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Author Profile: Jandy Nelson
Chick Lit Authors

Author Profile: Jandy Nelson

Author Name: Jandy Nelson

Website: http://www.jandynelson.com/

Bio: Jandy received a BA from Cornell, an MFA from Brown in poetry, and another MFA from Vermont College in writing for children and young adults. It was at Vermont College, under the tutelage of amazing mentors, where the whole marvelous world of children’s literature opened up for her. That was her inspiration to work around the clock on a first novel after previously being devoted solely to writing poetry. For the past twelve years Jandy has been a literary agent with Manus & Associates Literary Agency. Before agenting, she worked in theater, doing everything from making palm trees out of styrofoam to stage managing to dramaturgy. She loves teaching, and plans to do more in the near future. She has taught creative writing at Brown and other places, and gives lectures and workshops on various subjects at writer’s conferences all over the country throughout the year.

Titles: The Sky is Everywhere
Author Name: Jandy Nelson

Website: http://www.jandynelson.com/

Bio: Jandy received a BA from Cornell, an MFA from Brown in poetry, and another MFA from Vermont College in writing for children and young adults. It was at Vermont College, under the tutelage of amazing mentors, where the whole marvelous world of children’s literature opened up for her. That was her inspiration to work around the clock on a first novel after previously being devoted solely to writing poetry. For the past twelve years Jandy has been a literary agent with Manus & Associates Literary Agency. Before agenting, she worked in theater, doing everything from making palm trees out of styrofoam to stage managing to dramaturgy. She loves teaching, and plans to do more in the near future. She has taught creative writing at Brown and other places, and gives lectures and workshops on various subjects at writer’s conferences all over the country throughout the year.

Titles: The Sky is Everywhere

June 29, 2010
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Author Profile: Diane Chamberlain
Chick Lit Authors

Author Profile: Diane Chamberlain

http://www.dianechamberlain.com/index.htm

June 25, 2010
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Author Profile: Danielle Ganek
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Author Profile: Danielle Ganek

Author Name: Danielle Ganek
Website: http://www.danielleganek.com/index.php
Bio: Perhaps it was a sign when, at the age of nine, she dressed as a bookworm (tights, antennae and an enormous painted cardboard “book”) for an improvised American-style Halloween in Sao Paolo, Brazil that Danielle Ganek would one day become a writer. Although American, she spent most of her childhood in Brazil and then in Lausanne, Switzerland. She says she always felt like a foreigner even when she returned to the United States at the age of 16 to attend the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. “Being a perpetual outsider made me a constant observer and I began writing as a child,” she says.

Upon receiving a B.A. in English from Franklin and Marshall College, Danielle moved to New York City to write. She lived with two aspiring actresses in a fifth floor walk up in Chelsea and worked in the magazine world, eventually landing at French department store chain Galeries Lafayette as a Creative Director. At the same time, she continued to study writing, with classes at Columbia University School of Continuing Education, Writers Boot Camp and the Writers Studio. She wrote pieces of novels and short stories, with much of her early work focusing on women pursuing their creative goals.

When Danielle had her first child, Galeries Lafayette closed in New York and she took this as a sign to stop working full- time and focus on writing and being a mother. After three children and a move to Connecticut she and her husband returned to their beloved New York City in 2005 and Danielle focused her efforts on completing a novel. Lulu Meets God And Doubts Him was published by Viking in June 2007. The Summer We Read Gatsby follows in June 2010.
Titles: Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him, The Summer We Read Gatsby
Currently: Danielle currently lives in New York City with her husband, three children and some inspiring art.

June 18, 2010
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Author Profile: Wendy Watson
Chick Lit Authors

Author Profile: Wendy Watson

Author Name: Wendy Lyn Watson
Website: http://www.wendylynwatson.com/home/
Bio: Wendy Lyn Watson teaches constitutional law to college students by day and writes deliciously funny cozy mysteries, with a dollop of romance, by night. While she does not commit–or solve–murders in real life, her love of ice cream is 100% true. She’s also passionately devoted to 80s music, Asian horror films, and reality TV. A native of Ohio, she’s lived in Virginia, Michigan, Minnesota, and Louisiana.
Currently: Wendy currently lives in Texas with her husband and four spoiled felines.
Titles: I Scream, You Scream; Scoop to Kill (out September).

June 17, 2010
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Author Profile: Jill Egizii
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Author Profile: Jill Egizii

Author Name: Jill Egizii
Website: http://www.thelookoflovebook.com/index.html
Biography: Jill Egizii is an advocate for parental alienation awareness. She is politically active, serving as an Alderman in the city of Leland Grove, Illinois. Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan appointed Jill to the Illinois Family Law Study Committee, whose mission is to revamp state divorce law.

Jill is also a board member of Children Need Both Parents, a not-for-profit organization emphasizing shared parenting, and the Parental Alienation Awareness Organization (PAAO), whose mission is to educate people about parental alienation. Jill also serves as an advisor to the board of The Institute for the American Family.

For fifteen years, Jill has served as a board member for United Cerebral Palsy and hosts their weekly television program, Life Without Limits. Each year, Jill facilitates and hosts the United Cerebral Palsy Telethon and is a powerful voice for all people with disabilities.
Currently: Jill is married to an electrical contractor and is the mother of four children. In her spare time she runs and spends quality time with her husband and their Bernese Mountain Dogs, Coco and Jack.
Titles: The Look of Love

June 16, 2010
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Jennifer Weiner Coming to a City Near You!
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Jennifer Weiner Coming to a City Near You!

Jennifer Weiner is coming to a city near you! Weiner will be taking on a national book tour to promote the launch of her latest novel, Fly Away Home, which will be out July 13th. She will be appearing in the following cities:
– NEW YORK – July 13th
– PRINCETON – July 14th
– PHILADELPHIA – July 14th
– WASHINGTON, DC – July 15th
– ATLANTA – July 16th
– FORT LAUDERDALE – July 17th
– MIAMI – July 19th
– DALLAS – July 20th
– BOSTON – July 21st
– CHICAGO – July 25th and 26th
– DENVER – July 27th
– SAN FRANCISCO – July 28th and 29th
– CAPE COD – August 12th

Click here to get more information on Jennifer’s tour!

June 16, 2010
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Interview with Mary O’Sullivan
Chick Lit Authors

Interview with Mary O’Sullivan

Q: I read on your website that your passion was always writing. How were you finally able to break into the industry?
A: I sent the manuscript of my first novel, Parting Company, to Pooolbeg Press in Ireland, more in hope than expectation. I didn’t hear back from them for a while so I was bracing myself for rejection when Poolbeg director, Paula Campbell, rang to offer me a three book contract. That is a moment I will always treasure. Of course it takes hard work and many, many hours of writing and re-writing to produce a manuscript that will interest a publisher but I also believe that good old-fashioned luck plays a part too. I certainly feel very lucky to have had my stories published.

Q: Where do the ideas for your stories come from?
A: I always start with a subject or situation that interests me and I ask the question ‘what if?’ For instance in my first novel, Parting Company – what if someone discovered the cure for cancer? In As Easy As That the question was, what if you suspected your boss of being involved in criminal activity? I have covered topics in my books such as post traumatic stress disorder, the possibility that ghosts exist and religious cults. But no matter what the background to a story, the characters and how they deal with the situations are the most important and satisfying element in writing a book.

Q: What is the best part about being a full time writer?
A: It has to be the freedom to write whenever you like. I spent many years working full-time as a lab technician, always with story ideas in my head but no time to develop them. Now if I feel like writing into the small hours, I can do so without being worried about getting up early to go to my job. I currently work harder and put in longer hours than I have ever done but every minute of it is a pleasure.

Q: You have 5 published novels. Do you have one in particular that you really loved either writing or doing research for?
A: This is a hard question to answer as each of my novels is important to me in its own way. The first, of course, will always hold a special place in my heart. Both my parents died from cancer and writing a fictional cure for the disease in Parting Company was very helpful as part of the grieving process. Under The Rainbow, my latest book, is also very special as it is the only novel I’ve written in the first person. Telling the story in the main character’s voice rather than third person allowed me to get to know everything about Adele Burke, even things she probably wouldn’t want me to know!
The most interesting research I’ve done is for my next novel Time And Tide (Apr 2011). For this book I read up on Climate Change and studied both sides of the Global Warming argument. In my reading I came across the curious fact that the Maya calendar ends on December 31st 2012. Many believe this means the world will end on that date though what the Maya predicted was a change rather than an ending.

Q: What do you find most difficult about the writing process?
A: Probably letting go. It takes at least a year for me to write a novel. In that time I live with the characters and their story day in, day out. I love them all, even the baddies as they are fun to write. Then comes the day when you type THE END. Silly as it seems, I always feel lonely when I finish a book. The only cure is to start another one.

Q: Do you have a certain area that you get all your writing done?
A:I have a small office into which I have squashed all my favourite things – two book cases, family photos, my collection of stones from special places I have been, Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have A Dream ‘poster and a large wall map of the world. A stack of CD’s sits on my desk as I always play music when I write- each book has its own individual soundtrack. It’s a cosy little room and conveniently close to the kitchen for the endless cups of coffee.

Q: Have you ever had an idea for a plot or character at a strange place or time?
A:I got the idea for Under The Rainbow as I was sitting in a seaside café having coffee (again!) with a group of friends. I wondered if childhood friends who had gone their separate ways could meet up as adults and resume their friendship with the same intensity. This thought raised many more questions in my mind and the end result of mulling over the answers was Under The Rainbow.

Q: Who are some of your favorite authors?
A: John Irving – The World According To Garp is one of my all-time favourite novels ; Jodi Picoult ; John Connolly ; Sebastian Barry; Val McDermid; MandaSue Heller; Mary Malone ; Walter Macken and many ,many more authors who have given me hours of pleasure reading their wonderful work.

Q: Do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Any fun celebration stories?
A: I certainly celebrate St Patrick’s Day. It’s a great day to be Irish. I remember a year when the shamrock did not grow very well. My mother went searching for some and arrived home with lovely sprays which we proudly wore on St Patrick’s Day. It was much later before she admitted that the sprays we had worn on March 17th had actually been clover and not shamrock at all. At least it didn’t affect our celebrations and I’m sure St Patrick forgave us!

Q: What would be your best advice for aspiring writers?
A: My advice would be to never give up and to take hope from my history. I had been writing since I was a child but being occupied in full-time work and rearing a family I believed my chance to be a published author had passed me by. I eventually got my lucky break and I would advise anyone with the passion to write to keep working hard on your manuscript and your opportunity will come too.

Q: Is there any place in the world that you would love to travel to?
A: Reading Stephen King and John Connolly piqued my interest in Maine, USA. I based part of my fourth novel, Inside Out there. I researched the state thoroughly, read books on it, got maps and visited on-line Maine sites. The more I learned about the scenery, the history, the uniqueness of Maine, the more I wanted to visit there. A trip to beautiful Maine is definitely on my wish list.

May 21, 2010
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Interview with Jackie Pilossoph
Chick Lit Authors

Interview with Jackie Pilossoph

Q: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
About nine years ago, I had a great idea for a romantic comedy. I used to go jogging on the lake front in Chicago and write the story in my head. Shortly after, I began writing my ideas down on my computer. One story lead to another, and another, and another, and nine years later, I’ve finished seven screenplays and four novels.
Q: In addition to novels, you have also written screenplays. How different and or/alike are writing novels and screenplays?
VERY different. Novels are a lot more fun for me to write, because I get to live inside the minds of my characters, and I get to tell readers what my characters are thinking and feeling. I enjoy creating funny and lovable people, or if someone’s a villain, it’s fun to make him or her really unlikeable. When it comes to movies, the actors and director both have so much more control over character personalities.
Writing novels and screenplays are similar in regards to dialogue. In both, I truly enjoy delivering great dialogue to make my characters’ conversations witty and funny and hip and dramatic. Then again, in movies, an actor can be flexible with his or her lines.

Q: Your fist novel, Hook, Line, and Sink Him! Is based on some of your dating experiences. What is the worst first date you have been on?
I actually have a name for my worst first date, worst date ever, in fact. Let’s call him, “Root Canal Rick.”
Several years ago, I met this guy at a diner while visiting friends in Boston. He lived in Minnesota, I lived in Chicago. After no more than a twelve minute conversation, we decided to exchange numbers. Neither of us knew if we’d ever see each other again, but we’d really hit it off, so we figured it was the right thing to do.
As fate would have it, about a year later, I got a TV reporting job in none other than Minnesota. So, one of the first things I did when I moved there was call the guy, who was pretty much a stranger to me, but who I’d thought about so many times during the past year. Maybe this was fate! It was really exciting!
We ended up going out to a bar/restaurant where we had dinner and where he consumed at least seven beers. ‘Maybe he’s just really nervous’ I rationalized to myself, as I watched him chug and chug and chug.
After dinner, we decided to play a couple games of pool in the next room. A very nice guy (who was also kind of cute) said “Nice shot,” to me, after I sank the 7 ball into the side pocket.
Staggering up to the guy, my date said, “Hey, what do you think you’re doing, jerk?”
“What?” asked the other guy.
“Is something wrong?” I asked my heavily buzzed date, who had just ordered another beer.
“Yes!” he practically shouted, “I just bought you dinner and you’re hitting on another guy!”
I was dumbfounded. “I’m not hitting on anyone,” I defended.
He then called me a few names that I’d rather not mention in this interview. All I can say is THANK GOD I drove separately that night. I put my pool stick down on a nearby rack, and then told my date I was leaving and that he should consider calling a cab versus driving home.
As I exited the place, I could hear him shouting obscenities. I was practically running out of there, which is why it shouldn’t have surprised me when I bumped into some guy on the way out, and his beer spilled and splashed all over me.
Driving home, drenched, cold, disappointed and hurt, I actually felt really happy, too. The guy I thought could be my soul mate had turned out to be a drunken, abusive idiot. It was sad, but I no longer had to wonder. Plus, I NEVER had to see the guy, EVER again!
If someone gave me a choice between experiencing this date and having a root canal, I’d choose the root canal, hands down!

Q: Are you currently working on a book # 2?
Yes, and it’s awesome! Just wait! I am so excited to share it!

Q: If you hadn’t started writing, what do you think would be your career?
I’ve had a bunch of different careers in my life. I’ve been a sales representative for a few different companies, I’ve been a financial advisor, I’ve been in sales management, I’ve been a TV news reporter, I’ve been a college professor, and now, I’m an author. I can’t imagine being anything else anymore. But one job I think would be really, really fun would be a barista at Starbucks. Stress free, talking to people all day, and free coffee! What could be better than that?!
Q: What is your biggest personal accomplishment?
Becoming a mother to my two beautiful, wonderful children and raising them.
Q: Who are some of your favorite authors?
Jonathan Tropper, Emily Giffen, Jennifer Weiner, Sophie Kinsella, Terry McMillan
Q: What is the perfect ‘girl’s night out’ for you?
I LOVE girl’s nights! It’s so much fun to get together with a bunch of chicks, all who dress up for each other. We wear our favorite designer jeans, cute little tops, big hoop earrings, heels, little hand bags and lots of lip gloss. I think it’s really sweet that girls dress to the hilt for other girls.
I enjoy drinking wine or sangria or martinis, and eating sushi or sharing a bunch of appetizers, while all the girls tell and listen to stories, and laugh and joke around. It’s entertaining and relaxing, but there are emotional moments, as well. One minute someone’s telling you her eye shadow’s Bobbi Brown, the next, someone starts crying about her impending divorce.
The nights almost always include funny encounters with strange men sitting at the bar, or someone running into a random acquaintance, such as the cousin of a friend of her ex-boyfriend from college. Funny memories are always created when girls get together!
At the end of the night, two things are guaranteed; girls hug like they’re never going to see each other again, and everyone vows to do it again real soon.
Q: What is your best advice for aspiring writers?
DON’T GIVE UP! It would be impossible for me to count the hundreds of rejections I received when submitting my work to agents and publishers. If you keep sending out your writing, people will give you advice and tips and they’ll help you become a better writer. And then, one day, someone will give you a contract! But remember, that’s only if you DON’T GIVE UP!
Q: What would be your dream vacation?
I’ve always wanted to go to the Amalfi Coast in Italy. It looks amazing! I would go there with my entire family, my kids, my parents, my brothers and sisters, and their families. We all love each other very much, but we drive each other crazy. That’s why I’d make sure we got separate villas!

May 20, 2010
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Author Fiona Cassidy Bio
Chick Lit Authors

Author Fiona Cassidy Bio

Fiona Cassidy is better known as Fionnuala McGoldrick (her first name is pronounced fin-ooh-la and is Irish for fair shouldered!) She is from Galbally, Co. Tyrone in Northern Ireland. She lives with her partner Philip and between them they have five children (and a very messy house!) Fiona has always been an avid reader but five years ago decided that she would like to become a writer as well and in April 2009 all her dreams came true when she was finally offered a three book publishing deal by Poolbeg Press in Dublin. Her first romantic comedy novel Anyone for Seconds? was launched in November 2009 and reached no. 6 in the Irish paperback fiction charts. She has just completed her second novel, Anyone for Me? which is due for publication in August 2010.

May 20, 2010
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