Friday Update 8/28

• Last week all three kids were in Florida with my parents, and they flew home by themselves last Saturday. They were real troupers despite long delays. I won't bore you with the details, but they boarded the plane in Florida at 2:30 and we didn't get home until almost 10 pm.

• Most of the week was spent catching up on stuff like dentist appointments, doctor appointments and school supply shopping, but we also got to see BandSlam. The kids loved it like crazy. Too bad it didn't do that well. I blame it on poor marketing, and not the film itself, which was so great for teens and tweens. Lisa Kudrow, who plays the mom, really got to show her chops in one scene in particular. If it's playing near you, rush out to take the kids. I promise they'll love it.

• Mike and I got to see Inglourious Basterds last week. I thought it was absolutely astounding. He tried to argue that Kill Bill was better, but I think he's completely lost his mind on this one. Anyway, click here to read my favorite review of this movie.

• Finished reading Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Prize winning OLIVE KITTERIDGE and I loved it, though I'll only recommend to people who love literary fiction, as it doesn't have a strong enough through-story for people who like page-turners. Just read Philip Roth's GOODBYE, COLUMBUS, which I apparently never read before. Wanted to like it more than I did. I suppose the frankness of the sexuality and observations of Jewish nouveau riche culture made it groundbreaking in its day, but it's not quite enough to create a classic. My favorite scenes were the ones with Aunt Gladys. Hilarious, pitch perfect dialogue there.

• I'm recommending Ron Currie's EVERYTHING MATTERS! to everyone. Seriously. You have to read this astounding book. I promise you won't be able to put it down.

• Special mid-week treat: my old pal and former boss, John Skelly, blew through town and stopped in to say hello with his brother, Joe. John's got a cool website you should check out, Downtown Charlotte.

• Thanks to my friend Myfanwy Collins, I downloaded a really cool free program called Dropbox, that lets you save files on one computer and access them on another. Very easy to use. Give it a try: Dropbox

• I'm pretty thrilled with the early praise my forthcoming book is getting. Check it out on my Publishers Marketplace page.

• I think I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with this proposal I'm working on. I'm re-re-re-re-editing the first 70 pages and then will take another stab at the outline. I have about two-thirds of the broad strokes worked out in my notes. Still lots of questions, but I can actually envision coming up with answers, so that's progress.

Have a great weekend ...