Since the dawn of time, bloggers who don’t post very often have started off their posts with the reasons they have been sidetracked, and sincere promises to “start back up again.” Like dieters who just need that one last day before they get “back on the wagon,” these bloggers lie to themselves and their readers about what they know will happen next: another long lag between posts. So in this grand tradition, I proudly present to you my latest (but not last) excuse: I’ve had the flu.

No, not the flu that you get from drinking too much, or the flu that’s really a cold but you call it a flu so you can get an extra day off of work. I had vacation time scheduled anyway, so I was truly the only victim here.

When you’re stuck in bed for several days, little things start to annoy you. Actually, everything starts to annoy you. But since being stuck in bed in front of a TV is all you have to do, TV is what annoys you most.

I’ve made a list of a few observations from my week with the flu, in no particular order.

1-Could anyone possibly still have an undiscovered case of mesothelioma? Where has this person been for the last decade?

2- The new Starz series Boss is incredibly depressing. Kelsey Grammer is good in it, but wow, it does not make you feel good about life. I don’t recommend you watch it while stuck in bed.

3- Tom Cruise is always a good guy. Even if you think he’s bad, he’s actually good. No, he’s not a double agent. The other guy is. Yes, even if it looks like he’s doing something really bad, he’s still good.

4- Remind me NEVER to watch another movie on the TV Guide Channel. I started watching The Pelican Brief on TV Guide Channel. I wasn’t in any shape to time it, but I would estimate that they were running 30 minutes an hour of commercials. In order to accomplish this, they edited out key scenes in the movie so poorly that sometimes they would rejoin the movie with dialogue in progress. Finally, the audio wasn’t synced with the video. All in all, a quality experience.

5- I spent some quality time watching The Science Channel, until I couldn’t take the “Dragon Naturally Speaking” commercials anymore. Seemingly every commercial break, they would play a 5 MINUTE LONG commercial. The same one every time. If you want to torture yourself, you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbffVqWIKqw

6- I know that there have always been a lot of crazy prescription medicines out there for crazy illnesses, but the one that give you longer eyelashes has to be the best one ever. Seriously.

7- Finally, a word about Time Warner Cable. My Tivo isn’t getting certain channels because the tuning adapter provided by TWC isn’t working right. My appointment was for Monday 2-4, a time period when I was at my very worst. But I dragged myself out of bed. I could probably drag this out, but most of you already know the ending: the person that Time Warner Cable sent to replace my tuning adapter failed to bring any tuning adapters with them.

I know this blog has been a bit of a downer, so let me leave you with some practical advice. Get a flu shot.

I always wanted to be a writer.

Communicating with people through the written word is so powerful. In my business, I tend to think that the emotional connection that the audience has with their favorite radio host is among the most powerful bond in media. But a great writer has a similar bond with the audience. The power to make someone laugh, to make them think, to make them understand something, or just to entertain. I’m not the first person to write about writing, but it is something that’s important to me, so I guess that’s what this blog is all about. (In fact, this blog is named after a piece of dialogue that one of my favorite writers often used in his books, “Be Fools Not To.”)

In hanging around radio and TV studios for the past 6 years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many celebrities, and many “celebrities.” In most cases, I’ve turned down those opportunities. However, the list of people that I actually have gone out of my way to meet is an interesting one. I flew across the country on the hopes of meeting Aaron Sorkin. (I did.) I waited in quite a long line to meet Michael Lewis. I interrupted David Baldacci at a cocktail party for the opportunity to tell him what a big fan I am. I never got to meet Robert B. Parker before he died, but I did try on several occasions to get up to Boston for one of his very rare public appearances.

Being a writer seemed like a dream career for me. The romanticism of spending my days at a little coffee shop by the fire, churning out great words. The freedom…no bosses, no Outlook email, just me and a blank Word document.

But I rarely wrote anything. Once in a while I contributed something to our magazine. Very rarely. But most days, I didn’t write anything. I have a very good excuse for not writing: I have a full time job. That job doesn’t allow me to spend my days at coffee shops dreaming of movie scripts or plots for fiction novels, or even blog post ideas.

Someday, I thought. I won’t have hundreds of emails to return or calls to make, and I’ll be able to really focus on writing.

I went out for a drink with my friend John Bobey a few years back, himself a writer with a long resume. John will appreciate it if I say that his advice is often dubious, so listening to John on all things is not necessarily a smart life choice. However, on this occasion, he said something profound.

“Writers Write.”

We were talking about my love for writing, or more accurately my love for talking about writing. John reminded me that the real life of a writer is nowhere near as I imagine it to be. Everyone, even full time writers, have constant pressures and obligations, phone calls, emails, and deadlines. Aaron Sorkin doesn’t sit in a cafe all day drinking lattes and brainstorming movie ideas. And successful writers these days are also marketers, business people, etc. For successful writers, writing is only a small piece of what they do. The difference between “writers” and “wanna-be writers” is simple: writers write.

I have tremendous admiration for those mentioned above, as well as newspaper and magazine writers who push themselves to write every single day.

When I started this blog a few weeks ago, I committed to writing. And so far i’d give myself a D. There’s more than one entry, but there’s less than there should be. But for now I’ll keep at it, find the time where I can to put some thoughts down on “paper” and hope that this writing becomes a habit.

And keep dreaming of the day that will never come, with no phone calls, no emails, and a coffee shop with a fireplace and a comfy couch.