Perversions

I stole this from Alesia Holliday on Literary Chicks. I'd have just answered in her comments section, but you have to register for that and I'm just too darn lazy to do anything that requires registration.

1) What's your Perversion?

Alesia admits to Hobbit fancying, which I find just a tad bit horrifying. Another poster is a little tamer with her desire for men with accents. (Not sure why this is perverse though...) The third poster wants a dumb, but good looking guy with long hair who knows to keep his mouth shut.

Wow. I guess I'm glad it takes all types to make the world go round and all that!!! That one girl's Adonis is another girl's Bilbo Baggins. (Which, I guess for Alesia wouldn't be a bad thing...) I, for one, could not stand the cute, dumb, quiet kind of guy. I mean, really. Simple, lovable and loyal? Bleh! In five minutes I'd want to smack him.

Anyway - for me, it's geeks. Seriously - I don't know what it is, but a guy talking geeky to me is a major turn on. Bonus points if he's a gamer geek. Then I could say, "OH YEAH! GANK ME, BABY!" and not feel weird. (Um, if you don't know, don't ask. And if you do, then no, I've never really said that. At least out loud... heh heh.)

Of course he still has to be cute. Pocket Protector wearing geeks need not apply. Sorry, but life's unfair like that. A good example of my type of geek would be Johnny Lee Miller's character in "Hackers." Yum!

Moving on to question two:

2) What movie character would you'd most like to take to bed?

This one's easy. Christian (Ewan McGregor) in Moulin Rouge. Gah - when he sings to Satine, "How wonderful life is, now that you're in the world" I swoon every single time. I could picture Christian and I making tortured, beautiful love until the sun came up over the horizon. Maybe he'd even cry in my arms from the ecstasy and beauty of it all. :P (NOTE: This may seem quite horrifying to those of you who love big, burly Alpha men. But these are MY perversions, remember?)

3) Who is the movie character you'd most like to take to dinner?

Troy (Ethan Hawke) from Reality Bites. He's so bitingly witty and every word out of his mouth is a twisted pop culture reference. He's the quintessential Gen X poster boy. Achingly intelligent, yet tortured and misunderstood. I could cleverly banter for hours or conduct deep discussions on existential crisises and the meaning of the universe. (42)

Of course, I wouldn't be totally shattered if we ended up hooking up after dinner either. :P

Okay, there you go! My perversions! Anyone else want to share???
MAR

Ducking from reviews

I'm finally breathing easier. I think I've somehow ducked under Mrs. Giggles' radar. I had been living in fear since CT Fashionista came out that she would find it and trash it. Not that I don't respect Mrs. Giggles. I think her reviews are always entertaining and often brilliant. And she always defends her statements quite well, I think.

That said, I don't think it's a book she'd particularly care for and I was petrified to find out the details as to why. At the same time, I'm a bit disapointed, as I think it would have been fascinating, in a perverse sort of way, to see my work be torn apart section by section. Ah well. Maybe she will discover me next July when next adult romance comes out. And hey - that one may be a little bit more up her alley. (I hope!)

In the meantime, since we're talking reviews, I received an excellent review today for SK8ER BOY.

Good girl Dawn Miller has been living under her father's guidance for way too long. She's signed up for a bajillion after-school activities in an attempt to make it into her father's alma mater. She hangs out with the totally trendy Populars, who only acknowledge the presence of those who wear pink. And she's dated the rich, popular jocks - such as the current bore, Brent Baker III - who are more obnoxious than a five-year-old kid on a sugar high. Just for once, Dawn wants to see what it's like to live her life by her own rules. She wants to see what it's like to leave behind the good girl persona, and embrace the life of a bad girl. One who meets all kinds of cool new people, like Starr, the headmaster's totally punk-rock daughter; and pierces her bellybutton without permission. She wants to date a hot skater boy from the wrong side of the tracks whom her parents hate, and fall in love via text messaging with said skater boy. And this year, that's exactly what Dawn plans on doing...

Amazing. That's the only way to describe Mari Mancusi's SK8ER BOY. SK8ER BOY contains all the elements that will make pre-teen and teen girls rush out to bookstores to get their hands on Mancusi's debut: rebellion, hot guys, pierced bellybuttons, and text messaging. Each character possesses their own look-at-me attention-grabbing antics that will keep readers turning pages, and begging for more. Featuring actual text messages between Dawn and her skater boy, Sean, that will make readers think of the Hilary Duff/Chad Michael Murray romance depicted
in the movie A CINDERELLA STORY, SK8ER BOY is a marvelous book that must hold a place in everyone's library.

Isn't that great! I'm sooo psyched she liked it!!! I hope everyone does as this book is semi-autobiographical and thus holds a special place in my heart. :)

Mar

Monday BLEH

Bleh. Monday. I hate Monday. Even more so do I hate this particular Monday since I had such an excellent weekend. But what can you do? Fun ends and real life goes on.

On Friday I went to see friend and fellow writer Jennifer O'Connell read/sign her new NAL book "Off the Record." It sounds like such a cute story - about this girl who finds out a famous one-hit-wonder 80s song was written about her. I'm looking forward to reading it. Jennifer's such a cool girl, too. I love it when writers are as fun as the books they pen.

In other news - SK8ER BOY is now shipping from Amazon!! Woot! Buy, buy, buy!! :)

AND it's less than 2 weeks til the New Jersey RWA conference. This will be my 3rd year attending. My first year was the year I pitched CT Fashionista to an agent. It was the first time I'd ever done a pitch and I was soooo nervous!! I guess I didn't totally blow it though, considering the agent signed me a month later and we're still together today!! ;-) I can't believe that was two years ago!! It seems both like yesterday and a million years ago all at the same time.

Anyway - hope to see some of you at the conference. I'll be the professional romance author wearing a suit and drinking diet coke in the lounge who attends conferences to further her writing career through a series of networking exercises and who would never, ever, EVER even consider getting drunk and shooting plastic chickens at her editor in the bar.

Yup. That's me. Angelic and professional.

Really!

Um, stop laughing!

STOP IT!!!

:)
Mar

Google Games

Things are a bit dead at work since hurricane Rita is taking up most of the coverage and we who do fluffy feature stories are bumped for more important hurricane news. (Which is better than, let's say, being bumped for breaking Britney baby news.) That said, I'm not sorry that it's Friday!

So 2 more blasts from the past have contacted me through my blog! The wife of an ex-boyfriend and a high school acquaintance who had googled my friend Suzanne's name and asked if he could contact her through me! I'm beginning to think there's something to all of this.

So - scientific experiment time. The following are names of people I knew in the past and have lost touch with. Perhaps they will GOOGLE themselves, find their names, and email me. I'll let you know my results in a month or so.

Gretchen Sgorous
Jaimie Cameron
Jason Rawn
Jamie Shirley
Chris Griffin / Christopher Griffin
Eric Ziko
Haas Rogers
Pam Davis / Pamela Davis
Russ Little / Russell Little
Ewan McGregor (heh, heh - just had to throw that last on in for good measure :P)

There we go! Let the GOOGLE games begin!!! :)

Happy Friday!
Mar

Lame, Yet Productive

I was so completely lame this weekend. I didn't go out, I skipped the party I was invited to, and all I did was clean my apartment, watch movies, and play massive quantities of videogames.

Okay, that's not entirely true. I also went to my RWA meeting and got to hear chick lit goddess Melissa Senate speak. She talked about her days as senior editor at Harlequin and gave out all the dirty secrets that editors don't want writers to know. :P

I also wrote the synopsis to "Stake That" - the sequel to "Boys that Bite" and of course worked on my "What, No Roses?" book.

So technically I may be lame, but I am also productive. :)

Next weekend I'm going to the local Ren. Faire, which I'm very excited about!!! It's the same faire I based the beginning of CT Fashionista on. :) Should be fun! But don't worry - I'll avoid all gypsy curses and flying lances and I won't be wearing Manolo Blahnik shoes to traipse through the mud. :) (As if I owned any anyways!)

Mar

Sleeping with SK8ER BOY!

Happy Friday everyone!

This week actually went by rather fast so I can't really complain. And it's pay day - added bonus. :) But the thing I'm really, really excited about? Today's the day I get to hold my 2nd book "SK8ER BOY" in my hot little hands. Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while might remember that when I got my copy of CT Fashionista, I slept with it that first night. I'm undecided whether SK8ER BOY will get the same under-the-pillow treatment...But I am very excited about getting it all the same.

This weekend I have to finish and polish the synopsis of my second Berkley book, "Stake That!" It's the sequel to "Boys that Bite" and is scheduled for a December 2006 release. It's very odd to now be in a position where I know when the book will be released before the book actually exists. For example, the book I'm working on now, "What, No Roses?" is out in July! Gah.

Speaking of, I'm really enjoying writing "Roses" now. I think when you first come up with an idea for a book you get very excited. Then you start writing and realize it's harder than you thought. The reason? Maybe you don't know the characters very well. Maybe they refuse to be who you had imagined them to be. But as you spend more time each day exploring them, living in their world and watching them react to one another, you start getting a better feel for them and thus the book itself. It's at that point you can relax and start enjoying the process of writing. At least that's how it is for me. Now I'm at that delicious point where I think about the book all the time and am burning to work on it. I hope that continues. (It, um, better, considering I have to finish it by November.)

Anyway - enough boring writer blab.

Oh - almost forgot! I have a critique up for auction on Romaid.net to benefit Larissa Ione, who lost all she had in Katrina. It ends in 3 days and is only about $15.50 at the moment. I'd love to help raise as much money as possible so if you are looking for a critique, please go over and bid. I'm totally worth more than 15 bucks--really (!!) -- and so is the cause!!!

Anyway - happy weekend everyone! I've got a rooftop party to go to on Saturday night and Sunday my friend and fellow chick lit author Melissa Senate is speaking at the New England RWA meeting.

And tonight, I'll be taking my SK8ER BOY to bed. (Wow, that sounds so dirty, huh? heh heh)

Ciao!
Marianne

Gena Envy

There are some writers who just make you sooo jealous. It may be their great covers. Or their multi-book deals with several publishers. Or it might be the fact that they seem to publish a new great book every month. :)

Gena Showalter is one of those authors. She's talented, she's funny, she's even (grumble) a really cool person that you can't help but like! And she writes a 60,000 word book in a week. How is that fair to the rest of us mere mortals?

I'm so stealing her muse when she's not looking.

Anyway make sure you check out Gena's new one - Heart of the Dragon. It's an HQN paranormal and it sounds (sigh) fabulous. I mean it's got a sexy Dragon hero (I've always had a thing for dragon heroes - MUCH more hot IMO than werewolves, who just seem...hairy. Ew.) and it's got the mythical Kingdom of Atlantis. (Which ever since reading Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Fall of Atlantis" (one of my Top 27 books of all time!) I have totally had a thing for.)

But don't take my word for it. Here's the summary and you can find an excerpt here.

He'll make you burn?

He is a Dragon, a rare breed of warriors able to transform into the legendary creature at will. Though the mighty warlord breathes fear into the minds of his enemies and fire into the blood of his women, no one has ever stirred his heart -- until he encounters Grace Carlyle of modern day Earth. He burns to possess this proud, alluring beauty...but he has sworn to kill her.

Journey to the mythical world of Atlantis, where the gods' hid their greatest mistakes -- the vampires, demons, dragons, and other creatures of legend -- and experience white-hot passion, exciting adventure, and a love that defies the boundaries of time and magic.

Now please excuse me, I've got a muse kidnapping to organize...
Marianne

Weekend, Auctions, and Long Lost Friends

The thing that sucks about having a decent weekend is that on Monday it ends and you have to go back to work. But hey, such is life, right?

Saturday I gave my speech on "Writing and Selling YA Fiction" to the Rhode Island Writers group. Great group of women and I thought the session went well. I'm giving another YA talk in November at the ColoNY chapter. (Southern Connecticut RWA chapter) at a library and it's open to the public. More info on a later date.

Saturday night I went to a very fun party/cookout at my friend Lisa's house. She has a gorgeous place with a nice yard and had lit the tiki torches. :) Fun, fun.

The inital auctions for Larissa Ione are up on eBay, courtesty of Romaid. More auctions will be put up all this week. If you've been dying for an autographed copy of my "A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur's Court" now's your chance. ;-) It's only going for $8.50 right now. Bargain! And here's an unadvertised enticement for you blog readers - if you win and mention this blog entry, I'll throw in a free signed copy of Sk8er Boy, my YA that's out next month. So - that's two books - plus helping a great cause. Bid now! Bid high! Bid often! :)

A long lost, but really good friend of mine emailed me this weekend, wanting to reconnect. I was so excited cause she's great and I've totally missed talking to her. (She lives in LA, which is why we've sort of lost touch.) Anyway - in her email, she said she went through and read my entire blog, so she already knows what's been up with me! Bonus! Now I don't have to go through all the crazy twists and turns my life has gone through the past 6 months or so. Okay, sure, I do have a few things going on that I don't post online, but would share with close friends, but still - the blog thing is a very interesting way to keep people - even ones you don't think about reaching - in touch with your life.

That said, I wonder how many ex-boyfriends are checking up on me... ugh.

Of course I did this to an ex-boyfriend type myself about eight years ago. The guy in question didn't have a blog, but I did manage to track him down online anyway. He was shocked that I'd found him and we ended up rekindling our once torrid college romance for a brief time. And though it didn't end up working out - (he'd somehow managed to cure himself of Marianne Obsession in the years we'd been apart. Very sad.) it was still fun to hook up, even briefly. (Esp since he's a totally cute blue eyed surfer!!) Hm...I wonder if I mentioned his name in my blog if he'd GOOGLE himself and find me... :)

Meh, maybe some past crushes are better left as good memories. :P

Soo... have you guys ever received an email you out of the blue cause of your blog? Or maybe someone found you or you found them through the power of cyberspace? Do spill!!

Mar

TGIF - and a few Florida pics

Happy Friday everyone!

It was a short week, but that doesn't mean I'm less pleased that the weekend is here! I don't have any huge plans - I'm speaking at the Rhode Island Romance Writers group on Writing and Selling YA tomorrow and then tomorrow night there's a party I might go to at my friend Lisa's house. But other than that, I plan to lay low. After my Floridian weekend of hedonism I need some downtime.

Oh speaking of Florida - here are a couple pics... Click for a larger image.

Me, Ali and Bobby hanging out at Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett restaurant at Universal Studio's City Walk)

Me and Baby Ian catching some rays at Disney's Polynesian Hotel. Isn't he a cutie?

Ali and I doin' a little cage dancin' at the Knock Knock Club in downtown Orlando. Yeah Bay-bee!

So as you can see there was a large variety of fun that was had. But now it's time to buckle down and finish my current book - "What, No Roses?" It's a time travel to 1929 and has action, comedy and hot, hot romance. And now that I'm back in the swing of things, I'm happy to report that it's going swimmingly. CHEER! Look for it in July 2006 as part of Dorchester's Vintage Romance series. :)

Have a great weekend!
Marianne

PS While I'm shamelessly self promoting - don't forget to pre-order your copy of SK8ER BOY for the teen or tween in your life. :)

Back from Florida

Actually I was back Tuesday, but I've been a blog slacker. I do have fun pictures to post, which I can do later. In all, it was a very fun weekend. :) My friends' baby is sooo cute. Well, you'll see when I post the pics.

On Saturday I'll be speaking about writing YA at the Rhode Island Romance Writers meeting. If anyone is in the area, I'd love for you to stop by. More info can be found here.

And speaking of YA - Sk8er Boy will be out very, very soon! Yay! This story is particularly close to my heart as much of it is autobiographical from my teenage years. I hope you'll get a chance to check it out. You can find an excerpt here.

Finally, on the Out of this Blogosphere front, we've got a new read from one of my favorite authors - MaryJanice Davidson. It's a Kensington Brava release, so it's bound to be hot, hot, hot!

REALLY UNUSUAL BAD BOYS by MaryJanice Davidson
(Brava, September 2005)

THEY'RE JUST THE SEXY BOYS NEXT DOOR.
IF NEXT DOOR IS A WEIRD, WEIRD PLACE.

Meet Damon, Maltese, and Shakar - three noble brothers from an enchanted kingdom where wooing and pleasuring is practically a royal commandment. They're hot. Irresistible. And just a little different. But what woman doesn't like a guy with a few surprises?

Excerpt can be found here.

--

OKAY - must get ready for work. Tonight my friends and I are going to a booksigning at the Armani Cafe for some Pocket Downtown Press chick lit author. (I forget her name off the top of my head - it's no one I've ever met.) But should be fun.

Marianne

Off to Florida - Stuff for you to do

I know it's a weird time of year to head to Florida, but I go every year around this time to visit my friends who live down there. I'll be back on Tuesday and I promise to take lots of pics. :)

In the meantime, if you're looking for a substitute to my oh-so-exciting blog'age, here are a few suggestions:

For a political fix, check out Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. She used to be a reporter at the Boston Globe and turned chick lit author. (She wrote the Dirty Girls Social Club which I believe is going to be a J-Lo movie...) Anyway, I recently found her blog and it's awesome. Political, thought-provoking, and at times so, so funny! (I especially love the entry about gay straight men.) Recently she's been posting stuff about the Katrina aftermath that just makes me want to cry in the same way I did after watching Fahrenheit 911.

If you're in the market for an editor, Romance Divas has a spotlight interview with my Dorchester editor Chris Keeslar. Learn what we writers can do to make our editors happy. (Probably not blog about them or post goofy pictures! Gah!)

Then, go wish Gena Showalter a happy birthday. The bitch is a year younger than me and beautiful, but her virtual b-day bash features naked men and beer so I guess I can forgive her.

After that, head over and wish poor Larissa well. And send her money while you're at it. She lost everything in Katrina except what she could pack in her car. I noticed she posted an update today on her situation. Man, this is all soo soo sad! I mean what I went through with my house seemed terrible at the time, but I had a warm, dry, safe place to sleep. People to take care of me. These people have NOTHING! NOTHING! It's mind-blowingly bad! I can't even wrap my head around it. Please, please do what you can to help. I don't care that I'm rebuilding myself. I'm sending money.

And finally, because even during tragedy it's okay to give ourselves permission to smile, here's a little website I found called "The Sheep Dance."

Have a good Labor Day weekend!!
xoxoxo
Mar

More on Paying it Forward

Another writer needs our help! Larissa Ione lost everything when hurricane Katrina hit her Mississippi home. Luckily she and her family are okay, but just like me they've lost everything. I know how horrible this is from personal experience and my heart goes out to her and her family.

Anyway - there's a relief effort in the works by Larissa's friends at Access Romance and another auction on the way! So if you missed out on scoring a critique or books from my auction, you have a second chance. There's some great people up for grabs, too. Editors from Kensington, Pocket, Harlequin, etc.

I'll be volunteering a critique myself and signed books. I know I'm not a huge name author/editor/agent like some on the list, but I've been told I'm a kick ass critiquer. :) So if you write chick lit or YA and want some help, please bid on me!! I want to do as much as I can to help Larissa.

Here's the link to RomAid. They're also taking monetary/gift card type donations.

Sigh. When will the tragedy all end?

Marianne