Here we are heading towards Thanksgiving. Is attitude going to swamp gratitude? Are people going to be so

invested in coming out with their dukes up that they'll forget that they were one of the lucky people

who didn't wind up in the ICU? Hey, this is Kelly Corrigan, and I'm back with Kelly Corrigan Wonders.

Today is the first episode in a series we're calling holidays for regular people.

It's a series we came up with because, let's be honest, we all feel this terrible pressure

to make the season perfect, and I think we know that in practice, things don't usually

go down as planned.

I'm joined by my friend and fellow writer, New York Times best-selling author, Pulitzer Prize winner, Anna Quinlan.

She is the author of nine novels and nine non-fiction books, and her book, A Short Guide to a Happy Life, has sold over a million copies.

I first met Anna because years ago in 2007, let's say,

I had finished writing in the middle place. It was in manuscript form. They bound it up and they

sent it to some fancy big wigs around New York in publishing to get a reaction. And the very

first person that I ever heard from that was a real

live writer about the middle place was Anna Quinlan. And she used to have this incredibly

obvious AOL email address. It was so obvious that I thought maybe I was being punked. But she said,

I get sent 40 or 50 books a week to look at.

I always give them a page.

I just sat down at my kitchen table and opened your book,

and I didn't put it down until I was finished.

We had a great father, and I had one too.

And this book is going to change your life.

It's sort of a special honor for me to be in this great relationship

...