In general I'm not a big fan of going backward. Every August since the divorce five years ago the kids spend the month down South with their grandma and now with their mother as well. For four weeks I'm suddenly single and free, staying up late just because, seeing any movie I fancy (without having to calculate the entertainment to cost-of-babysitter ratio). I've spent the free time in France and one summer I visited Moscow and St. Petersburg. This year I was torn between Cartagena, Columbia, and Morro de Sao Paolo, Brazil.

So why the hell am I back here in L.A.?

Well I am selling my house and selling my car and Cristina is here for a bit with her friend Alessandra. I feel surrounded by violent tempests however I am actually pretty damn happy. Yes my house hasn't sold yet and I'm about to spend another small fortune and fixing it up some more. Yes my super car looks amazing with the new racing stripes and spoilers but did the distributor and the front suspension have to go out just as I was trying to sell it?

On the plus side I've gone to the gym and yoga twice and eaten the best food. L.A. is a cultural wasteland but a gastronomic wonderland. Last night it was Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles. The food is so good you want to weep and freeze time.

And the sun is hot and everywhere. I'm a bit burned out having spent so much time on beaches this summer but two months from now, when the sun is more shy, I'm going to miss this hot late afternoons.

I should be working on the rewrites now however my editor is on vacation and still owes me the last four chapters. I've turned back in the first four and have one here to correct that I am late on. The fall will be a mad dash to get quotes and the marketing machine in gear.

Still, in the midsts of this madness my freedom, the silence of this house that holds so many memories for me, makes every moment so damn poignant.

I miss my kids.