Gin Phillips

Right back at you!!!

Such a great night! Started reading the poems over coffee this morning and they are an ideal way to launch the day.

May you one day have a friend with a new book that gives you the chance to make a tongue bouquet. (Fake tongues. Don't panic. Also tulips.) Congrats to @alinaetc.bsky.social on her beautiful book of poems that's now out in the world!

As a kid, I always asked my grandmother to make me cream of wheat for breakfast when I spent the night. I love the memory of her at the counter swirling honey into the bowl and I love that even if my son’s childhood has been plenty different from my own, here I am, swirling honey into his bowl.

This is one of my favorite kinds of writing days. I might not write a word, but I'll walk through the neighborhood for a few hours while I move the pieces of my next novel around in my head. (This is also the dogs' favorite kind of writing day.)

So sad. And infuriating.

Archibald: UAB fears Trump reprisals, kills scholarships for Black med students "They're just another parrot parroting the same misguided racial nonsense and tropes."

UAB has such power in Alabama--they have a chance in this time and place to make a compelling argument for doing the right thing. They're choosing to do the opposite.

www.al.com/news/2025/04...

It's just so much fun to say!

When you wonder if a character could hear three drops of blood hit the floor and decide to test it out in the kitchen with hot sauce. (Yep. Audible splats.)

One joy of editing a novel set in the 1930s is that each round is a chance to add a few more fantastic words that I never get to use in conversation:
Saphead.
Duped.
Flimflam.
Cocksure. 😊

Ah, the inevitable arc of book research: you start out studying hunger and crime in Chattanooga during the '30s and instead wind up learning how to can lima beans.

I can tell I’m thinking about my next book release because I start craving nice new Sharpies. 😏

Even at 13, he's still so much fun.😊

It is one of the funniest projects to ever be completed in this household. 😏

Bluebirds by The Lee Birds on Apple Music Album · 2025 · 13 Songs

And now my husband has spent this past year writing and performing an ACTUAL album based on my kid's titles, which as of today is now on all the streaming platforms! It's a great Friday.😊

music.apple.com/us/album/blu...

In 1st grade, my son loved making up albums. One was by a fictional band called the Lee-Birds, which included hits such as "Let's Take Medicine Just in Case" and "Look at Those Soccer Players"..... 1/2

The answer to what do you give a 13-year-old actor at the end of a play if he's not into flowers? Moonpie bouquet.

Sometimes the guy bagging will ask me five or six times if I'm sure, but today I had to say EIGHT TIMES that I could carry my bags.

When it's a woman bagger, she never asks me twice. She just loads up the bags.

I always tell the grocery store bagger to make my 2 or 3 recyclable bags as full as possible, no extra bags. They usually say "this is really heavy, ma'am" or "sure you don't want a cart?"--and I reiterate, nicely, that they cannot make the bags too heavy for me. (1/2)

Never underestimate the power of a great snout.

As often as I go for a hike or a run to think through some problem in a manuscript, my best ideas come while walking in endless circles around the dining room table. Usually in the dark. While everyone else is asleep.

One last moment admiring the loveliness of swans before I hauled my butt out of reach of this guy.

It's our fourth one from Carvana through the years, counting husband and teenagers. The first three were great, and no complaints now since they're letting me pick out a new one and bringing it to me for free.

I've only had it two months, and it imploded so completely that Carvana is just giving me a new one.😏

One thing about having your car in the shop for multiple weeks--don't even get me started-- is that you really appreciate a bookstore in walking distance. I've postponed a lot of things, but I still got my hands on Nancy Johnson's latest, so thank you @thankyoubooks.bsky.social .❤️

😁

Pascal got a haircut and now he looks like he belongs on the cover of a WHO WAS ...? book. #bigheadsmallbody

One thing I love about this stage of life is that some of my clothes are older than plenty of humans I know. I remember buying this skirt at the Express in Montgomery Mall during college. That means it's nearly 30 years old, which makes it feel more like a friend than a skirt.

Why We Are Drawn to Murder Stories | BookTrib. I’ve been thinking about murder. As someone who grew up reading towering stacks of Agatha Christie and watching Murder, She Wrote with my grandmother every day, I thought of dead bodies as a pretty fu...

A little piece I wrote on the joy of murder. With shoutouts to @richardosman1.bsky.social , @tomryanauthor.bsky.social , Andromeda Romano-Lax, and Marybeth Whalen.

booktrib.com/2025/02/18/w...

I think Levar Burton and Dolly Parton could really get the job done.