Bragging on some friends...

First, from Nick Fox's latest email newsletter (I know y'all loved reading his guest post/newsletter before):

"Every city has its personality, and every personality has its moods. When traveling, you’ll find your mood may or may not match the mood of the place you’re in. A city that felt like home in the past, or at least an old friend, suddenly feels distant, on to other things. The idea in this situation is to find a place to hole up, because no matter the city, there will be a corner somewhere that feels like a valentine. It can be difficult to find. It’s taken me almost three days to find the Esperanto Café on MacDougal Street in Manhattan. But I’ve found it, and now I sit here looking at this quiet stretch of the city that not only never sleeps, but never rests. And I rest. And I write.

Writing is the order of the trip. An adventure in the middle of an adventure. And sometimes the adventure gives you a place to land. I didn’t expect it, but last Tuesday, I found a landing. A complete first draft of my novel. 451 pages. 134,000 words. THE END being the last two of those words.

The last time I finished a book was five years ago, and I followed that experience by shrieking and running up and down the hallway, leaping in the air, beating my chest and howling at the roof. Nothing of the like this time around. I hit those last two words and saved the file, then went outside and sat for about a half hour, considering how much further I have to go. I don’t think the last 100 pages of the book work at all, and the second draft will involve massive rewrites. But the draft is DONE, by God, and the feeling that accompanies that is not exaltation, but relief."

And the second book in Toni's Bobbie Faye series is coming out at the end of the month. You can pre-order it now. More on that in a later post...

Last night, Jamey and I went to Clarence's book party where a fun mix of family, friends, book groups and artists celebrated him and his newest book, Too Much of a Good Thing Ain't Bad. It was a lot of fun. Celebrating my friends is a good thing I can never get too much of. Clarence and I met in grad school at LSU, were neighbors for a time in Baton Rouge and traveled together to D.C., North Carolina and Atlanta to promote the prequel to the new book, Three Sides to Every Story. We've had the same scary dream from two different hotel rooms in a rural Georgia town, given each other advice, spent time with each other's families and I know he'll always be a part of my life. I'm incredibly proud of him and I can't wait for you to discover his words. Do it now, before his first novel is made into a movie. That way, you'll be ahead of the curve. :)

When I get them, I'll put up a pic or two from the party. Unfortunately, my camera crapped out. But there was a photographer there and Jamey got some pics as well.