Q&A with happiness expert Gretchen Rubin

Author Gretchen Rubin is coming home to Kansas City a happier woman. OK, so the New York City transplant isn’t coming back for good. But on Wednesday, Rubin will be at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library to tell locals about The Happiness Project: Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. That mouthful is the name of Rubin’s new book (review here) and the blog spawned by the dozens of resolutions she made, kept and repeatedly broke during a yearlong (but never really ending) quest for self-improvement.

The library requests that people RSVP

for Wednesday’s 6:30 p.m. presentation.

Here, Rubin talks with us.

The Pitch: Which do you think is a happier town — Kansas City or New York City?

They’re so different. It’s like apples and oranges. I love living in New York. It’s very convenient in one way — like, you can walk 10 blocks and do four different errands. On the other hand, when I go to Kansas City, I think, Oh, my gosh, these grocery stores with these big wide aisles and so many selections, and you can just load up your car. So I love living in New York, but i see the advantage of living in Kansas City.