Slummy Mummies & Gucci Mamas Inspire Chick Lit

     When my sister and I were kids, we used to play on our swing set and sing songs. Our favorite one was one we made up and the only lyrics to it were, “Mommy made me new clothes.” I don’t remember singing any songs about my dad, but I remember seeing my little brother in pictures with his playschool lawn mower “mowing” the lawn in the same fashion, just a few steps behind my dad – dad was his idol. If that doesn’t give you an idea of the love that we had for our parents, and the love they had for us, I don’t know what else would. They always supported everything we did, all that we wanted to be and more…

     One day, I hope to be a well-balanced parent to a couple of kids. In the meantime, I suppose, we have Honey, our practice child, a little Calico kitten. She is just like an infant – in need of time, love, attention, food, water and medical care. She is vulnerable when she’s tired or sick. She’ll watch over us at night while we sleep (or even during an afternoon catnap). She is so easily entertained and okay, she’s a little spoiled; but so far, she’s our only and we want her to always be happy, safe and healthy – just like any parent would do for their child.

     It’s funny, but in many of the books I read, there is no mention of parent, especially in the ones about single, dating young women. Unless there is a wedding in the air – the perfect opportunity for the mother of bridezilla or overeager wedding planning mother character to appear – parents are usually all but obsolete. I know this is not true of all books – in fact, chick lit has many sub-genres dedicated to the many different sides of mothers, from Mommy Lit to Mommy and Baby Lit and more. Look at Lucy Sweeney as the post-baby Bridget Jones type mom in Fiona Neill’s Slummy Mummy, which showed the hilarious side one toddler-juggling PTA wife and mother. Or there was Claudia, the could-be mom in Emily Giffin’s Baby Proof, in which a thirty-ish woman and wife was so sure she didn’t want to have any children – that was of course, until she got divorced, missed her husband and spent more time in the role of Auntie to her favorite niece. In another exaggerated take on mothers, there are the ones who garnish their infants in all the latest designer fads, as in Gucci Gucci Coo by Sue Margolis or even the latest from Sophie Kinsella, Mini-Shopaholic. Who could forget when Becky Bloomwood's 2-year old Minnie demanded her Balenciaga bag to tote around? What are your parents like? What are you like as a parent? Or how do you see yourself as a future-parent?

Love Letters: On Writing Chick Lit

“Your First Love”

  

     My first love of writing came when I was a little girl. I carried around spiral bound notebooks for my “creative writing” My best girlfriend from tennis was into the writing thing too and she came up with the brilliant idea that our author names should be our middle initial, last initial and then middle name would be our “new” last name – or something like that; I have a hard time remembering at this point. Regardless, I remember writing creative stories all the time and writing them everywhere. I found an aqua spiral bound notebook of mine some years later and it was so much fun to look back on the little snippets of fiction I had written, and of course, they all came with adjoining illustrations (even if I never was much of an artist – I’m still not.)

     My first love of chick lit really came in the form of women’s fiction. As a young girl, I loved to read. I went through various genres, but I always came back to books about women like me. As a kid, I remember reading The Kids at Polk Street School Series in addition to the other “fabulous” series of the nineties, including The Babysitters’ Club, the Ramona Quimby books, Sweet Valley High and anything by R.L. Stine. As a preteen, Judy Blume was always among my top picks. In fact, when I read Summer Sisters at age 16, it became the first book to bring tears to my eyes – in public – at work, no less! Shortly thereafter, I remember reading a book recommended by Oprah, Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts that was later made into a movie with Natalie Portman. It was another beautiful story about a girl who you could just relate to and feel compassion for on so many levels. By the time I got out of college and into the world of work, the chick lit focused publishing group, Red Dress Ink, had emerged and through a book swap at work, I was introduced to the likes of infamous characters, Becky Bloomwood, the Walsh Sisters and of course, the Sex and the City Girls. Sophie Kinsella, Candace Bushnell and Marian Keyes were my absolute favorites. I tried to read every book they ever wrote (that I could get at the local library anyways) and with each one complete, I was always so sad to have it end.

     Late last year, I read Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella and my love for chick lit was fully rejuvenated only this time, I vowed to make myself branch out. I read a few of Emily Giffin’s, Lauren Weisberger’s, Beth Harbison’s and more. Not only did I read this time, but I also started listening to unabridged chick lit audio books as well. I was surely hooked! I joined a Chick Lit (only) Book Club online, began writing reviews for the Australian-based Web site, www.chicklitclub.com/index.html, started this blog and the rest is history really…

Back to the Bedroom: Confessions from a Chick Lit Blogger

      Hi Everyone! My name is Cathy and welcome to my Web page, Where You Wish Upon A Star, where I talk about my dreams of becoming a chick lit author and my journey to get there. I review books; I discuss topics about writing inspired by books and I sometimes share a little about my everyday life.

 

While you may already know a little about me from my blog, here are 15 new, and some odd, facts about me….

1. I have endless scraps of paper strewn about with famous, philosophical, creative, inspirational, fun and funny quotes.

2. When in doubt, I consult Google. (I Heart Google.)

3. My fiancé and I named our cat El Tigre until we found out it was a female (she’s now called Honey).

4. I have a major weakness for Candy Corn (especially this time of year) but I just found out (on the back of the bag it said) that Americans eat so much candy corn that if it were lined up, candy piece by candy piece, back to back, it would circumvent the Earth 45 times!!! (Ow, my stomach hurts just thinking about it).

5. Even though I’ve been an avid chick lit reader for almost ten years, this was the first year I branched out beyond Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes, Lauren Weisberger and Candace Bushnell.

6. My favorite author is Emily Giffin – who someone recently pointed out evokes something similar to Judy Blume (my favorite author as a child).

7. I participated in the 48 Hours Film Project in Boston a few years ago (A contest in which you have 48 hours to create, produce, film, edit and submit a short movie based on a random category you’ve selected at random on opening night).

8. I am currently working on getting my Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology.

9. When I was a kid, it was my dream to be a professional tennis player like Monica Seles or Jennifer Capriati (today’s equivalent to Maria Sharapova or the Williams Sisters).

10. When I was a kid, I wished I would grow to over 6 feet tall (luckily, I leveled out at 5’8” – plenty tall enough).

11. Working in Ladies Shoes in college, I was mortified at the comparisons to Al Bundy.

12. Instead of obsessively buying clothes, shoes and handbags, I now swap, trade and barter books online like their going out of print.

13. I think Facebook is to the average population what the paparazzi is to celebrities.

14. My horoscope (Cancer) is right about one thing: I am a total homebody.

15. I still own over a 100 pairs of shoes.

Save Cathy: One Writer's Journey to her Blog and Back

     Welcome Back to My Blog. If you have been as absent as I have, I thought I might take a little bit of time out of my day to tell you where I have been and what I have been doing.

     All summer, my fiancé and I have been feeding a colony of feral kittens and cats that live in our backyard. One day, early in August we discovered that one of the kittens, maybe 4 or 5 weeks old at the time, was not breathing easily. It became painfully obvious that this tiny little kitten had a respiratory illness and if we didn't do something about it, who knows how long she would make it out in the wild. Complicating issues further (if you have never seen or dealt with feral cats), she was absolutely 100% terrified of us!! But, with a strong desire to play and eat and the sweetest most innocent face you've ever seen, we couldn't possibly imagine leaving this poor creature out on her own. We talked about how we could care for her and find her a good home and whether or not we thought we would be able to trap her. Over the next 48 hours, she let us know, herself, exactly how this was all going to play out. Every day I would find her hiding behind or under the grill on our deck, directly in front of our sliding door. She no longer went upstairs to sleep with her Mama and her brother. She no longer ran about in her crazy zig zag way that she did when we first saw her. In her own, timid way, I truly believe, she was trying to tell us that she was sick – she was too sick to move – or at least too sick to climb the stairs – she was too sick to protect herself from predators which is why she hid in the protection of our grill – but as sick as she was and as scared as she was, she was brave enough to come out from under her little shelter to let us know that she still wanted to live. She would come out from under her little shelter just long enough to let us know that she still wanted to live. She would eat little ripped up pieces of lunch meats and cheeses with the most innocent delight from our hands. She was so sweet. I think she chose us. In fact, ask any cat owner ore person who works with cats in any aspect of their lives and they will likely tell you the same thing – you don’t get to choose your pet cat – they will choose you!

     So we made a plan Friday night, August 6th to find a way to get the little girl (who at the time we thought was a boy, who we called Lil Tiger because of the Calico coloring of her fur in gorgeous patterns of orange, black and white) and bring her to a vet. The first vet we had picked out to take her to closed at 5pm but as time kept ticking on and we realized just how difficult the task of getting her was going to be, that vet quickly was crossed off our list. With the vet nearest our house closing at 6:00pm, we finally caught her at 5:45pm! Of course, at this point my fiancé’s arms had been clawed at and scratched to no end and the little girl was writhing and rolling in a little clothes box that I had made numerous holes in to ensure plenty of oxygen (The shelter I was referred to to borrow a carrier was closed when I went by). Every time I peaked in or removed the towel that was covering the holes (I read you are supposed to help the feral kitty feel like she is hiding from you – then she will be less scared), she made quick attempts to get out or to at least let me know she was not happy to be in such a small space or in for a bouncy car ride and she spat at me! (I don’t’ know why kittens and cats think spitting is so threatening – it is really the funniest thing to see them do to you) The next vet on our list closed at 6:00pm but luckily, it was practically just across the street because I was really not sure how long I was going to be able to keep this kitty under the lid of this makeshift kennel. We arrived at the vet’s door at 5:50pm; 10 minutes before the closed, and I breathed a sigh of relief – Apparently, I let out my breath too soon, though, because when I pulled on the door, it was locked!! I could see the receptionist in the window doing (what I imagine to be) her nightly paperwork and she began mouthing the words “We’re Closed”. Closed?!?! But it’s only 10 of 6:00pm, I pointed to my watch. She came outside to (very rudely, I might add) let us know that there was no doctor on site and that there was no way we were going to be let into the facility. She was angry. She was unsympathetic and she was very curt with us. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. We had just spent the past 2 and a half hours trying to capture this little kitten to bring her back to health, and we were about to be denied services! I moved the box up closer to my face and the receptionist’s and said, as calmly as I could contain my emotions, “But I have a feral kitten in this box who is very sick. I can’t just bring her back and….what am I supposed to do.” The receptionist had no words for me, only a very agitated and annoyed eye roll that was directed towards me and my fiancé. During this exchange another customer had begun walking towards the vet’s entrance and without another word to us or the new person walking up the path, the receptionist hurried inside (to lock herself in?). In what seemed like an eon of time later, she finally came back out with a postcard in her hand and told us “that’s where we could go”. I started to ask her a question about her reference and she gave me the hand! The hand!??!! As in, “not another word; that’s all you’re getting out of me.” Thankfully, this experience was a blessing in disguise as her “referral” (if you can justly call it that) turned out to be a 24-Hour Pet Clinic that staffed the nicest, most understanding, educated and knowledgeable persons. (I don’t know hwat ever happened to the woman who “dared’ to walk up to the facility that closed at 6:00pm (at 5:55pm)…she was apparently just coming to pick up a specially ordered prescription assigned by the doctor at the vet. Now come on, tell me, if a place advertises on their website, on their door and everywhere else that they close at 6:00pm, would you assume they close at 6:00pm or ten of 6:00pm!?!?!?

     All in all after that first hour, however (and very luckily, I might add), our little girl has been nothing but a doll ever since. She was treated for her respiratory infection and dewormed by the most caring staff of doctors and nurses aids at the 24-Hour Animal Hospital at the Buzzards Bridge Rotary. We took her home and let her hide for as long as she wanted to (which was no more than the first 12 hours). She still has a very (very) healthy appetitive and desire to play and practice honing her hunting skills, pouncing, chasing, swatting, jumping, thrashing around on the floor and running through her favorite tunnel. We decided to change her name to Honey and really, I have never met a little kitty that was so brave and so tough and sweet all at once. I read that Calicos are lucky in many cultures but always tell her that we are the lucky ones to be so blessed to have such a little sweetheart in our lives. There’s nothing like having a little girl to come home to, who runs over to greet you because she’s been waiting for you to get back from work all day, and then stretches out in your lap as she gets herself ready for a night of double loves and play!

     So other than our new kitten (who takes up a good 75% of my time), all the regular stuff has been filling up my day, school work, the regular 9 to 5, tennis, friends, my fiancé and family and of course, reading, listening to audio books and writing reviews. I’m hoping to start a new writing class next Saturday for a few weeks (to maybe get that spark going to really make writing my own fiction part of my everyday routine) and I also have my annual charity tennis tournament the same weekend.

     So summer may be officially coming to an end for us here in the states but I always look forward to cozying up with more books come fall and winter (When I don't have to justify being such a homebody anymore). I won’t have (too much) school looming over my head every waking minute so I hope to get much more reading and writing done. I have already embarked on a Revamping Project of my blog. I added a Book Review page where you will be able to find ALL my book reviews ever posted on my blog as well as links to the individuals reviews. Basically, I just want to make my site as user friendly as possible. I also want to make it more “for-the-user”, if you know what I mean. It is my goal to get more pages posted, including a writing tips section that would ideally be divided by things like Character, Plot, Setting, Dialogue, etc. I would also love to be able to get some Interviews up and running, especially some duo interviews for all the audio books that I listen to and have reviewed here. Who knows, maybe I can even include some audio interviews, reviews or clips form actual unabridged books (just to shake things up a little this fall!) Finally, there may be some additional small changes to the scenery and background that you see around here. I’d like to add a spinning logo to give tribute and thanks to all those who’ve nominated me for a blog award. I really cannot extend my appreciation and gratitude to any and all persons who take the time to read what I have to say. It makes me feel so good to know that someone is even glancing at my page! Overall, I just want my blog to stay in line with its original purpose – to follow my dreams and maybe to match up with a couple of somebody else’s wishes, hopes or dreams, too.

As always, Happy Writing and Keep Reading. Love, Cathy