Ghosting and Nonfiction
THE 7-MINUTE BACK PAIN SOLUTION (Harlequin)
Do these stretches and follow this advice and your lower back pain should go away. To be published by Harlequin in Spring 2012. Check at www.eharlequin.com for updates – cover coming soon.
THE HOLIDAY GODDESS HANDBAG GUIDE TO PARIS, NEW YORK, LONDON AND ROME (HarperCollins Australia)
I'm one of the NY-based contributors for the fab website, www.holidaygoddess.com, mostly writing about secret addresses and fun jaunts to do with the kids. This is a terrific guide for intrepid travelers.
SECRET PROJECT
I've happily spent much of the last 2 1⁄2 years working with an incredibly smart, kind, generous, and mesmerizingly innovative person on a series of books, co-authoring 3 and editing 2 more. Stay tuned!
SUPER BODY, SUPER BRAIN (HarperOne/HarperCollins)
Michael is not just buff but brilliant about the effects of exercise and brain function. See what I mean at www.superbodysuperbrain.com.
BQ THE BEAUTY QUOTIENT FORMULA (Hay House)
I loved working with Dr. T, who's got a great sense of humor and smarts about beauty. www.thebeautyquotient.com
THE BROWN FAT REVOLUTION (St. Martin's Press)
This man knows his fat! There's tons of extremely smart info in here, especially for women over 40. www.thebrownfatrevolution.com
TODAY'S MOMS (Harper Paperbacks/HarperCollins)
Alicia and Mary Ann are two of the smartest, savviest, and loving moms in NYC, and working with them made me wish my little one was still in diapers! www.todaysmoms.tv
GOOD ENOUGH MOTHER (Simon Spotlight/Simon & Schuster)
Rene and I had a blast together - she's so funny, so smart, so lovely, and so personable that this book practically wrote itself.

Check out more at www.goodenoughmother.com.
10 MINUTES, 10 YEARS (Free Press/Simon & Schuster)
My son calls Dr. Brandt an "elf" - and he's such a doll that he could make the most needle-phobic person out there happy to see him. There isn't anything he doesn't know about skin. www.drfredricbrandt.com
THE BIRD FLU PANDEMIC (St. Martin's Press)
Not normally a science writer - okay, so I nearly failed Genetics For Dummies in college - I filled in for a colleague who pulled out at the last minute. I learned an awful lot from Dr. Green's spectacular mind, and figured that if an epidemiological dunce like moi could understand what a virus was, readers could too.
NANNY 911 (It Books/HarperCollins)
Nanny Deb and Nanny Stella are so experienced with children that when I was writing this book with them I felt like I was getting paid to learn how to be a better parent. And Judith Regan didn't yell at me once! The show can still be watched at www.cmt.com.
UNBLEMISHED (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
Everything you (n)ever wanted to know about zits. Let me tell ya - Proactiv works. I read hundreds and hundreds of unsolicited testimonials, many of which were truly heartbreaking. So listen: If you've got skin problems, either try Proactiv or see a dermatologist! www.rodanandfields.com
MAKEUP YOUR MIND (powerHouse Books)
Francois Nars, the genius behind Nars cosmetics, hired me after I interviewed him on the phone for a feature in Neiman Marcus The Book magazine. This book is just ravishingly gorgeous. www.narscosmetics.com
BEING MARRIED HAPPILY FOREVER (Putnam)
Tova had been married to actor Ernest Borgnine for 25 years when we wrote this. She was one of the nicest and most gracious women I've ever met, and Ernie was a hoot. Going to his 80th birthday party was like seeing Old Hollywood come to life. (Beauty by Tova website)
CALLANETICS FIT FOREVER (Putnam Books) and SUPER CALLANETICS (Putnam Books)
SUPER CALLANETICS was the first book nonfiction book I ghosted. Callan had already had a huge success with Callanetics, so the sequel was a no-brainer. I can't remember how I came to be offered this project; I just wish I had Callan's ability to do plies and sit-ups, because trust me, that woman was buff! And when we worked again on Callanetics Fit Forever, Callan still had the world's most perfect butt. I, alas, did not.
DIRTY DANCING HOW TO DO IT (Laurel/Dell Publishing)
This falls into the category of Pay The Rent Writing. Dirty Dancing became a phenomenon, so Dell Books asked me to do a quickie tie-in. "Mimi Kasbah" came from a friend who was trying to say, "Meet me in the Casbah," but he mumbled. When I told him I thought he'd said "Mimi Kasbah" he told me it would come in handy one day as a pseudonym. Little did I know he was right.
BOB HOSKINS (Sidgwick & Jackson UK)
I wrote my first solely-bylined nonfiction book when I was living in London in the mid-1980s. I sat in a branch of the British Library and pored over old clippings, compiling an extensive list of nearly every actor and director who'd ever worked with Hoskins, then sent them letters requesting an interview. Fortunately, dozens of people agreed to talk. Pulling this book together vastly improved my reporting skills, which became a tremendous asset when I began interviewing celebrities while on assignments.
STREISAND THROUGH THE LENS (Delilah Books)
My second job in publishing was at a small pop culture/rock'n'roll book packager, Delilah Communications, and we put together many now-cult books. There, the late, great Lester Bangs taught me how to write with intensity and wild swoops of imagination when I edited his Blondie. (There's a lovely photo of us in Jim Derogatis' (www.jimdero.com) biography, Let It Blurt.) Frank was an obsessive Streisand fan, photographer and photo rep, and friend to the photographers who contributed their favorite shots. It's an understatement to say that they were thrilled to talk to me about Barbra.
REAR VIEW (Delilah Books)
I edited this Delilah book, with an essay by the marvelous Nick Tosches. I've included it here as I posed for the back cover, and can now look back fondly (pun intended) at my youthful posterior while remembering the shoot in a vacant lot on Gansevoort St. back when it was utterly deserted on a freezing winter's day. I was so cold I literally had to place my hands in that position to stop the shivering.