My Best Review Ever

So...why The Avengers? Argo and Zero Dark Thirty might have seemed like a more logical pairing. Do I generally see blockbusters? Not at all. Superhero movies? Nope.

My two best friends, Matt and Greg, really wanted to see it. In fact, as total fanboys, they had been waiting and hoping for this movie for the past 25 years. Sure, they are perfectly capable of attending a movie without me or my husband - which they do all the time. But the four of us thought it would be fun to go see a movie together. The last movie I'd seen with Matt and Greg had been Return of the King. As die-hard Tolkein fans from very young ages, perhaps they got sick of my complaining about that stupid maroon turtleneck Viggo wears in the coronation scene. So, it's been a while since we've proposed all going to see a movie together.

I did not like the movie The Avengers that much. Watching it made me tired with all of its over-the-top action sequences. But I really enjoyed going to the movie, having had the experience of seeing it together, and discussing it with my friends. Who loved it. And you know, disagreeing about the movie makes it all the more fun! Years ago, we all went to see Love, Actually, and I had a radically different opinion than all the guys. (I know. Shocker.) To this day, we still laugh over our responses to that film.

Mostly, we do not enjoy watching the same things, with some notable exceptions: Buffy, Sherlock, Galaxy Quest, almost any Wes Anderson film.

Which is why my friend Greg's review of my short story, "All Summer on a Date," from the Romancing the Pages anthology, delighted me beyond all others:

"I thought I would have trouble getting through it and reading the whole thing, but I didn't. It was actually pretty enjoyable."

A non-romance reader liked my story!!! A guy liked my story! I had crossed genre lines! Victoire! Victoire!

GVR Corcillo

author of

  

She Likes It Rough

"All Summer on a Date"

"Jane Austen Meets the New York Giants"

Queen of the Universe coming this Fall

The Mouse That Roared

Since it is election day in Los Angeles, I think I will talk about the power of an individual to bring about change - and it is getting easier all the time. These days, it can be done with the click of a mouse. The other day I signed an online petition - it took me about 30 seconds to read through the issue then click the "Sign" box to add my voice. The following recounts the result of that petition, in the words of Derek Nance, the petition's originator:

"What a week. Last Thursday night, I started a petition on Change.org asking Carly Rae Jepsen [singer of the hit song "Call Me Maybe"] and Train not to perform at the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree this summer unless openly gay scouts and leaders would be welcome to attend. 

By Friday morning, 3,000 people had signed. On Friday evening, Train pulled out, saying: "Train strongly opposes any kind of policy that questions the equality of any American citizen."

Now, four days later, more than 60,000 people -- including you -- have signed my petition. And this morning, Carly Rae Jepsen tweeted this:

"As an artist who believes in equality for all people, I will not be participating in the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree this summer."

This is an incredible victory." 

And I participated in bringing it about! With the click of a mouse!

I have signed many such online petitions over the past year, and not all of them have succeeded in bringing about any change or provoking any meaningful action. But a lot of them have. I have helped people get re-negotiations with banks about to evict them. I have gotten people re-hired and gotten them back wages after they were unjustly fired. I have saved a number of animals' lives. I have told Congress my opinion on crucial issues. 

The opportunities of the internet and the proliferation of social media make getting involved and making a difference so easy. And it feels so good. 

GVR Corcillo

author of

  

She Likes It Rough

"All Summer on a Date"

"Jane Austen Meets the New York Giants"

Queen of the Universe coming this Fall

I'm back!

After a week of posting my The Next Big Thing Blog Hop interview, I am back in the blogging saddle. So, what went on during that quiet week?

My number of book sales more than doubled, which is a way cool feeling! I set up my author page on Amazon. I made more connections in the world of publishing, books, and writers. I relaxed for 25 minutes in a row and finished that Father Brown episode. I commissioned the modification of  my advertising bookcards and ordered 500 to be printed. I approved the initial sketches of some artwork I've commissioned for my website. I made final arrangements for a book signing I will be doing in Orange County this coming Saturday. I connected with some old friends who heard about my book and got in touch. I worked my other two jobs.

Something else that happened was this: one of the two movies I saw in the theatre last year, Argo, won the Oscar for best picture. I love the subtlety and understated tension of Argo as it unfolds an incredibly intense story. As I watched it, I was on the verge of tears and on the edge of my seat for the entire film.

But here's the thing - if I chose to see only two films in the theatre last year, why Argo?

Simple. The Iranian Hostage Crisis is the first real piece of history I can remember in my lifetime. Those "Free the Hostages" stickers that looked like American flags were everywhere in my young world - on school book covers, on cars, on toilet seats. I was horrified by the duration of the terrifying ordeal - nearly one whole half of my life that I could clearly remember since infancy and toddlerhood. One of the hostages was from my hometown - he went to the same high school my nephew now attends. As a result, I think of Argo as my movie - because I have such a personal and visceral connection to it.

Argo is mine. And I doubt I am the only one who feels this way.

These feelings of connection, possession, deeply understood truth, shared history - these are precisely what I strive to evoke in readers with my books and stories. For example, this is one of my favorite lines from She Likes It Rough:

How long would it be before everyone in my family stopped judging me according to the stupid things I’d done as a kid? Wasn’t there any statute of limitations on growing up?

And by the way, the other movie I saw in the theatre last year is The Avengers, the biggest money maker of the year. Something else I strive for when I write my books.

GVR Corcillo

author of

  

She Likes It Rough

"All Summer on a Date"

"Jane Austen Meets the New York Giants"

Queen of the Universe coming this Fall

The Next Big Thing

The Next Big Thing

 Blog Hop

by

GVR Corcillo

The Publishing Revolution - which will not be televised, but downloaded - gives THE READER freedom like never before. Publishing companies are no longer the definitive gatekeepers deciding what the reader will have access to. Now, the reader can smash through the gates, cause a flood, and ride the waves. Readers, and I am one heck of a reader myself, can explore books and authors and make their own choices.

That's what The Next Big Thing Blog Hop is all about. A writer answers ten questions about her or his latest project, then tags more writers to blog the following week. It is one more way for writers to connect with readers and let them know what's out there.    

Last week, I was tagged by the talented and delightful Kitty Bucholtz, author of the refreshing and cozy Little Miss Lovesick. I was also lucky enough to have a short story in the same anthology as she did, Romancing the Pages. 

After my interview, I will tag two more writers who will keep the blog hopping along.

Now, on to...

1: What is the working title of your book?

My novel She Likes It Rough has just been released in trade paperback,but it certainly hasn't always been called that! First, it was Between a Rock and a Hard Place, but as I wrote, the book became less and less about a dilemma. Then the title became Into the Wild, but then I realized there was a very different book out there named Into the Wild, so I changed my title. Though I hadn't even been thinking of the Jon Krakauer book - I had gotten the title from a line in the movie The Fellowship of the Ring. When the Hobbits ask Strider where he is taking them, Strider responds, "Into the wild," a line I thought just reverberated with excitement. And it was sexy, too, since Viggo Mortensen was the one delivering the line! Next, the title became Girl Gone Wild, but so many people despised that title because of the videos that I changed it yet again. When I hit upon She Likes It Rough, I knew I'd nailed it. My heroine Lisa Flyte makes it rough on herself, doing so many things in the book that terrify her, but on a deeper level, she has been making it rough on herself her whole life because she has always been too scared to live her life to the fullest and go after what she really wants. 

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?  

Viggo Mortensen, again! Kind of. Years ago, I was flipping channels and came across the Sylvester Stallone movie Daylight, written by Leslie Bohem. Viggo Mortensen was in it, so I stopped to watch for a bit. Viggo plays an outdoor extremist who is also a businessman. That sparked the idea for my hero Jack, a an adrenaline junkie who designs gear for outdoor sporting adventures. The rest of the story evolved from there. The inspiration for Lisa? Well, I have this, uh, friend, yeah, a friend, and she's afraid of so many things. Heights, big animals, loud noises, wearing the wrong thing, what her mother thinks of her... 

3: What genre does your book come under?   

I call it a romantic comedy, but that is not exactly a book genre. Contemporary humorous women's fiction is the closest. Though I have to say, I am not a huge fan of pigeon-holing books into genres. I often wonder what would happen if J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye were released today. Would it be labelled Young Adult and dismissed by serious literary critics the world over? Would it make it to the reading list in almost every high school in America? I wonder.  

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?  

Mandy Moore and James Marsden. Mandy Moore plays down-to-earth better than any other actress I've seen in her age range. Her performances in Dedication and How to Deal convince me that she would be perfect as Lisa. And James Marsden - this guy is such a good actor that the depths and nuances of his characterizations actually overshadow his amazing looks. And that is my hero Jack to a T - he is so hot that he seems daunting from afar, but once Lisa sees him up close and gets to know him, she realizes he is a guy with issues, attitudes, and opinions that keep her on her toes and knock her for a loop. 

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Can daring outdoor adventures with an adrenaline junkie give a daydreaming scaredy-cat the backbone she needs in order to get tough and make her life count for something?

6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

I've created my own company Blackbird Press to self-publish my books. Wow! The control and the satisfaction of creation is exhilarating! Without a doubt, self-publishing is very hard work, but I am loving every second of it. 

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Years! This book has gone through so many incarnations. Very little is left from the first 'first' draft except the hero's name and the scene in his office that involves the wetsuit. Over those years, not only the story, but also my writing style was evolving as I became more and more comfortable with and confident about my own voice.

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary. The playful irreverence of the story as a woman tries to become the hero of her own life echoes throughout my book. With one big difference. My heroine Lisa's goal is never to get a guy or get married. Her prime directive is to make her life count for something, to become more significant. Her interaction with the hero Jack is a big part of that journey, but Lisa never focuses on her 'single' status as something she needs to remedy. Because of this shift, She Likes It Rough reminds me of Lisa Lutz's Izzy Spellman Series. Though my book is not a mystery, it uses wacky situations to explore not only romance, but relationships with family, career angst, and ways and means of getting along with the rest of the populated world.  

9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Let me tell you who inspired me to do something even more amazing than write this book - I'll tell you who inspired me to publish this book. Leonard Wang Kingsley! I went to school with him, and we met up again a few years ago at a class reunion. So, we began emailing each other. (We live on opposite coasts.) Last spring, he sent me an email suggesting I self-publish my novel. Really? I thought. Could I be so bold? He sent me a list of everything I would need to do, and ever since that email, I have been working on everything on that list! With his help!  Debra Holland, a wonderful and phenomenally successful author that I have known for years, has been another inspiration. She self-published several of her novels last year and has blasted a beacon of light and guidance across the world of publishing.

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Jack and Lisa'a adventures out in the wild were so much fun to research and write! Lisa is so scared, but she steps up and jumps when Jack says jump - into the middle of the ocean, off a cliff, out of a plane. Lisa jumps completely out of her own world - a world dominated by pop culture references to the movies, TV shows, songs, books, and commercials she's been surrounded by all her life. How she melds what happens in the wild with what goes on in her everyday life is the essence of the story.  

Tag - you're it!

What an energizing interview! Now I'm tagging two more writers to blog next week about their captivating latest projects.

Claire LaZebnik, 
author of humorous women's fiction and delightful YA! Click on her name to see what she is all about and what she writes and blogs!

Paula Martin, 
author of wonderfully satisfying contemporary romances! Click on her name to see what she is all about and what she writes and blogs!

The Next Big Thing....
Though I blog every night (sometimes day), this The Next Big Thing Blog will remain posted as my primary blog for the next week. However, comment on my blog if you want to check in with me, see how I'm doing, ask about my writing, or find out about my tallies. I will write back with alacrity! 

GVR Corcillo

author of

  

She Likes It Rough

"All Summer on a Date"

"Jane Austen Meets the New York Giants"

Queen of the Universe coming this Fall