2004
November 10, 2004 @ 3:44 PM
I'm in techno hell right now. I attempted to send out an e-newsletter this morning, and somehow the mail server stopped sending it somewhere along the way and started sending out last month's newsletter instead. How is that even possible? And the worst thing is that I have no idea who has received what or when. Or even if, for that matter. GAWD, I hate this, but the good news is writing the next novel is starting to look less challenging. So, just in case it never manages to get through to you, this is today's newsletter:
MULTIPLE MOVIES!
Hi Everybody!
Okay, before I tell you what it was like on the set of Must Love Dogs, I have to fill you in on the wonderful news I returned home to: My third novel, Multiple Choice, has been optioned by Working Title!!! Woo-hoo!! Yahoo!! Yabba Dabba Do!! I love Working Title (or love, love them as they say in Hollywood.) They've made so many great, quirky movies - Fargo, Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Billy Elliot, Bridget Jones, etc., etc. Hugh Grant has starred in lots of them -- do you think they could be thinking about him to play David Callahan, radio producer and object of March Monroe's midlife crush in Multiple Choice? Hmmm, I guess time will tell. . . To read the first chapter of Multiple Choice, click on this link or copy and paste it into your browser: http://www.clairecook.com/id16.htm.
And now for my other movie news -- I had so much fun on the set of Must Love Dogs! It was really, truly a magical time. My husband and kids came out with me for the first weekend, and Gary David Goldberg gave a party so we could meet the cast and producers. There were even valet girls with pink scarves around their necks to take everyone's cars. And heat lamps so we could eat outside, though having just arrived from New England, it sure felt balmy to us.
I figured my family and I would be peeling carrots in the kitchen, which would have been fine since we all have experience, but instead everyone was kind and welcoming and we got to meet Diane Lane, Christopher Plummer, John Cusack, Dermot Mulroney and Stockard Channing. Plus some talented up-and-coming actors including Julie Gonzalo, Ali Hillis, Brad Henke and Jamie Denbo. Oh, and the dogs, of course.
Between the appetizers and dinner, we all sat around for a table read, which is when the cast reads the script together for the very first time. My family and I received personalized scripts and even had small parts to read. My husband was one of Diane Lane's dates - not bad for a first acting gig! My kids had a blast, too - although when John Cusack and Dermot Mulroney introduced themselves to my daughter at the same time, she was so nervous that when she tried to tell them I was her mother, she couldn't remember my name. Though I did notice she had no trouble remembering HER name . . .
I stayed around for the first part of shooting - they even had a director's chair for me with my name on it! (Of course, I took pictures, and you can see some of them on my blog - http://www.clairecook.com/id2.htm.) It was amazing to see a bath house in San Pedro, CA turned into the imaginary Bayberry Preschool, though it's now Bay Berry Pre-School. (Don't ask; I didn't.) But the set was amazingly detailed and authentic, and there were two multicultural dance specialists and an educational consultant on set to oversee the very tinikling dance I taught all by myself to about a zillion kids back in my teaching days, and for far less money, I imagine. But, they asked my opinion a couple of times, and the educational consultant said I could have a job at her school anytime.
Writing my fourth novel seems like a better move, so I'll be hiding out until it's finished. But first, I'm going to New York to co-emcee the 2004 Thurber Prize for American Humor, with Andy Borowitz, no less. The finalists are Robert Kaplow (Me and Orson Welles), Dan Zevin (The Day I Turned Uncool) and Christopher Buckley (No Way to Treat a First Lady). To see who wins, or to find out more about entering YOUR book next year, go to http://www.thurberhouse.org/prize/default.htm.
Everyone keeps asking, so I'll tell you that right now the release date for the Must Love Dogs movie is August 5, 2005, though it could change. If you go to http://www.countingdown.com/movies/3562999, there's a very cool clock, and you can see how many days, hours, minutes and seconds are left until the movie comes out. And, while you're there, I hope you wouldn't mind clicking on "Write a Review," and encouraging people to read the book while they're waiting for the movie. Thanks -- I'd really appreciate that.
Once again, multiple thanks to friends, family, readers, booksellers and the media for your continued support, and I hope you'll forward this email to anyone and everyone!
If this free e-mail newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can subscribe by clicking on this link, or by copying and pasting it into your browser: http://www.clairecook.com/id25.htm
xxxxx,
Claire
November 9, 2004 @ 2:39 PM
I'm just about to send out a newsletter. In the meantime, here are some photos from the set of Must Love Dogs.
Filming began in San Pedro, CA on October 14 @ 7:30 AM:
The set was amazing. A San Pedro bath house was turned into Bayberry Preschool. Yes, that's me:
We should all get to curl up and take a nap at a school like this:
And what a great reading loft:
They even had a director's chair for me with my name on it:
Just in case you couldn't read it, I got a close-up:
And here's the back of it:
Oh, and I actually got to sit in the chair, too. Do you think I was obsessed enough with my chair? (Bonnie Sikowitz, script consultant; me; Julie Ragland, associate producer; Suzanne Todd, producer):
And this is Julie Gonzalo (with me). Julie plays June. She also played one of the mean girls in Freaky Friday and she's Jamie Lee Curtis' daughter in Christmas with the Kranks. She's very talented (and sweet) and I think she's going to be really famous:
And this is Jami Denbo, who is actually very pretty and dresses much better than this in real life. She plays Bertha, one of the teachers at Bayberry Preschool. Jamie is hilarious and so talented, and she's also a stand up comic and she just finished filming Still Single. She grew up in Massachusetts, so what's not to like:
I happened to be in there when Brad Henke, who plays Leo, was getting his makeup done. Leo is actually Lorna in the book, but I think I like her/him better as Leo. Brad is also very talented and he makes a great preschool teacher -- he does a mean tinikling dance:
More photos to come, along with that newsletter I promised. To see pictures of the rest of the cast, click here.
October 7, 2004@8:10 AM
Okay, I really am leaving, but I just had to let you know about the very latest developments on the DOGS front:
Click here to go to the Must Love Dogs Movie page.
October 6, 2004 @ 2:56 PM
Okay, I'm heading out to Hollywood -- can you believe it? I'll give you a full report when I get back, in the meantime you can get all the official news by following this link:
Saturday, October 2,, 2004 @ 11:03 AM
Jay Allen just emailed me about a contest you might be interested in. It's called Blogging for Books, and according to Jay, "up-and-coming authors pick the best blog post submitted on the current month's theme, and the winner receives a signed copy of the author's book." You can find out more at http://www.thezeroboss.com/archives/000985.html
Thursday, September 30, 2004@7:30 PM
Today's newsletter, just in case you didn't receive it. (Click here to subscribe -- it's free!)
Hi Everybody!
Well, I'm packing up and getting ready to head out to Hollywood next week for the filming of MUST LOVE DOGS! I hear they're all riding around in golf carts that actually say Must Love Dogs on the side! I'm not sure if they'll let me drive one, but I've been told I can sit in the director's chair as long as I want to. Woo-hoo!
Gary David Goldberg has come up with an amazing cast. The following are official so far:
Sarah - Diane Lane
Dad - Christopher Plummer
John Anderson - John Cusack
Bob Connor - Dermot Mulroney
Everyone keeps asking me whether anything will change in the movie version. Sorry to have to break this to you, but Mother Teresa is no longer a St. Bernard. She's a - gasp -- Newfoundland. I know, I know, it hasn't been easy for me either. And who knows why. Maybe St. Bernards are divas on the set. Maybe they're overexposed after the Beethoven movies. So, I'm trying to trust the process and hang onto the fact that I've never met a Newfie I didn't like.
In other news, things are looking good for a movie option for MULTIPLE CHOICE, too! Hopefully, I'll have great news about that in my next newsletter.
And speaking of MULTIPLE CHOICE, I had such a fabulous time on book tour this summer. Thanks so much to the many readers who came out to share in the fun, and to the wonderful booksellers and librarians who were kind enough to host me. You can find photos of my book tour events on my blog: http://www.clairecook.com/id2.htm
I was lucky enough to be included in Hillel Italie's AP article, “More Authors Keeping Online Journals.” If you missed it, you can find several links to it on my online author journal, aka blog - how appropriate! http://www.clairecook.com/id2.htm
No idea why MUST LOVE DOGS was so prominently displayed on the bookstore shelves (face out, no less!) in the season premiere of Joan of Arcadia. Luck of the Irish? Divine intervention? Again, who knows, but thanks to those of you who called and emailed to let me know.
Once again, multiple thanks to friends, family, readers, booksellers and the media for your continued support, and I hope you'll forward this email to anyone and everyone!
If this free e-mail newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can subscribe by clicking on this link, or by copying and pasting it into your browser: http://www.clairecook.com/id25.htm
Talk to you soon!
xxxxx,
Claire
Saturday, September 25, 2004 @ 9:39 AM
Well, first the AP article yesterday, and then last night my phone started ringing off the hook! Turns out a copy of MUST LOVE DOGS was prominently visible in a bunch of scenes in the season premiere of Joane of Arcadia! I turned on the TV quickly, and even caught a glimpse of my author photo! No idea how it was chosen, but if anyone out there happens to know the set designer, please say thanks for me. Product placement? Great taste in books? Divine intervention? Who knows . . .
But the timing is perfect since I'm getting ready to pack up and head out to Hollywood for the filming of the Must Love Dogs MOVIE!! Woo-hoo! If you're one of the few people in the universe I haven't told personally, Gary David Goldberg is writing/directing/producing, Warner Bros. is the studio partner, and Diane Lane and Christopher Plummer are starring! I'm hoping I can share more news next week, so check back in.
Friday, September 24, 2004 @ 3:46 PM
Wow, the power of AP! The famous Hillel Italie was kind enough to include this very blog in a really interesting article he wrote which was released today, "More Authors Keeping Online Journals." I'm getting amazing amounts of email from everywhere! These are the links to the article people have sent me so far:
Anyway, you're here now and I'm happy to have you, so scroll down and check out my blog -- and if you haven't read my new novel, MULTIPLE CHOICE, you can read an excerpt by clicking here.
Thursday, September 23, 2004 @ 12:46 PM
Here's a link to a story announcing the Thurber Prize for American Humor finalists: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/ I'm thrilled and honored to be a judge this year, and to co-emcee the awards ceremony on Nov. 15 with Andy Borowitz in NY -- at the Algonquin, James Thurber's old hangout, no less!
The Boston chapter of the Women's National Book Association has a couple of great fall workshops coming up. For more info, go to http://www.wnbaboston.org/
It's been nice to hear from so many of the students from my Cape Cod Writers Center workshop last month -- hope you're all writing away!
Love this weather. I've been gardening and walking and reading out on the porch while I still can.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004 @ 3:53 PM
Not only have I been lazy about blogging, but I've been getting lots of email asking why my next e-newsletter hasn't gone out yet. Sorry -- I'm waiting until I can give you an update on the MUST LOVE DOGS movie as well as news about a feature film option for MULTIPLE CHOICE. As soon as I have news I can share, I promise I will. In the meantime, if you haven't signed up for my e-newsletter, you can do it now by clicking here.
Jacqueline Loring of Cape Cod Writers Center was kind enough to send along this picture of talented screenwriter Peter Tolan and me. He stopped by to talk to Rachel Cline's screenwriting class while I was at CCWC teaching a class. Turns out we went to high school together -- what are the chances? Sadly, I'm three years older . . .
Friday, August 27, 2004 @ 10:41 AM
What a crazy summer! I tried to take lots of pictures so you'd feel as though you got to come along with me on book tour, and I have to admit this is my favorite photo. I was coming back from Cape Cod Writers Center's summer conference (where I had a blast, by the way -- put it on your list for next summer-- www.capecodwriterscenter.com.) It's a good thing I wasn't driving, because I just had to get a picture of this:
Stone Buddha in Truck
And this is my other favorite photo, which might need a bit of explanation. When I sign books, I stamp them, too. With Must Love Dogs, I use a dog print stamp, and with Multiple Choice, it's a polka dot thong stamp. (You'll have to read the book to find out why.). Anyway, at a recent event at a bookstore that will remain nameless to protect a certain pregnant woman, we got a little bit silly. What can I say, it was just one of those things that happen sometimes. (She was going to go home and tell her husband that it was a new gender test. If a pair of boxers had appeared, it would have meant she was having a boy!)
Baby's FIrst Thong
And here's a photo of the students in my CCWC workshop, at least the ones that didn't go into hiding when they saw the camera . . . The class was held in the Tabernacle, which was a very cool place, though a bit dark:
I Miss You All!
This was my room for the week at Craigville Conference Center, where I woke up each day to a gorgeous ocean view. Plus five beds all to myself. If this doesn't sound like a big deal to you, then you didn't grow up as one of eight kids. I considered sleeping in a different one each night, just because I could.
Four of My Five CCWC Beds
And, getting back to book tour, here's a photo of the wonderful Bess Moye of Cabbages and Kings in Chatham, MA and the best sales rep in the entire world, the Penguin Group's and my very own Karl Krueger:
Claire, Bess & Karl
And this from the fabulous and creative Joey Mitchell at Booksmith in Hanover, MA. In case you can't read it, it says: "We have the answer for the last days of summer: Multiple Choice by Claire Cook."
Thanks, Joey and everyone at Booksmith!
Here's one of Dawn Donovan, the new owner of Armchair Books in Dennis, MA. Dawn gave me the coolest red polka dot dress earrings when I did a signing there. Thanks, Dawn!
Dawn and Me
We had a packed house at the famous R.J. Julia in Madison, CT, including a couple of mother/daughter combos. Here's one side of the room:
R.J. Julia
And here's what one reader was wearing to work the next day:
Ling with Thong
Friday, July 30, 2004 @ 8:03AM
Just in case you missed yesterday's e-newsletter, I'll paste it below. I send it out once a month, and if you'd like to subscribe, you can do that by clicking here.
Hi Everybody,
I'm back from my MULTIPLE CHOICE book tour long enough to put in some laundry, put up my feet and post some book tour photos on my website. To see them click on this link, or copy and paste it into your browser: http://www.clairecook.com/id2.htm.
Best event so far: All of them! Truly, I've been just overwhelmed by the beauty of the bookstores, the creativity of the owners/events coordinators, and the enthusiasm of the readers who have attended. Some of those readers had even driven for hours to get there! And a special thanks to all the mother/daughter/grandmother combos who turned out to tell me their back-to-college stories. And to the book groups who were kind enough to take field trips to my events.
Most embarrassing moment so far: Sitting onstage at my Rainy Day Books, Kansas City event, waiting my turn while Billie Letts was speaking, when a cellphone started to ring. I looked around for the incredibly rude person it belonged to, only to find out it was . . .mine! Sleep-deprivation was no excuse, nor was the fact that the caller (my daughter) forgot that I was in Central time. Silver lining: my teenage daughter actually called to see how my event had gone.
Most extra time spent in an airport due to weather: Five hours in Raleigh-Durham. (Silver lining: better in the airport than up in the air.)
Most wonderful introduction: There were so many good ones, but Richard Gregg's is the one that made it to my scrapbook -- "Which of the following best describes what someone can expect to experience while attending Claire Cook's reading at the Brookline Booksmith?
a) Being coaxed into an uncontrollable fit of laughter as Claire reads from her hilarious and captivating new novel, Multiple Choice
b) Being surrounded in the audience by Cook-a-holics who have been chomping at the bit for the follow-up novel of her oh-so-popular Must Love Dogs
c) Having a spell cast on you by Claire's wonderful smile and spellbinding spirit, causing you to grab one of her books, get it signed, and begin reading as soon as possible
d) And I bet you didn't see this one coming . . . All of the above"
Best news since my last newsletter:
a) More Magazine chose MULTIPLE CHOICE for its summer Don't Miss list!
b) Having mistakenly announced that Diane Lane would not be starring in the MUST LOVE DOGS movie (I don't know about you, but it sure scared me for a minute!) USA Weekend kindly printed a correction in the July 25 edition. UBU hangs the DOGS shingle out at Warner Bros. on August 2, and I've been advised to start drinking champagne because it's really happening!
c) Publishers Weekly's (two page!) interview, "Successful Late Bloomer" ran in the July 26 edition of the magazine.
d) My high school English teacher, Peter Nord, wasn't even insulted that I'd named a less-than-savory character in MULTIPLE CHOICE after him. In fact, he sent me a note to say I no longer owed him that decades overdue paper on Moby Dick! (I'm pretty sure he made that late paper bit up.)
e) All of the above
Favorite recent review:
"If you're a parent with a daughter starting college this fall, your to-do list should look something like this:
Make sure there are plenty of minutes on her cell-phone plan.
Get a copy of her schedule so you don't call her at (shudder) the early hour of noon when her first class isn't until 2.
Read "Multiple Choice" by Claire Cook, a pitch-perfect and perfectly funny novel about a mother and daughter and those first scary, heady days of college."
- Judith Evans
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Still to come this summer: I'll be teaching a class at the Cape Cod Writers Center's summer conference, A Place in the Sun, from August 15-20. For more information, go to www.capecodwriterscenter.com. I'll also be doing several MULTIPLE CHOICE events while I'm on the Cape. For my MULTIPLE CHOICE events schedule, go to http://www.clairecook.com/id24.htm.
Both the mass market and the brand new trade edition of MUST LOVE DOGS contain a fun book group guide. To see some of the discussion questions, go to http://www.clairecook.com/id30.htm.
I'd appreciate it so much if you'd forward this e-newsletter to anyone and everyone. If this free email newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can subscribe by clicking on this link or copying and pasting it into your browser: http://www.clairecook.com/id25.htm.
Once again, multiple thanks to readers, booksellers, friends, family and the media for spreading the word. I'm so grateful to all of you for your continuing support, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
xxxxx,
Claire
Thursday, July 29, 2004 @ 10:03AM
SInce I haven't written in so long, I'll catch you up with photos. If you have a MULTIPLE CHOICE book tour photo you'd like to share, you can send it to me at newsletter@clairecook.com or snail mail it to P.O. Box 609, Scituate MA 02066. Thanks!
Lindsey from BU had to take a photo of a famous person for her photography class, and when she couldn't find one, she caught up with me at B&N Prudential in Boston. Photo by Jane Dickson.
Buttonwood Books and Toys, Cohasset, MA. Cut-outs by Betsey Detwiler. Photo by Totsie McGonagle.
This is me at a recent event with Jacqueline Loring, director of the Cape Cod Writers Center, and author Hallie Eprhron at Borders in Braintree, MA. Photo by Kenneth Koubek. Hallie and I will both be teaching at the CCWC summer conference, A Place in the Sun, from August 15-20. For more information, go to www.capecodwriterscenter.org or call 508-420-0200..
That Front Street Bookshop staff is getting dottier by the minute -- I love it! Peg Patten design.
Love that Red Hat Book Club in Marrietta, GA!
Friend and mentor Jeanne Ray (R) was kind enough to introduce me at Davis Kidd in Nashville, and her wonderful daughter, Ann Patchett, came along to say hi.If you haven't read their books, you should!
This is a shot of the amazing Joseph-Beth in Lexington, KY. It's hard to see in this picture, but that orange poster is the cover of MULTIPLE CHOICE, and it's about nine feet tall! I took it home to have it framed and find a wall big enough to put it on. It's so cool -- it says, "Girls' NIght Out with Claire Cook."
Karma is a boomerang -- Front Street Bookshop, Scituate. MA. Photo by Peg Patten.
From L to R, Vivien from the fabulous Rainy Day Books in Kansas City, Billie Letts, me, Cathryn Michon, Roger from Rainy Day. What a fun event that was!
(I don't know about you but I'm getting really sick of looking at all my black and white, but in my defense an experienced author told me to pick two colors and then everything will mix and match, plus fit in the carry -on. Looking at these, however, I just keep thinking someone should buy that poor author some more clothes!)
Well, this woman got something new. She won a thong at Blue Willow Bookshop's Girls' Night Out in Houston, TX. I'm sorry I forgot her name, but she might be just as happy to stay anonymous.
Blue Willow Bookshop has a great signing wall, and I took off my polka dot shoes so I could climb up the ladder, which owner Valerie Koehler kindly held for me . . .
And this is what I wrote!
The wild and wonderful group at Borders in Braintree, MA.
More Borders in Braintree -- we couldn't fit eveyone in one shot!
More Red Hatters! And that reminds me. I left my black scarf with the white polka dots (as opposed to my white scarf with the black polka dots) somewhere along the road. If anyone finds it in an airport or along the side of the road, will you mail it to me? Or, if you see one like it anywhere, will you please let me know so I can buy it again -- thanks. And if you have a photo of a MULTIPLE CHOICE event, I'd appreciate it if you emailed it to me at newsletter@clairecook.com. Or you can send it by snail mail to P.O. Box 609, Scituate, MA 02066. Thank you!.
Isn't this one hilarious?!? (And, yes, that's my real daughter on the billboard with me!) Front Street Bookshop in my hometown of Scituate, MA created it as part of their window display for MULTIPLE CHOICE.
(Design by Peg Patten. Photos by Gretje Ferguson and Denise Barker)
Monday, July 12, 2004 @ 10:31AM
I have so many wonderful things to report, but right now I'm just home long enough to do some laundry before heading out to Minneapolis, Kansas City and Houston. Just wanted to tell you that, if you're anywhere in Rhode Island, Southeastern Massachusetts or parts of Connecticut, call 866-920-9455 and chat with me on Reading with Robin on this Saturday, July 17 at 7:35 AM on WHJJ 920AM. Reading with Robin is a great show to tune into for all the latest book and author news, and I'm really looking forward to talking with Robin again.
Sunday, June 20, 2004 @ 9:17 AM
Just in case you're not on my e-newsletter mailing list yet (click here to sign-up), here's the latest one:
Hi Everybody,
It's a book!
My new novel, MULTIPLE CHOICE, is
a. at your local bookstore, somewhere between the shipping carton and the shelves
b. en route to you this very minute, since you remembered to pre-order it
c. in your hot little hands, because you've already managed to track down a copy
d. at least one of the above
I'm just so excited, and there's so much good news! I've been getting lots of email from booksellers telling me that MULTIPLE CHOICE is a July BookSense pick! I haven't seen the July list yet, but I hear it's in stores already, and I'm sure it will be up at http://www.booksense.com/ soon. I'm thrilled and honored to be included in this monthly selection of eclectic new books chosen by independent booksellers across the country.
As if that's not enough, MULTIPLE CHOICE is also a BarnesandNoble.com Book Club pick! Yes, it's the "Book of the Week" beginning June 28, and if you go to http://www.bn.com/writers you'll find MULTIPLE CHOICE featured there. Included will be an author interview, book group questions, and much more -- how cool is that!
Also on June 28, pick up a copy of Publishers Weekly, and look for an interview with, yes, me! The PW interviews are wonderful, celebratory pieces about authors just hitting their stride after several books, and it was so exciting to have a turn. The interview even took place in New York at the Algonquin, no less!
I've been hearing from book groups who are planning to discuss MULTIPLE CHOICE this summer - thanks so much! To find MULTIPLE CHOICE discussion questions for your book group, go to http://www.clairecook.com/id15.htm. Several of the book groups who've contacted me are mother/daughter groups, and I guarantee there will be fun and fireworks at those discussions! As a (very) close female relative of mine said after reading the manuscript, "You know that Olivia girl? She seems an awful lot like me. Well, not the way I really am, but, like, well, like the way someone like you would see her."
Don't forget, if you have any good mother/daughter stories (college-related, from your book group meeting or just good stories) email them to me and I'll post them (anonymously, unless you'd like me to include your name) on my website. To read the stories I've received so far, or to email me yours, go to http://www.clairecook.com/id17.htm.
Well, I'm packing up and getting ready to head out on book tour. Please come by and say hi (and send your friends, family and book group, too) if you're anywhere near Scituate, MA - Cohasset, MA - Boston, MA - Raleigh, NC - Pittsboro, NC - Atlanta, GA - Marietta, GA - Brookline, MA - Martha's Vineyard, MA - Newton, MA - Nashville, TN - Lexington, KY - Minneapolis, MN - Kansas City, MO - Houston, TX - Narragansett, RI - Braintree, MA - Chatham, MA - Madison, CT - Dartmouth, MA - Brewster, MA or Dennis, MA. For dates, times and the locations of the fabulous bookstores I'll be visiting, go to http://clairecook.com/id24.htm.
I'll be checking email only sporadically while I'm on the road, so if you have anything to say, you'll just have to catch up to me and say it in person! And I'll share some pictures and stories through my blog (http://clairecook.com/id2.htm) when I come home to check in on my family and grab some clean clothes.
If you have friends who've been wondering why you've been getting these free e-newsletters and they haven't, please don't tell them it's because I like you better. Remember, as a character in MULTIPLE CHOICE says repeatedly, karma is a boomerang, and you don't want that one coming back at you. Instead, tell them to try adding newsletter@clairecook.com to their address books, and then to go to this link and sign up again: http://www.clairecook.com/id25.
And, once again, I'd appreciate it so much if you could forward this email to everyone you can think of. It's been such a great way to get the word out - thank you!
Oh, I almost forgot -- the roofers have come and gone, frightening a couple of baby birds out of their nests in the process, which I have, of course, been mothering ever since. By the way, you know that thing about birds abandoning their offspring if they've been touched by humans? Not true at all with the mourning doves in my yard. I think they might even prefer co-parenting. I mean, what's not to like -- fresh water and gourmet seed delivered to the base of their tree, someone with actual hands to pick up a baby who's figured out how to jump but not to fly . . .
And speaking of flying, keep your fingers crossed for me that MULTIPLE CHOICE will just fly off the shelves! Multiple thanks to readers, booksellers, friends, family and the media for your tremendous support!
xxxxx,
Claire
Saturday, June 19, 2004 @ 10:44 AM
This from the wonderful Laurie Beckelman, of the Boston Chapter of the WNBA:
FICTION WRITING CONTEST
The Improper Bostonian Magazine is having a fiction writing contest.
Massachusetts-based authors are invited to submit a short work of fiction (no more than 2500 words) by Monday, August 2. Entries should be original works that have never been previously published. The winning author's story will be published in the October 6th Literary issue of the Improper Bostonian. Please send two copies of your story to: Improper Bostonian Magazine, Fiction Contest, 142 Berkeley St. 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02116. For more information, email erin@improper.com. Good luck!
Tuesday, June 15, 2004 @ 6:44 AM AM
A reader just emailed me this link -- it's almost a book!
If you're on the South Shore here in Massachusetts, tune into WATD -Radio, 95.9 FM on Monday, June 21 around 8 AM. I'll be on the air with Rob Hakela and Christine James to celebrate the on sale date of MULTIPLE CHOICE, and we'll be giving away some books.
If you live in other parts of the country, go to www.bookbitch.com by June 30, and register to win a free copy there.
And here's a link to another article about blogging, a response from the Observer to the New Yorker:
Monday, June 14, 2004 @ 8:39 AM
How much do I love my new book cover? Well, more than even I realized. After our teenagers drove off with the last available car, my husband and I had to buy a new one. It wasn't until we got home that I realized we'd bought an exact match for MULTIPLE CHOICE. Wait a minute, on this monitor, it looks like it matches the cover of the new trade edition of MUST LOVE DOGS. Oh, well, I'll just have to drive my orange Honda Element to my book events so you can see for yourself. It's a very cool car -- you can even hose it out if it gets dirty. Now why can't I find a house like that?
Saturday, June 12, 2004 @ 4:22
I've been doing so many pre-publication interviews that I haven't had much time to blog. But, I'm so excited --- the MULTIPLE CHOICE publication date is just over a week away! And I just found out the wonderful and talented Jeanne Ray (Eat Cake, Step-Ball-Change, Julie and Romeo) will be introducing me at Davis Kidd in Nashville on Thursday, July 8 at 6 PM. Can't wait!
Monday, May 24, 2004 @ 1:22 PM
Thought I should redeem myself after the shoe photo. There's a really interesting piece in The New Yorker about blogging leading to a book contract. Maybe some of the emerging writers I've been hearing from will be interested in this:
Monday, May 24, 2004 @ 7:25 AM
I just got the best shoes for book tour! I don't want you to think I'm not a serious writer, so rest assured my new shoes are thematically linked to my upcoming novel. Now all I have to do is figure out how to walk in them by June 21 . . .
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 @ 9:25 AM
Just sent out my second newsletter and already I'm hearing back from people who want to know why so-and-so got one and they didn't. Well, I absolutely swear it's nothing personal. I think with some email programs you have to add newsletter@clairecook.com to your address book, or otherwise grant access to it, otherwise your email server thinks my newsletter is -- (horrrors!) -- spam.
Anyway, just in case you didn't get the newsletter, here it is:
Hi Everybody,
Thanks so much for forwarding my last e-newsletter far and wide! It reached everywhere from Maui to Morocco, and I've heard back from so many of you -- including someone in my fourth and fifth grade class I haven't seen since and who now lives in LA. He said I was smart and talented even way back then, though I think that might just be LA spin.
If you didn't have time to forward my last newsletter, I hope you'll send this one to your friends, family and everyone else you can think of. Thanks!
Though I'm trying my best to answer all your email questions individually, there's a brand new “Q&A with Claire” up at my website, which might well answer questions you didn't even know you had. To read it, follow this link or copy and paste it into your browser: http://www.clairecook.com/id29.htm.
Lots of you wanted to know where I'll be going on book tour for my upcoming novel, MULTIPLE CHOICE. Click here to get to my events page.
I hope you'll spread the word to anyone you might know in these areas, and if you're in the neighborhood yourself, please come to one of my events and say hi! For more information on my book tour events, go to http://www.clairecook.com/id24.htm.
Never been to a book event? Wonder what they're like and who goes to them? Well, usually I read a snippet of the new book and then I tell the stories behind the stories - including the ones I'd never put in writing! There are always interesting people there, and often a few characters, too - and I love answering everybody's questions. And then, of course, I sign books. Most times, it feels pretty much like a party. Book groups have taken field trips to my book events, and emerging writers and writing groups attend to practice what they're going to say when it's their turn. (I sure did - and I learned a lot!) Friends looking for an excuse to get together go, as do lots of individual readers. Bookstores are such warm, welcoming, creative places. On my MUST LOVE DOGS book tour, bachelor auctions, pink feather boas and real live dogs were involved. (For some reason, that looks less tasteful in writing than it actually was. Maybe I should clarify by saying that the bachelors and the dogs were at separate events. In most cases anyway.) I don't want to give anything away, but I can promise the MULTIPLE CHOICE events will be at least as much fun!
Still a couple more bound galleys of MULTIPLE CHOICE left to give out by random drawing. So far, there's been a nice geographical range to the winners - Massachusetts to North Dakota to North Carolina to Washington State. I'm not going to tell you who won them though, because instead of trying to borrow one, I'm hoping the rest of you will wait until June 21 to get your own copy. For links to pre-order copies of MULTIPLE CHOICE as well as the brand new and gorgeous trade edition of MUST LOVE DOGS from your local bookseller, go to http://www.clairecook.com/id27.htm.
To win one of the remaining MULTIPLE CHOICE galleys, you just have to be subscribed to this e-newsletter. So if you're not, sign up fast at
The MUST LOVE DOGS movie, officially and definitely and amazingly starring Diane Lane (!!!), is galloping along. Warner Bros. is planning to release the film sometime in 2005. Pre-production has begun, and filming will start in September. I just saw another
draft of Gary David Goldberg's screenplay - it's great! And some pretty amazing actors have been mentioned for the other roles. I'm hoping by next month I'll be able to share some more specifics with you.
Talk to you then. In the meantime, you can find out more at my blog (you can also read my first newsletter there if you missed it): http://www.clairecook.com/id2.htm.
If this free email newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can subscribe by clicking on this link or copying and pasting it into your browser: http://www.clairecook.com/id25.htm.
Oh, I almost forgot - the roofers have arrived. Or at least they dropped off the shingles. I'm expecting them any minute. Wish me luck.
Thanks again for your support. I appreciate it so much!
xxxxx,
Claire
Thursday, May 13, 2004 @ 11:41 AM
I'm not sure how well you can see this photo, but I call it "Still Life with Baseballs." This is what happens when you finally get the house clean and try to artfully arrange some hydrangea in a basket on top of an old radiator. Somebody decides it's the perfect place to dry those soggy baseballs. Geesh.
Wednesday, May 5, 2004 @ 8:10 PM
P. Amy MacKinnon can stalk me anytime! Click on the link below to check out the op-ed piece she wrote in today's Patriot Ledger. Thanks, Amy -- great job, and what a thrill to be mentioned in the same article as the fabulous Carolyn See, whose MAKING A LITERARY LIFE has helped so many emerging writers. And thanks once again to all the folks at the Ledger for printing a nice big picture of my MUST LOVE DOGS book jacket yet again -- a local author couldn't be luckier than to live in Ledgerland!!!!
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 @ 10:38 AM
I've been a bad blogger lately. So much going on, not the least of which was that I've been in Yard Sale Hell. It sounded like such a good idea ...
Anyway, the big event was Saturday, and we all managed to survive it. Very funny how many people who came asked odd questions like, "Are you moving to Hollywood?" I mean, if I were moving to Hollywood, wouldn't my people be doing the yard sale? Or my people's people?
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 @ 6:25 AM
Thanks to everyone at The Patriot Ledger for the great article that ran in last Friday's paper, with a teaser at the top of the front page, no less! If you missed it, or live in another part of the country, you can read it by clicking on the link below:
Friday, April 9, 2004 @ 6:55 PM
If you're ever feeling lonely, start an email newsletter! Ohmigod, I've heard from so many people! Thanks so much to the old and new friends who have taken the time to email, and to all the wonderful friends of friends who have signed up for the newsletter. If you missed it, I'll cut and paste it below:
Hi Everybody,
This is my first free monthly e-newsletter, so if you're listed in any of my address books or have ever emailed me, even accidentally, you're probably getting it. My sincere apologies to my kids' friends and the roofers we're waiting for an estimate from, and to everyone else who might have inadvertently found themselves on the receiving end. Don't worry, I won't share your info with anyone. Truthfully, I wouldn't even know how to.
Okay, here's my exciting book news. The publication of my new novel, MULTIPLE CHOICE, has been moved up to June 21. It's about a mother and daughter who go to college at the same time and, whether you're the parent of a college student or just want to relive your own bad behavior at that age, I hope you'll have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. If you'd like to see the very cool cover and read an excerpt, visit my website: http://www.clairecook.com/id3.htm. And speaking of cool covers, MUST LOVE DOGS will be getting another one when it's released by NAL as a trade paperback (trade paperbacks are the big ones - it's out in mass market now), also in June. To see how great it looks, click here: http://www.clairecook.com/id4.htm.
My wonderful hardcover publisher, Viking, has generously donated copies of the bound galleys (advance reading copies that go out to reviewers and booksellers) of MULTIPLE CHOICE and I've happily autographed them. Since you're subscribed to this newsletter, you'll have a chance to win one, which means you'll get to read MULTIPLE CHOICE months before anybody else on the entire planet. Imagine.
Beginning Friday, we'll do one random drawing a week until we run out of galleys. So tell your friends and family to sign up fast by clicking on this link or copying and pasting it into your browser: http://www.clairecook.com/id25.htm.
Okay, now here's my amazing movie news. Warner Bros. has joined writer-director-producer (not to mention my hero!) Gary David Goldberg (“Spin City,” “Family Ties,” “Lou Grant”) and his UBU Productions as the studio partner, and the feature film version of MUST LOVE DOGS has been given the green light! Yippee!!! Yahoo!!! Yabba Dabba Do!!! And guess who's starring? DIANE LANE! (“Under the Tuscan Sun,” “Unfaithful,” “A Walk on the Moon”) I absolutely swear I'm not making it up. I just found out and I'm so excited. Diane Lane is really, really talented and I think she'll make the perfect Sarah.
If you're just now thinking you'd be perfect for one of the other roles, that's great, but please don't send me your headshot. I've received a few already, and even though some of you are quite good-looking, the best chance you have is to end up on my office wall, and we both know you can do better than that. As I find out more about all aspects of the movie, I'll include it in a future newsletter and on the MUST LOVE DOGS page of my website. Ohmigod, I'm soooooooooo excited!!!!!!
Well, that's about it for now. Please feel free to forward this e-newsletter to anyone and everyone you've ever met. In fact, I really hope you will - thanks! If this free newsletter has been forwarded to you and you'd like to subscribe, you can do that at my website: http://www.clairecook.com/id25.htm.
Thanks to friends, family, readers and booksellers everywhere for spreading the word. I'm so grateful to all of you for your continuing support, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Just one more thing - can you let me know if you happen to know any good roofers? (Kidding. Please don't send me headshots OR roofers.)
xxxxx,
Claire
Tuesday, April 6, 2004 @ 7:31 AM
My first free email newsletter will be going out tomorrow, so if you haven't signed up for it yet, just click here.
It seems that every day now I get some more exciting news. MULTIPLE CHOICE is a Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club pick! The Dutch rights have just sold! Plus lots of great invitations and wonderful feedback about the MULTIPLE CHOICE galleys from booksellers!
Friday, March 26, 2004 @ 8:45 AM
Thanks so much to everyone who has emailed to say you enjoyed the MULTIPLE CHOICE excerpt! If you haven't read it yet, click here.
If you're a writer and have somehow missed the controversy surrounding the anonymous article in salon.com -- "The Confessions of a Semi-Successful Author" -- it's pretty interesting. You can check it out at this link:
Also, whether you're a reader or a writer, here's a link to an LA Times article entitled, "Everyone is a Critic," about the effect of reader reviews on sites like Amazon:
What a gorgeous day already today -- the temperature is supposed to reach the mid-sixties! The snowdrops are out in full force and the daffodil shoots are about two inches high now. I think I'm going to get outside and enjoy it while it lasts.
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 @ 8:30 AM
Great news! The publication date of MULTIPLE CHOICE has been moved up to June 21st!
I've been getting lots of email from people asking when that MUTLIPLE CHOICE excerpt I promised will be up on the website. Sorry to take so long, but I had to wait for a file from production -- the last edits are made in pen by sending the manuscript back and forth between editors and writer, so my final computer file doesn't quite match up with the actual book. Probably more info than you needed, but that's my excuse. Anyway, you can read the first chapter now by clicking here. Hope you like it!
Tuesday, March 9, 2004 @ 7:22 AM
Snow again -- so much for an early spring in New England!
I have all sorts of news that I'm not allowed to talk about yet -- it's so hard! Hmm. I guess I'll talk about another writer's great news. How about that Tom Perrotta? I'm so excited for him -- he's such a talented writer and his just out novel, LITTLE CHILDREN, is really taking off! Great review in the NYTimes yesterday, not to mention the all-important-in-literary-circles People Magazine. I haven't read it yet, since I want to buy and have him sign a copy for me at his Newtonville Books (Newton, MA) event on March 23, but I can't wait to crack open the pages!
Wednesday, March 3, 2004 @ 8:26 AM
Emerging writers might find this a fascinating and informative interview:
Also, via Laurie Beckelman at WNBA, this call for poetry and essay submissions for a book entitled, IF WOMEN RULED THE WORLD:
Friday, February 27, 2004 @ 12:19 PM
Well, my new website is up and running and my email links seem to be working just fine now. If you haven't signed up for my upcoming monthly newsletter yet, make sure to do it soon because we'll be giving away autographed galleys of MULTIPLE CHOICE!! If you win, you'll get to read it months before anyone else. To sign up, click here.
Movie news to come very soon! Keep watching this space.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 @ 8:19 AM
I'm in website hell, trying to switch my website over from one web host to another, something everyone assured me would be a piece of cake. There is no reasonable explanation for this, but within the space of a couple of hours yesterday, the first host, the one I was breaking up with, bombarded me with 143 emails containing my auto-response, which is the thing that goes out to people who email me at this site. It was nice to get a look at one of them, since I've never had the occasion to receive one since I make it a policy never to email myself, but the other 142 were not appreciated. All by way of saying if you've tried to get in touch with me through my website recently and didn't get a response, auto or otherwise, you might want to try again in a day or two. Or three.
Thursday, February 19, 2004 @ 10:27 AM
Well, I had to get rid of my pink blog since it really clashed with the MULTIPLE CHOICE book jacket. I wonder if I'm going to have to buy all orange clothes for book tour. But then I'd clash with the new DOGS trade paperback cover. Oh, no, what a dilemma. At least I'm worrying about the important things.
If I don't already have your email address, click on the link above or here to sign up for my upcoming newsletter.
Friday, February 13, 2004 @ 5:30 PM
I just received the new cover for the trade edition of MUST LOVE DOGS that NAL will publish in June when Viking publishes MULTIPLE CHOICE. Click on the MUST LOVE DOGS link to see it. Isn't it great? I'm going to have two of the brightest covers anywhere next summer! Can't wait. And thanks so much to the readers who've been emailing to say they've been talking me up to their local booksellers -- I appreciate your support so much, and I hope I get to thank all of you in person when I'm on book tour next summer.
Viking has compiled a promotional summer fiction sampler CD for booksellers, and I was lucky enough to read an excerpt of MULTIPLE CHOICE on it. Seeing my name next to cut number 8 on an actual CD made me feel like a total rock star, though fortunately I didn't have to sing on it.
So now, on to the next novel for me.
Wednesday, February 5, 2004 @ 7:45 AM
If you click on the MULTIPLE CHOICE link at the top of the page, you can see the new cover -- isn't it great! I really love it.
I've been getting lots of email from booksellers telling me they've just seen the Viking summer catalog, and how excited they are that I have a new novel coming out. Thanks so much to all of you for taking the time to write.
The MUST LOVE DOGS movie is going full steam ahead, too. Hopefully, it won't be too much longer until the casting is done -- I can't wait to find out!
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 @ 8:17 AM
The typeset pages of MULTIPLE CHOICE arrived yesterday. Five months to publication date, and now it's really starting to look and feel like a book!
I just found out I'll be teaching at the Cape Cod Writers Center summer conference, A Place in the Sun, from August 15-20. If you'd like more information, you can email ccwc@capecod.net and ask for a brochure. Last year Mary Higgins Clark and Pat Schroeder were there. All I know so far about this summer is that Hallie Ephron will be teaching a class about what to do once you have a finished manuscript, and I'll be teaching this:
JUST WRITE IT! How to find your book and follow it through to completion. Practical strategies for picking one idea and sticking with it, as well as developing the focus and discipline needed to start and actually finish that book you've been meaning to write. By the end of the week, each participant will have the beginning of a novel (or other book length work), a strategy for finishing it, and a support person/group in place for the long haul. Along the way, Claire will share her own story and what she's discovered about writing and the writing life.
Friday, January 23, 2004@ 7:09 AM
Well, I've been a total blog slacker lately. And this after a fabulous workshop at the Scituate Library. Because of fire laws, they had to stop taking reservations so we wouldn't go over the 125-person capacity! What a great group, and so many of them were kind enough to send thank-you notes -- so that's what I've been doing: writing thank-you notes for thank you notes. . . If I had to pick one piece of advice that really seemed to resonate for the people who attended, it's to stick with one idea and follow it through to the end. Fifty, or even five, pages into something, it's so easy to get a better idea. And then a better idea. But even if they are truly good ideas, you'll never finish anything that way. So many people can start a novel -- but actually finishing one is another thing. Not to say that the book can't change along the way. When I get to the end, I'm always surprised that I've written an entirely different book than the one I started out to write. By the end of it, I know the characters so much better than I did in the beginning. But once you have a first draft, a completed first draft, you can always go back and change anything you need to change. For me, that's just about everything.
Saturday, January 10, 2004@ 10:09 AM
Made the last UPS pickup yesterday with the copyedited manuscript of MULTIPLE CHOICE. It's starting to feel real now! My fabulous Viking publicist, Judi Kloos, called yesterday, too, and said they're booking events already. Just in case you like to plan ahead, I'll be at Brookline Booksmith on June 30!
In the more immediate future, close to 100 people have registered for tomorrow's JUST WRITE IT! workshop. I'm having just a few second thoughts about it being free . . . Not really -- this is my New Year's gift to emerging writers, and I'm happy to share everything I've learned. I'm just so busy with my own work that I can no longer do this sort of thing one on one. So, we'll be a big group, but I know we'll be a productive one -- and have lots of fun!
