"There are motives for murder other than love. Women do on occasion have other things on their mind." --Flora, ibid.

"She often complains that we ignore her, and while there is a healthy dollop of validity in the lament, the sheer repetition of her words has a corrosive effect: at some point, it becomes impossible to ignore her." --Flora, "A Highly Courageous Adventure," Lynn Messina

A delightful review filled with wonderful tidbits such as: A Cheeky Curiosity is a work that stands out for its charm, its intelligent humor, and the overwhelming charisma of its protagonist." SQUEE.

A fun review. Yay. "What makes the read fun is the way Author Messina lets us in on Flora's thoughts, those sensible and focused as well as those anxious and silly."

I did not expect this fun customized little darling.

I know it’s a mundanity to complain about the endless stream of scammy emails from book promo “companies,” but I’ll never not be shocked when people tell me they just finished reading a book I haven’t finished writing! How is the AI smart enough to churn out the letter but not include the pub date?

Staying in a cabin at the glampsite on Governor's Island. As the 17yo says, it's like sleeping in an Ikea display.

My most on-brand experience: Enter nail salon intending to get a fun color; decide instead to go with simple, pretty pink; pick a polish from the premium shelf, which costs $9 more— WHOOPS; scurry back to select from the free shelf mortified; hastily pick out a shade so light as to be all but clear

Because the cold water pipe leading to the bathroom is frozen, the toilet is pulling hot water, which keeps the seat heated. Take that, fancy Japanese toilets!

Here is my revision pattern: draft 1 —ugh, this is awful, I have to rewrite the whole book (four weeks to revise); draft 2 — wow, this is so much better than I remember; everything is going to be fine (four days to revise); draft 2 — what the what??? this monstrosity is a mess (two weeks to revise).

Canvased today out on Long Island for Laura Gillen, and the bus got a pep talk from Kathy Hochul before we left the city. Was it a neat surprise? Sure. Did I want to lambast her over congestion pricing? Oh, man, yeah.

Quick overnight to the TWA hotel at JFK because it fell into our laps. Embarrassing conversation in the elevator this morning when people assumed we were fellow travelers and asked what exciting destination we were off to. "Uh, we live 20 miles west of here."