Bowling for Dollars

Last night for the first time in almost 9 years, I went bowling with my group from work. One of our group is leaving to take a new position in the firm, so we all decided instead of hanging out in a bar, we would do something fun together, hence bowling.

Can I just say how much fun I had? Bowling is way cool in a really dorky kind of way. And I suck at it. I mean really suck at it. The good thing is that I wasn't alone in my suckitude. Pretty much everyone else sucked as well apart from a few people who managed to break 100. But nobody sucked as much as me. In the grand scheme of suckage, I was the grand poobah of suckitude.

Seriously, at one point I dropped the ball behind me when I was getting ready to bowl. That's how bad I am. But it doesn't' matter because I had fun. This is a big thing for me because I am a perfectionist. If I can't do something well, I don't want to do it all. So the fact that I can go bowling and suck and be cool about it, is a huge step for me.

Now I can't wait to go bowling again!

Thanks for reading,

EKM

May Moping

So far, May is sucking big time. Not only did I receive another rejection letter, this time one of those form email rejection letters from an agency that has had my partial for about 5 months, but I just found out that my night job is cutting the Associate Editor positions, which means although I'm still employed, I'm back now making what I made before which is much less. I'm going to have to do that economizing thing which I hate, but I've been living a little too high on the hog, eating a great deal of sushi which costs a bomb here in NYC.

May has always been a really hard month for me, which is kind of ironic because it's also my favorite month of the year. The lilacs are out (my favorite flower) and spring usually arrives in New York around this time. But May is also my father's birthday (he would have been 92 this year), and Mother's Day (it's been almost 19 years since my mother passed away). Not to mention May is the month when ex-sweetie pie and I broke up and also the month that I learned who my true friends were. So I'm not really feeling the warm fuzzies right now.

I'm trying to think positively. I'm flying out to Chicago next weekend, to get away from the fact that my ex-best friend is getting married. I'm also working hard on two novellas for the Brava novella contest (I have two ideas and I can't decide between them so I thought why not write both, the contest doesn't start until August). I still have two agents who want my full YA manuscript. And I still have the rest of Beau Brummel with the delectable James Purefoy still to finish watching.

Doesn' t he look yummy in his bath?

Thanks for reading,

EKM

Changes Afoot

So last night I got home from my dance classes (salsa/mambo and hustle) to find a letter from RWA with a proxy form since I'm not going to be going to Dallas this year (Been there, done that, have the T-shirt). Apparently the board has voted to get rid of the novel with strong romantic elements category in the Golden Heart but not the RITA. Why? Since the contest is for unpublished authors, RWA feels that they should be promoting romance.

Okay, on the one hand, I can see there point, but on the other hand, there are at least 5 other categories for people to enter if they are writing a romance. So why drop this one category? Is it that they're afraid that more people will enter this category than the others? I don't think so. I would say that, given the number of people who are members of the Chick-lit chapter, compared to say the total number of RWA members, it's pretty small. The chick-lit chapter last time I looked had about 300 members, give or take, and not all of them are entering the Golden Heart.

In fact, quite a few people that I know who have entered the Golden Heart, some have entered in more than one category, with more than one manuscript in that same category. If you're going to change anything, how about limiting the number of entries an author can submit in any given category. That would make sense. The same goes for the RITA. Why have Nora Roberts compete against herself, or her pseudonymn, JD Robb?

They also want to get rid of the Novella category as well. Given the number of anthologies that are published every year by all publishing houses, this also to me seems like a waste of time. Seriously, is it just me or does seem like the board of RWA spends alot of time thinking about nothing in particular?

The one board meeting that I attended, most of the meeting was taken up with that ole definition of romance. It was clear then, that there was a faction on the board who were not happy with the whole chick-lit/erotica/erotic romance boom of the past ten years. Just the fact that you cannot join PAN unless you've written a romance or your book is published by an RWA approved publisher proves that.

Oy, color me annoyed.

Thanks for reading,

EKM

Manic Monday

I'm pleased to report that I finished the revisions on my YA novel, and I just have to do one final read-through before I email it off to the two agents who requested the full manuscript. I also read the first 15 pages of the novella that I'm working on for the Brava contest and is so does not suck as much as I thought it did. Although I realize from reading a couple of novellas, that I need to open it with more of a bang so to speak. So back to the drawing board. I'm hoping to have it finished by the end of the month so that I can finish the other YA that I started.

I've been quite the busy social bee as well attending benefits and an auction preview. The benefit was awesome, although I'm come to the conclusion that I know I'm a writer because when crappy stuff happens I think, I'm so using this in a book. The auction preview was better, although drinking 4 glasses of champagne before my night job and then having to watch NUMBERs was not a good idea.

We had our chapter brunch on Saturday, with Lauren Willig, the author of History of the Pink Carnation as our guest speaker. She was so adorable I couldn't hate her for being 30. Once again, sucked down the champagne (what can I say I'm a sucker for it, just like the cutie holding the glass from Woody Allen's Match Point. His name is Matthew Goode, and he's scruptilicious).

Have to finish working on expense reports for my day job since I'm finished my revisions, and then it's back to the quill and paper.

Thanks for reading,

EKM

Words Only Women Use

1.) FINE : This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2.) Five Minutes : If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five Minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3.) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

4.) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

5) Loud Sigh : This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statementoften misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6.) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7.) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome.

8.) Whatever: Is a women's way of saying SCREW YOU!

9.) Don't worry about it, I got it : Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking, "what's wrong", for the woman's response refer to # 3.

Congratulations!

From Publishers Lunch:

Debut
Lisa VanAuken writing as Lisa Dale's THE LUCKY MOON, exploring the mysterious connectivity between mothers and daughters, cities and mountains, the present and the past, to Melanie Murray at Grand Central, in a nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Kim Lionetti at BookEnds (world).


Lisa used to be a member of my local chapter RWA NYC, and she was also the first agent that I sent my book to when she worked at Creative Media which is now Folio. She wrote me a really good rejection letter which I took to heart, and made me work harder on my next few books. She was also a friend's agent. I'm so excited for her.

Thanks for reading,

EKM

May Man Madness

I am incredibly hungover today after consuming 4 glasses of wine, and very little dinner last night at a benefit, however, I've decided that May will be the month of Man madness and particularly British men.

Today's specifiman is Jason Isaacs. Why? Well, I was watching this awesome miniseries this weekend called 'The State Within' on DVD and he played the British Ambassador to the US. If you get a chance, rent it from Netflix, it's really good.

He also plays Draco Malfoy's dad in the Harry Potter movies. I'm not sure when I was first aware of his work. He just seems to have appeared one day in a lot of movies that were filmed for American television in England, usually playing priests which is interesting since he's Jewish!

The picture on the left is from the film, The Patriot, which I actually hated but he was wonderful as Mel Gibson's foil, based on a real person. Now he stars in the Showtime series, The Brothers which I have to rent from Netflix.

I think what I like about him, besides his beautiful blue eyes, and his handsome face, is the intelligence of his performances. Even when he's playing a bad guy, you can sense that there is something more going on with him.

So check him out!

Thanks for reading,

EKM

Hot British Guys Volume 1

Well, I'm 99% done with the revisions on my YA. I still have one more chapter to rewrite, and then another read through before I sent it off to the two agents who want the full manuscript. And then I need to take a break from YA and work on the novella I want to submit to the Brava contest.

I've been reading other novellas just to get a sense of the format. I think no matter what happens, I'll have learned something from the experience. Convincing readers that two people are meant for each other in the space of 90 pages is a challenge that I'm actually looking forward to.

The chap on the left is Timothy Dalton, one of my first crushes. I first came upon Mr. Dalton while watching The Lion in Winter with Katherine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. If you haven't seen this film, rent it. It's brilliant, far superior to the remake with Glenn Close and Patrick Stewart. Timothy plays the young King of France. From my first sight of him, I was hooked, and I've been a fan ever since. I've some incredible crap just to see him, like the last film Mae West ever did which was one too many, Sextette. Oy! Don't ask.

Centennial, a miniseries where he played Joan Collins brother, and Scarlett where he was the only actor who could play Rhett Butler, if they couldn't dig Clark Gable up and reanimate him. He's my favorite Bond after Daniel Craig (sorry Sean). His were the first Bond films that I sat all the way through and could understand the plots. I was so jealous when I learned that Vanessa Redgrave was his girlfriend for a number of years. Sigh! Lucky bitch. He actually made me forget about Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff, and I adored his Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre.

And now he's in the new film Hot Fuzz! I had planned on seeing it anyway because it sounded like fun, but now I can go and bask in the still handsome features of Timothy Dalton. Dude looks fab for 61.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

Real Estate Porn - the Friday Edition

I'm back! Well briefly. I still have two chapters to write and edit before I'm finished with the revisions on my YA. It seems like it's taken forever, but I'm really pleased with the way the book is turning out. The ending may need to be tightened up a little, but I'm clocking in at 75,000 words and 265 pages, which is ten pages less than my last YA. So I'm slowly learning to write tighter and tighter.

When I'm done, I'm sending the book off to my trusty readers and the manuscript critique service that I use to peruse the book before I send it off to the 2 agents that have requested the full. Yes, I did say two! I had another agent request this week, which sort off set the rejection that I got from another agent who was very complimentary and wants to work with my, but is not really interested in doing YA at this moment. She's looking more for women's fiction and romance, which I have. So I may just brush off one of my women's fiction hybrids at some point and shoot it off to her while I'm still doing the YA thang.

The goal of course is to have an agent who can do both. In the meantime, a writer that I know has said that I can use her name to query an editor at Hyperion books, so I'm definitely going to do that next week. Also, I want to go back and finish writing the novella that I hope to enter Kensington Brava's Novella line.

But back to the title of this post. I went to an opening of a brand new condominium development in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. For anyone who doesn't really know New York very well, Williamsburg is like the first stop on the L train. It's been an up and coming neighborhood for the past ten years, but now developers are really swooping and building new developments. Probably because they've been priced out of developing in Manhattan. The neighborhood used to be very blue collar Polish and Russian immigrants. Then came the artists and actors looking for cheap rents. And now the yuppies.

I have to give the developers credit so far, all the new buildings that I saw where relatively consistent with the rest of the neighborhood. No really tall buildings. I think the tallest one I saw had ten stories.

This development is called Ikon, and you would have thought that rock stars and movie stars were driving in, because they actually had a red carpet! We all had to sign a waiver before we could go up that we wouldn't sue the developers if we say, fell through a hole in the floor or the elevator crashed. Up on the top floor was where the party was, with a free open bar and a specialty drink, the Pomtini, which is still the rage here in New York.

Downstairs was the model apartment, a two bedroom, all the mod cons, priced at least $800,000. I thought it was very small, and I'm not fond of the open living/kitchen/dining room thing. Basically it was three rooms since the kitchen couldn't really count as a room. The bathrooms were nice, all brick exposed walls etc. You could also, for an added fee of course, get this video service whereby you could control the climate, the lights, the DVD player, order food etc. all from this video screen on the wall in the kitchen.

It was interesting, but I'm not sure it's for me. However, I did enjoy the free drinks and snacks before I went home to watch Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy.

Thanks for reading,

EKM

Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down

It's not just raining cats and dogs here, but elephants, kangaroos, polar bears. I mean it's seriously pouring outside and has been all day. Yesterday was beautiful, the sun was out, we had tons of people at our April meeting, and not just because we had the lovely Leslie Wainger as our speaker. Several guests, and some members who hadn't been seen in awhile showed up. Primarily because it turned out that we were expecting a N'oreaster, which made me think of George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in The Perfect Storm, and the Groton's fisherman who has forever been ruined by that awful Jennifer Love Hewitt film, I know What You Did Last Summer.

Afterward, a group of us went to a little tea place where we chatted for a little bit before I ran home to take a nap before my night job. Oh, and I also had a hissy fit in my accountants office when I realized that I was getting absolutely no money from the Federal Government and that I owed a huge amount to New York State because my old temp agency neglected to take out any city tax, and my night job apparently didn't take out enough state tax either. I'm so ticked off. Apparently, even though I made money as a writer, I had to say that I took a loss because my writing income was not on a 1099 but a W-2 form, even though my job title is freelance writer.
Also, I made too much money last year.

Then today while it was like Noah's Ark outside, I tried to watch the Christian Bale/Hugh Jackman film The Prestige, but it gave me a headache because it kept jumping back and forth in time etc. So I gave up about halfway through the film, which bothered me because usually I'll watch a film all the way through unless it's really awful, so I hated giving up on The Prestige.

On a lighter note, I set up a My Space page at www.myspace.com/elizabethkerrimahon so come on by and say hello!

Thanks for reading,

EKM

Bad, Bad, Blogger

I know I am a shameful blogger, but I have an excuse. I'm still busy editing the YA that the agent requested, so that I can email it to her assistant by next week, and it needs alot of work. Right now, I'm still working on the first 10 chapters, getting them so clean that you could eat off of them, or at least not spot the plot holes so much. I have a good feeling that I'm making the book stronger, and raising the stakes, but its going so sloooooooooooooooooooooow.





Plus, I opened the mailbox on Saturday to find one of those so-called 'good' rejection letters from an agent that chatted on one of the YA loops that I belong to. This one said that I had 'colorful characters' and that he enjoyed reading it and thought teens would really be interested in my take on the plot but didn't feel he was the right agent to represent it. All of which mystifies me. You liked the book, you think that teens will buy it, but you don't want to represent it. Okay.



I felt the way that Karina Smirnoff felt last night trying to teach Billy Ray Cyrus, the Paso Doble. She ended up crying in the bathroom, because he just wasn't getting it. That's kind of how I felt, my friends get the book, teens will like the book, but if I could only convince, a frickin agent of that.

Sigh! Well, I have more editing to do.

EKM

TGIF

Thank god it's Friday, is all I have to say. Even though I'm here at work (until 11:30 because my boss is a dunderhead), at least I get to go home soon, and I have Saturday and Sunday off. Whoo-hoo.

Been doing lots of thinking about the YA that I need to revise. I need to do more with the columns that my two characters are writing for the newspaper, perhaps have them debate or something on local TV. Something to move the plot along. And more high school stuff. Like bowling! I also need to crunch the first three chapters into two but still get in all the information that I need to.

Was on Amazon.com yesterday and there are some groovy new YA books coming out soon, including the third book by Libba Bray, a fourth Jessica Darling book by Megan Mccafferty, a new E. Lockhart, the second Secret Society Girl book (which I may try and scarf at BEA), and two more Meg Cabot books, one of which is a Manga! Not to mention that I discovered a new YA author on line, who's books I need to try out.

Went to the theater last night, and saw an interesting new play by Bernard Weintraub, who used to write for the NYT called Accomplices about how the US basically did nothing while Jews were being slaughtered by the Nazi's. It had a documentary feel to it and it raised some interesting questions. There's a forum going on at Fordham in June dealing with the subject that I might go to. I also ran into a guy I went to college with, so that I was interesting, and I went with a new friend, so it was all good.

I'm totally into this show on the Sundance Channel called 'Ladette to Lady' which is where 10 girls who are totally girls gone wild, or tomboys with no social skills are sent to finishing school to learn to become ladies. This is not some exploitation show like the one on VH-1 where Monique tries to turn the heifers from Flava of Love into ladies. These girls seriously want to learn to better themselves, and since England still has a bit of a class system, it's really interesting to watch them struggle to try and change. For them, it's a chance at a better job, although it's going to be hard when they go back home to keep from slipping back into their old ways.

Hope everyone has a good weekend with great weather!

EKM

Revisions Traumarama

Yikes, I just got an email from Important Agent's assistant asking for the full manuscript for my second YA, which is great, but I just re-read the thing, and I have a lot of work to do to whip it into shape before I can email it to her. The ending needs some work, I need to trim some other scenes, and totally rewrite others. All in about two weeks, because I don't want to let it go much longer than before I send it to her.

This is what happens when you finish the book, and start querying. I had gotten so many rejections on the partial, that I just stopped working on the revisions for awhile since no one seemed to want to read the full manuscript. Very poor choice on my part.

The good thing is that I totally know what needs to be done to hang the story together in such away as to have it make sense and move the story along. I love when that happens. Still it's going to mean that I can no longer take of weekends from writing.

But that's a good thing because I need to start working on my writing 7 days a week. It's too hard to take the weekend off, and then start again on Monday. It takes so long to get into the swing again. It's like when you don't exercise for a few days, and then you do a spurt of a few days in a row. Your body finally gets used to the feeling, and then you stop again. Writing is a muscle that needs to be exercised all the time. Even if it's just editing what I wrote during the weekend.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

NEC and Easter

Have you ever gazed at an Easter card with a cute little bunny on it? And do you ever wonder what bunnies, and eggs for that matter, have to do with Jesus rising from the dead after the crucifixion? It turns out that in the ancient world Eostre/Ostara, was a fertility goddess whose reign over the earth began in spring. Ostara came in the form of a beautiful maiden with a basket of coloured eggs and her magical companion, a rabbit. Eventually the celebration for the spring goddess was co-opted by the Christian one - hence Easter with its component parts of eggs, bunnies, and all things spring like. Enjoy! This is just one of the many ways that pagan rituals have been incorporated into Christianity.

So, I'm back from NEC. I totally recommend if you have never been to a writer's conference, that you attend one of the many regional conferences instead of heading straight to National. Not only will you make friends, that you can hang with at National, but it's entirely less stressful. I wish that I had had my first pitch at a regional conference instead of plunging in at National. It was great seeing my NEC friends and hanging out with my number one dream agent.

Of course, I did attend some workshops, in particular a great talk with Lisa Gardner. It was really interesting hearing this sweet young woman talking about all the dark stuff that she writes about. I only bought one book, Donna Kauffman's Great Scot since I'm in charge of our chapter basket for our monthly raffle, and I'm doing a Scottish theme this month. The costume party was so much fun, it was great to see how many people got into the spirt of dressing up. My costume was so successful, I now know what I'm going as for Halloween this year!

Also the food was so much better at this conference than at National. Plus we had three meals plus the chocolate party. FYI to National, you're not really helping us save money on the conference fee by cutting out the lunches, since we have to go find food elsewhere. When you've schlepped half way across the country, having to run out to find a meal sucks.

The only quibble I had was with the hotel shuttle service. Apparently it's first come, first served, which makes no sense. I had a very tight schedule, which I indicated to the desk clerk. I was taking the Acela back to New York which left at 11:15, which meant that I had to take the 10:05 commuter train back to Boston. So she told me to come back at 9:30 to arrange for the shuttle van which I did only to be told that the shuttle was gone and wouldn't be back in time for me to get to the train.

Well, I let them know that wasn't acceptable, so the other desk clerk drove me to the station. First come, first served is absolutely ridiculous. It takes no time at all to keep a list of people who need to take the shuttle at a certain time.

Other than, it was a great weekend. I'm just sad that I'm so tired after working last night on Amazing Race.

Thanks for reading,

EKM

Weekend in New England

And Sanjaya is still on American Idol. Sigh! I feel like Henry II when he declared about Thomas a Becket "Will no one rid me of this man?" Not that I want four men to kill Sanjaya while he's doing his hair, but please, for the love of Idol, vote this dude off!

Now back to our regularly scheduled program. Isn't he cute, the dude on the left? That's Logan Marshall-Green, who played Ryan's no-good brother Trey on the O.C. He was also the inspiration for the bad boy character in my new YA, which has no title yet. I haven't written a bad boy character yet, and I'm really excited about it. Dylan, on the surface, seems like the quintessential bad boy, but of course, he has the proverbial heart of gold. And sexy to boot.

I'm off to New England this weekend, hence the reference to the old Barry Manilow song. It's the NEC conference which I'm looking forward to for 2 reasons, I'll get to see my friends, and I won't have to be at work. Pysched for that. I'm not pitching this year, because my new YA is only 70 pages, plus I've already pitched my last two books to the agents who are attending.

Right now, I'm struggling with the issue of historical accuracy. I have a character in my new YA who is from the 11th century, where they didn't speak English the way we do now, plus he's Scottish, means he wouldn't even have spoken English at all but Gaelic or some form of Scots. So I'm having to decide whether or not to do the old trick of having him learn English from watching Oprah and the daytime soaps. Plus, can he read? He's a nobleman, so I'm going to say that yes he has learned the rudiments of reading and writing his name, not just making a big old X on parchment.

Plus were they wearing the plaid in the 11th century? In Braveheart, they did but that's two centuries after my character lived. So I'm going to have to go with Jessica assuming that this character should be wearing it, and disappointed when she learns that it came later. Which could lead to a fun scene where she takes him shopping for a kilt, and he wonders why she wants him to wear woman's clothing. Or her having to explain the whole notion of tartans and clans.

So many things to decide. I've written the first three chapters which I need to edit and condense, and I'm doing the research as I write, instead of beforehand, just because I have a tendency to get bogged down by those things, and I love to research so much that I would spend all my time doing it and not writing. Which as we know is bad if your goal is to one day see your name on a book.

So, there will be no posts here until Sunday.

Slainte!

EKM

Costume Mania

Say hello to my new fake boyfriend Maksim, from Dancing with the Stars. Maks is a Latin Ballroom dancer, meaning he specializes in dances like the Mambo, Cha-Cha, and Jive. Yes, swing dancing is considered a Latin dance, go figure. Sort of like Scorpio is a water sign in Astrology but it lives in the desert, where there is no water.

Maks is partnered with Laila Ali this season, and I have to say Lucky her. Yes, he's cocky and thinks to much of himself but the man can dance, and he's straight! A rare combination, believe me. Anyway, Maks is my boyfriend until the end of Dancing with the Stars when he and Laila win, or until they get booted off for being too good.

What does this have to do with costumes? Well, have you seen the outfits the professional women dancers where? I don't think Edyta has covered her midriff in three seasons. Everything is either backless or frontless. Granted if I had abs like there's I would probably walk around like that too!

No, I love to wear costumes. Part of the reason that I became an actress was so that I could wear costumes. Like the lovely kimono I wore my junior year when I was in the chorus of the Mikado. Of course, wearing a corset sucks, but you really get the feel for the pain and suffering that women went through in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Anyway, I have a costume party to go to this weekend at NEC, where we are supposed to come as a literary character, either from our fiction or someone else's. Normally I would be all over this, but since I'm working two jobs, plus taking ballroom dancing and having a social life, I haven't been able to put as much into it as I might otherwise.

So, I'm kind of cheating. Initially I thought I would go as this character Modesty Blaise because I could just wear a black turtleneck and capri pants the way she does in the books and in the comic. Or I could go as the same character I did for Halloween, Femme Fatale, International Woman of Mystery. Or Anne Boleyn since I do have the costume, but it's incredibly heavy and too hot for time of year, particularly if I'm going to be in a room with lots of people.

But I finally decided on Lady Macbeth. So if you're at NEC, I'll be the one running around with bloody daggers, saying things like 'Out, out damn spot.' Since my YA has something to do with the Scottish Play, I thought it was appropriate.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

Just Can't Catch a Break!

Hey all,

The weather has been absolutely beautiful this past weekend, and of course I have the worst cramps known to man (sorry is that TMI?). I felt so lousy that I skipped the reception at the NYPL for the Teen Awards, which I was bummed to miss because Diana Peterfreund's book 'Secret Society Girl' was chosen as a notable book for 2006.

I tried to go to the Guggenheim on Friday to see the 'El Greco to Picasso' exhibit but the line for tickets was around the block, so I bought one on-line yesterday and went today. Of course, it was just as crowded but at least I didn't have to wait in line. I could just go up to the membership desk and get my ticket.

The exhibit was interesting but weirdly layed out. Instead of chronologically, it was laid out according to subject, Monks, Women, Children, Portraits etc. I would have preferred to have seen the evolution of Spanish painting but it was interesting to see a Picasso painting next to an El Greco. It was also crowded, but the one good thing about the Guggenheim is there is a bathroom on every level. If you've never been to the museum, it's shaped like a Hostess cupcake. You either take the elevator to the top and wind your way down or you start at the bottom and work your way to the top.

After the museum, I headed over to my favorite Vegetarian restaurant, where the waiter forgot to give me my change. And stupid me, I was too preoccupied to notice. So I'm now out $7.00. And then to top it all off, Tyler Florence went off and got married! The bastard! I kid. Not that I had any chance of meeting this dude, but that's another guy off the market. Sheesh.

And the book I'm reading, while really well written and has a good story, also has a product placement on every page. There were some pages where I counted four or five. It got annyoying after awhile. This is why chick-lit gets a bad name. And it also dates the book. I'm still reading it because I want to see how the author ties it up at the end, but there have been moments when I've wanted to chuck it across the room, particularly when she mentioned Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

Thank God It's Friday!

Thank god it's Friday, is all I have to say. This has been like one of the longest weeks of my life it seems. I can't wait for it to be over!

The weather has finally turned nice. Yesterday, it was almost 70 degrees, and today it's supposed to be 50, with a chance of showers, which is better than 20 with snow. So perhaps Spring has finally arrived after all and about time. Perhaps spring fever explains why Sanjaya Malakar is still be allowed to torture us all on American Idol. I can understand that there are people out there who don't like the show, and find it cheesy, but is there any reason to ruin it for those of us who do like it?

I mean sights like 'Vote for the Worst' and Howard Stern encouraging people to vote for Sanjaya. It's not fair to him, and not fair to us to have to listen to him butcher another song week after week. And now he's going on the Idol tour because he made the top 10. That's just cruel. Supposedly tweens adore him because he's so not threatening. There was a 13 year old girl in the audience they kept cutting to who was crying like the Beatles had arrived. He's like the perfect tween crush. He reminds me of this teen idol Tony DeFranco of the DeFranco family.

They had a few hit songs in the '70's. They were like the Italian Canadian version of the Osmonds or the Jackson 5. I personally didn't have a crush on him, being more of a David Cassidy/Donny Osmond fan, but I could see why girls liked him. He was totally non-threatening. His voice hadn't even changed yet. But at least Tony DeFranco could sing which is more than I can say for Sanjaya.

So please American put us all out of our misery and vote Sanjaya off next week.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

Wednesday Meme - The Book List

I'm sick (again) and I have absolutely no engergy. I've also just lost a good friend due to a complete failure on my part, so I'm not quite a real blogging mood. So I found this meme on Kelly Para's site and it seemed like fun.

Instructions: In the list of books below:
Bold the ones you’ve read
Italicize the ones you want to read
Mark in RED the ones you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole
Put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf
Mark an asterisk (*) beside the ones you’ve never heard of
Mark with # if you've seen the movie

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) #
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) #
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) #
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) #
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) #
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) #
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) #
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) #
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) #
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) #
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerors's Stone (Rowling) #
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald) *
18. The Stand (Stephen King) #
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban #(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) #
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) #
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) #
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) #
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck) #
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom) #
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks) #
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) (Ayn Rand scares me)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) #
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. *The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) # (several versions)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) #
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) #
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens) #
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) #
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)*
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling) #
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) #
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) #
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) #
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy) #
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) #
65. *Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. *One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo) # (well I've seen the musical several times, does that count)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) (actually read it in french)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje) #
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. *The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) #
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. *The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. *Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck) #
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier) #
84. *Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen) #
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. *The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. *Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer) #
91. *In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) #
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) #
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch) #
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford) #
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

I've read at least a 1/4 of these books, and I consider myself well-read. Clearly I've also seen alot of the movie versions!

Thanks for reading,

EKM

Cinderella's Castle

Here is something interesting. You know Cinderella's Castle at Disney World. Well, guess what? Now some very lucky guests can. Unused space in Walt Disney World's Cinderella Castle has been turned in to the "Suite of a Million Dreams." Here's how it works: at some random place at one of the Disney properties at some random time, a winner will be selected to spend that night in the suite. Though it's said to be random, I'm sure there are some very wealthy fathers out there who would do anything for their daughter to crash in the castle, and Disney would probably welcome these suggestions. The estimated value of the one night stay is only $587.



And what's the deal with the toilet? I'm all for authenticity but would you really want to sit on that? It looks like stone. I imagine it as being really cold, and the wood panelling in the bathroom is a little weird.

From the press release: "The architecture of the castle, the Cinderella story and the suite are all interwoven," said Stephen Silvestri, the Walt Disney Imagineering show producer/director who led a team of designers and craftsmen in the dream makeover. "We want our guests to feel as though they are inside our castle but also immersed within the fantasy realm of the Cinderella story."
In the foyer of the suite, guests will discover a design of the fairytale pumpkin coach in the marble floor inlay. A memorable artifact from the story, the famous glass slipper, adorns a cove. And through the doorway, the bedchamber and salon are appointed with furnishings in the style of the era of "the Louies," as Silvestri refers to the French rulers of the period inspiring the castle and Cinderella story. Nooks showcase clocks, porcelain and accessories befitting the period. Doors are richly detailed; the walls are covered with wood panels and wall coverings. In the bathroom, hand-decorated copper basins sit atop the vanity, recalling a time when fresh water was carried to the bedchamber.

Despite all the careful attention to centuries-old details, the amenities of the Cinderella Castle Suite are definitely 21st century. There's a lavish garden tub plus a shower. There are also wheelchair accessible bathroom and bedroom facilities and elevator access to the suite. As for an ornately framed, 17th-century-style portrait of Cinderella above a regal fireplace in the bedchamber: it magically changes into a modern, 21st-century flat-screen television.

"We want to balance the practical realities within the fantasy place to make the experience truly a dream-come-true for our guests," Silvestri said.


Thanks for reading!

EKM

What Color Green Are You?

You Are Emerald Green

Deep and mysterious, it often seems like no one truly gets you. Inside, you are very emotional and moody - though you don't let it show. People usually have a strong reaction to you... profound love or deep hate. But you can even get those who hate you to come around. There's something naturally harmonious about you.

What Color Green Are You?

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