Funnel Cakes and My Guilty Pleasures

I like to think that I have a strong resolve. I once went to a State Fair and didn’t eat a single funnel cake the entire day. I know it’s not exactly the stuff that Purple Hearts are doled out for, but I kind of thought a mediocre, high school marching band rendition of “Salute to Heroes” as I entered the 4H barns could have been appropriate, considering the feat. 

Despite my iron will, I do have my weaknesses. One in particular comes to mind. On the list, just below vintage, silk kimonos and estate Chanel jewelry, falls “The Holiday.” I have watched this Nancy Meyers song and dance at least 25 times in my life, and, by my best calculations, assuming whatever geriatric care facility I enter at 92 has cable, I will watch it 162 more times…at least. No matter what room of the house I am in, the second Jack Black’s fingers tinkle the keys of his keyboard, my head snaps up like a zombie in The Walking Dead and I am pulled to my sofa. 

Truth is, I think the sequencing of my DNA probably spells out Rom Com. I have long since held a reverence for them, rolling deep to the days of Mystic Pizza, Can’t Buy Me Love and Working Girl. Not only that, I’ve periodically mused to my friends over girls’ trips and, often to myself, in Starbucks lines and on long drives, that I might just have a rom com inside me.

This past year, at one of the craziest moments in my business – I’m a talent manager and producer by trade – I got the itch to give my own women’s fiction dreams a go. So, with my 13year VP on maternity leave and me alone at the office helming the ship, I started writing Unverified because I’m a woman who has never prescribed to doing things methodically. By the time, Erin returned to work and gushed about the brilliant little boy she’d birthed, I informed her I had much bigger news, “I’m writing a novel!” I exclaimed. We both glowed in our respective accomplishments. Okay, I’ll give you that growing an actual human might outrank putting 80,000plus words on a page, but only by a hair. 

From that moment forward, our days fell into two parts: plowing through our real work and then she (and my mother) listening to me read each chapter as I finished them. We called it “story time,” and I made Erin promise that her son Leo would write an Amazon review since he was technically hearing the advance copy. 

As I write this first newsletter, I can’t believe the moment of publishing is here. I feel like a girl in junior high, who’s hoping I’ll get as many people to sign my yearbook as Cori Lewis, the clear matriarch of my class. If I have her tell you it’s as close to Bridget Jones’s Diary or Crazy Rich Asians as you’ll get this summer and so frothy and light you’ll feel the sand on your skin and the salt in your hair of this beach read, will that pull rank with you, because it really seemed to hold weight at my high school?

Anyway, this blog will be my way of sharing what’s going on with the book and, maybe even giving out some solid business pointers, since the other part of my life is chewing through tables to make people’s dreams come true on TV, as products, and in partnerships. 

To entice you, I’ll leave you with this first bit of advice: When you go to the State Fair, skip the deep-fried Oreos and Twinkies. At first bite, they’re everything. Twenty minutes later they’re not. Stick with the funnel cake you showed up for that day. What did you think I was hero who skipped on my own accord? Good thing we have this blog post so you can get to know me better. I’ll try to keep the powdered sugar dust off your keyboard….

"Immensely funny and heartwarming... delivers everything a romantic comedy requires." — Self Publishers Review

“A romantic page turner that will have you laughing out loud. Don’t hesitate with this one!” — Jenni Pulos, star of Bravo’s Flipping Out

"Such a relatable book with something for everyone. Love, friendship, work woes, family drama, pop culture. All the good stuff wrapped up in this page turner. Don’t head to the beach without this book in your bag. A MUST-READ!!!! — Erin S., Illinois

“In a category that rarely surprises you, this book does. I was all in from the first page to the last.” — Katrina B., Ohio

“I couldn’t put it down. I hid out so often in the bathroom reading that my toes went numb sitting on the edge of the tub. My children started to push notes under the door asking me what was for dinner.” — Heather A., Colorado

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