TGIF ... BTKGBTSOM

If you're a mom whose kids have been off from school this week, you can probably figure out what the letters above stand for. If not, take a minute to figure it out and then scroll down for the answer.*

A few odds and ends for today ...

• If you're a Susan Isaacs fan and plan on being on Long Island tonight, pop on over to Book Revue, where she'll be doing a reading and signing. My pal Susan Henderson and I will be there among the throngs.

• If you watch American Idol and want to read the you'll the funniest, snarkiest, smartest and most insightful recaps in the blogosphere, bookmark Susan DiPlacido's blog.

• Just to prove that I know people who aren't named Susan, I'll direct you to my Brava! blog, which now features an interview with someone named Amanda Ashby. I hope you'll check it out.

* Thank God it's Friday ... because the kids go back to school on Monday.

Mini-interview on Trashionista today

It's a quickie!

CHINA DOLLS by Michelle Yu and Blossom Kan

Today's Girlfriends Cyber Circuit meets Hollywood entry travels east ... to Manhattan, the setting for an exciting new novel Publishers Weekly calls a "fizzy debut" about "three Chinese-American 20-somethings [pursuing] careers and Mr. Right in ultracompetitive New York City." Here's how the authors would pitch it to a fictional Hollywood producer:

Joy Luck Club meets Sex in the City.

That's what I call a pitch! Here's how they cast it:



M.J. - Kelly Hu (cute but kicks butt)





Alex - Lucy Lui (fiery, tough as nails)




Lin - Zhang Zhiyi (beautiful and delicate)



CHINA DOLLS sounds like a smart, fun, sexy read, and I hope you'll check it out. It's in stores now. For more information, visit the website at chinadollsnovel.com.

Eureka!

Today I discovered that if you wake up with a terrible migraine and pad out of bed to make yourself some coffee because you think the caffeine with help, and then accidentally pour boiling water all over your hand, giving yourself a large area of second degree burns, your migraine will go away. How do you like that? I've discovered a cure.

More later ...

Brava!

Announcement!

I now have a MySpace blog. It's called Brava! and it's dedicated to giving mothers their well-deserved moment in the spotlight. Inspired by James Lipton's Inside the Actor's Studio, the site asks a set of questions—including the famous Bernard Pivot interview—designed to offer an inside glimpse at these glorious women.

Visit Brava!

Make me your MySpace friend.

Love ... at the Canadian Writers Collective

February is love month at the Canadian Writers Collective, and I'm honored that they asked me to be today's guest blogger: We'll Call Her Sarah

Trashionista!

Hey, they're talking about me over at the very adorable and very popular Trashionista.com. Click: Ellen and George (and Matthew?)

George Clooney is NOT the sexiest man alive?

Well knock me over with a feather. I tallied up the results of my recent website survey, where I asked PTA members the following question:

In Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA, a Hollywood studio announces plans to shoot a major motion picture in the local schoolyard. When the women in the town learn that it means they might have a chance to meet George Clooney, decorum crumbles like a cupcake from last week's bake sale. What if this was your home town? If you could choose which Hollywood leading man you'd most like to offer your cupcakes to, who would it be?

Since I based an entire novel on the premise that George Clooney is the single hottest man in the universe, I expected him to win in a landslide. Imagine my surprise when he came in a distant second to pretty Matthew McConaughey. Not there's anything wrong with Matthew McConaughey. He's a perfectly beautiful-looking man. But more desirable than George Clooney? Smart, gorgeous, funny, talented, politically- savvy, Darfur-conscious George Clooney? (I worked myself into a lather just writing that list.)

But okay. The numbers don't lie. In my little survey, only 2 out of 10 women wanted to offer George Clooney a chance to lick their buttercream frosting. Here then are the results:



1. Matthew McConaughey (39%)




2. George Clooney (21%)



3. Patrick Dempsey (15%)


4. Orlando Bloom (12%)

5. Johnny Depp (9%)

Receiving less than 1% each were: Antonio Banderas, Tom Cruise, James Denton, Jamie Foxx, Adrian Grenier, Brad Pitt, and Denzel Washington.

For information on who won the fabulous prize offered to those who took this survey, click here.

YOU'RE LUCKY YOU'RE FUNNY by Phil Rosenthal

I picked up this memoir by Phil Rosenthal, creator of TV's Everybody Loves Raymond, for research, as there's a character in my novel-in-progress who's a comedy writer and I thought it might have some good info for me. My intention was to skim it and move on.

But after one page I knew I wasn't putting down this book until I'd read every delicious word. It's not only hilarious, but so charming I feel like I've just spent a vacation with a favorite friend. A very smart, very funny favorite friend. Plus, it taught me more about the inside world of sitcoms than I'd even hoped. For instance, it helped me to understand why--despite talent, hard work and vision--it's nearly impossible to get a quality show like Everybody Loves Raymond on network television.

But honestly, even if you're just in it for the laughs, this book is worth the price. Hell, the fruit-of-the-month story alone is enough to make me recommend it. And that's not even the funniest part (for my money, it's his description of the "all-inclusive" vacation from hell). My only complaint about it is the ugly cover. This treasure of a book deserves better.

And oh ... I see that it's available in audio format, narrated by the author. I just played the clip and he's got this delightfully anachronistic Old New York accent. Sounds like a cross between Top Cat and Nicely Nicely from Guys and Dolls. To hear a clip, click here, and then on the button under the cover image.




ETA:
My friend Robin Slick wrote a funny and insightful review of Neil Gaiman's new book, Fragile Things, on Susan Henderson's Litpark. Check it out!