Sonja Foust, Romance Author

That’s right, Nanowrimo is on! No doubt the whole website has crashed multiple times already… and it’s only 12:03.

My project this year is book two in the Hollywood Affairs series. Book 1 was last year and I really meant to get Book 2 written waaaay before this year’s nano, but life gets in the way sometimes, ya know?

So this year, we follow Adam, successful New York investment banker (just pretend for the sake of the story that investment bankers are not all up the creek in today’s economy, k?), and his wife… Wait, what? Yeah, his wife. They’ve been separated for years, but never got a divorce. Now Felice, a Hollywood comedy show writer, is down on her luck and needs Adam’s help. His price is high, but after all, they are married. Wink wink, nudge nudge. And in exchange, Adam has promised to bail her out and sign the divorce papers. But can Felice share Adam’s life– and his bed– for an entire week without losing her heart again?

It’s gonna be way fun to write. Lots of snark, from both Adam and Felice. You’d kind of expect it from Felice. I mean, she’s a comedy writer. But Adam gets some zingers too. If I can keep them from exchanging biting, witty banter long enough to have some drama, I’ll count it a win.

So, are you doing National Novel Writing Month? What are you writing? Friend me, ok? (I mean, you know, once the site comes back up.) I’m streetmouse there.

*Post title tangent: “It Begins” was on a sign once at UNC when I was a student there. I can’t imagine what prompted some gifted soul to strategically paint “SH” somewhere on the sign…

I love Halloween.

My mom raised my siblings and I always to say “please” and “thank you.” I’m very good at please and thank you, but only recently have begun thinking about my post-thanks response. When someone thanks you, traditionally you respond. There are many different acceptable responses:

“You’re welcome.”

“No problem.”

“Absolutely.”

My response of choice has been, “Sure.” I mean to convey “you’re welcome,” “no problem,” and “glad to do it,” all in one phrase. The other day, though, I heard someone snort a derisive “sure” in response to a thank you, and the uh-oh bells went off. What if people think I’m being sarcastic when I say “sure” after they thank me? What if they think I’m dismissing their thank-you as insincere or as not a big enough repayment? I definitely do not want that.

The employees at Chick-fil-a always say, “My pleasure,” when you thank them. (Go ahead, try it. I bet they will. I’m pretty sure it’s company policy.) I like that. It doesn’t sound as clipped as “sure.” So I may switch.

What do you think? What’s your response to a thanks? Am I completely over-thinking this whole thing?

Image via CrunchBaseYep, I’m a short-timer at my day job. I’m kind of wishing I could tell you it’s because I sold a book, but alas, the book hasn’t sold YET. However, the Big White Envelope of Doom has not yet turned up on my porch, so I hold out hope that the second read-through is going or will go well and I will sell that thing before year end. Whew, now that we’re back from that tangent, I am a short-timer at my day job because I’m about ready to start a new day job!

Twitter got me a new job. Crazy, but true. About a month ago, I posted a link to my 15secondpitch on Twitter. A follower of mine clicked on the link and later direct messaged me asking if I was looking to change positions. It so happened that his company was just beginning the process of searching for someone with my exact qualifications, and a month later, I was hired. Neat, huh? New social media is teh awesome.

Loved this second in the Wallflowers series. I knew Lillian would be a good one to read about! Loved the tension between her and Marcus and loved that there was a bit of adventure thrown in too, since the Bowman girls wouldn’t consider it a great romance without an adventure to go with it.