More from my weird life

Since I'm on the anecdotes kick, I thought I'd talk about another kind of writing, and what that was like. Back when I lived in Houston, I had an agent, Charlotte Breeze, who got me a really interesting and bizarre gig – ghost writing the biography of Anna Nicole Smith.

My source of information was Eric Redding, who'd discovered her, and who'd been compiling the information for a long time. He and his wife D'eva are on the book cover as the authors. They gave me tons of crap – pictures, letters, contracts, and I went through it all and had to put it in some kind of order. I also interviewed a bunch of people who'd worked with her and knew her. Ex boyfriends, strippers, an ex bodyguard or two.

It was surreal as hell. When I went to her hometown, Mexia, I wanted to talk to her mother, but she was in jail for writing bad checks. The publisher offered to spring her, but she said no, because the jail had better cable!

I learned far more than anyone should ever know about Anna Nicole. I saw the tattoos her niece had on her leg – of Anna Nicole. Eeeek! I found out how she'd gotten together with the old man – she was a stripper in a gentleman's club in Houston, and he'd visit in his limo, and she'd go out to give him a blow job. And they say romance is dead. Ha!

Actually, except for the who, I quite enjoyed the process of writing the book. It was like a really long term paper, but more fun because I got to get all scandalous and stuff. The reviews (very few) were quite good, and if offered, and I was interested in the subject, I'd do it again. Although there were some days I just wanted to shower for several hours.

It could have been a really good paying gig, too, as my contract had me getting royalties. Unfortunately, shortly after the book came out the publisher went into bankruptcy because someone else they'd written about was suing them for millions. ::sigh:: Just my luck, huh?

Oh, the book is called Great Big Beautiful Doll, the Anna Nicole Smith Story. And the only mention of me is in the dedication.


04.30.05 @ 02:02 PM MST [Link to Entry]

And then there was this time...

Guess I'm in the reminiscing mode, cause I'm remembering all kinds of stuff, like this story from the road:

I was on location, and in Cleveland. Back then (in the dark ages, if you must know) the Hollenden House was one of the tallest buildings downtown. I had a room on a high floor, and it was great. I love hotels, and this one was set up so I had a little fridge for wine and grapes and I had a popcorn popper to cook in. The popcorn popper and the hibachi were the two cooking tools most of us carried to motels and hotels because sometimes you just don't want to go out. And there were no microwave ovens back then. (See, told you it was the dark ages)

So, anyway, I used to entertain in my little room. Sometimes with impromptu parties, and sometimes it was an entirely different kind of entertaining. For those of you who haven't spent months on location with a film, it's pretty much a boinkfest. Lot's of people working really hard, cloistered with too much money, too much energy, and many, many beds. I've never been on a location that wasn't like this, but back in the day (pre-AIDS) it was insane. I was 21. You do the math.

Oh, back to the anecdote. Three weeks into the Cleveland portion of filming, we went from shooting days to night-for-night. Which meant we usually got back to the hotel very, very late. My first time on the crew bus, and it's dark and late, and we're many blocks from the hotel, and I look up and see a couple standing inside their room at approximately the same floor I lived in. They're not on the balcony, they're in the room. By the bed, which I can clearly see from the damn crew bus on the street. And it hits me.

I'd been flashing the city of Cleveland for three weeks.

Yep, never once occurred to me to shut the damn drapes. I was 21, and clearly a complete moron. (more on this later) I'd thought that since no other building was as tall as ours, I was safe. Ha! I'm surprised they weren't selling tickets. Hell, maybe they were. I didn't stop blushing for a long, long time.


04.29.05 @ 12:53 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Adventures in Writing

When I first started writing romance, I was busy not only working on my first novel, but I was also trying to write for Women's World. They paid a hell of a lot, still do. In fact, my first published fiction was a short story called The Lovin' Tree. I was so pleased and proud of that. And I published several more short romance stories, as well as several Mini Mysteries, but those I co-wrote with Susan Mallery. We wrote under the name Enadia Welby, because she lived on Enadia and I… well, you can probably guess.

So after a few years of writing for WW, I got a call from the editor. She asked if I'd be interested in writing a piece for a new column. It was going to be about people overcoming adversity. She gave me the word count and said I'd make a cool grand. I, naturally, said yes.

So I wrote it. A lovely piece about how I had gotten this bad illness but Brad, the man of my dreams, had stuck by me the whole time, and how we ended up getting married. It was heartwarming and ::sniff:: touching and just a wee bit sappy. Okay, more than a wee bit.

Anyway, she loved it, I got paid, everyone was happy. Until she called and told me that she wanted pictures of me and Brad for the piece. That a photographer would contact me and make an appointment, and if we could do the pictures at our house, that would be best.

Which would have been fine, except there was no Brad. I had made the damn story up. And I swear, during the initial conversation, she'd never said a word about the story being true!!!!

Needless to say, I panicked. Told her I'd call her back. I got on the phone, and called everyone I knew, and made arrangements to borrow my friend's husband to pose with me. But that freaked me out too much, and I finally figured out I'd use that wacky "truth" thing to my advantage. I called the editor and told her that "we" couldn't do the pictures. That I had to keep my illness from my employers. She was very understanding, and they used a cute and perky blonde in my place, and an equally cute and perky guy as Brad.

So, all was well.

Until a week after the piece appeared in Women's World. See, I got this letter. From Brad. And boy, was he pissed!

How dare I expose our private life in a national magazine without his permission? He was deeply embarrassed, and for now, he wanted to get some space, so he was taking our dog Sparky and going to stay with friends in the mountains. When he'd cooled down, we'd talk.

Uh, did I mention that Brad, not to mention the dog, was fictional? And yet, the letter was handwritten, and in my hand.

I couldn't rest until I found out that a writer friend of mine had told the story to her (writer) husband, who is the one who actually wrote the letter. Brilliant!

And to honor the entire adventure, in my very first book published, SPECIAL EFFECTS, which was a Kismet release, my bio reads:

Jo Leigh worked in the motion picture business for many years before turning her hand to writing. She currently lives in Southern California with her husband, Brad, and their dog, Sparky.

Years and YEARS later, an editor I was talking to at a house I didn't write for asked me about my husband. I evidently looked quite puzzled, as I hadn't been married, ever. And the woman actually remembered his name was Brad! So I tried to explain without actually saying outright that I'd pretty much defrauded the nice people at Women's World.

So, in case you're thinking of including someone who doesn't exist (and their dog) in your bio, just be aware that it could come back and bite you on the ass.


04.28.05 @ 01:24 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Yet another question

So, I've been doing a lot of blog hopping, and mostly, I think the trend is to read the post, then if one wants to respond, to respond to that post. While I have a tendency to read all the posts, then comment. But I don't think that's what most folks do.

Sometimes, I'd love to really start a dialogue, and have everyone comment on everyone else's comments. And then I think, no one has time for this. But say, if there was a note in the header, like (disc) would any of you be willing to go ahead and read all the posts and then join in?

Or am I completely wrong about this, and everyone reads everything?

04.28.05 @ 01:53 AM MST [Link to Entry]

What we read

In the last year, I had three (or four) Blazes and two Intrigues released. I've gotten oodles of feedback on the Blazes and virtually none on the Intrigues. I don't write the Intrigues often, so I'm not known in that circle. There wasn't a single mention of the either book at eHarlequin. I got one email about Not-So-Secret Baby. (I shudder every time I have to type that title. SO not mine. SO not what the book's about. The original title was Dark Xanadu, so that should tell you something.)

Most Harlequin readers don't switch between lines. They have their favorites, and that's what they read. Even if an author they love writes for another line, they generally don't switch their allegiance. This is also true, statistically, when a Harlequin author moves into single title. Which I find fascinating.

I read by author, not line. But clearly I'm in the minority. In fact, I've talked to several professionals in the publishing biz who tell me that the numbers from Harlequin are a reference for ST publishers, but they expect no significant crossover. It's as if the writer is starting all over.

One of the reasons the powers-that-be give for encouraging Harlequin writers to participate in the continuities is that it will bring in fresh readers. I question the veracity of that statement. I've never heard one reader say they glommed onto an author because they read a continuity book. In my experience, I've received very few benefits from doing the continuities. In fact, they've cost me money. The only reason I've done them at all is because I've wanted to move up the hierarchy at the house. Which is happening, slowly, I think, because I'm doing novellas now. My first is coming out in August. My second is one for Blaze, and it's coming out next year. Will this help my career? I have absolutely no idea. Who buys the novellas? I don't. I've never even read one. Not one. So I'm clueless. But I figured it would put my name out there in a different context, which (see above) probably means bupkis.

Anyway, I'm curious about these reading habits. What lines, if any, do you read? Do you cross over to follow an author? Do you want the same kind of book every time you pick up a certain author's books? Is versatility something you look for in an author, or do you even care? Do you read novellas? What makes you pick them up?


04.27.05 @ 02:10 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Magical Thinking

Martha Beck, whose column I look forward to eagerly in O magazine, did a piece of emotional maturity, which I loved. One of her steps toward reaching maturity is this:

Eliminate Magical Thinking

Magical thinking is believing that something will happen without any real effort on your part.
This is normal thinking in children, but self defeating in adults.

People often can get stuck in magical thinking if a significant event happened to reinforce it in childhood.

For a dramatic but not uncommon example, consider the child who's parent has a heart attack. If that child had been angry with the parent that day and though angry thoughts about them, they would probably magically think that they themselves had caused the heart attack.

That child as an adult may find it extremely difficult to confront others, especially others who are perceived as frail.

I'm evidently incredibly immature, because I think magically all the time. Every day. In every aspect of my life.

Not that I don't get that it's stupid. I do. I know that tomorrow morning I'm not going to wake up and find my books magically finished. The house isn't going to be cleaned by elves. I won't be fantastically beautiful or have millions dropped in my lap. But I continue to fantasize about just those things.

I have no idea if this behavior helps or hurts my writing. Probably the former. In fact, I don't think it does me any good. In any context. And yet it's such a part of me, it's like breathing.

But you know what? I've never talked about this with another person. I was shocked when I read the article, where my way of thinking was labeled. Not just labeled but maligned. The very way I think is bad!

On some level I knew this, but for me, the behavior is comforting. (rationalization) It's what I've done since I was a child. (see above) And I don't know that I can change it. (fact)

I know the df doesn't do this. Not that he doesn't have the odd fantasy about winning the lottery, but he doesn't dwell in the land of magical thinking like I do. But I have to wonder…if it's common enough to be number one in the list of things not to do if you want to be mature, how come no one's ever talked about it with me? How come I didn't know other people, people I probably know, did this, too? How come I just assumed it was the way everyone thought, and not just me?

I'm very curious about this, and I'd love to hear if others live in magical thinking land. And what you think about it.


04.26.05 @ 11:21 AM MST [Link to Entry]

Ooooh, Contest!!!

DO NOT DISTURB CONTEST

Hurry and register for the newsletter at http://www.hush-hotel.com so you can enter the contest!

The winner will receive either a set of 4 books from my backlist, or a critique of the first 25 pages of a manuscript.

But you must be on the newsletter to win!

The drawing will conclude May 5th.

(To find the newsletter registration, click on Extras!)



04.25.05 @ 04:14 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Monday, Monday

I'm supposed to hear from an agent this week. I sent her my partial for the single title on Thursday. I'm nervous about it, because I want everyone to adore every word I've ever written (no insecurities here, that's for sure!) and because it's the first time I'm stretching my non-Harlequin wings in public in a long, long time.

I'm also busy reading about agent contracts, and some clauses that are of concern. The whole William Morris interminable clause, for example, which is confusing except for the fact that every group on the author's side has stated quite publicly that the clause sucks and is to be avoided at all costs.

As has happened to me too many times to count, I want to do nothing today but worry. I'm good at it. It's a comfy place full of familiarity. But I'm trying hard to be a grown up and actually work. In fact I'm not just trying to work anyway, but work with intention.

To get me into the mood, I'm doing my typical tricks, but I also printed out two small pictures, one of the heroine and one of the hero, and taped them to the bottom of my monitor. It's been interesting staring at them since yesterday, and actually, it's helping.

On another front, I was researching the locations of this book (island paradise) and now I want to go to an island. I mean right now. This minute. Perhaps this has something to do with the 4 feet of snow outside. We'd have to dig the car out, first, though, in order to get to this wonderful island, and neither df or myself have any interest in doing this.

Just the day before yesterday we had a gorgeous spring day here, and we were going to go get our fishing licenses. Ha. I mean, even if I can't get to the island, on April 25th shouldn't I be able to go sit in the kayak at the lake?

Okay, to work. Everyone's going to have a wonderful, productive day, right? Let's all cheer each other on. That helps, too.


04.25.05 @ 11:39 AM MST [Link to Entry]

Spring? Ha!

My house is a wreck. I came home from my trip into a frenzy of work and I left everything where it landed. My wonderful dh (or as I've decided to call him df for dear fiancé) has been picking up the slack amazingly, but damn, I've got to do something because I'm getting crazy looking at all the crap I have in the wrong places.

So, of course, because I'm evidently far more insane than I like to admit, I want to stop everything and just clean the house. It would be easier, I think, if it wasn't SNOWING again. (WTF? April 24th Weather Gods!!). But I also have one hell of a lot of work to do today.

Usually, in situations like this, I end up not cleaning and not working, deciding instead to do something really useful like reading slash or looking up new blogs. But today I'm going to change the pattern. I'm going to pick one room. Only one room. Clean that up. Then I’m going to make my pages on my current wip. Tonight, I'll work on the ST. I intend to feel very virtuous tomorrow.

The dilemma is which room? Office? Or should I be more considerate to df and do the living room?

And, I have to add, I'm very disappointed in the Real Life of a professional writer. I expected so much more. A maid, for example. And bonbons. Where the hell are my bonbons?

Okay, okay. I'm stopping now. Going to do the living room.


04.24.05 @ 11:24 AM MST [Link to Entry]

Chair, continued

Went to our closest reasonably big town and actually found a chair. A really, really nice chair. With an adjustable back support, really nice seat and back. Cost $400 bucks, but I figure it's a really important piece of furniture, and if I'm comfortable working, well, that's a good thing. Then we get it home, and I'm too damn short. It's not really working with the height of my keyboard. But we're looking at adjustments, putting the keyboard on the desk instead of the pull out thing. It's never easy, is it?



04.23.05 @ 07:54 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Voodoo

I'm starting the new book today, and I'm really excited about writing it. I'm not so thrilled with how little time I have to write it in. It's due at the end of May.

This is the 24 hour book. There's a prologue to set up the action, then there's going to be an epilogue to show the spread of effects, but basically, the book is a 24-hour period in time.

I need to know these characters very, very well. Deep immersion. Which is fun and cool, but also draining. And it presents a problem because I have to also work on the other book. So, what to do?

First, music. I've used this technique at different times in my writing career. Find music (no lyrics) that make me think of the characters/situations and listen to it over and over. It has to be something I adore (see the over and over part). Play the music the moment I sit down at the computer. It works something like self-hypnosis for me, getting me in the mood before my fingers hit the keyboard.

The other thing is pictures. I have pictures of my people, and I use them as my desktop wallpaper. Another connection before the writing begins.

The trick to this is also not going back. Not editing as I go. Just getting the whole damn first draft down. After the first few days, my regular output is around 15 pages a day. The only thing I do read before I begin is the last scene I wrote. Then it's music and typing.

I have some difficulty with the not going back part, but with practice it's getting easier. Mostly, if I want to go back, I recognize it as a delaying tactic. I don't want to write the next scene, which means I don't have the next scene. Something's wrong. Because when the scene is there, when it's meant to be, I just zip through it.

So what to do when the scene balks? Go back to the plotting. I've gone off track and need to see why. Sometimes I get it right away, and sometimes I have no idea. So I sit with a pad and paper and write what I have plotted in longhand. That's often enough – by freewriting, without a lot of attention to grammar or quotation marks or anything, I can see where the characters need to go. Maybe a page, maybe ten pages, until something hits me. Till I can see what my people need to do, versus what my plotting wants them to do.

Once that's done, I make my adjustments and go back to the story.

So, basically, what I'm saying here is that writing is voodoo. My voodoo is different from anyone else's voodoo, but it works. Most of the time.

All of the above voodoo tricks I glommed from others. I use them in my own way, but I'm not ashamed to admit I used every trick I could in doing this crazy writing thing.

I'm always looking for more, of course, because, well, writing is hard. So what do you do to get into the book? How do you know something's gone awry? How do you get back on track?

Oooh, I love hearing this stuff.


04.23.05 @ 12:44 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Decisions, decisions

It's time for me to get a new office chair. Doesn't seem like a tough decision, but I've been looking into the chair situation, and there are a gazillion choices, and I have no idea what I want to get.

I've had the one I'm sitting on for way the hell too long. It actually makes my butt ache by the end of the day. There is no cushioning left, the right arm is broken and my ex-cats thought it was the best scratching post ever. So it's new chair time.

I want ergonomics. I want comfort. I want something that will help me when I'm sitting in the thing for 10 straight hours.

So, do you guys have a magnificent chair that doesn't cost mega bucks? Did you research your chair? Should I just shut up and go to Office Depot and pick one?




04.22.05 @ 11:13 AM MST [Link to Entry]

Relief in site

Oh, I love the folks on the internet. Alison sent me to a wonderful woman who's going to show me how to block the spam here, so yay!!!!

I've unlocked today's entry, so if you want, you can play.

And, as a little fun thingy, I want to share a teeny bit of Hollywood trivia. First, check out this link Allen Smithee.

Some credits, huh? Only, Smithee isn't real. Allen Smithee is a pseudonym for directors who didn't want their name to be associated with a film they directed. Cool, huh?

I think there's should be one for books. I know of at least one of mine that should have been credited to Aileen Smithee.

04.21.05 @ 05:12 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Damn the bastards

Sorry, but I've had to turn off all my comments because of the spam. The same group hit me again. As I deleted entries, they kept adding entries. Too frustrating, and making me sick.

I'm looking for other software to use for the blog. I looked at wordpress but neither my dh or myself know how to do the cascading thing, so unless we can find someone to do the transfer, we're going to have to dig up something within our capabilities. Any suggestions for the blog impaired would be appreciated, but I guess it's going to have to come in email. :(

This sucks so much. I want to rip those pricks apart, but alas, I don't know how to do that, either.

04.21.05 @ 03:03 PM MST [Link to Entry]

'Tudes

I had a horrible boyfriend years back, who had been a dentist, then became a doctor. He was a better doctor than a boyfriend, trust me, but there were two things that stuck with me from the relationship. 1: he took calls from patients and other doctors when he was naked. Changed everything about how I view doctors. 2: he asked me once what made me think I could write a book. I was already published at the time, and he was referring to the time before that, when I first came up with the idea that I could write. My immediate response was that it never occurred to me that I couldn't. He seemed perplexed.

I was thinking about this the other day, actually, on my torturous plane ride home from Syracuse. During the workshop I gave, I asked people to write about their own lives. Defining moments, core decisions that resonated for years. Whenever I'm doing that workshop, I think about my own stuff, of course, and I ended up focusing on attitude. People I know have defining attitudes: cocky, arrogant, submissive, defensive, that kind of thing. That attitude is the first thing that walks in the door. Think about the people in your life, and how you can sum up so much of them by the dominant attitude.

Another pivotal attitude I didn't know I had until someone asked is confident. Which is funny, because I don’t feel confident a lot of the time. How I arrived at that was during a conversation with some writer friends about social interaction, and I commented that I assume people are going to like me. Actually, at the time I assumed everyone felt the same. That like comes first (what's not to like?) and only if something negative occurred would the opinion change. I was surprised when no one else in that conversation had that assumption.

So of course, I had to think about the attitudes of my characters. Since I'm a backstory obsessive, I build my character lives pretty carefully, but I've never approached the character from the viewpoint of attitude. And yet, my characters always end up with a predominant attitude. I think of Margot in Lick & a Promise. She had attitude for days – she was sassy. (Such a fabulous word). But through her transformation as a result of loving the hero, her sassy attitude became more layered. Humility entered the picture, which changed her from sassy/arrogant to sassy/humble.

Interestingly, at least to me, is that when I think about the characters that stay with me the longest, they all have vivid and consistent attitudes. So it's my new thing to obsess about, which, I suppose, is better than obsessing about the fact that while I was in New York, I had no Brooklyn pizza.




04.21.05 @ 11:09 AM MST [Link to Entry]

Multi-tasking is fun! Or not.

First, if you haven't gone to http://www.hush-hotel.com and registered for the newsletter, do it now. We're gearing up for our first contest. Go to Extras, and sign in for a chance to win….something!

Now, on to the topic of the day which is multi-tasking. Actually, writing two books at the same time. I've never tried it before, but now I am, and oy! This is going to take some adjusting. I'm changing my schedule. Writing my Blaze in the morning, doing online stuff after that, then focusing on the single title. Very intense. I'm hoping it will get easier (as if anything ever does in this wacky writing world). But it's necessary. The thing is, I need to expand my career, but I also need to keep the paychecks coming, so what else is there to do? That's the bitch about doing something creative for a living. The making a living part. I keep hoping someone will decide to sponsor me by paying all my bills, but, uh, that isn't going to happen today. So I put one word in front of the next.

Of course when I first started writing, I had a day job. But it's not quite like that. Because the day job wasn't about a universe I've created in my head. So I have to actually switch universes. Sort of like going through the Stargate. Only with fewer weapons.

Have any of you writers done this? Had to tackle two books at once? I'd love to hear about how you did it, and what worked for you.

I'm also really looking at the time I spend online, and I know I have to cut back. I don't want to. The internet is my social life. I have no group of buddies I can go have lunch with. So I check in with the world via the slowest internet connection on earth. I need it. I'm pretty much addicted to it. And I have a routine about it, which feels inviolate. But I must. Only…how?


04.20.05 @ 02:09 PM MST [Link to Entry]

I'm Back!

Wow, it's only been two weeks, and it feels like two months, but I'm finally home. I had a faboo trip, but there's nothing like walking in the door to my house. Actually, the moment that was best was when I was at the airport in Las Vegas, having flown in from NY, to see the smiling, gorgeous face of my Lawrence. Man, was that sweet.

Short report – Ninc was great, Manhattan still has a piece of my heart, got business accomplished, which was the point, so yay. Seeing my sister and her kids was sensational because I adore them beyond words. I drove many hundreds of miles, first in a crappy sub-compact that hurt my back, and worse, had a horrible CD player, but then I called the rental company and they gave me a giant SUV with a GREAT CD player, and they didn't charge me a penny more! (Go National!)

Then there was the workshop in Syracuse, which was way too much fun. The group was fantastic, the energy hummed as everyone participated in the most wonderful way, and damn, but I love doing these things. I get so excited when we're all talking about writing, and the incredibly difficult and magical process. I loved every minute of it, although I was too tired to have my tarot cards read.

Now I'm facing mind-numbing deadlines and work. Catching up on everything that's happened while I was gone (doesn't everyone know they're supposed to stop being interesting when I'm unavailable?)

But I slept in my own bed, with the perfect man, in clean sheets. Ahhhhh. Life, she is good.


04.19.05 @ 11:15 AM MST [Link to Entry]

Argh!

Checked my messages this morning, and found over 100 blog entries. While there was a split second of "Oh, goody!" that instantly transformed to "Oh, shit." The goddamned spammers hit me on every single entry to my blog, at least five times each. So it's taken me over an hour to delete them all. I hope every single one of them gets painful and oozing genital diseases.

And how is your day coming along?

04.13.05 @ 01:52 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Live...From Rhode Island

I’ve finally got access to a computer and the internet, but my niece and her husband, bless their hearts, HAVE NO COFFEE. This is very, very serious. I can go out for a cup, but I know a cup won’t be enough, and I don’t want to buy a thermos and carry it on the plane, but I might end up buying a thermos and giving it as a thank-you gift. Sounds okay, right?

Cause I have to work today. No wandering around to see the sights. I’ve even had to close the blind in front of me, because it looks out over the water and it’s so beautiful I just want to stare. But I must work. This is not kidding. I have to get this synopsis done today. And tomorrow, I have to put in the hours on the second synopsis. So no playing. Stop it. You can’t make me not work.

All I’m thinking about is not working and coffee. Great.
And how weird it is to work on someone else’s computer. I use a split keyboard, so I’m making tons of typos, and it feels like it’s too small. I probably should just go get coffee and check out the neighborhood. Not sightseeing so much as getting my bearings.

Okay, even I cracked up at that, because I have no bearings. I’m directionally challenged and I don’t have that thing that people and birds have in their noses to tell them where they are. If I need to find True North, I have to call Kevin Costner.

I’ll probably come back here about a gazillion times today.
After I have my coffee.


04.12.05 @ 11:32 AM MST [Link to Entry]

What I've learned at Novelists, Inc

Do book signings
Book signings are a waste of time
Make bookmarks/magnets/notepads
No one ever bought a book from a magnet
Write more books
Write for new lines
Do a blog
Platform
Get my own TV show
Write for multiple houses
Build my name at one house
Be auctioned
Come out in trade paperback
Don't come out in trade paperback
Make the lists
No, not that list
Get a better agent
Get a better editor
Be ahead of the trends
Start my own trend
Be the next _
Don't be derivitive
Share what you've learned
Don't create your competition
Be controversial
Keep your mouth shut
Just write the best book you can
Just write the best book
Get rejected all over the place


04.08.05 @ 07:24 PM MST [Link to Entry]

I'm here!

We're here, actually. I'm typing on Jill's laptop, on the 25th floor of the hotel, and it's so warm here we made the engineer come and turn on the air or face tantrums. Tired isn't even close to it, as we both had to fly in from the other side of the country, and airports totally suck now, as if anyone who hasn't travelled doesn't know that. And excuse me, but who are they making those seats for? Miniature people? I was hunched over to my left for 6 hours. Imagine my joy.

I already saw people I know, which is cool, went out to get food which was across the street (take that Utah mountain!) and then came back. A guy was playing the sax by the door, and it made me incredibly happy.

Also, saw Sin City last night and adored it! I mean it. It was so fabulous, I moaned aloud like I was being inappropriate with the Red Vines at some of the shots. God. I know so many peoplel who'll hate it, too! But Dotes and I give it two very enthusiastic thumbs up.

Not sure when I'll be able to check in again. I think I have to bribe Jill with chocolates, but since the Hershey store is next door, it shouldn't be a problem. Write me. I miss you all.

04.06.05 @ 11:21 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Buh bye!

Okay, we're out the door. Of course the DH was outside this morning at 6:30 shoveling snow so we could be out the door. But in NY it's in the 50s! Summer!

I'll check in from the road, so keep the desktop pics happening. Tell your friends! Tell people you don't care for!

Be good, and see you soon.

04.05.05 @ 12:03 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Pic!

My Desktop

Okay, so whoever has a blog - you need to put up a picture of your computer desktop.

04.04.05 @ 02:16 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Goodbyes and small towns

I have no laptop, which is fine, because I love using my Neo, but it means that when I'm on the road, I'll have to depend on the kindness of strangers. Or pay to use the hotel's computer. I'm leaving tomorrow morning and coming back on the 18th. I'll try to post from the road but that's not a lock.

What's intimidating is coming back and catching up. Instead of reading the NY Times with my morning coffee, I now read blogs. It's a much better way to start the day, because I don't get all upset over the morning's governmental lunacy when I read what's up with my writing world. I do get upset from time to time when some hot – buttons are pushed on the web, but that doesn't happen all that often. And in fact, the dialogues that get my pulse racing are usually good discussions with strong opinions.

Sadly, I don't jump into those kinds of conversations so often these days. I used to, and was bitch-slapped so often that I've given it up. Seriously, I've had some bad repercussions from online "discussions" and frankly, I don't care to go there any more. So I think it's quite clear that I'm a wussy girl, and I'm cool with that. However, I do end up writing letters. Sometimes to organizations, sometimes to individuals. Whether it does any good is another matter, but when I feel strongly, even if I don't jump into the debate on line, I do express myself.

Mostly, though, I love the whole window into worlds that I find in the blogosphere. Especially for one so far away from the daily lives of others, this fills a neat little hole.

Speaking of living in the void, I went to get my hair cut the other day (fabulous hair person who charges a pittance) and got my small town gossip rations. I've never lived in a small town, and it's a universe that chills me to the bone. Everyone is in everyone's business, and boy is it a scary place. The most minute infraction is punished by shunning, and the things people think are sins are almost incomprehensible to me.

I've never known my neighbors. Not my whole life. I lived in blessed anonymity in very large cities. The smallest was Henderson, NV. And now I'm in Tinyville, and wow, it's like moving to the moon. But since we live up on the mountain, I'm not actually involved in the society. I just get the occasional peek when I come to town.

I see now why I write urban books. I think if I tried to get into the universe of the small town, I'd be found a fraud instantly. Not that it's bad. It's just different. Some things are wonderful. Once I was at the chiropractor's office (wonderful guy) and the UPS guy spotted our car, and brought our package in. And then he asked us to take a package up the mountain to someone who was staying up there. I go into the pharmacy, and they hae my stuff ready before I'm at the counter. It's amazing.

But it does make me wonder what they think of us. I've given some of my books to those I've gotten to know. This is a very LDS town, and I don't know what that means in reality. In my head, that meant that my Blaze books would be verboten. But the women I know sure do seem to like them. Although they're not for sale at the grocery store.

Anyway, it's packing day and cleaning day and busy all around. I'll miss this, and I hope that it's not the full two weeks before I can pop in again.


04.04.05 @ 12:16 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Contest!

Guess Who?

First person to guess both correctly wins a copy of my Intrigue Not-So-Secret Baby. And no, I didn't pick the title.

04.03.05 @ 04:54 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Moment by moment

The countdown is on and I am not ready. We're leaving on Tuesday, and I pretty much lost all of Saturday. I certainly got no work done. So today it's work, wash clothes, write lists, make sure I have everything I need.

Although I haven't actually worked, I have been doing a lot of thinking about the 24 hour book. The trick, for me, was to find the pivotal 24. That which will change the course of these two people's lives forever.

I started out thinking big. Spies and secrets and tumultuous pasts. But this series is called Island Fling. And the stories that were spinning in my head were not at all fling-like.

So then, after a nice talk on a drive down the mountain, I decided that I needed to scale way the hell back. And I started to think about the moments in my life that changed everything. And indeed they were moments. No guns were fired, no secret babies revealed, just moments that shifted my universe.

Some I didn't even recognize. They were huge, but only in retrospect. Like the day I got the first symptom of my disease. It didn't look like anything. A swollen thumb. I went about my business and gave it hardly a thought.

But then there was the night when I was playing in a Vegas pool tournament, and I called my guy after my game. That conversation, which had little to do with pool, shifted the world. I knew it. I felt it deep inside, and it would lead me on a brand new journey that a few months before would have struck me as preposterous.

I've never had a child, but I imagine it's like that at the moment you find out you're pregnant. Or the moment the child is born.

I think weddings might be like that, but my suspicion is that weddings are more like the celebration, the culmination of a long ago moment when the couple realized this is it. This is the person. This is who I'm going to build my life around.

Then I thought about the whole Fling aspect. I'm focusing now on moments, turning points, changes in perceptions. Are they always serious? Not in my life. Things can turn upside down in the space of a laugh. In a touch that is unlike any other. So yeah, why not? Why not a bunch of moments, all of which combine to make those 24 hours the most important, the most memorable, the happiest they've ever known?

I think I'm going to like writing this book a lot. But it's still vague, still flashes of ideas. Which, I have to say, is the fun part...when it all comes together. Because there's a moment in a book, too. If I'm lucky, many moments. But there is usually the one. The genesis moment. I live for that.

I want to hear about your moments. Actually, the one that first popped into your head when you were reading this. Yeah, that one.


04.03.05 @ 01:57 AM MST [Link to Entry]

Uh....yay?

I just took one of those quizzes for people who have way too much time on their hands. This one was called Phile Dork. (X-Files for those who don't know) And I got a 99%. I missed one. I don't know if I should be pleased, or if I should go to Ebay and buy a new life.

04.01.05 @ 08:25 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Start Spreading the News

Getting ready to take off for NY. I'm leaving Tuesday, and since we live a gazillion miles from the airport, I'm actually flying on Wed. I'm bringing along my Neo so I can write on the plane. But secretly, I'm hoping for a movie I haven't seen and want to see.

Once there, I'm going to the NINC conference, which sounds very swell. I'm rooming with Jill Shalvis, so how much fun is that??? Harlan Coben is speaking, and I adored Just One Look, so yay. I'm moderating a panel for the Night Owl sessions, which is also very cool.

I'm planning on doing several important things when I'm there.

1) Going to the Carnegie Deli. I live in Utah. In a really small town. Not big on the blintzes here. Not even big on the corned beef. Oh, man, Matzoh brie! Knishes! Okay, so maybe a few trips to Carnegie.

2) Going to Brooklyn for pizza. You know what I mean.

3) Walking. Nothing like the streets of NY. I adore the city. I have a very dear friend who lives there, who, drat, isn't going to be there, which is sucky, but whenever I walk around, I think of him and the wonderful fun times we've had. He's an actor, and mostly does work on the stage, although he's been in movies (Grease II was how we met) and TV (George on Profiler). And he's taken me to so many wonderful plays. And after-parties. So fun, and I can't believe I don't get to play with him there.

4) Talking to agents. Hmm, it occurs to me that this probably shouldn't be fourth. But hey, a girl's got to have her priorities. Actually, I think this part will be fun, too. I love mingling at conferences. I've never been to Ninc before, so it's going to be a treat.

5) Trying new drinks. The truth is, I like the idea of drinking more than I like drinking. It's the alcohol. I'm a total girly-girl when it comes to drinks, preferring they taste like milk shakes than vodka. Can't stand scotch. But I do kind of like the apple flavored stuff. Or the stuff that's filled with cream-based yumminess. In the old days, the pool playing days, I just drank tequila shots with beer chasers. Lots. Because I wanted to go directly to wasted without passing Go. I often succeeded. Lord knows how I survived.

6) Seeing my sister. This is after the conference. She lives in Long Island and she's one of the most wonderful humans ever. She's a rabbi, and brilliant and compassionate, and she doesn't even get on my case for being a really bad Jew. She has amazing children, many of whom will be there when I visit. Yay!

7) Singing. Not on stage. LOL. In the rental car. I'm driving from NY to LI, to Rhode Island, to Syracuse, all in a week. And I'm bringing a butt load of CDs and plan to sing along, loudly, as I travel the highways. Sondheim! I'm a freak for him, and I rarely get to listen for the hours he requires.

I'm sure there will be more things I'll want to do on the trip. That whole work thing, for one. But it's okay, because (sing with me now) I Love New York!



04.01.05 @ 02:21 PM MST [Link to Entry]

HUSH!

Hey, HUSH is happening! There's a bunch of stuff going on about the Do Not Disturb series from Blaze.

First, there's the Do Not Disturb web site. If you haven't checked it out, please do.

Then, at eHarlequin there's an online read called Very Hush-Hush, which is a sneaky peek into the hotel and what effect Hush has on unsuspecting guests.

After that, you can share your thoughts, questions, raspberries here.

This is just the beginning, too. All the authors of this wonderful series will have online reads, chats, discussions. A whole Year of wonderful, sexy, yummy books. Make sure and check often for contests and give-aways.



04.01.05 @ 11:04 AM MST [Link to Entry]