The Art of Dilly-Dallying: aka What I'm Doing when I Should be Writing

Someone asked me the other day what's going on with me and my book. Well, let me tell you.

I'm waiting for copyedits, but basically book 1 is done. (And I'll share a secret: I've seen a rough draft of the cover. It. Is. Awesome.)

What I should be doing is writing book 2. Instead, I'm dilly-dallying. (As a side note, if your name is Michael, you can totally stop reading here. Nothing to see. Just know I'm working.)

What does dilly-dallying involve, you ask?

Let me tell you.

I've been remodeling my study:

Oh, the shiny pretty.

After I put it together yesterday, I sat there for two hours just staring. And staring. Don't worry. No actual writing got accomplished.

Also, I've been dealing with Kid B's obsession with Yoshi. Are you familiar with Yoshi? Here's a little introduction: He's the green little dinosaur in the Mario World. 

Hi Kid B! Will you be my best friend?

He also comes in yellow, Kid B's favorite color. Yellow Yoshi made the trip to Disneyland.

His obsession spills over into every aspect of my own life, particularly when it comes to my iPhone. If I leave it unattended for even a few seconds, I will return to find every app has been erased, and the ones that haven't are in a new file:

Check out the upper right corner. Yep, it's a Yoshi folder.

Can I tell you how frustrating it is to have my Angry Birds app wiped clean about once every other day? And to have to start all over with those stupid red birds? What am I, an amateur? I'm so much better than those red birds!


It takes a lot of time. Thankfully I have a nice quiet study in which to work. On my Angry Birds.


Kid C is sort of obsessed with Kahn Academy. It's an awesome website where this guy put together a bunch of videos to help his niece with math. He now provides the videos for free, with funding from Bill Gates.


Kid C decided he wanted in on that action. He's made his own series of educational videos, starting with this one- Kid C teaches Addition. I especially love his reasoning for why 4+7=11 at around minute 1.

Not to be outdone by his big brother, Kid B decided he had a few things to teach as well. And guess what he decided to teach?

So, yeah, I've been busy. But I hope you've learned something by watching these educational videos. Do you know how much time it takes to dilly-dally? Especially when it's a full time job?


What do y'all do to dilly-dally? 


p.s. I'm going to see Carrie Ryan (author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth series) at the Jordan Landing Barnes & Noble tonight. If you're going too, be sure to track me down and say hi!