First Word

I've been so busy working and keeping manuscripts running through 3L Publishing , I swear and not kidding, I've watched maybe 30 minutes of TV the past two weeks. I know some people would tell that is a good thing, but not necessarily when you're trying to work in the business and track what is going on. I realized I even missed the season finale of House , one of my top favorites. No worries though I will just buy the box set and have a marathon weekend. One thing, though, that I will not miss is True Blood Season 5 which starts June 24. Oh, be rest assured I will be eagerly propped on my sofa just in time for that one. The few trailers I've seen make it look like the season is shifting more toward action and explosions. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing for the campy dramaedy. With Alan Ball set to step down for Season 6, we might have quite a few shifts about to come into play. True Blood has in the past emphasized relationships and not the explosions so mu...

Is there a great movie on this yet ... terrible air-travel experiences? Oh yeah, Planes, Trains and Automobiles ... well after not just one but two plane trips shoved into coach like sardines wrenched into a very small tin can, I can safely say I need to get rich and fly only first class. Horror story #1--the orally fixated guy behind me . You know some people just HAVE to have something in their mouths 24 x 7. Well, orally fixated guy had a nice, juicy wad of gum shoved in his mouth with his head phones to all mute sound -- all sounds including his own. Well, let me tell you -- and this is no exaggeration -- he chomped, slurped, popped and snorted that gum a good four hours. Oh yeah, I forgot my iPod so my entertainment on my non-stop trip to Fort Lauderdale was his cud-chewing acrobatics. About the time he's slurping and snorting, I felt an increasing urge to punch him on the arm. Oh but wait! He's orally fixated, right. So if he isn't chewing something that would jus...

Sometimes you just have to take a real vacation. As entrepreneurs we have this tendency to never give ourselves downtime. I haven't had a real vacation in a year. When I worked corporate every six months, I would take off for two weeks. Since my schedule got so intense with 3L Publishing , my vacation time dwindled to a week and maybe a long weekend. No time off is a recipe for burnout. You can't keep up such a hectic pace without taking time to recharge your batteries. We all need downtime to balance our lives between work and family. Plus, my personal life has really been in chaos. So between the personal challenges and the workload, I felt I was heading for major burnout. And with that, you take the bull by the horns and take that much-needed break. Take my advice, life's too short not to enjoy it.

It is so true that if we don't learn our lessons, we are doomed to repeat them -- and that applies to business and life. I've decided that I need to finally get an A+ on a few of them and move on. I intellectually know better yet I just keep getting to take the tests over and over again. I hate to think of myself as the girl who gets D papers, but let me tell you, I have a few big, glaring D's to deal with right now. I keep making mistakes with the business, but I realized recently the best way to identify if I'm about to blunder is if it feels comfortable . If it feels comfortable then it's an old habit that needs to be broken. If you want to expand your business, you have to get out of your comfort zone. You have to finally master those lessons. Unfortunately, it has spilled into my relationships, too. I posted on Facebook, "We teach others how to treat us." In business and life, you have to put boundaries and the no-go zone. I responded to a request y...

And speaking of friends, I want to thank all the Friend-Os out there who have watched me recent personal struggles and sent me so much warmth and support. I am grateful for the love! I am starting to rebound, and imagine this one! I am eating three square meals again. I had dropped an unwanted amount of weight that has left my already lean frame emaciated. It's not that I wasn't eating. I was on the "S" diet program, as in stress. Change, whether it's good or bad, can take its toll and create stress. I am resilient, and I don't mind change per se, but I do mind change after change after change. Now I will never go too deep on my personal life, but I do have a very bright spot in all of this change ... well, several bright spots in fact. We are now finalizing a few projects, and I expect to launch some new ones in the very new future. We have in the pipeline about to go into production Death Grip, Seven Keys to Freedom, 10 Powerful Women and California Gir...

Maybe if I blog about this stuff enough, I'll actually have an impact ... do you think? Today's eye roll (and mostly this stuff makes me laugh because it's so ridiculous). Today's message on Facebook was about my sexiness and (get ready for this one), a question about what color my toes are painted! Let me see, let's keep a score card of come-on nonsense (this will be fun): I look "flexible"; oh, I had one strange guy invite himself along on my vacation; I also got an offer to spend a week in one guy's "Italian Villa" LOL (complete stranger invites me to his villa ... that's a good one ... where do I get a plane ticket? Ha! Kidding); and today's stupidity ... what color are my toes painted? Here is a way better question, "What planet are you from?" Oh, I also had another guy after I told him I wasn't available keep insisting I send him my email address ... you know, so we can be friends. Of course I did not send my email...

Bogged down in exposition : so many writers will spend so much time setting the stage for the drama to take place that they lose the reader in the sheer volume of the details. Many readers will, in fact, check out of the story long before the aforementioned drama even has a chance to occur. Too much exposition is like sludge to the storytelling process and should be avoided. You can easily and effectively set the stage and then just let the drama unfold. Too much minutia : as a reader, I really get distracted and often discouraged by writers who fall in love with the minutia. Whether it's a novel or screenplay, you should only include descriptions of things that move stories forward. In screenplays, you should absolutely only mention that which is relevant to the story, period. You should not add unnecessary elements that don't matter. It's distracting and irrelevant to the actual story. Just ask yourself, "How does this push the story forward?" If it doesn'...

End of the week achieved! I have a media kit I have to write and put together today, but that's the only major pressure. My TV wouldn't work last night ... "no signal"? I don't watch too much television so it's the first time I noticed it all week. Let me just say this, though: when all you want is to sit and watch a mindless dump of your favorite reruns of Season 4 of True Blood , it sucks when it won't come on! Then I thought, "Oh crap! No I have to call Time Warner Cable ... that ought to be an experience." And then I thought, "What if it's something stupid like I sat on the wrong button?" The "skeezy" cable guy will think I'm a complete idiot. After I had those random musings, I realized perhaps I ought to try different buttons before I hit the actual panic "button" ... didn't work. I could have gone to my computer and surfed the Internet and watched some of my favorites like Eric and Sookie Lovers o...

All right up bright and much too early... apparently too early to awaken to a comment on one of my Facebook pictures in which I was told I was "cute" and looked and I quote, "flexible?" Flexible??? Did some guy really have the courage (and I say courage, because Wow it takes some to post something like that) to write that ... in the public portion of my photos no less? The same aforementioned fellow private texted me and told me he was interested (misspellings and all) and asked my age. Okay, new lesson for all you guys out there on the prowl on Facebook, please realize none of what I just wrote is attractive, interesting, alluring or sexy. Do not tell a woman under any circumstances the following: you have good hygiene (how nice for you); ask her age; use text lingo like u r so f-able; message her sexy innuendos when you've never met; tell her you think she "looks" like she would be good in bed (um tacky, tasteless and terrible ... the three Ts); or a...

You know when you hit a point where you say something like, "Oh that younger generation ..." then you have officially become "old." I decided I've hit that point only after once more torturing myself watching that horrible show Girls about four young women in New York and their social lives. This show is a major hit. And I frankly don't get it. Every single time I watch, I am completely aghast (never turned on) at their frank, soft-core porn approach to twentysomething girls and their dating lives. The show is supposed to be funny, and I suppose it's making someone out there laugh, but I am more gob-smacked by it more than anything else. I worry about this, because my book California Girl Chronicles is geared partially toward this audience, but at the same time is highly relatable for women my age who in their younger days may have made Brea's mistakes. While California Girl Chronicles is sexy and I hope funny (reviewers have agreed it's fun...

I blog every day. Some days I can't think of a thing to say. Today is one of those days. So you just have to sit down and let the ideas just pop into your head ... I was up late working last night and slept in. The perils of being an entrepreneur is that you often get sucked into the minutia of business. Sometimes I think, I don't need to mind the store that closely, do I? And then I just get maybe too comfortable and something goes awry. A few things have gone a little haywire, so I have to focus and get things fixed. You have a fine line. As the CEO you want to delegate and allow your team to fill their roles and responsibilities. But if you get too far away from even your basic operations, you can run into snafus. Training is critical, especially when you're in the middle of transitions. I had counted on my former operations manager to properly train my new one. Well, that did not work out so well. The first one left everything incomplete and didn't transition reco...

I have to tell you, I've had some of the best philosophical conversations lately. My girlfriends should all just rule the world and get it over with. What I love about being this age is the sage wisdom I am surrounded by on a daily basis. We've all kind of figured it out to some extent, and it's really quite heartening to explore some of the deeper issues with such amazing women. Sometimes in the middle of major changes and tough situations, you quickly find out who are your friends, and even more interesting find new friends who understand, too. Yesterday I was talking to a girlfriend, and we were talking about healing. She brought up what I have long since embraced -- you have to feel it to get past it. I spent a lot of time not feeling much. I know it's sad to admit. I just quit having feelings. When did that happen when I am actually quite passionate about life in general. Shutting down is like the slowest tide coming in -- it happens in wave after slow wave. Any ...

I finally after resisting it had to break down and text people. It's an interesting floodgate. Once I started doing it, all of my clients and friends must have picked up on the text vibe ... she's texting now let's text her . So, now everyone is texting. Texting has even taken on a form of courtship (among other things). I recently got a surprise text from a male associate out of nowhere. I was surprised to even hear from him. And the texts weren't about work. He was asking me how I was doing and that sort of thing. Pretty soon the texts got a little "flirty" (not really a word) and it dawned on me, this is the new form of the "phone call." Men don't call women anymore. They text them. Think about it. It's almost safer, right? You don't have to face rejection with an actual voice. I also noticed texts are a great way to avoid real conversations, period. Need to talk about something difficult, let's text and that really limits the conv...

Did you know your best sales tool for your business is a book? Here are three reasons you should consider either writing or hiring someone to write a book for your business. A book is 100 times more effective for selling your business to your clients and customers than a brochure. The one thing I love to point out to clients is that while a person will throw away a brochure, he or she will not throw away a book. They might pass it on to someone else or just shelve it, but they will not instantly toss it out. People value books. A book is actually cheaper than a brochure . Here is another shocker: if you produce a full-color brochure that is slick and nice, did you know the per price unit cost is actually more expensive than a print run on a book? A book gives you credibility and a news hook to market and promote your business . Organizations and groups will invite or hire you to come speak to their groups. You know speaking is almost like money in the bank when it comes to expos...

If I don't blog every day my reader stats go down ... so now I am this committed blogging maniac always trying to find something to say that anyone would care about. Now I am blogging in stream of consciousness ... and all you bloggers out there who blog for your business, try and keep up (wink ... and kidding). I have this fantastic life, and I have to share some realizations that I hope will help others going through transitions. I have been going through a bunch of stuff lately, and yesterday was a HUGE shift. I took charge of some issues that were dragging me down. If I can help you all with anything at all, here is my advice: never leave something to indecision . Indecision drags you down, and it can become an albatross around your neck. I finally made some very specific, decisive moves. Second, I had been in reaction mode on a number of levels. Sometimes you need to take charge and empower yourself to get out ahead of stuff. And when in a difficult situation, don't let ...

It's Friday again, and you all know I love to "muse" on Fridays. First, I had a real crazy week, so now I am determined to go out with my radio co-host Sonja Fisher and grab a drink and some girl talk. We were talking last night (and she's got a whopper for the radio show today about her flight from hell), and I said we both needed a big, ole drink and a big laugh. I love sitting around and laughing (it's very healing). I have another friend who sends me funny texts. He probably doesn't realize it (or maybe he does), but I always end up cracking a smile at the amusing things he says, and sometimes completely laughing aloud ... by myself. Does that make me weird LOL ... just kidding. I added a scene in the pilot version of my book California Girl Chronicles where my character Brea has a drink on an empty stomach and ends up with the giggles. I am like that, which is why I added it. I remember one time I went out with a girlfriend and had this drink "thing...

So I got a note from a former male colleague who said the California Girl Chronicles trailer ( click here ) made him blush! You know what is really funny? That trailer only describes a kiss! A kiss not sex! I have to laugh. You see when you write true erotica that isn't so straightforward (think porn), it can be very misleading. The mere suggestion and nothing more than an amazing kiss between two characters and someone blushes over it? I mean, I would maybe blush if it described a sex act. All it really describes are Brea's feelings as she is meeting and kissing the man of her desires. Of course she is turned on -- that's the point. What adds a layer of sexy is the voice-over work provided by the amazing Sonja Fisher. She did an incredible job with voice and inflection to add a richer, deeper level of sexiness and desire. When I heard it, I was astounded. I didn't expect her to go that far. If you have not yet viewed the trailer, please be sure to click above and pass...

Now HBO is releasing the trailers and glimpses into Season 5 of True Blood . The focus seems to mostly be on the release of the infamous, terrorizing and crazy Russell Edgington. This week's "Waiting Sucks" showed Eric questioning his progeny Pam's loyalty and her demand that if he doesn't trust her to release her. Yeah, this looked like pretty good stuff to me. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to Sunday nights again. The new season starts on June 24. Much like my all-time favorite shows which include Friends, Seinfeld, Sex in the City, Entourage and Sopranos , I will eagerly sit and watch new episodes. I haven't been addicted to a great comedy in the long time. Friends provided many great memories for me, too. I used to shut out the house and every Thursday night watch it mostly alone and crack up. You know what cracking up sounds really, really great right about now. I need a really fantastic, deep laugh. Believe it or not, True Blood d...

I was speaking with my girlfriend Sonja Fisher yesterday, and she mentioned that in the Hollywood Reporter it was announced that the two HBO shows about women, Girls and Veep were renewed for a second season. I was not at all surprised about Veep . It's really a great show. Once more on last week's episode Julia Louis-Dreyfus delivered yet another pitch-perfect comedic performance, especially as they had to sort of lift her up so she could keep her knees together (she got very sick) and get her into the limo. Girls , on the other hand, continued to consistently make me scratch my head and ask the ongoing question, "What is so funny about this?" So far, I have no cracked a smile. This show just continually capitalizes on young women not esteeming themselves. At one point, we had the only attractive girl on the show have a sexual run-in with an artist that resulted in her locking herself in the nearest restroom to masturbate. Was that supposed to be funny, sexy ... I...