Melissa Senate

 No white Christmas this year for Pierre, former city cat who loves frolicking in the snow. Tomorrow it will be 51 degrees here in Maine!

Merry Christmas!

 IT'S A WONDERFUL LIE: 26 TRUTHS ABOUT LIFE IN YOUR TWENTIES is out and about! This is an anthology of essays by women writers about life as a twentysomething, which for me has come and gone. My essay, THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY, is about the most confusing, heartbreaking time in my life. It's the first essay I ever wrote and startlingly personal (and makes me cry every time in exactly the same spot), but I suppose that's what a personal essay is. My fiction is all very personal too, but the truths are hidden in the littlest details. Here, the truth is right there on the page!

I still don't have my own sent-with-compliments-from-the-publisher copy, thanks to moving twice since I wrote the essay, so off to buy one. Writers (26 altogether) include the editor, Emily Franklin, Alison Pace (can't wait for her new book, Through Thick And Thin!!!), Megan McCafferty, Julianna Baggott, Jennifer O'Connell (editor of the anthology containing the second essay I wrote, Everything I Needed To Know About Being A Girl I Learned From Judy Blume, coming in May), and the very lovely and sweet Kristin Harmel, whose terrific new book (I luckily read an advance review copy), The Blonde Theory, is coming out in February.

I have long loved Patrick (hands down, best smile EVER). But for some very strange reason, I only very recently started watching Grey's Anatomy (before Grey's, I would watch L&O SVU reruns and that's about it) and am now HOOKED. There's not an actor/character on that show that I don't adore. I'm treating myself to the DVDs of the first two seasons.  Did you know that Patrick is from Maine? He'll be visiting family this holiday season and maybe I'll get a glimpse of him!