Anyone who knows me, knows I’ve followed Showtime’s The L-Word since it’s first season (and have crushed on Shane, Alice and a couple of the other girls along the way). Alice’s “Our Chart” became a major plot point for the series and Showtime shrewdly realized the potential there and created a real Our Chart.
As a fan and a writer, I was delighted to read Julia Watson’s book review of Lipstick on Her Collar, the lesbian anthology that includes my story, “Women’s Studies.” I love it when popular culture and reality intersect in a project like Our Chart and to see a book I was a part of mentioned on a site that is connected with one of my favorite shows was very cool, indeed. Then I got to the part where the reviewer mentions my story specifically and I grinned like a fool:
Domination and submission is a theme that is played with throughout the anthology, whether the game is well-known to the participants and outfitted with the latest in accoutrements, or whether it’s a simple matter of politics and power between student and teacher, as in “Women’s Studies” by Kristina Wright. Honestly, who among us hasn’t spent many a fond, if distracted, afternoon in class lusting after the professor? This story is vicarious glee and lustful nostalgia at its best.
Vicarious glee and lustful nostalgia. I like the sound of that. As for the story… maybe it was based on a real person, maybe it wasn’t. I’ll never tell. 
Thanks, Julia!
I just got the cover for Bedding Down, the novella anthology coming out in December from HarperCollins’ Avon Red imprint! My novella, “One Night in Winter” is one of the seven stories in this collection. The other authors include Gwen Masters, Alison Tyler, Marilyn Jaye Lewis, Isabelle Gray, Sophie Mouette and Shanna Germain. We were all brought together under this lovely cover by our fabulous editor, Rachel Kramer Bussel.
I am really excited about this anthology-- this is my first novella and my first (but hopefully not my last) time being published with Avon Red. Rachel says there will be a fair amount of promotion for this collection and I will be giving away copies right here throughout the month of December.
I know it’s only June and not even officially summer yet, but winter is going to sizzle!
I’ve been reading everything I can about what I missed at Book Expo America last weekend. Why? Because it’s book heaven! Rachel Kramer Bussel refers to BEA as a “book orgy.” Oh my… sign me up. I really, really need to make a pilgrimage to BEA next year.
Salon’s Laura Miller covered BEA and titled her observations Would You Like Some Books With That Totebag? Anyone who has ever attended any sort of conference related to the publishing industry knows the truth in that question!
I found this snippet particularly amusing:
In unguarded moments, however, publishers complained that they received more pitches than they had a chance to deliver. “It’s relentless,” one sales rep sighed at a party for Connelly in L.A.’s Union Station. “Every time you turn around, someone’s shoving a manuscript into your hands. I keep telling them I’m not an editor, but they don’t seem to understand the difference.” Aspiring writers planted themselves in autograph lines in a bid to pass unpublished manuscripts to established authors or to beg celebrities to plug their book on TV. (Apparently, all those Americans who claim to be too busy to buy or read books can still find plenty of time to write them.)
The next three locations for BEA are New York City in 2009, Washington, DC in 2010 and Las Vegas in 2011. I will make it to one of them and I will not shove a manuscript at anyone.
I know Mondays aren’t supposed to be much fun, but my Monday has turned out pretty well so far! This afternoon, I went to see Sex and the City. I really enjoyed it, loved seeing “the girls” together again and love, love, love seeing women my age and older on screen playing sexy, confident women instead of… mommies and psychotics. Okay, so a couple of the girls are mothers, but it’s not all they are… and that’s nice to see.
Then I came home to an e-mail from the editor at XCite Books informing me that my story “Private Lessons” will appear in Satisfy Me, due out in August. Fun news!
XCite’s covers are always vibrant and distinctive and this one reminds me of Alison Tyler and her CFPP (Call for Panty Pictures). I love these hot pink rhumba panties!
I can’t find a table of contents online for Satisfy Me-- are any of my writing buddies in the lineup? I hope so! It’s going to be a steamy summer.
Hope you all had a good Monday, too!
I’ve never been a big believer in Writer’s Block. Writer’s Paralysis, maybe. Writer’s Apathy, certainly. But Writer’s Block? Nah. I’ve never felt blocked from writing-- there are just too many thoughts and ideas and snippets of dialogue and characters rolling around in my brain for me to ever feel blocked. I know what I want to write, I just can’t figure out which thing to write first.
Which is where I am today.
I have what seems to be an endless list of projects-- some started, some near completion, some in the final editing stages, some no more than a few notes jotted down in a notebook or a brief synopsis typed and saved as “Novel Idea.” So many ideas swirling around and I can’t figure out what I should be writing. I try to be logical, practical-- figure out where I need to be in six months, a year… but that doesn’t work. I can imagine different paths and I’m standing at a crossroads.
Do I focus on that literary novel idea that still seems beautiful and tragic and will be painful to write? Or the half-finished mystery that’s been floating around in my brain for going on three years? Or the nearly-finished chick lit novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo two years ago? Should I scrap all the old stuff and focus on something new, like the paranormal dreamer/insomniac story I’ve been working on the past few days? Turn my attention to that YA story that popped into my brain after my rant about Nivea’s anti-cellulite gel-cream (grr… I still hate that gel-cream term!)? What do I write next?
Should I forget working on a novel right now since I’m so torn by which story to write? Should I focus on the third draft of my screenplay For Ever? Should I go ahead and start that new screenplay idea that makes me smile when I think about it? Should I just focus on getting caught up on short fiction deadlines so I’m not submitting stuff the week it’s due? What do I write next?
What do I write next?
This is not what I consider Writer’s Block. I have an abundance of ideas, not a shortage. It’s like the kid who gets too many toys at Christmas and suffers from sensory overload. It’s hard to enjoy any one thing when there are so many other good things competing for your attention. It is definitely a mental overload of sorts. And the more I think on it, the more bogged down I get. Being logical doesn’t work. Reading mailing lists to see which publishers/lines are looking for stuff right now, checking Publishers Marketplace to see what the hot new deals have been made, going over publishers’ guidelines to see if one particular idea I have is suited to a certain publisher, combing my wishlist of agents and perusing the blogs of Writers I Want to Be When I Grow Up, only muddies the waters further. Too many distractions and not enough writing, that’s the problem.
I need to go with my instincts, but I fear my instincts are at odds with my heart. And we all know which one wins (at least for me). I can’t write everything right now, but I need to start somewhere. I need to just shut off all the voices in my head and start writing-- or continue writing-- something. (Something other than a blog post.)
I’ll write 20 pages and let you know how I feel in the morning.
Life. Love. Writing. Friendship.
Sex. Books. Movies. Travel. Politics. Feminism. Academia. Insomnia. Rants. Raves. Chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Some names have been changed, some stories have been embellished. Thanks for stopping by and beware of the dog. Read more...
