I’m very fortunate to have a designated office space in my house. It has glass French doors that open up off our main entrance, dark hardwood floors, a cream deep shag rug, a purple buttoned settee, a down-filled denim club chair, a small coffee table, and a glass desk with a white leather office chair. There are several ash-colored bookshelves filled with books, candles, lanterns, and various bric-a-brac. I recently purchased a four-by-six-foot bulletin board that I DIY’d by covering it with upholstery fabric, three-by-five note cards filled with plot points, character sketches, and scene ideas for my current book-in-progress are pinned to this.

Most days, my pug, Bella, and my Mal-Shi, Billy, are sleeping either on the chair or on the rug beneath my feet.

When you’re not writing, what are you up to?

Well, the largest chunk of my nonwriting time is spent working at my job. It’s not a sexy answer, but it is the truth. Outside of that, I’m also a mother, so I grocery shop all the time, pick up other people’s socks, load and unload the dishwasher twelve times a day, and end up washing everyone’s clothes, even though I swore many times I wasn’t going to do that anymore. Maybe you can understand why I identify with Eileen so much??

But what I really love to do is read great books (of course), hang out with my kids (when they’re not asking me to wash their clothes, bring them food, or drive them somewhere), watch movies, binge amazing shows, browse bookstores, sit in coffee shops, travel as much as I can, watch people in airports (it’s the BEST place for people-watching), hang out with great girlfriends, and browse realtor.com for homes in coastal cities and contemplate moves I might make once my high school teens graduate.

What are some of your favorite authors and books?

Easy: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Circe by Madeline Miller, The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, The Wife by Meg Wolitzer, The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, the entire Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty…so, so many more. And, gosh, should I also hit on all the great books from my childhood? Because I could seriously do this all day.

If there’s one thing you’d like readers to take away from Her Perfect Life, what would it be?