Melodie Bowsher

Mother’s Day

Melodie — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:00:04 +0000

I’m speaking at a Mother’s Day gathering of the Friends of the San Francisco Library at 6:30 Wednesday May 7. The topic: mothers and daughters, of course, (and since I’m both and my book is about both, it may be hard to get me to shut up). Come to the main library and find out! I’m also excited to be on the same panel as author Joyce Maynard, who I’ve long admired.

It’s LIT QUAKE Time!

Melodie — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 04:20:26 +0000

It’s time for Lit Quake, the annual

San Francisco festival celebrating the written word. I’ll be one of the 350 authors participating and my “slot’ for reading/speaking is at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, October 7 at the San Francisco Public Library.

In its 8^th year, Lit Quake is offering a record number of writers at 58 venues over word-filled eight days. For a full schedule, click on: http://www.litquake.org/the-festival/

A Perfect Ten!

Melodie — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:35:28 +0000

I recently learned that My Lost and Found Life has been awarded a “Perfect Ten” rating among young adult books from the Voices of Youth Advocates (VOYA).

This recognition is especially thrilling because only 11 books out of the 1,223 books reviewed by VOYA received that group’s “Perfect Ten” designation. VOYA is a bimonthly journal addressing librarians, educators, and other professionals who work with young adults. Books are rated for literary quality as well as popularity with teenage readers. Only nine novels and two nonfiction books received the highest ratings in both literary quality and popularity to earn the distinction of “Perfect Ten.” For more information on VOYA, go to http://www.voya.com/

Three Cheers for Calvert Queens!

Melodie — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:15:30 +0000

I want to thank Barbara Ricicar Lott and her book group, the Pulpwood Queens of Calvert, Texas, for inviting me to “phone in” to their meeting a few weeks ago. I had a great time talking about my book and myself. (Don’t we all enjoy that?) I have to admit, though, Barbara had me stumped with a couple of questions.She asked me to imagine I was casting a movie version of MY LOST AND FOUND LIFE. So, who would I cast as the lead characters? I didn’t know what to say and that question has driving me crazy every since.

In my heart of hearts, I always imagined 18-year-old Ashley as a young Ava Gardner (Ava was, in case you don’t know, a gorgeous and sharp-tongued film star in the 1940s). Choosing her contemporary counterpart isn’t that easy. Perhaps Scarlet Johansson (hair dyed brown) would be a good choice, although her movie roles up till now haven’t depicted her with the wit and spunk that Ashley has. Hilary Duff could be another choice for Ashley.

For the other roles, I could see Meg Ryan as Ashley’s embezzling mother and the acerbic Judy Davis would make a great Gloria. As for Tattie, she should be played by someone like Lindsey Lohan. Hugh Dancy would make a perfect Patrick, the young and charming Irishman, or Adam Grenier. Mad Malcolm’s part could be played by John Travolata (with padding) and Robert Duval would be good for Earl’s role

Then Queen Barbara asked me to think about casting a movie based on my own life. Who would play Melodie Bowsher? Ouch, that’s a tough one. Do I choose an actress I wish I looked like or someone who resembles me a bit? You know what I mean…I fear I look like Meryl Streep but I wish I looked like Michelle Pfeiffer. So I asked other people. My sister said Glenn Close. My friend Arlene said a young Doris Day. I finally chose Sandra Bullock. Now I have to admit, I don’t look a thing like Sandra, but her movies are always entertaining and that seems good enough reason to me.

Email Me! Call Me! I love to talk about my book!

Melodie — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 23:14:14 +0000

I’m back from snowy Colorado where I had a terrific time meeting with a book group in Boulder – it was a small but lively group, and they had lots of interesting questions. Thank you, Shana, for arranging it and Amy for being such a great hostess!

Don’t forget – I’m always eager to talk to book clubs. If I can’t do it in person, I’ll phone in and TALK VERY LOUD on a speaker phone. So email me if your book group wants to read and discuss my novel.

The Not Your Mothers Book Club recently posted an online interview with me. If you’d like to read it, click here:

http://community.livejournal.com/notyourmothers/50660.html

There are more lively discussions on the horizon because I’ve been invited to come to San Jose June 9-10 and participate in the Book Group Expo (Serious Fun for Serious Readers). Last year they had some really famous authors speaking so I’m quite excited to be invited in 2007. Here is a link to the website if you’d like more information:

http://www.bookgroupexpo.com/index.html

More Good News: I’ve just heard that MY LOST AND FOUND LIFE will be included on the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list for 2007!

Here’s the link: http://teenlink.nypl.org/index.html

(Note: the 2007 titles are not yet posted.)

Back from Texas, Going to Colorado

Melodie — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 23:49:30 +0000

O.K., I have a really good excuse for having neglected my blog. First, I was in Texas visiting my mother, my sister Nancy and my brother Tom and talking about my book.

I spoke to the Prestonwood Newcomers Book Group – they all read the book and told me they loved it (music to my ears).
I spoke to the seniors who reside at the Preston Place Retirement Center and they were also a warm and attentive audience.
Then I went to Marshall, Texas with my own personal entourage of eight people ranging in age from 82 years (my mom) to 8 months (a blue-eyed angel named Lily) to talk to the Pulpwood Queens Book Club members about my book The Pulpwood Queens have made My Lost and Found Life an alternate pick for the month of April.

So you can see, I’ve been busy.

Then I came back to SF and promptly came down with the stomach flu. Yeah, the moaning and groaning and please-put-me-out-of-my-misery type. As I started to recover, I was feeling really low about all the lost time and all the work piled up on my desk – and then I checked my emails. There were five great emails from five readers who loved my book. Thank you, thank you, you know who you are. Those sweet words came at just the right time to help me get on track again. So I’m finally feeling better and back at the keyboard.

But, before I go any further, I want to clear up something I said previously. Correction: San Francisco does not know or ever experience a real winter. Anything I said before was wrong. No, Dallas knows winter. Also, I am certain that Colorado knows winter and I expect to witness it first-hand very soon.

Why do I mention Colorado? Because I’ve scheduled a trip to Denver and Boulder on March 1st. I’m going there not to admire the Rocky Mountains (though I do) but to admire the newest member of my extended clan, six-month old Katelyn, who will be arriving with her family from England to visit my sister Rochelle.

This trip to Colorado presents an opportunity. I will be speaking to a book club in Boulder on March 5, but I’m open to arranging some other book-related events as well. So, if you live in the Denver/Boulder/Colorado Springs area and would like to hear me talk about my book, send me an email. I’m very willing to drop in on your club or your school or your library or your bookstore between the dates of March 1 and March 7. Let’s talk about it and see what we can arrange.

My New Year’s Resolution

Melodie — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 03:31:59 +0000

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to write in my blog more often. For a writer, I seem to have an awful lot of trouble writing, but then, a blog isn’t about someone else, it’s about me. And that’s much harder than writing about someone else or someone I imagined.

Anyway, I’ve decided that maybe it would be easier if I approach it like I’m writing a letter to my good friend Kay…so, if you keep reading, be warned that I write Kay a lot of minutia.

Lately I’ve been struggling to keep warm in the unusually cold San Francisco weather – brrrrr, we’re really having a real winter. I’ve also been trying to exercise at the health club and even went to a yoga class; afterwards I was so tired I took a nap. Aside from working, I run errands, watch movies and then there’s my Solitaire addiction. Yep, I’ve become an addict. It started with playing one game while I waited for my annoyingly slow computer to load. But game by game, the number of “hands” I played began to creep up and now I want to play all the time. I’ve found myself at the keyboard playing solitaire at one or two in the morning …and even for a night owl like me, that’s insane. It’s just like cappuccino (my other addiction), I never get enough. Now I understand how people can spend so much time on computer games. I’m actually afraid to try a game that’s more fun…imagine how much time I might waste.

Movies, movies, I love movies. I celebrated my birthday (yes, I’m a Capricorn) by going with my friend Lorraine to see three movies on New Year’s Day. First we saw THE GOOD GERMAN which we liked the best. What’s not to like? George Clooney in a black-and-white post-World War II noir-ish mystery. I did get a little tired of George’s character getting beaten up in almost every scene. After the third time he was roughed up, I began to think that he must be pretty dumb not to anticipate some trouble..com’on, get a clue, pal. The second movie was CHILDREN OF MEN and, though I like Clive Owen, I found the film very bleak and sad. The last movie was THE GOOD SHEPHERD and it was long and slow.

I’m also reading, but I’ll add a list of the recent good books I’ve read another time. Right now I’m more interested in my own book. After some false starts, I’m working away on my new novel and I’m quite excited about it. In fact, I wander around with my head lost…no, not in the clouds, but lost in the imaginary world of Tattie, the new book’s main character. If that name sounds familiar, Tattie, short for Tatiana, was a minor character in MY LOST AND FOUND LIFE. She’s a so-called “bad” girl and her behavior can be outrageous, but she intrigues me and I feel compelled to tell her story. I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going.

Three Book Clubs So Far!

Melodie — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 18:32:59 +0000

Nothing is better than hearing from readers and getting feedback on your writing – especially positive feedback, let’s be honest. So far my book has been read and praised by three book groups (that I know of).

The first book group was in San Rafael, California. On a Thursday evening I sat in a straight-back chair surrounded by eight women who bombarded me with questions about the book and the writing process. It was great. As you might suspect, this group was particularly interested in the problems of bringing up children/teenagers in an affluent suburb. Like most mothers, they understood the desire to give your kids everything, and how hard it is to say “No” when you want to make them happy. I freely admit that I still have trouble saying “No” even though I’ve never embezzled anything.

Next my writer-friend Kemble Scott sent MY LOST AND FOUND LIFE to his mother in Massachusetts. She read it, loved it and recommended it to her book group. They loved it. It was wonderful to hear readers all the way across the country liked my ” California” book. Thank you, Kemble, and Kemble’s mom. (Unfortunately, I didn’t get to travel to New England for this meeting, darn!).

The third group to read and discuss my book was the Book Babes Book Club in Auburn, California. I used to live in Auburn and I used to be a member of the Book Babes, so it was fun to go back and hear all my old friends talk about my book. Of course, they’re my friends, so they probably wouldn’t have said anything bad about the novel, especially in front of me. But they all swore that they really really REALLY liked my book. We met in the private room of a Roseville restaurant and I talked and talked and they said truly wonderful things like “You should be on Oprah!” and “I hope you’re writing a sequel.” Thank you Sue, Leslie, Beth, Kay, Joey, Dawnielle, Lorraine, Elizabeth, and all the other book babes. I floated home, buoyed by your compliments.

So what’s next? More meetings with book group, I hope. If you know of a book group who might want to read my book, tell them that I’ll try my best to come in person or phone in for the meeting. Just send me an email and we’ll make it happen. And don’t worry, I can take criticism too. If you think the book should have ended differently, let’s talk about it.

Nice Review at TeensReadToo.com

Melodie — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 00:32:30 +0000

I’m happy to report that a teen reviewer at TeensReadToo.com liked the novel.

Here’s what the reviewer said:

MY LOST AND FOUND LIFE is so well-written that Ashley seems like a real person. It’s written like an autobiography, and I almost forgot that it wasn’t a true story. Especially since it could be–things like this actually happen to people. It is a
good reminder that you don’t always know what people have been through. As well as a reminder that you might be surprised at what you can do when you run out of options.

Rated at Five Stars by Carrie Spellman

http://www.teensreadtoo.com/MyLostAndFoundLife.html

Bad Girl Novels? OK, Count me in!

Melodie — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 22:30:43 +0000

I’m going to be reading at an Inside Storytime event for “Bad Girls” novelists on Thursday October 19 from 7-9 pm at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco (only those over 21 are admitted, as alcohol is served). More info at www.insidestorytime.com

I’m not sure if the authors or our book heroines are supposed to be “bad” — but it’s cool either way. Even though Ashley, my novel’s main character isn’t bad, she definitely is willful and has attitude, at least in the beginning. Hey, a little ‘tude isn’t bad. Keeps us from being doormats, right?

Anyway, here’s the nitty-gritty: BAD GIRLS on October 19^th, 7 - 9 pm, at San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop, an all-female event, is really going to rock! Come see Cameron Tuttle, the original bad girl behind the Bad Girl’s Guide series, which have sold over a million copies; Famous author Jennifer Solow, author of the national bestseller The Booster, guest MC standup comic Mary Van Note, first place winner of the 2006 Twisted Biscuit competition; Melodie Bowsher will read from the bad girl novel of the season, My Lost and Found Life; Kathi Kamen Goldmark, founder of the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock group that also includes Amy Tan and Stephen King; and Wendy Merrill will read from Falling Into Manholes, just sold to Putnam.