The Feehery Theory

Back From Vacation

Posted on August 19, 2013

I am on Chapter 3 of my new book, The Feehery Theories.

I have been stuck on Chapter 3 for a month now.

Writing a book is hard, especially when you have a full-time job and a new baby. And when you don’t really have a deadline.

Nothing makes you work harder than a deadline.

And if you don’t have a deadline, well, nothing makes you work less hard.

When it comes to this book, I don't have any deadlines, because I don't have a publisher.

I didn’t have any deadlines last week either, because I was at the beach.

The only deadline at the beach was when the baby needed to be fed, which turned out to be every three hours or so.

Tee times don’t really count as deadlines, because a tee time is when you start, not when you finish.

I try to write the Feehery Theory 5 days a week. The Feehery Theories? Not as much.

I would say that out of those five entries, one is really good, two are pretty good, one is so-so and one is not so good.

It’s hard to write really good ones a week, although sometimes, I get hot.

It all depends on what is happening in the world, how busy I am at my paying job, how crazy things are at home and if my writer’s mind is working properly.

Sometimes, the ideas just bubble up out of nowhere, and sometimes there is nothing happening in this little brain of mine.

But I like to write 5 days a week, because it’s like playing the piano. The more you practice, the better you get.

But everybody needs a break. And our beach vacation proved to be a nice break, even with the baby.

We went to Bethany Beach in Delaware and it was really, really nice.

We went with two other families and they had kids that were in the same class as my oldest son, so he had a blast playing with them.

Nobody really thinks about Delaware when it comes to beaches, but they do a nice job. Much calmer than Ocean City in Maryland. Much cooler than Florida in August. Much warmer than the Cape or Maine. Less crowded than the Jersey Shore. Cheaper than the Hamptons.

Just really, really nice.

When I was kid growing up in Chicago, we would go to either Wisconsin or Michigan for the lakes.

I loved going to the lakes, because when you jumped into the lakes, you didn’t have to worry about sharks.

I don’t like sharks. Ever since I first watched Jaws when I was 13, and I swallowed a lemon drop just as that woman was getting bit in two, right off the coast of Nantucket, I have had a thing about sharks.

We didn’t see any sharks on our trip to Bethany, except for those profiled on Shark Week on cable.

We did see some dolphins in the ocean, though. And you don’t find any dolphins in the Great Lakes, which is kind of a bummer, because it is a lot of fun when you see dolphins in the ocean.

I would catch morning television in the am because you have to watch something when you are feeding the baby.

One of the segments on Morning Joe was the fact that everybody in Washington (including the President and the Congress) was on vacation. I figured then that I was – as a Washington insider – exactly where I was supposed to be: On vacation.

I am back from vacation now. I guess I should start working on Chapter 3 again. Now, where did I save that file?