Being a writer whose noggin is typically full-up with parts of speech, (hopefully) pithy turns of phrase and adverbs and adjectives ad nauseum—okay, no more cutesy stuff for today—I tend to arrive home at the end of the day feeling like there’s not much room left in my brain for day-to-day details. You know, inconsequential stuff like paying the mortgage, taking the dog to the vet and remembering my anniversary.

As such, I’m big on prioritized list-making. Capture it somewhere outside my head before it gets bumped from the lineup by a new tagline idea or direct mail concept. Pretty much any task I need to complete in order to function as a reasonably productive adult is written down on a complex system of MacBook Dashboard widget virtual sticky notes and Google Calendar. My wife will be the first to tell you, if it’s not in one of those two places, forget about it. No matter how many times I’ve been reminded, I may as well be Guy Pearce in Memento.

Nowadays, running my own successful-if-I-do-say-so-myself business, the work-related priorities, in order of import, are pretty much (1) keep the money coming in the door, (2) keep from getting complacent on the business development front, and (3) keep on top of all the little things that technically aren’t essential, but make you look good—snazzy business cards, a tidy and well-decorated office space, and a company website that Google’s algorithms remain fond of.

The last bit is just so damned esoteric, though. When I’m busy earning a living writing words, the whole “write words for free on your blog” piece tends to slide down, and down, and down the list. I suppose the good news is that, the more neglected my website appears, the busier its author. But man, my mind was fairly well blown when some routine housekeeping earlier this morning revealed it’d been no less than 104 days since my last entry, a span of time that included, in chronological order:

1. •A nine-day, camping and client-visiting road trip to the Bay Area,
   

2. •A long weekend at the Oregon Coast to race garden slugs (don’t ask),
   

3. •My wedding anniversary (I remembered!),
   

4. •Another long weekend in Central Oregon,
   

5. •Several trips to the Puget Sound to visit my wife’s friends and family,
   

6. •My beloved Oregon Ducks (season ticket holder, thanks) going 10-0 and controlling their destiny to the national title game,
   

7. •Approximately 183 client meetings, and
   

8. •Yet another season-ending injury to Greg Oden (I now, heartbroken, officially give up).
   

Yet not, apparently, 15 free minutes to crank out a blog entry. (In actuality, pressing action items like “feet cold; buy SmartWool socks” and “low on Maker’s Mark” tend to jump it in the rankings like TCU after a close win.) I think my Google Analytics account is starting to worry I’m planning a breakup, and suspect it might have started seeing other websites.

I like to think I have legions of loyal readers (hi, Mom!), but it’s not like my In Box has been blowing up with copy-starved fans voicing their displeasure with my long dry spells. Not a single client has cut me loose because I’m not keeping my online house in order. So I should probably relax. But all I ever promised with this thing is 15 solid minutes of look-behind-the-curtain stream of consciousness, so here you go.

And besides—my time is up.