Jessica Simpson and Walking Hard on Crutches

Rachel Proctor and I co-wrote with Jessica Simpson for the first time today. We had a great time, despite the fact that Rachel had lost her voice and I was hobbling around with a bum knee (I'll tell you more about that in a minute!). Jessica is planning to release a country record on Nashville's Columbia label, so she is collaborating with some of Nashville's best songwriters - it was an honor to have the opportunity to work with her. As you might suspect, she is not only just as sweet and beautiful and person as she appears on TV, she is really very smart. She journals regularly, so she brought some of those with her for inspiration, and we got started on a song together called "Come on Over" which we're scheduled to work on some more later this week. She is also really enthusiastic about recording a song Rachel and I wrote together called "Remember That", so we're keeping our fingers crossed on that! After our cowrite was finished, I went with my friend Donny (a fantastic artist - check out his myspace page) to see a special premiere of the movie "Walk Hard", starring John C. Reilly. The movie was great, by the way. The funny thing is, we had no idea that John himself would be introducing the movie in person, and then playing a concert later downtown as his character, Dewey Cox! I love Nashville! You just never know what the day might bring!

If you're wondering why you haven't heard much from me lately, I have a good excuse! This fall I was diagnosed with a really rare condition called PVNS - which is basically an aggressive (and often recurring) benign tumor of the synovial tissue in my knee - so I went under the knife in November to have it removed. My mom, Nora, came down from Canada to help nurse me through the recovery. I don't know what I would have done without her! After spending a month on crutches, I'm finally walking again. I'm still not moving very fast and it's still pretty swollen, but with regular physical therapy and great medical and alternative medical care, I'm determined to do whatever it takes to beat this once and for all.

I'm planning to head home to Canada for Christmas this year, but by the time I get back to work in January I will hopefully be signed to a new publishing deal. Some negotiations are under way for that, so I'll fill you in on how things turn out. In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy 2008!

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