How odd it feels to sit in the Guest Author chair! Although I have to say, it is quite plush and the fabric matches my outfit, so I’m going to squish my butt into the cushion and dig in to my fellow Debs’ questions about THE LOST GIRLS: After reading LOST GIRLS I found myself thinking about the complicated give and take that exists in most sibling relationships. Did you…
I read MODERN GIRLS two months ago, thanks to an early review copy I tore through in about 48 hours. The book is — as I said in my Amazon review — a rich, complicated, often heartwrenching tale of two women living in the Jewish immigrant community of New York’s lower East Side in 1935 whose unwanted pregnancies expose exactly how far they are from being “modern girls.” But what…
The Debutante Ball is thrilled to welcome a nonfiction writer, Linda K. Wertheimer, to discuss how one launches a nonfiction debut. Linda’s book, FAITH ED., TEACHING ABOUT RELIGION IN AN AGE OF INTOLERANCE, is a narrative nonfiction book with a slice of memoir, the author’s story about spending most of her childhood as one of few Jews in a small Ohio town. The book describes public schools’ efforts to teach…
It’s been two whole weeks since THE COINCIDENCE OF COCONUT CAKE flew onto book shelves, so I have two whole weeks of experience from which to write this post. Overall, everything went smoothly and I had a blast, but there are a few things I’d do differently. 1. Have the launch party on a different day then the actual launch. I had so much to do on the actual day,…
I’m on day four post publication — it’s pretty awesome. I’m currently at the Midwest Writers Workshop in Muncie, IN (and just had scrumptious Thai food with the amazing Janet Reid–yes, be jealous). It took me two days to come down from the adrenaline rush of my launch party (where we sold out of books!) and I might be checking my Amazon ranking more than is healthy. Sitting in my quiet…
It’s here. Finally. I opened my first Word doc to start writing this book on September 3, 2010. That’s 1782 days from first word to book in hand. That was a lot of hard work and persistence, but along the way there have been many memorable moments. While I’m off trying to make a few more, here are my top 5! 1. Telling my husband I was writing a book….
Less than four months to go until THE COINCIDENCE OF COCONUT CAKE enters the world and I’m in the midst of planning my launch. And yes, I’m having a great big party (6 to 8 pm on Tuesday, July 21 at the Hartland Public Library if you’re in the area). Like Colleen, I’m planning to combine my launch party with a fundraiser. The local library has graciously offered to host,…
It’s the last dance, each beat of the last dance… I have a Frank Sinatra CD and those words above begin one of my favorite songs on the album, and Ol’ Blue Eyes is crooning in my head as I write this. Is it really my last dance as a 2009 Debutante? It seems like only yesterday I was playing with my string of pearls, tugging my gloves tight and…
Here are some interviews with Deb Kristina about REAL LIFE & LIARS that have appeared in the last week: Lansing City Pulse, Traverse Magazine online edition, and a review in her hometown paper, The Grand Rapids Press, saying the book is “bursting at the seams with believable people.” You can also catch an archived radio interview performed by old college newspaper pals, here. Kristina also this week had a guest…
Alexis, the heroine of Bad Girls Don’t Die, is my kind of girl. Not because I had pink hair and spouted controversial, passionate opinions in high school – if only I’d had that kind of guts! – but because Alexis can spot a phony a mile away. She also makes no exception for phonies among the “rebels” who have their own code of conduct every bit as rigid as that…
