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Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Happy New Year!

2009 is a year of great anticipation for me. I will have 2 novels out this summer! Something that a few short years ago seemed like an impossible dream. Galleys of SO HAPPY TOGETHER are now being sent out to booksellers and reviewers and I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas. The thought of writing a book in 1 year, when THE RICHEST SEASON took 3 (although I was selling real estate full-time) was a daunting task, but I was up for the challenge. Wasn't this the writer's dream, after all?

Amazingly, characters who'd been in my head for a while came to life quickly. And a thought of Italy as a setting was quickly changed to Cape Cod, an area I know well. And I was off and running--er writing, that is.

I'll be posting the cover for the new book very shortly. And I promise to be better about posting here. Life is just overflowing, as usual. Just had my Dad's 80th birthday poker party for nearly 40 at my house (we love cards!), and of course there's the granddaughters, Alice and Lily, who I watch once or twice a week. And writing, writing, now that I've started the 3rd book.

But it's the heart of winter, dark and cold in NJ and a good time to be hunkered in and getting some serious work done. It's also a quiet time, waiting for the new book coming July 7, and the debut of THE RICHEST SEASON in trade paperback June 16. So lots to look forward to.

Happy reading!
8:29 pm est

Tuesday, December 16, 2008
A Dream Come True!
June 10, 2008

First I must say a huge thanks to all of you for your tremendous support since THE RICHEST SEASON debuted on June 10! Your outpouring of enthusiasm, as some of you traveled hundreds of miles in storms and record heat to attend my book launch party; your incredible kindness as you continue to spread the word of my novel to others; and your amazing generosity as I signed two and three books at a time for you to give to friends, mothers, daughters, sisters and YES, EVEN BROTHERS AND HUSBANDS! All of it has touched me to my core. I am blessed!!!

Now that Joanna, Paul and Grace are out there, I hope they continue to touch people. I am getting such heartfelt e-mails each and every day from readers, which I will share with you now:

C.: "Generally I read just to fall asleep at nite, but with The Richest Season that doesn't work; it's hard to put it down."

A.: "I started the book Saturday afternoon and was ¾ thru by the time I went to bed at 10 PM. I loved the book !!! Your talent for describing places, feelings, situations is awesome!!!

V.: You are the bravest woman I know and you speak for all those empty nesters out there, trying to reinvent ourselves. This is one for Oprah's book club!"

And these are just a few. I'm starting to hope and pray for....you know that little list of books that comes out each week??? Okay, I'm not going to say it out loud yet, but I think word of mouth just might have the power to do it. Let's just leave it at that.

So if you already read it, and you loved it, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!!!And soon I'll have a guestbook on my website, so you can leave your own personal comments there!

I'm heading south on July 6 for signings and events in SC and NC (check out my tour page) and I'm going to spend a few days with my bare feet curling in the soft, white sands of Pawleys Island! I hope to see as many of you as possible. And if you have a book club be sure to e-mail me and maybe we can make plans ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

Finally, if you'd like to sign up for my e-newsletter, there's a link at the bottom of this page and I'll keep you posted on everything exciting that's happening (like those movie rights we're shooting for!).

REMEMBER, DREAMS DO COME TRUE!!!

Maryann
8:18 pm est

Thursday, May 15, 2008
Big Things Are Happening Already!

This has been a dream month. First, I found out that THE RICHEST SEASON has been chosen as a Book Sense Pick. That's quite an honor. The independent booksellers nationwide nominated their upcoming favorites and my book was picked for June!!!

And then...I'M GOING TO BE ON THE JOAN HAMBURG SHOW!!!

This is a dream come true. I'll be featured on her show Friday May 23, on WOR 710 am radio out of NYC. But this is NATIONAL RADIO. We'll be taping Tuesday in front of a live audience. Best of all, The Richest Season has been chosen as a "JOAN PICK" and will be featured on her website.

I love Joan and actually went to meet her a few years ago in Flemington and gave her a copy of the self-published version of this book, dreaming of being on the show. And now it's happening. For all of you who are familiar with the long, hard journey to get this book taken, you know what this means, getting the word out there about my book, finally!

There's a link on my tour page so you can listen live.

Stay tuned for more on the NATIONAL BOOK LAUNCH PARTY in Clinton!

****

What I'm reading now: Just finished Fear and Yoga in New Jersey by Debra Gallant. Absolutely brilliant and hilarious!

4:32 pm est

Wednesday, April 2, 2008
THE EARLY YEARS

In the late 1990’s, after more than a decade in real estate, I was ready for a change. My kids were leaving the nest and I could finally think about something more for me. You see, I sort of got into real estate by default. Right out of college in the seventies, I’d begun a free lance writing career. While raising babies, I wrote for some local newspapers, which I’d begun doing while still in college.

Finally, I began to break into magazines, and over the next seven years, my by-line appeared in some pretty nice national monthlies, like WOMEN’S SPORTS & FITNESS and WORKING WOMAN, along with some others that weren’t as big, but were very well respected. My health and fitness pieces in a magazine called FEELING GREAT (kind of like the precursor to SELF) led to a big moment. The editor of that magazine actually called ME and asked if I’d like to contribute to a new magazine they were going to publish for people with arthritis. Well, the subject matter wasn’t all that thrilling, but the money was. So I began writing articles for AIM-Plus, a magazine I still see in doctor’s office today.

I did a six-month stint, a temporary position actually, during this time at Binney and Smith, makers of Crayola products, writing their corporate publications. It was my first real peek into the corporate world. I have to admit, after the freedom of freelancing, I felt like I was in jail. And there seemed to be a certain tension in the air, which I began to understand after I watched six people file out with their boxes of personal belongings one Friday afternoon after they all got canned. One of them had become a very close friend.

After a while, the grind of cranking out articles, of interviewing doctors and scientists while my kids napped, or occasionally screamed in the other room while I was on the phone, became tiring. Working at home became a lonely pursuit once the kids started school, and the thrill of the by-line was gone. Besides, my dream was always to write fiction, not something I had the luxury to even think about when my husband got laid off from his job. It was time for me to quit freelancing and get “a real job.”

After a month of interviews for writing jobs all over New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, everything from hospital public relations to corporate work, I realized I didn’t want to commute 2-3 hours a day after spending 8 to 10 hours at a desk. I didn’t want to leave my kids for that long. I was struggling with a decision and bills were piling up. And then a light bulb went off in my head.

My brother had just bought a Century 21 office in my hometown and my entire family got their licenses and were doing great. I had tried to sell Avon when my kids were babies, but was just too shy to do that door to door thing they did back then. So could I really sell houses? I wasn’t sure I was aggressive enough. But I watched my mother, who hadn’t worked in years suddenly become a top agent. And so I gave it a try.

I was an award winner that first year. And every year since, even becoming the top agent in northwest NJ one year, and in my own county several more. I discovered I didn’t have to be aggressive to sell houses. I just had to be myself, caring and interested and honest.

I loved it. And sometimes hated it. It was a 24/7 commitment and people are never so stressed as when they’re dealing with their biggest, most emotional asset: their home. I was proud of how I could help them, not just financially, but emotionally.

Years went by and I didn't write at all. I was too busy raising the kids. And real estate was the perfect job for me then: I could be home after school, watch my son and daughter's sporting events and activities, and generally try to work my schedule around them as best I could. My husband had also taken a sales job and now worked at home, and that really helped, too.

Did I long to write all those years? To be honest, I was too busy to even think about it. I had no idea that one day, as my kids were getting ready to leave the nest, I would begin to miss writing again. And that my real estate career would be the catalyst for a book that would change my life!

***

What I'm reading now: Orange Mint and Honey by Carleen Brice (Loving it! She's a new author, too)

6:58 am est

Friday, January 25, 2008
BELIEVE!

It’s hard to believe that exactly a year ago, I didn’t even have an agent. Now, we’re writing book jacket copy, sending out ARC’s (Advanced Reading Copies) for reviews and blurbs from other authors. And the sales reps are pounding the pavement, praising THE RICHEST SEASON to booksellers (so they will order lots of copies to sell).

THE RICHEST SEASON will be coming out in HARDCOVER in less than 5 months!!!

It’s all proof that if you believe in something enough, it can come true.

BELIEVE!

My friend Debora kept repeating that word to me over and over again when I launched the original self-published version of THE RICHEST SEASON back in May of ‘06. “It’s going to happen,” she told me during one of my moments of self-doubt. And so did a bunch of others, like my favorite independent bookseller, Harvey Finkel, at Clinton Books in New Jersey. After Kris, Harvey's mom (who I refer to as the Oprah of Clinton) and Gail read it, he told me “You’re gonna be big.” At that point, I was just so damn grateful they read it and started selling it. But to hear him say that! It seemed surreal. He really meant it, though. And now it’s all coming true. In fact, at Clinton Books, THE RICHEST SEASON was the top selling trade paperback for 2006, outselling THE KITE RUNNER!!!

One of my other favorite independent booksellers, Tom Warner of Litchfield Books in Pawleys Island, SC, was also a believer and invited me to do a booksigning less than a month after I launched THE RICHEST SEASON. He praised the book and predicted that it would be a “local winner” and it was! And then he said to me, “You’ve gotta stop selling books out of the trunk of your car. You’re a writer, you need to write."

I was proud of my ability to get books sold. But he was right. I was spending so much time marketing, I didn't have time to write. But I had a goal: To sell enough books, to garner enough good reviews, to attract a good agent. So I kept plugging away all through that summer and fall.

Another thing my friend Debora did a lot when I was down, was to sing this line: “When you wish upon a star…”

And it wasn’t until we were having a glass of wine a few months ago and reliving the whole amazing journey of this book that she pointed out an amazing thing: That was the Disney theme song for years. And guess who bought my book??? Hyperion, who is owned by ABC/Disney! Coincidence? Serendipity? More on that whole topic to come later on!

I have to tell you, I just love my publisher and editor and as I’ve told them, I truly believe my book and I found our true home.

~~~

I read somewhere online, on a writer’s blog, that my deal in publishing was like “winning the literary lottery.” I had to smile at that one. Because it implies it was as simple as buying a ticket and waiting for a number to be drawn. If only it were that easy. The story of this novel, THE RICHEST SEASON, spanned 6 years in total. THE RICHEST SEASON was shelved in a closet no less than 3 times, as I gave up on the publishing world again and again. Why couldn’t they see what a wonderful book this was? And if they couldn’t, then what was I doing even bothering to write another book?

But then something happened. I kept hearing from people who’d asked to read the manuscript. And again and again they told me something like this: Your book is better than anything I’ve read in months. Why isn’t it out there?

That question, which I heard over and over for several years, made me want to scream! Yes, I knew I had a wonderful book! I knew it was well written because I took three careful years to craft it. It began as my Master’s thesis. And NO, I had no blankety blank idea why it wasn’t taken.

But….as a big birthday approached I began to do some real soul searching. What did I really want?

I wanted to keep writing. I didn’t want to give up. And what, after all, was success to me as a writer? Hmmm…To be read! And to move people when they read my work. OK, some money would be nice, but it didn't look like that was in the picture at the time. So I came to the conclusion that what I really wanted was for THE RICHEST SEASON to be published, no matter who did it. To be “out there” in readerland. I simply wanted the satisfaction of having people get to know about Joanna, Grace and Paul, three characters who were so very real to me, and who I believed deserved to live in reader’s imaginations.

And so I made the very big decision to take one of the biggest gambles in my life: to self-publish THE RICHEST SEASON. After all, I reasoned, if I could sell houses, which I’d done very successfully for nearly 20 years at this point, then I could sell this book!!!

But how did it all actually happen? Where did the idea for the story come from? What happened when I heard from agents? What did the publishers originally say? How did 9/11 play into all this? Why did I give up completely, or so I thought? Most importantly, what made THIS BOOK, out of the thousands of self-published books out there, finally make it big????

All of that, and much more, makes up “The Story of a Novel.”