15 Minutes of Fame
Andy Warhol said everyone gets 15 minutes of fame. But who would have thought mine would be in Bangladesh. It’s true, the editor of the Weekly Blitz, an English language magazine interviewed me and has put that interview on page one along with Bin Laden’s secret meeting with absconding Bangladeshi terrorists and Radical suicide squad in kindergarten schools!
Blitz Exclusive
I wrote answers to such probing questions as, [Your] promotional says, this book is a story of murder, adultery and regular church attendance…How do you personally look into adultery as a human being?
You can see it all for yourself at: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV13/front.htm
Author Loraine Despres will give you short takes on love, life's little ironies, and the world as she moves through it, with detours including how to attract men and keep them happy. That's easy. Writing, that's harder. The writer's life, that one is the hardest of all.
Friday, December 30, 2005
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Belle's Book Tour
Belle’s Book Tour
William Morrow/HarperCollins gave Belle Cantrell in spite of her disreputable conduct. I tagged along.
Sept 15, 2005 – Winston-Salem, NC
Belle sashayed over to Winston-Salem, North Carolina where I spoke about her at the Southeastern Book Sellers Association or SEBA.
Sept. 27, 2005—Beverly Hills, CA
Belle debuted in style at Barnes and Noble’s – store at the Grove in Beverly Hills, where over one hundred people showed up for a celebration of Louisiana. I donated half my royalties to victims of Katrina.
October 2, 2005—Memphis, TN
Belle’s tour began in earnest when I flew to Memphis.
October 3, 2005—Memphis
Bright and early the next morning I was dressed and smiling for “The Morning Show” on FOX 13 at 7:15 AM. Belle was of course ready, gazing beguilingly from the cover of her book. From there we went over to WREG CBS Channel 3 where I was “Live at Nine.” That evening the wonderful bookstore, Davis Kidd hosted a “Bad Girls’ Night Out” with champagne and chocolates for Miss Belle.
October 5, 2005—Blytheville, AK
I met Mary Gay Shipley and read at That Bookstore in Blytheville, one of the great independents in the nation. If you-all have the good fortune to be in Blytheville drop in on Mary Gay and bask in her cultural oasis.
October 6-9 2005—Nashville, TN
The Southern Festival of Books greeted Belle with enthusiasm. Too bad it was pouring down rain most of the weekend. But the wonderful people at the Festival gave me the auditorium for my speech. I met the delightful people at Joseph-Beth Booksellers as well as some fascinating writers, such as Juno-award winning singer-writer Connie Kaldor & and her husband, music producer Paul Campagne, from Montreal, who were there with her children’s book and music. Belle and I joined Ray Brassfield at WKCT-AM, “Drive Time,” and I was able to visit the beautiful capitol building. It was a real thrill to walk around the Assembly Room where women finally got the right to vote.
October 10, 2005—Birmingham, AL
I began at “Good Day Alabama.” WBRC-TV (FOX) and spent the rest of the day with the delightful ladies of the Birmingham Junior League. My special thanks goes to Juliet “Juju” Beale who accompanied me to all three bookclub meetings and who was too much a lady to act as bored as she must have been when I was asked the same question for the third time.
October 11, 2005—Atlanta, GA
My very social cousin, Joel Lowenstein and her husband, Irwin, were kind enough to give me and bad girl Belle a book signing party before I went to the Chapter 11 for my official book signing there.
October 12, 2005 I flew back to LA, the first leg of my book tour over.
William Morrow/HarperCollins gave Belle Cantrell in spite of her disreputable conduct. I tagged along.
Sept 15, 2005 – Winston-Salem, NC
Belle sashayed over to Winston-Salem, North Carolina where I spoke about her at the Southeastern Book Sellers Association or SEBA.
Sept. 27, 2005—Beverly Hills, CA
Belle debuted in style at Barnes and Noble’s – store at the Grove in Beverly Hills, where over one hundred people showed up for a celebration of Louisiana. I donated half my royalties to victims of Katrina.
October 2, 2005—Memphis, TN
Belle’s tour began in earnest when I flew to Memphis.
October 3, 2005—Memphis
Bright and early the next morning I was dressed and smiling for “The Morning Show” on FOX 13 at 7:15 AM. Belle was of course ready, gazing beguilingly from the cover of her book. From there we went over to WREG CBS Channel 3 where I was “Live at Nine.” That evening the wonderful bookstore, Davis Kidd hosted a “Bad Girls’ Night Out” with champagne and chocolates for Miss Belle.
October 5, 2005—Blytheville, AK
I met Mary Gay Shipley and read at That Bookstore in Blytheville, one of the great independents in the nation. If you-all have the good fortune to be in Blytheville drop in on Mary Gay and bask in her cultural oasis.
October 6-9 2005—Nashville, TN
The Southern Festival of Books greeted Belle with enthusiasm. Too bad it was pouring down rain most of the weekend. But the wonderful people at the Festival gave me the auditorium for my speech. I met the delightful people at Joseph-Beth Booksellers as well as some fascinating writers, such as Juno-award winning singer-writer Connie Kaldor & and her husband, music producer Paul Campagne, from Montreal, who were there with her children’s book and music. Belle and I joined Ray Brassfield at WKCT-AM, “Drive Time,” and I was able to visit the beautiful capitol building. It was a real thrill to walk around the Assembly Room where women finally got the right to vote.
October 10, 2005—Birmingham, AL
I began at “Good Day Alabama.” WBRC-TV (FOX) and spent the rest of the day with the delightful ladies of the Birmingham Junior League. My special thanks goes to Juliet “Juju” Beale who accompanied me to all three bookclub meetings and who was too much a lady to act as bored as she must have been when I was asked the same question for the third time.
October 11, 2005—Atlanta, GA
My very social cousin, Joel Lowenstein and her husband, Irwin, were kind enough to give me and bad girl Belle a book signing party before I went to the Chapter 11 for my official book signing there.
October 12, 2005 I flew back to LA, the first leg of my book tour over.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
IN A BANGLADESHI MAGAZINE
WHO KNEW?
I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.
I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.
PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.
He published my picture in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:
Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury.
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.
In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net
I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.
I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.
PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.
He published my picture in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:
Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury.
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.
In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net
IN A BANGLADESHI MAGAZINE
WHO KNEW?I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.
I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.
PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.
He published the picture on the right in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:
"Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury."
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.
In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
IN A BANGLADESHI MAGAZINE
WHO KNEW?I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.
I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.
PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.
He published the picture on the right in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:
Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury.
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.
In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net
IN A BANGLADESHI MAGAZINE
WHO KNEW?I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.
I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.
PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.
He published the picture on the right in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:
Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury.
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.
In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
HOW TO GET STARTED WRITING A BLOG
HOW TO GET STARTED WRITING A BOOK
I get letters from fans all the time. I always try to answer them. Here’s one I received shortly before I left on my publicity tour. I told her I’d answer her question in my blog,
Dear Loraine,
I am interested in how to get started writing a book. I want to tell my story. I was head teacher at my school. I was in the system for 33 years. I retired last year. I have been a very successful teacher in this community. I had some interesting experiences during my teaching career. I have always been well respected. I have always wondered if I would have been as successful had my situation been reversed. I want to write a book. I have kept a journal some through the years but I just cannot seem to get going. I was a reading and language art teacher. I was always very good at motivating students to write. I know what the process is all about. Do you have some advise? Your Fan M---
Dear M---
You way you were good at motivating others. Maybe you need someone to motivate you. It’s very hard to write for the wind, to go into a little room all alone, sit down to an empty page and write for what, for whom? It’s hard even if you have wonderful stories to tell.
Perhaps you could take a class or join a workshop. Years ago, I wrote some award-winning poetry while simply trying to show off at a poetry workshop in New Orleans.
When I began writing screenplays I needed a partner, someone to show up and be brilliant for. None of those screenplays were ever produced, but I used one as a sample and got my first TV assignment. After that, there were producers and agents counting on me. I had plenty of motivation. It was either write or get fired.
I still thought of myself as a screenwriter, when began my first novel, but I was burned out from years of pleasing producers and network executives. So to get the juices flowing again, I took a creative writing class in the mountains around Los Angeles. As the character of Sissy LeBlanc began to take shape, I was able to bring in pages and get feedback. I still consult other writers when I have a creative problem. We take these story conferences very seriously.
If you don’t want to join with other writers and can’t get yourself to go into that little room by yourself day after day, don’t worry. There are only two reasons for writing: for the sheer creative pleasure or for money. Never feel guilty about living your life instead of writing about it.
I get letters from fans all the time. I always try to answer them. Here’s one I received shortly before I left on my publicity tour. I told her I’d answer her question in my blog,
Dear Loraine,
I am interested in how to get started writing a book. I want to tell my story. I was head teacher at my school. I was in the system for 33 years. I retired last year. I have been a very successful teacher in this community. I had some interesting experiences during my teaching career. I have always been well respected. I have always wondered if I would have been as successful had my situation been reversed. I want to write a book. I have kept a journal some through the years but I just cannot seem to get going. I was a reading and language art teacher. I was always very good at motivating students to write. I know what the process is all about. Do you have some advise? Your Fan M---
Dear M---
You way you were good at motivating others. Maybe you need someone to motivate you. It’s very hard to write for the wind, to go into a little room all alone, sit down to an empty page and write for what, for whom? It’s hard even if you have wonderful stories to tell.
Perhaps you could take a class or join a workshop. Years ago, I wrote some award-winning poetry while simply trying to show off at a poetry workshop in New Orleans.
When I began writing screenplays I needed a partner, someone to show up and be brilliant for. None of those screenplays were ever produced, but I used one as a sample and got my first TV assignment. After that, there were producers and agents counting on me. I had plenty of motivation. It was either write or get fired.
I still thought of myself as a screenwriter, when began my first novel, but I was burned out from years of pleasing producers and network executives. So to get the juices flowing again, I took a creative writing class in the mountains around Los Angeles. As the character of Sissy LeBlanc began to take shape, I was able to bring in pages and get feedback. I still consult other writers when I have a creative problem. We take these story conferences very seriously.
If you don’t want to join with other writers and can’t get yourself to go into that little room by yourself day after day, don’t worry. There are only two reasons for writing: for the sheer creative pleasure or for money. Never feel guilty about living your life instead of writing about it.
Friday, November 18, 2005
The National Book Awards
The National Book Awards were announced and instead of fireworks we had the usual caviling about too many awards. Too many? How is a good book supposed to come to the attention of a reader? You walk into a bookstore and are immediately on overload. There are so many books. And so little time to read them. How do you find the one that will be worth your time, not to mention your money?
Few newspapers have book review sections any more. The ones that do can only review a small number of books. The independents do their best hand selling to their customers. The chains such as Barnes and Noble try with their Discover Great New Writers which helps introduce dynamic new literary writers to the reading public, selected by volunteer readers from around the country. (Full disclosure: The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc was a Discover Great New Writers Selection, so I’m partial to the Program. I believe a lot of readers would never have found Sissy if Barnes and Noble hadn’t promoted it. So bless you Barnes and Noble and your Discover program.)
We live in a noisy world. Concerts and clubs have become ear-splitting experiences. Movies bombard us with noise. But as E.L. Doctorow said at this year’s National Book Award, “Books are written in silence, and read in silence. They are the finest and most uncertain form of communication that we have…”
Movie and TV studios spend millions in TV ads, print ads, and journalist junkets. Publishers don’t. One of the few ways to bring a worthy book to the attention of readers is through awards. But even these are met in relative silence.
On Wednesday November 9, PEN USA held their 15th Annual Literary Awards Gala in Los Angeles. The silence on the part of the press was almost deafening. The New York Times ignored it. The L.A. Times gave it only a brief mention in a wrap-up column entitled: The Envelope: Styles and Scenes, which featured Charlie Kaufman who wrote the award winning screenplay of course, with the briefest of mention of some of the other awardees. If you want to learn about the wonderful writers who won the 2005 Pen USA awards go to http://penusa.org/go/awards/section/431/
Few newspapers have book review sections any more. The ones that do can only review a small number of books. The independents do their best hand selling to their customers. The chains such as Barnes and Noble try with their Discover Great New Writers which helps introduce dynamic new literary writers to the reading public, selected by volunteer readers from around the country. (Full disclosure: The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc was a Discover Great New Writers Selection, so I’m partial to the Program. I believe a lot of readers would never have found Sissy if Barnes and Noble hadn’t promoted it. So bless you Barnes and Noble and your Discover program.)
We live in a noisy world. Concerts and clubs have become ear-splitting experiences. Movies bombard us with noise. But as E.L. Doctorow said at this year’s National Book Award, “Books are written in silence, and read in silence. They are the finest and most uncertain form of communication that we have…”
Movie and TV studios spend millions in TV ads, print ads, and journalist junkets. Publishers don’t. One of the few ways to bring a worthy book to the attention of readers is through awards. But even these are met in relative silence.
On Wednesday November 9, PEN USA held their 15th Annual Literary Awards Gala in Los Angeles. The silence on the part of the press was almost deafening. The New York Times ignored it. The L.A. Times gave it only a brief mention in a wrap-up column entitled: The Envelope: Styles and Scenes, which featured Charlie Kaufman who wrote the award winning screenplay of course, with the briefest of mention of some of the other awardees. If you want to learn about the wonderful writers who won the 2005 Pen USA awards go to http://penusa.org/go/awards/section/431/
The National Book Awards
The National Book Awards were announced and instead of fireworks we had the usual caviling about too many awards. Too many? How is a good book supposed to come to the attention of a reader? You walk into a bookstore and are immediately on overload. There are so many books. And so little time to read them. How do you find the one that will be worth your time, not to mention your money?
Few newspapers have book review sections any more. The ones that do can only review a small number of books. The independents do their best hand selling to their customers. The chains such as Barnes and Noble try with their Discover Great New Writers which helps introduce dynamic new literary writers to the reading public, selected by volunteer readers from around the country. (Full disclosure: The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc was a Discover Great New Writers Selection, so I’m partial to the Program. I believe a lot of readers would never have found Sissy if Barnes and Noble hadn’t promoted it. So bless you Barnes and Noble and your Discover program.)
We live in a noisy world. Concerts and clubs have become ear-splitting experiences. Movies bombard us with noise. But as E.L. Doctorow said at this year’s National Book Award, “Books are written in silence, and read in silence. They are the finest and most uncertain form of communication that we have…”
Movie and TV studios spend millions in TV ads, print ads, and journalist junkets. Publishers don’t. One of the few ways to bring a worthy book to the attention of readers is through awards. But even these are met in relative silence.
On Wednesday November 9, PEN USA held their 15th Annual Literary Awards Gala in Los Angeles. The silence on the part of the press was almost deafening. The New York Times ignored it. The L.A. Times gave it only a brief mention in a wrap-up column entitled: The Envelope: Styles and Scenes, which featured Charlie Kaufman who wrote the award winning screenplay of course, with the briefest of mention of some of the other awardees. If you want to learn about the wonderful writers who won the 2005 Pen USA awards go to http://penusa.org/go/awards/section/431/
Few newspapers have book review sections any more. The ones that do can only review a small number of books. The independents do their best hand selling to their customers. The chains such as Barnes and Noble try with their Discover Great New Writers which helps introduce dynamic new literary writers to the reading public, selected by volunteer readers from around the country. (Full disclosure: The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc was a Discover Great New Writers Selection, so I’m partial to the Program. I believe a lot of readers would never have found Sissy if Barnes and Noble hadn’t promoted it. So bless you Barnes and Noble and your Discover program.)
We live in a noisy world. Concerts and clubs have become ear-splitting experiences. Movies bombard us with noise. But as E.L. Doctorow said at this year’s National Book Award, “Books are written in silence, and read in silence. They are the finest and most uncertain form of communication that we have…”
Movie and TV studios spend millions in TV ads, print ads, and journalist junkets. Publishers don’t. One of the few ways to bring a worthy book to the attention of readers is through awards. But even these are met in relative silence.
On Wednesday November 9, PEN USA held their 15th Annual Literary Awards Gala in Los Angeles. The silence on the part of the press was almost deafening. The New York Times ignored it. The L.A. Times gave it only a brief mention in a wrap-up column entitled: The Envelope: Styles and Scenes, which featured Charlie Kaufman who wrote the award winning screenplay of course, with the briefest of mention of some of the other awardees. If you want to learn about the wonderful writers who won the 2005 Pen USA awards go to http://penusa.org/go/awards/section/431/
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
BELLE CANTRELL MAKES
BELLE CANTRELL MAKES HER DEBUT
It finally happened, Belle Cantrell made her debut into literary society on September 27 at Barnes and Noble in Los Angeles. Over a hundred people were there to witness her coming out.
To promote the party, I had this great idea: I would email everyone I knew and invite them to the launch. This way, even people who lived as far away as Paris or Berlin would know about my new book. My sweet husband figured out how to send out over six hundred invitations on the computer. It took us a day, writing the invitation, futzing with the computer, but we sent them out.
What I hadn’t realized was so many of my wonderful friends and acquaintances would email me back. Then, because I’m an inveterate Southern Belle and have been “brought up right” and “not in the barn with the pigs” (thank you mama) I had to write everyone a personal, “I look forward to seeing you and congratulations on your new (show, job, child, apartment, fill in the blank) or I’m so sorry you won’t be with us, but have fun in (Paris, Berlin, New York, at your real-estate class, whatever.) I used to love writing letters. If I had been born in a previous century, I can see myself sitting in my boudoir penning long, leisurely letters to far away friends. But emails are different. They eat your life.
When I wasn’t chained to my computer, or hiring a caterer this was to be more than a book signing, it was a celebration of Louisiana history and culture, so I had to find someone who could make real New Orleans Muffaloto sandwiches and Louisiana sausage, or co-coordinating with my three great friends who agreed to co-host the party, I was scouting the location (that’s show biz talk for driving to the bookstore, chatting with the Community Relations Manager, and having ice tea with one of my co-hostesses, Bonny Dore, a fabulous TV producer and personal manager, and friend who helped me with deal with everything.)
I expect to have some photographs soon. Another hostess, Gail Schenbaum had the good sense to marry Eric Lawton, a prize-winning photographer. He took lots of photos. I’ll put them up as soon as I get them.
Now, you, reader. I’m as flattered as I can be that you’ve taken the time to read my blog, but do yourself a favor and stop surfing and get on with your day.
It finally happened, Belle Cantrell made her debut into literary society on September 27 at Barnes and Noble in Los Angeles. Over a hundred people were there to witness her coming out.
To promote the party, I had this great idea: I would email everyone I knew and invite them to the launch. This way, even people who lived as far away as Paris or Berlin would know about my new book. My sweet husband figured out how to send out over six hundred invitations on the computer. It took us a day, writing the invitation, futzing with the computer, but we sent them out.
What I hadn’t realized was so many of my wonderful friends and acquaintances would email me back. Then, because I’m an inveterate Southern Belle and have been “brought up right” and “not in the barn with the pigs” (thank you mama) I had to write everyone a personal, “I look forward to seeing you and congratulations on your new (show, job, child, apartment, fill in the blank) or I’m so sorry you won’t be with us, but have fun in (Paris, Berlin, New York, at your real-estate class, whatever.) I used to love writing letters. If I had been born in a previous century, I can see myself sitting in my boudoir penning long, leisurely letters to far away friends. But emails are different. They eat your life.
When I wasn’t chained to my computer, or hiring a caterer this was to be more than a book signing, it was a celebration of Louisiana history and culture, so I had to find someone who could make real New Orleans Muffaloto sandwiches and Louisiana sausage, or co-coordinating with my three great friends who agreed to co-host the party, I was scouting the location (that’s show biz talk for driving to the bookstore, chatting with the Community Relations Manager, and having ice tea with one of my co-hostesses, Bonny Dore, a fabulous TV producer and personal manager, and friend who helped me with deal with everything.)
I expect to have some photographs soon. Another hostess, Gail Schenbaum had the good sense to marry Eric Lawton, a prize-winning photographer. He took lots of photos. I’ll put them up as soon as I get them.
Now, you, reader. I’m as flattered as I can be that you’ve taken the time to read my blog, but do yourself a favor and stop surfing and get on with your day.
Monday, September 26, 2005
My 15 Minutes of Fam
My 15 Minutes of Fame, Not
Part Two
In my last blog, I explained that I was going to be photographed by V-Life magazine along with movie stars and models at 2:00 Thursday. My wonderful hair-stylist, the only one who knows how to beat my curls into submission, refused to work Thursday mornings. I pleaded with him, cajoled, made veiled threats. Finally he agreed as a special favor to me to come in at 10 AM. That meant two hours in the chair, and two hours, driving home, putting on make-up, and dressing. I could do that!
He and I both knew I’d have to throw large wads of money at him for his inconvenience, but it was worth it. Relieved, I went on with my life until Tuesday morning, when I asked my beautiful actress friend, Katherine Garrett, to drop by and help with the shoot.
“What are you going to wear?”
“They want a casual picture of me at home, so I thought I’d wear a bright Indian blouse.”
“Oh,” she said. A long silence followed. “Who’s doing your hair and make-up?”
“I told her about my adventures with my Beverly Hills hair stylist, adding, “I thought I’d do my own make-up.”
“Oh,” she said again. Another long silence.
“I was a theater major in college. I learned how to do make-up,” I protested.
“Um huh,” she said. Disapprobation hung in the air between us.
“What would you do?” I asked finally.
“I’d have a make-up person standing by.”
I don’t have panic attacks. In fact, I never have panic attacks. For the next two days, I had to remind myself to breathe.
It’s not enough to get a make-up person. You have to find a good make-up person. I called the photographer. He called a few people. No one was available. Kathleen tried. In the end, I went to a store in Beverly Hills where they make you up at great expense. An impossibly thin young woman with raccoon eyes and lipstick carefully painted over her lips and halfway to her nose began to work. She worked on me with a thinly disguised look of disgust, after I told her I wanted my lipstick on or at least near my lip lines.
When she was finished, she handed me a mirror.
You know why you don’t look like those movie stars and models you see in the magazines? That’s because they don’t look like those movie stars and models either until someone carefully arranges their hair and applies 30 different layers of powder and paint.
I stared into the mirror. I looked great. Well, at least I looked a lot better.
The photographer came to the house. He took a lot of shots. I changed clothes a dozen times. Then he went away.
After waiting as long as I could, I emailed the editor, “How did the pictures come out?”
No response.
Last night I got the word. They didn’t sell enough advertising. V-Life cancelled the November issue and with it my 15 minutes of fame.
Part Two
In my last blog, I explained that I was going to be photographed by V-Life magazine along with movie stars and models at 2:00 Thursday. My wonderful hair-stylist, the only one who knows how to beat my curls into submission, refused to work Thursday mornings. I pleaded with him, cajoled, made veiled threats. Finally he agreed as a special favor to me to come in at 10 AM. That meant two hours in the chair, and two hours, driving home, putting on make-up, and dressing. I could do that!
He and I both knew I’d have to throw large wads of money at him for his inconvenience, but it was worth it. Relieved, I went on with my life until Tuesday morning, when I asked my beautiful actress friend, Katherine Garrett, to drop by and help with the shoot.
“What are you going to wear?”
“They want a casual picture of me at home, so I thought I’d wear a bright Indian blouse.”
“Oh,” she said. A long silence followed. “Who’s doing your hair and make-up?”
“I told her about my adventures with my Beverly Hills hair stylist, adding, “I thought I’d do my own make-up.”
“Oh,” she said again. Another long silence.
“I was a theater major in college. I learned how to do make-up,” I protested.
“Um huh,” she said. Disapprobation hung in the air between us.
“What would you do?” I asked finally.
“I’d have a make-up person standing by.”
I don’t have panic attacks. In fact, I never have panic attacks. For the next two days, I had to remind myself to breathe.
It’s not enough to get a make-up person. You have to find a good make-up person. I called the photographer. He called a few people. No one was available. Kathleen tried. In the end, I went to a store in Beverly Hills where they make you up at great expense. An impossibly thin young woman with raccoon eyes and lipstick carefully painted over her lips and halfway to her nose began to work. She worked on me with a thinly disguised look of disgust, after I told her I wanted my lipstick on or at least near my lip lines.
When she was finished, she handed me a mirror.
You know why you don’t look like those movie stars and models you see in the magazines? That’s because they don’t look like those movie stars and models either until someone carefully arranges their hair and applies 30 different layers of powder and paint.
I stared into the mirror. I looked great. Well, at least I looked a lot better.
The photographer came to the house. He took a lot of shots. I changed clothes a dozen times. Then he went away.
After waiting as long as I could, I emailed the editor, “How did the pictures come out?”
No response.
Last night I got the word. They didn’t sell enough advertising. V-Life cancelled the November issue and with it my 15 minutes of fame.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
The Glamorous Life of a Writer
The Glamorous Life of a Writer
My 15 Minutes of Fame, Not
Part One
Sometime in August, an editor of V-Life magazine called and said they wanted to do an article about me and how I’d reinvented myself from a TV writer into a best-selling novelist. She said the article would co-ordinate with the launch of The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell.
I suppressed the urge to say, “ME? You want to do an article about ME! Whatever for?” Instead I said, coolly, “I’ll look forward to it.”
V-Life, is a relatively new life-style magazine. It’s just now being sold on the newsstands, but it goes to everyone who subscribes to Variety which means everyone in Hollywood. The producers, the directors, the studio heads, the hair dressers, they all get it. Besides that, it’s gorgeous, filled with movie stars and models. I figured this was my moment.
HarperCollins sent them a picture of the provocative cover of my new novel. Then on August 26, I had lunch with the journalist, Leslie Gornstein, at terrific little French Bakery in Beverly Hills. Sounds like the glamorous life of the writer? Wait.
The following week the creative director called and said he wanted to arrange a photo shoot. “Of me? Can’t you just use the book cover?” I protested. Apparently, he couldn’t.
He scheduled the shoot for 2:00 PM the following Thursday. I was to be dressed and ready for a photo shoot for a magazine that featured movie stars and models. I called my Beverly Hills hair stylist. In the rest of the world they’re hairdressers. Here they’re stylists. Kevin is handsome, sophisticated, and the only one who has a clue what to do with the mass of thick curls growing around my head. If you have lots of curls you know that like the little girl in the nursery rhyme, when they look good they look very, very good and when they look bad they look horrid. Worse, they seem to have their own appearance schedule. It takes a very special stylist to beat them into cooperation.
Kevin picked up the phone and explained calmly, he didn’t come in until noon on Thursdays.
“I won’t be able to get back home by 2:00, much less have time to put on make-up and get dressed.” Kevin made sympathetic sounds, but repeated his rule. He stayed late Thursday night, so he couldn’t possibly work on Thursday mornings.
(THAT’S ENOUGH FOR TODAY. CONTINUED TOMORROW.)
My 15 Minutes of Fame, Not
Part One
Sometime in August, an editor of V-Life magazine called and said they wanted to do an article about me and how I’d reinvented myself from a TV writer into a best-selling novelist. She said the article would co-ordinate with the launch of The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell.
I suppressed the urge to say, “ME? You want to do an article about ME! Whatever for?” Instead I said, coolly, “I’ll look forward to it.”
V-Life, is a relatively new life-style magazine. It’s just now being sold on the newsstands, but it goes to everyone who subscribes to Variety which means everyone in Hollywood. The producers, the directors, the studio heads, the hair dressers, they all get it. Besides that, it’s gorgeous, filled with movie stars and models. I figured this was my moment.
HarperCollins sent them a picture of the provocative cover of my new novel. Then on August 26, I had lunch with the journalist, Leslie Gornstein, at terrific little French Bakery in Beverly Hills. Sounds like the glamorous life of the writer? Wait.
The following week the creative director called and said he wanted to arrange a photo shoot. “Of me? Can’t you just use the book cover?” I protested. Apparently, he couldn’t.
He scheduled the shoot for 2:00 PM the following Thursday. I was to be dressed and ready for a photo shoot for a magazine that featured movie stars and models. I called my Beverly Hills hair stylist. In the rest of the world they’re hairdressers. Here they’re stylists. Kevin is handsome, sophisticated, and the only one who has a clue what to do with the mass of thick curls growing around my head. If you have lots of curls you know that like the little girl in the nursery rhyme, when they look good they look very, very good and when they look bad they look horrid. Worse, they seem to have their own appearance schedule. It takes a very special stylist to beat them into cooperation.
Kevin picked up the phone and explained calmly, he didn’t come in until noon on Thursdays.
“I won’t be able to get back home by 2:00, much less have time to put on make-up and get dressed.” Kevin made sympathetic sounds, but repeated his rule. He stayed late Thursday night, so he couldn’t possibly work on Thursday mornings.
(THAT’S ENOUGH FOR TODAY. CONTINUED TOMORROW.)
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Applause For Some For Some, For Others Not So Much
Applause For Some, For Others Not So Much
Ok, I don’t want this blog to be political, but the Southern Belle has a right to sound off about the South. Now that the President has finally gotten around to helping all those poor people in New Orleans, Mississippi, and Alabama, why isn’t he using his bully pulpit to get other states to take evacuees? Texas can’t take them all. I know offers have been dribbling in, but the politicians need prodding. Taking in refugees, finding them housing, and giving them hope is never easy.
On the positive side, kudos to all those selfless volunteers, the nurses, doctors, policemen, firemen, and all the volunteers who stayed. And hats off to those amazing men from the Coast Guard who hung from helicopters and scooped people from rooftops. Last but not least, applause for the Gumbo Krewe, who went to New York after 9/11 to serve food to the first responders. By Wednesday they had their pots boiling in their hometown of Norco, about ten miles west of the New Orleans Airport. With donations from Whole Foods they served plates of red beans and rice and bowls of chicken gumbo to the relief workers and anyone else who needed to something to eat.
Ok, I don’t want this blog to be political, but the Southern Belle has a right to sound off about the South. Now that the President has finally gotten around to helping all those poor people in New Orleans, Mississippi, and Alabama, why isn’t he using his bully pulpit to get other states to take evacuees? Texas can’t take them all. I know offers have been dribbling in, but the politicians need prodding. Taking in refugees, finding them housing, and giving them hope is never easy.
On the positive side, kudos to all those selfless volunteers, the nurses, doctors, policemen, firemen, and all the volunteers who stayed. And hats off to those amazing men from the Coast Guard who hung from helicopters and scooped people from rooftops. Last but not least, applause for the Gumbo Krewe, who went to New York after 9/11 to serve food to the first responders. By Wednesday they had their pots boiling in their hometown of Norco, about ten miles west of the New Orleans Airport. With donations from Whole Foods they served plates of red beans and rice and bowls of chicken gumbo to the relief workers and anyone else who needed to something to eat.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
My First Blog
My First Blog
I had expected to start this blog writing about silly things like how to attract men, and why they make so many movies for boys and almost none for us. I was gearing myself up, listing ideas, and then the hurricane hit my home town, or at least the home town of my heart and all other thoughts flew out of my head.
I’ve live through hurricanes. You tape the windows, stock up on candles and flashlight batteries, buy bottled water, lots of food and, of course plenty of wine and don’t forget the gin and vermouth for martinis. Then you fill the bathtubs with fresh water, put on a pot of spaghetti, and hunker down. But we knew this was different when the governor ordered New Orleans evacuated. Evacuated? Had New Orleans ever been evacuated before? The roads out of the city are causeways.
As the hours passed, I watched one of the most wonderful cities in the U.S. turn into something that looked like a disaster in the third world. Rotting bodies littered the streets. The Times-Picayune reported one hundred people died at the Chalmette Slip after being pulled off their rooftops while they waited for buses and ferries. One hundred people died waiting for help? In America?
You all saw the pictures, but for me it was personal. I had family and friends down there. Sunday, before the hurricane hit, I figured most of the people I knew would be packing. I didn’t want to waste their time talking to me on the phone so I emailed. And waited. Rosemary James was the first to write back. She and her husband Joe DeSalvo own Faulkner House Books on Pirates Alley in the French Quarter. William Faulkner lived in that very building when he wrote his first novel. It’s not only a bookstore but the cultural heart of the city. They hold readings and parties and every year host Words and Music “a Literary Feast in New Orleans.” And believe me it is a feast in every sense. Rosemary wrote that they were safe in Charleston, but they were afraid they’d lost the bookstore. On Tuesday, I finally heard from my brother and his wife. They were safe in North Mississippi, but feared they’d lost everything. My nephew emailed he and his wife were safe in Baton Rouge. I tracked another couple down at the Houston Marriot. They’d packed up their dogs and their cars and headed out. Their home has a big picture window looking into their gorgeous yard with giant oaks. They have no idea whether it survived. Friends on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain lost their house to a fallen tree. On Wednesday I was able to write Rosemary the good news that Faulkner Books was probably intact. An indomitable French friend, who’d stayed in her apartment through storm and flood, reached Fort Worth on Tuesday with the news, that the upper French Quarter hadn’t flooded. But there are still others out there whose fate is uncertain.
I heard some government official, from the endless chain of talking heads I’ve been watching all week, explain that shoring up the levees would have cost fifteen billion dollars. (I’m rather loose with numbers so the actual figure may be off.) He said it didn’t seem worthwhile (I believe he said cost effective) to spend all that money to prepare for a disaster that had never happened in the history of the United States. Now of course the cost will be much higher in taxpayer money, not to mention the lives lost, homes and careers destroyed. Is there a lesson here?
I think about global warming. Scientists throughout the world want us to conserve , to switch to solar and wind power before we reach the tipping point. There are others who say, it’s not cost effective or worth the unpleasantness of downsizing. The ocean warming, the hurricanes, droughts could all be caused by natural climate shifts. hey may be right, but do we want to take the chance?
I had expected to start this blog writing about silly things like how to attract men, and why they make so many movies for boys and almost none for us. I was gearing myself up, listing ideas, and then the hurricane hit my home town, or at least the home town of my heart and all other thoughts flew out of my head.
I’ve live through hurricanes. You tape the windows, stock up on candles and flashlight batteries, buy bottled water, lots of food and, of course plenty of wine and don’t forget the gin and vermouth for martinis. Then you fill the bathtubs with fresh water, put on a pot of spaghetti, and hunker down. But we knew this was different when the governor ordered New Orleans evacuated. Evacuated? Had New Orleans ever been evacuated before? The roads out of the city are causeways.
As the hours passed, I watched one of the most wonderful cities in the U.S. turn into something that looked like a disaster in the third world. Rotting bodies littered the streets. The Times-Picayune reported one hundred people died at the Chalmette Slip after being pulled off their rooftops while they waited for buses and ferries. One hundred people died waiting for help? In America?
You all saw the pictures, but for me it was personal. I had family and friends down there. Sunday, before the hurricane hit, I figured most of the people I knew would be packing. I didn’t want to waste their time talking to me on the phone so I emailed. And waited. Rosemary James was the first to write back. She and her husband Joe DeSalvo own Faulkner House Books on Pirates Alley in the French Quarter. William Faulkner lived in that very building when he wrote his first novel. It’s not only a bookstore but the cultural heart of the city. They hold readings and parties and every year host Words and Music “a Literary Feast in New Orleans.” And believe me it is a feast in every sense. Rosemary wrote that they were safe in Charleston, but they were afraid they’d lost the bookstore. On Tuesday, I finally heard from my brother and his wife. They were safe in North Mississippi, but feared they’d lost everything. My nephew emailed he and his wife were safe in Baton Rouge. I tracked another couple down at the Houston Marriot. They’d packed up their dogs and their cars and headed out. Their home has a big picture window looking into their gorgeous yard with giant oaks. They have no idea whether it survived. Friends on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain lost their house to a fallen tree. On Wednesday I was able to write Rosemary the good news that Faulkner Books was probably intact. An indomitable French friend, who’d stayed in her apartment through storm and flood, reached Fort Worth on Tuesday with the news, that the upper French Quarter hadn’t flooded. But there are still others out there whose fate is uncertain.
I heard some government official, from the endless chain of talking heads I’ve been watching all week, explain that shoring up the levees would have cost fifteen billion dollars. (I’m rather loose with numbers so the actual figure may be off.) He said it didn’t seem worthwhile (I believe he said cost effective) to spend all that money to prepare for a disaster that had never happened in the history of the United States. Now of course the cost will be much higher in taxpayer money, not to mention the lives lost, homes and careers destroyed. Is there a lesson here?
I think about global warming. Scientists throughout the world want us to conserve , to switch to solar and wind power before we reach the tipping point. There are others who say, it’s not cost effective or worth the unpleasantness of downsizing. The ocean warming, the hurricanes, droughts could all be caused by natural climate shifts. hey may be right, but do we want to take the chance?
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