Julie Klam's 5 BEST EVERS

Today's guest: Julie Klam Why we love her: We first fell for her when we read her hilarious and lovable memoir (with the cutest dog you've ever seen on the cover!), You Had Me At Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secret of Happiness and we've devoured everything she's written since.

Her latest: Friendkeeping: A Field Guide to the People You Love, Hate and Can't Live Without Out today! (Which also happens to be Julie's bday! Happy Birthday!)

The scoop on it: With her inimitable wit and disarming warmth, Julie Klam shares with us her experiences, advice, and insight in Friendkeeping, a candid, hilarious look at some of the most meaningful and enjoyable relationships in our lives: our friendships.

After her bestselling You Had Me at Woof, about relationships with dogs, Klam now turns her attention to human relationships to great effect. She examines everything—from the curious world of online friendship to the intersection of friendship and motherhood. She even explores how to hang on to our friendships in the toughest circumstances: when schadenfreude rears its ugly head or when we don’t like our friend’s mate.

Klam relays a mix of brand-new and time-tested wisdom—she finds that longtime friends really can grow up without growing apart; that communication is key; that friendship is one of life’s great, free sources of happiness; that you’re not a friend, just a doormat, if you don’t get back what you give—and her discoveries range from amusing to deeply important.

Our thoughts: As BFF's for over 25 years, this laugh-out-loud funny and heartwarming book.

Giveaway: FIVE COPIES. Just leave a comment & be entered to win. We'll select the winners at 3pm on Sunday, October 28th.

Fun fact: Remember VH1's Pop-up Video? Julie not only wrote for that show, but earned an Emmy nomination.

Where you can read more about Julie: Twitter, Facebook and her website.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...JULIE KLAM'S 5 BEST EVERS

1. song- Baker Street by Gerry Raferty. I was looking at my itunes the other day and thinking I've probably bought that song a million times. It reminds me of being on the floor of my brother Matt's room in our house in Katonah and we were just groovin on our coolness -- I was 11 and he was 13 so all of the coolness was invisible

2. book - I've answered this question a lot lately - it's Fraud by the great David Rakoff. There just is no voice like his, he is the funniest writer ever. The first time I met him I gushed about it and he was so genuinely touched and moved and I thought 'wow, this must not happen to him a lot.' And then I learned half the world told him that.

3. movie- Close Encounters of the Third Kind - I loved it when I was a kid and then it was the first movie I bought as an adult. I'd just watch it over and over and over and over. I used to see Richard Dreyfuss in our diner and I felt like he was an old buddy. I once saw him eating with Richard Masur. I don't know if he had friends that weren't named Richard.

4. piece of advice - If someone is paying you to do something then it's a job and you have to do it the way they want it and on time. I think my pet peeve is people who get all artiste-y about their work. People pay you and people need your product to make money. And they count on you. Don't be a jerk. I think when I first started freelancing my aunt told me, no one wants to hear you bellyache.

5. life moment -First time I held my daughter - I had given birth c-section and had pre-eclampsia and she was a premie. So she was born and they whipped into the NICU and I was sent to a recovery room. It was 22 hours before I got to see her and hold her. I was ready to rip out my cords Hulk style and go get her but someone took pity on me. I couldn't believe her existence and how much I desperately loved her.

Thanks, Julie! xoxo,

Liz & Lisa

Photo credit: Sarah Shatz

Lit IT Girl: Debut Author Eve Marie Mont

We've been loving all the fantastic books about dogs lately.  From Stay by Allie Larkin to You Had Me At Woof by Julie Klam we've been in doggy heaven.  And this week is no exception!  Today, the fabulous Eve Marie Mont, debut author of Free to a Good Home, is hanging out with us here at  CLIND. And let's just say, she's definitely Lit IT Girl material! In Free to a Good Home, Noelle Ryan works as a veterinary technician at a New England animal shelter, helping pets find the perfect homes. If only it were as easy to find the same thing for herself. After discovering that she can’t have children—and watching her marriage fall apart after a shocking revelation by her husband—Noelle feels as forlorn and abandoned as the strays she rescues.

We enjoyed Free to a Good Home and think you will too.  It's funny and touching at the same time-no doubt the reason we finished it in record time!

And now you have a chance to win this fabulous book. Just leave a comment and you'll be entered to win one of FIVE copies.  So. Freakin'. Easy!

SO... read on to discover more about the fantastic Eve-we think you'll enjoy her answers as much as we do! (Anyone who makes a Dawson's Creek reference is a friend of ours for life!)

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS:  LIT IT GIRL, EVE MARIE MONT!

1. How many agents did you query before you found "the one"? I wrote a novel before Free to a Good Home that never got published, and I probably queried over 50 agents for that one. My search for representation for this book was a little more focused, hovering around the 30 mark. After six months of nibbles and rejections, I followed up with a handful of agents who hadn’t responded yet, and one of them said my manuscript must have gotten lost in their vetting system. So I sent it to her again, she read it, loved it, helped me revise, then signed me on at Kimberly Cameron & Associates. Her name is April Eberhardt, and she’s a pro!

2. What was your rock bottom moment during the process? My earlier novel was ultimately rejected by every agent I sent it to. One small publisher requested the full manuscript, and I spent two months with my fingers crossed, hope and anxiety coursing through my veins. Finally, the editor wrote me a letter saying they couldn’t publish my book because my characters drank too much, and the love interest was not “sufficiently paramount” in the heroine’s life. In hindsight, they probably weren’t the right publisher for me, but it was a crushing moment all the same.

3. How long did it take to write your book? Because Free to a Good Home was my second book, I didn’t obsess about it quite as much as the first. It took me about a year to write the book, then my agent and I revised it for two months to get it polished for editors.

4. What did you do to celebrate your book deal? My husband bought me a bottle of champagne and St. Germaine, and we went to our favorite BYOB and ordered every course on the menu. On my release day, we went on a field trip to local bookstores where my husband took dorky pictures of me holding my book.

5. Knowing what you know now about publishing your first novel, what would you have done differently? I’m an introvert by nature, so I’m still unsure about social networking. When I first got my book deal, I started a website, Facebook page, and blog without really knowing how to utilize them. Looking back, I wish I’d found a mentor who could have guided me through the process. I also wish someone had given me the magical formula for getting a book blurb!

6. Who is your writer crush? Right now, probably Jonathan Tropper. His books are so smart and funny, but there’s tons of heart there. My brooding high school self would have said Neil Gaiman. Oh, and Elizabeth Berg is still my all-time favorite.

7. What's your biggest distraction or vice while writing? Often when I’m writing, my dog will lie next to me and lean her head against my arm while I’m trying to type. Book blogs also suck considerable time. And Goodreads—love that site!

8. GNO drink of choice? My standby is a gin and tonic, but if it’s a special occasion, I’ll ask for a White Cosmo. If the bartender doesn’t know how to make it, it’s Grey Goose vodka, white cranberry juice, St. Germaine, and a splash of lime. Tastes like lychee fruit!

9. Favorite trashy TV show? Definitely Vampire Diaries. My husband totally makes fun of me for this because I am so not a vampire junkie in general. I only read the first Twilight book, never watched an episode of True Blood, and didn’t read Anne Rice, even when everybody and her grandmother were reading Anne Rice. But there’s something about Vampire Diaries that makes me giddy. I like to think it’s not just that every character is ridiculously good-looking. Incidentally, one of the writers, Kevin Williamson, also wrote Dawson’s Creek, a guilty pleasure of mine ten years ago. He’s brilliant at playing with the audience’s allegiance to the characters—I never know who to root for from week to week.

10.  What celeb would you love to have a Twitter war with? My brother set me up a Twitter account just before my book came out, but it remains sadly neglected. I’m not much of a fighter by nature, but one of my feistier characters would love to have a go at the guy who called Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak pornography.

Thanks Eve! xo, Liz & Lisa

To read more about Eve, head on over to her website.  Or you can also find her on Facebook!

What's on Julie Klam's Bucket List?

If the cover alone isn't enough to make you want to read this book, let us tell you more. You Had Me At Woof by Julie Klam is touching, funny, emotional (Lisa might have shed more than a few tears) and downright charming. And beware, this memoir is so engaging that by the end, you're going to want a Boston terrier all your own (even though Lisa's almost eight months prego, she is seriously considering rescuing one!). AND, they just announced that You Had Me at Woof made the NYT bestseller list! Woo hoo! Julie was thirty, single and wondering if she'd ever meet the man she could spend the rest of her life with. And then she met him...although he didn't look at all like what she'd expected. For starters, he had four legs... His name was Otto and he turned out to be one dog in a line of many that taught Julie the secrets of love, health and happiness. (Oh and in case you were wondering, Julie end up finding that husband too!)

And five of you will win a copy of You Had Me At Woof! Just leave a comment and we'll randomly select a winner Friday night!

Now we'll let you read Julie's bucket list. (We love it- especially the Jennifer Aniston part!)

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS: WHAT'S ON JULIE KLAM'S BUCKET LIST?

1. Meet Jennifer Aniston-not in a stalky creepy way, more like a she wants to be my friend way and so we go have lunch and walk around Barney’s and everyone says, “Oh wow, is that Jennifer Aniston and her personal manicurist?”

2. Get an iPhone- I know it’s not such a big stretch but I feel like I’ve been waiting a long time for Verizon to get the iPhone. Should I say get an iPhone in Egypt? Is that better?

3. Go to Tahiti- I think the plane trip is really long but I would love to be in Tahiti and drink something out of a coconut. I don’t want a long flight though so it would have to be after the Star Trek transporters are put into use.

4. Get hair extensions – my hair is long but not LOOONG and I would like it to be LOOONG. I’ve had it pretty long but it was really scraggly so I think extensions would be neater. Also in  the hair category one of those Brazilian hair things that makes your hair not be frizzy (though I don’t want the one the New York Times says has poison in it, I don’t want to die for unfrizzy hair)

5. Live in an apartment with an outdoor space – I wish I had a way to let my dogs out without walking them down to the street. I don’t quite know how this would work – a terrace with Astroturf? Hmm, yes.  And maybe a little putting green.

To find out more about the incredibly talented Julie Klam and her memoir, check out her website, follow her on Twitter and Facebook and definitely watch the book trailer!

xoxo,

Liz & Lisa