The Girardi Diner

Rainy Days and Mondays #24

2011-05-16T07:00:00.001-04:00

Happy Monday, everyone. I want to share a fun video with you to get the week started. It would be so fun to pull a prank like this...

Also, I'll be sharing more tips from the PennWriters conference through my Twitter account today. Follow that at @TamaraGirardi.

New Year's Resolutions and All That

2011-01-01T20:58:00.000-05:00

Is it possible? I mean, really possible, to devise resolutions at the beginning of a calendar year and somehow stick to them?

I once interviewed residents of the Alle-Kiski Valley, a suburban area of Pittsburgh, for a newspaper article on New Year's resolutions. One woman made a very interesting comment. She said she didn't believe in these kinds of resolutions. Rather, she believed that a person should always evaluate his place, his success, his expectations and resolve to change when change is needed - not just on January 1.

I couldn't agree more, but here we are. It's January 1, 2011, and I'm talking resolutions. There's something about the calendar that just lights a fire under...well, you know the saying. But also, I'm planning to connect my blog to the classes I'm teaching this spring, so now is a great time to plan for 2011 changes.

My students at Westmoreland County Community College will be creating blog teams. Together, the teammates will create blogs, choose themes and topics, schedule posts, and write the blogs. The writing they do in these public forums they create will be graded for the course.

Privately, the students will reflect on their experiences and the improvements they see in their writing.

Since I'm asking them to write more often in a public forum, I will do the same. My blog, although it will remain The Girardi Diner, will take on a theme "Writer 360" for the next few months. In my posts, I will be talking about writing from three different perspectives - a writing teacher, a composition PhD student, and a writer.

More ahead...

Firecrackers and Blue Jeans

2010-11-22T08:10:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay in getting this blog up. I was kind of lost in the whirlwind of the funeral last week. But I promised you all tales of my gram, the firecracker.

She was a firecracker, which really is just a polite or more colorful way to say she had a temper, right? For instance, this one time, we were driving down the road when I was in high school, and she got angry at me. She slammed down her turn signal and broke the entire steering column.

Thus, her "firecracking" was sometimes directed towards me or inanimate objects. But other times it was directed to people who had done her family wrong.

When I was in elementary school playing basketball, she came down from the stands to scream at the referees and the coaches because when I was wrestling with another girl for the basketball, the girl punched me and knocked the wind out of me.

Gram was fired up that day, but her hardheadedness started long before I was born, long before my mom was born even.

When gram was a high school student in the mid-1950s, she walked into a girls' bathroom to see a couple white girls beating up a black girl in her class. She stepped in the middle and started swinging at the white girls. That was the end of her friendship with them, but she didn't care.

Right was right, and wrong was wrong.

Then again, even she blurred those lines from time to time. During those same high school years, she wanted nothing more than a new pair of Levi blue jeans. She asked her father for them again and again, but he said they were too expensive.

So, she chose not to eat lunch and instead saved her money until she could afford the jeans herself. She paid for the jeans, removed the tags, and wore them home from the store. Her father saw the red "Levi" tag sticking out from the seam and yelled at her, but she smugly knew she could not return them since they'd already been worn.

Eventually, though, she felt guilty for wearing expensive jeans when she saw other things in the family that needed replacing, her father's shoes that were worn thin for instance.

Still, when I was in high school 45 years later, she grabbed the little red tag on my jeans (I feel the need to point out that Levi's are now very affordable) every time I walked by her, and she told me that story.

She told me lots of stories I will treasure and always be thankful for. I'm thankful to you all for reading as well. Thanks for your comments and good wishes.

Have a great week, everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Bragging Grandparents

2010-11-17T14:18:00.000-05:00

As I was growing up, I remember my grandmother bragging about me - a lot. She even submitted to a local newspaper column called "Bragging Grandparents." She would tell anyone who would listen - grocery store workers, high school friends she bumped into at Denny's, the servers at Denny's (and you get the point) - about my sports, my grades, and my travels.

It kind of embarrassed me then, but now it's a sweet memory and unequivocal proof she was proud of me. I wish I could be humble or nonchalant about it, but as a girl who has lost four "parents" before her 30th birthday, knowing I've made them proud matters.

Yes, my grandmother loved to brag, but now it's my turn to brag about her.

When I was in kindergarten, I had the coolest job in the world. After my morning classes, I would come to the cafeteria for lunch while all the other kids went home. I would eat with the big kids, and then when lunch was over, I was a special helper to the janitor.

He gave me a rag, and I wiped every table and chair in the place. I took my job seriously, making sure every crumb disappeared. My reward was a handful of candy from his office. I got this job because of my grandmother. She was in the kitchen volunteering - cooking and cleaning.

After we both finished our duties, I climbed into her car and drove away with her. When I had to stay in school for the afternoon in pesky first grade, I remember missing those times with my gram.

But we had other times.

She drove me to Girl Scouts and basketball practice. She came to school events like Grandparents Day, and she was there when I won the Geography Bee in third grade.

Each Christmas, she planned a massive holiday party for the whole family - her three children, seven step-children, their spouses, and 23 grandchildren. She even arranged it so Santa could visit. There are pictures from those parties somewhere, pictures of the 23 grandchildren piling on top of each other to squeeze into photographs in front of the Christmas tree.

She planned summer picnics, too. She let me climb the cherry tree in her backyard. She watched me score baskets and spike volleyballs. She watched me walk across the stage before Prom and give my speech at graduation.

When my mother passed away my freshman year of high school, Gram didn't give taking us in a second thought. She immediately sought a lawyer and made sure the adoption was finalized pronto. She struggled immensely in losing my mom, her baby girl. But she was still there for us - her kids and her grandkids.

She was also a firecracker. But more on that tomorrow...

Thanks for letting me share.

Saying Goodbye is Not Final

2010-11-16T12:32:00.003-05:00

In my book, THESE WALLS CAN TALK, which was originally titled THE DINER ON THIRD, my protagonist Leia Angeletti is very close with her grandmother. She visits Grandma Jack often at the nursing home and does her best to reach her grandmother through the fog of Alzheimer's.

The character Grandma Jack was based on my grandmother, Anne Goerman Farneth. Yesterday, she passed away at the age of 73.

With my grandparents Anne and Clarence Farneth on the day I graduated from Valley High School in New Kensington. They adopted me and two of my siblings when our mother died in 1997.

My family and I spent the afternoon at the funeral home discussing arrangements, including the obituary. We toiled over how it would be worded. Would we list that she adopted three of her grandchildren, me included, when she lost her youngest daughter (their mother) to illness? In what order would we list the many relatives who preceded her in death? Should the grandchildren be listed by name?

The questions seemed silly. Did it really matter, I wondered? But I realized in a way, it did. The funeral director said, "This will be the last thing written about Anne." It would be the final record of her life.

Final record.

I don't mean this as a joke, but that sounds so final. And it shouldn't be.

Anne Goerman McSherry Farneth lived 73 years in a town called New Kensington. She had three children, seven step-children, 23 grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren. She worked as a bookkeeper, grocery story cashier, and volunteered in the cafeteria of her grandchildren's school. She was infinitely proud of her family's heritage of starting the first local newspaper and the first local fire company in the 1800s. She was beautiful, loving, and flawed. In her 73 years, she touched the lives' of thousands of people, and her life boils down to a one-column obituary?

She deserves more, and even if this humble blog is my only platform to deliver that, I will gladly do it. So all this week, I'll be sharing stories of my gram. And all my life, I'll be missing her.

Thanks for allowing me to share her with you.

Backspace is around the corner

2010-10-26T10:34:00.000-04:00

I've been such a slacker with the diner. Sorry about that. There really is good food here, and I should stop by more often!

So, in two weeks from today, I'm boarding a plane at Pittsburgh International and heading for the Backspace Conference in New York City. I've been revising my manuscript THESE WALLS CAN TALK for months now, and I'm so excited to get back out there and share it with agents and editors who will hopefully love it as much as I do.

I've had some first readers who've loved it, too, it should be noted.

In any case, I'm unagented, but hopefully that will change in the next couple months. Of course, I'll share good news as soon as there's any to share. And the good news I'm sharing now is that I will be the official Twitterer (Tweeter just sounds strange) at the Backspace Conference.

I'll share all the great quotes from agents, the success stories, and the faux pas writers should avoid (as per the agents' requests of course).

So check out the conference and follow my tweets: twitter.com/TamaraGirardi for all the dish.

What Happens in Vegas, Even if You're Not in Vegas

2010-08-30T17:03:00.000-04:00

I feel like a movie set stalker. Today, I drove through Kittanning, a small river town north of Pittsburgh where Janet Evanovich's One for the Money is being filmed. I walked along the river and listened to the glorious calls.

"Rolling!"

"Background!" (And cars start moving along the bridge).

And finally, "Action!"

If I didn't have to drive up to Indiana University of Pennsylvania today to reserve a study space in the library, as they all go within hours of the first day of classes, I could have been driving one of those cars.

Sigh.

But instead, I listened from the sidelines as the cool breeze blew through the trees in the riverside park and the morning sun reflected off the water. For people who live in New York City or Los Angeles, movie sets may be common place. Pittsburgh has played host to several film crews, especially recently, but it's still fresh and exciting to see the trailers, actors, and cameras in town.

And seeing all of that in Kittanning this morning reminded me of last week. Point of information: production companies make background actors (aka extras) sign confidentiality agreements that specify the actors will not talk or publish pertinent information about shooting. This includes locations and plot points.

They might say something like what happens on the set stays on the set. But they might also say when the movie comes out, feel free to blog, tweet, and Facebook all you like.

If you're following me, good. If not, rewind, and read between the lines.

In other words, I've taken some notes about my experience in "Vegas", and when a certain movie hits theaters, I will post more details about filming.

In the meantime, it's back to IUP for me (classes start tomorrow) and more work on my revisions (which are going well) of THESE WALLS CAN TALK.

Very exciting Monday morning

2010-08-23T06:00:00.001-04:00

After several emails, I have finally managed to get hired as an extra on a movie set.

I'm not saying much just yet because I want to be a good extra. But later, I will blog and let you know anything I can. Hopefully I'll have a few photos as well - not of the set. Cameras and phones are strictly prohibited on set. But I'll see what I can do!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Jackie Evancho - wow

2010-08-17T10:42:00.000-04:00

The city of Pittsburgh is a buzz over the 10-year-old singing sensation Jackie Evancho. Jackie wowed audiences on America's Got Talent, but she has been making a name for herself in the city for some time now, even being compared to another Pittsburgh native, Christina Aguilera.

There are several YouTube videos of Jackie, including this one:

How very (and depressingly) true...

2010-08-16T11:33:00.000-04:00

Hard at work today, so it won't take years...

"It can take years. With the first draft, I just write everything. With the second draft, it becomes so depressing for me, because I realize that I was fooled into thinking I’d written the story. I hadn’t—I had just typed for a long time. So then I have to carve out a story from the 25 or so pages. It’s in there somewhere—but I have to find it. I’ll then write a third, fourth, and fifth draft, and so on."

DAVID SEDARIS

Get more Advice for Writers.
P.S. This is definitely not a Rainy Days and Mondays post!

I Survived Summer School

2010-08-11T09:30:00.000-04:00

I hate to be such a drama queen, but I did, in fact, survive summer school. Good to hear, right?

Although the reading and writing seemed tortuous at times, I actually enjoyed my classes and especially enjoyed the company. I'm on a break now until Aug. 30, but a break from school is not a break from work.

In the fall, I have an amazing opportunity waiting for me. I will be the graduate assistant to Dr. Lynne Alvine who teaches a Literature for Adolescents course. My assignment will be to read YA literature and discuss it with the students in the class among other duties assisting Dr. Alvine. I've already started reading the books on the list.

The first was Chris Lynch's Inexcusable in which a teenage girl makes an allegation against a teenage boy. Unlike so many YA books on the shelves, this story is told through the perspective of the boy. His view of the world could be considered naive and/or twisted. I won't divulge the surprises, but I would recommend the book. I think it will make for some great class discussion this fall.

Now, I'm rereading Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak. It's been years since I read it the first time. The voice is surprisingly funny, especially the way Melinda names the people around her. The voice is so candid and surprisingly aware. This book is one of the top recommendations in YA literature. If you haven't read it, you really should.

Other than reading ahead for the Literature for Adolescents course, I am back to revising my manuscript, THESE WALLS CAN TALK. I've been hoping to submit it to agents since July, but it's not ready. I want to send them my best work, so I've found a way to be patient. Hopefully, I will have it ready soon.

Hope everyone's enjoying the last days of summer...

On hiatus. . . again

2010-06-14T07:00:00.005-04:00

If only there were more hours in the day.

But there aren't. So, something's got to go, and it's going to be the diner for a while.

The PhD program is intense. I'm working on a presentation featuring using YouTube to teach argumentative theory and a paper on the value of Twitter in classroom instruction. If you want to keep an eye on my studies, check out my student blog (I know! Another blog? It's a requirement) or my student web page where we post most of our assignments in my Literacy and Technology class.
Other than that, here are a few videos I go to when I need a smile or a break:

And:

And:

Plum Lovin'

2010-06-07T06:00:00.004-04:00

Yes, I'm still in awe at the fact Stephanie Plum is coming to Pittsburgh. If you're thinking, "Stephanie Plum is fictional, Tamara. You do realize that, right?"

No. I don't. In fact, you're wrong. She exists.

So does Lula and Grandma Mazur and (if there is a God) Ranger and Morelli. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, pull your credit card from your wallet, and click here pronto.

Janet Evanovich, if you come across this posting by some grace of all things tasty, I offer myself up to you as a tour guide. I'm a good tour guide. I promise to keep you away from Pittsburgh's "Stark" streets.

Or, hey, we can drive down them if you prefer!

In honor of my future feature film debut, here are some recent tweets from Janet (we are so on a first name basis. Sort of. Not really, but I mean, there's still time for that to change). They are always bright spots in my Twitter feed, so if you're a tweep, follow Janet. Like now.

“That's the second CR-V you've burned up this week.” - Vincent Plum, Hard Eight

“I'll throw in a bucket of chicken and an ice cream cake from Carvel. That's my final offer.” - Morelli, Finger Lickin' Fifteen

“I always thought I'd make a good detective, on account of I'm so nosy.” - Grandma Mazur, Hard Eight

“He mess with a big woman like me, and he be nothin' more than a smelly spot on the carpet.” - Lula, Two for the Dough

“You've got a helluva gene pool, babe.” - Ranger, Two for the Dough

Stephanie Plum's Shadow

2010-06-04T11:59:00.001-04:00

I love, love, love Stephanie Plum. And I just might be able to star (or, you know, appear in the corner of a room or walking down a street or something) in "One for the Money."

The film is being made in Pittsburgh!!! This calls for a celebration!
Anyone else up for being an extra with me?

Day 1 - What I Learned

2010-06-02T07:00:00.001-04:00

What did I learn the first day of my PhD program?

I don't have time to post this blog right now. Lots of reading and a bit of writing to do tonight before I head off to bed (this blog was written Tuesday night but posted Wednesday morning). So I'll keep this short and sweet.

I left my house at 6:30 a.m. for class. I returned at 6:30 p.m. Ouch. People around the country do this every day. If you're one of them, you have my utmost respect. I work from home. I roll out of bed, cross the hallway and plop down at the computer.

But it's also kind of exciting. Both of my professors are great. I already have ideas flowing for the assigned essays. None of the food places on campus are open in the summer (I know!), so I'll be snacking on fruits and veggies that I bring every day and lose a few pounds.

Can't beat that. Now, it's off to work I go!

P.S. Check out my blog (I wrote it before I started my classes) at Working Stiffs today.

Back to School

2010-06-01T07:00:00.002-04:00

The day has finally arrived.

While most students are exhaling sighs of relief and closing their textbooks to the joy of summer vacation, I am dusting off the backpack that has been hanging on a hook in the basement since college.

Yep, it's back to school time.

The family has been supportive. They've asked if I have my Trapper Keeper packed, what Disney character is on my lunch box, and when the bus is coming to pick me up.

The jokes took me back to the days of Trapper Keepers and every-color-of-the-rainbow Lisa Frank folders. Unicorns. I always went for the unicorns.

Of course, Lisa Frank folders won't really fit in with my PhD studies. Although if I could find one, I'd probably still rock it. I mean, really. Did you look at the picture?

And I'm sure I could find a Trapper Keeper on eBay. I could use a lunch box, too. Maybe Hannah Montana.

I digress. The point is I've considered doing a PhD for years, and today is the day it all begins. I'm a student of the Composition and TESOL program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I've had my head in one book or another for the last 23 years, so that won't be new.

As for what will be new, I'll let you know soon.

Stay tuned...

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

2010-05-31T11:18:00.000-04:00

Today, I'm celebrating my two-year wedding anniversary. And I thank the men and women who have fought to give me the right to do that.

Happy Memorial Day.

Rainy Days and Mondays #20

2010-05-24T09:32:00.001-04:00

Oh happy day.

The weather in Pittsburgh is gorgeous. I've spent the past week revising, revising, revising, and it's all going very well.

AND Literary Agent Extraordinaire Janet Reid posted amazing comments on her blog regarding the PennWriters conference. I can't tell you how much fun it was meeting Janet in person.

But perhaps the better deal was hanging out with Octopussy.

Those glasses to the upper right of the photo belong to the mysterious, rarely photographed Janet Reid.

By the end of the night, Octopussy (who is in desperate need of a worthy first name and perhaps a middle initial) and I were old pals.

Finally, it's been a whole week since my little puppy boy had his surgery. He's still hopping around on three legs, rather pathetically, but he's definitely on the mend. He's spending more time hanging outside than being wrapped up in a blanket like he was last week.

Have a great week, everyone!

Cool, Collected Links #1

2010-05-20T07:00:00.003-04:00

Nothing like finding a great article on how to write a query letter the day after you've sent 50 out to agents.

That particular situation did not happen to me, but I find great resources online maybe not at the greatest time to find them. So I'm going to start compiling them here, on the blog, for your benefit as well.

Here are this week's Cool, Collected Links:

Advice from Literary Agents: Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency, Sarah Davies of Greenhouse Literary Agency, and Edward Necarsulmer IV of McIntosh and Otis at the NESCBWI Conference

A Look at Free, Online Writing Communities

Tempting package from AS King and worth checking into future auctions on this site

Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner always has something interesting to say

Really funny InkyGirl.com Comics

Three Steps to Writing a Breakout Story

Things to Consider When Offered a Publishing Contract

Debut Blog on Working Stiffs

2010-05-19T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today, I'm debuting as a contributor to Working Stiffs, where crime writers talk about life, work and murder.

After attending Janet Reid's Social Media workshop at PennWriters this weekend, I'm excited to become active again in the blogosphere.

My first blog post will be The Difference a Year Makes to inspire writers who like me thought an agent and a publishing contract was going to come along much sooner than reality provides.

Check it out.

Tuesday Tips: Volunteer at Conferences

2010-05-18T08:00:00.003-04:00

The PennWriters Conference was brilliant this weekend. I learned a lot and met some really great people, which I will continue talking about on this blog and on Working Stiffs tomorrow.

But today, it's about a tip. When you attend conferences, which you absolutely should if you can, get more out of them by volunteering. Working the registration table ensures you meet everyone, including agents, editors, and published authors, as they walk in the door.

Introducing presenters gives you more face time with them. Offering to timekeep pitch sessions gives you face time with agents.

PennWriters has a great opportunity to PennPal with presenters, agents and editors. I was PennPal to Alex Glass of Trident Media Group. It was a pleasure. Alex is very funny, and he boosted my ego by needing me more than some other PennPals needed their counterparts. I found myself wandering the hotel by his side to try and get him in the right place.

He offered great advice to writers in his presentation, and it was a pleasure getting to know him even a little better.

The only guarantee you have to selling your writing is by making it shine. Work on your craft and polish your pages. But, volunteering at conferences adds value to your overall experience. There are usually several opportunities, so next time you attend a conference, reach out to those in charge and offer to help in some way.

For more on the value of interacting with agents in person, check out this great blog post from Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner.

Rainy Days and Mondays #19

2010-05-17T11:41:00.000-04:00

It's a rainy Monday.

But it's a good day. The PennWriters conference this weekend has inspired me to return to my blogging. So, here's to a fun video for Rainy Days and Mondays.

Intellectually, I can't possibly buy it, but it's still pretty entertaining. And it's dedicated to Hero, my little pup who's in surgery today.

Enjoy.

Deferring to my students. . .

2010-05-06T10:13:00.000-04:00

I won't be blogging for a while (big surprise, right?).

But my students will. I'd like to defer to them. Please take a peek at what they've been working on for the past few months, and offer a comment or two when you see things you like. I know they'll appreciate it.

The blog is: http://wccc-awritersjourney.blogspot.com

Thanks for your support.

If Writers Were Hockey Players

2010-04-20T20:57:00.003-04:00

If writers were hockey players, several New York City literary agents would be missing a few teeth.

More specifically, if I were an Ottawa Senator, I would throw a childish tantrum any time I don't get my way, or even when I do.

Disclaimer #1: I'm a Pittsburgh Penguins fan.
Disclaimer #2: I get that fighting is a part of hockey.

Still, there's a difference between starting a fight to create a momentum shift in a game and pushing, slapping, and punching the nearest Penguin every time the referee blows the whistle.

Maybe I'm just sensitive to athlete behavior with two Pittsburgh Steelers, who will go unnamed here because they don't deserve any more media attention for their transgressions, in the news lately for misbehavior. Let's be honest, these are grown men. They should know how to behave themselves.

Why is such behavior of smacking around the closest human being to you when you get excited acceptable?

I have absolutely no idea.

But I do know if I were a hockey player, my husband would have black eyes on a regular basis. He's a great guy. We have a good marriage, but what I'm saying is this isn't rational anger. It's frequent and unbridled.

If I were a hockey player, I would have to put rubber bumbers on my Jeep to protect myself from all the drivers who are in a rush to pull out in front of me but in no rush to go anywhere. If I were a hockey player, I would plow right through their little Chevy Cavaliers, leaving them on the side of the road to wonder what the heck just happened.

If I were a hockey player, the woman at the grocery store who chit chats about all the wrongs committed by her boyfriend, best friend, and in-laws as she bags my groceries would be covered in egg yolk.

If writers in general were hockey players, the literary world would be quite different. Agents would attend writing conferences wearing pads, helmets, and mouth guards. They would have to.

Critics would write reviews undercover. Their faces and identities would be more protected than governmental witnesses to gang violence.

And when authors make the New York Times Bestseller List? Look out. Nothing can contain that excitement. Well, human rationale can. But apparently, that's lacking if you're a hockey player (i.e. an Ottawa Senator).

Am I the only one who sees this? Just today, my brother said he doesn't care that above-alluded-to Pittsburgh Steeler cannot behave himself off the field, as along as he keeps winning on it.

I'd like to see a man behave like a man. I wonder if these guys let their kids watch them play hockey. I really hope not.

The little ones might be sitting at home thinking, "If I were a hockey player..."

In Living Color

2010-04-15T21:19:00.000-04:00

After chatting with some friends today, I realized Fire Marshall Bill actually graced the screen of In Living Color.

Oh, In Living Color.

Talk about a blast from the past.

No rain, and it's going on Friday. Yet, why not another fun video?

If you loved the show, this will bring a smile to your lips.

Rainy Days and Mondays #23

2010-04-12T09:38:00.000-04:00

When I was killing time I don't have to kill on YouTube, I found a blast from the past. One of the best characters ever on Saturday Night Live is the ever-safe Fire Marshall Bill.

If you're ready for school to be out for summer, maybe you can invite Fire Marshall Bill for a lesson.

Let me show you something...

Rainy Days and Mondays #22

2010-04-05T08:27:00.000-04:00

My day is jam-packed with revisions, edits, and catching up on grades for my patient students who are anxiously awaiting news on their first essays.

So, I'm going to make this short and sweet. It doesn't evoke laughter, but if you're in the publishing world in any way, this should brighten your gloomy, rainy (in Pittsburgh) Monday.

I can't embed it, but it's certainly worth the trip. Take a look.

Tuesday Tips: Be Smart not Stupid

2010-03-30T09:34:00.000-04:00

I attended the Write Stuff Conference sponsored by the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group this weekend and learned a lot. I'm not the kind of student who sits in the corner and never speaks. When I have something to say, I open my mouth.

But when I don't, I listen.

Under the guidance of an internationally acclaimed writing teacher James N. Frey, a class of about 60 plotted out a book from beginning to end in two days, his Plotting Like the Pros workshop. Jim, as he calls himself, took suggestions from those in the room, and at times the debate became intense.

One writer insisted our character, a tech sergeant in the Air Force, would live off base. Another demanded we drop her in the barracks. Still a third won everyone over in saying she lives in a little cottage on base.

And so the two days went with arguments and demands until we finally had a good story. I could never write it. Too much science, but it was a good story.

Some writers in the room, myself included, sat back and wondered why these small details mattered at the moment, but when Jim excitedly said the words, "That's a great idea!" to someone, we knew.

People love it when they're right and even more when they're recognized for it. I'm no exception. Yet, as I sat in the windowless room learning about plotting from a pro, I thought of the quote that's scribbled in purple dry erase marker on the corkboard next to me.

And it's today's tip.

"Anyone who loves knowledge wants to be told when he is wrong. It is stupid to hate being corrected." -Proverbs 12:1

Rainy Days and Mondays #21

2010-03-29T10:38:00.001-04:00

A whole week has passed, and no other posts. Sorry about that.

I attended the Write Stuff Conference sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Writers Group in eastern Pennsylvania, and it was fantastic. I'll have more to say about that in the future, but today, it's rainy outside, and it's Monday.

I love watching a few minutes of Ellen when my day isn't going so well. It makes me laugh and refreshes me. So, here's one of my favorite Ellen moments. By the way, Dennis Quaid is even handsomer in person!

Here you go:

Rainy Days and Mondays #20

2010-03-22T09:47:00.004-04:00

It's a two-for kinda day. It's Monday and it's raining in the Pittsburgh area.

So here are a couple laughs. I love these videos. You may have seen this first one before.

However, this one might be new to you. Pay attention when Mom comes into the room. It's hilarious.

I Missed You!

2010-03-18T14:28:00.000-04:00

How like a winter hath my absence been
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December's bareness everywhere!
~William Shakespeare, "Sonnet XCVII"

Hey, everyone...everyone who has not been paying attention to my blog as there hasn't been much to read.

I'm back.

Maybe it's the gorgeous sunshine, the feeling of spring. Not quite sure, but I miss the diner. Time to open the doors again.

I'm still writing a lot, revising two manuscripts, and trying to keep up with my online students who have just submitted their first essay, expository essays featuring their hometowns in some way. I look forward to reading them. Some of the topics are great.

But I miss all of you.

So, I'm back to blogging. I'll have something fresh and fantastic for you on Monday for the revival of Rainy Days and Mondays.

But today, it's all about returning after a long hiatus. So, what have you missed? I received several rejections for THESE WALLS CAN TALK (previously titled THE DINER ON THIRD, and the impetus for starting this virtual diner). I still have a few submissions floating around the literary agenting world, but I'm not too hopeful. The manuscript needs work, so that's what it is getting.

While I let THESE WALLS CAN TALK sit for a few months, I drafted another YA manuscript, BROKEN. I promise to tell you more about BROKEN in coming months, but it's a lot of fun and incorporates prom, summer camp, growing up fast, and a love square (not a triangle, but a square!).

I spent last weekend at the Sisters in Crime Writing Retreat and survived the flood of the Youghiogheny River in Confluence, PA. For proof, check out our president Annette Dashofy's blog.

This weekend is the New Kensington Rotary's annual fundraiser, Rotarama. Speaking of prom, I'll be wearing my junior prom dress. So glad it still fits.

Next weekend, I'll be driving east for the Lehigh Valley Write Stuff Conference. So I'll have a lot to blog about in coming days.

Check back for it!

Great web site, bad book?

2010-01-26T13:24:00.000-05:00

What?

What's this?

Tamara has actually posted something new on her blog!?

You're impressed, aren't you?

As I realize I've neglected this blog for nearly four months, I find it interesting that one of my Yahoo groups recently discussed whether an unpublished author needs a web site, a blog, a twitter account, a facebook page (we could go on...).

The most common opinion seems to be that unpublished writers should spend their time, news flash, writing. Other writers higher up the publishing food chain insist a web site won't sell a book that isn't any good.

That sounds logical to me.

So, I've been working on my writing. I hope you don't mind. I'm sure your lives have completely stopped without my thrilling posts here, but I'm writing to ask you to breathe again. Please. I will be writing more here because I miss you, but only when I really feel like I can, when my writing is done and I have a few minutes to spare.

Until then...

An Extended Hiatus

2009-12-01T10:45:00.001-05:00

Okay, so one month easily turned into two.

I missed blogging, but it was good to get caught up on everything. That, and October pretty much passed in a blur, literally. And, yes, literary agents who hate when writers use the word "literally" (as in, "I literally died!"), I'm using it correctly.

I had eye surgery in mid-October, and the blur lasted a lot longer than I'd expected. Regardless, it's behind me now, and life is clearer than ever. The surgery is actually quite magical. I can't remember a time when I saw clearly without contacts or glasses. I'm just getting accustomed to waking up every day and not having to reach for my glasses. It's beyond amazing.

By way of other updates, I've racked up a few more rejections to my tally, but there is hope as a handful of agents are still reviewing my work. I'm also hard at work on a new project that I'm not talking a whole lot about. In the past, I've talked my books to death, and I'm not making that mistake with this one.

This is a short reintroduction,but I'll be back soon...promise!

Farewell for now...

2009-10-01T16:15:00.000-04:00

Aaaah October...

It's my favorite month. In Pittsburgh and most of the northeast, it's absolutely gorgeous with the changing leaves. My birthday is Oct. 11, so that's obviously key. And Halloween is my favorite holiday - scary movies and candy? I'm in!

But, I also have some bad news for the month of October. I'm planning to disappear.

Not physically, as in police reports, detectives, and a good mystery. It's with great regret that I'm closing the diner for the month. I hate to do this, but I really admire a writer friend, A.S. King, for taking a month off of blogging last spring to work on the draft for her next book.

To give you an update, there are still several agents reviewing my manuscript, THESE WALLS CAN TALK (formerly titled THE DINER ON THIRD). While I wait for news, I'm working on two other projects. They're competing for my attention, and I'm letting them. One will win out, and competition is good for the soul.

So, if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm closing the diner this month to write. I'll be back in November with some great author interviews, and if between now and then I hear good news from agents, I will certainly break the silence.

If I come across a hilarious video, I may post it for Rainy Days and Mondays, but for the most part, it's going to be pretty quiet around here. Thanks for stopping by, and hopefully, you'll stop back next month.

Happy Writing!

Rainy Days and Mondays #19

2009-09-28T11:26:00.001-04:00

Well, it's a rainy Monday in Pittsburgh, a day after the Steelers lost for the second straight time. That calls for some entertainment.

I'm reverting to some old favorites this week...

First of all - a very lovely musical snack!

And you can't watch this and not laugh...

Finally, the best fight scene ever!

Happy Monday!

Rainy Days and Mondays #18

2009-09-14T09:54:00.000-04:00

With my recent schedule, it's been hard to spend the time I'd like on writing. It seems to be time for some inspiration and advice from one of the greats.

From By-Line: Ernest Hemingway

Mice: How much should you write a day?

Y.C.: The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck. That is the most valuable thing I can tell you so try to remember it.

Mice: All right.

Y.C.: Always stop while you are going good and don't think about it or worry about it until you start to write the next day. That way your subconscious will work on it all the time. But if you think about it consciously or worry about it you will kill it and your brain will be tired before you start. Once you are into the novel it is as cowardly to worry about whether you can go on the next day as to worry about having to go into inevitable action. You have to go on. So there is no sense to worry. You have to learn that to write a novel. The hard part about a novel is to finish it.

Mice: How can you learn not to worry?

Y.C.: By not thinking about it. As soon as you start to think about it stop it. Think about something else. You have to learn that.

Happy Monday!

Little Bits of Random

2009-09-10T09:57:00.001-04:00

So, last night, I was watching Man vs. Food. That's a great show.

He conquered a Four Horseman Cheeseburger with four different kinds of peppers that only four others had ever dominated. Maybe four's a lucky word...

He also visited Pittsburgh and ate six atomic wings at Quaker Steak and Lube. More importantly, though, he visited THE Pittsburgh restaurant I take my friends to when they're in town. If you've been to Primanti's - if you like sandwiches - if you're ever hungry (um, does that include everyone now), watch this video!

Preseason's over folks. It's time for some football, and I think you've already realized a Primanti's sandwich and football go hand in hand. I want one so bad right now.

P.S. Go Steelers!

Morning Coffee

2009-09-08T08:57:00.000-04:00

A few stories to consider with your morning coffee...

With two awesome shout outs to the Steelers, how can I not love this guy?

A writer friend of mine lives in Louisiana - would love to visit her and this place!

I love that young adults are reviewing these books and that one of the books is Lauren Baratz-Logsted's recently released CRAZY BEAUTIFUL!

Discussion of a question most people, including me, wonder when they visit New York City.

It feels like Monday, but is really Tuesday! Hang in there, and have a good week!

Dining with Lauren Baratz-Logsted

2009-09-02T08:56:00.001-04:00

The Dining with Authors series is back today with prolific author Lauren Baratz-Logsted.

Since 2003, Lauren has had 14 books published with at least 6 more to come. She has written for adults, teens, tweens and young readers. Before being published, Lauren was an independent bookseller, a reviewer, a freelance editor and a sort-of librarian. You can read more about her work at http://www.laurenbaratzlogsted.com/.

In addition to writing and reviewing good books, Lauren is heavily involved with several writing groups online. She is always generously offering writing advice and support to other writers (including me!). Her young adult novel Crazy Beautiful, a contemporary tale about a boy with hooks for hands and a gorgeous girl who meet on their first day at a new school, is being released this Monday!

Tamara: Welcome to the Girardi Diner. For this interview, imagine we are sitting across from each other in an adorable diner, sipping tea or coffee, enjoying a slice of our favorite cake or pie (mine's cherry pie!). It's much more fun that way!

Lauren: I’ll take a lime diet Pepsi and strawberry cream pie!

Tamara: If you could have dinner with any one of your characters, whom would you choose, and what would your character eat?

Lauren: Lucius Wolfe from Crazy Beautiful. Whatever he chose to eat, he'd have to eat it carefully, because he's still self-conscious about having hooks for hands.

Tamara: What's your favorite vacation spot?

Lauren: Because my daughter is nine, I'll say a cruise ship.

Tamara: What was your favorite musical group/singer when you were in high school?

Lauren: Led Zeppelin

Tamara: What is the funniest prank played on OR by you?

Lauren: Gack! How boring am I? I can't even think of one by or on me right now! The closest would be this past April Fool's. My nine-year-old short-sheeted my bed but only on my husband's side. He thought it was hysterical - that she even knew how to do it and that she chose to only prank him, not me.

Tamara: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Lauren: A psychologist or writer. One night at dinner, when I was around 12, I did mention that I might like to be a singer. Much laughter followed - kind of like in a Charlie Brown cartoon - so I realized that was probably out.

Tamara: What question do you get asked most often about your writing? How do you answer it?

Lauren: Q: "Where do your ideas come from?" A: "The Idea Fairy."

Tamara: Gotta love that Idea Fairy! Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not?

Lauren: Surprisingly enough, given that I just confessed a belief in The Idea Fairy, I don't believe in ghosts. But that's because I've never seen any evidence of any. If and when I do, I promise I'll change my mind.

Thanks so much for stopping by the diner for this interview, and congratulations on the upcoming release of Crazy Beautiful!

Morning Coffee

2009-09-01T07:53:00.000-04:00

What's entertaining about the new blog feature for Tuesdays is that I don't drink coffee. At all. Ever.

But most people do, and they usually like a bit of news with their coffee. So here are a few recent stories that caught my eye.

When I see stories like this, I ask exactly that - why don't they run?

Is the economy so bad that marrying for money is a good thing?

The economy wasn't that bad back then...can't be her excuse!

Talk about back-to-school blues! I'm happy to be teaching online this semester, especially since Pittsburgh is involved.

If a snake bites me, someone call this guy.

Rainy Days and Mondays #17

2009-08-31T07:31:00.004-04:00

As kids across the country are getting reacquainted with their classrooms, let's hope they're learning more than these people did.

So are you smarter than a fourth/sixth/eighth grader? Where did you rank? I hope it's good news!

Happy Monday!

The Writer's Journey - Falling in Love

2009-08-30T11:17:00.005-04:00

The road to publication for writer's, or so I've been told, is long and bumpy.

For the last month, I haven't really been making any progress along that road. At the end of July, I submitted THE DINER ON THIRD young adult manuscript to several agents. And although the response has been mostly positive, I feel like my car's broken down, and I'm waiting on the side of the road for one of the agents to call with the report of whether I'll get moving again.

This is not a good place to be.

After I submitted my manuscript, I knew the best thing for me to do was forget about it (in other words, don't sit in front of my computer, hitting refresh on my email 24/7, waiting for agent responses) and get to work on another project.

I reviewed my list of ideas for future books. There were a few good ones and a few that I had absolutely no idea what I was thinking when I wrote them down. After having lunch with a dear friend, I took her advice to combine two of the ideas into one.

I got excited about it and started writing the opening chapters. I considered character profiles. What are my characters' mottos, motivations, desires, etc? Who's the villain? Who cannot be trusted?

As I got deeper into the "whats" and "whys" the story began to form and became richer, but it wasn't until yesterday that I really fell in love with the idea.

That's really the beauty of writing. When that one detail pops into your head that you have to search for anything resembling paper and any writing utensil (pencil, crayon, eyeliner, or lipstick) to scratch down a few words - that's when you know you're in love.

Then, it happens again.

And again.

Soon, the lipstick details are adding layers, subplots, conflict, and the desire in you to tell the story is impossible to ignore. You lay awake in bed weighing plot points, writing dialogue in your head, and it's a beautiful thing.

Falling in love again feels good. It reminds me of how I fell in love with THE DINER ON THIRD. I hope the agents reading it are falling in love as well, but there's never a guarantee.

When it comes down to it, though, I got that beat up car on the shoulder of the road to publication running again on my own by working to create something new, something better.

With the new book on my mind, at the very least, I can stop hitting refresh in my email. I can walk away from the addictions of Facebook and Twitter. And I can experience the love of telling a story again, spending time with characters that are more like friends, and dreaming of teen readers holding copies of the book in their hands, loving it as much as I do.

"I hold it true, whate'er befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." - Alfred Lord Tennyson

Rainy Days and Mondays #16

2009-08-24T11:41:00.001-04:00

Here's something to make you smile every Monday for the next few months, particularly if you're a parent of school-aged children. I'm not, but I still find it pretty entertaining.

Happy Monday!

The Writer's Journey - Rejection

2009-08-21T12:39:00.004-04:00

Rejection.

Deep sigh.

It's part of the journey for sure. If you don't believe me, look at the two emails in my inbox in the last 24 hours that begin with "Thank you for allowing me the chance to view your manuscript. Unfortunately..."

Of course I knew it was the way of the world in publishing.

It's happened before. It will likely happen again.

In one of the Yahoo loops of which I'm a member, a writer recently said she received a rejection and was going to take the day to be miserable and then get back in there. Another writer in the group, one I admire dearly - Lauren Baratz-Logsted - responded to give nothing more than five minutes of sadness to any rejection.

I think it might take me longer than that to write this blog (which I'm offering as a sacrifice to the rejection gods in hopes they might be satisfied and leave me alone for a bit).

I've heard several writers and agents refer to an agent-author relationship as a marriage. If that's the case, I suppose I'm in the phase where I'm still looking for "the one." Now, I know what my unmarried friends are frustrated about!

If shopping around my manuscript to agents is parallel to premarital dating, then I'm in essence standing on the top of a building alongside I-95, completely naked, asking someone to take a chance on me.

Maybe not exactly.

And maybe that's not an image you anticipated when you started reading this post. My apologies.

As the rejections pile up, I'm holding onto hope. There are still several other agents reviewing my work right now. That said, if they all come back with "Thanks, but..." responses, I'm hoping my five minutes of depression goes slowly.

Heck, in five minutes, you can barely drink a glass of wine, let alone an entire bottle!

“This manuscript of yours that has just come back from another editor is a precious package. Don't consider it rejected. Consider that you've addressed it 'to the editor who can appreciate my work' and it has simply come back stamped 'Not at this address'. Just keep looking for the right address.” - Barbara Kingsolver

The Writer's Journey - Neglect

2009-08-19T07:58:00.005-04:00

For the past week or so, I've been mulling over plans to write a string of blog posts on the writer's journey. However, what I've done is neglected my blog completely.

At first this frustrated me. Then I realized, it's definitely part of the writer's journey.

As a unpublished author, I have no one waiting for my work - no agent on my back nor publishing deadline to meet. In that situation, it's easy to take my time on a project or more likely let something else occupy my attention.

This week, Westmoreland County Community College is occupying my attention. Classes start Thursday, and although I was originally assigned late start classes that don't begin until Sept. 17, my assignment was changed and now my syllabus and lesson plans have to be ready by - tomorrow.

It's a legitimate reason to neglect my writing-in-progress. Yet, I wonder. Is it? Really?

Even with the confusion of how to turn my lectures into podcasts, couldn't I find fifteen minutes or potentially an hour in the day to write?

Am I behaving just like the students I'm about to teach in procrastinating my writing assignments until the very last minute? And why do students do that?

They tell me it's because they don't know what they want to write about. That's a nicer way of admitting they can't commit to something to write about.

Kind of how I can't commit to a controlling idea for my next book and how that's holding me back.

Other reasons?

They work better under pressure.

Hmmn. Is this ever really true? What are the chances this excuse is simply one that makes people feel better about themselves? It's admirable to be good under pressure. But what if it's not the pressure of the deadline (although I give in to the fact that helps)? What if the reason the writing got done is because the student did what so many writers insist others do?

Put your butt in the chair and just write.

Kind of how I didn't think I was going to write this blog when I opened Internet Explorer, but I just started writing, and voila - a simple blog post worth the Pulitzer!

The final reason I get from students rationalizing their last minute writing might be the most telling of all.

"Professor Girardi, I'm just not a good writer. I never was."

Deep breath.

What if it's true?

I thought I was the only writer who felt she could never put another worthwhile sentence together. Then I listened to published writers talk about the feeling after they sell a book.

The fear they might never be able to do it again.

Maybe as I face new students for the first time tomorrow, this lesson might be a good one to share with them. The insecurities with writing never completely go away. Building confidence is certainly necessary, but there will be times they question themselves.

The only thing they can do is learn how to deal with the insecurities because the essays, reports, proposals, memos, and releases will have to be written with or without confidence.

Maybe it's true that the greatest writing advice of all is to put your backside in the chair and just start writing.

"You just have to go on when it is worst and most helpless - there is only one thing to do with a novel and that is go straight on through to the end of the damn thing." -Ernest Hemingway, in a letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1929

Happy Football Season!

2009-08-13T09:20:00.001-04:00

Until they come out with the new version, which will include the line "Six-time Super Bowl Champs, this will have to do...

Rainy Days and Mondays #16

2009-08-11T15:40:00.003-04:00

On a Rainy Day, there's nothing better than hanging out with old Friends.

and...

Rainy Days and Mondays #15

2009-08-10T08:28:00.004-04:00

I feel kind of bad posting this week's Rainy Days and Mondays video, but it's pretty funny. Besides, I think if this homemade dance video had gone according to the plan, it would not have attracted as many hits.

Since we're hanging with Beyonce today, if you haven't seen Justin Timberlake on SNL dancing to her song, check out this video too. I think you'll enjoy it.

Rainy Days and Mondays #14

2009-08-03T11:53:00.002-04:00

It's been hot and sticky out there. Stay hydrated, and Happy Monday!

Dining with Alyson Noël

2009-07-29T07:56:00.006-04:00

The Dining with Authors series has been so fun for me. I hope you're enjoying it, too!

Today, we have bestselling YA author Alyson Noël. If you haven't discovered Alyson's Immortal series, stop reading this and go to the bookstore right now. Go ahead. We'll wait for you.

Alyson is the #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling, award-winning, author of nine novels for teens and adults, including EVERMORE and BLUE MOON. Her books have won the National Reader’s Choice Award, made numerous top ten lists, chosen for the CBS Early Show’s “Give the Gift of Reading” segment, and selected for Seventeen Magazine’s “Hot List” and Beach Book Club Pick. She lives in Laguna Beach, CA where she’s working on her next book. You can visit her at: www.alysonnoel.com or www.immortalsseries.com

Tamara: Alyson, if you could have dinner with any one of your characters, whom would you choose, and what would that character eat?
Alyson: Well, I’d have to choose Damen—for purely shallow reasons of course!! He would sip a glass of elixir and gaze into my eyes while I’d try not to drip spaghetti down the front of my dress!

Tamara: What's your favorite vacation spot?
Alyson: Well, funny you should ask because I happen to have several. For lying by the pool/beach and reading—Hawaii, or more specifically Maui & Lanai. For big city fun (in the US)- New York- I love it there, though Chicago runs an awfully close second! For international big city fun- Paris- I love, love, love it there! For an exotic get away- Marrakech-it’s completely enchanting!

Tamara: What was your favorite musical group/singer when you were in high school?
Alyson: Oh, here comes the embarrassing part! Well fine, here we go, I, Alyson Noël once pledged allegiance to Adam Ant. I was ready to join his Ant Nation and listen to nothing but Ant Music. This was one of my shorter lived crushes, but still, there you go. Though I’m happy to add that I still had some small smidgen of cool left for the likes of David Bowie, U2, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, etc. Mind you, this all took place back in the eighties!

Tamara: What is the funniest prank played on OR by you?
Alyson: Well, I’m much more of a jokester than a prankster, but back when I was a flight attendant, I was performing the safety demo one day, and when we got to the part where we showed the “safety demonstration card’ that can be found in “the seatback pocket in front of you”—I didn’t realize it, but my fellow crew members, who were also good friends of mine, had attached a note to mine that said- “Date Me! Ask How!” When all the passengers erupted into laughter, I discovered what they’d done and I have to say, I thought it was pretty hilarious too!

Tamara: That is pretty hilarious. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Alyson: A princess, a mermaid, and an author. In that order.

Tamara: What question do you get asked most often about your writing? How do you answer it?
Alyson: “Where do you get your ideas from” seems to be the most common one—and my answer is always: Life! I steal from my own life on a regular basis.

Tamara: Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not?
Alyson: I’ve no doubt that the soul or some form of energy lives on long after the physical body is gone. I’ve experienced way too many unexplainable phenomenons to think otherwise!

Tamara: Such cool answers. I'm really jealous about your travel hotspots. I wish I could teleport there now! Thanks again for participating!
Alyson: THANK YOU FOR HOSTING ME!!!

Rainy Days and Mondays #13

2009-07-27T10:37:00.002-04:00

This succeeded in making my laugh out loud. I hope it does the same for you. Happy Monday!

Dining with Marlene Perez

2009-07-22T07:46:00.011-04:00

The Dining with Authors series is back today with young adult writer Marlene Perez. Her next novel The Comeback will be released August 1.

The book tells the story of Sophie Donnelly, who is one half of the most popular and powerful couple in school, until new girl Angie Vogel shows up and compromises everything. Angie steals Sophie's starring role in the school play, and, worse, her super-popular boyfriend. Sophie has been quickly dispatched to social Siberia, but not for long--she'll do anything it takes to make a triumphant comeback.

I fell in love with Marlene's "Dead IS" series over the past few months because of the great paranormal elements she includes in her fictional town of Nightshade where loveable Daisy Giordano lives amidst psychics, werewolves, vampires, and doppelgangers. The books are fun and romantic, without a doubt worth reading.

Marlene was born in Iowa and now lives in Orange County, California. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and her novels have been featured in Seventeen and Cosmopolitan. Her novel DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK was selected as an American Library Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers.

Marlene, welcome to the Girardi Diner. For this interview, imagine we are sitting across from each other, sipping tea or coffee, enjoying a slice of our favorite cake or pie (mine's cherry pie!). It's much more fun that way!

Tamara: If you could have dinner with any one of your characters, whom would you choose, and what would that character eat?

Marlene: I'd have dinner with Daisy, my main character in the DEAD IS series. She'd cook and eat. Or we'd go to Slim's Diner for a cheeseburger. I'd say Sophie Donnelly, the main character in my upcoming release THE COMEBACK, but I'd probably somehow end up with food poisoning if I dined with her.

Tamara: Yeah, you'd probably want to avoid that. What's your favorite vacation spot?

Marlene: My favorite family vacation is a quick trip to Pismo Beach, Ca, but I'm dying to go to England to do research and soak up the atmosphere.

Tamara: What was your favorite musical group/singer when you were in high school?

Marlene: I can't name just one! I love music. If I had to pick one, I'd say David Bowie or Prince, but that makes me sound much cooler than I was. I also liked Rick Springfield and the Bay City Rollers.

Tamara: What is the funniest prank played on OR by you?

Marlene: Hmm. Funny pranks? When I was in college, I lived in a house with three other girls. We had a bunch of people over, but I left to do a quick errand. When I came back, all the furniture in the house had been moved to different rooms. So the sofa was in the kitchen, etc. That was pretty funny.

Tamara: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Marlene: A writer. Or someone who got paid to read all day.

Tamara: What question do you get asked most often about your writing? How do you answer it?

Marlene: Did I read TWILIGHT before I wrote DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK? And I answer that although I enjoyed TWILIGHT, I was more inspired by Anne Rice's VAMPIRE LESTAT books and two television shows, DARK SHADOWS, a television show featuring the vampire Barnabas Collins, which my older sister used to watch while she baby sat me, and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, which I absolutely adored. I honestly think paranormal writers who are already publishing today were more influenced by some of those cultural icons than by Twilight. It's the next generation of authors who possibly will be inspired by the Twilight saga, in my opinion.

Tamara: Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not?

Marlene: Yes, I believe in ghosts. I've seen some very strange things. And besides, I like to keep an open mind.

Marlene, thanks so much for stopping by to answer some questions for us! Good luck with THE COMEBACK book release August 1.

Next week, we'll be dining with Immortals author Alyson Noel. See you then!

Rainy Days and Mondays #12

2009-07-20T18:13:00.001-04:00

Monday just about passed me by. Oops!

Freaky Friday: Mansfield continued

2009-07-17T12:34:00.011-04:00

I hope the saying "Better late than never" applies here! Sorry for the delay, but as promised, in celebrating a rainy Freaky Friday, here are more details on Dracula's castle of criminals. To start it off, I'd like to share EVPs collected by Clayton and Trip, two investigators who traveled from Kentucky to Ohio for the hunt.

Both files are of the same moment, but they are from two different voice recorders. One was Trip's and the other was Clayton's. What do you hear after Clayton asks, "Terry? Do you want to say something, Terry?"

Picking up where we left off, after leaving the attic, the group traveled downstairs to the prison chapel, pictured above. At one time, members of the community would come there for service as well. They were elevated in a balcony above the prisoners. On their way back to their cells after the service, the prisoners would pass under them. One ghost hunter mentioned a feeling of sadness when walking that direction. Often times, people hear piano music in the area as well.

As you saw from the video clip last week, there are several ghostly tales from locals, former prisoners and guards, and current employees. Scott supervised our ghost hunt last week. He was an awesome tour guide and told some great stories.

The most notable story is probably when he actually felt something punch him in the kidney. He says he hit the ground and then worried about how he was going to get the two ghost hunters with him out of the building safely.

Personally, I don't really mind that something of that caliber didn't happen to me. I'm okay with it.

In fact, I didn't capture any undeniable evidence of spirit manifestation at the prison. I had some odd feelings in certain places. In the infirmary, for example, I quickly developed a sharp headache behind my left eye. It was the kind of headache that makes you a bit dizzy and begs you to close the blinds in your bedroom and dive beneath the covers.

A few others in the group felt something odd in the room including Rachelle, who felt nauseous.

When we left the room, the maladies left as well. I wish Tylenol worked that fast.

Several investigators reported spots of blackness, particularly in the East Cell Block. It came with a very eery feeling, but truth be told, moonlight coming in a certain direction could cause that area to be in deeper shadow.

We also had quite a bit of success with dowsing rods. Dowsing is an ancient skill used to find water, minerals, or oil deposits below the Earth. Some people believe that lines of high energy exist on Earth. The energy can contribute to several things including a sacred connection to God.
I personally had the opportunity use dowsing rods at Stonehenge in England. Amazingly, when I stood aligned with the stones, the L-shaped rods crossed. When I backed away from the imaginary line, they returned to their original position.

I love that we used them on the ghost hunt because it shows that modern investigators are using a combination of ancient practices along with modern equipment like infrared cameras.

Dom held the dowsing rods as we walked through the East Cell Block. When they crossed in front of a specific cell, we would take photos of the cell and ask a few questions with the voice recorders.

If you remember, a few investigators played a bit of a trick on us by throwing glass through a hole in the wall. Well, we returned the favor in the administration wing. We heard a group of investigators above us, so we sat quietly and Jami made a loud pounding noise. We stifled giggles for a few minutes as the group asked if anyone was around. Jami pounded again before we finally revealed we were there. Not exactly good ghost hunting etiquette, but fun.

At one point in the night, we heard someone screaming. Everyone stopped and looked at each other. In the silence, we heard the scream again. We backtracked to find out if anyone was screaming. There was a group behind us. One of them had opened a closet door, and the hinges screeched. False alarm.

Although I didn't catch anything impressive on my EVPs or pictures, the trip was overall worth it. We had a lot of fun, and there's nothing like that moment when your body freezes and your mind runs overtime questioning whether what you just encountered was caused by someone from the other side.

And, if you're looking to check out the evidence gathered by the other investigators, check it out at Spirited Ghost Hunting.

Here are a few more pictures from Mansfield:

Above: This is the cell where Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, spent his time in solitary confinement. Below: Feeling brave before the lights went out, I hopped into a cell, and Dom took my picture. The rest of the night, I couldn't muster the same courage to enter into a pitch black cell with an old rusty door that could close behind me.

Above: A look at how dilapidated the building is. These are stairs in one of the cell blocks. Below: You may recognize the room where Andy played the record over the loudspeaker for everyone in the prison to hear.

Above: The warden's office in the film, Shawshank Redemption. Below: Cell painted gold to be featured in Lil Wayne video "Go DJ."

Above: A look down the long hallway of the East Cell Block. Note the low railing to the left. Below: A closer view of the fine accommodations.

Rainy Days and Mondays #11

2009-07-13T10:24:00.004-04:00

I know I've been bad, promising more ghostly tales from Friday and then not delivering! But I have been writing, and that's what it's all about...

As a peace offering, though, I have logged on to deliver a Monday pick-you-up.

En route to Mansfield, Dom and I were joking about how we wished we had a Ghostbusters outfit, or one of those little boxes they slide across the floor and then stomp on the lever to open the box and capture the unruly ghosts. Now, by no means are we demeaning the passion of ghost hunters the world over, but we had a good laugh over it.

And it reminded me of the great movie and awesome theme song so many of us remember, so enjoy a piece of history...

Things I Learned about Myself on My First Ghost Hunt

2009-07-11T13:28:00.019-04:00

1. I am nothing like Leia Angeletti, my brave, 17-year-old ghost-hunting heroine.
2. I am a big scaredy-cat.
3. Fear of heights and a cell block with a low railing do not mix.
4. I am not patient enough to hang out and wait for a spirit to manifest.
5. I'm a really bad ghost hunter!

The picture to the right is my favorite from last night. In it, you can see down the long hallway of the West Cell Block at the Manfield State Reformatory. If you notice the cells are on the right, and to the left is basically a cage.

The East Cell Block has no cage. There is simply a hip-high railing, and as you can imagine, several inmates were thrown to their death as a result.

The building itself is amazing. In the video posted here yesterday, a former prisoner compared it to Dracula's castle. That's an incredibly appropriate comparison for several reasons.

The exterior is spooky yet gorgeous. The architecture demands attention and fools new visitors into believing the interior could be palace-like. As you can imagine, though, that anticipation doesn't deliver.

Inside, paint is chipping from the cell bars, walls, and ceilings. Wooden floors in the former wardens' living quarters soften as you walk over them creating nearly as much fear and anxiety as the graffiti on the walls and the violent history the tour guide revealed, which plays in your mind throughout the night.

The Attic
As the stories go, an inmate was helping with work in the attic once upon a time. The guards left him, and he committed suicide by hanging. Although many of the members of Spirited Ghost Hunting have been to Mansfield several times, they had never been in the attic. It was too dangerous - because of the mess, not because of the ghosts.

But after scarfing some pizza, we headed for the attic above the East Cell Block in a group of 8 around 11 p.m. We wandered around in the dark, flash lights bouncing off the walls and lingering on massive holes in the ceiling where plaster was peeling and hanging low, feet shuffling against the mounds of dirt and dust.

Across the attic were what appeared to be shower stalls like this one, which brings me to our first point of investigation.

My husband and I were standing in this stall while other groups were in adjacent stalls. Everyone was doing their best to be still and quiet while we recorded some electronic voice phenomenon or EVPs.

Rachelle, Spirited Ghost Hunting's fearless leader, was asking questions such as why are you here, what year is it, and what is your name?

She asked if anyone was there could they give us a sign. We heard a bang on hollow metal. I recognized the sound immediately. A few minutes earlier another hunter Tonya and I had squeezed through a small door frame to find an old furnace and stairs to other aged heating or water devices. That area is on the other side of the wall from the shower stalls.

Rachelle asked more questions and again asked for a sign, a noise of any kind or movement in the room. At that moment, Dom moved next to me.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Yeah, stop moving," I told him, fearing we were going to get yelled at for improper ghost hunting etiquette. We were supposed to be quiet!

"No, someone threw something at me," he said. I was standing in the doorway of the stall, so it didn't come from that direction.

The rest of the group came into our little stall. We flashed lights on the floor and found a piece of glass. Glass hitting the floor made sense with the sound both of us had heard. I assumed he stepped on something or dropped something, but he insisted the glass either fell through the hole in the ceiling of the stall or the hole on the wall.

Tonya and I insisted no one was in that room. We had just been back there. To investigate, we all filed through the doorway into the next room to find a few other ghost hunters enjoying the joke they'd just played on us!

A couple more things about the attic before we move on. The history in the building is obviously incredible. It was opened in 1896 and first housed youth offenders. They were taught trades and "reformed" before being released. Then around World War I, more serious adult offenders called it home. At one time, it housed Death Row. Although its capacity is 1,100 prisoners, the most it ever held was 3,600. Clearly, overcrowding was an issue.

That's one of the reasons why in the 1970s, officials were pushing to have it closed. The decision was made in 1978, and it took 12 years to transfer all of the prisoners before the doors closed to corrections in 1990. Now, it's privately owned and preserved as a historical landmark.

I'm not sure why so many prisoners were up in the attic or why the place hasn't gotten a paint job for 80 years. I guess it's always possible that someone got creative and jotted some notes more recently than that, but above, you can see one of the many "I was here" notes.

It's hard to make out the details, but it's from prisoner 30890, who was transferred from Cleveland to serve at Mansfield in 1933. Some of the notes included reasons for incarceration.

A number or name. A crime. A date. I guess in their everyday lives, those were the most relevant attributes.

The notes illustrate a desire similar to Brooks' need to be remembered in The Shawshank Redemption, which was filmed at Mansfield. The halfway house Brooks lived in when he left the prison was filmed in one of the prison's administration rooms.

But back to the attic. We had one more experiment for the spirits, if they were with us. Four people set their flashlights in the middle of the floor. We crowded around them.

We got our voice recorders ready, and Jami, a really nice guy and fun ghost hunter, started with the questions. The main request was for the spirit to use the battery power in the flashlights as energy, thus shutting the flash light off. A particular line of questioning yielded a flicker in one of the lights.

"Did your family not visit you? Were they ashamed of what you'd done?"

The flicker was very visible. Not groundbreaking research or ironclad proof of paranormal activity, but clearly visible. After a few questions, Jami went back to the family questions again, but no more flickers, and none of the lights were extinguished.

When you're hoping for something to happen, it's hard not to assume or conclude prematurely. For instance, take a look at this photo of Rachelle and Colleen in the attic.

If you look closely above both of their heads, you see orbs. You can see one to the left of Rachelle (who's in the brown shirt and black shorts) and one right above Colleen's head. Farther above them, you see a few other orbs floating around.

I'd conclude these are dust particles. The validity of orbs carries a heavy debate. Some people believe if there is any color to them, it means they are paranormal whereas colorless orbs are simply dust particles. Others rule them out completely. Some, still, jump at any orb in a photograph and are excited about the implications.

The night wasn't over, but this post is getting lengthy, so I'll cut today's post short and get back to you tomorrow with more details about the music videos and movies filmed at Mansfield, our experiences in the administrative living quarters and pitch black cell blocks. And of course, what's a visit to a prison without time spent in solitary confinement.

Freaky Friday: Today's the Big Day

2009-07-10T07:42:00.003-04:00

First of all, congratulations to Robin for winning a copy of Tina Ferraro's How to Hook a Hottie! Thanks to everyone who stopped by for the interview. And Tina, good luck with the RITA next week!

So, most of my gadgets and gizmos are lined up on the couch in my office for tonight. I've charged all of my camera batteries, searched for my voice recorders and flashlights, and have stocked extra batteries. For the spiritual side of things, I have a protective crystal (at the suggestions of a Lily Dale psychic), sage (which is used for cleansing), and holy water (which my husband, who is joining me, suggested). Don't want to bring any ghosties home with me!

In other words, I'm all ready for my ghost hunt!

Tonight I'm heading to Mansfield Prison in Ohio with Spirited Ghost Hunting, a group of about 40 ghost hunters. From what I understand, we get a tour of the building with the lights on. Then they get cut, and we're free to wander with our cameras and voice recorders in the dark until 6 a.m.

6 a.m.! Those of you who know me know I like my sleep!

We'll see how it goes. Because it's the best video on Mansfield, I'm going to post the same video from last week. If you didn't watch it then, give it a go today. It's really creepy!

I'll blog all about it tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Dining with Tina Ferraro

2009-07-08T07:50:00.008-04:00

I’m sooooo excited to kick off my Dining with Authors series today with Tina Ferraro, who writes fun, romantic tales for teens. In May, I read her book The ABC’s of Kissing Boys and loved it!

Tina is the author of three Delacorte Press young adult novels, Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress, How to Hook a Hottie, and The ABC’s of Kissing Boys. Her books have received many kudos, including a personal endorsement from Twilight author Stephenie Meyer, a 2008 American Bookseller Association Book Sense Award, and nominee status for the 2009 American Library Association Best Young Adult Book and 2009 Romance Writers of America for Best Young Adult Novel. Her fourth YA novel, When Bad Flings Happen to Good Girls, will be released in 2010.

How to Hook a Hottie is a Romance Writers of America RITA Award finalist for Best Young Adult Book. The book features Kate DelVecchio, who plans to be a millionaire before she's 21. When she agrees to go to a sports banquet with a hotshot baseball player, she stumbles upon a possible cash cow. The rest of the school is amazed that the no-nonsense Kate could hook such a hottie, and one by one approach her for help hooking their own. She doesn't know anything about getting guys, but for $100.00 a pop, she's more than willing to try, including inventing a 6-step-plan on How to Hook a Hottie. And how could that possibly backfire?

Tina lives behind a computer in Los Angeles with her rocket scientist husband, a cat who bites, and whichever of their three young adult kids happens to be home.

Tamara: Welcome to the Girardi Diner. For this interview, imagine we are sitting across from each other in an adorable diner, sipping tea or coffee, enjoying a slice of our favorite cake or pie (mine's cherry pie!). It's much more fun that way!

Tina: Oh, yes, coffee, please, and pass me some of that cherry pie! Yum...

Tamara: If you could have dinner with any one of your characters, whom would you choose, and what would that character eat?

Tina: Well, my heroine, Kate, from How to Hook a Hottie, is a cheeseburger freak. I am so-so about them... But I do love the Bleunami Burger at Island’s. So settle me a booth with Kate, order up two of those hot, drippy bleu cheeseburgers, some onion rings, two iced teas. We’re good to go!

Tamara: What's your favorite vacation spot?

Tina: We have a family home in northern Italy, and for years, we packed our kids up for summer vacations there. We’d be like the locals, cooking, taking walks and afternoon naps, and visiting with family. But we haven’t been back in a while now since our kids have gotten older and are, a-hem, less content to be without their friends and the internet.

Tamara (who’s so jealous about your last answer): What was your favorite musical group/singer when you were in high school?

Tina: If I had to name just one, I’d say The Beatles, although they were already broken up and into their solo careers by that point.

Tamara: What is the funniest prank played on OR by you?

Tina: I was in high school. My brother and family friend--both younger--poured themselves full glasses of milk with lunch, and me just a tiny drop in a plastic cup. I arrived at the table and they said, “Hey, let’s pour milk on our heads!” I tilted my cup, saw nothing, thought they were complete idiots, and said, “Sure.” I poured mine, they didn’t. I ended up with milk dribbling down my face. They screamed with laughter. And to this day, I STILL get teased by both of them. Yeah, yeah.

Tamara: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Tina: An author, wife and mom! And believe me, there were long periods where I didn’t think the right guy, a baby, or selling a book would ever happen, so they all feel like big accomplishments.

Tamara: What question do you get asked most often about your writing? How do you answer it?

Tina: Lots of readers ask how they can find a guy like my heroes. And I have to tell them that I’m no help there. However, as my kids and their friends can attest, I DO have an uncanny ability to denote secret crushes. I can often see subtle changes in people’s eyes and body movements that speak louder than words or overt actions. So some of the “tips” in How to Hook a Hottie on how to tell if you’ve got a chance with a person really DO have some weight, especially the one about the wristwatch. It works, people!

Tamara: Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not?

Tina: Interesting that you ask this because recently we did this theme at the Buzz Girls blog to celebrate the release of Marley Gibson’s Ghost Huntress series. I told the story about my first apartment and how “something” that felt like a cat used to press against me in my sofa bed. When I changed positions, it would pause, then settled back in at a slightly different spot. I never saw anything, though. And when I moved to a different neighborhood, never felt it ever again. So that said, yes...I am definitely open to the idea of the spirit world.

Tamara: Thanks so much for stopping by the diner for this interview! Good luck with the Rita Award, and keep writing, so we can keep reading!

Tina: Thanks, this was FUN.

***For a chance to win a copy of Tina’s How to Hook a Hottie, post a comment below telling us something you’ve done or seen done to hook a hottie! Be sure to leave your email address, so I can email if you win!

Learn more about Tina and her books by checking out these links:

Tina Ferraro
Buzz Girls Blog
ABCs of Kissing Boys
Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress
How to Hook a Hottie

Rainy Days and Mondays #10

2009-07-06T09:24:00.002-04:00

Okay, there's nothing like this sound to make you smile.

Enjoy, and Happy Monday!

*Also, be sure to stop by Wednesday for a fun interview with author Tina Ferraro...

Happy Birthday, America!

2009-07-04T11:40:00.004-04:00

Happy Fourth of July, everyone. Hopefully you're enjoying the day with hot dogs, hamburgers, pool parties, and fireworks.

For the holiday, I wanted to share with you a piece of writing that has always inspired me. It was written by the light of a campfire to boost morale in the Revolutionary War. It was copied and read to American troops at the request of then General George Washington. It succeeded in fueling the cause when soldiers stormed Trenton in a surprise attack on Hessian soldiers, which showed the British America wasn't ready to give up.

It's called the American Crisis, and it was written by Thomas Paine. Here's a snippit:

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: 'tis dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated."

Reading this now, I'm impressed that it can be applied to so many situations, personal and political, even today. Like the best writing, it is universal and timeless.

Also, for my brother-in-law, Michel, who's serving in Iraq, all the men and women who have ever served or are serving in the military, and for my mother who loved this song:

Freaky Friday: First ghost hunt coming up...

2009-07-03T09:35:00.004-04:00

If you've read the excerpts I posted, you know my book opens with a scene in a haunted, abandoned prison. My fearless
17-year-old ghost hunter Leia Angeletti is doing her best to catch an apparition on film to prove herself to the older investigators in her group.

I wrote this scene in mid-January. Weeks later, I located and visited with a local ghost hunting group, Spirited Ghost Hunting. They were putting their schedule of hunts together, and lo and behold, one of the first ones was a trip to Mansfield, a haunted prison in Ohio.

I believe in signs, and that was a good one!

Because of my work schedule, though, I was unable to attend, but they are going for a second visit next week, and I'm on the list! It will be my first ghost hunt. Deep breath. I'm a little scared. I'll admit it. I'm not quite as brave as my YA herione.

I'll of course tell you all about it next weekend. In the meantime, here's a bit about Mansfield. FYI - It may look familiar if you've seen the film Shawshank Redemption, as it was filmed at Mansfield.

The Town that Talks to the Dead

2009-06-30T09:15:00.008-04:00

As promised, time to talk about my weekend in Lily Dale, NY. My college roommate and dear friend, Rachida, met me there, and we had some interesting experiences that made us believers. More on that soon.

Lily Dale is a spiritualist community, boasting to be the oldest and largest in the country. It's a little gated village that charges $10 per person to enter and then allows you to attend healing and message services, ghost walks, town tours, and thought exchanges for free. There are other special events throughout the summer as well.

Rachida and I attended a healing service at the Healing Temple Friday night. Here's a look at the Healing Temple:

From what I've read about psychics and spiritual healers in my research for THE DINER ON THIRD, the mediums who were performing the healing that night may have been calling on healing spirits to help them. With my limited five senses, I'd describe the session as prayer. I sat in a chair, and the healer asked if she could touch me and if there were any health concerns she should focus on. I answered her, and she went to work.

She rested her hands on my shoulders, then my neck, then my head and back and arms before saying a prayer out loud asking for my protection and health. It was peaceful and relaxing.

Let me step back for a moment and describe Lily Dale a bit to you. I don't think I could do it better than Christine Wicker, who published a National Bestseller about Lily Dale in 2003:

"Lily Dale is sixty miles south of Buffalo, tucked off the side road of a side road to Interstate 90. It's easy to miss. Little Victorian houses sitting at the edge of a lake. A settlement of a few hundred people clinging to a religion that once had millions of believers and now has only a remnant. American flags flapping from screened porches. Fountains splashing in shady little pocket parks. Big-bellied cats strolling across streets as though they own them.

"Women set the tone in this lakeside community where houses are painted in pastels. During the height of the summer season, when twenty thousand visitors come to consult the town's mediums, it resembes nothing so much as a sorority sleepover for aging sisters...Tinsel stars and crystals hang in windows. Christmas lights twinkle from porches all year long. Stone angels stand sentry on walkways, and plaster elves march across lawns."

Among these streets of cats, crystals and Christmas lights are houses with the name of their residents written on the outside. "Janice Dreshman, Medium." The 38 registered mediums of Lily Dale (if they are registered, it means they have been tested and approved by the Lily Dale Assembly) hang signs revealing whether they are open or closed, in or out, taking appointments for the day or full. If they are taking appointments, many have a clipboard on the porch. You sign your name next to the slot you want and come back at that time. Many of the readings are 30 minutes long, although longer is acceptable.

Rachida and I both did an individual reading. Since so many people are incredibly skeptical and the readings are very personal, I won't go into details. I'll only say this. There were some points my medium made that I didn't understand. She gave names of spirits who were coming through that I could not place. She offered familiar information that led me to certain conclusions, and I realize I may have been coming to those conclusions on error. But there were three things that she said that were undeniably true and so specific there was no way I could misinterpret them.

The same was true for Rachida.

Another popular attraction for the day was the message service. If you've ever seen John Edward's TV show Crossing Over, then you have an idea of what I'm talking about. One medium would lead the service and invite other registered mediums from Lily Dale as well as visiting mediums to give two or three readings each.

The mediums all had different styles. Some would say, "I'm getting someone named Charlie coming through..." And from there other details would be given to determine whom the message was for.

Other mediums would say, "I'd like to come to the woman in the third row with the green sweater."

They asked for the person receiving the message to speak up, so they could hear their voices and then they began the message. The messages were diverse. Sometimes they were from one spirit. Sometimes there were three or four spirits around someone all coming through.

Sometimes, I believed the medium was right on, by their confidence and the expression on the face of the person receiving the message. Other times, and mostly this was with visiting mediums, I thought the medium wasn't a medium at all.

I was chosen from the crowd at one of the message services at the Forest Temple (below). Again some things made a lot of sense, and others did not. In all, though it was a really interesting experience and worth it for anyone interested in checking it out or connecting with someone on the other side.

Rainy Days and Mondays #9

2009-06-29T10:10:00.003-04:00

Like so many others, I was shocked to hear about Michael Jackson's death. He was incredibly talented, but his life was full of trauma and tragedy. Hopefully, he's now at peace.

Michael had his best days during my childhood, and I remember dancing to his songs in the living room. Another memory I have, though, is of a great spoof artist. You may have heard of him - Weird Al Yankovic. He satirized a few of Michael's songs, and from what I've heard Michael was a good sport about it.

When I saw Michael Jackson's video Bad on TV over the weekend, I had to laugh because I happened to know Weird Al's version better. They're incredibly similar though!

Take a look for yourself and have a laugh.

Michael's version.

Weird Al's version.

*Details on Lily Dale tomorrow...

Freaky Friday: Trip to Lily Dale

2009-06-26T08:21:00.002-04:00

When I think back on my childhood, it's no secret I find myself writing about ghosts now. My mom was a big believer in spirits, psychics, the power of dreams, basically taking truth from things many people don't give an ounce of credit to.

Then there's my uncle. I don't think there was a weekend visit to his place that didn't involve a movie like Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Phantasm, Hellraiser, Puppet Master, Amityville and so on.

My grandmother was a fan of Poltergeist and Unsolved Mysteries, especially the ghostly cases.

See where I'm going with this?

But just as I started working on my ghost hunting tales in January, I discovered a few YA book series that I loved as well. One was the Lily Dale series by Wendy Corsi Staub.

Three Lily Dale books, Awakening, Believing, and Connecting, have already been released with Discovering coming out this fall. They tell the story of Calla Delaney, a teenage girl whose mother dies in their Tampa home. Her father is taking a job in California, but she doesn't want to go. Instead, she moves with her crazy grandma in Lily Dale, New York, a village for registered mediums and clairvoyants.

I'm not going to tell you any more about what happens to Calla, but I would recommend the books. Highly.

When I read them, I wanted to pack my car and drive the simple three and a half hours north to Lily Dale, but they were closed.

Not anymore.

Lily Dale officially opens this weekend, and I'm packing my bags when I finish this post. I'm really excited and promsie to report back any eerie happenings...

Rainy Days and Mondays #8

2009-06-22T08:07:00.003-04:00

Happy Monday!

Enjoy some pet humor...

Excerpt #2

2009-06-20T17:31:00.001-04:00

If you haven't read yesterday's post yet, read it first. Then come back to this one.

Here's where we left off:

Three men, wearing jumpsuits with the letters WSP followed by four numbers, pushed aside a washing machine and crawled into the wall behind it. They didn’t look up when I appeared in the doorway. It was as if I was the spirit intruding on their lives.

I wondered if they were residual spirits. That was something I would likely have known if our director allowed us to interview people who had reported ghost sightings in the prison before, but the Pittsburgh Investigators had a rule: We go in uninformed. We don’t care if Annie Atwood saw a floating woman wearing a white gown, or if Joey Jenkins came face to face with a Civil War soldier. Prior knowledge could taint the investigation. Instead, we go in blind. We record our findings and then compare them to other reports made over the years.

I would have loved to know something about these men, to garner some way to communicate with them. In my three short years of investigating hauntings, I’d never seen an actual apparition before, let alone three at once.

And they looked so real.

Let’s get this straight. I don’t scare easily. Or at all. Under normal circumstances. But seeing three apparitions so clearly they could be human – that’s not normal. It brought on symptoms I rarely experienced: heart beating fast, breath coming short and quick, knees weakening.

If there was a possibility to get more of this on film, I was so in. I unstrapped a walkie-talkie from my belt. “Hey, guys, this is Leia in the basement. Can anyone hear me?”

I tapped my toes and counted to five.

“Anyone up there? Zito? Connor? Monica? Something pretty crazy is happening down here. Anyone?”

All I got was static.

“Forget this.” I set the walkie-talkie on top of the washing machine while I shifted two motion detectors from my backpack to my belt. Monica would want to know about something like this, but if she didn’t answer, what was I supposed to do? I was already a few seconds behind the spirits, if they were even still around. Use your best judgment, Monica would say. I took a deep breath, made the sign of the cross, squeezed my small frame behind the washer and crawled into the wall.

A novel is born this weekend, Excerpt #1

2009-06-19T21:09:00.004-04:00

Happy Friday, everyone!

I had plans to spend this weekend in a haunted campground with a local ghost hunting group. It would have been my first ghost hunt, but rainy days prevented that.

I was particularly excited because tonight, my main character, Leia Angeletti, goes on a very important ghost hunt in the world of fiction. In fact, when I started writing my book in January, I chose tonight's date for the opening chapter (technically it's tomorrow morning at 1 a.m.). It seemed so long ago, but now it's here!

For that reason, I'm going to share Leia's experiences with you this weekend.

These are the opening pages of my young adult book. Check back often to see how the scene unfolds!

June 20, 2009, 1:01 a.m.
Chapter 1
I held the voice recorder to my mouth and said, “June 20th, approximately 1 a.m., the former Western State Penitentiary. Hello? I’m Leia. Is anyone in the room with me?”

My voice filled the basement and echoed off the cement walls.

I waited.

Nothing.

“I bet some painful things happened down here. Wanna talk about it?”

According to my thermometer, the air around me dropped from 60 degrees to a chilly 48. The cold and its implication made me shiver inside my Pittsburgh Steelers sweatshirt.

“I know you’re here. Come on. Make a noise for me.”

Still, nothing.

“I guess you aren’t strong enough to make a noise.”

Metal crashing across the room proved me wrong. I smiled. Provoking spirits is a piece of cheesecake. That might have something to do with eternally being trapped between two worlds. That much solitude, and I’d be ready to communicate, too.

“Betcha can’t do that again.”

My provocation was rewarded by a series of noises at the other end of the basement. I switched on the night vision camera to see a mess of tools spread across the floor next to a workbench. A few nails were still rolling around.

“Impressive.”

The green light on my recorder dimmed, then faded completely. It was 1:08 a.m. Less than ten minutes in, and the batteries were already dead.

Using the light from my cell phone, I pulled two AAA batteries from my backpack, hoping the new ones wouldn’t fall victim to spirit manifestations. I brought backups to every investigation, but I wasn’t exactly a walking Radio Shack.

Across the room I heard footsteps. Looking through the lens of the night vision camera, I saw a dark figure turn the bend into what was once the prison laundry room at the end of the hallway.

I pumped my fist in the air celebrating victory, blew out a deep breath and followed, stepping lightly, but there was no escaping the loud pounding in my chest.

My family doesn’t care to understand the rush I get from “this stuff.” She’s only 17. She shouldn’t be chasing ghosts. She should be curling her hair and going to dances. If her mother was around, she would be a normal girl.

I’d heard it all. Of course my father and aunts didn’t know at that moment I was alone in the basement of one of the most haunted buildings in the state.

“And they don’t need to know,” I mouthed, so the camera didn’t pick up the words.

Instead, it hopefully recorded the sound of the boots pounding against the cement floor. They stopped in the laundry room. I could hear whispering as I approached. I stopped and coached myself through a few short breaths, but nothing could prepare me for what I saw around that corner.

More soon...

If that wasn't enough...

2009-06-15T16:03:00.014-04:00

If Rainy Days and Mondays wasn't enough for you this morning, spend some time with the Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The parade was incredible, and seeing my personal favorite Evgeni Malkin and that gorgeous cup sparkling in the sunshine was worth the heat, the wait, the walk, and the crowd.

Above: A portion of the parade route on the Boulevard of the Allies. I love the crazed fans hanging off the parking garage! Below: Here comes the parade!

Below: The man who made it possible by saving the Pens twice - Mario Lemieux!

Above: Tyler Kennedy...Kennedy! Below: Jordan Staal came up huge, scoring a short-handed goal for the Pens in Game 4 of the finals.

Above: My number one Penguin, Evgeni Malkin with the Conn Smythe Trophy awarded to the playoff MVP. He's my personal favorite for league MVP! (Again, I may be biased). Since he's my fav, one more of Geno below...

Here comes the Cup!

Below: Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury hoists the Cup over his head with captain Sidney Crosby by his side.

Awesome team. Awesome season. Awesome parade. Thanks, guys.

Rainy Days and Mondays #7

2009-06-15T08:51:00.003-04:00

Nobody could ask for a better weekend.

Really. It was the kind of weekend that keeps giving, even through Monday morning. But there are some people who read this blog outside of Pittsburgh who aren't feeling the exhilaration we are, and there are Pittsburghers who will be stuck in offices today during the Stanley Cup Parade for the victorious Pittsburgh Penguins.

For those, reasons, I'm happy to share the three amazing events that have me waking up happy today!

Thursday

The New Kids on the Block concert was great. Kudos to Donnie for coming out on stage with a Penguins towel. He said Pittsburgh is one of the greatest cities to visit, and he's right!

I might be biased.

The New Kids sing a song called Dirty Dancing. Before they sang the song at the concert, they played a clip that made the crowd go wild. Here it is:

Friday

Wow. After listening to announcers and should-be fans saying the Penguins couldn't do it, Pittsburgh defeated Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals. And it came down to the final seconds, just like the Super Bowl.

I'm happy to have two championship teams in the city this year, but I might have an ulcer as well.

Congratulations to Talbot, Crosby, Malkin, Fleury and the rest of the Pens. What a comeback season. Here's a look back at Game 7.

By the way the crowd goes wild when Talbot scores, you'd think it was a home game for the Pens!

Sunday

I took my niece to see the Broadway Musical Legally Blonde. It's such a fun show. And again, kudos to the lead, Becky Gulsvig, who plays Elle Woods for making her curtain call with a Sidney Crosby jersey on. Go Pens!

Here's a look at the opening number for the musical.

Well, I guess this is plenty to keep you from being productive today at the office. Happy Monday!

Rainy Days and Mondays #6

2009-06-11T13:33:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure where you are, but it's a gloomy day in Pittsburgh. A few months ago, a friend invited me to a concert, which is tonight, and I told her I'd be there as long as we get pavilion seats. I hate taking a chance with the cheaper lawn tickets, and the view outside my window is exactly why!

So here's a pick-me-up in honor of my concert of choice for the evening - New Kids on the Block. Work it out, Jordan!

Oh, yes. I will be doing that dance tonight! oh-oh-OH-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh!

Rainy Days and Mondays #5

2009-06-08T08:24:00.002-04:00

This adorable video has been circulating the email forward rings lately, but it's still cute enough to share for Rainy Days and Mondays. I wonder if the cat is taking on new clients...

Happy Monday!

Everything Plus One

2009-06-04T16:48:00.004-04:00

I knew I had to be forgetting something yesterday. What list can end at 9?

It hit me as I massaged Brilliant Brunette shampoo into my hair today. Could that have had something to do with it?

Anyway...

10. Refer to your referrals. Referrals in query letters can be great, but don't think just because someone has endorsed your project, you're on the fast track to publication. Agents have to actually know the person who gave the referral, so give some context.

If Meg Cabot or Lee Child has told you to query Agent A with your project, context may not be necessary. However, if a lesser known author or someone the agent met in passing at a conference refers you, you should say as much.

"My friend, Name That Friend, author of Name That Book, met you at the Backspace Conference and said you're looking for paranormal YA projects. She thought you might really enjoy my book about..."

Also, quotes and blurbs aren't really necessary at this stage. Having them in your back pocket for the editor and committee at the publishing house is a good idea, though.

Happy Querying!

Everything You Ever Wanted to Learn about Query Letters...You Can Learn Online

2009-06-03T17:58:00.027-04:00

In May, I attended two writers conferences. I realize I was very fortunate to do so, especially since finding good conferences is difficult, and sometimes paying to attend them is impossible.

Writer friends of mine and I took some great notes, and I'm hoping to share the knowledge with you - starting with query letters.

Here's my disclaimer: I'm not perfect at writing queries. In fact, I've been polishing my current query for some time now.

That said, I've done my research. Lots of research. And, I've sat in on several agent panels and heard feedback from more than 20 agents in query letter workshops.

The perfect query
My theory behind query letters reminds me of a scene from a movie, Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Steve Martin's daughter gives birth, and she tells her father the baby will be named after him. He's taught the new parents that there's no way to be a perfect parent but a million ways to be a good one.

So goes the story with queries. Writers are so often searching for the golden formula or phrase that will guarantee a perfect query.

It doesn't exist.

This is why: reading is subjective.

One agent may prefer you start a query with the genre, title and word count while another prefers you jump right into the heart of the story or the hook.

There's no one right way to write a query letter, but there are a million ways to write a good one.

Here's another secret: everything you ever wanted to learn about query letters you can learn online.

People who have written books on the subject may hate me for saying so, but it's true. Here's my (unsolicited but hopefully helpful) advice on how to develop a query letter that will make agents reply with a manuscript request so quickly it will be filled with typos (this is of course a joke - if you get an email from an agent filled with typos, be very suspicious).

Steps to writing a great query:
1. Research the art of the query letter. It's likely you've heard of that thing called the Internet. What? You're on it now? Good for you. While you're looking around, check out the following:

Miss Snark

Nathan Bransford's blog: pay particular attention to the Query posts under The Essentials and Labels, and "Be an Agent for a Day" under Labels

Query Shark

There are many other query resources out there, but these three have one priceless tool in common - in addition to offering some basic info, they all show you real query letters and offer critiques of them.

I've learned what has helped me the most in writing my query letter is figuring out what I should NOT be doing. Spending time (likely to be hours and days) on these sites will give you that same bit of knowledge. If you're looking for other sites, most agent blogs have a tendency to address the dreaded query letter.

2. Research the agents you're querying. A good Google search may yield a blog post or interview given by your agent of choice that highlights his or her preference in query letters. Look for specifics such as: "I prefer writers open the query by hooking me with a great story in a few sentences," "I never want to know the ending of the story in the query," "Please don't open your query with a rhetorical question," or "Begin your query by telling me the genre of the book, so I can get in the right mindframe as I continue to read."

If you're targeting an agent who has a blog, you've scored big. Scour the archives for his or her preferences on queries.

3. Tailor the query to individual agents. Once you know what the agent likes, give him or her exactly that. That said, there's something you should absolutely avoid. At the last conference I attended (Backspace in New York City), several agents said one thing that would result in instant deletion from their email accounts is a bulk email to several agents.

Agents know you're querying other agents, but they expect the courtesy of a personalized email. Another way to do this is to research the agent's recent sales on Publishers Marketplace or elsewhere and say something like, "I've decided to query you with my project because you represented xyz. My project is similar in that..."

Caution - if you say you've read a book the agent represents, be sure you did!

4. Read jacket copy. In workshops, I've heard agent after agent after agent say to learn how to write great queries, read the back cover copy of the books you like. In many cases, good query letters attract agents who use them to attract editors who use them to sell your books (in other words, good query letters eventually become jacket copy). The intrigue created by the cover copy is exactly what agents want to see in your query.

5. Seek a second, third, tenth opinion. To make it in the publishing industry, you need good readers, people who are willing to say when something is off and when something is great. If you're in a writing group, ask the members to critique your query. If you're part of an online group like Backspace, you may find a place in the forums to post your query and seek opinions. If you read this blog and would like my opinion on your query, send it right over.

FYI - It's ideal to get someone who knows nothing about your book to read your query.

Ask your readers if they find the story interesting. If they do, ask when they felt themselves thinking, "Hmmn. This could be really cool." Was it in the first sentence? Hopefully. If it was in the third paragraph, you may consider moving that "Aha" moment to the first sentence.

6. Query widely. As I mentioned, agents want to know that you selected them among the hordes of literary agents out there, but you're not married yet. Agents DO NOT expect you to query exclusively, wait weeks or months for a response (mathematically, the response will likely be a rejection), and then query another agent. You want to score representation and sell your book, right? So query, query, query!

7. Maintain communication. At the query stage, it's not necessary to inform agents you're querying elsewhere. They expect as much. When agents start requesting your manuscript (Yea! Congratulations! Have a cocktail!), be aware that's the time to maintain communication with them, especially if they request the full manuscript.

This does not mean you should call them at home like you're old pals.

Here's the thing, reading a full manuscript takes lots of time, which is something agents don't have much of. If they're going to read your ms (manuscript) on a weekend, feverishly taking notes, to call you Monday and offer representation, they want to know if another agent is doing the same thing.

Consider this scenario - Agent A requests the full ms. You jump up and down until you're sick, fear all the uncorrected typos you must have somehow missed, stare at the "Send" button in your email account, and finally click it to jump up and down some more. You check your email ten minutes later and wonder why Agent A has not gotten back to you with an offer of representation yet. Time passes, and you forget about Agent A, relatively speaking in the sense that you're able to function in daily tasks.

Then, while checking your email to see if Agent A has figured out you're the next Stephenie Meyer/Stephen King/Janet Evanovich/Jodi Picoult, (*Note: Don't mistake delusions such as agent responding in 10 minutes and soaring to celebrity author status as rational thought), Agent B emails to request a full ms.

Repeat jumping up and down sequence. But in addition to emailing Agent B the full ms, you should inform said agent that another agent is also reviewing the full. Then, email Agent A with the words "Update: (Your Title)" in the subject line to courteously inform Agent A of Agent B's existence. This is a great situation for you. I have heard many agents say such an update/friendly warning encourages them to move more quickly on your work.

8. Be patient. This isn't really step eight.

It could be applied at all points in the process. Once you finish your book, you're likely to be so excited to get it in the hands of an agent. You should be. Congrats on finishing that book!

But, take some time to perfect your query. Take some time to research your agents of choice. Take some time to rewrite the query 15 times to 15 different agents (keeping in mind the core paragraph(s) about your story as well as the bio paragraph will stay the same, but the order and/or the paragraph detailing why you're sending to that particular agent will change).

And remember, sending out a query before it's ready is like burning a bridge to the mainland.

9. Query again? Since I've gone and thrown out the "burning bridges" cliche (I've slapped my hand for that one), I'll add that there's a debate for whether you can requery the same project to an agent if he or she has rejected it once.

If you change your query significantly, agents may not notice. I've even heard some agents say, "Go ahead. I'll never know the difference." Yet, I attended a workshop last week where an agent recalled a query she had seen from a writer in the group nearly a year ago. A year!

I also witnessed a fit of giggles from a panel of agents who apparently have received the same query letter from the same author for the same project enough times that they all know him by name (and laugh when it's mentioned).

So, query again? Do so with caution.

Rainy Days and Mondays #4

2009-06-01T09:31:00.004-04:00

Don't let Monday get you down. Here's a tidbit of inspiration to get you through the day.

"I have missed over five thousand shots in my career. I've lost almost three hundred games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot - and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life...And that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan

Happy Monday!

Rainy Days and Mondays #3

2009-05-28T17:23:00.002-04:00

Well, it's raining in New York. It's not pouring, and we're planning on having dinner at the Heartland Brewery, right around the corner from the hotel, so not too bad.

But - this calls for another round of Rainy Days and Mondays.

The Backspace Writing conference is going well, but since my story's in need of some revision (and a new title), here is some inspiration on the idea that writing is rewriting:

"Fail. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett

"Rewriting is when playwriting really gets to be fun. In baseball you only get three swings and you're out. In rewriting, you get almost as many swings as you want and you know, sooner or later, you'll hit the ball." - Playwright Neil Simon

"It is all a matter of trial and instructive error. I try to say what I cannot yet say and fail but find the failure instructive." - Donald Murray

New York City, Day Three

2009-05-27T22:42:00.003-04:00

Meteorologists got it wrong today for New York City. There was some rain, but not as much as predicted. It worked for me.

Here's a short recap of Day Three:

Liz and I were fortunate to get seats 11 rows back from James Gandolfini's hilarious performance in Tony-nominated God of Carnage. In truth, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, and Marcia Gay Harden were also amazing. I'm a huge Sopranos fan, so seeing "Tony" in the flesh was just a really cool experience. I'd recommend the show to anyone (above the age of 16 comfortable with the occasional four-letter word).
We burned some calories walking the Brooklyn Bridge. I'd never done this before, but it jumped to my "must-do" list for all future visits to the city.
We consumed some calories at Shanghai Cuisine, my Chinatown restaurant of choice on the corner of Mulberry and Bayard. Everything I've had there has been great, but I'd particularly recommend the steamed vegetable dumplings and spring rolls.
Strand Bookstore is huge! It's a shame airlines are charging for bags now. Let me hop on my soap box and say I'd contribute a lot more to the NYC economy while I'm here if I could actually take stuff home without paying for it all over again!

The Backspace Conference, which is the catalyst for this visit, starts tomorrow morning. It's Agent-Author Day, an opportunity to interact with about 20 agents. Here's to hoping it goes well...

Rainy Days and Mondays #2

2009-05-27T08:52:00.007-04:00

Rainy Days and Mondays was on vacation for Memorial Day, but since wet weather is scheduled today for NYC, here's your next installment of inspiration:

Yesterday we visited the World Trade Center site. Crews are in the process of rebuilding the towers and a museum and memorial of September 11, so the temporary memorial has been taken down.

However, across the street is St. Paul's Chapel. During the rescue and recovery efforts, the chapel served as a care center for the thousands of volunteers who came from all over the world. When I get back home, I'll add some pictures to this post, but for now, here are some of the quotes and facts from the chapel exhibit that I found particularly powerful:

In the first three months after September 11th, more than 3,000 workers passed through the chapel's gates.
St. Paul's served between 2,000 and 3,000 meals to workers each day.
"In the hands of ordinary people, St. Paul's ministry achieved extraordinary heights. Strangers from all walks of life joined together to support and comfort the workers at Ground Zero. For nine months, they served hot meals, organized and dispensed supplies, loaned their expertise, and offered warm smiles. Their hospitality remains a testament to humanity and the power of community." -Chapel Exhibit
"[The firefighters and other rescue and recovery volunteers] were so tired, and they had so much on their minds that we had to think of every last need that they had and offer it to them before they realized they needed it," said one volunteer.
Over a thousand licensed massage therapists donated their time to fill four six-hour shifts each day.
"There were always people working [at Ground Zero] around the clock, so why shouldn't we be there around the clock? They all needed us," said Dr. Adam Lamb, a chiropractor who volunteered.
"People went in there and worked for 12 hours, and then walked out and said, "This may be the most important 12 hours I've ever spent in my life," said St. Paul's pastor.
"From the smoldering bleak pit at Ground Zero, workers saw St. Paul's steeple high above the dust. Though they wore many different uniforms, workers journeyed to the chapel with the same needs. At first, they wanted food and a place to sleep. Then, among the banners and letters of love and support, they found strength and courage to continue their overwhelming tasks." -Chapel Exhibit

New York City, Day Two

2009-05-26T22:48:00.003-04:00

We waited for the rain all day, but fortunately it didn't come. So we took advantage of some time outdoors in the city by packing in lots of walking, Grand Central Station, Central Park, World Trade Center site, and Battery Park.

Again, the walking was probably necessary. We had pizza for lunch and couldn't resist a cupcake at Magnolia Bakery for dessert. I'd kind of like to eat another one right now!

Overall, the day was great, and it was punctuated perfectly.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in the Stanley Cup Finals! Go Pens!

On my way to Macy's this evening, I passed someone wearing a Penguins jersey. I was wearing my Malkin jersey. We shared a "Go Pens!" moment.

We have big plans tomorrow afternoon...but it's a surprise. You'll have to check back then!

New York City, Day One

2009-05-25T22:01:00.004-04:00

Last weekend, I spent three great days at the PennWriters Conference in Pittsburgh, and although I haven't had the chance to blog about it, I will soon. I attended some amazing sessions on point of view, pitching, character development, series characters, thrillers vs. suspense vs. mysteries, and crime scene writing.

I'm basically behind because as I was recovering from PennWriters, I was also preparing for Backspace, which is this Thursday to Saturday in the Big Apple.

Liz, a friend and co-worker who's writing a romance novel, and I arrived in the city this morning and met some friends for a trip to Coney Island.

I was stoked about this trip.

A TV program on the best places to get hot dogs had something to do with that, and I was looking forward to a visit to Nathan's. The hot dog was awesome. I'd eat another tomorrow if Coney Island wasn't an hour away on the subway.

The beach and boardwalk at Coney Island were great, but the amusement park wasn't impressive. Apparently, I'm spoiled since growing up less than an hour away from Kennywood, a family park with one of the top wooden roller coasters in the country.

Don't get me wrong, Coney Island was fun. I expected a bigger amusement park, but it was definitely worth the trip.

We rounded out the day with some afternoon rest, dinner in Little Italy (and a chocolate-dipped cannoli for dessert). Then it was time for penance in the form of jogging the stairs at our hotel and walking about a mile round trip to Times Square and back.

More tomorrow....Go Pens!

Signing off on Idol

2009-05-21T08:26:00.004-04:00

So, if we were sitting across from each other at a diner (you with your yummy, greasy hashbrowns and me with a slice of melon and toast), the first thing I would bring up is American Idol.

KRIS WON!

Maybe that Austin Powers influence worked on you.

Congratulations to Kris. He deserves this. Adam is very talented, but to be truthful in chatting with friends, family, and strangers at the salon these past few weeks, none of them preferred Adam.

None.

Yet, Adam nation is crying foul because he was such a favorite. Why was he the top dog?

The judges loved him. They're always looking for new and original, and Adam is unlike any previous Idol winners for sure.

And, Idol is filmed in California, which basically gives Adam home-court advantage.

Another point to consider is this is America. We have a soft spot for the underdog.

The bottom line is Kris won. Maybe some people used computers to facilitate that. Maybe some people voted because of his religious values.

Or maybe some people like me were up until 1 a.m. doing random tasks, carrying around a cell phone hitting end/send, end/send, end/send.

Kris won. Adam will still have a career. Congrats to both of them. Moving on...

American Idol and Update

2009-05-19T11:31:00.004-04:00

At the risk of alienating some of you, I'm going out on a limb and saying...

VOTE FOR KRIS!!!

I like his voice. I like his artistry. I like that he sings instead of screams. I like that he contorts his face in painful expressions when he belts out a note. I love that he's the underdog. So, just do it...

VOTE FOR KRIS!!!

I'm a fan of Austin Powers. Remember when Will Ferrell could not resist a question three times. I'm hoping this has the same effect...

VOTE FOR KRIS!!!

Deep breath...now that that's over, how about an update. I've been in contact with several agents and have great feedback for improving THE DINER ON THIRD. I'm in revisions, again. Next week, I'm heading to New York City for the Backspace conference where I'll meet with other agents and editors.

The best way to explain what's going on right now is that good things are happening. Not great things, but I'm still working towards that. Thanks for your support and encouragement!

P.S. Can Marc-Andre Fleury get a street named after him or something? Go Pens!

Rainy Days and Mondays #1

2009-05-18T09:38:00.006-04:00

As a kid, I was a fan of the Carpenters. I remember spinning around the living room shouting how rainy days and Mondays always got me down.

For a writer, a plummeting mood is a bit of a death curse.

However, on this Monday, I'm not down. After attending the fantastic PennWriters conference this weekend, meeting impressive agents, and building friendships with other writers, inspired is a much better word to describe my Monday morning.

Since I started this blog, I've been looking for ways to share inspiriation. And since it seems most people need a little boost on rainy days and Mondays, that's when I'm going to send some your way.

We're starting off with a brilliant woman that bestselling author Lisa Scottoline quoted at the conference this weekend. In sharing a boisterous tale of her life, Lisa mentioned her mother's strength with this quote:

"A woman is like a teabag - you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water."

It's a popular quote, one that you probably recognize from Eleanor Roosevelt.

Since it is so well-known, I wanted to share another one. At the conference, I learned a lot about character development. And this quote also by the former first lady seems fitting.

"People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built."

So start this week off right by building your characters on the page or building your own character.

Happy Monday!

P.S. Go Pens!

Origin of Stalker Tamara

2009-05-12T18:44:00.002-04:00

Last night, I screamed, jumped, high-fived, slapped people with a towel, and shook my hips to the rhythm.

I bet you're wondering where a gal could do all of those things. Well, the most wonderful place in Pittsburgh of course, Mellon Arena on a playoff hockey night.

The game was awesome. Admittedly it would have been better if the Washington Capitals didn't play so despicably dirty. And better still had the Pittsburgh Penguins won.

Nevertheless, it was a good time. Coincidentally, it was also the location of my Stalker Tamara origination story.

Let me take you back to my senior year in high school. I went to the arena with a group of guy friends for Monday Night Raw. Yes, we're talking WWF. My idol was The Rock. I loved the eyebrow and the elbow.

The night before, I made a sign that consisted of five poster boards spelling out "Rocky." On the center three boards, I drew the bull with one raised eyebrow. Monday night, it was the first sign on the jumbo-tron, thank you very much.

Some things never change. The show was awesome. There was screaming, jumping, high-fiving and hip-shaking, although towels were not involved.

Afterwards, we stood outside and froze, waiting for the wrestlers to exit the arena. We saw the Hardy Boys, the Undertaker, Cain, and other favorites of the time. Then from a distance, I saw The Rock shaking hands with a few guys and mock fighting with others in the parking garage under the arena. Then he got into the driver's side of a sedan and drove away - right passed us.

As the crazed fan I was, I was first row, against the rope, taking pictures and screaming.

Let me take you on a tangent, creating some suspense and offering background. Pittsburgh is notorious for its roads. The highway engineers of Pennsylvania graduated at the bottom of their classes to be sure (no offense, but it's hard to argue this point). But poor design of city roads forced Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to stop his car in the middle of the road, awaiting the opportunity to merge into traffic.

Teenage-crazed-fan Stalker Tamara didn't give him that chance. Without hesitation, I was sprawled on his windshield like a bug. One hand pounded on the glass. The other snapped photo after photo. My eyes were locked on the People's Eyebrow, raised just for me - and the horde of fans who piled on top of me.

In my memory, the moment goes on forever. Realistically, it ended after a few seconds with a cop wrapping his arms around my waist as I kicked and screamed with elation at the fact that a single pane of glass and only a foot of space separated me from...the only words I can think of here are not appropriate for all audiences, so you fill in the blank.

So, there you have it. The genesis of Stalker Tamara. I like to think I'm reformed. I don't jump on vehicles anymore. That's a step in the right direction.

Yet, I like the idea of a protagonist who is a bit of a stalker. Not in a creepy way, of course. Just in a way that the opening line of her story could be: "I don't do drugs. I rarely drink, but occasionally, it's fun to stalk people."

Festival of Mystery II and Stalking Stories

2009-05-09T10:20:00.006-04:00

Mystery Lover's Bookshop's 14th annual Festival of Mystery Monday was a big success. Festival book sales were up 14 percent from last year, hopefully a sign that in the tough economy people are turning to books for entertainment.

My stack of books waiting to be read doubled after my visit to the festival with books from Jane K. Cleland, Shirley Damsgaard, Kathryn Miller Haines, Stefanie Pintoff, Marcia Talley, and Heather Terrell. I'm anxious to get through them. As I do, I'll blog about the great reads I'm sure to find.

After laughing with a friend regarding my stalker status mentioned in the last blog post, I thought an explanation might be in order.

As a student in the University of St. Andrews creative writing program, my classmates deemed my quote of the year: "I don't do drugs. I rarely drink, but occasionally it's fun to stalk people."

They suggested I use it as an opening line of a book. They published it on a web site that listed our bios. They wouldn't let me forget it.

The quote sparked from the Dunhill Links celebrity golf tournament held on the Old Course in St. Andrews in October of 2004. I heard there would be quite a group of celebrities, so my roommate and I got up early and hiked it out to the tenth hole. As we got there, a van pulled up next to us. The side door slid open and out hopped Hugh Grant. Our mouths dropped, and we followed him without a thought.

Eventually, we took a pretty horrible picture with him, and he wasn't the friendliest of blokes. But he could have been having a bad day. Who knows?

Then, we watched Dennis Quaid golf a bit. He was friendly and gorgeous. He golfed alongside Greg Kinnear, who might not be the best golfer ever. He hit the golf ball into a massive crowd of people.

Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Douglas were also there, but my best and most significant stalking experience was with Kevin Costner.

When we first saw him, he was pulling a little kid out from the crowd to take a picture with him on the green. At the next hole, he leaned against the fence and chatted with the locals. From only a few feet away, I could see a bug crawling up his shoulder to his neck. The way I saw it, if a bug was crawling on me, I'd want someone to let me know.

So I interrupted his conversation to tell him he had a bug on his shoulder, and to my incredible surprise, he leaned toward me silently asking for me to swipe it away. So I did. Then he grabbed both of my hands, and with his face inches from mine said, "Now, I better not see that bug on ebay." I laughed.

He went back to golf, and I took a few steps back from the fence to have a minor freakout. I wish I could say I was cool and nonchalant around celebrities. (As I racked my brain to find a celebrity I've been cool around, it took a few seconds, but I did not freak out in any way when I was only feet away from Prince William several times. Ha!).

Anyway, I went for a drink at the pub with my writer friends later and told them the story. They couldn't believe I just spoke to Kevin Costner like that. I should have kept my mouth shut, but at some point I mumbled, "That was nothing," and thought back to my first incident with celebrity and how cops were involved.

To hear about the genesis of Stalker Tamara, check back soon...

Festival of Mystery - Part I

2009-05-05T13:47:00.009-04:00

The parking lot at the Greek Orthodox Social Hall wasn't jam-packed when I arrived at the Festival of Mystery an hour before the doors opened, and I was lucky to snag a space close enough to watch the line grow...in the rain.

It's a festival tradition that the first 100 people receive a bag of free books.

People know this. They've been coming for years. They arrive early and claim their spaces in line (and by claim I mean cut in front of you). Since the rain was pouring down and there were clearly not 100 umbrellas in line, I killed a few minutes in my car.

Then as car after car after car pulled into the parking lot, my heart started beating fast, and I turned into one of those aforementioned "people" rushing from to claim a spot.

Despite the fact that I've painted mystery readers as crazies who cut in front of you (only one woman cut in front of me, and with her eyes, she challenged me to call her on it - I didn't), I had a nice chat with two Pittsburgh natives during the 45-minute wait for the doors to open. They were friendly and fantastic, as most Pittsburghers are.

And the authors were equally awesome. Here are some highlights and shoutouts:

Wendy Corsi Staub
I have it on good authority that I'm Wendy's favorite customer. Okay, maybe not, like top favorite, but I'm up there.

Earlier this year, I discovered her Lily Dale series about Calla Delaney, a teenage girl who loses her mom to a terrible accident and moves to live with her strange grandmother in a town full of psychics and mediums. I loved, loved, loved the series and picked up a few more books with psychic protagonists Monday night.

There's something cool about meeting authors. Until Monday, Wendy was a list of books, a picture on the back cover, but now, she's a beautiful, giggly, friendly, funny woman who pushes antibacterial handy wipes on her customers in the name of swine flu.

And bottom line, she's a great writer.

Jason Pinter
It's official. If I'm Wendy's favorite customer, I'm Jason's safe stalker.

I say safe because it's not creepy or anything. At least I hope not. Of all the authors I've had the pleasure of meeting, it seems I bump into Jason most often.

Last year, when I joined Backspace, I read up on the authors and was interested in Jason's series about Henry Parker, a crime-solving journalist. I ordered one of the books and loved it only to learn Jason would be in Pittsburgh days later for the 2008 Festival of Mystery.

I introduced myself, tried to keep the oh-my-gosh-I'm-talking-to-a-real-life-published-author giggles under control and bought another book in the series. Fast forward three months to the Backspace conference in New York where I said, "Hey, Jason, remember me?"

The first three books in his Henry Parker series are out, so grab them. Two more are on the way this fall and winter.

I seem to be in ramble mode today, so I'm going to cut this off and come back tomorrow to tell you about the other authors I stalked - only in a good way - at the Festival of Mystery.

P.S. C'mon Pens!

Updates

2009-05-02T17:10:00.004-04:00

I've been quiet for a few days, so here are a few updates for you:

Update #1: I'm still here. In other words, despite my boring diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, and the occasional splash of flavor, I haven't wasted away.

Update #2: This is finals week. No, I'm not a student. I'm a teacher, which makes finals week worse. Students have at most five papers/assignments to write. I have about 20 exams and 40 essays to grade from two classes. I can't imagine how full-time instructors feel this week in grading exams and essays from hundreds of students!

Update #3: THE DINER ON THIRD, my YA paranormal mystery about 17-year-old ghost hunter Leia Angeletti is out on submission with several agents. I've had some positive reponses and two outright rejections. I'm hopeful, but I'm also beginning to think the manuscript could be improved in a few ways.

Update #4: The April Marathon is over, obviously. I spent some quality time with great writers, racing to a finish line of either 500 or 1,000 words, and little by little I developed the plot for Leia Angeletti's second adventure. However, revisions for THE DINER ON THIRD and query letters slowed down the momentum for book two. Although I didn't meet my goal, I'm proud to say I finished the month with 25,000 words towards my next book!

Update #5: I've been looking forward to May for a loooooooong time! Here's why:

May 4, Festival of Mystery hosted by Mystery Lover's Bookshop (FYI - The staff is fantastic, and they offer free shipping on any book orders more than $10, so give them a call). I'm going to embrace a dork moment and say I'm giggling inside at the opportunity to visit with writers I admire and meet new writers as well.
May 9, Summer vacation begins. To focus my efforts on fiction, I won't be teaching this summer. Although I love my students, this is my first vacation from teaching since the fall semester of 2006. I'm looking forward to it :-)
May 15-17, PennWriters Conference. I'm a newbie to the PennWriters organization, and the giddy dork inside will blossom mid-month to meet with agents and writers at the annual conference in Pittsburgh.
May 24-30, New York City, here we come! My great friend and writerly colleague, Liz Hayes, and I are heading to the big city for some fun and some business. Monday to Wednesday, we'll be hanging out with awesome chicas (and I mean you Katie, Chelsea, and Kailen!!!), and Thursday to Saturday, we're attending the fantastic Backspace Conference.
May 31, Bon anniversaire a moi! For those of you who know French, it's not my birthday. Let me spit out a cliche and say I can't believe a year has passed since my high school sweetheart and I tied the knot. But it has, and let's hope flights are on schedule, so I can rush home from New York to eat a year-old strawberry cheesecake before he eats it all on his own (and because I love him and all that)!

P.S. A.S. King's DUST OF 100 DOGS was discussed as a Great Read on this blog in March. She's an awesome writer and a cool gal, and she's running a contest on her blog this weekend. Write a 100-word story to win an autographed copy of her book. You know this giggling dork will be giving it a shot. You should too. Check it out.

May 1 - Buy Indie Day

2009-04-28T14:35:00.004-04:00

My brother Scott has the tendency to make me laugh. Not little giggles. Big, curl your head down toward your toes, hold your stomach, hope you don't pee your pants laughter.

He's younger than me, and we are a bit different. I loved school. He hated it. I've read a few books this month; he's read a few in the last decade. So, this one time (not at band camp) my brother told me a story about something that really troubled him.

He went to the mall with a friend, and the only place to park was outside of a Border's. It was a Saturday night. He entered through the automatic doors and passed by the cafe. According to him, this is what he saw:

"Tam, there were people in there..." he looks both ways as if the FBI is about to pounce, "and they were...reading."

So naturally, I waited for the punchline. What had offended him so?

"And...?" I asked him.

"What do you mean, 'And'? They were just sitting there. Lots of people. Just sitting there...READING! On a Saturday night!"

I said, "This past Saturday? I was there."

We always laugh about the fact that my brother went more than 20 years without knowing what actually goes on inside of a bookstore. And of course he laughs at his geeky older sister who likes to spend her free time there.

My career path might have something to do with that.

Now that I've shared my story, I want to encourage all of you to cause my brother curious frustration by going to your local independent bookstores Friday to buy a book.

No catch.

It's quite simple. May 1st has been declared Buy Indie Day. I'm not really sure who made the declaration, but I'll go along with it. Jason Pinter, who writes a series of thrillers centered around the exploits of reporter Henry Parker, blogged about Buy Indie Day, and ironically, Jason will be in Pittsburgh this week as well.

I should mention my Indie of choice is Mystery Lover's Bookshop in Oakmont. The store's 14th annual Festival of Mystery is on for Monday, May 4th. More than 40 authors will attend (personal favorites are Jason, Nancy Martin, and Wendy Corsi Staub). It's a great event. If you're interested, tickets are available in advance at the store on Allegheny River Boulevard or at the door. Early birds get a free bag of books, and there's usually a line. The event's from 4 to 9 p.m. at the Greek Orthodox Social Hall, 12 Washington Avenue in Oakmont. Don't miss it!

And don't forget to Buy Indie this Friday. To find a independent bookstore near you, click here.

Enjoying every age

2009-04-26T10:32:00.008-04:00

The movie 17 Again has people questioning what they would do if they could go back to some point in their lives and do things over.

When I was in high school, I remember teachers saying, "You're going to want to come back here. This is the best time of your life." Then in college, the same sentiments were replayed. Then I watched television shows where characters in their 30s miss their 20s, characters in their 40s miss their 30s, and so on.

Admidst all of this, I worked a summer job with a woman in her 60s. She was chatty, and I remember her saying she wouldn't go back to any one point in her life. She loved every age, and she's enjoying where she is now.

I was so impressed with her optimism, and the decision seemed logical. If you're in your 20s missing college and high school, you're not really enjoying your 20s.

In regards to my life, I follow her sentiments. I enjoyed high school while I was there, but I'm not interested in going back. College was great, but the same applies. Instead, I want to enjoy where I am now, which means enjoying finishing my first book, writing my second and hoping they get published.

Friends and family ask about the publishing process, and I tell them this is the hardest part (although as I learn more about publishing, I'm not sure I still agree with this). My primary goal is getting an agent to take a chance on me. Then that agent has to get a publisher to take a chance on me. I'm a nobody. All I can hope is that I've written something good enough to encourage an agent and publisher to jump aboard.

It's stressful and scary, and to be honest, I kind of love it. Compare me to my ghost-hunting character who doesn't mind feeling chills up and down her arms alerting her a spirit is near her, but I'm really enjoying the fear of whether an agent will like my work.

Maybe "enjoying" is a strong word, but this is all part of the process, a big part, actually. It's exciting and scary, and I do want it to be over soon. I'm hoping the first response from the first agent is an enthusiastic "YES!!!" (If you're struck by this optimism, note I'm not delusional. Read this and this).

I'd love to get to the next step of sending the book out to publishers, but I'll enjoy (and stress about) that part when I get there. For now, I suppose I'm in the teenage years of publishing. I have to prove myself and sway an "adult" in the industry to trust me and take a chance on me.

While it's not easy, I've been talking with other writers who are on their second and third and ninth books, and they have stress, too. This job of writing will never get easy, but I'll enjoy every age.

NHL Playoffs, Round 1

2009-04-25T22:15:00.002-04:00

Just a quick note to congratulate the Pens on a first round victory of the Philadelphia Flyers...Go Pens!

Trash and Treasure

2009-04-23T10:48:00.005-04:00

I've been quiet for a while, but I have good reason. I've been catching up on some things, mainly cleaning. Hold your applause.

There are several things that can reveal a person's character. Sorting through that person's closet is one of them.

During my cleanup, I've had the opportunity to look in my own closet, not the one in the house my husband and I have owned for nearly two years (good luck finding anything but rumpled clothes and old purses in there!). My sister recently moved into my grandparents' house, where I lived throughout high school.

So, I had to clean out my old room. Here are a few of the things I found:

Kid Rock's first CD. Not sure what I'm talking about? Does Bawitdaba da bang a bang diggy diggy diggy said the boogy said up jump da boogy sound familiar? Yes, this says a lot about me. It also reminds me of the time I went crowd surfing at XFest at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Pavilion. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones were on stage. It was awesome. The bad news about the CD - it was only the case. No disc inside. Designation: Trash.
Miss Piggy Pen. Okay, so sometimes kids do silly things. When I was a preschooler, I was a bit rotund. My family, who loved me, thought it was fun to call me Miss Piggy. Eventually, I began to think I was a realistic version of the muppet (although I hated the show). In the pharmacy, I picked out a Miss Piggy toothbrush and while handing it to the cashier, I told her, "I get a Miss Piggy toothbrush because I'm a pig." I think some oinking was involved, and I'm certain there was laughter. Although it's not a toothbrush, it reminds me of the good times. Designation: Treasure.
School pictures. You know the kind. The day after kids get them back, they're chopped up into tiny squares and passed around to the coolest kids first, then the okay kids, until the pile runs out. You write fun stuff on the back such as: "Tammy, Sorry it took so long for the pic. Don't forget the fun night we had at the movies." Uh, looks like I forgot. Sorry. In my defense, nine years have passed. Because I'm a sentimental idiot...Designation: Treasure.
Taebo bootcamp. Taebo is a good workout. I did Taebo all through high school and college. Good stuff. The problem is this box of taebo bootcamp DVDs has been in my old closet for about five years. Hopefully, that doesn't mean we're revisiting the rotund issue. In hopes of shedding a few pounds (right after I eat those chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen)...Designation: Treasure.

One last treasure - my name. As a point of information, I was named after my Aunt Tammy and a contestant on the 25,000 Pyramid named Tamara.

At Jacksonville University Fin-Fest in 2003, one of the vendors was printing name cards for the students. The cards list the root, origin and meaning of the names. You can be the judge on whether this exercise is a true indication of character.

Tamara - Hebrew name meaning "a palm tree." The owner of this name provides sound advice to others, is cool under pressure, often has the last laugh, is not bothered by worry, dares to excel, is a great innovator, is a person who is tactful and obliging, and her strength supports many.

P.S. Go Pens!

Stanley Cup Playoffs

2009-04-17T21:34:00.004-04:00

The Pittsburgh Penguins' goalie, Marc Andre Fleury, was incredible in the Pens 3-2 overtime victory against the Philadelphia Flyers. He had 38 saves (and one of those was made by his pinky toe!). The pinky toe save was #2 on ESPN's Top 10 plays. The team played great, but Fleury definitely deserves a shout-out.

Let's go Pens!

Career Day at Valley Middle School

2009-04-17T15:02:00.004-04:00

I just have to post about the great day I had at Valley Middle School, where I was a student once upon a time. It was Career Day, and I was honored to be invited by Math teacher Melissa Frame. It was my first experience going into a classroom and talking about my writing.

I was paired up with Jon Burnett, a weather anchor for KDKA TV in Pittsburgh. Jon gave a great talk and although I'm not the kind of girl who watches TV in real time, I'll be recording his broadcasts in the future.

During the day, I had five groups of students that rotated through the classroom, and I was pleasantly surprised by how many of them want to be writers.

I told the groups the great things about my job: working from home (I'm writing this blog in the hammock under the gorgeous afternoon sun), a dress code of pajamas, my only co-worker being my dog (who's a few yards away right now barking at the neighbors), freedom to make my own schedule, the ability to be creative, and the chance to do what I love.

But I also told the kids about the downside of writing. I've just finished my first book, and there's no guarantee it will ever be published. I believe it will be. You have to have faith, but realism is an important quality as well. I also talked about freelance writing as basically hunting for your own food. If you're not up for the hunt, you better not be looking to eat anytime soon.

That led to the main focus of the discussion - the ambition and motivation writers must have, especially in the beginning. If I don't finish my latest book, there isn't an agent or publisher in the world who will care. A published writer (sometimes) has a contract to fulfill, so the pressure of a deadline is a motivator. But right now, the only person hurt by laziness is me (and the readers out there who will love my books, but just don't know it yet ;-).

At the end of our discussion, I challenged the students to write a "What if..." question for a book they would like to write. The idea is that a book starts from that specific question. What if....happened?

Of those students willing to share their questions, there were some pretty good ones. Students, if you're out there, feel free to post your questions here, anonymously if you wish.

Since I write young adult stories, I'm hoping to come back to Valley Middle School to talk to the eighth graders in the fall. Until then...thanks for the invitation and best wishes to all of you.

Querying from the other side of the desk

2009-04-14T11:48:00.008-04:00

Parents often tell their children to put themselves in someone else's shoes before judging.

After the Query Fail and Agent Fail debates of the last few weeks, one agent is giving writers a watered down opportunity to do just that by becoming literary agents for a day.

I've mentioned Nathan Bransford's blog before because it's an incredible resource for writers, but this week, he's running a contest in which simply participating is enough of a reward. The Curtis Brown agent said he gets 50 query letters each day (for the non-writers who read this blog, queries are the letters writers send en masse to agents in hopes one will say, "Ooh, I love this idea. Send me some pages.").

Yesterday, Nathan posted 50 queries randomly throughout the day, and his blog readers then had the opportunity to be an Agent for a Day (although it's called Agent for a Day, Nathan's giving participants until Saturday to read and critique all queries). Upon reading the queries, the "agents" have the option to: reject the letter outright, reject the letter with a personal note, or ask the writer to send pages for further consideration.

The catch is participants can only request pages from five writers.

It might sound silly, but I haven't had so much fun pretending since I was a kid.

The experience has been incredibly enlightening. My respect for agents has grown exponentially, which I anticipate may have been Nathan's secret plan (I envision him behind his desk cackling lik Dr. Evil with his pinky to the corner of his mouth). The fact is, it's painful to read query after query after query after...you get the idea, especially when you have no interest in the project. What's harder is trying to let the writers down lightly, a task some "agents" had no interest in attempting.

If you take a peek into the comments section for any of the queries, you'll see what I'm talking about. It can be brutal.

In any case, if you're a writer (or even if you're not), I urge you to go to the blog and at the very least take a look around. It takes time to read and respond to 50 queries, but choose a couple and give it a go. I suspect it will be kind of like opening a tube of pickle-flavored Pringles - once you pop, you can't stop.

April Marathon Update: I've been losing steam the last few days. I took a break from the marathon to finish revisions on The Diner on Third, but I have a plan to get back into the race. Word count: 15,500

Defending my Delusions of Grandeur

2009-04-09T14:01:00.013-04:00

Drunk Writer Talk is one of the blogs I check out regularly. Yesterday, writer and co-blogger of the site Maureen McGowan commented on the QueryFail/AgentFail explosion that has yet to be doused.

The issue began when an agent began a Twitter discussion about the silliest things writers have written in query letters to agents. Writers were then infuriated and took the opportunity to discuss (or rant) about agents' shortcomings.

Point of information: I participated in this writerly discussion, but my comments bordered advice and requests, not blatant disgust.

In any case, Maureen linked her blog to this essay, Five Reasons Good Writers Fail in the hope of enlightening said ranting writers.

Eager for good advice (and wondering if I was doomed to failure), I clicked the link and cyber traveled to an essay that made me laugh out loud. I wasn't cackling at the points writer Jennie Nash made, though.

According to the essay, the first reason good writers fail is: Delusions of Grandeur.

Jennie writes: "A lot of first-time writers believe that they’re going to sell their book for several million dollars, lure Julia Roberts into taking an option on film rights, and land a spot on Oprah — all within a few hours of finishing their manuscript."

Ha hemm. Sound familiar?

No? Let me refresh your memory. On March 23, I wrote on this blog:

"I've been dreaming of seeing my name on the New York Times bestsellers list for the better part of a decade. I've imagined my fabulous stories turned into Hollywood blockbusters with A-list celebrities telling me how much they like my work. It takes a pompous person to think people I've admired for my whole life would be moved by my presence. Either that, or I've really bought into this idea of dreaming big...

"Why not imagine that agents are going to swoon over my book? That they'll fight to represent me. That I'll score a huge advance on royalties despite the current economic climate (allowing me to spend summers writing in a French chateau, an Italian villa, or an English cottage). That my book will open the gates with huge sales. That hesitant teen readers will pick up my book and discover the love for reading I've had my entire life."

My delusions of grandeur are actually worse than the ones Jennie mentions in her essay. And I'm okay with that. If you're going to delude yourself, might as well go all out.

For the record, a Nicholas Sparks-like advance would be great. (He earned a $1,000,000 advance for his first book, The Notebook). However, I do believe I have a grasp on reality.

That said, I kind of enjoy my delusions. They're fun. And it's all possible, right? Nicholas Sparks wasn't always a writer. A decade ago, Stephenie Meyer wasn't an international phenomenon. Stephen King began his career in a closet (literally, that was his office), and now his web site features his virtual office, which dwarfs a closet, obviously.

I'm not writing this to compare my writing to the works of those writers listed above - that would be delusional. But I do defend my desire to dream big, and I would encourage other writers and artists to do the same. The key is knowing the difference between the dream and the reality.

"I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." - Henry David Thoreau

Writing is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

2009-04-07T16:58:00.007-04:00

Speaking of marathon, the Backspace April Marathon is going well so far. Although it's a thirty-day challenge, I've been participating in smaller 500-word sprints with a few other writers (mostly J.E. Taylor and A.S. King).

These races have been incredibly helpful.

Basically, this is how it works. In the Backspace forum, everyone meets at the starting line, and someone types "GO!" From there, writers around the country (and one writer from Germany) clickety clack their keyboards until they hit 500. When they do, they post a victorious "Yay," and we have a winner.

The good news is by the time I hit 500 words, I'm deep enough into the writing that I'm able to keep going for another thousand words or so. And my win-loss record is strong, by the way, or maybe it just seems that way because hitting 500 words in less than 20 minutes is a win for everyone.

Word Count: 12,100

The brilliance of writing bird by bird

2009-04-04T16:39:00.011-04:00

On Agent Nathan Bransford's blog earlier this week, he opened a discussion about the best books on writing. I found it fascinating, and two books that were named again and again were On Writing by Stephen King and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

I have to say I've read both and would agree they're must-reads for writers.

Taking a second look at Lamott's book this week, I've picked out a couple excerpts that I found particularly interesting.

First of all, to explain the title..."Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. [It] was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"

Lamott suggests to write a bad first draft "bird by bird" or short assignment by short assignment, not allowing perfectionist ideals to cramp your creativity. But there's a downfall with that theory of a bad first draft.

"The whole thing would be so long and incoherent and hideous that for the rest of the day I'd obsess about getting creamed by a car before I could write a decent second draft. I'd worry that people would read what I'd written and believe that the accident had really been a suicide, that I had panicked because my talent was waning and my mind was shot."

Presently, I'm working on that bad first draft as part of Backspace's April Marathon, as you know. By way of an update, I'm at 5,000 words (and will be on target if I get another 1,700 by midnight).

I should be writing at the moment, but it's time to make dinner, and I write better late at night anyway. So, on to another Anne Lamott excerpt on procrastination. When she should be writing, here are some hilarious thoughts that steal her focus:

"After a moment I may notice that I'm trying to decide whether or not I am too old for orthodontia and whether right now would be a good time to make a few calls, and then I start to think about learning to use makeup and how maybe I could find some boyfriend who is not a total and complete fixer-upper and then my life would be totally great and I'd be happy all the time, and then I think about all the people I should have called back before I sat down to work, and how I should probably at least check in with my agent and tell him this great idea I have and see if he thinks it's a good idea, and see if he thinks I need orthodontia - if that is what he is actually thinking whenever we have lunch together.

"Then I think about someone I'm really annoyed with, or some financial problem that is driving me crazy, and decide that I must resolve this before I get down to today's work. So I become a dog with a chew toy, worrying it for a while, wrestling it to the ground, flinging it over my shoulder, chasing it, licking it, chewing it, flinging it back over my shoulder. I stop just short of actually barking. But all of this only takes somewhere between one and two minutes, so I haven't actually wasted that much time. Still, it leaves me winded."

Project Book Babe: Support a great cause

2009-04-02T08:15:00.007-04:00

Part I - April Marathon Update

So now I realize what other writers are talking about when they say they don’t blog, or Twitter, or Facebook, or MySpace because it just takes too much time away from, ahem, writing.

I’ve bookmarked about 25 blogs that I hit daily. I try to blog here at least three times a week. I check Facebook several times a day, and don’t get me started on email. Last night at eight o'clock, I sat down to write the beginning of my second book – on Day One of the April Marathon. At 8:55 I was still surfing the web.

As a reporter, I often wondered what news writers did before the Internet. How did they research correct spellings and definitions of words (um, an actual hand-held dictionary maybe)? How did they double check the contact information and other details for companies, schools, and nonprofits featured? How did they survive!?

I can tell you one thing of which I’m fairly certain. They probably spent more time doing their jobs.

Okay, let me be honest. I’m not writing this today, April 2. I’m writing it April 1 at 8:56 p.m. That’s right. More procrastination.

After writing a 64,000-word book and working for weeks on editing and revising it, it’s painfully daunting to open an empty, blank, zero-word Microsoft document and essentially start over. But I have to...forcing myself to write.

Stay tuned.

(Time passes).

When my fingers finally started tapping the keys last night, the opening scene of my book, the one I'd been visualizing for weeks poured out of me - 2,000 words in about 80 minutes. Not bad.

April Marathon Word Count, Day One: 2,056

Part II - Coveted books for a great cause

Interested in an autographed copy of Twilight? It might be difficult finding a teenager who answers no to that question, and the organizers of a fund raiser in Arizona probably realize this.

I heard about Project Book Babe Auction on author Ally Carter's blog. I'm a huge fan of Ally's and check her blog often, and I was excited to see that this Saturday she and several of the other authors I have "crushes" on are auctioning off their manuscripts, character naming rights, signed book copies, and their time to raise money for breast cancer patient and Book Babe Faith Hochhalter.

The event includes a live auction as well an eBay auction, for those of us who cannot attend. The online auction is in full swing, so if you have a few minutes, check it out.

Kissing books goodbye - for now

2009-04-01T14:55:00.004-04:00

Last night I was able to finish A.S. King's The Dust of 100 Dogs, and the timing couldn't have been better (the ending was fabulous, by the way). The author and I have been chatty over private messages in the Backspace forum. I have to admit I've been interacting with authors often in the past year. I've emailed with them, rubbed elbows with them at conferences, and followed their blogs like a lost puppy. And I get this sort of excited 12-year-old girl inside of me screaming when I get emails/messages/etc. from authors I admire.

Such as A.S. King.

She might check back to see this blog, which would be great. But I guess this kind of puts me out there like a seventh grader who has a crush on a classmate, athough this crush is purely professional.

In any case, her book might be the last one I read for a while as I've signed up to challenge myself with a writing marathon this month - 50,000 words of my next book. April 1 to April 30.

Deep breath.

A.S. King herself is joining in on the fun as the marathon is sponsored by the fantastic writing group we're both members of, Backspace.

I succeeded at a similar marathon in November, which is National Novel Writing Month. Nanowrimo is an international phenomenon in which writers spend thirty days writing 50,000 words. I met that goal and haven't opened the Microsoft file containing my 50K since. I'm not sure I'll be able to do much with it. Nanowrimo 2008 taught me a few things.

1. I can write every day, producing lots of words.

2. Without preparation (for me a detailed outline) before I begin, the result is nearly useless.

So this time around, I'm hitting the keyboard with an outline beside me. I've already written about my characters before, in The Diner on Third, and I'm hoping that's a bonus. In any case, I'm going to be spending more time this month writing than reading.

If you're up for a challenge, another contest to consider this month is ScriptFrenzy. This is a Nanowrimo-ish contest for scriptwriters. This isn't an April Fool's Day joke. The good thing about writing is if you want to write, you can write. It's up to you to do it. Maybe I should turn that finger around and feed myself that advice.

It's Day One of the marathon. Time to get writing.

War, pirates, reincarnation, and dogs make for a great read

2009-03-31T14:30:00.008-04:00

The past few days have been busy with boring duties like laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping, so I haven't been able to do what I want to do most: sit down and read A.S. King's The Dust of 100 Dogs.

The author, Amy Sarig King, is a fellow Pennsylvania resident who spent some time close to my second home (Scotland). For years, King wrote and taught literacy in Ireland. This debut novel of hers is marketed as young adult fiction, which I'm an avid reader of since I write in the genre, but I have to say it will appeal to a much wider audience.

The book tells the story of Emer Morrisey, a brave and innovative Irish girl who watches her family destroyed at the hands of Cromwell's army. She's taken in by a brutish uncle who ultimately sells her to be the wife of an old, unattractive French man, tearing Emer away from her true love.

But Emer's too strong to let someone else control her life.

While we're learning about Emer's challenges and successes in the 17th century, we're also learning about her life in the 21st century. The jacket copy does a great job of explaining why that is:

In the late seventeenth century, famed teenage pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping the pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with the dust of one hundred dogs, dooming her to one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body - with her memories intact.

Now, she's a contemporary American teenager, and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.

I wish I had a few hours to sit alone with King's incredibly-woven, rich story of the past, the present, and the intricate workings of canine minds. Until then, I'll be enjoying the book bit by bit when I have a few moments, and I would strongly encourage you to do the same.

French Chateaus and English Cottages

2009-03-23T18:56:00.005-04:00

Ironically, someone who never left her hometown of about 14,000 residents has told me several times, "If you're going to dream, dream big." That someone is my grandmother. When I was younger, she was a traditional matriarch organizing family gatherings for her three children, six step-children, and about 24 grandchildren.

In her older age, though, she became a more sedentary figure, organizing only evenings with Alex Trebek, Pat Sajak, and a pile of Circle-A-Word books. For such a humble figure, it's surprising that she frequently offered advice to dream big.

But now that I've actually finished a book, I find myself following Grandma's advice.

Who am I kidding? I've been dreaming of seeing my name on the New York Times bestsellers list for the better part of a decade. I've imagined my fabulous stories turned into Hollywood blockbusters with A-list celebrities telling me how much they like my work. It takes a pompous person to think people I've admired for my whole life would be moved by my presence.

Either that, or I've really bought into this idea of dreaming big. And like Grandma always said, why not?

Why not imagine that agents are going to swoon over my book? That they'll fight to represent me. That I'll score a huge advance on royalties despite the current economic climate (allowing me to spend summers writing in a French chateau, an Italian villa, or an English cottage). That my book will open the gates with huge sales. That hesitant teen readers will pick up my book and discover the love for reading I've had my entire life.

Aaaah, here's to dreaming big.