Mel's Shopping Diary
Fortune, Fame, Poetry and Books You Should Read
July 10, 2008Last night Mike and I hit a couple of parties--there was a party at a fancy furniture store where we admired furniture and sipped champagne and then we went to go celebrate Jasmin Rosemberg’s new book HOW THE OTHER HALF HAMPTONS at the swanky Sofitel hotel. I really enjoyed this book, and I think all those Au Pairs fans out there will too. It’s about three girls who go to the Hamptons and live in a “share house” - or as Jasmin says, “imagine a very very crowded elevator”. It’s a perfect summer beach read: lots of hot-tub hookups and girl bonding! Anyway, the party was much fun and reminded me of hanging out a nightclubs because the drinks were served bottle-service style: a bottle of Krol vodka, glasses, ice and chasers on the table and then you had to mix your own drinks. Jasmin was gorgeous in a hot pink dress, and all the young people (talk about making me feel old!) were very cute in that cast-of-the-Hills way: everyone in little cocktail dresses with long, blown-out hair and great tans.
Another book I’ve been meaning to blog about is Terri Brown’s Read my Lips - about a deaf girl who becomes the school’s hottest gossipeuse. A fun and fab page-turner with a twist! I did a guest-blog for her launch on June 11th, and if you scroll up and down you’ll see other fab g-blogges like Ellen Hopkins, Scott Westerfeld and Lisa McCann.
In other news, I have read about two hundred of your poems and I am really blown away. It just thrills me to find so much love for the characters. Very, very, very cool. I’m sorry it’s taking longer than expected to figure out the winners. I had no idea we would get so many poems! But yes, I will post them here and explain why I picked them.
Hyperion is doing a really fun contest to promote Revelations--will let you know the details as soon as I know, but the grand prize is a shopping spree and lunch with me in your hometown! Yes, that’s right, I’m coming to YOU if you win! I’ll let you know how to enter as soon as I know myself. 
Anyway, speaking of poetry, I was reading a really interesting article on John Keats the poet (Ode to a Grecian Urn, etc.) in the New Yorker. I had no idea he died so young (but then isn’t that the case with poets? Don’t they all die young? Rilke did too). What I found so interesting was how the article talked about Keats’ burning AMBITION to be a poet, and to be immortalized through his writing, and how tragic it was that he died before he ever reaped the benefits of fame and adulation especially since “no writer ever yearned for fame more ardently than Keats.” While he was alive, his poems were badly-reviewed and he was dismissed as a writer. But now he’s considered one of English literature’s greatest poets. Anyway, there was a quote that I thought I would share with all of you: Keats wrote “I should write from the mere yearning and fondness I have for the Beautiful even if my night’s labours should be burnt every morning and no eye ever shine upon them.”
And then I read this article about Ricky Gervais in Salon. (He’s the guy who played the British boss in the British office, which is one of the funniest things you will ever see in your life, although I think you all need to be much older and have experience working in a boring office to really appreciate it. You simply have no idea what mind-numbing means until you’ve worked for a big corporation.) Anyway, Ricky Gervais is very famous now, and he says, “I get very excited about creating stuff just from scratch. You’ve got to be in this work for the right reasons—being rich and famous ultimately doesn’t mean anything.”
BEING RICH AND FAMOUS DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING!
What Keats and Ricky Gervais are saying is that it’s really just the writing--the work--that gives the most satisfaction. Of course, Keats never experienced fortune and fame, and Gervais has. But I’m sure Keats would have come to the same conclusion even if he had.
Because ultimately, it’s not about the book tours, or bestseller lists, or all the fun perks that come with being an author that make you want to be an author. It’s about being able to think up stuff from scratch and cackle at your desk and enjoy moving your characters around. And then make a living from it! That’s what’s most amazing to me. Yeah, there will be days when writing sucks and it’s work and you hit a wall and wish you’d never even thought up this stupid book. But even on the worst writing days, it’s still good to write. It’s just fun. Writing is fun.
And that’s why I’m so glad you all wrote poems, and who cares who wins--because you all won already--you know? And yeah, I realize I don’t think I would be this optimistic and rosy-eyed if I was still a struggling writer. You know before I published my first book I would go to bookstores and be so ENVIOUS I would feel SICK TO MY STOMACH that I couldn’t even READ any more books because the thought that I might not be a writer was too depressing for me.
But now that I’m on this side of the fence, I have to say: it’s the work that matters, not what comes with it. And that’s why you do it. Because if you wanted to be rich and famous there are a lot more ways to go about it that are probably much easier and less stressful. (But here again a caveat: Really? Because from my experience and what I’ve seen from successful people--everyone has to work really really hard for every penny. There is no such thing as easy money. Seriously. Sure some people are born wealthy, with a head start but that comes with its own set of worries. No one has a perfect life. We’re all just trying to make our way in this cold cold world.)
I thought it was so interesting how one of the reasons Keats’ ambition was so strong was because he didn’t come from nobility like Lord Byron or was rich like Shelley and he knew “how precarious his fortunes really were.” That maybe he wouldn’t even get a CHANCE to be a poet because he came from a working-class family.
Anyway, those are the thoughts of the day. Funnily enough I’ve never been big on Keats. My favorite poets are Yeats, Rilke, Sharon Olds and James Merrill. In my other life, I used to want to be a poet. (Yeah, I KNOW!) But now I’ve decided to give him another chance.
Have a great day everyone!
xoxo
Mel
On July 10, 2008 at 12:45 pm, arden had this to say:
that sounds so awesome! cant wait
On July 10, 2008 at 1:58 pm, tiffany had this to say:
>.< contest!! sooooo cooooolll! im excited...=)
On July 10, 2008 at 3:40 pm, Leah had this to say:
Do book stores count as shopping?
On July 10, 2008 at 3:52 pm, Katie had this to say:
If we entered the poetry contest is the other contest open to us as well?
On July 10, 2008 at 4:36 pm, katlin had this to say:
im so excited about the contest!!! i cant wait!!!
On July 10, 2008 at 4:49 pm, Pippa had this to say:
Hey MDLC lovers, check out my new blog at http://pippacross.blogspot.com/. I made it a month ago and I like it, but I need confirmation that it’s a good blog. I even included a poll on Blue Bloods. Check it out, plz.
On July 10, 2008 at 7:38 pm, Natalie had this to say:
wow that contest sounds really cool. is it going to be randomly decided, or are we going to have to write and prove ourlove for you? lol. anyways, thanks for the wonderful adice, as always.
On July 10, 2008 at 10:12 pm, tiffany had this to say:
Yay, another contest =D
On July 11, 2008 at 6:59 am, Rachael had this to say:
OMG a new contest! yesssss! i didnt make it in time for the poetry 1 (was 2 busy freakin out about family and other issues… ugh) but this is reeeealy cool! Hope u like shoppin 4 books as much as u like writing em, cause thats always the #1 thing on my agenda (lol)
Keep reading (or in ur case, writing too),
Rach (BIG fan)
On July 11, 2008 at 11:17 am, Jasmin had this to say:
I can’t wait for the contest ever though I didn’t enter but from what mel is telling us its gonna be totally awesome!!!!!!!!!!!
On July 11, 2008 at 1:35 pm, Hannah had this to say:
The contest about you coming to where you live is really cool but if you come to where I live you have to be prepared to put on some sneakers and plain ole’ jeans because the richest people where I live are middle class and there is like one mansion where I live and its a National Historic Landmark (the Biltmore house) but we could always go into town and to the mall (nothing fancy there).
On July 11, 2008 at 3:37 pm, me had this to say:
woo hoo! another contest but my town had a mall no good shoping though thats cool about all the cool writers
On July 12, 2008 at 6:25 am, Kat had this to say:
OMG! I completely agree with Kate from the first comment. Our tiny little town has only a few places to shop...but whatev....though the contest sounds cool anyway. (Though being as nerdy as I am I’d probably end up with one of my fave authors in a bookstore...totally not ironic at all right???)
On July 12, 2008 at 8:57 am, amandaj had this to say:
That contest seems like it would be the best thing that ever happened to me. I can’t agree with people in small towns, thankfully, I live in Chicago! and shopping is AMAZING (if you’re in the right places of course)!
On July 12, 2008 at 5:52 pm, Brittny had this to say:
ok now I really want to know what contest is going to be like because surprisingly we have an AMAZING mall here that I would LOVE to shop at with Mel. And I’m anctious (I can’t spell. sorry =]) to know who won the poetry contest. I heart the blue bloods series!!!!! email me if you have something to say!!
On July 12, 2008 at 7:57 pm, sarah thomas had this to say:
THE CONTEST DOES SOUND COOL AND I PROBABLY WOULD END UP SPENDING ALL THE MONEY AT BARNES AND NOBLE AND JCPENNY LOL
On July 12, 2008 at 9:38 pm, Betsy had this to say:
I really hope you like Charleston. We have alot of places to shop but I’d have to win first.
On July 13, 2008 at 3:50 pm, Ashleigh had this to say:
Wow, that’s really cool, coming to the fans. Yeah, it’d be a shame if someone from a smalltown like my hometown won - we had a Dollarama and a Rietmans - everything else was at least 25 minutes away. But now I live in a big city, sadly. -.- I can’t wait ‘til they announce the winners of the poetry contest! I doubt I won, but I really want to see the poems that did.
On July 13, 2008 at 3:54 pm, Shayla had this to say:
I’m so excited!
That sounds like an awesome contest!
:]
On July 14, 2008 at 7:57 pm, stheno had this to say:
yay another contestt!! im excitedddd
On July 15, 2008 at 7:42 am, alyssa had this to say:
Whoo! I love contests! I hardly ever win, but it’s still fun to enter them! If I did when the shopping spree one, that would be when it’s really fawsome to live in a big city right next to another big city (Seattle, baby!)
Can’t wait to see all the winning poems!
On July 15, 2008 at 4:30 pm, Sylvana had this to say:
-follows the trend- Yay another contest! :]
I agree with the quote “You’ve got to be in this work for the right reasons—being rich and famous ultimately doesn’t mean anything.” I mean, it’s so true. B] If I was an author with best-selling books,[HA], I wouldn’t turn in a novel that’s unsatisfying to me so I’d get the money, I’d make it so that I’m happy with it, and COMPLETELY satisfied, THEN I’d turn it in. But that’s just me.
On July 10, 2008 at 11:56 am, Kate had this to say:
Cool contest. Though my hometown has like no place to shop. It’s very sad.