HelenKay Dimon

It is a rare thing to be able to reference American Idol and ghostwriting in the same sentence, but here goes…

Seems the ghostwriter of American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino’s autobiography Fantasia: Life is Not a Fairy Tale is upset. Her name isn’t on the book. No one called her for input into that Lifetime Network show based on the book. You know the one – it’s the one no one saw. Karen Green wants some credit. She says:

“Nobody even called me to say ‘Do you have any insights? Do you want to tell us some anecdotes?’” she complained about the television movie. “I found it appalling that nobody thought, ‘Oh, we should call Kim Green.’” Green didn’t have to worry about authenticity of Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story, which aired in August, as Fantasia herself was in the movie.

Clearly I am missing something here. Isn’t the whole point of ghostwriting that no one knows you’re the real author of the book? I’m thinking she knew that going in. It was one of those little facts that didn’t bother her when she took the check.

In other news about this book: Barrino’s father is suing the publisher. Apparently Barrino’s dad got a mention in the book and is not too happy about that. No one appears happy with this book. Kind of makes me happy I never read it.

I’m fine. Thanks for the emails. All is well, I swear. Except for an extreme lack of sleep, life ticks on. The last few days have been filled with non-writing work. Hours and hours and hours of non-writing work. Just hate it when life interferes with my internet time. Very frustrating.

I do have a change to announce. My July 2007 release is now called Your Mouth Drive Me Crazy. The old title was Your Mouth Makes Me Crazy. Not a big change, yes, but a change. Got a sneak peek at the cover. It’s gorgeous! Gorgeous! The Kensington art department and my editor did a fantastic job. Can’t show it yet…sorry. But soon.

Until then, I continue to plug away on my next single title. By continue I mean, ummm, try to get past page 40. The book tentatively is scheduled for March 2008. That sounds so far away, but I know in the world of publishing it’s really not. Deadline is January 15th. That should make the holidays fun.

I’m starting off the week somewhere else. I’m blogging at Access Romance today. The topic is the use of newspaper review quotes. My confusion stems from this situation: a newspaper prints a uniformly negative review of a book with one or two positive sentences. The author then uses those one or two lines to promote the book. Happens with movies all the time. Is this a good, bad or neutral practice with books?

Stop by and give your opinion.

Most people don’t think of D.C. as the literary capital of the world. Understandable, but possibly not fair. D.C. is a big reading town. One of those towns where people read nonfiction, political novels and literary trade in public. In private, well…

For those wanting to know what’s happening in the world of books in and around D.C., The National Book Festival comes to the Mall (in terms of location think Washington Monument not Nordstrom) on September 30th. Now, for many of you that day is also a national day of celebration. I am referring, of course, to the fact September 30th is my birthday.

For those not planning to come visit me on September 30th, think about going to the National Book Festival. Seventy authors will be there signing books. Exactly, well, zero are romance authors. Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez author of the The Dirty Girls Social Club will be there, but she’s in the Teens & Children Pavilion signing her new young adult novel Haters. But, if you like mysteries and thrillers, the authors there are pretty good or at least pretty well-known. Specifically:

Harlan Coben
Michael Connelly
Vince Flynn
Brad Meltzer
George Pelecanos
Kathy Reichs
Lisa Scottoline
Daniel Silva
Alexander McCall Smith
Scott Turow

At the end of a tough work week I retired to my couch and picked up the newest issue of People magazine. Every now and then all you want is fluff. People fills the fluff need very nicely. Unfortunately, I quickly got ticked off.

My first stop in People usually is the book review section. No, really, that’s true. I found the section, started reading and…this is where the “ticked off” part comes in. I read the review for When Madeline Was Young by Jane Hamilton. Reviewer Lee Aitken said absolutely nothing about the book in terms of writing, style or readability. Aitken did, however, manage to tell the entire plot of the book. There is a sentence that starts: “In the final chapters…” and then goes on to say what happens in the last chapter of the book. There’s another that goes: “The parallel story involves a bizarre family secret…” The family secret is then told by Aitken. Even the character development, in terms of what happens over time, is revealed: “Mac comes to see…” And then, thanks to Aitken, we know what the male characters learn during the book.

What the hell? Other than an early description of the book as a “conventional tale” the only statement about the book – as opposed to the plot – was this: “Hamilton’s careful, unpretentious prose finds moral nuances both in a full-blown antiwar debate and in the small details of Madeline’s care.” That’s it. For the lead review, one that earned Four Stars, that is the only sentence I could find that was not a give away of a plot detail.

That’s not a review. It’s a long spoiler.

Paranormal romances are everywhere. That’s not exactly a newsflash. I’ve enjoyed many but must admit sometimes I want something else. For the last few weeks, I’ve been desperate to find a contemporary romance. No vampires or paranormal aspects – just a contemporary romance. Susan Elizabeth Phillips or Jennifer Crusie are the two I turn to in these situations. That’s a problem. SEP writes about one book per year, so it’s not hard to out-pace her. Crusie isn’t writing that much right now either.

I’ve searched the bookstore shelves. There just doesn’t seem to be much out there. Maybe I’m missing it. Maybe I’m passing the books by somehow. Could be that paranormal and erotic romance are getting more play and better table space right now. I’m willing to dig through the shelves. Anyone out there have a new release suggestion?

Don’t worry, I’m not expecting many comments. Just kind of hoping someone leads me to an author or book that’s new to me. Not that I’m begging…

I’m blogging at the Brava website today. Stop by and say hello.

There’s a contest going on over there with prizes donated by the fabulous Brava authors. You need to comment on the Brava site to be entered. The rules are posted on the Message Board under the Weekly Housewarming Contest.

Check it out.

At some point in Fall 2004, a group of unpublished writers started chatting online, visiting blogs, posting comments, and generally trying to encourage each other until The Call came. And for many of us, it did. Someone coined the phrase the *thisclose* club to describe our journey. For many of us, the journey met with success. For example:

-Larissa Ione - then unpublished, now has book deals with Warner, Bantam Dell and Red Sage.

-Stephanie Tyler - then unpublished, now has book deals with Bantam Dell and Harlequin.

-Sylvia Day - then unpublished, now has book deals with Kensington (Brava and Zebra), Avon and Ellora’s Cave.

-Sasha White - then unpublished, now has book deals with Kensington, Berkley, Avon and others.

I’ve thought about these talented ladies several times over the last few weeks. Both Larissa and Stephanie recently sold more books and their respective sales were listed on PW. Somewhere in a flurry of congratulations emails, Stephanie (I think) mentioned the *thisclose* club and all of our sales over the last two years. What a great reminder of how far we’ve come. I feel blessed to have learned from these remarkable ladies and remain inspired by their publishing achievements.

Then I was reading about Janet Evanovich’s book How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author in USA Today. In the article, Evanovich talks about rejection. She says:

But success didn’t come easily or early. She began writing in her early 30s. At one point, frustrated and sobbing, she dragged a crate of rejection letters out to the curb and burned them. “Now I wish I had saved them,” says Evanovich, 64. “Some of them were pretty funny.” Evanovich never gave up, and 10 years after she started writing, she was finally published.

Evanovich is a bestseller. The members of the *thisclose* club are writing and selling. It’s trite, but every now and then dreams do come true.

In the nothing-in-particular category, saw this today:

J.R.R. Tolkien’s THE CHILDREN OF HURIN, one of his three Great Tales, reconstructed from its “unfinished state” by Christopher Tolkien, edited together from multiple drafts, to Harper UK, by the Tolkien Estate, for publication in April 2007 (world). US rights to Houghton Mifflin, for simultaneous publication with Harper.

Can another movie be far behind…?

In the debate over whether or not it’s a appropriate for authors of a genre to review books by fellow authors in the genre, I offer this: Lisa Scottoline, author of Dirty Blonde and other thriller/suspense novels reviewed Sandra Brown’s newest suspense Ricochet in the Washington Post Book World today. Scottoline enjoyed Ricochet, thought the “femme-fatale plotline” was well done but pointed out how Brown has a tendency to use cliches and should stop.

At the beginning of the review, Scottoline says this with regard to reviewing books:

My criteria for book reviewing are pretty clear: Did I believe in the characters? Was it a good story, well told? Did I want to put the book down or keep reading? Bottom line, would I read another book by this author?

I have the same basic criteria as a reader. Must say, as a reviewer, I delve a bit deeper. Issues like character development, pacing, plotline coherence and others come into play. Scottoline probably also uses those standards but wraps them up in the questions she spelled out.

Ricochet is on my TBR pile. I would have read it with or without the review. Scottoline’s limited criticisms didn’t make me dislike Scottoline or think she was saying them because she was jealous of Brown’s career – just thought I’d point that out since I hear it in relation to romance authors reviewing other romance authors all the time. Really, this review didn’t convince me of anything. That’s not a knock against Scottoline. It’s just that the review is short and doesn’t say much. The last three paragraphs were the most helpful – that’s where the femme-fatale information and cliche comment can be found.

For those still wondering about Ricochet, the reader reviews on B&N aren’t great, but I rarely let that stop me. Other reviews are more along the lines of Scottoline’s review and flattering:

-Publishers Weekly says: “Tight plotting, a hot love story with some nice twists and a credible ending help make this a stand-out thriller.”

-Kirkus Reviews says: “Brown’s latest (Chill Factor, 2005, etc.) sags a bit in the middle with its laughable cop-show dialogue, but there are enough twists to keep fans guessing. An able thriller featuring a squared-jawed cop and a shifty dame.”