megan mccafferty: (retro)blogger

Songs About America...And One Song In Particular

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:58:19 -0500

On this day of Independence, I woke up with a major earworm. I could not get a certain song about our nation out of my brain.

America the Beautiful?

No.

God Bless America

Nope. Try again.

We're Coming to America?

No, though I do have super nostalgia for this song because I think Neil Diamond is kind of awesome and I once performed a patrotic dance routine to this anthem in a red spandex body suit and American flag cape when I was eleven years old.

That Lee Greenwood song from the FIRST Gulf War that just won't go away? (No link necessary.)

Nope, that's not the song I'm thinking of either.

The song I can't get out of my head is profane and hilarious and SHOULD NOT BE LISTENED TO BY ANYONE OFFENDED BY REPEATED F-BOMBING.

Nine Minutes of Procrastination Right Here

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:10:19 -0500

Galleycat ran an item mentioning last summer's Fourth Comings Mini-Film Contest. That's a good enough reason to re-post links to my favorites. Take less than ten minutes out of your day to check them out. I'm just as impressed now as I was when I first watched them:

j.d.

Jes' Darlin' Summary

Being Jessica Darling: A (Dis)Orientation Video

Senryu Tuesday (#5)

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:44:31 -0500

Most days I don't know
The subject of my poem
Until I type it

Sixteen Candles (In 73 Scenes: Part 1)

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:10:08 -0500

A Hollywoody person told me that I should break down my favorite teen movie scene by scene to figure out how it worked.

So I did.

Theoretically, this exercise was supposed to somehow help turn my books into a movie.

It didn't.

Sixteen Candles (In 73 Scenes: Part 2)

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:08:24 -0500

Sixteen Candles (In 73 Scenes: Part 3)

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:06:39 -0500

Sixteen Candles (In 73 Scenes: Part 4)

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:00:02 -0500

Sixteen Candles (In 73 Scenes: Part 5)

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:57:54 -0500

Scene 73: Oh my...

The (retro) aspect of the (retro)blog returns on Monday (Plus: Andy Gibb!)

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:20:32 -0500

So I spent three hours yesterday scanning pages from three notebooks kept during the brainstorming, writing, and revising of Charmed Thirds. (Marvel at all those threes.) It was tedious, tedious, tedious (again, just to keep with the theme) even with my iPod to keep! me! motivated! At one point, a few pages into the third notebook, I started idiotically inserting references to scanning into whatever song came up. For example, the opening lyrics to Andy Gibb's "I Just Wanna Be Your Everything" became:

For so long, I've been scanning copies of pages, for so long
And the feeling that I feel for scanning is more than bad girl...

You get the idea.

My sympathies to all those summer interns and assistants out there whose days are filled with such dreary and monotonous office work. I was there once (this scene brings me back to my bottom-of-the-masthead magazine days) and I guess I still sort of am there since I serve as my own summer intern/assistant and was doing all that scanning for myself. (ZOMG my boss can be a total bitch when she doesn't get her Diet Coke and dark chocolate.)

I also mentioned the other day that I want to schedule events for the paperback release of Fourth Comings on September 9th. That evening, I got an email from a reader attending The College of New Jersey asking me if I'd be interested in coming to campus. I emailed back saying yes. Now I'm scheduled to speak there on October 7th. See how easy that was? Try it for yourself.

Senryu Tuesday (#4)

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:57:16 -0500

Seven dirty words
make two-thirds a senryu
R.I.P. Carlin

Fourth Comings in Paperback!

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:54:35 -0500

I had a meeting with my publisher last week, during which I confirmed the on-sale date for Fourth Comings in paperback. MARK YOUR CALENDAR:

September 9th

Even if you already bought it in hardcover (thank you!), it might interest you to know that this version will contain an exclusive and diabolically cliff-hanging excerpt from Perfect Fifths.

(Oh, and if you happen to be affiliated with a bookstore and/or campus organization that organizes events, now would be a great time to start setting something up...)

Senryu Tuesday (#3)

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:27:57 -0500

Kid finished pre-school
Looooong days playing Transformers
Until camp begins

Senryu Tuesday (#2)

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:05:52 -0500

I had considered
calling it Senryuesday
but that's too corny

Fourth Comings Cameo in SATC:TM

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:39:25 -0500

The reports have been coming in since last weekend:

Fourth Comings makes an appearance in Sex and the City: The Movie.

Allegedly, Fourth Comings is clearly seen on screen for a few seconds during a scene in a bookstore. I say "allegedly" because I haven't seen it myself because the only movies I ever get to see in the theaters are of the animated variety.

My very own mother saw SATC:TM on opening day and...MADE NO MENTION OF IT WHATSOEVER. So she was either a) so totally engrossed in the dramz that she couldn't take her eyes of the actresses long enough to notice such inconsequential details such as her only daughter's book appearing on screen for a few seconds during the #1 first-weekend -grossing R-rated comedy of all time or b) trying to keep me humble.

By the way, as far as I know, this is just a happy accident. My book is probably the only not-paid-for product placement in the entire movie.

Second Helpings #33 (When Good Produce Goes Bad)

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:11:01 -0500

Yes, I'm back again. I know I said I wouldn't be able to keep up the new book AND the (retro)blog, but I want to try. I was feeling particularly stressed out that day, but I'm more optimistic this morning. In keeping with my positive mind-set, I plan to scan the next set of old notebook pages for future, regularly-scheduled postings.

Anyway, here are more random notes taken during the Second Helpings era, the kind of in-the-moment brainstorming I do in the months leading up to and during the process of writing all my novels.

I'm not suggesting that this "method" be used by everyone. But it seems to work for me.