06.10.09» My
new steampunk novel proposal for teens is proceeding apace, having
received a green light from my agent. It turns out it's more
of a coming-of-age story than a thriller-adventure. These latter
elements are now a subplot pretext for the heroine's inner journey.
06.03.09» Just
turned in a new a romantic comedy book proposal to my agent--including
five chapters and a 30-page chapter-by-chapter outline, and I
must say, I enjoyed writing something lighter for a change. It's
called The Night My Life Stood Still, and it's about a teen girl
in a school musical who gets cursed by the muse of comedy. Here's
praying editors will want more!
05.04.09» Charm
School wins! The
opening chapters of my young adult contemporary fantasy
novel, Charm
School, have
won first place in the Great Expectations contest sponsored
by the Romance Writers of America. The final
judge, an editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
(publishers of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series)
has requested the full manuscript based on her read of
the opening chapters. Yay! Earlier versions of the same
manuscript continue to sweep contest finals this spring,
being sent on to editors at Candlewick Press, St. Martin’s
Press and Berkley/Penguin Books for Young Readers, among
others. Here’s hoping my agent and I can sell this
puppy soon, so I can focus writing energies on my new
steampunk romance-adventure novel for teens.
12.15.08» A
film festival first! This December 5th was the world premiere
of “Kissed Awake in Stuttgart,” a romantic
comedy I co-wrote. For the first time in the history of the Filmschau
festival,
the tickets to our movie sold out within hours, prompting festival
organizers to schedule a second viewing. Check out this slide
show of the actors arriving and the gala party afterwards. » For
more information about the movie and the series, visit the official
site.
12.15.08» “Character
Slams,” a new article by me about challenging your character
to grow.
12.15.08» Oh
là là. This fall, the
Villa Diodati workshop for expat writers of speculative fiction
was held near Nice, France. The house
we
rented sat snug in a pastoral valley. Here
we all are at
the end of four intensive days spent, writing, talking and drinking
local wine.
05.13.08» Check
out the photo stills of the professional
actors who potray Nelly, Cem and Marvin in the romantic comedy
movie I co-authored for German cable TV, Kissed
Awake in Stuttgart.
05.13.08» This
past week I attended Mario
Giordano’s excellent workshop on “Writing for Animation” and
David Freeman’s equally trenchant “Creating Emotion in Gaming.” It’s
my aim to create teen fiction that will translate well in several
media.
03.12.08» Going
global with your fiction? Check out this article I
wrote for the March 2008 issue of the Romance Writers Report, Romancing
the Globe - Country Profiles: Germany and Holland.
01.15.08» We
came, we saw, we held the press party. The first four episodes
of the ongoing German TV-series I co-write, Abgedreht
in Stuttgart, premiered on the silver screen last month
at the thirteenth annual Filmschau
Baden-Württemberg, a film festival here in Southern
Germany. We, the authors, conceived the first four episodes as
a 90-minute film for just such an occasion. Check out the artsy
and glamorous
folks who attended our world premiere. The actors look truly
glam, and I, the only person who forgot to wear black, look truly
nerdy (I'm in the fourth and seventh pictures down from the top).
5.03.07» Satirist and women's fiction author Josie Brown just interviewed me about the euro-chick writing life and excerpted my story "Dead Men Don't Eat Quiche" in her blog. Come on over and say, "Hi."
