I’m a big fan of Nora Ephron’s movies and books (books like Heartburn, Crazy Salad and Scribble Scribble, I Feel Bad about My Neck; movies like When Harry Met, Sleepless in Seattle). In fact, I just recommended Heartburn for my monthly book club (you can sign up for the book club here).

I was re-reading that novel, to learn from it as a writer, because that kind of light, funny, flowing writing is extremely hard to pull off. How does she do it?

I’m also a big fan of the work of her sister, Delia Ephron. I loved her wonderful book of essays, Sister Mother Husband Dog: (Etc.).  The story I tell is something from the essay she wrote about her sister Nora — about the nature of intimacy.

If you want to hear more from Delia Ephron, here’s a post I wrote inspired by the essay “Bakeries” in the same collection: “Discardia,” or How One Moderator Manages to Indulge Moderately. All about the Abstainer/Moderator split.