Jen Lancaster's 5 Do's and a Do-Over

There's a reason why the fabulous Jen Lancaster has a bazillon-million Facebook fans.  She. Rocks!  And we're as giddy as little schoolgirls at a Justin Bieber concert about the fact that she's sharing her Do's and a Do-Over today here at CLIND! Jen's bestselling memoirs are freakin' hilarious.  Now, with If You Were Here, she makes her fiction debut and we couldn't be happier about it.  In fact, when we discovered that If You Were Herehad more John Hughes's references than a VH1 special-we were SOLD.  Because nothing makes us happier than waxing nostalgic over the movies we grew up with.  And we gotta love anyone that, like us, drooled over Jake and that damn Porsche in the movie Sixteen Candles.  Too bad our "Jake Complex" led us to make some very unfortunate dating choices growing up!  But hey, we don't know about you, but there's still a spot for him and his Porsche on our short list. *wink wink*

And we loved If You Were Here-it's a fun read that will have you LOLing in every chapter!  A perfect pick-me-up after a long week!

If You Were Here follows Amish-zombie-teen- romance author Mia and her husband Mac (and their pets) through the alternately frustrating, exciting, terrifying-but always funny-process of buying and renovating their first home in the Chicago suburbs that John Hughes's movies made famous. Along their harrowing renovation journey, Mia and Mac get caught up in various wars with the homeowners' association, meet some less-than-friendly neighbors, and are joined by a hilarious cast of supporting characters, including a celebutard ex- landlady. As they struggle to adapt to their new surroundings- with Mac taking on the renovations himself- Mia and Mac will discover if their marriage is strong enough to survive months of DIY renovations.

Sounds fun, right?  We have FIVE copies to give away!  Just leave a comment and you'll be entered to win.  Doesn't get much easier than that, people.  We'll choose the winners on Friday May 6th after 6pm PST.  Good Luck!

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...JEN LANCASTER'S 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER

5 DO'S

1. Be prepared. No one will fight harder for what you want than you.  Doing your homework gives you the confidence to fight.  Take job hunting, for example.  When people are asked to come interview, most applicants read the employer’s website and can parrot back the company’s mission statement if asked.  But if you want this job, dig deeper.  Work harder than your competition.  Research the organization in-depth.  Read trade journals.  Gain some perspective on how this employer has the competitive advantage, or what they might need to improve it.  Become well-versed in how legislation/lobbyists are changing the corporate landscape.  Take inventory of your personal strengths and practice explaining how these skills dovetail into the organization’s very specific needs.  Yes, it’s a lot of extra effort.  But if you’re properly prepared, the employer will snap you up if for no reason other than to keep their competitors from hiring you.

2.  Be charming. The above only works if you can do it all with a genuine smile on your face.  Life is a lot like one of my favorite reality shows - Survivor.  Yeah, it’s important to excel at challenges and carry your own weight around camp, but ultimately positive social interactions win the game.  Boston Rob always goes far because he’s smart and he’s strong, but being funny and cute has been of equal importance.  (Maybe he hasn’t won the million yet, but his charm is what keeps CBS asking him back.)

3.  Embrace failure. Despite your best efforts to be both prepared and charming, bad things still happen.  Learn that failure doesn’t define you; recovering from failure does.  When I was laid off from my executive job, I thought my life was over.  Yet during my jobless tenure, I discovered that I didn’t actually like working a boring corporate desk job.  If I hadn’t failed at being an executive, I’d never have had the opportunity to pursue a more creative line of work.  To pass the long, empty days home alone, I wrote scathing blog posts about being unemployed, only to discover that the act of writing fueled me.  Documenting the story of my failure turned into writing Bitter Is the New Black and the rest is history.

4.  More Ferris, Less Cameron.  Ferris Bueller said it best – sometimes you need to take the day off.  Life does move pretty fast sometimes, and if you don’t, say, steal your dad’s vintage Ferrari to cruise around the city on occasion, you might miss it.  Goof off once in a while.  Spend a long, leisurely afternoon with Real Housewives on the TiVo and some Ben & Jerry’s.  You might be surprised at how productive you’ll be if you allow yourself a minute to recharge your batteries.

5.  Charlie Sheen is not #winning.  Ever. Despite Sheen’s deplorable behavior, there are still women out there – clever, confident, capable women – who honestly believe they can change him.  And yet his string of unhappy ex-wives and girlfriends begs to differ.  Sure, it’s always exhilarating to date the Charlies of the world, but ultimately the stress of loving a bad boy is going to break your heart and make you wrinkle prematurely.  A nice guy will give you a happily ever after whereas a bad boy will make a few unhappy months feel like an eternity.  Choose wisely – there’s only so much Botox can fix.

THE DO-OVER

Do not do it yourself. You know how your hairdresser makes a simple bang-trim look effortless?  Like, so easy that anyone could do it?  Including yourself?  And so you tried?  And had to wear a hat for a month?  You see, your stylist is a trained professional and she cuts bangs all day, every day, for fifty-plus weeks a year.  You cannot replicate this.  Do not try.  A while ago, my husband and I took this lesson to heart, only instead of cutting our own hair, we wanted to rehab a house after watching HGTV.  We rationalized, “Hey!  That’s not so hard!  We could rehab a house!  And I could write a memoir about it!”  And then I remembered the last time I cut my own bangs and those were the longest eight weeks of my life, so we didn’t buy the fixer-upper.  Instead, I let my character Mia give home renovations a whirl in my novel If You Were Here.  And when the first toilet came crashing through the ceiling in her office, I bet Mia wished she’d heeded my advice.  Leave it to the professionals.  You’ll thank me later.

To read more about the hilarious Jen Lancaster, head on over to her website or find her on Twitter and Facebook!

Thanks Jen!  xoxo, Liz & Lisa

Daphne Uviller's 5 Do's and a Do-Over

We love a good mystery.  In fact, Lisa's secret nickname is PI Spice!  Don't even try to get one past her-her ability to sniff out when something's fishy is, in the words of Barney Stinson, legendary! (And can be somewhat annoying if you are the fishy-havin' person...) So we're thrilled to have Daphne Uviller sharing her Do's and a Do-Over on the site today!  She burst onto the scene with Super in the City and her heroine from that novel, Zephyr returns in her second sassy mystery,Hotel No Tell. It's a lot of fun! Perfect  to read while you're laying out at the pool and relaxing.

The smart and sassy detective Zephyr Zuckerman is now armed and undercover in a Greenwich Village hotel where mysteries—from garbage-grabbing guests to the reservation system—lurk around every corner. Now working as a junior detective with the New York City Special Investigations Commission, Zephyr’s gone incognito as a concierge to find out who laundered a hundred grand off the hotel books—and why. But the discovery of a prone, flush-faced guest gasping for air in room 502 only hints at the sinister goings-on inside this funky establishment. While the rapid response of the fire department leads to a sweaty date with a smooth-talking, rock-climbing rescue worker, Zephyr finds herself even more hot and bothered by an attempted murder on her watch. Could the smart-mouthed Japanese yenta across the hall know more than she’s telling? How are cryptic phone calls from a mysterious corporation linked to the victim in 502?  Under pressure and overwhelmed, Zephyr soon finds that a concierge cover is no protection in a place where crime, like the city itself, never sleeps.

Sound fun?  Um, YEAH it does!  And there's no "mystery" about how to get your own copy. Just leave a comment and you'll entered to win one of FIVE copies!  We'll choose the winners on Sunday May 1st after 6pm PST.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS: DAPHNE UVILLER'S 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER

DO'S

1.  Take a break from the books. I took a leave of absence in college, a full year off between sophomore and junior years, and lived in London. I was lonely and depressed and have never before or since turned to art for comfort the way I did that year. Museums, theater – both were cheap for students, and I immersed myself completely. Then I’d return to my cold flat and spew the worst nonsense into one journal after another. But it was the first time in my life I was writing without worrying about being graded or edited. Which is exactly what a writer needs to do to in order to create the essential lousy first draft. Thank you, London!

2.  Follow the fun. When I could swing it financially, I took whatever job sounded interesting, even if it didn’t seem part of an overarching plan. Three years in law enforcement? Really fun, and fifteen years later it turned into fodder for Hotel No Tell. The unpaid internship at The Paris Review? I learned that I wasn’t yet ready to write fiction professionally, and turned to journalism.

3. Sleep around. Okay, that’s a bit of steamy overstatement, but I made the most of the three years between the end of a long-term relationship and meeting my husband. Those dating adventures gave me great stories, taught me loads about adult emotion and relationships – essential for a storyteller – and made it crystal clear to me that there is no other man out there who makes me as happy as my beloved does.

4. Honor the umbilical cord. In my twenties, I was sorely tempted to move to L.A. and pursue television writing, a potential career I was passionate about. I made a difficult and  conscious decision to pass up Hollywood in order to stay east, to be near my parents. Not just near – downstairs. I chose to be a low-paid print writer and remain in the city I love with two of the best people I’ve ever known. And then, whaddya know – the result of that decision became fodder for Super in the City, my first novel. (Nothing and no one is spared.)

5. Pay it forward. I met and befriended Elizabeth Gilbert while I was at The Paris Review (see Follow the Fun, above). I tentatively asked her about a career in writing and by way of answer, she invited me to her upstate home for the day, made a stew, and took me hiking. “There’s plenty of work to go around,” she assured me, and proceeded to share half a dozen professional contacts. Ever since, I have tried my best to be equally kind to aspiring writers.

DO-OVER

Turn up the music. I played the flute for ten years, and I kept at it mainly so that I could continue to return to my summer music camp, a place I adored. But I stopped playing in college and it is one of my few but big regrets. I sorely wish I’d kept it up. Playing a musical instrument makes the world a bigger, more beautiful place.

To read more about Daphne, head on over to her website or find her on Facebook and Twitter!

Thanks Daphne!  xoxo, L&L

The Royal Wedding: To watch Or Not To watch?

We've been BFF's for over two decades, so sometimes it seems like we've almost morphed into the same person.  People often comment on our similar speech patterns, our common likes and dislikes and our shared penchant for really, really bad reality TV.(You're Cut Off marathon, anyone?)  But there's one issue that we VIOLENTLY disagree on.  An issue that is threatening to tear our twenty-three year friendship apart. The Royal Wedding.

While Lisa is triple checking that her DVR is set and getting her tissues ready, Liz is rolling her eyes and wondering how Kate Middleton's dress design is making headline news (isn't the fact that a tank of gas now practically costs more than a bottle of really good wine more interesting?!)  And after Lisa publicly called Liz out on Facebook as a Debbie Downer: Royal Wedding edition, we decided to take it to the mat blog to make our cases.  And we'll leave it up to you to decide who's right! (and yes, we take bribes!) 

Leave a comment to tell us what YOU think and we'll choose someone to receive a copy of Poor Little Bitch Girl by Jackie Collins on Sunday night after 6pm PST.

LISA: HELLS YEAH, I'LL BE WATCHING!

Thirty years ago, I watched Princess Di marry Charles. It was live. There were no such things as digital recording devices. I couldn't forward through the boring parts or rewind to catch something again. I just had to watch. And all I remember is loving every minute of it. I remember Diana's dress with its big poofy sleeves and the train that seemed to stretch for days. I remember being wide-eyed with excitement that I was watching history in the making. (Even though I admit I was also pretty darn excited about this new thing I'd heard about called MTV which debuted just a couple of days later.) I didn't know it then, but 750 million people were watching that royal wedding me.  That's a mother truckin' lot of people, people! So, um, yeah I'll be watching this royal wedding too.  And not just because it's history in the making again. But because I care about the really important stuff like what she'll be wearing, how she'll arrive(horse drawn carriage? convertible? what celebs will be there? Becks and Posh? Elton?).  Now don't get me wrong, after a lot of sleepless nights with a new baby, I'm not thrilled about the early wake up call. But yes, I'm going to wake up (the DVR is only a back up) and soak it all in- LIVE. Take that, Liz Fenton!

LIZ: EFF THE ROYAL WEDDING!

Before you even ask, yes, I watched Diana watch down the aisle so many years ago in her ridiculously long train and loved every minute of it.  Fortunately for me back then, there was no such thing as a 24 news cycle.  My eyes weren't bleeding with hours and hours of coverage on everything from the royal cake to Kate's shoes.  I was able to turn on CNN and catch up on all of the actual events of the world that mattered, like Japan's recovery and the growing conflicts around the world, rather than be force-fed the details of the royal wedding parade route.  It's not that I'm William and Kate hater.  I think Kate seems down to earth and I have no doubt she'll make a beautiful bride.  And even though Harry always been my fave of the brothers(he just seems so naughty-I always love the bad boys...), I'm cool with William. But it's the over-coverage that's sending me screaming in the other direction.  The desperateness of every single organization to make EVERY FREAKIN' DETAIL a major news story and exploit ANY possible comparison of Diana and Kate. That it's a major effort to avoid it because of the infiltration of every aspect of my life-Facebook! Twitter! My favorite morning radio show! So because of that, I must boycott.  Although, even this wedding grinch must admit that I'm pretty damn curious about her dress.  Lisa, you have permission to email me a picture!  And P.S.-stop tagging me in your Facebook posts about it!

Will you be watching?  Tell us!

xoxo, Liz & Lisa

Diana Spechler's 5 Do's and a Do-Over

We're giddy with excitement. Our cheeks are flushed with joy. Our hearts are beating faster. Because we've fallen in love- yet again. Diana Spechler is our latest crush. When we read her latest novel, Skinny (out today!) we were beyond impressed. And we're not alone. Some of our favorite authors, Allison Winn Scotch, Laura Dave and Janelle Brown have all given Skinny majuh praise! What especially intrigued us about Skinny is it's loosely based on Diana's real life experiences making it an even juicier read. Synopsis: In the aftermath of her Orthodox Jewish father's death, twenty-six-year-old Gray Lachmann finds herself compulsively eating. Desperate to stop bingeing, she abandons her life in New York City for a job at a southern weight-loss camp. There, caught among the warring egos of her devious co-counselor Sheena, the self-aggrandizing camp director Lewis, his attractive assistant Bennett, and a throng of combative teenage campers, she is confronted by a captivating mystery: her teenage half-sister Eden, whom Gray never knew existed. Now, while unraveling her father's lies, Gray must tackle her own self-deceptions and take control of her body and her life.

Watch the book trailer here.

And if you leave a comment, you'll be entered to win one of five copies of Skinny! We'll randomly select the winners after 6pm PST on Thursday, April 28th.

We're thrilled to have Diana on the site today and love her 5 Do's- especially #3. Neither of us ever thought we'd be ever see the inside of a yoga studio but Lisa started yoga when she was pregnant and has fallen in love with it and Liz has recently started getting her downward dog on and isn't lookin' back!

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS....DIANA SPECHLER'S 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER DON'T

DO

1. DO change things up. At 31, I’ve lived in more than ten towns and cities, sometimes just for brief stretches. My mother, who, despite infinite electronic alternatives, still keeps a Roll-A-Dex, has a dozen “Diana’s address” cards.

I’ve loved the adventures—traversing the country, living for days on gas station snacks and Subway veggie six-inchers, learning that one region’s rummage sale is another region’s garage sale is another region’s yard sale, and turning every place into my comfort zone. And then leaving.

Recently, I was shocked to open my mailbox and find a jury duty summons. I pressed a palm to my chest and whispered, “How did they find me?” as if I were a Wild West outlaw on the lam. I wondered if it was time to move again.

2.  DO give yourself permission to do the art you want to do. So many of us, yearning to be creative, take jobs that promise “opportunities for creativity,” when what that really means is that you’ll write memos.

If you want to dance, dance. If you want to do a leaf rubbing, grab a leaf. If you think you have a book in you, take a writing class at night and get started. Everyone’s entitled to create freely. The nicest thing I do for myself is ignore the voices in my head that yell, “You suck! Get a job! No…a real job!”

3.  Do yoga. I used to think that yoga was for wimps, that if I didn’t bench-press, I wasn’t worth my salt. Okay, I never bench-pressed. But I must have fancied myself some kind of jock, running for miles and miles as my bunion grew and whined and protested. Yoga is a sanity-saver. A bunion-saver, too. Also, it’s not for wimps.

4.  DO own red high heels. I just got a pair. Peep-toe. They make life better. (Don’t lecture me about my bunion.)

5.  DO buy books. If you are a voracious reader (yay for voracious readers!), I understand that you might not be able to afford three new books a week, but at least buy one every month or two. Books are my go-to gifts for birthdays and holidays. Even when there’s no occasion, if I love a book, I buy a few copies and give them to friends. If I feel like doing something nice for myself, I buy a guilty-pleasure book—one of those I have no business reading if I still haven’t read Mrs. Dalloway or Crime and Punishment.

Just buy books. We can’t let television win!

DON'T

DON’T go through your twenties without learning how to properly apply makeup. I made this mistake, and now I don’t have the patience to learn. Old dog, new tricks, or something like that. I have no idea what to do with my face, except stare at it in the mirror and wish I were married to a makeup artist.

For more information about the lovely and talented Diana Spechler, visit her website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks, Diana!

xoxo,

L&L



Megan McCafferty's 5 Do's and a Do-Over

Although we're alike in so many ways(Love Barry Manilow!  Hate tequila!) we're also complete opposites in so many others.  Like reading.  Lisa likes to take her time and savor each books she's reading while Liz likes to devour the book like's she a contestant on Survivor who hasn't eaten in four days.  For Liz, the faster she reads the book, the more she likes it.  Some of her faves have been read in mere hours!  Sure, she may be speed-reading just a tad, but when she finds uninterrupted time to dive into the incredibly growing TBR list, she doesn't have time to F around and stop and smell the roses! So you'll be happy to know that she finished NYT bestselling YA author Megan McCafferty's latest,Bumped(out on April 26th) in less than a day.  Intriguing and thought-provoking, this YA novel proves that it's not just for teenagers. We highly recommend it!

When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Up to now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

Sound good?  IT IS!!!  And you have FIVE chances to win a copy!  Just leave a comment here and you'll be entered.  We'll chosse the winner on Sunday April 24th after 6pm PST.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS: MEGAN McCAFFERTY'S 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER

5 DO'S

1. Transfer colleges. I knew before the end of first-year orientation week (I believe I had my epiphany at BYOB--Bring Your Own Banana--Ice Cream Sunday Social) that the small college in Virginia was NOT for me. But I was afraid that if I left, I'd look like a loser to everyone back home. I stuck it out for two tumultuous years before realizing I had so much more to lose by settling. (LIFE LESSON ALERT: That's also true of colleges, jobs, boyfriends...) So I applied--and got into--a bigger, more liberal university in New York City where I didn't know anyone. It was the most transformative decision of my young adult life. Which brings me to #2...

2. Move somewhere no one knows you. True, it's harder to reinvent yourself in the Facebook era. But I found it incredibly liberating to start over in a city where I could be anyone...maybe even myself. And this leads to #3...

3. Embrace your inner dork. Recently I blogged about My Top 40 Songs of All Time. This is not a list carefully crafted to impress music snobs with its coolness. At all. But a close friend pointed out it may the only list of its kind that includes both Captain and Tennille and The Smiths. It's uniquely *me* in its uncoolness, which sort of makes it cool. This seques into #4...

4. Like what you like without guilt. I've worn the same scent (Colors de Benetton) since I was 13. DVF wrap dresses always flatter my figure. I re-watch the entire run of Freaks and Geeks every other year. I order the same spicy chicken in lettuce leaves when we get Chinese take-out. I research vacations all over the world and inevitably end up booking a trip somewhere in the Caribbean. These are things I like and I'm going to keep liking them because they make me happy. I've been cultivating these tastes for 38 years and with so much of life that's out of my control, there's a certain comfort to be found in what's familiar. Then again...

5. Embrace what's new too. It's so easy to get stuck in a life rut. But a negative attitude about newness would have stopped me from transferring to a different college seventeen years ago or dancing my ass off with college students half my age at the LCD Soundsystem show a few weeks ago (a transcendent not-to-be-missed experience). I never want to be one of those cranks who gets stubbornly stuck in a certain mindset and goes around complaining about how much everything else sucks. Because you know what? It's just not true. And it's no way to enjoy the richness of life either.

DO-OVER I don't dwell on regrets. Learning from my mistakes has made me who I am today. That said, I shouldn't have gotten that home perm in eighth grade. No one should get a home perm. Under any circumstances. I mean, have you ever heard a *positive* home perm story? I rest my case.

Thanks Megan!  xoxo, L&L

To read more about Megan, head on over to her website or find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Ask Liz & Lisa: Social Media 5 Do's and a Do-over

Wow-we received SO many great Qs from y'all last week- keep em' coming!  Remember, if your question is chosen you'll receive a book.  This week, Our lucky question-asker will be receiving Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkenen. (We love it so much we had to give it away AGAIN!)  And up for grabs for you if YOU leave a comment?  An ARC of Sarah Dessen's What Happened to Goodbye? (out May 10th)! Don't forget to send your "hard-hitting" Q to: asklizandlisa@chicklitisnotdead.com!  Blogging, books, social media, mama drama, baby blunders-we're here for you!

Today's awesome Q comes from Melissa:

Hello Liz and Lisa!

I'd first like to say THANK YOU for sharing your story and the stories of other great authors.  May I also commend you on your social networking abilities.  I recently landed my first "Social Media Consulting" side job and I constantly revert back to your Facebook fan page to show my client what a successful page should do!  It is very clear that you have both built quit a name for yourselves doing something that you you love.  As a soon to be marketing grad from Illinois State University I am trying to soak up as much advice as possible!  I was hoping you could share 5 Do's and a Do over specific to fresh grads?  You have created a very loyal fan and I look forward to your reply!

Warm Regards,

Melissa

Melissa,

First off, thank you for your kind words and congratulations on your upcoming graduation!  You go girlfrin'!

Considering the fact that neither of us had one clue what the hell we were doing when we launched CLIND over two years ago, we'd be happy to help others learn from our many mistakes.  Here's our 5 Do's and a Do-Over: Social Media style...

DO'S

1. Have a platform. What are you all about?  Make sure you have a plan before you type your first OMG. Are you the next expert on vampire chick lit or Queen of all things romance? Then own it, baby! The beautiful thing about social media is you can be anything you want to be.  Just make sure you know what that is.

2. Keep it simple. Nothing makes us hit the "back" button faster than a cluttered site.  Yes, we know it's tempting to add that Goodreads or Flickr widget (Lisa!). We've been there, done that.  But you really have to ask yourself if it's adding value or just something you thought was cool for a hot minute.  The most important information on your site should be links to your Facebook and Twitter pages (you have those, right??!) and how people can contact you (don't make them search for your email address!).

3. Clock in Treat blogging like it's the dream job you've always wanted!  Run it professionally and be consistent with your postings and in your dealings with publicists, authors or anyone within your network.  A good site takes a lot of work and pays very little (if at all!) so passion about your project is essential.  If you love what you do, it will show on your website.

4. Give 'til it hurts. Okay, so we're giveaway whores-we know!  But besides having consistent, quality content, giving things away is the very best way to build your network of followers .  And it's FUN!  So try it.  Trust us on this one.

5. Follow the Golden Rule. Tweet with care, people!  We know it's all the rage to get into internet smack downs with other people over this and that, but we think it's better to always treat other people in cyberspace with respect.  It's easy to get carried away when you're hiding behind that keyboard. Believe us, there's going to be times when you are VERY tempted to go there.  But don't do it. Step away from the Macbook and just do what we do-write each other bitchy pre-caffeinated emails instead!

DO-OVER

Wow-this is a tough one because we believe that all blunders are great learning experiences. Or at least that's what we tell ourselves to feel better when we F up. But of course there are things we wish we could take back.  But the key is not to beat yourself up too much about it-Life is too short to worry about all the little things we can't control.

Hope that helps! And remember the most important DO of all-HAVE FUN!

xoxo,

Liz & Lisa

May is International Chick Lit Month!

May is the inaugural International Chick Lit Month! Chick Lit is Not Dead is teaming up with fabulous international Chick Lit sites Chick Lit Club and Novelicious to bring you a month-filled celebration! Held in May, it celebrates all things chick lit – that amazingly diverse genre that focuses on the issues that women face today. It can be light-hearted, it can be serious. It can be heart-warming or heart-wrenching. It can make you laugh or make you cry. It is usually romantic – sometimes even raunchy. It can inspire, intrigue and educate you. It can be about young women facing their first loves and career choices; right through to older women facing the loss of a life partner and a new direction in life. It can be about a fashionable, hip career girl from NYC, about a mother from England who’s lost her groove,  or a country girl from Australia looking for her Mr. Right. The women who write chick lit - and the women they write about - may be mothers, daughters, sisters; in love or still looking. The characters may remind you of your own friends and enemies; of your own strengths and flaws. Reading chick lit gives you a chance to walk a mile in another woman’s shoes – but it’s about so much more than shoes and sparkly pink covers!!  Because every woman deserves her happy ending. Be sure to bookmark the site now so you don't miss out!

What’s happening in 2011:

2011 is the inaugural year for International Chick Lit Month. And we’re kicking off things in a big way – with lots of your favorite authors writing guests posts, offering their tips to aspiring writers, choosing their all-time favorite chick lit books and explaining what chick lit means to them. We’re also  launching our Hall of Fame, where three worthy recipients will be honored for their contribution to chick lit, and introducing a swag of debut authors from the Class of 11. Plus, just like you always find on the Chicklit Club, Chick Lit is Not Dead and Novelicious websites, there will be heaps of book reviews and giveaways. Make sure you check out International Chick Lit Month this May … because every woman deserves her happy ending!

How you can celebrate:

• Check in to the International Chick Lit Month website every day during May for great posts, book reviews and giveaways!
• If you attend a book club, suggest a chick lit title for their May selection.
• Encourage your local library to set up a display of some of their most popular chick lit books.
• If you have friends who love chick lit too, why not organize a book swap night where you all bring along books you have finished reading, and swap them for new ones.
• If you have a lot of books clogging up your bookshelves or stored in boxes in the garage, maybe it’s time to do a clean-up. You could sell them through a garage sale or donate them to your local charity shop, school or care center. You could even band together with friends and run a book stall, with the proceeds going to your favorite charity.
• Invite the girls over for a chick flick night. Pick movies that have been adapted from books, such as PS I Love You, Bridget Jones’s Diary, In Her Shoes and Confessions of a Shopaholic.

We’d love to hear if you have any more suggestions!

Juliette Fay's 5 Do's and a Do-Over

 

Juliette Fay is one of those authors that once you discover her, you're hooked for life (or for as long as she'll keep writing!) Some of our favorite authors including the fabulously talented Beth Harbison and Emily Giffin have raved about Fay and her latest novel, Deep Down True.  Harbison calls it engrossing, touching and immensely satisfying and Giffin describes it as sincere, powerful and heartfelt. And we couldn't agree with them more. Plus, we really love on the cover!

Synopsis:

Deep Down True is the story of Dana Stellgarten, a quintessential good girl whose unfailing "niceness" is acquiring a surprising edge. Recently divorced and running low on funds, Dana has her hands full as the shock waves from her husband's departure reverberate through her family. Seven-year-old happy-go-lucky Grady suddenly develops anger management problems, and twelve-year-old Morgan struggles with an eating disorder as she tries to keep her head above the shark-infested waters of middle school. Then Dana's sixteen-year-old niece, Alder, comes crashing into their lives-literally-carrying with her a mysterious sorrow, yet also bringing an unexpected element of maturity and insight to their tightly-knit circle.

As Dana enters the slipstream of post-divorce romance with Grady's handsome football coach and attracts the interest of the town's charismatic queen bee, she will find that the tension between being true to herself and being liked doesn't end in middle school. Yet, where she least expects to find it, she discovers a true friend- someone who reminds Dana that the points of her inner compass are still there to guide her, even when the territory of her life feels like a foreign landscape.

Definitely take a second to read the first chapter and check out the fabulous book trailer.

And if you leave a comment, you'll be entered to win one of five copies of Deep Down True! We'll randomly select the winners after 6pm on Thursday, April 14th.

And now if we can have a drumroll please because it's time for her DO's and DO-OVER (check out the Do-over- we can definitely relate!)

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...JULIETTE FAY'S 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER

5 DO'S

1. Do something you love even if you’re not good at it. I always admire the folks who sing loud in church even if they couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. Belt it out, my friend! We can’t be virtuosos at everything, but that shouldn’t keep us doing things that deliver that inner jolt of joy.

2. Freak out your kids. Mine think I’m utterly predictable. It’s fun to prove them wrong sometimes, and mess with them a little. One of my favorites is every once in a while I call them in to dinner and there’s nothing on the table but ice cream and toppings. They go nuts. I smile smugly. Everyone wins.

3. Know your short suits. We all have them. Know where you tend to go wrong. Ask a trusted friend if you’re not sure, and accept the answers graciously. Thank her for telling you the painful news that you don’t listen as well as you might, or that those shoulder pads make you look like Tom Brady—and not in a good way.

4. Take pride in your jammies. As my teenage daughter will confirm, I’m no clothes horse. But since we spend a third of our lives in bed, our pajamas should feel and look good. I used to be a T-shirt-and-sweats girl, but no more. Soft, pretty sleepwear is worth every penny, and I believe it actually makes you sleep more soundly, content in the knowledge of your excellent jammies.

5. Show up and help out. If, as the saying goes, fifty percent of life is just showing up, the other fifty is making yourself useful once you get there. If everyone did one small helpful thing every day … just imagine.

DO-OVER

Oh, so many to choose from! I wish I had dated all those “boring” nice boys instead of the “interesting” ones who tended to be a little screwed up. “Interesting” gets boring real fast, and “boring” leaves a generous margin for the element of surprise.

To find out more about the lovely and talented Juliette Fay, check out her website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks, Juliette!

xoxo,

L&L

Ask Liz & Lisa-How do we book authors?

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Ask Liz & Lisa! Want some blogging advice?  In a twit over a tweet?  Have some mama drama you need to hug out? We're here for you, girlfrin'! Just send us an email and ask us anything!  And because we know y'all love to win things, if we feature your Q, we'll send you a book!  So what are you waiting for? Email asklizandlisa@chicklitisnotdead.com.  Operators are standing by. No, not really.  But Liz keeps glancing down at her Blackberry.  So please put her out-oh-her misery and send an email already!

We've already received some fab Qs from you guys-so thank you!  Our first is from Shannon and we selected it because it's one of the questions we're most frequently asked when we meet new people.  And because we chose Shannon's Q, she'll be receiving Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen- the first author booked EVEH on Chick Lit is Not Dead.  Your question didn't get chosen?  No worries-this will be a regular feature here so look for it next time!

And leave a comment today and we'll enter you to win a book too! How about another copy of Cindy Jones' My Jane Austen Summer:A Season in Mansfield Park?  We'll choose the winners Wednesday April 13th after 6pm PST.

Dear Liz & Lisa,

I want to know how you come up with all these great authors for the blogs? Ask and they volunteer or how does it work? There are just so many great authors and books and I have no idea how any of it works- just love to read the blog!!!

Thanks,

Shannon

*blushes* Thanks so much, Shannon!

There are a few ways we book authors for the site.

1. The publicist or author pitches us via email. We receive pitches daily from authors and/or publicists requesting to be interviewed for the site.  We request the books that pique our interest and put them into our (freakishly huge) TBR pile.  After we read them, we discuss each one and request interviews and giveaways from the ones we think you'll love!  We usually agree-although everyone once in a while we'll have a girlfight lively discussion about which ones to feature.  But we really try to bring you books and authors we think you'll love as much as we do.

2. We stalk contact authors via email and Facebook. We're always looking for the next great author for the site so we are constantly searching online and in bookstores to find that gem that we may have missed.  Or maybe it's someone that we'd pretty much do anything (well, almost anything- we draw the line at anything involving a stripper pole!)  to get our hot little hands on her (or his) 5 Do's and a Do-Over. (Judy Blume-we're talking to you!) Facebook is a great way to connect with our favorite authors and we've booked many of them this way!

3. Crystal Patriarche, publicist extraordinaire and the entire BookSparksPR team. We're incredibly lucky to work with Crystal and she books many of our authors- like the fabulous Lauren Weisberger, Jen Lancaster and Emily Giffin, as well as celebrity-turned-authors like Tori Spelling and Jessica Seinfeld.  She's also incredibly creative and helps us brainstorm our new features and huge giveaways as well as provides PR for the site. We would NOT be where we are without her!

That pretty much sums it up.  And we're appreciative that y'all keep coming to the site to read about authors, books, bucket lists, 5 things you didn't know lists, 5 Do's and a Do-over lists and more! Thanks for continuing to support us with your comments and majuh Facebook page love.  YOU make our job fun!

xoxo, L&L

Liz Tuccillo's 5 Do's and a Do-Over

Okay, so y'all know that we LOVE Sex and The City. In fact, we were so desperate for a Carrie fix that we chose our fave episodes in celebration of the premiere of SATC2 last year!  So when we discovered that Liz Tuccillo, one of SATC's writers, had written a novel, we knew that we just had to get our hands on it. So we're thrilled that Liz is sharing her 5 Do's and a Do-Over with us today. She was a writer on the two final seasons of Sex and the City.  After that she went on to co-author the bestselling book, He's Just Not That into You, which went on to be a major motion picture produced by New Line Cinema.  She created the television show Related for the WB, before traveling the world and writing her first novel, How to Be Single. She has recently finished writing and producing a new webisode for Warner Brothers titled Paul the Male Matchmaker.

And we LOVED How to be Single.  It's smart and funny and will make you want to call up your best girlfriends for happy hour!  Order it today!

After Julie Jenson, single New Yorker turned anthropologist, has a historically bad night out with her friends, she decides to cash it all in and hit the road. From Paris to Brazil to Sydney, Bali, Beijing, Mumbai and Reykjavik, Julie travels the world to find out if anyone has a better idea how to handle this whole “single” thing. Julie falls in love, gets her heart broken, sees the world, and learns more than she ever dreamed possible.

Back in New York, her friends are grappling with their own issues—bad blind dates, loveless engagements, custody battles, and single motherhood. Through their journeys, each woman fights to redefine their vision of love, happiness and a fulfilled life.

Be sure to leave a comment to be entered to win one of FIVE copies!  We'll choose the winners on Sunday, April 10th after 6pm PST.

We think you'll love her 5 Do's and a Do-Over.  In fact, we are going to give #2 a try this week!

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS: LIZ TUCCILLO'S 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER

5 DO'S

1.  Try to learn something every day. Rent a documentary instead of seeing that romantic comedy one night.  If you travel, make a point to learn a little about the history of where you're going.  If you read something in the paper you don't understand, go online and research it.

2.  Go one day not saying anything nasty about yourself. See if you can do it.  Go about your day as you normally would, but just when you pass that mirror and are about to comment that you're too old, or too fat, or how much you hate your hair... stop it.  At work, if you make a mistake don't call yourself an idiot.  If you eat too much at lunch, give yourself a break and just decide to enjoy it.  Just for educational purposes, try to remember how many times you wanted to be nasty to yourself.  I'm sure it's a lot more than you'd like it to be!

3.  Make a movie. We all have a little Meryl Streep or Martin Scorcese just trying to get out.  So get your video camera or flip cam (or even cellphone at this point) and be a filmmaker!  Get all your friends to act in it.  Or just interview a family member, like your mother, who'd you'd love to capture for posterity.  Edit it on one of the inexpensive programs they have now.  (Many laptops already have one installed.)  Have your own special film festival!

4.  Have a pot luck. Nothing is more fun than a dinner party with friends, but sometimes the thought of it can be overwhelming.  But with a potluck, you share the work and the fun!  Pick a theme, like "tapas" or "Northern Italian" and invite people to cook a dish from that region, (organizing by appetizer, entree, side dishes and dessert.)  For the non-cooks, invite them to bring alcohol from that region or provide the music from that region -- or just a good appetite.  It gives everyone something totalk about, and you'll come away some great recipes and a great time!

5.  Take a child to their first play. Whether it's Broadway or Community theater, there's nothing more fun than watching a child experience their first live performance.  You come off looking all generous and thoughtful, but in the end, you'll have the most fun of all.

DO-OVER

I've lost loved ones to illness, and I am still haunted by feeling like I didn't do enough for them.  I guess I would like to have that time back.  And also to be better in the future.

Thanks Liz! xoxo, L&L

To read more about Liz, head on over to her website.  And is this where we officially beg her to set up a Facebook or Twitter page?  C'mon Liz!  Your fans are dying to "like" you!

Lit IT girl: Debut Author Cindy Jones

Many people believe that Jane Austen was the original Lit IT girl.  And we've LOVED many of the adaptions of her novels over the years.  (Clueless is our favorite movie EVEH!)  She's also inspired many great books(Jane Austen Book Club comes to mind).  So all of you Jane Austen lovers will be happy to discover we've crowned Cindy Jones, author of My Jane Austen Summer: A Season in Mansfield Parkas our latest Lit IT Girl!  And we think you'll love this delightful book! Lily is caught in a cycle of loss:  her mother died of cancer, her boyfriend left her for an earth mother, and she’s been fired from her job for reading Jane Austen novels when she should have been routing payroll tax deposits.  When the opportunity arises to travel to England to re-enact Mansfield Park, she thinks she may finally realize her dream of living in a novel.  But even in England, where Lily is immersed in a literary festival so rich it seems Jane Austen is present, her problems find her.  Lily must summon her resources and confront painful truths before she is demoted to the role of secondary character in her own life.

And FYI: Cindy worked with Bingley’s Teas Ltd. to create a tea named after her protagonist, and now she's promoting her book through tea parties:  Tea with My Jane Austen Summer.  she believes that tea enhances the reader’s connection with the novel and raises the book from a solitary read to a social event. Book clubs can host their own Tea with My Jane Austen Summer using ideas and recipes offered on her website www.cindysjones.com!

Sound good?  Leave a comment here and you'll be entered to win a copy!  We'll choose the winners on Friday April 8th after 6pm PST. So. Freakin'. EASY!

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS: LIT IT GIRL CINDY JONES!

1. How many agents did you query before you found "the one"? I knew my agent was “the one” when I heard her speak at a writer’s conference.  Rather than dash off a query, I took her advice to heart and spent two years finishing and polishing my ms until it was ready.  Eight queries resulted in five rejections, three requests to read the entire ms, and two offers of representation.  I signed with “the one”.

I need to point out that my first novel received at least 21 rejections and would have gotten more except I retired it to a bottom drawer where it died a quiet death.  What happened between my two novels?  I surrendered.  Not only did I listen to the advice of writing professionals and published friends, I acted on that advice.  I think pushing beyond my personal blind spots led to success in the marketplace.

2.  What was your rock bottom moment during the process? The day I received eight swift rejections from editors, shortly after the initial submission, I thought I was finished—not only with this novel—but as a writer.  After wallowing in grief for several hours, I discovered I was unwilling to allow my dream to die.  I returned to the rejections and studied the editors’ comments for a pattern.  After finding one, I applied it to my manuscript, cut the middle 150 pages (again) and pushed my imagination two excruciating levels beyond its personal limit.  A year of revisions later, the book sold.

3.  How long did it take to write your book? I spent five years writing My Jane Austen Summer, taking so long because I was on a steep learning curve.  Twice I cut the middle 150 pages and threw them in the recycling bin.  The next book has been much easier to write since I learned hard lessons on the first.

4. What did you do to celebrate your book deal? I had a quiet dinner with my family, lemon shots with my book club, and champagne with my women’s guild.

5. Knowing what you know now about publishing your first novel, what would you have done differently? I would not do anything differently.  Raising four sons, I could not have spent the time it takes to write and promote books when they were younger.  Writing got as much attention as I could give it at each step of my children’s development and, I would have to say, the timing has been good.

6. Who is your writer crush? Peter Cameron, The City of Your Final Destination.

7.  What's your biggest distraction or vice while writing? The internet is a terrible distraction.  Why negotiate thorny plot issues when I can chat with friends on Facebook, check blog stats, and surf my favorite sites?  It often takes more self-discipline than I can muster to ignore the call of the world wide web.

8.  GNO (Girls Night Out) drink of choice? Chardonnay.  I love a freezing cold glass of dry, mellow, nutty, buttery, chardonnay.

9.  Favorite trashy TV show? Gilligan’s Island.  I will never forget the episode when The Skipper and Gilligan produced Hamlet as an opera set to the music of Carmen.  The fragments of great music and literature sent me on a voyage of discovery, seeking original sources.  I now realize episodes like those influenced the childhood plays I wrote using fragmented fairy tales.  Now I fragment Austen.  Next:  Keats.  I will have succeeded if my work sends one person on their own voyage of discovery.

10.  What celeb would you love to have a Twitter war with? I’m a Twitter newbie (@cindysjones) so it would be best to pair me with someone similarly disadvantaged.  Say, Mr. Darcy.

Thanks so much Cindy!  xoxo, L&L

To read more about Cindy, head over to her website or find her on Twitter!

What's on Josie Brown's Bucket List?

We love Josie Brown. Plain and simple. We first fell for her when we read the impossibly delicious,  Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives and now we're falling all over again after consuming her latest fun, funny and  completely satisfying novel, The Baby Planner. (In stores tomorrow- Tuesday, April 5!) about a thirty-seven-year-old baby planner whose own biological clock is ticking off the charts faster than you can say designer stroller. (Lisa could definitely relate- having her first baby, er, a little later in life.) Synopsis:

Katie Johnson may make her living consulting with new moms on the latest greatest baby gadgets no parent should be without, or which mommy meet-ups are the most socially desirable, or whether melon truly is the new black, but the success of her marriage to her husband, Alex, depends on controlling her own urges toward motherhood.

He's adamant that they stay childless. Sure, Katie understands that he's upset over the fact that his out-of-town ex-wife rarely lets him see their ten-year-old son, Peter. But living vicariously through her anxious clients and her twin sisters' precocious children only makes Katie resent his stance more deeply.

While helping a new client—Seth Harris, a high tech entrepreneur who must raise Sadie, his newborn daughter, as a single parent after the tragic death of his wife in childbirth—maneuver the bittersweet journey from mourning husband and reticent father to loving dad, Katie’s own ideals about love, marriage, and motherhood are put to the test as she learns ones very important lesson about family:  How we nurture is the true nature of love.

Want to win one of five copies of The Baby Planner? Just leave a comment here and we'll randomly select the lucky winners after 6:00 PM, EST on Wednesday, April 6.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS: JOSIE BROWN'S BUCKET LIST 1. To own pied–à–terre on the northwest tip of the de l'Isle Saint Louis, an island in the Seine, there in the middle of Paris.

2. To circumnavigate the world in my own private plane, stopping wherever and whenever I want, for however long. (In other words, I may never get back home...)

3. To live long enough to witness world peace. Seriously. I'm no beauty queen, believe me. I just mean this from the bottom of my heart. (Must be the flower child in me who still believes it's possible!)

4. Great skin. Always. Despite a daily dose of sunshine!

5.  To see my own musical of Pride and Prejudice make it to both Broadway and the West End.

To find out more about the fabulous Josie Brown, check out her website and follow her on Facebook. And don't forget to pre-order The Baby Planner!

Thanks, Josie!

xoxo,

L&L

Julianna Baggott's 5 Do's and a Do-Over

Every now and again, a book just grabs you and won't let go. You pop open the cover and start to read, getting more excited with each written word. And you can't stop reading. (Not for anything! Not even reality TV-or anyone-even the husbands). Which is exactly what happened when we read The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted by Bridget Asher (a.k.a. Julianna Baggott). It has the perfect blend of romance, humor and love. Synopsis:

“Every good love story has another love hiding within it.”

Brokenhearted and still mourning the loss of her husband, Heidi travels with Abbott, her obsessive-compulsive seven-year-old son, and Charlotte, her jaded sixteen-year-old niece, to the small village of Puyloubier in the south of France, where a crumbling stone house may be responsible for mending hearts since before World War II.

There, Charlotte confesses a shocking secret, and Heidi learns the truth about her mother’s “lost summer” when Heidi was a child. As three generations collide with one another, with the neighbor who seems to know all of their family skeletons, and with an enigmatic Frenchman, Heidi, Charlotte, and Abbot journey through love, loss, and healing amid the vineyards, warm winds and delicious food of Provence. Can the magic of the house heal Heidi’s heart, too?

We're now huge fans of Julianna Baggott, Bridget Asher and N.E. Bode (also her pen name) who collectively have written seventeen books in the last ten years! She's also an essayist and a poet! Oh and she teaches too. Next time we complain about having too much on our plates, we need to think about her!

And now you can get a chance to fall for her too! Leave a comment and be entered to win one of five copies of The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted. We'll randomly select the winners after 6:00 PM PST on Friday, April 1.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...JULIANNA BAGGOTT'S 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER:

5 DO'S

1.  Be foreign. Save up all spare change, put it in a jar marked travel, and get your butt somewhere else in the world. Being foreign makes you love where you’re from, makes you see the world with fresh eyes, creates new synapses in your brain, and makes you empathize with foreigners in your own land. To write THE PROVENCE CURE FOR THE BROKENHEARTED, we researched by renting a tiny ancient house in a tiny village on a shoestring budget – with five young kids in tow. I’d blow that money again, in a heartbeat.

2.  If you can’t be foreign, import foreigners. When Dave and I were first married and having kids, we lived WELL below the poverty level. In fact, we aspired to the poverty level. We said, “One day, poverty level, we will meet you!” To make ends meet, we rented out two of the three bedrooms in our rented condo to foreigners, running a B & B of sorts. I served cheap dinners – like frozen fish sticks – proclaiming to represent “American cuisine.” We survived and our world view got broader.

3.  Be alone sometimes. With technology, no one ever really has to be alone much. They’ve got their celly, their smart phone. They can always chat, text, IM. But being alone is hugely important to the creative process and to solving problems – professional, creative, personal. Learn how to be alone in your own head and develop that inner voice. You’ll need it.

4.  Quit. Americans overvalue “sticking it out.” We’re always saying, “Don’t give up! You can’t quit now! Never say die!” But there are a lot of bullshit things that you SHOULD quit. The Art of Quitting is a beautiful and crucial thing to master. Saying no to one stupid thing that you actually kind of hate is saying yes to the possibility of something you love. (I include bad relationships, bad jobs, goals that were forced on you instead of coming up from within.) Sometimes you shouldn’t stick it out. You should give up. You should say die – so some other part of you can come alive.

5.  Practice empathy. The world would be a better place if people would practice lifting their heads up and imagining what it’s like to be someone else. It takes effort to do this kind of imaginative grunt work. It’s easier to live within your own goggles. But it leads to bad decisions that haunt all of us. Take off the self-centric goggles and look at the world through someone else’s eyes. It makes for better art, politics, scientific invention, and personal lives.

DO-OVER

If I could go back and do-over, I’d be bolder. I know we’re going to look back and be scandalized at the inequity that goes on all around us, that we accept – the racial inequity in education; the acceptability of hateful rhetoric against gays, lesbians, the transgendered; the obvious lack of women in certain jobs – and the next generation is going to be sickened by us. We’ll say the things the generation before us said, “That was just the way it was.” I’d go back and try to see more clearly the world that we have set against the world we can make, and I’d push harder for that world. In fact, that’s a do-over that can start – for each of us – now.

To find out more about this talented author, check out her website and blog.

Thanks, Julianna! xoxo, L&L

Sweet Valley High's Francine Pascal's 5 Do's and a Do-over

Are YOU ready to take a trip down memory lane with Sweet Vally Confidential: 10 Years Later?  We've been chomping at the bit to find out what Liz and Jess (and hottie, Porche driving Bruce Patman) have been up to all these years!  Ah, the nostalgia!  It's intoxicating! Well, the waiting is over because Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later is available TODAY. Now you can finally return to the idyllic Sweet Valley, home of the phenomenally successful book series and franchise. Iconic and beloved identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are back and all grown up, dealing with the complicated adult world of love, careers, betrayal, and sisterhood.

But seriously, what have those beyotches been up to???!!!

In lieu of that information, we have SVH creator and author Francine Pascal sharing her 5 Do's and a Do-over with us today.  And GUESS WHAT? We have TWO copies to give away-just leave a comment and you'll be entered to win.  That's as easy as Jessica used to be back in the day...(Sorry couldn't resist-we were always Team Liz!)  We'll choose the winners on Friday night after 6pm PST.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS: FRANCINE PASCAL'S 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER

5 DO'S

1.  Best thing I ever did was to have three children. And lucky for me, they were girls. Nothing like having the fun of your own Sex and the City friends. People who love you, understand you, laugh with you and forgive your mistakes. Of course, you have to wait a bit until they outgrow the awfulness of those teenage years. But it's worth the wait.

2.  Second best thing: Pick up and leave the country after my husband died. I went to France where I knew no one and not a word beyond Merci. It saved my life and gave me my favorite book, If Wishes Were Horses (aka La Villa).

3.  Third best thing: Understanding that ideas were my forte. The first good idea was My Mother Was Never a Kid about a girl who can't get along with her mother and through some time warp goes back to her mother's childhood and becomes her mother's best friend. This was 1974 before all those other movies and books using that same idea. And then I came up with Fearless about a girl born without the fear gene. I made that up and it turned out to be sort of true. And of course, Sweet Valley High.

4.  The fourth important DO is not to stop writing. As long as I have ideas and a computer, I will continue.

5.   But the real winner was to not go into acting. I know now that I would have been a terrible actor. I found that out when I recorded the epilogue for Sweet Valley Confidential-Ten Years Later. I was reading my own words and I was awful, totally without talent.

DO-OVER

I wish I wrote for Saturday Night Live.

Thanks Francine!  xoxo, L&L

Want to read more about SVH?  Head on over to their website or find what Liz and Jess are up to on Facebook and Twitter!

Falling off the wagon, Loehmann's style by Liz

Hi, my name is Liz and I'm a shopping addict. Well, more like a recovering shopping addict.  At least I was in recovery until an ill-fated trip to Loehmann's last week.

But let me back up a little.  For those of you that are regulars around here, you heard me bragging about my Cash & Carry financial plan a few months ago.  And it wasn't bullsh*t-I had broken up with my Amex gold card last year and hadn't looked back since. Lately, I'm the one who has the cash when it's time to split the bill.  And I no longer feel like puking when I log into American Express's website to check out my balance.  However, I may have failed to mention the secret to my success. Something that I feared would be hard to keep up long term.  A theory that I decided to test last week.

Long story short, I failed miserably.

It all started when those pesky little children of mine began to grow out of their clothes.  I tried to ignore my daughter's tummy hanging out of her now too-short shirts and my son's flood pants.  Because I knew that stepping one foot into that overpriced, pushy salesperson jungle of a store called Justice would undo all my hard work these past months.  My dirty little secret? The only way I had been able to stop spending was to not step foot ANYWHERE that I love to shop for the past six months.

Target? It pained me, but I sent the hubs to stroll those glorious aisles.

Gap? Supervised online shopping only.

Loehmann's? I told myself those communal dressing rooms were terrible for my self-esteem.

And my strategy had been working damn well.  But now a growth spurt threatened to ruin it all.  Damn you children's multi-vitamins!

But being the Type-A beyotch I am, I was determined to come up with a solution.  And 100,000 American Express points later, I had one. (One perk to my addiction:membership rewards!)

So armed with gift cards from every store the kids like, I was able to purchase clothes that fit without going over my husband-allotted cash allowance.  But even being in the store was intoxicating.  I started to remember what a high shopping always gave me.  That feeling that my daughter just HAD to have those scratch and sniff jammies(WTF with those anyway?).  I tried to ignore my shopping buzz and just get what they needed. But there was no mistake-the shopping beast had been awakened in me once more.

Fast forward to the next week that included my two BFs bdays as well as an hour to kill within spitting distance of the Beverly Hills Loehmanns. I told myself that I was only going in there for them.  That they loved Loehmann's and I'd be a horrible friend if I didn't buy them something from there.  But from the moment that I walked in, I was drunk with happiness at their selection of Calvin Klein dresses.  High with the anticipation of wearing that straw fedora at the pool FOUR months from now when we went on vacay.  Cracked out at the thought of shaking my ass in that Michael Kors skirt.  And even though it made me feel slightly ill, I pulled out that gorgeous gold card and slapped it down for the cashier like the last six months had never happened.

I had officially fallen off the wagon.

Oh, but on a positive note, I did find Lisa something really cute for her bday!

That night, as I unsuccessfully tried to hide the bag from the hubs behind my ass (I haven't worked out much lately, thought it might work?!), I felt even worse.  Sick with guilt and regretting my actions, wanting to eat carbs and greasy food-it was clear that I had the shopping hangover from hell.

So guess what?  I'm taking all that sh*t back this week.  And just like any addict, I'll start over again from day one. And even though I know it's the right thing to do, I still think I would've ROCKED that straw fedora by the pool. *sigh*

What are your addictions?  Leave a comment and let me know!  Or just make me feel better about mine.

xo, Liz

Barbara O'Neal's 5 Do's and a Do-Over

DELICIOUS BOOK ALERT! Yep, that's right-we've found another great book about food.  We don't know if it's just a trend or we just love reading about carbs since we deprive ourselves of them, but either way we have another novel that we think you'll devour! That's why we were crazy excited when Barbara O'Neal agreed to share her 5 Do's and a Do-Over with us.  Her latest, How to Bake a Perfect Life: A Novel, is a sweet story that we highly recommend you indulge in!  We spent a rainy Sunday curled up reading it and think that you'll love it too! And the icing on the cake?  Her 5 Do's and a Do-Over were just as delectable as her novel.

Professional baker Ramona Gallagher is a master of an art that has sustained her through the most turbulent times, including a baby at fifteen and an endless family feud. But now Ramona’s bakery threatens to crumble around her. Literally. She’s one water-heater disaster away from losing her grandmother’s rambling Victorian and everything she’s worked so hard to build.

When Ramona’s soldier son-in-law is wounded in Afghanistan, her daughter, Sophia, races overseas to be at his side, leaving Ramona as the only suitable guardian for Sophia’s thirteen-year-old stepdaughter, Katie. Heartbroken, Katie feels that she’s being dumped again—this time on the doorstep of a woman out of practice with mothering.

Ramona relies upon a special set of tools—patience, persistence, and the reliability of a good recipe—when rebellious Katie arrives. And as she relives her own history of difficult choices, Ramona shares her love of baking with the troubled girl. Slowly, Katie begins to find self-acceptance and a place to call home. And when a man from her past returns to offer a second chance at love, Ramona discovers that even the best recipe tastes better when you add time, care, and a few secret ingredients of your own.

Are you dying to read it now? Well, good thing we have ___ copies to give away!  Leave a comment and you'll be entered to win.  We'll choose the winners on Sunday, March 27th after 6pm EST.  Good Luck.  And quick reminder:  All of our giveaways are for US/Canada residents only.  So sorry to our lovely readers outside of those countries-we still got mad love for ya!

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS: BARBARA O'NEAL'S 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER

1. Take a chance on something that seems impossible.  Write a novel, maybe, or throw your heart into a crumbling old house and try to save it from the wrecking ball.  When my boys were small and we were poor, I fell in love with an old house down the street. It was empty, maybe abandoned, and I could see into the light falling across the stairway, and upstairs was a big room with a bay window beneath the high pointed eaves.  Every morning, I walked by and it whispered to me.  Somehow, with no money whatsoever, we ended up buying it and spending years and years renovating one thing and then another.  There was a ghost in the garden, who befriended my cats, and it was her ancient globe lilies and giant roses that grew out of the rock hard dirt in the backyard.  (I am convinced she is the one who called me to save her house.) My children grew up with torn up floors and ancient bathrooms and sheetrock tape, the two of them crammed together in one bedroom so I could have the tiny office downstairs for work.  It was a house of great love, and although it never became This Old House, all gleaming and perfectly restored, we saved it from the wrecking ball.

2. Make friends and tend your female relationships. I was lucky enough to grow up in a female-centric world, where my grandmother reined as matriarch, with my mother, my aunts, and my sisters all swirling around a world that had a few men, like pepper for seasoing, but not many.  And while I love the company of men (and myself had two sons I adore), the relationships that sustain us over time are the ones we forge with other women.  A good friend makes you laugh, keeps you honest, listens on the other end of the phone for three hours when you have a broken heart.  The thing I hear from some readers, however, is “how do I make friends when I’m not in school/work for myself/have retired?”   Lots of ways—join a book club, find an agreeable spiritual center, take up a new kind of exercise.  Then reach out and be friendly to others.  This is a very simple part of the plan, and very scary for some people.  What if they are rejected? You might well be.  But sometimes, you won’t be, and then you might meet someone who will be a friend.

3. Volunteer somewhere. Anywhere. It helps the world for you to put your hands into solving problems, but it also helps you to be a more grateful and thoughtful person.  It’s amazing to me how much angst and fury an afternoon at the soup kitchen can ease.  Go where you feel you might make a difference.  A woman I know is a court-appointed advocate for children in the court system.  Another likes the women’s shelter and I have a bunch of friends who volunteer for dog and cat rescue groups and the Humane Society.  I like serving food at the local spiritual community, predictably.  You are busy, I get that, but do it anyway.

4. Take the time to make things beautiful when you can. One of my friends is so good at this—everything she does is beautiful. She’ll take the time to scatter some rose petals over a buffet, or serve hard boiled eggs in egg cups.   I’m never quite as talented as I’d like on this, but I notice how much pleasure it gives me when I do. So try it.  Serve your canned chicken noodle soup in a pretty bowl you picked up at Goodwill, with a cloth napkin.  Grow a pot of petunias or a geranium in a pot on your front step, or buy flowers at the grocery store and put them on a vase in your kitchen or beside your bed, or even on the back of the toilet.  Take the time to add a pretty bracelet to your workaday outfit. Fold a note on pretty paper and stick it in a child’s lunch box.  Cut the sandwich in half and add a slice of orange to the plate. The world might be crazy, but you can make some sanity right in this very minute with small gestures of beauty.

5. Make time to learn new things. The brain loves to grow.  It just does.  Give it material by taking up new pursuits.   Maybe you’ve always wanted to sew or take great photos or grow corn or make stained glass. Do it! Take up an instrument, study a language, read about the lands you want to visit and make paper plans to go there.   If you find you’re not enjoying it, dump that pursuit and move on.  Easy! (You might make a new friend, too.)  Last year, I studied cello for awhile and studied Spanish (ongoing). This year, I’m planning an urban farm for my backyard and having a blast.  (This week, I built frames out of PVC pipe for my grow lights. Me! I did it myself!  It’s true that the ends were crooked because I couldn’t figure out how to cut them straight, but they were stuck into elbows and joints so it didn’t matter anyway.)

Do-over

Do not regret your life or spend time wishing you could change things.  Forgive yourself and others the best you can and keep moving forward. We are who we are because of who we’ve been, and you are pretty amazing just as you are.  Just ask P!nk.

Thanks so much Barbara! xoxo, L&L

To read more about Barbara, head on over to her website or find her on Facebook and Twitter!

Megan Crane's 5 Do's and a Do-Over

We don't know what we love the most...the cover, the title or the plot of Megan Crane's latest novel, I Love the 80's. We think we'll just say all of the above! I Love the 80's is the story of Jenna Jenkins, an eighties lover whose fiance dumps her for a 22-year-old yoga instructor! And after a freak accident, she's transported back in time to her favorite decade. She finds herself smack in 1987 and face-to-face with the man she was madly in love with-pop legend Tommy Seer (who never knew she existed) and she must convince him that they are meant to be together...before he dies in a tragic car crash that only she knows is coming.

When we think about where we were in 1987, the year we met, we laugh at all the hilarious memories.  This book took us right back to the days of grown out perms, bushy brows, Lisa's red "Sally Jesse Raphael" glasses, cassette tapes and stirrup pants (oy vey)! And if you leave a comment today, you can win one of five copies of this entertaining and hilarious novel. We'll randomly select the winner after 6:00 PM, EST on Thursday, March 24th.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...MEGAN CRANE'S 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER:

5 Do's and 1 (Sort Of) Do-Over Should You Find Yourself Back in 1987

1. DO just go with the fashion nightmare that is 1987. You may be the only one who knows you're wearing those neon stirrup pants ironically, but that's okay.

2. DO prepare yourself for the tech revolution in advance. Apple, Microsoft, Silicon Valley's finest. A little research could yield huge rewards. Just think--you could come back to the present to find yourself a zillionaire!

3. DO try to enjoy yourself. It's tempting to loom about worried about how you'll make it home, but that defeats the purpose of having time-traveled at all, doesn't it? It's 1987 and only you know what happens next--and what doesn't. Try to immerse yourself in the local stonewashed culture, secure in your superior knowledge of what happens to all those synthesizer-heavy bands come the Grunge movement.

4. DO accept that your hair is going to be out of control. COMPLETELY out of control. Member of Heart back in the day out of control. You can't do anything about it this far away from your favorite products. Just tease and smile.

5. You shouldn't attempt to DO OVER your own life, even though, yes, it's 1987 and you could change it all if you could just talk to your middle-school self. And you COULD talk to yourself, because you're back in time and you know how it all works out. But when did you listen to anyone when you were in middle school? And do you really want to see how little all the monsters of your memory really are? Better by far to stay away and let you grow up to be you. Time travel can be fun and rewarding--but not if you're out to reinvent your own life. Because you saw all those movies--what happens if you go back to the future and you're someone else?

To find out more about one of our favorite authors, Megan Crane (and her other novels- she also writes romance novels under the name, Caitlin Crews), visit her website and follow her on Facebook. And don't forget to buy her book, I Love the 80's.

Thanks, Megan!

xoxo,

L&L

Jackie Collins' 5 Do's and a Do-Over

Just like a familiar song or your favorite pair of jeans, you know you can always count on a Jackie Collins novel to make you feel good. They're always entertaining, saucy and damn fun! (The stats are uh-maze-ing: Twenty-eight NYT bestsellers & 400 million copies sold in 40 countries!) So with Poor Little Bitch Girl, (now out in paperback) we knew we were in for yet another sexy read that would no doubt include her always absorbing tales of the wealth, power and Hollywood glamour. Here's a synopsis of Poor Little Bitch Girl (so love typing that title!):

Denver Jones is a hotshot twenty-something attorney working in L.A. Carolyn Henderson is personal assistant to a powerful and very married Senator in Washington with whom she is having an affair. And Annabelle Maestro—daughter of two movie stars—has carved out a career for herself in New York as the madame of choice for discerning famous men. The three of them went to high school together in Beverly Hills—and although Denver and Carolyn have kept in touch, Annabelle is out on her own with her cocaine addicted boyfriend, Frankie.

Then there is Bobby Santangelo Stanislopolous, the Kennedyesque son of Lucky Santangelo and deceased Greek shipping billionaire, Dimitri Stanislopolous. Bobby owns Mood, the hottest club in New York.  Back in the day he went to high school with Denver, Carolyn and Annabelle. And he connected with all three of them. Frankie is his best friend.

When Annabelle’s beautiful movie star mother is found shot to death in the bedroom of her Beverly Hills mansion, the five of them find themselves thrown together . . . and secrets from the past have a way of coming back to haunt everyone. . . .

And you know the drill, ladies (and gents). Just leave a comment here and be entered to win one of five copies of Poor Little Bitch Girl. We'll randomly select the winners after 6:00 P.M., EST on Friday, March 18th.

We are beside ourselves to have such a legend (did we mention twenty-eight NYT bestsellers?) answering our 5 Do's and a Do-Over! (We love them all-but especially #1 & #3 & Lisa is particularly good at #4!)

Can we have a majuh drum roll please....

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS....JACKIE COLLINS' 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER:

5 Do's

1.  Do something you love to do every day. Something that makes you feel good and puts you in a fantastic mood.  Everyone has different needs, so decide what will do it for you.  Working out?  Making love?  Drinking a cup of your favorite coffee?  Go for it!!  My heroines always do, and they come out on top!

2.  Clear out your closet every six months. Rule of thumb - if you haven't worn it in a year - it's history!  So be ruthless.  Trust me, when it's done you will feel so free and ready for some major shopping!  No regrets.

3.  Do make a list of six things you wish to achieve every week - one a day - with Sunday off.  You will be surprised how much you can achieve if you write it down.

4.  Do indulge yourself once a week by just doing nothing. And by doing nothing I mean just sitting around with no pressure, maybe reading a book or mindlessly watching junk T.V.  I am a TiVo junkie, and catching up on shows nobody else watches (or pretends they don't) is totally relaxing.  Never feel guilty for doing nothing.

5.  Do tell the people you love how special they are. Life is fragile, and words of love are deeply precious and never regretted.  Treat others the way you would like them to treat you.  And remember - forgiveness makes you feel amazing and frees the soul.  Karma is a powerful thing.

Do Over

You know, I have lived a very exciting and full life surrounded by fascinating people.  A do over?  I don't think so. We are what we make of ourselves and I have worked hard to become who I am today.

To read more about the truly amazing Jackie Collins, visit her website, follow her on Twitter and join the 70,000+ who already like her on Facebook.

Thanks so much, Jackie!

xoxo, Liz & Lisa

Ellen Meister's 5 Do's and a Do-Over

We've come to many forks in the road in our lives.  Whether it was deciding between two job offers out of college and meeting your soulmate at the one you did choose(Liz!) or deciding to do a second internship that led to an illustrious career. (Lisa!) Or when we put our hesitations aside and launched Chick Lit is Not Dead. It's decisions like these that shape our lives. But what if we had decided differently?   And if you had the chance to take a peek into what that other life looked like, would you? We're ecstatic to have the fab Ellen Meister sharing her Do's and a Do-over on the site today.  Her third book,The Other Life, is a thoughtful and engrossing novel that we weren't able to put down.

Happily married and pregnant, Quinn Braverman has an ominous secret. Every time she makes a major life decision, she knows an alternate reality exists in which she made the opposite choice—not only that, she knows how to cross over. But even in her darkest moments—like her mother's suicide—Quinn hasn't been tempted to slip through...until she receives devastating news about the baby she's carrying.

The grief lures her to peek across the portal, and before she knows it she's in the midst of the other life: the life in which she married another man and is childless. The life in which her mother is still very much alive.

Quinn is forced to make a heartbreaking choice. Will she stay with the family she loves and her severely disabled child or rediscover her exciting single life and reconnect with one person she thought she’d lost forever-her mother. But Quinn can’t have both lives. Soon, she must decide which she really wants—the one she has…or the other life?

We highly recommend The Other Life and have FIVE copies to give away to lucky readers!  Just leave a comment and you'll be entered to win!  Yep, it's that easy.  We'll choose the winners after 6pm PST on Thursday, March 17th.

And we think you'll love her Do's and a Do-over.  She provided photographic evidence!

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS: ELLEN MEISTER'S 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER

DO'S

1. Listen to your mother, no matter how old you are. She's always right.

2. Leave the dirty dishes in the sink ... to get up and dance ... or make love ... or take a phone call from a friend. The dishes will still be there when you're done.

3. Say yes to the things that scare you. You will never regret facing your fears.

4.  Spend more time with the people you enjoy and less time with the people you don't. Life's too short.

5. Say "I love you" the moment you think it.

DO-OVER

Despite that I wrote THE OTHER LIFE, a novel about a woman with the ultimate "Do-over" (my protagonist gets to slip through a portal to the life she would have had if she never got married and had a child), I try not to indulge in regrets. Indeed, I'm one of those people who believes that whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

Still, I've never been able look back with any fondness on a certain spiky, henna-drenched, 1980's mullet ...

I'm attaching a suitably ridiculous photo!

You were rocking that mullet, Ellen! xoxo, L&L

To read more about Ellen, head on over to her website or find her on Twitter and Facebook.

Cavanaugh Lee's 5 Do's and a Do-Over

Fact:  Liz is addicted to her Crackberry Blackberry. Whether she's working, playing or pretending to be paying attention in a meeting, she's always just waiting for that little red asterisk to pop up.  And Lisa's not much better-she loves her iPhone so much that's she's found a way to send emails from it while pumping breast milk.  Now that's talent! So when Save as Draft by Cavanaugh Lee landed on our doorstop last month-we were intrigued to read about Izabell's online adventures.  And we were happy to discover it was a fun and sassy read that we gobbled up in just a few days.

A love triangle evolving over e-mails, texts, and Facebook messages that makes you wonder if the things we leave unsaid—or rather unsent—could change the story of our lives. Izabell is a wactress (waitress/actress) turned lawyer who lives her life online. (Don’t we all these days?)

She's got this problem. . . . There’s this guy. His name’s Peter. He’s her best friend and co-worker, and she just started dating, which is potentially a huge mistake. But, that’s not all. There’s this other guy, Marty. She met him on eHarm, and he ran with the bulls in Spain. She can’t get him off her mind. What a mess.

Sounds fun, right? We have FIVE copies to give away!  Just leave a comment and you'll be entered to win!  we'll choose the winners Sunday March 13th after 1pm PST.

And we're thrilled that Cavanaugh is sharing her Do's and a Do-over for the Electronic age.  Because, I think we all have a few friends on Facebook that could benefit from her advice!

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS: CAVANAUGH LEE'S 5 DO'S AND A DO-OVER

5 DO’S

1.  DO make sure you’re actually communicating and not just “communicating.” I mean, really, say what you mean and mean what you say.  Ask yourself these questions as you type any critical email:

a.    Has all this technology made it easier or harder to communicate?

b.     Are we using it to express ourselves more fully, or to edit/fabricate ourselves?

c.     Are we communicating more when we write hundreds of emails a day, or are we actually not saying anything at all?

d.     If we spend hours crafting the perfectly witty email, have we told the truth?

e.     Are we hiding behind an “electronic spine” as our fingers press the keys?

f.      Have we sacrificed a genuine connection in favor of a wireless connection?

2.  If you like someone, DO email: “I like you” (or something to that effect). If you don’t like someone, DO type: “I’m just not that into you.”  You may only get one shot to “just hit send,” and email is not the place to toy with someone’s emotions.  Along those same lines, DO think twice before asking someone out via email (same goes for asking for someone’s hand in marriage) and DO think twice before breaking up with someone via email.  How about doing it in person instead?  I mean, don’t you want to see their face?  J

3.  DO use the Bcc (“blind carbon copy”) button wisely – it’s a rather devious mechanism. It can get you in trouble as can the “Reply to All” (Oops!).

4.   DO delete anyone who has broken your heart from your Contacts page. Not deleting them can result in emailing “under the influence” which can further result in massive disaster.  DO avoid it at all costs.  In fact, install “Mail Goggles” which you can find in G-Mail under “Settings” + “Labs.”  Again, delete, delete, delete… and don’t look back.

5.  DO empty your Trash folder every so often. It is masochistic to re-read it.

DO-OVER

DON’T “Save as Draft,” unless it’s a nasty-gram to your boss (of course if you’re about to quit your job for a better one – send it – kidding).  See #1 under DO’S for the reason.  All of this electronic technology is both good and bad, depending on how we use it.  Saving as draft means you’re holding back.  Life is too short

Thanks Cavanaugh! xoxo, L&L

To read more about Cavanaugh, head on over to her website or find her on Facebook and Twitter.