anticlimax

I made it into work by nine this morning, which I thought was impressive considering that, back when I went to work every day, I rarely made it in by nine unless I had a meeting, and even then I was usually two minutes late nine o'clock meetings. It was even more impressive considering that my commute was almost an hour, as opposed to the <15mins from Palo Alto. However, I really had v. little to do, which was obviously welcome, but also rather strange -- in many ways, it felt like I never left. I got roped into one meeting, which felt v. deja-vuish, because it was in essence the same people discussing the same topics that we were discussing when I left, and it doesn't seem like much has changed. I spent the rest of the day clearing out the 5000+ emails in my work inbox (most of which I didn't read, but I skimmed the headers and read anything that looked interesting). I also ordered a new work laptop and a new work blackberry -- as much as i may wish that I were a starving artist someplace, working for a company with a lot of resources has some obvious advantages.

So really, for a first day it wasn't too bad. I had a doctor's appointment at 3:30, and I left work after that to run some necessary errands; by the time I went to Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Diddam's, REI, and Lowes, I didn't get home until after 8pm. Then I made a perfect sandwich (I actually bought a container of sprouts -- I really have become a Californian), hauled some stuff downstairs that I intend to sell tomorrow, and generally relaxed.

The other thing I did was start to fiddle around with a new blog. I had lunch with Terry today, since she sits down the hall from me, and we were discussing viral marketing for books and the importance of a strong web presence. I think that, given my age, my love for technology, and my interest in blogging, it will make sense to attempt to publicize my book as much as possible through a website, blog, Facebook/MySpace profile, possible YouTube videos, and other forms of online marketing. Terry got me really excited about thinking more about this, even though I clearly need to finish the book before I can start marketing it. But, I think it's in my best interests to start writing the romance blog early; if I do sell the book, I'll need to have a website and several weeks/months worth of blog content so that new readers aren't greeted by a blank screen or a seldomly-updated website if they decide to seek out more info about my books.

Right now it's time for bed, so I'm not going to continue the blogging conversation. But once I get the romance blog started in earnest, I'll of course link to it from here. You may unfortunately find that the amount that I write here may go down if I have to produce content for another blog as well, and obviously I shouldn't be putting blogging above actual writing, so we'll have to see how I balance that. But here's hoping that I start to get a sense of what my job at work really is; anyone who could have possibly told me what to do today was out of the office, which was a good way for me to ease back into things, but it will be easier for me in the long run if I actually know what I'm doing. Now, though, it's time for bed!