Dept. of original thinkers

Last night I had the privilege of dinner with author Cynthia Heimel, the humorist whose books have titles like Get Your Tongue Out Of My Mouth, I'm Kissing You Goodbye! and If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead Yet?. We were discussing possible gigs, and I offered, "Well, there's always Chick Lit." She looked at me as if I'd belched. "Chick Lit," I repeated more clearly.

"Oh, that," she said. "I can't write that stuff." She paused to sip her Diet Coke. "Of course, I did invent it."

Yes, she did. I noted that on the Amazon page for one of her books, one of the user-reviewers has written: "If you are a conservative and not a feminist, this book is sure to irritate you." I hope someone says that about me some day.