With three hit shows on television and three children at home, Shonda Rhimes had lots of good reasons to say NO when an unexpected invitation arrived. Hollywood party? No. Speaking engagement? No. Media appearances? No. And there was the side-benefit of saying No for an introvert like Shonda: nothing new to fear. Then Shonda's sister laid down a challenge: just for one year, try to say YES to the unexpected invitations that come your way. Shonda reluctantly...

Just the Funny Parts is a juicy and scathingly funny insider look at how pop culture gets made. For more than thirty years, writer, producer and director Nell Scovell worked behind the scenes of iconic TV shows, including The Simpsons, Late Night with David Letterman, Murphy Brown, NCIS, The Muppets, and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, which she created and executive produced. In 2009, Scovell gave up her behind-the-scenes status when the David Letterman...

"When Georgia Pritchett found herself lost for words - a bit of a predicament for a comedy writer - she booked an appointment with a therapist, who suggested that she try writing down some of the things that worried her. The therapist probably meant a light, mid-week grocery-list's worth of worries. Instead, Georgia wrote this book. From fretting about the monsters under her bed as a child (Were they comfy enough?) to agonizing about making too much...

In a humorous, bittersweet story, soap opera writer Dinah Kaufman attempts to force herself back into the life of ex-husband, playwright Rudy Giler.

"A sharp, hilarious memoir about a nontraditional upbringing and growing up Black in a predominantly white community"--

Rita Lakin was a pioneer - a female scriptwriter in the early 1960s when Hollywood television was exclusively male. For years, in creative meetings she was literally "the only woman in the room." In this breezy but heartfelt remembrance, Lakin takes readers to a long-forgotten time when women were not considered worthy or welcome at the creative table. Widowed with three young children, she talked herself into a secretarial job at Universal Studios...

"Pura Belpre Honor winner for The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano and one of America's most influential Hispanics--'Maria' on Sesame Street--delivers a beautifully wrought coming-of-age memoir. Set in the 1950s in the Bronx, this is the story of a girl with a dream. Emmy award-winning actress and writer Sonia Manzano plunges us into the daily lives of a Latino family that is loving--and troubled. This is Sonia's own story rendered with an unforgettable...

New York Times bestselling author Sarah Colonna is back with a hilarious, honest look at life in her late thirties--in all its messy, pants-missing glory.

In the fourth season the girls are tentatively edging toward maturity as they take on new personas in new worlds. As the season begins, Hannah leaves New York to attend the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop in the hopes of becoming a more serious writer, while confronting uncertainty in her relationship with Adam. Meanwhile, back in New York, Marnie pursues a music career while balancing her professional and romantic relationship with Desi; Shoshanna...