This was a big week for schmoozing with NY Times bestselling authors here in Denver. Saw E. Lynn Harris at Tattered Cover Monday (wrote a little about that here). Went to Jamie Ford's book party at Encore and signing at Tattered Cover on Tuesday. Yep, Jamie's book Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is now on the list. Congratulations Jamie!
I'm laughing. The blogosphere seems full lately of writers sharing stories about touring, parties & celeb sightings. All these things are possible and it's very cool when it happens. But I'm laughing because a writer friend recently shared the story with me of accepting an invition to a book club in a different city. Her publisher declined to pay for travel, and our dear writer was broke at the time. So she told a little fib to the book club about why she couldn't make it. A few years later, when meeting with the same group she has to remind herself about the fib so she doesn't give herself away. That, my friends, is also part of the writer's life. Being picked up by book club members in fancier cars than yours and joining readers at nicer houses than the one you live in is too. At least for me it is.
Here's another story of the glam writer's life as I know it: I spoke to a group last week. To prepare for speaking in public I took a note someone had given me that says "Own your magnificence. The world needs your brilliance and grace." I was walking up to the building repeating those words to myself when my skirt, slipping against the smoothness of my tights, ended up almost down around my ankles! I lifted the bottom and ran back to my car to fix myself laughing all the way. Thank God my jacket was long enough that my behind wasn't showing. Brilliance and grace indeed!
Anyone else want to share a story about living the glamorous life?
Our first winner for JACK WITH A TWIST never came back to see if she won and didn't provide any contact info. So we go back to the hat. Drum roll please....And the winner is: J.C. Martin! Congratulations JC! Hope you enjoy the book!
Medicine for Melancholy is on IFC On Demand. It's an arthouse flick much like Before Sunrise, only the two characters are black. After a one night stand, they wander around a beautifully filmed San Francisco and chat and party.
I recommend it. Though I have to say I was cracking up at how different life is for 20-somethings vs. 40-somethings. I remember the days of staying up all night and going to work the next day. Now? I'm not functional if I don't get sleep. Drinking, dancing and eating tacos until dawn would probably put me to bed for a week! LOL.
Wyatt Cenac (you know him from The Daily Show) is what my character Oliver will look like when he's a little older. Tracey Heggins, the female lead, is a lovely young actress who I could totally see as Shay.
Speaking of Oliver and Shay, I'll hear this month if Lifetime Movie Network is making the Orange Mint and Honey TV movie. Stay tuned!
Must be getting close to Valentine's Day. Romance is in the air. Here is Girlfriend Cyber Circuit's Carolyn Jewel and her smoking hot new historical romance Scandal.
....there's a richness and a poignancy that elevates the entire book to a whole other level of "good." It's impossible to sum up this book in mere tropes. It's a story of two people who had to grow up to appreciate each other, and it's a story of survival and strength, trust and renewal. The characters are older than the standard hero and heroine you encounter in romance. It's difficult to read at times, and bleak in others, but throughout, both in the past and the present of the story, Jewel weaves a furious sexual tension between Banallt and Sophie that reaches and maintains scorching levels. . . . This book took my breath away. -- Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books
If that's not enough to convince romance readers you want to check this out, here's a Q&A with Carolyn (including the best. writing. advice. ever!):
Q: Since becoming a writer, what's the most glamorous thing you've ever done?
A: HAHAHAHAHA! The dishes?
Q: What's the main thing you hope people take away from your book?
A: A burning and insatiable desire to buy my backlist and everything else I ever write for the rest of my life. And to tell everyone they know to do the same thing. OK, seriously, I just hope they enjoy the heck out of the story.
Q: If you could only own and read 5 books for the rest of your life, (excluding your own) what five books would you choose?
A: Villette by Charlotte Bronte, Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Some edition of O'Henry Best Short Stories, A Summer to Remember by Mary Balogh.
Q: What's your Writer Fantasy--i.e., to see your book make into a feature film, to be on the New York Times bestseller list for 40 consecutive weeks, etc.?
A: Hmm. My fantasies typically involve Adrian Paul or Jet Li. But I could live with 40 weeks on the NYT bestseller list. If I had to.
Q: What's one piece of writing advice you've found valuable on your journey to publication?
A: Dorothea Brande's section of Tapping the Unconscious in Becoming A Writer which included this warning "If you fail repeatedly at this exercise, give up writing. Your resistance is actually greater than your desire to write and you may as well find some other outlet for your energy early as late." Alas, I failed miserably and repeatedly at her freewriting exercise. It seems I am a no-talent amateur with delusions of grandeur. I can't explain my ten (counting through the end of 2009) published novels, given this failure. I think I must be a freak of some sort.
Brande's book taught me that writing advice can, and possibly should, be ignored. Writers follow different paths to success and one path is never more valid than another. What works for me may not work for you and there's nothing wrong with that. The point is to actually go out and find what works for you.
Thanks Carolyn! Aspiring writers tattoo that advice on your brain.
Overturn 8: Online Rally Supporting the Prop 8 Legal Challenge
THIS EVENT RUNS ALL MONTH LONG FROM FEBRUARY 3-MARCH 5. BECAUSE THIS IS AN ONLINE RALLY, YOU CAN JOIN US FROM ANYWHERE ACROSS THE GLOBE!
The goal: As lead counsel in the Prop 8 legal challenge, NCLR is working to educate people about the importance of overturning Prop 8—a radical and unprecedented change to the California Constitution that puts all Californians at risk. Oral argument is scheduled for March 5, 2009.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights OUR MISSION AND GOALS:As lead counsel in the Prop 8 legal challenge, we have a simple but powerful idea: create ONLINE support for our Prop 8 legal challenge by spreading our important message on Facebook. The goal is to find new ways to be visible and educate Americans about how Prop 8 puts all Californians at risk. This is the first time the initiative process has successfully been used to change the California Constitution to take away a fundamental freedom from a particular group and to mandate government discrimination against a minority. As lead counsel in this challenge, we are doing everything we can to make sure that Prop 8 is overturned, but we need your help.
HELP US -- DONATE TODAY:The National Center for Lesbian Rights is lead counsel in the legal challenge seeking to overturn Prop 8. Please help by donating at http://www.nclrights.org/overturn8.
The Denver Woman's Press Club's 2009 Unknown Writers' Contest is underway. Categories: Fiction (short story), Nonfiction (essay), Poetry (any form) Qualifications: Colorado resident, 18 or older, never commercially published in the category entered. Deadline: March 11, 2009 (postmarked) The entry form and complete information about rules, fees and prizes can be read and downloaded at www.dwpconline.org
