Barbara's Meanderings

I am happy to say I knew Janie Franz when she had only one book, The Bowdancer. She was a guest on this blog and since then she has returned to talk about her ever growing list of published books. I was thrilled when she became a Muse author and now she has a new book she is showcasing here, The Premier, which has a very elegant cover.

Oh, I see her coming around the bend. "Hi, Janie! It's great to see you again and so nice to have you back as a return guest here."

Janie Franz Bio:

Janie Franz comes from a long line of liars and storytellers with roots deep in east Tennessee. Honed by the frigid Northern Plains and a degree in anthropology, her writing skill and curiosity have generated thousands of feature and cover articles over a vast range of topics for more than a hundred regional, national, and international publications for over a decade. She has co-written two books with Texas wedding DJ, Bill Cox (The Ultimate Wedding Ceremony Book and The Ultimate Wedding Reception Book), and has self-published a writing manual, Freelance Writing: It’s a Business, Stupid!
She runs her own online music publication, Refrain Magazine (www.refrainmagazine.com), is a book and music reviewer, and was a radio announcer, a booking agent/publicist for a groove/funk band, and a yoga/relaxation instructor
The Premier is her seventh work of published fiction. Published by MuseItUp Publishing.

Book Blurb:

Susan Davyss faces Hollywood temptation when filmstar David Salizon threatens to become more than a dream hero in her novel.

You know I'm going to want to read this, because I love film and it looks like there is a romance brewing here.


I see you have more than one excerpt for us. Here they are:

Short Excerpt:

     The door opened. A tanned, dark-haired man, slight of build, entered.

     Susan recalled the lines from her book. “…the stranger’s black hair that was beginning to gray at his temples caught her eye. It was an odd quality in someone his age with his obvious Spanish lineage and apparent refinement. She scanned his features, taking in his sensitive mouth and a nose hinting at an Aztec-like hawkishness…. His dark eyes concentrated intently for a few seconds on her and then retreated into his thoughts as if he could only focus on the world around him in brief glimpses…”

     My God! Susan thought. If he looks at me like that, I’ll…I’ll… She took a deep breath. I’ll smile and shake his hand, she bolstered herself.

     He was more than a handsome man and successful film star, more than a romantic leading man. He emanated an aura of confidence and aloofness, both irresistible qualities. Though he wore a casual tan bush shirt and snug European fit slacks, he still looked elegant, crisp, and neat as if he could repair his car and not smell of gasoline.

Now that we know a little bit about the story, I can't wait to see the longer excerpt.

Long excerpt:

     Sam Mattingale’s office gleamed with chrome and glass. A bank of windows exposed the city below like a cubist painting in muted shades of gray and dull blue. Author Susan Davyss, feeling both ill at ease and excitedly decadent in the glamorous surroundings, sipped champagne at two o’clock in the afternoon in the comfort of a black leather and chrome couch. She was in Los Angeles to celebrate the premier of Mayan Heart, the movie made from her book.

     “How was your flight out, Ms. Davyss?” Sam Mattingale asked.

     “Oh, I didn’t fly. We made this a family trip. My husband’s in San Diego with the children visiting his brother. They’re taking in the zoo. We thought it best not to have the children underfoot during all this excitement. Ted said it was my glory, and I should bask in the accolades without someone yanking my jeans, needing to go to the bathroom.”

     Sam laughed, his gray mustache curling around his smile. He looked more like a fatherly lawyer—in fact, very much like the one who had read over her contract back in Aberdeen—than a producer. “I’d forgotten about your little ones. My own kids are grown. One’s an agent in Burbank, and the other’s a cinematographer for MGM. Both are too busy for children—or at least none they’ve told me about.” He rose from his chair near her. “Here. Let me freshen your drink.”

     “You’d better not. One, and I can navigate to the door unaided. Two, and I’ll need help.”

     He laughed again. “We’ll provide all the help you need.” He took her glass to a small bar in the corner of the room. “You have much to celebrate. The film looks like it will be successful and very profitable for you. You had a shrewd lawyer who negotiated a tight royalty contract. I didn’t think they bred that kind of lawyer in South Dakota.” He handed her another glass of champagne.

      She held the glass but only sipped its contents. “Gus Haickman’s a South Dakota transplant like myself. He comes from a long line of Tennessee horse traders. He did a fellow Southerner a good turn.”

     “Quite a good turn,” Sam said, sitting once more and swinging a long leg over his knee. “If this movie paces the way I think it will, you’ll be able to move out of the wilderness into civilized country.”

     Susan smiled. “I’m not sure we’ll do that. We appreciate the advance though…I don’t dare spend it yet. I still feel someone’s going to come and take it back.” She laughed. “The book sales have been steady, and that provides us with a degree of comfort. We’re putting as much as we can into college funds.”

     “Your book sales should increase. We’ve noticed quite a trend toward reading the original after a film like this comes out, and that leads to reading other books by the same author. It should be very good for you.”

     “I think I’m going to need lead shoes to keep from floating away after all this is over. I appreciate your including me in the celebrations.”

      “It’s customary. After all without your story, we wouldn’t have a film—and without David Salizon, we wouldn’t have such a promising one. Why did you ever write him into the contract?”

     Susan’s eyes sought refuge in the bubbles of her champagne glass while she smiled with some embarrassment. “I wrote the story around eight years ago about a stranger I’d seen while I was in Arizona visiting my father. As the story developed, and I saw more of David Salizon’s work, I discovered during the eighth and last rewrite that the character was, in essence, David Salizon. It was a rather eerie revelation.”

     “A very profitable one for us, I hope.”

     The intercom buzzed. Sam Mattingale stood to reach over his desk and punched a button.
“Mr. Salizon is here, sir,” a female voice announced.

Now you have us on the edge of our seats. What does this David Salizon look like? Will there be sparks between the two of them?

Here is Janie Franz's contact information:


Contact: 505-515-9513, brigidswell@gmail.com
Also available for speaking engagements.

Muse Bookstore

Author’s website: http://janiefranz.fourfour.com/home
Book Trailer: Coming soon

Thank you for coming back, Janie and I wish you good luck with this new book! Janie will stick around so please leave a comment or question for her. There may or may not be a drawing for a free book. 


Until the next time, I want to thank any of you who voted for me in the Preditors & Editors Poll. At this time I am in 3rd place and would love to have anyone who hasn't voted go and vote for me. My book, If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor was in 1st place, then tied and moved to 2nd. Now it's in 3rd and I will accept if it stays there, but would appreciate the votes if you have any left. Go here:

http://critters.org/predpoll/novelyoungadult.shtml

This is the last day to vote!

I will be appearing on several different blogs this month. Also there are a couple more guest authors who are visiting me this month too. My Blog Talk Radio Show, RRWL Tales from the Pages will be on Thursday,January 26th at 3PM Central, 4PM EST.

My book has gotten another great review on Amazon, which I have posted on my Review page. Once more someone has recommended it to teen aged girls as a must read. There is a Teacher's Guide for any teachers who might want to use the book and if you are interested in ordering copies please contact me. I am also available for school visits and I will gladly speak with classes on Skype if that can be arranged. I have also given a copy to the American Eating Disorders Association for their library and they will be giving it to people who call their help line and might benefit from it.

Besides the reviews, the reactions I have received from both men and women who have read it makes me realize this is a book for all ages. You can read the first chapter, which I have placed on a separate page for free.


Thank you to all who continue to follow me and my crazy meanderings. Don't forget to leave a comment for Janie Franz.

If you didn't know this, Cheryl won the drawing for a free book from Jo Lindsdell-Feliciani. What a great couple of weeks we had with her as my guest author. Thank you to all who left a comment or question for her. If we can pull it off, Jo may be a guest on my show.:)

Vivian Zabel - publisher

President Barack Obama signs the Health Care Reform bill into law on March 23,2010 while Vice President Joe Biden, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid observe.

Pictures of Our New Place!!



A lot has happened since I last posted. First of all a giant thank you to Janie Franz for being the best guest author I ever hosted!!! While she was a guest on the blog her book became a bestseller and I am thrilled for her. The interview was considered great from so many people my face is a permanent red!!!!:) Seriously, thank you to all the people both on the blog and off the blog who commented and enjoyed the interview. Janie was an excellent guest author to interview!!!

Today I am very pleased to present a guest author! It's wonderful to do something different for a change and I think once you meet Janie Franz you will see what an usual writer she is.:)

Barbara: Please tell our readers about yourself. Everyone can read your bio, but tell us something that is not on your bio.

Janie: I come from a long line of liars and storytellers. I had an uncle who couldn't read or write, but the man could spin a yarn. When we'd go visiting when I was a child, the women would be in the kitchen, talking about who had affairs with who and showing each other their operation scars. I found that to be so boring and really depressing. The women were so solemn. I'd always slip into the living room where the men were and sit in behind my uncle's big chair and listen to his stories about fishing and hunting and mountain “haints.” His stories were funny and full of mountain expressions---and the men laughed so hard! And they weren't sharing around any moonshine either!

Barbara: How did a southern girl from Tennessee wind up in North Dakota?

Janie: My husband had just finished grad school with a degree in rehabilitation counseling. It was really a niche degree that didn't offer a lot of placements in Ohio where we were living at the time. As my husband was sending out resumes, I knew the possibilities were limitless. We could move anywhere in the country. All I asked was no place flat or cold......Well, guess where we ended up? The flattest, coldest place in the country!

Barbara: You have written two non-fiction books, The Wedding Planner Book and The Wedding Ceremony Book with a Texas wedding DJ, Bill Cox. Would you please tell our readers how this happened?

Janie: I am a full-time freelance journalist. As part of the early days of establishing my business, I looked for writing projects every day. I saw a post for a collaborator for a book on weddings. As Bill and I corresponded, getting to know the scope of the project and each other better, his wife asked him, “Bill, why don't you just call her and talk to her?” His answer was insightful. He said, “I want to see how she expresses herself on paper.”

Bill and I did research, and he sent me a lot of anecdotes about being a wedding DJ. I did a lot of writing and editing. We did the reception book first and then the ceremony book. Bill had the first copies of the reception book printed himself. Because we started seeing a demand, he went to a POD company. Eventually, he changed companies and we have it at BookSurge now, and are very pleased with them.

Barbara: Tell us about the book you wrote yourself: Freelance Writing: It’s a Business Stupid. Why did you write it?

Janie: Actually, I was really tired of people treating me and my business as if I were just occupying my free time with a little hobby. I was at a big entrepreneur show here, doing a presentation on freelance writing, when someone from a graphic design company in a booth near mine came over and asked if I just was doing this little hobby. And that came from a young woman!

I looked her in the eye and said, “You have a graphic design business, right?”
“Yes,” she said.
“It's a full-time business for you, right?”
“Yes,” she said.
“It's just the same as mine. I'm a full-time freelance journalist. I make money at what I do and I pay taxes, just like you.”
Needless to say, that's where the title came from!

But I also saw a need for writers to have good tools that they could use to start a business. I've worked out a lot of bugs in the past decade about doing this. I'll be doing a week-long workshop at the Muse Online Writers Conference in October called Freelance Writing: It’s a Business Stupid!.

If you are my friend on Facebook and/or Twitter you might have been seeing these posts saying how we can't find a place to live since the fire. Yes, we are still living in a hotel, but even that had a problem.:) Last week we were jarred out of our rooms with the fire alarm message. We had to get our coats and of course my computer and go out into the cold night. It was in the teens that night and there was no place to get warm. We got into one of our cars and drove away. When we drove away we learned that it wasn't a fire at all but a flood. A water main had burst causing a gas leak! We had to get another hotel right away and found it less than a mile away. That one was twice the price of our first hotel and believe it or not though the lobby was more plush, our first hotel was better. The first hotel, Residence Inn by Marriott in White Plains, NY needed major help. When we left it water was pouring out of the automatic opening doors and the hotel was ringed by all kinds of fire vehicles. We didn't know it at the time but we would have to spend three nights away from this place. Also my computer got damaged when my daughter dropped it. To make up for it, though, both my daughters bought me a brand new laptop! Yay!!!