Cocktail Napkin Fiction

I brought in some old writing to the office today. The half filled notebook my friend Sean gave me before I left SF, the random paper menus and napkins Ive scrawled on across various cafes and bars through all of Paris, the scratch paper, the ancient notebooks...the gum wrapper. Yes the gum wrapper. At one point, apparently my thoughts were so important and in need of etch, I scribbled on the back a of a Hollywood gum wrapper.This is just one of the reasons I can continue to call myself a writer and believe it. A true scribe. Maybe a gum scribe, but one nonetheless.

So here I am. Faced with hundreds of thousands of words needing online translation. And here I am again, tirelessly faced with the fact that I need an assistant. Ill get to it. But heres the thing...

I recently finished the new David Sedaris book, "When You Are Engulfed in Flames" and I cant help but think...I love this gay man.

Seriously though, his writing is truly inspiring to me. I have read every single one of his books at least twice, some of them 3 times. I read his articles in New Yorker and Esquire. If he is published, I have read it. He is the only writer, present day, that truly keeps me motivated to continue writing. To finish my work, to find a publisher, to be able to quit my job and to become famous.

Alors, I have begun to compile my short stories, my long stories, my nonsense and my gum wrapper thoughts. Its here that I think I found my niche. Who else is looking to publish "cocktail napkin fiction"(ps. thats a working title for the book. you like?)

In Cocktail Napkin Fiction we discover a beautiful and charming girl's journey into what its like to grow through SF to Paris in a matter of months. This compilation of short stories aims to be funny, hopeful, fashionable, and very real. I want to capture the essence of what its like to not only be me (bc I know a lot of you have been wondering) but to be me, here. Here by myself. Here alone.Its amazing what solitude and an abundance of french wine can do to a person's psyche in just 10 months, truly. And its confusing. And its real. Its very, very frighteningly real.

But funny too.

The other part of this motivation to publish the book is due to the fact that my beloved French Toast got burned. Thats right folks. Its still in the pipeline somewhere, but between the CBS merger and the Americans, French Toast has been shelved. The France office wanted to incorporate the show on chow.com in the US. They said if Chow is in, we're in. Sure enough, Chow has its own niche that doesnt include me (go figure) so I remain bummed and furious with America. What? I can do that now. Im French!