Day 42

I wonder sometimes what compels people to write. I certainly didn't start out to be a writer. When I graduated from architecture school I, not surprisingly, went to work for an architect. It was three years later that I discovered that I could make twice as much money working as an advertising copywriter. It didn't seem to matter that I had absolutely no training as a copywriter. Back in the early 70's it seemed to be a plus if you came from outside the industry. One of the first creative directors I worked for used to be a wrestling coach. My favorite boss, the legendary John Brown got his start in the industry when he walked into Hal Newsom's office at Cole & Weber and said he was tired of repairing IBM typewriters and thought he'd make a good writer.

I go through periods when I feel like writing and then I'll grow disinterested and won't write a word for years at a time. The last time I felt like writing was in the mid 90's. I wrote four books in less than two years. Excerpts from these books were published in obscure magazines, but the books themselves never found a publisher. Since the manuscripts were just gathering dust on a shelf, I decided to put them on the Internet shortly after I discovered how to build a website. In 1997, one of the books, a series of essays I called The Road to Nowhere became one of five finalists for Cool Site of the Year. I didn't win. A well financed site called The Onion was the winner that year. You'd think coming this close to greatness would have inspired me to write more, but it didn't. I gradually wrote less and less and eventually left copywriting to return to photography.

I probably would have made a better blogger back when my life was exciting. I can't help but noticing that the controversial and outrageous bloggers get a lot more followers. If there is a master index of blogs somewhere, I'm probably lumped in with all the mommy blogs.

No more flights on Lufthansa for a morning creative meeting in Germany. No need to take the Armani suits to the dry cleaners anymore. It's all about dogs now. The high point of the day was taking Dot to the vet. We've noticed that she's been feeling painful in her lower back lately and thought it might be a slipped disk. Apparently not. After a thorough series of tests, the vet says she has lactic acid build up in her muscles. She needs a massage.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day