First Word

Are you looking for that great beach book? You know the one that is pure mind candy? Maybe you need a book for that long plane ride to your vacation hot spot. My company 3L Publishing has some great books for some summer reading fun -- mind candy, brain junk, escapist pleasure. So here are the new releases books out of the 3L catalog I recommend if you want to just lay on the beach and do a whole lot of nothing but read and not think. Now this one is just gratuitous to promote, but it is the THE beach read of the summer releases. It's my book  California Girl Chronicles, Brea's Big Brea . The second book picks up where book one,  Brea and the City of Plastic  (which you can get for .99 cents on Kindle on Amazon,  click here ). Brea has finally gotten her first screenwriting job, but what's a girl to do when she still can't get her dreamboat producer's forgiveness along with a myriad of other hot men to choose from, including the crazy rich playboy Ryan and the ...

The following is an excerpt from the forthcoming book California Girl Chronicles, Brea's Big Break due out this winter. For more information on the book, visit our website at www.3LPublishing.com.  1 I arrived at the pristine offices where, as usual, Erin the receptionist, greeted me with a warm smile. Every time I saw Erin, I intended to ask her out to drinks. She was so sweet and charming. I knew she would make a great girlfriend. She offered the requisite Perrier and brought it out and placed it on a coaster in front of me. I was nervous. I had not seen Kale in weeks. He had been in Arizona on the set of his new movie. I missed him even though I had no right to miss him. I had thought about calling him several times, but realized he needed time and distance away from me. As I sipped my Perrier, Erin smiled at me. “You look so pretty,” she offered. I looked down at my collared, white blouse and silver-colored skirt. I had dressed conservatively but sexy enough...

Every author has his/her process. I've spoken to some authors who outline their stories. They did a "cast" list and figure out each character's role. They try to identify their characters' arcs and development. Other writers do index cards, which in some ways is kind of old fashioned, don't you think? We're in the digital era, but for these writers that makes sense. I actually don't question the process, because it's different for everyone. If you're a new writer and want some great advice on getting started, here are some fabulous ideas: Non-fiction and the Table of Contents -- I always recommend that authors whether they are new to their crafts or old dogs should start non-fiction books with a well-thought-out table of contents. The table of contents becomes your roadmap and guide for how you will organizationally write the book. I encourage new writers to have an outside person review their table of contents. You will notice that all books...

Identity -- I started letting other people's comments about things like my blogger picture that I thought was fun up-end my confidence. How silly of me. I liked my blogger picture, as I felt it reflected my out-there personality and fun-loving nature. Who would you rather work with? An uptight corporate suite or fun me? I think fun me is way, way better ;). I took those photos to reflect the author of California Girl Chronicles , because let's just say if you're going to write a fun, racy book, your image should at the very least match. I mean come on now sexy for sexy ... just saying. I do find it really funny when you see a clearly introverted author who has a racy book, though -- now that is ironic. Well, the last few months have weighed me down quite a bit. But it's time to shift, get ready and go! We've got a very exciting summer ahead I must say. We're re-tooling the California Girl Chronicles pilot with the goal to make it a top five cable show ... lo...

Another fabulous review of California Girl Chronicles appeared on Cook Travel Write :  California Girl Chronicles: Brea and the City of Plastic , written by Michelle Gamble-Risley, is a must-read for those of you who need a fun (and very sexy) escape.  This story draws the reader right in to the indulgent escapades of Brea Harper, a blonde bombshell who embodies the classic idea of the California girl – at least externally.  Brea is certainly no Cher Horowitz from  Clueless , who we all remember as the gum-smacking, hair-twirling valley girl that said “like” every other sentence.  Brea is smarter than your average bear, and is determined to show her talent as a screenwriter when she moves to Los Angeles.  This is where the fun really starts.  While Brea may have a one-track mind when it comes to her career, she seems to lack this discipline when it comes to her men, causing her love life to become nothing short of tangled and complicated.  A...

‘California Girl Chronicles: Brea and The City of Plastic’ by Michelle Gamble-Risley is an erotic and beguiling prose that will catalyze an ineffaceable case of sleeplessness as she seizes you on a roller-coaster tryst with Brea, whose contemptible feral escapades quixotically and proficiently twang your sensitivity threads rooting you to yelp with enchantment, whimper with sympathy, and chortle until you cave in. In this sequence, you will meet the incredibly sexy 22 year old archetypal California lass Brea Harper, flaxen and gorgeous, but chic than the rest, who is a lot into what she desires out of verve and whose droll amusing splendorous luster and appalling craving for sex sling her into a multitude of intricate affairs as she in chorus endeavor to accomplish her ideas by chasing her calling to grow to be a screenwriter.   She shifts to Los Angeles after losing her work as an editor at a local magazine, just to be incessantly abstracted by assorted yet in sum charming ex...

Readers of the first print run of California Girl Chronicles: Brea and the City of Plastic missed out. When I did the second print run, I rewrote and added a lot of new material. Some of it was to provide more character development and some of it was to develop relationships a little deeper. The reviewers, and we've had over 20 requests to review the book in the last two weeks, are seeing the new edition. So, here on the blog I'm going to pull some relevant excerpts from the new edition to give you a peek at what you didn't get to read. The following is the revised scene when Brea first meets our kind and loving producer, Kale. I smiled and slinked by him just enough that he could feel my energy but far enough that we didn’t touch. I sensed his smile, turned, and grinned back. As I walked into the lounge area, I heard Drew’s band already playing. I decided to find an open stool at the bar and just hang back until he finished. Fortunately, a guy already drunk got up, ...

It's Sunday and I only do fun things on Sunday for the blog. I get asked all of the time, "Are you Brea?" And I tell people "no" all of the time. So what do Brea and I share in common? Here you go: We both worked on a magazine . I worked on several over the course of my long career, and I was promoted to publisher of California Computer News . It wasn't until about two years ago that I pulled back writing magazine features to focus exclusively on 3L Publishing's books. Brea's magazine stint lasts only a few months before she's laid off with the infamous day-glow pink slip. I've never been laid off in my entire career.  Brea's best friend's name is Denise . My lifetime best friend's name is also Denise. Denise in Brea's world has zero in common with my beloved Denise. Denise in California Girl Chronicles is an exhibitionist and very direct and messy. My Denise is none of those things.  Brea is a screenwriter . Yes, I am al...

Hugely annoyed that California Girl Chronicles is out of stock on Amazon and not yet available in bookstores? Well, you can purchase a copy at the 3L Publishing website and forget waiting for Amazon to restock. Our distributor Bakers and Taylor will not start listing the title until March, so it will take time to weave into the stores. In the meantime, you can get it at 3L Publishing, and you're really supporting me, the author, and not Amazon, which I'm sure doesn't need all of your support anyway. We've had over 20 book reviewers request the book this week. Here is what the book is about:  Meet Brea Harper, she is the next Carrie Bradshaw only transplanted in Los Angeles. Funny, witty, beautiful, and very sexy, Brea takes readers on a wild ride into her outrageous romantic and professional life. Demoralized and forced to work in what she calls   bikini hell   just to make ends meet, Brea pursues her career to become a screenwriter only to be continuously distrac...

Whenever I go out networking, I inevitably return to home base with fun stories. If you've read my book California Girl Chronicles then you know my heroine Brea is demoralized when she's forced to wear a funny T-shirt with the phrase "Love My Coconuts" emblazoned across her chest. Here in 3L Publishing La La land, we thought it would be great fun to send book reviewers that phrase on a T-shirt as a thank you for their reviews. When I mentioned this to my girlfriends last night, two of them immediately demanded I have 40 extra printed for them to gift or sell to their friends and associates. I started laughing. I had no idea there was so much passion about wearing the infamous coconut phrase across your chest. One of the women said it was way better than the breast cancer phrases. I never thought of it that way and laughed. Yes, I think I would have more fun with that, too. Now dear readers if you think you too are going to want one of these darlings, you should send...

Here is a new review of California Girl Chronicles reposted from Ziggy Soto's blog . Ms. Soto does book reviews for a number of mainstream book review sites as well as her own. I would like to personally thank her for taking her valuable time to read the book and write her critique. Thank you! Book 1 of Michelle Gamble-Risley’s California Girl Chronicles is not what you’d expect—it sure wasn’t what I expected anyway. And I’ll admit I wasn’t disappointed at all. Everyone loves an entertaining, escape-for-awhile novel, and that is exactly what Brea & the City of Plastic is. Book 1 takes us through Brea Harper’s journey of moving to Los Angeles to make it as a screenwriter, while going through some fun, sexy, humiliating, and heartbreaking moments along the way. In a world where business and professional lines are blurred, this novel is more than appropriately titled, and there’s never a dull moment. While Brea may be a born-and-raised Cali girl, women everywhere can relate ...

If I blog on Sunday, I always try to focus on inconsequential fun. Since my reader statistics showed that many of you like to read the funny and comedic excerpts from my books and screenplays, I thought I would start the day off with humor from the California Girl Chronicles series. Enjoy! "You don't treat women like hamburger and they won't treat you like hotdog." ~ Kale, Brea and the City of Plastic "My logical smart girl side of me was screaming, 'Run Brea, run!' Yet here I was on the back of a mare with a guy who appeared to have no brains, which was really unattractive in a man. Remember I was smart and smart likes smart. Today I wasn't smart enough to get off that horse and go home." ~ Brea, Brea and the City of Plastic INT - Red-Velvet Loung - Night Tom Jones wears a boring white shirt and black trousers. He walks on stage, strips off his horrible corporate attire to reveal black disco plants and a red silk shirt. He sings, "...

I was watching that little promo clip you see On-Demand for other channels and programs. Writer and director Ed Burns was on promoting his new independent film Newlyweds . The host asked him if his hero was based on himself. He said (and I'm paraphrasing), he rarely writes about himself through his characters. He typically bases his characters on his friends or people he knows. Since I have been asked if I'm Brea, I thought this would make a good blog topic. What Burns said is most commonly the case. Good character development can and should be based on people you know or watch enough to know their gestures and habits. A model to base a character on helps define the character in the writer's mind. It also informs the character's behaviors and actions. I regularly base my characters on people I've met over the years or favorite actors or actresses (particularly if it's a screenplay) to use as a model to help me figure out how they would say something or how the...