In a deadpan satire on the ‘realistic novel’ the author’s alter-ego uses a hand-written diary as ‘graphological therapy’ to cure writer’s block. His plan to calm the frustration of the creative process by writing about nothing, concentrating on calligraphy instead of content, fails dismally amid his own neurotic mind-chatter and procrastination, plus myriad domestic interruptions, largely featuring the amusing antics of Pongo the family dog.