Blog posts in the category: Uncategorized

Positively Negative.

I try to be positive. I really do. But here’s the thing about acceptance, optimism, and half-full glasses: they’re no fun. It’s the challenges, mishaps, and wipeouts that made life dramatic and hilarious. So when it comes to writing, looking on the dark side is my attitude of choice.

As many of you know, I’ve started tinkering around with a new idea. And with that comes a ton of character development. So this morning I made a Bug List. Why? Because my fictional friends need flaws and quirks and petty irritations. It’s those details that make them memorable. So don’t be surprised if you come across the any of these annoying-to-me traits in my next novel.

  1. The term “awesome sauce.”
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Writing The Ship

I finished my final manuscript for The Dirty Book Club in January 2017 ready for a break. After thirty-two novels and a grey-green complexion all I wanted to do was tend to my hair–the wanted and the unwanted–and re-enter society, tragic as it has become. At that point I could only imagine what life was like outside my head and I was so over imagining. I wanted reality. So much so that I spoke to a local shop owner about working at her boutique. Dressing living people instead of fictional characters seemed like a positive first step.

But my work on the Dirty Book Club was far from over. Proofs needed proofing. My dying social media sites needed defibrillators. Then …

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Skyper Active.

If you had pulled up beside me at a stop light last Thursday at approximately 8:40am PST, you would have assumed one of the following:

  1. I was having a seizure.
  2. I was head-banging to some serious devil worshipping metal.
  3. The seat of my Volvo doubled as an electric chair and I was being executed.

The truth is I had just returned home from book tour and was having a complete breakdown. Primal sobs, soaked face, snot bubbles, and a tortured soliloquy about burn out. At one point I remember yelling, “And on top if it all, I have to make an f-ing wax appointment because hair just keeps on growing!” Yeah, I know, Laguna Beach problems.

Typically, I love heading …

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Listen up, Ladies!

Hello my friends,
I’m so sorry I missed posting on Wednesday. I was away on book tour and the week got away from me. But alas, I will make it up to you with some mixed media action. That’s right, I recorded a podcast with XOXO After Dark and we had quite the conversation.

The Darkcast ladies of XOXO After Dark got dirty talking about dirty books, of course! Abby, Kate and Lauren  discussed the ways in which erotic books are empowering and how female storytelling can change the world. Plus, we talked about how I chose the books I mention in The Dirty Book Club, and how to join the online Dirty Book Club I’m running on Facebook! Finally, …

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Squad Goals: Five Ways to Find Your Tribe.

 

Are you wandering the social desert looking for your tribe? Want to branch out because you’re not being treated like the wonder woman that you are? Can you relate to these comments?

Lisi, what’s your take on friend making? Do you think it is like love where people say if you look for it, you won’t find it? What’s a good way to find friends? -Kiana

 I don’t have a lot of friends, and feel really awkward when I meet new people. I don’t feel like I fit in. Mostly like a misfit. I probably have like 2 friends but they’re not even similar to me. Hopefully Lisi can help us both! -Lauren

Making true  friends can feel
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Four Reasons Why Writing For Adults Sucked.

            When I heard an author say that it took years to complete their latest book, I assumed they were lazy. I mean, I wrote thirty-one YA novels in ten years. During that time I also got a puppy, moved across country, had two kids, went for (and failed) my California Driver’s license, went for it again (cheated) and passed, leased cars, bought a house, decorated said house, and did all the other things adult humans do to thrive and stay out of prison.

Then, in 2011, I had an idea for a novel. An adult novel inspired by my own dirty book club and I would call it, of course, The Dirty Book Club. Thanks to my track record, …

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Intention Span

 

My new novel, The Dirty Book Club, is one week away from dropping and with that comes the usual set of jitters: Will anyone buy it? Will anyone like it? What am I going to wear to the launch party? According to the R.S.V.P. list it’s going to be packed. What am I going to say to these people?

Those jitters have rattled me 31 times before and I survived. But this time is different. This time my book is for adults. And adults can be so judgey. I will feel the judgement in their polite smiles, their hurried exchanges, the absence of holiday cards. I will feel it.

Now, if you, my dear reader, ever wrote to me …

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The Clique: Trash Talking or Talking Trash?

My friend Lauren thought she was sending good news when she emailed: “The Clique is on Business Insider’s list– 37 Best Books We’ve Ever Read! ” Good? I think nawt. My first thought was, “37? How random. I kind of like it.” My second thought was, “It’s a sign! Here I am contemplating a Clique follow-up and it appears on this list!  I heart your mysterious ways, Universe!!!” Then I read the blurb:

[The Clique is] definitely complete trash, but at the time I totally loved and related to the savagery of the girlfriend group the plot revolves around. They also had the best clothes. — Caroline Cakebread

Needless to say, my third, fourth and fifth thoughts were not as …

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From Cliques to Clubs.

Hello my friends,

I can NOT stop listening to the Glee Cast version of Teenage Dream. I literally drove three blocks past my office so I could let the song play through for the third time in a row. Feel free to judge.

And now for the headline news… Most of you know I have been working my knockers off writing The Dirty Book Club. Is it done? Nope. But I’m powering through and I’m falling more in love with the story and characters every day. So much so that I’ve started giving life to the novel living before it’s born.

Go to http://www.cafepress.com/thedirtybookclub and check out the products I designed. I am getting the pillow cases for everyone in …

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ADVICE TO THE DAUGHTER I DON’T HAVE.

Hello my friends!

As promised I have attached a photo of last week’s extraction.

Still Life: Dead Rat.

rat

My apologies to those of you who would have preferred I show the unbagged version of what lay decomposing under my house. Believe me, I would have loved to. But I have a line–it’s thick and bold and drawn at a “dead rodent teeming with maggots”. Even the professional was dry heaving.

I do wish I had the temperament of sociopath–if only for the time needed to photograph and post the vile creature, because a teaching moment was lost. Mother Nature went to town on this beast and I am censoring her work. So I would like to teach something else so …

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