I am beyond thrilled that the amazing folks at HarperPerrenial (quite frankly the whole team is genius when it comes to publishing and marketing paperbacks) for bringing out my memoir in paperback. The jacket is a sharp departure from the hardcover, and I’m pleased with the softer treatment. This is not to say that […]

After I resigned from my corporate publishing job this past fall, part of me also abandoned my unhealthy obsession with the business of writing behind. The daily flood of Publisher’s Lunch, Publisher’s Markeplace, PW Daily, and the constant blog RSS feeds, twitters, etc, about the comings and goings of editors, the outrageous (and sometimes […]

I’ve finally completed the first draft of the prologue of my new novel, Women and Children First. My first piece of new fiction since 2004. Gulp. Now the terror that is Chapter One begins.

“Why?” Gillian screams. Feeling suffocated in the thick, dark fabric, she’s barely able to breath through the small holes that the men have punctured.
“Why, she asks me,” Conrad says, his voice booming behind her. “Because I can, my good wife. Because you give me no other choice.”
Then the air! The teeth-biting cold! How […]

“A narrative is like a room on whose walls a number of false doors have been painted…while within the narrative, we have many apparent choices of exit but when the author leads us to one particular door, we know it is the right one because it opens.”-John Updike, intro to BASS 1984 (via) NYT […]

The majority of emails I receive hail from emerging writers who either want to be published because they like the idea of being published (although they’ve never written anything, but they want their name embossed on a shiny book!!), or writers who are passionate about their work and are looking for outlets in which […]

For a long time, I had an idea of a novel. I clung to the idea and imagined characters speaking in my head - this elaborate flight of fancy. The book would be big, I told everyone. BIG!!! A satire of our technologically-dependent age. But the plot never realized and the characters were simply […]

I’ve had about four hours sleep, but I promise you it was the sleep of children. If you sense that I’m shivering a bit, you’re hearing the sound of someone dancing gleefully around my heart, quickening the beat. We think of people who live in states beyond our small apartments and hipster coffee bars, much […]

My memoir, The Sky Isn’t Visible from Here will be available in paperback next spring, and hot damn, this gal never looked better! Although I was smitten with my stark hardcover, I can’t help but feel the paperback is a needed blast of fresh air. The jacket is bold, clean, smart and is well-positioned […]

Congrats to the lovely and amazing Summer for scoring her long-awaited and well-deserved book deal. Snaps and two Bob cupcakes won’t you please?
Also, I’d like to call to your attention Summer’s chicken bag. Clearly, everyone should own a rubber chicken bag.
Snapped by me, today, at my favorite cupcake eatery: Sugar, Sweet, Sunshine in […]

In 2006, I was honored to have the famed photographer Marion Ettlinger take my author photo. You go to Marion for iconic images, for old-school literary lore - she’s photographed Truman Capote!! - and I was privileged to be in such auspicious company. Not only is she a true artisan with a camera, she’s […]