A garbage truck is rumbling by. For a moment, it blocked the reflections of my neighbor's white Christmas lights glowing in the windows of the store across the street. Only 45 shopping days left...

I just finished reading a book. One of the aspects of the job of being a writer - if I'm allowed to claim that it's at least my part-time job - is reading. I can't complain about it. In fact, I will never complain about the fact that I make money writing. It's what I've wanted to do since I was 12, and more importantly, it justifies my...er...idiosyncracies.

But I mentioned it to point out that the job of a writer isn't just getting up in one's underwear and writing, although, as I said, I could never complain about any of it. Besides reading to keep up with the market and to learn more about writing, it happens from time to time that I am asked to blurb someone else's book. It's flattering for another author to think that a reader would care what I think. Recently, I was asked to write a blurb for the second novel by an author whose first novel I really loved. So I said I'd love to do it, but I've sent her e-mails every few days saying, "I really will get to it. I swear!" To read it, I knew I'd need at least a three-hour stretch of time (I read fast if it's good), and any three-hour stretches in the last month have been spent tinkering with my own 90,000-word bundle o'joy. So I set aside tonight to sit by the fire and read this book.

It's good. It's heartfelt and sweet and suspenseful. But how do you say that in two or three sentences and not write the same thing that everyone else has written? How do you avoid cliches?

It's sort of like the food reviews I've had to write from time to time. There just aren't enough adjectives. "Tasty" and "savory" and "succulent" can only go so far.

I sent her a quote or two saying how I feel, but I told her to let me know if she wants me to fiddle with it some more. Amazing that writing fifteen words can be so hard for someone who's been playing with 90,000.