Topic of the day: Dialogue

Whoo-hoo! Thank god it's Friday, that's all I have to say. This has been like the longest week of my life it seems. My boss has been out of the office which has been great, because I've been able to freely sit here at work and work on the novel that keeps on ticking. The synopsis is done, stick a fork in it. It's still too long, but I'm not going to worry about at this point. I like how it's written, and I'm feeling really good about it. Probably the best I've ever felt about a synopsis truthfully.

I was watching the OC last night for work, and it got me thinking about dialogue. As a former actress, I've prided myself on writing good dialogue. But now I'm writing about teenagers, and they have a whole lingo of their own it seems sometimes. So, I'm watching the OC to get some pointers, although the show is so totally unrealistic. I mean I don't know that many high school seniors who seem to have an endless supply of older babes willing to sleep with them like Ryan does. But it was great to watch my two favorite characters Summer and Seth discussing Ryan and his dates body language.

Dialogue can reveal so much about the character, how they think, what they want, what they're hiding. When I write my first draft, the majority of the novel is nothing but dialogue. I go back during the revisions and fill in all the detail, like who's actually speaking. I read somewhere that if your dialogue is really sharp, you should be able to take away the character's, and the reader will still be able to know who's speaking. Elmore Leonard is a master at that. If you pick up one of his novels, he has pages filled with just dialogue and no tags, but you automatically know who's speaking.

I was feeling pretty confident about my dialogue until I read a YA novel called TTYL by Lauren Myracle that is told totally in IM. Three characters, Maddie, Zoe and Angela. You learn everything you need to know about these characters solely through their interaction with each other. You don't know what they really look like, very little description, just all dialogue. The way Lauren is able to differeniate the three characters is just brilliant. It's made me go back through my manuscript and really examine the way I have my characters talk. What quirks they might have, favorite expressions etc.

It's an ongoing process.

So the question of the day is: Who are your favorite writers in terms of dialogue? Who gets it exactly write for you?

My choices are: Marley Gibson, Eileen Rendahl, Lani Diane Rich, and the goddess herself, Jennifer Crusie.

What's Your Inner Dragon?

Yeah, it's Thursday, which means it's one day closer to Friday. I don't know why I'm so happy since I'm working tonight, and then again on Saturday and Sunday. Maybe because I got paid today for my day job! Halullujah, I can pay my rent not to mention the fact that I can pay my RWA membership fee which is due tomorrow. Thank god for on-lining payment.

In other news, I entered a contest for Depeche Mode tickets, although I don't know 3 other people who are in to them. The question was what was the name of their first album? Well that was easy for me, it's Speak & Spell and I know that because i bought it on my first ever trip to England back in 1981 when it came out. No one in the States had heard of Depeche Mode yet and I was so psyched that I was ahead of the curve for once. Well they played "New Life" at one our school dances and no one got it!

Well, we have another quiz for today. I'm ready TTYL by Lauren Myracle right now, and one of the characters, Maddie is always sending her friends quizzes. So I found this one.

A BLUE Dragon Lies Beneath!

If there ever was a draconic example of a supple attitude, your Inner Dragon is it. Blues are the Water Elemental dragon - typified by their Steam breath weapon. Pretty creative, huh? It goes right along with your Inner Dragon's tendency to maim, but not destroy. Much like your native oceans and rivers will deform the rock over time, eventually wearing it away to nothing.Humans shouldn't make the idiot mistake of thinking you're weak, however.

After all you're a good 30 feet in length and you have a penchant for materializing out of any body of water, no matter how small. The element of surprise and limited magic capabilities are definitely yours. You also enjoy communicating with aquatic life-forms, hunting in totally inhospitable terrain (i.e. 3000 feet below the waves), and using your fluid nature to your advantage. Your enemies probably won't even see you approach in the first place. Your favorable attributes are the sunset, Autumn, water, compassion, peace, forgiveness, love, intuition, and calmness. Naturally, you pity the fool who'd try and prove that calmness part, he'd probably wind up being scalded. *small grin*

My inner dragon is the Water Elemental dragon. If there ever was a draconic example of a supple attitude, my inner dragon is it. Just sit back and go with the flow. *contented sigh* Click the image to try the Inner Dragon Online Quiz for yourself.

Diana's Diversions: GBVE: Marley Gibson

Diana's Diversions: GBVE: Marley Gibson

We interrrupt this regularly scheduled blog

I apologize for being the worst blogger in the world for the past few days, but I have an excuse! Honestly! I've been furiously working on my synopsis and partial to get it in tip-top shape to start submitting it to my top ten list of agents.

Thanks to the help of a few friends, the synopsis is rocking (Thanks MH, MF, and KMJ). I'm really proud of it. After going back and forth over the past few days, I'm going to stick with my first person POV synopsis. I just feel that it's the best fit for the book. Any agent who reads it is going to know right away whether or not they want to read further, or if they even like the story. I don't think that writing it in the third person is going to improve my chances of getting them to read the partial. That's my humble opinion.

The partial is taking longer because I've just reduced 3 chapters to 2. I had the briliant idea to up the conflict in my first chapter, which meant that I know had to totally rewrite them both almost from scratch. Yikes! But I really think that dramatically it works better and raises the stakes for one of my characters. And I wouldn't have known to do that if it weren't for my synopsis.

O0oh, I also wanted to alert readers, if they don't already read Diana Peterfreund's blog to head on over and check out her GREAT BLOG EXPERIMENT. There's been alot of talk on other blogs, message boards, and reviews on Amazon talking about books coming out with similar plots as writers sit down and think to themselves "Hmm, what can I write about that's already been done?". Readers are screaming 'copy-cat.' For some reason, readers tend don't seem to have figured out that it happens that books come out with similar themes or plots.

It could be that something was in the air, or it's a popular theme right now (all the teen vamp books). I once read 3 different category romances in a month that all had male bosses with babies dumped on their doorsteps who either had colleagues or assistants who helped them out, and then they fell in love. All published by Harlequin/Silhouette. But that's all they had in common because the execution was so completely different in each one.

It happens in Hollywood too. Witness the two volcano movies that came out in the same summer Dantes Peak and Volcano. Both movies about Volcanos totally different plot. Or Deep Impact and Armageddon, both movies dealt with a giant asteroid heading toward earth but Deep Impact was more a character study with special effects and Armageddon was totally big budget dreck. Oh, and who can forget Tombstone and Wyatt Earp? Or the two versions of Emma, Paltrow or Beckinsale? Now we have the two Capote movies, Capote with Philip Seymour Hoffman and the new one with Toby Jones and Sandra Bullock coming out this fall. Should any of those directors abandoned their movie because someone else was making a similar story?

Anyway, check out Diana's blog. The experiment is to give several authors the same premise and to see what they come up with. All of them are amazingly different. Particularly my personal favorite which was the newly contracted Marley Gibson's. It was so original and fresh, if she wasn't my friend, I'd hate her guts! Just kidding. But really I'm smelling another series here.

So next time that you see that two authors are coming out with books that have similar plots, stop and think for a second and give them both a chance. You might be surprised.

Tuesday Quizz

Which Classic Novel do You Belong In?

I believe you belong in Pride and Prejudice; a world of satire and true love. A world where everything is crystal clear to the reader, and yet where new things seem to be happening all the time. You belong in a world where your free-thought puts you above the silly masses, and where bright eyes and intelligence are enough to attract the arrogant millionaire/prejudiced young woman of your choice.
Take this quiz!








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POV in SYN

I've been diligently working on my synopsis trying to get down to a manageable length. So far, I've managed to get it down from 25 pages to 15, which is great. I still need to find someway to either get it down to 10 pages. I doubt that I'm going to get it down to 5, not since at the moment it's still in the POV of three different characters.

See this is my dilemma. Writing my synopsis in the first person POV.

When I first started writing, of course, all my synopses were in the third person because I was writing in the third person. But then I wrote my first chick-lit novel in the first person. And it just seemed a logical choice to write my synopsis in the first person as well. I was a little trepditatious at first. It seemed so out there, but then I read Melissa Senate's synopsis for See Jane Date on the chick-lit loop, and it was if a light bulb went on over my head. It could be done.

I immediately rewrote my synopsis for Nearly Famous in the first person and it was a big difference. Not only did the synopsis come alive, but you could hear Julia's voice. I've written first person synopses for the next two books that I've written. Now for the YA, I'm facing a choice of do I continue with the first POV for this synopsis since the book is narrated by three different people or do I do a simple third person POV.

Well, I tried to write one in third person. I even managed to get it down to only 3 1/2 pages, but it's dull, dull,, dull. It lacks pizazz. It just sits there on the page. You don't get the fun of the characters. But it's also short.

So now I don't know what to do. It seems that some agents/editors like the first person POV in a synopsis, some don't. So really if someone rejects my book because the synopsis is in the first person, they might not be the right person to represent me.

So I'm curious to find out what people think? First Person POV in a synopsis if the book is written in first person? Or the regular old third person?

What Movie Kiss are you?

I'm sick as a dog, as much as I hate to admit it. Of course, I'm sitting here typing this at work, and I'll be going to my night job after work. See the way I was raised, you don't miss school or work unless you're lying in a coma. So, despite the fact that I feel like crap that's been microwaved on high, I'm here blogging. So I leave you with this little blog quiz. I don't know why you can't see the picture, but I'm going to take a guess that it's Princess Leia and Han Solo, which is cool because The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite of all six Star Wars films. Don't even get me started on the last three.

Your Famous Movie Kiss is from The Empire Strikes Back

"Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited."

What Famous Movie Kiss Are You?

Reality Round-Up

As anyone who knows me, I watch way too much reality tv, partly out of choice and partly because I have to for work. So here are my thoughts about the latest crop of reality shows that I watch.

America's Next Top Model - I love this show and not just because I dream of doing inappropriate things to Nigel. This show never fails to entertain me and last night was no different. Where do I start? From the scene where they got Tyra mail and somehow translated the latin phrase to mean that they were going to Spain? Gina freaking out when they put the Madagascar hissing cockroach on her, or Jade walking down the runway with hers and kissing it? Girl wants to be a model bad if she's willing to smooch insects. Or Danielle calling herself Snow Black for the photo shoot instead of Snow White Then the piece de resistance, making the models walk in like 8 inch platform shoes, when earlier most of them had a hard time walking in regular shoes. I hope Tyra has paid up her insurance, because if I were Danielle I'd sue. Loved the photo shoot where they had to portray fairy-tale characters while falling.

American Idol - Chicken Little has left the building. Nuff said.

Amazing Race 9 - I have never watched this show before and I could kick myself. This show is awesome! How can you not like a show that not only has a pair of himbos but also a pair of bimbos appropriately named Danielle and Dani. Are any of you best friends with someone who has almost the same name as you? And why would you go on a show like Amazing Race if you were just dating? Anyone remember the gay couple that won that later broke up? Nothing tests your relationship like running around many different countries trying to win alot of money. Loved the detour challenge of either breaking bottles over each others heads or learning a German folk dance. I may have to keep watching this show.

Extreme Makeover- Home Edition - As anyone ever watched this show and not cried? Wait let me amend that. Yes, I have met those people and I say shame on you. Yes, I know the show is manipulative, and perhaps Dunstin Rainford could have benefited from being sent to Memorial Sloane-Kettering for cancer treatment, but making sure that his family has a decent home to live in, if he doesn't make it, just had me sobbing like a baby. Strange thing though, I used to like Ty on Trading Spaces, but now he's become like this camera hogging tool.

The Bachelor - So Travis Stork now makes Bob Guiney and Jesse Palmer look like stand-up decent guys. Apparently not only did the dude hit on another one of the rejected bachelorettes at the taping of 'The Women Tell All' special (Susan) but he's also trying to get in touch with Moana, the woman he dumped for Sarah. Yes, the emotional wreck in the limo. Susan and Moana, if he calls you, don't answer.

Top Chef - I don't know about this show. Somehow it's not as interesting to me as Project Runway, and Stephen so far seems like an arrogant SOB. I'm rooting for Liane, Harold or Miguel to win this thing.

I want my Jimmy Choos

Aren't they awesome? I stopped in DSW last night on my way to my night job. It was a crappy day, cold but sunny. I'd just read an email critiquing the questions that I'd written for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The critique was partly justified. I still quibble with rejecting my first question, because the new question happened even later than the one I'd written, but I digreess. My favorite black boots that I bought in London ten years ago had completely fall apart. So I was hurtin.

But then I saw them against the wall near the purses. The most beautiful pair of shoes I've ever seen. I couldn't believe that they were at DSW. I mean these are Jimmy Choos for god's sake. The shoe of choice of most of Hollywood who don't feel like tottering around on Christian Louboutin platforms.

I've always had a lust for Jimmy Choo's but I've never had the nerve to go into the store to try them on. I mean you just know the snooty sales clerk know they're not going to be making a sale when I walk in the door. I mean these shoes are like $710.00 (but on sale for $596 at DSW). That's more than my maintenance. I'd have to eat Ramen for three months to buy a pair, and I can't tell you what all that sodium would do to my body. My feet would be too swollen to get into them.

But there they were at DSW where you get to try on the shoes yourself, so of course I had to try them on. Man, when I slipped them on, my first thought was Mama has come home. These shoes were like butter on my feet.

I could just imagine wearing them to some society benefit, rocking a great dress. I'd need a awesome manicure for these babies. Maybe something in a soft pink, red would be too garish (unless I bought the black versions). They also made my legs look even more fabulous. Plus I felt tall strutting around on their 4 inch heels.

Trust me these are definitely catch a cab shoes, not take the subway to wherever shoes. I hated to take them off my feet, but unless I sign a book deal soon, there is no way in heck I can justify spending a paycheck on them.

Sigh! But the dream was mine for a little while.

How to tame a wild synopsis

Happy Spring everybody! Although you can't really tell in New York because it's still chilly outside. However, I am hopeful that we'll start getting some warm weather soon. I'm a little tired of the whole turtleneck thing. I want to wear my cute spring outfits. Ann Taylor Loft and the mothership, Ann Taylor have some really cute things, on sale no less that I want to get. That is if I ever get paid. The behometh investment bank that I work for pays every two weeks, but I started after the last pay cycle. Meaning that the 3/31 check is for the first two weeks of March, which is weird. I'm hopeful that I get paid for at least a week next week, otherwise I'll be living in a cardboard box since my co-op gets antsy if you take too long to pay your maintenance.

Since Spring is here there are all kinds of distractions, the biggest being TV. Hello, Prison Break is back and I missed it last night because it was on at 8 pm. instead 9. I'm sorry but who's idea was it to put on a show about criminals breaking out of prison during the family hour? Of course, tonight I have to watch my American Idol boyfriend Chris rock the house. Apparently it's 50's week, so we might see a little Elvis or some Jerry Lee Lewis.

Of course, Blow-Out and the Orange Country Housewives are on too. I really need to get Tivo. At least Bravo repeats their shows ad-nauseum, so I'm sure to catch Jonathan and his antics at some point over the weekend.

However, I have a synopsis to get to grips with. At last count, my first draft was 25 pages. Yep, 25. I now have to get that down to 5 pages. Part of the problem is that the synopsis is in 3 different first person POV's, just like the book. I just need to re-read it and eliminate anything that is not essential to telling the story. That's always been the biggest problem for me. I want to include everything but it's just not necessary. I once wrote a 30 page synopsis for a writing class, and by the time I was done, I no longer had any desire to write the book. I felt I had done it in the synopsis!

On the plus side, I did make some discoveries while writing the synopsis that I can incorporate in my next draft!

Anyone have any suggestions, advice?

Help!

Major News for a Good Friend

Hi all! I have major news about a very good friend of mine, Marley Gibson. She sold!!!!!!!!!!

Take a look at this:

CHILDREN'S: YOUNG ADULTDebut author Marley Gibson's four untitled books in a series about a group of collegiate sorority sisters, to Angelle Pilkington and Karen Chaplin at Puffin, in a nice deal, by Deidre Knight at The Knight Agency (world.) Deidre.Knight@knightagency.net


Awesome news, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

Cyber-champagne for everyone!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I'm hip deep in revisions for my YA synopsis, so this will be a short post. I hope everyone has a very safe and happy St. Patrick's Day. I'm not wearing green, because it's not really my color, but I did have a spinach omelet this morning. Does that count?

Don't drink too much green beer!

Elizabeth

P.S. When St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland where did they go?
Also, I just saw the St. Patrick's Day parade, and I saw an awful lot of people wearing what looked suspiciously like kilts but they're Irish so what's the Irish equivalent?
What do they call the pipes? Just pipes? Since bagpipes are Scottish?
But the Irish and the Scots both speak Gaelic. Color me confused.

Those Fabulous Fiennes brothers

I was watching The Constant Gardener last Saturday afternoon, excellent film by the way, and I was struck by how unfair it was that Rachel Weisz received the lion's share of accolades for this film, and Ralph Fiennes was basically left in the dust. Don't get me wrong. I thought she was wonderfully passionate and feisty as Tessa. She's the heart of the film, the reason that Ralph Fienne's character Justin Quayle pursues her death, she also brings his character to life. But the movie is called The Constant Gardener, which is Justin Quayle's character. It's not called Tessa Quayle and husband. The majority of the film is about him, and how he learns to come out of his shell and not just be the mild-mannered career diplomat just biding his time until retirement while he tends his plants.

I think the reason his work was so ignored in this film is because before The Constant Gardener, Rachel Weisz was chiefly known for the Mummy films, and making two movies with Keanu Reeves. This movie was her chance to show that she was more than just beautiful, that she could act, similar to when Catherine Zeta-Jones won best supporting actress a few years ago for Chicago for proving she was more than just Michael Douglas' much younger wife.

Ralph Fienne's work is just so good that you almost take it for granted. When you don't always play flashy roles like Russell Crowe, or get into fights constantly (also like Russell Crowe) or have great personal charm, like Hugh Jackman or Hugh Grant, or are dark and brooding like Clive Owen, you can get lost in the Hollywood machine. Ralph Fiennes is a chameleon, he can go from dreck like Maid in Manhattan (where he actually had me believe he was in love with Jennifer Lopez) to playing a psychopath in Red Dragon. Not to mention He Who Shall Not be Named in Harry Potter.

His brother Joseph was also pretty much ignored when it came to award season for Shakespeare in Love. There was so much attention placed on Gwyneth Paltrow for being so luminous as Viola, that I think critics forgot that the movie is as much about Shakespeare as it was about her character. I adored him as Shakespeare. He was funny, and romantic, and the ink on his fingers made you believe that he stayed up all night writing the beautiful and witty dialogue that Shakespeare was known for. Not to mention the sonnets.

Like his brother, he's chosen to make smaller independent films, with the occasional big budget movie thrown in for good measure. He's also gone back to the stage, most recently appearing with his brother's now ex-girlfriend Francesca Annis. He was awesome in Killing Me Softly with Heather Graham, who I mainly can't stand. Rent Merchant of Venice (just ignore the greasy hair) and Luther to witness what a good actor he is. Not to mention the criminally long eyelashes, and the beautiful big hazel eyes.

Two very underrated actors. What actors or actresses do you like that are underrated?

Share!

Elizabeth

Four Score!

Okay, I had another post already thought about, but since Megan tagged me, I'll save the juicy goodness for tomorrow. So here goes:

Four movies you would watch over and over:
The Lion in Winter (old school version with Timothy Dalton)
Gone With The Wind
Center Stage
The Turning Point (ah, Misha,)

Four places you have lived:
Syracuse, NY
New York, NY
Los Angeles, CA (okay, only when I went to visit the ex-sweetie pie, but still)
London, England

Four TV shows you love to watch (Gosh, only 4? Harsh)
House
Grey's Anatomy
Law & Order: SVU
American Idol
America's Next Top Model
Okay, that's five, so sue me.

Four places you have been on vacation:
London
Paris
Bahamas
Venice

Four websites you visit daily:
NYTimes
All About Romance
The Soap Scope
Iwon.com

Four of your favorite foods:
Lobster
Saag Paneer and Naan (spinach and Indian bread)
crab and artichoke dip
Champagne (It's made from grapes, okay)

Four places you would rather be right now:
In bed
In London
Wherever James Purefoy's at
Sitting in an agent's office signing a contract for representation

Four friends you are tagging that you think will respond:
Vanessa Virtue
Kelly Parra
Gabrielle
Mary F.

Discovering New/Old Authors - Historical Edition

I've written about everything but writing lately, so I thought I'd start something new, and blog at least once a week about new authors I've discovered in various genres. This week, it's historicals. Actually, I'm cheating a little, because Lisa Kleypas is not an author that's new too me. Actually, I'd read several of her books back when she'd first started writing, and I'm not really sure why I stopped reading her books. Partly it was because I was told a few things by someone who had worked in publicity at her old publisher that put me off her, but also because I just stopped reading historicals after awhile.

It happened One Autumn is about Lillian Bowman, an American heiress who has come to England with her family to find a husband. Apparently being nouveau riche, they are not accepted in New York society, which was dominated by the old New York families, the Knickerbockers. Lillian is a member of the Wallflowers, a group of girls, including her sister Daisy, who met when they were sitting at a dance, being ignored. Lillian finds herself attracted to Marcus , Lord Westcliff who she finds rigid, and snobbish. Marcus, on his part, can't believe that he's attracted to the willful hoyendish Miss Bowman.

This is the second book in a series which includes the previous book, Secrets of a Summer Night. You don't have to have read the first book, to enjoy It Happened One Autumn. Lillian is a delightful heroine, well aware of her flaws, but happy with herself. Marcus has done everything in his power not to become the man that his father tried to turn him into. He loves his sisters, and he's a kind and compassionate man, but a bit rigid and mindful of his position in society. Of course these two clash, but they also have wonderful scenes where you can see exactly why they are attracted to each other.

Two scenes stand out for me, the scene in the Butterfly Garden and the scene where Lillian gets drunk. The minor characters are also a delight from Mercedes, Daisy and Lillian's mother, to the other two wallflowers. Even the villain, Sebastien St. Vincent is more than just the cardboard cutter villain. I liked the fact that Lillian found him attractive, and didn't spurn his kisses, although of course, they didn't make her heart sing like Marcus'.

I have a few quibbles and that is I found several historical inaccuracies. The book is set in 1843, and Lillian mentions ice-skating in Central Park. Well, Central Park didn't exist in 1843, nor were there dollar princesses per se yet in England. The phenomenon of American women traveling to England to find rich husbands were the years after the Civil War until about 1905, when more than 100 women moved to England and married peers, including Jennie Jerome and Consuelo Vanderbilt. Also, the Mrs. Astor was only 13 in 1843, and the Astors were considered just as noveau riche at this time. Yes, it may seem I'm being incredibly picky, but these details did take me out of the story for a second. Of course, the general reader might not know these things, or care, but unfortunately I do.

Other than that I loved this book. So a big A for the story, and a B- for historical accuracy.

The other author is new to me, in a way. Eloisa James, I picked up a copy of one of her books I think at the New Orleans conference back in 2001, but I couldn't get through it, plus I was a little turned off by some comments she made early in her career. But RWA NYC recently honored her as our author of the year, and I picked up a copy of her latest historical Kiss Me Annabel and I'm really glad that I did.

I really enjoyed Kiss Me Annabel. What Lisa Kleypas and Eloisa James have in common are yummy heroes. Both Ewan and Marcus are too die for. Ewan in particular is incredibly patient with Annabel. He even feels bad when he has them spend time in a simple country cottage, playing at being rustic. He's tender when he deflowers Annabel, and is just almost too perfect. Annabel wants to marry a rich man, but she can't help being attracted to Ewan, a man she thinks is dirt poor and looking for an heiress.

Like It Happened One Autumn, Kiss Me Annabel is the second book in a series. Again, you don't need to have read the first book to enjoy the second. But Kiss Me Annabel intrigued me enough that I'm looking forward to reading the third book, Taming of the Duke, and I've reserved Much Ado About You at the library.

I give Kiss Me Annabel an A.

Weekend Eye Candy

Well, Spring is here, at least in New York for a little while. So in honor of the weather, I give you some eye candy to feast your eyes upon. Above is Mr. Terrence Howard, Academy Award Nominee for "Hustle & Flow"

The new James Bond everyone. Not bad eh?

My love of Gastro-porn or Confessions of a Not-so-secret Foodie

I think it's probably clear from some of my early posts that I love food. I love eating, and I also love preparing it, but more so for other people than just for myself. So today, I thought I would share some of my favorite food sights.


Nigella Lawson - Okay, I worship Nigella Lawson. That's her on the left. I first discovered her by accident watching E! one Sunday morning after yoga, and I was hooked. I think what did it for me was the enjoyment that she got out of eating. She was the anti-Martha Stewart. She plunged her hands in food, she gasped, groaned, licked the spoon. The NYT called it gastro-porn. Basically the things that normal people do in their kitchen. Plus, she's not a trained chef, so when she cooks, it's in a way that normal people cook. I own 2 of her cookbooks, and I'm waiting for them to release the DVD of her show in the States. Otherwise, I'll have to buy a multi-region DVD player to watch it.

The Food Network - It started innocently with Emeril Live, and then moved on to the Barefoot Countess, Rachael Ray, and Giada de Laurentis. Now, I can happily spend an entire evening watching the Food Network. It doesn't matter what's on, the Secret Life of.. which is a whole show devoted one topic like potato chips, or grilled cheese sandwiches. The place I went to in DC, Teasim, I found because of Rachael Ray's $40 a day TV series. What they don't have is a hot show anymore about cooking for singles or couples. They had a cool game show called Date Plate, where a guy or a girl chose who they wanted to date based on the dish they prepared.

The Shake Shack - I love this place. If you're ever in New York in the Spring through the late Fall, you have to check it out. It's in Madison Square park, and they do the best Portobello Mushroom Burger ever. I eat there at least once a week when I'm working, which is so bad, because the mushroom cap is deep fried with cheese and onions in the center and then put on a bun with lettuce, tomato, and Shack sauce which is sort of like the secret sauce in a Big Mac. Yummo!

Epicurious.com - I subscribe to Bon Appetit, but I can't keep the magazines around otherwise my apartment would look like the Collier brothers. So Epicurious is great because I can find recipes not only from Bon Appetit but also Gourmet.

Hancock Gourmet Lobster company - This is where I got the Lobster Pot Pies that I had at Christmas, that were amazing. A little pricy but worth it.

Billy's Bakery, Buttercup Bake Shop and Magnolia Bakery - 3 of the best cupcake and dessert places in the city. I'm a sucker for anything made with bananas and Billy has the best banana cake. I go to Buttercup or Magnolia for Banana pudding with nilla wafers.

Curbed, the Real Estate sight, has a food blog called Eater. It's a great sight for restaurant reviews, news, and other information about food in New York.

And if you check out my links, you'll find Pam Claughton's site, Efoodie.

Have a great weekend, and eat well,
Elizabeth

Cute Meme

I'm crankier than a bull before a red flag today. Not only have I not had any bread or sugar for over a week (8 days and counting) but no caffeine since Sunday. So instead of inflicting my bad mood on the reading public, I thought I'd throw up this cute meme, I got from Vanessa Virtue by way of Diana Peterfreund.

9 lasts:
last cigarette: 16 years ago when my mother died from lung cancer
last beverage: Bad Coffee
last kiss: Wow, it's been so long, it's a distant memory. That's when two people press their lips together right? And sometimes there's tongue involved?
last movie seen: Crash on DVD
last phone call: printing vendor for the futures tickets I ordered
last cd played: James Blunt
last bubble bath: two weeks ago
last time you cried: Tuesday, when I heard Dana Reeve died

8 have you evers:
have you ever dated one of your best friends: no
have you ever skinny dipped: no
have you ever kissed somebody and regretted it: Of course, I'm 41
have you ever fallen in love: yes.
have you ever lost someone you loved: yes.
have you ever been depressed: Duh, I'm a woman. Try every month for 5 days
have you ever been drunk and thrown up: of course! Two weeks ago. It was nasty.

7 states you've been to:
1. Florida
2. Virginia
3. Maryland
4. Massachusetts
5. California
6. Texas
7. Pennsylvania

6 things you've done today:
1. worked on expense reports
2. ate yummy oatmeal with pears and bananas from Dishs
3. had bad coffee
4. showered, washed hair, brushed teeth
5. read up on ANTM and Project Runway news
6. cleaned extraneous crap off my desk

5 favorite things in no order:
1. a great book
2. lobster sushi
3. champagne
4. flirting with one of the editors at my night job
5. nice hands on a guy


4 people you can tell [almost] anything to:
1. Natasha
2. Ro
3. Lucia
4. Susi

3 wishes:
1. meet a great guy who is totally into me.
2. go to London
3. pay off my credit card

2 things you want to do before you die:
1. visit India to see the Taj Mahal
2. sleep with George Clooney

1 thing you regret:

1. That my parents are no longer living.

Let me know how you like the quiz, video and meme! Consider yourself tagged. Let me know, I need entertainment desperately in my no sugar funk. Or at least tell me about the last croissant or chocolate chip cookie that you ate! I need to live vicariously people!

Elizabeth

Sometimes Life Sucks

I was all prepared to write a cute little post about how I went to see Cate Blanchett in Hedda Gabler at BAM in Brooklyn this weekend (she was awesome by the way), and our great RWA NYC meeting, and the fun restaurant I went to afterwards with our speaker and some friends from the chapter, but I'm a little down so I'll make this short.

First, I'm down about Dana Reeve's passing. I didn't know her, but I admired her for the way the way that she stood by Christopher Reeve after he was paralyzed, with love, and courage, and support. Let's face it, whether we admit or not, there are alot of people out there who wouldn't have been able to handle it, who would have bailed. See the episode of Grey's Anatomy two weeks ago. No matter that the marriage vows say 'in sickness and in health.' I just think it's so sad, that her husband passes away and then she discovers she has lung cancer. How much can one person handle. And now she's gone, and her son has lost both parents in less than two years. That has got to bite big time. I lost my mom when I was 24, and it was the most painful experience of my life, I can't imagine what it must be like at 13.

Then I woke up this morning at 4:00 a.m. to discover Niagara Falls in my bathroom. My toilet had spontaneously overflowed in a major way. I had to go get the super in between bailing out water. I'm really pissed about this because I'd mentioned more than once to the management company, board members, that my toilet was having problems, and they did nothing. So now I'm going to have to pay for the water damage to my downstairs neighbor's ceiling because they were so slow to act.

The super came upstairs and managed to stop the water, but then he told me that the toilet was stopped up, and he'd fix it later. I literally burst into tears when he said that since that meant I had no toilet for like who knows who long, and it's that time of the moon. He told me not to cry and fixed it. I hated crying because I always feel weak and stupid but hey, it got my toilet fixed.

So, I hope other people out there are having a better day!

Brokeback Backlash

There's been much talk since the Academy Awards of a backlash against Brokeback Mountain. Now, I don't know if this is totally true, and I wasn't too upset that Crash won over Brokeback. I just saw Crash this past Thursday, thanks to Netflix and I really enjoyed 80% of it, although I thought some of it was a little too pat, like Matt Dillon rescuing Tandy Newton, and then Ryan Phillipe helping out Terence Howard. Just a little too coincidental for my taste, but the Don Cheadle storyline with his mother and brother moved me, and the Persian family struggling to make ends meet, and being lumped in with Arabs just because of the way they look.

But getting back to Brokeback Mountain, apparently many Academy voters just refused to watch the movie. Tony Curtis publicly stated that he wouldn't watch the movie, and that he thought it was disgusting. If this is true, I guess the Academy Awards are like elections, they don't really reflect the will of the people or even the will of the Academy. I just don't get not watching the movie, and just judging it from the subject matter, particularly when you are an Academy Awards voter. Don't you owe it to yourself, and to the Academy to do your job and vote after watching all 5 nominated films?

I think all those older members who publicly and anonymously said they didn't watch it, did themselves, the movie, and the Academy a terrible injustice.

But that's just my humble opinion.

Oh, good news, I actually won the Oscar Pool at my night job! Apparently by a considerable margin. Even though I only got 4 out the 6 top awards, apparently I cleaned up when it came to the technical and other awards. I wish I could take credit but I actually relied the critic from the LA times while filling out my ballot. I don't know how much I won, but at least I won something!

Oscars!

Man, I could kill someone for a loaf of bread right now. I'm serious, a baguette fresh from the oven, with farm fresh butter and maybe some runny brie cheese. My mouth is watering. I haven't had any bread since last Wednesday and it's killing me man. No bread, no sugar, I have dreams of George Clooney dunked in deep dark chocolate.

Speaking of Mr. Clooney wasn't he adorable last night on the Academy Awards. From the opening skit with Jon Stewart to his reaction shot when Stewart that 'Good Night and Good Luck' is what he tells his dates, on to his acceptance speech, he was wonderful. Yes, I know he can sometimes come off as a pompous ass, but he's one of our more intelligent actors, and he makes alot of sense. Plus, his aunt was Rosemary Clooney, and his cousin is Miguel Ferrer. Also, any actor who can go from working on Facts of Life to winning an Oscar is tops in my book. It doesn't hurt that he's still absolutely dreamy.

No real surprises last night, apart from Crash winning Best Picture, which totally screwed me in the Oscar pool. 4 our of 6, instead of 5 out of 6. Okay, it was a long shot for me to also pick Felicity Huffman as Best Actress over the juggernaut that is Reese Witherspoon, but sue me. I mean I love Reese but she reminds me of a chatty Cathy doll who's off button is broken.

Not loving Nicole Kidman as a blonde, but how cool that Keith Urban was her date. I have my fingers crossed for those two. The March of the Penguin guys, you know carrying those giant stuffed penguins with you all the time is getting old. We get it.

I thought Jon Stewart started off rough but got better as the evening went on. I didn't get to see the entire ceremony because I actually had to work last night. I thought I was going to be a floater, but someone didn't show up so I ended up having to watch a Lifetime TV movie called Sex and the Girl. Don't ask! I did tape it however, and I watched it when I got home.

Loved the Ben Stiller bit, and the Cowboy movie montage. But my favorite was the fake TV ad campaigns for Best Actress. Acting while Beautiful, and the Dame Judi Dench one. What was up with Jamie Foxx calling Charlize Theron, South African-American? Trying to be funny? Not! And I loved Rachel Weisz taking Morgan Freeman's hand as they walked off stage together after he gave out the award for Best Supporting Actress. I thought that was so sweet. Maybe they'll work together. I'm sure she'll be happy never to be introduced as the actress from Mummy and Mummy Returns again!

What did other people think?

Childhood Memories

I just heard yesterday that Jack Wild passed away. For anyone who is under the age of 35, you won't know who Jack Wild was, unless you've seen his performance as the Artful Dodger in the movie version of Oliver! But when I was a kid, he was a huge star on par with Bobby Sherman, Donny Osmond, and Davy Jones of the Monkees (another small Brit).

Jack was also the star of the kids show HR Pufnstuf one of the weirdest shows on television. It was a weird combination of The Wizard of Oz, and Puff the Magic Dragon. Looking back on it now, it definitely felt like the writers were smoking something in the Writer's Room.

Jack Wild played Jimmy who had a magic flute named Freddie that could talk and play tunes on its own. One day he gets on a magic talking boat that promised to take him on an adventure. The boat belonged to a Witchiepoo the witch, who used the boat to kidnap Jimmy and take him to her home base on Living Island, where she hoped to steal Freddie for her own nefarious purposes. Fortunately Jimmy was rescued by the island's mayor, a six foot dragon named H.R. Pufnstuf. After Jimmy is rescued by Pufnstuf and his two deputies, Kling and Klang, his adventures begin as well as his attempts to get back home.

Sound familiar. Truthfully, while I used to watch the show religiously every Saturday, it kind of creeped me out. And the puppets reminded me of the old McDonald's commericals with Mayor McCheese and the Hamburgler.

I remember this one song that Witchiepoo sang called, Orange Porange.

Anyway, Jack Wild like a lot of childstars had a rocky time once he got older and stopped being quite as cute. He was also apparently a heavy drinker which took a toll on him, as well as a smoker. He actually died of cancer of the mouth. The pictures of what he looked like at the end are so sad, it breaks your heart.

His death follows that of Don Knotts who I adored as a child watching the Andy Griffith show, and Dennis Weaver who played McCloud.

Everytime I read about an author or a star that I admired growing up, it's like a piece of my life is going with them. The hours of enjoyment that they provided, and the knowledge that they're now just a memory or an image resonates with me. It's one of the things that sucks about growing up, because as I'm getting older so are they.

Sometimes it's shocking when I see Mickey Dolenz, Barry Gibb or Davy Jones today. I remember what they looked like when I was a kid. And I still think in my mind that they should look like that.

Arrgh, it must be Friday, if I'm waxing nostalgic.

My American Idol Boyfriend

It happens every year at this time, I choose my American Idol boyfriend. Season one was Justin Guarini. I know, I know, he was a total cheeseball but I fell for it and his curly locks.

Season two was my boy Clay Aiken or as Kathy Griffin likes to call him, Gayken (which is really cruel. Who cares what his sexual orientation is if he's happy?). Season 3 brought my boy George Huff with his adorable smile, and deep sexy voice. Who can forget his performance of an obscure Elton John song that brought the house down? And then last year, Bo Bice. I admit it, in the beginning I was a Constantine Maroulis fan, but Bo slowly won me over, although at times I thought he was a bit lazy with his song choices.

And now Season Five, in walks Chris Daughtry. From the first episode last week of the top 24 when he sang Bon Jovi's, Wanted: Dead or Alive, he owned the stage and my heart. Maybe it's because he reminds me of an old boyfriend, the cowboy from the Outback, or maybe it's just because he's so good.

Either way, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that not only does he make into the top 12, but that he actually wins this thing! It certainly helps that he's from the same state as Clay and Fantasia. Also, that he's the real deal.

However, there are a few factors that could keep him from winning this thing.

1. The theme nights. Every season, the judges make the singers sing songs from different genres, everything from Big Band (Season 1), Broadway, Disco, the year they were born, etc. Bo stumbled last year during the Broadway week. Why no one suggested anything to him from Jesus Christ Superstar, I have no idea. Even Evita would have been preferable to Pippin or Tommy for crying out loud.

2. Complacency. It happens every year. Someone seems like a sure thing, the fans take it for granted they're staying and the next thing you know they're in the bottom two or three and going home. It happened to Tamyra Gray, LaTonya London and what's her name from last year. You have to vote people!

3. Inevitably, someone sneaks into the final 12 who shouldn't be there, because they have a hard luck story or Simon was mean to them, taking the place of someone more deserving. It happened last season when Mikalah Gordon and what's her name, Janene.

So, I'm trying not to get too attached to my boy. But you just may be looking at the next American Idol. My Chris.

Astrology for Writers

I found this over at Astrology for Writers:

Scorpio:

Ask for new jobs, ask for more money, ask for higher royalties, ask for two or three book deals. If you are a film person, seek the biggest distributors, the biggest film agent, even creative control. ( Anyone who knows Hollywood knows that is the HolyGrail of Writers). Zach Helm must have some Scorpio planets.

Wow! I'd better get cracking my revisions of my YA!

I also have Libra rising, and a Libra Moon, so I always read Libra as well. Check this out:

Libra:

You have enormous physical and mental energy now. This will last a few more weeks, so now is the time to really re-structure the plot line of anything fictional. Rewrites go extremely well during Mercury retrogrades( now) but do not expect to actually iron out all details until the end of the month at least. Mercury has new ideas in store, but they don' t come all at once.

What does your horoscope predict?

March comes in like a Lion

Good lord, is it March already? I can't believe that we're three months into 2006. It's still freezing here in New York. It snowed at some point Monday night, but it didn't stick. The only reason I know that it snowed, is because for once, I could see it on the streets downtown when I went to work. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known. We had no snow in my neck of the woods. Although I did see on the news, that it dropped a couple of inches in the burbs.

March means that April is almost here which means tax refund! Unfortunately, mine is already earmarked for the National conference in Atlanta. Also, April means my first NEC conference and hopefully the chance to pitch my YA to an agent. I have my fingers crossed that I get an agent appointment. In the meantime, March is for polishing my manuscript until it gleams. March also brings with it Mercury in retrograde, which means computer problems, mail delays, anything to do with communication, Mercury has a tendency to screw up. Astrologers recommend that you don't sign a major contract during Mercury retrograde.

March means the return of America's Next Top Model. Aren't the ads beautiful? All pretty and butterflyery (I know that's not a real word, but if Shakespeare can make up words, so can I). I can't wait to see the next crop of catty wanna be models. Plus, Bravo is going to be airing a new reality show called Top Chef. Add that to American Idol and I'm in reality TV heaven.

I have a huge list of books coming out in March that I want, and lots of new books.

March means possibilities, spring is just around the corner, and the days start to get longer. Time to clean up my apartment, and get rid of all the clutter that's accumulated over the months.

It also means, St. Patrick's Day, a day where I try to avoid being near any Irish bars, or any bars for that matter. What is about St. Paddy's day that makes generally sane people go bonkers? And who came up with the idea for green beer? Not to mention the green shakes they sell at McDonald's. Frankly the only food that should be green are the foods that are green naturally!