He sat back in his chair and brooded. The mounting deadlines from various projects were beginning to take their toll on his mood.

He had lines to memorize, articles to write, a Geek in Review to do, a convention coming up where he was a guest speaker, an audition to prepare for, and very soon now he thought his head might just explode. His shoulders slumped as if some invisible someone was pressing down on them.

He glanced longingly at his comic collection. He was behind on his reading. “Come on.” they whispered to him. “You need a break. Just shut off the computer and come read us.”

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. With a heavy sigh, he scooted back up to the desk and stared at the blank emptiness of the text editor. He drummed his fingers on his desk as if the rhythmic tapping could jumpstart his brain.

“Know what I’d rather be doing?” he said to the sleepy dog at his feet. “I’d rather get Anne and the boys and spend the day at the beach.”

The dog’s tail thumped.