I started reading The Informers by Bret Easton Ellis this week. Not sure why. I already have 2 books going on my Kindle, but I get bored with books easily and it takes me a while to find one to stay with from start to finish. I’ve never read any of Ellis, though I’ve always wanted to, so it felt right.

It caused me to have a weird dream that night involving some characters that I didn’t know, but that I do want to know more about. It’s too early to tell, but this could be the early stages of a new book. I thought of a title for it today which I heard in a song.

The song was “Summer’s End” by John Prine from his new album, The Tree of Forgiveness, which I bought on CD this week with an Amazon gift card a friend gave me for my birthday. I also bought Van Morrison’s new CD, You’re Driving Me Crazy. I discovered Prine earlier this year via a “Live from Here” appearance on NPR. Whether you enjoy the show or not, I highly suggest giving it a listen. Sylvan Esso also make an appearance on this episode and I’ve been listening to them a lot this year ever since. Listen to this song of theirs “Die Young” and tell me what you think.

You probably want to know the working title of that book I mentioned, don’t you? I’m not going to tell you, only because the odds of me changing it 10,000 times between now and the end is very likely. It’s not called “Summer’s End” if that’s what you are thinking.

And guess what? I’m not going to use that title after all. I told you I’d change it. I’ve been writing this blog post over several days and did some research later that night only to discover there are lots of songs with that title, including an NSYNC Christmas song. Gross! So…back to the drawing board for a new title…

A coworker asked me this week when I was going to have another book signing. I replied, “when I write another book.” They told me I need to do that. I asked them if they’d read my other books. They said no. I told them they needed to do that.

I picked up my journal again last Saturday and started writing. I figured the day after my birthday was as good a time as ever. I’ve never been able to keep a diary or journal. Romanticized about it my whole fucking life, but nope, just haven’t been able to stay dedicated. So maybe I’m going to change that this year. I’ve been neglecting my blog here so much so I kinda like the idea of just filling up physical notebook after notebook after notebook with words. Doesn’t have to be every day. Won’t be. But it feels right, right now.

I also started a new joke journal about a week ago. The one I started two years ago has been my loyal companion and isn’t getting shelved just yet. I started a new one just to start writing out some new bits, transferring over some ideas from the old one that I’ve never worked out.

One of those little libraries got installed in my local park up the street. I’m excited about that because I plan to utilize it to get rid of some more books! I recently shipped a boxful to a friend in New Orleans after a Facebook plea for books to fill his little library that he has on his lawn. And there are still so many books I’m tired of looking at!

Spring is finally here in the Lou it seems after April got off to a wintry start. I certainly hope so. I’m ready for warm weather, ready to get outside, ready to garden and do things.

What are you ready to do this year?