Lisa Kunik: The opening pages of The Invention of Everything Else transport the reader to an early twentieth century New York painted through a magical realist lens in which Nikola Tesla converses with pigeons. Likewise, your first novel The Seas embodies a magical spirit, that of the sea and mermaids. Has the realm of [...]

When I quit using cocaine, cold, in 2002 I was nervous. I couldn’t sit still; I paced about my office, refilled water bottles – I did anything to keep moving, to keep busy, to keep my mind off using. I fidgeted in my sleep, wrapping and unwrapping hot blankets around my legs. And [...]

Sophie (my full-figured minx) makes her literary debut on Galleycat. I have also just learned (via a letter from my friend david) that when he kitty-sat for Sophie last week, he read 20 pages of my copy of Junot Diaz’s very brilliant The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao aloud and wouldn’t you know [...]

There is no man that I love more than my father. There is nothing I wouldn’t give him or do for him I love him because he’s honest. I love him because he knows when to make a cup of coffee or fix a hot plate of lasagna. I love him because he’s a [...]

Listening to: “Dice” by Finley Quaye & William Orbit
Obsessing over: Mistral Perfume – who knew it would take 32 years to find my scent?
Reading (finally): Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima (second novel in his tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility)
Waiting for: pops to call with holiday plans.
Keen on Gilt Group (via)
*Congrats* to: “teacasey” and Laura W. [...]

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I’ll be taking a mini blog break for the holidays, prepping for the wonderful madness that is the new year. At this moment, a great many things are happening behind the scenes for my book [...]

I’m a bit blue today. My birthday was fabulous and all (replete with a violet silk scarf and dinner at my favorite downtown eatery courtesy of the bff), but I heard some sad news from my father last night, so I’m a little woeful, a little quiet and contemplative. However, why not share my [...]

This morning my colleague rushes into my office and in a very serious tone she tells me that my boss wants to see me in the conference room ASAP. Rushing over with a piece of lavender chocolate lodged in my mouth, the door opens to a chorus of SURPRISE!!! And then there’s the table [...]

Although this photo was snapped almost twenty-five years ago, I remember this day clearly. This was the first and only time I was thrown a surprise birthday party, and on that particular day, I was terrified.
Correction: the children terrified me. See that smile in the picture? It’s not happiness, it’s fear. My [...]

I’m vexed. After the realization that my red dress (team cleavage!) is not appropriate for a Barnes & Noble event where my work colleagues (including my boss) will likely be seated in the front row, I’m having a mild panic attack. What does a petite girl, who doesn’t have a body of a teenaged boy, [...]

Sometimes your friends, the good ones, do the unexpected. Sometimes they do something wonderful. Sometimes they come over to your home with a bookbag of cookbooks, and a cooler filled with pre-measured ingredients, whipping crème, farm-fresh eggs and softened butter, and they proceed to do the unthinkable: make you a homemade soufflé. Sometimes they are [...]

Last week, on a business lunch, I had the pleasure of dining in one of my favorite midtown eateries, Il Gattopardo. Simply put, their pasta dishes are utter perfection and I found myself savoring every bite (I’m been told that I’m the quickest eater going) of the cracked pepper rigatoni with pancetta. Truth be [...]

During a very important meeting where I was discussing the positioning of a book, ways to reinvigorate a particular author’s magazine & brand, I had to pause. Why? you ask. Because I was about to throw up. All over the conference room table. While I was seated next to the president of our imprint. [...]

then watch this. immediately.

I read a lot less this year – 40 books in total. An outrageous number for the casual reader, however, I’m used to devouring books much like how I scarf down warm Pret muffins. I once dated a speed reader. He’d read, easily, 3-4 books a week, but he scanned the pages, didn’t take the [...]