Do you want to know a secret?

Okay...it's not really a secret.

We were planning to post something else today..an interview that will happen, we promise, sometime next month, but we can't let another day go by without a big shout out here to Hank. Her Agatha Award-winning debut novel, Prime Time is finally FINALLY available again - and everywhere - from Mira Books.

PRIME TIME introduces forty-something investigative reporter Charlotte (Charlie) McNally. Charlie's smart, savvy and successful—but she's worried her news director is about to replace her with a younger model. Now—she's on the hunt for the story that will save her job. Is it hiding in her email? Charlie begins to suspect some of that annoying Spam clogging her computer is more than cyber junk. She discovers it actually carries big-money secret messages to the big-shot insiders who know how to decode it. Problem is, the last outsider who deciphered the system now resides in the local morgue. It's either the biggest story of Charlie's career—or the one that may end her life. Charlie's also facing another dilemma: what happens when a top-notch TV reporter is married to her job—but the camera doesn't love her anymore?

It's an action-filled page-turner, with humor, romance and a scheme so timely and innovative you'll wonder why someone hasn't tried it. A twist of an ending will have readers going back to the beginning to check for all the clues they missed.

I was lucky enough to have read it when it was first available (that's the old cover below but check out the slick new look on the right)and I'll join the chorus of raves.

New York Times bestselling author Mary Jane Clark's kudos: "Current, clever, and chock full of cliffhangers. Readers are in for a treat."

Award winning author Harley Jane Kozak says it's "a great read" written with "quick wit, crackling pace and been-there-done-that credentials."

Page Traynor of RT Book Reviews gave Prime Time the highest possible rating—four and a half stars, awarding it the coveted TOP PICK. She says: "This book has humor, snappy language, danger and a wonderful mystery that will keep you guessing. Prime Time has the perfect combination of mystery and romance."

Way to go, Hank!!

On thinking..

In 2001 I credited my dog, Patrick for keeping me sane during the days right after 9/11. He did a great job. Whatever else was going on in the world Patrick had to be walked, fed and played with. I suppose a child could have fit the bill but I didn't have one handy.

The incumbent, Max, (pictured here) has a much easier job description. He helps me think - sometimes about life, sometimes about a story, sometimes about why people with small dogs don't think they need to pick up the poop. But I digress.

Walking Max, grooming him or just canoodling on the bed - no surface is off-limits for our little prince, and public displays of affection are frequent and spontaneous - slows down time for me.

It's not unusual for me to go out for a stroll with Max and find a character, or a trait, or a motive.

Gardening does it for me, too. I rarely spend time in the hammock swinging back and forth and musing about a storyline but I have been known to end a particularly rigorous pruning session with an aha moment about how to dispatch one of my characters. (No worries, I haven't really chopped anyone up yet, although my next door neighbor doesn't know just how close I came last year on Norwegian Independance Day which is a very big deal to him.)

ROBERTA: Definitely walking Tonka is a help. Besides the canine simplicity that Ro describes so nicely, I think moving in general is good for stimulating thinking. I believe Jan said this a couple of weeks ago, but getting out in the field to the actual scene where a book is set can be wonderfully helpful too. I did this last week when I visited the police department in my town. I gleaned some fabulous details that my imagination was not going to discover.

HALLIE: For me it's cooking. Conjuring dishes from whatever happens to be in the refrigerator. If the fridge is bare, haul out the pasta maker -- there's nothing more zen-like than mixing up a batch of noodle dough, kneading it until it's elastic, letting it rest, and then running it, over and over through the machine's rollers so that a little 2-inch ball turns into a six-foot-long sheet of paper-thin pasta. (I find my best ideas come to me when I can't possibly write them down.) Fry up some sage leaves from the garden.

Boil the pasta for barely a minute or two and serve it piping hot and buttered, sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan and the fried sage leaves. Enjoy with a glass of robust Italian wine.

The perfect way to relax.

RO: I'll be right over..sounds yummy. I don't know anyone else who makes their own pasta. I remember an aunt making her own raviolis. Quite a production. Lots of time for wool gathering.

HANK: Sleeping? Well, not really sleeping, but the time just before going to sleep.

RO: I refuse to believe that you actually sleep. I've been convinced you are superhuman and don't need sleep like the rest of us mortals.

HANK: My brain just works like crazy then, in a very unstressed and openminded (!) way. I can do interviews in my head--taking roles as both me and the interviewee. And that's been incredibly helpful in my job as reporter--when I do ine interview for real, it's almost as if I've practiced. As for the books, whole scenes unfold--and it's as if I'm just watching them.
Tonight, though, I'll be thinking about PRIME TIME--the new MIRA version goes on sale Tuesday! (Look for it,okay?)

RO: Yippee!! Run, don't walk to your local bookstore for Prime Time, Hank's Agatha-winning First Novel. Come back for more PT news later on this week.

Janny, what about you?

JAN: Taking a shower. I've decided that first thing in the morning is a complete waste of a shower. It's much more productive after two or three difficult hours of writing. Then right in the middle of the shampoo -- or maybe it's the conditioner -- I have a Eureka moment.

Also driving. I've had my very best ideas on Route 95.

RO: My showers are strictly for singing. I put the ipod speakers on full tilt - impossible to think about anything but where in my brain all the song lyrics are stored. I'm totally with you on driving though, it's a great source of inspiration.

Other drivers...strange vanity plates, mismatched couples in other cars..all grist for the mill.

So what non-writing activity gets your creative juices flowing?

The aftermath of Big Screen TV

Time has convinced me of one thing. Television is for appearing on, not looking at. ~Noel Coward

JAN: I’m not normally a visual person. Like a lot of writers, I live inside my head. But I’ve got it worse. I walk into rooms and don’t see the décor, can completely miss someone’s new haircut, and have been known to not even notice that it’s been raining all week.

But that’s only in real life.

About two years ago, my husband installed a new television. I say “installed” because it's not actually a television, but a projector screen that rolls down from the ceiling. It’s about eight feet wide and five feet tall. And we have high definition, which mean everything isn’t just large, it’s crystal clear.

And this is changing me. And not for the better, either. In fact, I’m slowly becoming the most superficial person on the planet. I find myself watching a really educational, thought-provoking PBS documentary, with this takeaway: What's with the bad teeth? Aren’t PBS academic experts educated about orthodontia, too? Are they chosen for their bad teeth? Is that a sign of intellectualism?

It’s not just PBS specials. I now notice everything, everywhere. I notice that in the Coors commercial where they catch the “cold train,” every single person spilling out of the office building is uniformly attractive. No one stands out, but no one is below that American standard.

It's as if youth, perfect, but unexciting features and a flawless complexion were part of the occupancy permit for the building they are fleeing.

But worst is baseball. Probably because the game is so slow and because I’ve watched pretty much every single Red Sox game, I’ve actually ranked the players in terms of attractiveness. Two categories: position players and pitchers. Adjusted as players are traded or put on the DL. And this is pure HD superficiality. No bias: the ranking does not correlate to my favorite players.
So this is my question: Am I the only one out there being corrupted by big screen HD television, or has anyone else noticed that they are noticing what should go unnoticed?

HALLIE: Well, I do love to be petty, so if I HAD a large screen TV, I’m sure I’d be counting zits along with you, Jan.

But I was the last person in Massachusetts to get…a tape deck, a CD player, a video player, a DVD player, a microwave oven, a cell phone (and I still have my first which is now an antique at 8 years old)…so it should come as no surprise that I do not have HDTV. A) I’m cheap, and B) the 18”-TV we have works fine and C) I do not want to dedicate a room in my smallish house to watching the tube (have you noticed, those things are seriously BIG).

When my friends George and Barbara got an HDTV, they had us over to watch football in high def (see, I do know the lingo) and George kept switching back to regular to say “See how amazing the detail is?” I saw, but I confess I didn’t get why that was so great. But then, I can't tell a good sound system from a crummy one, either.

Just drove by where they’re tearing down the multiplex cinema in that’s been in Dedham for decades. Certainly movie theaters and the whole experience of seeing a movie with a community of viewers is a casualty of those massive home entertainment systems.

RO: I'm the wrong person to ask...I still have a manual lawn mower.I don't have HDTV either. I have a big old tv from 12 yrs ago that works fine and is huge so I get that movie theatre feel. (We watched No Country for Old Men last night and I saw quite enough of Javier Barden's psycho face thank you very much.)People ALWAYS say it's great for sports...does it make the balls any bigger?

JAN: I hate to admit it, but the big TV is really great for sports. You can see the ball, the tatoos, the rivulets of sweat. You also get well acquainted with the faces of season fans who sit behind home plate and start to notice when someone is a no-show. But as far as movies go, I can get equally drawn into the story on the big screen or a tiny 18-inch with marginal reception.

ROBERTA: Obviously, you have a group of techno-phobes here Jan! My husband and I have been arguing this one for the last year. All his buddies watch sports on enormous HDTV screens and he wants one too. In fact, he says everyone's got to change over come the end of the year. (Is that even true?) In our case, it would require ripping out the custom-built bookshelves with the perfectly-sized TV cubby. So I'm holding out--I can be just as shallow as the next girl and who needs more of that?

HANK: Yeah, I'm all about TV, and we don't have hi def either. (We do, however, go to our best pals' house next door and watch sports on HD. And it's--amazing. I love it.) (And ha ha, Ro.)
But listen gang, soon I've gotta see my face on it. But here's what I'm hoping. Everyone says TV adds ten pounds and ten years. And it does. But HD doesn't. So we're all buying dermablend make-up (ultra-coverage but sheer), and crossing our fingers.

(So Jan, you're saying you now judge people on TV by how they look? Ha. Most people have been doing that for years. Just read Prime Time.)

Roberta, nope, tell your (adorable) husband you do NOT have to change to HD! Thing is, next February, we all have to switch to digital tv. But most people won't have to do anything. And if you do, it can be free. I'm doing a story about it right now, so I do know the scoop. Any questions?

Congratulations Hank!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to announce...

Hank Phillippi Ryan's Prime Time has been nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

All of us at Jungle Red are thrilled to have royalty in our midst. Huzzzah Huzzah, and Very Big Whoop! Raise a glass of bubbly with us to toast this well deserved honor.

Love ya, Hank!

Hip, hip, hooray!

Three cheers for our Jungle Red colleague Hank whose first novel, PRIME TIME, has been nominated for an Agatha award for best first mystery. Congratulations from all of us! Roberta

Hip, hip, hooray!

Three cheers for our Jungle Red colleague Hank whose first novel, PRIME TIME, has been nominated for an Agatha award for best first mystery. Congratulations from all of us! Roberta

On Bad Guys

"The women who inspired this play deserved to be smacked across the head with a meat ax, and that, I flatter myself, is exactly what I smacked them with."

*** Clare Boothe Luce on "The Women."

JAN:
You know when you listen to the sharp, catty dialogue of the women undermining each other in The Women that Luce had a good ear for women at their worst. Have any real, live a**holes in your lives inspired your fictional bad guys?

RO:
Funny you should ask. There is a real life a**hole who lives too close to me to identify beyond that, but I was so pissed at him - for unneighborly behaviour - that I made him a wife beater in my book. As it happens I had too many interwoven story lines and decided to pull that one out, but one false move and the guy makes it into book three.

HANK:
I'm sitting at my computer, staring at the screen. Wondering who inspired my bad guys, and why. And I realized it's not so much specific people, as it is the way some people treat others. My bad guys are self-centered, greedy, manipulative. They're only interested in themselves--and how others can help them get what they want. And if someone gets in the way or interferes, they mow them down. Physically, psychologically and emotionally. Their flaws stem from power, money, and control.

The good guys--listen, think, care about others as much as they do themselves. Their flaws stem from love.As for you, Ro, my darling husband is a lawyer, if you need him.

HALLIE:
Free associating on the lawyer front...it is interesting how mystery readers are far more partial to dead lawyers than they are to dead dogs. I know, off topic. I LOVE that quote, but I confess I hate asshole characters. The 'villain' in my work in progress is based loosely on a girl I barely knew in high school. She was very sweet and needy and clingy (and annoying) and I imagined what might have happened to her if she got twisted, seriously twisted. I like villains who are real, complex people who've convinced themselves that they HAVE to do bad things for all the 'right' reasons. As Hanks says, they're 'flawed.'

JAN:
I hung around with a guy in college who I knew was evil. Okay, no one believes in evil today, so maybe he wasn't evil, just a sociopath. But it was like the air changed in the room whenever he walked in. When asked about his plans after graduation, he announced that he was going to go to Las Vegas and make his "killing" gambling. He never went to Las Vegas, but in the back room in a bar in Boston, he won a couple grand in a backgammon game.

In lieu of the cash, he was offered the chance to make money driving car loads of marijuana up from Florida. He soon graduated from driver to investor, and after a stint in jail wound up distributing a synthetic heroin that killed something like 200 junkies up and down the east coast. The Herald did a story on it and quoted one of his associates as saying that Chris chuckled over this.

When I read the quote, I could actually hear the laugh Chris would have used. To make a long story short, Chris died, execution style, with two bullets in the back of his head, shortly after deciding to turn state's evidence. None of his college friends were shocked.

Anyway, I'm clearly fascinated by Chris. He was the inspiration for one of my earliest short stories, and the basis for my bad guy in Final Copy. Over and over, even when I was doing investigative journalism, I found myself drawn to the subject of charismatic con men (and women). Why is that the trait of utter selfishness is so often coupled with extraordinary charm?

Maybe it's that mystery that keeps us writing crime fiction!

BREAKING NEWS!
We're so thrilled to announce Jungle Red's own Hank Phillippi Ryan's debut novel Prime Time is now on the Boston Globe's bestseller list! Prime Time has been on sale for just twelve days..and now is the number 10 best-selling paper back as listed in New England's flagship newspaper.
(The second book in Hank's Charlotte McNally Mysteries, FACE TIME, will be published this October.)

ON THE ROAD

Zippy the Pinhead: You mean we have no idea what will happen next? Or when? Or why?
His pal: That's pretty much it, yeah.
Zippy: Cool.
***Bill Griffith, cartoonist


Hallie is gallivanting through the olive groves and vineyards (and boutiques) of Italy. Jan is leading a group of teenagers through the jungles (jungles?) of the Dominican Republic and Ro is in Tanzania helping a village build a library. Do we have a jet-setting group or what?

And as for me—I’m here in Boston—but doing a big take off of my own. And I can't wait to show you the photos! (See below!)

Prime Time, my first novel is now in bookstores. (I’ll dare to say it one more time—RT Book Reviews gave it a top pick, and called it “a perfect combination of mystery and romance.”)

And launch week was—well, you know they always talk about once-in-a-lifetime experiences? This was one. And it’s still happening.

Tuesday morning—launch day—I got up at the crack of dawn to appear on the Breakfast Club on WODS radio. (A fast-paced and hilarious morning show that plays all the oldies.) Dale Dorman and his wacky colleagues (they love to be called that) made it a great time. And provided coffee, luckily. I didn’t know what to expect—and that’s what happened.

The first question? They asked me to explicate and explain the lyrics of the sixties anthem Walk Away Renee. Okay, talk about random! But it was fun—and I’m pretty good at sixties song lyrics. Thank goodness.
But we also talked about Prime Time—and Dale had clearly read it—what a treat! But then it was back to music—they’d read somewhere that I was vice president of the national Beatles Fan Club (when I was 14, for gosh sake). So with that, they asked me to sing Rocky Raccoon! These guys are unstoppable. My incredibly bad singing voice aside, Rocky Raccoon? No problem. (All together now: Rocky came in, stinking of gin, only to find Gideon’s Bible…)

That afternoon—it was off to Borders in Boston’s Back Bay. Would it rain and keep the lunchtime shoppers in their offices and away from the store? Would the place be empty and I’d wind up chatting with myself?
Hurray. No. In fact, the place was so full of people, the Borders crew had to bring in extra chairs. And what a terrific group—many many many folks I didn’t know—and some wonderfully familiar pals: YA series author Marley Gibson, NEC-RWA mogul Katy Cooper—well, it was great.
And I signed and signed.
And look at the display of Prime Time.
Thanks Borders. You, um, rock.
Tuesday ended with a cocktail bash and signing at the ultra-chic and very elegant Ralph Lauren boutique on Newbury Street. (If you’ve been there, you know how fabulous it is. Three floors, filled with the most fantastic…well, you know.)

Anyway—it was packed and hilarious…champagne and beef tenderloin and white wine and crab cakes. And many friends, colleagues, and members of the press.
Here’s the inimitable Bill Brett (author of the amazing book of Boston faces called All One Family), taking my photo for the Boston Globe. (Where it appeared the next day in a very lovely article by Carol Beggy.)

And here’s (from right) author Becky Motew ( of the wonderfully funny Coupon Girl), fashion mavens from “Dressing Well” Mary Lou Andre and June Tartar, and the extraordinary Hope Denekamp from Kneerim and Williams Agency, whose expertise guided me through unfamiliar territory when Prime Time was in its earliest of stages.

And again, I signed and signed.

I’ve got so many more photos of that signing on the way—its was absolutely SRO--and I’ll show you all the good ones at some point—but the party photographer still has them all! We sold lots and lots of books on launch day—and I’m already getting some incredibly enthusiastic reaction.
Wine and champagne as a sales tool. Remember it.

And then the next day: an event with the incomparable Kate Mattes of Kate’s Mystery Books!


She hosted a bustling and convivial reading—it was lively and full of old friends and new friends (Hi Pat from DL! Thank you so much for coming) and fellow authors. Here’s my independent editor Francesca Coltrera and her husband Andrew Cornell and the two Emmas---and my husband.
Here’s how it looked as I read from Prime Time. In the audience—Vinnie O’Neil, winner of last year’s Malice Domestic contest for Murder in Exile, who came all the way from Rhode Island to share the fun.

Friday: Borders in Braintree where they set up a special display of Prime Time with the amazing Claire Cook’s latest Life’s a Beach.
Saturday: Barnes & Noble in Burlington--where I signed for three hours! The B & N gang was was wonderful. See all those books stacked on the metal cart? All gone… And there wasn't even wine.
Lots more wonderful singings and readings and appearances coming up…but you get the, um, picture. I’ll put more on my website…

But I know this is not a typical week in the life of a mystery author. And I'm so grateful for everyone who made this work. Who came to these signings. It was --as I said--once in a lifetime. And now it's back to the computer.

But let me say--each time I sign a book, and hand it over to the strangers who have just pulled out their wallet to BUY Prime Time, pages unread, author untested, just taking my word for it that it’s worthwhile and it’ll be a good companion on beach or airplane or pillow—I think—they’re taking off too. Just as I am. On a journey into the unknown.

Prime Time. My first novel. So far, so good.

Now back to our usual programming.

(and thank you to my darling husband Jonathan for the wonderful photography...)

(Who's) ON FIRST

"I am born."

"I had a farm in Africa"

"I have never begun a novel with more misgiving."


RO:
Back in the day, novels written in the first person got some respect. When did that change?

I don't know if it's a mystery thing or a "literary" thing, but it seems that writing in third person (or some other variation or combination) gets all the reviews while first person novels are somehow seen as lightweight, anyone-can-bang-them-out yarns. When I started Pushing up Daisies, I wrote in the third person - then when it seemed I would be writing a series I switched to first to put my protagonist right in the action. I had fun writing lines like "I whacked him in the head with the weed whacker", or my foot connected with his nose..."
What do you all think?

JAN:

Books written in the first person seem to be perceived as "small" which bugs me because I love writing in the first person. I also prefer reading first person books and I find I like movies and tv shows where there is a first person voice over (which oddly enough seems to be an increasing trend). What I like about voiceovers and first person novels is the perspective they offer. But I guess the rest of the world wants a more global view. Like everything else in literature, its probably just a passing phase.

HANK:
We all grew up with "Once upon a time..." Think about it. From our first moment of hearing a story, we heard it in the omniscient view, and usually past tense. "There was a beautiful princess, and she went...." "The frog said "But wait, if you..."

What's more, I always feel that a third person, past tense story is one that's over, that's already happened. Which is kind of interesting, isn't it? Because if done properly, a tale told in first person doesn't telegraph that something is over. It brings the reader in at the beginning, to go on the journey with whoever the main character is. (Whomever?)

I mean, Rebecca. Last night, Rebecca dreamt she was at Manderley again. (I guess she had told someone about it?) His name was Ishmael. And how could you possibly third-person-ize Catcher in the Rye ? And why would you want to?

One pal of mine got a review (of a book I thought was hilarious and wonderful) which said something along the lines of: "I can't understand why this is written in first person. I couldn't even read it." Huh?

Don't get me wrong. I'm comfortable either way. If I open the book, and at the end of page one I'm transported into the book's world--fine with me. First, third. I'm happy.

But I agree--I'd love to hear what you all think about why first person is so often vilified. Is it too--self-centered? Does it make the focus too narrow? Does it require too many coincidences?


RO: So let us know what you think.....and anyone know which books those three lines are from? First person to answer gets a Jungle Red gift!

ON REWARDS

BLUME: Is writing easy for you?
ANGIER: No. Mostly it's a question of trying to quiet the dybbuks--all the voices that tell you you're no good, you can't do it, every kind of criticism you can come up with. You're just trying to shut them up and let yourself go.
*******Natalie Angier interviewed by Harvey Blume in The Boston Globe about her newest book "The Canon"

HANK:
(Forgive me for this before I start, okay? It's somewhat sappy and about my own book.)

I had a once in a lifetime experience this week. Really. A box, actually, two boxes, were on my front porch as I arrived home. They were too big to be my new shoes. And they were too small to be my stuff from Saks.

I know they had to be the advance author copies of PRIME TIME. I ripped the tape of the cartons, and with my (Jungle Red) manicure in jeopardy and putting myself at grave risk for papercuts, I ripped open the flaps. One. Two. And there they were, in all their sleek glory. Forty-eight gorgeous books.

(Stay with me here, I promise this has a point.)

I checked the front, great. I checked the back, great. I checked all the little extra stuff that goes in: bio, thank you page, letter to the reader. All great.
But that's not the end of the once in a lifetime.

I could not go to sleep, I was so thrilled to see the results of my two years of writing and revision, years of worry and delight and of stepping out of the TV world of facts and into the writing world of fiction. And I wondered, would anyone like it?

(Point approaching.)

So I stayed up, almost all night, reading the whole book. Pretending to be someone else, someone else who hadn't done the revisions and changes and who didn't know what I took out and someone who didn't know whether the characters turned out to be good or nefarious and who didn't know whodunnit. Someone who had never met my heroine, Charlie McNally. (I also had to be someone who presumably doesn't need any sleep, which turned out to be a mistake.)

Anyway, I loved it. I laughed. I was interested. I forgot I wrote it, sometimes. And I found things, clues, that I hadn't realized were there. I mean, "were there"--things were only "there" because I put them there, right? So how did they get there without me knowing about it?

So as Natalie (above, you've probably forgotten the quote by now) says, "it's a question of trying to quiet the dybbuks."

Thinking back. There were days, writing PT, where I admit I thought things were going along nicely. But there were certainly days I thought, you know, this ain't gonna work. Now, I see you just have to quiet the dybbuks and if they hush and you just go on, you may power through and wind up with the feeling I just did. My first book. It's real.

HALLIE:
Well, that sent me to the dictionary--dubbuk: In Jewish folklore, the wandering soul of a dead person that enters the body of a living person and controls his or her behavior.

Who knew?

Yes, Hank, it is REAL! And it is wondrous to behold and to be holding that brand new baby book. There's nothing like the first one. Not that it gets old; it just gets, well, tarnished. I'm not going there. But anyone who's interested in why no one has figured how to make money in the book business should have a look at the article in the May 13 NY Times, cover of the Sunday Business Section: "The Greatest Mystery: Making a Best Seller." Apparently book marketing is more about voo-doo than research. ("Most in the industry seem to see consumer taste as a mystery that is inevitable and even appealing, akin to the uncontrollable highs and lows of falling in love or gambling.")

I'm predicting Hank's Prime Time is going to break out because it's got such great heart, it's hilarious, and its smart-smart-smart. And because I have sprinkled good juju upon it.good juju: good energy

(HANK: Oh, Hallie. Thank you. Good ju ju is the sort of thing that comes right back to you.)

JAN:
So a dubbuk is sort of a Jewish vampire, eh? I guess every ethnic group needs its evil spirits.

I've known it as the POS syndrome. (piece of shxx - you get the picture). It's when you've been writing, agonizing, rewriting, mispelling, correcting and getting blurry eyes, and you read whatever you've just written and you say to yourself. Ye GODS! whatever made me think I could be a writer?

This is the WORST drivel I've ever read.

But later, the magic starts to happen. And especially when your book is bound, with a smart, flashy cover and looks like... well hey... this is actually a real book. Then all that drivel disappears and you can see that you weren't kidding yourself. You can write. Tell stories, and even transport readers to a suspenseful, climactic even, scene.

It's wonderful stuff! And Hank, I can't wait to read Prime Time! Enjoy the magic!

RO:
Well, the earth hasn't moved for me just yet. Somehow the uncorrected bound manuscripts I'm squinting at (is that really 5pt type??) haven't had that same effect on me, but I'll take your word for it.Is it easy? Nope. The hardest part for me is getting all the other crap out of my head and sticking with my story. I have been known to be distracted by a good looking bird outside my window. But once it's down on paper I enjoy rewriting...again...and again...and again..

HANK:
Oh, Ro. It's going to be so much fun when Pushing Up Daisies comes out and you're all glowy and bubbly (yes, even you) and we can tease you about how cynical you used to be in your uncorrected maunscript days. (Jan--your Yesterday's Fatal is just new to the stores...is it pushy to point readers to check it out? That's what friends are for, right? And it doesn't happen that often..)

I guess my point--yay! she got there!--is that sometimes we surprise ourselves.

(RO: Hank, you are just like human sunshine.)