LS: Thank you for saying that about my vision of New York City! I come from the tri-state area, and when I was a kid the only place I wanted to live was Manhattan. When I was growing up I visited it all the time with my folks to see theater and opera. When I was in my teens I studied acting in New York, and when I moved there in the seventies I couldn't believe my luck that I was actually living in what I thought was God's country. I floated around for years just feeling privileged to be in a place with so much diversity and energy. I still feel that way. To me, New York is a magical place where something wonderful can happen to you anytime just because you are there. And if the miracle doesn't come along on a given day, you can still get some fabulous dim sum for dinner. I love New York City. I want to go back there—but not while I have so many dogs and cats.

RHRC: You've now written four novels. What is your writing process like? Do you have a set routine? What inspires you, and what do you do when you get stuck?

LS: I guess I do have a process—it's evolving, so I don't really notice it, but it's there. I always have a story I want to tell, which is usually some sort of spin on my own life. Then I create characters who are believable doing whatever it is that happens in the story. At least, I have to believe they'd do it. Then I play out the consequences of what they did.

As to specific routines for writing, I wish I were that well organized. Basically, I kind of wander around the house talking to myself until I feel like I've got the plot worked out, then I spend a lot of time emailing to ease myself into my writing head, and then eventually I get scared about my deadline and I just start doing it. The first few days are the worst. I tend to fall asleep a lot at the computer. The weird part is, I love to write. So I don't know why I dance around it so much. When I'm stuck, which happens a lot, I stop trying to figure out what I want to do next and go clean the kitty litter. Most of my big breakthroughs come to me that way. I think it's because it's an activity that gets me away from my desk, so I can't keep on beating my brains out, and yet it's not the kind of activity I really want to focus on, so my right brain gets a lot of latitude to play around. When I'm working—especially on revisions—I have happy cats with exquisitely clean litter.