How SIR came to be (and why it ends on a cliffhanger). . .
I knew going into publishing Sir essentially what the main criticisms would be. Not to brag (but), I've been a professional writer -- not for books, but tomato/tomato -- long enough that I have a decent grasp of where my weaknesses lie and, with enough time, I can emotionally distance myself from my work product to have a general idea of what it's weaknesses are.
So I KNEW, when pressing the button to publish Sir, that people were going to think that it started slow with too much ...
The Finewhile Diner. . .
I love diners.
Particularly small-town, roadside diners. Diners that still look like they did when they were built in the heyday of highway travel, at a time before interstates were a thing.
Diners are going by the wayside, which makes me sad. Half the ones I’ve been to in the past decade since I moved to L.A. cook frozen food that they bought in bulk and call it “homemade”. (Maybe it says that on the box, but it sure as hell ain’t homemade!) Anyway, bad food, and bad diner food, ...
How did the picnic on the pier get set up? Answer: Meet Jack.
The picnic on the pier…
How did it get set up and taken down?
In my head canon, Nate has a minion. That minion’s name is Jack and in polite company, Jack is called Nate’s personal assistant.
Jack is a (no pun intended) jack-of-all-trades who grew up in the California foster system and got into UCLA's film school on talent and scholarship. Once he graduated, he needed a job, and applied to an anonymous ad on a Hollywood job search website for a personal assistant. Come to find ...
Drunk Brunch
I got an editor note back for Chapter 16 suggesting that I change “drunk brunch” to “hangover brunch”. And even though I’ve been friends with my editor for nearly 10 years, I guess I never mentioned drunk brunch to her. . . Oopsie.
I don’t know if it’s a Louisiana thing or a my-friends-from-college-in-Louisiana thing, but every Sunday (and some Saturdays) during college when we all lived in dorms, we would meet around 11 AM in the LSU Student Union for drunk brunch.
Somet...
Luca Paretti Rosé
The wine Nate uses to woo Tori in the final scene of Chapter Eighteen. . .
I'm sure you're shocked to learn this is not my photo. . .
I had a glass of this when I was at Catch LA for brunch for my cousin’s birthday in late July. Catch LA is a truly phenomenally rooftop garden restaurant in Hollywood. It takes weeks to get a reservation – like, you can’t even walk in without your name on the list – and the flowers alone were worth it.
My meal was meh. I really have to stop ...
Sir: The Awakening Advanced Copy of Chapter One
Hello, darling readers.
When you purchased Sir, I promised you a chapter from Sir: The Awakening if you visited my website. I've been having some problems setting up a downloadable copy (unless you join my mailing list, but that doesn't help if you're already on it; however I'll get it to y'all somehow, promise), so I figured that I would just post it here. . .
Which I did. . .
For a day. Maybe two.
Then I went onto my Goodreads page only to discover that my ARC copy of Chapter 1 ...
One Canal Place (Chapter 9)
That photo above? Not my photo. Nor is the one below. Shocking.
At the end of Canal Street, almost at the river, on the edge of the Quarter, stands a high rise. In that high rise, you can both get your passport from the passport office upstairs, Chanel 22 at Saks Fifth Avenue, and a great little dress at one of the boutiques.
http://www.theshopsatcanalplace.com/
The Dress (Chapter 9)
In my head, Tori is wearing the perfect red dress...
It’s Kiyonna from 2015 and no longer on the market <sad panda>. Kiyonna has some similar styles, but, to me, this dress is nigh on perfect. An amazing shade of red, the stark contrast of the black belt that shows off your waistline, the sweetheart neckline, and the flirty tulip skirt. How can a woman not feel gorgeous in that dress?
That’s the kind of dress you save for a special occasion and/or a special man.
Isn’t ...
What Does Brady Look Like?
I was doing one of my last sets of rewrites and I realized… I never described Brady!
*gasp!*
How could this happen?!?! I describe what brand of chapstick Tori wears but I don’t describe her ex???
What is wrong with me?
So I went man-shopping again. (What a burden, amirite?)
I went with Charlie Hunnam.
I know, I know. He’s too cute to be a douche like Brady. But we only know he’s a douche because of what Tori went through. He has to be cute and charming enough to have ...
What does Tori look like?
Tori, Tori, Tori…
I actually have a friend who’s named Tori… she actually gets mentioned a few times in these posts. She’s an impressive lady and has achieved a lot in a pretty short time in her life, which is awesome. She’s beautiful, talented, charismatic and successful? How is that fair??
Anyway, finding a model to live up to the real-life Tori AND who looks like the Tori-in-my-head was…challenging…a struggle… a real bitch-and-a-half.
Tori-in-my-head is ...