Me and Justin

My boss, Marion, is the best. She said "who wants to leave early" and I yelled "I do" because I wanted to rush to Brazos Book Store and hear Justin Cronin read the first chapter of his new book, The Passage. Below is a quote from The Houston Press:

"There was lots of buzz for Rice University professor Justin Cronin's 780-plus-page novel The Passage even before it was finished. According to New York magazine, Ballantine Books paid $3.75 million for the American rights to it and the two planned sequels. Ridley Scott's production company paid $1.75 million for the film rights. And that was before anyone saw the finished product.

The trilogy is the story of - wait for it - vampires. Not the teenaged kind who go to high school or the mannered Southern Gothic kind. No, Cronin's vampires are death-row inmates who turned into violent, bloodthirsty creatures as the result of a government experiment gone astray. Extremely astray. Set 100 years in the future, the book captures the destruction of civilization as we know it and the rise of a new world order peopled by just two groups: predators and prey.
Now that the book's done, it seems Ballantine and Scott made the right decision. Besides earning Cronin throngs of happy fans and a slew of adoring critics, The Passage is getting heady praise from none other than the famed Stephen King. He calls it "an enthralling, entertaining story wedded to simple, supple prose, both informed by tremendous imagination." See what all the fuss is about today at 6 p.m. at Brazos Book Store"

Well, I was in the front row, bought a book for myself and my co-worker, Michelle, and was #78 to have it signed. After Justin read the first chapter, he took questions so naturally I asked the first one, "What did your daughter have to do with the book (she gave him the idea) and how much did she get paid?" He told me that she thought his first two books, Mary and O'Neill and The Summer Guest (both excellent) were boring. So she wanted him to write a book about a red haired 10 year old girl who saves the world. Everyday for 3 months, he would jog and she would ride her bike and they would discuss "writing the book". She is now 13 and her payment is her college paid in full.....(Nice work if you can get it). I must say, he is an excellent speaker and entertained the crowd....I cannot wait to get to the 3rd chapter of the book.

I have gotten many emails regarding my blog from my friends who can't figure how to sign up to post a comment....MQ Cooper from Tulsa, was very excited, and then very disappointed as her comment was "I read it. I was expecting hot sex in an elevator with a stranger". Er, MQC, what can I say? If that happens, you will get a phone call immediately...no blog about it.

Its getting late, and I have to get to reading (yes, in the bathtub). I have to tell you about a book that is changing or rearranging my thinking for my life. It's called The Happiness Project by
Gretchen Rubin. She clerked for Sandra Day O'Connor, became a writer and is married with two children. She wasn't depressed, she was unhappy some days. So she spent a year (I'll let her tell you) ....

"My book, THE HAPPINESS PROJECT, is a memoir of the year I spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, the current scientific studies, and the lessons from popular culture about how to be happy--from Aristotle to Martin Seligman to Thoreau to Oprah. THE HAPPINESS PROJECT hit the shelves in December 2009 (Harper) and, happily, was a #1 New York Times bestseller. As one of the hundreds of happiness experiments I conducted during the research and writing of the book, I started this blog. Here, I recount my daily adventures in pursuit of happiness. –
Gretchen Rubin". Check out her blog at http://www.happiness-project.com/ and yes, buy her book.....