Friday Update 5/7

This week went by in about five minutes. Here's the latest ...

• My kid is feeling better, so phew.

• Got a really tough scene written in FAREWELL, DOROTHY PARKER, which is great, but now I'm stuck in note-writing stage, trying to figure out what to do with the next two scenes. (Pacing is important to me, so while I know what needs to happen in the next big scene, I'm not ready to write it yet. If I could write chapters out of order I could just keep laying down pages, but that simply doesn't work for me.)

• Shout out to my pal Rik who helped my novel research by letting me observe a Kung Fu class and answering my many questions.

• Last Sunday was the Cantorial Concert at our temple, featuring Sol Zim. The junior choir sang a few songs and my dear daughter got a solo. Wonderful concert all around! Kudos to all.

• Finished STILL ALICE by Lisa Genova and it's still haunting me. What a quietly powerful book. This is a hell of a talented author, and I think the review from Publishers Weekly was entirely unfair. Pisses me off. Go read this book.

• Speaking of great books, Andrew Gross's RECKLESS is now on the front table of a store near you. Do check it out.

• Happy to announce that I have a winner from my mailing list promotion. Melissa from Huntington, NY won the $25 amazon.com gift card in a random drawing.

• I leave you with a poem by the mischievous Dorothy Parker, entitled "Portrait of the Artist" ...

Oh, lead me to a quiet cell
Where never footfall rankles,
And bar the window passing well,
And gyve my wrists and ankles.

Oh, wrap my eyes with linen fair,
With hempen cord go bind me,
And, of your mercy, leave me there,
Nor tell them where to find me.

Oh, lock the portal as you go,
And see its bolts be double....
Come back in half an hour or so,
And I will be in trouble.


Have a lovely Mother's Day Weekend ....
xo