Posts by Gin Phillips

(The title of this post has got me thinking about an old B-movie called Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death. It starred Bill Maher as an adventurer in some remote jungle, and mainly I remember he ran into a tribe of submissive men who threw potholders at passers-by. They were called the Donahues. I’d…

For years now, my husband has been telling me–everytime I close a book and start babbling about how brilliant it was and how much I loved it–that I should start over from the beginning, re-read it, and see how it’s put together. And it’s not that I’ve disagreed with that, but there are so many…

Last week, Letitia Baldrige–social secretary/chief of staff to Jackie Kennedy, writer, etiquette guru–died at 86. When someone’s known for writing about etiquette, you form certain preconceived notions. I know I did before I met Mrs. Baldrige in 2000. I was working for a trade magazine specializing in the meetings industry, and my boss liked the idea…

Well, last weekend we had our annual Halloween Costume Party, and this year’s theme was Excess. As usual, we had some excellent partygoers with clever ideas, and, also as usual, I forgot my camera about five minutes into the party. But here’s a smattering of the costumes: I was an NBA player with, naturally, an…

I’ve spent much of this week wondering how authors wrote anything without the Internet. The amount of time to answer a single question has surely exponentially shrunk. Back when I was writing Come in and Cover Me, I had a moment of thinking, “Hmm, so Scott is standing at Ren’s bed? What were those white…

Two things pop into my head as I sit down to write this: First, I have sworn to myself that I’ll start a book journal. In the past I’ve tried to write a short review (just for myself) of each book I’ve read so that I’ll remember what I liked or didn’t like about it.…

First, a quick bit of self-promotion. There’s a book fair at the Hoover Library this Saturday, July 28th, with a bunch of great authors, including  local writer Keith Thomson, who writes super cool spy thrillers. I envy Keith. It’d be nice to have such a great answer ready when someone says, “So what kind of…

Reading/signing tomorrow, Thursday, at the Florence Public Library (Alabama, not Italy.) 5:30 p.m. The baby will be available for your admiration!

I went to a reading/signing in Pinson, Al., today, and my limo broke down in the highway. That’s the kind of problem you always face with booksignings. Limo trouble. And sometimes the bright lights of the paparazzi give me a really stabbing headache.  Jokes.  Limos are not the kind of trouble you have at booksignings. No…

We spent the weekend in Charleston for the graduation of my beautiful and talented sister-in-law. (The baby once again accumulated awesome-traveller points–slept through the night every night and reacted to the eight-hour drive with excellent humor.) This is the third best thing about the city for me (Number 1 is caramel apples, specifically apple-pie-flavored caramel…