Spoke to Tori yesterday about the new album, and mentioned that I was ready to say something about it in the journal. She�s just finished putting the 60-piece strings on the album, is really excited and happy and up, and asked me please not to say anything publically until I�d heard something closer to what the finished CD is going to be like, with all the instrumentation on all the songs (as what I have on the skeletal CD she gave me is pretty much just piano, and some guitar, bass and drums). Also several songs on the version of the CD I�ve heard are in the process of moving to another place, and a couple of songs that were going to be in another place have moved onto the CD (including one song I loved when I heard it in Florida). I told her it would drive people waiting for news nuts (she said to give everyone her love, I forgot that bit), but I really do understand: she was one of the people I sent American Gods to in rough draft, a chapter at a time, while I was writing it, and I would have frozen and worried if anyone had started talking about it publically before the manuscript was at a point I was comfortable with, no matter how nice the things they were going to say. So I'll wait a few weeks until the somewhat more finished CD arrives....

I�ll say I�m thrilled and excited, though. And I�ll say that it�ll be a long time until October.