Post-Thanksgiving haze

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend. I went down to Fayetteville to have dinner with my folks, and since no one wanted to cook, we ate at Piccadilly. Not the best Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had, but not the worst.

That evening, I went with my pal Cleo to see the movie Fair Game starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. It's about the Valerie Plame scandal, where the Bush White House outed her as a CIA operative because they got pissed when her husband Joe Wilson wrote an op-ed for the New York Times saying the administration manufactured a reason to go to war with Iraq. Naomi Watts is fantastic as Plame (Oscar nomination-worthy for sure) and the movie has the same kind of tension as All the President's Men. Great political thriller and a stirring reminder that Bush took us into an unnecessary war, which has led this country into the recession.

Friday was supposed to be spent writing the final chapters of the Conquering Venus sequel, but it turned into rewriting and then I got distracted by Dial M for Murder and To Catch a Thief on Turner Classic Movies – like you do. My plan to finish the complete first draft of the novel was overly ambitious, but I did put more time in on Saturday and Sunday, so it got a little further along and I'm happy with what I've written. Keeping my Dec. 31 goal is more realistic.

On Saturday, I met up with Cleo and BFF Karen to go see Burlesque. Yes, the critics have savaged it for being cliche and a hodgepodge of Cabaret and Showgirls, but I think they expected waaaay too much of this movie. We went into the cinema with no expectations and wound up loving it – cliches and all. The music is good, there's plenty of eye-candy and Cher is...well...Cher, which means she's fabulous. Definitely ignore the critics on this one and go see it. I've already bought a couple of the songs from the soundtrack on iTunes, including Cher's showstopper "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me." That song should be an Oscar-contender.

Sunday was a writing day, and I also sent off the revised poems for the Slow To Burn re-issue from Seven Kitchens Press. Four of the poems have been revised since the chapbook originally came out in 2006, with the title poem being significantly different. I'll keep you posted on pre-sales.

On Wednesday, I'll reveal the title of the new novel right here and there will also be details on buying a Holiday Pack featuring signed copies of Conquering Venus, my chapbook After the Poison and a certificate for the Seven Kitchens reprint of Slow To Burn. Watch this space!