First there was Jimmy's House of Hugs

Last week my father gave me a copy of an article (by Stephanie Armour) from the Wall Street Journal about snuggling businesses taking off throughout the country.

The last few years I've seen a lot more news on this new cuddling industry. It should light a fire under me to keep working on my Jimmy's House of Hugs scripts. I have expanded the idea, even past the play that I wrote, but I have put those scripts on hold because I've had other stories in my mind writing themselves more readily.

But whenever I see something about a hugging business, I want to say, "Hey, I thought of it years ago!" It's not that I think I own the idea.  I know fully well that other people have imaginations and can conceive this idea without having been exposed to anything that has anything to do with me.  (Though it's not impossible that one of these people saw the film, either. It did play in Portland, OR  -- at the 2005 Faux Film Festival -- where one of the first businesses popped up several years ago.)

But I do own Jimmy's House of Hugs.  I hope to see you there.