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Q&A + giveaway with author Jane Porter

August 28th, 2010

BookEnd Babes Summer Sizzle Saturdays Q&A with Jane Porter who talks sand, surf and SHE’S GONE COUNTRY, her newest release. I’ve met Jane in person, and she’s a true sweetheart. I’ve read all of her modern lit books and am pleased to recommend them. -ML

Q: Thanks for being a part of our Summer Sizzle Saturdays. What’s your favorite summer activity and favorite summer destination?
A: My favorite summer activity is reading–although that’s definitely trickier with a 14-month-old running wild–and my favorite summer destination is my home in Hawaii, on Oahu where my man lives and operates his surf school. We do this crazy bi-coastal life (Seattle and Honolulu), but in summer we all get to be together in our beach house.

Q: Tell us briefly about the writing process for this book.
A: She’s Gone Country is probably one of my favorite books I’ve written due to the characters, conflict, and Texas setting, but I wrote it in the first 5 months after my son’s birth which was grueling. Mac had severe acid reflux as an infant and couldn’t keep anything down, and therefore couldn’t put on weight. He was always hungry, crying, wanting more and I was trying to write and nurse on months of next to no sleep. I wouldn’t want to do that again!

Q: We’re ready to have a pool party with your characters. Give us your main character’s names and a one-line definition for us to get to know them at our pool party.
A: Shey Darcy and Dane Kelly grew up in rural Texas on neighboring ranches and have always had a strong connection but life, work and family have kept them apart, but Shey’s now back in Texas as a single mom of three teen boys, and there’s a lot of unfinished business between them.

Q: Book End Babes is all about girlfriends and great reads. What are some of the themes we could explore in your book?
A: A lot of my books have connected characters–girlfriends who went to school together or grew up together or now live near each other–and this one is no exception. As a single mom grappling with lots of life changes she neally needs her girlfriends and the women in her family’s moral support. Probably my favorite theme in SHE’S GONE COUNTRY is that of empowering women and using your strength and success to help girls achieve their dreams, too.

Q: What is a “must read” book in your beach bag this summer?
A: I’ve got The Help tucked into my beach bag and it’s wonderful. It’s the one book I really want to read this summer!

Thanks, Jane. I’ve always been a big fan. Babes, BUY THE BOOK HERE or at your favorite retailer. Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of SHE’S GONE COUNTRY.

Website: www.janeporter.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/authorjanep

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Q&A + giveaway with author Jenny Nelson

August 14th, 2010

Yea! My favorite day of the week – Saturday – made even better with our Summer Sizzle series featuring four fab authors and their new books! Today, we’ve got Jenny Nelson under the shade tree with us talking about GEORGIA’S KITCHEN. *pours peach tea for each of us* What’s your favorite summer activity and favorite summer destination?

There are so many things I love to do in the summer — gardening, biking, going to outdoor concerts and catching summer flicks are a few of my favorites, but there’s nothing I love more than a sunny afternoon around the pool with good food and good friends. Give me a barbecue, some burgers (veggie for me), fresh corn, a couple salads, my wonderful daughters and husband, throw in another family or two – and ice cream, of course – and I’m the happiest gal in the world.

As for a destination, this year I spent a couple days in Santa Barbara, which was really amazing. The beaches are lovely, though the water is way too cold for me!

Tell us briefly about the writing process for this book.

When I was in high school I enrolled in a summer-long creative writing program taught by Michael Cunningham, a terrific teacher and a phenomenal writer. By the end of the program, I promised myself that “one day” I’d write a novel. I continued writing short stories throughout college and after, the idea of writing a full-on novel still bouncing around my brain. It wasn’t until my daughters were about two that I decided to do something about it. I’d left my job to be a stay-at-home mom, and it seemed like the perfect time to try my hand at that novel. I’ve always been fascinated by chefs and restaurants and how a calm, well-run dining room reflects none of the chaos taking place in the cramped, hot kitchen just inches away. As my ideas about my book and Georgia and who she was began to crystallize, I knew that she had to be a chef. No other career encapsulated who she was in quite the same way.

I enrolled in a writing class where I wrote the first chapter of what became Georgia’s Kitchen (which I basically scrapped in my next go round). I took another class, feeling that I needed the structure and the deadlines, but when I’d written 50 pages or so I decided to continue writing on my own. I’d write during the day, when my kids were in preschool, or when my sitter was with them, or at night, if I was working out an important scene. I finished the first draft and let it sit for a few weeks and then did a total revise, and then another and another. Finally, I realized that I could spend the rest of my life revising this one novel and if I ever wanted to see it published, I needed to start submitting to agents. I enjoyed the agent process, because it felt like I was being pro-active with my book, getting it out there instead of holing up with my laptop and fixing a scene or two here, a sentence or two there (which can be addictive). Soon after, I found my agent and then began the revision process anew. At long last, the manuscript was ready and we sold it to Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, which is now called Gallery Books. And here we are!

We’re ready to have a pool party with your characters. Give us your main character’s names and a one-line definition for us to get to know them at our pool party.

Gianni: Drop-dead sexy in that effortless Italian way, wearing stylish Vilbrequin trunks and no shirt to show off his perfectly bronzed body; walking around with a bottle of rose in hand, offering the other guests “a splash of vino.”

Glenn: The good-looking guy (might he have been a J Crew model?) wearing the slim, navy trunks, now engaged in a cannonball contest (he’s winning, of course) with a bunch of brand-new buds, splashing everyone within 20 feet.

Georgia: With her dark-brown curly hair pulled back in a bun, her green eyes rolling ever so slightly behind tortoise-shell shades as Glenn does yet another cannonball into the pool, Georgia expertly works the barbecue, flipping burgers with a barely perceptible flick of her wrist, and wishing Gianni would bring that bottle of rose her way.

Vanessa: Her face shiny with sweat, Vanessa plates burgers and grilled chicken while stealing furtive glances at the pack of Reds someone’s left on the table, wondering about the harm in having “just one cigarette,” and also where that cute Ricky guy is.

Ricky: With floppy blond hair falling in his face and a tattoo that looks like a pot leaf, but on closer inspection turns out be a basil leaf, on his right shoulder, Ricky mans the iPod, starting up his air guitar as the first few notes of Hot for Teacher blast from the speakers.

Claudia: Stretched out on an inflatable lounge chair, Claudia floats around the pool, a serene smile on her face, a bump in her belly, an icy lemonade in the cup holder and not a care in the world.

Sergio: His nose is buried in a book, but he’s read the same sentence at least ten times; he can’t remember where he left his smokes and is beginning to jones.

Clem: With a floppy red hat covering her fair, freckled face, Clem’s slathered in sunscreen and holding court at an umbrella-d table, sharing one of her trademark “all true, swear” tales with a rapt audience.

Lo: Under an umbrella, wearing giganto black shades, her fingers and toes painted the same almost-black, listening to her own iPod (who decided to play Van Halen?) as her belly rumbles with hunger.

I do feel like I know them better now! Can’t wait to read them in action in your book. Book End Babes is all about girlfriends and great reads. What are some of the themes we could explore in your book?

Love, friendship, family, intergenerational conflict, self-discovery, learning to appreciate what you have instead of dwelling on what you don’t, holding out for your dreams.

What is a “must read” book in your beach bag this summer?

There are so many. The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen, Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead, The Girl Who Played With Fire (loved the first) by Steig Larsson, Little Bee by Chris Cleave, One Day by David Nicholls.

BUY THE BOOK

Jenny, thank you for taking time out to chat with us. Babes, leave a comment before Friday on this post for a chance to win a copy of GEORGIA’S KITCHEN.

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Announcing Summer Sizzler Saturdays!

July 30th, 2010

Okay, babes. Um, wow. Feeling really, really excited about our August line-up on Book End Babes. In addition to our regular fabu Bookettes, we have four authors spending their Saturdays with us and giving away a copy of their book. Here’s what to look forward to in August:

August 7th – Lisa Unger/Fragile: Q&A & Giveaway

August 14th – Jenny Nelson/Georgia’s Kitchen: Q&A & Giveaway

August 21st – Holly Christine/Tuesday Tells it Slant: Q&A & Giveaway

August 23rd – Jane Porter/She’s Gone Country, Review (I’m reading now)

August 28th – Jane Porter/She’s Gone Country, Q&A & Giveaway

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Posted in Books in Bloom, Mainstream, Side Dish, Women's Fiction

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Researching Agents

July 29th, 2010

Agent Secrets: Want to Land an Agent? Follow These Guidelines
By Evan Marshall and Martha Jewett,
Creators of The Marshall Plan ® Novel Writing Software

“If you want to get a novel published, you need an agent.” True enough, but it’s better to get the right agent. Here’s how.

Use the Internet to find agents who are right for you. Six helpful sites are:

1. Agent Query bills itself as “the internet’s largest and most current database of literary agents.” Click on Full Search, then specify details such as genre and whether the agent is seeking new clients. Search results include not only basic contact information but also specifics on what the agent is looking for and, often, examples of recent deals. The site also offers articles on working with agents and resources such as writing websites and conferences.

2. QueryTracker.net boasts a database of more than 1,300 agents and offers a detailed advanced search feature including specific genres.

3. The Association of Authors’ Representatives requires members to adhere to a strict Canon of Ethics, so you know any member is legitimate (some perfectly legitimate agents do not belong). Click on Find an Agent to see which agents accept email submissions and which accept submissions via regular mail. Keyword Search and Advanced Search features are also available.

4. A $20 month-to-month subscription to Publishers Marketplace gives you access to an extensive searchable database of agents and their deals. A feature called Top Dealmakers tells you which agents make the most sales in a given genre. Another feature, Who Represents, allows you to find out who represents writers of books like yours.

5. Check an agent’s reputation at Preditors & Editors, a website that keeps an updated list of agents according to whether they’re reputable or not. Click on Agents & Attorneys, then look up the name alphabetically.

6. Finally, stop off at the Agents page of Writer Beware, which has helpful articles on how to spot and avoid dishonest agents.

Google agents you’re interested in to see if they have their own websites. You’ll usually find submission guidelines.

Now it’s time to approach agents. Have these items ready before you begin:

Complete manuscript. If you haven’t published a novel, submit a complete manuscript rather than a “proposal” (synopsis and sample chapters). If you have had a novel published by a commercial publisher, it’s OK to send a proposal.

Synopsis. The synopsis is a condensed overview of your novel which helps agents, editors and other publishing personnel evaluate it. Use the present tense and write one page for every 25 pages of manuscript. Tell the entire story, including the ending.

Query letter. A query letter is a one-page business letter. It briefly describes your novel (one paragraph) and specifies genre, title and word length. Provide relevant information about yourself: publishing credits, writers’ organizations you belong to, writing awards or citations, and any pertinent background (for example, you’re a surgeon and your novel is a medical thriller). Be professional, never cutesy. Ask if the agent would like to read your manuscript.

Follow all the agent’s specifications and instructions exactly (query, self-addressed stamped envelope, etc.).

If an agent bites, include your original query letter with your manuscript, along with a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply.

If the agent takes you on, yipee!

And if the agent rejects you?

Don’t take it personally. It may have nothing to do with your material. The agent may not be accepting unpublished writers or new clients unless they are exceptional, but may not have said so because if he did, submissions would drop off. Another possibility is that she may already represent a novel too similar to yours but does not want to divulge that.

The “no,” however, may have everything to do with your material. Here are five of the most common situations you must avoid:

1. Derivative story idea. You must come up with something fresh within the expectations of your chosen genre.

2. No recognizable genre. Your book must have a genre, an obvious place on a shelf in the bookstores, and a clear comparison to books in the genre.

3. Wrong word length. Picking the wrong word length is a novice’s mistake. A 50,000-word mainstream novel is an immediate reject. So is a 175,000-word romantic comedy. Do your homework. Find the appropriate word length for your novel.

4. Grammatical and other problems. These are sudden-death errors: spelling, grammar, punctuation, improper manuscript formatting.

5. Writing that tells rather than shows. Novels today are mostly “show.” If you’re not sure what “show” and “tell” mean, consult any novel-writing guide or take a fiction course.

Follow these guidelines and eventually you will find an agent who understands and appreciates your work — and who will be able to sell it.

All you need is one.

© 2010 Evan Marshall and Martha Jewett, creators of The Marshall Plan ® Novel Writing Software

Author Bio
Evan Marshall and Martha Jewett are the creators of The Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software, an adaptation of the bestselling Marshall Plan® series of writing guides. Evan is an internationally recognized expert on fiction writing and author of the Hidden Manhattan and Jane Stuart and Winky mystery series. A former book editor, for 27 years he has been a leading literary agent specializing in fiction. He is the president of The Evan Marshall Agency, a leading literary management firm that represents a number of New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors. Martha is a former award-winning business book editor at McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons, and HarperBusiness. She is currently a literary agent and editorial consultant specializing in business books. An avid memoirist, she blogs at www.writeyourmemoir.com.

http://www.writeanovelfast.com and follow the authors on Facebook and Twitter.

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Side Dish with author Vicki Leon

July 19th, 2010

(Ancient Greek and Roman) girls just wanna have fun
by Vicki León

photo courtesy of Vicki Leon, copyright 2009

Looking at women’s lives 2000 years ago, it’s easy to dwell on the dire side: pregnancies, plague, piracy—to say nothing of the rest of the alphabet.
Visual portrayals of the period seem to confirm that grim reality. All those marble sculptures of wellborn Roman matrons with ghastly hairdos and “mine doesn’t stink” expressions.
All those Greek vase paintings where mopey wives and daughters, their necks bent at chiropractically crazy angles, weave or wave adios to the family warrior.
I’m here to tell you that most Greek and Roman gals of long ago weren’t like that. How do I know this? For starters, 95 percent of those portraits were –surprise! made by men who liked the “me Tarzan” status quo. Secondly, I’ve had the luck to live and work for years among the Greek and other Mediterranean descendants of these women. Talk about saucy, no-holds-barred female personalities; they’re alive and well from Athens to Sicily.
I’ve had the further good fortune of doing deep research on over a thousand livewires from ancient times. For every homebound matron there was an uppity counterpart: rascally female fishmongers; gore-minded female gladiators; wild-eyed alchemists; and other free spirits.
Brainy ladies held their own, too. In my recent book on science and superstition, I profiled philosophers from Plato’s mom Perictione to a firecracker named Hipparchia. After falling for a social activist named Crates, Hipparchia became a Cynic street philosopher herself, a multitasking mom of two–and in spare moments, writing outrageous diatribes, the op-ed pieces of her day.
Women back then were already into networking. Leontium, for instance, a philosophical follower of Epicurus, managed to keep their study circle from starving during a siege of Athens by tapping into her friendship with the gal pal of one of the besiegers.
At the other end of the philosophical spectrum I discovered the bewitching tale of Menippus, a twenty-something philosophy intern. He was hit on by a gorgeous gal in Corinth who invited him home; as the affair caught fire, he and Empusa made wedding plans. Unbeknown to the lovesick intern, she was a licensed vampire and had gastronomic rather than erotic designs on his
bod. His professor, more savvy about the Empusa lifestyle, did a vampire intervention at the wedding banquet, causing the cast and crew to blast off like bats in a bad horror film.
From the supernatural to the pragmatic: women of childbearing years also practiced (and shared) multiple strategies for avoiding and/or spacing out pregnancies. Males of those times had firmly-held beliefs in their own raging-bull potency. Someone (eg wives) pushed the notion of anti-Viagra, a reverse aphrodisiac to rein in those great big libidos. One recipe: apply the left side of a hippo’s forehead to a woman’s groin. You’ve got to admit—that would quell almost anyone’s urges!
Girls and women of all ages did face serious challenges, ranging from toxic cosmetics to an appalling dearth of chocolate. Nevertheless, long-ago gals wanted their share of fun–and grabbed it when they could, with a hearty “Carpe diem! Seize the day!”

Vicki Leon is the author of the fascinating read, HOW TO MELLIFY A CORPSE. If you love the gruesome fun and zany historical superstitions, this is the read for you. – Malena Lott

Get it here.

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Read on the Run. Literally.

July 12th, 2010

Way back in 2001 I trained for a marathon.  I was going to run the marathon in Dublin, Ireland, but when the US invaded Afghanistan the trip was canceled. And so was my training. I was so burned out I didn’t even plan to run in another race. I haven’t run more than a couple of miles at a time since then, and I absolutely don’t run on a regular basis.  Then, last week, I decided to train for a half-marathon. What does all this have to do with books? Or better question, have I lost my mind? I am 45 ½ years old after all.

Well the thing I’d forgotten was how many wonderful books I’d listened to while running. I only wish that Overdrive online library of audiobooks (www.overdrive.com) had been available back then. Heck, maybe it was and I didn’t know. Audible.com is great for audiobooks, but Overdrive lets you “checkout” 2 books a week! Check their website to see if your local library has a connection. They have eBooks too. And since I have two different library cards I could actually get four a week. Many are unabridged. With a DSL connection the books take only minutes to download and can be played on any MP3 player and most on iPods too. It’s a great way to use your local library without leaving your home.

I promise not to bore you with a long list of books I’ve “read.” But I will provide you with a running link just in case you’ve been a couch potato and would like to start running. I always start with a gradual progression to actually running any distance, and www.coolrunning.com has a great beginner program.

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Side dish with author Sarah Pekkanen

July 1st, 2010

How NOT to take an author photo by Sarah Pekkanen
 
When it came time to take a photo for the jacket of my debut novel, The Opposite of Me, I figured I should do it right. Instead of having my husband snap a headshot with our cheap little camera, I hired a professional photographer. I asked her to come by one afternoon during a narrow sliver of time when I’d organized a baby-sitter for my baby and a Wii extravaganza for my older kids. I was showered (a minor triumph), mascara’d, and though I hadn’t managed to squeeze in a haircut or a trip to buy new Spanx, all things considered, I was feeling pretty triumphant about my grooming.
So there we were, me and the photographer, in my backyard, ready to take the picture that would proclaim to readers: See how friendly (but not too friendly, certainly not in a stalkerish way!) and smart (not too smart, though! No threats to you Mensa members here!) this author is? Isn’t her novel just leaping into your hands and compelling you to start reading it?
The problem was, it was hot outside. Brutally hot. And I was wearing a sweater (even I knew better than to trot out my usual summer uniform of slightly stained Old Navy t-shirts).
“Perch on this chair,” Hilary the photographer suggested.
I obligingly perched, smiled, and sweated while the camera clicked. After a few minutes, my thigh muscles complained about perching on the edge of a chair and suggested we all go inside for a little restorative chocolate treat.
“You don’t look comfortable,” she said. “Maybe a different outfit?”
I raced inside, changed, came back outside, and posed again.
“Hmm…” Hilary said. “I’m not sure that shirt is the right color for you.”
Since I know and trust Hilary – she shoots my photo for a magazine column I write – I dashed upstairs again to change. I tore through my closet, which was stuffed with shorts and t-shirts, maternity wear, and a few very outdated business suits. Where were all my clothes? My cute, trendy, flattering clothes? Did I really dress like this? The horror!
“Mom,” one of my kids whined, “can we have popcorn?”
“I’m having a photo shoot,” I said importantly. “You know, for my book.” The kid looked at me blankly.
“The Opposite of Me?” I said. “At bookstores everywhere? Didn’t Mommy teach you to say that whenever possible?”
“He bit me!” came an outraged wail.
“Stop fighting and I’ll take you to the pool in ten minutes,” I lied to my children, whose sense of time is seriously warped from scenarios just like this one.
“I’ve got to go,” the babysitter said apologetically. “I have another job to get to.”
“Let’s put the baby on a blanket outside,” I said desperately. “He can watch the photo shoot.”
“Did you powder your nose? You really should,” the photographer asked, clearly feeling this was no time for subtlety.
I powdered, brushed my hair, threw back my shoulders, and posed again.
“THARM alert!” The photographer shouted.
(A “Tharm” happens when you position your arm in such a way that it appears to be bigger than a typical arm — more like a thigh. Like the Ebola virus and men with bushy toupees, it is to be avoided at all costs).
I shifted, sweated, and posed. The baby rolled off the blanket into the grass. The older kids made popcorn themselves and doused it with a pound of butter. Was the baby rolling onto a bee? Why were the older kids being so quiet inside? And why didn’t I have cuter clothes? Wasn’t it bad enough that I drove a minivan?
“Smile!”
It was absolutely exhausting. And you know what? The tension showed in my face. I didn’t use the photos from that shoot, after all. Instead, I found an old shot Hilary had taken of me for my magazine column. I wasn’t wearing much makeup, and I wasn’t posing. I’d just moved in close to my sweet black Lab, Bella, to give her a cuddle, and I think my happiness of being near my dog showed. 

That’s the photo on the back cover of my book. 

Links:
www.sarahpekkanen.com
www.twitter.com/sarahpekkanen
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarah-Pekkanen/215202723761?ref=ts

Thanks, Sarah. Babes, I read OPPOSITE last month and you’re in for a treat with this read. Grab a bottle of Middle Sister we wrote about yesterday and settle in to read this tale of fraternal twins and finding your grown up self.
BUY THE BOOK

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Side Dish & Contest with author Christine Lemmon

June 29th, 2010

LONG STORY SHORT
By Christine Lemmon

How Long Does it Take?

“To an ordinary person, washing a pan is simple. But for a mother, who is also like a ringmaster in a three-ring circus, doing dishes is more hair-raisingly difficult than swallowing fire.”—an excerpt from the book Sand in My Eyes

I’m often asked how long it takes for me to write a novel. If I were living a life of solitary confinement—in a convent or prison cell—I might crank one out in a few months. The reality is that I live in a noisy little house on stilts with three children, a husband, too, and the truth is, I can hardly wash a sink of dishes without getting interrupted ten times. Sometimes I go into the kitchen spinning like a top, dizzy from their demands and forgetting why I went in there in the first place.

When I got the inspiration for Sand in My Eyes, ideas came fast and furious and I could see the characters, plot and story unfolding as a panorama in my mind. It would be a silly little story about a mother so overwhelmed that hardly was she seeing the beauty around her. I scribbled it all down in crayon on a coloring book, and then told my husband the good news—that all I need is two hours every single morning before the sun and kids rise and I could have this story written in two weeks!

Also at this time my sister was training for the Chicago Marathon and I thought as she wakes early to run, I will wake early to write and by the time she runs the marathon, I will have written my novel. Well, she ran the marathon. And she ran it again the next year, and the next. And guess what? I was still writing my novel.

Here’s what happened. Our landlords needed us out—writing postponed—they wanted to sell the house we had been renting, the one on Sanibel that inspired me immensely. Settled at last in a new rental, I set my alarm for five in the morning only to discover my laptop had died. It took me three months to afford a new one. Here we go again, I set my alarm to start writing this story and my son decides to wake along with me. This new routine (me on a coffee high hoping to write while watching The Wiggles instead) lasted for days until I decided to write in our pantry (also our laundry room) where my son couldn’t find me. From my new hideout I could hear my husband telling him, “Mommy went to work. She’ll be back when the sun comes up.”

The writing in the pantry was going fine until one morning I found myself tiptoeing to the bathroom to vomit—pregnant with our third. I wish I could say it was glamorous, but I wrote big chunks of Sand in My Eyes from the bathroom floor with the fan on to tune out the ‘beautiful chaos’ that was my family on the other side of the door. I didn’t like writing in the bathroom but if I left and headed for the pantry, the boys would intercept me and my writing session would end.

I also experienced clusters of intense three-day headaches during the writing of this book. And my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Fear woke me in the middle of every night and had me twisting and turning through the fiery forest filled with worry. A writer needs sleep, and so does a mother. I considered giving up my story about the overwhelmed woman no longer seeing the beauty to life. But faith kept me going. I had to believe my inspiration was real. I had a choice. I could either let life get in the way of my writing or I could allow life to enhance my writing. I chose the latter and created characters in my story to help comfort me through. At times, while writing it, I felt as if the older me was talking to the younger me, telling it’s all just a phase, and one day you’ll wake and your house will be quiet and clean but your children grown so you might as well now—in the midst of the chaos—feel the beauty all around you.

So how long does it take to write a novel? More than two weeks is all I’ll say!

“Everything in life takes a certain amount of work. If you think getting what you want in life is easy, then you may as well walk over to your neighbor’s yard and steal one of her flowers when she isn’t looking, because life isn’t easy, nor is growing a garden, but once you start recognizing the pests and learning how to control the weeds, and all the other basics there are to learn, then the effort you put into your gardening becomes more pleasurable.”—Sand in My Eyes

For more on Christine Lemmon and her books, visit: www.christinelemmon.com or find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Book babes: BUY THE BOOK HERE.

CONTEST!!!
7 days ’til Sand in my Eyes: Great Beach Bag Giveaway by Christine Lemmon

Between today and July 1 when Sand in my Eyes releases, I am giving away some of the best beach books of summer!

Pre-order Christine Lemmon’s new book, Sand in my Eyes, from Amazon now, email your receipt to jclemmon@gmail.com with subject line Beach Bag Giveaway, and you’ll be entered to win a beach bag full of 7 fabulous new summer beach reads including Seven Year Switch by Claire Cook, The Island by Elin Hilderbrand, Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner, The One That I Want by Allison Winn Scotch, The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen, The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst and Thin Rich Pretty by Beth Harbison.

Added bonus: I’m throwing in a sweet pair of women’s Oakley sunglasses and a $50 Amazon gift card for even more reading fun.

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Feel the Burn

June 1st, 2010

imagesby BEB Bookette Anne Greenwood Brown

I’m not much of a beach person.  I pretty much burn at the mere mention of the sun. 

But I do like the smell of coconut-scented sunscreen, and I do enjoy a good “beach read” so I partake of both, just on a shady front porch.

Looking back on past summers, I’ve sunk into many an adirondack chair with familiar titles such as Sparks’s Notebook and Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series.  There was the summer I devoured my daughter’s Twilight books, and most recently Emily Giffin’s Love the One You’re With.  All in all, a diverse group of genres: Romance, Suspense, Paranormal, Women’s Fiction.  The pages of two of those books are warped by tears, and the series are food stained because I couldn’t tear myself away from the action to eat dinner at the table.

At closer look, however, my most memorable beach reads do have one thing in common: They all have an intoxicating, suck-you-in factor that allows one to read at break-neck speed, sometimes in a single sitting.  Which brings me to another book that fits that category and, therefore, qualifies as a “good beach read.”  414nGumBqOL._SL500_AA266_PIkin2,BottomRight,-16,34_AA300_SH20_OU01_It is, Jennifer Johnson is Sick of Being Single by Heather McElhatton.  It has Evanovich’s slap-stick comedy, Meyer’s drool-worthy Alpha male, and Giffin’s snarky wit, all in a Notebook-tidy length.  But the ending . . . ah, the ending . . . let’s just say you’ll need a margarita and some Noxema to cool you down because the ending will leave you as raw as a Fourth-of-July sunburn.

Get the book here.
We’d love to hear what’s in your beach bag this summer! Remember, one commenter this week will win a copy of SWEET MISFORTUNE on Friday.

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Side Dish with Miriam Gershow

May 27th, 2010

by Miriam Gershow

photo1_smallWriting means solitude. You spend your days sitting in your study tapping out words. I sometimes wonder why I didn’t choose dance (aside from profound clumsiness) or acting (aside from my insufferably hammy high school theater days) instead. Those guys got castmates! And troupes!

I discovered, though, while writing my debut novel, THE LOCAL NEWS, that there was a whole community helping keep the process afloat, including:

Readers: I have several brilliant writer friends who’ve read my work for years, understand what I’m trying to do, and offer unflinching honesty whenever I come up short. Three of them read early drafts. Their wisdom indelibly shaped the final book.

Cheerleaders: This was a slightly wider circle, which included but expanded beyond my readers. My cheerleaders weren’t necessarily writers. They had only one task. When I got discouraged, they reminded me I could do this. They let me complain. They let me feel sorry for myself. They let me stew. Then they reminded again me I could do this.

Pit Crew: This was the biggest category–spouse, family, friends, colleagues–who provided the necessary maintenance to keep me going. My husband gave nightly foot rubs. My nieces colored and played and otherwise distracted me. My department scheduler made sure I taught all my classes on the same days, so I could have days off devoted to writing. The list goes on and on.

local_news_paperback_smallI still sit alone in my study most days, but now I’m aware of everyone out there. My troupe!

Twitter: @miriamgershow
Facebook: http://artist.to/miriamgershow
Website: http://www.miriamgershow.com

Miriam Gershow’s novel, THE LOCAL NEWS, was published in 2009 by Spiegel & Grau. She lives in Eugene OR, where she wrangles an infant, teaches and works on her next novel.

Get the book here.

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