sharonksobotta

Attitude Reconstruction--Interview with Jude Bijou

Life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we react. Might as well have a good attitude about it.

Emily Smith, Author of THANK YOU MR. WRONG

In everyday conversation, people sometimes throw around the phrase, "never judge a book by its cover." But, in real life, particularly in the world of books, we know that we absolutely judge books by their covers. Just as we are attracted to people who radiate positive energy with a warm and welcoming smiles, we notice books by their captivating covers and intriguing titles. As I walked out of the New York Book Expo 8am morning session hosted by Jon Stewart feeling disappointed that the session ended before I got called on to ask my kick a** question, I perked up with I saw a bright red book with the letters THANK YOU MR. WRONG on the front cover. The author of the book, Emily Smith, was holding it and when she noticed me starring at it, she asked, "Do you want it?" I've met Mr. Wrong a few times in life and couldn't resist the offer to meet him again. "Of course," I said. And with the exchange of every book at the Book Expo comes an interview. Listen to Emily's interview to get a sense of what she learned from Mr. Wrong and how a series of Mr. Wrongs led her to a Mr. Right!

J.A. Konrath--Ten Tries are a Charm

"After 500 rejections, after 12 years, after more than a million words written and not a dime earned, I like to say that there is a word for an author than never gives up and that word is published." Mystery Writer J.A. Konrath

No Permission Necessary--Debbie Macomber

Debbie Macomber knew she had her work cut out for her when she decided to pursue her dream of being a writer. She struggled with dyslexia throughout childhood, graduated near the bottom of her class and married as a teenager. Debbie recalls her third grade teacher telling her parents, "Debbie is such a nice girl, but she probably won't go far in life." Unwilling to be talked out of her dream, Debbie kept it a secret. In spite of her learning disability Debbie was bursting at the seems with stories that she thought had to be told. At 29, Debbie rented a type writer and began pecking out her stories, taking breaks to attend to parenting duties and to make room at the table for family meals. Thirty years later, Debbie has written over 100 books, several of which are New York Times Best Sellers and some which have been made into movies. Perhaps Debbie's third-grade teacher is eating her words. The moral of the story--If you have a dream, don't ask for anyone's permission, instead just pursue it relentlessly!

Relationships--Dr. Ali Binazir's Take on Women, Love & Relationships

Relationships. It seems like we are on a lifelong quest to figure them out. We're either in one and we're not quite sure if it's the right one or try to convince ourselves to make it work. We're not in one and we can't wait to find one. Or, we're enjoying the scenic route. Dr. Ali Binazir, who in addition to writing books, writes for the Huffington Post, sat beside me at the BEA opening press conference and crossed paths with me several times throughout the expo. On the outside balcony of a New York club, interrupted by a few rounds of sirens, Ali and I chatted about life, love and relationships. Although I struggled to crack the code and get the personal back story that led him down the path he is pursuing today, Ali shares several tidbits of charming advice for both women and men. The key, Ali says, is to love yourself first!

The man on the sidelines--Lenny Boyette from the sidelines of the Today Show

Get to know to the people on the periphery of your life—whether they be the people who serve you in restaurants, the people who care for you when you are ill or those help you when you are down on luck. Collectively, these people represent all life experiences, religions and ideologies. If you watch the Today show on NBC, there is one man that you are likely to spot in the crowd at Rockefeller Center nearly everyday. His name is Lenny and he joins the outside crowd day after day. If you’d like to have your 30 seconds of television exposure, production interns recommend standing near Lenny. When, by chance, Lenny ended up standing near me last summer, I decided to seize the moment and get a snippet of this vibrant man who captures the world’s attention from the periphery of the Today show set day after day. Since I neglected to get Lenny's picture last summer, I knew I couldn't leave New York City without finding Lenny again. Hours before my scheduled flight out of New York City, while I was interviewing One Republic's Eddie Fischer, I spotted Lenny standing directly across from me. I kept my eyes on him and the minute he grabbed his duffle bag to began his daily stroll through the city, I dashed over to him. While I was chatting with Lenny, about a dozen people approached him to take pictures with him, telling him how much they appreciate his daily presence on the show. Lenny posed for several pictures and did a repeat interview, chatting until the security moved us out. As you'll hear, Lenny has a distinct routine--he wakes up each day at 3am, goes to the Today show, walks the city, shops and sips tea and says he is not a fan of change, but that he has observed a great deal of change over the years. Lenny is a very simple man, but one who has intrigued the world, none-the-less. “I used to watch the Today Show on Saturday and my sister told me that if I ever came to New York I had to go and visit the Today show. After I got here, I popped in one day and they sort of adopted me and it’s been quite nice ever since. When I’m not at the Today show I walk about and enjoy the city and I do lots and lots of shopping, because I’m retired now so I’ve got lots and lots of time. I was in the military for 25 years, where I did a bit of everything. I lived all over the U.K., but was mainly in Manchester. I enjoy being in New York. My sister lives near Connecticut, so I go and join her every Sunday for dinner, and it is really nice to spend time with nieces and nephews. Thank you so much for your time, God bless the world, all the best to the president and all the military people also. I’m very healthy, so I feel very blessed for that. My mother and father taught me that lesson. No spouse, no kids, no stress.” “Lenny” New York City Daily visitor of the Today Show

Maria Murnane--Author of Perfect on Paper

BEA--Karen Morgan

Serendipitous Encounters--A Chat with Jon Regen

I arrived at JFK International Airport just before midnight on Sunday morning. The familiar feel of humid summer air, the rows and rows of taxis and the sounds of honking horns were music to my soul and affirmed the fact that I had arrived in New York City. Alex, my brother-like- friend who came into my life at Saitama High School right outside of Tokyo after we each received Kikkoman Soy Sauce Scholarships more than a decade earlier, was waiting outside for me. As we began driving toward Long Island in the wee hours of the morning, I couldn’t help feeling a little guilty about accepting my friend’s hospitality at such a late/early hour of the day and even questioning if it was the “right” decision to leave the city. True to my writer’s mantra, it was of course ‘right’ and better than anything I could have planned. After a few rounds of drinks and a case of the late night munchies, I retreated to my loft just before 4:30am. Several hours later, we grabbed breakfast at a diner and were en route to Sparkling Point Vineyard more than an hour away. Alex’s friend, who is a Steinway Piano sales rep, had organized a special event where a jazz pianist and singer named Jon Regen was playing. I’ll admit that while I’ve slowly come to acquire a taste for jazz, I was much more excited about sipping vino with friends than I was about hearing the musician. But, while sitting outside the perfectly green winery, sipping on champagne, I couldn’t’ help but tune into the music that set the ambiance. There was something charming about the music that Jon Regen was playing and singing, prompting me to purchase one of his cds. I would have been happy just to purchase a cd and give it away as a gift, but the wine servers searched for a pen and insisted I get Jon’s autograph. Since Jon was done playing for the day, I decided to squeeze in a quick interview with him. Struggling to hold back his Bronchitus-induced cough, Jon shared his story. Turns out, the now 40-year old musician took up singing only seven years earlier, when he noticed that conventional jazz just didn’t capture his experience as a man, as a hopeless romantic or as an artist. “It’s pretty amazing to be able to capture the human experience in a three minute song,” Jon said. “And, what is it that inspires the content of the songs?” I began asking. But before I could finish the question, Jon responded. “Girls,” he said with a smile. Jon described how the imperfections of relationships, combined with the strain his traveling musician career puts on relationships, inspires his song writing. As a serial dater, who compares men to shoes (I love both men and shoes, but have yet to find one of either that goes with all aspects of life) and have come to embrace relationships as the inspiration for writing projects and trips around the world to pursue random journalism projects, attend weddings of commitment-prone friends and continue to gather more stories, I found Jon to be a person of my own heart. I took Jon’s cds back to my tiny room in the Paramount hotel in New York City that I shared with my parents. And, the rest, as they say, is history. I’ve been in a serious relationship with Jon’s music ever since. True to Jon’s words, each of his songs is a musical story about a phase of love—the beginning, the end, the starting over phase, the forgetting and moving on part and the longing part—that anyone whose ever experienced a relationship or a heartbreak can connect with. To get a sense of who the man behind the music is, listen to Jon’s interview.

Serendipity in New York City--Eddie Fisher from One Republic

New York. It is a city of rhythm, a city of change, a city that never sleeps, a city of serendipitous opportunities. Every year, I come here alone for the Book Expo, fly into Wisconsin to enjoy the long Memorial Day weekend with my family and then head back to California. This year, I changed things up a little bit. When my 69-year old mother shared that she hoped to visit New York in her lifetime, I suggested that she and my father join me. I broke my tradition of staying in the New Yorker and instead booked us a room right in the center of time square that happened to be just bigger than a box. We had our normal share of ups and downs—I sometimes lacked the kind of patience that is required for a mother with a hurt ankle and weak knee that requires her to carry her cane just in case she needs it and with a father who gets motion sickness in a cab and walks through midtown Manhattan vomiting into a bag and then explains to anyone who will listen that he has a bad stomach. But, at the end of the day, I feel like my parents shared a piece of my dream with me. I had opportunities that I wouldn’t have had without my parents being here with me. My mom shared a cab with a publicist from a company that I consider a perfect. I wouldn’t have known to research the publisher, if not for my mom having her serendipitous cab encounter. I went to see a play, which I wouldn’t have done on my own. And, I had a chance to enjoy meals with my parents every evening. Given that I am single and live 2,000 miles away from my parents, meals together are not something that I take for granted. After so many shared experiences with my parents, I contemplated foregoing my usual tradition of going home for a long weekend to have some more time in the city to write and breath. While contemplating my sister called and put my four-month old niece on the phone. Hearing my niece make her silly baby noises was all it took for me to know that I needed to get on the plane along with my parents and head back to Wisconsin. I packed, went to bed and woke up before 6am, so I could have one last breakfast in my favorite café, one last walk and bid the city farewell until my next visit. But, the universe clearly had something else in mind for me that day. When I walked by Rockafeller Plaza, I noticed that it was all set up for a concert and One Republic was in the midst of its early morning rehearsal. I decided to go in for a while and strategically found a spot, which happened to be right beside Eddie Fisher and his drum set. I couldn’t be standing so close to the drummer of One Republic and not ask for an interview so I did it. His polite “yes” was music to my ears. The 36-year old is humble and takes nothing for granted. In the process of pursing his dream of being a drummer, Eddie lost a marriage and spent time living on the streets. As he puts it though, dreams aren’t supposed to be easy to accomplish. And if you want your dream to happen, you’re going to have to follow it and make it happen, because it’s not coming to you. It was the most insightful five minute interview I’ve ever done and was the perfect way to end my week in NYC. I pushed the button on my zoom to listen to the masterpiece to find that it had not recorded. As I contemplated what to do, Eddie’s words ‘dreams don’t just happen, you have to make them happen,’ replayed in my head. I sucked up my pride and caught Eddie just before his group went live to ask if we could do a 3-minute repeat after his set and he graciously agreed. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking and the minutes separating me from my departure time were diminishing. After Eddie finished his set, he autographed and took pictures with fans, as her responded to my questions with a microphone in his place. Right after Eddie’s interview, I spotted the infamous “Lenny,” the man who shows up on the Today Show every single day. I interviewed him one year earlier, but neglected to take his picture. I repeated Lenny’s interview, took his picture and headed back to my hotel to grab my luggage and sprint to the airport. And, to make a long story short, it was in fact too late.