Category Archives: Writing

Oct26

Writing Goals 2017: Just Hold It Together

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anxietySo. 2017, eh? That shouldn’t be a difficult concept to grasp. Coming year, fresh start, New Year’s resolutions, long-term plans. But for those of us who are having a hard enough time wrapping our minds around something more immediate…like…oh, I don’t know…tomorrow, maybe, or even a couple of hours from now…”next year” and its goals can be a big scary monster we’d prefer to pretend isn’t lurking in the bedroom closet. Long-term plans? I cannot even. Read the rest of this entry →

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Sep28

Fugitives from the Library

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libraryI love Julie Valerie’s topic for her blog hop this month. Libraries! Avid writers/readers like me are passionate about libraries! And I’ll bet anything we have similar warm memories of the place—devouring everything in the juvenile section, from Go Dog Go to Judy Blume; discovering our genre of choice that we actually ended up writing as adults, like romance or mystery; meeting our friends there; spending rainy afternoons wandering through the stacks. We can all expound on the feeling of being surrounded by thousands of volumes, the smell of old books, the crinkling sound of the clear plastic covers protecting the hardbacks, the nice (or mean) librarian who always seemed to be behind the counter, the thunk of the card reader.

So, to avoid repeating a tale every library lover knows by heart, I’ll tell you about the time I became a fugitive from a library. In a foreign country. Read the rest of this entry →

Jun28

Confessions of a Former Bookschlepper

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When Julie Valerie announced this month’s Fiction Writers Blog Hop theme was “bookstores,” I was so excited. The mere thought of those hallowed retail establishments inspires all the feels in me, because they’re my second home—and not just for shopping. My undergraduate degree was a BA in creative writing, which meant that it was highly likely my first job was going to be at a bookstore, and…yep, it was.

I started out at the Village Green Bookstore in Rochester, NY, for the incredible minimum wage of $3.35 an hour! When I got a whopping 25 cent raise, I thought I’d hit the big time! (Yes, I had to live with my parents, but I loved that job, so it was worth it.) My second bookstore was the Brookline Booksmith, where I worked part time while I was attending Boston College for grad school. And when I became disenchanted with teaching high school, I sought refuge at Borders, once again in Rochester. So after two indie places and a chain store, I kind of know a little bit about bookstores. Here’s the inside scoop: Read the rest of this entry →

May31

Glynis Astie’s Gamer Girl Is Here!

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Glynis Astie, chick lit author extraordinaire, has a new book out! You need to read it! No, seriously, I had the honor of being one of Glynis’ beta readers, so I know what I’m talking about. It’s a fun, touching read about an introvert, well, gamer girl, who has to find as much courage in her real life as she displays in her beloved computer game, Spellbound, to achieve her happily-ever-after with hottie Morgan Chandler. Here’s a little sample of Gamer Girl… Read the rest of this entry →

May25

Breaking: Fluffy-Tailed Rodent Takes Revenge on Unsuspecting Homeowner

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Squirrelsville – An unnamed gray squirrel lashed out violently today when denied its normally easily obtained meal of sunflower seeds. Read the rest of this entry →

May18

Chatting With the Chicks of Chick Lit

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May is International Chick Lit Month! The ladies of Chick Lit Chat are celebrating with a week of festivities (see my previous post to enter our contest to win a Kindle and Amazon gift card!) Today we’re chatting with some of my main characters!

Chuck: Ha ha ha ha welcome, welcome everyone to Chatting With the Chicks of Chick Lit. I’m your host, Chuck Lottateeth, and I am so thrilled to be able to introduce you to some of the most fascinating characters in literature today. I’m talking about the leading ladies of chick lit—those enchanting, romantic, darling, sexy, sweet, funny, headstrong—and, let’s face it, sometimes downright frustrating—modern women who headline this fabulously fun genre. I’m sure you’re going to love getting the skinny on these “novel” heroines, and who knows? You might just find your new BFF on the pages of one of these books!

Without further ado, please put your hands together and show some love for today’s guests, the heroines of Jayne Denker’s small-town series!

DoL coverWelcome the main character of the first Marsden novel, Down on Love: Georgiana (“George”) Down! Georgiana’s a blogger whose advice column/anti-relationship site, Down on Love, is really taking off, but she gets in over her head when she moves back to Marsden after being away most of her adult life.

Picture This (eBook)Our second guest, from the second Marsden novel, Picture This: Celia Marshall! We first met Celia in Down on Love, as the former girlfriend of George’s crush from high school, Casey Bowen. In Picture This, she’s moved to New York City to be a photographer’s assistant, and she’s caught the eye of a bona fide movie star.

Our third guest, from the third Marsden novel, Lucky for You: Jordan Leigh! Celia’s younger—and much more troublesome—cousin, Jordan settles in Marsden for the first time since her family moved away when she was a child, and she’s got some baggage. Namely, an ankle monitor. She’s under house arrest, and is being babysat by straitlaced but sexy police officer Will Nash.

What a threesome we’ve got here! Let’s get started, shall we? Read the rest of this entry →

May15

Chick Lit May A to Z: X Is For…

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Hooray for International Chick Lit Month! Hunting for prizes? You’ve come to the right place! Hop on the #ChickLitMay “A to Z” Scavenger Hunt and collect all 26 words for the chance to win a Kindle Paperwhite and a $100 Amazon gift card! My letter is… Read the rest of this entry →

Apr5

Happy Blogiversary, Hello Chick Lit!

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Yay! It’s Hello Chick Lit’s blogiversary month, and I’m part of the celebrations all week!

Today I have a guest post about…letters. The honest-to-post-office kind. When was the last time you received a handwritten letter in the mail? Or wrote one? I got one a few weeks ago, and it was a doozy.

So stop by Hello Chick Lit and check it out and, while you’re there, be sure to enter the contest to win digital copies of all three of my Marsden books! See you over there!

Mar29

Okay, Now What?

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Gather ’round, kids—I’m going to let you in on a secret. Okay, it’s not really a secret, because I’m not one to hide this sort of thing: On January 2 of this year, I turned 50.

I KNOW!! Shocked me too!

So I guess I’m an old lady according to some (like my 12-year-old son, who won’t get anywhere close to middle-aged himself if he doesn’t stop calling me that), although I don’t feel very old.

However, whether I feel 50 or half that, it’s still a milestone, so I thought I’d do a little soul searching, a little assessment, to figure out how I’ve been doing so far. What did I dream of doing when I was a kid? Did I achieve any of my goals? Or should I be downright ashamed of myself for squandering these fifty years (so far)?

(Psst…I did have a drink. Quite a few of them, in fact, over the years.)

So let’s check on Jayne’s Life So Far… Read the rest of this entry →

Dec14

When Your Christmas Tree Is a Rat Bastard

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I never thought I’d say this in reference to a Christmas tree, but I did yesterday: “I’m scared.”

Yesterday was our annual trip to the Christmas tree farm near our house to cut down a tree. The place is called Stokoe’s, and it does a bang-up job, with food, activities, decorations, wreaths, petting zoo, tractor rides out to the fields…you name it. We’ve gone there for our tree every year for the past decade. We go there to get pumpkins, too. I love it so much I modeled Bowen Farms, hero Casey’s pumpkin patch/inn/conference center/etc., in my Marsden books, on it. I got to interview a member of the Stokoe family and everything!

This one might have been a little ambitious...

This one might have been a little ambitious…

Anyway, back to the tree. Clan Denker has a size problem. Namely, Casa de Denker has 11 ft. ceilings and a bay window in the living room, and the space must. be. filled. We tend to get monster trees—not just tall, but also fat. Every year, we seek out the biggest, gnarliest tree we can find and nearly kill ourselves cutting it down and getting it into the house.

But this is the first year the tree fought back. Read the rest of this entry →