Booked

Man, life has been busy lately.

The highlight of this week was a reading at the wonderful Book Soup.

I met my friend Lisa Harper in grad school. No sooner did we meet than we were impulsively road tripping up to Reno at 10pm one night with two other grad school pals. I think it took me a week to recover from that one.

Lisa was always a foodie, even before that term became hip. She would regale us with tales from her Princeton eating club - an idea very foreign to me, but intriguing nonetheless.

Our friendship continued long after our sun-soaked days in Davis. On a trip to visit me in L.A. she even met her husband (on the dance floor of The Derby).

A few years ago when Lisa asked me to contribute an essay on food to an anthology she was co-editing with Caroline Grant I couldn't help but laugh. She was the foodie, not me. But actually, at that time I had made strides in my culinary life - and it was thanks to an unlikely mentor: Rachael Ray. Eventually, I wrote my essay, and eventually they sold their book, and earlier in the week we had a reading of the book with all the L.A. contributers.

Little known fact: Zombie expert Max Brooks has an incredible green thumb. Upon hearing this, Lisa suggested he might have a good essay to contribute to the book, and she was right. Max joined in on the reading that night.

From left to right: Lisa Harper, Caroline Grant, Max Brooks, Melissa Clark, Dani Klein Modiset, Stacie Stukin and Lisa McNamara.

I am so proud to be part of this amazing book, and especially proud of my friend Lisa for seeing it through. You can purchase it here. 

On another note, I am booked for my summer plans. I head to Portugal very soon for a 3-week artist residency, and later in the summer I'm off to Montreal to celebrate a milestone birthday for my dad!

Big Sur, Yes Sir

I've been coming up to Esalen regularly for about 3 years now and it never disappoints. I do find that I take the same pictures year after year. The property is a photographer's dream. These photos were taken on my cell phone. I can only imagine what a 'real' camera would capture.

Big Sur is notoriously moody with fog and marine layers, but not this time. It was sunny and in the 80's the entire trip.

This year I brought with me Henry Miller's "Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch" which I'd purchased on a trip up here a few years ago at the fantastic Henry Miller bookstore a few miles North of Esalen off Highway 1.

Miller lived and wrote in the area for fifteen years and this book details what it was like being an artist, and all the characters who lived and worked in this part of the world when he did.

If I were a 20-30 year old guy, Henry Miller would be my idol. This book in particular gives permission to be an artist. Hell, as a 40-something-year-old woman I'm still in awe. His voice is so encouraging, funny and confident, and he writes about the area with such knowledge and passion.

I'm holding the book in front of the same mountains that are on the book cover (I think)

And just to bring things back full circle...

Sitting in my dining room is this postcard from Henry Miller himself. (see below) My mom's friend from Montreal, Isabelle, had written to him asking about farming opportunities in Big Sur (from what I understand, she didn't give a crap about farming opportunities, she just wanted to connect with the man himself) He wrote her back and she saved the postcard for the rest of her life. When she passed away, her other friend (my mom's best friend Ruth) recovered the card and gave it to me where it now sits framed in my home. This postcard has made a circuitous journey, but I'm honored and grateful that it landed in my hands. Now more than ever I feel connected to this wonderful piece of memorabilia from this iconic author.

That Last Post Got Me Thinking...

When I was in graduate school, Margaret Atwood came to visit our department for a week. She's a major reason I became a writer so I was very excited to spend time with her and even more thrilled when the department put me in charge of her. From the second I picked her up at the airport she was full of questions. ("What are those trees? Why does your seatbelt do that? Why are there so many personalized license plates?) My roommates and I hosted a dinner party for her at our house. Half the department came over to help us cook. When she arrived that night she said she'd already eaten, and spit an onion tart out into a napkin in front of the person who made it, claiming she thought it was a cheese tart. I tried to bond over being Canadian but she didn't seem to care. When she asked what my sign was and I said Virgo her face contorted into a sour grimace, "Uch," she said. "My ex-husband is a Virgo." I defended my sign, saying perhaps female Virgos were different than male Virgos, and while she was open to the argument, it wasn't the stimulating conversation I'd fantasized about having with her. Toward the end of the week I was growing weary of her. While crossing the street on campus, a local, celebrated yet quirky poet was walking toward us. Ms. Atwood nudged me away so we wouldn't cross his path and said "Uch, there's that man again." I prayed he didn't hear, though I imagine he did. When the week was through, when I was done driving her places, escorting her to classes, and dining with her, I handed her my tattered-from-reading copy of "Dancing Girls," her short story collection which started me on my own writing path. As she signed it I imagined something like, THANKS FOR DRIVING ME EVERYWHERE or NICE TO MEET A FELLOW CANOOK or even GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR WRITING. Instead, I simply got MARGARET ATWOOD.

I still love her work. I even follow her on Twitter. And despite our nonbonding, Margaret Atwood gave me the gift of a story, and for that this Virgo is grateful!

Slim to None and a Grumbling Tummy

Well, it's that time of year where I'm popping the Tums. End of the semester grading coupled with the never ending pending book stuff has left me with a grumbly, burbling stomach. TMI? That, plus news of the wretched oil spill, the Times Square bomber, etc. etc. I am so looking forward to my May visit to Esalen at the end of the month where I plan on stripping off the clothes and spending time in the hot springs. TMI?

In GCC book news, member Jenny Gardiner is going the digital route with her new book Slim to None. The novel is available on Kindle for the next three months, so if you have a Kindle (Daniela P.) why not give it a try!

From Jenny: "Dramatic changes have been underway in the publishing industry in recent years—changes that--combined with a faltering economy--have left traditional publishing in a bit of a tailspin. While the cumbersome infrastructure of the publishing industry is perhaps not quite nimble enough to as easily embrace and adapt to these changes, authors are on their own figuring out how they can achieve their end goal--to reach readers hungry for their work."

Take a sneak peek at the first chapter of SLIM TO NONE here: http://jennygardiner.net/blog/

On another note entirely, the Otis Senior Art show was last night. The sophomores when I first started teaching are now seniors and it was so exciting seeing their work, hearing their plans for the future and being able to wish them well.

I H8 W8N

I loved the license plate I was behind this morning because I hate waiting, too. But wait I must. My book is out and making the rounds and it is s-s-s-low going. I am trusting the process, though, or at least pretending to.

Meanwhile, GCC member Jenny Gardiner has a new book out, a memoir. I love reading memoirs and can't wait to dig my claws into this one.

First, let's see what others are saying:

"As sweet as a song and sharp as a beak, Winging It really soars as a memoir about family - children and husbands, feathers and fur - and our capacity to keep loving though life may occasionally bite." -- Wade Rouse, bestselling author of "At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream", and "Confessions of a Prep School Mommy Handler".

Now my interview with Jenny:

MC: Which came first, the title or the novel?

JG: Well, in this case it's a memoir, so the memoir came first, definitely. Though I love to play around with words, so I think long and hard about titles.

What other art form inspires you as much as writing?

I have to say writing inspires me the most. But I do appreciate traveling and touring the phenomenal churches of Europe, and museums with Renaissance art. I love Renaissance maps as well--works of art unto themselves

Which comes easier for you - beginnings or endings?

Both are easy. It's the in-between that gets tough!

How many drafts until the final draft?

By the time I submit a book to an editor, I like to have it pretty tight. I'm anal about being sure I'm pretty much typo-free. I read and loop back and re-read each time I start to write so that I can keep the pace. That said, I did have a pretty solid revision to do on this!

What are you reading right now?

Always reading several things at once, but loving The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen (she's fabulous) and HouseHusband by Ad Hudler, and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

For more info. on book and author please visit her website or go here.

Everyone Else's Girl

It is a busy month for book releases! GCC member Megan Crane has a new novel out. A little bit about the book:

Meredith does things for other people. She irons clothes for her boyfriend, she attends her ex-best friend's horrendous hen party for her brother (who's about to marry the girl) and she moves back to her parents' house to look after her dad when his leg is broken. She's a good girl and that matters. But when she gets back home, all is not as Meredith remembered. Especially Scott, that geeky teenager from her old class at school. He's definitely different now. And so, it seems, is she. One by one, her family and old friends start to tell her some home truths and Meredith begins to realise she's not so perfect after all. Maybe it is time she stopped being everyone else's girl and started living for herself...

"Megan Crane rules! Cancel your evening plans: You won't want to stop reading until you've devoured every delicious word."
—Meg Cabot

"Amusing, heartfelt and emotionally sophisticated chick-lit." —Kirkus

And here is my interview with her:

Mel: Which came first, the title or the novel?

Meg: In this case, I think the title came first--which is very unusual for me. I usually agonize over titles which are then changed by my publishers. This, in fact, is the only title that I actually chose on any of my published books!

What other art form inspires you as much as writing?

Music. In fact, I think it might inspire me more than writing, but I love it too much to break it apart and study it the way I do writing. I could never be a musician for that reason. I don't want to make music do what I want it to do, I just want it to carry me away.

Which comes easier for you - beginnings or endings?

Definitely beginnings. I like to launch myself into the beginning and write until I hit a wall, then go back and figure out what I'm doing.

How many drafts until the final draft?

I am one of those desperately linear writers, who can't go forward if I know what's behind me is a big mess. So I usually write the day's words, then set it aside to pick up and read the next morning. I revise it before starting the next day's writing. So when I have a full draft, it's usually pretty tight, and then I go over that at least once or twice. So... three?

What are you reading right now?

I just finished Karen Marie Moning's Dreamfever, the second to last of her incredibly addictive Fever series. How on earth will I wait until December for the next and final book? I have no idea.

What's next for you?

I am currently working on my fifteenth novel, a romance, which should be out sometime next year!

Congratulations to Megan!

Booked

It has been a busy winter between teaching, writing, swimming and lots and lots of cooking. One book is out in the world looking for a home while another is being written. Cooking comes in handy when I just can't deal with the waiting, or when I'm stuck on a plot point or when I want to give my poor eyes a break from staring at a screen. Currently I'm experimenting with crock-pot baking - banana bread? Delish! Cranberry orange walnut bread? OMG. I'm going in for a corn bread later today.

Speaking of food, my dear friend Lisa Harper, who runs this fantastic blog, has just won the River Teeth Nonfiction Prize. Her book "Inside/Out," a beautiful memoir about pregnancy and how it turns you inside/out on so many levels, will be published next year by the esteemed University of Nebraska press. This is doubly exciting because Lisa has been working on and trying to find a home for her book for years and years. Hers is a story of tenacity and patience, with a happy ending, to boot. I am inspired by her perseverance and can't wait to buy the book.

In other good news, Girlfriend Cyber Circuit member Hank Phillippi Ryan has a new novel out. Here's a little Q & A with her:

Tell us about your new book Drive Time.

DRIVE TIME is about secrets. TV reporter Charlie McNally’s working on a story about a dangerous scheme that could absolutely happen…and let me just say, if you own a car, or rent a car, you’ll never look at your vehicle the same way after reading DRIVE TIME. In fact, after writing the book, I now get a bit creeped out when I go into a parking garage. That’s all I‘ll say.

Charlie’s also drawn into another frightening situation—this one at the prep school where her fiancé is an English professor. When Charlie learns a secret that might put her step-daughter-to-be in danger, and might also be an blockbuster investigative story—how does she balance her loyalty to her husband-to-be—with her need to protect the public?

So this is a tough one for Charlie. And she must make many life-changing decisions. Just when she begins to think she might be able to have it all—a terrific career and a new husband and a new life--revenge, extortion and murder may bring it all to a crashing halt.

Which novelist most influenced your own work? And which writer, past or present, would you like to spend some time with?

I love Edith Wharton’s cynical take on the world, and the way she illustrates the social structure even while being dramatic and entertaining. Her stories have such with such depth and texture, and her characters are wonderful. Julia Spencer Fleming. Margaret Maron’s wonderfully authentic dialogue and settings. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for clever plots. Lisa Scottoline for her contemporary and hip take on the world. John Lescroart for story story story. PD James. Who I’d love to spend time with? Shakespeare. I have many, many questions for him. Whoever he was. Oh! And Stephen King. What a genius, on so many levels.

Any mistakes you’ve made along the way, have you learned anything from them?

Hah. That’s another long blog for another day. Mistakes? Ah, on a huge level, people always yell at me for working all the time. ALL the time. Is that a mistake? None of this would have happened without that. Would I change it? I have to say no. So is that a mistake? I'm not sure. On a tiny level, I should have put together a mailing list of bookstores. Still haven’t done that. Wish I had.

What’s next for you?

Exactly what I'm trying to figure out. DRIVE TIME came out February 1, with fantastic blurbs from the much-missed and iconic Robert B. Parker and Suzanne Brockmann and Margaret Maron and Carla Neggers and a rave starred review from Library Journal. So I'm hoping people love it. (And I'll be visiting lots of places across the US--hope some of our readers come visit!) And then...we’ll see. I can't tell you how excited I am.

http://www.HankPhillippiRyan.com

Anyhow, that's it for me right now. Heading up to Big Bear tomorrow to pretend I'm Lindsey Vonn on the slopes. I have a major case of Olympic Fever!

The Secret of Joy

Melissa Senate has a new book out. Please enjoy my interview with her, and support an author! Buy her book!

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MC: Which came first, the title or the novel?

MS: They came together—but The Secret of Joy isn’t the original title. My main character, Rebecca, discovers she has a half-sister she never knew existed, a separated mother who conducts weekend singles tours of Maine in her little orange mini-bus. The quirky members of the Divorced Ladies Club of Wiscasset, who make up her female clients, dub the mini-bus the “love bus.” It fit the book on so many levels, but when it came to designing the cover, it got scrapped. The Secret of Joy is perfect for the novel on many levels also, but I’ll always think of this novel as “The Love Bus.”

What other art form inspires you as much as writing?

Music. I’ve written entire novels to a particular song. I wrote my first book to Sarah McLachlan’s “Hold On.” I wrote my last book to Gillian Welch’s “Miss Ohio.” Songs often make me stop dead in my tracks, make me pull over to the side of the road so that I can really listen, make me smile, make me cry, make me remember, make me feel. My favorite song is Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits.

Which comes easier for you - beginnings or endings?

Endings, definitely. I write to endings, to a last line already in my head, so by the time I get there, I know what I’m doing. The beginning takes forever. It can take me months to write the first page.

How many drafts until the final draft?

I revise and polish as a I go, a slooooow process, so I usually only have three drafts: the first gets a solid revision, the second an edit, the third a polish. Then it’s off to my agent and editor.

What are you reading right now?

Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg. I’m always so amazed at how she manages to write so honestly and elegantly at the same time. She’ll call someone a shit in the loveliest way.

What's next for you?

My second novel for teens, The Mosts, will be published by Random House in June 2010. And my next women’s fiction novel, The Love Goddess’ Cooking School, which I’m staring down the deadline on right this minute, will come out November 2010. It’s about five people taking an Italian cooking course with recipes containing a few magical ingredients.

Marilyn Brant is the author of According to Jane and a member of the GCC blog group. Here is my interview with her about her new book with the Jane Austen undertones!

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Which came first, the title or the novel?

Definitely the novel! I started out by calling the book “My Best Friend Jane” before finally, about a third of the way into it, thinking of the title According to Jane.

What other art form inspires you as much as writing?

Music, hands down. Playing and listening to music remains one of my most enjoyable and inspirational pastimes. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Music is the favorite passion of my soul,” and I agree with him.

Which comes easier for you - beginnings or endings?

Endings, also hands down. I tend to struggle with those opening 2-3 chapters--there’s so much that needs to be set up early in every book--but once the story is rolling, it’s much easier for me to continue onward. And, by the time I’m ready to wrap up a novel, I’m usually racing toward the end.

How many drafts until the final draft?

Too many! According to Jane took more drafts than I can remember. I think I lost count somewhere after the 7^th or 8^th. But, that book was unusual in that it needed to be completely restructured before selling--all the same parts, but the chronology had to be scrambled! So, it took an extraordinary amount of revision. My second novel required much less. I wrote it, revised some scenes after a couple of CPs read it, tweaked a bit more after my agent read it and made the final few changes my editor requested. I greatly prefer that process. J

What are you reading right now?

Some fun Austen-inspired fiction, like Beth Pattillo’s Jane Austen Ruined My Life, and the amazing Shaffer/Barrows novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

What's next for you?

I’m getting to promote my debut novel According to Jane--the last leg of a very long publishing journey--while also starting the process all over again for my next women’s fiction project. The book is done, but we’re still working on finding the right title. It’s a modern fairytale about three suburban moms who shake up their marriages and their lives when one woman asks her friends a somewhat shocking question.

Air Time

Award-winning investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan is currently on the air at Boston's NBC affiliate, where she's broken big stories for the past 22 years. Her stories have resulted in new laws, people sent to prison, homes removed from foreclosure, and millions of dollars in refunds and restitution for consumers.

“Sassy, fast-paced and appealing. First-class entertainment.”

**Sue Grafton

“I love this series!”

**Suzanne Brockmann

“AIR TIME is a fun, fast read with a heroine who's sexy, stylish, and smart. I loved it."

**Nancy Pickard

Q: Charlotte (Charlie) McNally is an investigative TV reporter, and so are you! What qualities do you share with Charlie, and how are you different?

A: When my husband talks about Charlie, he calls her “you.” As in—when “you” are held at gunpoint, when you track down the bad guys, when you solve the mystery . . . and I have to remind him, “Sweetheart, it’s fiction. It didn’t really happen.”

But a couple of things: I’ve been a TV reporter for more than 30 years. (Yes, really.) And so it would be silly, in writing a mystery about TV, not to use my own experiences. Think about it—as a TV reporter, you can never be wrong! Never be one minute late. Never choose the wrong word or miscalculate. You can never have a bad hair day, because it’ll be seen by millions of people! It’s high-stakes and high-stress—literally, people’s lives at stake—and I really wanted to convey that in the books.

And everything that TV people do and say in the books is authentic and genuine. (Of course, Charlie can say things I can’t say, and reveal things I can’t reveal.) We’re both devoted journalists, and over-focused on our jobs.

But Charlotte McNally is different, too. She’s single—I’m happily married. She’s ten years younger than I am, and so is facing different choices and dilemmas. She’s braver than I am, certainly. Funnier. And a much better driver.

Q: Your job sounds very demanding. How (and when) do you find the time to write? Do you ever take a vacation, and, if so, what do you do with your time off?

Short answer—no. I don’t take vacations anymore. We used to! We love Nevis, a tiny island n the Caribbean with empty white beaches and nothing to do. We love to go to western Massachusetts, to Tanglewood, to go to plays and the symphony and museums. We love to go to Cape Cod, to Truro, to sit on the beach with pals and read, then go out to wonderful dinners. All in the past. Now, I write. And Jonathan lounges in the back yard. Luckily, we have a lovely yard, with a pool and beautiful gardens.

Q: Tell us about your writing process. Are you a plotter, or do you wing it when writing? Do you work on one book at a time or more?

A: Such a great question. In PRIME TIME, I totally winged it. I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going, so I just blithely typed away. I typed The End, and then took it to be printed. It was 723 pages long! I had to cut half of it. Yikes.

It was a real editing education but also taught me I needed to be a bit more organized. And a lot tougher as a self-editor. (Now, I outline. Like crazy. My outlines are 60 pages long. I loathe writing them, but I adore it when I’m finished.)

I must say, though, that in writing PRIME TIME with no plan, I surprised even myself. I got about half-way through the book, and realized I’d chosen the wrong bad guy! I literally (as I remember it) sat up in bed, and thought—wait! The person who I thought did it—didn’t!—and it just dawned on me who the real culprit was. It as all I could do not to run downstairs to the computer and see if I was right. The next morning, as I read over my 40,000 words—I barely had to make a change.

The real killer had been lurking in my very own pages—I just hadn’t realized it! Talk about a surprise ending.

And yes, I only work on one book at a time. Well, no, not really. The next book is always forming in my head and just pushing to come out. Sometimes I have to hold it back!

Crossing Washington Square

I am so excited about Joanne Rendell's new novel! Joanne was instrumental in helping me pick books and movies for my Literature of Madness course this semester, and with her new novel's Sylvia Plath subplot, now I know why. Here is my little interview with her:

MC: Which came first, the title or the novel?

JR: Definitely the novel. The title was really, really hard and we – me, my editor, my agent, my husband, and anyone else who cared to take part in discussions - went through hundreds of suggestions. My husband actually came up with the final title and when he said it, I just knew it was perfect (and so, thankfully, did my editor). The two professors in the novel live on either side of WashingtonSquare Park in New York. They’re also very different women. Professor Rachel Grey is an enthusiastic young scholar of popular women’s fiction (think Bridget Jones’ Diary), while Professor Diana Monroe is an esteemed and rigorous Sylvia Plath scholar who thinks that popular fiction is an easy ride for students. They have big disagreements at the beginning of the novel and really don’t like each other much. But through the novel they have to learn to overcome these differences and thus, in metaphorical and literal ways, they must cross the Square to meet each other!

What other art form inspires you as much as writing?

Hollywood is a great storyteller and I’ve learnt some great plot tricks and character arcs from watching movies.

Which comes easier for you - beginnings or endings?

Endings, without a doubt. Although sometimes it is a little harder to let go of the characters you’ve lived with for so long.

How many drafts until the final draft?

Maybe 3 or 4. I always start with a pretty worked out plot, although it often changes as I go along. Then I work from chapter one and go chapter by chapter. I’m not the kind of writer who writes a scenes here and then one there. I’m very systematic, although I do love editing and happily go back into the manuscript and change things once I’m done.

What are you reading right now?

The Elegance of a Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery and also Simone de Beauvoir’s, A Very Easy Death. It’s a coincidence that they are both books by French philosophers. I’m reading both as research for a new book idea (the book isn’t about France or philosophy though!?)

What's next for you?

I’m currently working on final edits for my third novel (which was bought by Penguin last fall). The novel tells the story of a woman who thinks she might be related to the nineteenth century writer, Mary Shelley. On her journey to seek the truth and to discover if there really is a link between her own family and the creator of Frankenstein, Clara unearths surprising facts about people much closer to home – including some shocking secrets about the ambitious scientist she is engaged to. The book is told in alternating points of view between Clara and the young Mary Shelley who is preparing to write Frankenstein.