A very late Musical Monday post. It’s still Monday somewhere on the planet I do believe.
So I describe my latest novella, Any Way You Slice It as a bit like Grease meets The Proposal so with that in mind this Musical Monday I’m sharing random thoughts and memories about Grease (the movie).
1. The first time I saw Grease was on holiday in Fiji. I was wearing a floral wreath on my head I’d made out of frangipanis. I was so young that when they said Rizzo had missed her period I thought “why is so one so freaked out that she missed a class at school?”
2. I saw Grease 2 at the drive-in movies in Dubbo, in Central Western NSW. All I really remember about that movie is Michelle Pfieffer and the song Reproduction. Luckily I had learnt a couple of things between the first movie and the sequel.
3. When I went on my US High School Exchange, I very probably thought my story would end up a bit like Sandy and Danny’s in Grease (probably not the flying car part). It’s safe to say as I didn’t go to 1960’s movie America that didn’t happen.
5. Even though (or maybe because) I went to an all girl’s high school we often sang Summer Loving on the bus to and from school excursions (field trips for my American readers). One side was Danny and one side was Sandy. I preferred the male part because I have a very deep and dreadful singing voice and I like to sing the “wella, wella huh” part.
Comments
Melissa A
9/1/2014 12:07:17 pm
I used to think “won’t go to bed ’til i’m legally wed” meant sandy wouldn’t sleep in an actual bed until she was married. LOL!
I thought the reproduction song in G2 was hilarious and I thought Score Tonight was all about bowling a lot of strikes. I was 9 at the time, I believe. 🙂 Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore was in G2. 🙂
Fun post!
Reply Monique
9/1/2014 04:09:51 pm
LOL. She was going to be very tired if she didn’t go to sleep till she got married. Lucky she went off in that car at the end 😉
I really struggled to pick a show for this. I had lots of old-school options running through my brain.
It seems like TV done right speaks to you at the age and stage you are at when it aired. Melrose Place speaks to the young single looking for love or The Gilmore Girls to the woman with kids who still wants to be smart and sassy while building a community while Buffy the Vampire Slayer makes us all want to go back to high school for a do-over, oh yeah, and to save the world while we’re there. (That was especially true when you had to wait a week for each new episode, before Netflix, pay per view and DVR players.)
I had a lot of Australian examples I considered (I’m talking about you such as A Country Practice and E-Street) but I decided I’d pick a show that everyone could relate to. Just for your information, in Australia until about ten years ago we only had four television stations. It was a safe bet whatever you were watching your friends were watching. TV unified us probably more closely than in countries with wider choice. Our programming was drawn from the UK, the USA and Australia. We got foreign shows up to six months later so we waited and sweated on those new episodes even though word had long leaked out about what happened months earlier.
In the end I’ve chosen to talk about Ally McBeal which began in 1997. My reasoning, apart from the fact I loved the show particularly in the early years is that it spoke to me at that time very loudly.
If you didn’t watch it or are too young to remember it the show centred on a young lawyer called Ally McBeal and the antics or her friends and colleagues. She started working at a law firm, Cage and Fish and discovered her ex-boyfriend and his new wife worked there also. (Awkard!)
Here are some of the reasons I loved the show:
Unisex Bathrooms
Lots of the action of the show took place in the unisex bathrooms of Cage and Fish. At the time unisex bathrooms were quite controversial. Conversations were over heard, people emerged from cubilces and clients were frequently astounded by the mere existence of the unisex nature of the bathrooms. The truth is lots of conversations in office do take place in the bathroom, you do need to check who is in there before you open your mouth, they are both a private and a very public space. Making them unisex just brought everyone into the conversation.
Dancing babies or Ally’s imagination and having a theme song
Ally had a habit of seeing things that weren’t really there. Mild hallucinations, or too vivid an imagination that she couldn’t quite control and while she tried to work out what was real or not it made her seem a tad bizarre. I enjoyed seeing a smart successful woman with an under-current of quirky imagination and it was a good reminder that even as we nod and smile we may be off in another place all together (By the way they use this device in very popular Australian series Offspring.)
One of the ideas that haunted Ally was the need to have her own theme song and she struggled to find it. It was a problem that plagued here through legal cases, friendship dramas and a string of boyfriends (hello Robert Downey Jnr!) She was changing so pinning down just one song was too hard. I am still trying to find my own theme song.
The bar downstairs
These lucky characters worked in a law firm in Boston with a bar downstairs. It was pre-karaoke so they sometimes just stormed the stage and started singing. I loved the idea that at the end of the day these people, who were very quirky and flawed got together and had some fun.(There was also a regular singer at the bar Vonda Shepherd who appeared every week)
Quirky characters
This show had a rich cast of odd ball characters. I loved Richard Fish with his unique language and cadence and his penchant for older women. The Biscuit aka John Cage was a really fun, and somewhat absurd character and while I his improbable love for Ally was hard to watch sometimes he was smart and funny and despite his weirdness was always included in the group.
Work was fun
This show made going to work in a boring office job look like it was actually pretty fun. That’s probably why it spoke to me, I’d not long left college and I was growing up. I wanted to work with my friends, have our own language (Bygones anyone?) and go out drinking after work. It was a show about grown-ups doing a grown up job and yet it was sometimes hard to spot an adult in the room. That’s why the show worked. Ally and her colleagues were much crazier than the rest of us but what they were going through and struggling with was what most of us in our 20’s at the time were dealing with – office politics, friendship, romance and finding your place.
I don’t think Ally McBeal stands the test of time as well as some shows but for it’s time it was fun, it was innovative and it read it’s audience really, really well.
P.S Apologies that the post isn’t very visual. We lost power in a storm and unfortunately the library internet is rather unreliable.
Comments
Kathryn
8/27/2014 10:10:51 am
Now I want to watch the whole series again! I lived in Boston while this was in in the early years, and loved any of the exterior shots for that reason. I also have strong feelings of nostalgia for Felicity, who was in college at the same time as I was, as well as for 90210, which we watched not only the re-runs on a daily basis, but watching the new episodes was a weekly ritual.
Reply Monique
8/27/2014 10:22:39 am
Kathryn, I lived in Boston for a while and also loved the exterior shots as well. (I love Boston Legal as well right up to the end and I’m sure that was part of it.) I loved Felicity as well and was a huge 90210 fan. I developed CFS right out of college when 90210 was on and the gang at the Peach Pit were my substitute Friday night friends when all my real friends were out doing exciting things with their lives.
Melissa A
9/1/2014 12:09:24 pm
I wrote this about Ally McBeal a while back. http://merrylandgirl.blogspot.com/2012/04/american-bridget-jones.html
Reply Monique
9/1/2014 01:12:57 pm
I’m a bit late with this week’s Musical Monday but I figure it’s still Monday in much of the world and for many of my blog readers so I’m giving myself a pass.
Any Way You Slice It, An Upper Crust Series Novella released over the weekend. Thanks to those who have purchased it. Much appreciated. If you feel like leaving a review for my books that is always fantastic. All authors big or small appreciate you taking the time to do that.
I’m already working on the sequel and if I get my butt in gear it will be out in a couple of months. (Working title A Cut Above). Quite frankly I’m a bit tired so finding the writing mojo might be a tad challenging for the next day of so but fingers crossed.
For Musical Monday I thought I’d give you a wedding song. (Due to the nature of the series there’ll be a few wedding related posts here over the next little while.)
I’ve chosen this very peppy Bruno Mars song, Marry You. I think it is very on theme for the book. (Plus who doesn’t love a flash mob?)
In honour of my novella release this week I thought I would share a recipe for an Australian meat pie with you.
I think most countries or cultures have some form of a pie or pasty be it an empanada , a Cornish pasty or a pot pie.
In Australia we have local cake shops in every suburb that sell meat pies and sausage rolls. They are the ultimate take-away food. Long before the Colonel, Golden Arches or various pizza chains graced our shores in the 1970’s this was the food we ate. We enjoy them at sporting events in the same way an American might have a hot dog.
(My dad has a sister who lives in LA. When they come to Australia my mother gets out the good silver and serves up Aussie meat pies to them at the dining room table. It’s the sort of food you dream about when you are far, far away.)
In Any Way You Slice It, Piper the main character has a chain of food trucks that sell only pies and while she serves a variety of flavours, the classic meat pie is the corner stone of her business.
This is a family pie that I make in a family sized pie plate but it can also be made as 4 individual pies if you have individual pie plates. This is one of my daughter’s family favourites.
Australian Meat Pie – serves 4
1 quantity of shortcrust pastry or one pie shell (I’ll post my recipe soon)
olive oil
2 small or 1 large onion diced
500g beef mince
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 beef stock cube
2 cups hot water
2 tablespoons cornflour
2 tablespoons water (extra)
1 sheet puff pastry
1 egg yolk.
1. Heat oil in pan and add onions, cook stirring until soft. Add mice, cook stirring until browned.
2. Stir in sauces, stock cube and water (I dissolve the stock cube in water first) simmer 15 minutes. Stir in cornflour and extra water. Stir over high heat until it boils and thickens. Cool.
3. Grease a pie plate with butter or olive oil and roll pastry to fit pie plate. Cover pastry with baking paper, fill with dried beans or pie weights and bake in moderate oven 8 minutes. remove beans and cook a further 8 minutes.
4. Fill pie shell with meat mixture. Brush edges or pastry with egg yolk and press puff pastry on top. Cut to fit. You can use any scraps to decorate. Brush pie with more egg yolk. Bake in oven 20-25 minutes until golden.
Enjoy!
Don’t forget Any Way You Slice It, An Upper Crust Novella will be out later this week.
By this time next week my new release Any Way You Slice It, An Upper Crust Novella will be out.
This book is the first in a series and so I’ve gone with a new look to distinguish it from my other stand alone titles. I love my illustrated covers but I adore this one too. It’s bright and fresh in a way that I hope reflects the story inside.
This novel is a little bit like Grease meets The Proposal. Below is the blurb, which I am still tweaking, but I wanted to share it so you can get a feel for what the book is all about.
***
Anyway You Slice It, An Upper Crust Novella
By Monique McDonell
Piper has one month to find a husband, and get a green card, or be kicked out of the country just when her chain of Aussie Pie trucks is about to start making some serious money.
Aaron is an ambitious lawyer keen to make partner but his Boston law firm only promotes lawyers who are married.
A marriage of convenience could solve both their problems if they keep it strictly business but convincing everyone else that this is true love while trying to convince themselves that it isn’t is a sure recipe for trouble. All the kissing and touching to prove that this is a true love sets the heat rising faster than the pies in Piper’s kitchen.
While Aaron is happy to be friends with benefits, Piper knows better than to mix business with pleasure, despite the undeniable chemistry. Getting married to save her business is one thing, but falling in love would mean risking her heart. Any way you slice it she’s getting more than she bargained for.
***
Fun right? I’ll tell you more about the book and where the idea came from throughout the week.
And now for Musical Monday – it is wet, wet, wet here in Sydney. I live in a house with an aluminium roof (and no that’s not a typo that’s how we spell it down under) so I can here every raindrop and there are millions of them. In fact it’s so dark in my glass walled living room right now I almost can’t see the keyboard.
So here is an 80’s classic from the band Wet, Wet, Wet. Love I is All Around.
I don’t usually do personal posts but today I am making an exception.
My daughter was born fourteen years and one day ago.
Everyone talks about the memories of the day their child was born which, of course, is a huge day. There is so much anticipation, so much waiting and then what an outcome! I have lots of memories of the day she was born and like many children she loves that story and it has been oft repeated.
Where my waters broke (hardware store), how we then went to the hospital and they said I had to go for a walk to start labour (didn’t help), how we went out to dinner (still no action), how we watched Forrest Gump on the television (that’s why she liked Bubba Gump’s restaurants in America), how I spent the night alone at the maternity ward (super weird). She knows she was born at 6pm and that she was just over 6 pounds. She knows that I was in the shower when my parents arrived and that my husband had her tiny little self wrapped so tight my mother thought she’d been born without legs (probably would have mentioned that on the phone). She knows who visited that night (my folks and my sister and her husband and her 3 month old cousin) and she knows that I simply couldn’t sleep because I had to keep looking at her – and her legs of course.
So that was an amazing day twenty four hours.
This however is the story of the day after she was born which I will always remember as one of the loveliest days of my life. (Let’s face it the result is fabulous but lovely isn’t a phrase I would use to describe labour).
Before I go on, you need some background. I only have one child. I refer to her as my miracle. The miracle is not in her ongoing fabulousness but in the fact she exists at all. After a period of time best forgotten, I was told more than likely I wasn’t going to be able have kids. This was devastating for me, because I absolutely, one hundred percent wanted them. It was even more devastating because my husband is a kid magnet. He’s never met a kid he didn’t want to dangle by their ankles, chase around the yard or give a piggy back to. (In fact, true story, when we visit friends with small children they’re pretty sure he’s only come over to play with them, and so are their parents). So I layered that on the already large mound of Catholic guilt and sadness.
We were so convinced that we weren’t having them that we had a plan B which was fully worked out and involved moving to Europe (partly so I didn’t have to watch all my friends have kids). At the time we didn’t tell many people because it was sad and depressing and that’s not who we are. (And to be honest couldn’t discuss it without crying) And then we got pregnant and it was amazing. That euphoria was followed by the pregnancy from hell. The first twenty plus weeks carrying a plastic bucket everywhere and the last eight weeks, having Braxton Hick’s contractions every 10 minutes.
What we knew then were two things. I wasn’t good at getting pregnant or being pregnant. Still, we didn’t care because we were going to have a baby and we knew the odds were we were only having one so damn if we weren’t going to be grateful.
Anyway the day after my baby was born I sat in the hospital holding this perfect little human and waited. I waited for visiting hours because I knew that people were coming. I knew that the minute they could there would be people bursting through that door to meet her. It wasn’t about me (maybe a little) but it was about her.
And I wasn’t disappointed. There was my friend Kylie who waited with her face pressed to the glass of Australia’s fanciest baby shop till they opened to buy her the perfect outfit (which I still have), there was another friend who brought the baby some divine hot-pink sunglasses (which we still have) because what day old baby doesn’t need sunnies? There was my grandmother who came with my aunt and my 11 year-old cousin, who co-incidentally I had been a nanny for years earlier (which fed my love of infants). My grandmother was just shy of 90 at the time and lucky for us it was a lovely, tiny baby that even frail old ladies could lift and carry. Lucky for us it was a pretty big room. It even had a rocking chair nanna sat in to cuddle the baby.
You get the idea. And still they kept coming. School friends, college friends, relatives…
That tiny little human got handed to everyone in the room. She didn’t cry and she didn’t fuss and (neurotic mother of only child that I am) I was deliriously happy about that.
Some of the faces are a little blurry now, but the feeling and certain moments of that day shine like crystal in my memory. It was a day of love and joy. It was a welcoming to the human race. It was a celebration of her arrival. It was a show of community.
It was love.
I’ve always felt that day stamped the way that the people in our lives would treat her. Almost without exception the people in that room are still in our lives. Almost without exception their faces still light up at the sight or the mention of her. Many of them acknowledged her birthday yesterday.
Some of those people even though they’re in their forties and she certainly isn’t she describes as friends even now.
You can’t protect your child from the pains of growing up. You can’t stop the bullies or the mean girls. You can’t make their decisions for them and you certainly can’t change them (even if you wanted to).
For me knowing that however the rest of the world treats her she was welcomed in a circle of love has always given me strength and comfort, hopefully for her it’s done the same.
Comments
Melissa Dary
8/12/2014 08:08:33 pm
That’s beautiful Monique, it brought a tear to my eye and a lump in my throat. Xx
Reply Monique
8/12/2014 08:25:22 pm
Thanks Melissa. 🙂
Kathryn
8/12/2014 10:06:20 pm
Our daughters share a birthday (seven years apart)! What a wonderful post. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that each and every child is a miracle. Both of my children had difficult births, and I can’t help but think about that on their birthdays, thankful that they are healthy and happy. Happy birthday!
Ms.Mary
8/13/2014 03:18:15 am
Aw, I’m all choked up by this lovely story! Your family may be small but it is very very special, Monique!
Reply Monique
8/13/2014 09:13:42 am
So true Kathryn, I think we (especially in the West) with modern day medicine sometimes forget that every baby is a miracle to be treasured and that not all of them make the journey here safely. And happy 7 years and 1 day to your daughter 🙂
Reply Monique
8/13/2014 09:14:47 am
Thanks Mary. They do say good things come in small packages so I hope that applies to us.
Reply Monique
8/13/2014 09:15:21 am
P.S For some reason the silly website won’t let me fix that heading…so ANNOYING:)
Imelda Evans
8/14/2014 02:54:09 pm
I hear you Monique. Our blessing girl is also surrounded by love and we are ever grateful. Happy birthday to your girl!
It’s Monday and frankly I am exhausted. That’s not a great way to start the week but I am tired for a good reason. I spent from Thursday to Sunday at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference. I really love the conference. I find it overwhelming, exhilarating, exhausting and inspiring.
Some of the highlights this year for me included:
* Marie Force talking about her indie publishing success. I also attended her reader event in Sydney which was really lovely. (If you don’t know who Marie is she is an amazing author who has sold over 3 million e-books in the last couple of years.)
* James Scott Bell’s really wonderful talks.
* Jim Azevedo from Smashworks talking about trends in e-publishing (10 loves a 10 point plan).
* Catching up with wonderful friends from my writing group and other friends whom I seem to only get to see at the Conference each year.
Here are a few images from the weekend. They’re kind of random. I really should have taken more photos.
Musical Monday today is an old school choice. The conference has a great after party where we dance the night away and so for all those writing queens and goddesses I have chosen this classic.
My swag for the conference.
So this week I’m off to the RWA in Sydney. I’m really looking forward to this year, probably more than any in the past simply because I feel like I have gotten to know people over the years and so I’m far less worried about being a Nigel-No-Friends this year.
That’s of course a common fear for anyone attending a conference like this and has more to do with oneself than anyone else. Most people on the whole are very friendly and welcoming at these events. There is the odd frosty type, and of course you get that in any crowd. Sometimes those people make for the funniest stories but I’ll never tell because “what happens at conference stays at conference as they say”. Anyway, I just figure those people are shy and don’t want to make friends so it’s time to move on.
Anyway, to help out anyone new to the whole conference whirlwind here is an old Conference post on Pitching and the Conference.
And of course if you are attending please come and say hello if you recognise me.
Here are two of the hilarious and confusing things about meeting people at writers conference:
1. Authors don’t look like their author pictures in real life. In fact they often look like the best version of themselves in author pictures (or even the best version of themselves ten years ago) and that person who introduces themselves in fancy dress at a cocktail party isn’t going to be looking like that.
2. Lots of authors use pen names (especially romance authors). So the person you know as Melody Smith online might be called Melissa Smythe-Jones in real life. Confusing much?
So people look different, have different names and may be in fancy dress – it’s not at all confusing now is it? Having said that after one leaps those hurdles (did I mention the Have Chick Lit Will Travel Box set is racing up Amazon in the Sports category) everyone is extremely friendly and welcoming.
And for Musical Monday because it’s the Romance Writers Conference here is a song about kissing. I’ve loved this song since the day I heard it.
Today’s guest blogger is Jennifer Gilby Roberts whose novel After Wimbledon features in the Have Chick Lit, Will Travel. Read about what inspired her and then read the book.
***
The Inspiration Behind After Wimbledon
Naturally, for a novel by an English writer about the Wimbledon tennis tournament, After Wimbledon was born in Australia. For the tennis fans: it is the Laura Robson of chick lit novels.
I was taking some time out after finishing my degree. Having fried my brain by studying physics, a light-hearted romance was all I was good for. I arrived in Melbourne halfway through the Australian Open and spent most of the next week hanging out in Fed Square watching the action on their big screen. That was fabulous because it was right in the middle of the city and anyone could just wander down. I even sat in the Rod Laver Arena (the equivalent of Centre Court) for one day. Since I was travelling alone, I managed to grab an odd seat right in the front row. I heard Roger Federer swear, that’s how close I was.
At the same time, I was struggling with a decision. I’d been dating someone for a couple of years before I went away and had left him back home. In a twist on the classic tale, he was sure we were for keeps and I was uncertain. I was only 23 when we started dating and wasn’t expecting to get serious. Marriage was something for my thirties, if it happened at all. One morning, in a shower stall at the hostel, I broke it off over the phone. It was Australia Day, but the fireworks seemed rather out-of-place.
A few weeks later, I decided it was time to write another novel. My first, The Dr Pepper Prophecies, had been completed five years earlier. Suddenly, I had something to write about again: tennis and major life confusion. And out of those things After Wimbledon was born. The first draft contained much angst. I reckon I cut out about 30,000 words to get to the final version. I’m just counting that bit as therapy. It’s a much better read without it!
And the boyfriend I mentioned? Reader, I married him. Only happy endings here…
~~~~
After 12 years on the pro. tennis tour and four years with her sort-of boyfriend, Lucy Bennett has had enough. She wants real life… and real love.
Her life, her decision. Right? Well, no one else seems to think so. With opinions on all sides, Lucy’s head is spinning. And she’s stumbling right into the arms of long-term crush and fellow player Sam. Shame her boyfriend – his arch-rival – would sooner smash a racquet over their heads than agree to a simple change of partners.
As the Wimbledon Championships play out, Lucy fights for her life on and off the courts. The question is: what will she be left with after Wimbledon?
I loved After Wimbledon – and I am NOT tennis fan. But the story just gallops along, pulling you into tLucy’s world. And Sam…sigh. And the tennis matches -even though I know nothing about tennis or its scoring- the competitions are so well written that I was on the edge of my seat, my heart pumping with the momentum of each match. Or is it game? Or set? See? I have no idea, but I still LOVED this book:) So pleased to be boxed in with this book and Monique’s Mr. Right and Other Mongrels!
Today Musical Monday is being taken over by Geralyn Corcillo whose novel She Likes it Tough is on of the novels in the Have Chick Lit Will Travel Romantic Comedy Box Set, that I am also included in and which just released on Friday.
***
What a whirlwind weekend I have just had! The Romantic Comedy Box Set Have Chick Lit, Will Travel that I am a part of along with Monique and Jennifer Gilby Roberts is burning up the Amazon charts!
Can you guess what song has been going through my head all weekend? It is by – not to be biased against Monique and Jennifer – The American Authors! “The Best Day of My Life.”
And how could these past few days be anything but the best days? At one point on its meteoric blast through the charts, Have Chick Lit, Will Travel was nestled between Sophie Kinsella’s I’ve Got Your Number (which includes the Best First Kiss Scene ever!) and Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. Sigh…what a beautiful, divinely comfy place to be.
Back to Musical Monday. Did you ever see the Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, James Garner movie Maverick? In it, Foster’s character unearths a secret about the other two. When they ask her how she figured it out, she explains, “You both sing the same wrong words to Amazing Grace.” And that little oddity gave it all away.
See? Using music in stories can be fun and so much more than background noise.
In my contribution to the Box Set, She Likes It Tough, my first-person narrator heroine Lisa Flyte constantly relates her life to aspects of pop culture – books, movies, TV shows, and songs she has had trolling through her life. And the hero Jack Hawkins picks up on this through the course of the story and their topsy-turvy relationship. So much so, that when everything between them gets good and truly fracked up, and Jack is trying to work his way back to her, he tries to do it through songs:
I open the email. No text. It’s an MP3. A heartfelt apology from Jack? A snippet about us from some radio show? I can’t imagine.
I get up and close the door to my office. Then I make sure the volume on my computer is low enough that only I’ll be able to hear it. I open the attachment.
With the first riff of guitar strings, I catch my breath. “Joey,” by Concrete Blonde.
The heart-wrenching lyrics rip into me with their desperate struggle to salvage messed-up love.
But we got lucky once before
And I don’t wanna close the door
I can scarcely breathe. Is Jack asking me to come back? Is he trying to confess something? Explain something? Or did he just send me a song he thought I’d like? And if so, why? Why why why why why?
The song ends, making it easier to hear my heart pounding.
The silence of the computer makes my skin prickle. Jack sent me a song.
Wait. Jack sent me a song? Are we in middle school?
Or should he get points for choosing THE BEST SONG EVER?
I don’t know. I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know.
The wooing through songs continues, but how does it end up – and what does it mean to the outcome of the story? Does Lisa fight back with songs of her own? Does she ever figure out what Jack wants or is trying to say?
From Lisa’s cell phone ring to how something about The Ramones gives away one of her secrets, music chirps and trills its way throughout this story. Because after all, like sex and free food, doesn’t music just make things better?
How do you use music in your life, your work, your art? And if one song from a spurned lover could win you back or at least make you think twice or even pull your hair out trying to decide what to do – what would it be?
Biography
Geralyn Corcillo has work published under the names GVR Corcillo and Geralyn Ruane, as well. Identity crisis? Sure…but she’s got it pretty much figured out now.
Once upon a time, Geralyn Vivian Ruane Corcillo taught high school in Watts and South Central Los Angeles. But deciding she needed an even tougher job, she chose to write.
Corcillo won a few contests, hit the New York Times Bestseller List with her first short story “Jane Austen Meets the New York Giants,” and got a B-movie screenplay produced by Roger Corman. She Likes It Tough is her debut novel, and winner of Best Humor Book 2013 and Best Indie Book 2013 from the Rebecca’s Reads Choice Awards. She Likes It Tough was also a Quarter Finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards 2014.
Corcillo lives in North Hollywood with her husband Ron, a guy who’s even cooler than Kip Dynamite.
Wow, Monique, you really make my post look fantastic! Thanks 🙂 I applaud the energy and finesse you put into this incredibly fun blog! Being a part of The Box Set with you and Jennifer is truly wonderful, and being on your blog is just more scrumptious icing on the cake 🙂
Geralyn Corcillo
7/27/2014 03:43:34 pm
Have Chick Lit, Will Travel – #57 on Amazon’s Humorous Women’s Fiction Bestseller List! It has been movin’ on up all day 🙂
Reply Monique
7/27/2014 05:26:11 pm
Very exciting about the ranking. Great post!!
Reply Geralyn Corcillo
7/27/2014 06:45:24 pm
Thanks, Monique. Looking forwards to Jennifer’s post tomorrow!
A very late Musical Monday post. It’s still Monday somewhere on the planet I do believe.
In honour of my novella release this week I thought I would share a recipe for an Australian meat pie with you.
I don’t usually do personal posts but today I am making an exception.
Where to find Jennifer
Biography