My Friend Chris, the Musical Genius

Remember my friend Chris whom I met at the Garryowen when he played there with his band-at-the-time Bella's Bartok? And I took them home with me after building an invisible brick wall and communicating with my friend Buddy regarding the pros and cons of taking six strange men home with me? And Buddy said she'd come back, see if her gut told her they were safe, and then if her gut was like, "It's safe to leave," she'd leave but call in the morning to make sure I was still alive? And this all seemed like a good idea so I took the guys home with me and they spent the night and made breakfast for me in the morning and a friendship was formed? Yeah, so Chris is plugging away at narrating The Way Back for me and he sent me two funny emails this week regarding the progress of the novel. I will share the highlights with you...

I believe I mentioned this before, but Chris is writing music performed by Flannel Lobster (who happens to be my favorite fictional band). I've not shared "Uptempo, Down" yet, but I will... and it will be included in purchases of The Way Back when that novella is released. Exciting, yeah? I know! Chris is excited about it too, as alluded to in one of his most-recent emails: Also as I get into the parts of the book where everyone seems to love and sing along to "Uptempo, Down," my brain keeps being like "Everyone loves my song, even Piper's MOM, and of course she does, I wrote it to be enjoyed by all!" and having to slap myself and be like "No, these are characters in a book. The book came first." It's a hilariously strange feeling.

Chris and I have lately been talking about Hozier. I've enjoyed Hozier since I learned about his existence when "Take Me To Church" took over the airwaves. He's so tall and so, so cute! He's got those curls and that great nose... I love him. Turns out, Chris loves him as well! In fact, Chris loves him more than I do! And he agrees with my opinion of his looks: My friend Mary and I might go see Hozier in upstate NY in like... May. Vague plans. More to come... And I agree that he is ADORABLE. And so tall... Sometimes people don't agree with me about how attractive he is, and it just blows my mind. There really is a whole diversity of thought in the world, isn't there?...

Last but not least, this is my favorite bit of our recent correspondence. If you've read The Way Back already, you know that Chet Abbott is operating a coffee shop with his sister Lara in the small city of Radio Park, Oregon. The coffee shop is aptly named Cup o' Mud Buzz, which I thought up myself. (I really enjoy naming and writing about restaurants; The Way Back has so many great eateries, if I do say so myself!) Anyway, Chris apparently loves Cup o' Mud Buzz as much as I do because this is what he wrote: Martha and I have been wandering around this holiday season singing "Little Drummer Boy" except replacing the "pah-rum pah-pum-pum" with "A cup-o'-mud-buzzzzzz." It's also exclusively how we refer to coffee now. You've ruined us.

So, happy holidays to all.

That's today's blog, folks! Fun things are on the horizon... and working with Chris makes it EXTRA fun!