Meryl Streep Stole My Life

I was supposed to have Meryl Streep's life. Though about ten years younger than her, I was supposed to be the unconventional beauty who was popular in high school, who had the golden career, who won the Academy Awards, who played the meatiest and most challenging roles, managing to have a happy marriage and be a wonderful mother to my children at the same time.


What exactly went wrong? Let's analyze:
#1: I wasn't a cheerleader in high school like Meryl, nor was I very popular. I was a drama nerd who made it through high school thanks to the joy of doing theater in my high school's excellent drama department, and a few fiercely devoted friends.
#2: I didn't go to Yale Drama School like Meryl. Yet I did go to New York University's Tisch Theater Program. For some reason you get all the great contacts at Yale, but not NYU.
#3: I'm not as pretty as Meryl. She may not be what one thinks of as a typical beauty, but she definitely has a certain unidentifiable appeal. I'm not exactly chopped liver, but I'll admit I don't have that special quality she has.
#4: I'm not as talented as Meryl. God, that's hard to admit! Oh, I think I'm a pretty talented actress, just not as talented as she is, and we all know to make it as an actor you need one of two things, and preferably both: supreme good looks and supreme talent. I obviously don't have enough of either.
#5: Ah, finally something we have in common...a good marriage...I'm quite sure mine is as good as Meryl's, maybe better! And, I think I'm an excellent mother though I had only one child, and she has four. I didn't want four, no thank you.

So here's where the whining really starts: I wanted it all, just like she has. I wanted a spectacular acting career, great looks, Academy Awards AND the wonderful husband and family. However, I've moved on. Oh, I'm not saying I wouldn't take a really good part if offered. I just don't pursue them anymore. Now, I just want a brilliant writing career. And guess what? I don't need good looks for this one. I do need talent; whether I have it or not is up to my readers to decide. Fortunately, the thing I most lacked as an actor - drive - is something I have as a writer. This career is falling into place. There may even be a part for Meryl in the film version of one of my time-travel novels. She's a bit too old for the main character who, of course, is a more beautiful and intelligent version of me, but she could play the best friend in the Regency-themed book, the fiery revolutionary mom in the Antebellum-themed book, or one of the feisty friends in the Italian Renaissance-themed book. Goodness knows she can do the accents!

Why does Ms. Streep stir me up so much? When I really think about it, it's a combination of many things. Her acting thrills me. I've seen her on the New York stage twice and each time she just took my breath away. I can't even name all the movie roles in which she made my mouth fall open in astonishment. How she can so totally morph into another human being is almost beyond comprehension. Then, when I see her on a talk show, which is rare, or accepting an award, which is also rare since she's received something like seventeen Oscar nominations but only won three, I realize she's just a lovely, sweet, down to earth person who adores her family much more than her career, or so it seems. So I suppose if anyone was going to have the life I wanted to have, I'd rather it was Meryl.

I Hate The Hunger Games! (Or Do I?)

I said I wouldn't read The Hunger Games. But I did. I wanted to hate it. But I couldn't. After Chapter One, I was hooked. By Chapter Two, I was jealous. By halfway through the book I realized I simultaneously loved and hated author Suzanne Collins. I loved her because of her gift for cracker-jack pacing and great characters. I wasn't fond of the world she created because I wouldn't want to live there. Who would? It ain't no Hogwarts. But I loved her brave and beautiful Katniss, faithful Peeta, little Rue, the flawed Haymitch...I was dying to see what happened to them next. Still, I hated Suzanne Collins because she did it all so well. Yes, I admit I was envious, and, at the same time, I really, really admired her.

By the end of the book I was obsessed. I haven't given in to seeing the movie version; I want my own imagination to serve. Yet I went online to find pictures and became fascinated by how the characters looked, come to life on screen. I'll probably give in and see it after all. I haven't read the other two books in the series, but I will. And then found  myself wondering, who is Suzanne Collins? Is she an upstart like J.K. Rowling? I've heard she's a housewife. Is she like Stephanie Meyer? Did the story come to her in a dream? I don't even have the gumption to google and find out. That's how jealous I am. Yeah, I've been told I'm a good writer; I create good characters and story lines, and my books sell just fine. After all, who doesn't like time-travel? Still, envy rears its ugly head and makes me almost want to say that I hate The Hunger Games! Don't read it! It's just more popular fiction for teens! But it's not merely that. It's a well written, superbly crafted book. It's a story that yanks you in and doesn't let up until the last moment. And though I swore I wouldn't say this to anyone...I highly recommend it.

What Moves You to Make Art?

I'll never forget when the song Fallin’ Slowly, from the movie Once, won the Oscar for Best Original Song - up against three, count them,  three from Disney’s Enchanted.  Glen Hansard received the award with co-writer and co-star Markéta Irglová, gleefully shouting, before he was dragged away from the mic, “MAKE ART!” I wrote those words on a piece of paper and stuck it to my fridge. I hadn't seen Once yet, but did shortly after, and found it lovely. Four years later, (May 8, 2012, to be exact) I went to see the Broadway musical version of Once to find the dialogue had been changed, several compelling characters added, and the most exquisite movement and choreography employed, elevating Once from satisfying film to transcendent theatrical experience. The romance, too, had been kicked up just enough to make the ending unbearably bittersweet. I was sobbing like an idiot just before I leapt to my feet to applaud with the rest of the audience. The making of art, in this case, had been raised to a level I’m sure Hansard never imagined when he uttered his joyful admonition at the Academy Awards.

I’ve been an actor and/or writer my whole life - have rarely known a moment when I wasn’t involved in some creative pursuit. So, though I was inspired by Hansard’s utterance, I didn’t exactly need his permission.  I find inspiration for making art in art: film, theater, music, dance, painting, sculpture, and, of course, literature. Like many artists, the greatness of others fuels me. I’m set on fire by the writers I love: Luis Alberto Urrea, Audrey Niffenegger, George Eliot, Dickens, Neil Gaiman, Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, and of course, (you just have to read my books to see the influence) Jane Austen.  I get energy from films like Midnight in Paris, The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Moulin Rouge, Casablanca, Stranger than Fiction, 500 Days of Summer, and Becoming Jane,…which makes me think of actors whose performances move me: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Toni Collette, Colin Firth, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman.... I'm carried away by the music of Muse, The Decemberists, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, Jack White, Beethoven, Chopin and Monk. When I go to a museum I seek to absorb the passion of Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Kandinsky, Monet, Caravaggio, Rodin, Pollack and Chagall...

After seeing Once, I stumbled out of the theater into the lights of Times Square, my world rocked. Perhaps those words, “Make art,” had pushed the originators of the film on to this finer incarnation, I thought, but couldn't help wonder exactly what was the source of their creative spark. So I put hands to keyboard to ask all those artistic souls out there:  What is your Once? Who is your Anne Hathaway, your Jane Austen, which is your Midnight in Paris, your Monk, your Monet? Is it something intangible that inspires you? Is it nature or pain, or joy or spirit? What moves you to MAKE art? 

Video of Hansard's acceptance speech: (don't worry, they called  Irglová back on stage later so she could make her own remarks)

http://youtu.be/qx8yLvb0gZM

And here's the full version of Fallin' Slowly:

http://youtu.be/k8mtXwtapX4

Dad Made me a Nerd

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I'm a nerd because of my dad. Not that he tried to make me one; I'm sure he didn't consider himself a nerd at all. But he loved science fiction. He's the reason I was hooked on Star Trek all my life, and so into authors like Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke. When he met my husband-to-be for the first time, their mutual conversation about sci/fi made them fall more in love with each other than I might have been with either one at the time.

On April 27th, 2012, the space shuttle Enterprise made its historic flight on a 747 around New York City in preparation for its final resting place on the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum...and I missed it. Fortunately, I've been to NASA. Twice. The first time was with my dad, the second was last summer during part of my family's odyssey around the western United States to memorialize his life. I freakin' love NASA. We got to see the shuttle up close, and everything involved in making the program function. There is an awesome museum at NASA too, (which you can get to only through an annoying child's play center they recently built), where they have all kinds of paraphernalia from the various U.S. space missions: space suits, journals, freeze-dried food packages, and, coolest of the cool, the actual lunar modules that have been on the moon! I remember my dad being glued to every moon landing, even after many people, including me, I suppose, lost interest in them. Years later though, I was thrilled to death to meet Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon.

My dad's as much a hero, as much a larger-than-life personality as any astronaut. He was an intellectual who never stopped learning - a computer geek into his 80s. He wasn't a scientist, but he was really into science. He loved reading about it and watching shows about it - my husband and my son both share that same kind of enthusiasm. Though I'm not as geeky as them, I'm fascinated with many aspects of the scientific world, especially physics, as of late, since I write about time-travel. I nearly flipped when I found out scientists in Switzerland thought they'd broken though the speed of light, the implications of which translate to eventual time-travel, and made me think that perhaps one day I could journey back in time to Jane Austen's England or pre-Civil War NYC, just like in my books. But alas, looks like the experiment wasn't legit. It's funny that of all things to write about, I'd end up incorporating sci-fi into my books, yet because of my dad's influence, it makes sense.

On this first anniversary of my dad's passing, (May 3rd, 2011) I feel a special sense of national pride in the former space shuttle program, the Enterprise craft, named of course after the Star Trek ship, and all the ventures into space that the U.S. made. I wish we had the budget to keep it going; dad would have loved that. But I think I'll make a special trip to the Intrepid to see the Enterprise once it's installed there. In saluting it, I'll salute my dad and his love for the world of science and space. I know he was proud of this particular nerd-girl.

A Minute For Your Opinion

Hello dear and faithful friends and followers:
If you have read either or both of my books, please take a minute and click on these survey links. Your opinion will help me immensely as I move forward with the promotion of my books. Thanks! I love you!

Survey - The Time Baroness      Survey - The Time Heiress

Two Fun/Film Articles

I recently wrote a couple of articles for you film fans out there. One is a review of The Artist: http://www.chicklitclub.com/movie-night.html#theartist
The other is a an article that highlights the accomplishments of film-maker Dito Montiel, at a gala honoring his life and work so far: http://www.qgazette.com/news/2012-03-21/Features/APAC_Honors_Dito_Montiel.html
Enjoy!

Bodice Rippers and Other Guilty Pleasures

I hate to admit that I sometimes read trash. Those of us who consider ourselves "serious readers," claim we never stoop to the level of reading chicklit, or romance or, god forbid, Jackie Collins. And yet, some of us have found ourselves actually writing in those genres! (Is Jackie Collins a genre in herself?) In my case, it's romantic time-travel. Here's a review from a reader (anonymous) who seemed to like my book, The Time Baroness, but hated herself for doing so. I found the review quite amusing.

"Well, i realized I had screwed up my birth control pills and had forgotten to take one for three days and so, on the fourth day (when I realized this) I figured it made no sense to try and "double up to catch up" four days of pills and I instead decided to just not take any and let the cycle run its course. Which means (since I was only in the second week of pills) that I had a period ten days after I just had a period. That should fully explain the hormonal state that led me to be reading a book called The Time Baroness with a cover like that!
Don't judge me!
At any rate, listen: this book has time travel AND Jane Austen's England. To me (remember the hormones) that read like a combination only topped by the Ghost Rider movies which have a character that is half Nicolas Cageand half flaming skull. Seriously!
This book didn't fail to deliver on either of those two things and it was actually a pretty good little story on top of it. It wasn't a very complex story, overall, but it was an entertaining one and the writing wasn't bad. I don't know that I would rush out to buy this book (although I did ::whispers:: rush right to buy the next one, Time Heiress. Don't judge me!) but if you like time travelling characters trying to be Jane Austen characters, then read it if you get the chance!"