"Why haven't you updated your web site in so long?"

"Why is Mystery Date #7 even later than usual? It's been two years!!"

"Why haven't you answered my e-mail/letter?"

The answer to these questions is simple: I've been working on my first book. Even better, I've sold it. That's right PINK THINK, OR HOW TO BECOME A WOMAN IN MANY UNEASY LESSONS will be published by W.W. Norton & Company in Fall 2002. I'll let you know exactly when the moment I know.

To quote from its introduction: "Pink thinking is what the world does when it assumes that girls and women are 'supposed' to be or behave a certain way. When asked what little girls are made of, a pink thinker unhesitatingly responds, 'sugar and spice and everything nice.' When Barbie, in her noted gaffe of several years ago, sighed 'Math is hard,' she was pink thinking. Zaftig fifties movie star Jayne Mansfield was the poster girl of pink think - as well as one of its most tragic casualties. Beauty contests (excuse me - 'scholarship competitions,' though I haven't seen too many academics headed off to the stacks in swimsuit, hose and heels) reward females of all ages, from the tiniest tots to geriatric set, who best personify the ideology of pink think. Pink thinkers know that girls and women are poor drivers who are afraid of mice and snakes, adore babies and small dogs, talk incessantly on the phone, and are incapable of keeping secrets. Of course, most pink think is more subtle than that, but you'd be surprised what pops up when you'd least expect it."

If you'd like me to e-mail you when the book is available, please let me know. I promise not to use your address for any purpose other than announcing PINK THINK's arrival.

In the meantime, here's a wonderful review of Mystery Date (the paper version) that appeared in the September 1998 issue of the Village Voice Literary Supplement, as well as a great article from Salon on the new slew of "savvy gal" advice books, in which yours truly gets quoted.