For me, finding fun and interesting topics to blog about is the hardest part of blogging.

Well, that and dealing with technical glitches that occur when I try to link to my past blog posts.

Seriously. That first sentence took me twenty minutes.

Anyway…

I decided to take my own advice and tap into the internet for interesting ideas.  One of them really appealed to me:

List Your 10 Guilty Pleasures

I have a ton of guilty pleasures and I’m more than happy to share them with you.  Narrowing the list down to 10 is going to be the hardest part.  Of course, if I’m willing to share, and continue to indulge in these pleasures on a regular basis, that means that I don’t find guilt in them at all.

Perhaps a better name for this week’s blog should be “List 10 Pleasures You Should Feel Guilty About, But Don’t”

So, in no specific order:

1. Spending My Birthday at the Movies

Every year I take the day off from work and go to the movies on my birthday.

Big deal, you say? Well, that’s probably because you think I’m talking about going to see one movie.

Pshaw.

One movie is for amateurs.  No, I spend the day of my birthday at the movies, and have done so for years.

I try to make a triple feature, but sometimes the times don’t line up perfectly and I have to settle for only two films.  Because my birthday is in October, finding two or three movies that are worth seeing at that time of year isn’t easy, either.  It falls just after the summer blockbusters and just before the serious Oscar contenders.  Sometimes my family or friends join me and sometimes it is just me, the solitude of the theater and a bucket of popcorn.

But I love it.

2. My Music Library

I probably should be ashamed of the music on my iPhone.  It’s filled with showtunes, Barry Manilow, 70s disco, 80s metal rock and a little more Taylor Swift than I am entirely comfortable owning up to.

Just for fun, I’m going to hit shuffle and list the first ten songs that come up:

• Foolin’ –  Def Leppard
• Just Give Me a Reason – Pink
• Tragedy – Bee Gees
• Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen
• Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen
• We Go Together – Grease Soundtrack
• Hooked on a Feeling – Blue Swede
• Goody Two Shoes – Adam Ant
• Because the Night – Patti Smith
• Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Rosemary Clooney

Yup.  That pretty much sums it up.

3.  Processed Foods

I love a good salad.  No one is happier than I am when watermelon comes into season, and I have a garden every summer that yields more than my share of tomatoes.

But you know what else?

It just isn’t a baseball game without a hot dog. And I’m not sorry to admit that once every year or two I buy a can of Spam, fry it up with a little American cheese and eat it with yellow mustard between two slices of white bread.

Also, bacon.

4. Television/Netflix/Hulu, etc…

I love it when people say they don’t watch scripted content like its a point of pride. I don’t understand why people think shutting something out of their life makes them virtuous. (Well, unless it’s crack or heroin or something.  Shutting that out of your life is probably legitimately virtuous.)

There is a lot of crap out there- no question.  But there is also a lot of interesting, educational and just plain entertaining programming.  Much like processed foods, just make sure you’re only consuming it in moderation.

5.  Coffee

I almost didn’t add coffee to my list, because this list is supposed to be about guilty pleasures and to me, that implies non-necessities.

Someone once told me that coffee is a luxury and not a necessity.

That person is no longer a necessity.

6. Nantucket

Every year I spend at least a weekend on the island of Nantucket.  Obviously it is a beautiful place, surrounded by ocean and home to grey shingle houses and cranberry bogs.

But the island offers more than just beauty.  I mean, I live on the coast of Maine which is also a gorgeous place.  So why schlep all the way to Nantucket?

Unless you’ve been there, I can’t really explain it.  It is a place where the pace of the world slows down. You have to travel by bicycle. You can grab a sandwich to eat on the beach at lunch and dress up in your finest to enjoy a five star meal for supper. Everyone stops to say hello and there are more dogs on the island than people.

Also, the postman delivers mail with his pet goose.

+

Top that.

7. Tweeting

I’m a big Twitter fan.  And I don’t feel one bit guilty.

While I use Twitter primarily as a tool to market my book, it is also a great way to keep up on news of the moment. There are very few filters on Twitter which is both frightening and liberating.

It’s also just kind of cool.  I’ve had Twitter conversations with Henry Winkler and Lou Diamond Phillips.  Just the other day, Jennifer Weiner (the queen of contemporary womens’ fiction and a personal hero of mine) retweeted a thought that I had put out into the universe.

That just wouldn’t happen in the days before social media.

8. Books, Books and More Books

Reading isn’t my guilty pleasure.  It’s the books, themselves.  I own a Kindle and an iPad with a Kindle app. My book was published by a publisher that specializes in e-books and I support libraries.

All that said, I can’t stop buying books.

I love the feeling when you bend back the spine of a new paperback until it cracks.  I love books that are so well used and worn that they just fall open to your favorite passages.  I love having a closet filled with books because there is no room left on the bookshelves.

Join me on Goodreads to share my love of books.

9.  Supernatural

I’ve talked about my love for Supernatural for many years, so finding a new spin on it for this particular post was difficult…

…until I remembered that I haven’t shared this particular picture that was taken a few years ago.

It was pretty cool.

10. Singing in My Car… In the Shower… In the Elevator at Work

Yup.  I pretty much sing anywhere and everywhere.

Sometimes I don’t even notice I’m doing it until someone else brings it to my attention.

Now that the weather is better and I’ve been driving with my windows down, chances are that you might hear me belting out the score to Les Miserables while stopped at a red light.

Please don’t judge.

It brings me pleasure, and I don’t feel one bit guilty about it.