Cool things that happened this week

Okay, so the Pennsylvania Primary didn't turn out quite like I hoped, but it's not exactly a surprise. Fact: it feels good to exercise your right to vote, even if your guy doesn't come in first. And the outcome, delegate-wise, isn't all that world-altering anyway.

Plus, some other cool things happened this week. On Monday I finished the 8,000 word outline for Project X and sent it off to my agent, Phyllis, and my editor, Keith. Phyllis already got back to me and said she was impressed -- and she's not an easy woman to impress. Still waiting for feedback from Keith.

On Wednesday, Grove Press sent me an advance galley of Jim Harrison's next novel, The English Major, due out in October. I'm about halfway through it, and it's excellent. Not everybody out there likes Harrison -- my dad said once, memorably, "He writes like a drunk" -- but I love his stuff, always. This new book, about a 60-year-old farmer whose wife leaves him, spurring a cross-country road trip to visit his gay son in Hollywood and the renaming of all 50 states along the way, is so full of flavor that you can practically feel it absorbing into your pores.

Christina and I watched the DVD of Charlie Wilson's War. Our schedules are so different that we actually watched it separately but I got to look over her shoulder at my favorite parts again. It's one of those rare flicks that you expect is going to be great, and it is. Aaron Sorkin's screenplay is razor sharp, Tom Hanks is a perfect mix of savvy and bewildered, Julia Roberts does a spot-on impression of a blonde human switchblade, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman is just plain flat out brilliant.

Plus, Tuesday being Earth Day, I got to help my son bring in a jar of giant slugs into his kindergarten class.

All in all, not a bad week.