I’m a writer, not a musician. So why do I do Music Mondays? Because music is a key part of my writing, especially Secrets of Truth & Beauty. In particular, Cass Elliot is key.
In retrospect, Cass seems like the perfect person for Dara to emulate, but it actually took me a long time to figure that out. I was fixated on it being a country star, and thought about Patsy Cline or Dolly Parton. Dolly Parton is an amazing woman, and, like Cass Elliot was misjudged because of her appearance. But really, Cass was the right choice.
So then I started doing research. I read Dream a Little Dream of Me by Eddi Figel and used the Official Cass Elliot Website, maintained by her daughter. As I did my research, some interesting coincidences came up. For example, Dara’s last name is Cohen, and so was Cass’s originally. And Cass’s daughter is named Owen, just like one of my leading characters.
After I chose Cass, I had to pick one of her songs, and that was an easy choice. “Make Your Own Kind of Music” expresses themes of the book almost perfectly. But my favorite song of hers is “Dream a Little Dream.” So here it is from the Smother Brothers:
I was talking to a good friend of mine who had loaned Secrets of Truth & Beauty to her boyfriend. Now a man in his mid-thirties is not exactly what you would call my target audience. But he loved it! He would actually read parts of it aloud to her.
However, he took the dust jacket off when he was riding the NYC subway because he was embarrassed to be seen reading it.
Come on, now!
It’s a beautiful girl and a gorgeous guy. What’s so embarrassing about that?
It’s the pink, isn’t it?
Well, first of all, gentleman, you should be aware that it’s not pink, it’s magenta.
But even if it were pink, so what? Pink is a power color! Don’t fear it — embrace it!
I have to admit that I was a little cyncial when Dove started their Campaign for Real Beauty. However, I just saw this video, and think I need to give them more credit. I guess it’s been around for a couple of years, but it’s new to me.
Sometimes I just need music to get me into the right frame of mind to write, and I find it particularly helpful to listen to music I loved when I was a teen myself, and The Violent Femmes certainly fall into that category. One of the key differences between the Femmes and the other stuff I listened to in high school is that I still love them, and not just in a nostalgic sort of a way.
I also love that on their website they refer to themselves as “Calcified fossils of teen angst.”
It’s really hard for me to pick one song to post here, but I’m going with “Held Her in My Arms.” I had a bunch of friends who formed a ska band and they used to play this song. Once, they even played it specifically for me. Ah, Skarotum, you still hold the hearts of so many Seacoast New Hampshire girls.
3. I don’t often post links to my reviews in the blog, but this one really touched me. I think we write to reach others and to be understood, and this review makes me feel like I succeeded.
4. I got my contributor copy for the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Marketplace, and man that is one useful book, no matter where you are in your writing career. Sara Zarr’s essay on revision was particularly eloquent, and I’m looking forward to Ellen Wittlinger’s piece on including GLBT characters.
5. Laurie Halse Anderson is encouraging people to write every day in August. I admit I haven’t managed to do it (writing under the influence of the post-wisdom teeth extraction painkillers seemed a bad idea), but I’m finding her prompts quite inspiring.
Every summer I meet up with my best friends from high school, and that happened this past weekend. Basically, I went away and missed the end of my own contest.
So . . .I am offering one frenzy of a last minute extension of entry time!
If you are already entered, and want more entries, get more people to fan my facebook page! For every person you recruit, you get a new entry. When they become a fan, just have them leave a comment here telling me you referred them. Or you can leave the comment. I trust you.
If you have not yet entered, what are you waiting for?
Sweetening the deal – Hyperion sent me copies of the poster, so the winner will also get one copy of the poster to hang in their room, library, bookstore, wherever! This is in addition to the signed copy of Secrets of Truth & Beauty and one of the following books:
Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter
Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz
Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters
Deadly Little Secret by Lauri Faria Stolarz
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart
You have until midnight tonight, so enter, enter, enter!
It’s been a long time since I’ve head a contestant for the Debs pageant on here. That’s because last month I was the touring Deb. You’ll still find me popping up and answering questions on other Debs’ blogs, but now I am jumping back into the fray and hosting my friends here. Hooray!
For the great return to the Debs Pageant, inspired by the pageants in Secrets of Truth & Beauty, we have Emily Carson from Jennifer Jabaley’s Lipstick Apology. And away we go . . .
Character name: Emily Carson Age: 16
Biography: After my parents plane crashed I moved to NYC to live with my famous aunt, Jolie. She is a make up artist to the stars. You’d think it’d be fun living with a rich, famous aunt, and maybe it would be if I wasn’t still trying to figure out why my mother left me an apology scrawled in lipstick on a tray table.
What is your talent?
Hmm, if I had a talent, I guess it would be for making things blow up. Like the pumpkin catastrophe at Owen’s party, or the chemistry disaster or even how I blow up my love life into a splattered mess.
What will you wear for the evening dress competition?
Something green to match my eyes and closed toed shoes to hide my crooked toes.
Who is your escort?
I’ll take Owen if I want to wow the audience with his good looks and charm. I’ll take Anthony if I want a friend to calm my nerves. I’ll take Trent if I need someone to help me with a quick witted answer to the questions.
And now for the all important interview portion . . .What color best represents you and why?
If I had to pick a color that best symbolizes me, I’d pick pink. Pink is a softer color of romance and early love. Pink makes me think of friendships and femininity and softness. Pink is a less vibrant red and reflects how I can sometimes be passive and not as gutsy or pro active as I wish I could be.
Thanks, Megan! And do I get a crown??
Thank you Jennifer and Emily — we’ll see about that crown.
Lipstick Apology is available now. You can order it on Amazon, but it’s summer, so why not get outside and take a stroll to your local independent bookstore and get it there? To find out more about Jennifer and her writing, please visit her website.
Here’s a quick one that I’m sneaking in at the end of the work day.
“The Great Defector” by Bell X1 sounds a lot like the Talking Heads — joyful, poppy, and the singer sounds eerily like David Byrne. Plus there are references to Steinbeck — can’t get much cooler than that.
Put it on, pump it up, and dance — that’s what I’m doing.
Writer and director John Hughes passed away on August 6th. It’s a shame that we often don’t think of people, and their bodies of work, until they are gone, but hearing of his death definitely made me think of his movies, and how much I loved them.
I was too young to watch them when they were in theaters, but I did rent the videos and watch them over and over again. My personal favorites were The Breakfast Club (1985, writer/director/producer), Some Kind of Wonderful (1987, writer/producer), and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986, writer/director producer). Sixteen Candles doesn’t hold up as well for me — things that seemed funny at the time now just seem racist and cruel — although Anthony Michael Hall and John Cusack are pretty hillarious. And I’m still bitter that Andie chose the wrong guy at the end of Pretty in Pink. (The story goes that the movie originally had her choosing fellow-geek Duckie and test audiences and producers wanted a “happier” ending. Sigh.)
What are your favorites? This montage might spark your memory:
When I got to high school, I was surprised to find that the divisions were not quite so clear — brains, athletes, basket cases, princesses and criminals — at least not at my small high school, but the perfect representation of awkwardness, of wishing you were different, was spot on. Moreover, he captured that feeling like at any moment, things could change. All too often high school is portrayed as this perfect time, or as the wreaking cesspool of angsty awfulness. John Hughes, like all great YA writers, got that it was both — and more.
Come on, now!
Character name: Emily Carson
