Grasshopper Instruction

I'm happy to say that progress on Dylan Fontaine is going pretty well - have about 70 polished pages and one hundred or so total. Unlike most writers who do a full-on first draft, I tend to be anal, revising and tweaking as I go along. Anyway, the story feels a lot more solid now, and I actually think I know where I'm going.

However, the really good news is that I have finally joined a critique group! It's a first for me and I'm very excited. We are meeting next Wednesday at Borders to discuss the particulars. I'm a little nervous, not about being critiqued (happens every day living with three teenagers) but about giving a critique. I'm not sure I'm good at it. We shall see.

Another piece of exciting news is that my lovely editor called this week, asking for detailed descriptions of the main characters in Boyfriends. Seems that the art director has an idea for the book jacket: a police line-up similar to the one in The Usual Suspects. At first it seemed a bit odd to me, but now, if done well, I think it could work.

Now an aside that has absolutely nothing to do with writing. Yesterday, as I was driving my 9-yr-old daughter Korina to the ice rink, an ad came on the radio for a new plastic surgery technique; Breast Augmentation through the belly-button. Now usually when commercials come on I change the station, but I thought this was so bizarre I listened. Well, apparently Korina was listening too, but it seems we heard differently. All of a sudden she burst out laughing and said "Grasshopper instruction through the belly-button! That's crazy!" I didn't even correct her. We just laughed for the rest of the ride while she picked up her shirt and pretended a grasshopper was singing "instructions" through her belly button. It was one of the best rides of my life.