Keris Stainton's Blog, page 83

Sit, Ubu, Sit (Good dog)

I've been wanting to read this book for ages, so I was delighted when my lovely friend Diane Shipley loaned it to me.

It's a memoir by Gary David Goldberg, creator of Family Ties (which I loved) and Spin City (which I've never seen). You may know the title of the book (and this blog post) from the production company ident at the end of those shows. Just the thought of it takes me right back to the eighties.

The book is just lovely, as much about Goldberg's relationship with his wife Diana as it is about TV, though it also made me want to read lots more books about TV production (particularly in the 80s – any of the writers/producers of Dallas written a book? No?) and it really made me want to watch Family Ties again.

Oh and he also writes about a series he wrote called Brooklyn Bridge, which sounds wonderful, but isn't available. There's nothing even on YouTube (well, a 20 second trailer). I hate it when that happens.

Harry-pecked

Harry wanted me to get him some new apps for the iPod Touch.

Harry: "Middy?"

Me [typing 'Garfield' into the iTunes search box]: "What?"

Harry: "Middy?"

Me: "What?"

Harry: "Middy?"

Me [typing 'Jelly Cars' into the iTunes search box]: "What?"

Harry: "Middy?"

Me: "What?"

Harry: [to the tune of the Angry Birds theme] "Middy, Middy, Middy. Middy Middy Middy Middy Middy Mid-dy."

Me: "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"

Harry falls on the floor, screeching with laughter.

I type 'Looney Tunes' into the iTunes search box.

Harry stands up.

Harry: "Middy?"

Me: "What?!"

Repeat for the rest of the week. Sigh. (Again, it's a good job he's so cute.)

I ♥ this New York print

It's by albie design and would look very cute on my office wall.

And I know this is I ♥ New York day, but I also love the Seattle and Eugene prints (even though we had a miserable time when we stayed in Eugene).

In New York related book news, I'm patiently (not that patiently) awaiting the arrival of the proofs of Jessie ♥ NYC. Squee!

Toddlers: so easygoing…

Joe: "Juice. Juice. Juice! JUICE! JUICE! JUICE!"

I pass him the juice.

He throws it on the floor.

Joe: "JUICE! JUICE! JUICE!"

I pass him the juice.

He throws it on the floor.

I pick it up and put it on the coffee table.

Joe: "Nooooooooo! JUICE!"

Me: "Not if you're just going to throw it on the floor."

Joe: "Cheeeeeeeese?"

Me: "No, you're not having any more cheese, you–"

Joe: "CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!"

Me: "No! You can have a banana."

Joe: "No!"

I go in the kitchen.

Joe: "Nana! Naaaaaanaaaaaa!"

I bring him a banana.

Joe: "Nooooooooooooo!"

I sit down and put the banana on the table in front of me.

Joe: "Nana! Nana! NAAAAAAAAANAAAAAAA!"

I give him the banana.

He eats half of it and throws the other half on the floor.

Joe: "Mama?"

Me: "Yes?"

Joe: "Nana?"

He looks sweet though, doesn't he. Has we probably telling the teddy to go and make him some toast…

What would you ask an author?

I'm going to start doing author interviews on this here blog, so I wondered if you had any burning questions you'd like me to ask writer-types.

I'm looking for something a bit different to the "Where do you get your ideas from?" kind, but not quite as random as Smash Hits-style "What colour is Tuesday?" (It's yellow.)

Tell me in the comments please. I'll send a booky prize to the suggester of my favourite question.

"The coolest thing ever!"

I've had this saved in my Twitter favourites since the middle of last year (thank you, @JillMansell!). I just watched it and it blew me away. Apart from the fact that it made me sob, as flashmobs always do, it just looks completely gorgeous and I can't imagine how much time it took to organise.

Also? I didn't know this song was by the Black Eyed Peas. My publishers are right about me: I really do have my finger on the pulse. Ahem.

I would love to be part of a flashmob, but I don't know what I'd like to do. Any ideas? If you were going to join a flashmob, what would you want to do?

Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth…

Currently Snoopy-obsessed

Walking along the canal this morning, Harry had his arms out in front of him (bent at the elbows, like a forklift) and when I asked why he said it was because he was "downloading". For the next few minutes he kept up his usual running commentary on the activities of his imaginary computer.

I started thinking about my YA book. I wondered if I could get rid of one character but then thought I'd need another character that I didn't really want to write. I wondered about the love interest: whether one ending would be too obvious, but the alternative too far-fetched. After a few minutes, I tuned back into Harry:

"Oh. Angry Birds is downloaded. Huh. It's a different picture on the front. It says £100 on this side and just £1 on my side. Oh, that's okay. It's transferring from the MacBook Air to the MacBook Pro…"

I smiled to myself. The boy's in a world of his own. And then I realised I'd just spent the last five minutes in a world of my own too. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?

Writing Wednesday: Flail

I know I still have a question to answer (your question, Rebecca!), but I'm having a bit of a flail so I thought I'd write about that instead.

I've been rewriting an adult book I wrote while I was pregnant with Joe. It was actually the first adult book I managed to finish and I was pleased with it… sort of. I was pleased that I'd finally managed to finish an adult book and I like the characters and the story, but somehow it didn't feel quite like me.

So I started rewriting it and trying to make it more me and instead I feel rather… meh. I know this could well be a stage – I'm at 20,000 words, which is where a lot of writers apparently decide that the book is crapulous – but I worry about pushing on to 80,000+ and then finding I just don't like it. It seems like a lot of time to waste.

Plus since I've tried and failed to write adult fiction quite a few times, I wonder if I should just give up and stick to YA. I love writing teen fiction and I definitely find it easier and more fun, so why persevere with the adult stuff? Part of me just doesn't want to give up on it. Between the four or five books I've written or half-written, I've probably got around a quarter of a million words. Surely some of them are worth salvaging?! (There are definitely quite a few characters I love and would like to meet again.)

I think what I might do is read through all my adult stuff and see what I should keep and what can be scrapped. Maybe I'll find something that didn't work in one book works well in another. Maybe I can pick my favourite characters from each half-arsed book and stick them all in a book together… But in the meantime, I'm going back to the YA I wrote for NaNo last year.

What do you do when you're not "feeling" a book? How do you know when to give up?

A Girl Like You by Gemma Burgess

Gemma's debut novel was one of the best books I read last year and so I could hardly wait to get stuck into A Girl Like You. It didn't disappoint – I liked it even more than The Dating Detox.

After breaking up with her boyfriend of, well, forever, Abigail Wood must learn how to be single from scratch. Her dating skills are abysmal, and she ricochets from disaster to disaster – until Robert, one of London's most notorious lotharios, agrees to coach her.

With his advice, she learns to navigate the bastard-infested waters of the bar scene and practices the art of being bulletproof. The new Abigail is cocky, calm, composed…but what happens when she meets her match?

Like The Dating Detox, it's absolutely hilarious and, like Sarra Manning's You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, I didn't want it to end (having such a good book run at the moment).

I loved Abigail, and the supporting characters were so rounded and convincing that at one point I actually found myself thinking, "Gemma's so lucky she can just transcribe what her friends get up to…" before remembering I was reading a novel. It genuinely made me pause to remember that the characters weren't actually real.

So, so good. I can't wait to read Gemma's next book.

How Borders changed my life

Okay, this post should actually be called 'How I decided to change my life in Borders' but that's not quite as catchy, is it?

In November, 2007 I went to New York with my lovely friend Lisa Clark who, while we were there, had a meeting to go to (with her publishers – how cool?). I waited for her in the Borders on Park Avenue. The photo above was taken out of the cafe window. I had a hot chocolate and wrote in the Sesame Street notebook I'd bought the previous day in the Times Square branch of Virgin.

I wrote I'm sitting in a Borders off Park Avenue, New York, NEW YORK!

I wrote Q. What do I want?

A. To enjoy everything I do.

I wrote Q. What do I enjoy?

A. Reading, writing fiction, blogs

I wrote Plans: To enjoy every day. To feel inspired and excited and energised and that I'm making progress. Every day.

The following April, I got my book deal and now? Three years later? I do enjoy every day. I'm not sure I'm actually making progress every day, but I'm working on it.

But the last three years haven't been quite so positive for Borders and the company is apparently in the final stages of a bankruptcy application. They're hoping to be able to keep a good number of stores open and I really hope that's possible. It was bad enough when they closed here, if they close everywhere it will be terrible… For readers, for writers and for readers dreaming about becoming writers.