Partying like it's 1969!

Hey, I can't believe it's Sunday already, and I have to go to work tomorrow! Where did the weekend go?

I worked Friday night at my night job until the ungodly hour of 3:30 a.m. Yes, you heard me, 3:30. By the time I got home, it was 4, and by the time I was ready to sleep it was almost 5 a.m. which meant that I didn't get up until almost 1:30 in the afternoon. I couldn't believe that I slept that long but clearly I was tired. But that meant that I spent the rest of the day scrambling to run errands before my nighttime activities.

Library books had to be returned (and a new library card gotten. I lost mine by leaving it in the self-service check out machines at one of the main branches), laundry picked up, food eaten, and an appropriate outfit purchased. Because you see, I was going out dancing Saturday night. And not to just any old club like Marquee or Butter where celebrities hang out, but to Subway Soul.

Subway Soul is a groovy dance party that plays music only from the 60's. And not just any music, they play Motown and Northern Soul. The venue is in the East Vilage on E. 11th Street. The dance party is only on the 3rd Saturday of every month. We had the best time. My friend and I got there at 11 p.m. and they almost didn't let us in because we didn't have I.D. Both of us couldn't believe that the bouncer wasn't going to let us in. I mean we look good for our age, but we clearly look like we're over 21!

I wore a new dress that I bought at Macy's which looked vaguely like Pucci. We danced for like two hours before we finally called it quits, and only because the dance floor was getting really crowded. The drinks were cheap, and there were tons of cute guys there, and dancing. Truly awesome.

So today, I'm wiped. I watched the first two episodes of the BBC Robin Hood which is way cool, and then Giada's Weekend Adventures where she visits Charleston. Now I'm at work, writing Hybrid Ads until the wee hours of the morning.

Thanks for reading,

EKM

Thank God It's Friday

Just a little man candy to distract from the fact that it's totally disgusting outside today. Last night it rained, and today we have slushy rainy snow that's just messy and disgusting. I am so ready for winter to be over.

I want to wear cute dresses, and my open-toed pumps again. Not snow boots and huge sweaters. I ate two slices of pizza for dinner tonight, telling myself, I need the insulation against the cold!

Well, I've written 40 pages of my new YA, and already I now that I'm going to have to alot of editing. I try not to edit myself too much during the first draft. I find it's better for me if I let the book find it's shape.

I'm taking notes on the places where I'm going to need to do some research. I have to say that I'm really enjoying creating this little world.

My heroine gets a summer acting intership at a theater festival in CT, so not only do I figure out what plays they are going to be doing for the summer, but also the class schedule. I spent a summer 10 years ago, studying at the Royal National Theater studio, and we were in class from 8:30 in the morning until 5 or 6 at night. This is my heroine's first immersion in what it's like to be involved with a professional theater company, as opposed to doing plays in high school, so she's feeling a little overwhelmed and out of her depth.

I love making discoveries along the way while I write, even though I do now do an outline before I start so that I have a general idea of where the story is going to go. But so far, I've already been thrown a curve by a character who wasn't supposed to be that prominent who has now asserted himself, and demanded a bigger role. He's a bad boy, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes.

thanks for reading,

EKM

She's Here!

Yes, the new Buffy comic arrives today! Guess who'll be hitting midtown comics to grab an issue at lunch time? That would be me folks. I've been waiting for this first issue ever since it was announced way back in October that Joss Whedon was working with Dark Horse Comics to create what would have been the 8th Season of Buffy if the show had continued.

I've missed Buffy. Other shows have come along that have become Must-see TV for me like Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty, but Buffy will always have a special place in my heart. I didn't become a Buffy fan until way into the first season, but was I saw that first episode, I couldn't wait for the next week.

I'm firmly in the Spike camp on who I would have preferred to see Buffy with. Maybe because she changed his life. Their story was the classic bad boy falls in love with good girl, and wants to change to win her. In Spike's case that was getting his soul back.

Now, not only do I have the Buffy comic to look forward to each month, but also the Buffy Sing-Alongs, this generation's answer to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Buffy Sings is the web-site, if you want to see if it's coming to your town. 'Once More With Feeling' was the musical episode of Buffy, and Buffy Sings in the audience participation event that is sweeping the nation. Even Joss Whedon is amazed, and frankly a little creeped out by it.

I went a month ago to the IFC here in Greenwich Village to see it, and I had the best time. If you love Buffy, it's something that you should experience.

As for me, excuse while I sneak off to get my copy of Buffy 8.

Thanks for reading,

EKM

To Sequel or Not To Sequel

Entertainment Weekly, my bible for all things entertainment oriented, had an interesting article on line last week about sequels in books, and whether or not they were really necessary. Let's think about this shall we? There's a whole cottage industry of writers who written sequel after sequel to Jane Austen's novels, not to mention featuring Jane her self as a Regency sleuth. But the most famous sequel of all was Alexandra Ripleys' Scarlett.

The Margaret Mitchell estate personally picked Alexandra Ripley to write the sequel to Gone With The Wind, and I can only think that Margaret Mitchell must have been rolling in her grave when she heard that, especially if she could have read the book. Frankly, I couldn't finish it because I think it was absolutely atrocious, and for some reason I have two copies of it, neither of which I bought I might add. As far as I was concerned there was no reason for this book to exist except to make money for all concerned. The great thing about Gone With The Wind, is imaging what happened next, whether or not Scarlett was going to end up with Rhett and how. No book was ever going to come close to whatever scenario we cooked up in our heads, and that was part of the problem. Sure the book made money but I dont' think anyone will be reading Scarlett a hundred years from how the way they're still reading GWTW.

As for the sequels and continuations to other works of literature I have to ask why? Okay, it's one thing to write a book about the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked), which totally reimagined what we thought about Elphaba or Rebecca, but it's another to keep writing sequels and prequels to books like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Maybe it's just me, but who cares? Does anyone want to read what happend to Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye grows up? Or Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter?

I suppose there is a comfort for some readers to revisit their favorite characters, but that's why you re-read the book. To relive that experience when you fell in love with those characters in the first place.

I feel the same way about certain series like Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. For me the series ended when Claire and Jamie reunited. That's all I cared about. Their adventures in the Caribbean or doing the American Revolution? Don't care! Their daughter Brianna and her beau going back in time? Don't care either. As long as Claire and Jamie were together and happy, so was I. Of course, other people feel differently which is why she's now on what? Book 6?

Now, I just read that Andrew Lloyd Webber wants to produce and write a sequel to his musical Phantom of the Opera. Did her learn nothing from Annie II or the sequel to Bye Bye Birdie? Hey Grease II was a hoot, but you don't see anyone wanting to put that up on stage. Back away from the piano, Lord Lloyd Webber. Do us all a favor, buy some more paintings or better yet, try composing something completely original!

Thanks for reading!

EKM

Reworking and Rethinking

Today, I watched this really awful Hilary Duff film called Raise Your Voice about a girl who goes to a summer music program in Los Angeles. It's sort of a fish out of water story, since Hilary's character came from the backwater of Flagstaff, AZ (this is the movie's contention, not mine). As I said, the movie was pretty horrible, but it did get me thinking about the YA that I'm in the process of outlining.

Right now, my heroine Jessie, has been accepted as an intern at the Ardsley Theater Festival. She's having to deal with other interns who have more experience than she does, an agents etc. Right now, she lives in the same town as the festival, in fact, it's on the campus of Gillette College which is where her mother works, and where she's planning on going to college.

My plan was that both she and her mother end up getting involved with actors at the festival, but that might be a bit much, and totally unnecessary. I thought that might be a neat twist, having to deal with her mother dating again, but I can always save that for another book. Somehow it doesn't quite fit.

But I've been thinking that maybe I need to take away, and have it that she's away from home at this festival, and doesn't have that support system readily available. Something also happens to her at this festival, that she's trying to hide from the other actors.

So, I guess I'm going to have to do what they did in the Princess Diaries movie, and get rid of the Mom, apart from a few phone calls during the program. This wasn't any easy decision, but it makes the most sense, plus it gets rid of an extra character!

Thanks for reading,

EKM

Trying something sort of new

I decided to try something new, well newish for me. It's been a long time since I've written a straight up romance, so to get my feet wet again, I've decided to try and write a novella, specifically for the Bravo New Author contest.

I had an idea in my head which perfectly suited the theme of reunited lovers, and it was something that couldn't really be sustained over the course of a novel, but was perfectly suited to a shorter word count.

Since the average length of a novella is between 100-140 pages, I'm aiming towards the longer length for this. I can always cut it later. I figure 140 = 10 chapters of 14 pages each, which is easy for me to break down in terms of what happens in each chapter to escalate the action.

I actually started writing yesterday and was surprised to find 8 pages on my computer by the end of the day. Of course, they are incredibly rough. I need to go back in the second draft and layer on more emotion and description. Right now, it's just the bare bones.

My hero is Australian just because I'm in an Australian frame of mind right now, and I find Australian men incredibly sexy. Plus they're total Alpha Males and in my story both characters are Alpha, which is my favorite thing to write. I've written Beta females before and a Beta Male, but there's nothing like two Alpha's going at it.

Thanks for reading,

EKM

New Real Estate Porn

Yes, it is the 2007 Edition of Real Estate Porn! I know how much you've all missed me blogging about the apartments that I can't possibly afford. This one however has historical significance because it's the Dakota, the landmark apartment building that was once the home to John Lennon and Rosemary's baby. Now, it's speculated that TomKat maybe buying Leonard Bernstein's old apartment for a whopping $25 Million dollars. Yes, you read right $25 Million dollars, which could possibly buy you a whole town in Georgia (see Kim Basinger) or two townhouses in Greenwich Village.

Of course, this is just a rumor, but if it's true, it makes sense. The Dakota is heavily guarded since John Lennon was killed. And TomKat would be neighbors with not only Yoko, but Lauren Bacall and Roberta Flack. The Dakota is so famous that a whole book was written about it, by Stephen Birmingham. The legend has it that the building was named the Dakota because when it was built it was so far north that it seemed like living in the Dakotas. This was back in the day when most people didn't live further north than 57th Street.

At the time the Dakota was built, there was just Central Park. The building was full service with an elevator that was so big you could drive your carriage into it and be delivered to your door! Of course those days are over, and the huge apartments that once existed in the building have been carved down.

I read an article in The New York Times about a guy who raised his family in basically a loft apartment in the attic of the building, what had once been a maid's room. He still owns the apartment and uses it as like a studio. I saw the pictures, this place was tiny, but it's in The Dakota.

So, tell the truth, if you won Mega Millions, would you spend $25MM to live in the same building as Yoko?

Thanks for reading,

EKM

This and That

Nothing much going on here, just revising and doing some character work on my next YA novel. Can I just say that I am totally in love with my DVR? I can't believe that it took me so long to get one! The ease of which I can just go to the guide and set things to tape, just by clicking select. But the best thing, is that not only can I tape something on another channel, while I'm watching something else, but I can also tape two shows that are on at the same time? How cool is that?

The only thing that would make my life better is if I had BBC America. I thought I had it, but then it went away, so now my goal is to get upgraded so that I can watch the new Robin Hood which looks totally cool. I've always loved the story of Robin Hood and Maid Marian. One of the first computer games that I ever played was a Robin Hood game.

Oh, and in celebrity excess du jour, Kanye West just spent $4,000 to get Indian food sent from Wales! Like there are no good Indian restaurants in either New York or Chicago! I'm sure that in a way, Mr. West is contributing to the economy of Wales by spending this money, but sometimes I think celebrities just do stuff like this, just because they can.

Hey, Disney, in their quest for world domination, has just started a new travel company (or maybe it's old I don't know) called Adventures by Disney. If I hadn't had to watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, I would never have know of it, but it looks pretty cool, and it's a way from them to get more dollars from people who are bored going to the theme parks.

Oh, and on General Hospital, I'd like to know how a six-month pregnant woman never had to pee while being held hostage for over 12 hours. I mean if Julia Roberts, who is only like five months pregnant, had to pee twice during Oprah's Oscar special, I can't believe Elizabeth Webber didn't have to go once. Did Mr. Craig scare the pee out of her?

Speaking of Oprah's Oscar special, I'm still in love with George Clooney! He cooked a burger for Julia on his little outdoor grill! And god, doesn't he look gorgeous? I know he kind of has commitment issues, but I still adore him.

And Mary Louise Parker and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are dating, which is kind of cute since they both have three names. I've never been a huge fan of MLP, but I felt for her when Billy Crudup left her for Clare Danes when she was 8 months pregnant. But the karma wheel goes around, because not only did she win multiple awards for her work on Angels in America but she also ended up with Denny from Grey's Anatomy! Meanwhile Clare Danes dumped Billy when he wouldn't commit, which just goes to show, that you can't trust a cheater.

I also definitely co-won the Oscar pool at my night job for a grand total of $35 which will just about pay for my lunches this week.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

Thoughts on Oscar

So, it appears that I won (or co-won) the Oscar pool this year at my night job. Which is pretty funny since I totally didn't get Best Supporting Actor. I was so sure that Eddie Murphy was going to pull off a miracle and make it three African-American actors winning on Oscar night instead of two (not that two is such a bad thing, but it's not three). Instead Adam Arkin won, which I'm not sad about because he's a good actor.

But hey, does anyone really watch the Oscars to see who won? Seriously after all the awards shows that lead up to the Oscars, is anyone really in doubt about who is going to win the major awards. Apart from the Alan Arkin upset, all the winners had won every single award that was given out from the film critics awards, through the BAFTA's. Helen Mirren is going to have to get a new house for all the awards that she won.

No, I watch the Oscars to see what people are wearing, and even though most of the women who attend look great, there's always someone who is not quite right. I'm thinking of Cameron Diaz in a dress that looked like Valentino made it out of the tablecloth on his dining room table, or Nicole Kidman in a dress that made her look like an overripe tomato.

Loved JLo's dress, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Reese Witherspoon certainly looked like she's gotten over Ryan Phillipe, and didn't Naomi Watts look cute in her little yellow maternity dress? But what was up with the publicist from Escada annoucing her pregnancy for her?

Thought Ellen Degeneres was just okay, and the whole show went on for so long, I really didn't care by the time The Departed One. Loved the whole Jack Black/John C. Reilly/Will Ferrell melody, particularly their riff on how hot Helen Mirren is. I swear she couldn't buy publicity like that. She and Diane Keaton make turning sixty look like it might not be such a bad thing.

If only they had let Sascha Baron Cohen come out as Borat to present!

Thanks for reading!

EKM

Book review: China Dolls

A debut novel about three Chinese-American 20-somethings pursue careers and Mr. Right in ultracompetitive New York City. Alex, Lin and M.J. have been friends since they met in school as kids, studying the Chinese language, and, as the book opens, none of them are married, and each is feeling pressure from her immigrant parents to move to the next stage in life. The women's desires, predictably, differ from their parents'.

This is the premise for China Dolls by Michelle Yu & Blossom Kan. The stand-out character for me in this book was M.J., a sportswriter in a male-dominated field who wants to break into on-air reporting. She's a tomboy who prefers to wear jeans and a ponytail to dresses and high heels. She has a good friend Ming who is also a sportswriter who constantly excoriates her for dating white guys. She meets an old high school flame and thinks that her life is changing for the better, only to realize that he hasn't changed much, and sometimes you can't go home again. Frankly, the whole book could have been about this character and I would have been happy. I was eager to learn more about this character, to see her struggles getting interviews against other male colleagues, I was even intrigued by the fact that she was in a sense competing with her boyfriend, but her section ended abruptly and too fast.

The other characters of Alex and Lin were little more than ciphers for me. Alex seemed to be just an angry Asian woman, and Lin was pretty much a doormat, which I found strange since she was such a high-powered stockbroker. Their stories are also pretty much glossed over and tied up neatly. I also found that all three characters pretty much had the same plot line, while there was much talk about how hard it was to be an Asian woman, there were precious few examples in the book.

Having booked as an assistant for investment banks for over 20 years, I know what a frat boy mentality exists, but what happened with Lin, to me smacked of a sexual harrassment lawsuit waiting to happen. I just found her too passive, I would have loved to have seen her sue the pants of Drew and hire Alex to do it.

Still I enjoyed reading about different perspective on chick-lit. I loved reading about the different customs, and the visit to the fortune teller in the first scene. It gave readers a different view of the New York that seems so familiar from Sex and the City.

Although Alex, Lin, and MJ are Asian, their struggles are universal. I look forward to reading the next book from Michelle and Blossom.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

Interesting Horoscopes

libra: air signs are beyond clever. you are the most charming of the airs, with nary a bad word for anyone unless they've done you a serious wrong. then tact be damned. get it off your chest; rip the critics a new one.

scorpio: soon your patience and talent will give you the bonanza you deserve. jupiter in sadge shouldn't go by( lasts until dec. of this year) without rewarding you. if you are new to this business, you'll get your first deal. if an old hand, then your contract will be the biggest and best ever.

I sincerely hope the last one comes true. I've been working my butt off and I'm getting a little tired of being able to wallpaper my room with rejection letters. However, instead of sitting around moping, I have two new projects that I'm working on. One, is a continuation of a series of YA books I've been writing, the other that I've mentioned briefly is a romantic trilogy.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

EKM

P.S. Ooh, I had two minor celebrity sightings this week. Yummy Bradley Cooper from Alias and Kitchen Confidential and Paul Blackthorne from 24 and the Dresden Chronicles. I saw them both when I went to the theater this weekend.

Reading Fables

I've been having the blah's recently. I don't want it is, but I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to write. Maybe it's all the rejection letters that I've been wracking up lately. It's not that I don't have ideas. I have plenty of them. I've just having a hard time picking one. Last year, I wrote two complete manuscripts, and two partials. This year, so far, all I've done is revise one manuscript. I need to start something soon. I just don't know what.

In the meantime, I’ve been searching out new books to read. When I write, I have a tendency not to read within the genre that I’m writing. I’m so afraid that I’ll inadvertently borrow a plot point or a turn of phrase that I just don’t read them. Consequently, I have a huge TBR pile growing in my office of books that I’ve been meaning to get to for the past three years. That includes all the books that I’ve gotten at the last three RWA conferences that I’ve attended.

I’ve always been a huge reader, ever since I was a kid, but every now and again, I have the blahs where I pick up books and turn them over, and nothing grabs me. That’s when it’s time for me to seek out a book in a genre that I don’t often read, or possibly an author that I haven’t read in awhile.

Just recently, I’ve gotten really into reading graphic novels. For me, it’s the perfect combination of story and pretty pictures. I happened to stumble on a series of graphic novels written by Bill Willingham called Fables just because it was recommended to me on Amazon.com. Hey, it turns out it might be a good idea to pay attention to those recommendations! Fables are set in New York City, in a section called Fabletown. All the fairytales or fables that we grew up reading as kids have been forced to leave their mythical homelands when they were taken over by the Adversary.

Every fairytale character that you can think of turns up in the various volumes of Fables, but it’s what Bill Willingham does with the characters that is so clever and delicious. Without giving anything away, Prince Charming is not so charming after all. He has a little faithfulness problem, leading to his divorces from not only Snow White, but also Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. The Big Bad Wolf from The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood is now the Sheriff of Fabletown and Snow White is the deputy mayor.

She's definitely not the Snow White from the Disney cartoon that's for sure. She's got a hard edge, after finding Prince Charming in bed with her sister. And she's spent the past several hundred years feeling bitter about it.

There are eight volumes in the series, and I’ve already glommed onto all but the last two (thanks to the auspices) of the New York Public Library. Each volume is written in a different style. The first volume, Legends in Exile, sets up the story and is written in the style of a Film Noir, dealing with the disappearance and possible death of Snow White’s sister Rose Red.

What makes the series so awesome, is that you can read it on two levels, one just the sheer enjoyment of the stories, but also as an allegory of war and the toll it takes. Fables is just one example of the sheer wealth of stories that are available in graphic novel form. Neil Gaiman has the popular Sandman graphic novels, and Alan Moore with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (much better than the crappy movie) and From Hell.

Now authors like Meg Cabot and Sherrilyn Kenyon are now writing original stories for graphic novels, and Laurel K. Hamilton, author of the Anita Blake series has had her novels adapted in graphic novel form. Not to mention the Harlequin Manga series.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

Category Blues

I began reading romances since the age of eleven, when I first discovered Harlequin Presents. I read them because they were mostly set in England (apart from Janet Dailey’s books), and featured alpha male heroes. Of course, at the time, I had no idea what an alpha male was. I just knew that part of me enjoyed the fact that the men were so dominating, while the budding feminist in me, wondered why the heroines didn’t just tell the hero where to stick it. Some of my favorite authors were Anne Mather and Carole Mortimer.

Then I discovered Dell Candlelight Ecstasy and Silhouette romances (when they were being published by Simon & Schuster). This was back in the eighties, what I like to call the ‘Golden Age’ of category romances, because you had so many choices. Bantam was publishing Loveswept, and Berkley had Second Chance at Love. Nora Roberts, Barbara Delinsky, Jayne Ann Krentz and Sandra Brown were all published in category.

I used to buy 25 to 30 books a month in the category lines, but then slowly but surely, lines ended. First Dell Candlelight Ecstasy, then Second Chance, and finally Loveswept. Others like Precious Gems and the Kensington category line were barely blips on the radar, although they did give authors like Tracey Kelleher and Barbara Daly their starts.

But I’ve realized recently that I don’t read many category romances anymore, unless I know the author like our own Anna DePalo, Kathleen O’Reilly and Barbara Gale. Every month, I go into the book store, and I head to the romance section to look through that month's offerings from Harlequin/Silhouette. I've read through the reviews in RT, and checked out the eHarlequin web-site and every month, I don't buy anything unless it's an author I know, or I find an intriguing plot. But that doesn't happen often.

Maybe it's the titles on the covers of Silhouette Desire and Harlequin Presents, the Baron's Billionaire Baby or the Pregnancy of Revenge (how do you have a pregnancy of revenge?). Maybe it's all the Sheik books, or brooding continental Europeans, but they just don't appeal to me anymore. Not even the books from Harlequin Blaze float my boat. I also have a problem with heroines getting pregnant from unprotected sex, or being blackmailed into marriage.

I've never read a NEXT novel, and I only read the Bombshells by certain authors. The only Nocturnes I've read have been by authors I know.

Recently, however, I read a category romance that I picked up in England called BEING A BAD GIRL, that I really loved by an American author, Julie Cohen, who lives in the UK. It took the two stereotypes, the good girl who wants to be a bad girl, and the hero who turns out to be pyschologist and made them fresh. Marianne just wants to stop living up to other people's expectations, not realizing that she had the power within her to make changes, and Oz gets in touch with the reckless side that he's supressed since he's helped raise his younger siblings. For once, I felt that here were two characters who actually talked to each other, and the misunderstandings came from not listening, not from anything contrived.

This is the second Julie Cohen book that I've read, and I plan on purchasing the others from Amazon.co.uk or the Eharlequin UK site.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

What the heck is going on?

I'm away from the internet for like two days, and what happens? Britney Spears shaves all her hair off! Yes, people, after checking herself in and out of rehab, girlfriend went into a barbershop and demanded that a stylist shave all her hair off.

I knew that Mercury in retrograde did weird things but this is just the weirdest. First, like four guys are claiming that they fathered Anna Nicole Smith's baby, including Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband who now claims that he had a ten year affair with Anna, and then her half-sister claims that no, Anna impregnated herself with her late husband's sperm!

I just wish they would let the poor misguided woman rest in peace. She had just lost her son, her dreams of becoming a huge star didn't turn out quite the way that she planned, and now this. I'm not even sure who I think should get custody of the baby, but I do think Dannielynn should at least be given to Howard Stern's sister, or someone not related to the case, like a foster parent. Someone with no vested interest in whether or not that little baby is going to inherit millions.

And Britney? She needs to go back to rehab, because the girl has some serious problems. She needs Courtney Love and Whitney Houston do an intervention or something. Where's Madonna when you need her?

Thanks for reading,

EKM

Feeling Good!

I pulled a sickie yesterday, after working 2 nights in a row at my night job until almost two o'clock in the morning. I managed to sleep until 9 a.m. and then I took off for my hair appointment at Ouidad. If you have curly hair like mine, Ouidad is the mecca for us. The salon is also very expensive. We're talking like 4 Supercuts for the price of one. But my hair looks great, and the stylist Alina actually managed to cut my hair the way that I've always wanted it. So now, of course, I'm hooked. Plus, I got the deep conditioning treatment because my hair was fried, from all the hair care products, and coloring my hair every two months. So the hair cut, the conditioning treatment, plus the haircare products I had to buy (and they didn't twist my arm either) means that I won't be eating sushi for a couple of weeks.

I've also continued querying for my YA novels. I just shot out two queries today, and got partial requests, so I'm psyched. I'm going to put the rejection that I got on Wednesday (yes, Valentine's Day) behind me and move forward. Like the email said, there are lots of agents out there that I haven't yet queried.

Last night, I went to a lovely book party for the China Dolls authors, Michelle Yu and Blossom Kan at an art gallery way the hell over near the highway in Chelsea. It was freezing last night which made the walk particularly unpleasant but I looked great with my new hair, and a slamming red sweater dress from Victoria's Secret. Had two delicious apple lychee martinis, and chatted with the lovely Kwana Jackson, Marley Gibson, and her husband Mike, my future web master.

We then headed over to Half-King, which is this groovy pub on 23rd street and 10th. The fish and chips were awesome. If you're ever in New York, I would definitely head over there. Now tonight, I'm heading out at 10:00 p.m. to meet a friend to see the musical episode of Buffy at the IFC Center. They do a Buffy sing-a-long night, which I'm looking forward to, and tomorrow I'm having a day spa experience.

Since Mercury is in retrograde, I'm taking this time to work out the kinks in my books, and to really make sure that I plot out my new series before I start writing.

Have a great President's Day weekend!

EKM

HVD!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

May this day – and all your days -- be full of love. --EKM

What's Going On?

I'm sure all you people out in blogland and the world at large are wondering, what happened to Elizabeth? She used to blog regularly with pithy and witty posts about life in New York.

Well, sorry the well is dry right now. I'm still revising my YA for submission to the manuscript critique service and busy sending out queries before Mercury goes into retrograde tomorrow. I'm still plotting my new trilogy which I want to start work on once Mercury is out of retograde. Oh, and I now have a DVR, meaning that not only is the picture clearer on my TV set, but I can now record a show on one channel and watch a show on a different channel.

I recorded the new version of Dracula which I already know is going to piss me off because it takes huge liberties with the book. Like implying that Lucy's fiance has syphillis and that's why he needs Dracula to bite him, as a cure. I'm also back to taping my soap now that I can actually watch it in color.

We're moving floors tomorrow at my job which is annoying because this is the second move in the year and a half since I've been at my job. Two of my group are out, so guess who has to pack up their stuff? Me, of course. I'm not looking forward to it, not the least because it takes away from my writing time.

Can I just say that while I like Extreme Makover: Home Edition, Ty Pennington gets on my last nerve? I used to like him on Trading Spaces, but now he just sucks up the air on Extreme Makeover. And I hate when he tries to get all symphathetic and stuff with the families. It just looks so fake.

Well, that's it for today. We're due snow tomorrow. Sweet!

EKM

Dialects, too much or too little?

Sorry, I've been such a bad blogger. I'm revising my first YA trying to get in shape before I sent it to the manuscript critique service that I've used before. Bev Katz Rosenbaum, who wrote 'I was a teenage popsicle' does fantastic critiques. I'm kind of excited yet trepidatious to see what she's going to say about the manuscript. Still, I want to get it in the best shape possible before I send it off.

I've already shaved off about ten pages out of the manuscript, but the last 60 pages of the manuscript need alot of tweaking. I can't believe that I actually sent this off to an agent now that I've re-read it. Three of my characters in Crazy Little Thing Called Love are foreign, Theo is Greek, Penny is English and Demetrius, who is also Greek, was sent to school in England. So, I'm very conscious as I go through the manuscript that their voices are distinctive compared to my American characters.

I was thinking about this tonight when I went to the Strand Bookstore to kill time before I went to work. I love the Strand, 3 floors of books all just waiting to be read and bought. Downstairs, among the review paperbacks, I found a book by a well-known chick-lit author, who's new book is partially set in Ireland. As I flipped through the book, I was kind of appalled at the writing for the Irish characters.

It was all written in the worst kind of dialect imaginable. Lucky Charms leprechaun Irish. Words were spelt like 'cawl' for 'call' and 'forst' for 'first.' But the worst was that the love interest kept saying 'yiz'. It made me wonder if the author had ever read a Marian Keyes book or any Irish author. Not even John Millington Synge wrote dialogue that was as appalling as what I read in this novel. She thanks a woman who she says helped her with the Irish portions, but obviously the help wasn't great. And this wasn't the first time I'd noticed this tendency. She had a character in her last book who was West Indian who sounded like a Madame Cleo clone.

It reminded me of Nicolas Cage's bad Italian accent in Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

On the other hand, I just read a review of a book, where the reviewer felt that she didn't get enough of the hero's Scottish accent. It's a real toughie when it comes to how to convey that a character speaks with an accent without relying on cliches.

I have a character in my second YA who is French Canadian, and I work with a guy who's French Canadian, so I'm very careful to listen to how he speaks. I've also thought of throwing in a few french words every now and again when he gets stressed or at a loss for words.

Do other people find it hard to write for characters with accents, and what was the worst experience you had reading a book?

Thanks for reading.

EKM

"Dirty Books" I read as a teenager

Entertainment Weekly has a great article up on the 'dirty books' that the staff read as a teenager. The article came about after author, Tina Jordan, was complaining that her teenage daughter was reading The Gossip Girls series. Even though her daughter read another books besides The Gossip Girl series, including alot of literary fiction, Tina wondered what her daughter saw in the books.

This apparently sparked a debate in the office, leading the staff to reminisce about the 'dirty books' they read as a teenager. Most of the usual suspects appeared on the list, including Forever by Judy Blume, the first book written for teens that had an actual sex scene in it. Who can forget Mike naming his penis 'Ralph'? Before that, I had to read adult books if I wanted to learn about sex, like John Jakes, The Bastard and Rich Man, Poor Man, both of which I read in the 6th grade.

My parents were probably unusual in that they never censored what I read. I think they were just so happy to have a child that loved reading. Not to mention the fact that I was already reading on a college level by the time I was ten. So when I used my allowance to buy books like Rich Man, Poor Man or anything by Helen Van Slyke or Taylor Caldwell, they didn't say anything.

I mean, I read books that were age appropriate also. All of Madeleine L'Engle, Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie, but I have ADD when I read, so I was always dipping into 2 or 3 books at a time. I had to get permission to use the Upper School library, because I'd read everything in the Lower School library by the time I was ten.

The only time that my parents ever said anything to me about what I read was when my father caught me reading Harold Robbins, The Pirate, and then he just wanted to know if my mother knew that I read such books. I told him she loaned it to me! In fact, Sweet Savage Love, the first historical romance I ever read, I borrowed from my mother. It's where I learned that men went down to Brazil in a manner of speaking. I was almost more embarrassed that my mother had read it!

The article also mentioned Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. Now that was totally a dirty book. If you haven't read it, you might want to take a shower afterwards. Four kids are locked in an attic by their grandmother, after they come to live with her when their father dies. Their mother just goes off and leaves them with her. You learn later it's because their mother married her Uncle or something like that, which sort of foreshadows the fact that Chris and his sister end up falling in love and doing the nasty.

I'm not ashamed to admit I learned alot about male/female relations from these books. They were very informative, when you consider that my mother was still trying to pass off the cabbage patch theory of childbirth to me when I was ten. This was after I had already learned the facts of life in school!

If it weren't for Are You There God, It's Me Margaret, I would totally have been unprepared for when it hit puberty. (Wasn't that a funny scene in Talladega Nights, when Michael Clarke Duncan is reading the book to Will Ferrell?).

Thank god, for 'dirty books'! They certainly made my adolescence that much more interesting!

EKM

Finally some good news!

No, I haven't sold a book or gotten an agent, but there is still some good news to be had in the world, and I'm not just talking about the fact that Ilan Hall beat Marcel Vigneron on Top Chef.

The good news is that the final Harry Potter book will be out this July 21st, and yours truly has already pre-ordered her copy to be delivered hot off the press by Amazon.com on the day of. Ever since the 4th Harry Potter, I have pre-ordered my copies from Amazon and they arrive bright and early on the morning the book comes out right into my hot little hand.

I just hope that this book isn't as thick as the last two because I almost broke my foot reading the last one when it dropped on it by accident. Although since is the very last one (and I'm holding JK Rowling to this), it'll probably weigh a ton. I'll just have to remember not to read it in the bathroom (Hey, I read in the tub!).

Can't wait to read it but it will be very sad because it'll be the penultimate book. I just hope she doesn't kill off Harry, Ron or Hermione. It was bad enough she killed you know who in the last one.

Thanks for reading!

EKM