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Fifteen Minutes of Shame - a novel
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Meet Lisa Daily
Lisa's Desk - about Lisa Daily, stuff for writers, how to get published

I love books!FOR WRITERS

I love books. One of the best perks of being a writer is that I get a lot of free books. I love to read, I love to be around writers, particularly good ones. I love that feeling, when I?m sitting in my bathtub, that I?ve stumbled onto a spectacular book, or even a wonderful turn of phrase.


what I?m working on now:
I?m working on a new novel, tentatively titled The Truth About Gossip and a new dating book.  Both will be out in 2009.

how I became a writer:
I?m pretty sure I was born one  (although, I may have been brainwashed while in the womb ? my Grandma Vernie always said she wanted a writer in the family.) That said, there?s a bit of distance between having the ability to put words together and actually making a living from it. I recommend that anyone wanting to write books starts by getting the best writing job you can swing (newspaper, magazine, advertising copywriter) where you are surrounded by, and hopefully supervised by, writers who are far better than you are.  Learn everything you can.

about writer?s block:
I don?t believe in it.  Some days I write crap, and some days writing is blissful, smooth and easy.  What separates working writers from wannabe writers is sticking it out, getting it done, whether your muse is on vacation or not.

how I found my agent:
My first agent found me.  I found my current agent, Jenny Bent at Trident, after a long process of researching the agents and agencies representing my favorite authors in my genre.    (Yes, I basically scoured the acknowledgments sections of my favorite books in my genre.) I made a list of five ?dream agents? and Jenny Bent was on that list.  She read my manuscript and loved it, a few days later she was my agent.

more books

My favorite writers:
Anything by Jane Austen, Delia Ephron, Nora Ephron, Jennifer Weiner, Sophie Kinsella, Oscar Wilde, Jane Green. I loved Freakonomics for the writing.  I love Eats, Shoots and Leaves for the punctuation stickers in the back. Liberating Paris by Linda Bloodworth Thomason was a revelation, and Michael Alvear, Lisa Earle McLeod and Lenore Skenazy crack me up.

insidesmlisacan

to outline, or not to outline:
I use a rough outline that includes basic character sketches and a general idea of the action.  I also use a technique called ?storyboarding? which I stole from Janet Evanovich.  Actually, I read about it in her book, How I Write, just about the time I was stuck in the middle of writing Fifteen Minutes. (27 scenes floating around in my head, and no idea what order they should go in.) Storyboarding is a film and television technique for laying out scenes.  Since I?d used storyboarding for most of my advertising career in writing TV spots, it made perfect sense to me.

my whiteboard
Now, I write all the scenes on a giant whiteboard in my office, which makes it easier to figure out what happens to each character, in what order.

will I blurb your book?
That depends.  For legal reasons, I cannot review unpublished manuscripts. That said, if you have a published or about-to-be-published book you?d like me to blurb, please send me a .


macmac or pc? pc
I have been working on macs since college ? mac is the computer of choice for most ad agencies and production houses, and I spent the early part of my career as a copywriter.  I work on a MacBook Pro. I like it because it works the way my brain does. I tend to get very attached to the ?feel? of a particular keyboard, when it?s time to upgrade to a new laptop, I always have a few jittery weeks at the thought of leaving my old keyboard behind. 

Questions? 
Keep writing! 

xoxo, Lisa

Books Ilovelove:

by  Jane Austen (anything by Austen, really)
by Jennifer Weiner

by Linda Bloodworth Thomason

by Delia Ephron

by Lisa Earle McLeod

by Michael Alvear

Must-have books for writers:

by Stephen King
by Janet Evanovich
(book)
(workbook)
(book)
(workbook)

by John Kremer

by Lynne Truss

 

Read FREE Sneak Peek

Other links of interest:

www.thedebutanteball.com
The Debutante Ball ? a group blog featuring six debut novelists. I blog here every Wednesday, so feel free to stop on by.


Sadly, the venerable Miss Snark is no longer blogging, but this is by far my single favorite blog on the subject of getting published.
link to iTunes mix tape
This was my playlist while writing Fifteen Minutes of Shame.  I typically listen to the same song over and over again while I?m working on a scene.  A few months ago, I met Amy Tan at a cocktail party and she told me she writes the exact same way. Of course, she?s listening to some French classical guitarist and I?m listening to ABBA. But other than that, we?re practically twins.
Get a Six-Figure Book Advance
This is a really great guide to writing a book proposal that sells, with lots of examples of fantastic six-figure proposals, and even a plug-and-play template that practically does the work for you.

Find out when Lisa
will be in your city.

Dreamgirl Margarita Recipe

Make a night of it!  Get Lisa?s Dreamgirl Margarita Recipe

Lisa Daily in Sarasota Magazine
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