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Indulgence by Stephanie Julian

As a wife, a mother and a self-employed writer, the concept of indulgence is an interesting one.I've been a writer for years, lucky enough to be paid to do it, but there never seems to be enough time to really indulge myself in something completely frivolous.

Even though I work at home, I treat my writing as I would a regular office job, with the exception that I don't leave the house and I can do it in my robe. I take two breaks, one for breakfast and one for lunch, unless it's my run day then I break for a run mid-morning. I don't consider my run an indulgence. I do some of my best plotting on a sunny day in my sneakers plodding along the creek trail. Besides, sitting all day, I really need that exercise. (And I need to offset my Junior Mint addiction.)

By 4:30, I leave my home office and take my work downstairs to my laptop, where I watch the Food Network for an hour and indulge my fantasy that maybe someday I'll actually be a good cook.

One of my favorite indulgences is watching TV. I tape at least two shows a night, if not more, and I catch up with a few on On Demand. Some shows, you could say, are more of a necessity. I mean, "Castle" is about a writer, so obviously that relates to my life. "Justified" stars the gorgeous Timothy Olyphant and some of the best damn writing on TV, so that counts as research. Yes, it does.

"Stargate Universe" is sci-fi, which, you could argue, is close to paranormal. And of course, "Being Human" has a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost as its main characters. Nuff said. "Parenthood" provides an absolute wealth of insight into character development while "Glee" is pure pop culture lightning.

"Modern Family" and "Community" show how tight comedy needs to be."Off the Map" is a romantic soap opera so that's a no-brainer. Plus, Martin Henderson is nummy. And "The Vampire Diaries" has a barely concealed menage at its core.

Thank God I have a DVR because Friday would be a disaster otherwise. "Fringe" and "Supernatural" go head to head. "Fringe" is, hands down, the best show on TV right now. It's a mini master class in story, character and how to create a mythology. And the love story between Peter and Olivia (not to mention the budding love story between Lincoln and faux Olivia) is so worth your time.

Then there's "Supernatural" and Jensen Ackles. What else does a show need? Plus, it's damn good at mixing humor, horror and over-arcing story lines.

Maybe the only TV show I watch purely for fun is "Dancing With The Stars." Although... No, I just like the dancing. I have, however, written a book with a heroine who competes as an amateur ballroom dancer so maybe I can justify losing two hours of my Monday night.

Comments

  1. Great post! I love FRINGE. It's such a good show. I look forward to the day when I can make my living full-time as an author. TV is definitely an indulgence. I also love HOUSE and BONES. Great casts in both.

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  2. I don't watch TV on my own anymore. I'm always writing or reading, but my hubby loves TV and has favorite shows that I'll watch with him, and they usually end up becoming my faves too. Right now we're on a Justified kick. We just started watching the show this season. Of course we wanted to see Season One, so he bought it so we can watch it on his laptop. We went through the whole first season in a little over a day. Love the show.

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  3. Stephanie...I'm in complete agreement with your comment about Justified. Best thing ever...and thank you for clearing that up about it being totally research. A cowboy author really should be watching that, right?

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  4. I so admire you for your daily run, Stephanie. I was built for stability in high winds myself, but our sedentary lifestyle means I owe myself time on the treadmill.

    Like you, I adore CASTLE. BONES, HOUSE and THE MENTALIST are also DVR favs. Normally I despise reality shows, but my DH and I found one quirky little series called FLYING WILD ALASKA that we really enjoyed on the Discovery Channel. My DH is a private pilot (and I'm his white-knuckled navigator) so we lived vicariously through the bush pilots' hairy landings.

    Sounds like I need to try JUSTIFIED.

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  5. I do record a few shows on my dvr and currently I'm behind on watching them but hope to catch up soon. Love the show Justified- it's just soo good!

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  6. I don't watch much TV, but I know I need to find time for it. We joke about it being research, but there's a lot to be learned from those one-hour story arcs. If we had a DVR, I'd probably watch more. And it sounds like Justified would be first on the list!

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  7. Well, call me Envy! I would love to have the time to watch all those shows! I've heard great things about all of them, but my life is just too busy right now. What a great way to indulge yourself!
    Amelia

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  8. Hi Stephanie! I love DWTS too! Am pleasantly surprised how this season is turning out. I wasn't too hyped at first when I heard the list, but last week was quite an entertaining watch!

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  9. I honestly don't watch much TV. Except when I do dishes (which I loathe). And then I watch DVDs of canceled TV shows. I'm working my way through Angel now. Yeah, I'm on the late news. :-) I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the first time last year.

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  10. I don't watch much TV anymore, but when I do it is completely for relaxation, such as myth busters, the food channel, or cake boss.

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  11. Hey Steph - great blog...I loved the pics, too. I only get the remote on Tuesdays at 8pm for NCIS. ;)

    I'm going to have to watch Justified, the commercials have caught my eye, but it's the lack of control over the remote thing. LOL

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  12. I like a lot of the shows you mentioned, Stephanie. And yes, it's good to watch TV when the writing is excellent. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

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  13. Great post, Stephanie! I agree with you on Fringe...one of my family's fav shows!

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