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Keeping It Real…

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I pride myself on being a positive, upbeat person. I like to see the glass as half-full, the donut as being all about the yummy cake. And yet sometimes the Universe puts even the most intrepid Pollyanna through her paces. Sometimes even the savviest spin doctor can only spin her own story but so much. Sometimes, my friends, life just really, really…

Sucks.

In the spirit of keeping it real here on hopetarr.com, here are a few primo examples of well, The Suckage.

You’re down to the wire on your manuscript deadline when the person in the apartment above yours decides to take up the mandolin. Preferred practice hours: midnight to 2:30 AM. Preferred practice location: the room directly above your bed.

You receive a summons for jury duty, and the trial date is set for not only the very week but the very day your manuscript revisions are due.

You fly thousands of miles to see your long distance love interest, a man who for seven months has written you letters that would have Ovid reaching for the box of tissues, only to discover that, like the book says, he’s just not that into you.

I think there may have been a black fly in the chardonnay the other day too, but really in light of everything else, that’s pretty manageable.

Memo to Alanis Morissette: no, it’s most certainly not ironic. It’s just damned bad luck.

But enough about my charmed life. C’mon and spill some beans, dish some dirt. C’mon, be a sister, and give it up.

How has your life sucked lately?

Hope

(No Longer) Singing the Deadline Blues

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I hit “Send” on Twelve Nights, the sequel to my Scottish Blaze Historical, Bound to Please last Saturday at 5 AM. After three plus weeks of self-sequestering, I’m back to living like a biped human being–exercising again and washing my hair again and eating meals off an actual table.

Statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Union Square, NYC. Hope could have used some of the Indian nationalist leader's renowned peace last week!
Statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Union Square, NYC. Hope could have used some of the Indian nationalist leader's renowned peace last week.

Deadlining, not to be confused with mainlining (though admittedly there are similarities), allows writers to experience the duality of our natures. Think Devil-Angel, Jeykl and Hyde, The Ripper and…Jack. In my case, I go from being this fairly fastidious person to one who’s picking sushi rice out of her computer keyboard.

Deadlining puts me in touch with my inner adrenalin junkie. Deadlining is my NASCAR. I may not parachute out of planes or go on amusement park rides that spin faster than the classic carousel, but hop me up on caffeine and give me a week to write those last 20,000 words, and I’m a regular Evel Knievel. 

Random townhouse in NYC's West Village.
Random townhouse in NYC's famed West Village.

Now that the deadline drama is past, I’m living large–and enjoying spring in New York–at least until the revisions come in.

Hope

PS Check back in a few for my mid-April contest winner.

Lady Jane Salon Recap

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Last night’s Lady Jane’s Salon was uber fab. I know I say that every month but that’s only because it’s true.

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blogger, Sara Wendell is well, one smart b—- as well as a total hoot, the perfect guest emcee. And bonus: she read aloud from her book, Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels, waxing eloquent on, among other topics, sexually impossible positions.

Memo to Sarah: you had us at “turgid boner.”

Smart Bitch Sarah Wendell rocks the house as guest emcee.

A round of belly laughs, not to mention an anatomy lesson was enjoyed by all.

Our guest author readers were Alisa Sheckley/Kwitney and Lady Jane co-founder Maya Rodale. Alisa read from her latest paranormal, The Better to Hold You set here in the Big Apple. Warewolves on the Upper West Side, oh my! And just when I was convinced cab drivers and pizza delivery guys were the main urban predators.

 

 

Maya and EBF Tony steam up the microphone, and the windows--and the guests!

Maya read a very sexy scene from The Rogue and the Rival with the help of her “EBF” i.e., English Boyfriend, Tony. Together they rocked the house–and steamed up the windows.

Memo to Maya and Tony: next time how’s about adding some pantomime, hmm?

Last but never least, the Romantic Times BookReviews folks were once more out covering the event for the magazine’s blog. Thanks to Managing Editor Liz French and Web Manager, Rob DiCaterino for the incredible support! (In point, most of these pics come courtesy of Rob’s shutterbugging).

As for Yours Truly, last night was the perfect antidote to the Deadline Blues.

Otherwise, the stats stay the same: First Monday of the Month (May 4th), 7-9 chez Madame X. May is also the host month for Book Expo America America, so we’ll be packing in the out-of-towners as well! Hopefully that’ll include…YOU!

Hope and Dorchester author, Liz Maverick, get this (after) party started.

Hope

Lady Jane’s Salon, Monday, April 6th

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I’m still deadlining on the sequel to Bound to Please, but I absolutely had to take a wee breakie pooh to plug this Monday’s Lady Jane’s Salon. Guest authors are Alisa Kwitney/Alisa Sheckley, author of The Better to Hold You and our own Maya Rodale, who will read from The Rogue and the Rival. But as they say, there’s more…

Sarah Wendell of the crazy popular blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and author of Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches Guide to Romance Novels will be our guest emcee. How cool is that? (Hint: not really a question).

And yeppers, I’ll be there along with my founder buds: Maya Rodale, Leanna Renee Hieber, and Ron Hogan.

Otherwise program details remain the same: 7-9 PM at the uber swank Madame X. Admission is $5 or one gently used romance novel, all to benefit Share the Love, a nonprofit that reaches out to groups serving women in transition.

Okay, I’m headed back to Medieval Scotland for now, but so long as I can escape my “keeper,” I’ll see you there. 😉

Hope

March Contest Winner & Lady Jane Salon Update

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I’m back from my European rambles and pleased to do one of my very favorite things: announce my latest contest winner. Congratulations to Rachael G of Cairo, MO. Rachael’s prize: a signed copy of my single-title historical, Vanquished, and my contemporary category romance, Strokes of Midnight, is en route to her “as we speak.”

Didn’t win this time? No worries. The new contest is up and running, so please check it out. And remember, winners who may have read one or both of the prize books can always donate their copy to Share the Love and brighten the day of a woman working to rebuild her life.

Hope

PS I’m “deadlining” as we say in the biz, but I’m hopeful of posting the highlights of my vacation in the not too distant future, so please stay tuned.

PPS The next Lady Jane’s Salon is scheduled for Monday, April 6th, at Madame X.

PPPS! The New York Post recently gave Lady Jane more than a little love by covering our wintry yet well-attended March 3rd salon.

Live From London…

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Just a petit mot (oops, that’s Paris talk) from the proverbial “road” to say what a super fab time I’ve been having these past two weeks and counting. The week in Paris with Liz Maverick was nothing short of magical, and I’ll be posting the highlights, with photos, once I get back home.

This week in London with Liz and Scandalous Woman, Elizabeth Kerri Mahon, has been equally fun albeit with a different vibe–more Manhattan fast-paced, less vino, less frommage, and yes, less secondhand smoking. Highlights so far: uber hottie James McAvoy in THREE DAYS OF RAIN, Dame Judi Dench in MADAME DE SADE, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Royal Theater at Drury Lane where my fictional heroine, Daisy, tread the boards in ENSLAVED, cream tea at The Wolsley, and drinks at The Ten Cups with Liz, EKM, and EKM’s delightful London-based friends. The pub, situated in Spitalfields, has the dubious distinction of looking out onto the street where The Ripper offed his last victim. Think Victorian grunge chic meets Gen X and Y. I could say more, and I will (oh, I will), but for the present I’m headed back out to savor.

Cheerio,

Hope

Coffee Talk with Lady Jane

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When Paul Ohlson, Marketing Manager for my wonderful publisher, Medallion Press rang me up to ask if I’d be game to participate in Medallion’s online radio spot at BlogTalk Radio, I didn’t hesitate, not for a nanosecond.

“Sure thing,” I said (or something like that), “So long as you don’t mind me blabbing about this cool new reading series/salon some buddies and I put together in New York. Perchance you’ve heard of her…I mean it.

It’s… Lady Jane’s…”

Paul was more than enthusiastic and so we did this interview thing, which was uber fun due in no small part to the fact that Paul, whom I’ve never actually met “in the flesh,” so to speak, has one of the sexiest voices ever.

But I digress…

My interview is part of “Great Authors Revisited“(almost sounds as though I’m on Mount Rushmore or something–perish the thought) and the podcast will be posted starting, yeppers today through March 31st. So, if you have some time, seven minutes to be exact, I hope you’ll check it out.

Speaking of checking out, I’m off for multiple weeks to parts if not unknown then certainly ready to be explored again: Paris and London in the main. I’d like to say I’ll be blogging madly in real time on all my adventures but likely I’ll be too busy…well, adventuring. Not to mention the escargot eating and the cheese eating and the basking in butter overall. But, mes enfants, when I get back…Ooh la la, when I get back…

Hope

Weekend On Tap–Oscar, Oscar!

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Okay, so Christmas and Hanukkah, New Year’s, and most recently Valentine’s Day are done deals and now it feels like we’re all on one giant countdown to spring.

But even bundled beneath the layers, there’s fun to be had, and Yours Truly has a great weekend on tap. On Saturday I have a date a deux with my good buddy, Dee. It’s Dee’s birthday and I have a hopefully fun and special evening planned for my dear Aquarian friend. I’d say more, but I don’t want to give away any surprises. (I’d say “buckle up, Dee,” but we’ll be walking and cabbing, so no worries).

Sunday night will be the The 81st Annual Academy Awards AKA Oscars AKA Hope’s Super Bowl. Author buddy and fellow Lady Jane’s Salon co-founder, Maya Rodale is hosting a small soiree chez elle and yeppers, I’ll be there with bells and boa. We’ll kick off the festivities with the 6:00 PM pre-show where celebs glide (in some cases stumble) down the red carpet in their designer duds later to be dissed or praised–fashion as blood sport, I love it!– and stay tuned through the bleary-eyed end when Best Picture is announced. Maya’s even doing a mini betting pool for the various categories–brilliance. I’m betting Slumdog Millionaire will sweep the awards, which given the film’s ten nominations seems like a pretty safe bet. Per Best Actor, it’s tough competition but Mickey Rourke is a strong contender, so to speak–and even The Academy loves a come-back kid. Of course, Brad Pitt was also amazing as the lead in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, demonstrating he’s much more than a pretty face. And per Button, if that film doesn’t bring home the gold for Visual Effects and Makeup, I won’t know what to think.

Assuming I can think. Uber yummy Aussie actor, Hugh Jackman is hosting, a bold departure from Oscar’s tradition of having a comedian as emcee. We’ll see how Hugh does but based on the preview commercials showing him in that tux, he won’t have to do all that much.

Okay, enough Oscar dishing from me. Anybody else planning to tune in?

Hope

Happy Valentine’s Day & Congrats Contest Winners

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What better way to ring in the Day of Hearts and Flowers than by announcing good news?

((Okay, well maybe I can think of an even better way, but I do try to keep the blog-o-zine at the PG-13 level)).

Congratulations to my three latest contest winners: Jean M of Broomfield, CO; Patricia B of Jonesborough, TN; and Jessica P of Norman, OK. Like so many of you who entered, these savvy ladies knew that in Every Breath You Take…, for years Cole has been rooting for Alex to finish that novel.

Each winner will each receive an Untamed coverflat keepsake and a signed copy of Strokes of Midnight.

Didn’t win this time ’round? In love and life, there’s almost a second chance lurking around the corner. Check out my current Contest and see how you can win and yes, Share the Love with women working to build independent lives.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hope