Wherein I Formally Move Everything to My Other Blog

Dear followers: It's pretty obvious I've abandoned this blog. I got very busy with my book deal and other things, and realized I can't (and didn't need to) maintain two blogs. I'd originally started this one for book reviews, but soon realized I don't like doing book reviews - far too many books I was receiving for review I simply didn't like, and I don't like saying non-complimentary things about other people's work. And there always was some crossover between blogs anyway, as my other blog is about writing as well.

So now everything is at Sara in Vermont, and I hope you'll join me over there. I'm moving most of these posts over there, and will eventually shut this one down. Thanks!

Quinn Cummings Out-Konraths JA Konrath

Author Quinn Cummings, whose book NOTES FROM THE UNDERWIRE was released July 7, has taken book blog touring to a new extreme - four in one day yesterday:

• Cat Connor's blog I See You, down in New Zealand: "The Giant Eyeball Talks to Quinn Cummings"
• Sharon Kendrew's Reality Covered in Chocolate: "Quinn Cummings, Guest Blogger Here Today"
• Emily Barton's Telecommuter Talk: "An Interview with Quinn Cummings"
• Dawn Maria's Method to the Madness: "Notes from the Underwire"

With four in a day, I think she's on track to out-Konrath author J.A. Konrath, who did perhaps the world's most ambitious book blog tour back in March. He did one blog a day for the entire month, and some days multiple blogs: over 100 for the month, he reports. But I don't know that even he hit four in one day!

Note: And today she has hit Deb's Punctuality Rules: "Tour Stop with Quinn Cummings." And is presumably taking a break so she can go to her real live book event at Vroman's this afternoon.

Quinn Cumming's NOTES FROM THE UNDERWIRE Released Today

I stumbled across Quinn Cumming's blog earlier this year, and fell in love with her wry and funny writing. This is the first of her guest blog appearances to promote her new book, NOTES FROM THE UNDERWIRE. Read her blog; buy her book. Order it for friends for gifts. Because writing that's this clever, this self-effacing, this devastatingly honest and funny (and sometimes heart-wrenching) should be rewarded. And yes, once upon a time Quinn was a child star and while she occasionally refers to peripheral side effects of having-been-famous-and-still-getting-recognized, that's not what this book is about.

Q: Why is a woman apparently riding a runaway roller coaster car on the cover of your book without benefit of blouse?
Quinn: She is because my editor Brenda Copeland is very clever. When the title was in play, she remembered a long series of ads from the Maidenform bra company, with the tag line "I dreamed I (watched the ballet, ran for Senate, performed a nose job) in my Maidenform." No, I have no idea what it meant, and can only assume they made sense in their time; I think those ladies on Mad Men would just have read the ads and smiled knowingly. Anyway, Brenda scoured the ads and found the one she felt had the right combination of poor decision-making and potential harm (you will notice the car is off the tracks) and surreal good cheer; those traits say "Quinn Cummings" to me. Note: See possible alternate cover images in post on my other blog (which also repeats this post!).

Q: How did your book get its title? (And what does it mean?)
Quinn: It means it was the title I came up with that made the marketing department happy. There were a few months there where if I was staring off into space it was safe to assume I was trying to come up with a title that made the marketing department think "Funny!" and "Wildly successful!" We finally came back around to the subtitle of the blog, which I thought up years ago while sitting at a stoplight. It's kind of "Notes from Underground," only girly. I quickly Googled it and, magically, it didn't come up. It was offered to the marketing department and, thankfully, they gave their big marketing-department collective nod of approval, and we were in the title business. Their only request was that the phrase be in the book, so I spent a taxing but ultimately pleasing week or so trying to crowbar it into the book. It's there, and I like to think it's not blatantly after-the-fact.

Q: What came first, your book or your blog, and how did both get started?
Quinn: The blog began because I was writing to multiple friends at once, filling them in on the details of my life and I noticed I was cutting-and-pasting freely. It was starting to feel as if I were regifting my emails. So as not to feel regifty, I decided to write a single blog, tell my friends about it and let them get caught up with us as they were inclined. Two months later, a friend suggested it to Newsweek "Blog of the Week" column and they included it. I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. Sometimes, in a moment of hallucination, I imagined getting a column in a newspaper out of this, which is adorable because even in 2006/7, papers were already starting to look really unwell. And then I was in a story in USA Today and an editor at Hyperion saw the story and found the blog and an absurdly short amount of time later I was being offered a book deal. For the person reading this with the MFA and the file full of polite turndowns from agents and editors, I know. I'd hate me, too.

Q: How many times a month do people say "I loved you in Goodbye Girl" or "I loved you in Family?"
Quinn: Maybe three or four times, depending on whether the movie has played someplace. Unless I'm completely distracted, I thank the person and I mean it. There are very few jobs in this world where what you do can make people happy. I can't remove a brain tumor from your granny, so I'm very grateful I worked with talented people who allowed me to entertain you.

Q: What from your acting days helped prepare you for life as an author and blogger?
Quinn: A year ago, I would have said "Nothing." In fact, I would have said that writing and acting are polar opposites, because acting only happens once someone hires you and writing can happen any time you sit yourself down and write. Acting requires an audience; writing would like one. But when it comes to marketing the book, I'm very much back on familiar territory. I'm now a public commodity by virtue of having written a book based on parts of my life, just as I was a public commodity when I came into people's living rooms once a week. Still not my favorite part of the life, but I think I'll handle it better for having gone through it before.

Q: What's the oddest comment you've ever gotten about your writing?
Quinn:I had someone once write in to say that I was the "Stupidest guy writing on the Internet." I have to admit it hurt that my charade with the giving birth and with the having of ovaries was so transparent.

Q: The nicest comment?
Quinn: Every single time I've written about something really weird and personal (accidentally repeatedly insulting a little person, being a documentary-hag, having a kitten living in my bathroom), people have written in to assure me that a) They had laughed very hard at me and b) I wasn't alone. I mean, no one said, "Why, I too have accidentally insulted a little person," but they were eager to tell me they did stupid things in public all the time and accidentally insulting a little person is just a sad eventuality for them. I've always been pretty comfortable with my weirdness, but I never thought I was anything but a couple of bubbles off plumb. It's cheering when someone else knows about the cane toad documentary.

Q: Do you have a writing schedule or do you write when the mood hits? Do you compose at a computer or by hand on scraps of paper?
Quinn: Ideally, I put up a new blog every Tuesday. I used to put one up every other day but at that schedule I was cannibalizing my life too much; I'm pretty certain that if you start thinking of your loved ones as "material," you're writing too often. Usually I wait around patiently and then with increasing concern as the week progresses, hoping I do something stupid. Some weeks, I come up with a phrase or an idea that has to sit and ripen in my head, eventually drawing other sentences as compost draws earthworms. There's a notebook next to my bed to jot down starter-sentences, because twice I've been certain I would remember it always and I completely forgot it an hour later. Man, those would have been great blogs.

Q: How do your family members react to entries about them, and do they get "review privileges"?
Quinn: Consort, because I am very lucky, is a marvelous editor of my work. He's the first person to see the blogs and if you like them, I can tell you now, it's because of him. He wrestles my grammar into submission and takes a pruning shears to my adverbs, because no one has ever loved an adverb as much as I do. So he knows when he's the star of the show and he has the epic grace to not only find those funny but to forward the ones about him to his friends. The kid is rarely the star of the show any more, because I never want her to do anything and then turn to me and say, "That would make a great blog!" The dog is happy to be invited anywhere and the cat, without having any idea about the Internet, already assumed she was world famous.

Q: Are you getting a new pair of pants to wear for book events?
Quinn: Strange you should mention that. I've got a reading July 11 in Los Angeles at Vroman's books, and until you asked me that question, it hadn't dawned on me that I had to wear clothes. One of the side effects of blogging and writing is that your work-wardrobe requirements are fairly forgiving; I have two pairs of pajama bottoms I still wear that have been around since the kid was an infant. I can promise you this; whatever I wear that night or to any other event thereafter, know that I am mildly irritated and disappointed with how I'm not taller. Dressing for events makes me fussy.

Q: Plans for a second book?
Quinn: Yes. Goodness, no. Possibly. Probably. I'd tell you about it, but then I'd have to write it.

Q: Why do you often (but not always) put a period at the end of a blog post title?
Quinn: Oh, bless your heart for thinking this was some runic way of communicating with the audience. The answer is sadder; I went to school in the 1970s, when they started teaching self-esteem and stopped teaching grammar. When Consort doesn't check my blog before it goes out, it sometimes has a period, especially if the title feels like a full sentence to me. Can't help it; a full sentence looks naked without a period. If you ever feel like seeing a grown man start to mist up, ask Consort about what I do with semi-colons, colons, and commas.

In her acting days Quinn Cummings was best known for her Academy Award-nominated performance in Neil Simon's 1977 movie The Goodbye Girl at age 9 and her two years on the TV drama Family. She left acting by 1991, and now markets her child-carrier sling, The Hiphugger, writes, rescues animals, and helps rear a young daughter. Her book, NOTES FROM THE UNDERWIRE: Adventures from My Awkward and Lovely Life, goes on sale today. Her publisher says: "In ... Quinn’s smart and hilarious debut, she tackles the domestic and the delightfully absurd, proving that all too-often they’re one and the same. From fighting off a catnip-addled cat to mortal conflict with a sewing machine, Quinn provides insight into her often chaotic, seldom-perfect universe—a universe made even less perfect when the goofy smile of past celebrity shows its occasional fang."

Coming Soon: A Q&A Interview with Quinn Cummings

On July 7, author Quinn Cumming will guest blog here to kick off the launch of her book, NOTES FROM THE UNDERWIRE:

Quinn Cummings, former child star, mother, and modern woman, just wants to be a good person. In Notes from the Underwire, her smart and delightful debut, Quinn tackles the domestic and the delightfully absurd, proving them often to be the same. From fighting off her prowling cat, to her failure at crafts, she provides insight into an often chaotic, seldom perfect universe.

Here's a teaser from the interview:

What's the oddest comment you've ever gotten about your writing?
I had someone once write in to say that I was the "Stupidest guy writing on the Internet." I have to admit it hurt that my charade with the giving birth and with the having of ovaries was so transparent.

Folks in the LA area can attend Quinn's book event at 4 pm July 11 at Vroman's Bookstore.

Your Personal Guide to Twittering

1. Just because you can Twitter, doesn't mean you should.

2. When you're writing a DM (direct message) to your honey or someone you want to flirt with - be sure it is a DM and not a message sent out to everyone. 'Cause you really don't want to tell the world that you think someone's profile picture is cute. Even if it is.

3. If you want people to follow you (interesting ones, not the ones who will follow anyone), put something in your bio or have some interesting tweets. I'll follow almost any writer - we need to stick together. If I know nothing about you (or if your primarily interest in life is selling a product), I won't.

4. If your name is Horny Kitty or your Twitter home page has giant photos of scantily clad women (or men, for that matter) or their body parts, I'm gonna block you.

5. Do not automatically follow everyone who is following you. Be selective. Block ones you feel odd about. And do not DM someone to thank them for following you. This is creepy and sycophantic.

6. If you tweet multiple messages morning, noon, and night and are not amazingly funny or perspicacious, unless you are Sarah Weinman, I'm going to unfollow you. (If your rapidly consecutive tweets fill an entire column of TweetDeck, that's too much.) If your tweets are snide or rude or bigoted, I'm gonna unfollow you.

7. If you would like your tweets to be retweeted (repeated), leave space for extra characters. The retweet will add RT and your Twitter name (RT @sarajhenry) to the message - and the person reposting it might like to add a note at the beginning.

8. Realize anyone you follow who follows you (a requirement for Direct Messages) can glean your email address from the email DM announcement.

9. If you don't read fast and process information fast, don't Twitter, or at least don't follow more than a handful of friends.

10. If you want to promote your book, include your website URL or maybe the name of your book in the tweet. Just saying. (Here is a tweet from one of my favorite authors: "Print "Lost Enzo" flyer. Post it somewhere cool and take a photo. Best placement wins a very cool baseball cap. Limited edition!" Uh ... does it mention the name of his book? No. Does it tell you where to get the flyer to print? No. Do we know how to enter this contest? No.)

11. If you clutter your tweet with hashtags and several URLS and Lots of Capital Letters, it's too hard to read. We won't.

12. Twittering can be fun, a way to meet other people in your profession, a great networking or promotion opportunity. Use it judiciously. Play nice.

Some Fantastic Web Sites for Writers

These are writers' web sites a bit off the beaten path that I've stumbled across recently.

The Anonymati - also called the "evil first page clinic" - you send in your first pages for critique. Anonymously, of course.

Call My Agent! - an Australian literary agent who critiques query letters. I love this gal. Funny, concise, and a grammar nerd to boot.

Hey! Teenager of the Year - a talented, funny, vivacious writer dissects first pages of YA novels. Did I mention she's 15? Yet another Aussie, I think.

The Intern - an insider look at book publishing. Anonymous, of course. Poignant and screamingly funny all at once.

I See You - a visit into the life of crime writer Cat Connor as she juggles writing and book promotion with rearing seven children in Upper Hutt, New Zealand. Think a wise-cracking but more sardonic Erma Bombeck who spends her spare time figuring out how to make realistic fake blood for a book promotion video and the precise manifestations of chlorine gas poisoning, while cooking for a dinner party and tending to her youngest kids, who are fighting off the flu and upchucking in Mum and Dad's bed. (Her KILLERBYTE is available for Kindle.)

Contest: You Can Still Win DUST OF 100 DOGS

The prize: A signed copy of DUST OF 100 DOGS by A.S. King (a superb book that you'll end up raving to all your friends about, trust me)
The deadline: One minute before midnight, tonight.
The task: Write a story of 100 words or less about dinner with a dinner guest, using the sentence "This was something we never expected" and mentioning something to eat.
How to enter: Post story as a comment in the D100D blog.
The odds: Right now, very good, as there are only four entries.
To entice you further, a book blurb:

In 1664, Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with the dust of 100 dogs. Three hundred years later, after 100 lives as a dog, she returned to a human body with her memories intact. Now she's a contemporary American teenager, and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.

How can you resist? Enter the contest - or just go buy the book! Or buy several, because all your friends are going to want to read it. No, I don't get a commission. I just love this book.