Friday Update 7/29/11

A rainy Friday, which I guess our poor lawns need here on Long Island. After that scorching heat wave last week the place looks like it's been set on fire. Here's the latest ...

• Finished my revisions on FAREWELL, DOROTHY PARKER  and sent it off to my editor. That feels SO good. I'm excited to share this book with readers!

• Now I'm ready to get back to work on my next book, which I've been keeping very hush-hush about. Even my agent doesn't know what I'm working on. Guess I should tell her, right? Lol.

• Mysterious. According to amazon.ca, THE OTHER LIFE had a major uptick in Canadian sales early this week. I can't find any media coverage online that might account for this, so I suppose it got a broadcast mention somewhere.

• What a great night! Got together with the Long Island Book Sisters at Saralee Rosenberg's house. Others in attendance: Susannah Greenberg, Susan Henderson, Carol Hoenig, Debbi Honorof, Debbie Markowitz, Alix Strauss and  Vivian Swift. Sending love to Brenda Janowitz, who was very missed!!

• The Open House for Writers on Monday night at Hofstra was a smashing success. It was a chance for students to meet the writing instructors and register for fall classes. These are Continuing Ed classes, and great for anyone who writes. The class I'll be teaching is called HOW TO TURN YOUR BIG IDEA INTO A FINISHED NOVEL, and it will be offered on Sunday mornings in the fall. For more info on that and other classes, click here.

• Another power outage yesterday. If you really want to see a middle-aged Jewish woman lose her sh*t, turn off her lights, computer and air conditioning in the middle of the day when her car is in the shop.

I wish there was some way I could get a divorce from LIPA, but where would I go? Who would take me in? I'm dependent upon the abusive bastard and he well knows it.

Ah, well. Have a good weekend. Stay cool and dry ...

Friday Update 7/22/11

Here's the latest ...

• Last night I took my oldest, youngest and two other kids to see the Harry Potter movie. (The middle one saw it opening weekend with friends.) Crazy hectic day, picking one round of kids up at camp, then another, then rushing to the theater for tickets, then off to a pizza joint and then finally to the movie. I enjoyed it, and the kids, of course, were wild for it.

When it was over, Emma wept, saying it's the end of her childhood. And I guess in a way it is.

• Huge shout-out to Tony Iovino for another great Summer Gazebo Reading event! Thanks, too, to all the wonderful folks who showed up despite the crummy weather.

• Speaking of weather, my car thermometer read 109 today. Seriously. 109. Felt it, too.

• A couple of nice shout-outs from Lisa Kudrow, who was on a press junket for the hilarious and brilliant Web Therapy, which is now on Showtime. Here's the mention in Parade, and here's the NPR piece.

• You can follow Lisa on Twitter. Also fun--follow her alter ego, Dr. Fiona Wallice.

• THE OTHER LIFE is still in the running for Book of the Year from the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association. If you'd care to vote, please click here.

• Simply heartbroken over Borders ...

Stay cool, my darlings.

Friday Update 7/15/11

Is it really the middle of July already? That kind of depresses me, especially since I haven't been to the beach yet this summer.

My schedule has been pretty jammed with getting the kids to and from their activities this summer, leaving me little time to get into a rhythm with my work. Right now I'm revising FAREWELL, DOROTHY PARKER, and while I feel like I have a handle on it, it's hard to carve out the time I need.

No bullet points today, but I do want to give a special shout-out to the gang at Dolphin Bookshop in Port Washington and the wonderful women who came to last night's book talk. A smart, engaging group!

Here's a swell video I found on Agent Kristin's blog. I think you'll love it ...


Plot Device from Red Giant on Vimeo.


Have a great weekend!

P.S. Please join me Monday at the Summer Gazebo Readings! Click here for more info.

Friday Update 7/8/11

I have to dash, so just a couple of quick things on this busy day ...

• Lots of excitement for my daughter this week, who was interviewed for an upcoming Newsday article on Harry Potter, and posed for a photo spread.

• Big thanks to the Phillis Cox at the Jericho Library who organized such a terrific event this week.

• Looking forward to addressing the kids at Hofstra University's High School Summer Writers Program today. Thanks to Debbi Honorof for inviting me.

• Busy busy busy working on the edits for FAREWELL, DOROTHY PARKER. I can't honestly say I'm one of those writers who enjoys the revision process, but my keen-eyed editor, Rachel Kahan, had great notes that sparked some exciting ideas. So I'm hard at work.

• Special shout-out to my friends enjoying Thrillerfest this week.

• Congrats to my oldest for doing such a great job on his video-editing internship interview!

• This cracked me up--The Office recut as a cheesy traditional laugh-track sitcom:



Enjoy your weekend ...

Friday Upate 7/1/11

Happy July! Yesterday was my darling husband's birthday ... so fun to celebrate with the love of my life! Special shout-out to the Galleria Ristorante in Westbury. The food was extraordinary.

Here are a few other highlights of my week ...

• The other day Mike and I were in the car with our 13-year-old, who marches to her own drummer. The word "cool" came up, and Emma remarked, in a pretty upbeat tone,  "I'll never be cool."

"You're nerd-cool,"  I said.

"But I'll never be regular-cool. I'll be regular-anything. But you know what? I'm okay with that."

What a kid.

• This week I was interviewed by Adam Curry for The Big Show, coming soon to a smartphone near you. It was a lot of fun, and Adam is smart and cute. I'll give a heads up when it's available.

• Wonderful blog review of THE OTHER LIFE from writer Chandra Garza, who said, "The Other Life is spellbinding, captivating and easily one of the best books I've read so far this summer. Meister spins a tale of loss, love and forgiveness that touches the heart and literally feeds the soul." Read the rest here.

• Had a lot of fun at the Women's Fiction mini-conference in NYC, including a stellar presentation on plot structure by Michael Hauge, and a panel presentation by four industry pros, including my brilliant agent, Andrea Cirillo, and her colleague extraordinaire, Meg Ruley. The other panelists, agent Kristin Nelson and Random House editor Shauna Summers, were equally smart, impressive and insightful. All in all, a great day (except that they starved us).

I was sorry my wonderful pal Saralee Rosenberg couldn't make it, but thrilled that Alix Strauss took her place. And a special shout-out to Maggie Marr for pulling off the impossible.

• Got my editor's notes on FAREWELL, DOROTHY PARKER, so expect me to be very busy working the next few weeks. I probably won't even be answering the phone.

• Last but not least, if you're on Long Island, please come to the Jericho Library this Tuesday, July 5,  at 7pm. I'll be talking about THE OTHER LIFE. Lots of juicy gossip included, free of charge. More info here.

Have a safe, fun, happy Fourth of July weekend!