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Fall Preview

It's fall. Here's what is happening at 16 Walnut Court.

*I pitched an editor at "Out." I have some "gay ideas." A piece on the legend Val McDermid, who is publishing *both* fiction *and* a book of essays ("My Scotland") this year. A piece on Judy Garland, and on Judy-by-way-of-Renee-Zellweger. A collection of musings on gay-dad-hood. These are good ideas. We'll see.

*Baby Joshua is making tentative steps toward sleep-training. Right now, he wakes up around 3:30 am, fusses for approximately five minutes, then wins his reward for having (briefly) delayed gratification. Go, Joshua!

*My husband and I are plunging into the house-hunting world. Sort of. It's difficult to envision packing boxes and hauling ourselves elsewhere, around Christmas, when we have a small human chatting in the background. But the visions are coming. They are starting to form.

In the world of entertainment, I'm most excited by:

*Books: The Reign of the Middlebrow Middle-Aged Storyteller: "Olive, Again" (Strout) and "The Dutch House" (Patchett). But, also, on weirder terrain: "All This Could Be Yours" (Attenberg) and "How the Dead Speak" (McDermid).

*Broadway: The Year of Sondheim. "Assassins," "West Side Story," "Company." Also: "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Caroline, or Change." And the Year of Mary-Louise Parker: Both the fall thriller *and* the revival of "How I Learned to Drive." (!) And I'd love to see--and surely won't see--"Betrayal."

*Movies: Rian Johnson revives the murder mystery. My hero Noah Baumbach returns.

*TV: The Crown, The Crown, The Crown. I'm also drawn to that trashy new show called "Evil." Great title!

BRING IT ON!
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