M.J. Pullen's Blog, page 21

Wardrobe! Cher, Cyndi and Workable Fashion

Much to the chagrin of my eldest child, Monday night I went with my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and another friend to see Cyndi Lauper and Cher at Phillips Arena. Amazing show.

In my most basic moments of vanity and self-aggrandizing, this may be my Number One reason for wanting to be a famous novelist.  Why? Because you know if they wanted to, Mary Kay Andrews or Emily Giffin could make a quick call and get backstage passes to hang out with these fabulous pop divas. Which I would loooooove to do.

Fashion Tip: Wear something so distinctive even the world’s blurriest picture can’t screw it up. And carry a disco ball, obviously.

I promise, I wouldn’t pester them with questions, or even try to get Cyndi to sign my original cassette of True Colors (the first tape I ever owned, back when there were tapes). Partly this is because I’d be dumbstruck: I never know what to say in moments of pressure. And because, to my immense sadness, that old cassette went the way of my virginity years ago. But mostly I think I’d just want to blend into the room — or whatever it is backstage at an arena — sipping on a drink, lusting after Cher’s backup dancers and soaking up the awesome.

At 60 and 68 respectively, Cyndi Lauper and Cher are cooler than I can even fathom being. With better bodies. And far, far better fashion taste. Cyndi’s adorable jacket, enormous red wig and glittery combat boots combination is totally the kind of thing I expect to wear in Heaven, if there is one. And anyone else who may have been at this particular show can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think I counted eleven costume changes for Cher in a two-hour period. Eleven.

The Goddess of Pop sips a Dr. Pepper Spritzer as Cleopatra

When I got home and shared this with Hubs, he wondered aloud what other job you could have — besides pop music icon — that would allow you to change clothes literally every ten minutes and wear whatever the hell you wanted every time. Oh, excuse me, the marketing meeting is coming up in ten minutes, I need to go find my shiny red go-go boots. Or, look kids, Mommy’s wearing her shimmery punk gypsy outfit – you know that means it’s time to go to the park! And what Monday morning staff meeting wouldn’t be spiced up if someone wore a glittery half-naked Cleopatra getup?

I guess that’s one of the many things that so appealing about celebrities — in their business, the more over-the-top they are, the better. “Professional dress” is a whole different ballgame when your profession involves singing to stadium-sized crowds. And while we sit at home in yoga pants, in the cubicle wearing a classic neutral suit, or maybe out shopping in something as daring as a bold floral skirt – it’s nice to fantasize for a minute that we could find an occasion to be truly glamorous, truly original.

The reality, of course, is that I couldn’t fit my left leg into Cher’s Turn Back Time outfit, much less find an appropriate occasion for it. Novelists aren’t exactly known for showing lots of skin; it’s a drawback of an occupation that requires spending countless hours on your ass in front of a computer screen.  If you see me sporting glittery combat boots at a book signing someday, however, you’ll know I’ve Lauperized myself just a bit. And that’s a good thing.

______________________________________________

I’m M.J. (Manda) Pullen, an author and mom in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I blog about writing, publishing, motherhood, health, psychology and whatever else strikes me in the moment. I may or may not be plotting to steal Cyndi Lauper’s awesome red wig.

If you enjoyed this entry, please follow along or join my Inner Circle monthly email list. At the end of each month I do random drawings with various prizes for list subscribers, the friends who refer them, and everyone who comments on the blogs. Good luck with that!

My current roster of books includes The Marriage Pact series, a trilogy of Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction novels. You can find them for all eBook formats and in paperback here.

 

The post Wardrobe! Cher, Cyndi and Workable Fashion appeared first on MJ Pullen.

Mommy, You’ve Been Gone Too Much

“Mommy, you’ve been gone too much. You’ve been gone Every. Single. Night.”

Ugh. Rip my heart out and stomp on it, why don’t you? Yes, those were the words over Cheerios this morning of my Pre-K Little Man, who wishes his name were Anakin even though he has never seen the Star Wars movies, and thinks I should NOT go to the Cher concert with my sister- and mother-in-law tonight.

“I know, buddy, I’ve been busy this past week and gone a lot. But we got to spend all day yesterday for Mother’s Day, remember?”

“I guess. But you’re never here.” [Insert the mechanical squishing sound of my heart trying to force itself through an industrial shredder]

“Well, sweetie, it’s just tonight, and I’ll see you again in the morning. And I have writing group tomorrow, but that will be at our house so you will see me then, too.”

He crosses his arms. “It’s not fair. I don’t think you should go.”

“I know, honey, but we already have the tickets.”

“You could just, like, throw the tickets away.”

“Well, the tickets were kind of expensive. Besides, that wouldn’t be nice to Grandma and Aunt Anna. I promised them I would go.” Plus, it’s Cher.

“It would be nice to me.”

Touché, Anakin. Touché.

__________________________________

Me (white pants) with the ladies of a Dunwoody book club. We’re working on a remake of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.

Aside from that healthy dose of motherly guilt that I plan to return in spades when he forgets to call home someday, it’s been a pretty great week for the writer me. Last week I got to hang out with a really fun book club in Dunwoody, Georgia; we had a lively discussion about The Marriage Pact and the characters in it.

I love all the differing opinions people have about Marci and Jake, and even about Doug. There’s something fun about a main character who is as flawed as Marci is at the opening of TMP. We know she’s immature, we know she’s headed the wrong direction, but will she get it figured out? And maybe it’s easy in a romance novel to look to our handsome hero Jake to rescue her (and Jake sure tries), but can any of us really be rescued from a mess of our own creation? I’m afraid it’s not that simple, lovies. But the struggle is worthwhile!

This weekend I also got to attend my first writing conference, The Atlanta Writers conference. I highly recommend it for my local writer friends who want to spend several hours hanging out with Our Kind. Writers are sort of a different breed, and it’s important to periodically be among those who speak our weird little language and can spend hours obsessing over the construction of a single sentence.

I had a great experience at the conference and was able to get some face time with wonderful industry professionals who’ve forgotten more about books than I will ever know. I also want to give a little shout out to the amazing George Weinstein, who spends months organizing the conference and then makes it all look smooth and easy. George’s books are beautiful and critically acclaimed – check them out! And Chris Negron, another fantastic author who does tons of work behind the scenes to make sure the conference schedules are well-oiled down to the minute. That sentence was a fragment. Writers are awesome.

Okay, enough gushing! I hope you all had wonderful Mother’s Day, or that you got a chance to do something that would make your mom proud, or embarrassed, or at least make her get that look on her face she gets when she doesn’t know what to say. My boys gave me princess stuff (which obviously I must love because I’m the only female in the house), puzzles, and took me out to a Braves game. There I indulged in a hot dog with a delicious glutenous bun, a beer that forced us to take out a second mortgage, and sunshine that turned only my knees pink. (I forgot to put sunscreen on my legs until too late). We swept the Cubs; Anakin got a ball from bullpen coach Eddie Perez; and I got a whole day with my guys without so much as touching my laptop. Heavenly.

And, by the way, if you would like me to come hang out with your book club sometime, you can find information on that here.

______________________________________________

I’m M.J. (Manda) Pullen, an author and mom in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I blog about writing, publishing, motherhood, health, psychology and whatever else strikes me in the moment. I absolutely promise that I will be at home for storytime on Wednesday night.

If you enjoyed this entry, please follow along or join my Inner Circle monthly email list. At the end of each month I do random drawings with various prizes for list subscribers, the friends who refer them, and everyone who comments on the blogs. Good luck with that!

My current roster of books includes The Marriage Pact series, a trilogy of Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction novels. You can find them for all eBook formats and in paperback here.

The post Mommy, You’ve Been Gone Too Much appeared first on MJ Pullen.

It’s Here – The Regrets Only Book Trailer!

After months of collaboration and edits, I am so pleased to present the Book Trailer for the romantic comedy Regrets Only! This was done by Brent Brooks of Blank Stage Productions and I just love it. Check it out, comment and share if you please!

The post It’s Here – The Regrets Only Book Trailer! appeared first on MJ Pullen.

You Gotta Know the Rules to Break the Rules

One of my favorite memories from teenager-hood was the night some friends and I sneaked out of our houses and met at the Waffle House at midnight. We were all sixteen, and driving was our newly granted privilege (or at least for most of us, I was the youngest and constantly hitching rides). We were all basically good kids, and a couple of us were spending the night with one of the best-behaved girls parents could hope for. I’m not sure her parents fully appreciated back then how good they had it with her. She was one of those teenage anomalies who followed the rules, not for fear of consequence, but because it was the right thing to do. It was very strange. If she hadn’t been so wonderfully goofy, I would’ve suspected her to be a narc.

It’s probably going to sound really boring, but we didn’t do anything dastardly or illegal that night. We sneaked out of her house (I can’t remember if we shimmied down from her second-story room or just went quietly out the door), pushed the car down the driveway in neutral, and started it once we got to the end of the street, hearts pounding with adrenalin. We met a guy friend of ours at the Waffle House, and… ate waffles. We played the jukebox and slow-danced to the amazement/irritation/non-surprise of the various other Waffle House patrons. And we went home. No drinking, no drugs, no sex, no breaking into stores for cigarettes or going to crazy parties. The simple thrill was breaking the rules for its own sake.

Full disclosure: Later that year, I did get caught after sneaking out to go to the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the sketchy Hilltop Family Cinemas in Mableton, Georgia and was grounded for six weeks. Over Christmas. And I had to ride the bus to school. Totally worth it. Oh, Rocky!

In adolescence, in writing, in cooking, and in life: If you’re going to break the rules, you have to accept the risks. And to do that, you have to understand the rules and why they’re there, and what the consequences could be for breaking them.

Yeah, these totally don’t exist. Except when they do.

There’s been a great conversation going on this week, on the blog of one of my favorite writer’s writers, Kristen Lamb. This week’s theme has been on the evil (Kristen’s power word for “ill-advisedness”) of flashbacks in fiction. *Cough – middle section of The Marriage Pact – cough, cough.*

The thing about flashbacks isn’t just Kristen’s personal axe to grind; it’s one of the “rules” of good fiction, as much as there are rules, which obviously there aren’t. But really, there are. See? Simple.

I’ve been around many newbie writers in my day, and I’ve been a newbie writer myself. (Astonishingly, I think I’ve managed to be a newbie writer during two distinct phases of my life. Pull that one off if you can.) Anyway, one of the problems that newbies have is that we are very rule-resistant. We’ve read Hunter S. Thompson and James Joyce and Virginia Woolf and Stephen King, and we know damn good and well that there are absolutely no rules for fiction, other than grammar, which many authors ignore anyway.

So we pull out our trusty laptop and hammer out that novel that everyone’s been telling us for years we really ought to write. And it’s great, and our Mom loves it, and we’re sure that the next stop is the bestseller list… Until we seek feedback from those more experienced, educated or immersed in the literary/publishing world. If we’re lucky, these people will teach us about some of the rules of good fiction by pointing out what we’ve done wrong. In my opinion, this is the best way to learn the rules because it’s so painful you really remember it. Like being grounded over Christmas break your junior year in high school. Painful.

This way of learning, however, also comes with an unfortunate downside. Many new writers – in particular those who have slaved to put 90,000 words into the same Word document – are not exactly in the mood to hear that we’ve broken the rules in a big way. For someone to tell us about story arc, three-part-structure, conflict, main characters, point of view, etc., AFTER we thought we were basically done with the biggest accomplishment of our lives…. well, it sucks.

So, the options are these: (1) rewrite the entire novel paying attention to The Rules, (2) build a time machine and go back to the point where we started the novel and tell ourselves the rules before we start writing, or (3) defend our novel blindly and vigorously, claiming that our story is high art rather than mainstream fiction, and citing every example of a famous writer who broke the rule in question. “But William Faulkner’s work doesn’t follow three-act structure!” (Often it does, but anyway). “George R. R. Martin doesn’t use a main character!” (Don’t even get me started on that one – it can be its own blog). The hard-to-face correct answer is #1, but the unfortunate, frequent and totally human response of many newbies is #3. Big, fat, resentful #3, which often pushes us away from help and growth, and eventually, discourages us from writing at all.

As first-time authors, we are not Faulkner or GRRM or James Joyce. And even those guys were not Those Guys when they started out. They practiced writing things in a traditional way before branching out and changing the face of literature. Pablo Picasso spent years learning to create accurate sketches of human faces before he did this. The Wunderkind who sits down at the computer for the first time and hammers out a Pulitzer-winning novel is the infinitesimal exception, not the rule. The other 999,999,653 of us? We have some work to do. We have to embrace The Rules so that we can learn to break them to good purpose.

When I put a ginormous flashback in the middle of The Marriage Pact (which is on sale until May 8 if you want to check it out for yourself), I didn’t know that “no flashbacks” was one of the rules. I thought people did it all the time. Fortunately for me, I had some mitigating factors on my side. The flashback came at a point in the story when there was a natural break in the action, so it didn’t totally stop the forward momentum of the book. The glimpse of Marci and Jake’s college days was important to the story – I mean, it’s called The Marriage Pact, for heaven’s sake – and it had to be worked in one way or another. So it wasn’t totally out of left field. The problem was that the flashback was four chapters long and included WAAAAAAAY more details about Jake and Marci’s past than anyone needed. Looking back, I wish I had found another way to work it in. That part of the book has been cut down a good bit in later revisions, but if you made it through the first edition without skipping whole chapters, you’re a reading rockstar.

Before I published the novel, a couple of my more literary beta readers pointed out the flashback problem, and I shared their sense that something was off about it. What I didn’t know then was exactly what was off and why, or how to go about training myself to understand and fix it. I was an English major, I made the Dean’s List, I took creative writing classes. I was already a writer, dammit — what could I possibly learn that I didn’t already know? Plus Jake and Marci’s history felt essential to me. Plus I liked it, so there.

A good summary of the state of things in spring of 2011 was when my friend and beta reader Ryan said over Korean chicken wings (mmmm….) “The flashback slows the book down a little bit, but I don’t see another way for you to tell this story.”

I didn’t see one, either. But if I’m being honest? I didn’t want to see one. It takes a tremendous amount of momentum to write a novel, especially your first. That momentum pulls you naturally toward the next step in the publication process, the way labor pains make you want to get that kid out at all costs. Telling a newbie author to re-think and maybe re-write their whole book is almost like telling an expectant mother that the pregnancy is actually going to last an extra two months. Oh. Hell. No. I’ll fix commas and dangling participles, sure. But no way am I deleting whole chapters and writing new ones. This baby is ready to be born.

So, I birthed it. And since I self-published, I had no agents or editors or publishers to force me to re-think the big ol’ flashback. Fortunately for me, the book had enough other stuff going for it that people generally liked it. It’s a fun story; with quirky, flawed characters and interesting subplots. But there were negative reviews, too. And guess what almost every single one mentioned? Yep. The giant flashback in the middle. It’s funny, isn’t it? I’ll bet not one of those readers knew The Rules of Writing Fiction. They probably never studied story structure or character development. But they knew when something got boring and slow and bogged them down. They knew what they liked and what… sucked.

Since then, I’ve fixed what I could with my first baby. I have also developed a new respect for the rules of fiction. I no longer see them as formulaic and tedious, but as guideposts for the reader’s experience. I’ve made it my mission to study, understand and even teach them when I can. That doesn’t mean I won’t still shimmy out a window occasionally, but I’ll know more about what I’m getting into when I do.

_______________________________________________

I’m M.J. (Manda) Pullen, an author and mom in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I blog with honesty and humor about writing, publishing, motherhood, psychology and whatever else strikes me in the moment. I make lots of mistakes so you don’t have to!

If you enjoyed this entry, please follow along with my blog or join my Writers and Authors Email List. At the end of each month I do random drawings with various prizes for list subscribers, the friends who refer them, and everyone who comments on the blogs. Good luck with that!

My current roster of books includes The Marriage Pact series, a trilogy of Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction novels. You can find them for all eBook formats and in paperback here.

 

The post You Gotta Know the Rules to Break the Rules appeared first on MJ Pullen.

The Marriage Pact eBook – 99 cents – One Week Only!

The Marriage Pact – just 99 cents for the first week of May, 2014

Just a quick announcement that for the first week of May, The Marriage Pact will be available in digital formats for just 99 cents. If you’ve been meaning to download the first book in the series, or are just looking for a fun read to kick off your summer, get The Marriage Pact for your Kindle, iPad, or nook today!  On Thursday, May 8, it will go back to its usual price of $2.99 so grab it quick!

The Marriage Pact is a complex romantic comedy about what happens when a college friendship “with potential” is suddenly put to the test. Ten years ago, Jake and Marci promised they’d marry one another at 30 if they weren’t otherwise entangled. Now that Marci has reached that milestone birthday, Jake doesn’t realize that she is agonizingly entangled with Doug, her married boss. When Jake calls in the bet on their college promise, Marci will be forced to face the reality of her situation and her old feelings for Jake. Can their friendship sustain Marci through the crisis, or will her forbidden passion for Doug win out?

Get The Marriage Pact for Kindle, nook, or Smashwords today!

The post The Marriage Pact eBook – 99 cents – One Week Only! appeared first on MJ Pullen.

Sugar Relapse and Getting Back on the Wagon

Jellybeans: They’re No Chocolate

Well, here we go: I promised you I’d update you about the sugar detox journey. To be honest, I’m sort of hoping that if I write things out and post them publicly, it will help me re-center myself as well. The osteopath is going to drag it all out of me tomorrow anyway. [If you didn't read the first few installments of the detox, you can find the first one here.]

I did really, really well with the detox and eating better, with only minor slips for the first three weeks. Then came the wedding weekend, which was  delightful and decadent. So much fun, and I actually controlled myself better than I thought I would. I made an agreement with myself and Hubs that we’d splurge on alcoholic drinks in moderation [since he and I ended up doing a karaoke version of "If I Had a Million Dollars" in front of a bar full of people the first night, however, I'm going to say we weren't all that moderate. It was awful and hilarious. But never mind.]

I decided to keep up with the no yeast, no wheat and no added sugar (except the alcohol) until after the wedding ceremony, then allow myself some cake and get back on the horse Sunday morning.

Well….

Okay, the good news is I was so busy dancing and socializing at the wedding that I only made time for a bite of cake and pretty much avoided the pie bar, the chocolate cookie shooters, and the other amazing desserts. (Did I mention this couple is really cool? They know how to throw a party. Check out their Wes Anderson-inspired wedding video. And, yes, that would be me holding back ridiculous, nervous and emotional sobs during the vows.)

So when I indulged in the yummy chocolate chip muffin at breakfast the next morning, well, that was only for balance. In my defense, people had been eating them all weekend and they looked amazing. If I missed out on wedding cake, I should get a muffin, right? Plus, it was Easter. I don’t want to get all theological, but you pretty much have to have chocolate on Easter. It’s like, a rule. That muffin was SO good.

And here’s where I run into trouble. I am really good at rationalizing; I’ve rationalized my way to 200+ pounds. The muffin was a gateway drug. Since the detox was for ten days and technically over, I could have a little sugar now and then, right?  Not going back to my old habits, obviously, and still avoiding wheat and yeast and a couple of other problem foods, but the occasional ice cream won’t kill me, right? And, hey, we have friends coming over for dinner Saturday so we clearly have to provide dessert. That’s just… polite. Did you know that Whole Foods makes an amazing flourless cake? I can eat that because it doesn’t have wheat and yeast in it. Never mind that it’s 13,000 calories…

Hubs told me a story not too long ago about a friend of his who went totally Vegan, and for the first few weeks she lived almost exclusively on Oreos. Why? Oreos are Vegan! So they’re healthy!! (Oreos are not healthy). It’s not enough to make rules, you have to create healthy habits and options within the rules. Almost any diet can be healthy, or not, depending on your habits and how you do it.

It’s so easy to trick ourselves into believing we are doing something healthy for ourselves when we’re not. We choose the “energy bar” from the vending machine and never notice that it has more calories and sugar than the candy bar we actually wanted in the first place. In that case, you should just eat the candy bar and satisfy the craving, right? Except that the candy bar makes you want more sugar. So does the energy bar. You’re better off with the cheese and beef jerky. Unless you’re lactose intolerant. Or have high blood pressure and can’t have the sodium. The crackers have gluten and yeast and sugar, too. Nuts? Yes, we are, thank you very much.

If you’re going to splurge on something sugary or otherwise unhealthy for you, you have to do so with intention to splurge, and intention to stop splurging. I’m realizing that I’m just not a stopper, I guess.

We’ve been out of our routine for the last few weeks, which makes it harder. I’ve found myself unprepared for snacks and meals, looking up when my stomach growls or the kids start complaining about being hungry to find the refrigerator empty and the pizza delivery number already up on my phone. Healthy eating takes planning. You have to eat the fresh stuff within a few days after you buy it, you have to thaw the chicken before you can cook it. The blender has to be clean to make smoothies (and if you leave a metal spoon in the Vitamix and turn it on, all bets are off). Healthy eating takes ingredients, and prep time, and washing dishes. Not to mention ignoring the call of the easy, tasty, available-in-the-drive-thru options. I have to admit, sometimes the call of easy options is more than I can resist. In eating, as in everything with life, the easy answers always come with a price.

So I’m trying to get back on the wagon. Well, I’m trying to remember where I parked the wagon so I can get back on it. And hopefully not take it through the drive-thru.

______________________________________________

I’m M.J. (Manda) Pullen, an author and mom in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I blog about writing, publishing, motherhood, health, psychology and whatever else strikes me in the moment. Those are not muffin crumbs on the keyboard, I swear.

If you enjoyed this entry, please follow along or join my Inner Circle monthly email list. At the end of each month I do random drawings with various prizes for list subscribers, the friends who refer them, and everyone who comments on the blogs. Good luck with that!

My current roster of books includes The Marriage Pact series, a trilogy of Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction novels. You can find them for all eBook formats and in paperback here.

The post Sugar Relapse and Getting Back on the Wagon appeared first on MJ Pullen.

Marrying My Friend & Peak Experiences

Look at my handsome Hubs – you’d almost think he was there voluntarily.

Last weekend, I got to add “marrying my best friend” to my life’s list of peak experiences. Okay, well, technically I married my best friend almost eight years ago. That was when I slipped something in Hubs’ drink and hauled him under the chuppah on a Labor Day weekend. (When he said “I do,” he thought the question was “Do you think the Braves have a shot at the World Series this year?” What a sucker. He should have known the Braves would choke in the first week of the post-season. It’s kind of their thing.) Fortunately for Hubs, I haven’t been the worst wife in the world and we are going strong. Our shared belief that the Braves will eventually pull out another World Series title keeps us together.

We were both honored to be part of the festivities last Saturday, as I got to marry another best friend to his beautiful bride. I’ve never officiated a wedding before, and I was pretty darn nervous. Fortunately, the groomsmen (Hubs included) had a little whiskey and some encouraging words, and I managed to join two people in Holy matrimony without falling on my face or getting a heeled shoe entirely stuck in the mud. [Note, if you're going to be in a wedding on a muddy Georgia farm in April, go for the flats]. The groom, who I’ve known for more than thirty years, and the bride, who is one of the coolest people I know, were super patient as we created the ceremony together and rolled their eyes at me when I said “You realize I’m Jewish, right?” about twelve times during the process. We laughed, we cried, and it came off beautifully.

Definitely a peak experience.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow coined the term “Peak Experiences,” with a little inspiration from my psychology hero Alfred Adler. Maslow described them as moments in our lives when we feel intense love, joy, or even rapture. I think of them as the moments that help define who we are – the things that stand out in memory, no matter how big or trivial they are. Peak experiences are the things we will think about on our death bed when we are running back over our lives.

Dublin 2008

Some of my peak experiences include (obviously) the birth of both my children, marriage to Hubs, the death of both my parents. There are more, though. There’s standing on the Angel’s Landing peak at Zion National Park, and visiting the death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Catching salamanders in the creek down the street from the house I grew up in. The crazy thing with that Welsh actor I’ll tell you about some other time (or not). Divorce from my first husband, which made me sadder than I can say. That time the nanny disappeared for 40 minutes with my youngest when he was a baby: longest 40 minutes of my life. First love. First heartbreak. Driving down a long Texas road with the windows down and the radio blaring. My conversion to Judaism in the mikvah. The first time I gave a talk to a room full of people. Sitting with an Irish band drinking Guinness and singing “American Pie” in Dublin… I’m sure there are many more, but these are what hit me right away.

What about you? What are some of your peak experiences? Share your favorites!\

_______________________________________________

I’m M.J. (Manda) Pullen, an author and mom in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I blog about writing, publishing, motherhood, psychology and whatever else strikes me in the moment. Today is a peak experience!

If you enjoyed this entry, please follow along or join my Inner Circle monthly email list. At the end of each month I do random drawings with various prizes for list subscribers, the friends who refer them, and everyone who comments on the blogs. Good luck with that!

My current roster of books includes The Marriage Pact series, a trilogy of Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction novels. You can find them for all eBook formats and in paperback here.

The post Marrying My Friend & Peak Experiences appeared first on MJ Pullen.

Conversations in the Minivan

A little conversation in the minivan (Vaneschwitz!) with my almost 5-year old on the drive to preschool this morning:

Him: I have this button that gives me happy thoughts and this button that makes me go all crazy, and then a safety button that is only for emergencies. Which one should I press?

Me: Umm… how about the happy button?

Him: Not the crazy one?

Me: Since we’re in the car, let’s stick to happy.

Him: Okay.

[Silence.]

Me: So are you having happy thoughts?

[Silence.]

Me: Buddy? You okay? [Glances in rearview mirror, where he is head down, facing away] Honey?

Him: Oh, sorry, Mommy. I hit the “tired” button by accident and it put me to sleep.

I think his comic timing is already better than mine!

_______________________________________________

I’m M.J. (Manda) Pullen, an author and mom in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I just hit the “blog” button and this is what happened.

If you enjoyed this entry, please follow along or join my Inner Circle monthly email list. At the end of each month I do random drawings with various prizes for list subscribers, the friends who refer them, and everyone who comments on the blogs. Good luck with that!

My current roster of books includes The Marriage Pact series, a trilogy of Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction novels. You can find them for all eBook formats and in paperback here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post Conversations in the Minivan appeared first on MJ Pullen.

Heavenly Day

I wrote this blog on a notepad at lunchtime, sitting outside a cafe in downtown Roswell, Georgia, and enjoying one of the many perks of my career as a high-priced prostitute fiction writer.

Today is a day like Heaven, at least in metro Atlanta. It’s a sunny mid-70′s, and the greenish-yellow pollen that has coated everything for weeks is slowly beginning to wash away. My kids are back in school after more than a week off for Passover break. The hustle and bustle of Passover, preparing to officiate a friend’s wedding, and keeping two preschool boys from killing one another is waning as life gets back to semi-normal.

Meanwhile, a doctor’s appointment this morning leaves me both hopeful and a little wary. It’s possible, doc thinks, that my chronic chest pains may not be the world’s longest heart attack, but rather an “atypical presentation of silent gastrointestinal reflux.” I know what you’re thinking.  That is. So hot. Not exactly the conclusive diagnosis I was hoping for, but it’s encouraging to hear it could be something so simple, and I always enjoy being atypical.

All that said, worrying about your health will usually make you painfully aware of your mortality. And some recent events in our life and community — one exceedingly happy marriage and one horribly sad death — have put me in mind of sunshine and lunchtime cocktails and taking deep breaths. Maybe if I work hard enough, I can channel a bit of Austin, Texas 2004 into Roswell, Georgia, 2014. There was drama and loss in my life then, too, but somehow back then it came with far less responsibility and far more daydreaming in the sunshine.

I’m making notes at the lunch table, enjoying an amazing quinoa salad and some kind of freakishly good drink called a Ginger Sidecar. As the waitress comes to check on me and glances at my notebook, I wonder if she thinks I’m a food critic. This naturally gets me thinking: could I ever be a food critic? My goodness, I do love food. But maybe critiquing food would rob the joy from it.

Remember that scene in Mystic Pizza where the guy takes one bite of the heavenly pizza and walks out? Yeah, I could not do that. I’m not sure I’ve ever taken one bite of anything. You could give me a brownie laced with arsenic, tell me it was poisoned after the first bite, and I’d probably shrug and keep eating… figuring at least it was death by chocolate. Plus I don’t eat seafood, and I’m sure that would be a major handicap to that particular career.

We were ‘Dragon Ass’ on the first day back to preschool. Also, that will absolutely be the name if I ever open that Game of Thrones coffee shop…

So, okay, I’m not cut out to be a food critic. But it’s nice to be sitting here with my pen and fork, the way I used to do in my pre-kid, pre-insanely-busy lunch hours. I can’t remember the last time I had a drink at lunch, or a drink alone, or lunch alone… You know, this could go on for a while, so I’ll stop there.

This past week was crazy hectic, sad, and joyous by turns; and it took me away from all forms of writing (including the blog – sorry, gang). I have to say, however, that the many changes of scenery and the emotional ups and downs forced me to step back and allow time for laughing and crying. I got some extra time with my kiddos, holiday celebrations with our immediate and extended family, plus the wedding festivities with old friends and new. By the end of it all, my sides ached from laughing, my feet were sore from dancing, and my heart swelled with appreciation for the life I have, however limited my time on earth may be. While I am working hard to better myself every day — diet, exercise, writing skills — I am also trying to build in a little self-forgiveness and mandatory relaxation.

With life pressing in at all sides, it’s hard to maintain an attitude like that – almost as hard as holding on to a perfect day. Still, I enjoyed my time in the sun today and hope you did, too, wherever you are and whatever the weather.

_______________________________________________

I’m M.J. (Manda) Pullen, an author and mom in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I write fiction at the lunch table, and blog about publishing, parenthood, life and the many lessons I’ve learned the hard way.

If you enjoyed this blog, please follow along or join my Inner Circle monthly email list. At the end of each month I do random drawings with various prizes for list subscribers, the friends who refer them, and everyone who comments on the blogs. Good luck with that!

My current roster of books includes The Marriage Pact series, a trilogy of Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction novels. You can find them for all eBook formats and in paperback here.

The post Heavenly Day appeared first on MJ Pullen.

A Fan Letter to Kristen Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez

Dear Kris and Bobby – [Can I call you that? Too familiar? Mr. and Mrs. Lopez? Kristen and Bob?].

How about…

Dear friends -

Disney’s Frozen Soundtrack (2013), Photo from Wikimedia Commons

See, I feel like we’re friends. You, me, my two little boys, Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad… we hang out every single day on the way to preschool, on the way home, on the way to the grocery store, pretty much anywhere else we might go, and sitting in the driveway because if I turn the car off before the second rendition of “Let it Go,” there will be tantrums. I know every word of the soundtrack and some alternate versions my kids make up when they don’t quite understand the words.

I’ll be honest, even though we saw the movie Frozen back in December and all loved it, I didn’t know much about either of you until we bought the deluxe version of the album, and got to listen to the demo versions of the songs that didn’t make it into the movie. That’s when I learned that you wrote the songs together, with your very own children, and managed to stay married like, the whole time.  Hubs and I met while we worked together, but we were in different departments so our egos rarely had occasion to clash. I can’t imagine us collaborating on such a huge project using the same set of skills and talents. Impressive, Lopezes (Lopezi?). Impressive.

As a parent, I’m writing to thank you for writing songs that my kids want to hear 24/7 that are still completely tolerable after the 4,089th listen in a week. In fact, we all sing along together on many days, which is pretty astonishing when you consider that most kids’ music makes me want to pull out a vein with a rusty paper clip. I’ll admit, though, I don’t get tired of the Frozen soundtrack easily. My husband loves it. My mother-in-law loves it. The cat — well, the cat doesn’t like anything, but if we had a dog the dog would love it. Also, getting to listen to your songs on the way to school works well as an incentive for my 2- and 4-year old boys to get ready in the morning. So, yeah. That’s worth every penny.

As a creative-type person, I wanted to thank you for releasing the demo versions of your songs, including the ones that didn’t make it into the movie, and talking about your process. Thank you for showing us your cutting room floor, and reminding us that just because something is discarded from the finished product doesn’t mean it was a waste of time. (I especially love the “girl who’s bad a metaphors” line in “More than Just The Spare,” maybe because I’ve been known to torture a metaphor beyond recognition. Thank goodness for editing.)

I love your funny, nuanced portrayal of both princesses as flawed but strong heroines, and the tongue-in-cheek odes to true love and fictional romance. I also love that you had an Oscar speech that rhymed. If Jared Leto’s speech was missing anything, it was totally that. ["AIDS has left millions of people in pain; and let's not forget what's happening in the Ukraine..."] If I ever win an Oscar — stop laughing, it could happen — I want you to write my speech.

I’m sure you get tons of fan mail, and you’ve had accolades far more glorious than a small-time novelist and blog mom in Atlanta. The thousands of parodies of your songs alone must be so incredibly flattering and would eat your whole life if you watched them all. I’ve posted a few on Facebook in the last couple of weeks, but with Passover coming up in a few days this one is our family favorite:

I don’t know if there really will be a Frozen 2 or a Broadway musical version, but if there are, sign us up. We’ll even come to New York to see it. (Lunch is on you, though, right?)

Really, if you happen to read this, I hope you are enjoying the success of this movie and your music and basking in the glow of your many shiny awards. It was so fun watching Robert clinch the EGOT Hat Trick on Oscar Night. I hope, too, I that you’ll take a moment to breathe and take it all in before you get busy writing something new for us. Okay, done breathing? Great. Go get busy on Frozen 2: Antarctica or Desert Rose or The Littlest Alien or whatever’s next on tap. Mama needs some variety in the minivan.

Your new BFF, biggest fan, mommy stalker friend,

Manda

_______________________________________________

I’m M.J. (Manda) Pullen, an author and mom in the Atlanta, Georgia area. In addition to going all fangirl for certain songwriters, I blog about writing, publishing, parenthood, life and the many lessons I’ve learned the hard way. And I do want to build a snowman.

If you enjoyed this blog, please follow along or join my Inner Circle monthly email list. At the end of each month I do random drawings with various prizes for list subscribers, the friends who refer them, and everyone who comments on the blogs. Good luck with that!

My current roster of books includes The Marriage Pact series, a trilogy of Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction novels. You can find them for all eBook formats and in paperback here.

 

The post A Fan Letter to Kristen Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez appeared first on MJ Pullen.