I'm reading this book by Elizabeth Scott, and I absolutely adore it. You know how sometimes you read something and it just flows so naturally and feels so real that it's like your best friend is telling you her life story? That's what this book is like. Seriously great.
Bloom.
This week I had the chance to have lunch with Marianne Mancusi, whose prolific works are completely intimidating!Luckily, she herself is not--she's awesome. We share a publishing house and an editor, and she gave me great insight and advice. Yay for friendly writers!
PS-Her latest book, Moongazer, is out in like 3 days. SF Scope called it "The Matrix and Snow Crash with a bit of Blade Runner thrown into the mix." So hello--go get it!
It's here--the August issue! There's an excerpt of Violet on the Runway on page 172. I am beyond excited. Two other fun books, Breakfast at Bloomingdale's, by Kristen Kemp, and Girl of the Moment, by Lizabeth Zindel, are excerpted also.You can even enter to win a free copy of the book here. Yay! Happy Fourth of July!
PS-If you're a local bookstore fan, find these books at an independent store near you at booksense.com.
As a freelance writer, I send out email pitches regularly. Even hitting send on those makes me nervous, so I can't imagine appearing on mediabistro.com's Video Pitch Slam. This week, four brave souls pitch Food & Wine. I'm big on other people's awkward moments. Is that wrong? Ooh, it's a nailbiter!
When you see the flashing question mark as you start up your MacBook, a sense of dread sets in. You start to think about all the things you haven't backed up: The revise of your second book, the last five chapters of your due-on-September-1st third book, your invoicing system for the magazine work you do, interviews with subjects for magazine stories that are due this week, etc. You may even curse Apple, because you bought the computer last May and your warranty expired on May 18th.Damn you, Genius Bar!!
Today, I will put my head down and cry as I take my MacBook in to the Mac store and beg them to recover some data. Then I will get some perspective: No one close to me died today, there are many, many worse things in life.
But still, man: This SUCKS.
PS-My friend Lynn Harris has a book out TODAY! Click through her site to order a copy of Death by Chick Lit (I haven't read it yet, but I'd make a bet that it's fast and funny and entertaining as heck).
So for my second book, Violet by Design (out in Spring 2008), this cover was proposed:
Whoa, butt! Eye-catching? Yes. Modest? No. We went with this one, and I hope people love it:
PS-The lovely Sarah Dessen quote is a placeholder from VIOLET ON THE RUNWAY, but we'll have a new one soon from the talented Ms. Carolyn Mackler herself!
Okay, I'm a huge fan of real mail. I don't think I've gotten a letter from a friend in months, but I still adore them when they do trickle in... I know that girls still love the idea of hard-copy pen pals. Girls' Life magazine has a whole penpal section each month, which I think is a good sign.Anyway, I just heard about this service called Postful where you can send an email to quickletter@postful.com with the mailing address in the subject line, write the letter in the email's message body, click send, and the email is printed and posted. You can even add photos to the letter! The cost? 99 cents for the first page and 25 cents for each additional page, which includes full-color printing, paper, envelope and first-class postage.
It's not a handwritten note on fancy stationery, but it's something!
Today I got a contract to sell my book to a publisher in Russia who'll translate it and put it on shelves in--hello!--Russia. How insane is that?! In the contract, I get four copies of the Russian version. Luckily, my high school boyfriend is a Rusophile (is that a word?) with years of study of all things Russian under his belt, so I'll have him check the translation for me.See, it's good to stay friends with exes!
PS-The book cover isn't up on amazon.com yet, but you can see it at myspace.com/melissacwalker.
CosmoGirl! is going to excerpt Violet on the Runway! Yay! I am going to write this entire post with exclamation points as a tribute to CG!
I'm not saying Oprah's right about "The Secret," but hey, it totally worked here! (I am obsessed with Oprah!)
The end!
So my first book is done. As in done done. But it doesn't come out until September, which is eons away. And I'm freelance editing at CosmoGirl! this week (note my correct use of the exclamation point, which is actually part of the title), and editing their "Beach Reads" section. It's making me wish and wish that VIOLET ON THE RUNWAY could be a part of that. Alas, that September release date makes it a "Labor Day Read," I suppose. But that's not as magaziney a concept. Sigh.PS-I'm totally not planning on blogging regularly until the book comes out. Does that make me a publicity whore? I think we know the answer.