TV and Reality

I confess that lately I'm having trouble enjoying TV shows. I find myself constantly picking them apart. Anyone watch Friday Night Lights?

I lived in Texas for several years and in one town where football was everything--except it wasn't as rural as Dillon, Texas. I don’t want to nit-pick the show; especially if some of you have TIVO'd the program to watch later. But every episode I end up muttering to my husband "Like a kid would get away with that in real life." Or "Yeah, right, school counselors always walk around flashing their cleavage." And yes I do understand that the cleavage shots are strictly to entertain male viewers…if anyone has any doubts just turn on the Ghost Whisper when your husband or teenage son is in the room and watch him suddenly find the storyline fascinating. My husband responds to my mutterings with …"Hey, its television" Or "It's entertainment, it doesn’t have to be real or make sense."

Maybe writing romance books is responsible for ruining my enjoyment of TV. Today's romance readers demand stories rooted in reality--they want to believe that what happens to the hero or heroine could happen to someone in real life and I strive for that in my books. So…does anyone else feel this way about TV shows or am I just plain weird?

Happy Reading and TV viewing!

Marin
*Hearts of Appalachia*
For The Children (Oct 07)
In A Soldier's Arms (Feb 08)
A Coal Miner's Wife (Aug 08)
http://www.marinthomas.com/

Fifteen minutes of fame

In 1968, artist Andy Warhold said, "In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes." In those pre-Internet days, that sounded like an outlandish claim.

Now, we see it happening all the time. In fact, it just happened to the son of a good friend of my family’s, in a sequence of events worthy of a Harlequin American romance

New York resident Patrick Moberg – whose parents live across the street from my parents in Nashville, Tennessee – saw a cute girl on the subway. Just as he worked up the nerve to introduce himself, she exited, and a knot of people prevented him from following.

So he did what any savvy 21-year-old Web site designer would do. He posted a site, nygirlofmydreams.com, featuring sketches of himself and the cutie, along with a description of her and some sweet, humorous remarks begging readers to help him find her.

Instead, the media found him.

Next thing he knew, he was being featured on ABC-TV (read all about it at http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3828525&page=1) and his parents were fielding calls from reporters around the globe. It wasn’t just New Yorkers who got a chuckle, it was also people as far away as Australia which, as it turned out, is where the young lady hails from.

Did they meet? Yes. And clicked, according to Patrick. The girl of his dreams is a 22-year-old magazine intern named Camille Hayton, and they’ve appeared together on “Good Morning America.” They also went out to dinner, on ABC’s dime.

All very well. Here’s the part of the story that should interest us authors, though.

The same week that Patrick was rocketing to fame, his sister, Julia Moberg, saw her first novel published. Entitled Skies Over Sweetwater, it’s the story of an 18-year-old girl who trains as an Air Force pilot during World War II. Suitable for all ages, it’s aimed at celebrating the Women Air Force Service Pilots and encouraging young women to take an interest in aviation.

Needless to say, Julia did not get featured on “Good Morning America.” ABC did not pay for her to eat a fancy dinner (let alone travel there by limousine), nor were her parents swamped with calls from abroad about her new book.

She’s just an author, like the rest of us. Hard-working and still dreaming of our fifteen minutes of fame.
Well, here’s a tip of the hat – and a bit of blog attention -- to Julia Moberg. Good luck with your book, and keep on flyin’!

Deja Vu--Or did I really do that already?

First, happy Veteran's Day. Yes, technically it was yesterday, but today was the day off/holiday. Most schools in my area were in session today and hosting ceremonies and remembrances.

I'm posting this a bit late because I swore I'd written a blog and emailed it to myself to post from work. I got to work and looked in my inbox. No blog. I went home, checked my outbox. No blog. Maybe I didn't write it.

I'm currently mailing out books. I swore I sent one out to Nick Kenig, but the more I think about it, maybe not. I'm sending another just in case. I think I'd written the card so many times in my mind that I thought I'd done it--but in reality, I hadn't. I did delete the email with his address, but perhaps that was a mistake too.

Do you get like that sometimes? That you swore you've done something, only to realize you really haven't?

For example, I swore I put the name Kathleen Kennedy in my book Nine Months' Notice (on final edits). I've looked all through, but can't find it. I'm going to have a friend look. It would simply be a one line reference. If you find it, let me know what page.

Perhaps my mind is slipping. Maybe it's simply overload, but I'm learning that, too, is normal. I guess I've been so wrapped up in reading reviews, sending out books, working on manuscripts that I can't remember what I've done and what I haven't. The brain really does toss out a lot of information if you don't store it properly. Right now I'm dumping everything that's not essential to breathing.

I just returned from a jounalism teacher convention in Philadelphia, so that's taken a bit out of my routine. While I was gone, some switch on my refrigerator fried, so I lost everything in the appliance. I used yesterday to clean the entire inside so it's like new. The repair is done--$121 dollars later.

Cheaper than a new fridge. I'm also sensing the "what if" premise for another book. I'm being a glass full person here. Maybe stress causes the mind to forget.

So speaking of, my website finally got updated and so did my blog. I don't think I've said that lately, so feel free to check them out at www.micheledunaway.com and www.micheledunaway.blogspot.com

Nothing fancy, but there are some new pics and such.

Michele