A reluctant plist poster pointed this out to me and thought I might post. Nice find, I say.

[Mark Kohut]

"By February 1958, Heller had completed seven handwritten chapters of
*Catch-18* and typed them up into a 259-page manuscript. Donadio sent it to
Gottlieb. “I … love this crazy book and very much want to do it,” Gottlieb
said. Candida Donadio was delighted by his enthusiasm. Finally, someone got
it! “I thought my navel would unscrew and my ass would fall off,” she often
said to describe her happiness when negotiations went well with an editor."

Perhaps where that joke in V originated in P's life? "laughing one's ass
off"......

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2011/08/heller-201108
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