I am very proud to present my longtime friend and agent buddy - Malena Lott!

Her latest -Dating DaVinci (how cute is that title??) - opens with the sad state of Ramona Elise’s life. Widowed, 36, with two children, Ramona is a pro when it comes to making her kids happy, but what about herself? Will a young Italian student help her find her way?…

Q. Readers of this blog know I am very seriously into travelling - what’s your idea of the perfect travel destination and why?

As a manic mod mama of three, I don’t get to travel nearly as often as I’d like. That being said, I love to get away with the whole family at least twice a year - this year we went to Branson, MO, Colorado and Ft. Worth (on the train!). I love spending as much time as possible in nature. My favorite vacay was Kauai, Hawaii -it’s just so picturesque and tranquil. Must. Return. Soon.

Q. How do you go about choosing a setting for your novel? Does it, like New York in Sex and the City, almost play the part of another character in the book, or could the plot be transported to another setting and work?

Picking the setting is one of my favorite parts of brainstorming upfront, because I do think it’s so important. I selected Austin, Texas as the setting for Dating da Vinci because I wanted a college town and Austin is the home of UT (rival to my beloved Sooners), because I needed Leonardo da Vinci to be in America on a student visa and Ramona is finishing her Ph.D. And I’ve actually been there several times, so that helps, too. 

Q. What would you change about your life if you became the next Sophie Kinsella?

After hiring the cook, the nanny and the housekeeper, I guess I’d start interviewing stylists and personal shoppers (loathe grocery shopping.) No, seriously, I don’t think much about my life would change except that I wouldn’t get “that look” from my darling husband when I’ve gone on a shopping spree and I’d get to vacation more and feel good that my kids can go to college easily and perhaps not have to work as much as I did. not that I’m complaining. On second thought, maybe I would spring for the housekeeper. Loathe laundry nearly as much as grocery shopping. That reminds me, that load needs to be changed out. Be back in a sec.

Q. Any tried and true tricks for beating procrastination?

I have to say, I’m pretty lucky. Hugh (Jackman) typically promises a shirtless steak dinner (him, not me)  if I meet my word count goal.  If that’s not enough motivation, Brad’s aromatherapy massages usually get me in the mood, though sad to say, it’s not for writing. Heck, usually my imagination can trick me into getting back on the laptop to write away into the sunrise. Like, “finish this and you’ll be as famous as Sophie Kinsella and you’ll never have to buy groceries again and you can spend all your time lounging on the beaches drinking frozen Flirtinis!” I’m so easy.

Thanks Malena!

Back in 2000, fresh from my first ever trip to Cuba and desperate to reconnect with the happiness and wonder I found there, I took a salsa class. We were required to switch partners every so often and at one point I found myself dancing with a cute and chatty Mexican-Canadian.

And where was I from, he asked.

“I’m Palestinian” I ventured. You never know what kind of reaction you’re going to get with that, but he seemed like a nice guy, and warm, intelligent eyes. They coaxed an unsettling truth about me that’s the conversational equivalent of a screeching needle stabbing a party anthem to a halt.

To his credit, his response was quick, uncensored, and completely truthful. “It’s very tiring to keep hearing about the Middle East for all these years.”

I couldn’t agree more. It’s tiring. And emotionally draining, and just when your system adapts to the background noise of pain and misery and wretchedness, along comes a (literally) violent jolt that blows to smithereens all your efforts to box the conflict into a manageable spot at the back of your brain, next to humiliating memories from your teenage years and screw-ups from assorted first days on the job.

345 dead (and counting), 1400 thousand injured, and just in time for Christmas in Puerto Rico with mom, dad, and lil’sis.

Last time it was August 2006, smack-dab in the middle of a wonderful Euro-trip to catch up with Spanish cousins and a dear friend who’d married and moved to London. The score: 3000 dead Lebanese, countless injured, and I don’t know how many botched summer vacations and stranded relatives.

Sometimes I wish Israel would pick a less festive season, say, February, to put its war stratagems to the test, but then I wonder if this might not be the whole point all along.

It isn’t fair. I’m entitled to planning a vacation without worrying that I may be jinxing a few hundred Arabs into suffering an Israeli attack. You, dear readers, are also entitled to the upbeat posts, author profiles, and Cuba photos you came here for.

But here’s the rub. Caring is the price of decency. I care, therefore I deserve to exist, if you will.

What about Hamas’s rockets? What about the Israeli dead? (four, as of Tuesday morning) What about Hamas’s commitment to the destruction of Israel???

I get it. There’s only so much caring to go around in this world, and why should you waste any of it on these dusty, dirt-covered (when they’re not hiding behind unbecoming veils, that is), misogynistic Arabs?

Because usually, when we see a large amount of dead/injured people on one side of a conflict and hardly any dead/injured (in this case… one) on the other side, our gut instinct is to see the situation as lopsided and to connect the side with the high deaths/injuries with our sympathy.

But this is not happening here because we’ve been preconditioned to see the masses of Arabs not as individuals, but as hate-mongering machines, bent on the destruction of Israel. But saying that Palestinians - who democratically elected Hamas, a political party with a military wing, to negotiate on their behalf and are being punished for it - are committed to Israel’s destruction is like saying that white red state Republicans are committed to bringing back slavery.

“But Hamas don’t want peace! Retaliation is Israel’s only choice!”

If all you read are American newspapers, then you can’t be blamed for thinking so. The New York Times’s opinion makers, the Friedmans, Krugmans, Cohens and Dowds are silent today, and the lone “opinion” piece on the subject has this for a headline “Israel Reminds Foes it Has Teeth“.

Ridiculous and utterly heartless headline aside, (I’m pretty sure that Palestinians, who have been dying on a fairly regular basis over the last 60 years are aware of Israel’s ‘teeth’), the content was interesting: the jist is that Israel, after suffering unanticipated PR disaster and military mishaps at the hands of a well-organized, moderately armed Hezballah, has decided to pick a weaker target in order to prove it’s still running the ‘hood.

It’s like a schoolyard bully getting an unexpected kick in the shins from the scrawny kid and then turning around and smacking the malnourished one from the poor family to make himself feel better.

I know you’re tired. So am I. I’m especially tired of the cynicism. I cheered along with everyone else when Barack H. Obama was elected and turned down my cyn-o-meter to low, not wanting to become like my parents, completely dissociated from western politics because they’d been bitten one too many times with promises of change and the reality of business as usual. But here we are, on the verge of another year, another president, and yet everything remains the same for Palestinians.

I didn’t want to write this post. I want to go back to making fun of ex-hedge fund managers who are losing their third and fourth homes and who have to fly first class for the first time in years because they can’t afford the Learjet anymore. I want to get back to my book, and my travel articles, and I would have loved to spend that last day in Puerto Rico laughing carelessly with my mom and dad instead of huddling in front of the TV, watching Ehud Barak talk about changing the “rules of the game” as the running headlines at the bottom of the screen reported mounting casualties.

My sister has been singing the praises of that Oprah wunderhit, The Power of Now, over the weekend, so when I saw it at the airport yesterday, I flipped through the opening pages. There was something in there about people in the olden days not being ready for spiritual enlightenment. That Jesus, Buddha and Mohammad only had pieces of truths to offer but it wasn’t time yet to accept the full truth and to accept the burdens of enlightenment and true spirituality. The author then wonders if we’re any readier for enlightenment today than those people were back then.

I don’t know. What I do know though, is that “I’m tired” can’t be an excuse not to care, or to try and find out about why these things are happening. It’s never been easier to get information (maybe too much information, but at least it’s there).

I promise to get back to fun posts tomorrow, but until then, here’s hoping you’ll take some time to read up on this so you can put into perspective the events that will shape the political discourse to come over the next months, possibly years.

Links:

Greg Mitchell on the US Media’s complicity even as Israeli Media questions the attacks on Gaza (Huffington Post)

The True Story Behind this War(Johann Hari, the London Independent)

Robert Fisk (award-winning Middle East correspondent for the London Independent)

“Trying to ‘teach Hamas a lesson’ is Fundamentally Wrong” - Tom Segev, Ha’aretz (an Israeli Daily newspaper)

Israeli Strikes on Gaza: What are the Motives? (The Guardian)

Whenever the media - specifically the American media - get to talking about Cuba, I am reminded of that wacky Irishman in Braveheart who refers to Ireland as “my island… it’s mine” with a look of madness in his eyes. Maybe my possessiveness stems from having travelled there fairly regularly for the better part of a decade now, that I have favorite haunts there now, friends, places to stay, people to call up when I’m town, and still, a whole lot of island left to discover, at my own pace, secure in the knowledge that the place is still protected from the greatest homogenizing force the world has ever known.

I usually keep the solace I draw from the embargo to myself: it sounds pretty damn selfish to inwardly root for economic sanctions that keep 11 million people in poverty. But now I’m hearing plenty of travelers openly admit to (secretly) being happy about the embargo - somehow, even though the entire world save for one nation is allowed to vacation in the largest, most beautiful island in the Caribbean, it still manages to feel like a well-kept secret.

This week, Roger Cohen of The New York Timesechoed the sentiment of so many of Cuba’s visitors. (the bit of being incommunicado really is striking… on my visit last month I really expected to be able to get all my e-mails via Blackberry. It didn’t happen.)

And then last night, I watched The Island (one of Leo DiCaprio’s older flicks) for the first time. Let’s just say it wasn’t at all about what I thought it would be about. More aptly, it was a movie that dramatized some of those funny feelings I have for that funny island. 

Interesting link: A young woman blogs directlyfrom Havana about Communist life.

Here’s a great premise from young author (who also hapens to be gorgeous - check out that author pic!) who has met with publishing success in this doom-and-gloom economy: To her family and friends, Jennifer is an investment banker with too little time on her hands to date. In reality, Jennifer is an undercover ”temptress” sleuth who goes by the name Ashlyn and specializes in testing the fidelity of spouses with dubious inclinations.

The Fidelity Files has already hit the Denver Post bestsellers’ list and is being released in the UK, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Taiwan. Can you say ‘wow’?

Here’s the author, Jessica Brody, in her own words:

Do you put your friends in your books? Names, incidents, characteristics? Have any of them recognized themselves in a not-so-good way?

My friends are definitely in my books. There’s one in particular that stands out. One of Jen’s friends, Zoë, has a bad case of road rage. And she tends to talk on the phone while she drives, so Jen often finds herself on the phone with Zoë while she’s cursing out another driver. I have a friend who does that and that’s where I got the idea. This friend has read the book but I’m not sure how she feels about the similarities. She acts like she’s fine with it, but I guess you never know. She could secretly be totally offended. (I am so psyched Jessica admits to this… to all those authors out there who venhemently deny this: I’M NOT BUYING!)

I can’t sing enough praise for Save the Cat by Blake Snyder. It has “saved” so many manuscripts of mine. It’s meant for screenwriters but it works flawlessly for novels as well. It’s just a very intuitive way to write stories and make sure the audience isn’t bored to tears because nothing is happening for fifty pages. Now, I consult the book before I even start writing and I use his “beat sheet” to help me outline the major story points. It saves me so much time later on! (I actually saw Blake in person in San Fran earlier this year and he’s GREAT. I ran to the Borders across the street to buy the book but they were out… thanks for reminding me to order it!)

Do you write from a character or from a plot idea?

I’m definitely more driven by character. I like thinking up interesting characters with intriguing back stories and then forming a world around them. Like, “Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a story about a woman who tests men’s fidelity for a living?” Then I go forward from there. “What would her life be like?” And “What kind of interesting things would happen to someone like that?”

What other art form inspires you as much as writing?

Before I started writing full time, I actually dabbled a bit in songwriting. One of my songs even won a songwriting competition. But I soon realized that I could only write song lyrics after I’d had my heart totally stomped on and destroyed by some dumb, stupid boy. Apparently, that was the outlet for my pain. And so once I found myself in a good relationship, the song lyrics stopped coming. I have to say, though, I don’t really miss them! (Wow… how talented is this girl??)

Now that you are published, what (if anything) have you changed about your writing routine?

I hate to say it, but I tend to procrastinate a lot more now than I ever did before I got published.  I think there’s something about that desperation for a book deal that keeps you on track. Now, I just find so many other things to do. It’s really bad! In terms of actual writing, I think I’ve definitely grown as a writer since I got published and I’m learning to trust my instincts more when it comes to what is working and what isn’t. I used to fight that voice inside that says, “This scene really sucks,” convinced that I wasn’t experienced to know what I was talking about. Now, when I hear that voice, I listen and start pounding on that delete key.

Thanks for a wonderful interview Jessica!

Great article in the NY Times today: is luxury headed for extinction?

Probably not - for as long as people measure their worth by how worthless everyone else is, there will be a need to demonstrate that “worth” somehow.

But the really interesting point comes toward the end - when a Valentino column gown is slashed down to 70% of its original price (and remember - we haven’t hit the post-Holidays mega-sales yet), and Prada alligator wallets are piled on top of each other willy-nilly à la Wal-Mart discount bin section, will the average luxury customer ever allow themselves to be duped into paying exhorbitant sums of money for these “exclusive” items again?

Probably - societies tend to have pretty short attention spans, but something tells me the sting of these times will be staying with us a lot longer than Saks, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf et al. would like.

How cute is that name?

I am so behind my touring, it’s terrible really. Blame it on Cuba - I am just now recovering!

If you’re a Desperate Housewives enthusiast - or if you entertain fantasies that the biaatch next door could be magically teleported to a planet far, far away, then Dear Neighbor, Drop Dead is for you. (Looking for something hilarious and entertaining is an acceptable reason as well, though far less comical). Here’s a blurb:

Nora Ephron Hates Her Neck. Big Deal! Mindy Sherman hates her whole body.

In Mindy’s yoga-obsessed, thirty-is-the-new-wife neighborhood, every day is a battle between Dunkin’ Donuts, her jaws-of-life jeans, and Beth Diamond, the self-absorbed sancti-mommy next door who looks sixteen from the back. So much for sharing the chores, the stores, and the occasional mischief to rival Wisteria Lane.

It’s another day, another dilemma until Beth’s marriage becomes fodder on Facebook. Suddenly the Ivy League blonde needs to be “friended,” and Mindy is the last mom standing. Together they take on hormones and hunger, family feuds and fidelity, and a harrowing journey that spills the truth about an unplanned pregnancy and a seventy-year old miracle that altered their fates forever.

Let’s hear it for the author,in her own words:

Q. What was the inspiration for your new novel?

A. Of my four novels, DEAR NEIGHBOR, DROP DEAD is the only one that was inspired by, well, me! This story is based on my first novel, ALL IN THE CARDS, which was never published, but did take a very exciting journey to Hollywood. Back in 1997, Bette Midler optioned it for a feature film (she was looking for a follow up comedy to “First Wives Club”). Exactly! Wow! First time out and it’s a homerun. Sadly, the reason you never heard of it is because ultimately, Bette and her partner couldn’t get financing or find the right screenwriter to adapt it. Bye bye Bette… Now fast forward to a few years ago. My novels, A LITTLE HELP FROM ABOVE, CLAIRE VOYANT and FATE & MS. FORTUNE had done very well but were about single women looking for love in all the wrong places. I wanted to write about my “peeps” in the suburbs and pitched my editor on letting me rewrite ALL IN THE CARDS. She was hesitant because she wasn’t sure Avon was the right publisher for a suburban/soccer mom story with bickering neighbors. Then came “Desperate Housewives” and suddenly it was, get me suburban/soccer mom stories with bickering neighbors. Timing is everything…. So although DEAR NEIGHBOR is an incarnation of my earliest novel, it is a much richer, deeper, funnier story and is resonating with readers of all ages.

Q. Which scene or scenes in your novel did you love writing?

A. I am crazy about writing dialogue and would spend days working on a scene between Mindy and Beth to make sure that I got the tone, the phrasing, the timing and the subtle nuances just right. There was so much that they wanted to say to each other after eight years of making each other crazy, I just had to let it out a little at a time, like air coming out of a balloon. But the scene I loved writing the most was the one where they are in a hotel room and Beth confronts the fact that she might be pregnant. It is a funny, poignant moment where both characters reveal their greatest joys and misgivings of motherhood and I remember when I sat at my computer, the words just poured out and I had to sit still to hear every last word coming through. I realized at the end that they had just broadcast my own conflicts and vulnerabilities about being a mom and it was whoa… where did that come from?

Q. When and where do you write? Is it cluttered or minimalist heaven?

A. I’m a crack-of- dawn morning writer maybe because my muses are busy all night and can’t wait to have me pour out what they sunk in (at least they let me go to the bathroom first). That being said, when I’m in the zone, I write morning, noon and night. I know I’m done, however, when I look up at the computer screen and I see this, “She said, hjkljkl;uiop.” Then it’s time to shut the lights. As for where I write, the majority of my work is written while chained to my computer table which is situated right smack in the middle of my master bedroom… I never thought this would be my workspace. I always fantasized about having the kind of home office that “playwright” Diane Keaton got in “Something’s Gotta Give.” - this huge, white, ocean-facing office that was stocked with floral bouquets and a breathtaking view. Perhaps one day, but for now it’s fine. I look out at my beautiful backyard and at least my commute is a breeze. Not to mention I can make it to the fridge in under thirty seconds. (I love that office too… what a dream!)

Q. What is one of your strangest/most quirky author experiences?

A. My first three novels are a trilogy in that they all deal with the super natural. All of my main characters have funny and intriguing encounters with the other side, the after life, and/or a ghost. But never did I expect that I would personally have a strange encounter with the spirit world while I was hard at work. And yet… I had been writing my debut novel, A LITTLE HELP FROM ABOVE over a three year period, and as you can imagine, was very very tired. All I wanted to do was cross the finish line, have a good cry and eat a box of Mallomars… One night, I was working on the final pages and was so bleary eyed I convinced myself that the ending was terrible but maybe my editor wouldn’t notice, or would say to me, no, this is great, don’t change a word. But just as I was fixing the last page, we had a power outage and the whole house went dark. It was so strange. There was no storm, no reason to lose power. But when the lights came back on a minute later, I had lost the latest version of the ending. It literally disappeared and I freaked out and cried. How could this happen? On a whim I called my neighbors to see if their power had gone out but it turned out ours was the only house that did… Clearly it was a sign from above. The next morning I started over on the ending, and when I finished, it was so much better, so much more rewarding. This time I cried from joy. I had finished and it was great.

Q. If Oprah invited you on her show, what would the theme of that show be?

A. Sigh. I’ve actually had the distinct privilege of appearing on Oprah to discuss my non-fiction book, 50 FABULOUS PLACES TO RAISE A FAMILY, and I gotta tell you, it was awesome. She was soooo nice and I and my husband/co-author were treated like royalty. We got the limousine, the fancy hotel, the nice dinner out, hair and make-up and a souvenir coffee cup that still sits on my desk as a pen holder. And Steadman was there, too (he smelled so good!) Would I love to be a guest again? Are you kidding me? It would be a dream come true to be invited back as a best selling novelist. In fact, I had a dream scene in DEAR NEIGHBOR, DROP DEAD that involved my character Mindy being on the show to talk about what it was like to live next door to Beth, the bitch. It had to be cut because of space limitations, but trust me, Oprah is always on my mind. Nobody sells a book like her. (Oprah?? Dude - seriously??!!)