...because every author wants to feel like a goddess!
Last week I came across THIS blog and loved it! I have always wondered why there isn’t more sex when I’m reading a good Chick Lit. The blogger who wrote that article made a point — we see her life in many different ways, but we don’t see her sex life? Really?! Now, I’m not asking for all the “icky” parts, but I’m asking to be sexually fulfilled by reading a sex scene.
What do you think? Should there be more, less, or about the same amount of sex in a Chick Lit?
I spent half of this holiday weekend with my family — aunts, uncles and cousins. While some had seen my book that my husband had published for me (read about it HERE), some of them hadn’t, but when I showed it to them, each one of them was amazed at my talent. Hearing their cheers and compliments made me feel amazing, it were as if I were famous, and one of my aunts even wants a signed copy!
During the long drive home and even as I write this, their praises gave me motivation to continue on my writing journey and finish editing my first and keep writing my 2nd book! I’m wondering, what does your family think about your writing?
On another note, I really thought that I could get some good work done, but that didn’t happen. Between listening to my mom and brother chat away, I was way too distracted to do anything. Unfortunately, I didn’t do any work that night at the hotel. Saturday, I woke up and I was hoping to get a lot of work done, but again, that didn’t happen and I was beginning to feel frustrated, very frustrated. I woke up early on Sunday morning and edited a few pages. Just as I was beginning to get into it and feel like I was getting somewhere, everyone decided to slowly wake up, which meant it was time to put my computer and notes from my editor away. We left a few hours later and again, I didn’t work in the car. The whole way home, my mind was saying, “Just get me home, I’ve got work to do!” By the time I got home and showered, it was time for dinner and my mother-in-law came over and again, I got nothing done. Today, on Memorial Day, I wish that I could say that I worked, but I didn’t. There was just way too much to do. Now that it’s the end of the day, I’m willing myself to make time to work during laundry, the cat crying, dishes piling up and a much-needed workout for myself…and TOMORROW IS THE DAY!
I met Tyler Hill through mutual friends, and though we’ve only met each other once, we’ve quickly become friends, thanks to the wonderful thing called social networking! Before I really knew Tyler, I was drawn to him because he had written a book and had it published. How cool was that, I thought to myself at the time, though I did nothing with it for quite a while. I had his book sitting on my bookshelf for a long time, occasionally looking through it, each time becoming more inspired by the fact that he has pages to be turned and a story to be told.
“The Shortest Day” written by Tyler is a wonderful book, one I definitely recommend to anyone who wants to read a heartwarming story.
Here is a short summary about Tyler:
When I was a freshman at SMU, my mom came to visit me one weekend. While eating dinner one evening at Patrizio’s, she asked me if I wanted to accompany her to Sweden. She used to love Volvos and wanted another one. This time they showed their appreciation by offering her two round-trip tickets to Stockholm to pick the car up herself. We would have the chance to drive all over Scandinavia in her new car and then it would be shipped to America a month later. Obviously this didn’t sound like your ordinary vacation and I accepted her invitation on the spot. I’m now glad that I did.
When finishing books growing up, I always wrote several chapters that could be placed at the end. It was always fun imagining what could happen next. I hadn’t planned on writing about my vacation to Scandinavia but there were so many priceless memories and hilarious moments, I just had to get everything on paper. I found that writing the book was the most rewarding thing I had ever done. It was like taking the vacation all over again. I completed it in time to give it to my mom for Christmas. After she read it, I delivered the rest of the copies to other family members. It was a fun project but when it was over I got bored so . . . I started writing. I became addicted.
Does writer’s block ever hit you, and if so, what do you do to make it go away? Yes I definitely get writer’s block. The middle of the book is always the hardest for me. I tend to plan several endings and once getting to the middle I often am unsure how to get to the ending that’s planned. I overanalyze everything way too much and am VERY indecisive. This is why I make sure the characters get more sleep than I do so they can make the decisions.
Tell us something about your projects you’re working on right now? I have been working on a comedy since January of 2006. I probably will never do a comedy again. A writer told me it is not an easy genre. I should have listened. After putting the project on hold for a couple of years I have recently begun reworking it. It nearly complete but it needs so much editing. The book is too long for the genre it’s in and so much needs to be cut. Anyway the story revolves around a psychiatrist practicing in Los Angeles who sees patients from all walks of life. They all need help and they all make the protagonist’s life a living hell. The book takes place during a single day. Readers will meet a girl addicted to internet chat rooms, a couple going through a nasty divorce, a man who is OCD with anger management issues and a woman with a multiple personality disorder who thinks her husband is having an affair because he greets her each morning using her real name.
I’m also working on a love story that takes place in Texas, South Carolina and Florida titled Dreams of Tomorrow. I started it when running into problems with my other book. Brad and Rachel meet on a cruise and have a short romance. The romance is short-lived and he returns to Dallas with his family and she returns to South Carolina with hers. . .
Then there is The Lucky Seven. A madman says he will kill seven celebrities, one for each day of the week. It’s up to the detectives to decide what celebrities are tied to what days using a few vague clues.
What is the best book you’ve ever read, and why? My favorite book . . . well it doesn’t necessarily deserve any major literary awards. The story is pretty basic but I guarantee it will make you lose sleep. The Winner by David Baldacci. I like it because at the heart of the story is an ordinary single mother living in a trailer who you just have to see come out on top. She is struggling to support her child and is caught up in an abusive relationship. She does come out on top, in the form of the Georgia lottery. She wins a massive nine figure jackpot. It is always fun seeing the good people get their revenge, however with the money comes problems she never could have imagined. It truly is a wonderful book to read and I’m surprised Hollywood hasn’t bought the rights. I have considered asking for permission to work on a screenplay. It’s gotta be a movie. Terrific read!
How did you feel after you had your book published? I was excited, surprised and nervous at the same time. I was excited because now more people would have the opportunity to read my work. I was surprised because I didn’t think the material was good enough. I was nervous because I worried how readers would react. It feels great being published but it’s scary when your work is no longer private. My book wasn’t a NY Times bestseller but this didn’t exclude it from receiving reviews in forums and on sites like Amazon. Luckily most reviews I read were good but there were a few that really got to me. I was told by family not to read them but I remember doing nothing else during those two months after I was published.
What do you love most about writing? Excitement is what I love most about writing. The excitement of waking up and learning something about your characters you didn’t know the day before. The excitement of not always knowing where you are going and unable to stop writing until you know what is coming next
What is your lifetime writing goal(s)? To write books that people will remember long after reading the last page.
What is your writing routine? I usually write first thing in the morning or late at night. I always have coffee and usually listen have music turned down low but not music I normally listen to in the car. I am a collector of soundtracks and love writing while listening to the title songs to some of my favorite movies. I have found that this really inspires me as silly as it sounds. The songs to Dances with Wolves, Jurassic Park and the 26 minute suite to Indecent Proposal are my favorites. Once I have the music playing and some coffee in me, I’m ready to write.
As far as how I write, I always try to start-up where I stopped the previous day and continue without going back and making corrections. However I usually can’t help it and have to correct the work from the day before moving forward.
How would you spend your perfect day? A perfect day for me is one where I don’t have to get in my car. I wake up and first take my English bulldog on a walk, enjoying the fall weather. Neither of us like walking in the summer months. I’d then return home, make breakfast and start writing. I would spend the rest of the day either writing or reading. Around 5 I’d have a margarita out on the patio, again enjoying the weather. After dinner I’d either read or catch up on TV shows. A perfect day is a simple day.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Wade about ten years ago, as he was and still is, my husband’s best friend (and the Best Man in our wedding). His innate gift of writing screenplays, along with producing and directing his own movies, truly amazes me. Wade has motivated, inspired and helped me along the way on my own writing journey and I couldn’t have done it without him. I am honored to know him and be his friend.
When did you start writing? I’ve always had a mild obsession with the written word. As an “indoor kid” I had my nose in a book from the age of about 4. I was reading full young adult novels by 1st grade, and I got into Science Fiction pretty hard by 3rd grade — I read Dune by Frank Herbert before I knew about sex — it actually prompted “the talk” from my dad. The reading really just lead straight toward writing, though I played around with short stories through high school, it wasn’t until college that I started writing in earnest, with my first couple screenplays.
You wrote a screenplay, can you tell us a little bit about it? Hold Your Peace (originally titled The Best Man) is actually my fourth screenplay. It’s the story of Aiden, a man who’s asked to be the best man in his ex-boyfriend’s gay wedding. Still hung up on his ex, he hasn’t been able to have a functional relationship with anyone besides his long time roommate Janice; Consequently, he has a great deal of trouble finding a date to the event. I won’t spoil too much more, but let’s just say that hilarity ensues a bit, though it definitely has some drama in there too.
How long did it take you to write “Hold Your Peace,” formally known as “The Best Man?” I wrote the first draft in 2005 as one of several I was attempting to pitch and sell to a local production company in 2006. It actually only took me a month of working 4-5 hours a day on it to finish the initial draft. A few months later I worked on it a bit, writing it over again as a second and third draft before pitching it. It ended up being a pass, but I shelved it intending to come back and work on it later; Later ended up being 2009 when I rewrote it a few more times while my cinematography business (my day job) was having a couple slow months. By the time I had decided to make it in February 2010, I was on draft six. I did one last set of small revisions before we shot it, draft 6.5 if you will. So, all in all, probably about 5 years off and on.
Congratulations on making it into a movie! How does it feel to have your screenplay come to life? It’s a neat feeling, but as a film is a team effort it’s complex. When you’re writing, you have a clear idea of a character — how they look, how they talk and how they say particular bits of dialogue — but when you’re making it into a film it becomes this living, breathing thing that grows and changes on its own. Characters that existed only on the page become Roles — a combination of the written word and an Actor’s interpretation. It’s the strangest and most wonderful feeling in the world to have an actor saying your words in a way that’s completely different from what you had imagined — and it has a new meaning you didn’t intend but is there nonetheless. They become people with more complexity than you had on the page. The hard part is just letting go and allowing it to happen — giving up that idealized image in your head — but it’s the most amazing thing when you do. You end up with something quite magical — a professor I had in college (who will remain nameless) once said, “It’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on,” and I’m inclined to agree!
What motivates you? Ego, I suppose! Like most writers I think I just have a need to express myself, to tell the stories swimming around in my head. Writing — creating — to me is a basic need, like breathing or eating. I’m always walking around making up situations and stories in my head and it’s good to get them out once in a while.
How do you deal with writer’s block? The only way I can write and not get frustrated is to have more than one writing project going at any given time. If one gets blocked, I just switch gears and work on the other — though I admit I’ve had three or four at a time before out of necessity. The trick is to have different types of projects going at the same time. Sometimes you’re in a drama kinda’ mood, sometimes you’re just in a witty mood and feel like comedy. Even within a genre, there are different types of narratives that appeal to different writing moods.
Which do you like writing better, screenplays or novels? Ultimately my goal is to write screenplays since they’re more related to what I do for a living and I’d like to continue to make films. However I have to say that nothing has made me long for the chance to write a novel than writing screenplays. On one side, screenplays are easier because they’re so limited — it’s mostly dialogue with a little action to describe what the audience sees or hears. There’s nothing more to it than that. The other side is that you never really get the opportunity (if you’re doing it right, at least) to really describe in-depth what you see in your mind’s eye. You don’t have the sense of control where you can really investigate a story like you can in real prose.
What are your writing goals? Whenever I sit down to write, I set myself a number of pages (usually 7-10 — but remember they’re screenplays!) that I want to accomplish before I stop for the day. I find that forcing myself to accomplish a particular amount usually helps me to follow through and I’ll usually be able to, especially if I switch between a couple projects.
On a grander scale my goals for my writing are to investigate people, their motivations for doing things and how they respond to situations out of the scope of the ordinary. I’d love to have some greater social comment if I can get away with it, but at its core, it’s people that interest me.
What are you working on now? I’m writing a screenplay (more drama, less comedy) and a science fiction novel that i’ve been putting around for a few years. I may start a second screenplay because I’m starting to have more blocks with the screenplay I’m working on now.
Dead or alive, name three writers who you’d invite over for dinner?
Stephen Fry, for his famous wit.
Russel T Davies, a british television writer responsible for Queer As Folk and the new Doctor Who.
Issac Asimov, because his books were the first to really inspire me to think about the world around me in new and different ways.
How would you spend your perfect day? On vacation near a body of water with my boyfriend, a good book, my laptop, a high-speed internet connection, my friends and a wide selection of alcoholic beverages.
Do you have any advice for a beginning writer? Just to write. It’s so easy to get caught up thinking you’re not good enough or that you’re never going to make a living at it. We all have bouts of self-doubt now and again. Keep at it and it doesn’t matter if you write crap the first time — there’s always another draft if you want it. Just keep writing as much as you can stand — and then some. Also, find someone to bounce ideas off of. It doesn’t have to be another writer, just someone you can tell about your plots and have them ask questions… if you have a problem it can really help you to see a solution you’ve probably had all along but hadn’t realized.
Book Review for “Good In Bed”
“Good In Bed,” by Jennifer Weiner
“Good In Bed” was Jennifer Weiner’s first book. I picked it just for that reason, hoping that she would motivate me to keep on working on trying to get my first book published.
The beginning seemed to drag on so badly that I had to stop reading for a week, before I finally forcedmyself to push through the book, only because I was tired of way too much back story. Cannie (Candice) Shapiro, but my eyes read as Connie, was a big (as in overweight) woman, who was in a relationship with Bruce, a “looser” claimed she wanted “time off” from him, but he called it more if a break up. His job is a writer for a high society magazine and when she stumbles upon an article about her and their sex life, she becomes livid, though it’s easy to tell (not see) that she still loves him. She loved much that she’d sit by the phone, waiting for his call, and yes, she was desperate. Honestly, I was bored with this part of the book. When she played her poor pitiful me character. (“I’m fat,” “Nobody loves me,” “My daddy left when I was a kid,” “Bruce won’t call me back,”), and from that, the list could go on and on, I could’ve cared less about her.
When Cannie goes to “fat class,” she meets Dr. K (my second favorite character). They stir up a friendship and he’s the one to tell her that she can’t be involved in the losing weight program, only because of something they found in the blood tests. Dr. K’s character was very helpful to Cannie and seemed to go above and beyond what a normal doctor should do. (I had a feeling from the moment I met Dr. K that they would begin a relationship). After she emailed Bruce, telling him that she’s pregnant, she moves to California to spend time with Maxi, who pampers her like crazy! (Maxi seems to be Cannie’s “Fairy Godmother” who pampered her to the nines — with hairdo, jewelry, massages, fancy hotel rooms…the list could go on forever).
After I got through the beginning of the book, and things began to move along, I quickly began to be interested in the book and the characters, Connie (oops, I mean Cannie), her lesbian mother, her veryundevoted father, Maxi (my favorite character), the famous actress/turned best friend and of course, there’s Bruce, the man of her dreams…until she winds up pregnant, only by way of consoling him through his father’s death.
When she became pregnant, I was surprised in her behavior, only because she changed herself, completely — and for the better! I liked Cannie’s caring actions and the ways she stood up to her lesbian mother and her girlfriend, Tayna, who were all about them. I liked how she became more confidant and protective of her baby girl.
In the end, I can appreciate the book, only because she did lose weight because she walked…walked her way to a new life, and when she did, she helped herself and her baby become beautiful, though just as she was the whole time.
Jennifer Weiner’s book made a great impression upon me. Though the book wasn’t great, I can understand the characters and “feel” the way they do. (She wrote a great “show don’t tell” book).
I will recommend this book to anyone who is down in the dumps and wanting to bring themselves out of wherever the place they are. The reader will relate to anything that Cannie experiences.
I give this book 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.
In The Queue:
“The Guy Not Taken,” by Jennifer Weiner
“The Overnight Socialite,” by Bridie Clark
“Something Borrowed, by Emily Giffin
“Something Blue,” by Emily Giffin
“Love The One You’re With,” by Emily Giffin
“Heart Of The Matter,” by Emily Giffin
“The First Husband,” by Laura Dave
(This is a repost due to a site update. Any comments on the old page are unfortunately gone.)
I met Elke, a wonderful writer, while taking online Romance writing classes from Gotham Writers’ Workshop. Each piece I have read from her has been more than memorable, and I’m very curious as to how her book has continued. Her story lines are so creative, that it amazes me how she comes up with such excellent ideas! It is clear that she is dedicated to her work, and for this, I’m honored to have her as my first Guest Author!
What is your genre in within which you write? At the moment, romantic suspense, but I also write time travel novels.
What motivates you? My characters and the stories they tell me whether I want them to or not.
Being a wife, mother and having a job, how do you find the time to write? Writing is important to me and like all important things in my life, I make time for it. I write in the morning at the coffee shop before work, at lunchtime and in the evening before I go to bed. You don’t need hours at a time to write.
What writers inspire you? My favorites growing up were Amanda Quick, Johanna Lindsey, and Jude Deveraux.
Does writer’s block ever hit you, and if so, what do you do to make it go away? I’ve compiled several stories over the years, so if I get bored or blocked with one story, I work on outlining another one. That usually gets my creative juices flowing and opens up ideas for my current project.
Tell us something about your projects you’re working on right now?
The blurb for my current story is:
To launch her restoration architecture company, Josie Fagan must convince Patrick Pullman she’s the only one who can restore his unique 1940s bungalow. She gets more than she bargains for when a condition of the contract is that she stay at the house with him, and what Patrick Pullman wants, Patrick Pullman gets… She feels an immediate connection not only to Patrick and his house, but to the previous tenants. Patrick’s uncle and his lover, Lola, who disappeared fifty years before, are still present. Is the attraction between Patrick and Josie real, are Lola and William still acting out their unfinished lives or is the house just haunted? Is Lola really Josie’s missing aunt? Patrick Pullman doesn’t believe in ghosts or that his house is haunted, but when he starts having visions of Lola; maybe Josie isn’t crazy after all. Will they find out the truth before she disappears too?
I’m excited about my other project which is set in the Cayman Islands where I live. Here is a taste:
The daughter of a serial killer tries to redeem the sins of her mother by becoming a forensic officer. She returns to Cayman, tired of the talking dead bodies she couldn’t silence and running from a love she can’t possess. On the twentieth anniversary of her mother’s capture, someone is murdered in the same manner as her mother’s victims. She is forced to work with the man she ran from and face the terrifying truth she’s been hiding for twenty years.
What is the best book you’ve ever read, and why? Wow, tough one. Hearts Aflame, Whitney, my love and Mischief. I know that’s more than one, but they are such great stories, whose characters I love and remember to this day even though I haven’t read their stories for years.
How did you find out about Gotham Writers’ Workshop? After several rejection letters I decide to work on my craft and googled online writing classes. Gotham appeared to be the most professional and well liked.
When did you first begin writing? I started writing poems as a child of nine and started writing stories at the age of twelve.
What is your lifetime writing goal(s)? To have people love my stories and characters as much as I do.
What is your writing routine? I write Monday through Friday for 1-2 hours each day. If I miss my weekly deadline, I make it up on the weekend.
How would you spend your perfect day? Writing until I have to pick my son up from school. Have dinner with my family, tuck my son in bed, and cuddle up on the couch watching tv with my husband.
Thanks for having me on your blog, Isabella!
**For more information on Elke Feuer, visit her blog: http://elkefeuer.blogspot.com/
(This is a repost due to a site update. Any comments on the old page are unfortunately gone.)
So, this weekend, I’m going on a road trip with my mom and brother, and will leaving my brother and dad behind. While we’re in the car, making the four-hour drive to Houston, I plan on working on editing the second round of the first thirteen pages that my editor sent me this week. Now, my brother is a very talkative person and so is my mother, but I’m one who loves to dive myself into my work and shut out the rest of the world. I am hoping to be finished with the edits by the time we arrive, but if I don’t, then I know that during spending time with family, editing will be on my mind and just maybe, I’ll slip in some work time before I go to bed. Wish me luck this weekend!
How do you write when you’re on the road?
When I started editing, I never knew how difficult the editing process was going to be. It’s not knowing how to edit, but it’s more of how to keep it all organized with all the edits, without losing my mind. I’ve saved so many documents and changes, I find myself clicking “save” every five minutes! (Crazy, I know). Since I have a wonderful editor, I am thankful for her help when she sends work back to me to edit, but after I get it, I’m overwhelmed, but only at first.
I do have Scrivener, which I love (Thank you, Wade), so this helps me a lot with keeping it all together, but I have the feeling that I’m not doing things right. Do you ever feel that way?
So, this I ask you, how do you go about actually doing the work and keeping it all organized?
It’s about to be summertime here in Texas and I’m already wishing that I lived in New York and it was the Winter months! I’m a hot natured woman who is thirty years old, but I feel like I’m a sixty year old, who is going through menopause! “Really?” I ask myself. “YES!”
This brings me to another thought…HOT MEN! Who makes your heart pitter-patter? Is it your husband, your boyfriend, the pizza delivery man, the hot intern who walks by you at work, the lifeguard you eye on vacation or the actor in your favorite movie? I have two fantasy men…my husband and Bradley Cooper! My husband is everything I could want in a man and Bradley Cooper is my fantasy man. He the one where there would be no feelings, just purely lust! I can’t explain why Bradley makes my toes curl each time I see him, but there is something so intriguing about him, which heightens my curiosity and brings out the “naughty” girl and pushes the “shy” girl aside.
This summer, I encourage you to find a HOT man and let your fantasies run wild…
