Leslie, thanks for the interview. Your virtual tour of New York is still one of A Romance Review favorite attractions.

Thank you! I was delighted to have the opportunity to write it and share things that make NYC so special for me, with people all over the map. And thank you for this delightful opportunity to share some of my thoughts with readers.

1. Prior to the difficult questions, let's find out a little bit about where you're from and what else you do.

I was born and raised in New York City, and spent four years upstate at Cornell University, where I took a full liberal arts curriculum and majored in Theatre. I'm also a professional actress. I've done Off and Off-Off-Broadway theatre, made appearances on soap operas and in commercials, performed in summer stock, and founded and ran Survivor Productions, Ltd., a non-profit theatre company, right here in Manhattan for eight seasons. Lest people think my life is so glamorous, I've been making ends meet for years as a secretary in a string of temp jobs.

After REALITY CHECK hits the shelves on January 1, my next book will be a trade paperback from Avon called TEMPORARY INSANITY, which some readers (and a former boss or two) may think is an exposé of my life in day job hell. I look at it this way. I got a book out of it all.

When I'm not writing, acting, or sitting in an office, I love to read and to spend time at museums, going to movies and plays, socializing with friends. I love to laugh. There! That's another thing I do. I also love to bake. That's one reason I decided to channel my creative energies into writing, while waiting for acting jobs. It's a lot easier on the figure than endless dozens of chocolate chip cookies!

2. What have been the highlights of your career as a published author so far?

I have two books out, now. And each time I opened my box of advance copies, lifted out the first book, and held it in my hands, I cried. I'll skip the metaphors about giving birth and the creative process and all that. Even though I resist writing sentiment, I'm a sentimental fool a lot of the time.

I love book signings. I enjoy the aspect of performing and interpreting the words on the page, though the best part is the opportunity to talk directly to readers and learn about the tapestries of their lives. Also, being a published author has led to some wonderful re-connections. People with whom I went to high school or college (and to whom I haven't spoken since graduation!) have e-mailed me out of the blue because they've read my books (or read about them); so now I'm back in touch with people from other lifetimes ago. I love that.

3. The book cover and blurb for both your Ivy Book releases, Miss Match and Reality Check, are geared towards the Sex & The City and Friends viewers. How do you feel about it?

Ooh. Loaded question. First of all, it's highly flattering to be compared to a pair of Emmy-winning comedy series that are two of the biggest hits in television history, not just in America, but internationally. And I think the comparison is clever publishing business "shorthand" for communicating to readers what world (more or less), they will enter, when they pick up a copy of one of my books. "It's urban," this shorthand says. "It's funny. It's hip. It's about singles, primarily." FRIENDS is a Hollywood concept of how New Yorkers live. I won't say more than that, other than it's hard to argue with a hit. For people who don't live anywhere near New York City, FRIENDS may be the closest reference point they may have to single people living and working and interacting here, so I can comprehend why the publisher markets my books that way.

For people who enjoy SEX & THE CITY, I'm thrilled that they want to set my writing on a par with the series; and, yes, what my books have in common with the HBO hit is that they are set in New York City and feature single, feisty, funny, sexy working women as the central figures. And, indeed, there is a cosmopolitan sense of humor or tone, an urbanity to my writing that is also found in SEX & THE CITY, which is actually written and filmed in New York.

I'm writing about women who are looking for a lasting commitment, not a temporary thrill. True love. It's important for me to show my heroines in every madcap aspect of their lives, including dealing with their jobs, colleagues, bosses, etc. My leading ladies don't whine. They're feisty; they're "plucky," to use an old-fashioned word. They don't sit around trashing men or comparing their relative physical attributes or prowess. My heroines aren't hopeless romantics. They're hopeful ones.

4. You are a New York girl, a fact that is perfectly obvious in your first two books. Although, in Reality Check, your characters do spend some quality time (grin) in Florida. How do you choose your settings?

I wanted to make Jack (the hero of REALITY CHECK), an out-of-towner, because I wanted the long-distance aspect of his relationship with Liz to be one of their obstacles. And I wanted him to be from somewhere very different from New York City, somewhere much more laid back, and yet an urban setting as well. I chose South Florida because it would be possible for Jack to commute to New York on weekends for the "Bad Date" show, and because I've been to the Miami area and felt I could write about it from a place of knowledge. I try to choose settings for my books where I have actually spent some time. I believe in the cardinal rule of writing what you know. Start from a place you know (physically or emotionally) and embellish to your imagination's content! Many of my settings (like Hades, the head-banging rock & roll club in MISS MATCH, or the Palmetto Hotel in Miami where Liz stays in REALITY CHECK), are totally fictitious, but they are grounded in similar real-life experiences. And if you've ever visited Vizcaya in Miami, which I believe is one of the most romantic spots on earth, you'd be inspired to imagine all kinds of delicious scenarios there.

5. How important is race and religion when choosing your characters? I'm asking as I enjoy reading about different cultures and feel that your choices are perfect with the backdrop of New York.

Thanks. New York City is still very much the melting pot that it was at the turn of the twentieth century -- perhaps even more so -- and I'm interested in writing about people of different backgrounds and not presenting a homogeneous picture of New Yorkers. The New York I know is not homogenous. Additionally, I have a tremendous amount of fun creating characters from various ethnicities and religions. For example, the character of Candy Fortunato, the stripper-turned-clothing designer in REALITY CHECK was great fun. So was the character of the transvestite Liquid Silver in MISS MATCH, and Rushie, the hero's mother, who is described by the heroine as "a Hadassah sister gone Celtic." My theatre background and training serve me here. I can hear the cadences of my characters' dialogue in my head while I write, as vividly as if they were in the room with me having a conversation that I am simply transcribing.

6. Compared to Miss Match, Reality Check includes love scenes all through the story. Tell us; is there a particular reason for the increased number of those scenes and for the wide variety of locations and positions? (grin)

I was inspired. Greatly. And happily. That's all I'll say about that. Those scenes felt very easy to write; and often, love scenes are the hardest (as it were). I mean, you want to get your readers caught up in your characters' passion without using words that will make them giggle! The love scenes I wrote in REALITY CHECK felt organic to the particular story I was telling -- that of Liz and Jack's relationship.

With Kitty and Bear in MISS MATCH, where she has to meet a lot of toads before her prince finally wakes up and smells the coffee, it's a different story with a completely different structure. Throughout most of the novel, Kathryn has very strong reasons for not wanting to go to bed with Bear, despite her raging attraction to him.

7. As a professional actress, do you feel you have an advantage over other authors when it comes to writing vivid and graphic scenes? I'm not just thinking love scenes here. (lol)

I don't know whether it's an advantage over other authors, but I do believe that my background as an actress is most certainly a benefit in terms of writing some scenes, particularly dialogue. And I think I tend to craft my books with dramatic narrative structure in mind. I do imagine all of my scenes as though they were on a stage or screen in front of me. For example, when I wrote the food fight scene in MISS MATCH, it was as if I watched it unspooling before me on a giant movie screen and then wrote down what I was seeing. And as I work, I think of my manuscript as a giant improvisation where I play all the parts. Gee, what would I say in this situation if I were Liz? And how would I respond to what Liz just said to me if I were Jack?

I have an inner barometer that goes haywire when I read dialogue in a novel that doesn't sound like a real person is doing the talking. I have an inkling of how people most likely sounded in earlier eras, because I've performed in a number of classical plays, particularly 19th century works, written by people of that time. And 19th century dialogue is a lot less florid than 19th century narrative. After all, you have to communicate -- get to the point, not gild it! With contemporary dialogue, and with comedy, a novelist's dialogue must be (in my opinion) something that can be read aloud and sound like an actual conversation. I'll read my scenes aloud, and if a line doesn't sound like a real person is saying it, and it isn't completely organic, I rewrite it.

8. Imagine a film company optioned for your books…and it would be up to you to cast the actors. Who would be your choice for the main characters in Miss Match and Reality Check?

For MISS MATCH, my ideal Kitty has always been Julia Roberts. She's not petite, like the heroine in the novel, but she perfectly captures the combination of feistiness, charm, and vulnerability (with just a smidge of willingness to look goofy sometimes), that is necessary for the role. Bear, as written, is hunky and blond. And I can't think of an American actor who really fits the bill (I assume we're talking household names here - naturally, I could cast both films with all my friends!). If Sean Bean has a sense of humor and can do an American accent, the role is his. Maybe he'd like to do a bit of romantic comedy. Why let Hugh Grant get all the parts? Russell Crowe could play it, if he can manage a light touch. He's certainly got the anger beneath the surface that's part of Bear's character. I've got the entire cast on a "wish list" in my desk. All of Kitty's dates (including Joaquin Phoenix, Viggo Mortensen, Tom Cruise, Martin Donovan, and Sean, if he just wants to play a Brit.), and Bear's mother (Lainie Kazan), and Kitty's sister Eleanor (Ashley Judd). I'd love to have Sharon Stone play Bear's barracuda attorney date Valerie, and RuPaul is perfect for the cameo appearance of Liquid Silver.

For REALITY CHECK, I see Mary Louise Parker as Liz (or maybe Marisa Tomei), Halle Berry as Jem (there are jokes about Jem's resemblance to Berry in the book), and Reese Witherspoon as Nell. For Jack…George Clooney. And if he's not available, as long as Hugh Jackman, Colin Firth, and Jason Isaacs can do a perfect American accent (Miami), they can fight over the role. In fact, I'll happily interview them myself.

9. By the way, was that a less than favorable remark about the movie adaptation of Miss Match in Reality Check? What's Your Sign only a "total piece of fluff"?

WHAT'S YOUR SIGN? is the film that the VFA (Very Famous Actor) Rick Byron is making when he engages Kitty to be his personal acting coach in MISS MATCH. Since I establish that Rick, known as "Hollywood's Reigning Hunk," is neither God's gift to talent or brains, I didn't want the film he'd made (that is later referenced in REALITY CHECK as a "total piece of fluff") to be a major, serious film. WHAT'S YOUR SIGN? isn't CITIZEN KANE; it's just an unremarkable, formulaic, romantic comedy.

10. Your next book, Temporary Insanity, in 2003, will be an Avon Trade Paperback release. Can you tell us a little more about it?

It's essentially a chick-lit/women's fiction novel that incorporates a lot of the characteristics of my romance writing in terms of tone, pace, humor, and characterizations, but it's also got something more. I feel that with this book, I'm digging deeper emotionally as an author. Actually, with each manuscript, I feel like I mine some new emotional territory. And that's the way I like it. I like to challenge myself. Here's my little description of the book.

Between BRIDGET JONES and THE NANNY DIARIES lies TEMPORARY INSANITY, another madcap New York adventure by the author of MISS MATCH and REALITY CHECK.

Meet Alice Finnegan: thirty-something, single, and stuck in a cycle of horrific secretarial temp jobs, while struggling to fulfill her childhood ambitions of theatrical stardom and sharing an apartment with her ninety-something grandmother, a feisty, funny, former Ziegfeld showgirl.

Along the rocky road to independence Alice encounters a colorful cast of oddballs, nuts, and control freaks (including members of her immediate family), succumbing to the pitfalls of office romances and the perils of outshining her bosses as she endeavors to keep her sanity intact.

Much of the book is drawn from autobiographical experiences. Optimistically, I hope that people who enjoy MISS MATCH and REALITY CHECK, for all the reasons they do, will take the chance and follow me into the trade paper format. TEMPORARY INSANITY has the setting, the humor, the pace, and the delicious, complex characters that seem to be the "hallmarks" of my romance writing. And I hope also that readers will find the novel touching and at times poignant, which is a new avenue of exploration for me as a writer.

Here's a heads-up to my romance fans that TEMPORARY INSANITY doesn't have a romance that is a major thread, but I don't think that readers will be disappointed because there isn't a traditional love story with a happily-ever-after ending. The book is about a woman's journey toward finding her own identity, her own place in the world. Alice needs to get the rest of her life in order before she can be ready for a fulfilling romance - which is something I think many single, formerly single, and newly single women can relate to. Finding a true love for Alice is something that's been in my mind for a sequel.

11. Is it the end for the romantic comedies your fans love you for? You are not distancing yourself from the romance genre, are you?

With the trade paper format, I have wider parameters to play in than I have with genre fiction. And what author wouldn't be happy for the chance to stretch and expand to fill the new space? I'm very much looking forward to exploring all the additional creative possibilities open to me outside of genre fiction. I'm looking forward to gaining new readers who enjoy womens' fiction but tend not to read straight romance. And if my romance readers are willing to take this new ride with me, I promise I won't leave them on the train. I am a hopeful romantic, just like my heroines. I love love stories and will most definitely write more of them (including romantic comedies) in the future, although they may not be published as genre fiction. I have much more fun exploring than I do visiting the same place all the time. That said, you'll always find some of the same old treasured outfits in my suitcase, no matter what journey I'm taking. Eek, Les! Enough analogies!

12. And before I let you go, one more question - A manuscript of yours that is still waiting to be sold and published is Sense and Sensuality. Jane Austen? Is she then your main influence?