Time seems to pour out of a hole in my pocket, just like money--especially when I'm on deadline. And like Beth, I am a techno-goober, so any sort of electronic gadget that I have to try to program to save me time is only likely to hit the wall and shatter into a thousand pieces.

My brain seems to save time by not sleeping at night, so that's when plot problems get solved, usually at three a.m. or so.

My body seems to save time by not going to the grocery store or the hair-stylist or the gym, which results in fattening fast food orders, scary shaggy-ville locks and blubber-thighs.

For this last deadline, though, I discovered a place named Dream Dinners, thanks to a friend of mine. Dream Dinners has meant that we've eaten well and I've saved ten pounds from adhering to my backside. DD is a place geared towards busy moms, and the idea is that you spend about two hours a month putting together a bunch of recipes. The basic set-up is like a salad bar. You go from station to station and assemble your ingredients, putting them into Zip-Loc bags. You pile all of your assembled meals into a cooler that you've brought along and then you take them home and freeze them. (You choose the meals that look good to you ahead of time and then pick a session on a certain date at a certain time.)

The food is fabulous and all you have to do is remember to defrost a meal before you go to work or disappear into your office. Cooking it later is simple and usually only requires heating something through or at most browning meat before pouring a sauce over it.

Interested in trying it out? Go to www.DreamDinners.com and explore how it can work for you. My friends with several kids are even more in love with this business than I am--I only have a husband and occasional guests to feed.

Dream Dinners is a much better way to save time than my normal deadline timesavers: not filing and becoming hopelessly disorganized! Ahem.

Happy writing . . . and reading! Karen