I am totally behind on my reviewing this month and then my husband had to go out of town which means the 4 year old and I are going solo (except for the dog and the fish of course). The solo bit is no big deal except I am SO FAR BEHIND and could really use an hour or two to get this writing done. The thing is, I know that these deadlines are all mine - if I didn't turn something in it would be okay (my column is already turned in for Bookslut which is really my only monthly commitment), but reviewing at a certain pace - and making sure those reviews are thoughtful and honest - is part of what has given my fiction writing a higher profile and allowed me to pursue many other avenues of writing that were so not there even a year ago that it blows my mind. I also think that if you ask a publisher for a review copy of a book then you should bust your ass to review that book in a timely manner.

So you can see why I'm going crazy about being behind.

I need to double check my review of De kooning's Bicycle and send that along with Year of the Comets to Bookslut. That's pretty easy to do, so no worries there. I have to finish writing my interview with Hyder Akbar and review of his book Come Back to Afghanistan. With every passing day this book becomes more and more important for Western readers to know about and i really want to do this right. So I'm nervous and slow, but it's going to Bookslut tomorrow - I swear! Eclectica's Spring deadline is the 1st of March and I am done with all of my reviews (except for quick read throughs) but I need to finish my essay on Polar literature (which is not an all-encompassing look at the genre, but a review of five great books). I requested two of these books on Elisha Kent Kane, who has always interested me and then lucked into two others on Charles Francis Hall and the legendary northern land of Thule from Booklist. And the fifth book was a total fluke that kind of jumped into my arms at a used bookstore. So I wanted to write about them because they are very interesting looks at history - but I need to get it done! Eep! And then I need to look at all the other submissions to my section this go-round which is always fun but certainly time consuming.

And then I need to write about Ashley Nelson's book for the Voices of New Orleans site but I do have another week on that one as my first book review will be going up over there in the next few days and should run for two weeks.

But I should have turned this article in a week ago and I hate being behind.

The bottom line is that I let things stack up. I'm pretty smart about my column - I have it done or nearly done through the June issue - and I'm usually one issue ahead of Eclectica. But I got distracted by Spring Cleaning of all things, and other home stuff and the writing has stacked up.

Oh - and there's that stuff for the interested agent too.....

Excuse me now, naked child in the shower flinging water all over the bathroom. I should probably get off my ass and do something about that, shouldn't I?!

AaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH