Saturday update

This past week was mostly spent writing rather obsessively. I also finished a freelance editing job I was working on. Here are a couple other highlights ...

• Wonderful event at the Highline Ballroom last weekend, where I got to hear some stellar readers, comics and singers. I also got to join a group of 6-word memoirists on stage and read my life story ("Not as blond as I look").

I kind of got to meet Neil Gaiman, who was at the event that night. My friend Robin Slick had met him before was supposed to introduce him to our pal Susan Henderson, who had interviewed him on her fabulous website, Litpark. Neil was standing right next to Robin and, bless her big gorgeous tender heart, she couldn't muster the courage to tap him on the shoulder. So me and my Long Island chutzpah stepped in to tap Neil, point out that Robin was right next to him, and introduce Sue. I never told him my own name. Oh, well.

Upshot is that it was a fun night, though I can't honestly say it was worth the price of a mortgage payment, which is pretty close to what the night cost me. (Don't ask.)

• Speaking of Neil Gaiman, two out of my three kids read THE GRAVEYARD BOOK and said it was the best book they ever read. No small compliment from these two, trust me.

• Shout-out to my oldest pal, Linda Kitay, for the fun lunch on Tuesday at Fanatico.

• Yesterday I called my mom to tell her her aol account had been hijacked by a phishing scam going by the name "Desktop Dating," and that she had to change her password right away. So she passed the phone to my dad and ran to the computer.

I heard Dad talking to mom and then nothing but the TV in the background. (If you call my parents and don't hear the TV in the background, you've got the wrong number.) Dad clearly had no idea I was holding for him. I tried shouting, singing, whistling. But he didn't hear me. So I called his cellphone from my cellphone.

ME: Dad? Do you have the landline telephone on your lap?
DAD: How did you know?
ME: Pick it up and say hello to me.

My parents and phones. The fun never stops.


• Saralee Rosenberg and I went to see Alice Hoffman at Book Revue last night. She read from her new novel, THE STORY SISTERS, and I was knocked right out. You really have to get this book.

Ran into fellow author and Facebook pal Debra Markowitz at the event, which really rounded out the night.

Here's a picture of Alice Hoffman and me from last year, when I interviewed her on stage at an Author's Tea ...
• Went to the Borders in Syosset yesterday and signed a great big stack of THE SMART ONE. It was really swell of them to place such a large order, so I hope you'll consider stopping in if you're thinking about end-of-the-year teacher gifts.

• Kudos to the NSSA folks and everyone else who participated in the Jack's Run fundraiser today!