Interview with MaryJanice Davidson

MaryJanice Davidson is one of my favorite authors. Her books never fail to crack me up. This month Romantic Times Magazine has an audio interview with her where she talks about how she became a best-selling author. Go here to listen.

RT Interview with Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Author Susan Elizabeth Phillips on Writing Memorable Endings from Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Vimeo.

I have really enjoyed SEP's Natural Born Charmer, Match Me If You Can and Ain't She Sweet. She writes really good straight up contemporary romance. You can visit her author store on Amazon for a complete listing of her books.

The Men of Romance: Jeff Rivera

There aren't a lot of men out there writing romance, so it's pretty cool to see authors like Jeff Rivera getting into the genre. In this female dominated industry, I think it's great that there are guys with a different perspective to offer. Lord knows that some of the traditional romance tropes can get a bit tired.

Jeff Rivera is an author whose novel, Forever My Lady is being released by WarnerBooks/Grand Central at the end of the month. He took the time to answer some questions about his new book.

What does it feel like to see your book in bookstores after years of struggling?
I don't want to just say it's a dream come true because it's much more than that. To me it's a symbol that all those crazy books you read about visualizing and "The Secret" really do work. If you're willing to put in the effort, I believe anything is possible, corny as it may sound.

What was your writing process like in writing Forever My Lady?
Well, I was working a job I hated in the morning then I'd force myself to sit down and crank out as much as I could. There were times when I was wondering if I was doing it right, quite frankly. I wanted to give up half way through the book but something kept me going. (Probably the thought of being stuck in that God awful job for the rest of my life)

One thing about your characters is that when you first meet them you don't necessarily like them, then you get to know them. Why did you do this?
I think that's the way real life is. Do you have any friends that you didn't like when you first met them? Then you get to know them. It was also a message to people misjudged my little brother when the first met him and didn't give him a chance, not a chance to really get to know him.

Why did you create a character like Grossaint who was a racist in a love story?
I think he represented to me people who have so much hatred and fear in their hearts and yet when you get to know them they are really not that different from you or me. I tried to make sure Grossaint had more to him than just a flat stereotypical racist character.

Forever My Lady is available on your website?
Yes, www.JeffRivera.com, Amazon.com and wherever books are sold!

I Got to Meet David Sedaris!

Friday night my lovely sister came into town and took me to see David Sedaris in Long Beach. We got really lucky arriving early to the theater and discovered that he was signing his books. So we immediately bought a few and jumped into line. I told him that coming to see him was my birthday present and so he said "Wait, I've got something for you", then rummaged around in a plastic bag and handed me small bottle of lotion from his hotel. He later said that he likes to have a bag of hotel toiletries, packets of aspirin, and condoms to give out during signings. Very odd but funny.

Of course, David was just as funny and engaging in person and he read stories for a solid hour and a half. I would love to go see him again next time he's in town. He said his next book will be a collection of animal stories. Should be interesting...

Above is a picture I snuck while standing in line.

Some of his books:

David Sedaris

David Sedaris is one of the funniest non-fiction writers around. He is the best-selling author of great books like Me Talk Pretty One Day, Naked, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Sedaris has a new book out called When You Are Engulfed in Flames which I'm dying to read. Time Magazine posted an interview online with David that is part of their Ten Questions for... series. Check it out.

The Best Selling Books of 2007

I haven't decided if this is a good thing or a bad thing yet, but my reading choices over the past year seem to be fairly out-of-step with mainstream America. Publisher's Weekly put out their list yesterday of the top sellers of 2007. From the top 15 (in fiction) I've only read two and they're both Janet Evanovich. And what's up with James Patterson? I'm not convinced he's really writing all these books. I think his publisher is suffering from the Hollywood sequel syndrome; if one is a hit, pump out 10 more of the same damn thing and people will gobble it up.

Here's the list:

PW 2007 Bestsellers
1 A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead (5/07) 2,201,865
2 Playing For Pizza by John Grisham. Doubleday (9/07) #1,445,000
3 Double Cross by James Patterson. Little, Brown (11/07) 1,428,974
4 The Choice by Nicholas Sparks. Grand Central (9/07) 1,200,809
5 Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich. St. Martin's (6/07) 1,116,828
6 Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich. St. Martin's (1/07) 1,080,686
7 Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell. Putnam (10/07) 1,027,000
8 The Quickie by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. Little, Brown (7/07) 795,736
9 The 6th Target by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. Little, Brown (5/07) 769,460
10 The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz. Bantam (11/07) #740,000
11 Step on a Crack by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. Little, Brown (2/07) 732,702
12 You've Been Warned by James Patterson and Howard Roughan. Little, Brown (9/07) 724,713
13 T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton. Putnam (12/07) 716,582
14 Stone Cold by David Baldacci. Grand Central (11/07) 670,590
15 Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. Atria Books (3/07) 609,000

Click here to read the full Publisher's Weekly article.

Lynn Viehl Interview

I have a bit of a girl crush on Lynn Viehl. I think she's a fabulous writer and she pens one of my favorite vampire series, the Darkyn. She did an interview at a blog called 101 Reasons to Stop Writing that is pretty hilarious. It's hard to take the piss out of someone who's trying to take the piss out of you, but she manages it brilliantly. One of the things I like about her is that she never takes herself too seriously. Read the interview here.

So Many Books, So Little Time

I cannot wait to read Nancy Martin's newest Blackbird Sisters mystery Murder Melts in Your Mouth. I think that's a horrible title that conjures up all kinds of disgusting mental pictures, but I digress. I don't even remember how I stumbled onto these little gems but I was hooked at the first one and immediately bought the entire backlist. There's so much to love from to-die-for vintage couture clothes, crazy sisters, and the Philadelphia blue-blood society they were raised in. Most of all there is the hunky, so-bad-he's-good guy Mick. Born into a mafia family he's trying to escape his family roots. Of course Nora Blackbird can't stay away from him (and who would want to try). 

It comes out this week and I'm itching to get my hands on it. Sadly, Nancy Martin has fallen victim to the publishing industry's idea of success. When a paperback series becomes a hit, they put it in hardcover. Aargh! Why do they do this to us? I was getting these fabulous little books for $5.99, now you want me to pay $22.95. Are you kidding me? Of course you can get it from Amazon for $15.61 but that's beside the point. Do publishers want successful author's sales to drop off? I can tell you that I'm not going to buy it, sorry Nancy. I'll wait to borrow my wonderfully generous friend, Teresa's copy. Read fast Teresa, read fast.

Danielle Steel Wanted to be a Nun??

According to an interview with Reuters, Danielle Steel wanted to be a nun when she was young. She says that her Catholic religion has always been very important in her life and it helped her get through the suicide of her son, Nicholas Traina. Steele, who has written 88 novels, says that it takes her about two and a half years to write each book. That blows me away since it seems like she has 3-4 out each year. Personally, I stopped reading Danielle Steele's books in college. They were just too emotionally wrenching to be enjoyable (for me anyway). Also I could never tell what was new or old with those plain covers. I hated picking up a book and having to read about a guy with a mustache because it was written in the 80's. You can read the full interview here.