Every woman remembers her firsts: Her first kiss. Her first lover. And her first time contemplating an affair…
Coming October 1st!

**A Doubleday Book Club & Book-of-the-Month Club Featured Alternate Selection for October ‘10

>Q: Tell us about your most recent novel in 30 words or less.
A: Friday Mornings at Nine is a modern fairy tale about three suburban moms who each begin to question whether they’d married the right man or were living the right lives.
Q: What’s the premise/back-cover blurb of your latest novel?
A: Each Friday morning at the Indigo Moon Café, Jennifer, Bridget and Tamara meet to swap stories about marriage, kids and work. But one day, spurred by recent e-mails from her college ex, Jennifer poses questions they’ve never faced before. What if they all married the wrong man? What if they’re living the wrong life? And what would happen if, just once, they gave in to temptation…?

Q: Is your relationship with your friends similar to or different from the relationship between the women in the novel?
A: For the most part, it’s different…and thank goodness! While my friends and I often get together for coffee to talk about our lives, just like the women in the book, the friends in Friday Mornings at Nine have a few things to learn, not only about each other but about themselves. (Big time!) I think they make a fair bit of progress during the course of the novel, but I also think it’s pretty clear that it’s difficult to be a good friend — or a good spouse, for that matter — if you’re not examining your needs and your motivations with a clear eye. I’ve certainly been in group situations with other women where there were secrets and hidden agendas. Where the people involved still had so much personal stuff to work out that they couldn’t be honest — even with themselves — about who they were and what they wanted out of their lives. By contrast, my friends and I, while we’re hardly Zen-like creatures of calm and poise (although I can hear one friend saying, “What?! I am too Zen-like!”), we tend to be pretty straightforward with each other. We have varying levels of comfort when it comes to revealing deeply personal information, and our personalities are different, too, but we also know each other well enough by now to trust that we have each others’ best interests at heart. That none of us would do anything intentional that might hurt another. That sort of trust allows for a great deal of candidness in our conversations. And while we spend FAR more time talking about baked goods than about any subject someone might consider racy (LOL, it’s the truth — talk of hot, muscular guys sadly takes a backseat to discussions about caramel brownies), I’m so grateful to them for being people who know the over-analytical geeky girl that I am and still want to spend so much time with me.

Get your copy of FRIDAY MORNINGS AT NINE here or at your favorite bookseller.

If Oprah invited you on her show to talk about your book, what would the theme of that show be?
How becoming your “Best Self” can require many long years of soul searching and endless hours of listening to sappily sentimental ‘80s tunes.

What was the most fun scene in your book to write?
One scene I had a lot of fun with was the bar scene in the first chapter where my main character runs into her ex-high-school boyfriend for the first time in four years. It was a situation I had never experienced personally, but I could imagine the comical possibilities so clearly and feel and the frustration of my heroine as if I’d been the one standing there, facing the jerk and his latest girlfriend, while Jane Austen ranted about how “insufferable” he was.

Do you have a muse, good luck charm, writing vice?
Before I sold According to Jane, the manuscript was a Golden Heart finalist and my son, an avid coin collector who was 8 at the time, gave me one of his “special quarters” for good luck. I won the award and now keep his quarter on my desk for good luck and inspiration. As for writing vices–I have a terrible tendency to “quote” things (not just in dialogue, but in narrative). Oh, and I also use too many ellipses…

What do you write on (type of computer, or notebook, etc.) and where do you write?
I use every possible type of writing tool, and I use them everywhere. I have a desktop HP for my home office (I’m there most of the time), a Compaq laptop for coffee shop visits and I actually still draft a lot of scenes by hand on notebook paper. I’ve been known to use the occasional carryout menu or paper towel when necessary, too.

Have you had a “rock star” moment regarding your writing career? If so, what was it?
I’m a debut author, so I don’t expect name or sight recognition yet (and I happen to love anonymity, so I’m not rushing it!). But, right after my photo and book cover were printed in the library newsletter, I did get a flurry of phone calls and people stopping me at the local Piggly Wiggly to tell me they’d seen it… That I was famous (!!) and that everyone was going to be coming to my Author Talk. While I’m fairly certain not “everyone” will actually be at that talk, I look forward to assuring those who are that I’m really, seriously NOT famous.

What do you do to celebrate your writing successes?
I’m a huge fan of Thai spring rolls and English chocolate bars.

Describe your personality with five adjectives that would make your 5th grade English teacher proud.
Curious. Persistent. Observant. Analytical. Creative.

According to Jane by Marilyn Brant

In Marilyn Brant’s smart, wildly inventive debut, one woman in search of herself receives advice from the ultimate expert in matters of the heart. . .
It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett’s teacher is assigning Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. From nowhere comes a quiet “tsk” of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who’s teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author’s ghost has taken up residence in Ellie’s mind, and seems determined to stay there.
Jane’s wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the hell of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually far more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go–sometimes a little too quickly, sometimes not nearly fast enough. But Jane’s counsel is constant, and on the subject of Sam, quite insistent. Stay away, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham.
Still, everyone has something to learn about love–perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie’s head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond everything she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending. . .

Praise for ACCORDING TO JANE:
“A warm, witty and charmingly original story.” –Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Tell us, dear readers, what’s the BEST ADVICE you’ve ever been given regarding love?