Jennifer--Congratulations! I hope this is the perfect excuse to write to you and say I interviewed you about GOOD IN BED for the Forward. Using logic, that was 25 years ago. I met you in Philly, where I am also from, and we ate breakfast together. I was such a baby writer, I don't think I'd ever done that before. I probably taped the interview with an enormous cassette player. I think it was a crappy interview on my end. And the Forward definitely wrote some weight-punning headline that I felt obscurely bad about, but couldn't *quite* figure out why. Thanks so much for chatting with a young interviewer who didn't know her ass from a hole in the ground.
Congratulations on the big 25!!! What a fantastic body of work & I can’t wait to see what the next 25 brings!
On a side note, when my son was little he discovered my OG copy of GOOD IN BED that I had left on an end table in our living room. I remember him asking what it was about and me panicking because even though he was 4, I knew he wouldn’t be pleased with a simple explanation. So, I told him the first thing that popped into my mind. I explained it wasn’t a book but a very long list of names of kids who always went to bed on time and stayed there (something that was a challenge to get him to do). I pointed out the legs on the front cover & told him that was a very tired Mom who was finally getting some rest. He bought it & it got me two months of frustration free bedtimes (until he asked to see his name in the book lol).
Congratulations and thanks for sharing! You gave me a great piece of advice - in the back of one of your books, or maybe online, you offered the advice "read acknowledgements in novels like yours to find possible agent names." I do that every time i read a womens fiction novel now.
Im still querying - while also writing book 2 - but I hope to get there. One more thing - i love your anecdote about authors most wanting to.tell their parents. I lost my mom, but it was her dream I'd write a book, so i really relate to that. Im thinking, maybe the dedication :)
My then mother-in-law (sadly, no longer with us) alerted me to “Good in Bed.” She lived in Farmington and she read about your mom living locally. I think you spent some time here growing up? I’m in West Hartford.
I adored your first novel, and have been following you ever since. The plump protagonist, the frank sex talk, and the refreshing perspective made it irresistible. This Substack entry covering the last 25 years is tremendous. What a journey we’ve all been through!
I’m a self-published writer myself, who went through the submission on paper stage at precisely the same time that you did. I got some early excitement about my first manuscript and the possibility of a movie, but that never came to fruition.
I do have novels out in several different genres, but the golden era for indie sales is now in the past. You’re right that people don’t read as much as they did, and there’s simply so much material out there that it’s hard to break through… or stay broken through.
Carry on, and thank you for all of the joy and entertainment you’ve brought us throughout this quarter century!
Congratulations! As I wrote in my note about why I subscribed to your Substack, you have transformed the landscape of how women read (and write). Also, I'm sorry for the quip I said about fifteen years ago at a reading/signing, when I said your books are like crack (meaning, addictive) - I did not mean to say something offensive which I now realize it was, making light of drugs.
Thanks for an informative and fun piece on how you got your start in writing. I have enjoyed your books and your blogs for years...keep it up! You are a really good writer with lots of stories to tell and I look forward to your next book(s).
Jennifer--Congratulations! I hope this is the perfect excuse to write to you and say I interviewed you about GOOD IN BED for the Forward. Using logic, that was 25 years ago. I met you in Philly, where I am also from, and we ate breakfast together. I was such a baby writer, I don't think I'd ever done that before. I probably taped the interview with an enormous cassette player. I think it was a crappy interview on my end. And the Forward definitely wrote some weight-punning headline that I felt obscurely bad about, but couldn't *quite* figure out why. Thanks so much for chatting with a young interviewer who didn't know her ass from a hole in the ground.
Here's to the next 25 years of better headlines!
I am so happy that you and your imagination exist.
Congratulations on the big 25!!! What a fantastic body of work & I can’t wait to see what the next 25 brings!
On a side note, when my son was little he discovered my OG copy of GOOD IN BED that I had left on an end table in our living room. I remember him asking what it was about and me panicking because even though he was 4, I knew he wouldn’t be pleased with a simple explanation. So, I told him the first thing that popped into my mind. I explained it wasn’t a book but a very long list of names of kids who always went to bed on time and stayed there (something that was a challenge to get him to do). I pointed out the legs on the front cover & told him that was a very tired Mom who was finally getting some rest. He bought it & it got me two months of frustration free bedtimes (until he asked to see his name in the book lol).
I'll never forget that Franzen thing. He was such a dick about all of it. I'll never read any of his work.
Congratulations and thanks for sharing! You gave me a great piece of advice - in the back of one of your books, or maybe online, you offered the advice "read acknowledgements in novels like yours to find possible agent names." I do that every time i read a womens fiction novel now.
Im still querying - while also writing book 2 - but I hope to get there. One more thing - i love your anecdote about authors most wanting to.tell their parents. I lost my mom, but it was her dream I'd write a book, so i really relate to that. Im thinking, maybe the dedication :)
My then mother-in-law (sadly, no longer with us) alerted me to “Good in Bed.” She lived in Farmington and she read about your mom living locally. I think you spent some time here growing up? I’m in West Hartford.
I adored your first novel, and have been following you ever since. The plump protagonist, the frank sex talk, and the refreshing perspective made it irresistible. This Substack entry covering the last 25 years is tremendous. What a journey we’ve all been through!
I’m a self-published writer myself, who went through the submission on paper stage at precisely the same time that you did. I got some early excitement about my first manuscript and the possibility of a movie, but that never came to fruition.
I do have novels out in several different genres, but the golden era for indie sales is now in the past. You’re right that people don’t read as much as they did, and there’s simply so much material out there that it’s hard to break through… or stay broken through.
Carry on, and thank you for all of the joy and entertainment you’ve brought us throughout this quarter century!
I loved Good in Bed and read every book since, especially after I saw you weren't afraid to stand up out of the pages and tell the truth.
Congratulations! As I wrote in my note about why I subscribed to your Substack, you have transformed the landscape of how women read (and write). Also, I'm sorry for the quip I said about fifteen years ago at a reading/signing, when I said your books are like crack (meaning, addictive) - I did not mean to say something offensive which I now realize it was, making light of drugs.
Thanks for an informative and fun piece on how you got your start in writing. I have enjoyed your books and your blogs for years...keep it up! You are a really good writer with lots of stories to tell and I look forward to your next book(s).