How to Eat Alone (and Like It)

[Hamlette]

9. My favorite meal alone

was at a fancy hotel with a great menu. I would take a book but only pretended to read. I was traveling alone for work and since I was in NYC, eating out was half the fun.

One time there was a conference of romance writers in town and I was seated at a table of 6 women friends from the conference. They spent the night dissing authors who were not in attendance. As they got drunker, they got more colorful. They especially liked dissing the euphemisms used for private body parts (staring into his oneness). And one character named Flaming Tina and her exploits. I looked up some of the names that dropped and lo and behold, they were romance authors. I was not the only one eavesdropping.