Dr. Nicole Peeler stormed into Seattle last week for a wedding and touristing and so we checked out some local color and ate way too much AND treated a well attended Ravenna Third Place Books crowd to mucho dirtiness (yes, there may have been a public erotic reading).

Sunday I took the Doctor on a tour of infamous Tacoma landmarks including the Bull’s Eye gun shop home of the weaponry used in the DC Sniper attacks, our lovely Hilltop area and Bob’s Java Jive, a huge coffee pot which is actually a bar. We used to hang out there on Friday nights to watch the owner’s “presumably autistic” son play piano. Or maybe I’m just remembering it all through Pabst Blue Ribbon brain.

On Tuesday, we did Marination Mobile, which is the most amazing food truck in the country (Hawaiian/Korean/Mexican fusion). Spam sliders and spicy pork tacos were consumed with finger sucking abandon. Then it was off for some knuckle riding!

On the Fremont Troll! That’s Nicole’s friend Dr. Ruth up on the troll’s shoulder and yes, that’s a fullsize Volkswagen bug in the hand not wearing Nicole’s poon as a bandaid.  Did the usual shopping and slurping down ice cream and hanging at Kat Richardson’s boat (also prowling of yachts might have happened, I’m not saying it did, I’m just making conversation). Then we met up with Richelle Mead for Happy Hour and nachos and such before Kat’s reading (in support of her new release, Labyrinth–go pick it up), which was awesome. We afterpartied at a little bar down the street and had this huge room to ourselves. The foulness that was discussed would burn holes in people’s brains, but that’s pretty par for the course.

The next day, Nicole and I did our author event. There we are now, cracking ourselves up. And before you start, yes, we realize we’re completely juvenile peeing ourselves over dirty words and stuff. But if that’s wrong, we don’t wanna be right!

After the reading, we went to this place called Pies and Pints. I had neither, though our friend (and internet stalwart) Synde had the most amazing mac ‘n cheese EVAH with so much bacon you could smell the pigginess!

Good times.

But afterward, it was back to work on my adult proposal which is coming together finally. I’m finally pulling the outline together which is helping in finishing the sample chapters. But the stress is still there and I’m at that point in the author life-cycle where I’m nearly back to aspiring. But them’s the ropes. Wish me quick sales or a back alley Doc who won’t mind prescribing me some Valium.

That big news I mentioned a while back is still in a holding pattern until we get a contract in our hands and by our I mean my agent’s so, I probably jumped the gun in mentioning it and drawing out the mystery, ugh. Suffice it to say, it’s something I’m totally excited about still. Among other things. More about all that later.

Well, I think that’s it for an update on my side. What’s up with all of you?

Originally published at Mark Henry. You can comment here or there.