I've Got Nothing But LOVE for Julie Buxbaum

So today I have a fabulous Q/A with Julie Buxbaum, whose debut novel, The Opposite of Love, is receiving a lot of attention and praise, all deserved. I wanted to interview Julie for the blog because like so many Ask Allison readers, she had a day job - she was a lawyer - before taking the leap to write a novel. And not only did she write a novel, she wrote a huge novel...and I don't mean in terms of pages, I mean in terms of advance and buzz. To cap it off, Julie is a wonderful, generous person, and it's impossible not to root for her! I hope you enjoy her answers as much as I did.

Here's a bit about the book:

When successful twenty-nine-year-old Manhattan attorney Emily Haxby ends her happy relationship just as her boyfriend is on the verge of proposing, she can’t explain to even her closest friends why she did it. Somewhere beneath her sense of fun, her bravado, and her independent exterior, Emily knows that her breakup with Andrew has less to do with him and more to do with...her. “You’re your own worst enemy,” her best friend Jess tells her. “It’s like you get pleasure out of breaking your own heart.”

As the holiday season looms and Emily contemplates whether she made a huge mistake, the rest of her world begins to unravel: she is assigned to a multimillion-dollar lawsuit where she must defend the very values she detests by a boss who can’t keep his hands to himself; her Grandpa Jack, a charming, feisty octogenarian and the person she cares most about in the world, is losing it, while her emotionally distant father has left her to cope with this alone; and underneath it all, fading memories of her deceased mother continue to remind her that love doesn’t last forever. How this brave, original young heroine finally decides to take control of her life and face the fears that have long haunted her is the great achievement of Julie Buxbaum’s marvelous first novel.

And here are Julie's answers to my questions:

1) You quit your job as a lawyer to become a writer. Have you always dreamt of being a writer and the law just side-tracked you for a few years?
I had always dreamed of one day writing a book, but for some reason didn't really consider novelist as a potential "career" choice. It took feeling completely unfulfilled as a lawyer to think seriously about how I wanted to spend all of that time--that 90% of my waking life--that was currently being wasted at a job I hated. As soon as I realized that there was nothing stopping me from pursuing my dream other than my own fear, I decided to take the leap. I have to admit that looking back, it was a crazy thing to do--just quitting cold turkey to write, when I hadn't really written anything before--but somehow, it turned out to be the best decision I've ever made.

2) When you quit, did you have a Plan B? If so, how long did you give yourself to succeed?
I didn't really have a Plan B. But I did decide when I quit the law that I had to be okay with the possibility that I could spend a year writing a book that would end up just being a pile of paper that lived in my drawer for the rest of my life. I figured regardless of what happened, the experience of writing my first novel itself would be worth it. Once I started writing, though, I became completely hooked, so I think even if I hadn't sold the THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE as quickly as I did, I would have found a way to feed the habit. I probably would have started temping as a lawyer, or maybe found some sort of part time gig, so that I could keep writing. I can't imagine a life now that didn't include finding time to write.

3) Tell me how you went about writing the book…did you quit your job, then sit down the next day and, voila, a novel?
My last day of work was a Friday, and I started working on the book that Monday. Sadly, it wasn't voila, novel, though that would have been great. My writing experience had lots of fits and starts: some great writing days, some days where I thought I should just give up and go back to my life as a lawyer, some tears, and every once in a great while that wonderful feeling that I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing.

4) Do you outline your plot and the book? I know a lot of writers do this…and I don't, because I like to let my characters take me where they want to take me. But part of me wonders if I'm missing out on this huge breakthrough because I neglect the outline!
I outlined for about two weeks, when I first started writing, but I was off outline within three days. The only thing that remained standing from my original conception of the novel was the opening scene and the ending. I am not formally outlining the second book because I agree with you. If you feel beholden to an outline, then your characters can't take you where they want to go, and for me that has been the most fun (and the biggest surprise) of novel writing!

5) Your book is everywhere! (Including a huge poster in the Barnes and Noble by me!) Have you been actively involved in the promotion or did Dial mostly come up with the promotional/advertising plan for you?
Thanks! I can't tell you how happy it makes me to hear that you have been seeing it around. One of these days you'll probably catch me shamelessly taking a picture of that Barnes & Noble window! I have to say I've been incredibly lucky to have the support of Dial behind me. They've done a great job with the promotional/advertising side of things. At the same time, I think it's important to do my best to get out there and promote THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE. Admittedly, that's scary and often outside my comfort zone, but I don't want to later regret not giving my book every opportunity. It sort of feels like having a child in a way.

6) A lot of writers, myself included, have found that the actual publication of the book to be the most nerve-wracking of the entire experience. Have you found this to be true? How do you deal with the pressure?
Absolutely! I didn't realize until recently how it is both utterly terrifying and thrilling to release a book out into the world. My New Year's resolution was to not ruin this experience for myself by stressing out too much. But the truth is some days I feel intense pressure, which I realize is silly and entirely self-created because I am not even sure I could articulate what I feel pressure about. On the other hand, I've been making time to just sit back and enjoy and revel in the excitement of it all. This is a once in a lifetime thing--a literal dream come true--and I'd hate to look back and kick myself for only dwelling on the nerve-wracking parts.

7) I know that you're working on book #2…we've been talking about improving your work and evolving as a writer a lot on the blog…are you doing anything differently this time around?
I fully agree with what you've been saying about making sure you are constantly evolving as a writer. I am very proud of THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE, but I sincerely hope I look back on it years from now and think about how far I've come. With my second novel, I'm trying to be more ambitious and less scared of taking risks as a writer. My process hasn't changed, but I find I am much tougher on myself this time around, which I think is a good thing.

On Improvement, Part Two

So last week's post on Writer Unboxed generated some interesting comments and good food for thought. Not least because I spent the holiday weekend pouring through a new book, the kind of book that you can't believe you've been reading for hours because it seems like time stood still while you were flipping each page and the kind of book that you stay up waaaaaay past your bedtime to "just read one more chapter." The book was Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrandt, and man, I just loved it. (FYI: I don't know Elin, nor do I know her agent, editor, publicist or anyone even remotely connected to her, so I'm not just saying this to pimp her book! I really and truly loved it.)

Anyway, for those of you who didn't read my post last week, the general summary is this: first stabs at novels often suck, even if you don't see this at the time, and as a writer, even a published one, you should always strive to boost your writing each and every time you step up to the plate. I sincerely feel like Time of My Life makes leaps and bounds over The Department, and well, I don't even want to think of how crappy my (unpublished) book was before that. And Suzanne, a blog reader, posted an interesting comment - or interesting to me at least - was how she rarely heard published authors saying that they could improve their work. I guess the assumption is that getting published is enough.

Maybe for some authors it is. I think we could all name a few authors who churn out books year in year out in which the names are changed and maybe the plot is slightly varied, but more or less, the author hasn't cracked his or her success code. Hey, it works for him or her, and I don't have any problem with this.

But for me, I mean, what's the point of writing - whether you're working on your still-unpublished novel or your follow-up to your bestseller - if you're not trying to one-up your skill set each time? I think that this is where we, as writers, ideally all stand on the same ground, regardless of where you are in your writing aspirations and success. Look, it sucks when your first (or second) novel doesn't land an agent or doesn't nab a publisher, but I have enormous respect for people who can dust themselves off and say, "The experience was part of this ride; this career isn't a horizontal line; next time at the plate, I might swing and actually get a hit."

All of which leads me back to Barefoot. I read it on the recommendation of someone (I can't remember who now, because I sent a friend a note thanking her for the suggestion and it turned out she hadn't suggested it...so...if whomever recommended it is out there, thank you!), and I'm now interested in going back and reading Hilderbrand's other books (she's written six). And I'm curious to see if I can tell the difference between the first one and the sixth...because I hope that if I'm ever able to eke out six novels, that readers will be able to note the difference in quality in mine. That, to me, is what marks a successful writing career, and that, to me, is a big part of what this is all about. (That said, if all of her books are as good as Barefoot, I seriously might show up on her doorstep, kneel at her feet and ask her for her secrets!)

So tell me, have you read debut novels and been blown away by future books by the same writer? Or is this whole learning curve that I subscribe to overblown? Maybe you're just born with the ability to be a good writer and if so, each and every time you knock it out of the park? (As you can tell, I have a lot of thoughts and questions on this subject!)

On Improvement

I'm over at Writer Unboxed today talking about the endless room for improvement when it comes to our writing and why, if possible, you shouldn't be discouraged if you don't sell your manuscript. (Tall task, I know!)

Check it out here...

GCC Presents: Jenny Gardiner and Sleeping With Ward Cleaver

I know that I've been covering a lot of books recently, but hey, there are a lot of new good ones coming out, so...with that said, I'm really excited to host Jenny Gardiner, a new member of the GCC today, not least because I think her book, Sleeping with Ward Cleaver, might have one of the best titles this year. When I picture it, I actually picture sleeping with Wally Cleaver, which is a little bit disturbing, but nevertheless, the title certainly lodges in your mind and stays there. :) More seriously, the themes of this book echo similar themes as in Time of My Life, and I'm really looking forward to reading it. Sounds like it will resonate with a lot of women. Here's the synopsis:

Claire Doolittle is not a happy camper. The married mother of five seems to have lost her way in life. Swept off her feet years earlier by Mr. Right, she’s dismayed that husband Jack has turned into Mr. Always Right, and the only sweeping happening in her life involves a broom and a dustpan. Jack’s officious, perfunctory way has left fun, spontaneity and laughter at the doorstep, and Claire is beginning to wonder if she’s actually married to a modern-day version of Ward Cleaver, the stuff-shirted father figure from Leave it to Beaver sitcom fame.

Worse yet, she’s so bogged down by her overwhelming life and so turned off by the idea of getting it on with her stodgy father-figure of a husband, she’s simply blocked out all of her memories of the Claire-who-used-to-be. Cue a former fiancé, who re-enters her life when she desperately needs to figure out who she was, who she is, and who she wants to be. And if she wants to salvage her sagging marriage, or fall back on her old fiancé, who’s wooing her with promises of what could have been. Throw in a predatory hottie from Jack’s office who’s set her sights on Claire’s ho-hum husband, and you’ve got the recipe for a mid-life crisis of epic proportions.

Jenny Gardiner’s novel, winner of Dorchester Publishing’s American Title III contest, is sure to lure you into the mundane yet compelling world of Claire Doolittle and will leave you cheering for her marriage.

Here, Jenny drops by to answer a few of my standard questions:

1) What's the backstory behind your book?
I've always liked to watch people, I love to observe, pay attention to what is going on in their lives and what motivates them. And I couldn't help but notice that so many women who I remember from their wedding days, so full of hope and optimism, had settled into more of a daily grind in their marriages--life, work, kids all get in the way of sustaining that level of positive emotions you experience when you first get married. We were starting to see marriages fail, which is always so sad.

And at the same time I was really interested to see how so many women became empowered as they approached middle-age. All of a sudden their kids are getting older and more self-sufficient. Many had left jobs behind to raise their kids, so found themselves in the position of having to reinvent themselves. Sometimes having to reinvent yourself is a really awesome gift, really. It forces you to explore what it is you want out of life, what it is you think is missing.
And at the same time I started noticing this difference with women and men at that point in life--while women seemed to be blossoming, men seemed to become more set in their ways. It's ripe for conflict, in that regard.

It made me think that many men really do become Ward Cleaver-like. And I don't know about you, but the idea of sleeping with Ward Cleaver isn't really so appealing LOL. Hence the title came to me, and with all of these musings swimming about my head, I started working on this idea, and the next thing you know I had a book!

2) It seems that a lot of readers confuse fiction with real life, assuming that a novel must be an autobiography of the author as well. How many elements of your real life are reflected in your book?
There's no doubt that my sarcastic voice is the thread running through the book--I've injected that into my protagonist's head. But generally-speaking, I sort of compiled all of those things that I'd heard sitting around over drinks with girlfriends--all those enormous chasms that occur between men and women once kids come along, and incorporated them into a composite marriage. I do, however, have a parrot who poops all over my house and it makes me CRAZY!

3) A lot of my blog readers are aspiring or new authors. How did you land your first book deal?
I followed an unconventional path to publication. I'd entered the American Title III contest in the hopes of expediting getting my book in front of an editor's eyes. In general, I think entering contests is a good idea--it helps to get feedback (albeit sometimes not the most useful feedback). And if you do well enough, it *can* expedite getting your writing in front of an editor or agent, which is a pretty nice thing.

Much to my surprise my book was chosen as a finalist in the contest. For the six months following that, I had to hunker down and become a marketing maven, spending many, many hours online especially, trying to enlist support for my book in the contest from all sorts of crazy angles. Little did I know I would be laying the groundwork for marketing/publicizing my book. I was just busy trying to stay in the contest, and because of the nature of the contest, and it was sort of before contests started becoming fairly ubiquitous, people were generally pretty enthusiastic about backing me--they felt somewhat vested in the process.

In the meantime, I had prior to all of this been talking back and forth with a lovely agent who had kind of taken me under his wing. We'd been batting about some book ideas, tried to flesh things out, but he was very busy and things kept being sidelined. But ultimately he facilitated my signing with my agent, as he thought we'd be a good match-up, which we have been. At around this time is when I won the contest, which meant that I won a book deal--hugely thrilling and I just didn't realize how lucky I was that on top of all of that, I had built up a potential readership along the way.

4) I have a serious procrastination problem when it comes to tackling my fiction. What's your routine? How do you dive in? Do you have any rituals or necessary to-dos before or while you write?

When not in publicity mode I like to start writing early. I'm up before dawn, to the gym and home by 7, then we get the kids up and going, fed, lunched, to school. I come home and sit down to write then, *usually*. Sometimes I'll divert to yoga instead! I do my best writing and my best concentrating in the morning. Plus, it's far easier to do when the kids are at school, because once school's out I am driving all over the place to their various sports practices, activities, etc.
I do tend to be a pressure writer, however, and when I'm facing my deadlines, I will just hunker down and write until my brain is fried. Sometimes that means writing into the middle of the night.

I have three awesome places at home in which to write. In nice weather, I hang out with my laptop on a porch swing on the front porch. When it's cold, I sit in the living room in front of a fire. And my husband just bought me this really cozy sort of fainting couch, which is tucked away in a room where the noises of our lives -(i.e. all of my pets, the kids, the TV, the phone, etc)- can't invade my brain quite so readily.

5) Clearly, your book will be optioned for a multi-million dollar film deal! Who would you cast as the leads, if you were given creative control?
It has to be an actress with some meat on her bones and who hasn't been bo-toxed to within an inch of her life. She has to have so lifelines on her face. I sorta like Kate Winslett or Laura Linney maybe. Oooh, maybe Emma Thompson? She'd be great! I'm trying to work on the love interest...Matt Damon has the "look"--like sort of Ward-ish but also handsome. I could see him morphing from black and white to technicolor LOL.

Q/A with Eileen Cook

So I am just tickled pink because today I have a Q/A with one of my favorite bloggers, Eileen Cook. If you don't check out Eileen's blog, Just My Type, you should because it brings a daily dose of funny, and I adore it. Eileen's debut novel, Unpredictable, was released last week, so I asked her if I could host her here on Ask Allison because I knew that it would be an enlightening and hilarious Q/A, and she didn't disappoint. Oh, and here's a little scoop on the book, which you can order here from Amazon.

Sophie Kintock isn't crazy, she just wants her guy back. And posing as a psychic to give his new girlfriend a face reading designed to break them up isn't going overboard, is it? Don't answer that. Faking psychic powers turns out to be easy and fun, especially after a few lessons from Nick, the cute (if a bit nerdy) skeptic, who knows all the tricks of the trade. But her readings do a lot more than she could have predicted, and soon Sophie needs to figure out whether the answers lie in the stars-or in herself.

1) Where did the idea of Unpredictable come from? A lot of people mistakefiction for real life, but I take it you're not a credited psychic in reallife?
Alas- I do not have a secret life as a psychic. My husband belongs to a group called CSICOP (Center for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.) Are you picturing a bunch of really smart people wearing t-shirts with math jokes on them that you can’t understand? Perfect. It’s a group of skeptics that use science to investigate everything from alien abductions to the Loch Ness monster. I went with him to a conference dealing with how psychic ability can be faked. At first I thought how I could turn this to my advantage and start a new career as a psychic to the stars as a way to leverage myself into A-list parties, but I found myself going back to one question. I knew how to fake psychic skills, but I still wanted to know WHY someone would do it. Playing with that question was the beginning of the story that became Unpredictable.

2) Tell me how you got published. A lot of aspiring writers read the blog -they'd love to take inspiration from you!
I've always wanted to be a writer. My parents were both big readers and passed on the book passion to me. When I was old enough to understand the concept that someone got to be the person to write those stories I knew what I wanted to do. I took courses , went to conferences and wrote as much as possible. I was reluctant to send things out until one writing teacher asked me "well do you think publishers are just going to show up at your f*&%ing door on their own?” It was hard to argue with that kind of logic. I started to send things off and had some sales (and LOTS of rejections.) I wrote two books before Unpredictable. They're unpublished and should stay that way. People are sometimes surprised- but I didn't have any super secret publishing contacts. My agent (the wonderful Rachel Vater) found my query in the slush pile. She's a great business partner. She sold the book to Berkley and foreign rights in Russia, Germany and France. Film Rights were picked up by New Line Cinema.

3) What's your best writing/publishing tip for aspiring writers?
Read. Read a lot. Read a range of things so that you can see how different writers and different genres work. My other piece of advice is that writing with the goal of publication is a rough ride, lots of rejection, lots of emotional ups and downs. If you don't like the actual process of writing I would suggest taking up some other pursuit. Knitting is good. WIth knitting you get a sweater and no one sends you a letter that says:

Dear Knitter- Thank you for the opportunity to review your sweater. Unfortunately it is not to our taste. Other people may like your sweater, but we sure didn't.

4) What the most unpredictable thing about the publishing industry?
There are predictable things about publishing? A wise writer friend recently told me "writing is a craft, publishing is a casino." Truer words were never spoken. There are so many factors that lead to success in this industry (print runs, distribution, trends) - however the only one in your control is the writing. Despite a few short freak outs along the way I'm doing my best to keep focused on the writing.

5) Do you believe in psychic abilities? Ever have a psychic moment?

I want to believe in psychics- does that count? I love the idea of being able to have super-human abilities. I also would love to be able to fly superhero style (except for the fact that I would look really bad in those Spandex suits). I think that sometimes in our desire to find something out of this world- we overlook what is right in front of us . We're so busy playing with tarot cards we miss the real magic- how you feel when you fall in love at first sight or finding a killer pair of shoes- IN YOUR SIZE.

6) I love your blog -so chock full of random tidbits that crack me up.Where do you find them all? What sorts of things tickle your funny bone?
I have this theory that strange news finds me not the other way around. I tend to click around the internet until something catches my attention. One of the most interesting thing has been as the popularity of the blog has grown now people are starting to send me things. You know it's going to be a good day when you open your email and there is a subject line "Ransomed Jesus Video- Must See." I come from a family that has always had humor as a part of everyday life- from bad corny jokes (yes Dad I'm talking to you) to dry sarcasm. I love writers like Meg Cabot or Dorothy Parker who are able to put a fresh spin on something by using humor.

7) Your blog has thriving and healthy traffic. Any words of advice tosomeone starting out on how to build a blog audience?
A blog is a lot of work, if you want to grow an audience you have to make a commitment to posting regularly. I also advise people to look at what is the purpose of their blog. Your blog for example has great writer's advice, it gives people a reason to come back. I couldn't offer writer's advice as I don't know what I'm doing, I decided to stick with funny. To give people a place to stop by for a quick laugh in the middle of their day.

But Wait, There's More!

Thanks again, everyone, for your enthusiasm for my new cover. I'm still in love with it, even one day later, which is a good sign.

So, because so many of you guys are excited for the book, I posted an excerpt - the entire first chapter - on my site today.

Check it out: http://allisonwinn.com/resources/TOMLexcerpt.html, and I really, really hope you enjoy it and that it lives up to the cover promise!

Under Cover

So, I don't care what people say, you can sooooo judge a book by its cover. Or at least I do. I'm sure that I've passed up a ton of great books because their covers didn't grab me, but I guess that's my loss. (Or really, the author's loss because he or she didn't get the sale.) But I am a total sucker for a good, clean, grabby cover - if it nabs my attention, I'll likely pick it up, and if I pick it up and read the back and it sounds appealing, bam, I'll buy it.

So, it's with GREAT excitement that I received the cover for Time of My Life today. Because I LOVE IT!!! This is totally a book that I would reach for in the bookstore, and I'm just over the moon about it. While it's not a literal interpretation of an anecdote from the book, it really does convey the spirit of the words inside, and that's really what a good cover should do.

Swoon. Check it out! I'm in love!

Get Connected!

As a writer, the person or thing that I spend the most time with in my life is my computer. Sad, isn't it? That I spend more time with this inanimate object than anything else in my life? Man, that's a really heavy realization.

Anyhoo, my entire existence is basically on this thing, which is why (and no, this isn't a paid endorsement or anything) I plunked down $15 a month or so for Connected.com, which backs-up my system every night. Because if my computer decides to break up with me, at least it can't wipe me out when it leaves me.

Which gets me to thinking. I'm so reliant on technology these days, and I'd love to hear what programs you guys can't live without, both as writers and outside the writing world. Professionally, as I said, Connected is critical for me, and personally, I'm addicted to Napster. I was never a big iTunes fan because you can't transfer songs to non-iPod players, so I was a Napster fan from the start - I pay $15 a month for unlimited song access and downloading, and man, I make the most of it. I guess I could also call this a professional tool because whenever I have a block, I usually fire up some music to help me over the hump.

So tell me, what are the programs and computer tools that you can't live without? (Microsoft Word goes without saying!). :)

Well, Basically, We're Screwed

(Admin note: Blogger's spellcheck isn't working, and I'm typing on a new laptop and not used to the keyboard, so if you see misspellings, just ignore them! Thanks!)

So I had drinks last week with a very good author friend of mine, one whom I befriended after reading her first novel and sending her a note telling her how much I adored it. Turns out that we went to the same college and were in the same sorority, only, ahem, I'm a few years "wiser" (let's not say older, 'kay?) than her, so we never knew each other.

Anyway, we were sipping our drinks (okay, our teas - that's how lame we are these days - tea, not drinks), and I asked her if she's nervous about the upcoming release of her next book. Not that she should be nervous - her first book did really well and was published to much acclaim. But you know, just nervous in general because having a book published is nervewracking, period.

Her: "So nervous."

Me: Why? You've been through this before.

Her: Exactly. That's why I'm nervous. Because basically, I know that I'm screwed. (Though she might have said something fouler than "screwed." I'm paraphrasing.)

And I couldn't help but crack up. because I knew exactly what she was talking about.

Here's the thing about publishing: it is so super-exciting to have your work in print. Hell, you busted your ASS off to get it there, and it's no small accomplishment to have done so. But once you're there, you find out that writing a break-out book is nearly impossible, often -no, almost always - to no fault of your own. Which is totally fine. Not everyone needs or wants to be a best-seller. But the advance of your next book is based on the sales of your last one, so if you really want to bring home the figurative bacon (or just quit the day job), quite frankly, those sales do matter a whole damn lot. Which is why my friend and I got such a good chuckle out of her statement.

The bottom line, as I mentioned above, is that barring Oprah or The Today Show or something else major happening, your book is likely to float along at midlist, neither too high nor too low, and unless the publisher decides to push the hell out of your book (which they might - you'll know that long before your book hits stores), it's an uphill battle for eyeballs. (In my opinion, a review in People and/or EW can also really boost sales.) My friend and I tried to name a few books that really took off without expectation (i.e, without that publisher push and money behind it), and the list is short. I know that both Emily Giffin's first book and The Nanny Diaries didn't sell for huge advances and yes, they became best-sellers, and lately, the Memory Keeper's Daughter comes to mind as one that just skyrocketed in paperback. I'm sure that I'm missing others - dozens of them - but these books are the exception, not the rule.

So what does all of this mean? Hell if I know! I'm just passing on some insights from the trenches. I really, really don't want to sound like I'm complaining. I'm just stating the facts. It would be nice to think that writing the book is most of the work, but, in fact, that's just the beginning. Which isn't meant to be discouraging - you know that here at Ask Allison, I'm all for positivity! - just realistic. This book business is a tough gig, no two ways about it.

So any other break-out books you guys can think of that come to mind? I'm talking about books that really took off without a six-figure advance and the promotion and print run to guarantee a best-seller. Eat, Pray, Love, maybe?

GCC Presents: Karen Neches and Earthly Pleasures

So I'm totally fascinated with the concept of today's GCC book, Earthly Pleasures. Of late, as I've mentioned on this blog, I've been contempating those big WHY questions - why are we here, what is our purpose, and of course, religion and God and all of that plays into it. So it's easy to see why I'd be drawn into the description of this book, which was a Notable Book Sense February pick and which Publishers Weekly called "smart, funny and appealingly unorthodox."

Here's the scoop:

Welcome to Heaven. Use your Wishberry to hustle up whatever you want. Have an online chat with God. Visit the attractions such as Retail Rapture, Wrath of God miniature golf and Nocturnal Theater, where nightly dreams are translated to film.

Your greeter might just be Skye Sebring who will advises her newly dead clients on what to expect now that they’re expired. “Heaven is like a Corona Beer commercial” she assures her charges. “It’s all about contentment.”

So different than Earth where chaos reigns. Unfortunately for Skye, she’s been chosen to live her first life. She’s required to attend Earth 101 classes, which teach all of the world’s greatest philosophies through five Beatle songs.

Skye has no interest in Earthly pursuits, until lawyer Ryan Blaine briefly becomes her client after a motorcycle accident. Just as they are getting to know each other, he is revived and sent back to Earth.

She follows his life via the TV channel “Earthly Pleasures” but discovers he has a wife as well as a big secret. Why then does he call a show for the lovelorn to talk about the lost love of his life?

In Earthly Pleasures (Simon and Schuster, February 2008, $14) great love can transcend the dimensions, narrowing the vast difference between Heaven and Earth.

How great does this sound?? So, so great. Anyway, as always, we're lucky enough to have Karen stop by to answer a few of my usual questions. Read on for more... (and LOL at her obsession with gum - don't we all have weird piccidillos like that?)....

1) What’s the backstory behind your book?

I had this sudden thought: Lovely Bones meets Bridget Jones. , I was so excited, I felt like I’d discovered how to turn rocks into gold. Then I spoke with a publicist who said, “What a horrific notion.” Too late. I was already 70,000 words in. My agent hated it. My editor wanted to use it for kindling. I almost gave up on it. I cursed the novel many times but now it’s my favorite.

2) It seems that a lot of readers confuse fiction with real life, assuming that a novel must be an autobiography of the author as well. How many elements of your real life are reflected in your book?

I wrote this novel while I was still in a honeymoon haze. (I got married after having been single for 20 plus years.) It’s kind of a soul mate scenario: A greeter in Heaven falls in love with a mortal on Earth. I clearly had love on the brain when I wrote it.

3) A lot of my blog readers are aspiring or new authors. How did you land your first book deal?

I was VERY lucky. My first novel, Bet Your Bottom Dollar, was only the second novel I’d attempted. I’d gotten a lot of positive feedback at writers’ conferences so I queried widely and landed an agent after only a couple of weeks. After a few revisions, she sold it and it ended up being a lead title for Simon and Schuster.

4) I have a serious procrastination problem when it comes to tackling my fiction. What’s your routine? How do you dive it? Do you have any rituals or necessary to-dos before or while you write?

I have to chew Extra Watermelon gum when I write. I used to chew a weird flavor called boysenberry but Wrigley discontinued that flavor so I had a hellish week training myself to like watermelon. Now I’m hooked.

5) Clearly, your book will be optioned for a multi-million dollar film deal! Who would you cast as the leads, if you were given creative control?

Kate Hudson as my main character, Skye Sebring because she has a sunny, angelic look. Matthew McConaughey as her love interest, Ryan because he’s so good with Kate and Ryan can be cocky at times. One of the main characters is a 85-year old black woman named Caroline and I’d like to Cicely Tyson in that role (with appropriate make up of course.) God, who is female in my novel, would have to be played by Bette Midler, becasue she never takes herself to seriously.

The Thin Line Between Love and Hate

Question of the day: I've been very frustrated with my agent. We started working together almost a year ago, and nothing is getting done. She rarely returns my calls and emails--I hear from her once every few months. She is constantly putting me on the back burner for her other clients--it's frustrating. I understand I'm a new writer, and haven't made her any money yet, but I still expect some respect. We haven't even approached publishers yet. But she has a lot of contacts, great credits to her name and is respected throughout the publishing community so I hate to say anything. She is a big time agent and I'm lucky to have her. It just seems like she's lost interest in my work, and at this point, I'm not sure what I should do. Thoughts?

Ugh. I always hate hearing stories of how writers are mistreated by agents because a) I think it gives agents an unfairly bad reputation when many of them are responsive and generous, and b) I hate hearing how writers think that they're powerless when situations such as these do arise. (And yes, arise they do.)

So, that said, the first thing I'd try to do, if possible, is get your agent on the phone and explain how you've been feeling. She might not have any idea that you feel neglected, etc, even though it sounds like you're well-within your rights to feel that way. Alternatively, she might tell you that she's just not as excited about your work, which would really suck, but at least then, you wouldn't be in limbo and you could make a decision as to how to move on.

Barring that, I'd do the same thing via email (if you can't get her on the phone). It sound like, in essence, she's holding your work and your career hostage, and while it's always scary for authors to do, you should take the reigns to the situation. Having a negligent agent is worse than having to start looking for a new one.

Unfortunately, a lot of writers fail to understand this. In our industry, agents are the Revered Ones, the Demi-Gods, the Holders of All Power and Truths, and I've always felt that this line of thinking does writers such an injustice. YOU are responsible for your career, so if YOU'RE not being served in the manner in which you believe you deserve to be, find a way to remedy it. Agents, when true advocates for you (like mine is), are amazing resources, and it's always better to have someone in your corner than not...but if your agent is MIA or is only in your corner symbolically, then frankly, you're stranded in that corner by yourself anyway, whether or not you technically have "representation." Go out there and find someone who will go to the mats for you. You deserve nothing less.

Anyone else ever been in this situation? How do you feel about the balance of power between agents and writers?

Book Promo Day!

So today, I have to make mention of a few newly released books that you should get your hands on. The first, The Opposite of Love, was written by Julie Buxbaum, who has since become a friend but that's not the reason I'm mentioning it! Really! I've been psyched about this book since I first read about the sale on Publishers Marketplace. I even sent the description to my agent and said, "Doesn't this book sound kick-ass?" Cut to a while ago when I receive an email from Julie asking if I'll take a look at the book for a blurb. Now, normally I turn down blurb requests when I'm working on my own manuscript because I find that my voice can be easily swayed when I read something else (this first started showing up when I was a kid and was obsessed with Stephen King...even the way that I'd talk to myself would evolve into his "voice," not my own...which, if you've ever read Stephen King, you know can be more than a little disturbing!). But I was so freakin' psyched to get my hands on this hot little book that I made an exception. The galley arrived a few days later, and I finished it 48 hours later.

And then, of course, I happily blurbed it because as a fan of smart women's fiction, it was right up my alley. (Of course, this is ignoring the fact that I actually FORGOT to send her the intended blurb for like, two weeks, and Julie was totally sweet and gracious that I blew past her deadline.)

This book is getting A LOT of promotion. You'll see it everywhere, I promise. From what I've read, the print run is big - big enough to push it to best-seller status (as I've mentioned in the past, if you don't have a big print run, you ain't hitting those lists), and I have to say, Julie is just a fantastic person, and I'm thrilled for her. So check it out if you're a fan of women's fiction.

The second book I want to mention is The Liars Diary by Patry Francis.

Here’s the scoop on the book: “Jeanne Cross’s contented suburban life gets a jolt of energy from the arrival of Ali Mather, the stunning new music teacher at the local high school. With a magnetic personality and looks to match, Ali draws attention from all quarters, including Jeanne’s husband and son. Nonetheless, Jeanne and Ali develop a deep friendship based on their mutual vulnerabilities and long-held secrets that Ali has been recording in her diary. The diary also holds a key to something darker: Ali’s suspicion that someone has been entering her house when she is not at home. Soon their friendship will be shattered by violence—and Jeanne will find herself facing impossible choices in order to protect the people she loves.”

I don't know Patry personally, but we're members of the same writing organization, Backspace, and it was recently announced that Patry was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, and thus would be unable to promote the book herself. So...a cry went out to bloggers 'round the universe to pitch in and promote it for her. She's the mom to four kids and is fighting the hell out of her cancer, so my admiration for her is a thousand-fold. Check out her website for more.

And finally, while we're on the subject of book promotion, Amazon now has a link up to Time of My Life! How cool is that? So...you know...if you want to get a jump on any pre-ordering, now's the time. :)

So readers out there, heard of either of these books or are you excited for any forthcoming releases?

I'm Back!

Sorry for the week of silence, but, oy. The same day/night that we moved, my son came down with the stomach flu that is sweeping NYC, and well, our new place - if you smell hard enough - now slightly smells of barf. Lovely. And my daughter woke up with it yesterday. Add in sleepless nights (why do kids seem to puke only between the hours of 12-7 AM?), a dog who has let us just how he feels about our new house by occasional poops on the floor, and all of the other chaos that comes along with moving, and go figure, I haven't had a chance to blog.

But the good news is that my Time Warner guy kicked ass, so my internet has been up and running! Hey, silver lining and all of that.

Anyhoo, this is simply my way of saying that I'll be more actively blogging this week and from here on out....I'm just too brain-dead to do it today.

Moving...

I'm knee-deep in moving hell, so won't be online much for the next two days. Hoping, fingers-crossed and with a prayer to Time Warner gods, that I will indeed have internet access come Wednesday/Thursday, but, well, I've mentally prepared for the worst...i.e, there's a cable screw-up, and I won't be online for the full week.

Ack.

Can you imagine??? How did we survive without the internet? The mere thought sends me into a cold sweat. Seriously, being a writer must have been so ridiculously isolating pre-www.com.

Anyway, what I'm doing right now is seriously procrastinating delving back into the mess, but alas, duty calls. So - I'll be back as soon as I can! Godspeed. :)

Moving On, Moving Forward

So my family and I are in the middle of a move. By that, I mean that I'm the only one dealing with anything remotely related to moving next week while the rest of them continue on business as usual. (Not that I have any expectation of my 1 year-old packing, but my husband? Er, maybe.) Anyhoo...

I've been cleaning out closets and filing cabinets and drawers and every other nook in which I've stuffed stuff over the past few years and have uncovered loads and loads of papers and articles that I've written since the inception of my career. And it's been such an interesting thing, to look back at this stuff. When I was 22 and a new college graduate, I never imagined that I'd forge a career as a writer. I would have loved to, of course, but it just seemed unattainable, ridiculous, almost.

So I got a job in PR. When I realized that PR wasn't for me, I pursued my original passion: acting. I did some off-broadway gigs, got my SAG card via several commercials, moved to LA (via a brief stop in Dallas for a doomed romance), and after a while, realized that, guess what? I wanted to try something else. So I moved back to NYC to co-found an internet company, and that's when my writing career started to come into focus. But not even intentionally so. I wrote a slew of web copy and articles for the site (many of which I found this week in a folder in the back of a closet), and eventually, when the internet bubble burst, I emerged with some semblance of a writing career.

The point of all of this is to say that life is long and winding, and whether or not you achieve immediate success as a writer, that holds no bearing on whether or not you'll achieve success in the future. Or even if you'll still aspire for the same things in the future. If you told my 22-year old self that I'd be making a living as a novelist, she'd be elated but shocked - at 22, it just seemed seemed so far outside the bounds of what I could achieve.

Life as a writer means being the tortoise; it means understanding that small steps are still steps toward the finish line; it means accepting the fact that instant gratification is just a pipe dream. But if you allow things to snowball and roll down the path toward where they're meant to go, sometimes, if you're lucky like me, you might find that you end up in the just the right place.

So tell me, what was your first job? Was it wildly divergent from where you are now?

Is Your Book the Next When Harry Met Sally?

Admin note: thanks for the suggestion that I start to tag my posts. I'm now doing so and also going back to retroactively tag everything. It will take a few days, but hopefully by next week, you'll be able to search old posts much more easily.

Question of the day: I am starting to sent out e-queries. Often agents request a synopsis or chapter pasted in the body of the e-mail. I am worried about the format - do you double space the text? Do I include the cover page with my contact info? Do I type anything to indicate the end of the section? Another question - my novel is inspired by a classic movie (i.e. I stole the plot and updated it!). Think of the way Bridget Jones's Diary used the plot from Pride & Prejudice. Should I mention the movie in my letter or does it hurt me & make me look unimaginative?

Good questions. I can only tell you what I've done in the past, and I'm hopeful others will chime in on what they've done as well.

As far as formatting, double-spacing in a classic font, such as Times or Arial, is best. I've never included a cover page: I always assumed that agents printed out my query/email along with the sample chapter and matched that accordingly, but I don't think you'd look like an idiot if you DID include a cover page. In fact, thinking about it, I don't think it's a bad idea at all - but obviously, in the grand scheme of things, i.e., will you get an offer or not, it really doesn't matter. Don't stress too much about details like this. Pull together a professional sample with no errors and you'll be fine.

As to your next question - should you use the movie comparison - I say go for it, though it might be off-putting for higher-brow agents. What I mean by that is that if yours is a really commercial book, agents will appreciate knowing how they can market it - what niche and demographic it will fall into. Your comparison will also help them really get an idea of your book, or at least your interpretation of your book. In fact, when my agent pitched Time of My Life to editors and publishing houses, she did indeed compare it to movies, calling it a cross between Sliding Doors and Family Man. We also considered throwing Desperate Housewives in there, but she liked the above two, and I agree that it does sum up the general feel of the book well.

But I've digressed. My overall point was that I think these comparisons do help paint an apt picture of what the agent can expect from the book, which is usually a good thing. The downside, I guess, is the risk that the agent then reads it with certain expectations and the book falls short of them. But I suppose that if this happens, the agent probably doesn't like the book for a variety of reasons, so really, you're not losing much.

I'm curious to hear what other people say, though. This is just my initial gut reaction. So, folks, what say you, both about formatting and making comparisons to the silver screen?

Do FOB Pitches Get Fancy Treatment?

Question of the day: I am a freelance writer with a few published clips (including the Christian Science Monitor). I'm working on a few FOB ideas for the glossies and wanted to know how to pitch these. Do you send a 'regular' query letter?

Congrats on your progress! Sounds like you are well on your way.

Wow, it's amazing how many questions I get on FOBs. I have a few in my file that I haven't gotten around to answering yet because I first wanted to note that folks can search the archives of the blog, and I think you'll find a slew of info on FOBs. If you search and still have questions, by all means, fire away!

But to answer this specific question, yes, I pitch FOBs in the same way that I pitch any other query: I send it via email to my editor. The difference with FOBs is that it's much more acceptable to pitch multiple ideas at once. Editors don't find that entirely annoying because they usually have a bunch of FOBs to assign, and in some ways, this allows them to pick and choose which, if any, of your ideas might work for their section.

So yes, just send a regular query, but in this case, you can just say, "I had some ideas that I thought might work for X section and have included them below." Then you can just pitch them in some sort of numerical column.

Does anyone else pitch FOBs differently?

Blah, Blah, Blah...Writing Blahs

I'm over at Writer Unboxed today talking all about the writing blahs and what to do about 'em.

Check it out!

When a Pitch Takes FOREVER!

Question fo the day: As a procrastinator, I am always looking for ways to actually get stuff done. All the advice I read about researching markets makes me think it should take a week to put together a proper query, which means I don't do it at all. I know you've written about the importance of a great query, but from what you wrote about turning these queries around, though, it seems like you were not doing a ton of research on each market before sending them out. Is that right or did you condense a lot of effort into a little sentence?

Someone recently noted on one of my writer's boards that she thought that one of her strongest assets, in terms of making it as a freelancer, was her ability to work quickly. And I have to say that I agree with her - I do think that the ability to be efficient exponentially ups your odds of success in this industry.

Should you be taking a week to put together a query? Well, I can't speak to every individual. For some people, it might take a week to really craft a fine-tuned one. But part of freelancing is math: most of your queries, at least until you've developed relationships with editors, are going to be turned down. But the more that you have out there, the more likely it is that you'll get a hit. (Assuming, of course, that all of your queries aren't total crap, in which case, it doesn't matter how many you put out - you'll never get a "yes.") So, my instinct is to say, again, without making a blanket statement, that if it's taking you a full week to draft a query, that's just too long.

Part of being able to write a good query comes with time: after a few years of drafting 'em, I had them down to a science: a juicy opening hook, a few sentences jam-packed with research and facts that make the story timely and intriguing, a concluding sentence as to why the editor needs to assign this story now. That's primarily what a query should say. And then have your bio info as well, if this is a new-to-you editor.

As far as the research? Well, I do think it helps if you're not reinventing the wheel, and by that, I mean, I tend not to pitch ideas that I know nothing about. It takes too long for me to grasp what the hell I'm talking about and what the relevant points are for the piece. Ergo, I'm not about to pitch a highly-scientific article on, say, the latest on nanotechnology because I just don't know enough about the subject. But parenting ideas? Heck, sure! I can rattle off five of those, no problem. And because this is one of my areas of expertise, I can also tell you which experts I'll interview, why this is an important topic for our time, and the angle with which I'd approach it. Additionally, I subscribe to a slew of health websites and newsletters, and I scan them every morning, which takes me all of 5-10 minutes. So I have all of this new research streamed directly to me, and I can then pick and choose what might work for my editors or what might spark a pitch idea. From there, I might do a bit of surfing to find some back-up info, but I already have the crux of my idea, and that's half the battle.

Is this making sense? I'm not sure. Tell me if it's not, and I'll clarify. Really.

So how long do you guys spend honing your pitches? How have you become more efficient in doing so over the years?

Pre-taped vs. Live

As promised, we're doing an all-question week here at Ask Allison. I do have a backlog, but if you guys have lingering questions that I never answer or that you never sent in, now's your chance - send 'em in, and I'll add them to the queue.

I read your travel insurance piece in COOKING LIGHT's FOB. 1.Could you post the query you sent for it? 2.When you have experts such as Jeff Greenberg and Pauline Frommer of the Frommer travel books family, do you ever quote from their books or do you always call or email them for a fresh quote?

Unfortunately, I don't have the query for this because I didn't query it: the editor came to me and asked if I'd be interested. If I were to have queried it, it probably would have read something much along the lines of the actual piece:

A la: During the holiday season, travel increases by X percentage (I'd put the real percentage in, but am too busy to look it up for this blog post), so how does someone know if trip insurance is worth it? For a cheapo fare or only for lavish expenses? For airfare or for the whole she-bang? And if someone does opt for it, how does he go about finding reputable insurance? This FOB would provide the answers to the above questions, explained by top experts in the field, such as Jeff Greenberg and Peggy Frommer.

To answer the second part of your question, in my opinion, it's always better to get fresh quotes from an expert. Some experts are so busy that yes, they'll send you a book and suggest that you paraphrase from it, which, you know, in a jam, will do, but it's not, in my mind, the best journalism or reporting. When possible, try to get the expert on the phone, and if that fails, via email. I think culling quotes from a book should be your last resort. That said, I've had to do it in the past, and I suppose as long as the information is properly interpreted and your editor/audience/expert are happy, no one is really harmed too much in doing so.

But what do you guys think? Feel free to disagree. This is a nebulous area, and I'm all ears!

I'm Back and GCC Presents: Colleen Thompson and The Salt Maiden

I know that the blog has been a little slow over the holidays, but I was wrapping up the revision of Time Of My Life (Yahoo!! Just finished yesterday!) and wanted to spend my other time away from the computer. I'm devoting all of next week's posts to answering submitted questions to make up for it. :)

Today, I'm thrilled to present veteran novelist, Colleen Thompson, and her book, The Salt Maiden. Colleen was "discovered" in a local fiction contest, which I love, because it shows, once again, that there are a slew of ways to pave inroads to success in this industry. I also liked reading about her inspiration, which is so different than mine have ever been, and again shows that there's no "right" way to tackle things.

Here's a preview of the book: "Some novels begin with a character, others start with a what-if question or a situation, but my sixth romantic thriller, The Salt Maiden (Leisure, Dec. 2007) was inspired by a place I visited a few years back, a sunburned, sand-scoured desert community in the dead center of the least populated county in the U.S. With water too briny for human consumption and land too to support any but the hardiest of desert plants, it’s an eerily daunting landscape, one that made me wonder, What on earth would bring a person out here?

Apparently my subconscious took it as a challenge, and came up with a Houston veterinarian, Dana Vanover, in search of her troubled missing sister, the birth mother of a child in desperate need of a bone-marrow transplant. In spite of her ambivalence about her sister, Dana braves heat, rattlesnakes, and hostile locals — as well as her attraction to the handsome sheriff who wants her gone."

And here, she answers my usual questions:

1) What’s the backstory behind your book? The Salt Maiden was inspired by a trip through a tiny, desolate West Texas desert town so isolated and foreboding I found myself struggling to imagine (it was a very long drive) what could possibly entice anyone to go there. There's not a drop of potable water, only brine that keeps even self-respected cactus at bay. And then I had this strange vision of a mummified, nude female interred in one of the area's salt caverns. That became the opening for this long, strange journey of a romantic thriller.

2) It seems that a lot of readers confuse fiction with real life, assuming that a novel must be an autobiography of the author as well. How many elements of your real life are reflected in your book?
At 22, I moved from the East Coast, where I grew up, to a small desert community in Southwest Arizona. The stark beauty and harshness of the land made a real impression on me, and I came to have a grudging admiration for the living things that have adapted to this challenging environment.

3) A lot of my blog readers are aspiring or new authors. How did you land your first book deal?
My first book deal came as the indirect result of entering a local writing contest here in the Houston area. An editor judged the finals and recommended me to an agent who was attending the writers' conference. She read my work and took me on, then over time sold my first ten novels. (The Salt Maiden is my 13th release and my 6th romantic thriller.)

4) I have a serious procrastination problem when it comes to tackling my fiction. What’s your routine? How do you dive it? Do you have any rituals or necessary to-dos before or while you write?
I am a dawdler of epic proportions. If I didn't have deadlines and a burning need to keep books coming, I'd never accomplish anything. As it is, I have to set myself a weekly page quota and break it down into daily goals. Sometimes it takes me all day to force myself to do the five allotted pages. Other times (o, blessed days!) the writing simply and effortlessly flows. But most times, it's the little page number I've written on my calendar that forces me to work. I wish there were an easier way!

5) Clearly, your book will be optioned for a multi-million dollar film deal! Who would you cast as the leads, if you were given creative control?
Charlize Theron or Hillary Swank as the heroine, Angie Vanover. And Josh Brolin as Sheriff Jay Eversole. They'd be great.

Looking Forward, Looking Back

Wow. So it's already the end of the year. How did that happen?? I know that I can't be the only one who feels like she's living life is on the fast forward button. Everyone says this is even more true once you have kids, and really, it's so cliche, but oh so true. I really cannot believe that my little newborn daughter turned one a few weeks ago. Doesn't it feel like just yesterday that I was announcing her arrival?

Anyway, the turn of the calender means assessing goals and assessing what I accomplished this past year. I've been ruminating on 2008 for the past few days, and something odd is happening: normally, my goals and what I hope to accomplish are really clear - in previous years, I'd set specific magazine targets or income goals or getting my fiction published - but this year, I have to say, I'm pretty content with my lot. And that's what's making this whole goal-setting thing so weird. In the past year, my debut novel came out and I sold my second one. Honestly, I feel like if that's all I accomplish in my career, I might just be content. Maybe it's okay to say, hey, I don't need to operate on overdrive 24/7, and instead, sit back and recognize that I've come pretty far in the past few years...and if nothing spectacular happens this year, well, that's okay.

That said, because I'm not a complete slug, I do have a few goals for the year, in addition to slowing down a bit and smelling the figurative roses. I'd like to find inspiration for my third novel, now that I'm winding down revisions on my second. I've found that I'm all or nothing when I'm writing: I can't even entertain other ideas for books when I'm working on a current one because then everything starts to melt together and jumble like a messed-up ice cream sundae. I'd like to continue doing more celebrity profiles because they're something that I really enjoy - it actually makes my pop culture obsession worthwhile. I'd like to have more patience with my children, and that means ignoring my email and my computer entirely when it's "their time," something I've gotten better at, but certainly, could still improve.

So...I think that's a decent list. Maybe it doesn't set my world on fire as in previous years, but I'm also at a point in my life where I think that's okay. I know how fortunate I am with my lot, and I think there's something to be said for that and the gratitude I have for having the career that I do.

So tell me, how do you determine your goals for the next year? And, since I just spilled mine, what are yours?

Random Question of the Day

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, however you celebrate!

So now I have a random question for you guys. I'm working on my revision of Time of My Life and am toying with the idea of putting a quote (I know that there's an official name for these, but can't for the life of me remember what it is - anyone know) on the page before the first chapter. Know what I mean? Sandwiched between the dedication and Chapter One, there is often times a quote from a song or a poem or another book or whatever. What do you guys think of these? I've been listening to a specific song over and over again as I revise because the lyrics completely embody what my heroine is going through, and thus, I think it might be fun to pull out a verse for that opening quote (assuming we can get the rights and all of that, and I have no idea how that works either)...but...tell me, are these quotes cheesy, intriguing, completely unnoticed???

What do you think?

Your Best-of-2008 Awards

It's that time of year - the time in which every magazine, website and Hollywood organization bestow their "best of" awards and compile a variety of top 10 lists. So I figured it might be fun to do the same here at Ask Allison. Here are some of my tops for the year:

Best Book: Then We Came to The End by Joshua Ferris. This book wasn't for everyone, but it was for me. I was flat-out amazed at his creativity and genius, and frankly, loved every single thing about the book. As an author, I read a lot of books and think, "maybe on my best day and with the right idea, I could pen something similar to this," but with Then We Came to The End, I set it down and just thought, "HOLY SHIT, this guy is all sorts of spectacular, and I revere him." (Btw, I don't meant to imply that I could write all the books that others do. I hope it doesn't come off that way! Just that, you know, I could understand their creative process and how they got to where they did, etc. With Ferris, there was none of that.) Again, I know that not everyone loved this book as I did, but for its creativity and genius, it was my favorite of the year.

Book that Made Me Nearly Pee in My Pants: I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle. OMG, I defy you not to have tears streaming down your face as you read. Side-splittingly hilarious but still entirely relatable, and I loved it.

Book that I Wished I'd Written: How to Talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper. Now, here's one of those books I was talking about: I understood how he wrote it, how he created his characters, where his story arc was going, and just adored every single page and word of it. I think I read this book in 24 hours because I was so consumed with it, the words, the message, the writing. Love.

Best TV Show: 30 Rock. I can't for the life of me figure out why more people don't watch this show. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin (who, incidentally, I saw at the gym yesterday!) are comic gold.

Best New Show: Chuck. Zachary Levi is the new Jon Krasinski, with a touch of Adam Brody thrown in. As if I need further reason to tune in.

Best Movie (Out of the Few Movies that I Get to See): I have two young kids and a husband who would always rather go out to dinner than see a movie when we have a sitter, so...I'm a movie buff who doesn't see as many movies as she'd like. So, for example, I haven't seen any of the recent Oscar-bait releases except for Juno, and thus my two favorite movies of the year (to date) are probably Waitress (my Keri Russell love knows no bounds) and Gone, Baby, Gone, in which Ben Affleck redeemed himself for any and all Bennifer 1.0 embarrassments.

So tell me, what were your favorite books, TV shows and movies this past year? I'm always up for suggestions on all fronts!

Fudging the Facts

Question of the day:

I see this all the time:

"A novel based on her experience," "Inspired by a true story," "Names and identifying features have been changed..."

My question is, how much has to be changed? A few details? Major plotlines? Names and places and hair color?

I'm in the midst of writing a memoir. I've changed the names because it enables me to write about my characters, not the people I know. How much would have to be fiction for the book to be fiction -- if I'd like to pitch it that way? I'd never fall into James Frey territory.

And I know writers, agents and publishers have different opinions.

Just curious for yours.

I'm not an expert and I don't write memoirs, so I can only offer my opinion, which, obviously, counts for squat. But I loved this question and think it opens up a good debate/discussion, so I wanted to post it right away. (Trish Ryan, who has a memoir coming out next year, might want to weigh in.)

My inclination is that, in the day and age of James Frey, that you should adhere as closely as possible to the details. Changing names is understandable, and in some cases, advisable, as litigation is always a possibility if you paint a less than flattering picture of someone. A few details? Hair color? I don't think anyone will complain, especially because so many memoirs, like Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg, now offer caveats that, "ahem, this is written from the best of my memory and some dates/situations/people might have changed."

But I'd steer clear of creating fictitious major plot lines because, well, then, like Frey's book (which, not for nothing, I enjoyed a lot), it becomes fiction. I do think that there's a category for this type of book called "creative non-fiction," but from what I understand (and this could have changed as of late), these are tough sells for agents. Editors/publishers either want memoirs (which are already tough sells - make sure that yours highlights something unique) or they want fiction. Period. Either or.

Besides, the whole point of writing a memoir is that you have an incredibly interesting story to tell, one that's specific and unique to you. If you have to change it so drastically, maybe it's not a story you should be telling...

But that's just my initial inclination. What say you, readers?

On the Silver Screen

So this weekend, I caught Little Children on one of the movie channels and was really drawn into it. I LOVED this book, so was unsure about a film adaptation, but I thought it was really well-done, if not more bleak than the actual book. I guess it shouldn't be that surprising since Tom Perrotta co-wrote the screenplay, which had to help ensure authenticity.

It's amazing how many books-to-film are popping up these days, especially knowing how difficult it is to actually get a movie made, much less book rights sold, adapted, actors/directors/writers-signed on, etc. And with the writers' strike, these days, nothing is getting bought or sold.

But this season, there are loads of film adaptations popping up on screen. Some are highly praised - Atonement, which I haven't yet seen but people are saying is very good, and ditto Charlie Wilson's War; some are middling - The Golden Compass, which, again, I also haven't seen; and some are just abysmal - P.S. I Love You, which, given the reviews, you couldn't pay me to see. Incidentally, I just bought that book in hopes of reading it before the movie came out (this was before the horrible reviews), and I just couldn't get into it. Which goes to show that reading is so subjective because it was a huge best-seller but just wasn't for me. Go figure.

So, have you seen any of the above adaptations? What are your favorite book adaptations and what were the worst ones you've seen in recent memory?

GCC Presents: Eliza Graham and Playing With The Moon

I'm thrilled to present Eliza Graham today and her fabulous-sounding novel, Playing With the Moon. First of all, I'm just enamoured with the plot and concept. Second of all, read below to hear how she got published - what an inspiring story. After two thrwarted attempts, she did things on her own terms, which is just the type of gusto we like around these parts.

Anyhoo, here's a bit more about the novel, which World Book Day just nominated as a "Hidden Gem.":

Shattered by a recent bereavement, Minna and her husband Tom retreat to an isolated village on the Dorset coast, seeking the solitude that will allow them to cope with their loss and rebuild their foundering marriage. Walking on the beach one day, they unearth a human skeleton. It is a discovery which will plunge Minna into a mystery which will consume her for months to come.

The remains are soon identified as those of Private Lew Campbell, a black American GI who, it seems, drowned during a wartime exercise in the area half a century before. Growing increasingly preoccupied with the dead soldier's fate, Minna befriends a melancholy elderly woman, Felix, who lived in the village during the war. As Minna coaxes Felix's story from her, it becomes clear that the old woman knows more about the dead GI than she initially let on.

Here, she answers my usual questions:

1) What's the backstory behind your book?
Some years ago I visited a small village on the south coast of England--Tyneham. Tyneham had been evacuated in 1943 so that Allied troops could use it for D-Day practice. The inhabitants had never been allowed to return. I was spellbound. The village, with its gently decaying houses, cottages, church and manor house, seemed to reach out and pull me to itself.
Then I read--or saw--something about African-American GIs in Britain during WW2 and how many young British women were attracted to them, finding them gentle, humorous and kind boyfriends. My brain started to make connections between this and the fictional coast village I'd started to create in my imagination.

2) It seems that a lot of readers confuse fiction with real life, assuming that a novel must be an autobiography of the author as well. How many elements of your real life are reflected in your book?
I've noticed that very little of my own experience has made it into my books. Perhaps because I've had a fairly settled kind of life (touch wood) I've searched outside for inspiration, finding that I'm drawn to periods of turbulence and upheaval such as war. Although I note that Felix in PLAYING WITH THE MOON is like me in not having enjoyed school and hating hockey!

3) A lot of my blog readers are aspiring or new authors. How did you land your first book deal?
Having been agented for two earlier efforts that didn't sell I was delighted to see that Macmillan had launched a new imprint: Macmillan New Writing, which didn't need you to submit via an agent. You could also send them your ms. by email--extraordinarily modern and convenient for the world of publishing. So I sent of PWTM and a synopsis and four or five months later they got back to me, saying they liked the book in principle but had some editorial suggestions. Once I'd rewritten elements of the book they sent me the contract.

4) I have a serious procrastination problem when it comes to tackling my fiction. What's your routine? How do you dive it? Do you have any rituals or necessary to-dos before or while you write?
A lot of web-surfing and emailing friends occurs before I can start writing. I seem to need to warm up first. Then while I'm writing I keep jumping up and down to make coffee. I have a rebounder (mini trampoline) and sometimes go and have a bounce to get the blood up to my brain again. Or I go for a walk with my dogs.

5) Clearly, your book will be optioned for a multi-million dollar film deal! Who would you cast as the leads, if you were given creative control?
I think Dame Judi Dench for the senior Felix, the woman who lived in the village as a child and knows what really happened the night Private Lew Campbell died. The part of Lew himself is important (though he isn't in the book for much of the time)--he is a young, gorgeous African-American GI. I think I'd need to attend a lot of auditions for Lew. It would mean looking at lots of handsome men and would be tough, but for the sake of the film I'd force myself to do it.

Asking the Big Questions

Today, I'm over at Writer Unboxed, getting all philosophical and posing the question about why we write.

Check it out!

Finding the Perfect Expert

Before we begin, a few shots from vacation, as promised on Friday!

Question of the day: I'm new to the freelance community. I got my first article published last month! I came across your blog and enjoyed the information. One burning question I have regarding feature articles is how do writers find "Experts" to quote in their articles? If you could shed some of your ultra pragmatic light on this, I would appreciate it.

Sure! Of course. Finding the perfect expert can make or break your story, and certainly, I've been in the position of interviewing someone and feeling like, "Eh, this isn't quite right," which sucks big time because then you have to start all over.

A few places that I start:

1) Amazon. I like to head here first because more often than not, I interview book authors, and well, for obvious reasons, Amazon is a good place to find them. From there, if I find someone who might work, I head to...

2) Google. Again, not ground-breaking, but I google an author and if he or she isn't easily reachable, I often go back to point A. Or, alternatively, I also use google as a starting point - hunting down experts with very specific search terms.

3) I also use PubMed, especially when I'm looking for study authors or researchers. If I can find the exact study that fits into my story, I'm always keen to interview the person who performed the research behind it. Similarly,

4) NewsWise serves more or less the same function but with less medical terminology and a wider-span of press releases.

5) I'll also put out a query on Profnet if I can't find anything on my own. This usually yields me far more sources than I can use, and often times, they're not really what I had in mind (because they're coming from PR reps), but it doesn't really hurt, and often does land me a good source.

6) And finally (not always last, in terms of when I do things), I'll head to PR reps at various organizations that fit my needs. If, for example, I'm writing a story on something parenting-related, maybe I'll lob a call into the AAP or if I'm doing a story on nutrition, the ADA. That type of thing.

So, where do you guys find your sources? I'm sure that there are other bastions of info!

Turn Off, Tune Out

So a funny thing happened on my vacation: I fell out of love, just a little bit, with my Blackberry. And that's a good thing. A very good thing.

Here's the deal - in my normal life, I'm almost always connected and reachable. My agent needs me while I'm at the gym? No sweat. My husband wants to track me down while walking the dog? I'll pick up. I suspect that I don't need to elaborate because many of you relate. On one hand, this is wonderful; in fact, in the earlier days of my career, editors marveled about how, regardless of hour, I could respond to just about any and all emails. But on the other hand, it means that I am always available, like a 24/7 convenience store, and the truth is, which I didn't realize until my vacation, that I don't like being on call.

Here's what happened: while in Anguilla, I made the decision to leave my Blackberry in the room all day. Which meant that I checked it when I woke up and checked it again at night, and other than that, emails could clog it up to no end, and I wouldn't touch it. I thought that maybe I'd feel anxious, wondering about what I was missing, wondering if the world were imploding without me, but guess what? What I found instead was serenity. (The beach and the waves at my back door probably helped too.) But in all seriousness, I enjoyed myself SO MUCH MORE because I wasn't connected or reachable. In fact, my husband toted his Blackberry around all day, and beyond the fact that I found this incredibly annoying and made more than 5000 passive-aggresive remarks about it, eventually I moved past my irritation at him and just felt sorry for him. I mean, here we were, in arguably one of the most beautiful places on earth, and he couldn't let go of work! And yes, I'd be dishonest if I didn't say that I recognized a small part of myself in that.

When I returned home, I logged on to more than 300 emails. And it turns out that about 3 of them were semi-urgent. The rest were easily satisfied by my out-of-office notification, and I answered them at my leisure throughout the day and this past weekend. The world still spun on. The industry didn't collapse in my absence. Really, no one missed me too much. And that's a good thing. In fact, it was so good that these past few days, when I've taken the dog out for a walk or headed to the gym, I left the Blackberry at home. I need those few moments to myself, and everyone else can wait.

So tell me, are you addicted to your Blackberry? Or have you found strategies to put it down just like I have?