It will air on KCRW and on NPR stations nationwide in mid August.

The script I'm working on is sort of an interracial Last Tango in Paris. I'm very excited about it. I'm pouring into it all the romance that my girlfriend and I are feeling now (minus the crazy kids, the diapers, the dog). I really wish she were here and that we could stay longer. The days are so long and magical, the tiny village so welcoming. I really can't wait to bring A and her daughter here next year.

Of course it's a little hard having U.S. dollars which are all but worthless now, but that has just meant that I've had to cook much more and a baguette is still just about $1.30. Fresh peaches are about what less than what they cost in Manhattan or Santa Monica.

And having to hike five minutes to get on the internet has allowed me to really focus on my work. Writing on the same instrument that you surf the net with is like writing on top of a TV set. It's very, very hard not to keep peeking.

I’m also writing my butt off. I’m working on a script that has been my pet project for years. I work so well here. There is no internet in the house so I am not distracted. When I want to log in I hike up to the center of the village and borrow the Office de Tourisms wifi.

We’ve been here four days, after four days in Paris. It’s as magical as ever.

All the other Westerners were getting sick but not me. And then on the last day, right before boarding the plane for my 21 hour travel back to New York via Rome and London my digestive track rebelled on me. I'm still recovering. Still, it was worth it. I felt so at home there. Everyone, but especially the Ethiopians themselves, were convinced that I was one of them. I learned a few words too, like "Thank You" ("Amenesigenalu"). It goes such a long way in a new country. And "Ishee," which means "O.K." that works for everything.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/nyregion/thecity/15aids.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=trey+ellis&st=nyt&oref=slogin

If the link doesn't work you can just enter "Trey Ellis" in the search box.

It was so weird for me. The photo of my dad is my iconic image of him as an older man but when my son saw it he thought it was me dressed up as a mad scientist. I was proud but also a bit offended, I'm not nearly the same age as he was in the photo. But then I took another look and gulped. He's 47 in the picture and I'm 45.

I just did the Dr. Drew Show again and a South Florida NPR station. I will also have a piece in the City Section of the New York Times this Sunday. If you're not in Manhattan you can search for it on NYtimes.com Sunday.

And I'm getting excited about my upcoming Ethiopia trip. I'm going there for a week to see if Columbia University should start an exchange there. I've spent a bit of time in Africa but not yet in Ethiopia. Ethiopians always tell me that I look like I come from there so I'm curious to see if I can fit in.

And if you haven't gotten your father's day gifts yet might I recommend copies of "Bedtime Stories"?

As Father's Day approaches I'm doing several radio shows around the country and will have a big excerpt of the book in the NY Times City Section on Father's Day Itself. For me, I'm letting Father's Day be the official day that I stop trying to so actively hawk my book and let word of mouth work its magic.

I just came from another stint on NPR's News & Notes. I love talking about politics but I feel I get tongue-tied so easily, I feel embarrassed if I go to long. I've got to work on that. A casting agent called out of the blue asking if I ever thought about auditioning for The Daily Show. I'd kill for that job but I'd have to really practice. Those guys are the geniuses of the deadpan. Still, a kid can dream, can't he?

What I am most anxious to start however, are the longer term projects. There are a few movie ideas out there and then I have an idea for a literary, experimental spy novel as well. We shall see.

In the meantime I did get to yoga which my body craved. I'd been running myself a bit ragged since January. I love being busy but frantic? Not so much.

And did I mention that I lost my cellphone last week and have been without one ever since? If crack is half as addictive as a Blackberry I don't know how addicts ever quit.

As I blogged on BABBLE.COM, i took my girlfriend and our blending families to the Bronx Zoo. This weekend we're all going to Philadelphia. I'm on a panel at the book fair down there. I'm still working to get the word out on the book up to father's day. After that I'm done. It is what it is.

I'm also starting in on new projects which is always scary and exciting. There is a film that I am dying to write, an adaptation of another book. And there is my interracial beatnik love story that has been deviling me for years. I intend to crack it back open and fix it this summer.

Other than that my summer plans are so much in the air. I need to figure out something quick. I remember August here in the city was a soupy mess.

Now it's time for me to get cranking on my own projects: I have to re-write a script of mine and I'm up for a screenwriting assignment and I still have to light a few more fires around the country to get Bedtime Stories more noticed. It's selling pretty well and it seems that people can now find it in stores but there haven't been hardly any reviews at all. I know I shouldn't complain but the reviews -- be they positive or negative -- are your day in court and I think I deserve that. We'll see.

Life with A, my new girlfriend, is going well. She's a single mom so we have a lot in common. Our blended little family is so cute together. Her daughter is almost two and my kids, especially Chet, love to pick her up and play with her as if she were a puppy. Ava helped me change her diaper the other day. I could tell it was a huge thrill for her. I told her to think of little M as a "real" American Girl doll.

Coming back to New York and the chilly rainy Spring has been a shock. It was 90 degrees in LA and I was tooling around in a PT Cruiser convertible. My friends there kept bugging me to move back but a few days of sun couldn't seduce me. LA is a wonderful place to visit but living there was soul numbing for me.

The Dr. Drew Show, however, was so fun. What a smart, funny guy. I hope he has me back on again. For an hour we just sat there in his studio and talked to callers about everything. I can see, however, how easy it is to be caught saying something you shouldn't. It's so easy to forget you're on air.

The other surprise about my trip was that very few of my friends have bought my book. Four of my best friends out there sheepishly admitted that they hadn't gotten it yet and then finally clicked on to Amazon and bought it in front of me. One of them, Yule, had an interesting excuse. Since it's a memoir he was afraid I'd said something about him that his wife wouldn't like so he was planning on reading it secretly first. I assured him that the only secrets I divulged were my own.

Tomorrow I have an NPR interview and then a half-hour later Dr. Drew. Later that evening I'm meeting up with old friends at Versailles, my favorite Cuban restaurant in LA and then I catch the redeye. My plan is to get home, take a nap and then rush to school for office hours and then I teach from 2-5 and pick up the kiddies.

I miss them of course but this little break was long overdo.

It was also wonderful to speak about Bedtime Stories as literature as well. I put so much into this new book and it was unbelievably gratifying to see that close readers understood what it was I was trying to do. Beyond telling the story of my kids, my dating and myself, I wanted to create a modern, experimental narrative that nevertheless was readable with an elegant seamlessness. I love all the tropes I have used in Platitudes and in my other two books but this time I wanted to bring them to bear in a work of non-fiction.

And next week I'm off to LA for Spring Break and to be on the Dr. Drew Show and NPR's News & Notes. It will be odd. My first time back since I no longer have a home there.