Geraldo did a segment on the growing popularity of erotic romance last night and my friend and fellow author Liz Maverick was interviewed! You can watch the streaming video here:
I wish I could write erotica. It's so (pardon the pun) "hot" right now! But I just don't have it in me. :) More power to those who can though. Looks like there's a lot of potential in this growing subgenre.
Happy Friday everyone!!
Marianne
Did I mention I *finally* updated my website? It really needed it, that's for sure. I hadn't updated it since before the fire. I'm so glad it's finally done. If you get a free sec, take a peek and let me know what you think. There's also an excerpt up on my April "Boys that Bite" book. I'll post one of "What, No Roses?" soon.
I'm madly working on the ending of "Stake That!" It's due March 15th and I'm in the home stretch. It's been such a fun book to write. Rayne, the heroine, is certainly a character.
Next up on the writing agenda - A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest!
Marianne
As most of you who read this regularly know I'm a huge gamer girl. I play World of Warcraft, which is the MMORPG. That stands for Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game. The only way I can describe it is if Dungeons and Dragons were an animated videogame that you could play with people all over the world.
ANYWAY - I'm in a guild called Meiyo Seraph and one of my guildmates, Setsuna, drew a sketch of my character, Starry. It came out so good I just had to post it. :)
Soooo happy it's Friday. Not sure what's on tap for the weekend - definitely gaming tonight and then going out with the gang tomorrow night as per usual. Sunday I've got an RWA meeting and then my dad and stepmom are taking me to dinner for my birthday. My birthday actually isn't til March 2nd but I'm doing a month long celebration. :P Next weekend I'm having a big Boston bash and then the following weekend I'm off to Orlando for a joint celebration with my friend Bobby who is only 4 days younger than me. Sure to be a fantastic weekend, complete with concert going (Sisters of Mercy for you goths out there), Disney World, and warm sunshine!! Can't wait! I love birthdays. It's even worth getting older, just for the parties.
BTW did all you writers see this? Dorchester is putting out a new line of speculative fiction romances. Heroines are young - 18-25ish and kick ass and the subject matter is all alternate realities and dystopian societies and such. Kind of chick-lit/sci-fi if you will. AND as a bonus they're going to have anime/manga covers!!! How cool is that?!?! Totally a Marianne type of book and I'm sooo submitting a proposal. I applaud Dorchester as a company for taking chances and doing different types of books like this. It's great for writers like me who love to color outside the lines. Just cross fingers that my idea matches up with their vision...
In other good news - I've heard a rumor that the new CW network may bring back Firefly in some way shape or form. CHEER!!!!
Anyway - Happy Presidents Day weekend to everyone who has Monday off. For all of you who have to work, take comfort in the fact that I'll be slaving away with you. In TV news we don't get days off during sweeps. :(
Marianne
Hey all,
So are those of you in the Northeast all dug out from the weekend's blizzard? I was so not interested in leaving my house on Sunday. Saturday night though I went to the movies with some friends and saw Firewall. While Harrison Ford is always a good actor the script was your standard cookie cutter thriller. Absolutely nothing original. Nothing geeky techy cool either which could have somewhat redeemed it for me. It wasn't boring or anything, just typical. Afterwards we went for a drink at some swanky bar under the Ritz called Jer-Ne. (Pronounced Journey.) They had a very interesting interpretation to Boston Creme Pie.
Other than that the weekend was mostly filled with doing my revisions for "What, No Roses?" I've finished though and will send them back to my editor tomorrow. The funny thing is that the book has to do with Valentine's Day (and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre) and I'll have actually finished it on the holiday itself. Pretty amusing. Hopefully my editor will like all my revisions cause now I've got to buckle down and finish "Stake That" by the end of the month. After that I get to start on the sequel to A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur's Court which will be fun, I think. For those of you who don't know it's called "A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest."
Tonight I'm doing a Valentines booksigning at a Barnes and Noble in Bellingham, Massachusetts along with a bunch of other local romance authors, including the fabulous Niki Burnham who also writes YA. She's got a new book, "Scary Beautiful" that I have to pick up.
That's about all for now - though I should mention in 2 days I'll have been blogging for a whole year! Crazy. Esp when I think about how much my life has changed in that time. If only I knew then what I'd be in for...
Marianne
Ooh, ooh! Finally got the jpg version of my July Love Spell book cover. Check it out! :)
Hey all,
I know, I know, blog slacker as usual. But I've got a lot going on. None of it probably interesting to write about. I will say that I've teamed up with Braced2Bite YA author Serena Robar to do a fab teen promotion for our upcoming vamp books. More to come on that very soon! It's so much fun to have a promotion partner - much better than going at it alone. I'll tell you more when we get closer to launch.
I got my edits for "What, No Roses?" today. Now I've got 2 weeks basically to do them. Along with finishing Stake That! which is due March 1st. Ugh. At least my revision letter is only about 4 pages long, as opposed to the urban legend 15 pagers that my editor is known for. Or maybe it's not an urban legend, don't know. I'm just relieved that mine isn't. Four pages is long enough, thank you very much. Actually my editor said the book was very good and that he was pleased with it. Phew. You never know when you get switched to a new editor if your styles are going to jive, so of course I was a bit nervous when passing it in. Actually, now that the book is done, I'm really happy with it. :)
Ooh ? I also got a copy of the "What, No Roses?" cover flat. I've got to scan it in so you can see it. I think it's adorable - eye catching and fun and fits the book perfectly. And it has --get this --silver embossed lettering! I know, I know, I'm such a geek, but I've never had a book with embossed lettering before. I feel so...important! Heh.
Speaking of Dorch writers who are "important" (which, uh, in reality is NOT me...) the fabulous Marjorie Liu has a new book out this month and it's skyrocketing up the charts. The girl is only like 27 years old and she's already a bestseller. I'm telling you - she's going to be the next Christine Feehan. And bonus - she's totally nice!! We bonded at the RT conference last year, when both of us were totally newbie Dorch authors, a bit overwhelmed by it all. And, even better, she's a total sci-fi geek. You've got to love that. Anyway - her book is Shadow Touch. A sequel to Tiger Eye. (Which I need another copy of, since mine burned in my house fire.) Go buy it. You won't be sorry. :)
kk that's all I got for today.
xoxo
Mar
Hey all,
Bleh, Monday. Don't you just HATE Mondays? This weekend was pretty good, though. Saturday I went to the movies to see "The Matador" with Pierce Brosnan. It was okay - nothing stellar. Then we went to Masa, this trendy southwestern style bar in the South End. (Yes, I know, trendy bar and South End are redundant.) About 14 people showed up, so it was quite the night out. We tried a nice bottle of Don Miguel Gascon, an Argentinean Viognier. (And Activity Director actually got away from her staple of New Zealand Sauv Blanc to try something new.) Anyway - fun time had by all.
In writing news, if you get a chance, check out my friend Alesia Holliday's new promotional cartoon for her Berkley book "Blondes Have More Felons". It's adorable! I love the alligator. It'd be fun to do something like that for my books, but alas, I have no money. Everyone's always like, "When can you quit your day job?" Uh, never? Actually though, the thing is I don't WANT to quit my day job. I love being a tv producer as well as an author. It's fun and interesting and challenging and there's people to talk to. I think I might go a little crazy sitting home alone all day. While I enjoy writing and definitely want to keep at it, I'm also looking to move ahead with my chosen profession as well. After all, I'm not digging ditches for a living. (No offense to anyone who finds ditch digging a rewarding career - I'm all for following whatever path you want in life - just not so much for me - who hates dirt and physical labor.) My job is creative and I learn something new everyday. The segments I do can change peoples' lives for the better. How rewarding is that? Sure, you've got your not-so-important stories like, "Can Your Couch Kill You?" but overall, we put out some quality programming.
ANYWAY - Sorry for the tangent. I know, I know. Some people write interesting stuff in their blogs or they teach people to become better writers or debate controversial issues. About all I've got left is the news of my very awesome GAP jeans purchase! WOOT! New jeans that actually look and feel good - priceless!!!
And uh, now that I've fulfilled my bloggerly duties (badly, I know) I'll bid you farewell and let you surf far more interesting blogs where you might actually learn something. :)
Marianne
So Activity Director's bday party was a mixed bag.
It started wayyy early - like at 6pm - because none of the guys said they'd show up unless they could watch the Patriots playoff game. It was being held at Jillians, this bar on Lansdown Street. They have pool tables and bowling and stuff. They used to have a full floor of videogames - which was very cool, but for some reason they took those out. :(
So first off, it takes a full 15 minutes for the waitress to bring that first drink order around. Then we order food and it takes about 45 minutes to come. By the time it comes, half the items are ICE cold. I'm not talking luke warm, but COLD. So we ask the waitress to talk to the manager who tells us he "doesn't care." We ask him if we can get the cold food replaced and he says, "No, my kitchen is backed up." He does agree to take the cold food off the bill, but that doesn't do much for us being hungry. Finally we convince them to let us order a bunch of pizzas. The waitress "special ordered" them hot, so I can only imagine what kind of things the cooks did to them.
Anyway - it drags on. The football game is NEVER ENDING and the girls are all bored. The drinks are so slow to come that I can't even get a buzz. The guys aren't happy either, cause the Pats are getting killed. And there will be no dancing at the club downstairs (Tequila Rain) until the game is over and they clear away the tables. I consider leaving, but Mary begs me to stay, really wanting to dance. So since it's her bday, I do. Four of us girls go and play pool which turns out to be pretty funny cause none of us can play. I mean I'm talking cue ball flying across the bar bad. :) So that was amusing.
FINALLY after being at the bar about 5-6 hours, the game mercifully ends. We go downstairs to dance. I'm still not buzzed enough to appreciate the scene. It's a college area bar so everyone's young and hoochie looking. There's a long bar area where girls are dirty dancing with eachother. And they're serving slush drinks in long plastic glasses. It's like some weird spring break and we're half expecting the room to suddenly be flooded with foam.
We start dancing, but are interrupted by like 3 bar fights in 5 minutes. The bouncers are very agressive and one of the fights is right in front of us. I'm half afraid I'm going to get shot or stabbed. I realize I'm too old for this scene. I miss the club we used to go to - this goth club called Manray that was shut down this past summer. Everyone is so well behaved there and the music is 80s alternative. (As opposed to really bad hip hop.) Sigh.
So that's my night. Overall, there were fun moments, but I doubt we'll ever go back to Jillians again. There's no excuse for such bad service. But on the plus side, at least Mary didn't break anything this year...
Here's a couple pics. Click for a larger image. And please note the silly spring break drinks. We just HAD to try them.
Cindy Holby "blog-flogged" me on the teen chicklit loop for not updating this thing in so long. I admit it. I've been so wrapped up in life, I've let it slide. I'll try to be more faithful. :)
Tonight is Activity Director's birthday party. The one weekend of the year she does not get to pick what we do. Instead, Mr. Activity Director (aka Andy) throws a surprise party. Because he does it every year, it's not a complete surprise, to say the least. And the big joke is he always waits til the very last minute to plan it. He did well this year - he made initial calls on Tuesday. There have been years where he didn't start planning til Thursday night. He's learning. And everyone else has learned to just set aside the Sat night before Mary's birthday, knowing at least SOMETHING will be planned.
My other theory is that maybe Andy knows WAY in advance what he's going to do and just doesn't inform me as he knows Mary will badger me for weeks for scoop on what he's planning and what she should wear if she thinks I know something. And as an Investigative TV News Producer, she can be a scary interrogator. I admit I've been known to cave under the pressure.
Anyway - since I can't talk about what we're doing tonight (Don't think she wouldn't check the blog!!) I'll tell you about last year's party. It was at Jake Ivory's, which is this dueling piano bar on Landsdown Street. A cool spot, except it turned out they didn't serve food. So none of the 30 or so guests had anything to eat. They did, however, have plenty to drink and that combo made for an extremely drunken evening. Me being one very suspeptible to getting wasted on an empty stomach, and Mary, being very suspeptible to getting wasted in general, were in rare form. (According to my ex, who at the time, wasn't drinking, and watched the whole event unfold completely sober, poor guy. He said it wasn't the not-drinking that was the problem, it was all the drunk people coming up to him and saying, "You must hate being around us sober. We must be so annoying, huh?" over and over again.)
Anyway - Mary and I love to dance so we hit the dance floor. And near the end of the evening, Mary thought her husband was behind her, dancing, too. So being a fun, loving wife, she decided to do a little backwards dip into his arms. Very romantic. He, unfortunately, had gone over to talk to his friend and wasn't actually anywhere near her. She dipped and then dipped further, losing her balance and falling onto the dance floor. She scrambled to her feet saying she hurt her wrist. It was nearly 2am at this point and the boys decided they needed to get us home.
On the cab ride back, Mary was crying and saying over and over she thought she broke her wrist. I was like, "No way. There's no way anyone can break their wrist on the dance floor. You're just drunk. Go to sleep."
Well, Mary will never let me live down the fact that I didn't believe her. Luckily Andy is a better husband than I am friend. Or maybe she just wore him down. Anyway, he took her to the emergency room and sure enough, somehow she'd managed to break her wrist on the dance floor and was in a cast six weeks.
Anyway - hopefully this bash will be just as fun, but less eventful and require no trips to the emergency room. I'll give you the 411 tomorrow.
Mar
The work week is done. The New Year's Eve plans are in place. I have Monday and Friday of next week off. Yup, at this moment, all is well in the world.
Not much left to say except HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Oh and check out this really cool website that was featured on the Today Show. You can design your own chicklitty stationary. Very fun! I'm a sucker for customization so this is right up my alley.
Marianne
Ooh, ooh! How excited am I?
I just found out SK8ER BOY was nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award as Best YA book of 2005. w00t! The Christmas presents just keep on coming! Of course, the competition is fierce, but what is it they say? It's an honor just to be nominated! :) Plus with this award, you don't have to physically enter - so every teen book reviewed in the magazine over the past year was eligible. To think my book stood out amongst so many good books - well, that's just unbelievably cool.
It's also especially satisfying because RWA cancelled the YA category of the RITAs.
Anyway - check out the entire list of nominees! Some very familiar faces among the finalists. So YAY to all my friends and fellow writers who made the cut. I'll be cheering you on at the RT convention.
Marianne
My darling, wonderful, brilliant editor at Berkley, Kate Seaver, has given me the best Christmas present! Yesterday she made an offer on book 3 of my YA vampire series!! Yay! As you probably know, books 1 & 2 are coming out in 2006. BOYS THAT BITE is out in April and STAKE THAT! is out in December. Now in 2007 we'll have book 3 - GIRLS THAT GROWL.
I'm so very excited because I love writing this series.
Happy Holidays everyone!!
Marianne
Day 2 of the NY Transit strike. I thought of you all as I walked my 10 minute walk to work. It was so cold out. I couldn't imagine all you people who had to walk 5 miles or 300 blocks. Felt so bad.
Then I found out the Yankees stole away Johnny Damon and my sympathy diminished somewhat...
In other news, I scored a copy of Serenity on DVD! Yay. As you know I've been dying to see the movie since by the time I watched all of the episodes of Firefly, the movie was no longer in the theater. The DVD has 20 minutes of deleted scenes too! Can't wait to pop it in - so much for the idea of going to the gym tonight.
Oh - I got this wonderful gift in the mail - a $50 gift certificate to an Italian restaurant called Mama Maria. Problem is, the giver's name was not on the certificate, so I have no idea who it's from! If you gave it to me, please fess up so I can send you a thank you note and think of you while eating my chicken marsala. :) Anyway - whoever you are - thanks! Will be well enjoyed. :)
Okay that's all I've got. I think I'm crashing from my sugar rush. So many holiday treats around the newsroom this time of year!!
Marianne
I don't know about all of you (maybe it's just the news junkie in me), but I am fascinated by the NYC transit strike. The fact that one group of people can get together and shut down one of the world's largest cities just like that is mindboggling. I feel bad for all the regular Joes caught in the crossfire of union negotations. The ones who can't get to work. Or can't get to the airport to go home for the holidays. It's a lousy time a year for this to happen. I hope everything gets worked out soon. :( Hang in there New York!
In other news, I cannot believe Christmas is on Sunday. I feel so unprepared. I know there used to be a day, when I was a kid, where it seemed Christmas would never come. I waited and waited and waited. Now it seems like just yesterday was 4th of July! How did it come so quickly? Anyway, I'm going to go to the Boston Pops concert on Thursday night and then Friday we have a holiday party in the North End. Saturday and Sunday I'll spend at my dad's, celebrating the holiday. Then go snowboarding on Monday. So it's going to be a busy weekend.
However, New Years may be quieter. Activity Director Mary has been slacking on her duties. As of today there is still no NYE plan in place!! We're going to end up at Denny's or something!! Actually, saying Mary is slacking is overstating things. We're all trying to find a place to go - but nothing sounds remotely interesting. Every place is either 1) too expensive. 2) too far (you can't get a cab on NYE to save your life in Boston) or 3) too stupid and lame.
Sigh.
Marianne
I'm very sad today because last night my family dog (who we got when I was a teen and lived with my dad) got hit by a car and was killed. :( We had him for almost 13 years and so of course we were all very attached to the little guy. He was so cute and friendly - loved every person and dog he ever met. We called him The Ambassador cause everytime we took him on walks, he had to run up and meet everyone. His name was Aladdin (after the Disney cartoon.) But everyone called him Al the Pal.
The only thing I can say is at least he didn't suffer. Still, I will miss him very much. It's like I never got a chance to say goodbye. To hug him one last time. It's very sad and my whole family is pretty torn up about it.
That's the one thing I don't like about dogs - they die too early. I'd like it if they lived the same lifespan as people so that you could have one dog your whole life. My own dog, Molly, is going to be 10 years old in May. I hate to think of her as a senior citizen. She's been with me through so much over the last nine years. Through different states, homes, jobs, boyfriends, etc. she's always been there. I can't imagine a day when she's not by my side.
Anyway - RIP Al. You were a very loved dog. We will miss you.
Hey all,
Thanks for the congrats on finishing the book! It is such a relief! I took the weekend off and started the next book today. It's the sequel to Boys that Bite "Stake That!" and is going to be a LOT of fun to write, I can tell already. I love the main character, Rayne. She's a total bad girl. Uninhibited and cool in a goth kind of way. The kind of girl I always wished I was in high school. In reality I'm way more like her twin Sunny, the star of the first book.
I got to see my friends Ali and Bobby from Florida this past weekend. It was sooo much fun to hang out with them. I really wish they lived closer. (I used to live in Orlando for a short time which is where I met them.) Of course, I "see" them all the time - virtually that is. We all play World of Warcraft together every night. But it's rare we get to see eachother irl (in real life). Anyway - the three of us had an absolute blast running around and getting lost in NYC, but when the weekend ended I was pretty bummed because then I had to say goodbye. :( I really hate the fact that some of my favorite people in the world don't live geographically near me. Thank goodness for videogames.
It's Friday, but I have to work tomorrow. Got to produce some holiday stories for channel 7. Booo!! But Sat night I have a Christmas party to go to over my friend Lisa's house. She had a party last year too and it was really nice, so I'm looking forward to it, even though as a rule I am an antisocial kind of girl who hates parties.
It's like a blizzard here today. I was going to hit the gym after work, but I might just hole up in my house instead.
Mar
Horray! My book is done! Cheer! Rejoice! Sing!
"WHAT, NO ROSES" was originially due September 1st. Then October 31st. Then Thanksgiving Day.
Did I mention how awesome and understanding my editor is? Of course I had to promise him on pain of death that I wouldn't take on any more romantic comedies during summers my house burns down. :P
There were times, I must admit, that I was tempted to buy back my contract and give up. I really thought I'd never be able to write again. That the book would be horrible if I could finish it at all, which I doubted.
But I rallied. I got back in the groove. And I actually LOVE the book now. (especially now that it's DONE!) I'm proud of it and I think people will enjoy reading it! Horray!! Cross your fingers my editor likes it, too.
Time to go celebrate! Go out on the town! Drink champagne! Eat bon bons!
Oh wait. STAKE THAT is due February 15th. :S I've got to get to work!
But maybe I'll take one tiny weekend to celebrate...
Mar
Hi all,
Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving and got stuffed. :) Sadly, I had to work. TV News does not take a day off. Oh well. It's not my favorite holiday anyway. My favorite holiday used to be Christmas, but I'm not really feeling that this year either. You see, I was always very into my family traditions at Christmastime. Seems silly, probably, but we always did the same exact thing every year - even when my brother and I grew up, we still did it. I could describe the routine, but it wouldn't seem exciting to you. The point is it was something familar to look forward to every year. Something special.
Now my parents are divorced and my childhood home has been sold. My brother's way out in Colorado, my mom's in Florida, and my dad's new family is going skiing. It's just not the same. I know, I'm a grownup now and should be making my own traditions, but if you're single and alone, that's tough to do. I mean, should I bother getting a Christmas tree? Seems silly since I never have anyone over. What, is the dog going to admire it? And besides, trimming a tree by yourself seems kind of lame...
Maybe I'll pick a new favorite holiday. Like Flag Day, maybe. Or that might be bad, seeing as it would require I go out and buy a flag. Hm. Maybe Groundhog Day. As long as I don't get stuck in a time loop like Bill Murray. :) Though that actually turned out pretty well for him in the end...
Marianne
PS - just so I dont get in trouble with the fam if they read this blog - for the record I am invited to the ski trip on Christmas with the step family. And I'm sure Mom would be more than happy to have me down to Florida if I wanted to fly down. I mean, it's not like I'm being ditched or anything. All I'm saying is Christmas is different this year. And that makes me much less interested in bothering with it.
Hey all,
Sorry I've been a blog slacker...it's been a busy, busy week! We're in "sweeps" at Channel 7 and my book is due next week so I'm polishing, polishing, polishing.
Anyway - I got the cover copy for said book - "What, No Roses?" and I'm thrilled with it!!! It's sooo perfect and better than anything I could have written myself. Anyway - I thought I'd post it to see what you all thought. :) Does it sound like something you'd like to read?
WHAT, NO ROSES?
And you thought your Valentine's Day was bad?
AND ALL THAT JAZZ
Unless Dora Duncan can stop it, it's going to be another St. Valentine's Day Massacre. A year ago, her (now ex) boyfriend Nick stood her up at the worst possible moment. That was when she gave up important TV reporting for stories like "Too Stressed for Sex." And though such clips have a certain relevance, things have been a whole lot quieter. Too quiet. Until now. Now she's gotta go back in time (don't ask!) and stop that very same Nick from messing up the time-space continuum. She has to travel back to a place where everybody speaks easy and cuts a rug-and this Chicago ain't no musical. Here, there are tommy guns and torpedoes, guys and dolls, gin joints, flappers, stoolies, rats and a whole lot more; and prohibition means anything but no.It's the 1920s. Time for Dora to roar.
