I started watching a new TV show.

Watching TV is probably bad for the word count, but one cannot live on words alone.

The show is Castle, a police procedural type show, like Law & Order, but with one difference: one of the investigators is a mystery writer.

Technically I think he’s a writer of thrillers. Think James Patterson. In fact, James Patterson guest-starred on the pilot episode. The fictional character writer, Rick Castle, plays poker with a bunch of other writers.

I might have a crush on this show. I can’t help it. I like the cult of the mystery author. God, I’m about two minutes away from adding Murder, She Wrote to my Blockbuster rental queue, aren’t I?

I’m still trying to write what I want to write and let the marketers sort it out at the end. (Assuming I ever get to be marketed, of course.) I’m trying really hard not to let what other people write or read sway me. I love short stories, but I’m not writing them as much. I love literary fiction, but I find that I’m not reading it as much. I love mysteries. I read almost everything these days trying to figure out whodunit, and sometimes? Nothing got dun. It’s very disconcerting to me when there’s no mystery. I think I’m converted.

In other news, what awesome things are you asking for for Christmas?