Maureen McGowan's Blog

Roller Coaster Week

2012-02-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

No one ever said publishing was for the faint of heart but boy, some weeks can be crazier than others. The highs! The lows...

Do you want the good news first or the bad? I'll start with bad...

Those of you who follow publishing news will no doubt have read that the big chain book stores in North America recently announced that they will no longer carry books produced by Amazon Publishing in their physical stores. That means they won't carry some upcoming celebrity memoirs, James Franco's new novel, Deepak Chopra's new book, #1 NYT Bestselling non-fiction author Tim Ferriss's new books... or my upcoming YA trilogy, Deviant.

Some will say that it serves Amazon right. That a retailer has no business being a publisher. Or that their business tactics of late have been bullying. While I agree that Amazon has been throwing its considerable weight around, I do think some of the reactions have been at tad hypocritical. Certainly some of the vitriol I've read in the blogosphere has been.

It's amusing how short people's memories seem to be about who's David and who's Goliath in the publishing business. It wasn't long ago that everyone in the industry was accusing the big chain stores, which many are now rallying behind, of being bullies with unreasonable demands about discounts and returns that publishers claimed would put them out of business. And everyone was up in arms about how the chains were putting the indie book stores out of business.

Let's fact it... it wasn't long ago that the publishing industry was excited about the little tech company from Seattle who was giving the industry another way to get books into the hands of readers.

(And I won't even talk about the fact that Amazon sells the books published by B&N's publisher--Sterling Books--or that B&N also has exclusive titles and editions.)

The monopoly accusations made by some authors make me shake my head too. It's been a few years since I studied economics but if memory serves, what Amazon is doing is called vertical integration, different from a monopoly, and since B&N is pretty much the only game in town in terms of physical book stores now (along with Indigo Books in Canada) who has the monopoly? What it seems to me is going on now, is that for decades the publishing industry has been an oligopoly (a few entities dominating an industry) and Amazon is daring to threaten that oligopoly, to change industry practices, and take a bigger piece of the market.

Sigh...

I love book stores. Big chain ones with their variety and coffee shops. Indies with their customer service and ambiance. And when my first books came out last year it was a thrill to see them on bookstore shelves. I do not want to see book stores go under. But who's going to be hurt by this move the brick and mortar stores are making? For the most part, it won't be Amazon--they've got deep pockets--it will be their authors. Sure, if this move keeps more big-name authors from moving away from the Big Six to Amazon Publishing the strategy might hurt Amazon too but if a retailer is refusing to carry books out-of-hand, regardless of each book's merit or commercial appeal, who is being the bully?

Putting my business-cap on, I think what it boils down to is that while any retailer has the right to choose what merchandise it wants to carry, and I get why they might not like the taste or feel of selling their competitors products, I don't understand why a retailer would want to force customers to go to their competitor to buy that product. A fan of Tim Ferriss, for example, who may have never bought anything at Amazon before, may now become their regular customer, if it's the only place he/she can find Ferriss's new book. If that customer has a positive shopping experience, well, that customer may decide to mostly shop at Amazon in the future.

Are bookstores simply trying to push Amazon into making their e-book titles available in Nook and Kobo formats? If so, I hope the gambit pays off because I'd like my books to be available to as many readers as possible in whatever format they prefer.

In my hopes and dreams, Amazon will make their books available across all digital platforms and the brick and mortar stores will reverse their decisions.

Whether any of these companies are acting out of smart business decisions or fear or spite, I feel like my getting into the debate risks drawing attention to what feels like pettiness--mud slinging and sandbox fights--and I like to stay out of that kind of thing when I can. But at the same time, as a newly contracted Amazon Publishing author, I couldn't keep silent. I figured friends and readers would be wondering how I feel about the whole thing.

And how do I feel? Like a kid whose parents are fighting. I just want them to stop.

From an author's perspective, it sucks to hear that your books will not be in these big chain stores, and sucks even more to have that decision be based, not on your books' merit or commercial appeal but on who published them. (Yes, I know that authors with smaller publishers and self-published titles have been suffering this for years but those reasons made sense to me as they were about distribution logistics and return issues...)

Last week an editor of a book review site, Book Riot, described a dilemma she faced when she was about to give a book she'd loved a positive review--before realizing the book was from the Amazon Publishing ecosystem. Her post is interesting. She made me feel better and worse all at once... I knew having reviewers refuse to read my books, or be predisposed to hate them, and not having the books stocked in some brick and mortar stores were risks I was taking when I chose Amazon as my publisher. (Yes, they chose me but I also chose them).

I went into this with my eyes (mostly) open. And no matter who your publisher is, there's never any certainty that the big chains or indies will carry your books. No guarantee you'll get reviews, negative or positive. I knew there would be pros and cons to choosing Amazon as a publisher, and I still hope the benefits of my choosing Amazon Publishing will outweigh this newly revealed downside--they are, after all, good at getting books in front of the right readers--but it's impossible to even guess at this point. Time will tell. Right now, hearing this news simply sucks.

Did you forget I promised you good news, too?

The same week these worrying press releases came out, I also got some fantastic news!!!

I got a fabulous quote for Deviant from a #1 NYT Bestselling author! Woo hoo!

Quote to be revealed at a future date when I feel more like celebrating. :)

SCBWI vs. RWA Cage Match

2012-02-01T14:00:00.001-05:00

What are the similarities and differences between these two writers' organizations' big national conferences?

I discuss today over at my group blog Drunk Writer Talk.

(Aside) The first manuscript I ever wrote was a romance, as was the second, which I abandoned before revising, having decided that romance wasn't my genre. And while I made that decision back in 2003, I've remained a member of RWA because I love the organization and the friends I've made there.

Now I have a new love... SCBWI. (end of aside)

In my post, I compare the two conferences.

Another difference I thought of after I posted is: free books.

At RWA's National conference you end up with at least 10 free books without even trying (you get them when you register and at each keynote) and by trying you can end up with boxes and boxes and boxes of free books. The big six (and smaller) publishers all host free book signings for their authors. Also the publishers give away at least one title (usually more than one book) for each all of the keynote speakers. (The books are on your chair when you go into the room.)

RWA also has a HUGE author signing open to the general public, where the books are donated by the publishers, and any published member attending the conference can sign. It's HUGE. Hundreds and hundreds of authors signing. And last summer, when it was held at the Marriott in Times Square, the line started hours in advance, trailed through the entire hotel, snaked around the driveway and down the street. It was my first time signing, with Cinderella: Ninja Warrior and Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer, and I have to say it was quite a thrill. Quite a few of the younger teens who came up to ask me to sign books had clearly been given lists of authors they were allowed to talk to/buy from by their mothers. :) Not surprising given the range of authors signing, from well, me (with a young-skewing YA) to full-on erotica novels.

If my comparison had been scoring based on getting books, or opportunities for published authors to get their books into the hands of readers, RWA would win hands down. But from my perspective as an author and conference attendee, I'm not sure I could pick a clear winner.

While I love the free books I get at RWA... I often end up donating them to a library or hospital, or giving them away to friends, and I kind of liked not needing another suitcase to go home. :)

RWA Home Page

SCBWI Home Page

SCBWI Visual Highlights

2012-01-30T15:00:00.004-05:00

SCBWI is the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators. Try saying that three times fast. Or three times slowly for that matter. ;)

I've been to quite a few writers' conferences over the years, but this was my first SCBWI, and I had a fabulous and productive time.

I nearly filled a whole notebook with madly scribbled notes. The full day "intensive" on Marketing for Professional Writers was unbelievably overwhelming. My head was ready to explode by lunch. And that day ended with drinks with my agent and the impressive and witty Jon Fine from Amazon Publishing. Now it's time to sit back and prioritize. :)

For now, here are some of the fun highlights -- just the ones for which I have photographic evidence. :)

Here is the fabulous Mahtab Narsiman, moi and multi-talented Debbie Ridpath Ohi.

Photo taken by Debbie (on the right), also known as @inkyelbows

All of the speakers at this conference were unbelievably high quality, but one fun unscheduled treat was a short presentation by Henry Winkler who writes middle grade novels with SCBWI founder Lin Oliver.

Here's bad and fuzzy photo I obnoxiously took of him when I accidentally ended up standing beside him waiting for the elevator. I should have said hello and asked permission, but didn't want to pass up on the opportunity. My apologies to Henry. :)

After the conference, I did a little chill-axing at the MOMA before taking the train to Newark airport for my flight home. Didn't have nearly as much time there as I would have liked, but stopped for the best cup of hot chocolate I've ever had.

What you can't tell from this photo, was that it was hot in two ways... and spiked. I can't remember all the ingredients but the key ones (beyond hot chocolate) were tequila, chilli flakes and cinnamon. Yum. That's a stick of cinnamon sticking out. Talk about spicy. Burned going down, in many good ways. :)

I will talk more about the content of the conference both here and at Drunk Writer Talk soon.

My Book Deal!

2012-01-12T22:34:00.000-05:00

This news has already been disseminated on some (most?) of my writers' loops and on Twitter and Facebook but for some bizarre reason I failed to blog about it.

I really have become a slacker blogger. I will get back to it. I will.

But for now.... For those of you who haven't heard...

I signed a three book deal with Amazon Publishing! (Imprint and details to be revealed at a later date.) And for those of you who don't read the publishing press... Yes, Amazon is now a publisher. And no, this isn't anything to do with their self-publishing. And yes, the books will be in both print and e-book form.

The deal is for a YA trilogy, that can best be described as a sci-fi thriller. Think Divergent (although that book didn't come out until after I wrote mine, so I definitely wasn't thinking Divergent... but if you liked Divergent, I think you'll like my new trilogy.)

Book one is called Deviant and will likely be released in the early fall of 2012. Books two and three are tentatively titled Shredder and Chosen.

The trilogy is set in a post-apocalyptic world and the heroine is a 16 year old girl who can kill with her eyes.

Here are a couple of tweets by my fabulous agent, Charlie Olsen, sent the day I could finally spill the beans. (I had to sit on the news for MONTHS.)

"Head-bursting action, dark post-apocalyptic world building, lip-biting sexual tension...Deviant's got it all!"

"#FF Hey. You.Yes, you! C'mere. You like action, yes? Romance? Scab-covered mutants that kill humans for fun? Follow @MaureenMcGowan"

Too bad he can't give me a cover quote!

Melancholia -- Oddly Beautiful

2011-11-25T08:57:00.000-05:00

I will get to some slightly more accessible movies, I promise, but I wanted to say a few things about Lars Von Trier's Melancholia.

First, I've been a fan of Danish director Von Trier since Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark and Dogtown. I also saw a very bizarre documentary about him and one of his mentors at the festival one year. I wish I could remember the name of it, but I suppose it would be hard for people to find anyway.

He is one strange dude. But strange in a fascinating if unlikeable way. And his movies are often kind of like that, too. Strange and somewhat unlikeable. He definitely has a point of view and isn't afraid to express it. (Even to the point of that horrible quote he said at a press conference in Cannes this year that got him kicked out.)

But even given that the movie's strange and unlikeable, I really enjoyed Melancholia. It's about the end of the world and two sisters, one of whom is very seriously depressed. To the point she spends a good chunk of her lavish wedding reception hiding out in the bathtub. (and she married Eric from True Blood--that she wasn't joyous enough about that to get through her reception is proof enough of her serious mental illness. ;)

The depressed sister is played by Kirsten Dunst and I liked her in this more than I've liked her in anything since Interview With a Vampire--when she was about twelve. I really believed her character. Hard to play someone that severely depressed and not make it one note. Her sister is played by Charlotte Gainsbourg who is always fascinating in films. I find her real life, or the idea of it, fascinating enough, as she's the child of French singer/songwriter/icon Serge Gainsbourg and the sixties fashion icon Jane Birkin (yes, the Birkin bag was named after her mom.) Kiefer Sutherland plays her brother in law. And both Alexander and Stellan Skarsgaard are in it, playing father and son, in fact.

Anyway... the film is very surreal and has two parts. The first is essentially from the Kirsten Dunst character's POV and covers the night of her wedding reception. (The first five minutes at least are a scene of a long limo doing endless tiny adjustments trying to get around corners on a steep narrow road to take them to their reception. Symbolism...) The 2nd part is from the Charlotte Gainsbourg character's POV, but it's not quite that clean cut. The first part shows the disastrous wedding reception where the bride is an unbelievable mess. And that night they all spot a strange star in the sky no one's seen before.

Turns out it's not a star, but a planet that was previously undiscovered because it was hiding behind the sun. Don't quibble about the science. You kind of just have to go with it. Point is, this planet is moving toward the earth and may or may not destroy the world if it gets too close as it passes or actually hits. The second part is about the characters preparing for this disaster/possible doomsday.

The irony here, or von Trier's "message" is that the one who was already clinically depressed is the one who deals with this impending doom the best. And the cheeriest, most "together" character (Kiefer Sutherland's character who is the very wealthy husband of the Gainsbourg character) is the one who handles it the worst.

Since I think it's fair to assume that Mr. von Trier has struggled with a few mental illnesses himself, it's not hard to get his point here... Maybe the mentally ill among us are actually the most sane.

If you hate surrealism, or strange movies, and didn't like, for example, The Tree of Life, then you probably shouldn't see this one. But it's beautiful to look at, seriously beautiful, (the first ten or so minutes have no dialogue and are just a series of very surreal images), and the performances are astoundingly good (Dunst won best actress at Cannes or maybe Venice... or maybe both) so if this description hasn't turned you off.... go see it. And keep an open mind. :)

Another Olsen Kid -- Who Knew?

2011-11-22T07:23:00.000-05:00

I hereby vow **holds hand up** that I will blog at least once a week, more often if I can, until I've covered more of my TIFF films.

I thought I should start with some of the ones that have already hit theatres...

One I really liked: Martha Marcy May Marlene. (It's easier to remember the title and order of the names after seeing the film...)

This is not an "easy" film but I was completely enthralled and mostly because of the performance by its lead, Elizabeth Olsen, pictured here with Sarah Paulson who's always interesting to watch.

I didn't know until after seeing the film that the actress was the younger sister of the Olsen twins and I'm glad I didn't know, because I might have been distracted thinking about it. But maybe not. She was pretty remarkable in a not very easy part. Time will tell whether or not her performance in her debut movie was fluke but I'm guessing not.

The real challenge of this part is that she has to play this young woman in several different states of mind. One is a lost teen searching for approval and a place in the world. One is a happy, eager new member of a cult, thinking she's finally found acceptance and love. One an obedient soldier in the cult, broken but steadfast. One a desperate escapee on the run. And finally a girl trying to adapt to the real world again and figuring out how to live with her sister and brother in law.

The timelines interweave. If memory serves (this is the problem with blogging more than 2 months later) we first see the escapee version of her character, then the girl trying to cope, then we flash back to when she first met the cult members etc. The tension continues to build as we see more and more of what this girl went through and understand why she's so messed up and acting in such a bizarre manner in the present.

The cult leader is played by John Hawkes from Deadwood and Winter's Bone. He was also fabulous in this. When I was a teen everyone was talking about cults... Maybe because the idealism in the 1970's and the disillusionment with "society" (remember antidisestablishmentarianism?) led more young people toward cults... But this film reminded me why being brainwashed haunted my twelve year old nightmares.

The ending of this movie will likely tick some viewers off. I saw it with a festival audience and even then a few people shouted at the screen at the very abrupt ending. But those people might not have been angry... more startled. That's all I'm going to say, except that with hindsight it was the perfect ending. The only other way they could have gone would be to add a big third act climax with a Hollywood ending... (think the hilarious last act of Adaptation after Charlie Kaufman goes to Robert McKee's Story seminar) but it's just not that kind of film. And we've seen enough at that point to deduce what's about to happen after the projector shuts off.

If you have any tolerance for "art films" this is one you should see. I think Elizabeth Olsen might end up nominated for some awards and might just be a new rising star who will make people think of Kate and Ashley as Elizabeth Olsen's older sisters rather than the other way around.

Ides of March

2011-10-03T19:50:00.000-04:00

Dang, I am a bad blogger. I promised I'd get around to talking about some of the other TIFF films I saw last weekend. My how time flies.

While I haven't found time to blog in the past 10 days, I did manage to see three movies ;) . All films that were at TIFF, but I didn't pick to see there (mostly because I knew they were coming out right after the festival.) I think all three of the fest movies I saw post-fest were great: Drive, 50/50 and Moneyball. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd have to go with 50/50, (because it's the easiest to "like"), but if I had to pick the one I thought was "best" I'd go with Drive.

But back to The Ides of March.

This is a political film starring George Clooney and Ryan Gosling (sounds great, right?) and co-starring Paul Giamatti and Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood (sounds even better, right?). I mean stellar cast, stellar performances, interesting topic... It should have been a home run (to use a metaphor more suited to Moneyball).

But it wasn't home run for me. Don't get me wrong, it was very good. But I wanted to be blown away and I wasn't. I keep trying to put my finger on why.... I think it's because there's really nothing new or groundbreaking about this story. Call me cynical but it's not news to me that otherwise good people with strong values and ideals can do unethical and immoral things in pursuit of power. And in this case in order to get the democratic nomination for the US Presidency.

I feel as if Primary Colors already covered that ground and while this movie is more serious and dare-I-say smarter than Primary Colors, I'm not sure it was as entertaining.

I'm not saying don't go see it -- especially if you're a fan of either Clooney or Gosling -- but don't get your hopes up as high as mine were, because super-high expectations are hard to live up to. :)

Drive and 50/50, on the other hand, both lived up to my expectations. But I'll talk about those soon. :) I promise this time.

The Ones Coming Out Soon

2011-09-23T16:37:00.001-04:00

After promising to post some reviews, I guess I should follow through. I've hit that evil just past the middle place in my current WIP and I've been spending a lot of time banging my head against the keyboard and haven't felt much like blogging.

But here's my take on a couple of films that are out or will be out soon.

Restless

I actually already talked about this one here. According to imdb.com it was released in the US on September 16th. I don't think it's showing up here in Canada.

I give this a "maybe worth a rental" rating. I love Mia Wasikowska--think she's incredibly talented--but the screenplay didn't live up to her performance for me.

Anonymous

This was the one "second choice" I got this year. I'd chosen A Dangerous Method (which doesn't open until December) but wasn't that disappointed to get this screening instead. Both screenings were "day after the gala" showings so it's not like there was any red carpet action going on anyway.

This one releases Oct 28th, and if you haven't already seen the trailer (they've been showing it for MONTHS already) it's set in Elizabethan times (not QE2) and posits another theory for who actually wrote Shakespeare's plays, plus some interesting theories about the rightful heir to Elizabeth's throne.

At least this theory was a new one to me, although I certainly don't pretend to be all that informed about Shakespeare theories. I was definitely aware of the theories that Will could not have been the true author, since there's no historical evidence he was educated, never mind being able to write. The Shakespeare character in this movie (a minor role) was very funny and I enjoyed him a lot. I also like the young Earl of Oxford, played by Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays Arthur in the TV series Camelot. But I'm not certain I really bought Rhys Ifans (photo above) as his older self. I didn't immeditately recognize Ifans, so I don't think I was affected by other goofier parts he's played, but I just didn't buy him as a leading man. I honestly thought he was the villain in the first few scenes he was in and it took me a while to figure out who was who and what was going on. My overall reaction might have been different if I'd seen him differently from the start. (One reason to see again is to see if the screenwriter or actor or director missed an opportunity to make me like/identify with the protagonist...) I think the problem is that they make you think that Ben Jonson is the main character, but he's really not....

Talking about Ifans not really working for me and my issues with identifying a main character probably leads me to my overall reaction to this movie which is: I'm not sure... I think I'm going to see it again when it comes out. My biggest problem had nothing to do with the movie (I don't think) but to do with the couple who were sharing my row near the front right side of the Elgin and destroying my concentration. Both of them had their phones out through the movie, frequently flashing in my eyes, in spite of my telling them to shut up and turn off their phones a number of times. People have suggested I should have called an usher (or one of the big burly men with night vision glasses) but I figured that would just cause more disruption for other people, and I'm not sure if the the big burly men care about phones shining in people's eyes as long as you're not filming.... Generally festival goers are better behaved than this pair, but it was a weekend screening and I don't think they were true "festival goers" if you know what I mean.

Anyway, it was brilliant to cast mother/daughter acting team of Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson as the younger and older versions of Queen Elizabeth I and the obvious age difference between Richardson and Bower (who plays the young version of Oxford) made one major plot twist even more deliciously creepy.

I think this one is worth seeing on the big screen--it's beautiful if nothing else. Full of interesting conspiracy theories about an fascinating historical time. And like I said, I plan to see it a second time. But it didn't blow me away as much as I'd hoped.

Will post my review of The Ides of March some time over the weekend. :)

TIFF 11 Review

2011-09-21T19:22:00.000-04:00

I am going to start posting reviews of all or most of the 32 films I saw... but for now, I thought I'd post an overall review of this year's festival. I know. Exciting, right?

Weather: A

This is more important than you might think. The weather wasn't absolutely prefect, but while it was kind of hot and humid near the beginning (if you got stuck in a line in direct sunlight) and kind of nippy later in the week (waiting in a line at night), it didn't rain! (more than sprinkles) and was overall neither too hot nor too cold. Yay. With all the waiting in lines involved in the festival, this is key. A few of the days were downright gorgeous early fall days.

Ease of Festivalling: B-

Yes, I made up a new verb. Sue me. I decided to fork out the big bucks to be a contributing member this year. While this didn't mean I got all my picks, I did get 29 out of 30. The only one I didn't get was A Dangerous Method (got Anonymous instead) and based on what I've heard people say... it wasn't that great, anyway. Or at least not as great as everyone expected with the Fassbender, Mortensen, Cronenberg combination. Although rating on imdb is quite good I see...

All of my trips down to the box office went smoothly -- picking up book, dropping off picks, picking up tickets, buying a few single tickets, exchanging a ticket... That members and donors line is AWESOME.
On the other hand, I was annoyed that there were even more premium screenings this year. It was hard to pick films to see in the evenings the first weekend because so many of them were off limits for picks with passes and coupons. I think the festival should add some kind of pass or coupon booklet where you can pre-select a certain number of premium films... I don't like buying a Gala pass (hate seeing movies at Roy Thompson Hall) and found the Visa Screening Room disappointing, too, because you end up with no choice... But why not a 10 coupon book or 5 coupon book for premium screenings... In my perfect festival world, I'd have a 30 film pass where I could pick up to 5-10 premium screenings within my 30.

Health: B+

Okay, this is a pretty personal one, but also important. Back when I used to buy a 50 Film pass, I got a cold every year. I haven't become ill the last couple of years because a) I no longer try to go to 9:00 am screenings. That's just crazy. And b) I make sure I eat better than I used to and drink lots of water. But this year I got a monster zit on my nose, the likes of which I've never seen before... So not an A worthy health year. :)

Line Buzz: C

I noticed that now that everyone has a blackberry or iphone in line, no one talks anymore. Nor are they as likely to chatter with seatmates once seated in the theatre. I miss that. Although I do admit to checking my e-mail and reading on my kindle in lines and in my seat while waiting for screenings, too. Next year I vow to talk to more people (assuming I go again). I've met so many cool people at TIFF over the years and missed that this year. It's fun to hear what everyone else loved and compare notes on films you saw in common. Plus, I get kind of strange when I go 10 days without much human interaction. Scary really. And the big zit didn't help.

Overall Experience: C+

The festival just isn't as exciting as it used to be. Maybe I'm getting jaded, but I think it has to do with the fact I couldn't pick any of the premium screenings and most of the "red carpet" events were deemed premium. Also, I somehow picked quite a few films this year that didn't have a Q&A, even though it was a first screening... and didn't have any of those great surprises when the director or actors show up at a next day screening. I miss that.

Films: B-

I will talk about each film later, but basically I didn't have many that totally blew me away. :( And talking to the few people I did talk to in lines (and eavesdropping) most people felt the same way. That it was kind of a m'eh year for films. Maybe that's why the People's Choice was a Lebanese musical... Although I do hope winning that award will mean the film gets a general release. I don't remember a time when the TIFF People's Choice award didn't go on to be a box office success...

More later. :)

A Great TIFF Day

2011-09-13T00:57:00.001-04:00

So, I'm a little too bagged to blog properly... I will get caught up and talk about this year's films properly, but I did have a really great day today. It was a five ticket day. I can't say five film day, because one of them was a "Maverick" talk, not a film, but we did see a film clip as part of it...

My day started with Rampart, starring Woody Harrelson. I will post more about this film... Overall: great performances, interesting, too long. At least that's what I think was "wrong" with it for me.

Then I went to a talk between Indian-born, Canadian filmmaker, Deepa Mehta and Salman Rushdie. She is currently making a movie of his book Midnight's Children that will be out in October 2012. It was a pretty cool talk. I haven't read the book, but the talk made me really want to see the movie and tackle the book, too. Sounds like my cup of tea... No pun intended. Seriously. I did not intend that almost pun.

Then I saw a screening of Anonymous. Very good. I think I'll see this movie again when it comes out (soon). I was distracted by very annoying people sitting next to me who when they weren't talking to each other, one or the other of them had their phone out. That kind of behaviour is rare at TIFF and I wanted to kill them. But LOVED the film's theory on Shakespeare. Loved it.

Then came Pariah, which I understand was one of the darlings of Sundance last winter. And often those films don't do as well with a "real" audience vs. the industry audience at Sundance, but I loved it. I'll talk about this one later, too... But I was riveted. Touching coming of age story at its core. Stunning performance by the lead.

Then my last film of the day was Martha Marcy May Marlene. VERY interesting and tense. Loved it. Again, a stunning performance by the young lead (who happens to have very famous older twin sisters... named Olsen...) A non-hollywood ending that will make some people crazy (a few people swore aloud) and had me sitting stunned through the credits while the theatre cleared out. I have a new theory about the ending... Now can't wait for someone else to see it so I can discuss. :)

Sorry for the very vague references and incomplete reviews. I promise I will talk more about these films and post some pictures as soon as I get some sleep!

And it Begins

2011-09-09T13:29:00.000-04:00

The 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) opened yesterday, so my life for the next 10 days is gone. I have some time today and a bit later in the week where I gave myself a break, (theoretically to write. Ha!), but I'm seeing at least 33 films at this point.

Yesterday, the TIFF was all about U2, with the premiere of the documentary From the Sky Down, but alas, not for me.

That was a "premium" screening, so I couldn't select it with my 30 film pass and frankly I think that film is likely one of the main reasons it was next to impossible to get through on the web or the phone to get single tickets when they went on sale last Saturday.

But, I did have a good first night.

My first film was also a documentary, Into the Abyss by Werner Herzog. He got a (very long) standing ovation when he came on stage just to introduce the film, which shows how well he's respected. Interestingly, there was no standing ovation at the end. I did like the film -- actually, like might not be the right word. It's a hard film to "like". If you want to see an "easier" Herzog film that's playing around still I think, go see Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Mesmerizing.

The subject of Into the Abyss is a very young man who was executed in Texas last year for murders he committed when he was only 18. It's hard to like anyone in this film, and Herzog to his credit does not try to manipulate the audience opinions. Clearly Herzog himself is anti-death penalty, but he doesn't ask leading questions or try to tug at heart strings and gives the daughter and sister of two of the victims a lot of time on screen. And while I didn't like her, either... she's one of the most sympathetic people he interviews. Herzog also dedicated the film to her and all victims of violent crime.

The part of this film that will stay for me for a long time is the realization that this laughing, goofy, immature, uneducated, probably lower-than-average IQ kid we saw interviewed is now dead. Killed by lethal injection 8 days after the interview. And there's no question he was guilty of the crimes. But he was a human being and I suppose more than anything the film showed that he was human, not a monster. Herzog said that after: his crimes were monstrous. He wasn't.

It's probably clear by now that I'm against the death penalty, too and I try to keep this blog away from political or controversial issues, so I'll shut up now and talk about the next film. :)

I also saw the new Gus Van Sant film Restless last night. I'm slightly on the fence about this one, too. It's a more commercial film than a lot of his movies about teens, but I almost found it too commercial or too pat. I might have been influenced by a negative review I read in NOW magazine right before the movie started, but I think my beefs were slightly different than the reviewer's.

The film stars the fabulous Mia Wasikowska which is why I picked it. She really is such a fabulous young actress and she's very good in this. The male lead is the screen debut of Henry Hopper, who happens to be Dennis Hopper's son and for me, he was slightly less than fabulous. I don't know. I had trouble believing a few things he did/said. But generally the performances are very good and it had a very natural, voyeuristic feel.

My issue was the screenplay which I thought was a tad unsubtle. I don't know. As I try to describe it, it all sounds kind of clever and tight... And this is (slightly) spoilerish... A boy trying to get over the deaths of his parents imagines that he's friends with a dead WWII kamikazi pilot and falls in love with a terminally ill girl.

The non-cliche, best part of the story is that it's a really sweet romance. It's clear these two kids are made for each other in a way you rarely see in films. You rarely see two characters who so completely get each other and it's tragic watching them fall in love when you know it will end so soon. I don't know. Maybe I liked it more on reflection. :)

I did wonder as I was watching, "How did the screenwriter get this made? It doesn't seem all that special. And how did he possibly get Gus Van Sant to direct?" Then it all became clear in the Q&A. The screenwriter is a long-time friend of Bryce Dallas Howard... Who produced the film, with the help of her father (Ron Howard) and father's best friend (Brian Grazer). Hmmm.. That's an idea if I want a screenplay made. I need to make friends with the kids of huge Hollywood producers. Must get on that. :)

But to the writer's credit... I did really believe the relationship between these kids and that can't have been just the actors and the director.

Here are some snaps taken last night. The dude in the green pants is the writer and just look how pregnant Bryce Dallas Howard is! I had no idea

Fright Night -- UF or Horror?

2011-08-24T15:02:00.000-04:00

I posted a review of sorts for Fright Night over at Drunk Writer Talk.

In a nutshell. Loved it. In the review I called it a horror movie... but now that we have the genre of Urban Fantasy in fiction, I'm wondering where the genre line lies in movies...

If you've seen Fright Night, is it horror or Urban Fantasy?

Do you think there are true Urban Fantasy movies?

My Zombie Apocalypse Team

2011-08-12T16:32:00.000-04:00

There's a meme going around on Facebook right now where you go to your profile and form your Zombie Apocalypse Team from the first seven people listed on your friend list (FB randomly changes this list all the time...)

Mine was just too awesome not to share and comment on, and I couldn't get it all in the 500 characters you're allowed in a FB status update. :)

My Zombie Apocalypse Team:

Sidekick: Lisa McMann (HOW AWESOME IS THAT?? Lisa is the sidekick of my wildest dreams. I'd be lucky to be her sidekick. :)

Heavy Weapons: Amanda Coppedge Bosky (AWESOME! She knows about zombies. I've seen her reading the manual! For real! I'm Golden!!!)

The Idiot Who Survives: Kaylin McFarren (She's a tough cookie. And so not an idiot. Glad you survive, Kaylin. :)

Sniper: Kristen Millar (I'm glad I got at least one family member on my team. And my cousin's got good aim, I'll bet. :)

The One Who Loses It: Christine Enta (Oh, this is funny. Sorry Christine. But a chick lit writer is the one who loses it??? Oh, the stereotyping.)

The Brains: Loreth Anne White (and it gets better and better. Loreth writes suspense! LOVE my team. Loreth definitely has the knowledge and brains to save us! YAY!)

First To Die: Megan Crewe (Oh, no!!!!! Megan, I'm sure you'll die saving the rest of my awesome Zombie Apocalypse Team. :)

My Zombie Apocalypse Team rocks! We are going to kick a lot of zombie ass!

Book Giveaway!

2011-07-19T18:35:00.000-04:00

Check out the review for Cinderella: Ninja Warrior on Brittany Rochelle's blog The Write Stuff.

And... there's a chance to win one of my books!

Good luck! :)

Interviewed at The Write Stuff

2011-07-18T12:38:00.002-04:00

I have been such a bad blogger **flogs self**.

Today I was interviewed at The Write Stuff by the lovely Brittany Rochelle whom I was introduced to by good writer-friend Marilyn Brant. Brittany asked some great questions, and I'm particularly happy with this interview, which I did back in June. I do believe I answered her questions while I was preparing my workshop for the RWA National conference in New York and the interview includes some good (if I do say so myself) advice for aspiring authors.

Check it out if you have a chance. Interview here.

Tomorrow (July 19) she's posting her review and hosting a giveaway.

How's everyone's summer going? Hot enough for you? ;)

The Magazine

2011-06-02T15:28:00.001-04:00

Cinderella: Ninja Warrior is featured in the summer issue of The Magazine! Read by hundreds of thousands of Canadian kids. :)

Just heard this. Will be running to a news stand to buy a copy, ASAP. :)

And how funny that the "Kind of Like" comparable they use is Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer.

Space Cadet

2011-05-31T13:34:00.002-04:00

I seem to be forgetting a lot of things lately. To many things on my mind? Not enough?

Last evening I had a ticket to see a screening and discussion of Double Indemnity as part of the CBC/Tiff "Books on Film Club" and forgot. Around 5:30 or 6:00 (would have still been plenty of time to get home, grab ticket, and rush over to Tiff Bell Lightbox... I thought, Hmmm... maybe I'll go see a movie.

Went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, mostly because it was the one starting. Was bored, bored, bored, bored. Not sure why. Was it just my mood? Did others enjoy this movie?

Bursting out All Over

2011-05-30T13:14:00.012-04:00

I've been all over the interweb these past few weeks and haven't been doing a great job of keeping up with it all. Why can't time stop for a day so I can get caught up?

That said, today, I'm thrilled to be featured on NYT Bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog Cynsations as part of her New Voices program.

I'm also blogging at the Chick Lit Writers of the World about how Hollywood stereotypes female friendships and how much I liked Bridesmaids.

And there are still some giveaways going on, too!

Black and Blue Ink Enter by June 8th

Books, Thoughts and a Few Adventures Enter by June 1st

To Read or Not To Read Enter by June 3rd

Red House Books Enter by June 3rd

Books at Midnight Enter by June 3rd

My Chaotic Ramblings Not sure of deadline. Still open today.

Cornucopia of Reviews Enter by June 5th

The Book Rat Enter by May 31st

Debbie's Book Bag

2011-05-13T17:09:00.001-04:00

I'm a guest today on Debbie's Book Bag! And she's doing a giveaway.

Check out the very nice review she gave to Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer. :)

Did I mention how much I love book bloggers? :)

Did I include enough smiley emoticons in this post? ;)

Blog Tour

2011-05-13T17:04:00.001-04:00

I'm on tour! Well, a virtual one. One where there are fewer hotel rooms and plane rides. :)

Stop by and say hi if you have a chance. I'll make it worth your while. Many of the stops feature giveaways. :)

It continues through the end of the month, but here are this week's stops.

May 10

Tasha A Trillion Books Interview

Katie A Book Obsession Giveaway

Jazz About Books Blog Review (Love this review. :)

May 11

Irena This Miss Loves To Read Interview & Giveaway

May 12

Kristen Seeing Night Book Reviews Interview & Giveaway

Jenny Dreaming of Books Interview & Giveaway

May 13

Debbie Debs Book Bag Giveaway & Guest Post

Stella Book Lovers Interview & Giveaway

Thanks so much to the fabulous Ginger and Mana at Silver Dolphin Books and to Premier Virtual Author Book Tours for setting this up for me. Thanks to to all the book bloggers. I <3 book bloggers.

Talking about Twisting Tales

2011-04-26T14:57:00.000-04:00

I'm thrilled to be guest blogging at the Indigo Teen Blog today. (For those of you not in Canada, Indigo is the biggest bookseller in Canada.)

The wonderful editors there asked me to talk about the process of updating the fairy tales and adding reader interaction.

I'd love it if you stopped by! Indigo Teen Blog!

Is Hanna YA?

2011-04-20T15:01:00.000-04:00

I saw Hanna last week. Definitely a story I wish I'd written. Totally up my alley in terms of the kinds of stories I'm ~~trying to write~~ writing right now....

But it got me thinking about what makes a book or movie Young Adult vs adult. It's not just about the age of the protagonist. I've seen discussions on the topic before that made sense to me and if memory serves the differentiations had to do with the themes explored etc. but I don't think there are any obvious answers. It might be "you know it when you see it" and it might simply be a marketing decision. Some books, like the Harry Potter series and Twilight and The Hunger Games are clearly YA in my mind, but they get read by a ton of adults. But not all YA stories appeal to adults.

And I think with this current "hot trend" in YA a lot of books/stories are being released as YA that five or so years ago would have been published as adult books, regardless of the age of the protagonist.

Some books that come to mind that have kid protagonists but feel more like adult books to me include: Room, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, and The Book Thief. I recently bought a new YA, Between Shades of Gray, that I'm really looking forward to reading, and I suspect it might fall into that category, too. Certainly the topic feels adult to me, even though it was on the teen shelf at Indigo. (Thanks to new writer friend, Angela Cerrito, for pointing me to this book. Angela's debut novel The End of the Line has just been released, BTW. Angela's book it has a thirteen y/o protagonist but an adult sounding subject. Cannot WAIT to read.)

But back to Hanna and whether it's YA. I did a post a while back about True Grit and how I thought it was kind of crazy that it was being marketed as an adult Western, with Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon as the stars, when clearly, to me, it was a young adult story with Hailee Steinfeld as its star...

Another book and movie that just sprang to mind is The Lovely Bones. I loved that book. LOVED it. And although the main character was young (and dead) I thought of it as an adult book. But I'll bet if it had been first released now, instead of in 2002, that it would have been released as YA. And they marketed the movie as YA, didn't they? And it kind of bombed as a movie. I admit I haven't seen it, which is shocking because I see a lot (a ton) of films and was really looking forward to that one, until I started hearing negative things. Did they tame it down while trying to make it more of a teen story?? Does anyone know?

And then there's Hanna, with the same wonderful lead actress as The Lovely Bones, Saoirse Ronan. And while this story is clearly about a teen girl, and has fairy tale elements to it... To me it was completely an adult story.

Not sure I fully understand why I think this. Can't wait to discuss.

Anyone else seen Hanna? Thoughts? We've been talking about this over at DWT if you want to join the discussion there.

Another Giveaway!

2011-04-08T12:25:00.000-04:00

Today, I'm being interviewed on The Qwillery and giving away another book. Stop by there, if you'd like a chance to win.

And here are photos of a couple more book sightings.

In other news, once a month I meet up with a lovely group of Toronto-(and environs)-based middle grade and young adult writers. We've dubbed ourselves #torkidlit. You can follow us on Twitter or check out our Facebook page.

Torkidlit was started by the lovely and fabulous Claudia Osmond, author of SMUDGE'S MARK, but much of our energy/organization is owed to the equally fabulous author/illustrator Debbie Ohi, also known as Inkygirl.

Debbie made a video this week to show our support for the people of Japan. (Coincidentally, the past several months we've been meeting in a fabulous Japanese restaurant...)

Release -- The Aftermath

2011-04-04T12:12:00.000-04:00

So, the books are actually out in the world. For realsies.

You want proof? I'll give you proof.

This is at a local indie bookseller.

Irony is I'd been trying to get up the courage to go into said bookstore and tell them about my books, hoping that they wouldn't just scoff. I never expected to discover they actually had ordered the books and had them on display. On a table!!!

Thanks to SIL Kate for making the discovery and taking the pictures for me. :)

If you're still hoping for a chance to win a book, stop on by the fabulous Claudia Osmond's blog today: Where the (not-so) Wild Things Are. She's having a Maureen McGowan Monday. How awesome is that?

And the winners are...

2011-04-02T22:51:00.000-04:00

The winners of books are:

Marilyn Brant and Lexie@BookBug

The first one to contact me gets first pick on whether she prefers to receive Cinderella: Ninja Warrior or Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer!

Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by to visit this week. You made my release week very special.

And I know I promised some more info about Sleeping Beauty... It's still coming, I promise.

Also, this week I'm going to be visiting some other awesome blogs.

Monday I'll be at: Claudia Osmond's blog

Tuesday I'll be at: Marilyn Brant's Blog (Total coincidence she won a book. I used a random.org. Honest.)
And at: Linda Gerber's Blog

Further info about my adventures in blog land will be updated on my Keep in Touch page on this blog and my Page at Get Lost in a Story.

If you didn't win a book this time, there will be more chances!

Inside Scoop on Cinderella: Ninja Warrior

2011-03-31T02:14:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, one of my fabulous fellow bloggers at Get Lost in a Story, debut author Donnell Ann Bell, interviewed me. Below is an excerpt from the interview with some insider information on how CINDERELLA: NINJA WARRIOR came about.

Donnell: Maureen, I just have to say I love fairy tales. You're talking to a person who has watched The Little Mermaid at least 15 times. When you described to me the story adaptation that brought about CINDERELLA: NINJA WARRIOR, I made the decision right then and there to pick up this book.

You take the tried and true Cinderella fairy tale, in which the message to little girls is, let the prince save you. You, however, turn it into a kick-butt heroine who can darn well save herself. Love your message. What inspired you to create this version?

Maureen: Thanks, Donnell. When I was asked by the editor to take a shot at writing a proposal for a Cinderella story with a choose-your-own-adventure element, I jumped at the chance. But because the idea had come from the editor, I worried that I wouldn’t be able to tell the stories the way I wanted. The editor assured me I’d have complete creative freedom. To test her assertion, I asked, “Can there be ninjas?” She said sure, and the rest is history.

I also liked the idea of “fixing” some of the elements of the traditional stories that bothered me. For example, the original Cinderella character was too much of a victim for my taste, waiting around for a handsome prince to save her. I wanted to create a strong heroine who was doing all she could to save herself. I also never liked the idea that the prince needed a shoe to recognize her the day after supposedly falling in love, or that he fell in love with her because of her beauty—beauty which he doesn’t recognize the next day when she’s out of her fancy dress. What kind of message does that send to modern young readers about love or their self-worth?

Donnell: Not much of an esteem builder at all. I so agree. Would you say the theme is still good vs. evil, or do you see something else in the storytelling?

Maureen: The traditional fairy tale themes of finding true love and good vs. evil are definitely in CINDERELLA: NINJA WARRIOR, but other themes in the story include: believing in yourself and seeing through the superficial to what really matters—the person inside.

Donnell: You have a prince in disguise and a fairy godfather. Will you tell us about those switches and what inspired those roles?

Maureen: I made the decision about the godfather right from the start. One of the first things that popped into my mind as I started working on this book, (after ninjas), was the line, “Hi, I’m Fred, your fairy godfather.” It just struck me as funny.

That line, minus the word “fairy”, ended up in the book. (He’s actually her real godfather, not a fairy.) But he has a magical secret, too… and that element is something I discovered organically while writing the opening pages.

The prince in disguise was a happy accident while writing—when he showed up at the door, I realized the messenger bringing the invitations to the ball wasn’t who he said he was—but in hindsight that element was essential to the story. I wanted Cinderella and the Prince to fall in love, so I needed to get him into the story well ahead of the ball—especially since, depending on the readers’ choices, Cinderella doesn’t necessarily go to the ball. The prince-in-disguise element also nicely ties together with the theme of seeing the true person inside.

Tune in Friday for the scoop on SLEEPING BEAUTY: VAMPIRE SLAYER.

Release Week Party and Giveaway!

2011-03-28T14:09:00.000-04:00

My, how time flies!

This time last year, I was still working on my two debut novels, Cinderella: Ninja Warrior and Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer, and now they are both being released--on the same day!--to launch the Twisted Tales series!

The official release date is April 1, 2011, but they are already shipping from some online retailers. I can't wait to actually see/hold one myself and/or hear that someone has spotted one in the wild! If you see a copy in a store, please let me know! Even better, take a picture and send it to me. :)

In spite of the long and twisty road I took to this point (worthy of any challenging fairy tale fraught with evil witches) I'm not letting the April Fool's Day release date temper my excitement. Tune back on Friday to find out whether the joke's on me. LOL. I might tell some of the twisty tale that day. :)

In the meantime, here's what the publisher and some fabulous bloggers/reviewers have said about the first two books in the Twisted Tales series.

SLEEPING BEAUTY: VAMPIRE SLAYER

In this thrilling story full of adventure and romance, Sleeping Beauty is more than just a lonely princess waiting for her prince—she's a brave, tenacious girl who never backs down from a challenge. With vampire-slaying talents that she practices in secret, Sleeping Beauty puts her courage to the test in the dark of night, fighting evil as she searches for a way to break the spell that has cut her off from her family. In a special twist, readers have the opportunity to make key decisions for Sleeping Beauty and decide where she goes next—but no matter the choice; the result is a story unlike any fairy tale you've ever read!
Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer is an entirely new type of fairy tale–one that will keep today's kids guessing and offer them hours of magical fun.

"If you’re just a fan of retold fairytales, then Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer is exactly what you’ve been looking for." Maianka Verstraete of I <3 Reading

"It's a fairytale full of teen angst, comedy, romance, mystery and adventure! The 'choose a path' option was brilliant and made the book a lot of fun. I will be looking at other works by this Author and look forward to any other writing she has coming out." - Kristi Stern of The Book Faery

"Once upon a time a story comes along that makes your heart soar and transports you to a world filled with royalty, magical beings and immortal creatures. Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer is one such story." -Aobibliophile of Aobiblioshpere

"This was a wonderful new twist on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. ... Lucette was one butt-kicking vampire-slaying princess." -ReaderGirl of NightOwl Reviews

CINDERELLA: NINJA WARRIOR

In this fast-paced story full of adventure and romance, Cinderella is more than just a servant girl waiting for her prince—she's a tough, fearless girl who is capable of taking charge of a dangerous situation. Seeking to escape the clutches of her evil stepmother, Cinderella perfects her ninja skills and magic talents in secret, waiting for the day when she can break free and live happily ever after. In a special twist, readers have the opportunity to make key decisions for Cinderella and decide where she goes next—but no matter the choice; the result is a story unlike any fairy tale you've ever read!

"An extremely funny, enjoyable and entertaining read that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and brings a fabulous twist to a well-known fairytale." Majanka Verstraete of I <3 Reading

"My favourite princess made even stronger, it couldn’t be better! A world filled with magic with love being the strongest magic of all. A wonderful concoction of Maureen McGowan: a retelling of Cinderella mixed in with wizardry, martial arts, and choose-your-own-adventure!" Tien of Tien's Blurb

"I was never fan of Cinderella to tell you the truth. But this book...oh my...! I wish the original stories were like that! Forget the sweet cliché love story and the poor girl. Here we have witches, championships, warriors, villains and even dragons! How awesome is it?" Yiota of Splash of Our Worlds

PARTY PLANS

All week at Get Lost in a Story we'll be celebrating the books' release.

Stop by there, every day this week, for up to FIVE chances to win one of four books -- 2 of each.

SPECIAL SECRET GIVEAWAY!

In addition to the drawing on Get Lost in a Story, I'll give away two additional copies to commenters on this blog. That's right. If you comment here, and every day on Get Lost in a Story, you'll have even more chances to win. :)

Thanks for stopping by to help me celebrate!

Giveaway Over

2011-03-23T12:45:00.000-04:00

Well, that was fun!

My first foray into Goodreads Giveaways and it was kind of exciting. Just the thought of over 1600 people, most of whom I don't know, entering a contest to win a copy of my ARC was thrilling.

Goodreads picked the winners last night and it got even better!

Two of the winners are people I know. Kwana Jackson and Christine D'Abo!

Like I said... 1602 entries. Maybe 20 of them I knew, (scanning through the entries), Goodreads picks randomly and I know 2!

How fun is that?

Congrats to all the winners! I'll be sending your ARCs out very soon.

ARC Giveaway!

2011-03-16T20:15:00.000-04:00

I'm giving away 10 Advance Reader Copies for Cinderella: Ninja Warrior.

Win and you can get a copy of the book before it even comes out!)

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Cinderella

by Maureen McGowan

Giveaway ends March 23, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Dead on Delivery

2011-03-14T15:39:00.000-04:00

No, not me. :)

Today, I'm interviewing the fabulous Eileen Rendahl over at Get Lost in a Story.

Come on by to chat with Eileen and get a chance to win her fabulous new urban fantasy, DEAD ON DELIVERY.

Letters From Home

2011-02-22T15:43:00.000-05:00

Happy, happy release day to Kristina McMorris, whose fabulous book, Letters From Home, officially hits stores today.

Have you ever seen a more gorgeous cover?

Chicago, 1944. Liz Stephens has little interest in attending a USO club dance with her friends Betty and Julia. She doesn't need a flirtation with a lonely serviceman when she's set to marry her childhood sweetheart. Yet something happens the moment Liz glimpses Morgan McClain. They share only a brief conversation - cut short by the soldier's evident interest in Betty - but Liz can't forget him. Thus, when Betty asks her to ghostwrite a letter to Morgan, stationed overseas, Liz reluctantly agrees.

Thousands of miles away, Morgan struggles to adjust to the brutality of war. His letters from "Betty" are a comfort, their soul-baring correspondence a revelation to them both. While Liz is torn by her feelings for a man who doesn't know her true identity, Betty and Julia each become immersed in their own romantic entanglements. And as the war draws to a close, all three will face heart-wrenching choices, painful losses, and the bittersweet joy of new beginnings.

I met the lovely Kristina when we were both finalists for the Golden Heart competition in 2007, her with this very book. I couldn't be more excited for her. Seriously. Go out and buy this book. Now. :)

Got ARC?

2011-02-16T18:26:00.000-05:00

Look at what came in the mail today!!

A lovely box of ARCs for Cinderella: Ninja Warrior!

Will have to dream up some great giveaway ideas.... Hmmmm...

Interviewing Molly O'Keefe

2011-02-14T14:20:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm thrilled to be hosting RITA® Award winning contemporary romance author, Molly O'Keefe, who just happens to be, not only one of my valued critique partners, but also one of my closest friends. In addition to her RITA® win, she's also won two RT Reviewers' Choice Awards as well as numerous other accolades. She's has 18 novels published by Harlequin and two fabulous longer romances coming out from Bantam Dell in 2012.

For the full interview, check out the Get Lost in a Story blog.

His Wife For One Night

February 2011

ISBN 9780373716883

Jack McKibbon knows the score when he offers to marry his best friend Mia Alatore. He's fixing a bad situation for her—that's all—they aren't making a real life together. She wants to stay on the ranch and he's got his studies and inventions elsewhere. Still, this arrangement is a good deal for both of them.

Until that one night…

A sexy interlude with Mia makes Jack rethink their relationship…and their future. But all his plans grind to a halt when she asks for a divorce. Once upon a time, Jack might have agreed. But now that he knows the chemistry they share, he's not giving up a second chance to be with his wife.

ABOUT MOLLY

Molly O'Keefe has always known she wanted to be a writer (except when she wanted to be a florist or a chef and the brief period of time when she considered being a cowgirl). And once she got her hands on some romances, she knew exactly what she wanted to write.

She published her first Harlequin romance at age 25 and hasn't looked back. She loves exploring every character's road towards happily ever after.

Originally from a small town outside of Chicago, she went to university in St. Louis where she met and fell in love with the editor of her school newspaper. They followed each other around the world for several years and finally got married and settled down in Toronto, Ontario. They welcomed their son into their family in 2006, and their daughter in 2008. When she's not at the park or cleaning up the toy room, Molly is working hard on her next novel, trying to exercise, stalking Tina Fey on the internet and dreaming of the day she can finish a cup of coffee without interruption.

To read the full interview, check out the Get Lost in a Story blog.

Interviewing Anna Humphrey

2011-02-01T12:10:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm interviewing the lovely, Anna Humphrey, author of RHYMES WITH CUPID and the upcoming MISSION (UN)POPULAR.

Anna Humphrey is the author of RHYMES WITH CUPID (currently available) and MISSION (UN)POPULAR (due out June 2011)—both books for teens. She lives in Toronto with her husband and kids.

I've been lucky enough to meet Anna in person through the fabulous @torkidlit tweet group. Follow our hashtag. :)

ABOUT THE BOOK

RHYMES WITH CUPID from HarperTeen is the story of a girl who finds romance despite her best efforts not to.

After a terrible heartbreak last Valentine’s day, Elyse Ulrich has sworn off dating as well as celebrating the February 14th holiday. Both things are a problem, though, since:
a) she works at a gift & stationery store, surrounded by annoying singing Cupid dolls, tacky heart-shaped balloons, and sappy cards with poems that don’t even really rhyme.
b) she ends up meeting Patrick, who works in the same mall and is her new neighbor and her driving instructor and is really cute and incredibly charming… which might be okay except for the whole ‘sworn off dating’ thing…

Elyse isn’t interested in putting her heart on the line. But with Valentine’s Day approaching, she finds out that avoiding Cupid’s arrow is a lot harder than she expected.

To read the full interview, click here: Get Lost in a Story.

Celebrating the good stuff

2011-01-26T14:34:00.002-05:00

I'm celebrating the good stuff over on Drunk Writer Talk today!

What's your good news?

Book Giveaway from Claudia Osmond!

2011-01-24T16:07:00.000-05:00

Today, I interviewed the fabulous, Claudia Osmond over at Get Lost in a Story.

Drop by to read her great answers to my silly questions. If you comment on that post you'll get a chance to win her book, SMUDGE'S MARK!

Claudia Osmond is an only child, wife, and mother who loves caramel apples, hates snakes, stands for social justice, sits at the feet of her Muse, accepts the fact that she’s getting older, denies the idea that her best years are behind her, reads voraciously, writes passionately, sings only when no one’s listening, and admits that she wrote her very first novel in a closet ~ both literally and figuratively speaking.

SMUDGE'S MARK

“With a shaky hand, I laid the brass key on the paper flat side down, and slid it over top of the sketch. It fit the shape exactly. Then the line circling the key uncurled and reformed itself into two words: FIND IT.”

Simon is a fourteen-year-old Orphan with No Options: an O.W.N.O. And “Oh no” pretty much sums up his life. He’s stuck in Grimstown with his prank-pulling grampa and a housekeeper-slash-nanny from you-know-where. Worse, Simon can’t remember a thing about his childhood. Then one night a bizarre dream unlocks some of those forgotten memories, leaving Simon with half of a key in his pajama pocket and a growing awareness that he’s in the middle of a dangerous plot that threatens to destroy Emogen, a hidden realm connected to Earth. In order to save Emogen – and his best friend – from a deadly curse, Simon needs to find out who he really is. But can he discover his true identity before it’s too late?

Again, for a chance to win the book, leave a comment on the post at Get Lost in a Story! A blog for readers of all ages.

Interview with Eileen Cook!

2011-01-11T10:05:00.000-05:00

I interviewed Eileen Cook at Get Lost in a Story, and we talked about her new YA book THE EDUCATION OF HAILEY KENDRICK (and about Johnny Depp). Check it out. :)

Eileen Cook is a multi-published author with her novels appearing in six different languages. She spent most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which is great training for a writer.

You can read more about Eileen, her books, and the things that strike her as funny at www.eileencook.com. Eileen lives in Vancouver with her husband and two dogs and no longer wishes to be anyone or anywhere else.

About the Book

Hailey Kendrick always does exactly what's expected of her. She has the right friends, dates the perfect boy, gets good grades, and follows all the rules. But one night, Hailey risks everything by breaking a very big rule in a very public way...and with a very unexpected partner in crime. Hailey gets caught, but her accomplice does not, and Hailey takes the fall for both of them.
Suddenly, Hailey's perfect life--and her reputation--are blowing up in her face. Her friends are all avoiding her. Her teachers don't trust her. Her boyfriend won't even speak to her for long enough to tell her that she's been dumped.
They say honesty is the best policy--but some secrets are worth keeping, no matter the cost. Or are they?

If you don't believe me, (and why wouldn't you?), here's what major reviewers have had to say about her latest release, THE EDUCATION OF HAILEY KENDRICK:

"Cook effectively builds both Hailey's (justified) feelings of rebellion and the social dynamics of her ostracism, especially in her growing friendship with a challenging townie, Drew, who supervises her punishment working with the janitorial staff....Cook coaxes considerable empathy for the otherwise privileged Hailey as she abandons the achievement treadmill to explore her independence."

--Publishers Weekly

* "Hailey may be an A student headed to the Ivy League, but when it comes to taking a chance on life, she’s clueless. She’s also enormously appealing and great company throughout this breezy read. Yes, it’s chick lit, but of the highest quality—like a gourmet truffle. Cook has whipped up a real treat.”

--Kirkus starred review

You can keep in touch with Eileen online here:
www.eileencook.com
Twitter: @Eileenwriter

True Grit -- A Western YA

2011-01-06T12:41:00.000-05:00

When I walked in the theatre to see True Grit last weekend I was expecting to see a Western. And given how many groups of men were in the audience, so did they. Little did they know, we were about to see one of the smartest, funniest, most tightly plotted, girl-driven young adult stories I've seen/read in a long time.

I've never been a big fan of Westerns as a genre, but I do vaguely remember seeing the 1969 version of True Grit on TV, (probably because I had a now-embarrassing crush on Glen Campbell). And I barely remembered that the story was about a young girl.

When the book was first published, I understand it was put out by as a "book for young readers", and having just seen the new Coen brothers movie (twice), which supposedly follows the original book more closely, I understand that. And really want to read the book. It is a YA story.

I did a (tiny) bit of research before composing this post, and now understand that the original film didn't stick to the material in the novel as well as the Coen brothers did. Plus, in the new version, the actress who plays fourteen-year-old Mattie was just thirteen during filming. The actress in the original was twenty-one. And that says a lot in itself. I was in my early teens when I saw the original on TV and likely could easily see through the adult pretending to be fourteen.

The old version also took out a lot of the comic elements and made it more about Rooster and LeBoeuf and Chaney -- more of a traditional western. I think the Coen's managed to marry the two genres. Or rather make a YA with cross-over appeal, rather than a western. :)

One of the first things that struck me after seeing this movie was what an excellent lesson in POV it is. Perhaps it was just because I'm preparing to teach a POV workshop this weekend and thinking a lot about the topic, but I couldn't help but notice that here's not one scene in this movie that's not from Mattie's POV. Even the scenes that aren't really about her, or that she's not directly part of, we only see through her eyes... Entirely seen through the eyes of a fourteen year old girl. How could that not be a YA?

The trailer makes it seem like an adult western, and I suppose that was smart on the studio/distributor's part, but how little Mattie is in this trailer is misleading. As I said above, she is in every scene in the movie, even if she's just observing a few times. Also, the trailer makes her look like a victim. They skip the important part of that scene in the river. The part where she's incredibly brave.

A good ten or fifteen minutes of the movie goes by before we ever see (or hear) Rooster. And the first time we hear Rooster, she's tracked him down to an outhouse. And the Coen's don't cheat and show Jeff Bridges's face, or go for the potential funny moment of seeing him inside the outhouse with his pants down. Or without his pants down and simply hiding from the girl. No. We're left to imagine what he's doing and just see her banging on the door, saying things like, "you've been about your business for an awful long time, Marshall" and we only see the scene from her side. Similarly, when Rooster is testifying in a court case a few scenes later, (the first time we see his character), we don't see or hear any part of the trial until she walks in the room. Another example is when someone approaches Rooster and Mattie in the forest, when she's high up in a tree, we don't hear the conversation between Rooster and the man, until she's down out of the tree and within hearing distance. Anyone who wants to understand POV should watch this movie.

Even more, anyone who wants an example of an active, decisive, perfectly motivated protagonist should see this movie. Yes, Jeff Bridges is getting a lot of attention for his performance and he was excellent. Yes, Matt Damon is HILARIOUS as the bombastic braggart LeBoeuf (pronounced "LaBeef" in this movie -- which I found hilarious in itself). Yes, Brolin is astoundingly good as Chaney and Barry Pepper is so great in the role of Ned Pepper, I can't even imagine that Robert Duvall did it better in 1969. But the real star of this film is its protagonist, Mattie Ross, played by Hailee Steinfeld. She never misses a beat.

Mostly, I love that this is a story about a brave young girl in grown up and dangerous situations, but instead of being overwhelmed, she holds her own and doesn't need to rely on the adults for everything. Yes, it's true that she does need the adults. She couldn't have gone after Chaney on her own. But she's smart enough to know this and smart enough not to let the men take advantage of her, and even smart enough to push for her own way even when they aren't really trying to take advantage -- but thinking that they know what's good for her better than she does. This girl doesn't take cr%p from anyone. I particularly loved the scenes of her haggling near the beginning and how much she knows about law and how incredibly well-educated and articulate she is. Her word choices cracked me up so many times.

I think she's one of the strongest female characters I've seen in a long time who didn't have unrealistic skills or superpowers. And she's fourteen!

I even think my twelve year old niece should see this movie. I actually went the second time mostly to remind myself of the content because I'd already told my sister that she should take my niece to see it and started to question my recommendation. Yes, men get shot. Men get hung. It is a western. And there is one scene that's pretty gruesome, but it's not gratuitous and (like everything) it's shown through Mattie's eyes, and we feel the horror of it with her. (And compared to the violence in many PG-13 movies, it's really not that bad.)

YA is taking over the entertainment world right now -- it's even claimed the gritty western.

Maria Geraci Interview!

2010-12-27T00:56:00.001-05:00

I interviewed the fabulous Maria Geraci at the Get Lost in a Story blog today! Come on by and say hi!

http://getlostinastory.blogspot.com/2010/12/maria-geraci.html

In other news... hosting dinner for 21 people tonight. Wish me luck. :)

Edgy YA Author

2010-12-13T10:00:00.000-05:00

Today I'm interviewing Governor General Literary Award nominee, Cheryl Rainfield on Get Lost in a Story.

Her book SCARS is fabulous. Difficult topic, but handled so well and such an accessible book.

Come on by and say hi!

Get Lost in a Story

2010-12-03T10:13:00.000-05:00

I've joined a new group blog where our main aim is to put readers in touch with authors.

We launched this Wednesday, and today we're introducing ourselves if you'd like to stop by and meet the gang. You can suggest questions we should ask our visiting authors. You can suggest authors you'd like to see on the blog. Or you can just mock us. ;) Up to you.

Oh, so funny

2010-11-30T19:01:00.000-05:00

I've seen this so many places now, I'm sure you've seen it already, but it so clearly represents the frustration I've felt talking to people since I started working toward writing in a serious way.

Thing is... nine years ago, I might have resembled annoying guy in this... Well, not that bad. But I really thought it was going to be so much easier. How foolish.

Hilarious Critique of NBA Short List

2010-11-12T11:41:00.003-05:00

I think I love this man.

NaNo--NoGo

2010-11-01T20:07:00.000-04:00

I had hoped to start a huge writing marathon today. Not officially nano, but during nano. I hope to finish my current WIP and revise it over the next 4-6 weeks.

Sadly, I'm still finishing off my revisions on another book, AND either I'm having the worst allergy attack, ever, or I'm coming down with a cold.

I'm still hoping it's allergies... We'll see how I feel in the morning. Le sigh.

Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood is in paperback!!!

2010-09-16T01:17:00.002-04:00

Writer friend Eileen Cook's novel GETTING REVENGE ON LAUREN WOOD is out in paperback!

If you didn't snag the hardcover, now's your chance. Even if you did snag the hardcover, why not have a complete set or buy one for a friend?

Here's Eileen's character Lauren, offering her help to the masses.

You can even get advice from Lauren here. popularlauren.com

Not Your Typical Fairy Tale Story

2010-09-14T15:13:00.000-04:00

I'm guest blogging today at Cindy Procter-King's blog about my bumpy adventures on the road to publication.

Stop on by!

Also, I hope to be doing some posts about the film festival, soon. So far have seen two great ones and about 10 "okay" ones. More later. :)

Scott Pilgrim

2010-08-23T15:32:00.001-04:00

Has anyone else seen this SCOTT PILGRIM vs THE WORLD? I LOVED it, and not just because it was set in Toronto. And REALLY set in Toronto, not like so many other movies and TV shows that are filmed here but not set here. There was even one part of the movie where they were on the set of another movie... and there's a bit where characters get thrown through a scrim that's a backdrop of New York. Maybe that's only funny if you live in Toronto and know how many films set in NY are actually shot here... but I thought it was funny.

An aside... but assuming it was shot last winter, they must have had to make a lot of snow... because it was set in a snowy, wintery Toronto, and we didn't get any snow last winter... Just saying. But the city looked great. Reminded me why I love living here. And shots inside places like Lee's Palace and at Casa Loma were really fun, too.

And these examples of tiny things that are almost like background laughs amongst the action. This movie was so funny on so many levels. Highly entertaining. It's shot like a video game, but in a natural way, as if it's perfectly normal for this ordinary guy to have powers and be able to pick up new tools to use or score points when something happens.

I liked it so much, I want to see it again.

If you've seen it, let me know what you think!

RWA 2010 Photos

2010-08-04T09:49:00.002-04:00

I talked a bit about the RWA conference over on DWT today! Stop on by and see some great photos.

What Do Rob Blagojevich and I have in common?

2010-07-29T22:51:00.001-04:00

I got some really bad news in late April that I've been mostly sitting on, hoping I could put off telling people until it turned into good news... And it finally has.

What Blogo and I have in common is the bad news not the good news, and it doesn't have anything to do with fraud or corruption or bad hair...Both of us had our publisher close their doors on April 26, 2010.

Yes, after giving up my entire life this winter/spring, alienating friends and family, nearly driving myself insane to make a crazy deadline... the publisher unexpectedly shut down.

But, the good news is that I have a new publisher! Can't announce all the details, yet, but both Cinderella: Ninja Warrior and Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer will be likely be released in 2011 (instead of October 5, 2010 as previously announced). And there will be new covers, etc. More details soon!

I've already seen a mock up of the kind of cover the new publisher is aiming for and let's just say: very pretty! Very classy! Love the look. Can't wait to see the final covers!!! :)

So, will announce more later, but finally my bad news has morphed into good news.

Plus, my critique partner Ann Lethbridge aka Michele Young won a huge award tonight!

The Daphne Du Maurier Award of Excellence for Published Historical Romantic Mystery/Suspense.

Yay, Michele!

Viral Advertising

2010-07-15T13:48:00.004-04:00

I can't believe I'm posting this sort of ad for Old Spice, but I have to tell you, this viral campaign via twitter is the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Especially this one where he's supposedly saying a few words in support of libraries. For those of you not on twitter (why not??), basically people post questions or requests for this guy @oldspice and he responds via these funny clips on youtube.

"Book's are often composed of many, many words... I'm handsome. You're pretty. Let's eat peanut butter..."

Cracks me up.

Police State and other surprises

2010-06-23T14:31:00.002-04:00

I blogged over at DWT today about an upcoming conference and how Toronto's turned into a police state...

In other news, Toronto had an earthquake today. And not a tiny one.

It's official now. I've felt more earthquakes here (three) than I did in my 6 1/2 years in the San Francisco Bay area (two). Go figure.

Finally.... Bachelor Jake and Vienna split up? What a shock and surprise. ;)

Debut Author Allie Larkin

2010-06-14T12:34:00.002-04:00

We're interviewing debut author Allie Larkin over on Drunk Writer Talk this week. Comment or ask questions for a chance to win a book!

Brontë Sisters Action Figures!

2010-05-20T15:07:00.001-04:00

Chatting about Feedback

2010-05-05T14:38:00.002-04:00

We've got debut thriller author, Chevy Stevens, at Drunk Writer Talk today, talking about getting feedback during the writing/revising process.

Stop on by and say hello!

Best Book Trailer -- Ever

2010-04-28T22:27:00.004-04:00

Okay, I've seen a few other really good ones. But this one cracked me up.

Covers!

2010-04-06T08:00:00.001-04:00

I was excited last week to find out my debut novels are up on all the online retailers for pre-order, and Amazon has the covers up!

Link to Cinderella: Ninja Warrior on Amazon.com

Link to Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer on Amazon.com.

Pretty exciting to see the covers up! And know the release dates. Both books are due to hit the shelves on October 5, 2010.

GH Nominations

2010-03-25T13:55:00.003-04:00

I got a call this morning that my manuscript, SWITCHING SIDES, made the finals in RWA® 's Golden Heart® competition.

YAY.

My big lesson for this past year is to always give things a shot. It's relevant in this case because I almost pulled out of this contest. It's a contest for unpublished authors and I got my first book contract offer right around the time of the deadline to enter this competition. To be frank, I was hoping I'd be disqualified and get my money back. :)

But after talking to RWA® and telling them about my contract offer, they said I was still eligible to enter as long as the contract wasn't signed by November 1, 2009. (And in the end, it wasn't signed until Jan 2010.) Therefore, if I chose not to enter, I'd be forfeiting my already paid entry fee.

So, I decided to roll the dice and pay the shipping costs to get that puppy down to Houston. AND IT PAID OFF!!!

This marks the last time I can enter the Golden Heat®, and I'm a finalist again! (Last time was in 2007) Yippee!!! And with a book that I really love and believe in AND that's never been shopped!!!
(The last time I finalled in this contest, my book had already made the rounds in NYC, so while the contest final gave it a bit of a second chance, that ship had basically already sailed.... Although I am still hoping that particular ship can find some wind again in the future...)

And in even more exciting news, my critique partner and very good friend Molly O'Keefe is nominated for a RITA®!!!

A good day.

Don't Kill the Messenger

2010-03-03T13:47:00.004-05:00

We're blogging about vampires all week at Drunk Writer Talk to celebrate the release of Eileen Rendahl's latest release -- her urban fantasy debut -- DON'T KILL THE MESSENGER. This book is getting AWESOME reviews all over the place.

Stop by and comment for a chance to win her book!

Curling rocks

2010-02-24T08:19:00.000-05:00

Blogging about why curling rocks today over on DWT.

Musings on confidence and killer deadlines

2010-02-23T17:17:00.003-05:00

Confidence is such a funny thing. For me, it waxes and wanes with speeds that defy nature and logic.

Today, this hour, this minute, I feel pretty great. Book one in this new series has been cleared by my editor. Yay. And while I'm terrifyingly behind on book 2 (don't tell my editor. Oops, she sometimes reads this blog...) I feel pretty good about the story and where it's going. Sure, it won't be as super polished as I'd like it to be when she gets it in less than 2 weeks, but I'm pretty sure it'll be a coherent (and damn good) story. And I'm also confident I'll be able to do that polishing after I get her revision letter, a few days later. (Yes, this timeline is hyper accelerated. I honestly expect to get my revision letter a week, or less, after turning in the ms.) So, confidence high right now.

Just a few days ago -- hell, this morning -- I'd been so confused about how to solve a few technical details that I wondered if I'd have to scrap the entire book and start over.

I totally let my confidence in my abilities to solve these problems fade and it left me in a panic. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

I ran into my sister in law this morning by accident, she asked if there was anything she could do to help (grocery runs, cutting off my internet access) and I told her confidence was my biggest barrier to meeting this deadline right now. LOVED her response. She said she believed in me and reminded me she'd been telling me that for nearly four years, ever since I let her read one of my manuscripts. She said if I lacked confidence she took it as a personal insult -- me suggesting that she was wrong about my talent. LOL.

Thanks K. And thanks too, to CP's Molly and Sinead for pulling me down off a yet another ledge this weekend. Not only did they talk me through my plot issues, Molly kept repeating, "It's going to be okay. It's going to work out." In a sincere way that made me believe her.

Good friends and family rock!

Modern Family Love

2010-02-10T13:51:00.001-05:00

Blogging about my obsession over the show Modern Family on Drunk Writer Talk today.

Coffee Shop Offices

2010-02-03T16:06:00.002-05:00

I've read a few articles lately about the "war" between people who use coffee shops as offices and those who think coffee shops should only be used for socializing/drinking coffee. According to the articles, some coffee shop owners have been covering up outlets with tape, to prevent (people like me) from plugging in laptops and staying for hours.

Clearly, since I often use coffee shops as my office, I can't side with the "social only" folks, especially the ones who want to ban laptops, but I think there's a balance.

I always try to spend enough money to compensate for how long I sit... It's not fair to the owner or other customers if you buy a small coffee at 10:00 am and stay all day. I've considered asking the owner of my local shop whether me sitting here for 3-4 hours some days pisses him off... But he almost always gives me free coffee when he's serving, so I assume not.

Second, I try to be considerate of the customers who are here to socialize and don't expect them to modify their behavior for me. That said, I have been guilty of a sneer or two at really loud talkers. I mean, seriously, some people talk loudly enough to be heard on another planet. But I always carry ear buds, and if a conversation near me is distracting, I plug them into my laptop and turn some music on low to buffer/dull the loud talker.

But another person who uses my local coffee shop as an office is here today... And he's pissing me off. Why? He's been on the phone. Constantly. I've been here for nearly 3 hours and he was here when I came in. Was on the phone then. Is on the phone now. And buddy, shielding your industrial strength headset with your hand doesn't keep me from hearing your very loud, very annoying voice beside me.

Maybe that's where I stand. If someone's distracting me being social, I assume it's my problem, not theirs. But if someone else who's using this public space as an office distracts me, I'm annoyed.

And don't get me started on the groups of 20 or more mommies who come in together with strollers and expect everyone else to move to accommodate them. At least my current fav office away from home is too small for those stroller groups.

Sumo Awesomeness

2010-01-24T15:15:00.004-05:00

Check out this Japanese promo spot for Glee. Makes me smile. :)

Seriously?

2010-01-17T23:48:00.002-05:00

The Hangover? Seriously?

That's all I have to say.

Oh, and that Tobey Maguire was amazing in Brothers. If you didn't see this film when it was out for about a week... rent it for his amazing performance alone. Stunning. Thanks Golden Globes for reminding me about a great film.

Finally, Molly's blogging about my stress over at Drunk Writer Talk, I guess because I'm too stressed to do it myself. ;-)

Stuff I Like

2010-01-13T18:17:00.000-05:00

Blogging with my fellow drunk writers today about stuff I liked in 2009.

Guest Blogging

2010-01-09T17:01:00.003-05:00

Today I'm guest blogging on Elisabeth Naughton's blog to help celebrate the launch of her new book, STOLEN SEDUCTION.

Stop by for a chance to win a copy of THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE, and if you're really lucky, a $100 gift card!

Hooked on Vampire Diaries

2009-12-18T21:31:00.005-05:00

I saw the first episode of Vampire Diaries when it aired back in the fall and kind of went, "M'eh."

Didn't hate it, but didn't like it enough to set my already way too busy DVR. But this week, while not much else was on, Much Music, up here in Canada has been showing back to back episodes all week and boy, have I got sucked in. (Pun intended.)

What I hadn't realized before was that Kevin Williamson was the writer. I didn't watch Dawson's Creek the first time around, either, but did catch a bunch of them in syndication and totally got the appeal of that show. Witty repartee and teen angst. What's not to love?

And now Vampire Diaries: witty repartee, teen angst and hot, hot vampires.

Not to mention Boone from Lost. Yowza. I know it's a little sick, but that Boone loves his sister subplot from the first season of Lost was one of my favourite subplots, although it might have had more to do with his eyes and the way he looked at her than the actual writing.

But regardless, it's great to see that actor on TV again and in such a great role. I totally feel like a cougar. A cougar who wants the hot bad-boy vampire. Wow. Sick.

First release day!

2009-12-08T07:57:00.001-05:00

So suddenly, all I'm blogging about is firsts. To be more accurate, I suppose, I haven't been blogging much at all lately, but that's mostly because of another first, my first real deadline that's looming over me like an overhanging cliff in an earthquake. Don't stand under the huge chunk of shaking rock, idiot! LOL

But today is the official release date of the anthology my short story, "Lost and Found" is in. Not quite the same as a debut novel, but it is the first time my fiction has been in print -- well, unless you count high school yearbooks and the like. And my yearbook didn't have such a hot guy on the cover.

Although it's officially available today, Amazon and other online booksellers have been shipping this book for more than a week now. In fact, it seems like they're running low on stock because the ship by date has stretched out. But still time to get it by Christmas. 20 authors for the price of, well, less than 20. ;-)

Can't wait to actually see a copy in a bookstore. Will be heading down to my local store this week to hound them into shelving it, if they still have it in the stockroom, or ordering it, if they haven't. They have stocked the previous "Mammoth" romance anthos, so I'm hoping they stock this one, too. If not, I'll beg and plead and promise to send people to the store to buy it.

If anyone out there sees this anthology on a shelf, let me know. Better yet, take a snap. Very exciting. And if you'd like a chance to win your very own copy, I'm also blogging on the 2007 Bond Girls blog today and giving away a book!

First book deal!

2009-11-27T09:22:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I've been sitting on this news for a while now, waiting for various details to be hammered out. Sitting on it so long, in fact, that this announcement feels almost anticlimactic. But, really, how can there be anything anticlimactic about announcing MY FIRST BOOK DEAL.

Yes, I have been offered a two book deal! Someone is actually paying me to write! Someone is making a bet that readers will put down their hard earned cash to buy something I wrote! Wow. (Something more than a short story, that is. To read my first published short story, order here. ;-) Already shipping from Amazon in the US. Just saying....)

The offer was made based on a proposal :-) and it's for two YA novels, (young teen, really), a genre I've been flirting with for a long time, but had yet to tackle beyond the ideas stage.

The books will be released in Fall 2010 (yes, that soon **Maureen is writing very quickly**) by Phoenix Books, a Beverly Hills based publisher better known for celebrity non-fiction and audio books than for kids fiction. (But hey, they did publish Carl Reiner's children's picture book.)

And I'm super excited they chose my series to help launch them into this segment of the publishing world. (Not that they don't know the teen/tween market... One of their current titles is "I Heart Robert Pattinson".

The books are the first two in a planned series based on fairy tales, but with a few twists -- including a "make your own adventure" element where the reader gets to choose what the characters do next.

The first two books are:

CINDERELLA: NINJA WARRIOR, wherein Cinderella is not that interested in going to a ball, and uses her martial arts and magic skills to defeat her evil stepmother and win the heart of the prince.

And...

SLEEPING BEAUTY: VAMPIRE SLAYER, wherein a princess is cursed to sleep during the day, and everyone else in her kingdom is cursed to sleep at night -- when the vampires attack. How's a girl to find true love and break a curse when all the non-bloodsucking-type boys are asleep?

We're already talking about books 3 and 4 and I'm excited about those ideas too, and the ones I have percolating for books 5 and 6 and... I'm getting away from myself.

I've always loved the magic, wonder and happy endings offered by fairy tales, but even as a kid was bothered by all the passive heroines in peril, waiting for their princes to save the day. I'm thrilled to be re-imagining these much-loved stories with tons of girl power, lots of action and danger, and yes, handsome, charming princes, too. But in my fairy tale world it'll take more than good looks for the heroines to win a happily-ever-after ending.

And I'm hoping these books will mark a happy beginning for me. After several other projects came so close to making it to the ball, but never quite got there, I feel a bit like Cinderella myself right now. Gotta run, pumpkin carriage outside... ;-)

Blogorama!

2009-11-11T00:57:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I've been sorely neglecting this blog of late, but today I'm blogging on both Drunk Writer Talk, (about Mad Men), and on Nobody Writes It Better, (about Remembrance Day).

Ready, Set, Go!

2009-10-23T00:28:00.000-04:00

About to embark on a rapid writing marathon a la Nano. (Okay, I have signed up for NaNoWriMo, but can't be an official "winner" because I'm already 4K into the book, and hope to be at least 15K in before the end of October and the official NaNo start. But definitely plan to get at LEAST 50K done in November, too.

If you're on NaNo, be my buddy. I'm on there as mmcgowan.

Wish me luck!

Agent Hunting Exposed

2009-10-21T10:39:00.001-04:00

I'm blogging about the great agent hunt over on DWT today. Who is rejecting whom?

I had fun with it. Check it out. :-)

Introducing.... Chevy Stevens

2009-10-19T15:49:00.004-04:00

About 3 years ago, I sat across the aisle from a woman during a Donald Maass workshop at the Surrey Writers conference.

She was so strikingly attractive she was the kind of girl a girl like me almost wants to hate instantly, or at least make assumptions about (shame on me). ;-) But soon I noticed we were nodding at the same insights from Maass, smiling at the same things, rolling our eyes in the same places, and even making eye contact a few times. Writer flirting?

We talked during the first break, found out more about each other and each others writing, and became instant friends, staying in touch via e-mail since then.

So, I couldn't have been more thrilled to hear when she got her first publishing contract last year!!!!

Writing as Chevy Stevens, her thriller STILL MISSING will be released by St. Martin's Press in July, 2010, and is already generating a huge amount of buzz. (Bzzzzz....You hear it, don't you!)

Right now, bookreporter.com is giving away 60, yes 60, specially formatted early reader copies of STILL MISSING to readers who would like to preview the book and comment about it.

Get yours while they're hot!

(I read an early draft of the opening of this book and all I can say is WOW.)

Chevy on the web.
Chevy on facebook.
Chevy on twitter.

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

2009-09-16T12:05:00.006-04:00

LOVED this movie.

Also glad to have had a good movie going experience at Roy Thompson Hall, again, after not going to a gala for the past seven years.

The experience was good because of a smart gamble I took in line. I had a balcony ticket. And Roy Thompson Hall is a symphony hall. Built for acoustics, not for viewing movies, and I already knew that watching a movie from the top balcony, with it's pale grey walls bouncing all the light so that you can see everyone in the theatre, as well or better than you could see the movie, was distracting at best. But while standing in the ticket holders line, about an hour before the movie was to start, a TIFF volunteer came by with a stack of tickets for the main floor level and offered them to us in exchange for our tickets. Most people weren't taking them. And after going in, I can kind of see why. 99.9% of the main floor seating is taken up by reserved seats for the various sponsors of the gala. But if you're only looking for a single ticket (as I was) and are willing to sit either on the edges or up front, it turned out to be a really good deal. I landed a seat in the second row, on an aisle. Yes, the movie was close, but only felt too close a couple of times, and I was right down front for when they introduced the cast and director at the start.

Unfortunately, my photo op dreams were dashed when a gaggle of photographers rushed in about five minutes before the introductions to block what would've been an amazing view. C'est la vie. Here's a lovely photo of one of the jerkiest photographer's backs. Jerky, because he stood back about 4 feet from the stage, to block our view even more effectively... I could almost touch him he was so close. Should've kicked him in hindsight. (But then I likely would've been kicked out and missed the movie.)

Anyway, I will post the photos I did manage to take.

And say something about the film... because it is about the film and not about photos of Keanu Reeves and Robin Wright. ;-) Really.

Loved it. The screenplay is based on a book by Rebecca Miller, who also wrote and directed the movie, and is also married to Daniel Day Lewis, so it's a little hard not to hate her, but her movie was so good, I can't. (She's beautiful, too... The next photo is of her.)

The story is about a middle-aged woman (I just had trouble typing that... because I think it's about a woman about my age) who's married to a much older man, and while the core of the story is anchored in the present, it makes heavy use of flashbacks showing Pippa growing up.

All the performances were outstanding. Even Blake Lively, one of the chicks from Gossip Girl, was good playing Pippa as a young adult. A stand out was Maria Bello as Pippa's mother. Wow. She's always good, but boy was she amazing in this.

Even all the small roles are played by great actors. Julianne Moore has a tiny, fun cameo. Winona Ryder was hilarious. A few of my laugh out loud moments came from her kind of pathetic character. And Keanu Reeves continues to impress me, now he's matured a bit. I thought he was terrific in that Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson movie, the name of which escapes me right now, and in some smaller films like Thumbsucker. I like that he's not afraid to play into the stereotypes about him as a person, and plays characters who suit him -- quiet, sensitive men -- instead of trying to be the alpha guy. (Like he did in a few ridiculous movies back in the 1990's. I mean really, even as Neo, Reeves was not an alpha.)

And what can I say about Robin Wright (sometimes Penn). Acting goddess. She was so believable in this movie, and I have to say one of the main reasons I love her these days is because she has wrinkles. It's been so long since we've seen the forehead or eyes of female actors (even some male actors) MOVE when they express emotion. I really hope this botox trend dies soon. But that's a blog for another day.

I know I haven't said much about the actual film, except to say I loved it, but I don't want to say too much. It is a "character study" kind of film... almost a coming of age film, even though it's set during a mid-life crisis of sorts, but it made me laugh out loud several times and it made me cry more than once (the mother-daughter stuff is very good). I'm not sure Pippa is someone I'd be friends with in real life, but boy did I feel like I understood her and how she got to be the way she was by the end. I predict award nominations for Robin Wright and possibly the screenwriter/director, Rebecca Miller, too.

Balibo

2009-09-16T11:32:00.007-04:00

Well, yesterday was my first "wow" day of the festival and I have a sneaking suspicion it might be my one wow day this year, but who knows.

First Balibo. This is a film I bought a ticket for at the last minute, after getting an alert from the TIFF late Monday night that there still were tickets available. And I'm so glad my will power was weak at that moment.

It's an Australian film, set in 1975, about events I admit I knew nothing about before this. I suppose I'd vaguely heard of East Timor, but barely, and really don't know much about Indonesia, either.

To sum up the (true) story very quickly... East Timor was a Portuguese colony for about 400 years. It declared it's independence and very soon after, neighbouring Indonesia invaded committing many atrocities, and the world not only sat by and did nothing, but purportedly helped Indonesia, since some felt the new government in Timor had communist leanings.

But the story focuses on Australian journalists. Five who went into east Timor to a small village named Balibo, near the Indonesian border, a few weeks before the main invasion, and then one older journalist (played by Anthony Lapaglia) who went 3 weeks later to try to find them, or find out what happened to them.

I found the story moving and engrossing and like other films of it's kind, like The Killing Fields, Shake Hands with the Devil and Hotel Rwanda, it exposes events where history can look back at decisions made by the UN, in particular the powerful countries of the world, and we have only to hang our collective heads in shame.

The exciting thing about this film coming out now, is that it's now East Timor's tenth anniversary of breaking free of Indonesian rule, and also largely because of the film, Australia is now persuing war crimes charges on those responsible.

In this photo of the principle cast members, the actor, next to Lapaglia is Oscar Isaac, who played Jose Ramos-Horta, who represented East Timor, in exile, for 24 years in the UN and who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 and is now President of the country.

The film follows two timelines, interweaving them. Basically the route of the missing five journalists, and the route of Lapaglia's character, Roger East, and Jose Ramos-Horta following behind three weeks later. It all builds to a pretty horrific and moving conclusion.

This film got so much buzz during this year's festival, I kind of expect it will get some kind of distribution. I hope so.

If it comes to your city, go see it.

TIFF -- Whip It!

2009-09-15T08:45:00.001-04:00

First, who knew there was another Wilson brother? Not me.

Monday morning, (I know, Monday morning!) I saw WHIP IT, Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut about Roller Derby.

I’m a little on the fence about this film, but mostly on the positive side -- just not on the jumping up and down raving about it side. Some of the performances were amazing. Marcia Gay Harden as the mom, Kristen Wiig, as usual stealing scenes with her dry delivery, andJuliette Lewis in a great performance in a made-for-her role. I mean, really, why hasn’t Juliette Lewis played a roller derby bully before now?

But back to my opening question... Through the whole film, I kept wondering, who does their coach remind me of? It wasn’t his appearance, it was his voice, his accent, his phrasing, his entire manner of speaking. And it finally hit me: he was doing a Luke Wilson impression. Or that’s what I thought, until we got to the credits and I saw the actor was named Andrew Wilson.

A quick peruse of imdb.com shows he’s been in quite a few films, but I don’t think I’ve noticed him before. Also turns out that it's actually Owen Wilson who does a pretty great Andrew Wilson impression, since according to their bios on imdb.com, Andrew is the oldest.

And, of course, I haven’t even mentioned the lead yet, Ellen Page. She was good, as always, but I thought the biggest stretch of the imagination for the audience was to believe tiny little Ellen Page as a roller derby player. But that’s why I’m glad I stayed for the Q&A.

I wasn’t at the first screening of this movie, and so neither Drew, nor any of the actors were at the screening I was at... :-( but who was there was the screenwriter. And I couldn’t have been more thrilled. I mean, we all know the writer’s the star, right? Here's a photo of the writer, Shauna Cross, during her Q&A.

Cross said a couple of interesting things about casting Ellen Page. First, that she pretty much wrote the part with Ellen in mind, after seeing her in Hard Candy. (A very disturbing little film, if you've never seen it.) Second, that she was attached to this project before Juno even happened (crushing my assumptions) and third, that there are lots of girls that tiny in roller derby. Who knew? The tiny girls are prized for being fast, getting through small holes in the pack, and bouncing back up when they fall. Hmmm... Shows how much I didn't know about roller derby. I mean, who even knew that roller derby had experienced a revival? I thought it had died a well-deserved death in the 70’s.

But while I’m still not sure I really developed an appreciation for this campy, showy sport, that has more in common with the WWE than speed skating, I do now understand the objective and how you score. :-)

And was very impressed that almost all of the skating and stunts were done by the actors, especially Ellen Page, who the screenwriter says could easily hold her own in a real roller derby league. There was actually a live demo of the sport in downtown Toronto Friday night featuring the cast and some local roller derby players... but I couldn't go.

So, I guess I haven’t really reviewed this film… It’s a tad predictable (but with a few choices that are less than cliché). I certainly could've done without a few things, like the food fight, but overall the performances and writing make it an enjoyable film to watch.

It opens in a couple of weeks. Here's the trailer if you haven't already seen it.

V.O.S.

2009-09-14T15:14:00.003-04:00

And so it begins. I saw the first films of my much abbreviated festival this year.

The first one was really interesting, if not amazing, and I have no idea whether or not it will ever see the inside of theaters in North America. It was a Spanish film called. V.O.S., which in Spanish basically stands for Original Version – Subtitled. And I’m still puzzling over that title, slightly, especially after the director explained that while the film was bilingual, the actors speaking in both in Basque and Catalan, it was actually dubbed for its theatrical release in Spain. (Whereas, we saw it with the original actor's voices, but subtitled.) I assume it had something to do with that? Or a joke on what's real and what's fake? (see storytelling structure, below.) I'm not sure.

There were two interesting storytelling choices made in this movie. First, it’s told out of order, with the actors directly addressing the audience (almost) at times. In addition to this out of order thing… one of the main characters is writing a screenplay based on the story that’s supposedly happening to the characters, so occasionally there are parts where other characters break out of the scene to argue with the screenwriter character, to say, “That’s not how it happened.”

And if all that weren’t enough, it’s quite obviously filmed on a sound stage, with the “crew” interacting with the actors at times and the actors walking from set to set and by the end almost seeming like they were actually living in the sets on the sound stage. Confused? Well, so was the audience, but I think we were supposed to be. One of the sections of dialogue was actually an argument about the storytelling structure being too complicated. But in the end (actually, by about 1/3 of the way in, it was all fairly clear.)

The movie was based on a stageplay and from what I understood during the Q&A, the only thing really added to the screenplay from the stage script was this idea of the film crew being part of the movie.

I know all that sounds really complicated… but it was actually quite entertaining and funny in parts and the lead actor was hot, which goes along way for me. ;-) Okay, he might not look super hot in the photo above, but trust me. He had a bit of a Gerard Butler thing going on.

Captain Harkness!

2009-09-11T10:39:00.003-04:00

More than four years ago, when I was visiting my brother and sister-in-law, who were living outside of London at the time, I must've inadvertently signed up for a newsletter that comes about 4 or 5 times a year, listing ticket deals for the latest West End plays. I'm sure I could unsubscribe... but figure, why?

And this a.m. I got a big answer to why not. Check out this photo of John Barrowman for a production of La Cage Aux Folles. I assume it's him. It kind of looks like him. He is very pretty.

I blame Amy Ruttan and Christine D'Abo and Wylie Kinson for getting me started on watching Torchwood. I admit it was a bit of a slow burn for me. Was ready to give up after first couple of episodes, but then I got totally and completely hooked. And a big part of that was getting past Barrowman's (for me) corny acting to focus on his overall hotness, especially the hot looks he often gives to the other actors, male and female. I want to go to London to see this play now. Anyone have a spare thousand dollars or so? Please?

Caved

2009-09-10T19:57:00.002-04:00

Totally caved and bought a few tickets for the TIFF today. Not even sure how many right now. Got so annoyed with the website...

Even bought a gala ticket by mistake... (To a film starring Robin Wright Penn and Keanu Reeves that I think actually sounds pretty great. I'm a big fan of the on-again-off-again Mrs. Penn.) I knew it was a "premium" ticket, but thought it was one at the Elgin. Oh, well. I shall try Roy Thompson Hall again. I haven't seen a screening there since 2002.

The good news, for those of you mourning my lack of TIFF attendance, is I will be blogging about a few films!

The bad news is all for my finances... The tickets, bought individually, are either about $22 or $45 (all in with the taxes) depending on whether they are "premium" screenings. Still so angry about that premium thing that started last year with the Elgin screenings... See my posts from last year's festival for the rants. They so figured out how to ruin the good thing I had going with the festival, spending most evenings at the Elgin where I could hang at the VISA VIP lounge for gold card members and get into the theatre in front of the line on the street. Guess too many other people figured out the great scheme, too...

Based on these prices, the $600 for 50 films is starting to look like a good deal after all. Not that I have time for 50 films this year. Pushing it to go to the ten or so I chose. Just saying.

I was going to go to the midnight madness showing of Jennifer's Body tonight. I'm interested only because Diablo Coady wrote it, and it's the first night, which is fun... but the buzz is not good, so I don't see the point in standing in a line outside for 3-4 hours to possibly get the opportunity to pay $22 to see a horror movie, and get in at the last second to get a crappy seat and probably miss the introductions of the cast, when I really kind of hate horror movies.. But I do like the midnight madness screenings none-the-less. Fun crowds go to movies at midnight.

Tooting my own horn a little over on DWT

2009-09-09T16:05:00.001-04:00

But some meat in the message, too... I hope....

Are Contests Worth It?

Win Tons of Books!!!

2009-09-02T23:52:00.003-04:00

My good friend Louisa Edwards' first book has hit the shelves! Yippee!

Isn't it a gorgeous cover? I for one can't wait to dig into this tasty treat of a story about chefs and, um, food. And, to make things even better, she's running an amazing contest on her website.

Just check out the bag-o-books she's giving away!

Can’t Stand the Heat by Louisa Edwards (signed!)
Hunt Her Down by Roxanne St. Claire
The Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter
Red Kiss by Deidre Knight
Surrender of a Siren by Tessa Dare
Dark of Night by Suzanne Brockmann
A Hint of Wicked by Jennifer Haymore
Vision in White by Nora Roberts
Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione
Julia & Julia by Julie Powell

Go to Louisa's new site to register!

TIFF is in the air

2009-09-02T13:44:00.002-04:00

The days are starting to shorten, the nighttime air is getting cooler... All signs t'is the season for the Toronto International Film Festival. Pout. I'm not going this year.

I know this will come as a shock to many, but I decided the combination of the cost, the time, the recovery and the timing this year, were all too prohibitive.

First, it's a lot of money to do the whole thing. Especially since they turned the Elgin into a "premium" venue, thereby screwing pass holders. Still annoyed about this. Sure, I could've just gone to a few movies, but I'm not good at doing things half-way and it likely would've ended up consuming too much of my attention anyway. See #2
All in, the festival takes up about 2-3 weeks of my life. Between standing in lines to pick up the selection book... and picking my films, and standing in line again to hand in my picks, then again to pick up my tickets, then again to exchange tickets because of inevitable screw ups... It takes at least a week of my life, before the films even start. Then the next 11 days are consumed, and I mean consumed, by seeing films. I'm typically out of my house for minimum 15 hours each of the 11 days of the festival. Typically out of the house before nine and rarely home before midnight... And that takes me to #3.
It always takes me at least a week to decompress from the festival and get back onto my writing schedule. It's so exhausting and so overwhelming and between going and trying to blog about it, it takes over.
The early September timing is often an issue. I invariably end up missing a couple of important meetings because of the festival. And both my sister's and her hubby's birthdays fall during the festival most years.... so I forget those and feel badly. But this year, my parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. (I know, crazy!) And since the party is right after the festival, there is no way I could justify going this year.

Tiff... Wait for me. I'll try to be back next year. Not sure I can quit you... (Quoting one of my fav films I saw the premiere of at the festival...)

Behavior Change Incentives

2009-08-24T14:37:00.002-04:00

How much does it take to change your behavior?

For some bad habits, a lot, when it comes to me... But one thing that's really struck me these past months is how many Torontonians (including me) will alter their behavior for a nickel.

Yes, for years now, many environmentally conscious people have been bringing their own bags to grocery stores. I did when I thought of it... (my local market is basically a health food store, and they've always had really good, reusable bags... but I didn't always remember to bring them.)

But they passed a law in the Toronto, and since June 1, 2009, it's the law for retailers to charge at least 5 cents for a plastic bag. And I'm not sure I've spent a nickel yet. (Oh, yes I have. On delivery food. I mean, you can't take your own bag to the restaurant for the delivery guy to use. Would kind of defeat the purpose of delivery...)

I have a bag that's always in my purse... and when I go to get groceries, I never (rarely) forget my bigger bags anymore. If I do, I only buy enough to fit in the small one in my purse.

So, apparently, a nickel is enough to change my behavior. I guess it helps that it's a behavior I wanted to change... just needed the nickel push.

And it also helps that it's changed the behavior of the sales clerks. Now, they have to ask, "Do you want a bag?", whereas they used to just automatically start dumping your purchases into a bag and you'd have to stop them and say, "Hey, you know what? I've got a bag," or, "I can fit that into my tote bag, or backpack, or put it in with my sweaty gym clothes."

Apparently I'll do a lot for a nickel. How about you?

Beer, Bones and Killer Unicorns

2009-08-18T12:06:00.006-04:00

I was ecstatic this morning to read a small clip in the newspaper informing me that women who drink beer are less likely to suffer from osteoporosis. I knew I beer had more uses than keeping my weight up. ;-) Yay!

In other news, top secret footage from an attempted PSA about the dangers of unicorns has been released. Beware!

To learn more about the dangers of unicorns, check out www.killerunicorns.org. It might save your life!

Also, make sure to buy, RAMPANT, by Diana Peterfreund. Here's her beautiful cover.

The Joy of Reading (and Sex)

2009-08-14T16:14:00.001-04:00

Blogging about the joy of reading (and sex) over at Nobody Writes it Better, today.

Also, we've got a new member at Drunk Writer Talk! Come by to say hi.

So You Think It's All Over?

2009-08-11T18:35:00.004-04:00

So You Think You Can Dance, Canada starts tonight!!! No break for us up here. Back to back SYTYCD. This photo is last year's contestants.

And this year, it must be overlapping with the next US one, too, since that starts in early September...

Wow. So much dance to watch on TV. Tough job, but I think I can handle it.

Last year, the Canadian version of SYTYCD was AWESOME -- in spite of Jean Marc's strange word choices -- he might even be stranger than L'il C -- and everyone trying to coin a phrase like Mary's hot tamale train. Really, people. Give it up.

If this year, they can find even one dancer as hot and fabulous as last year's winner, Nico, I'll be happy.

And he wasn't just hot. Did I mention he was also talented? American viewers might recognize the choreographer from this one from Season One? or Two? of the US one.... Bad boy Blake...

Yes, he is talented... But here are some more photos :-) Strung together with music....

Like coffee? Try some for free!

2009-08-04T13:13:00.003-04:00

My pal Marilyn Brant, who's fabulous novel According to Jane will be released in October of this year, is running a taste test on the new Starbucks instant coffee, currently only available in Chicago, Seattle and London.

If you'd like to be among the first to try it, click here, and get information on free samples.

Bite Me!

2009-07-27T15:41:00.003-04:00

Don't worry, you didn't do anything to offend. :-)

I'm just excited about a book that's hitting the shelves tomorrow.

Melissa Francis's BITE ME.

Melissa is one of the warmest, funniest women I've met since I started writing, and can't WAIT to read her book.

There's a contest going on the Fictionistas Blog to win a copy! Really, I shouldn't be telling people, because I WANT TO WIN. But then again, I'll buy a copy regardless, so all of you, go enter, now. And if you don't win, go buy her book. Even if you do win, go buy her book. It'd make a great gift.

It was the best of timing, it was the worst of timing...

2009-07-23T18:09:00.006-04:00

I got some great news about a week ago. I sold my short story "Lost and Found" into the anthology,
THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE. Check out the hottie on the cover!

It's a quirky little story I pitched as a mash up of Groundhog Day, The Time Traveler's Wife and Life on Mars.

Clear, no?

You'll just have to buy the anthology and read the story to figure out how the heck I can combine elements of all those in one short story. ;-)

Although this isn't a big book deal, yet, here are the top five reasons I'm thrilled.

It's a publishing credit, however small. And one with a publisher I know can get books into stores.
The anthology includes some great authors and I was thrilled that the editor even considered reading my story, never mind deciding to include it.
The cover is hot.
It's going to be released in December, 2009. Soon. You don't normally get that kind of almost instant gratification in print publishing.
It's already available for preorder on Amazon, Amazon Canada, Chapters/Indigo, etc. No pressure. :-)

I've decided to overlook the fact they spelled my name "many more" on the cover. At least they got the initials correct. ;-)

The timing of hearing this news was both awesome and horrible, because I found out literally hours before I left for last week's RWA National Conference in DC. It was great, because I was able to tell a few friends I ran into there, and strangers, and basically anyone I spoke to. But horrible because I wasn't really able to "announce" this news to all my online friends since I had pretty spotty internet access last week.

So, a small start. But a start. Can't wait for this to come out.

Catching up

2009-07-21T21:30:00.005-04:00

On TV that is.

After last week in DC, I'm watching a few of the shows I missed. And wow.

Just had to say that I never got why Jason was on SYTYCD. And Jeanine... I could see she was good, but again, didn't really get why the judges were so crazy about her.

Finally tonight. (Well, last Wednesday, but tonight for me.) Wow. Awesome. (almost put an f-related superlative in front of that awesome.)

Wow.

I didn't think Jason was that great before, but I have to say, I think that Kaitlyn was holding him back. Their lines didn't match and I now realize it wasn't him, it was her.

With Jeanine and Jason everything was perfect. Like they'd been dancing together for years. Fabulous.

Conference Stress

2009-07-15T10:10:00.001-04:00

Or lack thereof.

Blogging about the upcoming conference on Drunk Writer Talk.

Alibi Junior High!

2009-07-09T12:45:00.004-04:00

Do you know a boy (or girl) age 10-14 who needs a good book to read at camp? Or to get them off their X-Box for a few hours? Then buy them a copy of Greg Logsted's new book ALIBI JUNIOR HIGH. Greg and his whole family (wife and daughter) are repped by the same agent as I, and I think that kind of makes me family as well. So, to steal a phrase from Nadine Dajani's (actual) brother: Buy my brother's book or die.

Here are the deets:

Thirteen-year-old Cody Saron has been home schooled his whole life by his father, an undercover agent for the CIA. Cody has never lived the same life as other kids his age. He never went to a regular school, never lived in one place longer than a few weeks, never had a friend or played on any sports teams. Cody’s a black belt in the arts of Tae Kwon Do and Ju Jitsu. He speaks five languages and has traveled to every corner of the globe. But what Cody isn't prepared for is . . . junior high.

When the danger surrounding Cody's dad heats up like never before, Cody is sent to stay with the aunt he's never known, Jenny Williams, in her small Connecticut suburb. Cody knows how to pick a lock or follow a trail, but he has no idea how to fit in with regular kids, how to handle his first crush, or how to make it through a day of classes. How will he ever fit in?

“I just finished reading Greg Logsted’s Alibi Junior High in a single sitting. Thankfully the family had other things to do for a while because the author nailed me to the pages with his premise and with the fantastic pacing of this young adult novel. I wasn’t tempted even once to get up and go do something else. Logsted starts his spell on page one, and readers will have to stay with him to see what ultimately happens to Cody Saron, the 13-year-old professional spy.” ~ Mel Odol, INDENVER TIMES

Greg Logsted currently lives in Danbury with his wife and fellow author, Lauren Baratz-Logsted and their daughter Jackie. He is the author of Something Happened and coauthor of The Sisters 8 series for young readers.

Ranting and Raving

2009-07-08T13:51:00.001-04:00

Ranting and raving about a couple TV shows over on DWT today.

Posting to new blog today!

2009-07-02T07:39:00.000-04:00

I'm doing my first post today on a new group blog that some of my fellow 2007 GH finalists created. Nobody Writes it Better.

We went with the "Bond" theme because of the whole 007 thing.

Anyway... I blogged about the Bachelorette. Check it out.

Ben

2009-06-27T16:26:00.003-04:00

So all the Michael Jackson stuff is driving me a little crazy... But I have to say this song remains one of my all-time favorites.

My parents used to let us watch the Sonny & Cher show occasionally... not 100% sure I actually saw this (clearly lip-synced) performance, but boy did I love the song when I was a little kid.

The arrangement is pretty schmatzy by today's standards... But such a pretty, heart-wrenching song that in spite of being about a rat, really spoke to me as a pre-tween.

Pride and Self-Confidence

2009-06-19T13:39:00.004-04:00

Pride is a tough emotion for me. Or is it a trait? I suppose Catholics say it's a sin.

Whatever it is, one thing this pursuit for publication has taught me is I need to ignore my pride, or at least swallow it. And I need to stop confusing it with self confidence.

In fact, the two can be diametrically opposed.

Pride makes me embarrassed I haven't got a contract from a major house, yet.
Pride makes me want to avoid talking to non-writer friends and family about my writing. (My writer friends totally get it.)
Pride makes people think writing makes me angry, when really, it makes me happy.

Self-confidence keeps me going.
Self-confidence keeps me positive.
Self-confidence reminds me I'll reach my goals -- some day.

L'il C on SYTYCD often makes me a little crazy with his various prognostications.

BUT this week, in amongst all his crazy talk, unnecessary alliterations and misused words, was a gem:

Lack of self-confidence is the heaviest anchor you can put on your creativity.

I'd like to amend that, slightly, and say that pride can be mighty heavy, too.

Anchors away!

Win, Win, Win

2009-06-10T20:25:00.005-04:00

Hey, I just learned of two contests by fabulous writers! Part of me doesn't want to tell anyone about them, to increase my own odds of winning... but I flunked out of evil villain school.

Eileen Cook is giving away a $75 gift certificate for books. That's right! Wow.

If that's not enough, Victoria Dahl is giving away not one, but four, of her new releases!!!! (Four exclamation marks in honor of giveaway.) Awesomely cute cover, too.

Good luck everyone!

Monday reading

2009-05-25T13:04:00.002-04:00

Great article about paranormal romance and urban fantasy from Publishers' Weekly.

I do think the genre may ebb and floe, it may wane at times (how's that for mixing metaphors!) but it's here to stay.

Tulip Heaven

2009-05-15T13:12:00.002-04:00

Heading off to Ottawa for the May two-four weekend to play with my sister. Tulips are probably done, already, but hey, might still be a few.

Interesting Canadian trivia... Holland sends millions of tulip bulbs to Ottawa (capital of Canada) every fall that come up in brilliant colour all over the city each spring. This is to thank Canada, not only for being the allied troops that landed on their beaches on D-day... but also for letting their royal family (the wife and kids, anyway) stay in Ottawa during the war.

And about May two four. Yes. Canadians celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday. Who cares she's been dead for a over a hundred years. Chick still deserves a party. The holiday falls on or about May 24th each year (officially falls on the second-to-last Monday in May)... But the real reason it's become known as the May two-four is that "two-four" is Canadian slang for a case of beer... As in, "Hey, let's pick up a two-four and head up to the cottage." And, well, lots of beer is typically consumed on the Victoria Day weekend.

Party on Garth! Party on Wayne!

(Okay, I know for SNL purposes, those guys were supposed to be in a suburb of Chicago, but every one up here, and anyone who knows anything about Mike Myers knows Garth and Wayne were actually from Scarborough, Ontario. Stan Mikita's Donuts was so obviously Tim Hortons.)

Rats Hope and Publishing

2009-05-14T15:47:00.000-04:00

Post on Drunk Writer Talk.

Oh, and wasn't Star Trek all kinds of awesome? Need to see it again, STAT.