June 26, 2007
The Final Post
Wow.
Before I go into my goodbye, I'd like to say what a true pleasure it's been being part of the LC. All of you regulars have been so much fun, and I hope you'll continue to show up where ever we are, because I know we'll all miss you. Also, to Alesia, Michelle, Whitney, Eileen and Beth, I can't tell you what an honor it's been to keep such inspiring company with such amazing women.
The thing about goodbyes is, I like to keep them brief. So, I'll just say that anyone who wants to find me, can do so here, or here, or here. And if I go anywhere else, just follow the trail of breadcrumbs, you'll be able to find me.
And, with this post, the LC goes dark. On behalf of all the Literary Chicks, I'd like to give our best to you all, and thank you again for the wonderful ride.
Posted by Lani at 4:54 PM | Comments (5)
June 25, 2007
To new beginnings!!
but the endings are too sad
My mother always used to say that every ending is simply a new beginning. Of course, this is the same woman who also sniffed my refrigerator every time she came to visit me for nearly ten years and packed the Lysol in her carry-on bag, so I’m not exactly holding her up as the voice of reason, but on this one, she had a point.
All of us, as Lani said, are facing some new challenges in our lives and going in different directions. Teen fiction, collaborations, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance. When you get pulled off into seventeen different directions at once, it’s hard to give your very best to each one of the competing challenges. We at the LC love you all for faithfully stopping by for – wow – almost THREE YEARS!!! (That’s longer than most of my pre-Navy Guy relationships lasted!!) And you deserve only our best.
So we’re on to new beginnings and leaving the Literary Chicks behind. But thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing our ups and downs, our stories about our writing and kids and writing and dogs and writing and crazy mad funny adventures and misadventures that make up our lives. This author gig can be a tough one – it’s very isolating to live and work both in the same four walls. Stopping by here every day was one of the things that made it great during the good times and at least bearable during the bad times. I’m going to miss you all more than you know.
But back to the new beginning part!! Please stop by and visit me at my BLOG, for the continued misadventures as I become Nature Girl, brave the cross-country move back to Florida next month (was it only 2 years ago you suffered through the trip up here with me?) and GO TO VISIT MICHELLE AND TOUR ENGLAND NEXT SPRING!!!!! And please please sign up for my NEWSLETTER and my DISCUSSION GROUP to hear what’s new with me and talk about books. Because, new beginning or not, this still feels like an ending, and it’s making me cry.
Thank you to Lani, Michelle, Eileen, Beth, and Whitney for being my sisters on this roller coaster ride, and thank you to all of you – our wonderful readers - for being blessings in my life. As a goodbye hug, here is a pic of me, Science Boy and Princess from the tent in Williamsburg
May your summer be filled with terrific beach reads and your lives be filled with joy and love.
hugs,
Alesia
Posted by Alesia at 3:28 PM | Comments (3)
June 24, 2007
Breaking Up is...
Hard to do...
I'm such a wimp when it comes to good-byes. Really, I hate them. I could get all emotional and weepy and say what a blast and privilege it's been hanging here with all the cool chiclets, and Lani, Beth, Whitney, Eileen and Alesia, and how much I'll miss you all, but that will just make me blubber like a baby.
Instead, I'm going out with a little tale of female empowerment. Remember the milk story from last time? Well, it happened again, yesterday. I got overcharged for my milk, and when I pointed it out to the cashier she got all huffy with me, like it was my fault that her bloody scanner machine was overcharging me. She told me (in Dutch, which, surprisingly, I understood) that prices could change on a daily basis, and special offers didn't last forever, in a tone of voiced that implied I was basically an idiot for even suggesting that the supermarket was trying to do me out of ten cents per carton. I felt pretty mad at that, because I was politeness personified! Instead, I calmly told her that I had this problem with the milk all the time. She tried to guilt me into letting the extra ten cents pass, because of the accumulating line.
You'd have been proud of me, chicklets! I insisted that the price be checked and lo and behold, I was right! The cashier proceeded to throw my shopping though the scanner in a very irritated way, as if I was, you know, public enemy number one! Anyway, after I'd retrieved my shopping in a very polite way and paid her, I wished her a good day and left.
So what am I trying to say here? Well, apart from good manners cost nothing, and that you should always go the extra ten cents in a supermarket, because ten cents is ten cents, I'm really trying to avoid crumpling in a tearful heap over my keyboard...
Love and hugs,
Michelle
PS. You can always find me and any new news via michellecunnah.com. Later in the year you'll be able to find me on Myspace, too...
Posted by Michelle at 2:45 PM | Comments (4)
June 20, 2007
Happy trails to youuu...
And stay warm and pack extra socks, just in case
This kinda feels like the day after college graduation, doesn’t it? You know, you’re hugging all your friends and patching up the nail holes in your dorm room wall with toothpaste so you don’t get fined by the resident assistants and you’re wishing you could just have ONE more day but it’s really time to go and the powers that be are kicking you out at 5 p.m. sharp?
Sigh. That’s how I feel about posting here for the last time.
But it really IS time to go. We—all six of us and probably lots of you guys, too—have gone crazy overscheduling ourselves this year. The decision to say goodbye was agonizing, though, because we’ve had such fun sharing stories and theories and important insights about high-speed car chases. I hope you had fun, too. I hope we’ve entertained you and brightened up a little corner of your day. If we’ve accomplished that, we can call this blog a rousing success.
You can still track me down at my website, where I’ll keep you posted on upcoming releases (I have one in the hopper right now, actually; it’s called THE PRE-NUP, and trust me, it’s a barn burner!) and the ongoing insurgency of the dogs.
I know it won’t be quite the same, but here’s the thing: being a literary chick is a state of mind and, as the Eagles so eloquently put it
You can check out any time you like…but you can never leave.
So keep on keepin’ on and we’ll keep writing the kinds of novels that brought us all together in the first place. See you at the bookstore. Mwah.
P.S. Oh, and Mr. Tall sends you all his best.
Posted by Beth at 8:06 PM | Comments (6)
And now, the end is near . . .
. . . and so I face the final curtain.
Have you ever really listened to the lyrics of “My Way”? Really freaking depressing.
Anyway, this is not really my final curtain (thank God) . . . but it is my final post at the L.C.
I’ve had a blast hanging out here for the past eighteen months! I’ve loved posting with my fellow Literary Chicks – Michelle, Alesia, Beth, Eileen, and Lani. Not only are they amazingly talented writers, but they’re all kind, generous and lovely women.
And the L.C. wouldn’t be the L.C. without our readers! I’ve so enjoyed reading your comments, and truly appreciate how much you’ve all contributed to the community here.
So, where am I headed now? Well, life has gotten hectic lately, but in a good way.
I have two books coming out this year:
First, Mommy Tracked, about four friends facing the challenges of motherhood, is being released on August 28th.
Then, my first Young Adult book, Geek High, written under my pen name, Piper Banks, is coming out on November 6th.
2008 will bring even more releases. The second book in the Geek High series, Geek Abroad, is coming out in the Spring, and my next chick lit novel, tentatively named Good Luck, will be out in December 2008.
And, as always, you can keep up with me on my blog at whitneygaskell.com, where I’ll keep you updated on the big ball of craziness that is my life.
Thanks again for everything!
XXXOOO, best wishes,
Whitney
Posted by Whitney at 6:00 AM | Comments (3)
June 19, 2007
Not so good at good-bye
So run alongside the car with me for just a moment, will you?
Back when I was a little girl, we used to spend our summers at my grandparents' farm in Kentucky. Yes. My grandfather was a Jewish tobacco farmer in Boone County, Kentucky. I'll give you a second or two to wrap your mind around that.
Right. With me now? Super. Good job.
Anyway, we used to go there for the summer. At the end of the season, we'd all load up into the car and head home. As we pulled down the long long driveway, my grandmother would follow along. My dad would start to pick up speed and my grandmother would start to jog a little. She was all of four foot nine. A little jog was pretty much her full sprint. Anyway, she'd jog along until we hit the road, turned and accelerated out of sight.
It always made me cry.
Since that's how my family introduced me to good-byes, I don't think it's my fault that I'm not very good at them.
Unfortunately, good-byes are a reality. That has been forcibly taught to me by the fates way too many times and I know better than to fight it and it's time to say good-bye to what has been one of the best experiences I've had as an author.
This community has meant so much to me. I was honored and thrilled to be asked to join. I was supported and cared for while I was here. I have made friends that I will treasure always.
I'll miss all you chicklets. You are fabulous and funny and warm. I hope you'll stop by my website and visit me sometimes. When Cowboy gets back from Malaysia, I'll see what I can do to start a little blog there so we can keep up.
Until then, could you jog along with me just for a few steps so I don't have to say good-bye just yet?
Posted by Eileen at 7:00 AM | Comments (15)
June 18, 2007
Our Last Hurrah
In early 2004 I formed a life-altering (in a good way) friendship with two incredibly wonderful women; Michelle Cunnah and Alesia Holliday. We came together on a project that turned out the be short-lived, but we bonded like mad and adored each other to pieces. One day, it occurred to me that it would be a lot of fun to do a group blog together. We all wrote chick lit, and we were all fabulous, so why not? From this idea Literary Chicks was born, launched in August 2004, and to my knowledge it was the first author group blog out there, although it certainly wasn’t the last. The three of us came together and blogged like mad, telling stories of Choppy Thoughts and Authors for Dinner (no, not in a cannibalistic way) and Slagroom. We had a great time, and hardly any readers, but we didn’t care. We were having too much fun.
Then, in January of 2006, we decided it was time to expand. But who to bring in? We had very strict requirements. They had to be people we all loved, people whose work we respected, and people who we knew would bring the energy we wanted for the LC. We chose Eileen Rendahl because we loved her writing, and we’d all met her at the 2005 RWA National Conference in Reno, NV, and fell madly in love with her; Beth Kendrick, because her books were also wonderful, and her sense of humor fit in so nicely with ours when she guested in April of 2005; Whitney Gaskell because I'd been a huge stalker fan of hers for years, and dragged her into our wild bunch whether she wanted to come or not. In the same way that Michelle, Alesia and I bonded originally, the new additions came in and rocked the house, making the LC even more popular than it had ever been. Which makes sense. They’re fabulous.
It’s probably obvious to you now why I’m reminiscing. Some of you may have noticed a little bit of a slowdown here at the LC recently, and there’s been good reason. Alesia’s Atlantis series (written as Alyssa Day) has skyrocketed, and she’s been hit with all the hard work that comes with well-earned success. Eileen’s newest book, Un-Veiled, just came out, plus she’s been working on a few projects which will become public soon, but in the meantime, just know – they’re awesome. Michelle’s working hard on her new YA series, the first of which will be called Almost Fabulous, due out Winter 2007, and don’t let the title fool you – it’s fully fabulous. Beth has a number of projects in the hopper (including her YA series written as Beth Killian), and the dogs, and the golf cart. Whitney’s working on a YA series as well, written as Piper Banks, not to mention her women’s fiction is still going strong, with Mommy Tracked coming out in August. And as for me... well, I’ve got a few things in the hopper as well. All of it combines to create the situation we’re dealing with now – how to find time for it all.
At the end of many long discussions about how much we love each other and the Chicklets, it came down to this – there just weren’t enough hours in the day. There are children, books, husbands, golf carts, new projects, cross-country moves to consider. And while we all enjoy each other and you guys so much, in the end, we had to make the hard decision to discontinue Literary Chicks.
Now, it’s not a total shutdown. All the archives will be here, and the site will remain, but we’re all going to be concentrating on everything else we’ve got to concentrate on. So this week, we’re each of us going to be posting one last time to reminisce, to appreciate you all, and to say goodbye. We’ve had such a great time with you all, and trust us, we wouldn’t leave you if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. But don’t worry – you’ll be able to find us all at our various homes on the web, and we’ll let you know in our goodbye posts where to find us and how to keep in touch, and we really hope you will. While the six of us have had so much fun together, it was you all that made us complete, made us the LC, and as Dorothy said to the Scarecrow, we’re going to miss you most of all...
Thanks so much for all the good times,
Lani (and the Literary Chicks)
Posted by Lani at 6:00 AM | Comments (18)
June 17, 2007
My Ten Cent's Worth
Is it trivial of me, do you think?
Okay, so I have a problem with supermarkets and store discount cards. I never ever these days have a store discount card, even when I can do "buy one get one free," or get a free turkey for Christmas, because, and call me a little paranoid if you like, but when you get those store discount cards you have to share personal info. I never pay by debit card or credit card, either, if I can help it. For the same reasons. Personal information all the way, baby. Who's watching what I'm spending my money on?
See, you have to provide a snail mail address to GET the card. Ensuing paper spam to follow ad infinitum et ad nauseum. And you have to provide an e-mail address. Ensuing online spam ad infinitum et ad nauseum (currently 1,000 spams per day on my most public e-mail address).
But...
I have another beef with supermarkets. Call me a grumpy old woman (or youngish-to-denying-fortysomething-ish kind of person these days person) but you know, the supermarkets wherever you go stack things in such ways that the price tags on the shelves don't always match the product you think you're getting at the price stated. Then, later, when you get home and check your receipt, you've been charged a bit extra? Do you go back and get your refund, or not?
Does it piss you off like it does me, or what? Go back and complain, I say.
My current war is against skim milk. Yes, you read that right. I am enraged about skim milk. My local supermarket offers it for 32 Eurocents per carton. That's a great price! But when you get to the checkout, it registers as 42 Eurocents per carton every time.
Do you know how hard that is to challenge in a foreign language? And in a teeny by American size supermarket, where the lines are way back half-way down the aisles?
I have found my mission. On Wednesday this was me:
Me (after the skim milk registered at 42 cents): mevrouw, de magere melk is twei en dertig cents, niet twei en vierteg cents.
(Madam, the milk is 32 cents, not 42 cents).
Mevouw: I'll get this checked out immediately (except in Dutch). Oh, you're right (after a long to-ing and fro-ing with getting the price checked )and an oh, bloody hell, she's complaining about 10 cents). ll adjust your bill accordingly (except in Dutch).
On Friday, this was me: (after the skim milk registered still at 42 cents): Mevrouw, de magere melk is noch (still) twei en dertig cents, niet twei en vierteg cents.
Checkout person: I'll get this checked out immediately (except in Dutch). After a long wait, Oh, you're right. I'll adjust your bill accordingly (except in Dutch). (OMG, this woman is still complaining!)
Yesterday, this was me: Me (after the skim milk registered at 42 cents): mevrouw, de magere melk is TOCH twei en dertig cents, niet twei en vierteg cents.
Checkout person: I'll get this checked out immediately (except in Dutch). Oh, you're right. I'll adjust your bill accordingly. (She's onto us, but fear not! Our world domination is not over, mwahahahahaha. we'll make her complain about milk prices until the end of time!!)
Will this torture never end? Will I have really have to challenge the price of skim milk until the end of time?
Yes. Probably. But I'll do it :-)
So, chicklets, what pisses you off big time with supermarkets? Or with any kind of super store? ( I refer to them as the superpowermegastoreswhoruletheworld.)
Posted by Michelle at 3:11 PM | Comments (3)
June 16, 2007
What's Left to Unveil?
You'd be surprised...
I've been thinking about this blog for a while. I mean, let's face it - it's not like I've been withholding here at the LC. I've talked about meeting my husband in a bin of halibut fins, about the time I forgot Delaware was a state, about the time I realized there was something very wrong with my girl cat. Setting water on fire. Obsessions with Hello Kitty, Colin Firth and Buffy.
So, now we're on call to unveil ourselves and... I'm worried that there's nothing left. It never occurred to me to hold back for a rainy day when I'd be asked for a secret unshared. The only secrets I ever keep are those that affect other people and since they still affect those people... well... I'm at a bit of a loss. So all day yesterday, I thought and thought and wondered what I could possibly....
And then an idea hit me. But you're gonna have to click over the jump to get it.
Okay, we're all here? Great. Here it is:
Check out that forehead. You could park a truck on that forehead.
And yes, I still have it.
This blog was brought to you by UNVEILED, Eileen's terrific new book about the secrets we try so hard to keep, but never do.
Posted by Lani at 12:01 PM | Comments (7)
June 14, 2007
Unveiling reasons why I'm an idiot
I have no memory
I used to have a fabulous memory. I could rattle off phone numbers, addresses, keep track of appointments and do it all in my head. I turned forty and it was like someone flicked a switch. Bam! No memory.
So, here are the things I forgot to tell you in my last blog:
I have this somewhat funny kind of quirky new website up called Unveiling Yourself. It's a video exploration of the secrets people keep. The second week's worth of videos are up. Stop by and check them out.
Remember when I asked you all to take a survey at my website? Well, the results are now up. Stop by and check that out, too!
And finally, if anyone is in northern California, stop by the Borders in Davis on Tuesday, July 17 at 7 p.m. to celebrate the release of UN-VEILED with me. I know. It's like a month late, but Cowboy's in Malaysia until the end of June (click here if you want to see some examples of his fabulous underwater photography) and then it's July Fourth and then it's RWA Nationals and that's the first week I felt we could do it. Stop by. Have some cake. Perhaps a glass of wine. It'll be fab.
This blog was brought to you by UNVEILED, Eileen's terrific new book about the secrets we try so hard to keep, but never do.
Posted by Eileen at 9:53 PM | Comments (5)
June 13, 2007
Whitney: Unveiled
I'm putting it all out there . . .
It’s hard to have a secret life here in blogland. I’ve already admitted to my weaknesses for celebrity gossip, the Amazing Race and thrift stores. And, frankly? I’m not all that interesting. The average day finds me sitting in front of my computer, wearing sweat pants, banging out my latest book. Days go by where, from the time my husband leaves for work to the time he’s returns, the only adult conversation I have is with the UPS man. So it’s not like I have a whole lot of time for a secret life.
And yet . . . I do have one final admission.
I really, really, really like to shop online. Really. You could put five really’s in there, and it still wouldn’t get across how addicted I am.
Okay, I’m not so addicted that I have a secret cache of Home Shopping Network boxes in my closet, like the character Paige Cassel in my book She, Myself & I. But when, during the season finale of The Office, Jan’s boss fires her because she spends all of her time shopping online, I laughed a bit too guiltily. Because I’ve been there. I frequently move to my kitchen table or the local Barnes & Noble coffee shop to work, just so I’m not tempted to check out whether anything new is on sale at Anthropologie’s website.
So where do I shop? Let me put it this way . . . my list of bookmarked shopping websites is longer than any other bookmarked list I have on the computer. I even like blogs that are dedicated to shopping, like Mighty Goods and Apartment Therapy. That way, I never truly run out of things that I’d love to buy, should this writing gig ever pay off.
Still don’t believe me? Here’s a list of the things I’m currently lusting after:
The Lily Pad dress from Anthropologie.
The London Bridge Pillow from Well Dressed Home.
The Elemento bed from DWR. Oh, and well I’m at DWR, I’d also like an Egg Chair, please.
And those are just a few things I thought up in the past five minutes. You see? It really is a sickness.
So there it is . . . my final secret unveiled for you! Well. Except for that whole I’m-really-a-CIA agent-and-being-a-writer-is-just-my-cover thing. But I can’t exactly get into that here, can I?
This blog was brought to you by UNVEILED, Eileen's terrific new book about the secrets we try so hard to keep, but never do.
Posted by Whitney at 6:00 AM | Comments (6)
June 12, 2007
Accidental Unveilings
When what you say says more than you meant to say
So I was over at my friend's house, grilling her about the life of a psychologist to use for a book idea I've got. Her husband (who happens also to be my friend and is a totally awesome guy) walked through and started asking questions. So I explained that the psychologist was the heroine and the cop would be the hero.
He pointed out that I'd done that before. Did I maybe have a thing for cops?
I turned bright red.
It's not so much that I have a thing for cops. I just adore those take charge Alpha males. Lani, my sweet, you can have all those delectable sweet Beta boys. Give me a meaty Alpha guy who acts like he might knock me over the head and drag me back to his cave by my hair and my knees go weak.
I know this about myself. I just didn't want everyone else to necessarily know. It doesn't seem terribly evolved, you know?
That incident reminded me of an art class I took may moons ago when I was pregnant with Thing Two. I don't even remember what exactly the assignment was, but I'd done a painting of a woman who was supposed to look like she was bursting out of a plant against a starry background. It didn't turn out quite like that. It looked more like a woman huddled inside a pod and the stars sort of ran. One of my classmates finally said, "Those star things look like sperm. That woman looks like she's hiding. Did you actually mean to get pregnant?"
Well, no, not exactly, but I hadn't intended on broadcasting it to all of my painting class at Scottsdale Community College.
So have you accidentally unveiled a little something about yourself without intending to? Hmmm?
Oh, and by the way, UN-VEILED comes out next Tuesday, June 19. Romantic Times said, "Anyone who's ever confided in her hairdresser, or anyone who's just looking for an easy read, will appreciate Rendahl's latest." So, stop by your local bookstore and check it out. Just because I didn't mean to get pregnant with Thing Two doesn't mean I don't want to send him to college.
This blog was brought to you by UNVEILED, Eileen's terrific new book about the secrets we try so hard to keep, but never do.
Posted by Eileen at 7:00 AM | Comments (4)
June 11, 2007
Unveiling . . . My Bad Habits
oh, the humiliation
Sorry we've been somewhat MIA here at the LC lately; we're all going into summer with kids on vacation, deadlines breathing hot and heavy down our collective necks, and some mondo changes going on behind the scenes. But we're THRILLED to spend this week bragging about our brilliant and beautiful EILEEN RENDAHL and her wonderful new book: UNVEILED.
It's a marvelously warm and funny book, all about keeping guilty secrets and what happens when those secrets are -- as they always are, don't we learn ANYTHING from soap operas??? -- UNVEILED. (Speaking of soap operas, am I the only one pissed by the 'let's leave room for the movie' crappy ending of THE SOPRANOS last night?)
In honor of UNVEILED - oh, and be sure to go to Eileen's hysterically funny and slightly weird website where people actually talk about their guilty secrets!! -- I decided to admit to some of my worst "I'm on deadline" secrets. Trust me, chocolate and caffeine are involved in a pusher-quantity way.
First, I know I've talked about this before, but there is the FINAL WEEKEND CRAPPY HOTEL ESCAPE PUSH. You can see photographic evidence HERE, including the 18 cans of diet coke. This time, it was even worse than usual, because I had to take Princess with me for a while. Navy Guy and Science Boy were off on the aircraft carrier for Friends and Family Day (except no friends or family under the age of 8 were allowed, which left out Princess, but don't get me started on that). So I took her to the hotel with me until he could come pick her up.
She, of couse, adores hotels, even though this was not up to her standards because it had no room service, only a Dunkin Donuts. However, she managed to endure, by surrounding herself with pillows and arming herself with the TV remote control. I set up and began to work, cartoons playing quietly in the background.
Princess: Can I watch the animal show?
Me: Sure (we love animal planet)
I glance at the screen, baby elephants and baby rhinos, all is good. Go back to work.
Princess: Mommy, why is that man's hand up the elephant's vagina?
Me: (Snort diet coke out my nose) WHAT????
Turns out the show was about a team of scientists who have the exemplary job of keeping endangered species alive by running around artificially inseminating them. In case you've ever wondered, elephants have THREE slits in the bottom area. You fertilize up the middle one. Not quite sure what the third is about. If you're really that curious, google already.
So, exhausted, cranky, and entirely not in the mood, I had to go into a discussion of elephant insemination that was based on the flower and plant fertilization study she'd just done in second grade.
Oh, wait. We were talking about bad habits. Sorry, the whole elephant vagina thing just throws me off, every time.
Add in the following:
1. Entire bags of peanut butter M&Ms
2. Multiple triple venti lattes and more than one pot of coffee, all in the same day
3. Pacing the floor muttering to myself, working out final scene plot issues
4. Posting the "if there's not fire or blood, go away" sign on the door for that final 3 days
And you have me, on deadline. It ain't pretty.
Come on! Unveil any of your own guilty secrets! And go buy UNVEILED right now!! You'll love it!
hugs,
Alesia
This blog was brought to you by UNVEILED, Eileen's terrific new book about the secrets we try so hard to keep, but never do.
Posted by Alesia at 11:24 AM | Comments (4)
June 6, 2007
What's your "Judy Blume moment of truth"?
Sometimes you just have to eat it or wear it
I’m delighted to announce the publication of a brand spankin’ new anthology called Everything I Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume, which includes essays by authors like Meg Cabot, Megan McCafferty, Julie Kenner…and moi. Our topics run the gamut from bullying and masturbation to romance and rejection, but one thing they all have in common is our shared love for the Judy Blume novels we grew up reading.
Seriously, thank God for Judy Blume. When you’re muddling through the hellish quagmire of middle school, it’s good to know that someone out there knows exactly what you’re going through and isn’t afraid to put it all down on paper. Remember waiting (and waiting and waiting) for your breasts to develop? And despairing because your parents just didn’t understand you? And dealing with the soul-crushing reality that all the really cute, sporty boys preferred your busty, bubbly best friend to you, just because you were a freakishly flat-chested introvert who preferred Sylvia Plath to Seventeen?
(Note: I’m not saying any of this happened to ME, mind you. No. This is merely a “for instance.”)
The best part of contributing to this anthology was the chance to re-read the Judy Blume novels as an adult. If you haven’t picked up Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret or (gasp!) Forever lately, you’re missing out. I enjoy them just as much—if not more—now than I did when I was in the publisher’s target age group. Except now I identify with all the parent characters instead of just the teen characters. Judy Blume is so deft and subtle with her characterization, but everything you need to know about the relationships is right there in the dialogue and the details. Her stories are timeless and hilarious and painfully honest. They're just as relevant today as they were when they were originally published. Woman’s a genius.
My essay explores the ways in which my perception of my mother has changed as I’ve made the tumultuous journey from adolescent to adulthood and examines the mother characters in Forever, Tiger Eyes, and Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself, but really, my hands-down, all-time favorite Judy Blume book is Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing. Where the rascally little brother is forever stealing the spotlight and charming the entire world with his jaw-dropping shenanigans? My girlfriends and I still break out the phrase “eat it or wear it” from time to time. As in:
Friend #1: Ooh, I really want to eat this last cookie, but I really shouldn’t—I skipped the gym this morning and I’m PMS-y and bloated and refined sugar fat calories guilt body image blah, blah, blah…
Friend #2: Dude, eat it or wear it.
Or:
Friend #1: Hmm, I’m a little tipsy and I do have to work tomorrow. I probably shouldn’t finish this whole margarita. I mean, we’re not in college anymore.
Friend #2: Eat it or wear it.
Words to live by, really. (And we invariably end up eating it.)
So drop by your local bookstore or library today, pick up your favorite Judy Blume novel, and prepare for a blast from your past. Oh, and grab the new anthology, too. Isn’t adolescence is so much more enjoyable now that you’re safely past it?
Posted by Beth at 10:43 PM | Comments (3)
Scenes from a Marriage
On sleep and Sex and the City.
Last night, while in the middle of a conversation with yours truly, my darling husband fell asleep.
I think it had more to do with how exhausting his day was than my conversational skills . . . or, at least, I hope so.
Part of me was incredibly jealous. I have a hard time falling asleep under the best of circumstances: the room needs to be dark and a perfect 75 degrees, my white noise machine has to be on, I need to have read for at least a few minutes before turning off my light, and even then I need to take prescription sleep medication.
So the idea of being able to fall asleep in a well-lit room while my spouse is in the middle of telling me about her day wrestling an almost-four-year old who has suddenly discovered the phrase, “I WANT!” . . . how delicious would that be?
On the other hand, I was a little offended. I mean, it was my story he was falling asleep in the middle of. It’s hard not to take that personally.
Anyway, after several unsuccessful attempts to wake him, I gave up, and decamped to the living room to watch a Sex and the City rerun on cable. A few minutes later, George came staggering in, looking annoyed.
“Did you really just get up in the middle of our conversation to come out here and watch Sex and the City?” he demanded.
“No. You fell asleep in the middle of our conversation, and didn’t wake up when I poked you. Then I came out here and turned on Sex and the City,” I said.
“I didn’t fall asleep,” George said, offended at the idea.
“You were snoring,” I said.
“I was not.”
“Were too.”
“Was not.”
“Were too.”
“Hmph,” George said. “So . . . do you want to finish what we were talking about?”
“No,” I said. “Now I want to watch Sex and the City.”
George shrugged, and lumbered off to check his email. And I watched my show, and contemplated how incredibly immature Carrie is, and wondered if I’d noticed that a few years ago when the episode originally aired. Carrie was actually pissed off that Big gave her a Judith Leiber purse, because it meant that he didn’t “get her.” Seriously, if that’s her reaction upon receiving hugely expensive surprise gifts for no reason . . . that girl wouldn’t last five minutes in a real modern day marriage.
Posted by Whitney at 7:58 AM | Comments (5)
June 5, 2007
Burn, baby, burn
I'm a disco inferno
Last weekend, Thing Two had a soccer tournament. It was a beautiful weekend. Low 80s, blue sky, light breeze. Perfect for standing on the sidelines and cheering for my kid.
Because it was perfect weather, I wore a tank top. With the light breeze, I got a little chilly. So it was perfect weather to wear the little mesh poncho I'd crocheted. Fabulous! Until later that day when Cowboy asked what I'd done to my shoulders.
Me: What do you mean? I didn't do anything.
Cowboy: Then why do you look like you've been pressing your shoulders against waffle irons?
Got it yet? I got a little sunburn on my shoulders and have burned a mesh pattern from the poncho into my shoulders. Sadly, this is not my first foray into giving myself interesting burn marks.
Last year, I went into a sauna wearing my little good luck cat necklace and managed to burn the cat shape onto my chest. You can still see the scar in the right light.
Two years ago in the Philippines, I went snorkelling in the adorable swim suit with a little skirt that I'd bought. I sunscreened all the exposed areas. The ocean was 82 degrees and peering down was like looking into the most amazing aquarium I'd ever visited. I spent two hours floating on my stomach with my ass up in the air and the skirt apparently flipped up.
I didn't sit down for the next two days.
So now that it's sunscreen season again, do you have any favorite sunburn stories you'd like to share?
Posted by Eileen at 7:00 AM | Comments (14)
June 3, 2007
Flight Delays and 'Flu!
Is bad travel Karma catching, do you think?
I'm beginning to suspect that this is the case, because: Picture this...
It was the end of the college year, and No Longer Teenager No #1 flew to Britain two weeks ago to visit my family. Her redeye intercontinental flight was fabulous. There were no lines in the airport, she got a row of three seats to herself so was able to sleep the flight away, the flight attendants were kind and courteous, the flight landed on time, there were no lines at the British end, either, and she was through arrivals and ensconced in the bosom of our loved ones before she knew it!
Yay! Obviously she hasn't inherited my bad travel Karma.
Then, last Monday, she was due to fly to Rotterdam to visit with me. Which is when the trouble began, of course.
The flight between London's Stansted airport and Rotterdam is very quick - the flight plan says an hour, but you're only in the air for about 35 minutes. So, a nice, short journey for her! Her flight was due to land at about 10.45 at night, and Rotterdam airport is only about fifteen minutes away from our apartment by car. Thank goodness for our newish car, and thank goodness for our short journey, too!
Then my mum (Super Mum) called me. No Longer Teenager No #1 had just called her from Stansted airport, because it was way cheaper for Super Mum to call me from her home phone, than for Teenager No #1 to call me international from the airport pay phone (and her American cell phone doesn't work in the UK).
Anyway, her flight was delayed. It was due to land at 1.36 in the morning. Okay, that's a pain, it meant the poor girl would have to hang around waiting for hours for her flight, but no biggie. And then Super Mum told me the second part of the bad news. Rotterdam airport closes at midnight (which I didn't know) and No Longer Teenager No #1's flight had been diverted to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, which is about an hour or so to drive. Also, it was raining...
We finally arrived home just after 3am in the morning...
On the bright side, it's so lovely to have her here. On the dark side, I caught the flu from Oh Patient One and Teenager No #1 just before No Longer Teenager No #1 arrived. And yes, I have accidentally shared it with her, so we've spent the week in the apartment drinking hot honey and lemon, and feeling very sorry for ourselves.
Oh, and remember last time I told you about my forthcoming trip to Oz? Guess what? We're leaving Rotterdam on Friday 13th July. Well, I seem to have bad travel Karma whatever day I travel, so why worry about superstition? :-)
So, dear chicklets, are you superstitious? Do you throw salt over your shoulder if you accidentally spill some? Do knock on wood? Or do you bravely stride under ladders and ignore black cats when they cross your path? I'd love to hear your superstitions, or some good or bad Karma you think you received as a result of them.
Posted by Michelle at 12:05 PM | Comments (6)
