and depression thrown into the mix. Some of this is caused by life issues, some from the pain and having to acknowledge that I'm no longer capable of doing what I did when I was younger. And of course, there is a good part of me that wonders if I'd taken better care of my body when I was younger if I would be more able to deal with life today.

One thing you learn fairly quickly as a writer is the number of rules that exist and things you can't or shouldn't do. Some of them seem quite arbitrary. Some seem like good rules, until I think about them and start finding exceptions. Many of these so-called rules are in place for a reason most of us never think about. I encountered a similar situation many years ago which I believe to be analogous.

I used to work in retail electronics in New York City. If you've not been involved in that industry, you probably wouldn't believe half of what I told you, and I wouldn't tell you another half of it, because it seems improbable.

When I was more active in the industry, I was often asked if I ever got writer's block and how I dealt with it. The more times I answered the question, the less sure I was that my answers were accurate, and I finally know the problem. My definition of writer's block was never really defined.

I've always seen writer's block as an attempt to work on a specific piece, but not being able to go further. I had never seen it as the inability to write altogether, because I've never had that happen. I could always write SOMETHING. I could always start a new story, write a character outline, work on an existing novel, or add content to my web page. If I got stuck on one project, I was able to pick up on another. In this, having many irons in the fire can be a blessing. However, in some ways, it can be a curse as well.