Mother's Day movies

Friday, May 6th Jumping the Broom premiers. It's written by Elizabeth Hunter, who also adapted my novel for the movie Sins of the Mother. The trailer looks great and I've heard good things about it from people who've already seen it. I will be first in line here in Denver, and I hope you too will go out and support this movie!

FYI, Saturday, May 7th at 9 pm EST Lifetime will be showing Sins of the Mother again. (Here's a recent interview I did about the book being made into a movie.)





Happy Mother's Day!

Sins of the Mother AKA Orange Mint and Honey wins NAACP Image Award!

Sins of the Mother, the Lifetime movie based on Orange Mint and Honey, picked up an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding TV Movie and Jill Scott won an award for Outstanding Actress in a TV Movie! Congrats to Jill, Nicole Beharie (who played Shay), Damon Lee (producer), Paul Kaufman (director)! Thanks to Lifetime for treating my book with such love and care!

Me and author Bernice McFadden at after party.

Me, author Rosalyn McMillan and Terry McMillan before awards.

AuthorFest of the Rockies

On Friday, October 2nd, I'll be speaking at AuthorFest of the Rockies. Below is an interview I did with TalkingBooks TV to help promote AuthorFest. I think I'm going to talk about "the writer's journey." About how the concept of "the hero's journey" informs my writing and maybe even my life.


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They like me!

I'd like to thank my agent.... Just kidding. I'm not going to go all Oscar-speech on you, but I learned yesterday that I am 5280 Magazine's Editor's Choice for best author in their "Top of the Town" July issue. I am quite honored! And I do want to thank editor Julie Dugdale and her crew for including me. (I also thank my agent because she rocks!)

Another sin of another mother

 

Did you know you can't copyright a title? So some titles get repeated. For example, "Sins of the Mother" has been in book form and movie form a few times. Victoria Christopher Murray's latest novel has that title. Victoria is a wonderful writer and a wonderful person so I hope you all go out and buy her book! Just know that it's not the book that the LMN movie "Sins of the Mother" starring Jill Scott and Nicole Beharie is based on. That's my novel Orange Mint and Honey. Different sin. Different mother.

What's cracking me up lately

The whole video is hilarious, but the 19:00 point is when they review "Sins of the Mother" and wonder about the book it's based on. Skorpion, Makael, email me and I'll send you an autographed copy of Orange Mint and Honey because you are right: there is more to the story.

Interview coming up on Saturday Mornings with Joy Keys

Winners!

Thanks to all the book clubs and readers who entered the viewing contest for "Sins of the Mother." Here's a slide show of the winners.

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My thanks also goes to all the authors who participated, generously donating their books:

therese walsh

taressa stovall

melissa senate

barbara o'neal

judy merrill larsen

amy mackinnon

bernice mcfadden

donna hill

lynne griffin

bettye griffin

donna grant and virginia deberry

therese fowler

heidi durrow

marisa de los santos

connie briscoe

marilyn brant

angela benson

Talking about bad habits

Blogging over at The Debutante Ball about the upside of bad habits. I think there just might be some.

Also, FYI, "Sins of the Mother" airs again tonight Saturday, February 27 on LMN. Check your local listings. And if you don't have LMN, watch it online.

Online after party

Beginning at Noon EST today, February 25 I'll be chatting online about Orange Mint and Honey and Sins of the Mother with the RAWSISTAZ Literary Group. Go here after 11:45 a.m. EST to join in.

Extra extra!

'Sins of the Mother,' starring singer/actress Jill Scott and newcomer Nicole Beharie, became the second most-watched movie in the history of the Lifetime Movie Network during its Feb. 21 premiere. 

The film, based on Carleen Brice's best-selling novel 'Orange Mint and Honey,'was also the second highest rated program in key woman demographics in the network's 12-year history -- bested only by the 2009 'Natalie Holloway' movie.

Read the rest here.

More Sins of the Mother news

Will be available online beginning February 25. Also on Thursday, I'll be chatting online with the "reading and writing sisters" of the RAWSISTAZ book club. Join us if you have questions or comments about the movie or Orange Mint and Honey.

The ratings are in!

"Sins of the Mother" (based on Orange Mint and Honey) was the 2nd highest rated movie on LMN EVER! (Only the Natalee Holloway movie did better for them). THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!


The movie will repeat on LMN Feb. 24 and Feb. 27.

Music and movies and moms, oh my!

"What's your theme song?" That's the question that begins the relationship between Shay and Oliver in Orange Mint and Honey and "Sins of the Mother." (Go here for bonus scenes)

Shay gets to talking about her "spiritual fairy godmother" Nina Simone, whose birthday would be today if she were still alive. Luckily, her music is still with us.

I always have a soundtrack running in my head, even more than just one theme song. Right now, it includes the High Priestess of Soul, Nina Simone.



Since Lady Jill Scott stars in the movie version of my book, there's a whole lotta Jilly from Philly in my head to. Especially this one.



Finally, today is the anniversary of my mother's death. I had planned to write a whole post about the eerie coincidence of the movie being scheduled to premier today, but I find myself really too emotional to go there. But I will share with you this song that came out the year she died. It's been on my mind all week.



So tell me: what's your theme song?

Speak up

If you watch "Sins of the Mother" this Sunday night, let LMN know what you thought. If you want more movies like this one, let them know. Leave a comment on their message boards.

Sins of the Mother Watch Party Checklist

1. Do you have LMN, the Lifetime Movie Network?
2. Have your marked your calendar for Sunday, February 21st at 8 pm EST?
3. Are you stocked up on treats? (Go here for yummy orange mint recipes)
4. Have you invited your friends? (Planning a party of one is great too!)
5. Is your camera all charged up? (send me a picture of your viewing party and you could win prizes!)
6. Did you read the book? (It's not too late to read Orange Mint and Honey before the movie!)

The reviews are in!

“…With great acting all around, including Mimi Rogers as Nona’s sponsor, this adaptation of Carleen Brice’s novel, Orange Mint and Honey is one dramatic powerhouse of a TV movie. It’d be a sin to miss it!“—NATIONAL ENQUIRER, Best Bets on TV

"As a reformed alcoholic mother trying to reconnect with her tightly wound, emotionally stunted daughter, Jill Scott (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency) delivers a performance that makes you forget you knew her as a singer first." — ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“The magnificent Jill Scott shines as a former mess of a mother struggling to make amends to the daughter she abused…“—TV GUIDE, Hot List

More on recipes

At the link above, you can find a delicious recipe for orange mint mojitos, but it's kind of complicated and I have since figured out you can do it much easier. Make a pitcher of regular mojitos and add a dash of orange juice or orange liqueur and some orange slices along with the mint and you're good to go.

I recently discovered rosemary popcorn. You have to pop it the old-fashioned way on the stove, and add some rosemary to the oil before you add the popcorn. It's tasty!

To you, Mom

Monday is the anniversary of the day my mother was born.  Every year around this time I get a little melancholy, but this year is even more emotional. My mom LOVED TV. Loved it, loved it, loved it! She had 2 subscriptions to TV Guide, one for the bedroom TV and one for the living room. She loved to read too. She is the reason I loved to read. So I can't even imagine how thrilled she would be with a television movie based on a book that her daughter wrote.

(This is one of the last pictures we took together. I was about 25 and she was around 41. She was visiting me here in Denver, and we were about to go out on the town. We hit a comedy club, then went to a dance club and heard a band. She flirted from the audience with the lead singer while I whined about wanting to go home. "You can sleep when you get old," she told me. Dig my glasses! And I'm pretty sure those are freckles above my lip, not a stache!)

My mom took me to the club (once telling a bouncer, "I'm her mother, would I lie about her age to get her in a bar?" Answer: yes). Jill Scott's mom took her to the ballet. Jill, who plays the mom in the movie, pays tribute to her own mother.

Speaking of mothers, mommies might like this interview with me about the book and the movie on the Sun Kissed Mommy blog.

Catch me on From Cover to Cover chatting with authors ReShonda Tate Billingsley and Pat Tucker.  On Monday evening I'll be on the Black Authors Network talking with Ella Curry and the Go On Girls Book Club!

What do RuPaul & I have in common?

Besides being tall.

This is why I have this stuck in my head.

Month of a Lifetime!

So much going on this month. Black History Month, of course, (Lori Tharps has some excellent suggestions about how to celebrate). I have a guest blog post at The Divining Wand. Please check it out.

Sade's new CD will be released!

Valentine's Day!

My niece Candace's 21st birthday!

What would have been my late mother's 63rd birthday!

And February 21st, which is not only the world premier of "Sins of the Mother," but is also the anniversary of my mother's death and the late great Nina Simone's birthday.

If that wasn't enough to keep me excited, several Girlfriends Cyber Circuit authors are touring this month! First up is Judi Fennell, with a great contest to promote her book Catch of a Lifetime!


About Judi:

Judi Fennell has had her nose in a book and her head in some celestial realm all her life, including those early years when her mom would exhort her to “get outside!” instead of watching Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie on television. So she did--right into Dad’s hammock with her Nancy Drew books.

These days she’s more likely to have her nose in her laptop and her head (and the rest of her body) at her favorite bookstore, but she’s still reading, whether it be her latest manuscript or friends’ books.

A three-time finalist in online contests, Judi has enjoyed the reader feedback she’s received and would love to hear what you think about her Mer series. Check out her website at www.JudiFennell.com for excerpts, reviews and fun pictures from reader and writer conferences, and the chance to “dive in” to her stories.

Contest

To celebrate the release of each of her books, Judi Fennell and the Atlantis Inn and the Hibiscus House bed and breakfasts are raffling off three romantic beach getaway weekends. All information is on Judi's website.

Now on to our Q&A:

Tell us about your latest release and the inspiration behind it.

Catch of a Lifetime is the third book in my Mer series, this time about middle sister and Human-loving, Angel Tritone. She's determined to convince her brother Rod (hero of Book 2, Wild Blue Under) that she's perfect for the Director position of the Mer-Human Coalition he's establishing to help curb the pollution and global warming issues facing the entire planet. Things don't go quite as planned when she has to outrun a shark and ends up on Logan Hardington's fishing boat and is seen by his six-year-old son, Michael.

Logan Hardington, who ran away from the circus as a teenager, wants Normal in his life. But when a surprise son he never knew about shows up, Normal starts falling by the wayside. Then a beautiful naked woman shows up on his boat and it's all he can do to keep Normal part of his vocabulary. But when she proves to be a mermaid and his son goes missing, Logan realizes that Angel definitely is not the catch of a lifetime.

Or is she?

Which do you most like writing--dialogue, action, or description? 

I write mostly dialogue first then go back and layer the rest in. I can hear the characters talking, so that's the easiest for me. It directs the scene for me, so once I have that down/know it, I know the rest of the scene.

Do you think about writing series or do you prefer stand alone titles? 

I think in series, mainoy because I like reading them. I like getting to know the author's world and meet the characters before their stories. As a writer, it's nice to use the world you've created - you don't have to go back and create a whole new world and world rules, just some new scenes and build on what you'd already created. It's nice for the readers to become invested in your series, too. I have people emailing me, asking about Mariana and Pearl's stories - stories that aren't contracted yet, but are definitely in the "churning in my brain" stages.

What's next for you? 

I've turned in book one in my next series, pitched as "I Dream of Jeannie meets Indiana Jones." And it was a blast to write! I Dream of Genies hits the shelves January 2011, followed by Genie Knows Best, and Leave It to Genie.

Costco Book Signing

I'll be signing copies of Children of the Waters and Orange Mint and Honey on Saturday, Feb. 6th at the Costco in Aurora, CO. If you're in the neighborhood, please stop by and say hey!

Saturday, February 6, Noon-2 p.m.
Costco
1471 South Havana
Aurora, Colorado 80012

Here are some links to some recent reviews and news:

Waiting for Bambino, a blog about adoption, reviews Children of the Waters. And the folks at Color Online will be hosting an online discussion of it on Friday, Feb. 6th.

Jill Scott recently appeared on Chelsea Lately discussing "Sins of the Mother"