Guilt.

This is not going to be a funny post. I'm just warning you.

My book deadline is bearing down on me, while at the same time, my day job is beyond crazy.

I'm kind of screwed. At night, I try to write for at least an hour a night, but then I feel guilty because I'm not doing "work" work. But when I do work, I feel guilty for not writing.

On top of that, I feel like I'm neglecting my husband and son because I'm so tightly wound up by stress. (Thanks to the joys of email and the Blackberry, I was almost in tears by 8:30a.m. this morning.) I've started having sharp stomach pains occasionally after I eat.

Please don't tell me to exercise, meditate or do yoga. I miss doing all those things. But there's not a spare moment in the day. That I could give up without feeling guilty, that is.

How do other writers handle it, this juggling act, this guilt?

A conversation I never thought I'd have (or share).

"Cami, do you want to come here and go potty before your nap?"
"No thank you!"
"I'm going potty, and I'm going poo-poo, too!"
"Good job, mommy!"

Porn industry asks feds for money.

It was inevitable.

In light of the economic meltdown, the porn industry (well, as represented by Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis) is seeking a federal bailout.

Flynt said in a statement: "People are too depressed to be sexually active. This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex."

You know, he has a point. This man might be a real patriot.

Really, though, if the porn industry can get government help, can erotica writers and sex book authors be far behind? The value of my 401K has halved, my husband has been out of work for months, and we have a college education to pay for. Paul Greenberg made a compelling argument in the New York Times recently for writers getting a bailout.

Look at it this way. If the porn industry needs a bailout, and writers need a bailout, then sex writers really need a bailout. I'm just saying.