Writer friend Holly Cupala's book trailer (and contest!)

A dear friend of mine just launched her first novel, Tell Me A Secret. I just finished reading it and what I loved about it most was that she really nailed the emotional climax of the book. That's not easy to do. As a writer, this is the one thing that I strive for most, and the one thing I struggle with the most.

I know as a reader when an author hits it. It means I'm no longer aware that I'm reading. Instead I'm in the story, rooting for the main character with banners and pom poms...and at some point I'm bawling my eyes out. A story doesn't have to be sad for me to tear up, it has to be honest. It has to connect to that emotional well that resides inside of us.

Holly reaches deep in that well in Tell Me A Secret, a story about a teenage girl dealing with a pregnancy, her family secrets about her sister's death, and finding her way and place in the labyrinth of it all.

For all the other great things about this book, you'll just have to read it yourself. And to help you get this hot little book in your hands, Holly is running a fabulous contest where you could win your very own copy. Or a cool necklace like the one in the picture. Or a Tell Me a Secret tee like the one modeled by miss Holly herself, plus tons of other cool swag.

All you have to do is watch this very cool book trailer and then share the love. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or some other place out there in web land. You get 5 points for each share. Tell Holly where you posted it to get entered.

Miz Cupala (rhymes with Impala) will be featured at readergirlz for the entire month of August, with a live Twitter chat coming mid month.

Later this week I'll post a recipe for the chocolate-peanut butter-bacon cupcakes I baked for Holly's book launch party. For now, go out there and enter. But first, watch this....

A Guest Recipe on Holly Cupala's Blog

My writer friend, Holly Cupala, is posting a new series on her blog, Brimestone Soup, called "Book Cooks". She asked writers to send in their favorite recipes for the fall. This week she posted mine, Chicken Soup with Rice (is nice). I was inspired by a leftover smoked chicken, and Maurice Sendak's book, Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months.

Holly's debut YA novel, Tell Me A Secret will be released in 2010, followed by her second book, already in the editing phase. "Tell Me A Secret chronicles seventeen-year-old Miranda’s unexpected pregnancy and her gripping journey to navigate the labyrinth of her bad-girl sister Xanda’s life, unravel the mystery of her death, and free herself in the process." I can't wait to read it! Not only have I read early bits and pieces, which I loved, it's always exciting when a friend gets published.

What favorite soups are you making this fall?

A Wordle of an Upcoming Guest Blog

My writing friend, Holly Cupala asked her writing friends for recipes to post this fall. I sent her a recipe and here is its wordle. Wordle? you ask. It's a fun program that makes a visual display of your words. They call it a "word cloud". Try it on a story and see what words stand out. Those that you use most frequently are larger than others. You may keep changing the design until you have a world cloud you like, but the same premise applies - the more you use a word, the larger it appears. Here is a screen shot of my wordle:

Can you guess what recipe I sent her?

The Man Behind The Woman: A She-Cake from my He-Cake

This really should be my father's day post to my husband, but I couldn't wait. My friend Holly sent me this photo of Eric, holding up the cake he made me for the She-Smoke book launch. A picture says a thousand words, but there is so much you may not know about my shy and often silent man (unless it's about politics or religion). This picture is so him. Big on flavor, light on words. And layers. He knows I love chocolate, and sour cream frosting, and sprinkles, and not too much frosting, but a nice even layer all over and in the middle. He put all of that into the cake.

The night before the event, in my half-crazed, list-holding-it'll-never-work state that I get into, I hollered "And CAKE. We need CAKE!" The next day he just came in and started making cake. Instead of THANK YOU, I said, "Oh good. But will there be writing on it? Who will do that? No one can read your handwriting," and then ran off to finish some other project. You get that way, unfortunately, after almost 15 years. Sometimes you forget to say the nice things and give each other a pat on the back. But he just made me the cake. And because he knows that if he tried to put the whole book title on it, that it would have been crooked, or scrunched, or misspelled, he just went with "She".

I loved my She-Cake. And I love my husband who yes has been supportive and my go-to-guy for this whole book process, but also much more. He has been silent. He, who worked his tail off for 20 some years on the line, churning out 300 covers without a break, working for many, (though not all), assholes along the way. He, who just wasn't self-serving enough or self-advocating enough to be a celebrity chef. He, who has got to be bugged by my interviews and cooking demos and book talks, yet has not made hardly a peep about it. He, who manages to calmly smoke up and slice the godly stuff each day and night for the faithful, sometimes as if from thin air, even when the line goes out the door and we're running out of everything. He needs a He-Cake. German Chocolate, his, from scratch, with not too many pecans in the frosting, but plenty of the gooey stuff oozing out of the layers of cake.

She-Smoke Contest Round Up -Week One

What a week! I just got off the phone with Rebekah Denn with Eat All About It. Many of you know her from her food writing days with the Seattle PI. She is a household name in foodieville. Now that the PI has closed it's doors (sigh), Rebekah is continuing to write about food around town and beyond at her blog as well as freelancing at a bazillion publications. Look for her interview with me this weekend!

Launching the She-Smoke contest brought a flood of interest and cool contest supporters. In case you missed it, click here to read all about it or go to my website.

A shout out to these bloggers who posted the contest:

The Diva, Ms. Dimovsky, on her Diva Q blog:
The lovely Holly Cupala on her blog Brimestone Soup
Heifer International, Portland
Grill Gal, Cyndi Allison on her Barbecue Master blog. Cyndi also has a great website - http://www.yesyoucangrill.com/

We've also lined up some exciting interviews and events for the book. These are also on the website:

-June 1st: Launch event at Smokin’ Pete’s, 6:30pm, co-sponsored by Secret Garden Bookshop. RSVP to julierbq@q.com.

-June 6th: Radio interview on Cooking Outdoors with Mr. Barbecue, Time TBD, Bruce Bjorkman, KXL radio

-June 8th: Radio interview on Martha Stewart Living Radio, Morning Living Show, 6am

-June 9th: Cooking demonstration/author event at Third Place Books, 7pm

-June 16th: radio interview on The BBQ Central Show, Time 6pm

And finally...big news....that I will post about tomorrow!

It's All In The Hair (and the chair)

Tomorrow (weather permitting) we are re-shooting some video for a book trailer contest we'll launch in a few weeks. I'm really excited about the contest, but don't want to say anything until it's ready. Jaime Temarik made an amazing trailer with footage we shot last week, but I felt I was a little soft in some of the bits. I'm a writer, not a movie star, but I think I can step up my game.

To help boost my confidence in front of the lens, I'm headed to the salon to put back the pink, purple, and red in my locks. I had to let the hair go for a long spell because of babyland, but mama's gotta get her girl on.

It's not just for the sake of vanity, however. Two writer friends of mine and I have a theory - writing success is all in the hair. We jest of course, because we know success in writing is really about sitting in the chair each day and getting to work. But all three of us have experienced a peculiar parallel with hairdos and writing sales.

It all started when Holly Cupala went from natural blond-brown to a cutting edge pinky-red. She landed the agent of her dreams, and has recently blogged about "How to Hook A Hotty" agent. Next, in light of my impending 40th birthday, I washed away the mommy-tail with a new doo of purple, pink and fiery red. The call from Seal Press asking me to write She-Smoke came soon after. Annie Gage said, "I want some of that hairdo mojo!" She rinsed henna o'er her head and almost immediately received a letter in the mail from Highlights magazine with news of her "Talent Night" story's publication.

If it it just stopped there, I might not be a believer. But about six month's after landing her agent, Holly chopped ten inches off her lengthy locks and donated them to Locks of Love. Three weeks later she landed a two-book deal with Harper Collins. Her first novel, currently named, A Light That Never Goes Out will be published in 2010.

Just a coincidence? Perhaps. But why not head to the salon anyway. Even if you don't land a book contract, you will have fabulous hair.

I'm back now, and I love what stylist Jessie did at Derby Salon. Here it is:

Do any of you have a hair success tale to tell? We might be on to something.