And the Oscar for Best Butt Lift Goes to...

Last Sunday night I quickly grew depressed then resigned as I squinted through the glitz to see teeming rows upon rows of plastic expressions, over-processed hair, and inflated lips. It's as though stars no longer grow old, but instead grow ludicrously comical and ridiculously fake. Fifty on screen no longer looks like Perry Mason or Edith Bunker, but like a cartoon duck. Why fight aging just to end up with a booby prize? Why fight aging at all? Are wrinkles really so much worse than bubble lips and sucked in cheeks?

Is it so bad to live life and show the evidence?

But wait.

Damn it, I kind of stepped in a puddle here. I uh, em, dye my hair. Ever since the age of 28, I've been having the gray highlighted out of the blonde. I'll never forget the first time I asked my hair guy extraordinaire Jordy if he could touch things up a bit.

Me: Could you maybe highlight it a little? I've got few strands of gray here in front.

Jordy: Honey! You've got gray all over!

So, I, too, fight aging in my own way. By keeping my fly-away split ends as sunny golden as they were when I was a kid. And you know what? You might not like the way my hair looks. You might think I should condition it, perm it, heck, on some days brush it.

But that's okay. Because I like the way I look. And today's stars – or at least the agents of today's stars and LOTS of fans - like the way they look. I'm okay, you're okay. Or even if you're not, it's not my business. And vice versa, I'm sure, to quote Sherri Ann Cabot. I think it's cool to be cool with one another. Sound good? Truth is, lots of people thrill to this idea of acceptance.

How do I know? Because it's the essence of romance and lots of people read romance. Romance reveals the journey of two people becoming more tolerant, more understanding of one another. The Walls of Jericho come down, bit by bit, (not necessarily with the fanfare of a toy bugle) so that two people can recognize and feel that pulsing core of some truth, some frequency, some rhythm that they share. And it is this simpatico that will keep them happily together.

The story starts out, and the two people clash, as do Elizabeth and Darcy, Mindy and Danny. But it's there, early on - a vibe like the hum from a refrigerator that tells you these two would be so good together. For Elizabeth and Darcy, their manners are quite different, yet neither one performs to anyone. Each lives according to exacting truth. But they have to overcome the barrier of disparate manners in order to realize the values they share. And Mindy and Danny? In the first episode, it becomes clear that they know each other on a deep level because each knows exactly how to cut the other to quick. Danny tells Mindy she needs to lose 15 pounds, and Mindy derides Danny for having gotten divorced. But at this point in their relationship, their feelings find expression only through insults and one-upsmanship. As the series progresses, they break down each others' walls and move in closer.

And that's the kind of romance I like. Not one that begins with a mutually immediate sexual spark, but one that begins with something...else. Some subtle hint that lets you know that these two are skating along the same wavelength, that they've got what it takes to be amazing together. It can be just one word, just one action, just one brief exchange. Like Ron's awed amazement - “Hermione!” - when she slaps Draco.

I planted my first clue that Lisa and Jack hear the same distant bongo beat in Chapter Two of my novel She Likes It Rough. It's there for anyone to see by browsing through the beginning of the book online.

Think you can find it?

And by the way, in case you love pop culture references and trivia as much as I do...

1. When Sherri Ann Cabot says, "Vice versa, I'm sure," what is she doing?

2. Who buys the toy bugle?

3. What provokes Hermione to slap Draco?

4. Who is Larry's Lizzy?

Win a Signed Copy of She Likes It Rough!

 Just be one of the first 15 people to write a review of 

She Likes It Rough on Goodreads and/or Amazon! 

1. Download She Likes It Rough, FREE now through December 26, by clicking HERE. 

2. Read the book and compose an honest review.

3.Before you post your She Likes It Rough review on Goodreads and/or Amazon, contact me on the Meet Me page of my website or by commenting on this blog, telling me under what name you will post the review.*   

4. Once the review is posted, contact me again via the Meet Me page on my website or in the comments below. Make sure you contact me using the same email address you used when you contacted me the first time.*  If your review is one of the first 15 to be posted on 12/23/2013 or later, you will win a signed copy of the book. When you contact me, let me know where to send the signed copy and whether you want me to sign the book to anyone specific.

*These steps are to insure that you are no cheeky monkey trying to take credit for someone else's review.

Good Luck and Happy Reading!

Happy Holidays!

-GVR Corcillo

The Very Best Part

What a day! I have spent a great deal of today doing doing necessary work things that make my stomach feel icky and uncomfortable. But then I forgot all about that when I opened an email message tonight that I thought was from my nephew but really it was some sort of awful spam trap that signed me up to some skeevy dating site! Before I even realized what was happening, sixteen guys liked me and one wanted to meet me! It was so - gross! The site had raided my facebook profile and knew all my personal stuff! I was freaking out until my husband finally got my info and picture (Eeeew!) off the site. Yick!!

I feel like I need a shower and a whiskey. But I don't drink and I cannot blog from the shower.

So, I will instead focus on a more pleasant aspect of my day.

My little sister bought my book today!  Now let me tell you about my kid sister Marice. There's too much history and a lot of it involves shouting, frustration, lots of ruined clothes and shoes, lots of good money thrown after bad, arrests, two trips to the hospital, and, once upon a time, a punch. But that history also involves a beautiful woman with a ready laugh and an unbelievable Zen optimism. It also involves some of the funniest stories woven through my life. It involves a beautiful young man, an amazing girl, and an adorable boy who have my sister's life force. It involves shared hurt, tears, and confusion. It involves dreams that never die.

But most importantly, no matter what happens between us or what words are said, I can't help but just plain like her!

And today she bought my book. And my sister and I like to read the same kinds of books. So, I think she will actually read it!! And then - and this is the VERY BEST PART - we can talk about it! I am dying for someone to read my book and talk to me about it - tell me what they think and how they felt. And I KNOW I can trust Marice to be honest. We have never had to take off the gloves with each other because they have simply never been on.

Here's the thing - I love my book. It's, like, one of my favorite books, up there with The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Ender's Game and Touch Not the Cat. I want to talk about the book like I cannot wait to talk to my friend Rebecca as soon as I read an Izzy Spellman book or how I want to talk to Greg after I see a Battlestar Gallactica or Sherlock episode.

So, if you have read any of my books or stories, I would love to hear from you - either as a comment on this blog or send me a note on my website by clicking the "Contact GVR" button at the top of this page.

I'd love to hear from you, because discussing my book with readers is the very best part.

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