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I've been working six days a week, ten hours a day on most days. This week I had to work Sunday. That made a 13 day work week. I'm tired. Because of that there has been no time for reading excerpts in the ABNA contest, or writing reviews. I also haven't been keeping up too well on my blogs or anything else online.

I can't complain. With the economy tanking, unemployment going to double digits, I'm damn lucky. At my work we have plenty going on, left over from better times. It will slow down. We are just a few months behind the curve. Because of that we're reluctant to add more people. That would just make the layoffs bigger when they come. So we are making do with the people we have, and working more hours.

Maybe that's not the best thing for the economy – a lot of other companies are no doubt doing the same – but it is best for our company and the people who have been here though good and bad times. This isn't our first economic downturn. There have been times when we worked short weeks to keep from laying people off. Those times may come again. It all evens out.

For a lot of younger people this is their first taste of hard times. For us older folks it's not the first, or the hardest. The '70s and early '80s were worse, higher unemployment and inflation eating away at paychecks. Our grandparents lived through the depression – we are not even close. We've been spoiled by a booming economy, and low interest rates, things seem worse than they are.

The American economy is 99% smoke and mirrors. Perception is everything. If people think we are doing well they spend money and the economy booms. If they get worried they don't spend and the economy sags. We are our own best consumers. We fuel the economy. Our recent banking crisis, caused by greed and mismanagement, has made people worry and close their pocket books. The economy stalled.

The economy will rebound. I'm not sure if we've seen the bottom of the dip yet, but we'll hit it and zoom back up the other side. The bullish spirit will come back, people will start buying homes, and cars, and refrigerators – then jobs will return to make those things.

In the mean time, visit your local bookstore and buy a book. It's the cheapest form of entertainment. For the price of a DVD movie you get hours, even days, of enjoyment reading. You'll be helping to keep your local bookstore in business, and the people who work there employed. You will also help support the publishing industry, a huge employer, and the struggling writers who pour their hearts onto paper. Who knows, you could help turn this economy around, just by buying books.

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