From Cliques to Clubs.

Jul 17, 2015

Hello my friends,

I can NOT stop listening to the Glee Cast version of Teenage Dream. I literally drove three blocks past my office so I could let the song play through for the third time in a row. Feel free to judge.

And now for the headline news… Most of you know I have been working my knockers off writing The Dirty Book Club. Is it done? Nope. But I’m powering through and I’m falling more in love with the story and characters every day. So much so that I’ve started giving life to the novel living before it’s born.

Go to http://www.cafepress.com/thedirtybookclub and check out the products I designed. I am getting the pillow cases for everyone in my own personal DBC because they are ah-dorable and we’re worth it.

In the coming months I will roll out tips for starting your own clubs. I’ll introduce you to the DBC’s reading list and the girls in my own personal club.

But for now, get yourselves some gear so everyone knows you’re a member. Yes, Massie, there’s a new Clique in town.

 

Life is messy, survival is dirty.

Lisi

 

 

Good Cliques Never Die!

Jul 8, 2015

I’ve always heard authors say it took years to complete a novel and assumed they were lazy. I mean, I wrote 31 books in ten years and I wrote them quickly!

Well, call me Judy because I was super judgy.

I have written half of The Dirty Book Club about nine times in the past four years. It’s an ambitious project that spans generations, includes secret rituals, funny conversations about dirty books, and great characters in their early 30s with lives that need some serious fixing. And it’s HARD!

My latest start-over was this January. Among other things I changed it from a novel with multiple points of view to a novel with one main voice. Now, seven months later I am on page 175 of a very crappy first draft. Some days are fun. Most suck. But I truly believe in this more than anything I’ve ever done. But those damn voices in my head!! They won’t stop yammering.

Lisi, you’re writing for grown-ups now. Lisi, your friends are going to read this. Lisi, your kids’ teachers are going to read it.

Oprah might. Your parents will for sure. So will the neighbors. And what about those opinionated book club members? You better not mess this up!!

This morning I wondered why I never went through this anxiety with the Clique. Sure, there were uninspired days and major burnout, but for the most part writing that series was pure joy. It’s not that I didn’t care about what you thought. It’s just that, well, I didn’t let myself care. I wrote what I wanted to write. Critics be damned! I let myself show up on those pages like some freak at a cheerleader’s party intent on dominating the dance floor.

It’s been twelve years since the first Clique came out. You’re older now. Old enough to read The Dirty Book Club, that’s for sure. So I have named you my muses. The girls I’ve felt safe with since 2003. The ones who accepted me for the flawed and fabulous person that I am. I will think of you as I struggle to complete this first draft. Because you always understood me and you always supported me–way more than Oprah!

Long live My Clique!!!

TTYW,

Lisi

A BLAH-G IS BORN!

Jun 17, 2015

You know when you hit the fridge over an over again hoping something new will magically appear, and it doesn’t? Those wilted spinach leaves and that hairy-lipped carton of orange juice are still the only things in there! Well, that’s what trying to find words feels like today: a maddening cycle of hope and futility.

My brainwaves have short-circuited. Reduced to a blinking cursor; an anxious heartbeat flipping the bird at my lack of creativity.

Flip… flip… flip… 

As a professional writer it’s a terrifying place to be. All I’m good for are words and ideas. What am I supposed to do when I run out??

And yet, I am at my favorite sushi restaurant typing away. When I sat down I had NOTHING to write. Still, I forced myself to do it. And behold–A blah-g is born!

Okay, so technically, this is not about anything. But it’s also about everything–everything that being a writer is. Which is showing up and writing anyway, especially when the fridge is empty.

When you do, something filling always appears.

TTYW,

Lisi

Intention Deficit Disorder

Jun 10, 2015

A few years ago, I was having one of my many panic attacks while trying to finish one of my many books before one of my many deadlines. Not one to wallow in my own suffering, I looked for help and found Candice. I’m sure I’ve written about her before. She is a life coach and really helped me look at my stresses in a new way so I could manage them. One of my biggest issues was Life vs. Work. As a writer, you really need to enter what I call The Cone Of Silence and stay there for many straight hours.

There are no texts inside the cone. No phone calls. No e-mails. No paying bills. No online shopping. No visits from friends. No doing dishes. No haircuts. No waxes. No mani’s or pedi’s. No reading. No listening to music with lyrics. No helping old people or ducklings cross the road.

It’s a cone.

A silent one.

And there’s only room for me.

So when do all those other things get done? Not on the weekends. The weekends are for my kids. Not at night. That’s when I decompress. Candace’s suggestion? Create one non-writing day every week–preferably the same day–and make it about your to-do list.

I made mine Wednesdays. And I’m so in love with it I want to marry it. This is the day I do all the other stuff that life’s vomiting in my face, and it’s worked incredibly well.

Another thing I recently discovered is Intent.com

The website was created by Mallika Chopra (yes, daughter of Deepak, but she is so much more). She wrote a book called Living With Intent that has brought so much meaning to my life. For those of you who are inundated with exams and not quite ready for a summer reading list, I suggest you join the website and get the app. It’s a game-changer.

Taking a moment to think about what you want each day really helps you get it. It’s so simple and so effective. And it doesn’t have to be spiritual or deep in any way. Look for mine, you’ll see. It can be about anything–no one judges. In fact, everyone supports.

You can also:

* Share your intents with other community members.
* Receive encouraging comments on your intents.
* Show your support for other people’s intents.
* Adopt other people’s intents that you can relate to.
* Sync your account with Twitter and Facebook so that your intents are automatically shared with your Twitter and Facebook friends.
* Reaffirm you intents every day so you stay on top of your goals.
* Track the intents that you completed or accomplished.
* Add inspirational or informational photos and videos to your intent.

Let me know when you’re on so I can follow you.

I intend to TTYW,

Lisi

The Teat of Technology Part 2

May 28, 2015

Hey Good Looking,

(Yeah, I’m talking to you.)

Last week I gave you a list of ten reasons why those of you born in 2000 and beyond have it easier than those of us who are, as old people like to say, wiser. Well, now it’s my turn to gloat.

The following are ten ways that pre-millennials had it better.

1) Prank Calls. We got to make ’em, got to answer ’em, and we laughed our abs into six-packs because of ’em. Nothing brought more hilarity to a sleepover than dialing up random people or our crushes and messing with them over the phone. Unless the victim recognized our voices (most of us mastered the art of disguise), we got away with it because there was no caller ID. It was total anonymity and a total blast.

2) We embraced our awkward stages. Yep, I had braces, a layered perm that made me look like a pineapple, and forehead zits. It was hideous. But we didn’t feel the need to document every second of our lives and post about them. The only people who knew we were scary and pubescent were our family members and classmates. And guess what–they were busted too. We got to surf our hormonal waves, experiment with ill-fitted clothes, and rock unflattering hairstyles without some future boss or lover finding the evidince online. All experimenting was done off the record. You’re seeing this high school picture of me because I’m CHOOSING to share it with you.

3) For the record I am a huge environmentalist. But in 1970s, not so much. We used to eat McDonalds in the car and then throw our wrappers out the window when we were done. It was insane. Awful on every possible level. But when you’re a kid, and no one tells you that littering is bad, and when even grown ups are doing it, you don’t realize it’s wrong. Let me just say if I ever saw anyone do anything like that now I would hunt them down and force feed them public bathroom trash. But back then it was considered normal. And let me just say that tossing a Big Mac container (Styrofoam, no less) out of a speeding station wagon felt like total freedom.

4) On that note, we ate fast food without shame.

5) We suntanned without shame.

6) We didn’t have devices so playing with friends was way more creative and, dare I say, FUN! We made up games. We got messy. We laughed and ran and got yelled at by uptight neighbors. We were living in all three dimensions and because of it our social skills can beat up your social skills. (If you don’t know what social skills are, Google it.)

7) Sadly, bullying existed back then. But it was limited to the bus, the playground, the neighborhood. It didn’t reach global proportions. No one was publicly shamed. Bully’s couldn’t hide behind screens. They had to face their targets. And many times that meant facing consequences, too.

8) Electricity blackouts were exciting. They in no way made us feel like the end was near. Why? Because we weren’t completely dependent on electricity for every single thing we do.

9) We didn’t have to take our shoes off when going through airport security.

10) We were alive! (no offense.)

Now I want to hear what you think the ups and downs are of your generation.

 

TTYW,

LIsi