Tuesday, December 22, 2009
When writers counsel writers . . .
My semi-sarcastic advice for the college-bound, on the Liars Club blog.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Must be Christmas: Two Bookstores, Lots of Authors, Lots of Prizes, & a National Reporter!
Rumor has it a national reporter will be visiting The Two-Timing Liars Holiday Event this weekend. WOOT! Saturday December 12th, Liars Club members (including me, NYTimes Bestseller LA Banks, and many more) will be autographing books for gifts and collectors all day at two different independent bookstores, beginning at 11am: Farley’s Bookshop on Main Street in New Hope, and Canterbury Tales Forever in Peddler’s Village, Lahaska. The authors will be signing their novels, giving away holiday goodies, and spreading excitement about shopping in our local independent bookstores. I'll be at Farleys from 11-1, and Canterbury Tales from 3-5. Books make great gifts -- and you can shop affordably for everyone on your list with one stop.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Writers' Secret Tapes Revealed!
Maybe it's just Carrie Prejean's title, Still Standing, being so close to my novel, Standing Still-- but I am wondering if all writers must now consider releasing a sex tape in order to get publicity. This has always worked for actresses, why not writers?
Can't you just see John Irving wearing only boxing gloves? Or maybe witnessing Jennifer Weiner actually being Good In Bed? Not sure this tactic would work for my book tho. Given the topic of Standing Still, a tape of having a panic attack in lingerie would be more appropriate. (And only Woody Allen might find that titillating.)
Can't you just see John Irving wearing only boxing gloves? Or maybe witnessing Jennifer Weiner actually being Good In Bed? Not sure this tactic would work for my book tho. Given the topic of Standing Still, a tape of having a panic attack in lingerie would be more appropriate. (And only Woody Allen might find that titillating.)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Holiday Shopping with a Heart
Of course all independent bookstores have a heart . . .but Womrath's in Tenafly, New Jersey, is committed to helping others in a special way. Womrath's was started 60 years ago by World War II Vet Harry Kutik, who survived being shot 13 times overseas, only to come home and make a fresh start selling books. Today, his family continues the tradition and is celebrating the 60th Anniversary with The Liars Club Saturday from noon-3pm. The store is on 12 Washington Street in Tenafly, and we'll have great food, games and book and bookbag giveaways courtesy of the Liars Club. Best of all, a percentage of the profits will benefit disabled veterans. So you and your heart come out and do your holiday shopping!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Did you know . . . October is also National Reading Group Month?
That must be why I had such a nice evening with two book groups in Reading, PA last week - - and why I'll be at Harleysville Books October 29 to meet with book groups who have read Standing Still.
That must be why I had such a nice evening with two book groups in Reading, PA last week - - and why I'll be at Harleysville Books October 29 to meet with book groups who have read Standing Still.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Weekends are for book giveaways!
Great article on my Liars Club on indiebound's blog. Enjoy it -- or come out to the Baltimore Book Festival on North Charles Street and visit the Creative Cafe Tent at noon and hear Heather Johnson talk about deepening your book club experience. I'll be giving away 5 books and a DVD to one lucky book club!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Baltimore Book Festival
I'll be at the Baltimore Book Festival Saturday, attending Heather Johnson's forum on getting the most out of your Book Club. But better yet -- I'm giving away 5 autographed books to some lucky book club. Read more here.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
New Book Review Section?
The Huffington Post, starting a book review section and a book club. Oh boy.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Jaycee Dugard's Nightstand
This is freaky -- what was Jaycee reading while she was being held captive?
A book by Philadelphia author Greg Frost -- "Shadowbridge" -- a fantasy novel about a boy held captive. Read the story here.
A book by Philadelphia author Greg Frost -- "Shadowbridge" -- a fantasy novel about a boy held captive. Read the story here.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Another beautiful write up
Just found a beautiful review of Standing Still on a great blog, booksandfood. I feel like she really understood the book -- it's so gratifying when that happens.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Summer Reading anyone?
I guess some adults only read in the summer. Or only read on the beach. Kathye Petrie wrote an article about what writers like me are reading this summer, and it got picked up in galleycat. Cool!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Bitterature
It had to happen: someone is doing a book of twitter-sized book reviews, and it isn't the person who has been writing them since January (me.) But they have a catchy title: Twitterature, and I'm sure they will be funny.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Still doing the Wives.
This summer I'm reading every book I can find that ends in "wife."
So far I've read:
The Wife
A Suitable Wife
The Senator's Wife
American Wife
I might have to branch into 'Daughter' just to mix it up. I'm taking a break with a few un Wifey titles right now. It occurs to me that I could have named STANDING STILL "Kidnapped Wife."
So far I've read:
The Wife
A Suitable Wife
The Senator's Wife
American Wife
I might have to branch into 'Daughter' just to mix it up. I'm taking a break with a few un Wifey titles right now. It occurs to me that I could have named STANDING STILL "Kidnapped Wife."
Monday, June 1, 2009
Another Editor Bites The Dust!
Yes, it's true. Editor/Dominatrix #3 has left to go back to grad school and teach, because publishing wasn't low-paying enough. So I am moving on to Editor/Dominatrix #4 . . . yes, that's right, same imprint, 4th editor. Has this happened to any other writers out there? Of course some books read as if they were edited by different people about halfway through ( Edgar Sawtelle, anyone? Agree? Disagree?) But that doesn't mean they were . . .
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Handsome Mexican Kidnappers
Every so often, someone in a book club ribs me about the unlikelihood of a plotting, brooding Mexican kidnapper also being handsome (although there is no true reference in the book about Him being handsome, he is looked upon tenderly, shall we say). Anyway, this story in The New York Times this morning -- thank God with a happy ending -- piqued my interest, but then the mug shots made me laugh. Johnny Depp as a kidnapper, perhaps?
Monday, May 18, 2009
Great Article in The New Yorker
There's a funny piece in The New Yorker on Book Clubs this week.
Check it out.
Check it out.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
My Guest Post on Bermuda Onion
Thought I'd share my guest post from the great blog bermudaonion.wordpress.com
FYI, no MFA.
A funny thing happens when you publish a book: People expect you to be smart. And I don’t mean the manageable kind of smart, like witty-at-a-cocktail party, or entertaining-at-the-soccer-field, or even best-read-at-the-knitting-class. (Those are close to doable.) I can handle people expecting I’m the next Nora Ephron. It’s people who expect the next Salman Rushdie that get me into trouble.
Wherever I am, when discussion turns to something literary, all heads swivel in my direction. At my 12-year-old daughter’s book club, I was asked which book is more romantic: Rebecca, Wuthering Heights, or Jane Eyre. Gulp. It’s either bring up the latest study linking past marijuana use and memory loss, or tell ‘em I’ll get back to them on that. At a Christmas party I was asked what I thought of Martin Amis’ earlier work. That’s like asking me if I preferred Michael Jackson when he was seven years old! I quip. (It makes only a tiny bit of sense, but everyone laughs because I must be funny; I’m a writer.)
Of course, when I visit book groups to discuss my novel, I’m comfortable discussing literary aspects of my own work. Or so I thought. Then I was invited to sit in on a graduate class that was studying Standing Still as part of their curriculum. I held my own until the second hour, when the professor asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks, because sitting in the middle of his ordinary nouns and verbs was “verisimilitude.” I confess in a room full of twenty scholars that I don’t know what “verisimilitude” means. The next question, I am certain, is going to be “how did you become a writer with such a small vocabulary?”
Since so many writers teach writing, have Masters of Fine Arts, or at least majored in English Lit, it’s a reasonable assumption, I suppose, that we have an encyclopedic knowledge of the classics. But some of us majored in diaper changing. Some of us didn’t even graduate from college. And please, when it’s Sunday morning and I stop by for a cup of coffee, don’t come up to me with the Times crossword puzzle. I told you last week: literary envelope has to be Mailer, and that’s all my pea brain can muster.
FYI, no MFA.
A funny thing happens when you publish a book: People expect you to be smart. And I don’t mean the manageable kind of smart, like witty-at-a-cocktail party, or entertaining-at-the-soccer-field, or even best-read-at-the-knitting-class. (Those are close to doable.) I can handle people expecting I’m the next Nora Ephron. It’s people who expect the next Salman Rushdie that get me into trouble.
Wherever I am, when discussion turns to something literary, all heads swivel in my direction. At my 12-year-old daughter’s book club, I was asked which book is more romantic: Rebecca, Wuthering Heights, or Jane Eyre. Gulp. It’s either bring up the latest study linking past marijuana use and memory loss, or tell ‘em I’ll get back to them on that. At a Christmas party I was asked what I thought of Martin Amis’ earlier work. That’s like asking me if I preferred Michael Jackson when he was seven years old! I quip. (It makes only a tiny bit of sense, but everyone laughs because I must be funny; I’m a writer.)
Of course, when I visit book groups to discuss my novel, I’m comfortable discussing literary aspects of my own work. Or so I thought. Then I was invited to sit in on a graduate class that was studying Standing Still as part of their curriculum. I held my own until the second hour, when the professor asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks, because sitting in the middle of his ordinary nouns and verbs was “verisimilitude.” I confess in a room full of twenty scholars that I don’t know what “verisimilitude” means. The next question, I am certain, is going to be “how did you become a writer with such a small vocabulary?”
Since so many writers teach writing, have Masters of Fine Arts, or at least majored in English Lit, it’s a reasonable assumption, I suppose, that we have an encyclopedic knowledge of the classics. But some of us majored in diaper changing. Some of us didn’t even graduate from college. And please, when it’s Sunday morning and I stop by for a cup of coffee, don’t come up to me with the Times crossword puzzle. I told you last week: literary envelope has to be Mailer, and that’s all my pea brain can muster.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
RUI: Reading Under The Influence
Sharing my guest post on ReadingGroupGuides. com . . .
For the past year, I’ve visited book groups all over the East Coast, and I have come to the conclusion there are two basic types: Those who drink, and those who don’t. The difference is apparent as soon as I walk up the driveway: if they’re drinking, I hear laughter. Voices talking over one another. Sometimes, outright mirth. And if they’re not drinking, it’s eerily quiet. Low-pitched conversation, a teakettle on the verge of whistling, the rhythm of a hand-crafted rocking chair. (Of course, you don’t expect to find any reading group, even a group of longtime friends, drinking at 11am on a Tuesday. But I did, once – and I will forever remember them as “The Bloody Marys.” It was fun—a little scary, but fun. Any other brunches-gone-wild out there?)
Though I’ve had lively, inspiring conversations and debates with groups at libraries, community centers, country clubs, nursing homes and private homes over tea and muffins – and god knows I prefer travelling long distances during the day-- I confess the evening drinkers are kind of a guilty pleasure. Because they’re not afraid to talk. Since Standing Still is about fear, paranoia, and a rocky marriage, I’ve been told funny anecdotes about panic attacks on bridges and airplanes. I’ve heard heartbreaking memories of stalkers and break-ins and husbands leading double lives. My next novel, The Bird House, is about family secrets, and people have told me amazing tales they uncovered about their own families.
Occasionally, wine flowing like it does, somebody says something so, ahem, honest it makes the host cringe. (Oh, you know it happens –let’s hear your confessions!) I’ve been chastised for my use of “lie” and “lay” and told my author photo looks like Stevie Wonder. One woman said me she didn’t like my main character but really liked me – but thought I should stop wearing glasses and put on a little more eye makeup.
All things considered, it’s still one of the benefits of visiting reading groups I never anticipated: That people would not only allow me to speak, but allow me to listen. What an honor—even when they’re ever-so-slightly slurring their words.
For the past year, I’ve visited book groups all over the East Coast, and I have come to the conclusion there are two basic types: Those who drink, and those who don’t. The difference is apparent as soon as I walk up the driveway: if they’re drinking, I hear laughter. Voices talking over one another. Sometimes, outright mirth. And if they’re not drinking, it’s eerily quiet. Low-pitched conversation, a teakettle on the verge of whistling, the rhythm of a hand-crafted rocking chair. (Of course, you don’t expect to find any reading group, even a group of longtime friends, drinking at 11am on a Tuesday. But I did, once – and I will forever remember them as “The Bloody Marys.” It was fun—a little scary, but fun. Any other brunches-gone-wild out there?)
Though I’ve had lively, inspiring conversations and debates with groups at libraries, community centers, country clubs, nursing homes and private homes over tea and muffins – and god knows I prefer travelling long distances during the day-- I confess the evening drinkers are kind of a guilty pleasure. Because they’re not afraid to talk. Since Standing Still is about fear, paranoia, and a rocky marriage, I’ve been told funny anecdotes about panic attacks on bridges and airplanes. I’ve heard heartbreaking memories of stalkers and break-ins and husbands leading double lives. My next novel, The Bird House, is about family secrets, and people have told me amazing tales they uncovered about their own families.
Occasionally, wine flowing like it does, somebody says something so, ahem, honest it makes the host cringe. (Oh, you know it happens –let’s hear your confessions!) I’ve been chastised for my use of “lie” and “lay” and told my author photo looks like Stevie Wonder. One woman said me she didn’t like my main character but really liked me – but thought I should stop wearing glasses and put on a little more eye makeup.
All things considered, it’s still one of the benefits of visiting reading groups I never anticipated: That people would not only allow me to speak, but allow me to listen. What an honor—even when they’re ever-so-slightly slurring their words.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
More Giveaways
Enter to win a free autographed copy of Standing Still at Booking Mama. or at Bermuda Onion
And while you're there, enjoy my guest post and a review. Good luck --
And while you're there, enjoy my guest post and a review. Good luck --
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
More Giveaways!
Check out the blog Devourer of Books for a review, my guest post, and a way to win an autographed paperback!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Book Clubs -- why not use Skype?
I'm happy to meet faraway book clubs via Skype. It's fun and free and all you need is a computer with a webcam. Think about it!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Autographed Paperback Giveaway
I'll be giving away 30 autographed pb copies of Standing Still in the upcoming weeks -- the contest starts today, pre-launch, at Books on the Brain. Check out my guest post at Lisa's terrific blog and enter -- and check back for other great blogs supporting the contest soon.
http://lisamm.wordpress.com
http://lisamm.wordpress.com
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Article about book clubs
A nice article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about me and Josh Henkin visiting book groups.
When the book comes out in paperback, I hope to do more and more of these in 2009.
When the book comes out in paperback, I hope to do more and more of these in 2009.
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