Currently...

Current read: 'No More Rejections' by Alice Orr. A tidy little guide from a contemporary editor in the fiction about the common mistakes made by prospective authors. It's handy for reference purposes and entirely dispiriting for the Nano author, who doesn't really have the time for quality when quantity is the initial goal.

Current music: The new cover of 'Please, Please, Please Let me Get What I Want' by Slow Moving Millie from the John Lewis Xmas advert. Though the small child is a bit on the creepy side. Also, 'My Body is a Cage', another cover from Peter Gabriel that's better than the original.

Current TV Shows: Liking the new episodes of 'The Simpsons' on Sky - how much longer can that show go on for?! Also enjoying 'Bones' - though surely it has to end now that Booth and Brennan are about to spawn.

Current food: Morrisons have a neat little range of tapas style dishes that are always in the cheap aisle as no-one else ever seems to eat them, which is a bonus. Plus I like cheese...

Current drink: Red Stag Black Cherry Bourbon. Took a bottle of this to a friend's house for a chat a week ago and came back empty-handed and wiser. And a bit drunk, no less.

Current favourite blogs: Diary of a Benefit Scrounger by Sue Marsh - a member of the Leftie twitterati who campaigns religiously on health and disability issues. Sue is an inspiration and I challenge anyone to read her posts and not feel affected by the things that she says.

Current lust: My first ever poker love, Vicky Coren, just finished as the runner-up in a major international poker tournament. This follows on from her major win a few years back in the EPT London event that remains a highlight in her glittering career. Oh, and yes, she's on TV, and writes books too.

What is it about smart women that is such a turn-on for men? It has to be that feeling of knowing that you always have to be the best that you can be to keep her interest.

I'm very fortunate that my girlfriend Melissa is a very smart and successful lady in her own right, so I'm a lucky man indeed.

Current bane of my existence: The unexplained stomach pains that are, according to the doctor, probably nothing serious. That's alright then. I'm looking forward to confirmation of exactly that in the test results I get back in due course.

Current excitement: Ten thousand words is all that's left before I complete my first ever successful Nanowrimo! It'll still be a lot of work before I have something of a publishable standard, but I've really enjoyed the process and I look forward to redrafting it afterwards.

Tweet

The response to my last blog post was heartening, even if neither of the people who commented on it on my Facebook page read any more than the two line summary. I also added myself to Twitter (@KrisHolt1, seeing as you asked) and contacted the excellent Ari Rabin-Havt about the killings - he hasn't replied and I'm telling myself that this is because he's busy, and not at all that I'm inconsequential.

Twitter is actually trememendous fun. It's like having the mobile phone numbers of every famous person you ever wanted to speak to. Fancy telling Dr Brian Cox how much you'd love to share his universe, or point out to Frankie Boyle that actually he does look like both of the Proclaimers? Easily done. Add them, send the message, and out it goes. If you're lucky (or interesting, as some other people apparently are) then there's a chance they may reply or even add you to their own lists of followings.

I've limited myself to fourteen people (including Norfolk's own Stephen Fry, comedian Dara O'Briain, political commentator David Frum and gorgeous-but-uber-brainy poker-player-and-presenter Victoria Coren) because otherwise there'd simply be too much to read. I've learned a few things about each of those people. Stephen Fry was disappointed at Norwich City's exit from the FA Cup. Victoria Coren exited the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure with a pair of 7s against Ace-King. David Frum summarised my own comments from yesterday far more succintly and professionally than I ever could. It's amazing to me how the things they are talking about are a microcosm of the things that you and I do (the Caribbean aside, so far at least) and really brings home to you how real their lives are and the things that we as people all have in common.

I was going to do a piece today about the how the Arizona killings compare with attacks on MPs in Britain, but I'll save that now for next time. I have to go and tweet about how I've just done the washing up.