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NewsFlash From The Busy Debs
Congratulations to Kathy Roberts, winner of our #DebBallGiveaway of THE SECOND MRS. HOCKADAY! We send our thanks to author Jessica Chiarella for being our guest yesterday on The Debutante Ball. If you...
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The Graceful Exit
It occurred to me recently that many folks who read this blog don’t know its history. It was started in 2007 by five women who had their first books coming out, and for a year, they blogged together...
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What I Loved Best About My Debut Year
Oh, this one’s easy. What did I love best about my year as a debut novelist? I PUBLISHED A GODDAMNED NOVEL, PEOPLE!! Okay, I won’t just exit stage right. Even though that was what I loved best, there...
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My Favorite Books of 2016 (So Far)
2016 has been a delicious year for reading, a state of perfect bibliophilic equilibrium wherein the “read” stack and the “to-be-read” stack have stayed even most of the time. Here are my favorites of...
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UPTOWN THIEF: Taking Me Back While Taking Us Forward
When I was growing up, I read widely. Fantasy, historical, the classics, adventure, you name it, I read it all. But two of my favorite genres were thrillers and romance. I loved the male-dominated,...
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An Interview With Heather Young + Giveaway of THE LOST GIRLS
How odd it feels to sit in the Guest Author chair! Although I have to say, it is quite plush and the fabric matches my outfit, so I’m going to squish my butt into the cushion and dig in to my fellow...
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Hot Damn, I’m a Published Author
When I woke up yesterday morning here on the West Coast, I looked at my watch and laughed out loud. My book had already been for sale for thirty minutes on the East Coast. It had happened just as I’d...
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Fun Facts About ME
Wow, this topic. Seriously — “Fun Facts About Us”? What incredibly bad timing. We’re in the middle of the Republican National Convention, a four-day, red-white-and-blue extravaganza designed to stroke...
View ArticleHello from the Other Side
We’re starting to get applications for the five spots we’ll soon vacate here on the Ball, so this seemed an appropriate time for a cautionary tale or two for our successors, and anyone else on the cusp...
View ArticleHow to Plan a Launch Party That Won’t Make You Craz(ier)
After I signed my book deal it didn’t take long before I started hearing about something called a “launch party.” Most of the authors I met seemed to agree that a book’s arrival in the marketplace...
View ArticleThe Music That Made THE LOST GIRLS
Music is critical to my writing process. When I sat down to work on THE LOST GIRLS, I’d turn on Pandora and hit the playlist I’d — unoriginally — named “The Lost Girls.” Out flowed a brooding...
View ArticleThe Two Kinds of Story
John Gardner, the author of one of the greatest craft books of all time, THE ART OF FICTION, once said there are only two kinds of stories in the world: “a person goes on an adventure” or “a stranger...
View ArticleFeeding the Muse a Cookie
This week I’m confronted by a topic that doesn’t bear much relationship to what I write: food. Unlike Jennifer’s MODERN GIRLS, with its evocative descriptions of traditional shabbat meals, or the baked...
View ArticleHell, Yes, I Have Regrets
I confess: I’m jealous of Louise and Jenny, with their nonexistent and paltry lists of regrets. Because I do have regrets. Not so much on the real life side of the equation, where I share their...
View ArticleA Woman of Letters
When I was a young lawyer fresh out of law school, I was one of ten women in a class of forty incoming associates at a large law firm. On weekends, the male associates got invited for golf outings with...
View ArticleThe Memory of Water
THE LOST GIRLS was born of water. Not just any water, but the very particular lake water of my childhood. I first saw the ocean as a teenager, and its grandeur made me so dizzy it knocked me off my...
View ArticleOwning What My Book Says About Me, and Denying What it Does Not
I’ve heard it said that all writing is autobiographical. Even if you’re not writing the true story of your own life, the assumption goes, you’re inflicting your life experiences on the people you make...
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The Five Things I Can’t Stop Talking About
This week’s topic is “favorite things”, but since Louise and Jennifer already wrote clever lists of favorite things, I’m not going to do that. I hate to compete in games I know I’m going to lose. It’s...
View ArticleWho’s Your Role Model? A Long Overdue Homework Assignment
When my kids were in elementary school, every couple of years they’d get an assignment that asked, “Who’s your role model?” I always wanted them to pick me. Me, their mother. The one who wiped their...
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Bad Metaphors and Other Musings on Being Halfway to Publication
It’s halftime in the Big Game and I’m taking a moment to chill in the locker room and reflect on the touchdowns and fumbles of the first half in what is possibly the worst football metaphor ever....
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