I’m no stalker (with the exception of Billy Joel — have I told you that story?), and I’m usually far more excited by the out-of-vogue luminaries of my youth than anyone currently featured in Us Weekly (why why why did I never get to meet Charles Nelson Reilly before he died???) , but that much star power in one place was daunting.  I’d take breaks from writing just to perch on the edge of Sari’s desk, flip through the cards (with her permission and under her watchful eye, of course), and drool.

I never tried to take any of the information — I would never do that, and even if I were the type who wanted to, Sari would never let it happen.  I’m fairly certain the cards were booby trapped, possibly with anthrax.

There was one person on the staff who did try to steal the info, to the point where Sari had to lock away the rolodex (except when she kindly took it out for my flip/gasp/gape sessions), and while I was disgusted that he would try to take these personal details that weren’t his to know, I was also fascinated.  What did this guy think he was going to do with these addresses and phone numbers?  He wasn’t the sell-to-the-paparazzi type; he clearly wanted the digits to try and enhance his career.  But did he really think someone like Tom Hanks would respond to a cold call asking if he’d read this guy’s screenplay?  Did he think a Steven Spielberg would appreciate him popping over with muffins to talk about potential joint projects?

So here’s my question.  If you were around this magical rolodex, what would you do?  Would you find it completely uninteresting?  Would you be like me and flip through it just to see the staggering array of megastars?  Would you be tempted to take any of the information?  And if so, what would you do with it?

My first GCC visitor is Jessi Kirby, whose new book, In Honor, is now available.  I have some questions for Jessi (and I love her answers), but first, a little about her:

Jessi Kirby is the author of Moonglass, published in May 2011 by Simon and Schuster. She is also a wife, mom, English teacher and former librarian, beach bum, runner, and lover of Contemporary YA, strong coffee, and dark chocolate.

For more information, find her on Simon and Schuster’s Official Author Page, at www.jessikirby.com, and/or on Facebook and Twitter.

As for her latest book, In Honor, here’s the scoop:

Honor receives her brother’s last letter from Iraq three days after learning that he died, and opens it the day his fellow Marines lay the flag over his casket. Its contents are a complete shock: concert tickets to see Kyra Kelly, her favorite pop star and Finn’s celebrity crush. In his letter, he jokingly charged Honor with the task of telling Kyra Kelly that he was in love with her.

Grief-stricken and determined to grant Finn’s last request, she rushes to leave immediately. But she only gets as far as the driveway before running into Rusty, Finn’s best friend since third grade and his polar opposite. She hasn’t seen him in ages, thanks to a falling out between the two guys, but Rusty is much the same as Honor remembers him: arrogant, stubborn. . . and ruggedly good looking. Neither one is what the other would ever look for in a road trip partner, but the two of them set off together, on a voyage that makes sense only because it doesn’t. Along the way, they find small and sometimes surprising ways to ease their shared loss and honor Finn–but when shocking truths are revealed at the end of the road, will either of them be able to cope with the consequences?

It sounds pretty fantastic, right?

What’s also fantastic was getting to do this interview with Jessi, whom I’ve yet to meet in person, but already love because she’s a fellow runner and Californian, so of course I’m  trying to finagle ways to convince her to run a marathon with me.

Big thanks to Jessi for all her answers and for visiting the blog as part of the super-fab GCC!  Now without further ado…

ME: If you had no other responsibilities and could take off on a retreat to your dream place to write, where would that be, and what would your dream daily schedule be like?  (For example, would you write in several sessions, broken up for yoga and walks on the beach?  Would you work for a solid block in the afternoon, then party like a madwoman all night long?)

JESSI: Ooh, all of the above?  That sounds lovely! Hm, when I think of a peaceful writing place, I think of mountains AND the beach, and Big Sur has both, so that’s where I’d go! My day would start off with a run and a good breakfast, then I’d work for a few hours, take a break to soak up the scenery and the inspiration, then get back to it until dinner time.  I’m kind of past the partying like a madwoman, but I’d definitely finish the night off with a good glass of wine and hang out time with other writer friends.

ME: Is there a character you thought would be in the book, but who landed on the cutting room floor?  Conversely, is there a character you never expected to appear, but turned out to be intrinsic to the story?  If so, tell us about him/her.

JESSI: For IN HONOR, the answer to both of these is no.  But in MOONGLASS, there was one minor character who was a friend of Anna’s dad, who ended up being cut because he didn’t do much else besides sit around in scenes and play his guitar.  The funny thing about that is, he was based on a guy I know in real life, who does just that!  Luckily when I told him about it, he was quite entertained.

ME: Writing rituals: do you have any?  If so, what are they?  If you don’t follow them, do you find it harder to write?

JESSI: I don’t know if this would be a ritual, but I write best when I’ve gone for a run or done some sort of exercise first.  Besides getting moving, I listen to the playlist for whatever I’m working on, and it gets me in the frame of mind I need to be to write it.

ME: Ever gotten a piece of fan mail, or had an experience with a reader that really stands out in your mind?  Tell us about it!

JESSI: Definitely.  The most recent was a girl I met who came up to me after a signing, introduced herself, and told me that she really wanted to read IN HONOR because she had a brother who was killed overseas.  That moment got me because the story I wrote is fiction, but to her that experience was real, and all I could think was that I hoped I did it justice.

ME: Let’s reach back to school and describe your book in a single… HAIKU!  Three lines, five syllables-seven syllables-five syllables.   Ready?  Go!

JESSI:

Letter from brother
Road Trip in his Impala
With his ex best friend

Thanks again, Jessi!  So excited to read In Honor!  And, you know, to meet up for a marathon somewhere here in SoCal.  Half-marathon?  Just tossing it out there…

I started seeing a “holistic healer.”

For real.

It’s not that anything’s seriously wrong with me, but I’ve got some random issues, like a tendency to get migraines.  I’ve seen regular doctors, and I have hard-core meds for when the headaches come, but I’d rather go for prevention.

Cut to me on a hike with a friend who tells me the most astounding story about her visit to this healer — because of a groupon, no less! — and how the healer “intuited” every issue she had, without even looking at her paperwork.  Then the healer changed my friend’s diet, did acupuncture… and a month later, my friend’s symptoms are gone.  Gone!

I found the whole thing very exciting, and I have to say, the first appointment didn’t disappoint.  I filled out reams of paperwork listing every teeny issue I have with my body and my health, but the healer didn’t read them right away.  Instead she looked at my tongue, at the way I stand, the way I made small talk… then she plopped onto a bench, stared me in the eye, and told me with 95% accuracy everything I wrote on the paperwork.

Coincidence?  Sure, could be.  A good carny could probably do the same thing.  Doesn’t take an intuitive healer to guess things like stress and anxiety.  As for pinpointing my headaches and other minor issues, I’m in a healer’s office — probably most people who walk through the door are dealing with similar less-than-urgent symptoms.

Still.  I was excited.  And when she started telling me which of my chakras were blocked, I was riveted despite myself.

Next came acupuncture, front and back.  I’ve had acupuncture before, and while it’s an odd thing to say about someone sticking you with needles… I love it.  Sprawled on the table like a pincushion, I zone into this trancelike state that’s the closest I’ve ever come to meditating.

I go back tomorrow.  My homework before then is to journal about the chakra blockages.  Some were apparently caused by “giving my power away,” and “putting up barriers to creative bliss.”

I know, I know, it’s all so “I forgot my mantra” from Annie Hall, and I have no idea why I’m so eager to embrace it… but I’m all over it.  I think tomorrow there will be more acupuncture, plus she’ll give me her tips on what I should and shouldn’t be eating (first tip — no more adding salt at the table).

Is it weird that I’m totally looking forward to it?

I’ll keep you posted about what comes next.

How about you?  Have you ever done anything in the alternative medicine realm?  Anything holistic or new agey that seemed completely scoff-worthy… but worked?  Or didn’t work — have you jumped into something that seemed kooky but worth a try, and had it fall flat?

My blocked chakras and I look forward to hearing all about it…

Ugh!

I will get around to finishing each of the posts, but in the meantime, I have to get something up… so I give you this picture of Riley in reindeer antlers.

And I end with a question for you bloggers out there:

How long does it usually take you to write your posts?  Do they tend to pour out of you quickly, or do you agonize over them for hours on end?

RON WEASLEY’S OLD MAN HAIR!!!!

Seriously, it’s just wrong.  It looks like a bad toupee.  Every time Miss M and I see it, we scream in horror and shout, “MY EYES!  THEY’RE BURNING!  MAKE IT STOP!  THE AGONY!!!!”

And yet the horror continues.

What do you think?  Do you buy that this is what Ron will look like 19 years after Hogwarts?  Do you really think Hermione would put up with the belly, the bad wardrobe, and most of all, the old man hair???

Are Miss M and I the only ones who feel so strongly about this?  Let me know, and we can band together against the horror of Old Man Hair.

Why, you ask, would this be radical?  (Okay, maybe you weren’t asking that, but just run with me here.)

Long story, but the short version is I’ve never had a seder with my dad, Dad himself hasn’t had a seder in fifteen or twenty years, and his current wife (who is awesome) and her kids (equally awesome — and early readers of Populazzi!) aren’t Jewish, so have no reason to jump into a crazy meal that involves dipping stuff into horseradish.

Oh yeah, and I don’t cook, so we’d have to bring in all the food.

Still, I thought it would be really special — especially for said 95-year-old grandmother — and it was.  The food was great (anyone in the Philly suburbs looking for a good Jewish deli?  Mrs. Marty’s rules),  I made the service short and sweet (highly recommend The 30 Minute Seder), Miss M rocked the Four Questions, and my whole step-fam jumped in with both feet.  It was goofy, fun, slightly educational, and filled with Manischewitz and laughter.  What more could you want from a holiday?

Then Sunday came, and we celebrated Easter… with a massive hunt for eggs filled with candy and money.

Guess which holiday Miss M preferred?

I’m not complaining; I loved the whole weekend and both holidays.  But when I got back home and Pre sent me this Daily Show clip, I could only kowtow (as always) to Jon Stewart’s brilliance.  Check it out:

While away from the blog I went to Maui, and saw this RIDICULOUSLY cute piglet! He's a pet, I swear, not a luau main course.

So today I saw this very flattering mention on the blog Rather Be Reading (scroll down for the Populazzi mention).  I commented, and the lovely Magan tweeted me this:

@EliseLAllen Of course! I was looking at your site. Anything new and fun coming up I can look forward to?

I knew I hadn’t updated the site in awhile, but at her mention of it, I thought I’d check out exactly how long it had been.

Over a month.  Since my March 7th post.  I don’t know if you recall my last post-Blogcation Resolutions, but I promised to be here every Tuesday and Thursday, come rain or come shine.

Oops.

Why have I been away?  The short answer is I’ve been busy, swamped with all kinds of fabulous work things (that I sadly can’t yet share, but hope to in the near future!), and all kinds of fabulous life things (that I will totally share now that I’m back in the swing).

A lot of people are busy though.  In fact, I’m willing to bet all of you are busy, and yet many of you find the time to keep up your blog.

So what’s my issue?

I’ve discovered that while I’m sometimes very good at multitasking, other times I get tunnel vision.  I decide I need to not just do laundry, but conquer the laundry, and I will do nothing else in my spare time except load after load of laundry.  Or I’ll decide to catch up on a big stack of bills and insurance claims and do nothing else until it’s done.

You get the idea.

The easy answer is that I shouldn’t let these tasks pile up until they require hours of undivided attention.  I should follow the Fly Lady philosophy and do a little bit every day.  I recognize this, but I’ve yet to accomplish it.  Instead, I go through phases like this last month, where I get single-minded about one task after another (and kick some butt at those tasks while I’m at it), to the exclusion of everything else (okay, almost everything else.  Miss M always gets my time, and when there are deadlines to make, I’m all over them)… then open my eyes to find a month has passed and I haven’t written on either my blog or my other supposedly-daily journal, the journal I’ve been writing to Miss M since I was pregnant with her.

Balance is my constant quest, and I’m nowhere near finding it yet.  Are you?  Have you mastered that fine art?  Do you have any tips?  Or are you like me, and go underground periodically to zero in on a few tasks while letting others slip through the cracks?

I’ve missed you, and I look forward to your thoughts!

xo,

E

I’m mostly playing by the rules.

For starters, here are my answers to her questions:

What’s your ultimate caffeine source?

I’m pretty cut-and-dried on this one: coffee… and lots of it.

If you were stranded on an island, what book would you like to have with you?

Stephen King’s The Stand – the “complete and uncut” version.  It’s long enough that it would provide many hours of enjoyment, and rich enough that I’d be happy to go back to the beginning the minute I finished.

Favorite music source? (Radio, Pandora, Spotify, CD, Ipod, etc)

Pandora.  I love not knowing what song is going to come next, while being 90% certain that it’ll be a welcome surprise.

Author you’d like to emulate?

There are many, many, many, and for all kinds of different reasons.  That said, I’m not sure there could be anything more satisfying than to be J.K. Rowling.  Not because of her gazillions of dollars (though it’s a nice perk), but because she got to birth a world that is now woven into our cultural fabric.  That’s something I’d love to accomplish (though it certainly doesn’t have to be on that level).

Favorite day of the week?

It changes, but lately Sundays have been pretty terrific.  I take Miss M to Krav Maga, we wander the Farmer’s Market, then we meet up with Pre and play the day away.

Favorite TV show?

Survivor because I always have money on it, and I do love to gamble.  But my all-time favorite TV show is Moonlighting.  I have the episodes on DVD, and I still love them — even the ones post-Maddie-and-Dave hookup.

Movie you’re planning to watch on the big screen?

Brave!!!!  Any Pixar movie is a special occasion, as far as I’m concerned.  I would say Hunger Games because I’m dying to see it, but the truth is that if I can’t bring Miss M to a movie, I’m unlikely to go see it in the theater.

Actor/Actress you’d most like to meet?

At the moment, Charles Grodin.  I’ve been watching The Great Muppet Caper over and over with Miss M, and I swear, his performance is among the most brilliant I’ve ever seen.  Everything he does is beyond absurd, and he plays it huge… but he plays it straight.  He fills each bizarro moment and makes it real, so it’s all laugh-out-loud hysterical.

Author you’d love to have lunch with?

Eileen Cook, as long as that lunch extended into a spa day, dinner, great wine, dancing to 80′s music… and more great wine.  I met Eileen through The Debutante Ball, we’ve been friends for well over a year now, she blurbed Populazzi, I’m completely crazy about her and her work… but we’ve never met in person.  Clearly a date is in our future, and I’m thinking it should happen in Vegas.

Favorite Writing book?

Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, with Stephen King’s On Writing a close second.  Bird by Bird wins because it’s not just a guide to writing, it’s a guide to life.

Harry Potter or Twilight?

Oh come now — that’s not even a question!  HARRY POTTER, of course!!!!  I’m going to be in London in June, and I’ve already made my reservation to tour Levensden Studios.  They say it’s a three hour tour, but you can spend as much time as you like… so Miss M and I intend to camp out in the Gryffindor Common Room overnight.  They’ll allow that, right?

Okay, now’s where I start bending the rules.  I really liked Nutschell’s questions, plus I’ve been deep in some works-in-progress and not feeling blog-creative at the moment… so I’m just going with hers.  With one exception: instead of “Harry Potter or Twilight,” my final question is “Harry Potter or Hunger Games?”  To me that’s more of a fair fight.

I’m also going to bend the rules when it comes to tagging, and tag just a few writers I think might enjoy playing.  Tag-ees, if you’re not up for it, no worries.  It’s not a chain letter; there’s no threat of the apocalypse.  That said, here are the names I’m pulling from my Goblet of Fire:

Eileen Cook, the aforementioned fabulous writer with whom I’d love to have lunch.

Jennifer Jabaley, author of Lipstick Apology and Crush Control, and a fellow BookSparks PR client.

Marlene Perez, an author I was thrilled to meet at the recent Passion and Prose conference in Long Beach.

Jen Klein, a writer of TV, feature screenplays, books… and logic puzzles.  Also a wonderful friend and crit group partner… when I can pull it together to come to crit group.

Jennifer Gooch Hummer, author of the crazy-good Girl Unmoored, which I blurbed.  The book is a must-read — run out and get it!

Dee DeTarsio, an author whose blog-friendship I’ve so enjoyed, so I’m excited to see what she does with the question list.

Those are my tags, but I’d also love to hear your answers to any of the above questions.  Just leave them in the comments and we can chat!

Thanks for the fun, Nutschell!

Ahhh, romance...

Okay, I have to tell you all about Saturday, because it seriously rocked.

I was invited to participate in a new annual convention called Passion and Prose.  It’s touted as “for Romance readers and the Writers who love them,” so let’s jump hurdle number one: “Romance.”

My confession?  I’m one of those people who used to think “Romance” meant a bodice-ripping cover, and a plot that read like an old I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter commercial.

Not true.  Oh sure, that’s part of Romance, but honestly, any book in which love is a major driving theme qualifies as Romance.

Twilight?  Romance.

Hunger Games?  Romance.

Hell, I could make a convincing argument that The Dead Zone is Romance, since Johnny and Sarah’s ill-fated love is at the heart of the story.

Populazzi, therefore, is totally a romance.  Romantic Times even gave the book four and a half stars, and the reviewer called it “one of my top five romance books.”

My point is even if you don’t think you’re a Romance reader… you probably are.  And that means you’d love the Passion and Prose conference.  It’s an impeccably organized event, filled with prime interaction time between writers and readers.

Here’s how it went down.

The morning started with check-in… which included coffee, tea, and pastries.  Already I’m hooked.  Everyone checks in at the same table, writers and readers, so we’re all hobnobbing and interacting from second one.  I immediately spotted Gail Carriger, whose vintage store finery made me want to immediately resurrect my mystery party company.  I told her my 11 year old niece loves steampunk and shared great L.A. bookstores for events (Vroman‘s!!!!); she told me about where she bought her fab outfit, and recommended the L.A. vintage lingerie store What Katie Did.  Not for the 11 year old niece per se, just in general.

During this time, the great Mysterious Galaxy was selling books by all the conference authors, and I did some damage, snapping up M.G. Lord’s Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll.  Come on, given my Barbie history, how could I not?  (Speaking of which, my latest Barbie movie, Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2, comes out March 6!)  I also grabbed Meg Cabot’s Size 12 Is Not Fat.

At 10am we all retired to our tables, assigned and marked on our name tags.  Each round table of 8 had at least two authors, so there was lots of personal interaction.

I’m just going to say it — my table rocked.  It was me, author Debra Mullins, and five women with whom I thoroughly enjoyed chatting.  To my immediate left was a woman and her mother, both of whom were voracious readers.  The mom had books loaded on her iPad, her Nook, and two different Kindles, both of which she carried with her so she’d always have something to read.  She was particularly proud of her newest Kindle, which could read aloud.

“Yes,” said her daughter, “but it reads in this robot voice.”

Since we’d established in our conversation that the mother is particularly fond of classic bodice-rippers, I was intrigued — did the Kindle read those in a robot voice?

Both mother and daughter gave me a knowing smile, and the mother scrolled to a juicy little passage, pressed play, then handed me the Kindle.

“She-ran-her-hands-over-his-rippling-muscles,” the fem-bot monotoned.  “She-was-dripping-with-wetness.”

Pretty sure I snarfed my coffee.

After chatting at the table for a few minutes, we were treated to opening comments by the very funny and brilliantly incisive M.G. Lord, followed by a speech from Gail Carriger.  Gail expounded on both steampunk, which she described as “the future as conceived by the Victorians,” the wonders of hot tea, and “killing your darlings,” a phrase which was much dissected during the day.  She meant actually killing off characters; Meg Cabot later said she thought it meant losing your best sentence so it didn’t pull focus from the whole; I always thought it meant weeding out words/phrases/sections that didn’t truly fit with your novel as a whole, even if they’re your favorite OMG-I’m-a-genius moments.

After Gail spoke, it was book signing time!  We authors adjourned to small tables, and readers could come up to us with books to sign, or just to hang out and say hi.  To facilitate attendees meeting new authors, Terry and Susan, the powers behind Passion and Prose, had a brilliant idea: a prize for the first attendee to learn a random fact about each and every author.

The authors were placed alphabetically, so I got to hang out with Zoe Archer, who’s terrific.  She grew up in L.A. and loves to hike, so we compared favorite routes.  Lots of people came by our table, and everyone said the same thing: that Passion and Prose felt much more laid back and friendly compared to other conferences.  All the authors were easily accessible, there was plenty of time for involved conversation, and no one felt rushed.  It was a great atmosphere.

After the morning meet-and-greet… lunch time!

While we ate, we were treated to the Breathless Reads panel: Andrea Cremer, Sara Wilson Etienne, Marie Lu, Beth Revis, and Jessica Spotswood.  As moderated by the fiercely keen M.G. Lord, the panel answered questions that cut to the core of why these authors write what they do, and why paranormal, post-apocalyptic, and other alternate-societal stories speak so clearly to today’s audiences.

After the panel, it was time for another meet-and-greet, but I used this one to slip away from my table and do some meeting and greeting of my own.  Specifically, I had brief chats with both M.G. Lord and Meg Cabot as they signed books for me.  I was particularly excited to meet Meg.  Like just about everyone else in the universe, I’m a fan, so I wanted to babble about her awesomeness; but I also wanted to pick her brain.  With The Princess Diaries and Avalon High, Meg has been through the book-to-movie journey.  Given Populazzi’s foray into the movie world, I wanted to know if she had any advice.

Meg could not have been lovelier, and she did have advice, which was basically to not stress about it and let the movie people do their thing.

I can do that.  Wind Dancer is amazing, and I know they’ll do great things with the book.  I’ll just sit back and wait to see it all unfold.

With the afternoon meet-and-greet complete, we all sat back down at our tables for the final keynote speaker… Meg Cabot.

Have you ever heard Meg Cabot speak?

If not, put it on your to-do list.

She’s spectacular.  She’s like a real-life Liz Lemon.  In fact, she might be Tina Fey’s separated-at-birth twin.  Meg does a lot of interviews, signings, and speaking engagements, so I’m guessing she’s told her stories — the stories about what inspired her books — about a zillion times each… but you’d never know it.  She shares them as if you’re girlfriends dishing over coffee, and she’s catching you up on the hysterical insanities of her life.  Her speech was the perfect way to end the conference — almost as satisfying a dessert as the French meringue cookies and make-your-own sundaes.

Oh — one more thing.  Passion and Prose included a giveaway raffle to benefit WriteGirl, a fantastic program pairing high school girls without access to creative writing programs, with professional female writers.  100% of WriteGirl’s graduating seniors have gone on to college, and many were the first in their families to do so.  I was blown away by what I learned about this group, and look forward to working with them in the future.

Okay, that’s the scoop on Passion and Prose!  Huge thanks to organizers Terry Gilman and Susan McBeth for including me.  I absolutely loved it, and I’m already looking forward to next year!

No, they’re not criminals; they’re not drug addicts; they don’t stock their homes with poisonous snakes.

But they do make it shockingly easy for me to part with my money.

I’m thinking of one friend in particular.  This weekend I took Miss M to the mall to see The Secret World of Arietty, which I totally recommend.  We met up with Miss N, one of Miss M’s BFFs, and Miss N’s mom, a close friend of mine.  (Miss M has been good to me that way — I love all her closest friends’ moms.)  We’re about to buy our tickets when we see another kid from the girls’ class, Sir H.  He’s with his mom, who’s just fantastic, and who owns two clothing stores in the mall.  I’d never been to either of her stores, so we all agree to meet up at the higher-end one after the movie.

Oh my.  Her store.

It’s awesome.

We walk in, our eyes goggle, and in about two seconds, Miss N’s mom and I are trying on outfits.  Even the girls get in on it, ooh-ing and aah-ing over purses, trying on dresses, and squealing over everything.  Sir H’s mom, the owner, offers us the employee discount, which is wonderful, and I walk out of there with a dressy sweater and shirt I adore, a new purse for Miss M, and several tank tops from her less expensive store across the hall.  Sir H’s mom sends us on our way with a promise to open the store one night for all the school moms, serve drinks, play music, and let us all have a clothes-trying-on-festivus.

It sounds like a blast… a perilous blast.  I have real problems resisting fabulous clothes at a fabulous discount… especially when plied with wine.

This is why Sir H’s mom is a dangerous friend… though I admit it’s a danger I plan to enjoy tremendously.

Do you have any dangerous friends?  Friends you love, but with whom you know you’ll spend too much, eat too much, do too-crazy things?  I wanna know — tell me all about them!

And if you’re in L.A. and want to come shopping with me, I happen to know a fabulous little store…