I can finally share my TV news... Drumroll please... We sold The Regulars to E! That's right folks, after three trips to LA and over a dozen pitches, we accepted E!'s offer to begin development of my first novel as a show. It. Is. So. Exciting. I'm so very grateful to everyone who helped make this happen: my producer Jennifer Graziano of Just Jenn Productions, show runner Gail Gilchriest, everyone at CBS Studios, our agents at UTA, and of course E! Now, if you want to know when you should set your DVR (if anyone still does that?), hold your horses. The deal isn't a guarantee the show will be on the air, but what it does mean is Gail and I will write a pilot for E! over the coming months. So now, I'm digging into how to turn this book into a TV show. I'm open to hearing what you guys loved about the book and what you'd hope to see in a show on a network like E! Email me your thoughts!
Huge Bucket List giveaway!
The Bucket List galleys are finally in my hot little hands! Galleys are "advance reader copies" (aka ARCs), and are printed versions of an early manuscript, specifically for media, influencers, publishing folk: anyone who benefits from an early read. I'm currently sending my author ARCs out to a select list, including fellow authors for author blurbs (the praise you see on a book's jacket). I'm told author blurbs aren't as as essential for a second book, but they're still good to have. I have my first blurb in from my angel Amy Poeppel (Small Admissions and the forthcoming Limelight), and it's a cracker:
“Original, thought-provoking, and witty: life and death meets S&M. Feisty and smart Lacey Whitman approaches her high stakes dilemma bravely but also wildly, with a bold bucket list of sexual fantasies she's determined to try. Combining the heat of Sally Thorne and the wit of Maria Semple, The Bucket List is poignant, super sexy, and hilarious.”
Want to win an advance copy? Goodreads is giving away 30 copies! Competition closes April 2nd!
If you're in the biz and you'd like an ARC, email my publicists Stephanie.Mendoza@simonandschuster.com or Alison.Hinchcliffe@simonandschuster.com. On-sale 8/7/18
Generation Women line-up announced for March!
THE THEME IS "MY SLIDING DOOR MOMENT"
Decisions: we make a bunch of 'em every day (gym or nap? seltzer or wine?). Most are small. Some are bigger. And over the course of a lifetime, some are quite literally life-changing. This month, we're exploring the one decision that changed our lives, forever.
Generation Women is a cross-generational storytelling night in NYC, created and hosted by yours truly. Each month, six women of note read an original piece on a theme. Of those women, one is in her 20s, her 30s, her 40s, her 50s, her 60s, and her 70s+. Generation Women celebrates and amplifies women's voices and creativity. We're a unique, intimate female literary salon that brings together women of all ages.
Team 20: Alyssa Coscarelli is Refinery29’s Senior Fashion Market Editor and is a style influencer in her own right. Constantly keeping the pulse on the market, Alyssa will try any trend at least once, covering fashion brands, styling tips, and overall industry happenings for Refinery29. She also shares her city-inspired outfits, inspirations, and adventures daily with her enthusiastic Instagram following.
Team 30: Azita Ardakani is a Canadian Iranian immigrant and a five year transplant to New York City. She founded Love Social, an award winning digital impact agency, and is now a partner at Honeycomb Portfolio, a female founded impact investment fund.
Team 40: Leyla Martinez is a senior at Columbia University, studying Human Rights. She is also the President/Founder of Beyond the Box Initiative, which is an organization that seeks to eliminate structural barriers to higher education, housing, employment and civic participation for people who have criminal convictions.
Team 50: Julie Klam has published several books, including The Stars in Our Eyes and You Had Me At Woof, and wrote for the VH1 television show Pop-up Video, where she earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Class Writing. Currently, she writes for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the magazines that haven’t folded.
Team 60: Marcia Butler was a professional oboist for twenty-eight years until her retirement in 2008. She is the author of the nationally acclaimed memoir, The Skin Above My Knee, which was listed in “35 OVER 35” as a notable debut author. Her first novel will be published in 2019.
Team 70: Rochelle Jewel Shapiro is the author of Miriam the Medium (Simon & Schuster, 2004) and indie Finalist, Kaylee’s Ghost. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, and more. She’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize in poetry, and she teaches writing at UCLA Extension.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Tuck yourself away and WRITE!
I spent a week in February on residency at Spruceton Inn in the Catskills. What a dream to be tucked away without cell service or wifi to plan my next novel. Thanks to Casey, Brett and Steven for making me feel so welcome in their little slice of wild heaven. Highly recommended for artists and adventurers.
Picking my new author photo!
This month, I had my good friend Izzy shoot my new author headshot. I'll be documenting how to take a good author headshot in my newsletter, including how to convey your unique author brand in one single photo. Which one is your fave? It's so hard to decide!
Writing tips from the copyeditor's desk...
First pass pages are DONE, BABY! FPP are the first time you see your book as a book, laid out and type set. The author gets these pages to proof them and make light edits. Now is not the time to change the gender of your main character and switch a sad ending for a happy one. Now is the time to fix typos, grammatical errors, small slips in logic. Here’s a few common mistakes I found in my work: by looking out for them in yours, your prose will be tighter and more readable.
1. Delete word repeats: Generally speaking, you want to avoid word repeats – using the same phrase, be it a noun, verb or (commonly) adjective – as much as possible. We all have our fallback words that we overuse. Or, commonly, we find a word we like and then unconsciously use it again right away, drawing attention to that word and undercutting its power (like I just did with commonly.) When proofing, replace words that have worn out their welcome. (Hint: do a search for just. It’s just crazy how often we use this slippery little sucker!)
Can you guess which word I deleted twice from this paragraph?
2. Your commas, your way: There are a lot of technical rules around the use of commas but honestly, screw that. This is my approach: they are a pause. Use commas to create the meter of your prose. Even if there's supposed to be one, feel free to delete it. This is my approach to copywriting in general: readability is more important than rules.
Technically, I’m meant to have commas after Hi and fuck off, but that’s not how I imagine the greeting spoken. So I took them out. I’m crazy!
3. Suddenly, I realized I didn't need suddenly. You can almost always delete suddenly from fiction. It’s part of telling yourself the story, as you imagine it playing out, but whether it’s a lightbulb moment/knock at the door/fist swinging to someone’s face: it all happens suddenly as far as the reader is concerned. Create surprise and urgency from having the moment appear on page with no introduction, then it will be sudden as opposed to you telegraphing to the reader it is sudden. Falls into show don't tell, generally.
4. Delete doubled-up ideas. Lacey’s breast surgeon, Dr Laura Williams, is described thus: six feet and almost disconcertingly beautiful; a tall Kerry Washington, in a white coat. Later, Lacey meets a couple of gay guys outside a fashion show she’s attending:
Wow, do I think every black person is six foot tall? Looks like it: I deleted six-foot from this.
5. Double-check foreign language: To end on, a fun, narrowly avoided disaster. Here’s the Mandarin my friend Nat translated for me: “Xièxiè nǐ, wǒ de lǎo péngyǒu,” Elan says. “Měi yīcì dōu měiwèi.”
And here’s how it somehow appeared in the FPP:
Literally gibberish. And that, ladies and gents, is why we have FPP.