Paula Froelich sometimes seems like the girl whose stayed at the party too long. The "Page Six" henchwoman, who has seen co-workers Ian Spiegelman, Jared Paul Stern, and Chris Wilson all fall away from the venerable gossip column, won't be able to take over from Richard Johnson until he lets it slip from his iron martini grasp. Sometimes, like this week, she gets to run the show while Richard is away (we can only assume he's traveling around with his buddy Benedict — hey, the guy's never in town). But mostly, she does her work dutifully, palling around with Lizzie Grubman and Amy Sacco, showing up at the occasional party looking pretty and generally being the funniest, most outspoken lady there. Her attempts to launch a television career flopped when she was dropped from The Insider last year. But she doesn't let that get her down! Following up on her nonfiction effort It! Nine Secrets of the Rich and Famous That'll Take You to the Top, she's now just sold her debut work of fiction, reports Keith Kelly. Mercury in Retrograde will be a Lipstick Jungle–type account of the lives of three successful, social New York women who live in a Soho building together. Turns out all those years on the beat were research. We're looking forward to reading the books — let the "who is that character really supposed to be" guessing games begin!

Six Appeal [NYP]
P.S. Kelly also reports that Katie Couric might be shopping a memoir, but who cares about that?