So my three-month-long self-imposed imprisonment on the island of Manhattan came to an end last week when I flew down to Richmond, VA, to lecture at the University of Richmond. What a wonderful campus and the undergraduates I spoke with were so bright and perceptive. I spoke about Platitudes with Professor Bertram Ashe, to whom I'm eternally grateful for rescuing Platitudes from the remainder bin. He wrote the introduction to the new edition and it is only thanks to him that it's now taught in dozens of classes across the country.

It was also wonderful to speak about Bedtime Stories as literature as well. I put so much into this new book and it was unbelievably gratifying to see that close readers understood what it was I was trying to do. Beyond telling the story of my kids, my dating and myself, I wanted to create a modern, experimental narrative that nevertheless was readable with an elegant seamlessness. I love all the tropes I have used in Platitudes and in my other two books but this time I wanted to bring them to bear in a work of non-fiction.

And next week I'm off to LA for Spring Break and to be on the Dr. Drew Show and NPR's News & Notes. It will be odd. My first time back since I no longer have a home there.