Stop and smell the…

I wish you could smell these. Tom took this photo a few days ago outside Tim’s kitchen window. The cool thing is, they are growing away from the apartment, so at night, they look as if they are hanging in midair because the greenery vanishes in the darkness. I call them Ghost Roses.


It’s been quite a week. I loved hosting Greg on his trip here. Although we missed a few of our dedicated Houston readers at the Meteor signing, we met some great new people and got to see some very good friends. We raised money for NO/AIDS. Some of Greg’s readers who’ve never met him took advantage of this opportunity. As always, the Borders folks were wonderful, and now we know that the people at Meteor are, too. I want to do more signings there, because it’s a fun and comfortable (and aesthetically pleasing) location. In fact, we are hoping Greg can come back in the spring, because his Mardi Gras Mambo will come out just a few weeks before Someone Like You.

Of course, Tim, Greg, and I sat around having high-brow discussions of literature and the other arts, as you would expect of writers. Like how we would cast a Rocky and Bullwinkle movie, for example.

In all seriousness, it’s always great to talk with other writers about writing when they are as down-to-earth and real as Greg is. I liked him so much that I’m looking beyond his inexplicable support of Auburn and Pepsi instead of Alabama and Coke. He has to have some flaws, or I’d be too intimidated to hang out with him.

Glad you made it home safely, Greg, and come back soon!