FREE BOOKS!!!

Win this book!!

So, did that subject line get your attention?!  I'm giving away a free signed copy of JACK WITH A TWIST over on my group blog, Girlfriends Book Club.  Check out my blog post and enter to win!

Already have a copy of JACK?  That's okay!  Enter to win a copy and you can give it to a friend for the holidays.  See you over there!

Awesomely awesome

This is just too hilarious.  This is how I feel every time someone approaches me at a cocktail party and asks me to ghost-write their novel.  Thanks to Laura Zigman and Allison Winn Scotch for sharing!

I'm not a celebrity, but I play one in this cookbook

I was so, so honored when I was asked to contribute to the Snap4Kids Celebrity Cookbook.  The first thing was, well, I'm not really a celebrity.  And the second thing is, well, I don't really cook from recipes.  I generally just cook from feel (which explains why every time I cook, things taste slightly different.  It also explains why I once made a dish my husband dubbed "foot chicken" since he claimed it smelled like feet.  It didn't.  It didn't smell good by any means, but I'm not going to go so far as to say it smelled like feet....)

But, I digress.  Snap4Kids is a fabulous charity whose mission is to help the families of children with special needs.  Which is why they got some real life literary celebrities to help contribute recipes, alongside little old me:  Barbara Delinsky, Wendy Corsi Staub, JT Ellison-- aren't you dying to know what they cook at home?!

So, please check out the cookbook and support this wonderful charity.  And then let me know if any of the recipes turn out smelling like feet.

Come visit me!

I'm over at my new group blog today talking about book covers and opening lines.  Come visit me over there!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Big congrats go out to Michele Cozzens!  You're the winner of an ARC of Friday Mornings at Nine!  Michele, just shoot me an email at brenda[at]brendajanowitz[dot]com to claim your prize!

Didn't win?  That's okay!  There's lots more book giveaways coming up in the next few months.  Check back here for deets!

Any Keanu is fine with me....

So, have you seen this whole "Sad Keanu" thing exploding everywhere?!  There was this shot taken of Keanu having lunch on a park bench, and lots of peeps out there have been photoshopping it like crazy.  He's next to a bunch of bunnies, running with the bulls, you get the picture.

NYMag actually interviewed Keanu and told him about it.  He thought it sounded really funny.  All the more reason to like Keanu.

My favorite is this meme which even has a song attached to it.  Enjoy!

GCC Author Interview and Book Giveaway: Marilyn Brant

Just because the GCC has a fancy new blog, that doesn't mean that we still won't be touring our fabulous authors!  Today I've got the fabulous Marilyn Brant here to chat about her latest.  (How great is this cover?!)

But wait!  There's more!  Marilyn will be giving away a signed copy of an ARC of Friday Mornings at Nine!  Just leave a comment below to enter to win!!  Don't forget to leave me your info so that I can contact you if you win.  Winners will be announced on October 7th.

So, let's all hear from Marilyn!

Q: Tell us about your most recent novel in 30 words or less.
A: Friday Mornings at Nine is a modern fairy tale about three suburban moms who each begin to question whether they’d married the right man or were living the right lives.

Q: Where do you find inspiration for your work?
A: From conversations I overhear, things my friends tell me, funny stuff that happened in my family, incidents I’ve observed out in public, stories I’ve read in books or seen on TV and those endless “what if?” questions writers always ask themselves.

Q: What is the inspiration behind this novel?
A: I’ve talked with a lot of women about their marriages -- and, in some cases, about their affairs. Sometimes these revelations came in the form of random comments thrown out unexpectedly. Other times they were part of well thought out discussions about whether the women in question should or shouldn’t stay married. I met my husband 20 years ago and we’ve been married for almost 18 of those years. I consider us to be happy, but I don’t know anyone who’s been married that long who hasn’t experienced some ups and downs. I think the fortunate couples are the ones who keep choosing to be together and work on their relationships despite all of those years and the inevitable changes. Of course, it takes both people to do that, and it also takes a lot of time and effort. The individuals involved have to want to get to know now these people they married (who may be different creatures than the ones they met a decade or more before), and they need to really pay attention to their own needs and desires, too. Sometimes, in the process of that kind of deep analysis, it turns out there was a profound disconnect somewhere along the line. In some cases, it’s possible to reconnect. In others, not so much. So, essentially, I wanted to write a story about three women who have marital disconnects to some degree that makes them wonder what would have happened if they’d chosen differently. Then I wanted them to finally take the time to examine their lives so they could choose mindfully where to head next.

Q: If they made a movie of this book, who would you cast to portray the characters?
A: I'd love to see this onscreen! (And I’d try to find a way to get Johnny Depp in there somewhere…LOL.) For the main characters, though, I imagine someone like Kate Winslet for Bridget, Calista Flockhart for Jennifer and Kim Cattrall for Tamara. Definitely a cast I'd enjoy seeing together!

Q: When did you first begin writing?
A: I wrote songs and poems and little stories in elementary school, but sixth grade was when the notion of writing professionally first occurred to me. Aside from being on the newspaper and yearbook staff in high school, though, I didn’t take writing seriously until I was about 30. Then, I spent the next several years writing completed manuscripts and submitting them to agents and editors before my fifth one, which was According to Jane, finally sold.

Q: What do you think readers might be surprised to know about you?
A: This has absolutely nothing to do with writing (which is, perhaps, why it’ll be surprising), but I was a member of a touring dance group in college and spent six weeks dancing through Europe the summer I was 19. We performed at festivals in France, Spain, Switzerland and Italy, and I met some absolutely fascinating people. That experience solidified my love of travel, my chocolate addiction and my lifelong adoration of the jitterbug. It also greatly aided in my appreciation of European men...


Q: What is your advice for those who looking to get their novel published?
A: Don’t follow trends just because you think it’ll be an easier sell. And write the books that fit your voice. If what you love writing happens to be a hot-selling genre, great. If your writing voice happens to be perfect for the genre you want to write in and love to read, that’s awesome, too. But -- if not -- write long and hard enough to find what DOES fit you and your style best. Because then, even if it takes longer to make that first sale than you expect, you’re writing the kinds of stories you most enjoy, and that passion has a way of working itself into the projects you’re creating.

Marilyn Brant has been a classroom teacher, a library staff member, a freelance writer and a national book reviewer. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and son, surrounded by towers of books that often threaten to topple over and crush her. A proud member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, Marilyn's debut novel featuring "Jane" won the Romance Writers of America's prestigious Golden Heart® Award. When not working on her next book, she enjoys traveling, listening to music and finding new desserts to taste test. Readers can visit her website at www.marilynbrant.com.

Is this even possible?!

I didn't think it was possible, but this video made me love Joseph Gordon-Levitt even more.  After seeing him in (500) Days of Summer, I was pretty much smitten, but now after seeing him play guitar and sing (yes, he plays guitar! and sings!!!), I'm pretty much completely in love.

Where have I seen you before?

As I'm sure you can tell by now, I'm super excited about my new group blog, Girlfriends Book Club.


Last week, Roberta Isleib did a post about what she's been reading and I really enjoyed it, but something really bugged me.  I could have sworn that I'd seen the cover art for Maddie Dawson's The Stuff That Never Happened.  Gorgeous cover, right?!

It was seriously driving me crazy.  So, instead of writing, I googled my morning away, trying to remember which book had the same cover art.  Luckily, the smarties over at She reads and reads figured it out for me!  Drum roll, please:


It was Jill A. Davis's second novel, Ask Again Later.

What threw me off is was a visit to my bookshelf.  When I bought the book, the cover looked like this:

And I do think that the back-of-the-head cover is much, much better.  Very evocative and really draws a reader in.

But it brings up an interesting question.  Most book covers use stock photos-- to do a whole photo shoot for a book would simply be way too expensive (although in an interview about Girls in Trucks, Katie Crouch said that for her book, they did just that), so it would stand to reason that some books have the same covers.  Okay, a lot of books have similar covers.

As a former trademark attorney, I just have to ask:  does this create consumer confusion?  Am I drawn to The Stuff that Never Happened simply because it reminds me of Ask Again Later, a book I really enjoyed?  Probably not, because I think that The Stuff that Never Happened has got a pretty great premise, and that's what's drawing me in, but if you were the authors of the books, how would you feel about this?  As an author, I think it would bother me a lot.

And as Karin Gillespie pointed out to me, The Stuff that Never Happened was written by Maddie Dawson, who is really Sandi Kahn Shelton and the copycat cover thing has happened to her before!

Scandal!!

What say you??

Be my guest!!!

I'm guest blogging today over at my new blog-home-away-from-home, Girlfriends Book Club. I hope you'll check it out-- and tell me all about what you're reading this summer.

Could I be any more excited for this movie?!

So, I just saw this movie preview and I am completely obsessed. This movie looks funny and clever, and stars Emma Stone from Superbad! Still not convinced this movie will rock? Well, it's also got Dan from Gossip Girl, Courtney Cox's son from Cougartown and one of the vampires from Twilight. As the resident villain: Amanda Bynes. And as parents: Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci. We've even got good usage of Lady Gaga's Pokerface in this preview. Can we really go wrong here?!

If you're still not convinced, check out the trailer.



Still not convinced that this movie will rock?! Then I cannot help you. Clearly your heart is made of stone.

Girlfriends do it together

So, first there was the amazing GCC: Girlfriends Cyber Circuit. And that pretty much rocked. Author interviews, book giveaways, you name it.

Well, now we've all banded together and created a new blog: Girlfriends Book Club. It's a space where former and new members of the GCC can come together and talk about writing, books, and publishing. So, this will pretty much rock EVEN MORE than the original GCC. (I know, how is that even possible?!)

Needless to say, I'm super excited about this new venture of ours and I hope that you will be, too! I will still be blogging here (I mean, where else can we discuss LOST and the Real Housewives on Bravo?!), but I hope you'll check out my new blog home as well!

I think this just shows my amazing powers of forgiveness

Okay, so I'm still totally pissed off about the Lost finale, but this is just so, so cool.

I know that my husband will totally want Faraday's journal, and I totally want one of those Driveshaft CDs. I still remember when they had a party scene on Alias and Sydney Bristow opened the door and "You All Everybody" was playing in the background. So awesome.

One question-- where's Charlie's Driveshaft ring? I kind of want that, too.

My new obsession

Well, you all know that I'm completely obsessed with NYMag.com. But, now I have a new obsession! FunnyorDie.com. Yes, it's been around for a while, but this week, these two videos really cracked me up.

Enjoy!

White Women's Workout - watch more funny videos

Eva Mendes Sex Tape from Eva Mendes

Everyone, check your Bar Mitzvah videos!!

So, Gawker's got this AMAZING post about Paul Rudd-- seems before he was a big star, he was (wait for it....) a Bar Mitzvah DJ! One of those guys you hire to amp up the party, arrange the games and just generally keep the party moving. In the video clips, he's just as adorable as he is now, and is it just me, or does this look like one rocking Bat Mitzvah he's working?

I think that everyone should go home and check their Bar and Bat Mitzvah videos-- who knows who your entertainment could have been?

Is it weird that this only makes me love Paul Rudd even more?!

Awesomely awesome

You all know that I love me some Real Housewives on Bravo. Well, if you've been following the Housewives of New Jersey, you know that one of them is in some big financial trouble. I'm assuming that's why she's done this commercial, but really, who cares why she did it? Just watch and enjoy....

Come see me tonight!

I'll be reading at 7pm at the Summer Gazebo Reading Series. Hope to see you there!

Hanging out on the Village Green

Hey Long Islanders! If you're out on Long Island, well, first of all, you probably get that song reference I made in the title line. But more importantly, I'll be reading at the Gazebo again this summer! (Yes, on the Village Green in Oceanside!)

I'll be reading as part of the Summer Gazebo Reading Series again this Monday, July 26th at 7pm. Joining me will be the always fabulous Ellen Meister and Saralee Rosenberg, so it should be a great night. I hope to see you there!

Summer beach reads

I was asked by Long Island Woman magazine to write a review of the summer beach read I'm reading right now. Since I read about a book a week, I picked the book that has been my favorite of the summer so far.

Click here to see which book I picked!

Things I'm obsessed with this week

So, there are a bunch of things I'm totally obsessed with this week. Instead of just sending email upon email to my husband with the subject heading "How cool is this?!" I figured I'd share with all of you. Because you can only send so many emails to your husband. (And Shawn told me that she's reading my blog again.) So, here goes:

The Old Spice dude
This guy is so hilarious. And totally charismatic. I hope he becomes a huge star. I love his ads. And this viral campaign is just so, so clever.

Ferris Club
Love Ferris Bueller, love Fight Club, so this clip pretty much has it all.

Hawaii 5-0
Could I be any more excited about this?! Jin speaks perfect English!!

NY Mag
Obviously I waste waaaay too much time on this website, but I can't help it! It's awesome!! Damn you, NYMag.com! Stop being so awesome and entertaining!!!

Get patched in!

So, if you missed me over at the Syosset Library, don't fret! The wonderful Mary Ellen Walsh wrote a fabulous piece about my visit for the Syosset Patch. Check it out here.

And then I hope you'll join me in July, when I'll be reading as part of the Summer Gazebo Reading Series again. I'll be out on the Green on Monday, July 26th, and I hope to be having a better hair day than I was at the Syosset Library (though it's doubtful).

Tonight's the night!

If you are on Long Island, I'd love it if you came to hear me speak tonight!! I'll be at the Syosset Public Library at 7pm. Hope to see you there!

Come to Long Island!

Come see me speak at the Syosset Public Library next Wednesday, June 16th at 7pm! You get to see me, hear me read from one of my novels, AND support public libraries, to boot! What could be better?!

I hope to see you there!

Get lost

So, did you see it?! Did you watch it? Were you like me, waiting for years in anticipation, all culminating in last night's series finale of LOST?! Did you watch all forty-seven hours of LOST-related programming?

Well, I did. And now I feel just like John Locke. For years, I believed. I truly thought that the show creators and writers would wrap the show up and answer all of the questions I've been wondering about for years. (Years!!)

But, instead, the show creators and writers were like the Man in Black: laughing at me, mocking me for my faith. They didn't answer so many of the questions that have been out there for years (Why can't women maintain pregnancies on the island? What was the point of Walt and Michael? And what the heck was with the temple at the beginning of season six?! Feel free to leave your own unanswered questions in the comment section!), and now I just feel like I was a fool to have obsessed about the show for so long.

The only thing that can really make me feel any better right now is a photo of Sawyer with his shirt off, so for old times sake, let's see that one more time:

Yup, I feel better already.

Guest blog: Jenny Gardiner

I'm so excited today because we've got a guest blogger, Jenny Gardiner. She's a fellow GCCer, but that's not why I'm totally excited-- Jenny is pioneering a new front on the publishing scene. Her latest novel, SLIM TO NONE, will only be released on Amazon Kindle! That's right, you heard correctly: it will not be published on paper! Only digital, baby!



Pretty cool, huh?! It definitely begs the question: is this where publishing is going? I don't know the answer, but let's hear from Jenny! So, without further ado, I give you Jenny Gardiner!

Shortly after I received my Kindle e-reader for my birthday a few months ago, I was reading in bed at midnight, not loving the book I had downloaded, but wanting to continue to read something. So with the magic of my electronic reader, in two minutes' time, I found another book on Amazon, downloaded the thing, and had begun reading it. How cool is that?

Dramatic changes have been underway in the publishing industry in recent years—changes that--combined with a faltering economy--have left traditional publishing in a bit of a tailspin. While the cumbersome infrastructure of the publishing industry is perhaps not quite nimble enough to as easily embrace and adapt to these changes, authors are on their own figuring out how they can achieve their end goal--to reach readers hungry for their work.

I've been fortunate to be teamed up with a literary agent—the wonderful Holly Root—whose agency (The Waxman Agency) is an innovator and has undertaken a bold new program of offering up high-quality books to the reading public via a digital imprint called Diversion Books.

I jumped at the chance to be part of this program because in many ways I am a convert to e-reading and I believe that society is on the cusp of a major shift in how people read books. I've always felt badly that there is a tremendous amount of paper waste with books—that books that don't sell get sent back to the publishers and ultimately destroyed. And as one who has on many occasions found at least three books lurking in the bowels of her purse (which gets heavy!), I love having all of my reading neatly compiled into one small, lightweight and very portable device. And strangely I find I can focus more readily when reading in a public place with an e-reader. Go figure.

I think that as competition increases with the introduction of new e-readers, and prices come down in the near future, soon electronic readers like the Kindle, the Nook, the Sony Reader and the iPad (of which 1 million units were sold in 28 days) will become as commonplace as cell phones (with smart phones already an e-reading option for many).

Are e-books the perfect solution? Not at all. I hate the idea that e-books contribute to marginalizing wonderful independent book stores, and hope that somehow some of the talk—of e-book downloads being available at stores, perhaps, will help to mitigate that. And I hate to sit back and watch layoffs and consolidation in the publishing industry, as really good people, fabulous editors, publicists and artists are squeezed out as the business changes. The music industry experienced these same sea changes and frankly nothing about it is easy. But as the mainstream industry goes more and more toward sure-bet books to the exclusion of the vast mid-list, which is really like the middle class of the writing world, more authors will by necessity seek alternatives to continue to pursue their passion and to reach their readers.

I decided to publish digitally with Diversion Books rather than cold turkey on my own because, alas, I am such a Luddite. Well, not fully. But I am technologically stunted and I don't have the time in my life right now to figure out how to do this on my own, and I am happy to be able to work with such wonderful professionals to collaborate on an end-result we can all be proud of. It's early enough that I can't tell you how the outcome will be, but so far so good and I really just hope I can get the word out to enough e-readers about the book—I do find that those who are early adapters with e-readers are enthusiastic to buy books, which is a good thing for everyone in a market in which so few books are being purchased. And I hope that my readers will be able to access this book.

Of course tangible paper books aren't going to go away, but the convenience of downloading books and carrying literally hundreds of them in such compact form is awfully hard to beat. And I'm thrilled to be at the forefront of such exciting innovations and to be able to offer up a book that I absolutely love and think that you will too.

Many of you may know me as a novelist who was able to successfully market my way into a publishing contract with my first novel, SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER, which was the winner of Dorchester Publishing's American Title III contest a few years ago. Back then I sort of stumbled into the frontier of capitalizing on what would soon become the most comprehensive way to market and publicize books—via networking on the internet.

Since that time, the industry has shifted in none-too-subtle ways as the internet has become an integral part of the publishing picture. So much so that e-publishing, which used to be considered an unconventional means of publication, is clearly being viewed now as the wave of the future. The future is already upon us, and I hope that you will join me in this brave new "frontier" and check out my debut e-novel, SLIM TO NONE, in which Abby Jennings, Manhattan's premier food critic, is outed on Page Six of the New York Post, and to her chagrin she realizes she's too recognizably fat to now remain incognito in her job. Her editor gives her six months to shape up or ship out, and so this ultimate foodie--a woman who is paid to eat for a living--must vastly curtail her eating in order to continue being able to make a living.

SLIM TO NONE is a story near and dear to my heart. Like probably every female out there with a heartbeat and a stomach pooch, I have been on the dieting treadmill since I was oh, born. Well, wait, I guess after I started walking. It was then that I knew I needed to stop cramming down the Froot Loops my mother kept insisting was the only thing I would eat, and instead turn to steel-cut oats direct from Ireland for the best proper nutrition.

Alas, Froot Loops won the day, over and over again. In what seems like an omnipresent dietary smackdown between Brussels sprouts and Fluffernutter sandwiches, the latter prevails every time. And with that has been the roller coaster of dieting and hating to diet and then never having pants that fit and a closet full of awesome clothes collecting dust that I really ought to just purge and give to someone thinner and more deserving, but instead I hold out mournful hope that I again will jam my fat ass into a size 6 pair of Gloria Vanderbilt jeans (yes, friends, it has been that long).

With that albatross secured snugly around my neck, I decided to tackle the ups and downs of this way of life in a novel—and decided upon a foodie for whom food had to become the enemy. I loved the idea of taking someone who has to eat for a living then not be able to eat in order to continue to be able to eat for a living. Such a quandary! And then of course I wanted to pile her up with all sorts of issues that she has to overcome.

I hope you'll join Abbie on her journey of self-discovery and while you're at it enjoy many of the yummy recipes you'll find within the pages of SLIM TO NONE.


With a strong yet delightfully vulnerable voice, food critic Abbie Jennings embarks on a soulful journey where her love for banana cream pie and disdain for ill-fitting Spanx clash in hilarious and heartbreaking ways. As her body balloons and her personal life crumbles, Abbie must face the pain and secret fears she’s held inside for far too long. I cheered for her the entire way.
--Beth Hoffman, bestselling author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

Satisfying as a Thanksgiving dinner at Mom's. ... Jenny Gardiner's heroine gives us a sarcastic but provocative look at our love-hate relationship with food. You'll eat this up in one sitting
--Ad Hudler, bestselling author of Househusband and Man of the House

"Jenny Gardiner has done it again - this fun, fast-paced book is a great summer read."
--Sarah Pekkanen, author of The Opposite of Me


Thanks so much for stopping by, Jenny! And for those of you who are interested in checking out SLIM TO NONE, click here to read the first chapter!