This is supposed to be (retro)photo Friday #1
January 8th, 2010
But as you can see* the picture didn’t upload properly. The World’s Greatest Webmaster has been trying to fix it all week. (Apparently it’s a WordPress problem, not a MegMessedUp problem, as is often the case when it comes to things technological.) So the general idea is that I’ll upload random pictures from my youth and write a little about them. I think I’ll do this on Fridays because I like the alliterative flow of the words (retro)photo Fridays and also because I hope I’ll get enough writing done on BUMPED at the end of each work week that I’ll be able to take time out to do this without feeling like I’m screwing myself priority-wise.
So this is me at eight years old, tap dancing my heart out in my final recital for Miss Nonie’s School of Dance which I attended for four years even though I wasn’t very graceful or flexible. My only misgiving about dropping out of Miss Nonie’s School of Dance to take voice lessons was that I wouldn’t have a socially acceptable excuse for tarting-up like an underage can can dancer anymore. Believe me, I’m grossed out by the objectification of little girls on Toddlers & Tiaras and the like. But a tiny part of me sort of understands the appeal of getting all glitzed and glammmed because I LOVED this costume. LOVE LOVE LOVED it. I loved the green sequined bustle, I loved the pink marabou feather trim, I loved the pink satinesque top hat and silver shoes and THE WHOLE TACKY SPLENDOR of it. Seriously, if I could have worn this costume to school every day I would have, though my mom most certainly would have made me wear a turtleneck underneath as she always did with all my Halloween costumes but that’s another post for another day. One big difference (and there are MANY) between me and the Painted Babies and Living Dolls (or then and now) is that these recitals weren’t about trying to be sexy (I didn’t know what that word even was at eight years old) it was all about SHOWBIZ. And I loved every sparkly, shuffle-ball-changing second I was on stage. If I sucked, I certainly didn’t know it.
I mean, just look at the saucy angle of my top hat.
*You can see this photo in all its sparkly glory, here. I hope this issue will be resolved by next week.
Tags: (retro)photo Friday, 1981
Goodbye 00s, Hello…
December 31st, 2009
This was supposed to be a picture of me taken on New Year’s Eve 1999. After much too much time wasted, it turns out that I don’t have any pictures from that night. I’d like to brag all like, oh yeah, that was an EPIC evening of HEDONISTIC EXCESS but the truth is that my husband and I went out to dinner with my parents and my in laws that night and they must have all the pictures because we don’t.
So I’m using this one instead, taken on Toms River around New Year’s Day 1980. I’m six years old. I’m waving goodbye to one decade and hello to the next… (Okay. I’m probably just waving to my dad.)
On December 31st, 1999 I was one month into working from home after quitting my job at the most orgasmic magazine on the planet. Only two weeks earlier an agent enthusiastically agreed to represent me and encouraged me to write the first half of this thing I was too afraid to refer to as a real novel. Six months later, that half manuscript called SLOPPY FIRSTS was sold along with a sequel I had barely conceptualized beyond Jessica Darling’s senior year.
At the very least, I thought, my career as a teen novelist will last until the publication of that second book in 2003… At which point I hoped I’d be resourceful enough to find something else to do with my life should they prove to be colossal failures.
Well, they weren’t.
Thank you for that.
This new decade begins with parallels to the last. I’m half-way through a new manuscript-in-progress and contracted to deliver a second book not long after the first. After five successful novels, I STILL can’t stifle the defensive pessimist in me. At the very least, I think, my career as a teen novelist will last until the publication of that second book in 2013…
I hope to be here ten, twenty, thirty years from now with new manuscripts-in-progress, perpetually miscalculating the years left in my career.
I’ll keep writing if you keep reading,
Megan
P.S. I’m starting a new (retro)blog format for the new decade! Hint: I’ll put my new scanner to good use.
Tags: (retro)blog, sloppy firsts
Giving Season Begins!
November 29th, 2009
And I want to celebrate by giving stuff away.
If you follow me on Twitter or have friended me on Facebook, then you know that I’ve already given away six copies of various books in the Jessica Darling series just because I felt like it.
I’ll be running more spontaneous contests soon…
Follow me on Twitter or Friend Me on Facebook
October 30th, 2009
I’m not blogging much anymore. But I’m tweeting and facebooking every day. If you want to keep up, please follow , friend or fan me.
Q&A About the Author! Author! Book Festival
September 16th, 2009
Answers to questions about my appearance at the Author! Author! Book Festival on Saturday:
1. What the heck is Barry-oke?
Barry-oke is this, this, this and this. I ask audience members to write their names and requests for Barry Manilow songs on slips of paper, which are then placed in The Official Barry-oke Bag (left). Then I choose one request at random. That person gets a prize AND everyone then gets to enjoy my rendition of the Barry Manilow song he/she requested. Everyone wins.
2. Why on earth would you ever do this in public? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Author! Author! Book Festival, Barry-oke, Perfect Fifths
An Open Letter to Barry Manilow
September 10th, 2009
Dear Mr. Manilow:
I am a huge fan. HUGE. I’ve seen you in concert six times. The cover of your Greatest Hits (1978) is on the wall of my office. I’ve coined the term Barry-oke and have performed it often. When it came time to choose an musical artist to provide the soundtrack for the on-again, off-again lovers in my bestselling novels, SLOPPY FIRSTS, SECOND HELPINGS, CHARMED THIRDS, FOURTH COMINGS and PERFECT FIFTHS there was no question. It had to be you.
So. I read in today’s Variety that Tom Hanks and Michael Stipe are partnering with you to produce…
“a romantic comedy inspired by the music of Mr. Barry Manilow…with a bunch of Manilow fans in Vegas”
I was very happy for you but sad for myself. See, if there’s going to be a romantic comedy inspired by your music, I want it to be mine. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Barry-oke, Hollywood hates me
‘Cause There Can Never Be Too Much Jersey
September 10th, 2009
In addition to my appearance at the Author! Author! Book Festival on September 19th, I’ve added two more events in New Jersey this fall. And if you love books and love kids, you don’t want to miss the Princeton Public Library’s Children’s Book Festival this Saturday, September 12th from 11AM-4PM. I’ll be there (not as a participant) buying up armloads of autographed books for my son and nieces.
© 2009 Megan McCafferty. All rights reserved.