I had a busy morning catching up on all my chores and bills and then it was 2 o'clock and I looked at my list and what's next on it? "Write STD Card* chapter of book." But you know what? I felt about as inspired as a … as a … um, really uninspired person.

So, I defaulted to my favorite Plan B: I took a shower and then a nap. While I was sleeping I had a long circuitous dream about singing. (Tip for those who haven't known me all my life: I used to be an active vocalist, even getting a vocal scholarship for college. I abruptly stopped singing in 1994 and haven't done so much as karaoke since then.) In the dream, I was brainstorming for an album I was going to be recording, trying to compose the songs I would sing. I was forcing it, and nothing was working. Then I stopped and tried just freestyling and scatting and this perfect peal of joy came out of my mouth and the song made perfect sense and the clarity of my voice was surprising even to my own ears. The lyrics were something like 'Baby, my life is un-defeatable …"

That's pretty much the best dream ever in terms of lifting me out of an afternoon creative slump. A vision of finding my own voice? I'll take it! I woke up and started writing immediately. No guarantee it's great writing, but my writing is conversational and my process is all about verbal diarrhea. Once I can get the spigot of written feces flowing, things usually work out just fine. Added bonus: I slept through the hours that are consistently an energetic black hole for me: 3 – 5 p.m.

• STD Card is definitely the best wedding phrase ever!

Tonight I had dinner with a beloved old friend and she was asking me about my book. I was telling her about how weird it is, after years of writing for other people, to be writing for myself. I explained about how I told my editor how I'd need lots of feedback initially, "You know," I said. "Until I nail the right tone."

My editor reassured me that she'd give me as much feedback as I needed, "but you've already got the right tone," she explained. "You've already got the voice for the book." Buh?! I do? Really? Oh! Right! I haven't been hired to take on someone else's voice in exchange for money. This isn't a word whore project. This is MY BOOK. I guess I use … my voice?!

Weird.

Then my old friend asked me what exactly that voice was. It was a simple question, and in trying to give her a simple answer I stumbled over a five word mission statement that pretty much sums how I write.

Conversational. Accessible. Profane. Funny. Pedantic. Not sure if that last one is good or bad, but it's certainly apt.

In further navel gazing, I have yet to figure out how much I should write about the process of writing this book over the next 10 months. Writing about writing makes for some damn dull reading, and maybe it takes some of the magic out of the finished product to hear all the tooth gnashing and hand wringing that went into it. I'm not sure yet. I mean, it's not that I won't write about the process — it's just whether to bore you lot with it, or whether to write it down for myself.

I'm not sure how much I can/should say just yet, but there are currently two publishers expressing serious interest in my book proposal. As you might imagine, this is very exciting news.

…offering us space to place new steps of change.

My book proposal is done. After four attempts over the last 15 months, I've finally moved passed the developmental editing stage. I completed line edits last night. I guess this means that the next step is getting my manuscript on the desks of acquisition editors. This is pretty exciting — and the timing is particularly good with Dre and I house hunting right now. An advance from a publisher would definitely help with our down payment. Thanks to all of you who've pitched in with ideas, support, and suggestions over the last year. I'm sure I'll be asking for more as things move forward.

Fair readers, I need your help with another book-related issue.

My book has as a title ("And the Bride Wore a Hula Hoop") but no subtitle. Some of my ideas included "The Electrolicious guide to weird weddings" or "The Electrolicious guide to the wedding you want," but none of these quite nailed it. Do any of you have any ideas?