Well, my darlings, my one foray into writing about Dangerously Delicious Boy or Dangerously Delightful Boy or Dangerously Dangerous Boy or whatever his name is– has so traumatized me that I think I shall stay away from it for a while. Like a little seedling that one nurtures indoors before putting it outside, this relationship needs to be protected from the elements for the time being– namely the proclamations and pronouncements of my oh-so-opinionated readers!

So let’s forget I ever mentioned him and move on to the news of the day: moi. I am enroute from New York City to Boston in a glorified bus called the LimoLiner, complete with food, movies, and Internet access. Slow Internet access, but whatever. I have spent the last few hours hard at work on what may or may not be my next novel, but whatever it is, it sure sucks! Nonetheless, it is National Novel Writing Month, which is all about writing a sucky novel in a very short amount of time.

I’ll be doing a podcast for “WrimoRadio" later in the month; stay tuned for the details and you’ll get to hear my perky voice reading inspirational words about how to write a sucky first draft and then sell it to a big-time publisher!

Speaking of books. Now, I know you are hardly going to be able to contain yourself at this news. BUT. You can now pre-order my book on Amazon.com. That’s right! I recommend you do it too, because if you do, I will make out with you. I’m going to go pre-order 10,000 copies right now myself.

Anyway, my meetings in New York went well. (All except the part where I had to take an elevator up 52 floors and found I had some previously undiscovered “issues” about elevators and skyscrapers). Everyone at Ballantine was friendly and enthusiastic and made me feel like a Relatively Important Person. I loved the lobby of the Random House Building, which was a shrine to all the books that have been published there, and lined nearly floor-to-ceiling with glassed-in bookshelves. Pretty soon I'll be one of those authors too, I thought to myself, and that, as you can imagine, was one of the best thoughts I could ever have.

In other news, during my limited time in New York, I also lunched with the delightful and beautiful TeaHouse Blossom, saw a couple college friends, checked out the Frick Collection, tried on a $500 hat in Bergdorf-Goodman (it looked really good on me too!), and totally forgot to eat a real New York bagel – doh!

I have a full day and a half left in Boston now so if you feel like telling me your favorite spots to go (including cool coffee shops to write in), hurry up and tell me already!

Love,
BB