Blog Hop

I like to read.  I mean, I’d rather read (or write) than do nearly anything else on the planet.  I saw a meme on Facebook the other day that says, “If reading burned calories I would be super-skinny,” or something like that.  I would be completely anorexic looking, and be one of those women I currently despise that says things like, “I eat all the time, I just can’t gain weight!  I don’t know what to do!” 

One of my favorite things to do is discover new writers with unique points of view and information.  That’s why I was teenage-girl-at-a-One-Direction-concert excited to be asked to participate in a female writer’s Blog Hop by Carol Brill.  If you haven’t read Carol’s work, please do.  She’s a writer’s writer, and, unlike hacks like me, actually has an MFA from a real university.  Hers is what chick lit ought to be, not condescending to the readers; intelligent, humanly flawed characters; and enough detail that you can picture everything in your mind in Technicolor.  Possibly even in 3-D if you have the right glasses.  Here’s her official bio and ways to find her: 

Carol is the author of two novels, PEACE BY PIECE and CAPE MAYBE, an Amazon Women's Fiction Bestseller. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Her fiction received recognition from Poets and Writers and was a reader’s favorite for The Best of Philadelphia Stories. Her works have also appeared in Wide Array, New York Journal of Books, the Press of Atlantic City, and various online e-zines and business journals.

Find her at: Amazon: http://amzn.to/18BM1md

Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1kzwqJ1

Blog: http://4broadminds.blogspot.com/search/label/Carol 

I’d also like to introduce you to two of my friends, who are wonderful writers, and completely different from Carol and each other, Carole Townsend and Colleen Walsh Fong.

Carole Townsend (proving that variations on the name ‘Carol’ are a hallmark of good authors) is probably one of the famousest people I am privileged to call a friend.  (She may call me something different, like ‘stalker’ or ‘barnacle’, but she is polite enough not to say it in front of me.)  Her writing makes me giggle and she writes about relatable stuff that we’ve all experienced.  (Well, not some of it, thankfully.)  My favorite is “Red Lipstick and Clean Underwear” Here’s her bio, cribbed (mostly) from her website, www.caroletownsend.com: 

Carole Townsend is a staff correspondent for the Gwinnett Daily Post, the second largest newspaper in Georgia. She is also an author and syndicated columnist. She has been described in her writing style as a cross between Lewis Grizzard and Erma Bombeck. Pegged as one of the up-and-coming writers to watch in the humor genre, Townsend has earned a national following with her honest, funny appreciation of people and how they react to the everyday stuff that life throws at us. She has written several stories about extraordinary women for national magazines.  In October 2011, her dream of writing a book came true with the launch of “Southern Fried White Trash,” a raucously funny look at the way families behave in situations such as weddings, funerals, reunions and holidays, all from the perspective of a Southerner and all that goes with that.

“Southern Fried White Trash” garnered Townsend more than 60 radio interviews coast-to-coast and dozens of television appearances, including CNN, FOX, NBC and CBS. With the release of “Red Lipstick and Clean Underwear” the buzz was immediate. “I have been so blessed to have had the opportunity to talk with all the women who have contributed to this book. I pushed back the release date a few months (to October 2012) because as I was writing it, it mattered more and more to me that I do the subject of the book – women – justice. I hope, no I believe, that I have. I hope readers agree!”  Townsend finished writing her third book, MAGNOLIAS, SWEET TEA AND EXHAUST, in September 2013 and is due for a July 2014 release.  This book journals the author's year-long exploits aimed at learning everything she could about NASCAR in one season. It is available for pre-order on Amazon and Wal-Mart.

Colleen Walsh Fong became my friend through my experiences blogging for the Patch.  Colleen can cook, and her www.easyweeklymeals.com posts regularly make me drool on my keyboard.  She has several cookbooks out, which will be well used, as they are recipes that normal people can both find the ingredients for in the regular grocery store and follow the simple directions.  They can be found on her website.  I mean, how useful is this post?  What to Do if You Forgot to Shop for Valentine's Day.   Colleen also has a women’s interest blog called “Eve” which I love reading.  She shares things from all over the place that she thinks will interest women.  She’s right.   You can find it here:  http://colleenwalshfong.com/ .  Here’s what I plagiarized about her from Easy Weekly Meals:  My name is Colleen Walsh Fong and I love to cook. I want others to love to cook, too. Everybody has to eat and eating is more fun when you know how to do more than open a can of soup or navigate the drive thru window. Good food is better than good. It's amazing. Once you learn how to cook, the world of food is only limited by your imagination.  I've been cooking and writing almost all of my life. Melding my two passions together is a dream come true. I created and collected easy, budget-friendly, and tasty recipes for years. When the time was right I put them all together in a way that would make it easy for other busy people to prepare and eat healthy, delicious food. The result is my ever-growing Easy Weekly Meals touchscreen cookbook series. Once you get one in the palm of your hands, you'll love it as much as I loved creating it.

Ok.  Now that you’ve ordered Carol and Carole and Colleen’s books from Amazon (this post is brought to you by the letter “C”), here are my answers to my official blog hop questions:

1. What am I working on?  Pretty much the same drivel that I normally produce.  My main focus now is marketing my book, “Mismatched Shoes and Upside Down Pizza,” which my Mom says is the funniest book she’s ever read.  Which I’m glad about, because she’s in the book a lot in ways which would make normal people mad.  Oh, I’m also working on an order from Court the other day.
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?  If I knew what genre it was for sure, I could probably tell you.  I think I have a unique viewpoint: a New York Jew plopped in semi-rural Georgia with a full time law practice, a retired husband, and two children whom I alternately want to hug and strangle (that includes my husband.)
3. Why do I write what I do?  Because writing about the zillions of things that go wrong in my life and trying to make it funny is cheaper than therapy.
4. How does my writing process work? Calling it a ‘process’ is probably giving me more credit than I deserve.  Mostly, an idea will strike me, and I will spend a day or so writing it in my head.  By the time I sit down to write it is usually already written in my brain and all I have to do is transcribe.  Then I show it to my (in)famous Screening Committee, and they tell me how horrible it is.  (Once in a blue moon I get a smiley.  Smileys make me happy.)  Then I try to fix it, and usually give up and post it anyway.